Sexual Ecology

Rotello, an award-winning journalist and long-time AIDS activist, has done in this book something no writer has done before. Weaving together the strands of ecology theory, epidemiology, and sexual politics, he shows how the AIDS epidemic, like other epidemics from influenza and bubonic plague to today's rapidly emerging viruses - result as much from human behaviors as from specific microbes. He argues convincingly that AIDS was probably an old and rare disease syndrome in humans that erupted into an epidemic only when cultural changes - including the gay male sexual revolution of the seventies - created ideal conditions for its evolution and spread. For the first time ever, Rotello describes in detail the surprising scientific consensus about why, precisely, AIDS hit gay men so hard. Rebutting both the left's position that AIDS was merely an accident, and simplistic right-wing theories that blame promiscuity alone, Rotello presents the compelling but troubling verdict embraced by epidemiologists: AIDS was spread by a fusion of factors built right into the fabric of urban gay life after Stonewall. Turning to current research, Rotello explains how and why researchers believe a "second wave" of the epidemic is saturating gay men despite widespread AIDS awareness and condom use. And he provides compelling evidence that if the current lack of ecological awareness continues, our best chance of containing the epidemic with newly available drug therapies could be squandered.