History of the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles : the transcript of a Witness Seminar held by the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL, London, on 14 December 2009

2011·1 MB·English

by  Overy, Caroline

HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL SURVEY OF
SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND LIFESTYLES
The transcript of a Witness Seminar held by the Wellcome Trust Centre
for the History of Medicine at UCL, London, on 14 December 2009
Edited by C Overy, L A Reynolds and E M Tansey
Volume 41 2011
©The Trustee of the Wellcome Trust, London, 2011
First published by Queen Mary, University of London, 2011
The History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group is funded by the Wellcome Trust, which is
a registered charity, no. 210183.
ISBN 978 090223 874 9
All volumes are freely available online at www.history.qmul.ac.uk/research/modbiomed/
wellcome_witnesses/
Please cite as: Overy C, Reynolds L A, Tansey E M. (eds) (2011) History of the National Survey
of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine, vol. 41.
London: Queen Mary, University of London.
CONTENTS
Illustrations and credits v
Abbreviations vii
Witness Seminars: Meetings and publications; Acknowledgements
E M Tansey, L A Reynolds and C Overy ix
Introduction
Clive Seale xxi
Transcript
Edited by C Overy, L A Reynolds and E M Tansey 1
Appendix 1
‘Thatcher halts survey on sex’
By Michael Durham and David Hughes,
The Sunday Times, 10 September 1989 61
Appendix 2
Timeline of events leading up to Wellcome Trust support for NATSAL 64
Appendix 3
Comment by Dr Peter Williams 66
References 69
Biographical notes 75
Index 85

ILLUSTRATIONS AND CREDITS
Figure 1 Summary of predictions of numbers of new cases of
AIDS diagnosed in England and Wales, reproduced
from Department of Health and the Welsh Office
(1988), figure 3.6, page 29. Contains public sector
information licensed under the Open Government
Licence v1.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/
open-government-licence/ 9
Figure 2 First pilot study for NATSAL-1, published in AIDS
(1989), 3: 135–41. 10
Figure 3 Front cover of Johnson et al. (1994). Reproduced by
permission of Wiley-Blackwell. 16
Figure 4 Sexual lifestyles under scrutiny, Nature (1990): 276. 17
Figure 5 Mike Durham displays his framed copy of the front
page of The Sunday Times, taken at the Witness
Seminar, 14 December 2009. Reproduced by
permission of The Sunday Times and the Wellcome
Library, London. Headline of Mike Durham’s article,
©The Sunday Times, London, 10 September 1989. 21
Figure 6 Julia Field, Jane Wadsworth, Kaye Wellings and
Anne Johnson pictured in the Wellcome Building,
Sunday Telegraph, 30 January 1994. Reproduced by
permission of photographer, Mr Julian Simmonds. 33
Figure 7 Kipper Williams’ cartoon, The Sunday Times, (February
1994). Reproduced by permission of The Sunday Times
and Mr Kipper Williams, ©The Sunday Times. 39
Figure 8 The NATSAL-2 team in October 2002. Provided by
and reproduced with permission of Mrs Julia Field. 50
v
Figure 9 Dr Peter Williams. Reproduced by permission of the
Wellcome Library, London. 67
Table 1 Outline programme for ‘History of the National
Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles’ Witness
Seminar. 4
vi
ABBREVIATIONS
AIDS acquired immune deficiency syndrome
CAPE Committee on AIDS Public Education
CAPI computer-assisted personal interviewing
CASI computer-assisted self interview
CESA Committee on Epidemiological Studies of AIDS
DHSS Department of Health and Social Security (DoH after 1988)
DoH Department of Health
ESRC Economic and Social Research Council
HEA Health Education Authority
HIV human immunodeficiency virus
HPV human papillomavirus
MRC Medical Research Council
NatCen National Centre for Social Research
NATSAL National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles
ONS Office for National Statistics
OPCS Office for Population, Censuses and Surveys
SCPR Social and Community Planning Research
SIGMA Socio-sexual Investigations of Gay Men and Aids
STI sexually transmitted infection
vii

