This study was prompted by recent evidence of an association among homosexual men between alcohol and drug use and encounters involving unsafe sexual practices (Stall et al. 1986). The literature review examined the relevant dimensions of the drinking and disinhibition literatures, and this report sketches the theoretical significance of such mediating cultural variables as expectancies, attributions, and situational exigencies that apparently affect the alcohol-sexuality nexus. The study concludes that cognitive factors pertaining to the interaction between social-psychological set and situational and cultural setting are largely responsible for the transformation of alcohol from a central nervous system depressant to a sexual stimulant, thus acting to construct persons' perceptions of their own physiology. This finding implies that public health interventions designed to alter expectancies regarding the influence of alcohol on sexual appetites can reduce the likelihood that drinking will lead to unsafe sexual practices. 5 notes and 80 references.