Gay Sex



  Reading any anti-circumcision page on the Internet soon gives one the impression that gay men are very prominent in the anti-circumcision movement. On the other hand, most pro-circumcision groups show an equally strong gay component. What this tells us, in the end, is that gay men are even more interested in this topic - and much more likely to participate in public debate - than straight men.

 Only 11% of the Australian sample were predominantly gay in their sexual orientation, though a quarter of the men had some interest in gay sex. Around one in six heterosexual men said that they had had some gay experiences in the past - this is a common part of growing up for most boys, and the true figure might well be higher.

Over half of the Internet sample were gay or bisexual. This was expected since the survey was posted to some specifically gay news groups.

Gay men generally had sex no more often than straights, which gives the lie to the stereotype of the hyperactive, promiscuous gay male. Some men who lived with gay lovers still had sex less often than once a week.

Almost all of the surveyed men who were predominantly or exclusively gay were circumcised. This does not imply that circumcision tends to predispose men to homosexuality! There were two factors at work here. In the Net group gay men were mostly North American, and therefore likely to be circumcised. Among the Australians only half were done as infants (the same as for our sample as a whole) - but most of the others had later had to be cut, because of infections under the foreskin. Gut bacteria are the commonest cause of these infections, and anal sex (in the pre safe-sex days when this survey was done) is one way these bacteria can get under the foreskin. So it is infections, rather than preference, that accounts for the scarcity of uncircumcised gay men.

Most gay men had had both sorts of partners; a few had had only circumcised men, and only one (a German who actually preferred circumcised men) had only had natural partners. Fewer than half thought that gay men had a general preference, and most of those thought that it was for circumcision. In fact most of the men did express a preference, and if we exclude anticircumcision campaigners a large majority favoured circumcised partners. The campaigners, naturally enough, tended to prefer natural partners.

Just over half said that they would perform the same sex acts with either sort of partner. Of the remainder, many would not have oral sex with a natural man. Others referred to manipulations of the foreskin as acts which they could only do with natural men.


  Safe sex in the age of AIDS may have had a considerable effect on gay men's sexual practices since this survey was taken - perhaps preventing other infections as well. But it is interesting to see that even before the HIV scare the myth of the promiscuous gay male was just that - a myth. And just as in straight sex, fellatio is the one area where an uncircumcised man is less popular.


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