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Bareback Sex: A Conflation of Risk and Masculinity
Abstract
From a healthcare perspective, there is an underlying assumption that most gay and bisexual men do not intentionally seek to have unprotected anal sex. This paper presents the results of a qualitative investigation conducted in three Canadian gay bathhouses regarding unprotected anal sex among men. It is our contention that much epidemiological research, though helpful, obfuscates essential factors in the practice of bareback sex. Consequently, the paper addresses two themes: the identification from the participants' perspective of the risk factors involved in the practice of bareback sex and the identification of specific risk-reduction strategies used by barebackers. Our research results indicate that the majority of the participants were informed about health risks and took steps to avoid harmful practices even when engaging in high-risk sexual activities. Many participants, regardless of their HIV status, used risk-reduction strategies because the majority wanted to protect both their partners and themselves.
... In this sense, barebacking can be seen as a form of sexual freedom, choice, empowerment, and norm-resistance/rebellion ( Crossley, 2002 ;Holmes & Warner, 2005 ;Holmes et al., 2006 ). Here it is imperative to again note that engaging in barebacking sexual practices is not necessarily transgressive and may in fact reinforce oppressive norms associated with hegemonic hypermasculinity ( Holmes et al., 2008 ;Nixon & Davies, 2019 ). Foucault proposes that there exist two distinct forms of truth-one that is ordered and peaceful and one that is chaotic, dirty, and disheveled, and truth revealing ( Gros, 2002 ). ...
... Many environmental settings that orient themselves towards gay men oft en promote sex, and in turn practices with potentially increased likelihood for passing HIV/STIs ( Grov, Hirshfi eld, Remien, Humberstone, & Chiasson, 2013 ;Grov, Parsons, & Bimbi, 2007 ). Bathhouses, darkrooms, sex-events, and public sex spaces (e.g., washrooms, theatres, cars, parks,) are sites that promote sexual activity for gay men ( Grov et al., 2013 ;Holmes et al., 2008 ). Alternatively, some gay men avoid these spaces or the "scene" as sex is too readily available and the risk of seduction may interfere with their ability to stay safe sexually and/or faithful if in a monogamous relationship ( Klesse, 2007 ). ...
... We argue with Holmes and Colleagues (2008 ) that while it is true that some gay men who have HIV do not know it, this cannot be the only consideration when trying to understand gay men's sexual practices and notions of HIV risk. Current beliefs in public health prevention eff orts that focus on this lack of knowledge and/or the infl uence of drugs are incomplete and ineffective-leading to many incorrectly framed programs, campaigns, and the promulgation of potentially dangerous and oppressive stereotypes ( Holmes et al., 2008 ). We are not suggesting that these factors have no place in prevention eff orts, but that it is also important to consider how gay men govern themselves, maintain scripts, and act in certain socio-sexual situations. ...
This article explores the link between Foucault’s (1991) governmentality theory, specifically as it relates to gay men’s sexual practices and perceptions of HIV risk. Foucault’s (1991) theory of governmentality elucidates the means through which individual behaviours and norms (at a micro level) are governed through the production of disciplinary norms and structures that are instantiated at a broader structural and institutional level (the macro-level). Foucauldian theoretical conversations pertaining to what is meant by conceptions and definitions of HIV/STI risk are furthered through this paper’s theoretical contributions as they relate to gay men. From a Foucauldian perspective, we assess how gay men may alter or monitor their sexual practices through governmental scripts produced at a state level and manifested through micro- and macro-level behavioural and ideological shifts based on dominant socio-sexual norms. A model of the interrelationship between governmentality, scripting, the micro/macro levels, and the situation-specific is presented for future consideration when examining gay men’s sexual practices. Historical oppression and segregation of gay men are considered when exploring these theories from a critical social scientific lens.
... Many gay men with advanced HIV disease believed they would not live long enough to experience the negative effects of their smoking and were not concerned by potential health risks [40]. Findings reported in studies of sexual risk behaviour [41][42][43][44] provide further evidence that HIV-positive men who smoke consider the consequences of this health risk behaviour in light of their health status. Although congruent with the masculinities and men's health literature, which suggests fatalism can drive men's disregard for selfhealth and estrangement from health care services [45][46][47], the specificities of such gender connections in the context of HIV-positive gay men who smoke has not been documented. ...
... Gay men's masculinities have emerged as an important consideration in many studies. Researchers have argued that gay men construct their masculinity in unique ways [23,43,51,63] and that this plurality of masculinities can only partially explain gay men's health risk behaviours [41][42][43][44]64]. Social constructions of gay men's behaviours as deviant and perhaps criminal serve to marginalize and subordinate gay men. ...
... Such positioning has also influenced gay men's gender roles, identities and relations, which in turn impact upon health and illness practices [23,63]. For example, often chronicled are gay men's risky sexual health practices (e.g., barebacking, unprotected sex) whereby the masculine desire for pleasure and disregard for risk trump the potential for sharing or contracting sexually transmitted infections [23,41,42,63]. These social structural contextual features include environments where smoking is common, such as bars [22], which tend to overshadow the positive characteristics also inherent to many gay men's masculinities. ...
Therapeutic advances have dramatically improved health outcomes and life expectancy among persons living with HIV, but gains in life expectancy achieved by antiretroviral therapy may be mitigated by other health risk behaviours. HIV-positive gay men are especially at-risk for smoking and its adverse health risks. This scoping review summarizes evidence related to HIV and smoking, paying particular attention to gay men's masculinities as a means of providing direction for tailored tobacco cessation interventions for this vulnerable group. HIV-positive gay men face challenges with managing a complex disease and its psychological and social issues require tailored tobacco cessation interventions cognisant of the diverse social contexts in which they live. Although tobacco cessation intervention research among these men is limited, we make some recommendations to guide researchers and health care providers who work with these men.
... Digital anal touching occurred in 27% of scenes depicting anal sex, while analingus occurred in 25% of all such scenes. This suggests there is relatively little attention showed to preparing the anus for anal sex in Gay pornography, which can lead to damage such as rectal tears that may increase chances of transmitting infections (Holmes et al., 2008;Reece et al., 2014). Many scenes in the Gay category are abbreviated and edited scenes from longer versions. ...
Previous studies have suggested a substantial number of men who have sex with men (MSM) have consumed and used pornography to learn about same-sex sexual behaviors. Yet, past research has focused almost exclusively on condom-use in the category of Gay pornography and ignored the types of sexual behaviors and aggression depicted within the content. This study examined aggression and sexual behaviors depicted in Gay online pornography (N = 415). We found fellatio and anal sex were the most common behaviors, occurring in roughly two-thirds of scenes, while kissing occurred in less than a third of scenes. Additionally, sexual aggression occurred in 31% of scenes, with spanking being the most common, occurring in 20% of scenes. Anal sex and forced fellatio were found to be predictors of physical aggression. These findings point to normalization of aggression and narrow sexual behaviors in Gay pornography, which may have implications for MSM's norm perceptions related to sexuality.
... Individuals affirm their own nature and ethics through specific practices (e.g., BDSM) and ways of being within those practices (e.g., safe or unsafe sexual activities) (Deleuze & Parnet, 1987;Patton, 2000). The tension between the modern territorializing system (epitomized by health care, government, and other such institutions) and rebellious individuals is implicit in studies of bareback sex (Holmes & Warner, 2005;Holmes & O'Byrne, 2006;Holmes, O'Byrne, & Gastaldo, 2007;Holmes et al., 2008). Seeing the activities of BDSM practitioners in such a light may not only permit a better understanding of their discourses (and attendant practices), but will help us to rethink the role of the public health system in relation to healthy and unhealthy sexual practices. ...
