![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
Abstract
Within the gay community, labeling oneself as a “top” or as a “bottom” communicates preferences for insertive or receptive sexual practices. The use of these terms and their relevance to the HIV/AIDS pandemic have received little attention in the scientific literature. The current exploratory study examines both qualitatively and quantitatively the use of top/bottom self-labels and their relation to gender role identity, sexual behavior, and HIV risk. Results revealed that nearly half of the 84 participating men used a self-label to describe their genitoerotic preferences. However, the rate of self-labeling decreased significantly over the five-year study period. Results also revealed that self-label corresponded to anal sex practices, such that tops engaged in more insertive anal sex than bottoms, and bottoms in more receptive anal sex than tops. Further, top/bottom labelers were more dichotomous in their anal sex practices than men who did not use a label. Labeling was also related to HIV status; bottoms were significantly more likely to be HIV+ than tops. The relationship between labeling and gender role interests and behaviors in childhood and adulthood were negligible. We conclude that labeling oneself as a top or a bottom continues to be a common practice among gay men in NYC to communicate preferences for insertive or receptive anal sex and that these labels can be used with caution to predict sexual behavior in the subset of gay men who use them.
