Use protection!
One in ten men who use the hook-up app Grinder have never been tested for HIV, according to a new study by Hunter College’s Center for HIV Educational Studies and Training (CHEST).
The team of researchers surveyed more than 1,300 men in the New York City area who use Grindr. They found that 10% of Grindr users have never had an HIV test. Compare that to 2.6% of all the area’s gay men. The study showed the problem is worse among younger men, with 1 in 5 between the ages of 18 and 24 reporting they’d never been tested.
Among that 10% of never-tested Grindr users, one-third of them report their HIV status as HIV-negative on their profiles. Nearly one third of the never-tested men also said they’d had unprotected anal sex in the last three months.
But the survey wasn’t all bad news.
Out of all of the men surveyed on Grindr, half of them had received an HIV test in the past 6 months, and more than 70% of them had been tested in the past year. Compare that to only 52% of all gay men in the NYC area reported receiving an HIV-test in the past year. The survey also found that proportionally, men of color showed higher rates of testing than other men.
“These findings suggest that some prevention messages – specifically that MSM that engage in unprotected sex should have more frequent HIV testing – are reaching the intended audience,” said senior data analyst Jon Rendina, who was part of the research team, in a media release. “Further, it is good to see that community-based efforts to provide HIV testing to young men of color appear to be working.:
