Cervix cancer is the cancer that causes most female deaths in South Africa. Little is known about the sexual and menstrual practices in high-risk communities in South Africa. Knowledge of the risks inherent in these practices might lead to changed behaviour. The purpose of this study was to investigate if there are inherent risk factors for cervix cancer in the Black women’s sexual and menstrual practices that could result in an increased incidence to provide an evidence base for future interventions. The design of the study was an exploratory, descriptive, contextual, quantitative survey. The context of the study was two urban areas in the Tshwane Metropolis. The target population was women from the age of 18 years in Ga-Rankuwa and Soshanguve extension 12. The sampling method used was convenient sampling (n = 279). A structured interview was conducted due to the high rate of illiteracy found amongst the women. The data were summarised using descriptive statistics. The results of the study highlight several risks that could increase the women’s chance to develop cervix cancer. The identified risks are inherent in their socio-economic situation, knowledge and awareness of cervix cancer, and practices during menstruation.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / The HIV/AIDS pandemic with its tremendous impact has been a major cause of death and disruption of people’s lives. The youth of South Africa continues to be the most at risk and vulnerable by both being affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. There are non-conclusive research about the relationship between knowledge and behaviour of the youth in relation to HIV/AIDS. The goal of this research was to quantitatively explore the knowledge, attitudes and sexual practices of high school learners in the era of HIV/AIDS in a rural Free State town.The objectives of the study were to: • Explore the knowledge levels, attitudes and sexual practices of high school learners at a selected rural town;• Establish whether there is a difference in knowledge levels and sexual behaviour pattern of learners according to age at first sex; • Establish whether there is an association between knowledge levels and sexual behaviours; and • Explore problems experienced by participants when seeking information or help and what their suggestions are on prevention strategies.A total of 462 high school learners who were enrolled for grades 9, 10 and 11 in 2007 were selected to take part in the study. A self constructed questionnaire that also included open-ended questions for qualitative exploration was used to collect data. A total of 303 respondents responded.The SPSS programme was used for data analysis and open questions were analysed thematically. Measures were employed to ensure a form of face validity and reliability of the questionnaire. Results indicated poor knowledge levels of HIV/AIDS and positive attitudes towards people infected by HIV/AIDS. Teenagers’ sexual practices are rife but the majority of sexually active respondents have reported the use of condoms at first sex and last occasion of sex. Based on reported negative experiences at clinics, parental homes and schools regarding sexual health promotion and knowledge sharing, robust engagement of community leaders and elders working together with teenagers in programmes designed to enhance HIV/AIDS education is recommended.

Abstract: Background: The global estimated adult and child deaths from HIV/AIDS in 2006 were 2.9 million and those living with HIV stood at 39.5 million. Of the HIV deaths, 72% (2.1 million) occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Two thirds (63%) of all adults and children with HIV globally live in, with its epicenter in Southern Africa. One third (32%) of all people with HIV globally live in Southern Africa and 34% of all deaths due to AIDS in 2006 occurred there. In South Africa, a total of 5.5 million people, including 240,000 children younger than 15 years, were living with HIV in 2005. HIV data gathered in the country’s antenatal clinic surveillance system suggest that HIV prevalence has not yet reached a plateau. There is a continuing trend nationally in HIV infection levels among pregnant women attending public antenatal clinics: from 22.4% in 1999 to 30.2% in 2005 (a 35% increase). Aim: The aim of this study was to assess sexual practices, the prevalence of condom usage and sexually transmitted diseases, and their associations among 930 men and women aged 15-60 years in Orange farm South Africa. Objectives: 1. To determine condom usage among males and females aged 15–60 year old. 2. To determine the number of new partners, short-term partners and unprotected sexual acts in this particular age group of men and women. 3. To assess the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in this age group. 4. To assess the relationship between sexual practices and sexually transmitted diseases in this community. Methods: The project was a secondary data analysis of a population-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in Orange Farm, South Africa in 2002. The original study involved 930 men and women respondents. A two-stage random sampling technique was used to select households. A self-weighting random sample of twenty households was chosen from clusters of 15 households. All men and women aged 15 to 60 years, who slept in the selected households the night before the study team’s visit, were eligible for inclusion in the study. The main focus of this secondary study was to analyze the baseline data collected for the level and risk factors for sexually transmitted diseases in this age group. All 930 men and women were included in the analysis. Results: The risk factor under consideration viz: condom usage was not optimal, and the prevalence of sexually transmitted disease is high in this population with HIV prevalence at 21.8%. Women in the age-group 15-24 years were disproportionately more affected by HIV in this community as compared to men. Among the HIV positive respondents, 61.8% had at least single or over 2 non-spousal partners in the last year. At the time of the interviews, 34.7% had never used condoms and 84.3% did not use condoms in any of the sexual episodes of the last month. Conclusion: An important goal is to practice partner reduction and to encourage especially those who are single to use condoms consistently. Further qualitative research on sexual behaviours involving focus group discussions, in-depth interviews or participant observation should be conducted in this community to complement the quantitative methods. They produce results that directly represent how people feel and provide information on behaviour through the observation of events and activities.

