Blanche is portrayed as a promiscuous woman. In one episode, it is stated that her initials, Blanche Elizabeth Devereaux, spell out the word "BED." However, in a previous episode, Viola Watkins calls her "Blanche Marie Hollingsworth". Blanche spends a great deal of her time with men, and this is a source of both condemnation from and amusement to her roommates. Blanche's seemingly liberated human sexual behavior is a contrast to the sexual climate of the 1980s, when AIDS was beginning to seep into a nation's consciousness. However, in the episode "72 Hours", Blanche was cognizant of the dangers of HIV and STDs; she always used protection and knows every lover's full sexual history. It is also implied in one episode that she has had numerous interracial sexual liaisons with African-American men, though no such relations were ever depicted on camera.