Online Dating Among Australian Gay and Bisexual Men: Romance or Hooking Up?

Increasingly, gay and bisexual men (GBM) meet casual sex partners online and this has been associated with sexual risk behavior. How do GBM meet regular partners? This online anonymous survey of 4215 GBM included 2562 men with a primary regular partner (PRP) who were included in these analyses. Mean age of the sample was 38.1 years. 60.3 % had met their PRP at least 2 years earlier. Meeting their PRP online increased from 14.0 % before 2001 to 79.9 % in 2013–2014. At all time points, men who met their PRP online were somewhat older than those who met their PRP offline. Regardless of how they met their PRP, most men met casual sex partners online. Among GBM, meeting sexual and romantic partners online has replaced other methods, for all age groups. The population of GBM who use the internet for this purpose is now equivalent to all sexually active GBM

Understanding Gay Community Subcultures: Implications for HIV Prevention

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York Gay and bisexual men (GBM) who participate in gay community subcultures have different profiles, including differing risk behaviors. We examined men’s participation in gay community subcultures, and its association with risk behavior. In a cross-sectional survey, 849 GBM provided information about men in their personal networks. We devised measures of their participation in five subcultural groupings and explored their associations with sexual behavior. We identified five subcultural groupings: sexually adventurous; bear tribes; alternative queer; party scene; and sexually conservative. Higher scores on the sexually adventurous measure was associated with being older, having more gay friends, being HIV-positive, and being more sexually active. It was also independently associated with unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners (AOR 1.82; 95 % CI 1.20–2.76; p = 0.005). HIV prevention strategies need to account for the different subcultural groupings in which GBM participate. Measures of engagement with gay subcultures are useful indicators of differential rates of risk behavior and modes of participation in gay community life. Men in more sexually adventurous subcultures are more likely to engage in sexual risk behavior