OUT MAGAZINE — Aug 11 — In 1993, 2% of gay men found their first male sexual partner online. In 2003 the number was 61%. Manhunt.net seems to be the most efficient place for gay men to find sex. Manhunt, founded in Boston in 2001 by Larry Basile and Jonathan Crutchley, has now ~1m members, and 400,000+ uniques a month and brings in $2.4m+ per month, not counting ad revenues. According to Compete.com, Manhunt users spend 40 minutes on the site per visit (twice Facebook or MySpace). Gay urban life has always been a meat market, and cruising has always been a form of consumption. Yet cruising, unlike shopping, requires a buyer to also make himself a seller. Selling yourself online requires to create a pornographic profile. Michael W. Ross of the World Health Organization believes that such dissociation increases the likelihood of their engaging in risky behavior. Dan Savage, author of the sex column "Savage Love" and editor of Seattle's The Stranger newspaper, says, "Manhunt is a tool. Big, bad Manhunt doesn't make guys drag themselves to the webcam and take all those pictures of their dicks." Two recent studies indicate that men who have unprotected sex are equally likely to do so with partners met online or offline.
“’If he’s out there, he’s on here’ is only a slight exaggeration.” “Manhunt is the 21st century gay bar and you can’t stop progress” – Out Magazine September 2008
The full article was originally published at Out Magazine, but is no longer available.
This article is thought-provoking, but I don’t think gay men being online is any different than heterosexuals being online. You don’t see a huge outcry over x-rated heterosexual profiles that show nude pictures and campaign only for sex. Gay men do not owe it to themselves to stay offline in order to cultivate their ability to forge lasting relationships. To blame online gay connections as being responsible for gay relationship deficits and social isolation is ridiculous. The internet is here and will be here to stay. Manhunt can encourage dialogue about these issues by adding a political forum where men can discuss issues other than sex. Just opening the topics in this article for discussion will be half the battle won. The political power the gay community would have to accomplish social and legal change if they banded together on a place like Manhunt would be unprecedented. Manhunt has the ability to address sexual, relationship and political needs of the gay community all in one package. Good for them.
This article is thought-provoking, but I don’t think gay men being online is any different than heterosexuals being online. You don’t see a huge outcry over x-rated heterosexual profiles that show nude pictures and campaign only for sex. Gay men do not owe it to themselves to stay offline in order to cultivate their ability to forge lasting relationships. To blame online gay connections as being responsible for gay relationship deficits and social isolation is ridiculous. The internet is here and will be here to stay. Manhunt can encourage dialogue about these issues by adding a political forum where men can discuss issues other than sex. Just opening the topics in this article for discussion will be half the battle won. The political power the gay community would have to accomplish social and legal change if they banded together on a place like Manhunt would be unprecedented. Manhunt has the ability to address sexual, relationship and political needs of the gay community all in one package. Good for them.
The tremendous growth of ManHunt.net is a clear demonstration of the need for gay focused dating sites. http://www.myPartner.com launched less than a year ago to provide comprehensive online dating and private matchmaking services exclusively to gay men. The difference between http://www.myPartner.com and ManHunt is that the men on our site are specifically looking to establish a long term relationship. Although we don’t define what that relationship is to look like, myPartner.com is designed specifically to help our members identify and establish a happy and healthy relationship and we give the guidance to our members to do so, not just the profiles to be matched with.
That doesn’t mean that sex doesn’t play into our lives as gay men or as a vital role in developing a relationship, but with myPartner.com we foster an “above the belt” environment different than ManHunt, not allowing any nude/pornographic photos. As we tell users that attempt to upload nude photos, we like our members to discover something’s on their own. If dick size is important to them, great, but we aren’t going to match their level of compatibility based on it. We will, however, match our members based on their sexual lifestyle compatibilities as a component of their overall compatibility.
That being said, ManHunt, while primarily used to “get-on” and “get-off” serves a need for many people in the gay community to live a sexual life that is otherwise too hard for them to find. I’m not saying it’s the safest and smartest way to live a sexual life, but it is a tool to do so. And gay men aren’t the only ones doing it, AdultFriendFinder sold to Penthouse for $500mm within the last year so we know straight people are looking for sex online too!
The tremendous growth of ManHunt.net is a clear demonstration of the need for gay focused dating sites. http://www.myPartner.com launched less than a year ago to provide comprehensive online dating and private matchmaking services exclusively to gay men. The difference between http://www.myPartner.com and ManHunt is that the men on our site are specifically looking to establish a long term relationship. Although we don’t define what that relationship is to look like, myPartner.com is designed specifically to help our members identify and establish a happy and healthy relationship and we give the guidance to our members to do so, not just the profiles to be matched with.
That doesn’t mean that sex doesn’t play into our lives as gay men or as a vital role in developing a relationship, but with myPartner.com we foster an “above the belt” environment different than ManHunt, not allowing any nude/pornographic photos. As we tell users that attempt to upload nude photos, we like our members to discover something’s on their own. If dick size is important to them, great, but we aren’t going to match their level of compatibility based on it. We will, however, match our members based on their sexual lifestyle compatibilities as a component of their overall compatibility.
That being said, ManHunt, while primarily used to “get-on” and “get-off” serves a need for many people in the gay community to live a sexual life that is otherwise too hard for them to find. I’m not saying it’s the safest and smartest way to live a sexual life, but it is a tool to do so. And gay men aren’t the only ones doing it, AdultFriendFinder sold to Penthouse for $500mm within the last year so we know straight people are looking for sex online too!