ABSTRACT
The advent of AIDS has stimulated unprecedented interest in the nature of human sexuality and sexual behaviour, the forms that it takes and the ways in which it is understood by individuals, communities and societies. Since the first cases of AIDS were diagnosed there has been much debate about the part that male ‘bisexuality’ might play in fuelling the epidemic, most usually on the pretext that such behaviour in itself poses special risks, not only for the individual concerned but also for sexual partners, both male and female. But to what extent do such views offer a sound understanding of the epidemic and its determinants? And to what extent is male ‘bisexuality’ the same all over the world? These are important questions, not least for the design of health promotion interventions to encourage HIV-related risk reduction among behaviourally bisexual men and their partners.
