STD Prevention: Behavior Change

Safer Sex - Historical Notes

The Development of the Guidelines
As soon as it became clear that AIDS could also be transmitted through heterosexual contact, the “Safe Sex Guidelines” were amended to cover vaginal intercourse as well. Moreover, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation developed various special guidelines for intravenous drug users, women, very young people, and different ethnic minorities. Over time, and with increasing epidemiological knowledge, the guidelines were revised several times. In general, they were simplified, but for particular groups they went into ever greater detail. Taken together, these prevention efforts proved very effective. Unfortunately, they came too late for many people who, years before, had already been infected without knowing it.
In the meantime, the original “Safe Sex Guidelines” have, in principle, been adopted in every country threatened by AIDS. In the developing world they are mostly aimed at the general heterosexual population which now runs the greatest risk of infection However, there are often considerable differences from country to country, depending on the local culture and the political will to talk openly about sexual practices. Today, most people also prefer to speak of “safer sex”, avoiding the possibly misleading word “safe” and emphasizing that both safety and risk are relative.

1985: Wallet-size cards, distributed by the SF AIDS Foundation, front and back.
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