According to public health research, bisexual men are at elevated risk for contracting STIs and HIV relative to other sexual minority groups (e.g., gay men, lesbian women) as well as heterosexual people; yet, no studies to date have examined contextual factors that may contribute to this sexual health trend. Using a minority stress theory framework, the present study tested the direct and indirect associations of anti-bisexual discrimination with risky sexual behaviors in a sample of 508 self-identified bisexual men (age range = 18 - 76), with internalized biphobia, bisexual identity concealment, and substance use mediating this relation. Bisexual identity centrality’s direct relations with internalized biphobia, bisexual identity concealment, and risky sexual behavior were also tested. A path analysis was used to analyze the data. Results indicated that anti-bisexual discrimination yielded significant direct positive associations with internalized biphobia, bisexual identity concealment, and risky sexual behavior. Internalized biphobia, but not bisexual identity concealment, yielded a significant direct association with substance use, which yielded a significant direct positive link with risky sexual behavior. Bisexual identity centrality yielded significant direct negative associations with both internalized biphobia and bisexual identity concealment, but it yielded a nonsignificant association with risky sexual behavior. Internalized biphobia also yielded a total indirect link with risky sexual behavior through the mediating role of substance use. Implications of these findings for clinical practice and future research with bisexual men are discussed.

In this account of male infidelity and the migrant imaginary, I take on the idea of how it is that moral arguments can be made in support of the claim that male infidelity does not invalidate the assertion of love to one’s partner. In trying to address this issue I undertook an ethnographic study of eight middleclass Zimbabwean men living in Midrand. Using these young Zimbabwean middleclass men as an analytical category, I delve into the imagined lifestyles that they have about life in South Africa and the frustrations that they encounter in trying to realise these standards of living. I use Berlant’s (2006) concept of ‘cruel optimism’ to show how these frustrations in turn lead to a situation in which infidelity is not seen as antithetical to love.

Youth involved in the criminal justice system exhibit elevated rates of sexual risk behavior (SRB), placing them at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and other deleterious outcomes. High levels of youth-maternal connectedness have been shown to act as a protective factor for SRB in nationally representative studies and in studies with primarily White youth samples. However, there are mixed findings in the research literature on the association of maternal connectedness and SRB among African American and Latino youth, a population who are disproportionately over-represented in the criminal justice system. Additionally, no studies to date have examined the role of maternal connectedness in SRB among justice-involved youth. This dissertation used archived data to determine if maternal connectedness can buffer against the negative effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on SRB among justice-involved youth. A secondary aim was to explore the prevalence of ACEs among youth in the sample, including several new ACE items that focus on adversity occurring outside the home. Participants (N=263) were sentenced or detained adolescent males at a large correctional facility in New York City, aged 16-18 and predominantly African American and Latino. Data were collected from the baseline interview of an intervention study conducted from 2009-2010. Youth participated in an individually administered, computer-based survey covering a range of topics, such as sexual health history, family relationships, substance use, and exposure to adverse events. Consistent with the literature, our sample of detained youth reported a high degree of SRB and a significant number of adverse experiences. Logistic regression analysis found that total ACE scores do not predict risky sexual behavior, even when controlling for maternal connectedness, substance use, age, and number of days incarcerated/detained. However, every participant endorsed exposure to at least 2 ACEs and 92% endorsed exposure to 4 or more, suggesting that the restriction in range may have obfuscated a relationship between total ACE scores and sexual risk-taking. The new ACE items, including poverty, racial discrimination, and neighborhood violence were prevalent. Additionally, several of the individual ACE items, including physical abuse, emotional abuse, and racial discrimination were independently associated with sexual risk outcomes. Maternal connectedness was negatively correlated with one type of risky sexual behavior—frequency of substance use during sex. Maternal connectedness and total ACE scores were, as predicted, negatively correlated. These findings suggest that our sample of incarcerated youth have experienced such a profound degree of adversity and trauma that perhaps ACE scores alone cannot adequately predict their engagement in risky sex. The fact that so many of the adolescents in the study endorsed the new ACE items also provides strong support for dissemination of the revised ACE inventory. This study highlights the need for greater research on risk and protective factors influencing adolescent SRB, as well as psychosocial correlates of ACEs among at-risk youth. Furthermore, given the syndemic nature of SRB and high prevalence of STIs, HIV, and ACEs in urban communities of color, future research should consider a more comprehensive and integrative approach to preventing both childhood adversity and unwanted sexual risk outcomes. Directions for future research and clinical implications are discussed.

No description available.

Background: The epidemic of HIV among MSM in China shows a hiking trend since 2003. The current intervention strategies in China lack effectiveness to curb the trend. It is imperative to review the interventions for HIV prevention among MSM in other countries to provide evidence for the future intervention design in China. Objectives: This study aimed to review the HIV prevention interventions among men who have sex with men(MSM) in order to identify appropriate intervention strategies and practices to be employed in China. Methods: Studies were searched in Pubmed database. Studies of interventions targeting MSM for HIV prevention among MSM in other countries were included in this systematic review. The search results were also filtered by the study type (i.e. RCT).The results and design of the studies were analyzed and discussed. Results: The studies in this review were analysed in terms of the study design, sampling method, retention and intervention strategies. High risk sexual activity, condom use, HIV testing and HIV knowledge were used as outcome measurements. The findings indicated that the interventions were in general effective in reducing the sexual risk behavior and increasing the intention to have a HIV test. The design of RCT offers stronger evidence of the intervention effects. The intervention strategies combined with internet were more personalized and confidential. Conclusions: Future intervention design in China could consider the strengths of interventions undertaken in other countries in order to improve the effectiveness and sustainability. In consideration of the context of China, this review made some suggestions for more effective implementation of interventions for HIV prevention among MSM in China. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

