University of Tampa - Moroccan Yearbook (Tampa, FL)

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ncr about their sexual past; it is generally acknowledged in the scientific community now that to have sex with someone is to also have contact with everyone that per- son has been with in the previous ten years. The trend toward “safe sex” has ere- ated a new dynamic in singles relations: some single people arc now actually afraid of sex that is too easy” to get.Unlike the threat of sexually transmittable diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamy- dia (all three of which are treatable with antibiotics), the threat of AIDS has made education, or ignorance, a matter of life and death. Most of the disagreement centers on the proper strategy for education concern- ing the disease. Surgeon General C. Ever- ett Koop has publicly stated that, except abstinence, a condom is the best defense against being infected with the disease. Many religious educators feared that Koop’s comments would portray condoms as a panacea for the sexually promiscuous, and instead advocated the view that AIDS was a call back to monogamy, or, where ap- propriate. celibacy. Others had been able to temper their religious views with practi- cal considerations; in February a minister in Williamsville, N.Y. handed out con- doms to members of his congregation dur- ing a church service. Still others seemed incapable of such logical thought; when it was proposed that condoms be distributed at check-in to many of the college students spending spring break in Fort Lauderdale, FI., a chamber of commerce official sarcas- tically remarked that such a “party pak” should also include several hypodermic needles, a few joints and some crack. A major outgrowth of the AIDS con- cern was the growing emphasis on public awareness of condoms as a device for pre- venting the spread of the disease. Condom ads were everywhere, and the industry rose to the occasion of a boom in condom sales by introducing full-page ads in major magazines and creating a brand of condom aimed specifically at women. This aware- ness reached its peak with the notoriety caused by the broadcast, in early Febru- ary, of the first condom ads to be accepted for television. Again the controversy over AIDS ed- ucation began, this time in the form of a debate over the suitability of condom ads for television. C. Everett Koop again advo- cated a preventative approach, and en- dorsed network condom advertising as a tool that would help prevent the spread of AIDS. Koop told a House subcommittee that the threat of AIDS is so great that it overwhelms other considerations and advertising.” The continuing death toll of AIDS, symbolized this year by the death of Lib- erace, is the gruesome reality that under- lies the entire issue of this fatal disease. It was evidence of the growing awareness of the disease and its results that many suspected Liberace’s affliction even as he, and later his associates, denied that his ill- ness was AIDS-related. Without the inher- ent shock apparent following the AIDS-re- lated death of Rock Hudson, the death of Liberace due to anemia, emphysema, and congestive heart failure may have a simi- lar, and more immediate, effect by calling attention to a health problem of growing severity. For now, efforts to find a cure, as well as debates over how to properly ed- ucate the public to stem the spread of the disease, will continue, as will the fear of AIDS itself. STUDENT LIFE 27

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CHANGES IN LIFESTYLE The story of AIDS, Acquired Im- mune-deficiency Syndrome, devel- oped further in 1986 as the disease, and debate over its scope, spread to new quarters. The foremost development dur- ing 1986 was the growing realization that AIDS is now a reality in the world of het- erosexual lovers, and is no longer just a dis- ease of gays and drug addicts. This, com- pounded by the media presence of AIDS and the AIDS-related death of Liberace. made the fear of the disease a national con- cern. The number of AIDS-related deaths attributable to contact with heterosexuals doubled in 1986. and it was feared that once the disease gained a foothold in the heterosexual community, it would become the most dangerous epidemic since the days prior to the polio vaccine. The growing fear of the disease has aroused differing passions whenever the subject of how to stop or limit its spread has been presented. Predictably, since the disease is transmitted by both men and women, the debate has had more of a liber- al vs. conservative polarity than a conflict between genders. Indeed, men and women alike have become more careful as news of the spread of AIDS across the barriers of sexual preference has taken over the head- lines. Safe sex” has become the catch- phrase for the new brand of discretion practiced by many for whom the relative promiscuity of the sexual revolution has become a way of life. Further complicating matters is the uncertainty surrounding the length of time for which the virus can lay dormant in the bloodstream of the in- fected individual. Now, even a brief en- counter is cause for quizzing a sexual part- . .. Except abstinence, a condom is the best de- fense against being infected with (AIDS). - Surgeon General C. Everett Koop 26 STUDENT LIFE ( ) W. Wntungton Pott VlViifff Ctoup. rtfxinttJ mith ptrmluton

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OKTOBERFEST ’86 28 STUDENT LIFE