Sexual Health

Lambda kind of slipped under our radar when it was released this past April.  Perhaps while it’s all about sex, its less sexy than some out there.  But for hard facts about things like HIV incidence, who knows their status and who doesn’t, how often men are getting tested, how often they practice safer sex – the nuts and bolts on which informed HIV prevention discussions and campaigns are built on – this is the real deal. So this is interesting stuff, and also very useful. F

If there was one presenter at the OHTN Research Conference last week who held the crowd truly in his hands it was Simon Rosser.  Not just because he was talking about sex,  not because some of it was, frankly, titillating, but that he was presenting leading edge stuff, insights in to an online world that some of us apparently know quite well.  More importantly, he revealed how little research was out there in this most commonplace of activities.  It’s clear that in this a

  Did you know that 25% of gay men did not kiss their man on the mouth during their last sexual encounter? That 75% gave oral sex? That most men engaged in 5-9 sexual behaviours? Did you know that 61.3% of men like the taste of cum in their mouth? Or that 80.8% of men report they’ve swallowed cum? Did you know that 50.8% of men like the feel of cum inside them? That 58.9% of men have fantasized about a man cumming inside them. Or that 69.5% agree they would “only receive cum inside them

Last week we posted a breast cancer self examination video which used hot guys in various stages of undress to make its point. It did. But we mentioned in passing that we hadn’t seen much extreme hotness in HIV prevention ads lately and wondered whether we need to try that approach again. Putting the hotness in HIV prevention back, in other words. Then along comes this little video in to our in-basket. It’s from HiM (Health Initiative for Men) out of Vancouver, B.C., a province incidental

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS MATURE LANGUAGE AND NSFW LINKS Boy next door/slut. Mason Wyler straddles the two beautifully. Wholesome looking and wicked dirty at the same time. He has plenty of fans and plenty who revile him too. This boy has led a controversial life, made controversial films, said many controversial things.   Some have called him a publicity hound. I think he just likes to talk, is amused by it all. Certainly he had no problem with our request for an interview. “Yes” h

In To conceive… the first part of this two-part post, we talked about pregnancy planning options for people with HIV who want to get pregnant. In this post, let’s look at the flip side—wanting not to get pregnant. Not having a baby Many people with HIV decide they don’t want or need a visit from the stork and so look to contraception. Options include physical barriers (condoms, diaphragms and cervical caps), hormonal contraceptives (oral contraceptives, injectable contraceptives a

Some people with HIV want to have babies. Some don’t. Both are valid positions. In this first of a two-part post on conception and contraception, we look at some info you should know as someone living with HIV and considering pregnancy Having a baby Yep, it is totally possible to be HIV positive and have a healthy baby. Many people fear that their baby will have HIV, but with proper care and treatment, the chance of HIV passing during pregnancy, childbirth or early life can be less than two

In the 15 years I've been out as a gay man, I have spent a lot of time in bath houses - from Montreal, to Houston, to Auckland, to Luton. I try to do my best to support baths as I consider them a bit of a dying breed, especially here in Toronto where we've lost three in the past seven years. (Although one was re-purposed as a swingers club - a score for sex-positive spaces in this city.) I have spent a lot of time at the remaining bath houses in Toronto - one is where I go for an evening Bear

To find out more about GPS please contact Rick Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloaka76e545ea4f48f8d99ca772c0bc86e39').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addya76e545ea4f48f8d99ca772c0bc86e39 = 'rjulien' + '@'; addya76e545ea4f48f8d99ca772c0bc86e39 = addya76e545ea4f48f8d99ca772c0bc86e39 + 'ac

The friendly people who work in public health are always looking for creative ways to promote healthy living, from encouraging us to be more active—Participaction!—to taking care of our sexual health, including regular testing for sexually transmitted infections, or STIs Earlier this year, the government of Alberta put the spot light on syphilis with its controversial campaign that involved the website PlentyofSyph.com, a spoof of a popular dating website. In a post here on PL.com, Viral L

It's a bit of  a public health nightmare. We KNOW we have a problem with getting HIV infection rates under control. We KNOW we have a problem with STI’s generally. But are the courts helping the process  - or themselves contributing to new infection rates in sexually transmitted infections, meanwhile happily stigmatizing people coping with those diseases. I’d say yes on both counts. But I’m far from alone on this: read the comments which follow. But first let’s review the lat

Image credit: (c) 2008, Neal Jennings In the first post of this two-part series on PEP and PrEP, we talked about PEP—the use of anti-HIV drugs to reduce transmission after being exposed to HIV. In this installment, let's chat about a completely different—and largely unknown and untamed—beast, PrEP. PrEP PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is a potential new method for preventing HIV infection. PrEP is not yet approved by health officials, and research studies are underway to determine w

Image credit: (c) 2008, Neal Jennings With Pride season officially blooming in all its rainbowy glory, we here at CATIE want to cover an issue that may not catch your eye like the body glitter on the bare shoulders of sweaty parade marchers. It is an issue that can very well come up during the festivities: how to manage the risks of HIV transmission during sex. There are many ways to reduce risk of transmission and people use the ones they know and feel comfortable with. Condoms are the o

. . but if it is yours and you’re an HIV-positive gay man, we have three resources we want to share with you—happy ending guaranteed.  Pozitively Healthy: a gay man’s guide to sex and health in Canada Sex can be a minefield for sexually active HIV-positive gay men. This guide tackles sexual health, top to bottom. It covers the risk of passing on HIV during different sex acts, and it also has sections called “Hard-on, not hard up” and “Coming clean on butt play.” Th

From the land of the Kamasutra comes a condom for gay/MSM/ bisexual men who want a condom with extra lube and that is made for them versus everyone. What a novel idea!. The article below is from The Pune Mirror, written by Vishakha Sharma. Very soon there’ll be a reason for the gay community in Pune and Mumbai to rejoice, as specially modified gay condoms will be launched in the two cities by the first week of January, 2011.  This new condom will be more durable and lubricated. It will