WITNESS SEMINARS:
MEETINGS AND PUBLICATIONS 1
In 1990 the Wellcome Trust created a History of Twentieth Century Medicine
Group, associated with the Academic Unit of the Wellcome Institute for the
History of Medicine, to bring together clinicians, scientists, historians and others
interested in contemporary medical history. Among a number of other initiatives
the format of Witness Seminars, used by the Institute of Contemporary British
History to address issues of recent political history, was adopted, to promote
interaction between these different groups, to emphasize the potential benefits
of working jointly, and to encourage the creation and deposit of archival sources
for present and future use. In June 1999 the Governors of the Wellcome Trust
decided that it would be appropriate for the Academic Unit to enjoy a more
formal academic affiliation and turned the Unit into the Wellcome Trust Centre
for the History of Medicine at UCL from 1 October 2000 to 30 September
2010. The History of Twentieth Century Medicine Group has been part of the
School of History, Queen Mary, University of London, since October 2010, as
the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group, which the Wellcome Trust
continues to fund.
The Witness Seminar is a particularly specialized form of oral history, where several
people associated with a particular set of circumstances or events are invited to
come together to discuss, debate, and agree or disagree about their memories. To
date, the History of Twentieth Century Medicine Group has held nearly 50 such
meetings, most of which have been published, as listed on pages xiii–xvii.
Subjects are usually proposed by, or through, members of the Programme
Committee of the Group, which includes professional historians of medicine,
practising scientists and clinicians, and, once an appropriate topic has been
agreed, suitable participants are identified and invited. This inevitably leads to
further contacts, and more suggestions of people to invite. As the organization of
the meeting progresses, a flexible outline plan for the meeting is devised, usually
with assistance from the meeting’s chairman, and some participants are invited to
‘set the ball rolling’ on particular themes, by speaking for a short period to initiate
and stimulate further discussion.
1 The following text also appears in the ‘Introduction’ to recent volumes of Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth
Century Medicine as listed on pages xiii–xvii.
ix
Each meeting is fully recorded, the tapes are transcribed and the unedited
transcript is immediately sent to every participant. Each is asked to check his
or her own contributions and to provide brief biographical details. The editors
turn the transcript into readable text, and participants’ minor corrections and
comments are incorporated into that text, while biographical and bibliographical
details are added as footnotes, as are more substantial comments and additional
material provided by participants. The final scripts are then sent to every
contributor, accompanied by forms assigning copyright to the Wellcome Trust.
Copies of all additional correspondence received during the editorial process are
deposited with the records of each meeting in archives and manuscripts, Wellcome
Library, London.
As with all our meetings, we hope that even if the precise details of some of the
technical sections are not clear to the non-specialist, the sense and significance
of the events will be understandable. Our aim is for the volumes that emerge
from these meetings to inform those with a general interest in the history of
modern medicine and medical science; to provide historians with new insights,
fresh material for study, and further themes for research; and to emphasize to
the participants that events of the recent past, of their own working lives, are of
proper and necessary concern to historians.
Members of the Programme Committee of the
History of Twentieth Century Medicine Group, 2010–11
Professor Tilli Tansey – professor of the history of modern medical sciences,
School of History, Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) and chair
Dr Sanjoy Bhattacharya – reader in the history of medicine, University of York
Sir Christopher Booth – former director, Clinical Research Centre,
Northwick Park Hospital, London
Dr John Ford – retired general practitioner, Tonbridge
Professor Richard Himsworth – former director of the Institute of Health,
University of Cambridge
Professor Mark Jackson – professor of the history of medicine and director,
Centre for Medical History, Exeter
Professor John Pickstone – Wellcome research professor, University of Manchester
Mrs Lois Reynolds – senior research assistant, QMUL, and organizing secretary
Professor Lawrence Weaver – professor of child health, University of Glasgow, and
consultant paediatrician in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow
x