Heterosexual sexual behaviour in a sample of homosexually active men.

Abstract

suMMARY Three hundred and fifty six homosexually active men were recruited in 1988 for a study by interview of sexual behaviour. Thirty two per cent had homosexual passive anal sex in the previous month and 60% in the year before interview. Anal sex and unprotected anal sex were more common with regular than non-regular partners. Heterosexual sex was reported by 4% of Methods and sampleThe criterion tor inclusion in this study was any man who has had sex of any kind with another man in the Address for reprints: Dr R Fitzpatrick, Nuffield College, Oxford OX1 1NF, UK. Accepted for publication 30 June 1989 previous five years. The sample reported here comprises 356 men recruited from a diverse range of sources. One hundred and ninety eight men (56%) volunteered from gay pubs, clubs and gay organisations; 82 men (23%) were recruited from genitourinary clinics and 76 (21%) were referrals from those already interviewed ("snowball sampling"). Four main towns and cities were used to recruit the sample: London (52%), Manchester (21%), Oxford (13%) and Northampton (5%). Nine per cent were recruited from areas around these four centres. Interviews were conducted in 1988.Interviews focused upon sexual behaviour in the previous month and in the previous year. Information was gathered by means of a check list of sexual behaviours and respondents were asked, in relation to the last month, to describe in detail their sexual behaviour with each of their partners in turn. Men were first of all asked about regular partners with whom they were currently in a relationship. They were then asked about other partners.The mean age ofthe sample was 32.9 years (SD 10.7) with a range from 16 to 67. The sample was predominantly middle class with 87% of men in Social Class I, II, IIINM, according to the Registrar General's Classification of Occupations. When asked how they preferred to describe their sexual orientation from a standardised check list, 276 (78%) chose gay, 37 (10%) chose homosexual and 31 (9%) bisexual. A further 12 (3%) preferred no designation or unique terms not 259 on 1 May 2019 by guest. Protected by copyright.

Men's sexual health matters: promoting reproductive health in an international context

“…However, it is clear that there is fluidity and temporal variation in men's sexual behaviour and sexual identities. Studies indicate that, amongst ostensibly homosexual men, there are reportedly high levels of heterosexual experience, with up to 10% of samples of men recruited to investigate homosexual behaviour reporting sex with female partners in the previous year ( Fitzpatrick et al . 1989 ; Davies et al .…”