At the dawn of the new millennium, migration has been identified as a crucial element in the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic yet few studies have been carried out into the specific ways in which migration is able to fuel the epidemic. Since the beginning of the epidemic in the 1980s we have witnessed increasing mobility of people throughout the world, with migration being a major factor in the ongoing transmission of HIV in particular regions of the world. This study looks at the particular of migration that exists between New Zealand and Australia and examines the effects that this has had on a group of Maori gay men and transsexuals during the time of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In particular, the study examines the effects that trans-Tasman migration has on identity and sexual practice and the implications that this has for HIV prevention among the Maori gay and transsexual communities of both countries. In order to examine the relationship between trans-Tasman migration, identity and behaviour, in-depth interviews were conducted with two groups of Maori gay man and transsexuals. One group resided permanently in Sydney, Australia (n=13) and the other group had returned to live in New Zealand after having lived in Sydney for at least one year (n=11). During the interviews respondents were invited to talk about their cultural and sexual identity, their upbringing, their reasons for migrating to Sydney and their sexual practice in Sydney. Analysis of the interviews showed that there were distinct differences in the two groups of respondents. While the Sydney gay community offered a haven for Maori migrants from New Zealand, this was sometimes at the expense of a compromised sense of cultural identity as well as exposure to racism, violence and prejudice from living in a predominantly white middle class society. In contrast, those who had returned to live in New Zealand had a stronger sense of their cultural identity than those who resided long-term in Sydney as well as ongoing access to a cultural context which reaffirmed and supported their sense of Maori identity. At the same time, those who lived in Sydney were more likely to report risk behaviour associated with the transmission of HIV than did those who lived in New Zealand. This project concludes that Maori gay men and transsexuals who have a strong sense of their cultural identity may be at a lower risk of HIV infection than those who do not. These findings have significant implications for the design and implementation of HIV prevention programmes both in New Zealand and in Sydney. Such programmes need to acknowledge the cultural diversity of the gay community and must provide the means whereby community members, especially those from minority groups, may have ongoing access to cultural structures which support and reaffirm their sexual as well as their cultural identity.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Dept. of History, University of Adelaide, 1983. / Typescript (photocopy).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 1998. / Title from title screen (viewed 10 September, 2008). Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of English, Faculty of Arts. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Human sexual behaviour is highly variable and not tightly linked to biological reproduction. However, it has not been studied as social behaviour until the last 40 years and until recently it is largely deviant behaviour that has gained the attention of sociologists. Sociology has adopted an unnecessarily antibiologistic position and consequently neglected the body. In reviewing sociological approaches to sex I draw on social constructionism, particularly the work of Gagnon and Simon (1974) and their notion of scripts; these can be interpreted as discursive structures defining sexual acts and sexual actors at both the individual and societal level. I outline a range of social constructionist positions in relation to sexuality and adopt a moderately radical but realist one that concedes some place for the physiology of arousal linking the elements of the discursive realm of the sexual in social life. Finding the basic assumptions of symbolic interactionism a fruitful base from which to approach sexual conduct I reject the concept of 'desire' as too complex and obscure to serve as a starting point in understanding the social organisation of sex. A review of the ethnographic observational studies of settings in which men have casual sex shows that beats (public places such as parks and toilets) operate in a similar manner in many countries. Commercial sex venues are more varied. They are safer and more comfortable than beats and may offer private rooms and facilities for esoteric sex such as bondage. Sex in such settings is impersonal and anonymous, costs little effort, time or money, and offers a variety of partners. Interaction is largely nonverbal. Interview studies of men who have casual sex with other men tend to undersample men who are not gay-identified, but they offer insights into men's motivations and understandings. Both kinds of research are necessary. The empirical component of the thesis is a thematic analysis of transcripts from three interview studies of gay men in Sydney done between 1993 and 1997: Negotiating Sex (n = 9), the Sites study (n = 21) and the Seroconversion study (n = 70). All involved detailed narratives of sexual encounters. The analysis takes a situational interactionist approach with a specific focus on practice. Central questions asked are: how does the setting (beat, sex venue, home) affect what happens? What does sex mean to the men, and how does this affect what they do? How do men's sexual skills, tastes and experience relate to their practice? How do men's bodies and their understandings of the body affect their practice? What do different sexual practices mean and how are they organised and negotiated within the encounter? How (if at all) do men integrate considerations of safe sex into their practice? Physical surroundings were found to have a profound effect on practice. Sex venues as cultural institutions enable patterns of practice that do not occur elsewhere. Physical arrangements within beats and venues encourage or enable particular practices, such as oral sex or group sex. Motivations for and meanings of sex to the participants varied widely; these were related to practice within the men's own accounts but not in any clear predictive way. Men's sexual skills, tastes and preferences, which were also very varied, related to their practice. Men made trade-offs between risk and pleasure. Men looked for a range of features in casual partners. Suppression of social cues restricted the range of criteria on which partners were selected, enabling wider choice. Men's bodies affected their practice most strikingly in the issue of erection or the lack of it. Understandings of the body and physiological processes affected men's interpretations of information about HIV risk. These men have a vocabulary of sexual practices within which some common practices are less salient. These practices are socially patterned in ways that benefit men with certain tastes and abilities and frustrate those with others. Safe sex considerations are routinely integrated into sexual practice but in a way that leaves room for considerable risk of HIV transmission. In conclusion I argue that conceptualising sex between men exclusively in terms of gay identity and culture is inappropriate. The outcome of the empirical work confirms the theoretical analysis that found it necessary to incorporate some physiological notions, such as 'libido', into a social constructionist view of sex. The findings and their interpretations have important implications for framing effective HIV prevention programs. Some specific suggestions are made for how this might be done.

