This study explored how gender expressions were portrayed in the narratives of gay men who view themselves as non-masculine. An adapted life story interview was conducted with seven participants between the ages of 20 and 47 years. Life stories were analysed using content analysis. The study found that non-masculinity was defined in different ways and that social context, including threat, impacted on gender expression. Non-masculinity was strongly associated with male homosexuality. Homophobic verbal and physical abuse was portrayed alongside negative appraisals of non-masculinity. This may be indicative of internalised anti-effeminacy values. Marginalisation in gay communities was also portrayed, including romantic rejection. Intersections of gender-expression and ethnicity or age were important in evaluations of sexual attractiveness. Conversely, masculinity was often eroticised or regarded as aspirational. Positive qualities associated with non-masculinity included expressiveness, humour and flexibility in working with power demonstrations of others. These reinforce the assertion that effeminate and androgynous men bypass facets of gender-role conflict.

D.Ed. / This study applied a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual approach. The purpose of the study was to develop, implement and evaluate a peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements around Gauteng. Based on the purpose of the study, the objectives of this research were: a) to explore and describe the experiences and challenges related to life threatening behaviour challenges among late adolescents; b) to develop a conceptual framework as basis for a peer counselling psycho-educational programme on peer education to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements; c) to describe a peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements; d) to formulate guidelines and principles for the implementation of a peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements; and e) to evaluate this peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements. To achieve the purpose of this research, the research method followed four phases to develop, implement and evaluate the psycho-educational programme. Phase one was a situational analysis by means of fieldwork. Phase two outlined a conceptual framework for a peer counselling psycho-educational programme that was developed from the results of phase one and the literature. Phase three was the outline of the implementation, and phase four the evaluation of the developed peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements around Gauteng. ii The researcher sought to understand the targeted area and targeted populations; this exercise helped the researcher to identify and address the research problem and also to gain knowledge on the attitudes, norms, and values, and also the lived experiences, of the targeted community. It gave the researcher an understanding on cultural norms and beliefs and assisted in demarcating the extent of the problem. The importance of this exercise was to help the researcher to know the population demographics and the demarcation of the targeted area, which also assisted with resource allocation. During this situation analysis, the researcher identified the need for the exploration of life threatening sexual behaviour challenges among late adolescents in informal settlements. He identified these young people by observing them during site visits in their communities and also through conversations with them. Therefore, the researcher underwent experiential learning to understand the life threatening sexual behaviour, experiences and problems among late adolescents in informal settlements around Gauteng.

Magister Public Health - MPH / Aim: The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge of the transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS among secondary school students in Bekwarra, Cross River State, Nigeria; to appraise the students' attitudes towards HIV/AIDS; to describe the risky sexual and other behaviours they engaged in and what factors influenced such behaviours. This study was conducted in the area to systematically examine the widely held notion that adolescents were deviating from the strict sexual mores of the Bekwarra people, thereby exposing themselves to the risk of acquiring HIV. Methods: Information was collected using a cross-sectional survey based on a 64 item questionnaire adapted from the Family Health International HIV/AIDS/STD Behavioural . Surveillance Surveys. A random sample of 381 male and female students aged 14 to 18 selected from 12 secondary schools participated in the survey. Results: The level of general awareness of HIV/AIDS was high - 56.9% of participants knew how HIV is transmitted - but their knowledge of STI symptoms was low. Only 24.7% knew at least two STI symptoms in women, while only 20.7% knew at least two STI symptoms in men. One hundred and twenty three (32.2%) students constituting 68 males (17.8%) and 55 females (14.4%) had experienced sexual intercourse. The mean age at first sexual experience was 15.06 years for males and 14.95 years for female students. There was a statistical association between age and experience of sexual intercourse (p = .024). Two thirds (65.0%) of the 123 sexually experienced students had intercourse in the last six months, and only 30 of them (24.4%) had used a condom during their last intercourse. The use of condom was most frequent (10.6%) at age 18 and least frequent (.8%) at age 14. About one quarter (26.1%) of the students had taken alcohol: 17.3% occasionally, 5.5% moderately, and 2.6% frequently. There was a statistical association between taking alcohol and age (p = .038). Over a half (56.1%) of those who had not had sexual intercourse also had not taken alcohol. In contrast, 14.2% had sexual intercourse and also took alcohol, indicating significant statistical association (p < .001).). 66.8% of the students had neither used drugs nor taken alcohol, whilst 6.8% had both used drugs and taken alcohol, indicating significant association, (p < .001)). There was a similar association between sexual intercourse and using drugs, (p = .002). Conclusions: The study revealed significant high risk sexual behaviour among adolescents in Bekwarra. The high level of risky sexual behaviour and lack of basic knowledge about STIs indicated that access to information is currently insufficient. Health and educational authorities in Bekwarra should utilize the key findings highlighted from this study to design more effective local strategies for sexual health promotion that may help to slow the spread of STIs including HIV/AIDS. Intensive child-friendly programmes for pre-teenagers organized by educators to promote postponement of the early initiation of sexual intercourse may be effective. For adolescents who are unable to control their sexual initiation, improved education on safe sexual practices, especially the use of condoms appears to be necessary. / South Africa

