“It Takes a Man to Put Me on the Bottom”: Gay Men’s Experiences of Masculinity and Anal Intercourse

In anal intercourse between gay men, men who are typically insertive (“tops”) are often perceived as, and may identify as, more masculine than those who are typically receptive (“bottoms”). “Versatile” men, who may adopt either position, may be perceived as more gender balanced and may transcend the gender-role stereotypes associated with self-labeling as top or bottom. The aim of this study was to explore how gay men’s beliefs about masculinity were associated with their beliefs about the gendered nature of sexual self-labels and their behavior in anal intercourse. Individual semistructured interviews were undertaken with 17 UK-based gay men. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) identified that perceptions of tops and bottoms as gendered social identities varied depending on the extent to which gay men subscribed to the mandates of hegemonic masculinity, the dominant masculinity in Western society. The findings also suggested that some gay men differentiated between top and bottom as social identities and topping and bottoming as gendered behaviors. This had implications for gay men’s behaviors in anal intercourse. It is suggested that future efforts to engage with gay men about their sexual behavior should account for their beliefs regarding the gender-role stereotypes associated with gay sexual self-labels.     

Community and drug use among gay men: the role of neighborhoods and networks

Gay neighborhoods serve as vital places for gay men's socializing, yet few studies have examined their contributions to gay men's health-either directly or indirectly via residents' social networks. Drawing from theoretical perspectives on community and networks, we test hypotheses concerning whether gay neighborhoods and social network factors are associated with patterns of recent illicit drug use among a sample of 740 urban gay men from New York City. Higher odds of drug use were observed among individuals who resided in gay neighborhoods, had networks composed predominantly of other gay men, and had increased socialization with gay men. Network factors did not mediate associations between gay neighborhoods and drug use. These findings highlight the need to better contextualize the health risks faced by gay men by accounting for both neighborhood and network structures.     

Gay marriages and communities of sexual orientation

This article focuses on gay male couples as they exist within friendship networks of other gay men. By comparing homosexual men who are part of a gay community with those who are less integrated into a gay community, we attempt to show that the sexual liaisons of the former are more “marriage-like.” Gays committed to a community of other homosexual men were found to live more often with their lovers, be more sexually faithful to their lovers, and to have more emotionally intimate relationships. Also, they were found more likely to associate with other gay couples. Commitment to a gay community was not found to be associated with length of a liaison, and it seemed that when respondents defined emotional intimacy in terms of sexual exclusiveness there may have been a tendency for disruption of relationships. The gay community validates the sexual liaisons of gay men in the same way that the heterosexual world validates the pairings of heterosexuals and transforms their subinstitutional sexual liaisons into the institution of marriage.     

Gay Men: Negotiating Procreative,Father, and Family Identities

Our qualitative study examines the social psychology of gay men’s experiences with their procreative, father, and family identities. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 19 childless gay men and 20 gay men in the United States who have fathered using diverse means excluding heterosexual intercourse. By focusing on men aged 19 – 55 residing primarily in Florida and New York, our novel analysis illuminates how emerging structural opportunities and shifting constraints shape gay men’s procreative consciousness. Findings reveal that gay men’s procreative consciousness evolves throughout men’s life course, and is profoundly shaped by institutions and ruling relations, such as adoption and fertility agencies, assumptions about gay men, and negotiations with birth mothers, partners, and others.     

Discrimination Against Gay Men,Lesbians, and Transgender People Working in Education

Abstract

This paper explores the workplace experiences of 120 gay men, lesbians, and transgender people who were employed as teachers, academics, and educators. The data, drawn from a larger collaborative research project, explored the workplace experiences of 900 gay men, lesbians, and transgender people. Homophobic harassment and treatment were widespread amongst the lesbian, gay men, and transgender teachers, academics, and educators. The paper will utilize the stories of those who experienced discrimination to explicate the issues confronting gay men, lesbians, and transgender people who work in the education system.     

Japanese Gay Magazines and Marriage Advertisements

Among other functions, Japanese gay magazines inform readers about gay meeting places, provide a masturbation aid, let readers know that they are not alone, and give an image of gay men different from the mainstream media, which often confuses homosexuals with transvestites. Unfortunately, gay magazines also present an image that is not entirely positive, i.e., gay men as sex maniacs. Personal advertisement sections play a role in bringing together gay men as friends and lovers. One magazine, Barazoku, contains a section for marriage advertisements. Remaining unmarried in Japan in many cases still implies that one will be a social outcast. For this reason many gay men marry, usually without informing their spouses about their sexual orientation. Barazoku assists gay people in finding a partner who knows about, and accepts one's sexuality. Gay groups interested in politics sometimes criticize homosexuals who get married for having camouflage marriages (giso kekkon), and Ito Bungaku, the publisher of Barazoku, for supporting this. However, the contents of ads indicate that most advertisers want to have something that resembles a usual marriage.     

