Well this is alarming: a new study shows that lots of gay men are avoiding condoms. Some are opting for other measures, like PrEP (which, let’s remember, don’t prevent other STIs that condoms can block). Some are monogamous. And others are simply taking their chances.
Only about 36% of gay men didn’t have unprotected anal sex in the last year, according to the survey of UK gays. About 40% said that almost all of their sex was unprotected. Guys! What are you doing? Do you like getting gonorrhea shots?
Other findings include the discovery that about half had sex with only one partner in the last year, and slightly less than that are in a monogamous relationship.
Also, about half of the men who don’t use condoms are HIV negative. For now. Some of the men interviewed just prefer not to think about their chances of transmitting the virus. Others think that it’s not a big deal anymore. And a few said that the risk is all part of the fun. This must all seem very strange to people who are old enough to remember what it was like when all of their friends were suddenly dying.
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Researchers also noted that some barebackers are also imitating the porn that they like to watch. That’s led to efforts to ban condomless porn, but the jury’s out on whether those legal measures actually have any impact on STI transmission rates.
Me2
People never used condoms because they wanted to, we used them because we had to. Now that the risk of eminent death with unprotected sex has been significantly reduced, people have reverted back to what originally was.
Paco
“Others think that it’s not a big deal anymore. And a few said that the risk is all part of the fun.”
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Wow! Those guys are in for a rude awakening when they find out it is still a life altering big deal. I hope they enjoy rejection for being honest about their newly acquired “no big deal” preventable illness. At least get on PrEP if condoms are not a personal option.
Dave Downunder
“Others think that it’s not a big deal anymore.”
How about the articles you read with young guys who thought it was no big deal until they caught it and then had regrets about not using condoms.
Brian
It’s not the anal sex that you need to worry about, it’s the person you’re doing it with.
Two men can have as much anal sex as they wish. Neither will catch anything from the other so long as they are both STD-free. Of course, that’s not to say that anal sex is “clean” per se. You’ve got to think feces. Men have feces, women have feces. Nobody is feces-free.
This idea that sex is dangerous is pure nonsense put out by the “pity me” gay crowd who enjoy catching illnesses and then crying poor about it. You know what? I don’t feel any pity for you. Not one bit.
QJ201
At least they have the NHS when they get infected, unlike in the US if you get infected and have crappy or no insurance your life is an endless go round of paperwork and social workers
notevenwrong
Well, the truth is that being fucked with a condom feels like having sex with a dildo, so can you blame us?
notevenwrong
And PrEP, the papilloma and hepatitis vaccines, or a gonorrhea shot are no big deal, so where’s the harm really?
BriBri
@Brian: Brian try douching your asshole before getting fucked. BTW, you’re a stupid douche that doesn’t know how to douche For your reading pleasure: Anal Pleasure and Health by Dr. Jack Morin, PHD.
Brian
@BriBri: Nobody cares about your comment and nobody ever will.
Heywood Jablowme
@BriBri: lol – Brian is full of feces!
ErikO
Only 25%? I thought it would be a lot higher, it seems to me like it’s more like 50-80% since I am on sites to meet gay men and when they find out I’m a top they all want it raw, and I tell them sorry never going to happen, and don’t talk to them again. Also the number of gay men who cheat on their boyfriends/partners is extremely high.
Heywood Jablowme
@ErikO: How dare they cheat on their boyfriends! And with YOU! Let me guess – you complain when they’re really single because that means they’re just sl u ts. You also complain when they have a very limited number of sex partners, or only one besides you, because that means they’re “cheating on their boyfriends.” And either way, you are not part of the problem? Neat trick!
I agree with you about condoms though. I don’t understand why a guy would want to do it “raw” as a bottom.
@notevenwrong: I don’t believe any bottom can really tell the difference anyway.
UltimateSin
@Heywood Jablowme: if you have been fucked with and without a condom before then yes you can tell the difference.
Heywood Jablowme
@UltimateSin: Yeah right, I’d have to see the “demonstration” on that! Personally I have no intention of finding out. Never been fucked without a condom and never will.
viveutvivas
@Heywood, yes, when I bottom I can certainly feel a condom. The l@tex is uncomfortable and it chafes my insides no matter how much l@be is used. I also can’t feel the shape of the p&nis well with a condom on it. It doesn’t feel real or like human skin to me. But every h0le is different, so yours may not mind condoms.
Sorry for the spelling, something in my post was triggering the autocensor.
Heywood Jablowme
@viveutvivas: Okay, I’ll give in on this point. Everybody is different.
seaguy
Because condoms frankly suck when it comes to making the sex hotter, more pleasurable and more intimate.
seaguy
@ErikO: So you’re the one moral person on Grindr huh?
seaguy
@Heywood Jablowme: You obviously have not been fucked bareback because bottoms can tell the difference very well.