Homosexuality is universal -- as universal as man himself. The practice has been recorded in the literature of most societies. Although homosexuality has at times been accorded a place of special respect, occasionally regarded as the prerogative of a particular class, more frequently it has been subjected to societal punishment. This study analyses the pattern of social relationships among homosexuals under conditions of repression characteristic of American urban society. It is the object of his sexual drive that distinguishes the homosexual from other men. Society condemns such behaviour and subjects the sexual deviant to severe social sanctions. Thus the homosexual finds himself defined as a criminal by the law makers, as a perpetrator of unnatural and ungodly acts by the churches, and a pervert by the ordinary men and women of society. These evaluations of his behaviour create the particular set of social problems which confront the homosexual. The general vulnerability of his position within society imposes the limitations upon his activities and determines to a great extent the type of adjustment which he is able to make to the larger social environment. In an attempt to solve his social problems. the practising homosexual has become involved in a distinctive, separate, and somewhat secret set of social relationships which we shall call “homosexual society”. This distinctive society is a response to the need to communicate with others for the satisfaction of sexual drives under conditions of social repression. The emergence of homosexual society is therefore an adaptation to the limitations and restrictions imposed by the larger heterosexual culture. [...]

Over the past thirty years, we have seen a rise in sexual self identification and group affiliation based on sexual identity across the world, but particularly in China. Much of the research on this topic has focused on the role capitalism and urbanization has played in producing the circumstances under which tongzhi (gay men) could come together, which has necessarily prioritized processed of transnationalism, class aesthetics and geographic emphasis on coastal areas. This project expands the literature on tongzhi assembling by focusing on the legacy of HIV/AIDS organizations in the province of Yunnan in helping to bring important funding and political opportunity to emerging tongzhi social groups. Through presenting detailed ethnographic data, I argue that the organization’s leaders engage in a form of fragmented authoritarian politics which involves balancing between localized bureaucratic political demands and organizing opportunities of fun for tongzhi men who may lack other spaces and times to meet. In this dissertation I will discuss how activities of play allow these groups to balance between dominant discourses and pragmatic social interactions.

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自中國改革開放以來，大量的農村人口流動到城巿工作。在中國的移民／遷移研究當中，家庭、女性、制度等常為研究人員的研究對象及研究範式，卻鮮以性別視角研究男性的打工經驗及個人的遷移經歷。這一點對於理解男性在遷移及打工過程中，如何回應城鄉之間的差異，包括工業化及全球化下的中國經濟模式以及各種意識形態的轉變，具有極為重要的價值。面對著大量流動於不同社會的男性群體，我們對於他們的身份建構、工作遭遇、因著男性身份而在各個領域中所經歴的差異等理解甚少。是次研究以南中國農民工為例，與12 位以服務性行業為主的男性農民工進行了深入訪談，並以男性特質論（Masculinities）作為分析框架。研究發現在城巿及巿場的影響之下，男性農民工的男性特質具有物質化特性，這種男性特質的再建構是男性農民工面對現代化及都巿生活下的一種價值轉變及回應。與此同時，在物質化男性特質影響下，男性農民工對於家庭產生一種循環性的虧欠感及對其自我評價產生負面影響。 / Since the Open Door Policy of China, a great proportion of people in the rural areas mobilized to the city for work, Family, female and institution are usually the subjects and perspectives in the trend of recent China internal migration studies. However, male migrant workers, as a gender subject, is usually absent in those researches and their experience in the city should be revealed. The changing identities and asculinities performance are significant perspective for us in understating the male migrant workers subjectivities transformation underthe influences from city and market. This study aims at using Masculinities as a framework to investigate the effect of cities and markets on the male migrant workers in south China. Twelve In-depth interviews with male migrant workers, whose are mainly in service industry in these 2 years (2012-2013), were conducted. This research discovers that their Masculinities were materialized under the influences of city and market when they are working in the cities, and the materialized masculinity lead(s) them to have a low self-appraisal and selfregret to their family. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 彭梽樃. / Thesis (M.Phil.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-50). / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Peng Zhilang.

This paper explores the reality of a queer individuals life and the reality of a mother of a queer individual, where the author himself and his mother are the subjects. The paper seeks to explore these person's experiences/realities using both an autoethnographic approach and a life history approach. Coming from a postmodern and feminist position the author delves into such issues as power, oppression, social construction, personal voice, and identity. Personal narratives and academic literature within this paper are going to display queer realities and the broad range of oppression (such as heterosexism, homophobia and gendering) that they face (in educational, familial, and religious settings) and the experiences of a mother who has a queer child (such as emotional reactions, lack of resources/information). / The methodologies used within this paper also seek to explore and expand the use of alternative forms of academic research, focusing on the autoethnographic approach. Personal narratives, emotions and experiences take center stage within the body of this paper and seek to represent the realities of queer youth and their families to the reader, and hopefully, expose the need for more queer awareness, education, and advocacy.

