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from Medical Issues
'Versatility' In Same-Sex Intercourse Spreads HIV in Peru
February 14, 2008 - "Role Versatility among Men Who have Sex with Men in Urban Peru," (The Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 44, Issue 3, 2007) analyzed the sex practices of more than 2,000 Peruvian men who engage in same-sex intercourse.
The study was designed to discover the extent to which Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM) vary their sex roles during anal intercourse. Three roles were studied: passive, insertive and versatile (the man would switch between passive and insertive during intercourse).
The study noted, "given the differences in transmissibility [of HIV] for insertive and receptive anal sex, such men are capable of both becoming infected efficiently while receptive and then transmitting efficiently while insertive."
Subjects were recruited from six large cities in Peru and received risk reduction counseling, condoms and lubricants.
They underwent a structured interview using Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing (CASI) to determine their sex habits with other men and women.
The study found that 10.3% of those interviewed viewed themselves as heterosexuals. In addition, 16% of all those interviewed engaged in versatile behaviors. "Behavioral bisexuality is common among these men; 35% reported a female partner among their most recent three partners in the last three months."
Researchers discovered that "men who are exclusively receptive during UAI (unprotected anal intercourse) with male partners have a higher prevalence of HIV infection (16.6%) than either versatile (12.9%) or insertive (6.5%) men."
"We find that an individual man who is always insertive during UAI with other men is potentially exposing more women to HIV than is a man who is either receptive or versatile."
They conclude with this suggestion: "...it is clear that stronger messages are called for on the high indirect risk to a man's wife, girlfriend, or other female partners when he engaged in unprotected insertive anal sex with men."
Additional Reading: Medical Issues
Updated: 14 February 2008
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