For this narrative, we have attempted to characterize research based on when it was conducted, not when it was published. Due to publication lags (the delay between when data were collected and when findings ultimately appeared in print), the dates for some of the studies cited in a particular section may appear out of context. To the best of our ability, we have attempted to capture the essence of Internet use by gay and bisexual men and online research among this particular group of users during each of those time periods. Meanwhile, the rapid and recent transitions to mobile platforms as a means to access the Internet distinguish Internet use in recent years (and thus more contemporary online scientific inquiry) from those of the previous decade. Similarly, the rapid changes in Internet use throughout the first decade of the 21 st century (including the expansions of high-speed broadband, Wi-Fi, and user-driven content (i.e., ‘web 2.0’)), distinguish the second half of the decade from the first. Yet, the 1990s (as a decade) were characteristically different from the early 2000s, both technologically and culturally. Certainly, this is not to suggest that the year 2000 was somehow entirely different from 1999. These designations are one part in the interest of parsimony, and, to some extent, represent real transitions in Internet use.
Because technological advances brought about shifts in research theory and strategy, we developed a narrative that followed a linear sequence, starting in the 1990s and continuing through the time we finished the manuscript in summer 2013. In developing this narrative, we had to make painful decisions about what exactly to cover, how far back to go, and how best to organize this manuscript. Our goal was to build this understanding through the lens of research-exploring shifting paradigms born of methodological advancements. In this paper, we attempt to document the historical and cultural shifts in how gay and bisexual men have used the Internet for sexuality. Users engage in cam-to-cam video chatting, streaming/downloading pornographic content, exchanging/broadcasting nude photos and videos, cybersex, dating, shopping for sex toys, escorting, etc. Telephones gave rise phone sex, the VCR and VHS tapes gave rise to viewing pornography in one's home (versus visiting an adult cinema), hand-held video cameras begot the amateur porn industry, and text messaging begot ‘sexting.’ Thus it is perhaps unsurprising that the Internet has been widely adopted for sexual content. There is a saying that new technologies, regardless of their intended purposes, are quickly adopted for sex. These innovative technologies represent powerful resources for researchers to study and provide rapidly evolving outreach to gay and bisexual men. The Internet, and specifically mobile technology, is an environment gay and bisexual men are using for sexual purposes. Moving forward, a more holistic understanding of gay and bisexual men's sexual behavior might be warranted to address continued HIV and STI disparities. The urgent need to reduce HIV in this population has been a driving force to develop innovative research and Internet-based intervention methodologies. Much of this work has been grounded in models of disease prevention, largely as a result of the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic. Studies have carefully considered the ethics, feasibility, and acceptability of using the Internet to conduct research and interventions with gay and bisexual men. In kind, researchers too have adapted to the Internet to study gay and bisexual men, though not at the same rapid pace at which technology (and its users) have advanced. Gay and bisexual men have adapted to the ever-evolving technological advances that have been made in connecting users to the Internet-from logging into the World Wide Web via dial-up modem on a desktop computer to geo-social and sexual networking via a handheld device. Over that time, gay and bisexual men have rapidly taken to using the Internet for sexual purposes: sexual health information seeking, finding sex partners, dating, cybersex, and pornography. In this review, we document the historical and cultural shifts in how gay and bisexual men have used the Internet for sexuality between the 1990s and 2013.