This study aimed to investigate how “outness,” spirituality/religiosity, gay identity affirmation and demographic factors relate to each other and predict internalized homophobia (IH). IH is linked to a host of negative outcomes. The study took place over three months at the 2012 New York Pride parades in all five boroughs. Participants were recruited via the cross-sectional street-intercept approach, 195 of whom met the inclusion criteria. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26. In sum, the sample consisted of a highly educated, mostly white, high-income subset of men. The regression model indicated that gay identity importance and being “out” to world were predictive of IH. There were also significant differences in participation in gay activities along the lines of education and race. Same sex attracted men who earned a four-year college degree reported more participation in gay activities compared to those of lower attainment levels. Compared to White men, Latino men participated in less gay activities, possibly due to cultural factors. Men who have higher levels of affirmation were more likely to participated in gay activities, which could include pride, which suggests a potential bias. Buddhists reported unusually high levels of internalized homophobia compared to other spiritual and religious practices and orientations. Finally, there were no significant differences in homophobia with race, but there was one with religion. Christians exhibited statistically significantly higher levels of internalized homophobia compared to those who were nonreligious namely atheists, agnostics, and the spiritual but not religious. Implications for health promotion were discussed.

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For the first twenty-five years of Ghana’s national response to HIV/AIDS, the government, like most nations in Africa, did not include gay and bisexual—locally known as sasoi—and other men who have sex with men (MSM) as a high-risk group for HIV in its policies. In 2011, Ghana finally addressed this policy blind spot by acknowledging sasoi and other MSM as a key population at-risk for HIV and in need of policy and programmatic interventions—a shift that is occurring in many parts of Africa. Using Ghana as a case study of this policy shift on the continent, my dissertation examined: why sasoi and other MSM were not initially acknowledged in Ghana’s national AIDS policies; why and how the government decided to include MSM as a key population in its national AIDS policies and programs; what cultural, social, and political factors have affected the development, implementation, and reception of these policies and programs; how sasoi and other MSM perceive and experience these policy and programmatic efforts; and how sasoi and other MSM experience life in a country that criminalizes and stigmatizes same-sex sexual activities. Using ethnographic methods, I conducted a 12-month qualitative study in Ghana. I conducted: interviews with 43 state and non-state policymakers and stakeholders, HIV frontline workers, and sasoi and other MSM; focus group interviews with 18 peer educators; participant observations of policy and HIV prevention work, and meetings and other events related to the research scope; and archival research of media coverage of homosexuality. My findings indicate that Ghana’s MSM policy blind spot was due to: 1) the criminalization and stigmatization of same-sex sexualities in the country, 2) a construction of the Ghanaian epidemic as driven by migrant female sex workers, and 3) international AIDS researchers’ categorization of HIV in Africa as heterosexual, which informed donor policies and stipulations. However, in 2011, the government shifted to include MSM as a KP at risk for HIV in light of mounting epidemiological data on MSM HIV prevalence and risk, NGO advocacy efforts, and international donor policy changes that now recognize MSM as a KP in Africa. I conceptualize this change as a paradigm shift in Ghana’s national AIDS policies from a general population paradigm to a key populations paradigm that includes MSM as biomedical citizens at higher risk for HIV. The country’s progress in addressing HIV among sasoi and other MSM using evidence-based policies has earned it status as a model country in Africa in MSM HIV efforts. Stakeholders, however, face significant challenges rooted in the country’s sociocultural context, namely institutionalized homophobia and heterosexism, a dated and underfunded healthcare system, and inadequate HIV funding. Implementation of MSM HIV policies has come into conflict with the country’s legal and sociocultural realities in Ghana, where male same-sex sexual activities are criminalized and socially stigmatized. Moreover, stakeholders are strategically discreet in how they implement MSM HIV policies and programs and are hesitant to publicly push any advocacy efforts that might come across as supporting or promoting homosexuality, in fear of social and political retribution. Despite this strategy, I argue that MSM HIV efforts have attracted public attention and criticism and have constituted, in part, the politicization of homosexuality in Ghana, reshaping public representations and perceptions of homosexuality and presenting challenges to the ongoing efforts to address HIV among MSM. Stakeholders must evaluate these unintended consequences alongside the intended policy objectives and outcomes to strengthen efforts to reduce the burden of HIV among sasoi and other MSM in Ghana.

This research is a qualitative study that explores the gender role ideology of Black and White men between the ages of 18-30. The study found that both groups are moving toward egalitarianism on different pathways. The pathways illustrate the effect of racial identity on gender role ideology. White respondents had a progressive egalitarianism which stemmed from ideas reflected individualism, secularization, and the identification with the grand narrative of the United States. Their respondents also reflected postmodern ideas. Overall their ideas reflect larger White racial identity and shows an overlap between the progressive understanding of modernity and with postmodernist ideas of non-deterministic definitions. Black respondents had a collaborative egalitarianism which stemmed from historical racial and economic deprivation. Subsequently, Blacks gender role ideology illustrates collaboration and communal interdependence between of Black men and women, and the Black church. Blacks tended to view things from a social perspective that was often reactionary. Overall, their ideas reflected the larger Black racial identity which emphasizes collaboration between men and women and a reliance on community based institutions like the Black church.

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