... Es precisamente esta concepción de las identidades la que ha subrayado la importancia del género en el entendimiento de la sexualidad. La investigación ha destacado la vivencia de la masculinidad como un hecho social íntimamente ligado al ejercicio de la sexualidad, que no solo ha llevado a subrayar el papel de la heteronormatividad en el proceso de construcción identitaria, sino también la imbricación de los comportamientos de riesgo con el establecimiento de relaciones de poder (58) . De esta manera, las diferentes expectativas que el orden de género proyecta en relación a las conductas consideradas apropiadas, tienen una gran influencia en el comportamiento sexual de las personas (59) . ...
Llevar a cabo un análisis más integral y profundo de las diferencias y desigualdades en salud requiere de una aproximación más amplia al estudio de las masculinidades y la salud de los hombres en el momento actual. Estamos ante un tema cuyo interés ha ido a la par de la creciente preocupación por los riesgos y vulnerabilidades específicas de los hombres, pero también de la necesidad de involucrarlos en programas con capacidad de promover cambios positivos en el orden de género hacia la equidad en salud. Este artículo resitúa este campo dentro de la salud pública, proporcionando una visión amplificada sobre la salud de los hombres dentro del debate de los determinantes sociales de la salud y el análisis de las desigualdades. Sobre la base de un enfoque relacional de género, se formulan una serie de recomendaciones orientadas a las políticas y la investigación, que consideramos pueden contribuir a avanzar en el estudio y el desarrollo de programas desde una perspectiva de género en salud.
... As of this period, there is a diversification of production, which coincides with the start of studies related to diagnostic tests and PrEP 23,26,27,30,31,34,36,37,41,44,46,51,65 . Furthermore, behavioural and psychosocial studies increase 21,29,35,38,39,41,42,47,53,55 , which suggests a greater influence of the "combined prevention" paradigm 78 . Issues related to the production of PrEP, diagnostic tests, condom and behavior strategy. ...
Background:
Qualitative studies on HIV prevention strategies and methods among men who have sex with men (MSM) allow identify knowledge gaps and improve preventive actions.
Objective:
To make a thematic synthesis of the scientific productions that use the qualitative methodology in the strategies and methods of HIV prevention area among MSM.
Methods:
We conducted a literature review following the guidelines of the ENTREQ protocol. The analysis included 48 empirical studies published in Portuguese, English and Spanish between 2001 and 2018 available in the Medline, Embase, Scielo, Scopus, Bireme and Web of Science databases.
Results:
Where an increased production in the last six years and concentration in northern countries. Seven prevention methods were part of the study, with emphasis on pre-exposure prophylaxis, testing, condoms and behavioral strategies. The main topics discussed were stigma and support and care networks.
Conclusion:
we notice that an increasing production on prevention in the men who have sex with men segment results from the emergence of multiple preventive methods and strategies and their combined actions beyond the star role of condoms.
... Individuals affirm their own nature and ethics through specific practices (e.g., BDSM) and ways of being within those practices (e.g., safe or unsafe sexual activities) (Deleuze & Parnet, 1987;Patton, 2000). The tension between the modern territorializing system (epitomized by health care, government, and other such institutions) and rebellious individuals is implicit in studies of bareback sex (Holmes & Warner, 2005;Holmes & O'Byrne, 2006;Holmes, O'Byrne, & Gastaldo, 2007;Holmes et al., 2008). Seeing the activities of BDSM practitioners in such a light may not only permit a better understanding of their discourses (and attendant practices), but will help us to rethink the role of the public health system in relation to healthy and unhealthy sexual practices. ...
... Individuals affirm their own nature and ethics through specific practices (e.g., BDSM) and ways of being within those practices (e.g., safe or unsafe sexual activities) (Deleuze & Parnet, 1987;Patton, 2000). The tension between the modern territorializing system (epitomized by health care, government, and other such institutions) and rebellious individuals is implicit in studies of bareback sex (Holmes & Warner, 2005;Holmes & O'Byrne, 2006;Holmes, O'Byrne, & Gastaldo, 2007;Holmes et al., 2008). Seeing the activities of BDSM practitioners in such a light may not only permit a better understanding of their discourses (and attendant practices), but will help us to rethink the role of the public health system in relation to healthy and unhealthy sexual practices. ...
... Within this same line of thought, the literature on bareback sex shows that gay men who engage in condomless sex do so because of poor self-esteem (Adam 2005); because they were abused during childhood (Halkitis et al. 2008); because they are sexually compulsive (Dodge et al. 2008); because they are lonely, angry or suffer from depression (Houston et al. 2012); because they experience internalised homophobia (Thomas et al. 2014); because they have substance abuse problems (Rosario, Schrimshaw, and Hunter 2006); because they need to prove their masculinity (Holmes et al. 2008) or because they are young (Mustanski et al. 2011), irrational (Suarez and Miller 2001), etc. In other words, research stemming from different disciplines demonstrates the significant number of problematic reasons, based mostly on psychological and social factors, that a gay man has condomless sex. ...
Throughout the history of bareback sex (condomless sex between men), ‘subjects’ have been created, particularly through scientific literature, to characterise the men who engage in the sexual practice. For example, a gay man who does not use a condom may be framed as a pathologised subject. This paper first presents this history. Afterwards, by relying upon ethnographic data such as interviews collected from fieldwork research done in Toronto in 2014 with young gay men who have bareback sex, it shows exactly how these young gay men related themselves to those subjects. Then, it focuses on the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Truvada as a new HIV prevention technology. Although PrEP can allow condomless sex to occur while diminishing the risk of HIV transmission, at the time of the research, none of the young gay men were interested in using this tool despite being the subjects for whom the drug is tailored. This paper argues that PrEP and subjectivity are coproduced and can have conflicting meanings. This contradiction of meanings is a result of the various representations and symbols of bareback sex and the men who engage in the practice that have been produced throughout the history of bareback sex.
... Research has consistently linked unprotected (or "bareback") sex with concepts of masculinity. This finding has been borne out in analyses of bisexual men's hiV risk behaviors (LaPollo, Bond, & Lauby, 2014), Black men's sexual risk behaviors (Malebranche, Fields, Bryant, & harper, 2009), men's risk-reduction behaviors (holmes, Gastaldo, o'Bryrne, & Lombardo, 2008), and in analysis of content of dating/sexual websites for GBT men (Dowsett, Williams, Ventuneac, & Carballo-Diéguez, 2008). This research has generally indicated that unsafe sex practices are associated with construction of masculinity related to sex; that is, that to have unsafe sex enacts masculinity and (either implicitly or explicitly) that safer sex practices are unmasculine. ...
As the study of masculinities has evolved, researchers have turned attention to various forms of diversity among men. Among these have been sexual orientation and gender diversity. Following the depathologization of homosexuality in the mid-20th century (culminating, among mental health professionals, with the removal of homosexuality as a formal diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Drescher, 2012; Silverstein, 2009), research on masculinities among gay, bisexual, and transgender (GBT) men has expanded and extended into research domains that include relationships, health, body image, and help-seeking, among other topics. The goal of the present chapter is to provide a critical overview of empirical, theory-driven research on GBT men’s masculinities and to elucidate areas for growth of the field.