My research involves a critical analysis of the sexual cultures of young heterosexual Australian men. This research is driven by the need to understand and prevent the heterosexual sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS. I focus on young heterosexual men’s understandings and experiences of condom use and non-use, given that condoms are a key means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV. ¶ I conducted in-depth interviews with seventeen men, using these to explore sexual practices and the meanings and sociosexual relations through which these are organised. This ‘close-focus’ qualitative approach is oriented to assessing the interplay between men’s personal experience and the social relations of sexuality and gender. I draw on empirical feminist investigations of women’s relation to HIV/AIDS, the critical scholarship on men and masculinities and masculine sexualities, and sociological scholarship on sexualities. ¶ My research finds that young heterosexual men emphasise five themes in accounting for their non-use of condoms. First, men stress the risk of pregnancy rather than the risks of HIV or other sexually transmitted infections, and they respond to the former risk by relying on their partners’ use of the Pill. Second, men perceive that wearing condoms decreases their penile sensation and that condoms are difficult to use. Third, men find that the “heat of the moment” of sexual episodes, their spontaneous and passionate ambience, makes it hard to incorporate condoms and, indeed, condoms destroy this “moment”. Fourth, men privilege “trust” as fundamental to their sexual involvements, and they quickly define involvements as “relationships” and therefore as trusting and monogamous, such that they abandon condoms. Fifth, men believe that they are very unlikely to contract HIV because they see their social circles, institutions, the heterosexual community or heterosexual sex per se as safe and free of HIV/AIDS, so there is no need to wear condoms. ¶ I compare these findings with the argument in the AIDS literature that heterosexual men’s use of condoms is limited by several understandings associated with masculine sexuality and masculinity. I argue that these understandings do not appear to be widespread as the literature claims, some work in contradictory ways and are compatible with safe sex, and other sets of meanings are more influential in heterosexual men’s unsafe sex. Men do not represent wearing condoms as feminising or homosexualising, nor as masculine. I conclude by exploring how heterosexual men could be encouraged to use condoms through appeals to notions associated with masculinity and masculine sexuality.

As diversas facetas da sexualidade estão se tornando cada vez mais visíveis na sociedade atual e duas categorias que começam a ganhar espaço e visibilidade na contemporaneidade são as das transexuais e das travestis. Transexuais são pessoas que não se identificam com seus genitais biológicos (e suas atribuições socioculturais) podendo, às vezes, utilizar da cirurgia de transgenitalização para construir suas expressões de gêneros em consonância com seu bem estar biopsicossocial e político; enquanto travestis são pessoas que se identificam com as imagens e estilos de gêneros (masculinos e femininos) contrários ao seu sexo biológico (machos e fêmeas), que desejam e se apropriam de indumentárias e adereços dessas estéticas; realizam com frequência a transformação de seus corpos por meio da ingestão de hormônios e/ou da aplicação de silicone industrial, assim como, pelas cirurgias de correção estética e de implante de próteses, o que lhes permitem se situar dentro de uma condição agradável de bem estar biopsicossocial. Diversos estudos têm sido realizados, tendo essas pessoas como alvo. No entanto, são poucos os que focalizam as necessidades, desejos e fantasias das mesmas no que tange à esfera sexual. Este estudo tem como objetivo conhecer a vida sexual de travestis e transexuais, dando ênfase às suas práticas e roteiros sexuais. A pesquisa tem enfoque metodológico qualitativo e utiliza a teoria dos roteiros sexuais de Gagnon como referencial teórico. Os dados foram colhidos mediante a aplicação de entrevistas individuais semiestruturadas. Foram entrevistadas 15 pessoas, de 19 a 58 anos, entre travestis, transexuais que já realizaram a cirurgia de redesignação sexual e transexuais que não a realizaram. As entrevistas aconteceram em situação face a face e foram audiogravadas. Também foi utilizado o diário de campo para anotações do pesquisador. Posteriormente, essas foram transcritas integral e