Sexually transmitted diseases may reverse the `revolution'

"Fathers always used to tell their high school age sons to carry condoms in their wallets. Well, I want mothers to start telling their daughters to carry condoms—and make sure the boys use them." Mary Guinan, MD, associate director of the Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD), Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, says she has given many teenage girls that advice. It was offered prophylactically, you might say, not with unanticipated babies in mind but because "many sexually transmitted diseases are transmitted in semen and if you avoid the deposition of semen you can dramatically reduce the rate of disease transmission." Ward Cates, Jr, MD, director of the sexually transmitted disease division, agrees. "Sexually transmitted diseases are biologically sexist," he says. "Women get infected more easily and tend to have more severe complications. It's in women's interest to take the lead and practice primary prevention." Cates cites a recentGlamour