Japanese male gay and bisexual identity

Few studies have ever dealt with Japanese male gay and bisexual identity. This exploratory study investigated gay and bisexual identity through interviews of 34 Japanese gay and bisexual men. Though Japan has unique cultural aspects that are different from Western countries, it can be shown that Western concepts or models of homosexual identity are applicable to a considerable extent to Japanese gay and bisexual men. The results of this study suggest that there are two distinct types of Japanese men sexually interested in men, which the author will call "bisexual" and "gay." These two types are compared in terms of three aspects: self-identity, sexual preference, and social identity and role. A significant number of respondents have careers or vocations in the arts. This study touches on the correlation between art and male-male sexual orientation in Japan.     

Sport fans' impressions of gay male athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine sport fans' impressions of gay male athletes. Participants formed impressions of a fictional athlete from their favorite team after reading a short scenario about the player. The scenarios described the athlete as being gay or straight, and either becoming a distraction or not causing a distraction to the team. While males' ratings of the athlete did not significantly differ, female fans formed significantly more positive impressions of the gay male player than the straight athlete. These results are discussed in terms of the ingroup bias and the shifting culture of homophobia in sport.     

Marriage and family therapists' comfort working with lesbian and gay male clients: the influence of religious practices and support for lesbian and gay male human rights

The purpose of this study was to explore potential influences on marriage and family therapists' comfort level when working with lesbian and gay male clients, including sex, age, race, sexual orientation, political orientation, religious practices of the therapist, as well as the level of support for lesbian and gay male human rights. Participants in this study were 199 experienced therapists. Results indicated that higher levels of religious practices were related to lower levels of support for lesbian and gay male human rights and to lower levels of comfort working with lesbian and gay male clients. When support for lesbian and gay male human rights was considered, the level of religious practices was no longer predictive of comfort working with lesbian and gay male clients.     

Qualitative analysis in gay men's health research: comparing thematic, critical discourse, and conversation analysis

Gay men's health typically relies on traditional forms of qualitative analysis, such as thematic analysis, and would benefit from a diversity of analytic approaches. Such diversity offers public health researchers a breadth of tools to address different kinds of research questions and, thus, substantiate different types of social phenomenon relevant to the health and wellbeing of gay men. In this article, I compare and contrast three qualitative analytic approaches: thematic, critical discourse, and conversation analysis. I demonstrate and distinguish their key analytic assumptions by applying each approach to a single data excerpt taken from a public health interview conducted for a broader study on gay men's health. I engage in a discussion of each approach in relation to three themes: its utility for gay men's health, its approach to dilemmas of voice, and its capacity for reflexivity. I advocate that qualitative researchers should capitalise on the full range of qualitative analytic approaches to achieve the goals of gay men's health. However, I specifically encourage qualitative researchers to engage with conversation analysis, not only because of its capacity to resolve dilemmas of voice and to achieve reflexivity, but also for its ability to capture forms of social life hitherto undocumented through thematic and critical discourse analysis.     

Understanding the bear movement in gay male culture: redefining masculinity

The bear movement emerged in the gay male culture of the 1980s, but little research on this group has been conducted. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the meanings and functions of bear identity. Six bear-identified men participated in intensive interviews investigating this question. Results suggest that men who identify as bears consciously adopt a masculine aesthetic that signifies values of self-acceptance and maturity. The participants described the acceptance of diverse body shapes and ages within the bear community as leading to positive self-esteem and body image. Results are discussed in relation to clinical and advocacy work. They broaden the awareness of the diversity of cultures that exist within the gay community.     

The development of male prostitution activity among gay and bisexual adolescents

The current research literature regarding male-juvenile prostitution activity is reviewed. An attempt is made to develop some theoretical understanding of the development of this activity among gay and bisexual adolescents. A predisposition, resulting from faulty psychosexual and psychosocial development, appears to make these boys vulnerable to the situational variables that they encounter. More severe disruptions in psychosexual and psychosocial development seem to result in more destructive and non-ego-enhancing prostitution activities. A clinical case study is presented which illustrates the development of this activity. Recommendations are made to help reduce the amount of self-destructive prostitution activity among male adolescents.     