... The sample was created from individuals who self-selected to complete a self-administered and anonymous questionnaire. Moreover, this survey had been previously piloted in a research undertaken in Canadian gay bathhouses (Holmes, Gastaldo and O'Byrne 2007, Holmes, O'Byrne and Gastaldo 2005, Holmes et al. 2008. Specifically, it was findings from this previous research project that identified the need to add questions to the self-administered questionnaire (see Holmes and Warner 2005). ...
... Rather, silence is desirable because it invokes normatively masculine risk. Haig (2006) and Holmes et al. (2008) argue that silence, particularly silence around the issue of risk, is a form of masculinity. The masculine person does not need to discuss everything, especially not one's feelings, and therefore sexual encounters-particularly those with anonymous partners-become risky. ...
Gay bareback pornographic films featuring men engaging in condomless anal intercourse draw criticism from scholars, public health advocates, and even other pornographic filmmakers because of concerns that the rates of unprotected sex and STInamely HIVtransmission will increase if gay men watch them. This article examines how bareback pornographic films by Treasure Island Media (TIM) present visual narratives of gendered pleasure and desire by reframing the cum shot and focusing on ejaculate rather than ejaculation. TIM films show masculinity as athletic, risky, and sacred. Though these are recognizable, normative frames of masculinity, TIM films visibly articulate queer erotics and bodies in queer(ed) activity.
... Yet, other approaches suggested the focus on understanding strategies used by those men who engage in bareback sex, such as harm reduction strategies which, more often than not, it is used in order to protect both their partners and themselves (Holmes et al, 2008). An observed fact is that risk practices are not only limited to one way of being masculine, but rather to a diversity of masculinities, which shows that personal issues such as risk perceptions, motivation for unprotected sex, low self-esteem, depression symptoms, neglecting prevention or barebacker identity, could be related to other masculinities constructions within the gender structure (Connell, 2005). ...
HIV transmission among men who have sex with men (MSM) is still expanding globally. A wide myriad of factors that determine sexual risk practices assumption have been identified. Traditional masculine gender norms have been indicated as a possible determinant of risk practices performance among MSM. To identify how quantitative and mixed research values masculinities and their role in HIV transmission practices, a literature review was conducted. Results found that quantitative and mixed research highlighted situations related to HIV transmission in three areas: factors influencing perception and motivations for risk practices engagement; environmental influences facilitating risk taking and the description of new ways to take risks. Quantitative and mixed research took into account masculinity only related to hegemonic traits, both in the risk situations explanations described in the studies and in the measurement instruments used. Although interest on masculinity as a determinant of risk practices in research is increasing, appropriate tools to measure and analyze how masculinity is playing in these arenas are limited and tend to homogenize traits related to masculinity. New approaches, regarding the diversity of masculinities, identity constructions and different sexual interaction ways, as unequal and power relations among men, are needed to better understand and frame HIV transmission among MSM.
... Having selected a partner, participants stated that specific attributes of that partner could influence their decision whether to bareback. Consistent with the literature there was a complex interplay between conceptions and performances of masculinity 11 (Ridge, 2004;Holmes et al, 2008). Regardless of sexual position, men in this study were attracted to men who displayed masculine physical characteristics such as being 'built' or 'muscular' as well as behaviours such as being sexually dominant. ...
Bareback sex continues to fuel the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men but despite the fact that much academic attention has been focused on the sexual behaviour of this population few authors have considered the significance of sexual position. In order to explore this relatively under-examined factor, interviews were conducted with 13 HIV-negative and unknown status gay men who had recently engaged in bareback sex. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and through the lens of sexual position, the findings were organized across three super-ordinal themes. There were some areas in which there was little difference between the men's experiences of engaging in bareback as tops or bottoms (for instance, how participants connected with barebacking partners). In other areas, however, there were clear differences in men's experiences according to sexual position, particularly in the interpersonal dynamic between tops and bottoms during bareback sex encounters, which, it is argued, were acted out in accordance with a barebacking ‘sexual script’. There were further differences by position in how individuals overcame ‘cognitive dissonance’ by invoking strategies to make their engagement in bareback sex safer and in the meanings men ascribed to bareback sex and semen exchange. These findings provide valuable insights for those working with MSM around HIV prevention.
... For example, whether men consider themselves to be "tops" or "bottoms" sexually--that is, the insertive or the receptive partner--frequently plays an important role in determining whether or not bareback sex occurs. Researchers have shown that, oftentimes, men who self-identify as "tops" consider themselves to be at lower risk for contracting HIV than do men who self-identify as sexual "bottoms" and, therefore, they are more likely to engage in barebacking behaviors [5,26]. Furthermore, oftentimes, these roles are understood as gendered expressions of masculinity and femininity that influence sexual practices among gay and bisexual men [37]. ...
Purpose: Barebacking is a term that is used to refer to intentional involvement in unprotected anal sex. This paper examines the relationship between masculinity and self-identification as a barebacker, and how these factors related to HIV risk practices in a sample of men who have sex with other men (MSM).
Method: As part of the Men4Men Study, a brief Internet-based survey was completed in 2007 with English-speaking MSM aged 18+ who were not involved in a marital/romantic relationship at the time of interview. 886 participants were recruited by placing electronic postings and banner advertisements on Weblogs, social and sexual networking sites, and listservs frequented by MSM.
Results: A number of factors differentiated men who self-identified as barebackers from those who did not, and
barebacking identity was linked with greater involvement in HIV risk practices. Multivariate analysis revealed that having a high level of masculinity was associated with a greater likelihood of self-identifying as a barebacker.
Conclusions: HIV prevention and intervention efforts targeting MSM ought to address issues of self-identification as a barebacker as well as the extent to which men adhere to a masculine ideology.
... The experience of masculinity is closely related to the exercise of sexuality (29), since heterosexuality is a key factor associated with hegemonic rules of masculinity (30). In this way, having an active sex life or ‘luck with the ladies’ may be interpreted as signs of possessing a masculine self, which has been described as being related to promiscuous behaviour and risky sexual practices (31, 32). Also, in Western societies, the vast majority of reckless drivers are young men (33). ...
Background: The literature shows how gender mandates contribute to differences in exposure and vulnerability to certain health risk factors. This paper presents the results of a study developed in the south of Spain, where research aimed at understanding men from a gender perspective is still limited.
Objective: The aim of this paper is to explore the lay perceptions and meanings ascribed to the idea of masculinity, identifying ways in which gender displays are related to health.
Design: The study is based on a mixed-methods data collection strategy typical of qualitative research. We performed a qualitative content analysis focused on manifest and latent content.
Results: Our analysis showed that the relationship between masculinity and health was mainly defined with regard to behavioural explanations with an evident performative meaning. With regard to issues such as driving, the use of recreational drugs, aggressive behaviour, sexuality, and body image, important connections were established between manhood acts and health outcomes. Different ways of understanding and performing the male identity also emerged from the results. The findings revealed the implications of these aspects in the processes of change in the identity codes of men and women.
Conclusions: The study provides insights into how the category ‘man’ is highly dependent on collective practices and performative acts. Consideration of how males perform manhood acts might be required in guidance on the development of programmes and policies aimed at addressing gender inequalities in health in a particular local context.
