It also appears to document an increased proportion of men who identify as bisexual, and finds that only a minority of men identify themselves as belonging to a distinct gay community.
The survey
Every three years, the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS – France's National Scientific Research Centre) and the University of Quebec have organised the Gay Net Barometer, a behavioural survey of gay men and MSM using gay dating websites and social networks.
The current survey is the fourth in the series and is still ongoing: the survey page is here and it can be answered in French or Spanish.
Because it is still being conducted, the survey results here are interim and may differ in the final report.
In addition, although they document considerable changes from the last survey in 2009, this may in part be due to changes in who answered the survey as well as to actual behavioural changes, because there is no way of determining any differences between the men who answered the last survey and the present one.
These differences may be significant because, as the researchers note, gay contact media have changed a lot in the last few years. The researchers comment that recruitment to the survey has been slower in 2013: In 2009, 20,000 men answered the survey but only 14,500 have so far answered the 2013 survey (it ends on 30 September). This could tilt the profile towards 'higher-risk' men.
