Groundbreaking gay sex study released

George Mason University, Indiana University, and Online Buddies, Inc. (the parent company of Manhunt) conducted a study of gay men and released the data yesterday. 24,787 gay and bisexual men between the ages of 18 and 87 were polled. All respondents were residents of the U.S.

This study is the first of its kind, examining sexual behaviors of men during "male-partnered sexual event(s)" and reports that gay and bisexual men "have a diverse sexual repertoire and that partnered sexual behaviors are not limited solely to acts of penile insertion,"

The aim of the research was to "document the sexual behaviors that gay and bisexually identified men report during their most recent male-partnered sexual event and to describe the situational characteristics and participants' evaluation of these events."

Below are highlights of the study:

The majority of the participants were white (84.6%) and identified as gay (85.9%). 57.4% received a bachelor's degree or higher.
Participants' mean age was 39.2 years; ethnicities included white (84.6%), Latino (6.4%), and African American (3.6%); and most men (79.9%) identified as homosexual.

The most commonly reported behavior was kissing a partner on the mouth (74.5%), followed by oral sex (72.7%), and partnered masturbation (68.4%). Anal intercourse occurred among less than half of participants (37.2%) and was most common among men ages 18-24 (42.7%). Sex was most likely to occur in the participant's home (46.8%), with less frequently reported locations including hotels (7.4%) and public spaces (3.1%). The number of behaviors engaged in during last sexual event varied with most (63.2%) including 5-9 different sexual behaviors.