... Along with detailed accounts of reasons for non-use of condoms the men reported elsewhere 11 , these findings suggest that men are reasonably informed about their engagement in high-risk sexual activities. The implication for health education for this group of men should not be based on assumptions they are ignorant of such issues 23 . ...
Objective: Ensuring men who have sex with men (MSM) adopt and maintain condom use for anal sex is a challenging health education goal. In order to inform the development of social marketing practices to encourage safe-sex practices, the views of MSM about a key HIV health education message (‘using a condom every time for anal sex’) were sought.
Design: Individual and paired interviews were conducted face-to-face and online, with a total of 22 MSM who identified as low users of condoms. Transcripts of interviews were analysed thematically.
Setting: Online and various locations in Auckland, New Zealand.
Results: Two main themes were identified in relation to the men’s views of the condom every time message: (a) awareness and appropriateness of the message; and (b) resistance to the message. The men interviewed reported a contradictory view with respect to the condom every time message. While it is viewed as an appropriate message for MSM as a group, for some individual men, particularly those in relationships, the message has little resonance. One solution offered was for the sexual practices of such men to be recognized and for appropriate and more relevant health education messages to be developed.
Conclusion: Addressing the gulf between professional and (some) lay understandings of what is appropriate for messages that seek to encourage men to adopt and to maintain condom use, and therefore reduce the chances of HIV infection, remains a significant challenge for health promotion agencies.
... Therefore, an outsider might experience difficulty in identifying the sexual scripts of a given culture because they are usually not publicly discussed. Nevertheless, over the last few decades, key pieces of research have been developed, which overview the cultural norms of diverse sexual groups; for example, Humphreys'[26] exploration of the Tearoom Trade, or Holmes' and colleagues27282930 investigations of gay men who attend bathhouses. ...
Across Canada, the rates of many sexually transmitted infections (STI), including HIV, continue to fluctuate, with the numbers of new infections increasing within many subpopulations. This warrants an evaluation of the Public Health Agency of Canada's clinical guidelines for STI management. To accomplish this, Gagnon and Simon's work on sexual scripts has been used to explore the structure of current STI clinical practice. This theoretical analysis reveals some of the shortcomings of PHAC's guidelines, and identifies how they reduce patients to vectors of illness and disease.
... Commensurability is not dependent, however, on whether or not a new practice is determined to be risky by the scientific and public health communities. Contrarily, an example of an action that is non-commensurable and forces accommodation on current conceptualizations is that some individuals do not see treatable bacterial STIs (gonorrhoea, chlamydia, syphilis) as risks of unprotected sexual practices (Holmes et al, 2008). They may be seen as unwanted outcomes, but ones that can easily be rectified. ...
The aim of this paper is to discuss how public health/epidemiological surveillance of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) contributes to and reinforces the subjugation of self, body and sexual pleasures, and thus acts as an apparatus of capture. Surveillance, which carries the connotation of policing, is validated, structured and supported by power/knowledge; indeed, infectious disease surveillance, particularly that of HIV and STIs is a powerful disciplinary technology that monitors the ‘ill’, the ‘transgressors’ and the ‘deviants’. In economic terms, it is the reconnaissance of information about the unproductive or pending ‘burden’ on power. Therefore, we posit that mechanisms of epidemiological surveillance of HIV/STIs inscribe and subjugate the self, the body and sexual pleasures into governed ‘practices’, not just of the self, but of social and cultural communities and places.
... That is, the idea of being "bred" (the internal reception of ejaculate) may be appealing for Submissives who are highly sexually submissive and Dominants who are highly dominant. In other literature [5,22] that explores condom eschewal and barebacking, semen deposition and reception is viewed as an act of domination or submission. To take the semen of another is to accept his will and authority; the Dominant leaves his mark. ...
There exist many subcultures of men who have sex with men (MSM), all with differing values and health behaviors. The Leathermen comprise one such subculture, which is characterized by a heightened valuation of hypersexuality and adherence to sexual control dynamics (i.e., submission and dominance). No previous research has specifically examined this community for differences in sexual health (e.g., HIV rates) and sexual health behaviors (e.g., condom use). We conducted a large survey of men (N = 1,554) at one leather and non-leather event, collecting data from 655 Submissives, Dominants, Switches, and non-orienting Leathermen. Leathermen were 61% more likely to be HIV-positive than non-Leathermen. Decreased condom use found in HIV-positive Leathermen (relative to HIV-positive non-Leathermen) was a potential factor contributing to heightened HIV rates. Universal low condom use in Submissives engaging in receptive, and Dominants engaging in insertive, anal intercourse was an additional trend that potentially contributed to increased numbers of HIV-positive Leathermen. Our recommendation is for heightened awareness of the risks associated with sex among Leathermen, especially unprotected anal intercourse with sero-uncertain Submissives.
Objective:
The HIV increase cases raises concern worldwide. This phenomenon is related, among other things, to sexual practices where condom use is limited. To achieve the eradication of AIDS, international organizations have been interested in analyzing and understanding the sexual practices of certain population groups, within these men who have sex with other men. In this sense, the objective of this study was to analyze the discourses on the use and non-use of condoms held by a group of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBHSH) men from two cities in Colombia.
Methods:
A qualitative study was carried out with data analysis through the iterative process, from the interpretation of the Information, Motivation and Behavioral Skills (IMB) model. The collection of information was carried out between 2020 and 2021 through in-depth interviews, virtually and in person, with a sample of 20 GBHSH from Colombia from the cities of Cali and Medellín.
Results:
In the Information component, it was identified that traditional sexual education had a negative impact and was very focused on a cisheterosexual and reproductive perspective. Regarding Motivational, it was highlighted that the majority were oriented towards not using condoms and that perceiving a low risk of contracting an STI was the main motivation for not using condoms. Regarding Behavioral Skills, it was analyzed that distrust towards the sexual partner promoted its use, but the intensification of pleasure, added to the consumption of alcohol and drugs, caused its use to decrease. It was also evidenced that the use of drugs such as PreP or PEP discouraged condom use in relationships.
Conclusions:
The information on condom use revolves around cisheteronormative practices, leaving aside the care related to STIs. The motivation for not using condoms revolves around misinformation, pleasure and trust in the couple, while the motivation for condom use revolves around health care. The behavior regarding the non-use of condoms is related to the previous points, while misinformation and pleasure in non-use predominate.
This article explores both the sexual desires and pleasure in the context of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among gays, bisexuals and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). Our main findings suggest that individuals were assuming notions of natural and unnatural sex, while these categories were linked to condomless sex, acquisitions of sexually transmission infections (STIs) and their perceptions of intimacy. Individuals also believed they could enhance pleasure and desire by acknowledging their inner subjectivity and societal positions associated with PrEP. We argue that the individuals play a positive and conflicting ethic towards sex while on PrEP.
Patrick O’Byrne criticizes the use of ethnography in public health research focused on cultural groups. His main argument is that ethnography disciplines marginalized populations that do not respect the imperative of health. In this article, I argue that O’Byrne has an erroneous understanding of ethnography and the politics of scientific research. My main argument is that a methodology itself cannot discipline individuals. I argue that if data are used as a basis to develop problematic public health policies, the issue is the policies themselves and not the methodology used to collect the data. While O’Byrne discourages researchers from conducting health research like ethnography focused on cultural groups, I argue the exact opposite. This has to do with justice and equity for marginalized communities and the obligation to tailor health services for their specific needs, which may not be the same as those of the general population.
