Maguire B; International Conference on AIDS.
ISSUE: Sex plays a major role for gay men who are just becoming sexually aware or active, in gaining peer approval and developing a place in the gay community. It is not enough to know about safe sex in order to avoid HIV or AIDS--skills are needed. Most gay men are too embarrassed to actively seek out gay sex information. Strategies in HIV prevention encouraging safer non-penetrative alternatives mistakenly assume that gay men automatically have the skills and techniques to perform these activities comfortably. De-stigmatisation of gay love-making and increased community discourse about gay sex can serve to counter a lack of access to gay sex information. PROJECT: Nitty Gritties is a free five session course offered to gay men of all ages. The course covers anatomy; physiology; self examination and sexual maintenance; sexual negotiation; safe sex; HIV, STD and opportunistic infection avoidance; unsafe sex and risk assessment, sexual techniques and other issues participants may wish to discuss. RESULTS: Men who have the sexual confidence to successfully negotiate sex itself find less difficulty in negotiating safe sex. Sexual risk assessment often involves sophisticated cognitive processes, which may be ill-informed, HIV-phobic or inconsistent. Gay male knowledge of anatomy, physiology and sex technique is very poor. CONCLUSION: Participants report increased skills and comfort in all stated course objectives.
Publication Types:
* Meeting Abstracts
Keywords:
* Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
* HIV Infections
* HIV Seropositivity
* Homosexuality
* Homosexuality, Male
* Humans
* Interpersonal Relations
* Male
* Patient Education as Topic
* Peer Group
* Safe Sex
* Sex Education
* Social Behavior
Other ID:
* 98399212
UI: 102230393
From Meeting Abstracts
more detail from : http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma?f=102230393.html