ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to attempt a sociological critique of a concept recently introduced to behavioural research on gay men, and to do this by reference both to the empirical and epistemological bases of what at present is a mainly North American literature. It begins by summarizing the epidemiological and behavioural data which established the extent of the adoption of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk reduction strategies by gay men, and then describes the introduction of the concept of 'relapse' to account for observed trends towards so-called unsafe sexual behaviour. The chapter discusses the model of human sexual response upon which the assumption of relapse is predicated, and an implicit social construction of gay men. It ends by suggesting why the term 'relapse' should appear at the moment in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic in the United States of America, but also the direction that a more sociological analysis of behaviour might take.
