Gay Men's Health

摘要

研究目的
歐美學界對男同志心理健康狀況已有部分研究成果，但臺灣仍缺乏相關研究。因此本研究奠基於社會排除觀點，以了解男同志心理健康狀況。
研究方法
本研究藉網路問卷，在2014年7月，針對有男同志認同的人，蒐集個人背景變項、社會排除經驗（包括被不友善對待經驗及錢不夠對覓食帶來的影響兩個次量表）、及心理健康狀況（包括BSRS-5、自傷及自殺意念及行動、心理健康自評及心理健康對生活影響四個次量表）資料。
研究結果
共270位偏年輕（平均年齡為27.99歲）、有高學歷、多數住於臺灣北部的男同志填答了問卷。193位(71.5%)男同志有過因同志身分，被他人不友善對待的經驗；175位(64.8%)男同志經歷過錢不夠對覓食帶來的影響。雖然參與這次研究的男同志有被社會排除經驗的不算少數；但整體看來，他們心理健康狀況算不錯。一些個人背景因素，例如身心障礙狀況，會使男同志較易被社會排除、或使心理健康狀況有差異。但當被社會排除程度越高，男同志心理健康狀況越不好[β=-.38, p<0.001]。
研究結論
社會排除經驗的確對男同志心理健康有負面影響。本研究在文末針對相關議題進行討論，並提出建議。

關鍵詞： 男同志、社會排除、心理健康、調查

According to our previous research, the use of glory holes in public venues such as saunas and bathhouses is very popular.The popularity of glory holes is due in part to the anonymous sex that these architectural elements allow. This post-structuralist theoretical reflection seeks to understand the specific nature of anonymous public sex among bathhouse patrons, focusing on the links between desire–architecture–place– sexual practices. Drawing on interviews with glory hole users gathered during an ethnographic research project in bathhouses, this essay goes beyond traditional public health discourse to offer an original perspective on anonymous public sex. Utilizing the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of assemblages and machines, we re-theorize glory hole sex – what we call ‘faceless sex’ – and rethink the ways that desire is imbricated with our understanding of architecture, place, and public. Finally, we reflect upon the particular ethical challenges that are posed by these particular sexual practices, and ask whether a post-structuralist ethic might be possible.

Trevor Hoppe: "In his latest book, Pleasure Consuming Medicine, Kane Race continues to advance his concept of "counterpublic health" -- a concept built on the work of feminist and queer scholars invested in understanding oppositional public spheres.I had the pleasure of interviewing Kane recently for this blog, and I'm thrilled to share his thoughts here. We talk about public health, HIV prevention, and his challenging concept that aims to shake up our conventional understandings of these complex phenomenon"

Recent immigrant or in-the-closet API MSMs are more likely to have unprotected sex. Among APIs, MSMs are the most likely to be infected with HIV. HIV/STDs can be transmitted by sexual fluids, blood, and genital skin-to-skin contact. If you know your STD status, you can take steps to protect yourself and others.

Online forums provide a wealth of publicly accessible data and have proven particularly useful for critical psychologists wishing to examine naturalistic data on a wide range of social phenomena. This article begins by considering the use of online discussion forums for critical discursive psychological research and outlines ethical debates regarding their use (particularly in light of past and current British Psychological Society guidelines). To demonstrate how such data can be used in critical psychology I provide an illustrative example of a discursive analysis of a single online discussion thread taken from a diabetes newsgroup that examines anti-social online behaviours in the form of “trolling,” “flaming,” and heterosexism.

Research on HIV and reproduction has focused largely on women and heterosexual men. This paper examines whether it is relevant to address parenthood in HIV care with gay men and what ways of doing so are most appropriate. Qualitative interviews were conducted at four London clinics with 25 men living with HIV, aged 20–45, who did not have children, and 16 HIV clinicians. A thematic analysis identified potential reasons why parenthood was rarely discussed with gay men in HIV care. Two sets of ideas contributed to a lack of conversations about parenthood: clinicians’ ideas about what matters to gay men and men’s ideas about what it means to be HIV-positive. Both sets of ideas largely excluded having children, with patients and practitioners similarly unlikely to raise the topic of parenthood in the clinic. Contrary to what clinicians commonly assumed, many men expressed interest in receiving more information, highlighting the importance of reassuring people upon diagnosis that it is possible to become parents while living with HIV. Our findings illuminate the potentially beneficial effects of emphasising that having children is a possibility at diagnosis, regardless of patients’ gender or sexuality. Conveying this information seems meaningful, not only to men who want to become parents in the future but also to others, as it appears to alleviate fears about mortality and ill health.

