CHANGES IN SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR BETWEEN 1986 AND 1988 IN MATCHED SAMPLES OF HOMOSEXUALLY ACTIVE MEN

Matched samples of homosexually active men were obtained using identical sampling methods in a city of one million people in 1986 and 1988. Data indicated that reported sexual behaviours had significantly changed in the direction of safer sex, particularly oral sex without ejaculation, anal sex with a condom (both insertive and receptive), which increased in frequency, and analingual and digitoanal receptive practices, wet kissing, and anal receptive intercourse generally, which decreased. Reported sources of education for both samples were primarily gay media and gay organisations. These data, with some caveats concerning design and comparability of samples, suggest that behavioural change in the appropriate direction has occurred in homosexually active men, and that gay organisations and media have been perceived as the most common source of information on safer sex in this population. 1989 Public Health Association of Australia