The New York Times - October 4, 1983
Richard D. Lyons

Psychiatrists, public health workers and law-enforcement officials say their suspicions are being confirmed that such a decrease has been taking place. The reasons, they say, go well beyond the relatively new fear of such diseases as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or herpes and include a broader kind of retrenchment from the sexual revolution of the 1960's and 70's, according to the experts.

These students of contemporary social behavior say the shift away from the kind of indiscriminate sexual behavior that often involves people who do not know each other well or are not engaged in an otherwise close or intimate relationship, is occurring both among heterosexuals and homosexuals.

However, the change is particularly discernible among homosexuals who have adopted a much more conservative sex life in response to anxiety and outright fears about contracting AIDS, which has struck more than 2,250 people in the United States and Puerto Rico, three-quarters of them homosexuals. More than 900 of them have died as a result of the disease.

In Madison, Wis., for example, doctors in charge of a program for the control of venereal diseases in homosexual men have found that men they surveyed in 1982 had had an average of 6.8 sexual partners in the previous 30 days. In 1983, that number plunged to 3.2. Moreover, they found that in 1983, 7.4 percent of men they surveyed had been abstinent for the previous 30 days, while no such men were found in 1982. "We attribute the observed decline in promiscuity to the fear of contracting AIDS," they wrote in the Sept. 17 Lancet, adding that so far, AIDS has not even appeared yet in Madison.

"A lot of my homosexual patients are really scared," said Dr. Michael Quadland, a psychotherapist in the Mount Sinai Hospital's sexuality program in Manhattan. "For both homosexuals and heterosexuals, sex is not as free as it was a few years ago, This means that either the sexual revolution is over, or it has been replaced by a new, more careful and caring sexual revolution."

He added, "There is no doubt that in response to AIDS and herpes, the customary places for homosexual encounters, such as bathhouses, are being frequented much less today; indeed, that there has been a drop in casual sex in recent years."

Dr. Shirley Zussman, another Manhattan sex therapist, agreed that significant changes in sexual behavior had occurred lately, but said that AIDS and herpes were not the only reasons for the changes.

"Many men and women in their 30's who were in the forefront of the sexual revolution in the 1960's are beginning to question whether casual sex and the life style that goes with it is really as exciting as it has been made out to be," she said.

"Many of these people, particularly women, began to see casual sex as a sign of an empty sort of life, and the addition of the herpes scare gave them added pause to examine their sex lives," she said.

Fears about contracting genital herpes have had less of an impact among heterosexuals who affect a more open, uninhibited sex life; yet their sexual activities are also undergoing a gradual reversion to more traditional patterns, the experts say.

"A wind of conservatism is sweeping the country," said Dr. June M. Reinisch, director of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex in Bloomington, Ind. She attributed part of the change to the recession, explaining that "hard times tend to bring people back to their puritanic roots and they become more moralistic about disease."

"But plenty of people, particularly homosexuals and bisexuals, are really scared about AIDS, and rightly so," she added.

Her opinion was not universally endorsed by others in the field, yet many of the score of specialists whose opinions were sought agreed that most Americans who considered themselves to be sexually liberated were reducing the number of their partners.

Public health officials in New York, Denver and Los Angeles have reported that the fear of AIDS has led to a marked drop in such venereal diseases as syphilis and gonorrhea among homosexuals.

In Greenwich Village, for example, these and other venereal diseases common to homosexuals declined by more than 25 percent in the first six months of this year, while reported cases of venereal disease rose slightly elsewhere in New York.

"The trend in the Lower West Side, where many homosexuals live, certainly is significant compared to the rest of the city," said Dr. Sol Blumenthal, director of biostatistics for the New York City Health Department.

In noting a drop of almost 50 percent in gonorrhea among homosexuals in the last year, Dr. Franklyn N. Judson of the Denver Disease Control Service said, "It appears that many homosexual men may be opting for more conservative life styles."

These views were supported by Blue Flettrich, director of the Islanders Club, a homosexual organization that has 5,000 members in New York.

There has been a panic because of AIDS, he said. "Before AIDS the typical gay man used to go out cruising and go home with the prettiest man he could find, but this isn't happening anymore," he said.

Bruce Mailman, a partner in a homosexual bathhouse in the East Village, estimated that his business had fallen "well over 15 percent recently because homosexuals are frankly terrified about AIDS." But he too added that social, as opposed to sexual, activity had increased among homosexuals.

This same change in attitude has been observed in recent years among heterosexual men and women students at Ohio State University by Dr. Nancy Clatworthy, an associate professor of sociology there.

Dr. Clatworthy, who conducts surveys of sexual activity every five years, said the percentage of women who said they had engaged in premarital sex rose markedly through the 1960's to 80 percent in l975, then dropped off to 50 percent in 1980.

"The result couldn't have surprised us more," she said, adding that cohabitation among students had also halved in the same period.

"I think sexual activity is being modified by a trend toward conservatism generally," she said. "Herpes is certainly a factor that came along, and women in particular are being more careful, but it's not the main reason."

Dr. Ira Robinson, a sociologist at the University of Georgia, said the students there were much more wary of venereal disease than in the past and were being more careful in their sexual relations, although the amount of such activity had not changed.

In the last several years, there had been a big drop in the patronage of so-called swing clubs for couples, such as Plato's Retreat in Manhattan. "We have had a substantial drop in business," the manager said.

More than 30 sex-related businesses in central Manhattan have closed in the last 18 months.

And it's not just New York. Reports from other areas, such as upstate New York, Washington, D.C., and the major cities in California, indicate a drop in the number of businesses catering to sex.

"The drop in attendance at sex shows and topless bars shows a move toward the 'privatization' of sex," Mr. Weisbrod said, adding that "the public demand for sex hasn't gone away, it's redirected itself."

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