Human sexual behaviour is highly variable and not tightly linked to biological reproduction. However, it has not been studied as social behaviour until the last 40 years and until recently it is largely deviant behaviour that has gained the attention of sociologists. Sociology has adopted an unnecessarily antibiologistic position and consequently neglected the body. In reviewing sociological approaches to sex I draw on social constructionism, particularly the work of Gagnon and Simon (1974) and their notion of scripts; these can be interpreted as discursive structures defining sexual acts and sexual actors at both the individual and societal level. I outline a range of social constructionist positions in relation to sexuality and adopt a moderately radical but realist one that concedes some place for the physiology of arousal linking the elements of the discursive realm of the sexual in social life. Finding the basic assumptions of symbolic interactionism a fruitful base from which to approach sexual conduct I reject the concept of 'desire' as too complex and obscure to serve as a starting point in understanding the social organisation of sex. A review of the ethnographic observational studies of settings in which men have casual sex shows that beats (public places such as parks and toilets) operate in a similar manner in many countries. Commercial sex venues are more varied. They are safer and more comfortable than beats and may offer private rooms and facilities for esoteric sex such as bondage. Sex in such settings is impersonal and anonymous, costs little effort, time or money, and offers a variety of partners. Interaction is largely nonverbal. Interview studies of men who have casual sex with other men tend to undersample men who are not gay-identified, but they offer insights into men's motivations and understandings. Both kinds of research are necessary. The empirical component of the thesis is a thematic analysis of transcripts from three interview studies of gay men in Sydney done between 1993 and 1997: Negotiating Sex (n = 9), the Sites study (n = 21) and the Seroconversion study (n = 70). All involved detailed narratives of sexual encounters. The analysis takes a situational interactionist approach with a specific focus on practice. Central questions asked are: how does the setting (beat, sex venue, home) affect what happens? What does sex mean to the men, and how does this affect what they do? How do men's sexual skills, tastes and experience relate to their practice? How do men's bodies and their understandings of the body affect their practice? What do different sexual practices mean and how are they organised and negotiated within the encounter? How (if at all) do men integrate considerations of safe sex into their practice? Physical surroundings were found to have a profound effect on practice. Sex venues as cultural institutions enable patterns of practice that do not occur elsewhere. Physical arrangements within beats and venues encourage or enable particular practices, such as oral sex or group sex. Motivations for and meanings of sex to the participants varied widely; these were related to practice within the men's own accounts but not in any clear predictive way. Men's sexual skills, tastes and preferences, which were also very varied, related to their practice. Men made trade-offs between risk and pleasure. Men looked for a range of features in casual partners. Suppression of social cues restricted the range of criteria on which partners were selected, enabling wider choice. Men's bodies affected their practice most strikingly in the issue of erection or the lack of it. Understandings of the body and physiological processes affected men's interpretations of information about HIV risk. These men have a vocabulary of sexual practices within which some common practices are less salient. These practices are socially patterned in ways that benefit men with certain tastes and abilities and frustrate those with others. Safe sex considerations are routinely integrated into sexual practice but in a way that leaves room for considerable risk of HIV transmission. In conclusion I argue that conceptualising sex between men exclusively in terms of gay identity and culture is inappropriate. The outcome of the empirical work confirms the theoretical analysis that found it necessary to incorporate some physiological notions, such as 'libido', into a social constructionist view of sex. The findings and their interpretations have important implications for framing effective HIV prevention programs. Some specific suggestions are made for how this might be done.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Arizona State University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [106]-114).

Thesis (PhD) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2004. / The digital copy of the exegesis, and the 2 CDs of images, props and environments created for the work have been removed from the thesis and are held by the Library's Digital Services Team. Also held in print (423 p. : ill. ; 25 x 27 cm. + 1 DVD of the film Boy (ca. 15 min.)), in Wellesley Theses Collection. (T 791.4372 ING)

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 281-294) Also available in print.