For the full paper, see: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-12285-4

Background: HIV testing opportunities in Italy are frequently limited to the hospital setting. Experiences in other countries show that offering HIV testing and counseling services in other facilities could improve HIV testing uptake, reduce the proportion of late diagnosis especially in targeted populations and offer opportunities for better prevention interventions.

Methods: An internet-based survey was conducted between March 10 and April 3, 2014. The survey was promoted on Plus onlus social networks (Facebook, Twitter) and gay websites (plus-onlus.it, gay.it).

Results: A total number of 348 questionnaires were collected. Responders were 88% male, 11% female, 1% transgender women. Most represented age groups were 25-34 (35%) and 35-44 (25%). Lombardia (20%), Emilia-Romagna (16%), Lazio (12%), Toscana (10%) and Veneto (10%) were the most represented regions. Most of responders identify themselves as homosexual (81%) or bisexual (9%). Half or responders had an HIV test within 2 years (56%) while 18% never tested for HIV: among them, 39% had more than 2 sexual partners in the past year and 44% never used condoms or used them only sometimes. Among all responders, 61% had more than 2 sexual partners in the past year, 32% had one, 7% none. Reported condom use in the past year was: always 39%, always but once 11%, sometimes 27%, never 14% (10% had no penetrative sexual intercourse). Most known places to have an HIV test is the hospital (95%), STI clinic (58%) and chemical analysis laboratory (54%); most used places are hospital (73%), STI clinic (30%), laboratory (22%) while 5 responders reported having had a self-test at home. Preferred places where to have an HIV test is self-testing at home (53%), hospital (36%), pharmacy (32%) and headquarter of an organization (31%). Most known testing method is draw blood from vein (97%), which is also most used (80%) but the least preferred (31%) while saliva (65%) and finger prick (56%) are the preferred choices. Most responders know that physicians (84%) and nurses (77%) are those who perform HIV tests and most of them had an HIV test with them (60% and 65% respectively). Physicians are the preferred operator (54%) followed by self-testing (46%), nurses (46%) and peer-volunteers (39%). The ideal HIV test should be: reliable (86%), with no medical prescription (75%), free (63%), rapid (55%), with no personal information collected (45%), with the opportunity to speak with a peer-counselor (36%).

Conclusions: Changing HIV testing policies in Italy is urgently needed in order to grant a better access to the service: awaiting for the results and bureaucratic obligations represent the major barriers to be removed. Home-testing and community-based testing seem to be among the best ways to offer new opportunities though they may require a change in the legal, social and cultural context to be implemented and home testing will not allow any kind of support for newly diagnosed people.

Abstract: Research on stigma as a barrier to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake for reducing risk of HIV infection has focused on the experience of stigma—othering, shaming and blaming and the associated negative social consequences of this stigmatisation. This study expands this focus to examine how current and potential users of PrEP discuss their experiences of stigmatisation, in addition to their anticipation, preparation and management of stigmatising encounters. The corpus of testimonial blog posts from the “My PrEP Experience” website, reader comments on those posts, and information available through hyperlinks in the posts and comments, were subjected to a qualitative textual analysis. Findings revealed stigmatising labels and perceptions identified in other PrEP and HIV-related stigma research. Findings also revealed the active seeking and sharing of strategies for coping with and challenging stigma, including the creative re-appropriation of negative labels and calls for advocacy. The discussion considers how the described preparation and management strategies can inform future efforts to reduce stigma and encourage PrEP uptake. Citation: Hedrick, A. M., & Dillman Carpentier, F. R. (2020). Understanding how current and potential pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) users experience, negotiate, and manage stigma: Disclosures and backstage processes in online discourse. Culture, Health and Sexuality: An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care.