Increases in sexually transmitted infection (STI) and HIV rates worldwide have prompted the dedication of research to identifying transmission co-factors, with one such co-factor being an individual's number of different sexual partners. Currently, the majority of STI/HIV transmission models are based on the assumptions that sexual networks have random distributions; whereas, in real-life, these assumptions have proven incorrect because group norms produce variations in sexual practices and differences in transmission co-factors (i.e. number, type, and timing of sexual contacts, use of protection, and genital co-infections). In fact, sexual groupings follow the distribution of the scale-free network. Because human sexual assemblages form scale-free networks, a large number of sexual partners does not necessarily mean that an individual is at risk for acquiring an STI, or conversely, that a small number of partners means that an individual is not at risk. Therefore, while an individual's number of sexual partners is important for population-based and case-management initiatives, it is impossible to determine group sexual norms, network location, and γ values at the individual level. This signifies that a reliance on individuals’ number of different sexual partners to determine their need for STI/HIV testing may be an unnecessarily invasive practice that negatively impacts on testing practices. Thus, it is important to be aware that it is not so much this number of contacts that is important, but rather what occurs during these connections at a network level, and how many concurrent connections exist across the group.
Although communicable disease public health practice has traditionally been based on numbers (e.g., incidence, prevalence), in the domain of HIV prevention and control qualitative research has recently become a more commonly employed data collection strategy. Of particular benefit, this approach can supplement the numbers which typically underpin public health strategies by generating in-depth understandings about how specific populations define, describe, and perceive their health and the factors that affect it. However, the use of qualitative research in public health must be explored; it cannot simply be accepted without reflection or analysis. To guide such an investigation, the work of Michel Foucault and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri is used to examine two previous research projects that were undertaken by the author. The outcome of this analysis is the somewhat paradoxical conclusion that although qualitative research can enhance public health work, it may also be a strategy that generates the information that can be used for capturing and normalizing marginalized populations. Qualitative research, in other words, may be a technique that can be used to achieve biopolitical goals.
Larger or more prominent male body attributes—increased muscularity, penis size, height, etc.—may be associated with differences in narcissism in men who have sex with men (MSM). This may be due, in part, to physical appearance, which tends to be disproportionately revered by MSM. An Internet survey (N = 649) was employed to test this and other hypotheses. Our results indicated that MSM who reported being taller, more muscular, and having large erect penises were more likely to be narcissistic. Such narcissistic men also reported wanting partners with these attributes. Finally, narcissistic MSM were significantly more likely to reject partners on body attribute criteria. Among MSM, appearance may play some role in the development and maintenance of narcissistic attitudes. Alternatively, narcissism may drive some MSM to overestimate body attributes that are positive or attractive. Regardless of explanation, the strength of narcissistic attitudes seems to influence men’s romantic and sexual attractions towards other men and may ultimately guide partner selection.
In Canada, there have been recent increases in HIV infections among men who have sex with men (MSM), making HIV transmission among MSM a continuing public health concern. In this paper, we explore the rationales of MSM for the practice of unprotected sex in casual or anonymous encounters. We found that the men in our sample acknowledged their 'transgressive' behaviour, engaged in numerous harm-reduction strategies, and offered varied yet connected rationales for unprotected sex related to pleasure, knowledge, and social and physical locations. Based on these data, we offer a critical perspective on the traditional, psychological approaches to the design of HIV prevention, and contend that HIV prevention needs to become more inclusive and innovative by recognizing, addressing and engaging men's diverse rationales for unprotected sex.
This study aimed to understand how person, health and sexual behavior, HIV-risk cognitions, and gay community involvement relate to barebacking among 3634 men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited by way of the Swedish website QX.se. In this sample, 10% reported that they had engaged in barebacking in the past year. Variables found to be statistically significant in the bivariate analyses were incorporated into a logistic regression domain-specific model. Variables that remained significantly associated with barebacking in domain 1 were being HIV-positive and having had a sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the past year. The variable talked with someone in HIV services remained significant in domain 2, and for domain 3, the variable used the Internet to look for a bareback partner remained significant. Two variables, believing taking semen in one's mouth involves no or low risk of HIV transmission and believing that engaging in insertive unprotected anal intercourse (IUAI) involves no or low risk of HIV transmission, remained significant in domain 4. The final multivariate regression analysis included six variables (from domains 1 to 4) and had a significant fit (χ (2)(6) = 2.571, p=0.958). The likelihood of engaging in barebacking was higher for those men who reported being HIV-positive (odds ratio [OR] = 2.77), having had an STI in the past year (OR = 1.67), and having used the Internet to look for a bareback partner (OR = 12.59). This first study to explore the predictors of bareback sex among a Nordic MSM sample suggests that bareback sex among northern European MSM is less common than among other samples. The findings reconfirm that MSM who engage in bareback sex may represent a unique subset of MSM with distinct HIV prevention needs.
A literature review that addressed the possible reasons sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates are increasing indicated that self-directed STI testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia should be trialed. As such, a self-directed STI testing kit was developed and piloted for 6 months, during which 182 bathhouse patrons accessed services from both an on-site nurse and through the self-directed kits. In total, 127 of these individuals presented for testing from the nurse, with the remaining using the self-directed testing kits. Community/Participant feedback indicated that this testing method was a welcome adjunct to traditional services, thus suggesting that self-directed testing should be further explored.
Introduction to a book of readings that explores the ways in which gay men in the United States engage in, contest and modify these notions and develop a sense of masculine identity. The book examines the creation of identity through the everyday lives of gay men: their work; home; community; and relationships.
This study used a qualitative research design to examine the meanings and circumstances underpinning practices of ‘barebacking’ - unprotected anal intercourse in episodic sexual encounters among younger (mainly in their 20s) same-sex attracted men - in Melbourne, Australia. Using a modified grounded theory approach, a series of in-depth interviews with 24 men were conducted. The results reveal that understanding practices of barebacking requires an appreciation of how sex takes on multiple meanings in practice. Meanings in sex for the men in this study tend to be organized around masculinity. In sexual negotiations, meanings, initiation, emotions, dynamics (e.g. ‘shared’ communication, ‘directing’) and wider contextual influences (e.g. public health discourses) all play a role in sexual choreography and risk taking. Implications for health promotion and policy are discussed.
Documented increases in sexual risk practices among gay and bisexual men and subsequent increases in HIV infection rates may be attributable, in part, to barebacking. Current HIV prevention efforts fail to meet the needs of diverse gay and bisexual men and do not focus on harm-reduction techniques currently used by such men. Motivational Interviewing (MI), an intervention approach with demonstrated effectiveness across a wide variety of behaviors, may be useful for working with men who bareback. The general principles and strategies of MI are presented with examples of the application of this model to barebacking.
The purpose of this ethnographic study was to conduct an exploratory research investigation examining the phenomenon of bare-backing among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) on the Internet. The researchers selected a case sample of 100 MSM advertisers on an Internet bareback sex site to assess HIV transmission risk as related to HIV serostatus, partner selection, and sexual risk-taking. The data suggest that while intentionally seeking to transmit or contract HIV was extremely rare, a small proportion of advertisers appeared to be relatively indifferent to HIV transmission. However, the great majority of advertisers for bareback sex appeared to practice “sero-sorting” or sero-concordant behavior by HIV status with potential sexual partners as a strategy to minimize HIV transmission risk.