literalmente, constituindo o corpus da pesquisa. Os achados foram sistematizados, de modo a capturar os modos de organização da vida sexual, os tipos de práticas e os roteiros sexuais, além dos desejos, fantasias, ações e relações que as circunscrevem. Pode-se notar a incorporação de diversos discursos pertencentes à cultura ocidental, em especial a cultura brasileira, sendo os quatro principais: o discurso do gênero, o do amor romântico, o médicocientífico e o erótico. Alguns dos aspectos desses discursos são incorporados fielmente aos roteiros, enquanto outros sofrem improvisações de cada colaboradora. Esses discursos são usados para legitimar a condição feminina de cada uma delas, assim como, para construir suas visões do sexo e de mundo. No nível interpessoal, foram caracterizadas relações unilaterais em diversos níveis e o elemento de sedução como constituinte dos roteiros das colaboradoras profissionais do sexo. As práticas de penetração (sexo vaginal e anal) foram as mais enfatizadas nos discursos, seguidas do sexo oral em detrimento de beijos e carícias, que apesar de pouco referidos, foram mencionados como de extrema importância. Acredita-se que este estudo poderá trazer contribuições relevantes para a compreensão das singularidades da vida sexual de transexuais e travestis, assim como para o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas de saúde focalizadas nas questões sexuais dessas pessoas. / The many facets of sexuality are becoming more visible in society today and two categories that are gaining visibility in contemporary space are transsexuals and travestis. Transsexuals are people who do not identify with their biological genitalia (and their sociocultural assignments) and can, sometimes, use the reassignment surgery to build their expressions of gender in line with their biopsychosocial and political welfare; while travestis are people who identify with the images and styles of genders (masculine and feminine) contrary to their biological sex (male and female), who wish and appropriate costumes and props of such aesthetic; who perform often transformations on their bodies through ingestion of hormones and/or the application of industrial silicone, as well as by cosmetic surgery and prostheses implants, which allow them to be located within a pleasant welfare biopsychosocial condition. Several studies have been conducted with these people as their target. However, there are few that focus on the needs, desires and fantasies of this people regarding the sexual sphere. This study aims to know the sex lives of travestis and transsexuals, emphasizing their sexual practices and sexual scripts. The research has a qualitative methodological approach and uses the Gagnons theory of sexual scripts. Data were collected through the application of semistructured interviews. We interviewed 15 people, with ages between 19 and 58 years old, between travestis, transsexuals who already underwent sex reassignment surgery and transsexuals who didnt undergo the surgery. The interviews were carried out in face to face situation and were audio recorded. The notes filed of the researcher were also used. Later, the interviews were transcribed in full and literally, constituting the corpus of research. The findings were organized in order to capture the ways of organization of sexual life, the kinds of practices and sexual scripts, as well as desires, fantasies, actions and relations that circumscribe them. It may be noted the incorporation of several speeches belonging to Western culture, especially the Brazilian culture, with the top four being: the gender speech, the romantic love speech, the medical-scientific speech and the erotic speech. Some aspects of these speeches are faithfully embedded into the scripts, while others suffer improvisations of each collaborator. These speeches are used to legitimize the feminine condition of each collaborator, as well as to build their visions of sex and of the world. At the interpersonal level, unilateral relationships were characterized at various levels and the element of seduction as a constituent of the scripts of the sex workers collaborators. Penetration practices (vaginal and anal sex) were more emphasized in speeches, followed by oral sex instead of kisses and caresses, which although rarely reported, were quoted as extremely important. It is believed that this study will bring significant contributions to the understanding of the singularities of the sexual life of transsexuals and travestis, as well as for the development of public health policies focused on sexual issues of these people.

