Urban Sex 1

Running Head: Urban Sexual Contact

Trends in Sexual Contact and Connections to Blacks within Urban Areas

Exercise 2 Problem Definition Paper: Secondary Data Tables
Anthony T. Feagin
SOWK 300 Section-01
Ms. J.L. McArthur
January 29,
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Abstract

The results and findings of my research on Persons who have ever had sexual contact I saw that out of
the participants interviewed that the smallest race percentage were African- Americans but were the
front runners in number of partners for sexual intercourse. I think these numbers help show the
correlation between dense urban population among blacks and also the increase that has been seen
with blacks having HIV/AIDS in recent years.
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1. Problem Identification. The topic/problem that I saw was that 33.8 percent of the 6,940 Black
males were having sexual contact with 15 or more people. This was significantly higher than the
38,738 White males and the 10,188 Hispanic Males.
2. Problem Description. This trend of a smaller portion or concentration of men being highly
sexually active leads to troubles in the more urban or African-American populated communities.
With men having sex multiple partners in the 15+ range you can start to understand the higher
rate of STD’s and HIV/AIDS with Blacks and more specifically Black Females.
I do not believe that you can control the promiscuity but that you can start at the high
school level with more in depth sex education programs such as condom usage and not strictly
abstinence. Overall trends with high school students having sex have gone down. Even with this
trend of high school students having sex there is still high STD rates because the majority of
males having sex is not within the 15-19 age range but 20-24 age group.
3. Findings. The data tables that I found help paint a picture of the close interaction within the
Black community with over 8,455,000 black households in 1990 living with in Metropolitan areas
this shows that blacks are typically living around other blacks around large cities. One table
shows the amount of sexual partners a portion of Black males admitted to having. Another chart
shows the general decline of sex among high school students. I also have recent health facts
about new cases of HIV diagnosed in 2007 and the racial breakdown of infected peoples.
a. Magnitude: I think that the problem is very severe for a while I knew that most of the
new cases of HIV were black females and males. When you sit down and look at charts
and numbers from sample populations you realize that these issues have to get better
or people will continue to die. HIV is non-curable unlike other STD’s such as Chlamydia
so it shouldn’t be taken lightly. There are also numbers that show that the majority of
men who have had 15 sex partners or more were leading in divorced rates and never
married columns this is a direct connection in my opinion. It shows a lack of interest in
settling down and sticking in a monogamous relationship. If men were committed to
staying monogamous there would be less men spreading disease among females; not
only in urban areas but around the country.
b. Scope: The problem is very wide spread because not all Blacks live in urban centered
households. For the point of this problem we will focus on urban areas because the
majority of Blacks either in or around urban theme cities. There are other races with
men having sex with 15 or more partners but, in the Table 94 you can see that out of the
61,000 men surveyed Blacks comprised 6% of the men and out of that 6% 33.4% were
having sex with 15 or more partners. This number was significantly higher that the
Whites and Hispanics shedding light of an epidemic that is going on and that is the
contraction of HIV/AIDS by young Black females.
c. Changes: While I do not have a graph showing the changes in STD rates among blacks in
last decade I have a pie chart that shows 51% of new cases of HIV in infants-adults in
2007 were African-American peoples. The slim glimpse of hope is that from 1993-2003
there has been a decline in sexual activity among high school age students from 56% for
males and 50% for females in 1993 to 48% for males and 45% for females in 2003. This
shows that there has been a more conscious effort to slow down sexual activity of
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young adults and hopefully these same adolescents will continue to keep a mindset of
less sexual promiscuity and will establish with future generations a less sexually active
society.
d. Disparities: The major disparities were between minorities and the majority Whites.
Although there are fewer minorities in America they constitute the majority of new HIV
cases. They also have more sexual partners. I tend to think that these trends come from
the close knit communities that minorities live in and the wealth distribution. Typically
with lower income and fewer resources that urban areas can have health care takes a
dip. This dip leads to a less conscious environment of healthy sex and a greater
understanding of the risks and responsibilities that come with not only sexual
intercourse; but the troubles that come with larger number of partners.
4. Data Tables.
Urban Sex 5
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References

U.S. Census Bureau. September 15, 2005 (Table 94) “Persons Who Have Ever Had Sexual Contact by
Selected Characteristics: 2002” Retrieved January 29, 2010
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0094.pdf

U.S. Census Bureau. March 1995 (Chart: Top 50 Metro Areas- An Overview) “Housing in Metropolitan
Areas- Black Households 1990” Retrieved January 29, 2010
http://www.census.gov/apsd/www/statbrief/sb95_5.pdf

Public Association of America n.d. (PAA Table 1) “Number of males 15-44 years of age and percent
distribution by number of female sexual partners of any type in the 12 months prior to the interview”
Retrieved January 29, 2010 http://paa2006.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=60725

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention August 2009 (Graph: Race/ethnicity of persons (including
children) with HIV/AIDS diagnosed during 2007) “HIV Among African-Americans” Retrieved January 29,
2010 http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/resources/factsheets/pdf/aa.pdf

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, January 2005. U.S. Teen Sexual Activity (Table) 1 “Percentage of
9-12th Graders, by Gender, Who have had sexual Intercourse, 1993-2003” Retrieved January 29, 2010
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/resources/factsheets/pdf/aa.pdf