According to a recent poll, about 40 percent of the European Union population takes no precaution against AIDS during sex. This is indeed troubling, as AIDS prevalence is increasing in Europe and use of protection dropped since the last survey.
But the idiocy of the study — if the news account is accurate, participants were only asked whether they use AIDS prevention measures when they have sex — is that it makes no attempt to control for whether people should take AIDS precautions during sex. Someone engaged in promiscuous activity obviously needs to worry, but an uninfected, faithful couple (particularly if married) has nothing to be concerned about. So the 40 percent number is quite misleading; in fact it’s arguably more troubling that at least 48 percent of Europeans engage in activity they know might expose them to AIDS.
Activists have long tried to de-stigmatize AIDS tests and prevention measures by calling them “responsible,” and yes, random sex with a condom is preferable to random sex without one. But the bottom line is that people need to honestly assess their risks, and those who don’t put themselves in life-threatening situations in the first place shouldn’t come out on the “wrong” side of a survey like this.
Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.
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