Restriction of sexual activity as a partial function of disease avoidance:A cultural response to sexually transmitted diseases

Across cultures, sexual relations are expected between husbands and wives. This expectation is virtually a constant, a universal. On the other hand, s exual relations between two persons who are not married to each other is mu ch more of a variable across cultures. It is argued that part of the differ ences among cultures in their treatment of extramarital sexual activity is a function of the presence or absence of sexually transmitted diseases (STD s). Because of the serious sequelae of STDs on fertility, multiple sexual p artners in the presence of STDs threatens the ability of a community to rep lace itself Hence, restrictions on the number of partners act to limit the adverse consequences of the STDs. In the absence of STDs in the breeding po ol, no such restrictions are needed. Ethnographic data are provided in supp ort of the thesis. (C) 2001 Sage Publications.