Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Sexually Explicit Media and Condomless Anal Sex Among Gay and Bisexual Men

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
AIDS and Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Gay and bisexual men (GBM) have reported viewing significantly more sexually explicit media (SEM) than heterosexual men. There is some evidence that SEM depicting bareback anal sex may be linked to engagement in condomless anal sex (CAS) and thus HIV/STI transmission among GBM. A nationwide sample of HIV-negative GBM in the U.S. completed an online survey that included measures on SEM consumption (both overall frequency and percentage viewed depicting bareback sex) and reported on CAS in the past 3 months. Data showed that there was no main effect for the frequency of SEM watched in association on either the number of CAS acts with casual partners or the probability of engaging in CAS during a casual sex event. However, there was an interaction between amount of SEM consumed and percentage of bareback SEM consumed on both outcomes, such that men who reported both a high frequency of SEM consumption and a high percentage of their SEM being bareback reported the highest levels of risk behavior. These findings highlight the role that barebacking depicted in SEM may play in the normalization of sexual risk behaviors for GBM. Interventions looking to target the role SEM may play in the lives of GBM should examine what variables may help to mediate associations between viewing SEM and engaging in risk behavior.

Resumen

Hombres gay y bisexuales (HGB) han reportado mirar significativamente más material audiovisual sexual explícito (MASE) que hombres heterosexuales. Existe evidencia de que el MASE que muestra “barebacking” o sexo a pelo puede estar relacionado con el sexo anal sin condones y por lo tanto el riesgo de transmisión del VIH y otras enfermedades de transmisión sexual (ETS) entre HGB. Una muestra nacional de HGB VIH-negativos en los Estados Unidos completó una encuesta online que incluía medidas sobre el uso de MASE (la frecuencia en general y el porcentaje del material visto que incluía sexo a pelo) y reportaron sobre coito anal sin condones durante los 3 meses anteriores. Los datos indicaron que no hubo efecto principal para la frecuencia de MASE consumido asociada con el número de coitos anales sin condón con parejas sexuales causales o la probabilidad de practicar coito anal sin condón durante un encuentro sexual casual. Sin embargo, hubo una interacción entre la cantidad de MASE consumido y el porcentaje de MASE que incluía sexo a pelo en ambos resultados, de manera que los hombres que reportaron una alta frecuencia de consumo de MASE y que un alto porcentaje de ése MASE era sexo a pelo reportaron los niveles más altos de conducta de riesgo. Estos hallazgos subrayan el rol que el sexo a pelo que se muestra en el MASE podría jugar en la normalización de conductas sexuales de riesgo para los HGB. Intervenciones dirigidas hacia abordar el rol que el MASE podría cumplir en la vida sexual de los HGB deberían examinar qué variables pueden contribuir a mediar la asociación entre el mirar MASE y el involucrarse en conductas sexuales de riesgo.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. CDC. Basic statistics—new HIV diagnoses by transmission category. 2015. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html, 2016.

  2. CDC. Estimated HIV incidence in the United States, 2007–2010. 2012.

  3. CDC. HIV surveillance—epidemiology of HIV infection (through 2013): Atlanta: US Department of Health and Human Services. 2015. http://www.cdc.gov/HIV/library/slidesets/index.html. Accessed 8 Dec 16 2016.

  4. Morrison TG, Morrison MA, Bradley BA. Correlates of gay men’s self-reported exposure to pornography. Int J Sex Health. 2007;19(2):33–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Rosser BS, Grey JA, Wilkerson JM, et al. A commentary on the role of sexually explicit media (SEM) in the transmission and prevention of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM). AIDS Behav. 2012;16(6):1373–81.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Herbenick D, Reece M, Schick V, Sanders SA, Dodge B, Fortenberry JD. Sexual behavior in the United States: results from a national probability sample of men and women ages 14–94. J Sex Med. 2010;7(s5):255–65.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Purcell D, Johnson C, Lansky A, et al. Calculating HIV and syphilis rates for risk groups: estimating the national population size of men who have sex with men. Paper presented at: National STD Prevention Conference 2010.

  8. Downing MJ, Schrimshaw EW, Scheinmann R, Antebi-Gruszka N, Hirshfield S. Sexually explicit media use by sexual identity: a comparative analysis of gay, bisexual, and heterosexual men in the United States. Arch Sex Behav. 2016;46(6):1763–76.

  9. Hald GM, Malamuth NM. Self-perceived effects of pornography consumption. Arch Sex Behav. 2008;37(4):614–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Hooper S, Rosser BS, Horvath KJ, Oakes JM, Danilenko G. An online needs assessment of a virtual community: what men who use the internet to seek sex with men want in Internet-based HIV prevention. AIDS Behav. 2008;12(6):867–75.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Træen B, Nilsen TS, Stigum H. Use of pornography in traditional media and on the Internet in Norway. J Sex Res. 2006;43(3):245–54.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. McCormack M, Wignall L. Enjoyment, exploration and education: understanding the consumption of pornography among young men with non-exclusive sexual orientations. Sociology. 2016;51(5):975–91.

  13. Hald GM, Smolenski D, Rosser B. Perceived effects of sexually explicit media among men who have sex with men and psychometric properties of the Pornography Consumption Effects Scale (PCES). J Sex Med. 2013;10(3):757–67.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Kubicek K, Carpineto J, McDavitt B, Weiss G, Kipke MD. Use and perceptions of the internet for sexual information and partners: a study of young men who have sex with men. Arch Sex Behav. 2011;40(4):803–16.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Kubicek K, Beyer WJ, Weiss G, Iverson E, Kipke MD. In the dark: Young men’s stories of sexual initiation in the absence of relevant sexual health information. Health Educ Behav. 2010;37(2):243–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Downing MJ, Schrimshaw EW, Antebi N, Siegel K. Sexually explicit media on the Internet: a content analysis of sexual behaviors, risk, and media characteristics in gay male adult videos. Arch Sex Behav. 2014;43(4):811–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. STR8UpGayPorn.com. Bareback Gay Porn Studios Overwhelmingly Outnumber Condom Gay Porn Studios. 2016; http://str8upgayporn.com/bareback-gay-porn-vs-condom-gay-porn/. Accessed 8/12/16, 2016.