Introduction: Oil/gas communities across Northeastern British Columbia are experiencing rapid in-migration of young, primarily male workers in response to an economic ‘boom’ in the oil/gas sectors. Accompanying the ‘boom’ has been a rise in rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people, with Chlamydia rates among youth in the Northeast exceeding the provincial average by 22%. Previous research indicates that socio-cultural and structural determinants of youth sexual behaviour and access to STI testing are important for understanding youth sexual health disparities – and represent key targets for STI prevention efforts. No other research has explored STIs in this rapidly developing, under-resourced context. Therefore, objectives of this thesis were to: (1) Examine how socio-cultural and structural features related to the oil/gas ‘boom’ affect the sexual behaviour of young people in Fort St. John (FSJ), BC; (2) Gather the perspectives of youth and their service providers on the socio-cultural and structural barriers to STI testing in FSJ; (3) Develop recommendations to improve the accessibility of STI testing. Results: Participants identified 4 main ways in which the socio-cultural and structural conditions created by the ‘boom’ affect sexual behaviours, fuelling the spread of STIs in FSJ: mobility of oil/gas workers; binge partying; high levels of disposable income; and gendered power dynamics. As well, 5 key barriers to STI testing among youth were identified: limited opportunities for access; geographic inaccessibility; local social norms; limited information; and negative interactions with providers. Discussion: These data indicate that the conditions fostered by the ‘boom’ in FSJ exacerbate sexual health inequalities among young people. They can be more widely contextualized as an example of the unintended – but not unexpected – health and social implications of a resource-extraction ‘boom’, illustrating the fallacy of ‘development’ as representing uniformly positive ‘progress’. Recommended actions include STI prevention and testing service delivery models that incorporate a locally tailored public awareness campaign, outreach to oil/gas workers, condom distribution, expanded clinic hours and drop-in appointments, specialized training for health care providers, and intersectoral partnerships between public health, non-profit organizations, and industry. An ongoing knowledge translation internship has been undertaken to implement some of these recommendations. / Medicine, Faculty of / Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of / Graduate

