Duration of kissing in different intimate positions among men who have sex with men: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Despite mounting evidence showing that kissing (tongue-kissing) may transmit gonorrhoea between men who have sex with men (MSM), little data exists on factors influencing the duration of kissing while they are above and/or lying underneath a partner for this population group.

Methods: Between May 2019 and March 2020, we invited MSM aged ≥18 years who attended the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) to participate in a survey about the duration of their kissing (minutes) and intimate position while kissing (i.e., kissing while above, or while lying underneath) their most recent partner. Univariable and multivariable negative binomial regressions were performed to examine the associations between the duration of kissing in different intimate positions, and demographic and behavioural characteristics (including age, region of birth, HIV status or PrEP use, and role in anal sex).

Results: Of the 965 men with a recent male kissing partner, 89.0% (n = 859) also had sex with that partner. Of the 166 men with a recent female kissing partner, 71.7% (n = 119) also had sex with that partner. Our adjusted analyses showed that, on average, men born in Asia (mean 8.52 vs 11.69 min, p < .001) and South America or the Caribbean (mean 8.61 vs 11.69 min, p = .022) spent less time kissing compared to men born in Oceania, and the same was also observed for kissing while above or lying underneath. Men who had only receptive anal sex spent less time kissing while above than those who only had insertive anal sex (mean 3.04 vs 5.86 min, p < .001).

Conclusion: Our study is the first to examine factors that influence duration of kissing in different intimate positions. These factors could be associated with oropharyngeal gonorrhoea if saliva transmitted gonorrhoea and if gravity played a role.