Gay Today: Health

SPIGS:
Sexual Problems in Gay Men Survey

Compiled by GayToday

"Despite significant research into sexual problems in the heterosexual male, the prevalence of sexual difficulties in gay men has been largely ignored," Dr Chris G McMahon, a leading Australian Sexual Health physician, was commenting at today's launch of a new on-line research project on sexual difficulties experienced by gay men.

Researcher Dr. Chris McMahon

Dr McMahon went on to highlight the lack of well conducted studies on the type, severity and prevalence of sexual disorders in gay men. He stated that the lack of research was "...symptomatic of society's polarised view of male sexuality and, in particular, its attitude to gay male sexuality."

Dr McMahon went on to say, "We know very little about gay male sexual performance difficulties and without this knowledge it is difficult to plan effective services or treatments. We know that in the majority of cases of sexual erectile difficulties amongst heterosexual men, physical factors are a major cause.

"What we want to be able to determine is whether gay men have the same range of sexual difficulties and the possible co-factors. This initial project will allow us to start the process of collecting baseline data and allow more in-depth studies to be carried out at a future date."

The Sexual Problems in Gay Men Survey (SPIGS) was developed by a group of sexual health specialists in Sydney Australia. The SPIGS study group comprises a team of Australian Physicians, psychologists and other health professionals.

The study is a unique research project involving an Internet cyber-survey of gay men (www.sex-study.com). The objective of SPIGS is to determine the nature and severity of sexual problems in gay men and how these problems affect gay sexuality, their relationships and their lives in general.

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Commenting on how long the survey should take to fill-in Dr McMahon said "...that it should take no more then 15 minutes to fill out the survey".

The survey uses drop down boxes from which a person simple chooses a response.

The survey covers about 50 questions and includes questions on gay men's level of sexual desire, their ability to achieve erections hard enough for anal intercourse, their level of control of ejaculation and their sexual expectations and beliefs. All responses are totally confidential and identifying information is not required.

Results of the research project will be submitted for publication in a major international medical journal and will also be available on the web.

Contact Details: Dr Chris G McMahan:
Email: spigs@sex-study.com

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