This study draws on cultivation analysis (Gerbner, 1969) to explore the interrelating factors concerning the role of media in young people’s consumption of alcohol at a south-eastern Nigerian university. Nigeria has the second highest alcohol consumption in Africa. Traditionally, drinking spaces were dominated by adult males for socio-cultural reasons but in contemporary Nigeria there is increasing concern that younger men and women are now also drinking harmfully. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 male and 9 female undergraduate students (aged 19-23 years) to explore the ways in which media consumption shapes their drinking behaviour. Whilst young people’s consumption of both local and foreign media was high and gendered, one key motivation for using alcohol was aspirational, particularly among those who consumed Hollywood films. Many of the participants who consumed Hollywood films may have learned to associate heavy consumption with high social status. Importantly, this thesis demonstrates that although local films portray alcohol in a mainly negative light, this also motivates young people to drink as they learn how to use alcohol to ameliorate anxiety or depression. Young people’s drinking patterns were found to be gendered, underscoring a resilient socio-cultural belief in which men see alcohol as good for males while women believe that it should not be confined to men. Consequently, the women employed male-gendered drinking behaviours such as heavy drinking to develop social capital. At the same time, both male and female participants discussed taking part in risky sexual behaviour but the outcomes differed for males and females, with this behaviour being more stigmatised in women. Alcohol advertising and promotion were found to be highly influential because they encourage brand preference and brand allegiance, actively facilitate change of brand, and lead to excessive consumption amongst male and female participants. Although the participants confirmed that promotional activities facilitate alcohol misuse, they argued that promotions should not be regulated because promotional prizes alleviate poverty. This study furthers the discussion on cultivation theory by demonstrating that heavy television viewing cultivates alcohol consumption among this population and it contributes to cultivation and audience research by revealing that negative portrayals can also influence young people. This study’s findings can inform educational campaigns and policy formulation in Nigeria, particularly those that tackle alcohol availability, heavy episodic drinking and risky sexual behaviour; and those that encourage media literacy and more positive and equal relationships between women and men.

Vaginismus is defined as a persistent difficulty with vaginal entry, despite a woman’s expressed wish, due to muscle tension, avoidance, and/or pain (Basson et al., 2003). The disorder is classified as a sexual dysfunction; however, there is a paucity of literature on the sexual response, sexual function, and sexual behaviour of women with vaginismus. This thesis research was designed to investigate the differential aspects of sexual health in women with lifelong vaginismus, compared to women with lifelong dyspareunia (pain with intercourse) and women with pain-free intercourse. In the first study, 45 women viewed erotic films, of which one set depicted penetration and the other did not. Physiological sexual arousal was assessed via thermography. Subjective responses to films were assessed with questionnaires. Despite significantly greater negative emotions and lower mental sexual arousal in response to erotic stimuli, women with vaginismus showed genital arousal comparable to the comparison groups. In the second study, 174 women completed an online survey. Women with vaginismus reported more sexual difficulties than the no-pain group and a restricted range of lifetime sexual behaviours and lower frequency of intercourse attempts/experiences than the comparison groups. Women with vaginismus and dyspareunia reported more anxiety during sexual activity and a restricted sexual behaviour repertoire in the previous year and month compared to the no-pain group. Women with vaginismus endorsed more negative cognitions related to penetration, specifically concerns about losing control of their body and the situation. The findings suggest that sexual function difficulties and restricted behavioural repertoire may be associated with negative emotions and maladaptive cognitions. Women with vaginismus may avoid encounters that could lead to intercourse. Alternatively, the negative response to sexual stimuli may be indicative of a more global negative response to sexuality beyond intercourse. The negative penetration-related cognitions, negative responses to sexual stimuli, anxiety during sexual activity, and reduced range and frequency of sexual behaviours of women with vaginismus provide support for the Fear-Avoidance Model of Vaginismus. The impairment in sexual functioning supports the need to move beyond the singular treatment focus of making intercourse possible to an approach that addresses overall sexual rehabilitation.

