Exploring unwanted sexual encounters among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) in Australia: Prevalence, context, and associations with mental health
- Publication Type:
- Conference Proceeding
- Citation:
- 2023
- Issue Date:
- 2023-09-25
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Sexual consent is a growing topic in public and legal debates, but often overlooks sexual subcultures among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBM). As part of the Flux study, we studied unwanted sexual encounters among a cohort of GBM in Australia. Launched in 2014, Flux was a prospective observational study exploring health-related behaviours among GBM in Australia. In 2021, specific survey items were introduced to examine unwanted sexual encounters in the past 3 months. Binary logistic regression analysis on 967 surveys collected between June 2021 and June 2022 found that 12.2% reported at least one experience of unwanted sex in the previous three months and 39.8% reported it occurring with an anonymous partner. Most events (64.0%) occurred at their home, while 24.7% were at a sex-on-premises venue. Compared to individuals who did not report any unwanted sexual encounters, those who reported such experiences had higher pre-encounter scores on measures of anxiety (OR:1.13;95%CI:1.09-1.18) and depression (OR:1.09;95%CI:1.06-1.13). After unwanted encounters, those individuals had higher scores on measures of anxiety (OR:1.13;95%CI:1.09-1.18) and depression (OR:1.10;95%CI:1.06-1.14). We conclude that sexual consent education that specifically targets GBM is essential to mitigate the risks of unwanted sexual encounters, and that educational campaigns should consider the unique sexual subcultures within the GBM community.
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