Background: Men who have sex with men (MSM) are a high risk group of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Since 2003, HIV prevalence and incidence among MSM in China has increased alarmingly. And then numerous control measures targeting risk reduction of HIV infection among MSM have been implemented. However, previous studies varied in methodologies, prevention or interventions, and most studies only investigated one or several of control measures. Moreover, there are no existing systematic reviews on the effectiveness of integrated control measures against HIV infection. Therefore, this systematic review was conducted to assess the effectiveness of control measures against HIV infection among MSM in China, in terms of condom use, sexual behaviours, awareness of HIV knowledge, HIV counseling and testing, and HIV prevalence and incidence. Methods: A total of 154 articles were first retrieved from English database PubMed, and 114 articles from Chinese database CNKI. 19 English and Chinese articles that met the inclusion criteria were included in this systematically review. Results: The common control measures, including distribution and use of condoms and lubricant, high risk behavioural interventions, education of HIV knowledge, peer interventions, HIV testing and counseling, and MSM community or venue based interventions, are effective in increasing condom use in the anal sex, reducing risk sexual behaviours, improving awareness of HIV knowledge, and promoting the participation of HIV counseling and testing, which are all beneficial to prevent HIV infection among MSM. These findings may be influenced by the design of questions and the standard, and the response of MSM to questions. As for HIV prevalence and incidence, the effectiveness on them is uncertain, probably owing to inappropriate timing of conducting control measures, the short follow-up period, the small sample size or the scale of study. Future studies need to improve sampling method, and extend follow-up time and the study scale appropriately. Conclusion: Based on this systematic review, the control measures are effective in increasing condom use, reducing risk sexual behaviours, improving awareness of HIV knowledge and promoting the participation of HIV counseling and testing, while the effectiveness on HIV prevalence and incidence is uncertain among MSM in China. In future, more policy researches on HIV/AIDS burden, MSM and control measures are needed to provide an evidence base for policy change. In practice, policy makers and researchers need to promote structural control measures targeting different typologies of MSM. And the more effective way in conducting control measures needs the multi-sector cooperation, especially the cooperation between the governmental organizations and MSM community. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

The purpose of this research was to better understand the situational factors involved in date rape. Following the Inhibition Model of Sexual Aggression, I asked Can we observe disinhibition of sexual arousal to nonconsensual cues in heterosexual sexually nonaggressive men by introducing a strong excitatory cue, that is, female nudity? In the first study, young heterosexual men were presented with aural narratives depicting consenting and nonconsenting sexual interactions and nonsexual interactions while their genital sexual arousal was measured. Participants were also presented with pictures depicting clothed and nude women. A second study used videos depicting clothed and nude women exercising. Results suggest that nudity is an excitatory cue that elicits genital arousal; it might also have a small disinhibitory effect for nonconsenting cues, but only for moving images. A discussion of the research findings, implications for future research, and limitations to the research is presented. / viii, 146 leaves ; 29 cm

There are substantial differences between the sexual arousal patterns of men and women. Men’s genital and subjective sexual arousal are category-specific; different sexual stimuli elicit different degrees of arousal. Women’s subjective sexual arousal is also categoryspecific, but their genital arousal is category-nonspecific; different sexual stimuli produce similar arousal. Men also exhibit a high concordance or correlation between their genital and subjective arousal, whereas women exhibit much lower sexual concordance. I conducted five studies with 219 participants to further explore these sex differences and test different explanations for their occurrence. The results confirm the existence and stability of sex differences in arousal patterns, provide support for a functional explanation of the sex difference in genital category-specificity, provide mixed support for an informationprocessing model of sexual arousal in relation to sexual concordance, and provide no support for the notion that sexual concordance is another manifestation of sex differences in interoception. / xvi, 212 leaves ; 29 cm

Studies investigating the sexual responses of men and women in the laboratory reveal reliable sex differences. Men’s genital and subjective sexual responses exhibit a high degree of concordance and are category-specific (i.e., are dependent on the types of sexual cues presented). In comparison, women’s genital and subjective responses exhibit lower concordance and their genital responses are much less category-specific. One functional explanation for these sex differences is the preparation hypothesis of women’s genital responses: Women’s genital responses occur automatically in the presence of any sexual cue to protect the reproductive tract from injuries that may result from sexual activity. If this hypothesis is correct, then there should be a sex difference in patterns of habituation of genital responses. Specifically, women’s genital responses should be more resistant to habituation than men’s because the costs of not producing a genital response to sexual cues are inherently higher for women than for men. The results of two studies of 38 men and 38 women suggest, however, that repeated exposure to sexual stimuli leads to similar degrees of habituation of genital responses in men and women. Of note, attention appeared to influence the pattern of genital responses in both studies and higher attention did not preclude habituation. Implications for the preparation hypothesis, models of sexual arousal, and directions for future research are discussed. / xii, 93 leaves ; 29 cm

From the content analysis of 23 "classic" gay porn videos, produced by Falcon Studios, the emergence of the Falcon formula---a pornographic model of sex---is described in this thesis. This formula is analyzed with regard to the feminist critique of pornography and the assertions of gay advocates. Although the Falcon formula supports the feminist perspective with respect to the representations of sex practices, the linkage between femininity and getting fucked, as indicated by Dworkin, was not found in the selected Falcon videos. In fact, Falcon videos subvert this linkage by depicting masculine men fucking other masculine men. And, in accord with the claims of gay advocates, Falcon videos largely represent gay men having sex as opposed to straight men having homosexual sex. The Falcon formula appears to have developed not only in reaction to stigmatizing stereotypes of effeminate gay men and in reaction to the linkage between femininity and getting fucked, but also in response to the fantasy (of gay viewers) of being accepted into an exclusively male community.