Most writing in the social sciences on risk-taking tends to represent it as the product of ignorance or irrationality. The modern subject tends to be portrayed in this writing as risk-aversive and fearful of risk, constantly seeking ways of avoiding it. While there has been an extensive literature on people's perceptions of risk, little empirical research has attempted to investigate the meanings given to voluntary risk-taking: that is, risk-taking that is undertaken without coercion in the full acknowledgement that risks are being confronted. In this article we present findings from our qualitative research on a group of Australians' risk knowledges and experiences, using in-depth interviews to explore the meanings given to risk and the discourses used to express ideas about risk. We focus here on what our interviewees had to say about their experiences of, and views about, voluntary risk-taking. We identify and discuss three dominant discourses in our interviewees' accounts: those of self-improvement, emotional engagement and control. Our conclusion relates these discourses to wider discourses and notions about subjectivity and embodiment.
Risks tend to be judged lower by men than by women and by white people than by people of colour. Prior research by Flynn, Slovic and Mertz [Risk Analysis, 14, pp. 1101-1108] found that these race and gender differences in risk perception in the United States were primarily due to 30% of the white male population who judge risks to be extremely low. The specificity of this finding suggests an explanation in terms of sociopolitical factors rather than biological factors. The study reported here presents new data from a recent national survey conducted in the United States. Although white males again stood apart with respect to their judgements of risk and their attitudes concerning worldviews, trust, and risk-related stigma, the results showed that the distinction between white males and others is more complex than originally thought. Further investigation of sociopolitical factors in risk judgements is recommended to clarify gender and racial differences.
The Internet is becoming a new erotic oasis for obtaining sex online or in person. We reviewed the literature on cybersex and compared differences in data from samples of homosexually active men obtained on identical questionnaires from a conventional written questionnaire, distributed through the mailing and contact lists of a large national gay organization in Sweden, and through the same organization's website and chat room. A total of 716 written questionnaires and 678 Internet questionnaires were obtained. The Internet sample was younger, more likely to live in small towns or cities, live with parents or a girlfriend, and have lower formal education. They are less likely to have previous sexual experience solely with other men (one in three of the Internet sample vs. 1 in 14 of the written sample defined themselves as bisexual) and more likely to visit erotic oases such as bathhouses, video clubs and erotic movie houses. They also visited Internet chat rooms more frequently (86% of the Internet sample vs. 50% of the written sample). One third of the Internet sample wanted the opportunity to talk with an expert about HIV compared with a quarter of the written sample. Sexual practices between the two samples were generally similar, although the Internet sample reported significantly less body contact, kissing, hugging, mutual masturbation, and more condom use for anal intercourse with steady partners. Over four times as many of the Internet samples reported sex with women in the past year as the written sample. These data indicate that Internet data collection is feasible and that this mode of data collection, despite the nonrandom and self-selected nature of both types of samples, is likely to be more significantly oriented toward the young, geographically more isolated, and more behaviorally and self-identified bisexual respondent than conventionally distributed written questionnaires.
This aim of this study was to describe and compare the physical design, as well as the atmosphere of urban gay bathhouses, and reflect on how desire operates within these premises when it intersects with the bathhouse environment and health imperatives. Three bathhouses were studied for a total of 147 h of observation. Men's desire for other men has created a landscape of spaces (real and virtual) where sex takes place in parks, alleys, restrooms, rest stops, adult theatres, video arcades, bookstores, bars, gay bathhouses and finally, the Internet. Although the Internet is perceived as an easy way for encountering sexual partners, gay bathhouses remain the most popular and convenient way, for men having sex with men to meet for regular or casual sex. This paper presents the descriptive results of an ethnographic nursing study that took place in three gay bathhouses located in two Canadian metropolitan areas. Gay bathhouses offer patrons a space within which a wide range of interactions, sensations and pleasure can be experienced. This paper highlights the specific features of three gay bathhouses, compares settings according to their specific architectural features and related sexual activities, and finally, proposes some changes in light of certain health issues.
While unsafe sex has been reported throughout the HIV epidemic, the underlying assumption has been that most persons do not seek to purposely ham unprotected sex. Within the gay community, the term 'barebacking' has emerged to refer to intentional unsafe anal sex. The prevalence of barebacking is evidenced among gay men, particularly those who are HIV-positive, by the number of internet sites devoted to barebacking and the number of men seeking sexual partners through the use of the internet. To gain insight into barebacking, a sample of 112 HIV-positive gay men were recruited from internet sites where men seek to meet each other for sex. The major it of participants (84%)reported engaging in barebacking in the past three months, and 43% of the men reported recent bareback sex with a partner of unknown serostatus. These results indicate the potential for widespread transmission of HIV to uninfected men by the partners they meet on the internet. Analyses revealed that men who reported bareback sex only with HIV-positive partners scored lower in sexual adventurism than those who had bareback sex regardless of partner serostatus. A significant correlation was observed between defining masculinity as sexual prowess and intentional unprotected anal sex. There are serious implications for HIV prevention efforts, in that internet-based education should be a priority in order to reach men who rely on this mechanism to find sexual partners.
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During the past few years, the popularity of “bareback sex” within male homosexual communities in Western countries has increased, despite increased attention to health promotion campaigns in the era of AIDS and HIV. To address the issue of HIV and its legal ramifications, this article focuses on the important issue of serological status disclosure prior to sexual contact. It should be noted that the social, cultural, economic, and gender differences that lead to the creation of HIV laws are beyond the scope of this article. Instead, our goal is to present a brief overview of particular sexual practices—bareback sex and two of its derivatives: “bug chasing” and “gift giving”—as they relate to HIV sero-status and unprotected sexual contacts, as exemplified through current Canadian HIV laws. Because the legalities of HIV reporting, disclosure, and surveillance vary worldwide, it would be impossible to address more than one country’s HIV laws within the scope of a single article; therefore, we chose to focus on the legal aspects of bareback sex mainly from a Canadian perspective. However, our overall intent is to inform nurses of the legal and clinical implications of working with individuals who engage in bareback sex practices. It is hoped that through this article, additional questions for clinical practice and research will emerge. </p
SUMMARY This study examines conceptual understandings, definitions, and practices of barebacking in a sample of 227 gay and bisexual men recruited from four gay venues in the New York Metropolitan area. Findings demonstrated that 21% of the participants identified as HIV-negative (HIV−) and 61.7% as HIV-positive (HIV+). While 90% of the sample was familiar with the term “barebacking,” differences were noted in conceptual understandings and practices of bare-backing between HIV+ and HIV− men. In particular, the findings suggest that these men were more likely to socialize and have sex with seroconcordant partners and that these patterns of socialization may shape attitudes and practices about barebacking.
This article seeks to explore the idea that contemporary health promotion and education may actually be instrumental in creating the very conditions that encourage and perpetuate people's 'risky' health practices. Using the example of gay men, unsafe sexual practices and the contemporary 'barebacking craze', it argues that 'health promotion' is increasingly being oriented to by gay men as something to 'resist' or 'transgress'. The implications of this for future health promotion interventions are discussed.
