This paper examines the complexity associated with having two potentially conflicting social identities in the USA: being Asian Pacific Islander and being gay. Twenty-five gay Asian Pacific Islander men completed individual interviews regarding their racial and sexual identities and the intersection between the two. Data analysis revealed diversity in ways by which individuals integrated their dual identities and expressed themselves to others; pathways by which individuals combined their race and sexuality into a coherent self-concept; and strategies for maintaining harmony and balance in self understanding. Findings emphasized the role of situational factors in determining the salience and relevance of each component of identity. Their experiences are discussed in the light of theoretical models of psychosocial development and frameworks for understanding self-concept complexity.

Young Asian and Pacific Islander (API) men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk for HIV, but little is known about their risk behavior. We examined the patterns and predictors of unprotected anal intercourse among 253 API MSM aged 15-25 recruited from gay-identified venues in Seattle, Washington, and San Diego, California, from May to August 1999. Overall, 33% reported unprotected anal intercourse in the past 3 months. Multivariate analyses found that unprotected anal intercourse was associated with self-identifying as gay or bisexual, having multiple sexual partners, having sex with a steady partner, having been tested for HIV, and not perceiving peer norms supportive of safer sex. Young API MSM engage in unprotected sex at high rates. There is an urgent need to help these men reduce sexual risk behavior by implementing HIV prevention programs that address the issue of self-accepting sexual orientation, the potential problem with using HIV testing as a risk reduction strategy, the possible risk of HIV transmission in steady relationships and multiple sexual partnerships, and the importance of establishing safer sex practices as peer norms.

Assuming isomorphism between heterosexual and homosexual relationships may preclude a contextual understanding of gay male monogamy and extra-dyadic sex that may otherwise remain perfunctory. This study sought to explore the experiences of gay men who engaged in extra-dyadic sex outside their primary relationships. Based on qualitative interviews with eight gay men, this study may shed light on the relational structures and processes of same-sex unions. Several strategies including compartmentalization, boundary affirmation and secretiveness were reported to be utilized to preserve emotional monogamy and primary relationship quality. Such findings may bear relevance to therapeutic practitioners working with this group that may challenge normative relationship conventions.

Individual and focus group interviews with a total of 40 gay and bisexual men, as well as with 23 community and/or professional key informants, highlighted that sexual coercion is an important, yet under-recognized, barrier to the practice of safer sex among men who have sex with men. In this article we discuss how the dynamics of sexual coercion, including subtle forms, can operate to compromise men's ability to practise safer sex, leading men to have sex that is both unsafe and unwanted.

We undertook a qualitative study to develop a greater understanding of "intentional" unprotected anal intercourse among drug-using gay and bisexual men, also known colloquially as barebacking. In our analysis, we investigated this behavior in a subset of 12 HIV-negative men in the early adulthood stage of life to disentangle factors that functioned as facilitators of barebacking, a behavior that may place these men at risk for HIV infection. Based on thematic analysis of life-history interviews, we delineated 4 main themes associated with barebacking: drug use, the role of responsibility for safer sex, misunderstandings about HIV transmission, and underlying mental health issues. The data suggest that lack of knowledge about HIV transmission is insufficient in explaining risk-taking. Rather, rationalization processes may be a factor in the sexual risk-taking behaviors of young HIV-negative men, and moreover, deep intrapsychic processes (often heightened by concurrent substance use), and the desire to please sexual partners may drive the decision-making of these men. Future intervention strategies must motivate and empower young men to seek support for the states that drive sexual risk-taking.

ABSTRACT This study examined sexual prejudice and masculine gender role stress as mediators of the relations between male gender norms and anger and aggression toward gay men. Participants were 150 self-identified heterosexual men who completed measures of adherence to male gender role norms, sexual prejudice, masculine gender role stress, and state anger. Participants then viewed a video depicting intimate relationship behavior between 2 gay men, reported state anger a second time, and competed in a laboratory aggression task against either a heterosexual or a gay male. Results indicated that adherence to the antifemininity norm exerted an indirect effect, primarily through sexual prejudice, on increases in anger. Adherence to the status and antifemininity norms exerted indirect effects, also through sexual prejudice, on physical aggression toward the gay, but not the heterosexual, male. Findings provide the first multivariate evidence for determinants of aggression toward gay men motivated by gender role enforcement.

South African research on same-sex sexuality is sparse. Black men living in rural areas, and particularly coloured men, have often been neglected in same-sex sexuality research. This paper describes the findings from a study that explored the sexuality constructions of a group of young, coloured, self-identified gay men who live in a semi-rural, low-income, South African community. Social constructionist grounded theory was used to analyse interviews conducted with 12 men between the ages of 20 and 31. It was found that these men construct their sexuality as being 'like a woman'. In our exploration of this core category, we show how men use notions of femininity to construct their sexuality. We conclude by considering how this group of gay men's performance of femininity could be viewed as reproducing mainstream ideas of gender within their community, while at the same time functioning as acts of subversion.

Increases in reported unsafe sex among gay men have been explained as resistance to HIV prevention, or most recently, with the idea that a hyper-individualisation of sexual action contributes to the loss of sexual community. This turning in HIV prevention has come to focus on the sexual action of gay men with HIV through the frames of: sexual transgression, sometimes called 'barebacking'; and altruism. Adopting the perspective of sexual citizenship in connection with qualitative interviews, this paper considers how gay men with HIV account for their sexual practice in light of the dual discourse of transgression/altruism. The paper will argue that gay men with HIV are deeply aware of what transgression/altruism implies for their identities and sexual relations, indicating the continued salience of community for sexual practice. Further, in the circumstances of blaming in relation to the moral labour of safer sex, gay men with HIV are trying to work out a co-operative practice for HIV prevention based on self-care, a moderated altruism and the voluntary action of sexual partners.