a few charts pertaining to public sex

Nothing terribly shocking or surprising here, guys, but I thought I'd share with you a few graphics that I have put together, showing some of the results pertaining to public sex (related to but not synonymous with the anonymous sex question/issue we've been discussing recently). 

In this first figure, you can see the relationship between how much guys say they like having sex in public places and how many of them actually reported engaging in that practice.  As you can see here, men who said that, on a 0 to 10 scale, they like having sex in public very little (rating = 0, 1, or 2), about 12% actually reported recently having engaged in sex in public.  Among men who said that they really enjoy doing this (rating = 8, 9, or 10), about two-thirds said that they had recently engaged in public sex.

Here is another one, somewhat more interesting and more important from a scientific and intervention standpoint.  Here, I am showing the relationship between the number of times that guys reported recently had sex in public and whether or not they reported any use of illegal drugs during the past month.  Basically, as the number of times having sex in public goes up, so too does the likelihood of being a drug user.

I'll continue to share information and findings, preliminary and not-so-preliminary, as time permits.  Hope you find these latest "ditties" at least somewhat interesting.

Hugh

hi guys . . . welcome!

Hi guys!

I thought that using the blog approach might be an interesting way for us to keep in touch as I continue to work on figuring out what my research findings are adding up to on The Bareback Project (that is, the project of mine in which you participated during 2008 or 2009). It will give me a chance to share information with you from time to time about study-related findings. The blog will also give me an opportunity to pose questions to you guys, and to see if you can help me to make sense of the research data, determine new directions to go with the work, and so forth.

A few weeks ago, I contacted a number of you with a question regarding anonymous sex, and what I, as a social scientist / public health researcher, might consider proposing to the Feds to do in a future study to help reduce the risks associated with men engaging in anonymous sex. A few dozen of you took the time to send personal replies to me, and I want to express my sincerest thanks to each and every one of you for sharing your thoughts.

From those replies, two ideas emerged. From a scientific standpoint, both have "issues" or concerns that would need to be resolved before they could be proposed to a federal grant committee for consideration for funding. But both are interesting prospects that, with some additional work/thought/creativity, might have some possibilities. Here are what strike me as the two best suggestions that you guys made:

1. Create a website which, at first, would be "locked." Men would be asked to complete an interview (either online or via telephone) similar to the one that you previously did with me, Thom, or Gina on The Bareback Project. Then, when that interview was completed, we would give you the "key" to unlock the website so that you could visit it and view its contents. The website would have a variety of information about different aspects of anonymous and semi-anonymous sex, risk reduction strategies, and so forth. Then a few months later, we would ask you to complete one more interview, similar to the first one, so that we could examine changes in beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, and/or risk behavior involvement.

2. Contact the proprietors of various businesses--such as adult bookstores--where anonymous sex sometimes occurs, and see which ones might be willing to cooperate with us on an educational / intervention / prevention program. In establishments with cooperative owners, we would put up some HIV/STD information posters and make pamphlets and brochures available in various locales. For the research end of things, we would do interviews prior to and a few months after the provision of the posters, brochures, and pamphlets, so that we could assess changes over time.

So, guys, once again I turn to you for feedback, now that I have this bright shiny new blog to work with. Whatever comments and suggestions you may have in response to the following (or any other related topics) would be most helpful and, as always, greatly appreciated!

>> What are YOUR thoughts and reactions to the two approaches listed above?

>> Do YOU have any other suggestions about things that might be attempted in an effort to target the riskiness of anonymous sex?

>> When you think of anonymous sex, what is it about the practice that makes YOU like it or dislike it?

>> What exactly do you personally consider to be anonymous sex? For example, if a guy meets someone in a gay bar, talks with him for about 5 or 10 minutes, and then decides to go somewhere to have sex with him, do you consider that to be anonymous sex? As another example, suppose you see someone's profile online, and then you chat with him briefly online before agreeing to meet for sex. Do you consider that to be anonymous sex?

>> Do you personally think that it is more likely that men practice safer sex or riskier sex when they have anonymous sex than when they have other kinds of sex? Can you explain what leads you to say that?

I look forward to hearing from you about these matters and to reading your responses. Answer as many or as few of these questions as you like. Any replies that you give will be helpful to me as I try to formulate this next project more fully.

I will be in touch in the weeks ahead as well, as I work more with the project data. Happy autumn one and all!

Hugh

P.S. Don't forget to become a follower of this blog before you leave today. The button/link for doing that is on the right side of the main page. And please feel free to share the blog with gay and bisexual guy friends of yours, too.