Gender Studies Programme, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong.
Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong.
J Sex Med. 2021 Jan;18(1):29-34. doi: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2020.10.004. Epub 2020 Nov 19.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has fundamentally changed daily routine, including sexual activity. However, most research on sexual activity during the COVID-19 pandemic focused on heterosexual individuals. The only study so far on men who have sex with men was conducted in the United States.
Our study expands the understanding of sexual activity during the COVID-19 pandemic by studying gay and bisexual men in Hong Kong. Although sexual desire and sexual activity continue to be important aspects of one's life during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are COVID-19-related barriers to having sex. This study therefore examined the association between sexual desire, COVID-19-related barriers, and whether to engage in sexual activity or not during the COVID-19 pandemic.
857 cisgender sexual minority people in Hong Kong participated in an online survey study, and for this article, only male participants were included in the analysis, yielding an analytical sample of 376 gay and bisexual men.
Participants were asked to assess their sexual desire (ie, sexual drive and sexual motivation), COVID-19-related barriers (ie, perceived difficulties to have sex with another person during the pandemic and perceived risk of COVID-19 infection), and sexual activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was found that while sexual desire remained prevalent among the gay and bisexual men, COVID-19-related barriers were also commonly observed. Sexual drive and sexual motivation were positively associated with sexual activity. Perceived difficulties to have sex with another person during the pandemic and perceived risk of COVID-19 infection were negatively predictive of engaging in sexual activity, after controlling for general sexual desire.
Understanding the ambivalence and driving and inhibiting factors for having sex during the COVID-19 pandemic can provide a new framework for understanding people's sexual activity during an unprecedented scale of the pandemic. It is likely that abstinence would not work as the respondents expressed strong sexual desire and that the pandemic is going to last for a long time. Governments, policy makers, and sexual scientists need to work together to come up with practicable, feasible, and easy-to-follow guidelines for having sex during the pandemic.
STRENGTH & LIMITATIONS: This is one of the first studies to examine the impact of COVID-19 on sexual activity among gay and bisexual men. The results should be interpreted with caution because of the use of cross-sectional design and nonprobability sampling.
Sexual desire and COVID-19-related barriers serve as driving and inhibiting factors in explaining whether or not people have sex during the COVID-19 pandemic. Suen YT, Chan RCH, Wong EMY. To Have or Not to Have Sex? COVID-19 and Sexual Activity Among Chinese-Speaking Gay and Bisexual Men in Hong Kong. J Sex Med 2021;18:29-34.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）疫情从根本上改变了日常生活，包括性行为。然而，大多数关于 COVID-19 大流行期间性行为的研究都集中在异性恋者身上。迄今为止，唯一一项针对男男性行为者的研究是在美国进行的。
我们的研究通过研究香港的男同性恋和双性恋男性，扩展了对 COVID-19 大流行期间性行为的理解。尽管在 COVID-19 大流行期间，性欲望和性行为仍然是人们生活的重要方面，但存在与 COVID-19 相关的性行为障碍。因此，本研究调查了性欲望、与 COVID-19 相关的障碍以及在 COVID-19 大流行期间是否进行性行为之间的关联。
857 名在香港的顺性别性少数群体参与了一项在线调查研究，由于本文仅分析男性参与者，因此在分析中仅包括 376 名男同性恋和双性恋男性。
研究发现，虽然男同性恋和双性恋男性的性欲望仍然普遍存在，但也普遍存在与 COVID-19 相关的障碍。性驱力和性动机与性行为呈正相关。在控制了一般的性欲望后，与另一个人在大流行期间发生性行为的困难感知和对 COVID-19 感染的风险感知与参与性行为呈负相关。
了解 COVID-19 大流行期间性行为的矛盾性和驱动因素和抑制因素，可以为理解人们在前所未有的大流行规模期间的性行为提供一个新的框架。禁欲可能不会奏效，因为受访者表达了强烈的性欲望，而且大流行将持续很长时间。政府、政策制定者和性科学家需要共同努力，为大流行期间的性行为制定切实可行、易于遵循的指南。
这是第一项研究 COVID-19 对男同性恋和双性恋男性性行为影响的研究之一。由于使用了横断面设计和非概率抽样，因此结果应谨慎解释。
性欲望和与 COVID-19 相关的障碍是解释人们在 COVID-19 大流行期间是否进行性行为的驱动因素和抑制因素。
