A cross-sectional study of male and female kissing partners among men who have sex with men
Eric P. F. Chow
A B C * , Tiffany R. Phillips A B , Julien Tran A B , Ei T. Aung A B , Kate Maddaford A and Christopher K. Fairley A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia.
B Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic. 3004, Australia.
C Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia.
Sexual Health 19(1) 27-32 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH21184
Submitted: 22 September 2021 Accepted: 30 November 2021 Published: 4 March 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Background: Kissing may be a risk factor for gonorrhoea. Past studies have focused on male kissing partners among men who have sex with men (MSM). This study aimed to examine the kissing practices of MSM who kiss male and female partners.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) between March and April 2019. Men attending the MSHC, aged ≥16 years who reported any sexual contact with another man in the previous 12 months were invited to participate in the survey. Data about the number of kissing-only (kissing without sex), kissing-with-sex, and sex-only (having sex without kissing) partners in the previous 3 months were collected. Men were asked to report the number of male and female partners separately.
Results: There were 357 MSM included in the survey. Most men (97.2%, n = 347) had kissed or had sex with another man, whereas 16.0% (n = 57) had kissed or had sex with a female partner in the previous 3 months. Of the 57 men, 26.3% (n = 15) had only kissed a female partner without having sex. The mean number of male partners for kissing-only was 5.5 (s.d. = 6.6), kissing-with-sex was 5.0 (s.d. = 6.6) and sex-only was 3.9 (s.d. = 4.3). The mean number of female partners for kissing-only was 4.2 (s.d. = 6.9), kissing-with-sex was 3.8 (s.d. = 4.9) and sex-only was 3.2 (s.d. = 3.4).
Conclusion: MSM not only kiss men in the absence of sex, but also kiss women in the absence of sex. Gonorrhoea could be transmitted between MSM and women via kissing in the absence of sex.
Keywords: bisexual, gay, gonorrhoea, kiss, pharyngeal, prevention, saliva, sexually transmitted infection, transmission.
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