The problem with prevention efforts in San Francisco is the same as it is everywhere else in the country. HIV prevention efforts suck. They suck out loud. They suck with teeth. Prevention efforts have been dumbed down to quickie statements.
Abstinence is the only safe sex.
Wear a condom every time. Forty thousand new HIV infections and 12 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases are diagnosed annually. Survey after survey tells us half of all teenagers are sexually active, advertisers use sex to sell us everything from cars to shampoo, and Madonna has sold over 100 million records by mastering the art of sexual provocation. We are a seriously disturbed nation. Prevention messages developed in the '80s have failed to stop the spread of HIV, largely because they were developed in a state of sheer panic and they no longer resonate with a generation of gay men who've never attended thirty funerals in one year.