The Context of HIV Risk Among Drug Users and Their Sexual Partners

the first study and most of the second. This was a conscious strategy to
offset possible hostile reactions in the gay community to nongay staff.
From the onset, the study endeavored to develop good relationships in the
gay community to facilitate interviewing.
During the second survey, each respondent was asked if he had been
interviewed during the previous study conducted 2 years earlier. Only
1 in 12 (8.0 percent) reported that they had been interviewed previously;
this seems to indicate that the population of male sex workers may be
large or transitory with a high turnover. The high turnover of the
population was further revealed in data about other cities where workers
had sold sex. Only a third (34 percent) reported that they had worked as
sex workers only in San Francisco, while two-thirds (66 percent)
mentioned at least two cities. More specifically, 8 percent mentioned
6 different cities, 14 percent 5 cities, 25 percent 4 cities, and 40 percent
3 cities. Hustlers had worked in more cities than call men. The most
frequently mentioned other cities were Los Angeles and New York City.
SELF-REPORTS ABOUT AIDS AND ARC DIAGNOSES AND
HIV TESTING
The first study was conducted during the period when HIV testing was
very controversial in San Francisco. Many people in the gay community
were suspicious of and hostile to agencies and projects that proposed
widespread HIV testing. Testing was considered during that study, but
the idea was abandoned because the climate around testing was so
volatile at the time. The study did gather data about self-reports of
medical diagnoses of AIDS and AIDS-related complex (ARC) and results
from HIV testing from both samples and found very consistent findings.
During the first study, self-reports revealed that 12.7 percent were either
HIV positive or had been diagnosed as having AIDS or ARC. One in
20 (5.5 percent) reported that they had been diagnosed as having AIDS or
ARC, and another 7.2 percent reported that they were HIV positive. Call
men reported being HIV positive and diagnosed with ARC or AIDS
slightly more often than hustlers, but the differences were not statistically
significant. 2
The second study did not consider or plan HIV testing, but interviewers
asked about diagnoses and the results of the last HIV test. Reports were
similar to the first sample; 12.1 percent reported being either HIV
positive or diagnosed, and again call men reported being positive or
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