Unlike Michael Fumento's book titled: The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS, Stuart Brody's book: Sex At Risk: Lifetime Number of Partners, frequency of Intercourse, and the Low AIDS Risk of Vaginal Intercourse, is a book that will go over the head of most readers who do not have a college education. the writing style has so much technical jargon that few will understand what's being articulated.
despite these quibbles, I found the book to be extremely interesting--especially part II, which answers many questions we have concerning the AIDS virus yet also has us pondering many other questions as well. While I agree with much of what Brody postulates, I disagree with him on his criticizing many well-established premises that have been supported by medical professionals for 100 years or more. A good example of this is in Chapter 20 "The Dubious Value of Condoms." (P153) The fact is that condoms save lives. If we stipulate that female to male transmisison is rare, the reverse is not the case. thus a man wearing a condom who is HIV posititive will protect a woman who is HIV negative. Brody makes no distinction here. Even in 1997 when this book was first published, it was well established that male to female transmission was the main vehicle HIV was spread for heterosexual couples (Regardless Of How The Male Procured His Infection). It must also be noted that condoms protect men from other STDs that are easier to acquire from a woman, succh as syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes and a host of others. Yet Brody makes no mention of this. It is shocking to me that he would ignore these facts. Yes, I concur with him concerning how HIV is less likely to be transmitted through heterosexual sex (And His Suggestion That Nonoxynol-9 Is A Good Precaution Against AIDS), but this is not the case for all the other STI!
The bottom line is that when we control for homosexual and bisexual men, those who hail from third world nations and the Caribbean, IVDUs, hemophiliacs and heterosexuals that do not have rear sex, HIV transmission is rare amongst heterosexuals. Yet in ignoring a whole host of other STDs that can be transmitted via heterosexual contact, Stuart Brody does a disservice to those who might be lulled into a false sense of security concerning not using condoms. Had he simply stated that condoms are unnecessary for those in committed, monogomous relationships, his words would have made sense. Unfortunately he did not do this and as a result we are all left wondering about the overall meaning of his words.
Brody's most fascinating theory is that African-Americans may be more susceptible to the virus than European Americans (And Africans More Susceptible Than Europeans). He came to this conclusion by controlling for those black homosexuals and bisexuals along with IVDUs and those heterosexuals that did not practice rear sex. Once this was done, he discovered that blacks were still more likely than those equivalent whites to procure the disease. Fascinating! This is an area that begs for more research. Unfortunately it might be looked at with disdain by many minority groups who could feel as if the research in and of itself was a slight against them. In fact, I feel these studies should be conducted with every ethnic group and race; more knowledge would only empower those heterosexuals who enjoy sex.
I close in saying that this was a fascinating book that intrigued me greatly. I've had it since 2004 and had until now not read it. I give it Three and a Half Stars. The heavy-handed jargon was not always needed, and turned me off; nor do I feel that what Brody left out was appropriate concerning the subject matter. Nevertheless, Part III of this book more than redeems it and makes it well worth reading. Part II was interesting as well. I recommend this book.
A. Nathaniel Wallace, Jr.
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