AIDS prevention and sexual liberalization in Great Britain

This paper reports the results of a survey conducted among students at a British university in November 1988. The survey included questions on both sexual behaviour and attitudes and responses to the threat of AIDS, and it enabled direct comparisons to be drawn with a similar survey conducted among students in the Federal Republic of Germany. The findings indicate that there persists in Britain a relatively restricted sexual culture despite trends towards liberalization over the last quarter of a century. This has had a significant effect on the responses of young people in Britain to the government's AIDS campaign. While the campaign is premissed on the assumption that most people can express their sexual needs and desires openly and without inhibitions, the survey shows that this is far from the case. Traditional values and attitudes still prevail to a remarkable degree, and these have hindered recent attempts to change sexual behaviour towards safer practices.