Safe sex is not contraception: Reclaiming 'safe sex' for HIV/STD prevention

This paper urges vigilance in retaining the meaning of 'safe sex' as ways of having sex that reduce or eliminate the chances of contracting an STD. Interviews with heterosexual adolescents revealed that the term 'safe sex' is frequently understood to mean contraception. There is also evidence of this shift in meaning in the wider community. The condom, because of its use for both contraception and the prevention of disease, and because of its role in safe sex campaigns, is identified as pivotal to this shift in meaning. When 'safe sex' means contraception, heterosexual adolescents are made more vulnerable to STDs. Sex is still 'safe' when condoms are discarded in favour of the oral contraceptive pill. It is argued that policy makers, educators, researchers, and medical practitioners need to take account of the way in which the term 'safe sex' may be (mis)understood in order to ensure that the meaning of 'safe sex' as the prevention of STDs is retained and emphasised.