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AbstractWhen men root manhood in sexual performance, their inability to get and maintain an erection (i.e. erectile dysfunction) may pose a threat to ageing men’s ability to enact masculinity. Using data from the 2015–2016 National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) – a nationally representative survey of the USA – this study finds that age and erectile dysfunction interact: men who report ‘trouble getting or maintaining an erection’ have a higher odds of reporting anxiety before sex. However, this effect gradually declines as the sample of men with erectile dysfunction ages (from ages 49 to 95). Additionally, men who do not report erectile dysfunction have the same odds of sex-anxiety throughout the sample, regardless of their age. The change in sexual performance may cause distress for men, as they feel unable to maintain their dominant masculinity in old age. While previous studies have shown that age and gender interact to affect men’s sexual health in mid-life and later-life, this study adds to the feminist gerontology literature by providing indirect evidence that changes in sexual response may become gradually less anxiety-inducing, and thereby, less threatening for men as they age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrating illness experiences in a culturally acceptable manner is essential for retaining quality of life after the disruptive event of being diagnosed for prostate cancer. Psychological pressures caused by treatment side-effects such as erectile dysfunction require reinterpretation of the meanings and impacts of these side-effects on masculinity. This helps maintain coherence in men's lives. We studied how men employ culturally available discursive strategies (compensation, redefinition, recontextualisation, and normalisation) in reconstructing masculinity and sexuality. Our data consists of 22 interviews of heterosexual Finnish prostate cancer patients who had undergone surgery. The aim was to analyse the ways in which various life situations and social relations shaped and limited the use of these strategies. Discourse analysis revealed that older age, a supportive spouse, children, supportive male friends, and good health – were key elements men used in reconstructing a coherent new self-image and conception of life following cancer treatment. Men with sexually active male friends, men without families, younger men and men with new intimate relationships struggled to develop a new version of their masculinity. Being able to effectively utilise certain aspects of one's life situation in re-constructing masculinity is important in maintaining quality of life despite troublesome treatment side-effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents and men are two populations that perform poorly within the HIV cascade of care, having worse AIDS-related health outcomes, and experiencing higher levels of HIV-related stigma. This paper explores institutional health system discrimination as experienced by adolescent boys with perinatally-acquired HIV, situating them within the social and gendered contexts of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Life history narratives (n = 36) and in-depth semi-structured interviews (n = 32) with adolescent boys living with HIV aged 13–22 were conducted in 2017-2018. In-depth semi-structured interviews with biomedical and traditional health practitioners (n = 14), analysis of health facility files (n = 41) and clinic observations were also conducted. Together, triangulated sources point to an incongruence between the complex needs of adoelscent boys and young men living with HIV and their experiences within the health system. Two institutional discrimination-related deterrents to retention in care were identified: (1) lack of confidentiality due to health facility layouts and practices that visibilised people living with HIV; and (2) mistreatment in the form of shouting. This article contributes to the limited literature on the experiences of young men within the HIV continuum of care, focusing on how stigma influences how young men experience and engage with the health sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing fertility and sexual and reproductive health across the life course is associated with numerous responsibilities disproportionately experienced by women. This extends beyond dealing with the physical side effects of contraception and can include the emotional burden of planning conception and the financial cost of accessing health services. This scoping review aimed to map how reproductive responsibilities were defined and negotiated (if at all) between heterosexual casual and long-term partners during any reproductive life event. Original research in highincome countries published from 2015 onwards was sourced from Medline (Ovid), CINAHL and Scopus. In studies that focused on pregnancy prevention and abortion decision making, men felt conflict in their desire to be actively engaged while not wanting to impede their partner’s agency and bodily autonomy. Studies identified multiple barriers to engaging in reproductive work including the lack of acceptable male-controlled contraception, poor sexual health knowledge, financial constraints, and the feminisation of family planning services. Traditional gender roles further shaped men’s involvement in both pregnancy prevention and conception work. Despite this, studies reveal nuanced ways of sharing responsibilities – such as companionship during birth and abortion, ensuring contraception is used correctly during intercourse, and sharing the costs of reproductive health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate how Swedish men diagnosed with prostate cancer understand the effects of their treatment in relation to sexual health and masculinity. Utilising a phenomenological and sociologically informed approach, the study involved interviews with 21 Swedish men who experienced problems following treatment. The