In Chapter 2 Rotello turns to the question of why AIDS happened to American gay men when it did. Drawing on historical sources, he presents evidence that prior to World War II most American gay men did not engage in high risk behavior likely to lead to epidemics: they had fewer partners, they were more inclined to have oral rather than anal sex, and they were more likely to engage in sex with so-called “trade,’ or non-homosexually identified men. He cites evidence that gay men of that era actually had fewer STDs than the surrounding heterosexual population.