Guy Shilo

• PhD
• Senior Lecturer at Tel Aviv University

The last two decades have seen a wave of legislative reforms in the regulation of the sex industry in many countries around the world. One particularly controversial reform is known as “End Demand” legislation: laws that criminalize clients of sex workers. This study explores what predicts public attitudes regarding the impact of end demand legisla...

Background: Previous research points to the many challenges that help providers who support commercially sexually exploited youth encounter in their professional work-yet little is known about how they overcome these challenges, particularly with regard to youth of diverse social backgrounds. Objective: The present study applied the conceptual f...

Background Gay men use recreational drugs more often than heterosexuals—especially at social events. While partying at a venue, partygoers are at risk of drug overdosing, without access to an emergency help. This study evaluates a unique and novel intervention aimed at training men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender individuals who frequen...

This interpretive qualitative meta-synthesis (QMS) aims to systematically review what we know about the help-seeking and help-related experiences of commercially sexually exploited youth (CSEY). A comprehensive search of the relevant databases was conducted to identify published qualitative peer-reviewed papers and research reports about the experi...

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a collateral effect on marginalized populations, including individuals in the sex trade (IST). In addition, the literature of the past year has documented a significant impact of the pandemic on healthcare providers. However, there is a lack of research on the new challenges and existing hardships...

In an attempt to characterize men who pay women for sex (MPWS), theory and research generally divides men into two groups: men who pay for sex and those who never paid for sex. However, this dichotomy may lack sufficient detail to understand sex payment accurately, and with regard to attitudes toward paying for sex and frequency of sex payment. The...

Only a few studies have measured attitudes toward men who pay for sex (MWPS), and those that did so usually based their assessment on a limited number of items. This study sets out to devise a measure of attitudes toward MWPS that is founded on a solid theoretical framework and features satisfactory psychometric properties. Based on a conceptualiza...

Background Social-distancing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic may affect sexual behavior of men who have sex with men (MSM). In early March 2020, Israel imposed travel restrictions and limited social contacts to household members only. The effects of these restrictions on MSM sexual behavior and mental health are unknown. Aim To assess sexual...

Research on commercial sexual exploitation (COMSE) of youth tends to focus on young females as victims, and much less is known about male and transgender commercially sexually exploited youth (COMSEY). Understanding the psychosocial background and past COMSE experiences among COMSEY is important to provide support for gender‐specific or gender‐incl...

Little is known about the psychological processes of pregnant women in different family structures. Aiming to fill this gap, the present study examined the prenatal maternal expectations (common cultural beliefs about what women can expect during the transition to motherhood) of women from lesbian ( n = 51), single ( n = 57), and heterosexual ( n =...

Commercially sexually exploited youth and young adults (hereafter CSEY) are at high risk for various health adversities, but little is known about interventions that can improve their health outcomes. This study reports changes in health behaviours-positive health behaviours, drug use and risky sexual behaviour-in the first stages of treatment of 1...

In conjunction with global efforts, Israel has committed to promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students’ rights to a safe, affirming learning environment. Given Israeli society’s mostly negative perception of homosexuality as well as the growing role of religious parties in the government, the authors question the extent to wh...

This book chapter considers developmental landscapes in gender and sexuality (G&S) education research. It reports on a study of milestones in the development of adolescents’ sexual orientation of same-sex attraction in Israel. Questionnaires examined 13 milestones in the development of sexual orientation among 617 gay, lesbian and bisexual adults,...

The knowledge of sexual practices of heterosexual males (HM) in Israel is limited despite the increase inthe incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STI). This study assessed sexual practices among Israeli HM and the associations between demographic characteristics and sexual risk behaviors. The Cross-sectional study included a representative s...

Using data from 696 Israeli LGBQ individuals aged 13-30, this study explored the negative (mental distress) and positive changes (well-being and stress-related growth) following the deadliest anti-LGBQ hate crime in Israel to date (the Bar-Noar Massacre), while examining differences in these outcomes between those who did and did not know hate crim...

This qualitative study explores the unique views about the family system held by adolescents who have spent years in foster care in Israel. This inductive study is among the few to address the unheard views held, and the salient challenges faced, by adolescents who have not grown up in their biological parents’ home, with a focus on their view of t...

