The way in which sex may be constructed as safe through its relationship with 'love' is the concern of this study. Interviews with heterosexual women and men from discos and bars in Melbourne, Australia, catering to single adults revealed the pervasive construction of sex within the discourses of 'love' and 'romance'. We conclude that health messages which emphasize that 'sex is unsafe' may be counterproductive.
We illustrate how women and some men construct casual sex as a strategy for obtaining the possibility of 'love'. For these women and men, 'safe sex' as 'unprotected sex' is viewed as a strategy for maximizing the possibility that the casual encounter will result in a longer term relationship.
On the other hand, 'unsafe sex' as 'unprotected sex' is viewed as a strategy that is more likely to interrupt the construction of romance in the causal encounter thus risking the possibility of love as the desired outcome.
PIP: Interviews with heterosexual men and women recruited at discos and bars in Melbourne, Australia, in revealed a tendency--especially among women--to construct sex as "safe" within the discourses of "love" and "romance. Casual sex was viewed as an essential strategy in the search for love, and sexual safety practices were related more to their anticipated impact on finding love than on an assessment of the potential of sexually transmitted disease transmission.
This view is consistent with cultural notions of femininity in sex as the relinquishment of control for the sake of love. This difficulty was even more pronounced among women, who tended to believe insistence on condom use would result in the loss of a sexual encounter with romantic potential. Many men reported they use this perception of potential rejection to convince women to engage in unprotected sex.
