Gay men, bisexuals at greater risk of sexual victimization, dysfunctions

Gay men and bisexual individuals are more likely to have risky sexual behaviours and experience sexual victimization, sexual dysfunctions, and other adverse outcomes than lesbians, reports a Danish study.

A total of 59,838 participants aged 15–89 years in the Project SEXUS study provided questionnaire data for analysis. Of these, 1,577 were homosexuals, 1,500 were bisexuals, and 56,761 were heterosexuals.

The investigators performed sex-specific logistic regression analyses, with heterosexuals as reference, to calculate the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for measures of sexual health and behaviours.

Compared with heterosexuals, lesbians had a lower likelihood of having had sex with another person in the last year. On the other hand, gay and bisexual men and women had higher numbers of sex partner and frequencies of masturbation and porn consumption.

Premature ejaculation occurred less frequently among gays (aOR, 0.50, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.32–0.81) and bisexual men (aOR, 0.62, 95 percent CI, 0.41–0.92). In contrast, erectile dysfunction was more common among gays in the last 4 weeks (aOR, 3.01, 95 percent CI, 1.42–6.38) and among both gays (aOR, 2.88, 95 percent CI, 1.87–4.43) and bisexuals (aOR, 1.91, 95 percent CI, 1.24–2.92) in the last year. Orgasmic dysfunction was also common among gays (aOR, 1.80, 95 percent CI, 1.09–2.99).

Notably, overall female sexual dysfunction occurred less frequently among lesbians (aOR, 0.63, 95 percent CI, 0.40–0.98) and bisexuals (aOR, 0.65, 95 percent CI, 0.48–0.89), but vaginal cramp dysfunction was more frequent among bisexuals (aOR, 2.16, 95 percent CI, 1.15–4.06).

In addition, gay and bisexual men and women exhibited more sexual risk indicators, with a high likelihood of sexual victimization among gays (aOR, 5.74, 95 percent CI, 3.72–8.85), bisexual men (aOR, 5.03, 95 percent CI, 3.36–7.54), and bisexual women (aOR, 2.67, 95 percent CI, 2.25–3.16).

“Finally, gay and bisexual men were more often dissatisfied with the appearance of their bodies and genitals,” according to the investigators.

“Health professionals should be aware of the greater burden of sexual health challenges among gay men and bisexual individuals,” they added.