A Sociohistorical Analysis of Gay Men's Procreative Consciousness

SUMMARY

This qualitative study argues that an understanding of gay men's thoughts about fatherhood must be situated within a socially constructed historical context that is rapidly changing how gay men think about the possibility of creating families. Analysis draws on 39 interviews with gay men about their reproductive decision-making. Two samples of gay men were recruited-19 childless gay men ranging in age from 19–53 years, and 20 gay fathers who became a parent through non-heterosexual means, aged 33–55 years. Findings reveal how gay men's procreative consciousness and fathering desires are intimately tied to the social and historical context by which they came of age. Private thoughts about fatherhood and reproductive decision-making are better understood within a sociohistorical framework that can grasp how institutional relations shape how gay men navigate the reproductive arena.     

Health Strategies of HIV-Infected,Homosexually Active Men in Sydney,Australia

Drawing from a sample of gay and bisexual men who participated in large-scale surveys, and exploring issues derived from a smaller-scale study on working-class gay men, this close-focus study explores the relation between sexual identity, attachment to gay community and responses to HIV infection. Ten long-term HIV-infected, homosexually active men were interviewed using the open-ended life history method. A typology of four health strategies desribes these men's relations to medicine and the type and range of responses developed. These strategies are informed by class background, form and degree of attachment to the gay community, and age. Implications are discussed for existing AIDS service organizations, and for the possible future development of health services within gay and lesbian communities.     

Gay Men and HIV

SUMMARY

This paper reports on the results of qualitative studies examining the personal experiences of sex and sexual negotiation for British gay men who are diagnosed HIV positive and those who know or presume themselves to be uninfected. These are contrasted with the results of a study of representations of HIV and AIDS within an international review of community health promotion literature aimed at gay men. The paper highlights the disparity between specific community responses to the epidemic as engendered in the cultural production of health promotion materials and the individual experience of HIV, suggesting a! paradigm for a community response to the epidemic which reflects the personal experience of gay men both infected and uninfected.     

Career Development With Lesbian and Gay Clients

Trends in career counseling with lesbian and gay clients are reviewed along with discussions on considering lesbian women and gay men a different cultural minority. The role and direction of career development with lesbian and gay clients is presented based on current information regarding employment discrimination, the decision to pass as heterosexual on the job, counselor and student training issues, age-related factors, and differences between gay men and lesbian women with respect to careers. Concrete suggestions are made to career counselors who wish to prepare themselves to work with this group or to extend their effectiveness, and suggestions for services are also presented.     

Gay Men

Summary

This report presents the findings from four ethnographic studies of older gay men (Brown, 1997; Brown, Sarosy, Cook & Quarto, 1997; Cook, 1991; Quarto, 1996; Sarosy, 1996). There were 69 total participants who ranged in age from 36 to 79 years; most were from 50 to 65 years of age. The purpose of these studies was to examine how older gay men have adjusted, psychologically and socially, to their sexual orientation and aging process. Participants reported that they spend 50% time or more with gay friends within their own age cohorts. Many reported being involved with the gay community in some capacity, while about 15% had no involvement with the gay community. Most participants were in regular contact with their families. Most stated that their families were aware of their sexual orientation. Most of the participants reported experiencing discrimination due to sexual orientation, and one third had experienced discrimination within the gay community based on age or ethnicity. With regard to sex life, the studies found an overall lowered frequency of sexual activity. Participants felt that HIV/AIDS has had a devastating impact on older gay men, interrupting the normal aging process for those who have contracted it and prematurely aging those who care for them. The studies' findings identified the qualities of healthy adaptation to aging for older gay males: having satisfying relationship, self-acceptance as one ages, good health, an active life with a variety of interests, and financial security.     

Not All Men,Situations, and Actions Are Equal

SUMMARY

Since 1985, annual surveys conducted in the French gay press show that gay men in France have made considerable changes in their sexual behavior due to the AIDS epidemic. However, risky behavior still occurs. In this article, some ideas which have been assumed concerning residual risk among gay men are tested. The research questions were: (1) Should all unprotected acts of anal intercourse be considered risky? (2) Has a phenomenon of relapse really occurred among gay men in France? and, (3) Are risks only limited to men who are on the margin of the gay community? Before answering these questions, major landmarks in HIV prevention for gay men in France are reviewed. Then, on the basis of the results of the 1995 Gay Press Surrey, subjects' perception of the degree to which they are socially accepted, and the diversity of homosexual lifestyles are presented, finally, we describe how respondents have adjusted to HIV-risk at a time when there has been much talk about the re-emergence of risk behaviors and a resurgence of the AIDS epidemic among homosexual men.     

