Marseille 2007
| Abstract #618 - Sexual risk behaviours among men using the Internet to meet other men for sexual purposes in France: primary results from the Net Gay Barometer 2006 study | ||||
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Session: 32.6: Theatre and Media and Internet (Parallel) on Tuesday @ 11.00-12.30 in PR Chaired by Larry Brown, Victoria Gordillo Authors: Presenting Author: Prof Alain Leobon - CNRS - UMR ESO, France |
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| Additional Authors: Prof Alain Leobon, Mr Louis-robert Frigault, | ||||
| Aim: The Net Gay Barometer 2006 is a biennial study on the social and sexual uses of the Internet among men who have sex with men (MSM) in France. It is a component of a wider study of sexual risk behaviours in gay men who frequent sex-oriented venues in France. Objective: To describe some social and sexual uses of the Internet as well as study participants sexual risk-taking behaviours. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Men were recruited between December 2005 and February 2006 through personalised e-mailings on seven major Websites representative of the socio-sexual diversity of the French MSM population. | ||||
| Results / Comments: 15,085 MSM completed an online questionnaire. Unique Website identifiers reveal that 51% of the participants responded to the questionnaire from general interest gay Websites (GIG), 17% from a BDSM Website, 16% from a BEAR Website and 6% from a barebacking Website (BB). One third of participants were aged 26 to 35 and mean age was 36 years: 64% reported some university education, 63% were in a committed relationship and 17% self-identified as bisexuals. 11% of respondents self-reported HIV-positive status, 67% HIV-negative status and 22% were unaware of their HIV status. One third (32%) reported a history of at least one sexually transmitted infection (STI) with 8% reporting at least one STI in the past 12 months. One quarter (24%) of respondents reported they had been tested for syphilis in the past 12 months. 96% of the respondents occasionally or frequently visited Internet Websites to meet partners, 54% visited bar or clubs, 50% visited non-commercial public spaces and 33% went to backrooms or sex-clubs. 88% of respondents met at least one partner through the Internet in the past year. 83% had sexual relations with at least one casual partner in the past 12 months (37% of these reporting ten sexual partners or more). Of those, 93% had insertive or receptive anal intercourse at least once, 53% had group sex, 22% practiced water sports, 22% engaged in fist-fucking and 19% barebacked. Among those who engaged in anal sex, about one third (35%) reported at least one incident of unprotected anal intercourse, which was significantly associated a) with HIV status (66% of HIV+, 41% of unknown HIV status and 26% of HIV-) and b) the Website from which they responded to the questionnaire (77% of those recruited on the BB Website, 38% on BDSM, 32% on BEAR and 30% on GIG Website). 11% reported they had frequent or systematic unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners in the past 12 months. | ||||
| Discussion: This diverse sample of men who use the Internet to meet sexual partners engage in a variety of sexual risk behaviours. Risks taken are modulated by respondents HIV status and by the referenced Website from which they completed the questionnaire. The study suggests Internet users are not a homogeneous group and intervention targeting them should be based on an in-depth understanding of the sexual cultures operating within Websites. | ||||
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