As diversas facetas da sexualidade estão se tornando cada vez mais visíveis na sociedade atual e duas categorias que começam a ganhar espaço e visibilidade na contemporaneidade são as das transexuais e das travestis. Transexuais são pessoas que não se identificam com seus genitais biológicos (e suas atribuições socioculturais) podendo, às vezes, utilizar da cirurgia de transgenitalização para construir suas expressões de gêneros em consonância com seu bem estar biopsicossocial e político; enquanto travestis são pessoas que se identificam com as imagens e estilos de gêneros (masculinos e femininos) contrários ao seu sexo biológico (machos e fêmeas), que desejam e se apropriam de indumentárias e adereços dessas estéticas; realizam com frequência a transformação de seus corpos por meio da ingestão de hormônios e/ou da aplicação de silicone industrial, assim como, pelas cirurgias de correção estética e de implante de próteses, o que lhes permitem se situar dentro de uma condição agradável de bem estar biopsicossocial. Diversos estudos têm sido realizados, tendo essas pessoas como alvo. No entanto, são poucos os que focalizam as necessidades, desejos e fantasias das mesmas no que tange à esfera sexual. Este estudo tem como objetivo conhecer a vida sexual de travestis e transexuais, dando ênfase às suas práticas e roteiros sexuais. A pesquisa tem enfoque metodológico qualitativo e utiliza a teoria dos roteiros sexuais de Gagnon como referencial teórico. Os dados foram colhidos mediante a aplicação de entrevistas individuais semiestruturadas. Foram entrevistadas 15 pessoas, de 19 a 58 anos, entre travestis, transexuais que já realizaram a cirurgia de redesignação sexual e transexuais que não a realizaram. As entrevistas aconteceram em situação face a face e foram audiogravadas. Também foi utilizado o diário de campo para anotações do pesquisador. Posteriormente, essas foram transcritas integral e literalmente, constituindo o corpus da pesquisa. Os achados foram sistematizados, de modo a capturar os modos de organização da vida sexual, os tipos de práticas e os roteiros sexuais, além dos desejos, fantasias, ações e relações que as circunscrevem. Pode-se notar a incorporação de diversos discursos pertencentes à cultura ocidental, em especial a cultura brasileira, sendo os quatro principais: o discurso do gênero, o do amor romântico, o médicocientífico e o erótico. Alguns dos aspectos desses discursos são incorporados fielmente aos roteiros, enquanto outros sofrem improvisações de cada colaboradora. Esses discursos são usados para legitimar a condição feminina de cada uma delas, assim como, para construir suas visões do sexo e de mundo. No nível interpessoal, foram caracterizadas relações unilaterais em diversos níveis e o elemento de sedução como constituinte dos roteiros das colaboradoras profissionais do sexo. As práticas de penetração (sexo vaginal e anal) foram as mais enfatizadas nos discursos, seguidas do sexo oral em detrimento de beijos e carícias, que apesar de pouco referidos, foram mencionados como de extrema importância. Acredita-se que este estudo poderá trazer contribuições relevantes para a compreensão das singularidades da vida sexual de transexuais e travestis, assim como para o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas de saúde focalizadas nas questões sexuais dessas pessoas. / The many facets of sexuality are becoming more visible in society today and two categories that are gaining visibility in contemporary space are transsexuals and travestis. Transsexuals are people who do not identify with their biological genitalia (and their sociocultural assignments) and can, sometimes, use the reassignment surgery to build their expressions of gender in line with their biopsychosocial and political welfare; while travestis are people who identify with the images and styles of genders (masculine and feminine) contrary to their biological sex (male and female), who wish and appropriate costumes and props of such aesthetic; who perform often transformations on their bodies through ingestion of hormones and/or the application of industrial silicone, as well as by cosmetic surgery and prostheses implants, which allow them to be located within a pleasant welfare biopsychosocial condition. Several studies have been conducted with these people as their target. However, there are few that focus on the needs, desires and fantasies of this people regarding the sexual sphere. This study aims to know the sex lives of travestis and transsexuals, emphasizing their sexual practices and sexual scripts. The research has a qualitative methodological approach and uses the Gagnons theory of sexual scripts. Data were collected through the application of semistructured interviews. We interviewed 15 people, with ages between 19 and 58 years old, between travestis, transsexuals who already underwent sex reassignment surgery and transsexuals who didnt undergo the surgery. The interviews were carried out in face to face situation and were audio recorded. The notes filed of the researcher were also used. Later, the interviews were transcribed in full and literally, constituting the corpus of research. The findings were organized in order to capture the ways of organization of sexual life, the kinds of practices and sexual scripts, as well as desires, fantasies, actions and relations that circumscribe them. It may be noted the incorporation of several speeches belonging to Western culture, especially the Brazilian culture, with the top four being: the gender speech, the romantic love speech, the medical-scientific speech and the erotic speech. Some aspects of these speeches are faithfully embedded into the scripts, while others suffer improvisations of each collaborator. These speeches are used to legitimize the feminine condition of each collaborator, as well as to build their visions of sex and of the world. At the interpersonal level, unilateral relationships were characterized at various levels and the element of seduction as a constituent of the scripts of the sex workers collaborators. Penetration practices (vaginal and anal sex) were more emphasized in speeches, followed by oral sex instead of kisses and caresses, which although rarely reported, were quoted as extremely important. It is believed that this study will bring significant contributions to the understanding of the singularities of the sexual life of transsexuals and travestis, as well as for the development of public health policies focused on sexual issues of these people.

