Drs. Mutchler and Ayala
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‘Gay-Boy’ Talk: Stopping the Waves of HIV Infection Among Young Gay Men
Phil, a 24 year old Latino gay male in Los Angeles considers his latest sexual encounter:
This week,... I did have sex with somebody, but it felt ok because it was protected and it was very
compatible and there was no guilt associated with it. I was in control and I was glad I was able to
be in control. I have nothing but smiles.
This reflection of a recent sexual encounter stands in contrast to the stories of how he and other young gay men
tell stories about unsafe and unsatisfying sex.
Introduction
As we write, there are two troubling national trends of concern to people who care about young gay men:
gay male adolescents are being infected with HIV at alarming rates and abstinence only disease prevention
education programs are being promoted as the intervention of choice with youth. Abstinence only campaigns are
particularly remiss in meeting the needs of gay adolescents since they direct teenagers to wait until they are
married to have sex. Marriage is a socially sanctioned institution not made available to lesbian and gay people.
The implicit message embedded in abstinence only campaigns is that gay people do not matter. These challenges
mean that young gay men must somehow learn about sex and how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV/AIDS, on their own. Sadly, many young gay men learn the hard way.
The ‘Sexual Stories’ study presented here sought to understand the interpersonal, social, and cultural
contexts in which behavioral risk for HIV infection occurs among young gay men. Forty in-depth semi-structured
interviews were conducted with white and Latino young gay men (ages 18-24). Sexual risk behaviors occurred
mainly in two social situations: primary relationships of presumed monogamy and sexual coercion. These young
men also reported experiencing very little relevant sex education prior to engaging in sexual risk behaviors. The
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