... Any pointed reference to the relation of sexual promiscuity to AIDS is not to be found in the media or among our educators. It is repressed because it might seem to be "judgmental"—i.e., having a moral connotation. When Newsweek recently had a cover story on AIDS among teen-agers, it recounted the sad tale of an 18-year-old girl, a high school graduate, who aimed at a career in the military. Tests however, revealed that she was HIV positive. Further inquiries by the doctors revealed that, in the previous twelve months, she had had sexual encounters with 24 different men! This is a seemingly average, cheerful, ambitious girl. And what did Newsweek have to say about such promiscuity? Nothing, absolutely nothing. It reported the facts but strenuously avoided any suggestion that she had been wrong in her behavior. The tone of the story was such as to imply that her mistake was in not insisting that those men practice "safe sex."
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