SLUT – How many men is too many?

FS magazine looks at promiscuity in the gay community.

Slut. It’s an insult that’s hurled around a lot in the gay community, but is there actually anything wrong with being a bit of a slut?

In fact what defines someone as slutty?

Is it purely a numbers game or is it the way you carry yourself off?

The latest issue of FS peeps under the bed sheets to try and figure out the ‘who, what and why’ of being a slut.

Back in 2010, The European MSM Internet Survey group (EMIS) asked gay men what they got up to sexually. The results showed a lot of variation in terms of how many guys you bonked in the last year. Just over half of the men who took part in the survey had between one and five partners but nearly a third had more than ten sexual partners, with 5% of men having notched up more than 50.

FS editor, Ian Howley, said: “Sex is a huge part of being a gay man. In many ways sex is how we explore who we are. Gay men tend to have more sexual partners than our straight brothers but at what point does a couple of one-night-stands become a problem and can gay men ever have sex with too many men?”

Matthew Hodson, Chief Executive at GMFA, added: “I don’t think it’s up to health agencies to say ‘You should have so many partners and no more’. I do think we should point out that there are risks involved if you have lots of sexual partners though. The idea that we’re all out every night of the week bonking anything in trousers that moves is a fantasy. Most gay men have fewer than five partners in a year, and most gay men want to settle down with a long-term partner. Some gay men will have many more partners than that – and if that’s the choice that you make, you’re going to have to take greater care not to be involved in the transmission of STIs.”

You can read the ‘Slut – How many men is too many?’ feature in the latest issue of FS magazine, alongside other health related articles for gay men.

FS magazine is available for free in gay venues and GUM clinics in London, or can be viewed at www.fsmag.org.uk

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GMFA is the UK’s leading charity dedicated to gay men’s health. Its mission is to improve gay men’s health by increasing the control they have over their own lives and the charity’s website at www.gmfa.org.uk receives over half a million visitors each year.

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