Working at Intimacy: Gay Men's Workplace Friendships

Despite scholarly efforts to challenge the dualistic stereotype of men as rational and women as emotion experts, academics have paid little attention to the issues that arise when gay and lesbian sexualities are introduced into such debates. This article highlights the heterosexist content of much of the research on gender, emotion and organization, and argues the relevancy of investigating the largely neglected topic of intimacy and friendship in the work lives of gay men. Engaging with feminist, queer and sociological research that examines friendship in the lives of individuals who belong to sexual minority groups, I explore in this study the diversity in the way gay men find and work out intimacy in the context of workplace friendships with other gay men and with heterosexual men and women. The data for this article are drawn from in‐depth interviews with ten gay men employed in one UK National Health Service Trust. Study findings problematize conceptualizations of friendships at work as being bereft of intimacy, of little value and clearly distinguishable from business relationships. Dichotomous modes of thinking about the impact of gender and sexuality on intimacy and friendship are also challenged.     

Lesbians and Gay Men Embrace Their Sexual Orientation After Conversion Therapy and Ex-Gay Ministries

Abstract

This article examines narratives of gay men and lesbians who participated in conversion therapies and/or ex-gay ministries in order to change their sexual orientation to that of heterosexual. Data for this study were gathered through an analysis of the stories of 14 people, published in a document titled Finally Free, who describe their negative experiences with conversion therapy through ex-gay ministries. Analysis of the data revealed seven common psychosocial issues faced by gay men and lesbians who turned to conversion therapy in an attempt to become heterosexual. These issues provide knowledge for social workers' intervention with gay men and lesbians seeking healing and personal growth after participating in conversion therapy and ex-gay ministries.     

Negative Consequences

Abstract

This article reports the results of a qualitative study of self-identified HIV-Negative gay/bisexual men living in urban gay communities. The study explored the effects of living through nearly two decades of the AIDS pandemic. Most researchers have focused on those who are HIV-Positive. Those whose serostatus is HIV-Negative are rarely included, but are greatly affected by this disease. An increasing number of these men, especially younger men, are seroconverting. Forty-seven gay men returned a questionnaire asking about feelings on being HIV-Negative, dealing with grief, sexual practices, and relationship and caregiver issues. Many HIV-Negative gay men reported psychological problems such as depression and unresolved grief. Therapists and AIDS prevention educators need to attend to the special needs of this overlooked population.     

Anti-Effeminacy Moderates the Relationship Between Masculinity and Internalized Heterosexism Among Gay Men

Internalized heterosexism (IH) is linked to negative mental health outcomes among people who are lesbian, gay, and bisexual. This study examined whether anti-effeminacy moderates the relationship between masculinity and IH among gay men in the United States. The participants were 239 gay men who completed measures of masculinity, anti-effeminacy, and IH. Results indicated that anti-effeminacy and masculinity predicted IH and that anti-effeminacy moderated the relationship between masculinity and IH. These findings suggest that, to reduce IH and its deleterious mental health effects, counselors should work with their male clients who are gay to reduce their anti-effeminacy and sexism.     

Sexual Behavior Changes Among Heterosexual,Lesbian and Gay Bar Patrons as Assessed by Questionnaire Over an 18-Month Period

Both an original and a follow-up questionnaire study of bar patrons in Greenwich Village, New York, ascertained concern about acquiring AIDS and resultant sexual behavioral changes. In 1986 (shortly before the Koop report), almost all of the gay men sampled, a majority of the lesbian and heterosexual women, but less than a quarter of the heterosexual men reported that a concern about AIDS had affected their sexual behavior. By 1987/88, almost all of the gay men and about 80% of heterosexual men, women and lesbians reported a sexual behavior change. The greatest specific behavioral changes between the studies involved increasing reports of declining casual sex (for all groups except the gay men, more than half of whom had reported this by the first study), and a greatly increased use of condoms by heterosexuals (who had rarely used them earlier) and by gay men (who had begun using them by 1986). Variables which predict heterosexual condom use for each gender are reported.     

Attachment Style,Rules Regarding Sex,and Couple Satisfaction: A Study of Gay Male Couples

This article explores the characteristics of open and closed relationships in 170 gay men according to their levels of satisfaction, their attachment styles, and the rules of having sex outside their relationships for open couples. We found no significant difference between open or closed relationships in levels of satisfaction or attachment styles. However, we found that gay men in open relationships who have explicit rules about having sex with other men are significantly more satisfied that those gay men with no rules. A content analysis of the rules is presented and implications for therapy are drawn from the findings.