Condoms are great. They’re cheap, easy to use and they’re pretty effective at stopping HIV (and other STIs too). But the truth is, condoms don’t work for everyone. For some, the cost of wearing condoms (in terms of loss of spontaneity, intimacy or sensation) is greater than the considerable reduction in HIV transmission risk. If we can’t persuade everyone to wear a condom, then we need to look at other ways of preventing the transmission of HIV.

Our new campaign, ‘More To Safer Sex’, outlines seven strategies that contribute to a safer sex life. Adopting two or three – or even all seven – of these strategies will make your sex life, and the guy you’re having sex with, safer.

With the ‘More To Safer Sex’ campaign, we're communicating traditional – and some non-traditional – safer sex methods in a fun, funny and fresh way.

The seven strategies explored in this campaign are:

• Regular testing
• Education about HIV and viral load
• Condoms
• Communication
• The risks of different sex acts
• What to do in an emergency (PEP)
• What the future of HIV prevention could hold (PrEP)

GMFA’s Campaign & Website Manager, Liam Murphy, said, “We aren’t telling gay men not to use condoms, just that there’s more to consider when preventing HIV. The ‘More To Safer Sex’ webpage will provide education around HIV, help gay men to assess the riskiness of different sex acts, provide information about safer sex practices, PEP, PrEP and the impact of being undetectable on transmission risk, and let gay men know where to go to get tested.”

GMFA’s Chief Executive, Matthew Hodson, said, “When the HIV crisis began, gay men were expected to stop having anal sex altogether. Condom use, back then, was seen as a controversial strategy. Over the years, condoms have prevented hundreds of thousands of HIV infections, and they are still one of the best and cheapest ways of preventing HIV and other STIs, but they are not the only strategy you can follow to prevent HIV transmission.”

“It’s vital that we, as gay and bisexual men, understand the impact that HIV treatment has on viral load, and the risk of HIV transmission. It’s vital that we are able to talk honestly about testing history and risk behaviour. We need to end the stigma around HIV that discourages HIV testing and honest conversations. We need to approach HIV prevention as a community, both those of us living with HIV and those who are not, working together to bring an end to new infections. At GMFA, we want gay men to have the information that they need to make better choices for better health - and to have great sex.”