Peer Reviewed
Men's health

Health care for men who have sex with men

Eugene Priscott, Darren Russell
Abstract
A wide health gap exists for men who have sex with men. GPs can effectively educate and offer screening and preventive treatment, but need first to enable patients to disclose their sexual orientation.
Key Points

    Men who have sex with men (MSM) may describe themselves as homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual and comprise 6.9% of males in Australia; 1.9% of Australian men identify as gay.1 Sexual orientation is considered to have three components:

    • sexual identity – how someone describes themself
    • sexual activity or behaviour – the gender of a person with whom someone has sexual activity
    • sexual desire or attraction – the gender of a person to whom someone is attracted.

    Picture credit: © Syda Productions/Shutterstock.

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