Culture, Health & Sexuality最新文献

Anal fisting amongst gay men has been characterised as a risky form of sexual play, particularly for the bottoming (receptive) playmate. This view may be oversimplistic and fail to recognise how fist-bottoms ready themselves for fist-play through preparatory journeys of bottom training. This study explored how gay men who bottom in fist-play understand bottom training and how this understanding informs their personal sense of pleasure, risk, and safety. Unstructured individual interviews were conducted with 8 gay men who play as fist-bottoms. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted on the data, from which four main themes were developed: (1) training the body to play; (2) training for headspace; (3) training to understand pleasure; and (4) training by rules. Taken together, the findings highlight how fist-bottoms understand their bottom training as both a formative and transformative process that shapes their corporeal, psychological, erotic, and subcultural knowledge and skills to navigate play. Through bottom training, fist-bottoms explore and attune their understanding of what is safe and pleasurable, as well as riskier play.

Women living with HIV are consistently under-represented in HIV clinical trials, including cure trials. Little is known about how cisgender women living with HIV in Australia perceive HIV cure research, their level of trust in research institutions/staff, and factors salient to participation in HIV cure trials. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with women living with HIV and clinicians working with women living with HIV to investigate motivations and barriers to gender-equitable representation in HIV clinical research. Participant motivations for participation included altruistic desires to benefit younger women, and to optimise resulting interventions. Women living with HIV expressed optimism that a cure would dispel HIV-related stigma and brings about substantial material improvement to their lives. Reluctance to participate related to concerns regarding potential side-effects, antiretroviral treatment interruption, and impacts on fertility. Unfamiliarity with trials, confidentiality concerns and logistical difficulties were also cited. Lastly, onerous eligibility criteria, clinicians' assumptions about women's willingness and ability to meaningfully provide consent to participation were cited as barriers which could be addressed. Bolstering women's participation in HIV cure research requires consideration of factors relating to reproductive health, analytical treatment interruption, and recruitment. Engaging women living with HIV in trial design and promotion may help overcome these issues.

This paper examines the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on memories and metaphors associated with the earlier AIDS epidemic. It argues that while previous research has focused on how HIV informs COVID-19, the reverse relationship has received insufficient attention. The authors propose a more comprehensive understanding of the issues, using insights from the sociology of memory. Experiences during COVID-19 not only reshape perceptions of HIV in the present but also transform how we remember the AIDS crisis of the past. We discuss the impact of these pandemics particularly for gay and bisexual men and their connected communities. Doing so underscores the co-construction of collective memories in the present, suggesting that COVID-19 has not only redefined our experience of HIV, but it has also reframed our understanding of the earlier AIDS crisis. We conclude by highlighting the potential for these transformations to be leveraged for empowerment, political action and change. Revisiting and reframing our memories of AIDS in the light of COVID-19 can open up new avenues for optimism and positive engagement.

This paper explores the processes of individual and collective subjectivation experienced by non-binary individuals living in contemporary Italy. Using qualitative methods, the study, which was conducted between July and September 2021, involved a sample of twenty-six young adults aged between eighteen and thirty years. Starting from participants' narratives, the thematic analysis revealed the significance of both physical and virtual support environments in the subjectivation process, taking into account the diverse micro-contexts in which people live. The study's findings underscore the continued need to challenge societal norms and structures that perpetuate discrimination against people who reject exclusive identification with the male or female gender and opt for more fluid and non-traditional definitions of gender identity.

Existing research on Latino cultural factors mainly focuses on gender and nationality, often overlooking sexual orientation and giving limited attention to the experiences of Latino sexual minority men in the United States of America (USA). This study addressed this gap by exploring how sexual minority men identify, describe and experience Latino cultural factors. Between April and December 2019, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 men (ages 18-40, 43% non-US-born) in the greater Miami, Florida area to explore their engagement in HIV prevention and behavioural health services. Secondary qualitative analysis examined five Latino cultural factors (personalismo, machismo, familismo, fatalismo and curanderismo), informed by the existing literature for initial coding and supplemented by the use of an inductive approach, yielding 14 subthemes. Findings revealed that although participants often described cultural factors in their traditional interpretations within the Latino community at large, they also highlighted unique experiences, particularly for relationship-oriented factors like personalismo, machismo and familismo. Sexual orientation stigma shaped participants' experiences of these cultural factors. Study findings enhance knowledge about Latino sexual minority men's lived experiences in the USA, underscoring how cultural factors are perceived both traditionally and uniquely, and emphasises the need for nuanced, culturally tailored assessments in future research.

The significance of men's influence as partners in contraceptive decision-making and family size is often understated, particularly in patriarchal societies. Understanding men's experiences and perceptions of family planning is necessary to address women's unmet needs for contraception. This study examined men's involvement in contraceptive use and decision-making in the Busoga region of east Uganda. Twenty-four in-depth interviews were conducted with both male users and non-users of contraception living in urban and rural areas. Among participants, differences in preferred family size were influenced by competing norms valuing large families and economic wellbeing as reflections of men's role as a provider. Although the majority of interviewees were not opposed in principle to contraception, some men felt contraceptives undermined their own desire for a larger family. Men who supported family planning cited the economic benefits of smaller, healthier families and being able to fulfil their role as the primary breadwinner. Resistance to vasectomy and perceptions of condom use as protection against unwanted pregnancies and STIs/HIV in casual relationships, meant participants were unlikely to use male contraceptives. Efforts to increase contraceptive uptake among men should recognise the socio-cultural context of men's place within Ugandan society, to design reproductive health initiatives that engage men effectively.

Adolescent parents and their offspring experience worse health outcomes throughout the life course. While over 90% of adolescent births occur in low- and middle-income countries, data from many such countries are lacking, particularly from fathers. This qualitative study conducted in Lima, Peru characterises the experience of adolescent fathers and identifies potential intervention targets. Interviews with young fathers and the mothers of their children were coded and analysed using thematic analysis and a grounded theory approach. Factors impacting their experience included family support, changes in their relationship with their partner, gender dynamics, and financial pressure. The study identified family and couple conflict, gendered expectations, and the father's personal development as potential intervention targets. Further research is needed to develop interventions that effectively engage adolescent fathers in low- and middle-income countries such as Peru, and support their transition to fatherhood.

Emotional intimacy is key to intimate partner relationship quality and satisfaction. For sexual minority men, queer and feminist theorists consistently link emotional intimacy to diverse sexual practices and partnership dynamics formulated within the relationship. This Photovoice study adds to those insights by drawing on individual photovoice interviews with 16 sexual minority men to describe participant's experiences of, and strategies for emotional intimacy in their intimate relationships. Analysis revealed three distinct yet entwined themes: (i) embracing vulnerabilities to drive self-acceptance; (ii) building relationality with partners; and (iii) securing connections with family, friends and community. By embracing vulnerabilities to drive self-acceptance, participants spoke to embodied courage and autonomy as key components for addressing wide-ranging emotional intimacy challenges in their relationships. In theme two, building relationality with partners, participants described how empathy, trust and reciprocity underpinned collaborative work to foster emotional intimacy. Lastly, in securing connections with family, friends and community, acceptance and inclusion were key to participants' sense of belonging and legitimacy which aided their emotional intimacy with partners. The findings provide guidance for tailored programmatic efforts to assist sexual minority men build intimate relationships.