It's probably a stupid question, but...?

No, it is a good question!

First, however, it will interest you to know that over 90% of people infected with HIV worldwide are heterosexual. This is mostly in developing countries, especially Africa.

Now back to your question. It is true that the first DOCUMENTED person to have HIV in the developed world was a young gay man in the United States in the early 1980's.

In industrialised countries, HIV is a problem among mostly gay men. The reason for this is simple: unprotected anal sex is the most efficient way to transmit HIV, second to shared IV drug use. The reason for this is because during anal sex, the anal cavity is subjected to trauma and tears, bleeding results. This poses two problems: First, the blood from the receptive partner can enter the eye of the penis of the insertive parter, or, through breaks in the skin caused by inserting the penis into the anus. Second, the tears iin the anal cavity caused by anal sex provide an entry point for HIV infected semen to enter the blood. There are also parts of the rectum that provide an efficient means of transmission, even without tears.

So that's why, anal sex.

I think safe sex education has really helped in preventing an HIV outbreak among heterosexuals in the developed world. Most probably, vaginal sex does not really result in tearing of the internal vaginal cavity and hence there may be a decreased risk of infection.

My 2 cents anyway.

Pre-AIDS gay culture. Some bleeding almost always occurs during anal intercourse, so having unprotected sex with someone who was infected has a very high infection rate. I must also add that it wasn't just homosexuals doing it either. It was common in heterosexuals as well. Since the advent of birth control pills, unprotected sex was the norm.

hmmm, i know there are many gays on a std dating site, you may consider to ask them http://herpesmates.com/