WELCOME TO THE INVENTION OF SAFE SEX BLOGSPOT

My name is Richard Berkowitz and I want to explain what you will see here. In May 1983, along with Dr. Joseph Sonnabend and the late author and musician Michael Callen, I co-authored the first safe sex manifesto, HOW TO HAVE SEX IN AN EPIDEMIC: One Approach. Our 40 page self-published booklet is widely regarded as the invention of safe sex as we know it today. I wrote about how the three of us came together to invent safe sex for AIDS in my 2003 book, STAYIN’ ALIVE: THE INVENTION OF SAFE SEX, A Personal History.

Recently, my book inspired a new documentary by filmmaker Daryl Wein, called SEX POSITIVE. The film has been very well received in the press and at many film festivals around the world. Last June, it premiered in several cities around the country. Thousands of people have seen SEX POSITIVE, but when the film moves to cable TV in the upcoming fall of 2009, tens of thousands of people will have the opportunity to see it. It’s an important film that raises more questions than it can answer. That’s why I’m using the internet: to address questions people often have. This blog begins that effort.

The history of safe sex is important, but the story of how it came about has been overlooked and erased from history. It’s my belief that for those at risk for AIDS, understanding this history is vital to our survival.

Life is a journey. My journey has been that of a writer and a highly sexually active gay man who has survived HIV and AIDS since the epidemic began. I believe that one important reason why I remain in good health is that I knew something many people were never taught or understood: that it’s never too late for safe sex. I hope to illuminate why that is here and elsewhere.

I’m currently working on putting my private archive about the history of safe sex on the internet. I am also working on a more content-filled website, RichardBerkowitz.net that should be up and running this fall. In the meantime, I wanted to document how my nascent journey as a gay writer in the midst of the sexual revolution of the 1970s began—and eventually lead me—to AIDS. I will also be updating news about SEX POSITIVE and where I will be appearing around the country with the film.

Richard Berkowitz
New York City
July 30, 2009