Shelton notes that when HIV was still a death sentence in the U.S., gay men made radical changes in their behavior. And the drop in HIV prevalence in Kenya and in Zimbabwe was marked by a large drop in multiple sexual partners.
Truth 1: Fidelity Helps
Shelton's main point is that people who have multiple sexual partners drive the spread of HIV. In areas where HIV is widespread, people may not have a large number of sex partners, but they have more than one at the same time.
Once HIV enters one of these small networks, the entire network is likely to become infected. That makes having multiple concurrent partners more dangerous than serial monogamy, in which a partner has one partner for a time, and then another.
Squires notes that different researchers have different views on Shelton's suggestion. But she notes that in the U.S., monogamy is not the same as safe sex.
The important thing to understand is that while you may be having sex with only one person, you are being exposed to the risk from all the people with whom that person has had sex," she says. "It may be reassuring to have sex with only one person. But you still have to take personal responsibility for having safe sex."
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