This mixed-methods study examined whether heterosexual social workers define same-sex relationships within the concept of family. A sample of 490 Israeli social workers completed a survey that assessed their definition of same-sex relationships as family, their personal values, level of acquaintance with same-sex relationships, and demographics. Th...

Social changes in recent years have led to a broadening of the definition of family. The perception of the concept of family among the American public was assessed in 2003 and 2006 by means of the Family Perception Scale, which found that the respondents fell into three clusters, dubbed Exclusionists, Moderates, and Inclusionists. Based on a sample...

The present study examined the effects of positive and negative religious coping strategies on the mental health of 113 Israeli gay and bisexual Jewish males with high levels of religiosity, and how sexual identity formation (internalized homophobia and coming out) and societal variables (family and friends' acceptance of sexual orientation and soc...

In Israel, as in other industrialized countries, the age of sexual debut among adolescents has declined, and the rate of sexually transmitted infections (STI) has risen, but the motivations and attitudes of Israeli adolescents toward carrying condoms have yet to be studied. The aims of this study were to establish the associations (if any) between...

Applying Schwartz's values theory and Allport's contact theory, this study examines the role of personal values and personal acquaintance with non-traditional families as mediators of the association between socio-demographic variables (SES) and family concept. In the first known study of its kind on the Jewish-Israeli family, a sample of 1518 adul...

Background With the increased use of the Internet to seek sex, research has documented its associated sexual risk behaviours, especially among gay and bisexual men. Only a few studies to date have been conducted among adolescent and young men, and these have focussed on behavioural components to do with seeking sex online, without considering the r...

Drawing on resilience theories, this study examined the individual and community factors of Israeli lesbians, gays, bisexuals, queers, and questioning (LGBQs) that contribute to positive mental health and the degree to which individual and community protective factors mitigate the adverse effect of risk factors for poor mental health. Differences i...

Research relating to minority stressors generally explores mental health outcomes, with limited focus on the physical dimension. In addition, minority stress research is conducted mainly in Christian-oriented societies. To address these pitfalls we used Web sampling targeting Israeli participants ages 12 to 30 (N = 952; 28 percent heterosexuals, 78...

This cross-sectional, retrospective mixed-method exploratory study examined 140 Israeli LGB adolescents' (14–21 year old) perceptions of their parents' level of acceptance at time of same-sex identity disclosure and currently. Approximately 75% of respondents indicated that parents were moderately to fully accepting at time of disclosure. Approxima...

This study examined the associations between perceived parental acceptance, perceived parental psychological control and self-reported psychological symptoms among a sample of 234 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) Israeli adolescents aged 14–21 who were recruited online. Multiple regression analyses indicated that higher perceived par...

Social changes in the Western world have led to changes in the traditional family structure and to the emergence of new family structures. Despite the involvement of social workers with a broad range of family types, their perceptions of the concept of family have never been studied. This study examines how social workers define the concept of fami...

Drawing on minority stress theory, this study examined the mental health effects of the added burden of disadvantaged social status in an Israeli sample of 461 self‐identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youths. Bisexuality was associated with lower levels of well‐being, and, at a younger age, with higher levels of mental distress. In bisexual...

This study examined the effects of social support components and providers on mental health and sexual orientation (SO) milestones of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youths. Data were collected on 461 self-identified LGB adolescents and young adults. Family acceptance and support yielded the strongest positive effect on self-acceptance of SO, wher...

This study examined how lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adolescents reporting clinically significant depressive and suicidal symptoms understand the causes of their psychological distress. The role of the quality of the adolescent-parent relationship as a risk or protective factor was explored. Ten qualitative interviews were analyzed using the Co...

Over the past decade Israel has experienced dramatic change in the legitimization of same-sex relationships. In recent years the LGBT social movement has succeeded in mobilizing public support not only for the rights and well-being of adults, but also for the younger generation–LGBT youth. Using a large-scale survey of the Israeli LGBT community (N...

is a media anthropologist and teaches at the Communication Department at the Academic College of Emek Yezreel. He is author of numerous articles and books and has been active in various lesbigay organizations since 1982. Guy Shilo (shiloguy@post.ac.il) is a PhD student in the school of Social Work at Tel Aviv University. His research interests are...