Rumor Control: Can Men Get HIV From Women?

Absolutely, says Adaora Adimora, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and professor of epidemiology at the Gillings School of Global Public Health. "Although it's easier for men to give HIV to women," she says, "HIV transmission from women to men is common."

Roughly a quarter of HIV infections among Black men result from having sex with HIV-positive women, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In fact, after sex with other men and IV-drug use, heterosexual sex is the third-most-common method of HIV transmission among Black men, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

But men can protect themselves from getting HIV from women. It just requires a little more thoughtfulness and a little less spontaneity. Here are the best strategies:

1. Wear condoms consistently (with every single sexual act) and correctly (put one on before your penis touches your partner's skin--yes, including her mouth). Some STDs, all of which facilitate HIV transmission, can spread through any skin-to-skin contact with the infected area.
2. Have unprotected sex only with women whom you are certain are STD-negative (including HIV), and only after you've agreed that you will be sexually monogamous--that neither of you will have additional sexual partners while you're having sex with each other.
3. Get tested regularly and treated promptly for any STDs. If you're in a monogamous relationship, time your checkup to coincide with your lady's.

Also keep in mind the following:
Even with condoms properly strapped and snapped, certain types of sex are less risky than others. From the riskiest to least risky: anal, vaginal and then oral sex.

Male circumcision has also been shown in African trials to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from women to men. However, that may not be as much of a factor in the United States, where circumcision is already the norm: More than 70 percent of Black men in the United States are circumcised (compared with nearly 90 percent of White men). Still, Black men and women account for more than half of all new HIV infections. While it's a good idea for parents to circumcise their boys, Dr. Adimora cautions against getting "the impression that circumcision will make them bulletproof."

And just how did the urban legend that men can't get HIV from women begin? Dr. Adimora hasn't a clue. But no matter its origin, she says, "It is clearly incorrect."

Carla Murphy, a freelance journalist based in New York City, is a 2009 IPPY Award winner.