Gay men's sex venues, the men who use them, and gay community perceptions: insights from a convenience sample of gay men attending a community festival in Melbourne.
BACKGROUND
Despite being understood as sites for the potential spread of sexually transmissible infections, we know remarkably little about gay men's sex venues and how they are perceived in the gay community. The present paper aims to describe community attitudes to sex venues and towards the gay men who use them.


METHODS
Self-administered questionnaire at a gay community social event.


RESULTS
Men who use gay men's sex venues differ from non-users in relation to their age, the number of casual sexual partners they have, their openness about their sexuality and their comfort with sexualised spaces. Also, not all venues are equal and appear to attract diverse clienteles with particular characteristics.


CONCLUSIONS
Differentiation among gay men's sex venues and the men who use them may offer opportunities for targeting interventions for sexual health promotion.
Smith
Anthony M A
AM
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, Vic. 3000, Australia. Anthony.Smith@latrobe.edu.au
Grierson
Jeffrey W
JW
von Doussa
Henry
H
D000328:Adult; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012309:Risk-Taking; D011477:Sex Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014739:Victoria / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult