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Paul Cameron, PhD
Institute for the Scientific Investigation of Sexuality, Inc Lincoln, Neb

JAMA. 1986;256(5):592.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Apparently speaking for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Dr Willard Cates¹ editorially scored moralistic criticisms of free sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics. He ridiculed "moral solutions" to STD problems since "the history of public health" has demonstrated that moral approaches "actually hinder preventive health care," and, furthermore, that "controlling STDs in the future can best be accomplished through... continued public support of clinical services."

The campaign of sophisticated vilification of traditional morality by Dr Cates and the CDC is without empirical merit. Our society has followed CDC sexual prescriptions for the past 40 years. Free STD clinics are now widespread, and we seldom "blame the victim" in accord with Dr Cates' guidelines. However, instead of serving "no useful purpose" (Dr Cates' interesting choice of words), historic morality helped keep STDs in check. Our recent nationwide random sexuality survey² found evidence that the fraction of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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