results showed that participants’ initial response post-treatment, involved the development of new bodily understandings and socially informed strategies to handle incontinence and sexual dysfunction. Due to impotence and the loss of ejaculatory ability following treatments such as surgery, participants re-articulated the meaning of intimacy, as well as their understanding of masculinity and themselves as ageing men. Unlike in previous research, such a re-articulation of masculinity and sexual health is understood as taking place within rather than in opposition to hegemonic masculinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiences of heterosexual men with paraplegia who are the victims of intimate partner violence remains an underresearched area. This article responds to the call for more research and offers an analysis of the narratives of five workingclass coloured men in Cape Town, South Africa, who acquired spinal cord injuries and then fell victim to intimate partner violence. Narrative interviews were conducted with men and their wives. Drawing on Tarzia’s notion of the ‘invisible impacts of intimate partner violence’, narrative analysis explored the meanings and complexities involved in (re)claiming a sense of identity and sexual intimacy among these men, after their experiences of intimate partner violence. In many cases, the abuse was levelled against them as acts of revenge for having previously been violent nondisabled men. Wives’ narratives show nuances that complement the narratives of their partners as they too reflect on what it means to hold a space of safety, emotional stability, intimacy, love, and care for a paralysed husband, after the prior experience of intimate partner violence. Findings provide insight into ways of surviving intimate partner violence and (re)building healthy sexual relationships. At the intersection of intimate partner violence, disability and masculinity, the process of self-healing and (re)building satisfying intimate relations coexists with breaking the silence surrounding intimate partner violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has introduced laws and policies aimed at protecting women from intimate partner violence. This article examines how men who live in Lae, PNG, have made sense of and reacted to these laws and policies. Two evocative metaphors –'popcorn' and 'blanket' - emerge from our research. For 'popcorn', we see how the reforms created a chain reaction similar to that when popcorn is made. Using this metaphor, we analyse men's responses to the reforms, which range from a perceived threat to their cultural dominance, to fears about their personal problems being made public, to practical limits of the reforms. For 'blanket', we show how laws and policies can act like a blanket to smother men's agency in resolving violence and conflict within their homes and communities. The blanket metaphor further highlights how women's ability to seek support under the new laws are constrained by PNG's male dominated society. Adopting the idea that productive change is sometimes incremental, we argue that reforms focused on creating paradigmatic change through legislation and state policies should not occur at the expense of open-mindedness to partial and incomplete local innovations in reducing intimate partner violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vasectomy is considered a permanent form of contraception for men that can help reduce reproductive inequality. Its underutilisation in the context of the threats it may pose to perceptions of traditional masculinity has been closely investigated, but the lived experience of the procedure itself has been largely overlooked. This paper examines the experience of having a vasectomy in Israel, focusing on the recommended form of anaesthesia. Drawing on 15 semi-structured interviews with Israeli men who have experienced vasectomy, we found that the choice of anaesthesia has a significant impact on the meaning and experience of vasectomy. Unlike the widespread use of local anaesthesia during vasectomy in other countries, vasectomy in Israel is performed almost exclusively under twilight sedation administered intravenously. Based on our findings, we argue that framing vasectomy as an operation that requires sedation is related to views of masculinity and reproduction. Our data suggest that vasectomy in Israel is constituted as a potentially traumatic event, and anaesthesia is employed to protect patients from feelings of embarrassment and discomfort. We conclude that the prevailing method of sedation perpetuates the silencing and marginalisation of vasectomy as a contraceptive method, and consequently, its very limited accessibility in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the intersection of masculinity and HIV care engagement among fishermen and other male fisherfolk on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Wakiso District, Uganda. We conducted 30 in-depth interviews with men on ART recruited from HIV treatment sites and used a thematic analysis approach. Since HIV diagnosis and ART initiation, men had adopted masculine identities more conducive to HIV care engagement. The masculine roles of worker and provider, husband and sexual partner and the appearance of physical strength were compromised by HIV, but restored by ART's positive effects on health. Peers also emerged as facilitators to HIV care, with men supporting each other to seek testing and treatment. However, structural and occupational barriers to HIV care associated with the masculine role of worker remained a barrier to care engagement. Findings suggest that emphasising the benefits of ART in bolstering men's ability to fulfil the roles important to them may improve the effectiveness of HIV testing and treatment messaging for men. Differentiated care models that address structural-level barriers to care, and community-level gender-transformative programming to help fishermen engage in HIV care, may be beneficial.

