Participant Observer Methodology in Assessing the Role of Attractiveness in MSM Sexual Risk Taking

• This study uses a modified participant-observer methodology to investigate the willingness of MSM to agree to unprotected anal intercourse (UAI).  Nearly all published research of sexual risk-behavior is based on self-report data. This study uses participant-observer methodology to reduce biases associated with self-report in estimating the prevalence of UAI. The study also expands previous research identifying the relationship of attractiveness in sexual risk-taking to include the attractiveness of both parties.

   

• Using a well-known Internet networking site, ads were placed in cities throughout the US.  Half of the ads included a picture of an “attractive” male and half a picture of an “average-looking” male.  The ads instructed interested men to reply including pictures of themselves.   Respondents to the ads were invited to meet for a sexual encounter with an explicit stipulation of “bareback only.”  The respondents’ photographs were ranked on attractiveness, and the effects on willingness to engage in UAI were analyzed.

   

• Eighty-two percent of respondents agreed to UAI. Respondents to the attractive male were 55 times more likely to agree to bareback than those responding to the average male. There was also a significant interaction where, as the respondents’ attractiveness decreased, their willingness to bareback with the attractive male significantly increased.  

   

• This study supports the contribution that PO methodology can make in better understanding the dynamics of MSM sexual-risk behavior.  These findings are examined within a sexual-economics model where less attractive individuals exchange UAI as a way of increasing their value to a more attractive partner.