Using hegemonic masculinity to explain gay male attraction to muscular and athletic men

This article reviews relevant research on male homosexual attraction. Utilizing masculinity as its theoretical frame, the authors use childhood experiences with both fathers and peers, the gay community's inculcation of heteronormative ideologies, and the gay media's adherence to masculine prototypes, to provide causal explanations for the appeal of muscular, lean, and athletic physiques. While the authors acknowledge that not all individuals within the gay community look toward muscularity and athleticism as the primary components of attractiveness, it nonetheless remains important to examine the theoretical perspectives that may explain the appeal of this specific aesthetic.     

Life-stories and storied lives: genre and reports of lived experience in gay personal literature

Personal literature may be written either as a life story such as an autobiography or memoir or as an autobiographical novel. Using the three volumes comprising the memoir of author Paul Monette and the three volumes comprising the autobiographical fiction trilogy of journalist and novelist Edmund White, this article explores the goal of each author for selecting a particular genre in which to write about lived experience. Each author enjoyed an elite education and came to adulthood in postwar America in the decade prior to the gay rights era beginning in the 1970s, and each writer participated in the sociosexual culture emerging over the succeeding decade. Each writer became HIV+ in the 1980s (Monette died of complications attending AIDS in 1995), and each writer experienced the loss of his lover to AIDS. While Monette and White each experienced the anti-gay prejudice of postwar American society, Monette's youth was less troubled than that of White who grew up in a complex family with a distant yet harsh father toward whom he was also sexually attracted. While Monette's goal in writing a memoir was that the suffering of his generation of gay men should be remembered, White's goal was more personal, choosing autobiographical fiction in his effort to overcome his feelings of shame about being gay founded on his desire for his father.     

China doll - the experience of being a gay Chinese Australian

This article is a stylized blend of personal history and polemical essay which investigates the relationship between race and sexuality. What starts out as a history of the narrator's experience of being a "banana"-yellow (Chinese) on the outside and white (Caucasian) on the inside-becomes a complex exploration of the various ways in which male homosexual desire is constructed and how race is both included and excluded from western constructions of homosexuality.     

Lying with man as with woman: rethinking the impact of religious discourse on gay community strength

The impact of hostile and neutral or favorable religious discourse on gay community strength, as quantified by the efficiency of six types of gay colonization of public space, was examined in 200 American cities. Baptist and Holiness-Pentecostal membership was negatively correlated with most types of colonization, pro-gay Protestant and Catholic membership was mostly irrelevant, and Jewish membership was positively correlated at significant levels. In a logistic regression on dichotomized strength, only Jewish membership was a significant covariate. Results are discussed in the context of cultural studies and queer theory.     

Gay Abuse Screening Protocol (GASP): screening for abuse in gay male relationships

Thirty-two male patients in gay relationships and eight family physicians were recruited from a family practice in order to determine comfort with an eight-question Gay Abuse Screening Protocol (GASP). The GASP was administered during a typical clinical encounter. After the encounter, physicians and patients each completed a 5-point Likert Scale questionnaire to assess their comfort levels with each of the 8 GASP questions (Likert Scale: 1 = not at all comfortable to 5 = very comfortable). The mean comfort score was high (Likert >4) for both patients (4.16 +/- 0.18) and physicians (4.71 +/- 0.18). However, mean comfort scores were significantly lower for abused patients (3.26 +/- 0.75) than nonabused patients (4.57 +/- 0.26). Patients were comfortable (Likert >3) with 76.2% of GASP items while physicians were comfortable with all GASP items.     

Intergenerational effects of parental personality and relationship traits on mate choice among gay male and lesbian offspring

Data from 33 lesbian and 54 gay male cohabiting couples were used to examine the relation between parental identification and mate selection. Theories of mate selection and parental identification are reviewed. Effects of gender and sexual orientation as they relate to parental identification and mate selection in gay male and lesbian couples also are reviewed. The results demonstrate significant associations between the similarity of perceived parental personality and relationship styling traits with those of the partner. Socio-economic status, age, and culture also were significantly associated between parents and partners. Taken together, the results demonstrate little support for any specific theory and allude to the need for further research in this area. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

Moffies, artists, and queens: race and the production of South African gay male drag

This article draws on seventeen months of ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa to explore the experiences of urban and township drag performers. I show that two distinct sex-gender-sexuality systems have emerged based in the sociopolitical history of South Africa, and I argue that urban drag produces race oppositionally and examine how township femininity creates raced forms of gender, sex, and sexuality. Contemporary South African drag foregrounds the performativity and constitution of race and gender. My analysis attempts to challenge definitions of "drag" and "audience," suggesting the necessity for an integrated reconceptualization of drag studies.     

