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''Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men'' is a 1997 book by journalist, gay activist and documentary filmmaker Gabriel Rotello. The author discusses why HIV has continued to infect large numbers of gay men despite the widespread use of condoms and why many experts believe that new HIV infections will disproportionately strike gay men into the future. To investigate this, he examines the origins and history of the AIDS epidemic, and draws upon epidemiology, sociology, gay history, ecology and many other disciplines. His conclusion is that gay men need to add a strategy of partner reduction to the strategy of condoms in order to bring new infections down. Rotello's central argument derives from the epidemiological concept that sexually transmitted epidemics are the result of three factors, sometimes called the Triad of Risk: 1. the ‘infectivity’ of a sexually transmitted disease (STD), or how easily it spreads, 2. the ‘prevalence’ of that STD in a particular group, and 3. the ‘contact rate,’ or the average number of sexual partners that people have within a particular group. Rotello argues that gay men significantly lowered the first leg of the triad, infectivity, through the use of condoms, yet condoms alone proved unable to quell the epidemic because the second leg of the triad, prevalence, was already so high. Therefore gay men needed to address the third leg of the triad, the contact rate. Rotello argues that lowering the contact rate while continuing to emphasize condoms might provide enough additional ‘room for error’ to bring new infections below the epidemic’s tipping point.〔Sexual Ecology, p. 206.〕 ''Sexual Ecology'' was considered by some a major contribution to the AIDS discourse and became a gay best seller. ''The New Scientist ''called it, “…a remarkable book...a breath of fresh air in the growing litany about the AIDS epidemic.” The ''New York Times'' called it ‘trenchant’ and ‘brave’ and said it “merits the attention of a broad audience,” while ''The Boston Globe'' described it as “…the ''Silent Spring'' of the AIDS epidemic.” It also received considerable praise by some within the LGBT community. Writing in ''The Nation'', gay historian Martin Duberman called it, “…the most important book about gay men and AIDS since ''And the Band Played On''. And it is far better.” But ''Sexual Ecology'' was criticized by others within the gay community for arguing that multiple partners played a significant role in the etiology and longevity of the gay AIDS epidemic and that, along with condoms, partner reduction was key to containing the epidemic. Mark Schoofs in the ''Village Voice ''called ''Sexual Ecology'' “toxic” and “an ugly distortion of gay life.” AIDS activist Jim Eigo compared Rotello to right wingers like Pat Buchanan and Jesse Helms, writing that he “scapegoats and stigmatizes those of us who engage in multipartnerism.” A new activist organization, ''Sex Panic!,'' was formed in part to combat the message of ''Sexual Ecology'', accusing Rotello and other writers whom the group labeled ‘gay neo-cons,’ particularly Michelangelo Signorile, Larry Kramer and Andrew Sullivan, of betraying gay sexual freedom. == Background == In the 1980s Gabriel Rotello was a New York City AIDS activist and member of the group ACT UP. In 1989 he founded ''OutWeek Magazine ''and'' ''became its editor-in-chief. The ''New York Times'' called ''OutWeek'' “the most progressive of the gay publications,” saying that it “gave voice to a new generation of AIDS activists ….and provided a rallying point for the more militant members of the gay community.” Rotello was controversial for promoting the word ‘queer’ as a catchall phrase for sexual minorities and for the phenomenon of ‘outing,’ which began at OutWeek. As such, he considered himself a member of the gay left. In 1992 he became the first openly gay man to become an op-ed columnist for a major American newspaper, ''New York Newsday,'' and used that platform to argue for gay rights and AIDS activism. During Rotello’s tenure at ''New York Newsday'', AIDS epidemiologists began reporting about a ‘second wave’ of HIV infections among gay men. Some studies indicated that 40% or more of young gay men would become infected with HIV by the time they reached middle age, despite the wide promotion of condoms. Many activists, including Rotello, had previously argued that the problem of new HIV infections had been largely solved by the promotion of condoms in the 1980s. Rotello began investigating the underlying reasons why AIDS had happened to gay men originally and why it was continuing. One result was a cover story for ''Out Magazine'' titled “The Birth of AIDS,”〔Rotello, Gabriel. ''The Birth of AIDS'', Out Magazine, April 1994, pp. 88-93, 130-137.〕 which described the emerging scientific consensus that HIV had existed in human populations for decades before the 1980s but had not previously produced an epidemic because it required a unique set of circumstance to spread. That article was eventually expanded into ''Sexual Ecology''. As he began writing ''Sexual Ecology ''new gay sex clubs opened in New York City that allowed unprotected anal sex in open settings for the first time in over a decade. Rotello wrote columns criticizing this in ''New York Newsday''〔Rotello, Gabriel, ''Sex Clubs are the Killing Fields of AIDS'', New York Newsday, April 28, 1996.〕 and joined a group called ''Gay and Lesbian HIV Prevention Activists (GALHPA)'' that argued that such venues should enforce safe sex or be closed. GALHPA’s stance caused considerable controversy and reignited the “bath house debates” of the early 80s. It was against this backdrop that ''Sexual Ecology'' was published by Dutton in 1997. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sexual Ecology」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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