Sexual Partnerships with Men and Women Among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Beijing and Chongqing, China, 2010

Modern orders were founded on the repudiation of sexual ambiguity and the confinement of desire within discursive classifications of man/woman and hetero/homosexual binaries. However, the persistence of bisexual practices reveals the unstable nature of these modern binary regimes, which require the “erasure” of bisexuality to perpetuate their status quo. Yet some men negotiate their bisexual desires in productive ways without undermining their sense of masculinity and sexual agency. Based on qualitative interviews I explore the sexualities of a group of these men—Latino men who have sex with men and women in southern California. I find that sex with women involves interactional work that is more demanding on impression management and moral grounds. Sex with men is rougher, adventurous, and less restrained. I conclude that sex with men opens liminal spaces that resist binary definition and are less discursively regulated—relative “anti-structures” à la Victor Turner that decouple agency from (hetero)structure. This transgressive liminality is key to understanding these same-sex spaces' recurrent attraction and productive pleasure. The study challenges monolithic understandings of migrant sexualities by finding great diversity among non-gay identified men, including homoerotic practices combined with strong desire for women.

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Trends and differences in sexual practices and sexually transmitted infections in men who have sex with men only (MSMO) and men who have sex with men and women (MSMW): a repeated cross-sectional study in Melbourne, Australia

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037608 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. e037608

Author(s):

Mario Martín-Sánchez ◽

Richard Case ◽

Christopher Fairley ◽

Jane S Hocking ◽

Catriona Bradshaw ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Centre ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sexual Practices ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Anal Sex ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Men And Women ◽

Sexually Transmitted ◽

Receptive Anal Sex ◽

Sex With Men

ObjectivesIn the 2010s, there has been an increase in sexually transmitted infections (STI) in men who have sex with men (MSM) in Australia, and since 2015 also in urban heterosexuals. Men who have sex with both men and women (MSMW) have characteristics that may differ from both men who have sex with men only (MSMO) and heterosexual men. We aimed to compare the sexual practices and the trends in HIV/STI positivity between MSMO and MSMW.DesignRepeated cross-sectional study.SettingA sexual health centre in Melbourne, Australia.ParticipantsMSM aged 18 years and above who attended the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre for the first time between 2011 and 2018. This includes 12 795 MSMO and 1979 MSMW.Primary outcome measuresDemographic characterics, sexual practices and HIV/STI positivity.ResultsCompared with MSMW, MSMO were more likely to practice anal sex and to have condomless receptive anal sex with casual male partners, and less likely to have a current regular relationship. Over the 8-year period, there was an increase in condomless receptive anal sex with casual male partners for both groups (MSMO: from 46.2% to 63.3%, ptrend <0.001; MSMW: from 41.3% to 57.9%, ptrend=0.011). Syphilis positivity increased in MSMO (from 5.5% to 7.9%, ptrend=0.012) and MSMW (from 0.9% to 6.4%, ptrend=0.004) and HIV remained stable. Gonorrhoea increased among MSMO from 2011 to 2014 (from 6.7% to 9.6%, ptrend=0.002), and remained stable from 2015 to 2018. MSMO had higher odds of testing positive for gonorrhoea (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.36, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.64), chlamydia (aOR 1.39, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.67), syphilis (aOR 1.74, 95% CI 1.37 to 2.22) and HIV (aOR 4.60, 95% CI 2.43 to 8.70) than MSMW.ConclusionsMSMW have overall lower condomless sex and lower HIV/STI positivity. In the last years, changes in sexual practices in MSM have affected both MSMW and MSMO leading to an increased STI risk.

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