Sex sells, but sexuality?

The accepted scientific thinking is that sexual orientation is genetic. In other words, you like who you like because DNA says so. But some economists decided to look at an American social survey, and they discovered something interesting. Knowing the cost of getting AIDS can alter sexual preferences. In other words, sexuality has its price.

First, they took a social survey from 1992, a time when most people with AIDS were gay men. Their findings were based on an interesting idea. Look at the sexual preference of people whose family members have AIDS. Since sexual preference is genetically based, then you'd expect a higher proportion of gay folks.

Nope.

In fact, zero men who had a family member with AIDS (most likely a male) reported being gay. On the flip side, women with an AIDS-stricken relative were twice as likely to express a preference for other women. As in, not a potentially HIV-positive man.

In other words, knowing the cost of AIDS made people a lot more likely to try to avoid it, even in their sexual preferences. It may be more than sex that sells.