Gay Sex Study Conducted By George Mason University, Indiana University, And Online Buddies, Inc. Reveals Surprising Results

A new study conducted by George Mason University, Indiana University, and Online Buddies, Inc. polled 24,787 gay and bisexual men between the ages of 18 and 87 in the US.

The study aimed to "document the sexual behaviors that gay and bisexually identified men report during their most recent male-partnered sexual event and to describe the situational characteristics and participants' evaluation of these events."

The majority of the participants were white (84.6%) and identified as gay (85.9%). 57.4% received a bachelor's degree or higher.

So what did researchers find? Check out the slideshow below. To purchase the full study, go here.

Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly did not list Indiana University or Online Buddies, Inc. as involved in the study.

Editor's Note: The following slideshow discusses sexual activities.

Comments

[BacSi]

10:59 AM on 10/24/2011

I still cannot get over the number of people that think these type of studies are not needed.

Forget the cost of syphillis and GC and a host of other STD's in the US.

Forget the cost of HIV prevention programs.

The average health care costs for that average HIV pt is right at $620,000 (and rising each and every year) over the course of their life time.

Average per pt costs going up each year. The number of DX going up each year.

And many giggle when the govt or Universities actually study the activities that lead to this massive cost to us as a society.

Ignorance is not a plan.

[ebranson]

12:00 AM on 10/24/2011

No surprise for me, other than what I consider an under-use of condoms.

[BacSi]

10:16 AM on 10/24/2011

The condom use was actually higher than I would have guessed.

With HIV, something so easy to avoid, going up up up in the MSM community its easy to think that almost no one is wearing one.

[MichaelRCooke]

12:25 PM on 10/23/2011

I wonder the extent to which I should be offended by the labeling of these findings as 'surprising'? I'm left wondering : "What did you expect"?

[KYZipster]

10:27 AM on 10/24/2011

A better headline might be "surprising to heterosexuals".

[101flyboy]

09:46 AM on 10/23/2011

Wow. Gay men engage in regular, every day sex acts such as oral sex, making out and masturbation. I never would have guessed in a million years.

[BacSi]

10:53 AM on 10/24/2011

I can assure you that this article (and this forum) cannot begin to discuss the range of MSM sex acts that occur.

[BacSi]

11:28 AM on 10/24/2011

And here is the proof.

Sure you can talk about MSM kissing, making out, masterbation. All acts that do nothing as far as the spread of HIV----except to lower transmission.

But talk about those acts that actually drive HIV-----and it cannot make it here for folks to read.

Well one of the acts makes it through if you are talking about an article dealing with ----the forbidden sex act for lesbians.

But for MSM and what they do-----those acts that drive HIV in the US----then that info ends up on the scrap pile.

Not complaining. Just observing where some of the blame belongs.

Ignorance and the restricting of good health education is not a public service.

[Inannawhimsey]

05:03 AM on 10/21/2011

Study finds surprising results that men do indeed look good in comfortable shoes and that outside of the Great Human Experiment called America, the rest of the world (like all atheists, theists and other -ists) belong to their own worldview, sexuality, likes, dislikes, senses of the blasphemous, senses of the sacred, no matter how many SIGs try to build their own experiences into 'culture'.

The world hums on as humanity continues its being delightfully polymorphously perverse :3

[waltxiansheng]

01:04 AM on 10/20/2011

To those who said that gays are not just as boring as straights: thank God we have the choice. I am 26 year-old, don't want to be 'mad', 'bad', or 'dangerous' as some other poster enigmatically put it. I am actively making financial plans to have a family one day and to head a two-parent household along with my partner (when I meet him). It's what I want, it's what many of my friends want, and it's now more within our reach than ever.

[BornOKtheFirstTime]

10:53 PM on 10/19/2011

Wow! This means Rick Santorum has back-door sex more often than the average gay dude!

[Inannawhimsey]

05:04 AM on 10/21/2011

I hear he's got a mud flap installed on his rear port for ease of cleaning :3

[Daniel Wilcox]

08:45 PM on 10/19/2011

I got a good laugh out of this little tidbit of information. The point behind the study is how these universities waste time and money studying things such as this. Bedroom habits of straight or gay people is none of anyone's business plain and simple.

[Savage Saint Roger]

06:09 AM on 10/20/2011

Aw, you know, banker retailers have to know how to formulate useless products to milk money from absolutely every segment of society. The studies will continue until every space on the planet has a kiosk in it. if the smart phones are going to track a person, something to sell has to be sitting there when you arrive!

[KYZipster]

10:23 AM on 10/24/2011

I don't know about that. Since homophobic Christians like to believe that gay people only engage in the most extreme and bizarre sexual acts they can come up with online or in their fantasy lives, studies like these may have some value.

[onasphere]

07:33 PM on 10/19/2011

My 80 year old father is miserable at the idea of people being gay. He can't talk about any subject for more than 5 minutes without going off about how awful gay people are. I'm convinced he thinks about gay sex more than any gay lifeguard on a summer holiday weekend. I find this article interesting, but I'm so glad my dad isn't going to read it. He'd have a heart attack. I guess that's why there's a Huffington Post and a Fox News.

[SteveDenver]

09:34 PM on 10/19/2011

My 60-year-old mom is the same way and has said some really hurtful things to me, but I just respond: "Remember when you were dating three guys and your divorce wasn't even final yet?"

I walked in from school, she and one guy were asleep on the sofa (clothed, but napping in each others' arms), another boyfriend had just pulled in the driveway behind her car, and while I was stalling the him, another phoned. I just handed her the phone and told the other guy to wait on the patio and left on my bicycle.

[onasphere]

12:43 AM on 10/20/2011

I just got off the phone with him. No gay hating. I feel funny about posting what I did, but he will probably be back at it next time we talk. My mom and dad were each others' first, and they've been married 60 years. I'm straight, but don't like hearing anyone talk about hating anyone. It's especially hard to hear someone you love spew hate.

[Tigerama]

04:01 PM on 10/19/2011

Is the surprise that it's awesome? Because we are WAY ahead of you.

[Perriwinkle]

02:55 PM on 10/19/2011

And this study was supposed to accomplish??????

[Erin84]

07:55 PM on 10/19/2011

You read it because? Many many many things get studied. If it's not something that interests you, quite simply, don't read it.

[SteveDenver]

09:35 PM on 10/19/2011

Fan and Favorite!

[cschieda]

02:18 PM on 10/19/2011

The only thing I found 'Surprising' is that anyone cares where people are having sex. 49% in their homes, okay that seems pretty ordinary.

[SteveDenver]

09:36 PM on 10/19/2011

But it didn't say WHERE in our homes we were having sex! ;-)

[Ron in NYC]

02:04 PM on 10/19/2011

Combos, schmombos. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

[StopMakingSense2]

01:52 PM on 10/19/2011

I want to know how to get grants to research the obvious!

[Ron in NYC]

01:35 PM on 10/19/2011

The late and very funny Harvey Korman was right about Viagra when he said, "It's like putting a new flagpole on a condemned building."

[SteveDenver]

09:36 PM on 10/19/2011

Genius, Harvey, I got a big laugh! Fave & Fan