Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men

by Gabriel Rotello

An award-winning journalist draws on detailed analyses to demonstrate that well-intentioned attempts to combat social stigma have prevented successful research into the AIDS virus and have allowed the the continued infection of thousands of gay men. Reprint.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, LGBT, History, Health, Disability

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

Reviews

[Zachary Bishop · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can not overstate how homophobic this book really is. Despite being a gay man, Rotello argues that if gay men had assimilated to the sexual practices of heterosexual people, they would have never been victims of the AIDS crisis. He blames the victims, instead of looking at the structural inequalities that gay men faced from the end of World War II to the 1980s that put them in a vulnerable position for the HIV virus. Rotello also spends a lot of time shaming gay men for having sex the way they wanted to, which just comes across as rather spiteful.

Rotello's work is a product of in-fighting in the gay community over the issue of respectability and assimilation to heterosexual society. His knowledge of the virus and how it spread is extremely dated. There are much more current works that address gay men and the AIDS epidemic that readers should go to for general information.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most interesting book I've read about the AIDS problem.
The author is a homosexual man and posits that changes in gay behavior starting in 1970 made the AIDS epidemic inevitable.

He argues that condoms and pairing off by HIV status will have no effect on the epidemic. Only changes in behavior can do that.

He is very specific in describing the behaviors that led to the problem and what needs to change.

He also argues that AIDS will never become a major medical
problem for heterosexuals in america and why.

The first 100 pages are the most interesting, after that it seems like he is writing to anticipate arguments against his ideas, and he preempts them.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

While "And the Band Played On" indicted the federal government for its failures in responding to AIDS, in this work the gaze is turned back on the gay community. From drug use, to number of partners, to drug use, to... well... more drug use, the high-risk health behaviors that went along with the bathhouse scene and rise of the epidemic have barely waned in the gay community. This seems to be the cause of the faster rate of disease progression among gay men (2x that of IV drug users, 4x that of non-IVDU heterosexuals infected due to medical means), and corresponding higher death rates.

[RB · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author does not understand that unscientific convenience surveys of men who attended sex clubs are not, in fact, representative of the wider gay population. For example, he makes claims like "this percentage of gay men said they had this many partners", yet it will be from a survey of men who attended bathhouses. Generalizations like this are very unscientific. He also has a hard time properly citing things.

An intelligent author might use the Laumann study (1994), The General Social Survey (2000-2018), the NATSAL (UK), and the Australian Survey of Sex which ALL show gay men typically have 10-20 sexual partners in their lifetime. About half report 0 or 1 in the previous year. The fact that this author just ignores other studies from the 80's and 90's which showed gay men did not on average have "hundreds of partners" is shocking. I know only the first study was available to him at the time, but segments from this book are copied and pasted all over the internet as "proof" of gay people apparently being awful sex addicts when in reality its about 10% of gay men who have more than 100 partners in their life.

This kind of cherry picking is something I have noticed in many books which aim to profit off misconceptions about gay people. This book is somewhat of an interesting insight into the subgroup among whom AIDS first effected, but none the less full of anecdotes and other pseudoscientific nonsense.

[Scott Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't say this was an enjoyable read. The subject matter is difficult. Rotello is unflinchingly honest. His arguments are logical and sometimes painful to read. That said, it is well worth reading. Originally published in 1997, we have the benefit of reading this with 15 more years of study and evidence of the epidemic. Time has proven most of Rotello's ideas to be true and valid and it is interesting to see how gay male culture has continued to evolve as we live with HIV and AIDS.

As the battle for same sex marriage continues to be won in more and more places around the world, more gay men are moving into monogamous relationships. In theory, this should begin to help lessen the number of infected gay men. However, as much as the progress of the past 15 years is notable, we also have a long way to go if we are ever to see an end to the plague. I would be most interested in a follow up book by Rotello.

[Kevin Orth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect combination on street level conversation about the history of HIV, the broader reality of how viruses behave, sexual conduct of both the 70's and present day sexual conduct, and how it all comes together.
Written such that both a person with or without a scientific background can gain tremendous knowledge. Highly recommend for anyone and everyone.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be required reading