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AIDS and Behavior
Published in: AIDS and Behavior 4/2017

01-04-2017 | Original Paper

Sexual Venue Choice and Sexual Risk-Taking Among Substance-Using Men Who have Sex with Men

Authors: Joshua A. Rusow, Jesse B. Fletcher, Cathy J. Reback

Published in: AIDS and Behavior | Issue 4/2017

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Abstract

Commercial sex venues (CSVs) and public sex environments (PSEs) offer men who have sex with men (MSM) sexual privacy and anonymity. Sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, sexual identity, age, HIV status) are correlated with individuals’ choice of sexual venue, potentially suggesting environmental associations with both sociodemographics and sexual risk. From March 2005 through March 2012, 1298 substance-using MSM provided information on their most recent sexual encounter; iterative logit models estimated associations between sociodemographics and sexual venue, and/or whether sexual venue was associated with sexual risk-taking while controlling for sociodemographics. More than a third of participants’ most recent sexual encounters took place in either a PSE (23.0%) or a CSV (11.3%); anonymous, HIV-serodiscordant, and/or sex while on methamphetamine and/or marijuana was significantly more likely to occur in CSVs/PSEs than in a private location, even when controlling for sociodemographics. Findings demonstrate that socioenvironmental factors were associated with sexual risk-taking among high-risk, urban MSM.
Footnotes
1
Though bathhouses are a sub-type of CSV, there are a large number of prior studies whose findings are specific only to bathhouse attendees. As such, the term “CSV” is used when discussing results inclusive of all commercial sex venues, while “bathhouse” is used when discussing results that focused specifically on only bathhouse attendees.
 
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Metadata
Title
Sexual Venue Choice and Sexual Risk-Taking Among Substance-Using Men Who have Sex with Men
Authors
Joshua A. Rusow
Jesse B. Fletcher
Cathy J. Reback
Publication date
01-04-2017
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
AIDS and Behavior / Issue 4/2017
Print ISSN: 1090-7165
Electronic ISSN: 1573-3254
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1630-4

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