ABSTRACT
The past decade and the growth of the AIDS industry have seen advances in many fIelds of scientifIC research. In the behavioural sciences a challenge of the greatest importance has been the explanation of moves towards safer sex among gay and bisexual men and the maintenance of those changes over time. These changes have primarily been understood as health-promoting manoeuvres made by men at an individual level. Consequently, 'failure' to adopt safer sex has also been viewed at an individual level. Over the period of our research we have sought to develop an alternative approach to the understanding ofsexual behaviour in general, and unsafe behaviour in particular. This model is theoretically informed, humanistic and holistic in scope and based on the simple insight that sex is interpersonal and interactive. In this chapter we sketch the tenets ofthe traditional approach, set out our criticisms of it, and in the final section set out our understanding of the interactional matrix within which sexual behaviour is negotiated and moulded.
