Study surveys sex talk
More gay Melbourne men are needed for research that will uncover who gay men talk to about sex more — their sexual partners or their mates.
The online Connect study began last year in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth and has surveyed more than 800 people so far.
Melbourne’s participation was trailing both Sydney and Perth with just over 230 participants compared to Perth with almost 350 respondents.
Melbourne’s Connect study coordinator David O’Keeffe said he was still looking for at least 60-200 participants before July.
“We still would like to get more so we have a good spread of respondents, so when we come to actually analysing the data, we understand that we’re not just getting a niche group of men,” O’Keeffe said.
“We’ve also made the survey a lot easier. You no longer need a number to do it. People can go straight online.”
O’Keeffe said the study was now looking for pairs of people like best friends, work colleagues or partners.
The study wants to find out how gay men influence each other by talking about and engaging in sex.
“For a long time, we’ve gone on the assumption that gay men talk to each other about sex,” he said.
“But it’s always been anecdotal and we think that is the case so when it comes to talking about sex, do you talk to your sexual partners or do you talk to your mates more?
“You may have had sex with a guy but it doesn’t mean you necessarily would talk to that guy about your sexual practices.”
O’Keeffe said the results would help shape how safe-sex messages were targeted at gay men.
“It helps us frame our responses to health promotion programs, especially safe-sex programs,” he said.
“We may think we know but is this what’s actually going on in society?
“That’s why this survey is quite different because we haven’t really asked those questions before.
“We would love as many men as possible to do the survey.”
The only prerequisites for the survey were that participants needed to be 18 years and over, had had sex in the past year and lived in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth.
The Kirby Institute is conducting the study with AIDS councils and organisations.
Melbourne men can contact O’Keeffe on 03 9865 6716 or [email protected].
INFO: www.connectstudy.net
You showed them Stuart and probably increased resentment to you and the gay cause whilst you did it.
Well, it’s certainly not my workmates. They’re all married and all straight. I tried talking to them about sex and guys I like, but they just weren’t interested. So the next time they talked about women, I told them to zip it or I’d have them on sexual-harassment misconduct.