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Gay News: A new study has shown that gay men in the UK and the USA differ in deciding what constitutes "having sex"
By: Nigel Robinson
Gay men differ in deciding what "having sex" means
Gay men differ in deciding what "having sex" means
Gay men in the UK and the USA have different definitions of "having sex"
The study, carried out by the Kinsey Institute and published in journal AIDS Care, sampled 180 gay men in the UK and 180 in the USA. The men’s ages ranged from 18 to 74.
Most agreed that penetration qualified as “having sex”, but there were differences between the UK and the USA respondents’ to other practices.
In the UK 84.9 per cent of those surveyed agreed that oral stimulation of the genitals constituted “having sex”, compared to only 71.6 per cent of gay men in the USA.
Oral-anal stimulation was counted as “sex” by 78.4 per cent in the UK, while only 61.2 per cent in the States agreed.
Mutual use of sex toys was regarded as “having sex” by 70.9 per cent of gay Britons, against 53.4 per cent of the gay Americans surveyed.
The results of the survey are important because they can affect the estimated number of sexual partners a man may claim to have had, when discussing their sexual health with a doctor.
Kinsey researcher, Brandon Hill, the author of the report, said:
“It is important for researchers and clinicians not to assume that their definition of ‘sex’ is shared by their participant or patient, and to use behaviourally specific criteria when conducting sex-behaviour assessments, especially when assessing risk of HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted infection transmission.”
