I was doing some reading into the AIDS pandemic and something of note came up. Apparently, when the first rash of AIDs patients came up in San Francisco, it wasn't rare for gays in that area to already be suffering from STDs. Unprotected casual sex, promiscuity and the bath houses popularity apparently provided a fertile pool for infection.
It was regarded as so common that to have a STD was regarded as the price, and eventually, a status symbol of being a homosexual in San Franciso. Unfortunately, the book footnotes didn't clarify which source he listed it from, or whether this was just author bias in the first place.
So, can anyone verify whether this was accurate and even point to some reference?
Gays, STDs and San Francisco
Moderator: Alyrium Denryle
Gays, STDs and San Francisco
Let him land on any Lyran world to taste firsthand the wrath of peace loving people thwarted by the myopic greed of a few miserly old farts- Katrina Steiner
Re: Gays, STDs and San Francisco
Read Tales of the City by Maupin. An interesting look at 70's San Fransico. Casual unprotected sex was very common back then among both straights and gays. And STD's were not considered a problem. Remember pre AIDS and Herpies they were mostly curable nuisances.PainRack wrote:I was doing some reading into the AIDS pandemic and something of note came up. Apparently, when the first rash of AIDs patients came up in San Francisco, it wasn't rare for gays in that area to already be suffering from STDs. Unprotected casual sex, promiscuity and the bath houses popularity apparently provided a fertile pool for infection.
It was regarded as so common that to have a STD was regarded as the price, and eventually, a status symbol of being a homosexual in San Franciso. Unfortunately, the book footnotes didn't clarify which source he listed it from, or whether this was just author bias in the first place.
So, can anyone verify whether this was accurate and even point to some reference?
For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;
Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;
Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;
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Gil Hamilton
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That's about accurate. There was a huge problem in San Francisco with the bath houses being a open market for STDs and spread AIDS (then called GRIDS, because they thought only gay people got it), which is why during the 80s they were all shut down, to stem the tide of infection that was coming from them. This actually did work, along side with fastly more stringent measures in safeguarding the blood supply.
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TrailerParkJawa
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You know what's sad. There are people in SF that want to bring back the bath houses and all they entail. I don't have a problem with people having sex in a public place like a club, hell I'd like to check on out just once, but I'm not big on the sex without consequences mentality.
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Elheru Aran
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As long as there are rules in such places making protection mandatory, I don't see a problem; they already do this in a fair few swinger clubs, IIRC.TrailerParkJawa wrote:You know what's sad. There are people in SF that want to bring back the bath houses and all they entail. I don't have a problem with people having sex in a public place like a club, hell I'd like to check on out just once, but I'm not big on the sex without consequences mentality.
Now, if they don't require protection, then that's another bag o' fish entirely...
It's a strange world. Let's keep it that way.
Re: Gays, STDs and San Francisco
Is there a source that states that this was not only common among gays, but actually regarded as some sort of status symbol? That to be gay in San Franciso was to have some form of STD?Aeolus wrote: Read Tales of the City by Maupin. An interesting look at 70's San Fransico. Casual unprotected sex was very common back then among both straights and gays. And STD's were not considered a problem. Remember pre AIDS and Herpies they were mostly curable nuisances.
That was what the book I read implied.
Let him land on any Lyran world to taste firsthand the wrath of peace loving people thwarted by the myopic greed of a few miserly old farts- Katrina Steiner
Re: Gays, STDs and San Francisco
they imply it in Tales of the city also but its more like showing off your battle scars Remember this was pre AIDS and Herpies. By STD's they would basically be refering to the clap and syphillus both easy to deal with in the 70's. Thier was a very different mind set back then. The 80's 90's and today are MUCH more conservitive than the 60's or 70'sPainRack wrote:Is there a source that states that this was not only common among gays, but actually regarded as some sort of status symbol? That to be gay in San Franciso was to have some form of STD?Aeolus wrote: Read Tales of the City by Maupin. An interesting look at 70's San Fransico. Casual unprotected sex was very common back then among both straights and gays. And STD's were not considered a problem. Remember pre AIDS and Herpies they were mostly curable nuisances.
That was what the book I read implied.
For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;
Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;
Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;