Colloque

Men who have sex with men: a comparison of the HIV/AIDS risk patterns of gay and bisexual men and male prostitutes

Frances M. Shavers

Trent Newmeyer

Membre a labase

Frances M. Shavers

Résumé du colloque

This paper involves a comparative analysis of the safe(r) sex practices and risk-taking behaviour of gay men and men (both straight and gay) practising street prostitution in Canada. Data on the latter group are drawn from a series of field work interviews conducted in Montreal (in 1991 and 1993) and in Toronto (in 1994) with 93 male hustlers. They present a somewhat different picture of prostitution and male hustlers than do crime statistics, police reports, and clinical and social agency samples. Data on the former are drawn from two sources: the Men's Survey, a pan-Canadian study of gay and bisexual men conducted in collaboration with the Canadian Aids Society (Ted Myrs et al, 1993) and Between Men, a survey conducted in Quebec by the Coalition des organismes communautaires québécoise de luttre contre le sida (COCQ-sida) and Université Laval (1993). The possibility for comparisons across all three studies are limited but will be made with respect to several socio-demographic variables and safe(r) sex practises. Selected correlations from the three studies regarding risk-taking behaviour and age, level of education, SES, hard drug use, and number of partners are also discussed. Policy implications will be presented along with an analysis and interpretation of the findings.