Understanding the Sexual Behaviour of Bisexual Men and Mapping the Vulnerability of Their Female Partners

Nidhi Sharma , International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Bisexuality driven sexual risks engender both genders, especially for female where she is a tool to conceal homosexuality and is mostly unaware of male partner's bisexuality. Programs, however, focus on male-to-male risk prevention. We map women's vulnerability to STI/ HIV in such situation using primary data collected from 2182 MSMs following modified time-location cluster sampling in Nepal. Bisexuality is pronounced as one-third of MSM below age 20 reported 4 or more female partners in last 6 months. However, adjusted effect of intensified MSM activity, especially with commercial partner enhances the overlapping sex (OR=5.2, p<0.01). Protected sex with female is reported very low. Over two-thirds of MSM who didn't use condom in last sex with non/commercial partner also reported last sex with female as unprotected. Programmes focusing on safe sex practices in homosexuality needs to talk about female partners. Prioritize and sensitize women partners about bisexuality and HIV vulnerabilities.

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 Presented in Session 10. Fertility, Family Planning, Sexual Behavior & Reproductive Health 2