Submitted by Jaqueline Silva (jtas29@gmail.com) on 2014-10-03T21:34:10Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Fernando Ribeiro Matos - 2012.pdf: 962430 bytes, checksum: 0920b2fe2b082a9c0976026a8f676a0b (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jaqueline Silva (jtas29@gmail.com) on 2014-10-03T21:34:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Fernando Ribeiro Matos - 2012.pdf: 962430 bytes, checksum: 0920b2fe2b082a9c0976026a8f676a0b (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-03T21:34:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Fernando Ribeiro Matos - 2012.pdf: 962430 bytes, checksum: 0920b2fe2b082a9c0976026a8f676a0b (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-24 / This search aims to understand the construction process of bodies and sexualities from the relationships established a net porno in the city of Goiania, GO – Brazil. The net porn is place to break with hetero-normative logic by offering pleasures that must be socially watched, but still does not break continuity with some established by sexual matrix. Thus, we seek to highlight the forms of representation that provide goers from the experiences that keep within the net porn. It is, therefore, to understand the intricacies of the construction of bodies and sexualities made possible from the sexual practices and consumption found on the net porn city. / Este trabalho busca compreender o processo de construção de corpos e sexualidades a partir das relações que se estabelecem na rede pornô na cidade de Goiânia, Goiás. A rede pornô rompe com a lógica heteronormativa ao oferecer prazeres que precisam ser vigiados socialmente, mas, ainda assim não rompe com algumas continuidades estabelecidas pela matriz sexual. Assim, busca-se evidenciar as formas de representação que os frequentadores dos locais para sexo da cidade estabelecem a partir das experiências que mantêm dentro da rede pornográfica. Trata-se, portanto, de perceber os meandros da construção de corpos e sexualidades possibilitados a partir das práticas sexuais e do consumo encontrados na rede pornô da cidade.

Dominant discourses on youth sexual health construct young people as at-risk subjects who engage in risky behaviours due to ignorance or poor decision-making. This dissertation challenges the prevailing assumption embedded in these discourses that young people’s sexual behaviours are based on individual rational choices. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice and R. W. Connell’s notion of hegemonic masculinity, this dissertation uses an interpretive approach to analyze the narratives and resonant texts of 24 young men in Toronto. It explores how young men construct and perform their masculine identities in the context of their socio-spatial environment; it also examines the strategies that young men use to compete for cultural capital and dominant positions in the homosocial and (hetero)erotic fields. The analysis yields a number of findings. First, it shows that gender identity is a state of being-doing-becoming. Guided by their gender-class-race habituses, young men engage in an unceasing process of defining, affirming, declaring, and validating not only their sense of who they are (self-identity) and where they belong (collective identity), but also the boundary that differentiates the ‘Self’ from the ‘Other’. Second, there is a dialectical relationship between the young men’s masculine habituses and their sexual practices. While all the young men engaged in hegemonic masculine practices to gain ‘respect’ from their peers, their practices varied according to their classes and ethnoracial backgrounds. At the same time, their (hetero)erotic practices are intricately intertwined with their homosocial practices, whereby the intra-group masculine expectations coupled with the broad hegemonic masculine discourses assert significant influences on their interactions with both young women and other young men. Finally, hetero-guy-talk constitutes an important everyday social interaction in which young men actively engage in the (re)production and/or resistance of hegemonic masculine discourses and practices. These results suggest that effective sexual health promotion (SHP) must go beyond the focus on individual sexual behaviours to address the historical, cultural, economic, and political contexts that shape the collective sexual health practices of young men. Furthermore, it may be useful to explore ‘hetero-guy-talk’ as an important ‘third’ space where young men are invited to interrogate and resist misogynist, masculinist, and homophobic practices and be supported to engage in humanizing sexual practices.

