This book focuses on the cultural processes at work within the Australian gay communitites, which have made significant efforts at preventing the spread of the HIV virus. Sustaining Safe Sex has clear relevance to work throughout the world.

Drawing on the findings of the Social Aspects of the Prevention of AIDS (SAPA) project established in 1986, this volume presents new data on the sexual and sociological responses to the AIDS epidemic in Australia, assisting both government and non-government HIW AIDS agencies, federal and state, in policy formulation on gay and bisexual men and in the development of prevention education programmes. In a region heavily hit by the AIDS epidemic, the communities have made significant efforts at preventing the spread of the virus and the SAPA project was devised to assess the effectiveness of these efforts. The research in the SAPA project and its follow-up study, The Triple S or SAPA: Sustaining Safe Sex survey, was carried out using theories and practice of theory from the emerging field of the social construction of sexuality. It adopts a broad perspective confirming analyses carried out in other countries.