Thesis (M. A. (Sociology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Contemporary moral panic about adolescents centres on their sexual behaviour, as being irresponsible, disrespectful to adults, easily addicted and indulging in unsafe sex. With this concern, parents are noted to play a vital role in supervising, monitoring, guiding, advising and addressing adolescents’ risky sexual behaviour. Adolescents are influenced by a variety of factors and institutions; hence the study explored one of the factors, ‘parents’ involvement’. The study sought to find out parents’ perceptions on involvement, what it means and how involvement can be effective. The aim of the study was to explore parents’ involvement in addressing adolescents’ sexual behaviour in Mankweng Township, Limpopo Province. The study comprised ten parents (five males and five females) who were purposely selected. Data was conducted over the course of three days, through semi-structured interviews. Thematic data analysis method was used to analyse data collected and to have final results. The findings revealed that parents are much aware of adolescents’ sexual behaviour, parents’ role and responsibility when it comes to protecting adolescents. However, a common trend was found from all parents, which was lack of understanding of parental involvement; where all participants only limited parental involvement to sexual communication and giving advice; with that they bear uncomforting belief that sexual communication will lead adolescents to sexual behaviour. Moreover, it was evident that parents have challenges to parental involvement such as peer pressure, media, fear and respect. Intervention such as parental programmes, health, religion and education; campaigns and community gatherings were noted as effective method that should the initiated to educate and improve parents’ involvement in addressing adolescents’ sexual behaviour. Keywords: Parent, adolescent, involvement, risky sexual behaviour.

Background It is estimated that 6.1 million people have HIV in South Africa, which makes it the country with the highest number of people living with HIV in the world. Adolescents are a severely affected and exposed group, since they tend to have several risk factors and a risky sexual behaviour. However, sexual education is implemented in school and there are special prevention programmes for adolescents in the country. Aim The aim of this study was to examine the HIV prevention work for adolescents in South Africa. Method The study was accomplished with a qualitative method and a semistructured interview design. The respondents were reached through purposive sampling and snowballing. In total six interviews were accomplished with people active within school, healthcare and different organisations. Results South Africa is a diverse country with many different cultures, beliefs and languages. Due to all the differences in the country, the widespread poverty and the previous political situation the challenges are many when it comes to prevention work. The key findings of the thesis are the importance of education and gender empowerment for adolescents to prevent the further spread. Conclusion HIV prevention for adolescents is important to reduce the HIV epidemic in South Africa. However, further education and gender empowerment is needed. Stigmatization and poor adherence to ART is also issues that need to be addressed in order to make progress in the prevention work. A mutual goal has appeared in the field of HIV prevention; to have zero new infections.

Uppsatsen baseras på en åtta veckor lång fältstudie i Jinja, Uganda och behandlar socialt arbete med fokus på HIV-rådgivning. Syftet är att beskriva HIV- rådgivning och hur det utförs. Detta genom frågeställningar om interaktionens natur mellan klient och rådgivare utifrån en ugandisk kontext, vad respektive parter har för upplevelser av rådgivning samt vilka utmaningar som kan identifieras gällande såväl HIV- prevention som HIV- rådgivning. Studien är kvalitativ och den insamlade empirin består av semistrukturerade intervjuer med sammanlagt nio informanter, varav fyra är eller har varit aktiva rådgivare, fyra är HIV- positiva klienter som får rådgivning och en är aktiv både som rådgivare och som klient. Vi har valt att spegla vår empiri mot teorier om stigma, sexuella skript och pastoralmakt. Ur resultatdelen har det mellan klienter och rådgivare framträtt en bild som visar på en samstämmighet såväl som diskrepans gällande relationens natur och innehåll såväl som utmaningar kopplat till HIV- rådgivning och preventionsarbete. Relationen bygger på vänskap såväl som professionalism och det tycks finnas en förväntan på rådgivaren som räddare som understöds av såväl klienterna som rådgivarna själva. Det framkommer att stigma fortfarande framträder kopplat till HIV, men i mindre utsträckning än förut och i högre utsträckning bland män och barn än bland kvinnor. Sedan ARV, bromsmediciner, kommit HIV- smittade till del, talar de klienter vi intervjuat om hur HIV numera inte behöver ses som värre än vilken annan sjukdom som helst, vilket rådgivarna menar på också är en risk, då minskad respekt för sjukdomen också kan leda till ett ökat riskbeteende. I de rådgivande samtalen låg fokus på beteendeförändringar baserade på ett hälsofrämjande tänkande och handlande, så kallat positive living. Vidare framgår att religionens framträdande roll i det ugandiska samhället även tar sin plats genom ord eller handling i mötet mellan rådgivare och klient. / This study is based on a minor field study that took place during eight weeks in Jinja, Uganda. It discusses the aspect of social work in HIV counselling, with the object to describe HIV counselling and how it is conducted. The study attempts to answer questions about the nature of the interaction between the client and the counsellor from a Ugandan context, what experiences that lies between them, as well as what challenges can be identified when it comes to HIV prevention as well as HIV counselling. The study’s research strategy has a qualitative approach and the collected data is derived from semi-structural interviews with four HIV positive women who receive counselling, four counsellors and one woman who is both a client and a counsellor. We have chosen to understand our empirical findings through theories of stigma, sexual scripts and pastoral power. From our findings, we were able to conclude that there is consensus as well as discrepancies between the clients’ and the counsellors’ perceptions of their relationship, the counselling content as well as the challenges that is connected with HIV counselling. The relationship is the result of an intertwining of friendship and professionalism and there seem to be an expectation on the counsellor as a savior, which is supported by both clients and counsellors. It appears that stigma still appears in relation to HIV, but to a lesser extent than before and more so among men and children than among women. Since the introduction of ARV’s, many of our interviewed clients seem to view HIV as any other disease, which is regarded as something of a risk by many of our interviewed counsellors, as it may lead to increased risky behavior when it comes to HIV transmission. In the counselling session, the focus seems to be on behavioral change through the concept of positive living, which revolves around the idea of physical and mental well-being. Furthermore, religion has a great impact on the Ugandan society, which can be seen in the words and actions in the meeting between counsellor and client.

