Pre-exposure prophylaxis sorting among men who have sex with men

ABSTRACT

Factors such as race, masculinity, and sexually transmitted infections have been documented to influence partner selection in men who have sex with men (MSM). Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has received mixed evaluations as a responsible step in HIV prevention and as an enabler of risker sexual practices. PrEP may consequently serve as an additional factor in partner choice. We examine the role that PrEP use and “promiscuity” play in affiliation and dating decisions by men who have sex with men with different HIV and PrEP stati. We invited 450 MSM across the United States from a smartphone geo-locating sex application to complete a survey of which 339 successfully finished the task. The survey contained vignettes of fictional men who were promiscuous or monogamous and either taking PrEP or not. Participants provided responses on whether to affiliate with these characters in three social domains: as friends, dates, or sex partners. Neither PrEP nor promiscuity influenced friendship choices. There was a preference for dating monogamous characters. Critically, PrEP influenced sexual affiliations for HIV negative individuals who showed a preference for PrEP-using characters. The pattern of results provides quantitative evidence for PrEP-based sexual sorting aimed at reducing risk of HIV transmission.

KEYWORDS:

• Pre-exposure prophylaxis
• HIV
• partner selection
• risk reduction
• PrEP sorting

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Joel E. Martinez http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4949-303X

Kai J. Jonas http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6607-1993

Notes

1 We use the term promiscuous in the text to describe an individual with many casual sexual partners with no conferred value judgment but rather used as a reference to a common stereotype of men who have sex with men (Calabrese et al., 2018).