Seeking sex on the Internet and sexual risk behaviour among gay men using London gyms

Abstract

Seeking sex on the Internet was associated with recent STD and high-risk sexual behaviour among HIV-positive and -negative gay men in London. The contribution of seeking sex on the Internet to the recent increase in high-risk behaviour among London gay men merits further investigation.

Exploring Determinants of Unprotected Sexual Behaviours Favouring HIV Transmission among Men who Have Sex with Men in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

“…Findings of the current study conform to previous studies (Egypt Ministry of Health and Population National AIDS Program, 2006;El-Sayed, et al, 1994;Elrashied, 2006;Mahfoud, Afifi, Ramia, El-Khoury, & Kassak, 2010), including, that participants' engagement in transactional sex practices as male sex workers put them in a weak position for safe sex negotiation. These findings also support results of previous studies (Balán, et al, 2009;Berg & Grimes, 2010;Elford, Bolding, & Sherr, 2001;Mettey, Crosby, DiClemente, & Holtgrave, 2003;Poon, et al, 2013), that inform the use of internet to meet online sex partners for offline sex and transactional sex as the common practices that contributed to unprotected sexual behaviours among MSM populations. On the contrary, other practices including the use of drugs and excessive alcohol consumption, which have been widely reported as associated with UAI among MSM (Clutterbuck, Gorman, McMillan, Lewis, & Macintyre, 2001;Drumright et al, 2006;Hirshfield, Remien, Humberstone, Walavalkar, &Chiasson, 2004;Parsons &Halkitis, 2002), were not found to be the case in the current study.…”

HIV Behavioral Research Online

“…Compared to others, men with online sex partners or who use chat rooms to find sex partners are younger, 3,17,19,20 more likely to have a previous STI, 11,18 to frequent public and commercial sex environments, 19,27 and to identify as non-gay and report sex with women. 19,20 There are also some contradictory findings.…”

“…5,11,17 Most studies show no difference between HIVpositive and HIV-negative MSM regarding their use of the Internet for finding sex partners. 3,[17][18][19][20] In a study of MSM in the United Kingdom (UK), two thirds of gay men reported Internet use in any given month and over half the men living in London reported use in the past 48 h. 20 The proportion of MSM in the UK using the Internet to find sex partners significantly increased from 28% in 1999 to 66% in 2002. As the proportion of men using the Internet for sex increased, the proportion of those using public sex venues decreased.…”

“…Not surprisingly, many individuals have turned to the Internet to seek love, companionship, and sex. 1,2 Men who have sex with men (MSM) are avid users of the Internet for dating and sexual purposes, as documented both by the number of studies [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] and the increasing number of Internet services catering to MSM. Mainstream Internet providers, such as America OnLine (AOL), feature user-created chat rooms where MSM can easily find each other in rooms labeled, for instance, Bm4m^and coded by geographical location (e.g., NYCm4m), HIV status (e.g., HIVm4m), ethnicity (e.g., Latinom4m), or more arcane names known only to the initiated [e.g., BAtlantabimm4bimm^(for bisexual married men)].…”

Surfing New Territory: Club-Drug Use and Risky Sex Among Hispanic Men Who Have Sex with Men Recruited on the Internet

“…Significant associations between Internet sex seeking and high-risk sex have been reported. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] There is direct evidence linking a syphilis outbreak, 9 and two cases of acute HIV infection 10 to sex partners identified through the Internet. Despite the dramatic increase in use of club drugs (drugs such as Ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine called that because of their association with the club scene) among MSM that have been reported in the last few years and the connection between club-drug use and risky sexual practices, [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] few researchers have examined use of club drugs and risky sex among Hispanic MSM (HMSM) who use the Internet and live in the AIDS epicenter of Miami-Dade County, Florida.…”