This is, for me, one of the biggest issues with gay culture. The sheer amount of sexual partners the average gay/bisexual man has, in comparison to straight ones, is, in my eyes a huge risk factor.

Sadly, it is very hard to have serious discussions about such topics nowadays, as one tends to get hit with the homophobia label.

Risk factor for sexually transmitted infections you mean? We know how to avoid spreading them: get tested regularly, and use barriers when necessary. The number of partners is less important than those two. If you don’t do the first two, even one partner can be a problem.

Sure, but if you don't do the first two, your risk increases linearly with the number of partners.

The relevance really comes down do what question you are trying to answer.

If you want to know what factors have the biggest impact on reducing transmission, you will get one answer.

If you want to know what populations are at higher risk and what are they doing different, you will get another answer.

It’s less socially acceptable to shit on gay people directly nowadays, so some people use topics like the one you are mentioning as “proxy wars”, so to speak, where they can indirectly express their distaste.

Not saying you are doing this, but by bringing it up, some people might think that’s what you are doing. I feel like I have seen it often enough that it is a fairly reasonable concern.

Is there a specific reason you are focusing on this issue, out of all of the thousands of issues you could choose to care about?

> Is there a specific reason you are focusing on this issue, out of all of the thousands of issues you could choose to care about?

I am not focusing on it. I am just bringing it up on a thread where it seemed appropriate to. One person can care about more than just one issue at a time.

>The sheer amount of sexual partners the average gay/bisexual man has, in comparison to straight ones, is, in my eyes a huge risk factor.

Ride a jet ski wind up in the water.

If the tradeoff wasn't worth it they wouldn't do it.

One of the subjects on an experimental HIV resistant drug managed to still get HIV while having sex with on average 20 men per month (iirc, it's been a while since I read the case study). While promiscuity isn't inherent to gay men, it is more likely among them, and generally to a greater extent than promiscuous women.

With that much risky behavior (with no protection), it is indeed a long series of dice rolls.

Gambler's ruin.

Anal sex has a much higher risk of transmitting infections due to the different mechanics around lubrication and bleeding.

This essay is very long. While it does accurately touch on high risk activities (multiple partners, anal sex, sex clubs) it is primarily a deep dive into the author's wildly neurotic relationship to sex and his total misunderstanding of what is normal or common. His specific medical problems towards the end are extremely not normal, yikes.

N=1 indeed, but I think many are unfamiliar with the anatomical details of certain extreme behaviors, particularly the injuries. It's instructive to see it spelled out, but population-level conclusions shouldn't be drawn.

It reads like anti-gay propaganda to me, which seem appropriate considering the site it's hosted on.

This just a gay conversion therapy propaganda piece. Please don't post this homophobic crap on HN.

I don't usually comment on votes on HN, but weirdly, this comment got two downvotes immediately after posting. And I guess no response because the posting of the article is indefensible.