The social construction of male ‘homosexuality’ in India: implications for HIV transmission and prevention

Asthana, Sheena; Oostvogels, Robert

doi:10.1016/s0277-9536(00)00167-2

Cited by 161 publications

(164 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…[23] In India different categories of MSM, generally associated with different HIV-risk behaviours, are often used and interpreted as characterising different identities of MSM. Five categories of MSM identities, all of which have been described in previous publications [12,23,29] were defined by the local NGO at the outset of the study, and confirmed by a pilot study. The question asked in the interview was open-ended: 'How do you identify yourself?'…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…On the other hand, given the stigma associated with homosexual behaviour and the Indian penal code, which until recently cited sodomy as an offence [11], the pressure to deny male-with-male sex is pronounced, and many MSM marry women. [12] It has been reported that condom use by MSM with spouses tends to be low, even more so than with male partners, which suggests that through bisexual behaviour, men could link circuits of high risk male-with-male activity with the general female population. [13] Some studies have shown that the number of cases of women infected with HIV through heterosexual transmission within marriage is increasing in India, and that the behaviour reported by the husband was an important risk factor for infection among many of these women.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The definition of identity among men who have sex with men in India is very complex and is increasingly the focus of qualitative [12] [21][22] and quantitative studies. [23][24] Elsewhere, we have explored identities of MSM, including transgenders, and how their sexual behaviour is related to identity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Men who have sex with men and women in Bangalore, South India, and potential impact on the HIV epidemic

Phillips

Lowndes

Boily

et al. 2010

Sexually Transmitted Infections

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Key messages highlighting the main features of the paper:1. Bisexual behaviour was common among this sample of men who seek sex with men in Bangalore.2. Men who reported having sex with both men and women (MSMW) reported lower rates of HIV-related sexual risk behaviours with male partners than men reporting sex with men only (MSMO).3. Inconsistent condom use by MSMW with both male and, in particular, female partners indicates a potential means of HIV transmission into the general population.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Men who have sex with men and women in Bangalore, South India, and potential impact on the HIV epidemic

Phillips

Lowndes

Boily

et al. 2010

Sexually Transmitted Infections

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“…Study 2 also sought to replicate the basic valence-explanation asymmetry with participants who hold more negative attitudes towards homosexuality. Indian populations tend to have more negative attitudes towards sexuality and sexual orientation than North American populations (Asthana & Oostvogels, 2001;Patel, Mayer, & Makadon, 2012;Tahmindjis, 2014). Moreover, researchers have found evidence for belief in the virtuous true self when studying participants in the United States, Russia, Singapore, and Colombia , suggesting that this belief reflects a species-typical feature of human psychology.…”

Section: Study 2: the Role Of Causal Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

When do circumstances excuse? Moral prejudices and beliefs about the true self drive preferences for agency-minimizing explanations

Cullen

2018

Cognition

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A B S T R A C TWhen explaining human actions, people usually focus on a small subset of potential causes. What leads us to prefer certain explanations for valenced actions over others? The present studies indicate that our moral attitudes often predict our explanatory preferences far better than our beliefs about how causally sensitive actions are to features of the actor's environment. Study 1 found that high-prejudice participants were much more likely to endorse nonagential explanations of an erotic same-sex encounter, such as that one of the men endured a stressful event earlier that day. Study 2 manipulated participants' beliefs about how the agent's behavior depended on features of his environment, finding that such beliefs played no clear role in modeling participants' explanatory preferences. This result emerged both with low-and high-prejudice, US and Indian participants, suggesting that these findings probably reflect a species-typical feature of human psychology. Study 3 found that moral attitudes also predicted explanations for a woman's decision to abort her pregnancy (3a) and a person's decision to convert to Islam (3b). Study 4 found that luck in an action's etiology tends to undermine perceptions of blame more readily than perceptions of praise. Finally, Study 5 found that when explaining support for a rival ideology, both Liberals and Conservatives downplay agential causes while emphasizing environmental ones. Taken together, these studies indicate that our explanatory preferences often reflect a powerful tendency to represent agents as possessing virtuous true selves. Consequently, situation-focused explanations often appear salient because people resist attributing negatively valenced actions to the true self. There is a person/situation distinction, but it is normative.

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“…1 Although, men having sex with men (MSM) have been the focus of attention for HIV intervention program in many countries since mid-80s, India has acknowledged the presence of MSM in the country only in the third phase of its National AIDS Control Programme (NACP-III, 2007. 2 Condoms are infrequently used during anal sex in the country, thereby increasing the risk of HIV transmission. 3 It has been estimated that the MSM are 17.6 times more likely to acquire HIV infection compared to the general adult population in the country.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Social correlates of sexual risk behaviors among urban men who have sex with men in Kolkata, India

Sarkar¹,

Bhandari²,

Sensarma³

2015

SE Asia J. Pub. Health

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The factors defining the vulnerability of men who have sex with men (MSM) population are multiple and follow a complex social pattern culminating to their risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission. Even though the vulnerability of this population has been previously reported, prevention efforts are poor, may be due to the lack of understanding of the nature of sexual behavior in its social context. The main aim of this research was to study the social factors that are correlated with sexual risk behavior among the urban MSM population living in Kolkata. A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area using a pre-structured interview guide. Data obtained from 126 beneficiaries of the NGO networks representing the MSMs of the area, were analyzed. Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI) among the MSMs during a recall period of last six months was used as a marker of sexual risk. Multiple logistic regression analyses were done to estimate and test associations between STI and social variables. The prevalence of STI among the respondents was 60.3% (95% confidence interval (CI): 51.2-68.9). Inconsistent condom use (OR:11.98; 95%CI: 4.03-35.59), low self -esteem (Rosenberg scale) (OR:4.18; 95%CI: 1.48-11.82), substance abuse during sexual activity (OR:4.94; 95%CI: 1.30-18.82), and adverse reactions when coming out (OR:4.91; 95%CI: 1.63-14.77) were significantly associated with STI prevalence. For HIV risk reduction among the MSM population, intervention efforts should address the potential social stressors and adverse life events in addition to condom promotion.

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The social construction of male ‘homosexuality’ in India: implications for HIV transmission and prevention

Cited by 161 publications

References 19 publications

Men who have sex with men and women in Bangalore, South India, and potential impact on the HIV epidemic

Men who have sex with men and women in Bangalore, South India, and potential impact on the HIV epidemic

When do circumstances excuse? Moral prejudices and beliefs about the true self drive preferences for agency-minimizing explanations

Social correlates of sexual risk behaviors among urban men who have sex with men in Kolkata, India

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