This article undertakes a qualitative exploration of women's and men's songs in the skydiving community in order to explore the intersection of gender and sexuality in this context. Analyses reveal that men's songs constrain the transformative potential of women in sky-diving by trivializing, marginalizing, and sexualizing them. Further, they reinforce male hegemony in skydiving through the construction of a hyperheterosexual masculinity. Mean-while, women's songs resist male hegemony in the sport, laying claim to discursive and physical space. One central strategy in this resistance is the construction of a strong heterosexual femininity, thereby asserting a sexual subjectivity neither defined nor controlled by men. This resistance, however, shores up a particular version of heterosexual femininity that contributes to women's trivialization and sexualization in this setting.
Researching sports injury: Reconstructing dangerous masculinities In Canada, the systematic sociological study of sports injury was pioneered quite recently by Michael D. Smith (1987, 1991; Weinstein, Smith, & Wiesenthal, 1995), whose research posed preliminary questions about the social, physical, and legal implications of injury. Concomitantly, a body of research literature on aggression, injury, and pain in sport has emerged across North America (Curry & Strauss, 1994; Messner, 1992b; Nixon, 1994a, 1994b, 1996b; Rail, 1990, 1992; Young, 1993; Young, White, & McTeer, 1994), much of it raising critical questions related to gender dynamics. Although we acknowledge the importance of physicality and injury in the lives of female athletes and continue to work in that area (Young, 1997; Young & White, 1995), this chapter examines the physical hazards of hegemonic masculinity codes for male athletes. Specifically, we attempt to show how social processes producing dominant forms of masculinity and popular sports practices ...
Barebacking (intentional unprotected anal sex) represents a significant threat to the health of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM), which is not well defined and understood. Despite a relative lack of research on this issue, most MSM have heard of barebacking, and a substantial minority has had bareback sex. Individual reasons and six community-level influences that may have contributed to the emergence of barebacking are reviewed: (1) improvements in HIV treatment, (2) more complex sexual decision-making, (3) the Internet, (4) substance use, (5) safer sex fatigue, and (6) changes in HIV prevention programs. The implications of barebacking for HIV prevention are discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered.
In this article the author seeks to establish a theoretical framework within which the contemporary concerns about young women’s unhappy and unhealthy relationships with their bodies can be elucidated. Symbolic interactionist theories are considered to explicate the imperative of producing visual identity, and modern interactionist work (Giddens) to consider the consumer capitalist context of this imperative. Post-structural feminist work is interrogated for its robust engagement with the contradictory approaches to the possibility of female agency in relation to ‘doing looks’. The structural tradition is briefly utilized to consider the social position of the young people who increasingly, it is argued, seek identification through appearance. Finally, symbolic interactionist work is returned to for its ability to theorize the intersubjective production and subjective experience of body-hatred.
Risk-taking behaviours often reflect ambivalent ways of calling for the help of one’s close friends and family – those who count. It is an ultimate means of finding meaning and a system of values; and it is a sign of the adolescent’s active resistance and his attempts to find his place in the world again. It contrasts with the far more insidious risk of depression and the radical collapse of meaning. In spite of the suffering it engenders, risk-taking nevertheless has a positive side, fostering independence in adolescents and a search for reference points, it leads to a better self-image and is a means of developing one’s identity. It is nonetheless painful in terms of its possible repercussions: injuries, death or addiction. But let us not forget that the suffering is upstream, perpetuated by a complex relation between a society, a family structure and a life history. Paradoxically, for some young people who are suffering, the risk is rather that they will remain immured in their world-weariness, with a potentially radical outcome (i.e. suicide). The turbulence caused by risk-taking behaviours illustrates a determination to be rid of one’s suffering and to fight on so that life can, at last, be lived.
Within late modernity a sense of 'risk' and increased individualisation are theoretically much discussed and debated, especially ideas surrounding risk, risky behaviour and its impact upon identity construction. Drawing upon data from a recent Department of the Environment funded project exploring risk and risk management in young people's lives, this article moves beyond theory and official discourses of 'risk', in order to demonstrate the importance of young people's lay accounts or 'situated vocabularies' of risk and everyday risk-taking behaviour. Furthermore, fieldwork has also highlighted the important link between risk and identity, especially, gendered identity construction. This will be discussed in terms of socially perceived risky identities, such as being a 'macho risk taker' or a young (single) mother and the importance of gendered risk discourses within the lives of these young people. This in turn raises issues of risk governance. As we begin to unpack the complexity that surrounds risk discourses and risky identities it becomes extremely difficult to understand or isolate specific areas of risk without situating them within young people's multidimensional lives, that is, the social, ideological and economic milieux within which they live and make sense of the world.
This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study which aimed to explore boys' perceptions and experiences of school-based physical education (PE) and involvement in extra-curricular and out-of-school physical activities. Drawing on group and individual interviews with 22 15-year-old boys in four inner-city comprehensive schools, it explores the nature, purposes and experiences of their physical education involvement both in and out of school. The data collected highlighted the need both to explore and to deconstruct the concept of a dominant hegemonic masculinity. Boys are generally 'censorious' of others who resist and spoil PE lessons. Games, sport and physical activity are shaped by masculine identities and are mediated by diverse processes that involve staff competence, pupil friendship networks, class membership and ethnic identity.
An ethnographic investigation was undertaken to explore the social construct of masculinity. Fifteen HIV seropositive gay men in New York City were interviewed via electronic medium in order to characterize behaviors and associated meanings attached to the conception of masculinity as physicality. Structured interviews were utilized to ascertain these data in order to illustrate how some men define masculinity in terms of their physical appearance and sexual adventurism. The data indicate that men who possess this ideological stance regarding masculinity seek to remain healthy, appear physically strong, and attract sexual partners. This hegemonic standard of masculinity is a result of both the men's HIV infection as well as their perceptions of gay community norms. Emphasis on physical strength and sexual prowess as means of defining masculinity has become a standard in the last two decades for some seropositive gay men.
Feminist writers have identified young women's engagement with their appearances as a source of alienation from their bodies. There are now concerns that 'feminization' of youth behaviour will lead to similar difficulties for young men, and this papers sets out to examine whether they too are experiencing levels of identity damage from this. The contemporary context of identity construction will be briefly considered. That for boys and girls practices of consumption can offer group affiliations but can lead also to exclusion and isolation is discussed. That boys are under pressure to produce bodies that are sporty, strong and 'hard' is then argued. The paper concludes that there are similarities in the pressures on boys and girls to 'do looks', but that the failure to do this and the experience of being excluded and/or devalued that this may produce may have more to do with class, 'race' and poverty than with gender.
Risk and Everyday Life examines how people respond to, experience and think about risk as part of their everyday lives. Bringing together original empirical research and sociocultural theory, the authors examine how people define risk and what risks they see as affecting them, for example in relation to immigration, employment and family life. They emphasise the need to take account of the cultural dimensions of risk and risk-taking to understand how risk is experienced as part of everyday life and consider the influence that gender, social class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, occupation, geographical location and nationality have on our perceptions and experience of risk. Drawing on the work of key theorists - Ulrich Beck, Scott Lash, and Mary Douglas - the authors examine and critique theories of risk in the light of their own research and presents case studies which show how notions of risk interact with day-to-day concerns.
