Despite Being "Known, Highly Promiscuous and Active": Presumed Heterosexuality in the USPHS's STD Inoculation Study,...

The Sexually Transmitted Disease Inoculation Study of the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) was a short-term deliberate exposure experiment into the prevention of venereal diseases. Between 1946 and 1948, over 1,300 Guatemalan prisoners, psychiatric patients, soldiers, and sex workers were exposed to syphilis, gonorrhoea, and chancroid. USPHS researchers initially proposed hiring sex workers to "naturally" transmit venereal diseases to male subjects who would then be given various prophylaxes. The researchers were interested in studying the effectiveness of new preventative measures. In other words, the USPHS study was designed to transmit venereal diseases heterosexually from an "infected" female body to the men who, it was assumed, were sexually isolated subjects. However, the researchers did record instances of male-to-male disease transmission among their subject populations, instances that challenged the presumption of heterosexuality on which the study was based.