Sexual compulsivity among gay/bisexual male escorts who advertise on the Internet

This exploratory investigation sought to understand the relationship between sexual compulsivity and HIV sexual risk behaviors among gay/bisexual male escorts in New York City. While previous studies have sought to understand the sexual risk behaviors of male street hustlers, masseurs, and agency-based escorts, no published studies have examined gay/bisexual escorts who advertise for their sexual services via the Internet. Potential participants were identified through magazine advertisements, user profiles on a popular online service, and escort web sites and were sent an e-mail inviting them to call a project number for more information. Fifty men completed a face-to-face interview and quantitative instruments, which assessed HIV sexual risk behaviors with work and nonwork partners, sexual compulsivity, sexual sensation seeking, and a measure of self-confidence. Sexual compulsivity was associated with higher frequency of engaging in HIV sexual risk behaviors. Lower self-confidence and higher sexual sensation seeking were found to be associated with sexual compulsivity, accounting for 36% of the total variance. This study is one of the few quantitative examinations of HIV sexual risk behaviors among gay/bisexual sex workers who are escorts, and the first to examine escorts who rely on the Internet for advertising purposes. Implications and suggestions for future research and prevention programs are discussed.