I work with a guy who’s homosexual How do I not catch Aids? – The Times

“Please help me, I am so miserable”. An archive of letters from the problem pages of 1980s magazines gives a poignant insight into the ignorance of Irish teenagers about sex, with much of their naivety imposed by the church.

“If I found out I was pregnant and if I committed suicide would this be an abortion? I’m Catholic and find it very hard to understand it. Please help me.” This is the desperate plea from a 17-year-old girl called Jane in November 1988, in a newly unearthed letter to the Sex Aid advice column in Hot Press magazine.

The hoard of correspondence has been examined in a study by the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. It comes from the Tears ’n’ Fears column in Fresh