<p>  </p> <p>Prior research supports the significance of sexual debut (i.e., first sexual intercourse) in Western societies. Of concern, less than 5% of this research is from a sex-positive perspective with most researchers emphasizing sexual risks, particularly for underrepresented communities (e.g., Black women) and college students. Sexual socialization (i.e., messages communicated about sex) serves a critical role in the development of self-perceptions about sex, and scholars suggest sexual/relational development is rooted in experiences during emerging adulthood. </p> <p><br></p> <p>The primary aim of the present study was to identify meaningful subgroups/clusters of participants based on their experience of sexual socialization through messages received about sex (i.e., gendered, abstinence, casual, relational) from parents and from formal sex education and intersecting identities (i.e., gender, race). Additionally, the focus included determining if these clusters were associated with self-perceptions about sex: sexual satisfaction, frames of virginity (i.e., gift, stigma, process), gains following sexual debut (i.e., romantic, friendship, existential), and self-communicated messages about sex (i.e., gendered, abstinence, casual, relational). Participants were 435 undergraduate college students at a large, Midwestern university who completed an online survey. I used latent class cluster analysis (LCCA) and Bias-Adjusted Step-3 Analysis to address my research questions. The results of the LCCA indicated six subgroups/clusters: Relational Messaged White and Multi-Racial Women (Cluster 1, 22.99%), Under-Messaged Men (Cluster 2, 21.67%), Casual/Relational Messaged Individuals of Color (Cluster 3, 18.49%), Non-Casual and Parent Messaged Women of Color (Cluster 4, 15.67%), Abstinence/Relational and Formal Sex Education Messaged Individuals (Cluster 5, 11.80%), and Gendered Messaged White and Multi-Racial Women (Cluster 6, 9.38%). Cluster membership was significantly associated with self-communicated abstinence messaging in that Cluster 2 displayed significantly lower self-communicated abstinence messages than Clusters 1, 3, 4, or 6. The results of the present study have the potential to increase understanding of sexual socialization in the United States and its impact on self-perceptions about sex (e.g., abstinence). The findings can guide clinicians in avoiding inappropriate and harmful assumptions and support college campus professionals in creating balanced and meaningful programming to better serve college students. </p>