  18. Eaton LA, Cain DN, Pope H, Garcia J, Cherry C. The relationship between pornography use and sexual behaviours among at-risk HIV-negative men who have sex with men. Sex Health. 2012;9(2):166–70.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Schrimshaw EW, Antebi-Gruszka N, Downing MJ Jr. Viewing of internet-based sexually explicit media as a risk factor for condomless anal sex among men who have sex with men in four US cities. PLoS ONE. 2016;11(4):e0154439.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Stein D, Silvera R, Hagerty R, Marmor M. Viewing pornography depicting unprotected anal intercourse: are there implications for HIV prevention among men who have sex with men? Arch Sex Behav. 2012;41(2):411–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Nelson KM, Simoni JM, Morrison DM, et al. Sexually explicit online media and sexual risk among men who have sex with men in the United States. Arch Sex Behav. 2014;43(4):833–43.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Rosser BS, Smolenski DJ, Erickson D, et al. The effects of gay sexually explicit media on the HIV risk behavior of men who have sex with men. AIDS Behav. 2013;17(4):1488–98.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Træen B, Hald GM, Noor SW, Iantaffi A, Grey J, Rosser BS. The relationship between use of sexually explicit media and sexual risk behavior in men who have sex with men: exploring the mediating effects of sexual self-esteem and condom use self-efficacy. Int J Sex Health. 2014;26(1):13–24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Bandura A. Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall; 1977.

  25. Skinner BF. Operant behavior. Am Psychol. 1963;18(8):503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Grov C, Cain D, Whitfield TH, Rendina HJ, Pawson M, Ventuneac A, Parsons JT. Recruiting a US National sample of HIV-negative gay and bisexual men to complete at-home self-administered HIV/STI testing and surveys: challenges and opportunities. Sex Res Social Policy. 2016;13(1):1–21.

  27. Parsons JT, Rendina HJ, Whitfield TH, Grov C. Familiarity with and preferences for oral and long-acting injectable HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in a national sample of gay and bisexual men in the US. AIDS Behav. 2016;20(7):1390–9.

  28. Grov C, Cain D, Rendina HJ, Ventuneac A, Parsons JT. Characteristics associated with urethral and rectal gonorrhea and chlamydia diagnoses in a US national sample of gay and bisexual men: results from the one thousand strong panel. Sex Transm Dis. 2016;43(3):165–71.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Solomon SR, Sawilowsky SS. Impact of rank-based normalizing transformations on the accuracy of test scores. J Mod Appl Stat Methods. 2009;8(2):448–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Agresti A, Kateri M. Categorical data analysis. In: International encyclopedia of statistical science. Springer; 2011

  31. Wilkerson JM, Iantaffi A, Smolenski DJ, Horvath KJ, Rosser BS. Acceptability of HIV-prevention messages in sexually explicit media viewed by men who have sex with men. AIDS Educ Prev. 2013;25(4):315–26.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Jonas KJ, Hawk ST, Vastenburg D, de Groot P. “Bareback” pornography consumption and safe-sex intentions of men having sex with men. Arch Sex Behav. 2014;43(4):745–53.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

One Thousand Strong study was funded by a research grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01-DA036466; Jeffrey T. Parsons & Christian Grov, MPIs). H. Jonathon Rendina was supported by a Career Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K01-DA039030; H. Jonathon Rendina, PI). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of the other members of the One Thousand Strong Study Team (Ana Ventuneac, Demetria Cain, Mark Pawson, Ruben Jimenez, Chloe Mirzayi, Brett Millar, Raymond Moody, and Steve John) and other staff from the Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training (Chris Hietikko, Andrew Cortopassi, Brian Salfas, Doug Keeler, Chris Murphy, Carlos Ponton, and Paula Bertone). We would also like to thank the staff at Community Marketing Inc. (David Paisley, Heather Torch, and Thomas Roth). Finally, we thank Jeffrey Schulden at NIDA, the anonymous reviewers of this manuscript, and all of our participants in the One Thousand Strong study.

Funding

Funding support was provided by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (R01-DA036466; PIs: Parsons & Grov). H. Jonathon Rendina was supported by a National Institute on Drug Abuse Career Development Award (K01-DA039030).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies & Training, Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY), 695 Park Ave., New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Thomas H. F. Whitfield, H. Jonathon Rendina & Jeffrey T. Parsons

  2. Health Psychology and Clinical Science Doctoral Program, The Graduate Center CUNY, New York, NY, USA

    Thomas H. F. Whitfield, H. Jonathon Rendina & Jeffrey T. Parsons

  3. Department of Psychology, Hunter College of CUNY, New York, NY, USA

    H. Jonathon Rendina & Jeffrey T. Parsons

  4. CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, New York, NY, USA

    Christian Grov

Authors
  1. Thomas H. F. Whitfield
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. H. Jonathon Rendina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Christian Grov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jeffrey T. Parsons
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeffrey T. Parsons.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Whitfield, T.H.F., Rendina, H.J., Grov, C. et al. Sexually Explicit Media and Condomless Anal Sex Among Gay and Bisexual Men. AIDS Behav 22, 681–689 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1952-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1952-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation