July 13, 2004

2:04 PM

I'm looking for relatively recent statistics about the number of sexual partners gay men have. All I can find are conservative sites citing absurd data from the late 1970s (2/3 have more than 500 partners a year, etc.).
posted by Tlogmer to (9 comments total)

Ten or so years ago, I participated in a long-term research project, wherein every six months I'd fill out a detailed survey regarding my life as a young gay man. I was paid ten bucks per, and was promised that the results of the survey would be given to me when the project was complete.

I stopped receiving surveys after 2 1/2 years, and never heard anything further, but I believe the study was called "The Young Gay Men's Survey," and this is all I could find that mentioned it (plus a thread from 1992 (!) in the usenet archives).

It would sure be interesting if this thread turns up any good data. I'm curious myself.
posted by WolfDaddy at 4:03 PM on July 13, 2004

well, there was Bob, and Joe, and Luis, and Rick, and Steve....(kidding)

Here's a listing of a variety of HIV/STD studies, most of which ask about number of partners, but those are small and targeted.

There has never been a widescale study, afaik--there are too many of us widely scattered all over the country, in all classes and races, etc, and there's no one way to reach a really broad or representative sample of us. Many don't go to bars or clubs, or are not out and thus not willing to participate.

The CDC may have something on this page somewhere.

The Advocate used to do a survey every year, but i can't find it online--it wouldn't have been representative anyway.

I'm betting not as many as people think, but more than straight people. : >
posted by amberglow at 4:04 PM on July 13, 2004

It's certainly not scientific, but this self selecting survey from a weekly paper quotes 127 partners.
posted by cmonkey at 5:38 PM on July 13, 2004

WolfDaddy may have been part of the San Francisco Men's Health Study (SFMHS), or one of the related nationwide studies that have been going on since the 1980's, or the Young Men's Health Study (YMHS). Both continue to track gay & bisexual men's health over decades. Maybe these search terms will help with your research.
posted by obloquy at 5:45 PM on July 13, 2004

I lost track when I was 13, a year after Stonewall. Lately its only 1, and that has gotten surprisingly common. There is a REASON why so many of us fruits are interested in marriage these days. Many of us no longer want the buffet, we know what we like and have it.
posted by Goofyy at 11:46 PM on July 13, 2004

On a somewhat related note, I'm trying to debunk a statistic that "gay marriages in the netherlands last an average of 1.5 years". Gay marriage has only been legal in the netherlands for 3 years, of course, so I suspect that statistic is from 1.5 years ago. Still, I can't convince my debate opponent that (probably a waste of time); nor can I find any statistics on the subject that aren't in dutch.
posted by Tlogmer at 2:16 AM on July 14, 2004

I tracked down the relevant info from the YMHS. Thanks, everyone.

(This post should probably go before the last one...)
posted by Tlogmer at 2:21 AM on July 14, 2004

Someone emailed me with this, from Ontario: The results of the 2002 Ontario men's survey, which asked more than 5000 gay and bisexual men about their sex lives, were just released recently.

http://www.mens-survey.ca/release.asp

The full report includes stats on number of sexual partners.
posted by amberglow at 9:16 AM on July 14, 2004

Cool, thanks.
posted by Tlogmer at 2:32 PM on July 14, 2004