Internet Sex Ads for MSM and Partner Selection Criteria: The Potency of Race/Ethnicity Online (Report‪)‬

Use of the Internet as a fast and efficient means of accessing sexual partners has grown in popularity among men who have sex with men (MSM) and has been linked with number of sexual partners, sexual risk behaviors, and sexually transmitted diseases (Benotsch, Kalichman, & Cage, 2002; Blackwell, 2008; Bolding, Davis, Hart, Sherr, & Elford, 2005; Centers for Disease Control, 2003; Elford, Bolding, & Sherr, 2001; Evans, Wiggins, Mercer, Bolding, & Elford, 2007; Fields, Wharton, Marrero, Little, Pannell, & Morgan, 2006; Garofalo, Herrick, Mustanski, & Donenberg, 2007; Grov, DeBusk, Bimbi, Golub, Nanin, & Parsons, 2007; Kim, Kent, McFarland, & Klausner, 2001; Klausner, Wolf, FischerPonce, Zolt, & Katz, 2000; Liau, Millett, & Marks, 2006; McFarlane, Bull, & Rietmeijer, 2000; Ogilvie et al., 2008; Taylor, Aynalem, Smith, Bemis, Kenney, & Kerndt, 2004). Web sites specific to MSM have emerged, catering to sexual connections between men in given geographic regions. The high volume of traffic on these Web sites has created opportunities for specifying requisite partner characteristics for a prospective sex "hook-up" in frank detail and finding a match to at least many of those criteria. Some see this increasing use of the Internet as having transformed the norms of gay male socialization and sexual pursuit (Bolding, Davis, Hart, Sherr, & Elford, 2007: Garofalo et al., 2007; Ross, 2005). Health-promotion efforts and prevention activities acknowledge this by increasingly targeting MSM using sex Web sites (Anderton & Valdiserri, 2005; Blackwell, 2008; Fernandez et al., 2007; Kalnins, 2000; Kok, Harterink, Vriens, de Zwart, & Hospers, 2006; Rhodes, 2004; Rosser et al., 2006). The use of particular selection criteria for desired sexual partnerships has its utility in maximizing the efficiency of "browsing" through a vast array of available information on the Internet. However, it also creates a milieu in which personal characteristics become commodities with definable market values. This can be reinforced by descriptions of the necessary or preferred traits of a prospective sexual partner. These sexual partner criteria may include specifications of race or ethnicity. Such specifications reify broad categorical divisions of race or ethnicity. Understanding the impact this may have on MSM of color, directly and indirectly affecting partner selection processes, is important to the comprehension of their sexual networks and decision making.