This descriptive pilot study extracted data from profiles posted by men seeking sex with other men on an intergenerational website. The study sought to determine how many of the men using the website were married, their ages, what type of sex was being sought, the level of expressed desire for safe or unsafe sex, the level of disclosure of HIV status, and the age range of the sex partner desired. The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics and sex-related behaviors reported by MSM who were seeking sex on an international, intergenerational website. Acknowledging the implications of Internet-related sexual “hook-ups” for the potential transmission of HIV underscores the importance of gaining greater understanding of the characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of MSM who seek sex over the Internet. Using the Internet, men seeking sex with other men can arrange for sexual encounters while keeping their identity secret. Increasingly, the Internet is playing an important role in MSM seeking sex partners, with the potential for connecting large numbers of potential partners across a wide geographic area. 27 It can also be a valuable tool in reaching across age groups to meet sex partners who are either younger or older.
acknowledge that the use of the Internet to seek sex partners is very important to MSM who cannot be open about their sexuality and sexual behaviors. 12 – 14 Further, a number of research studies have reported that MSM who meet sex partners on the Internet tend to have a greater number of partners, 15 – 18 have more casual sex partners, 19, 20 are more likely to have unprotected sex, 15, 21 – 25 are more likely to have a history of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), 11 and are more likely to continue to have sex with women. 12 Other studies have estimated that 25% to 50% of MSM have used the Internet to seek sex. 11 In the United Kingdom (UK), the percentage of young men who met their first male sex partner online increased from about 3% in 1993 to 61% in 2002. Liau, Millett, and Marks, conducting a meta-analysis examination of online sex-seeking, found that 40% of MSM have used the Internet to find sex partners. For dating and the seeking of sexual partners, the Internet has become the bar or club of past decades. There is increasing recognition that the rapid advancement of technology and the popularity of the Internet have important implications for the development of social and sexual relationships. 10 While no research studies on intergenerational sexual encounters among MSM could be identified, this phenomenon may facilitate the transmission of HIV from both older men to younger men and younger men to much older men. The culture that often surrounds sex with men in secret or “on the down low” can be counter to the idea of preventing risk or taking precautions, placing male and female sex partners at increased risk for HIV infection. With 80% of the cases of HIV in women related to heterosexual transmission, 9 MSM who have sex with women while keeping their sexual activity with men a secret can place women at high risk for acquiring HIV infection. 6 Further, straight and bisexual men in that study reported low incidence of condom use with either women or men. Carballo-Dieguez and Dolezal found that among a group of Puerto Rican MSM, men who self-identified as straight reported that as long as they are the insertive partner in same-sex contact, they do not view their behavior as homosexual. 7, 8 Many of these men have sex with both men and women. 4 However, a number of studies have shown that many MSM do not self-identify as gay, but rather as bisexual or straight 5, 6 and have little contact with the organized gay community. found that socialization into the gay community had a positive effect on safe sex practices such as condom use. 2, 3 This upward trend in HIV infection among MSM supports the critical need to explore factors that may be contributing to increasing transmission of HIV infection among MSM and their sex partners. 1 There is growing evidence that safe sex practices, once thought to be having significant effects in reducing HIV infection among gay men, may be becoming less prevalent. epidemic is increasing most rapidly among members of ethnic minority groups, men who have sex with men (MSM) continued to account for 53% of new HIV infections in 2006.
have been underestimated by as many as 16,000 per year using previous projection models. In fact, a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that the number of new cases of HIV in the U.S. Despite 25 years of educational and prevention efforts, significant numbers of individuals in the United States become infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) each year.