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Trade Me: Unsafe hookups not an issue

Tue 28 Nov 2006 In: New Zealand Daily News

Dating website ‘Find Someone,' part of the Trade Me site, says it's clientele are looking for serious relationships rather than quickie sex. The site was one of those who were slow to respond to GayNZ.com's sting operation which revealed that hundreds of NZ gay men cruising the internet are open to unsafe sex. NZ AIDS Foundation research has indicated internet hookups are a significant factor in the massive increase in HIV infections in NZ in recent times. Currently one more gay man is infected with HIV in New Zealand every four days. “Currently only 1.9% of the men on Find Someone are seeking men,” Find Someone business manager Mike O'Donnell says, “and those seem to be older men looking for a serious partnership.” O'Donnell says he hesitates to use the phrase ‘grown-up' to describe Find Someone, but explains the site has it's own market niche. “Other websites are probably targeting more ‘convenient' relationships. And rather than the 18-30 set, Find Someone is targeted towards the 30-45 year old set. It's not so much ‘what are you doing Friday night?' as someone who is entering their second or third partnership – or wakes up one day and they're 35 and they've focused on career - and are now serious about finding somebody.” O'Donnell says Trade Me/Find Someone has content online highlighting safe sex – an editorial highlights the importance of condom use. The site has people working in an ‘active compliance role' to remove people who are acting inappropriately. “Some of the explicit stuff you'd see elsewhere, and people just interested in hook-ups, wouldn't make the cut,” says O'Donnell. GayNZ.com's questions about unsafe safe sex cruising and the role of the NZDating website have so far not generated answers from that website, generally acknowledged to be the largest player in the local internet dating market.     Ref: GayNZ.com (m)

Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff

First published: Tuesday, 28th November 2006 - 12:00pm

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