Dominant discourses on youth sexual health construct young people as at-risk subjects who engage in risky behaviours due to ignorance or poor decision-making. This dissertation challenges the prevailing assumption embedded in these discourses that young people’s sexual behaviours are based on individual rational choices. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice and R. W. Connell’s notion of hegemonic masculinity, this dissertation uses an interpretive approach to analyze the narratives and resonant texts of 24 young men in Toronto. It explores how young men construct and perform their masculine identities in the context of their socio-spatial environment; it also examines the strategies that young men use to compete for cultural capital and dominant positions in the homosocial and (hetero)erotic fields. The analysis yields a number of findings. First, it shows that gender identity is a state of being-doing-becoming. Guided by their gender-class-race habituses, young men engage in an unceasing process of defining, affirming, declaring, and validating not only their sense of who they are (self-identity) and where they belong (collective identity), but also the boundary that differentiates the ‘Self’ from the ‘Other’. Second, there is a dialectical relationship between the young men’s masculine habituses and their sexual practices. While all the young men engaged in hegemonic masculine practices to gain ‘respect’ from their peers, their practices varied according to their classes and ethnoracial backgrounds. At the same time, their (hetero)erotic practices are intricately intertwined with their homosocial practices, whereby the intra-group masculine expectations coupled with the broad hegemonic masculine discourses assert significant influences on their interactions with both young women and other young men. Finally, hetero-guy-talk constitutes an important everyday social interaction in which young men actively engage in the (re)production and/or resistance of hegemonic masculine discourses and practices. These results suggest that effective sexual health promotion (SHP) must go beyond the focus on individual sexual behaviours to address the historical, cultural, economic, and political contexts that shape the collective sexual health practices of young men. Furthermore, it may be useful to explore ‘hetero-guy-talk’ as an important ‘third’ space where young men are invited to interrogate and resist misogynist, masculinist, and homophobic practices and be supported to engage in humanizing sexual practices.

Dominant discourses on youth sexual health construct young people as at-risk subjects who engage in risky behaviours due to ignorance or poor decision-making. This dissertation challenges the prevailing assumption embedded in these discourses that young people’s sexual behaviours are based on individual rational choices. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice and R. W. Connell’s notion of hegemonic masculinity, this dissertation uses an interpretive approach to analyze the narratives and resonant texts of 24 young men in Toronto. It explores how young men construct and perform their masculine identities in the context of their socio-spatial environment; it also examines the strategies that young men use to compete for cultural capital and dominant positions in the homosocial and (hetero)erotic fields. The analysis yields a number of findings. First, it shows that gender identity is a state of being-doing-becoming. Guided by their gender-class-race habituses, young men engage in an unceasing process of defining, affirming, declaring, and validating not only their sense of who they are (self-identity) and where they belong (collective identity), but also the boundary that differentiates the ‘Self’ from the ‘Other’. Second, there is a dialectical relationship between the young men’s masculine habituses and their sexual practices. While all the young men engaged in hegemonic masculine practices to gain ‘respect’ from their peers, their practices varied according to their classes and ethnoracial backgrounds. At the same time, their (hetero)erotic practices are intricately intertwined with their homosocial practices, whereby the intra-group masculine expectations coupled with the broad hegemonic masculine discourses assert significant influences on their interactions with both young women and other young men. Finally, hetero-guy-talk constitutes an important everyday social interaction in which young men actively engage in the (re)production and/or resistance of hegemonic masculine discourses and practices. These results suggest that effective sexual health promotion (SHP) must go beyond the focus on individual sexual behaviours to address the historical, cultural, economic, and political contexts that shape the collective sexual health practices of young men. Furthermore, it may be useful to explore ‘hetero-guy-talk’ as an important ‘third’ space where young men are invited to interrogate and resist misogynist, masculinist, and homophobic practices and be supported to engage in humanizing sexual practices.