The Face on the Men’s Room Wall. Print, vol. LVIII, no. IV; 2004

A report on the effectiveness of the sexually frank messages that combat gay mens’ complacency regarding HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Posters like this abound in the bathrooms of the bars, nightclubs, gyms, and restaurants that gay men patronize nationwide. By and large, they use male nudity, explicit language, and sexual inuendo in ways that would surely be controversial to non-gay audiences. Yet for those of us who encounter these communications regularly, their messages are anything but arousing. The many sexually transmitted diseases, once thought to be under control as public-health concerns, have reemerged with surprising force throughout gay communities around the world.