In order to prevent the further spread of AIDS, people’s behavior must change. Many programs have been started to achieve this goal, including educational programs, advertising, and mailings. In 2003, Viacom (which owns CBS, Black Entertainment Television, Nickelodeon, and MTV) and the Kaiser Foundation began a multimedia AIDS awareness and educational campaign. Public service announcements about AIDS were increased on radio stations, and many television programs agreed to address HIV/AIDS in upcoming episodes. A variety of television shows have also included the topic of HIV/AIDS in their programming (such The Parkers and One on One).
At the beginning of the AIDS crisis, gay men made big strides in changing their behavior. There were dramatic decreases in high-risk behaviors such as unprotected anal and oral sex. In the early 1980s, approximately 40% of gay men reported engaging in risky sex, but by 1987 this number fell to 10% (Staver, 1992). Today the availability of HAART has not been found to result in an increase in high-risk sexual behaviors among heterosexual men or women. However, in men who have sex with men, HAART therapy has been strongly associated with a failure to use condoms (DiClemente et al., 2001) and an increase in risky sexual behavior (M. H. Katz et al., 2002; Stephenson et al.,
2003) . HIV-negative men who have sex with men are engaging in more unprotected anal sex (Wolitski et al., 2001) and worrying less about contracting AIDS since the introduction of HAART therapy (Elford et al., 2000).
SEX in Real Life