Party and play: Associations between US male sex workers' internet advertising characteristics and advertising chemsex to prospective clients

Introduction

It is broadly recognised that chemsex is more prevalent among men who have sex with men, but little is known about chemsex in the context of commercial sexual encounters between men. This study investigates sex worker advertising characteristics and their advertised willingness to engage in chemsex with clients.

Methods

Data were web scraped from the profiles of US-based male sex workers (N = 3773) advertising services on an internet advertising platform in February 2021. This study describes the association between chemsex advertising and advertised age, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, encounter type and COVID-19 acknowledgement.

Results

28.5% of sex workers (n = 1077) advertised chemsex, 64.7% of whom were 25–34 years-old (n = 697). The odds of chemsex advertising increased between ages 21–24 (aOR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.09–1.32) and declined among sex workers over 35 years-old (aOR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.95–1.00). Sex workers advertising as bisexual were more likely to advertise chemsex than those identifying as gay (aOR = 1.38, 95% CI 1.18–1.63). Sex workers acknowledging COVID-19 were less likely to advertise chemsex compared to those who did not (aOR = 0.65, 95% CI 0.48–0.89). Encounter type was associated with chemsex advertising among sex workers in this sample; sex workers not offering the “boyfriend experience” were more than 50% less likely to advertise chemsex than those who did offer the boyfriend experience (aOR = 0.47, 95% CI 0.36–0.61).

Discussion and Conclusions

Chemsex advertising in this population is likely influenced by multiple sociodemographic and occupational characteristics. Identifying sex workers likely to engage in chemsex based on advertising data could inform targeted education and harm-reduction campaigns in this population.