Sexual Networks and the Spread of HIV/AIDS
A network, by definition, is a pattern of connections among a set of things; these “things” could represent a variety of subjects—everything from street locations to email addresses. We see them in our everyday lives; when we log onto Facebook, fly across the world, or even make a telephone call we are utilizing networks. The idea of a sexual network is, however, a bit more abstract to think about. For one, a sexual partner could represent a couple bound by marriage for 10 years, or a drunken one night stand that lasts but one evening. Whether casual or serious, our sexual encounters connect us into a network of the sexually active. Although this may seem like a less important network because of its subject, it suddenly becomes of vital importance when we stop to consider the relevance this has to STD transmission.
In an analysis entitled, “How do sexual networks affect HIV/STD prevention?”, Dan Wohlfeiler and John Potterat studied how the effects of networking comes into play with the spread of a sexually transmitted disease. The study focused on how one person is connected to this network, and how the basics of networks relate to whom we choose for sexual partnership.
This study relates to the topic of a network that we’ve studied in numerous ways. In this “network”, nodes represent people while the edges that connect them represent the sexual encounters that they have had. Sets also exist in this network; upon analyzing sexual practices, Wohlfeiler and Potterat noticed that people typically have encounters within certain groups. The sets in this network could be as large as how many students are enrolled at Cornell, or as small as two people who are completely monogamous. These niches could be related because of age group, location, and even race/ethnicity. This last characteristic was especially interesting in the study, as Wohlfeiler and Potterat found that although heterosexual white men and homosexual/bisexual black men take as much risk with choosing their sexual partners, homosexual/bisexual black men become infected much faster. This is all due to the certain niches that exist in this sexual network.
Following this train of thought is the idea of a bridge, which in this case represents a sexual encounter that one person from one set has with another in a different set. This aspect of the sexual network is how the HIV/AIDS disease spread from affecting predominantly homosexual men, to being a disease that could affect anyone. These bridges could connect vast sets or even monogamous partners; these have great importance, as the bridges represent the link between cities, colleges, or even nations. Embeddedness is also related; for example someone with a high number of sexual partners is more likely to be a central point in a certain set or niche, and therefore is a key potential transmitter. People who have fewer sexual encounters are obviously less embedded in the network.
Aspects of a typical network that this sexual network is lacking, however, are such things as strong/weak edges, strong triadic closure, and positive/negative relationships. When people have sex with one another, there is no such thing as a strong or weak bond; the same goes for the positive/negative aspect that we might see in a friendship network. All sexual encounters carry the same risk for HIV/AIDS transmission, no matter how important the encounter is to its participants. Also, there is no such thing as triadic closure (due to the lack of strong/weak bonds in this network), i.e. just because two people had a shared sexual partner does not mean that those people will have a sexual relation.
Finally, sexual encounters are often one time deals, and therefore the issue of time comes into play. Someone who was Subject A’s first partner is not at risk for whatever disease Subject A’s future partners will have (although it works the other way). Nevertheless, this sexual network is reflective of many topics we’ve studied in class.
Source: http://caps.ucsf.edu/factsheets/sexual-networks/
-Sterling
your argue it is true that the spread of aids is caused by the misuse of sex this is because the virus spreads through the sperm, thanks for the information