SAFE SEX IS NOT CONTRACEPTION - RECLAIMING SAFE SEX FOR HIV STD PREVENTION/

This paper urges vigilance in retaining the meaning of 'safe sex' as w ays of having sex that reduce or eliminate the chances of contracting an STD. Interviews with heterosexual adolescents revealed that the ter m 'safe sex' is frequently understood to mean contraception. There is also evidence of this shift in meaning in the wider community. The con dom, because of its use for both contraception and the prevention of d isease, and because of its role in safe sex campaigns, is identified a s pivotal to this shift in meaning. When 'safe sex' means contraceptio n, heterosexual adolescents are made more vulnerable to STDs. Sex is s till 'safe' when condoms are discarded in favour of the oral contracep tive pill. It is argued that policy makers, educators, researchers, an d medical practitioners need to take account of the way in which the t erm 'safe sex' may be (mis)understood in order to ensure that the mean ing of 'safe sex' as the prevention of STDs is retained and emphasised .