The history here says the African epidemic was spread primarily heterosexually. There is also the confounder of differing levels of medical facilities in different countries.
That aside, which is not to say that Africa does not matter, in the US and Europe the impact was primarily in the gay community.
I recognise that this is a contentious area though, and would rather avoid a lengthy thread.
The point was just that we should be allowed to weight expected positives against expected negatives. Yes, there can be invisible items in the “cons” column (also on the “pros”), and it may make sense to require extra weight on the “pros” column to account for this, but we shouldn’t be required to act as if the invisible “cons” definitely outweigh all “pros”.
Its worst impact was and is in Sub-Saharan Africa where the “laws and customs against homosexuality” are fully in place.
The history here says the African epidemic was spread primarily heterosexually. There is also the confounder of differing levels of medical facilities in different countries.
That aside, which is not to say that Africa does not matter, in the US and Europe the impact was primarily in the gay community.
I recognise that this is a contentious area though, and would rather avoid a lengthy thread.
The point was just that we should be allowed to weight expected positives against expected negatives. Yes, there can be invisible items in the “cons” column (also on the “pros”), and it may make sense to require extra weight on the “pros” column to account for this, but we shouldn’t be required to act as if the invisible “cons” definitely outweigh all “pros”.
This suggests we actually need laws and customs against promiscuity. Or just better public education re STIs.