Romantic relationships and their social context among gay/bisexual male youth in the Castro District of San Francisco

This article examines the culture of romantic relationships among gay/bisexual male youth in the Castro District of San Francisco. The article seeks to specify the cultural ideology that informs these relationships, drawing upon ethnographic observation, autobiographical accounts, and informant cultural exegesis. The article also seeks to link thinking and experience inside romantic relationships (e.g., bonding, jealousy) to patterns of social behavior associated with romantic relationships (e.g., relationship sequestering, cheating), showing how both are informed by shared assumptions which make these emotions and gestures intelligible to the group. Beliefs about love, compatibility, and monogamy are explored. Reciprocity, including its degradation into negative forms, is examined with focus on the units of value that are exchanged in romantic relationships, in particular sentimental gifts. Gestures of commitment that mark commencement of a romantic relationship as well as extension of the dynamics of a relationship after "breakup" (as in "revenge sex" and "rebound relationships") are examined. Cultural systems that challenge adherence to a romantic ideology, such as a prestige economy associated with sex linked to an ethos of sexual exploration/recreation, are weighed against the pull of romance. "Drama," a hallmark of gay youth, is viewed in the context of romantic culture.     

Lesbian and gay youth in England

The experience of being gay and young has been seriously neglected in youth culture research and in youth service provision. This stems in part from the pervasiveness of both the heterosexual assumption and the sexual stigma. Since the advent of the gay movement, however, some modest research into gay youth has been conducted and some has been generated through the activity of gay organizations themselves. This paper reviews the experience and problems of being young and gay in Britain as revealed through three research studies. It outlines some key changes that have occurred during the 1980s, especially the emergence of gay youth organizations. It concludes by suggesting the diversity of the gay youth experience in England.     

"He was treating me like trash, and I was loving it...": perspectives in gay male pornography

As the topic of gay male pornography has received limited attention from social scientists, little is known about how gay men perceive this medium. In the current study, a focus group methodology was used whereby participants examined specific scenes from commercially available gay pornography in terms of the messages they disseminate about the body and gay sexuality, in general. Findings suggest that discussants tended to view the medium from a utilitarian perspective. They saw pornography as a masturbatory aid, and did not believe that it possessed much significance vis-à-vis gay men's attitudes and behaviours. Those who identified potentially negative influences of this medium saw them as transitory and most likely to occur among gay men other than themselves.     

Power and control in gay strip clubs

The gay strip club is a place in which more than displays of male beauty take place. The mix of customers, performers, liquor, and nudity results in fascinating dynamics. Of interest in this article are the power relationships and issues of control played out both among and between strippers and customers. Based on extensive participant observation conducted in eight cities and numerous bars/clubs and including more than 150 in-depth interviews, this article concerns just one aspect of the world of male strippers who perform for men.     

Assessment of life stress in gay and bisexual men with the gay affect and life events scale

The Gay Affect and Life Events Scale (GALES) was administered to a sample of gay-identified and non-gay-identified behaviourally bisexual married men (n = 186) and a comparative sample of never-married gay-identified men (n = 33). All participants in the study reported moderate levels of life stress in the preceding six months. No significant differences were found between the ever-married and never-married groups on the Overall Stress Value Score (OSV) of the GALES. Among the ever-married, those who identified as gay/homosexual reported significantly higher life stress than those who identified as bisexual. No differences were found within the ever-married between those who remained with their heterosexual partner and those who had separated. Difficulties in the use of the Nott and Vedhara (1995) version of the GALES with both gay men and populations of behaviourally bisexual men are reported.     

Pedophilia and the gay movement

A history of literature and views existing within the COC (Cultural and Recreational Center), the major Dutch organization of homosexual men and women, regarding pedophilia and its relationship to homosexuality are discussed, beginning with definite separation between the pedophile and homosexual identities and ending with an abolishment of oppression towards pedophilia, for which the COC is in part responsible. The article argues that the homosexual identify is by no means a "constant" but a fluid identity, based on societal views and conditions. By accepting pedophilia, the COC hopefully will broaden the idea of the gay identity.