HIV prevention programs and clinicians have a need to identify clients' attitudes toward unprotected anal intercourse (UAI). This study reports on the development of the Unprotected Anal Intercourse Attitudes Inventory (UAI-AI), a multi-factorial measure designed to assess gay and bisexual men who are HIV-negative or untested. This self-report measure may be useful in helping both counselors and clients discuss the complex psychosocial issues that can be associated with UAI and safer sex. Factors identified include Anger/Self-Destructiveness/Fatalism, Pleasure Seeking/Risk-Taking/Escapism, Intimacy Needs/Rational Choice Making, Erroneous Perception of Risk, and Condom Related Erectile Dysfunction. Based on their work with hundreds of clients at TalkSafe, a NYC prevention program for HIV-negative gay and bisexual men, the authors suggest clinical guidelines for counseling these populations.
This study examines conceptual understandings, definitions, and practices of barebacking in a sample of 227 gay and bisexual men recruited from four gay venues in the New York Metropolitan area. Findings demonstrated that 21% of the participants identified as HIV-negative (HIV−) and 61.7% as HIV-positive (HIV+). While 90% of the sample was familiar with the term “barebacking,” differences were noted in conceptual understandings and practices of bare-backing between HIV+ and HIV− men. In particular, the findings suggest that these men were more likely to socialize and have sex with seroconcordant partners and that these patterns of socialization may shape attitudes and practices about barebacking.
interpreters as storytellers tell narrative tales with beginnings, middles, and ends / these tales always embody implicit and explicit theories of causality, where narrative or textual causality is presumed to map the actual goings-on in the real world / how this complex art of interpretation and storytelling is practiced is the topic of this chapter
review several [methods of interpretation of qualitative research in the social sciences], paying special attention to those that have been employed in the most recent past, including the constructivist, grounded theory, feminist, Marxist, cultural studies, and poststructural perspectives / examine problems generic to this process / briefly allude to [the author's personal] perspective, interpretive interactionism (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In our chapter in the first edition of this Handbook (see record
1994-98625-005), we presented two tables that summarized our positions, first, on the axiomatic nature of paradigms (the paradigms we considered at that time were positivism, postpositivism, critical theory, and constructivism, p. 109, Table 6.1); and second, on the issues we believed were most fundamental to differentiating the four paradigms (p. 112, Table 6.2). These tables are reproduced here as a way of reminding our readers of our previous statements. The axioms defined the ontological, epistemological, and methodological bases for both established and emergent paradigms. The issues most often in contention that we examined were inquiry aim, nature of knowledge, the way knowledge is accumulated, goodness (rigor and validity) or quality criteria, values, ethics, voice, training, accommodation, and hegemony. An examination of these two tables will reacquaint the reader with our original Handbook treatment. Since publication of that chapter, at least one set of authors, J. Heron and P. Reason, have elaborated on our tables to include the participatory/cooperative paradigm (Heron, 1996; Heron & Reason, 1997, pp. 289-290). Thus, in addition to the paradigms of positivism, postpositivism, critical theory, and constructivism, we add the participatory paradigm in the present chapter (this is an excellent example, we might add, of the hermeneutic elaboration so embedded in our own view, constructivism). Our aim here is to extend the analysis further by building on Heron and Reason's additions and by rearranging the issues to reflect current thought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Abstract In his paper ‘Governmentality’ Foucault 1979 has described how the family, which prior to the eighteenth century had formed a model of the state, afterwards became an effective instrument for the art of government. The art of government relies on wisdom and diligence. This paper is concerned with those forms of wisdom and diligence that surrounded the mouth, teeth and the domestic environment. It analyses the moral discourse and practices that surrounded the mother. The dental discourse and practice of the twentieth century created a range of conceptualisations of the mother - the ‘natural’, ‘ignorant’, ‘responsible’ and ‘caring’ mother are identified here. Today the dentist, and the sociologist, listen and talk to an active, capable and subjective mother. The empirical data that is presented in this paper was derived from interviews with dentists and mothers and from reading journals and texts. It is through the vocabulary of the ‘dental experts’ that the mothers and patients construct themselves.
This paper draws on data from a focus group based study of children's stories about accidents. It examines the ways in which talk about accident risks is utilised as a resource for constructing social identities. In their stories, children claimed responsibility for managing their own accident risks, and in doing so constructed themselves and their peers as mature risk assessors and managers. Furthermore, stories about accidents were used to construct gendered identities and to delineate the boundaries of peer groups. This suggests that, rather than undercutting subjectivity, discourses of risk can be used to construct social identity.
Recently, an alarming trend toward unprotected anal intercourse has emerged in men who have sex with men. A highly dangerous form of unprotected anal intercourse, barebacking--the deliberate and conscious choice to engage in anal sex without condoms knowing that there are risks involved--has received much attention in the gay press. This trend poses new challenges for HIV prevention. As the target population changes, prevention interventions must also evolve to remain effective. A review of the scientific literature on risk behaviors and the popular literature and websites devoted to barebacking suggests that many contextual factors influence the decision to engage in unprotected anal intercourse. This review examines the most salient contextual factors affecting risk behavior in gay/bisexual men. It also identifies four main cohorts and predominant contextual factors that appear to motivate unprotected anal intercourse in each. In answering the question "where do we go from here," we conclude that contextual issues must be addressed in hybrid prevention interventions that include harm reduction, motivational interviewing, and traditional approaches.
Men who have sex with men (MSM) in public sex environments (PSE) may be at high risk for HIV/AIDS. The majority of research on HIV risk behaviour among MSM has been conducted in open access venues more likely to be linked to networks that openly endorse preventive messages and safer sex norms. This study investigated risk practices among MSM in a PSE in order to develop effective prevention intervention strategies. Three outreach workers with previous MSM prevention experience trained in ethnographic and fieldwork observation techniques provided direct observation data. Seventy-seven observations, each lasting a minimum of two hours, were conducted over a five-month period at three city public parks. Of 614 men observed, over 250 exhibited activities and behaviours related to, or potentially related, to HIV-risk relevant sexual behaviour. Direct sexual contact between two or more men was observed 19 times, while men entering or leaving a sex area of the park was observed 66 times. Outreach workers were able to interact directly with 72 MSM, primarily discussing safer sex strategies. Sexual encounters occurred in more open areas of the PSE with partners migrating to secluded areas for intense and sexual interactions. Future prevention interventions will need to be tailored, and targeted, to specific sexual exchange access points in PSE.
The rising popularity of unprotected anal sex (bareback sex) among men who have sex with men (MSM) is perplexing healthcare providers working in sexual health clinics. Epidemiological research on the topic overlooks several socio-cultural and psychological dimensions. Our research attempts to construct an appropriate theoretical edifice by which we can understand this sexual practice. In order to achieve this objective, a qualitative design was selected and 18 semiconductive in-depth interviews were carried out with barebackers from five European and North American cities. We then analyzed the data using two theoretical approaches that were sensitive to the issues of desire, transgression and pleasure. These theories are those of the late French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan, and those of poststructural thinkers, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. These theoretical frameworks helped shed light on the significance of bareback sex, and can potentially influence healthcare providers in gaining a better understanding not only of their clients, but also of their own role in the circuitry of desire at work within bareback. We found that while the exchange of semen constitutes a dangerous and irrational practice to healthcare professionals, it is nevertheless a significant variable in the sexual lives of barebackers that needs to be taken into consideration in the provision of healthcare services.
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