安全性行为指南的类型:1.普通指南
“安全性行为”普通指南可用于全国范围的预防运动。它包括了基本的预防知识，但不涉及每一种性行为的细节内容。另一方面，为一些性接触诡秘的群体提供非常详尽的指南是有好处的，也就是在大城市和在教育程度较高而又不断到处旅行或在外与即时社交圈内的人有频繁接触者中间提供这种指南。旧金山AIDS基金会曾经制定过很适用的详尽指南。
涵盖所有性行为可能种类的包罗万象的指南则较少使用，因为有些性行为模式是人所未知或人所禁忌，而且并不是人们惯常的性兴趣所能涉及到的。

德国的普通指南
德国联邦健康与社会安全局制定出了这种普通指南并通过联邦健康教育中心一直以19种语言的版本向公众分发。此处显示的样本，从左自右是英文版、土尔其语版和俄文版。每一种钱包大小的小册子有23页。
General guidelines in Germany.
The German Federal Ministry of Health and Social Security, through its Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA), has developed these general guidelines and is distributing them in 19 different languages. Shown here are, from left to right, the English, Turkish, and Russian versions. Each wallet-size little brochure has 23 pages.
 

Types of Guidelines: 1. General Guidelines
General “safe sex” guidelines can be used in nation-wide prevention campaigns. They cover the basics, but do not go into every sexual detail. On the other hand, very detailed guidelines may be helpful in sexually sophistcated communities, i.e. in very large cities and among well-educated women and men everywhere who travel or have frequent contacts outside their immediate social circles. A good example are the guidelines proposed by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
Sexually comprehensive advice is less useful where the full range of possible sexual behavior is either unknown or taboo, and where people are not used to articulating their sexual interests.