Conventional wisdom has suggested that the more same-gender partners a man has, the more likely he is to engage in risky behaviors that could lead to HIV transmission, but a new study casts doubt on that assumption.
Researchers at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS wanted to examine the behaviors of men who have sex with men, or MSM. Specifically they aimed to understand whether a man’s reported number of sexual partners impacted how he approached sexual encounters.
Did more partners mean men were ambivalent to safe sex, or was it the opposite?
Researchers divided a population sample of Vancouver men by how many partners they’d had in the previous six months and then studied the strategies they practiced to safeguard themselves from contracting HIV.
Of course, condom use is a primary strategy. They remain one of the most effective and best methods for preventing HIV transmission and other sexually transmitted infections, such as syphilis and gonorrhea.