College Being

Yes, it is true. “But how can it be?,” you might ask. Well, according to Michael Kremer at Harvard, who did a study on the British acquisition of AIDS, the spread of the virus could be significantly slowed down if everyone with fewer than 2.25 sexual partners per year (75% of all heterosexuals age 18 to 45) were to have more sex.

Sounds crazy? Jump and I will explain it to you.

The reason this works is a bit complex so bare with me. We have two types of people: those who sleep with a great number of sexual partners and those who sleep with relatively few or none at all. Those who sleep with few partners have a very limited chance of having contracted the disease, yet those who sleep with everybody have a very high chance of having HIV in their system as well as passing it on to others.

Every time the reluctant majority decide to be cautious and not sleep with someone, chances are that the someone in question will find a member of the minority who have a great number of sexual partners and a high chance of carrying the disease. That someone will now most likely contact the disease, all because the reluctant person did not sleep with him or her first.

The solution: Now, if that reluctant person had in fact slept with the other, both of them would be safe and not contacted the disease. The AIDS carrier would not have slept with anyone because the reluctant person was more charming than he was, and now that the reluctant person is willing to have sex the AIDS carrier does not have a chance. By having those with limited sexual partners sleep with more people, we create a society where the AIDS carriers are a limited proportion of the population engaging in sexual activity. This reduces the chance of everyone contracting the disease which will eventually lead to less AIDS, and that is good for everyone.

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[photo by Wazari]