Compelling evidence from three randomised controlled trials, which showed that voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) reduces HIV acquisition from women to men by up to 60%, led to WHO recommending that VMMC be implemented in 14 priority countries. As one of the priority countries, Eswatini aimed to reach 80% VMMC coverage among boys and men aged 10–49 years since programme inception in 2009. By the end of 2019, however, the country had reached a modest 40%. VMMC is intrinsically tied to perceptions of masculinity and male gender identity. Comprehending the role of context-specific masculinity as it relates to VMMC may contribute to our understanding of community attitudes towards VMMC and men's decision-making. Drawing on focus group discussion data, this study aimed to explore the linkage between sexuality, masculinity and health interventions within Eswatini. Using critical discourse analysis, the study identified two discourses: sexuality, masculinity and circumcision, and income, masculinity, and circumcision. In the first discourse, participants constructed discursive linkages between circumcision as an adult and loss of penile sensitivity, decreased libido and sexual performance, and adverse events. The second discourse, income, masculinity, and circumcision located circumcision within the social and material realities faced by Swazi men, gender norms and provision within family structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ethnographic study explores the experience of men in long-term relationships with sex workers and their construction of masculine identities in Kampala, Uganda. Data were collected in 2019 and comprise in-depth interviews with 13 male partners and two group discussions of women with long-term male partners. Thematic analysis used an intersectional lens to frame reconfigurations of gender and masculinity in the context of relationships with sex workers. All men had been clients of sex workers before progressing to become long-term partners. We discuss the complex ways in which men participated in value systems of respectability and reputation to (re)configure gender relations that made sense of their long-term relationships with sex workers. Men viewed their relationships with women through the normative lens of traditional masculine roles associated with monopoly over a partner's sexuality, provider and father. However, poverty, HIV, the failure to have exclusive sexual rights over a partner, and the shame associated with sex work intersected and disrupted masculinities. Despite this, men found meaning in these relationships through the woman's commitment to the relationship, her financial support, her help in accessing HIV services, and the children from the relationship, thereby attaining respectability and avoiding a crisis of masculinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Men's role in transactional sex is relatively unexplored, limiting initiatives to prevent exploitative transactional sex and its negative health implications for girls and women. We addressed this literature gap by conducting eight focus group discussions and twenty in-depth-interviews with boys and men aged 14 − 49 years in 2015 in Tanzania. We employed a novel combination of theoretical perspectives – gender and masculinities, and social norms – to understand how transactional sex participation contributes to perpetuating gendered hierarchies, and how reference groups influence men's behaviour. Findings signal two gender norms that men display within transactional sex: the expectation of men's provision in sexual relationships, and the expectation that men should exhibit heightened sexuality and sexual prowess. Adherence to these expectations in transactional sex relationships varied between older and younger men and created hierarchies among men and between men and women and girls. We found that approval of transactional sex was contested. Although young men were likely to object to transactional sex, they occupied a structurally weaker position than older men. Findings suggest that interventions should employ gender synchronised and gender transformative approaches and should prioritise the promotion of alternative positive norms over preventing the exchange of gifts or money in relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth and adolescence are times when young men negotiate their identity in relation to social and cultural expectations of being a man, with enduring implications for sexual health and wellbeing. This study explored how boys aged 10–14 years living in Korogocho slum in Nairobi, Kenya conceptualised masculinity, their perceptions of how masculinities are performed, and the linkage between conceptualisations of masculinity and sexual development. Three bases of gender socialisation were identified: (1) verbal messaging (mainly from parents and teachers); (2) observing the behaviours of older men in the community; and (3) information received from mainstream and social media. Masculinity conceptualisations focussed on financial stability, family life and responsibility, physical attributes, character and religion. Two contrasting portrayals of masculinity emerged in the form of idealised and dominant masculinities. A close linkage was found between masculinity conceptualisations and sexual development. Findings are important for programmes that aim to transform harmful gender norms and signal the need for longitudinal research exploring how gender beliefs may change over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is clear that in many communities ideas about masculinity and circumcision are connected, it is still unclear how young Kenyan men in the former Nyanza province from the traditionally non-circumcising Luo people perceive voluntary medical male circumcision as connected to masculinity and the role of voluntary medical male circumcision in the transition from boyhood to manhood. The objective of this study was to explore norms of masculinity and the decision-making process among Luo young men to provide a better understanding of how circumcision and masculinity relate to cultural norms within this community. The methodology consisted of eight FGDs with male peer groups and 24 in-depth interviews to elicit young men's perceptions of masculinity and voluntary medical male circumcision. Findings from thematic analysis reveal that young men described several key characteristics of masculinity including responsibility, bravery and sexual attractiveness. For some young men, voluntary medical male circumcision has embedded itself into cultural norms of masculinity by being a step in the transition from boyhood to manhood and by being a marker of some of these masculine characteristics. In the case of voluntary medical male circumcision, there may be opportunities to integrate other programming that helps men transition into healthy adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An appreciation of the social, cultural and economic dimensions of gender and sexuality is important in increasing reproductive health service utilisation. This analysis of recent Mexican male immigrants in Southern California focuses on changing views of gender roles, masculinity and relationship dynamics in the context of migration in order to explain low levels of reproductive healthcare utilisation. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 men who had migrated from Mexico. Some men saw their migratory experience as empowering, both individually and within the couple context. Migration reinforced positive male qualities, such as being a good provider. However, for others, the levelling of economic power between immigrant couples challenged traditional male gender roles and threatened men's identities. Maintaining control and decision-making power, especially in reproduction, remained tenacious, especially among older men. In response to immigration, however, men's views of ideal family size and contraceptive method preferences had evolved. The migration process caused some divisions in family networks and aspirations of fatherhood as an expression of masculinity contributed to varying levels of contraceptive use. Recommendations are made on factors that may empower male clients more actively to seek reproductive healthcare in the context of more equitable couple decision-making.

The HIV epidemic is strongly gendered. Women and girls are more likely to contract HIV for biological and social reasons in Sub-Saharan Africa and men living with HIV are more likely to be lost to follow-up and die on antiretroviral therapy (ART) than women. Care work is also gendered, with women shouldering the burden of HIV care-related work. This paper considers the potential of male delivered community health work to improve men's HIV-related health outcomes and shift gendered norms related to care work. It describes the experiences and perspectives of eight HIV community health workers and their clients from the Cape Town area, and reviews current evidence on male-focused HIV and sexual and reproductive health services, gender transformation and men and care. Findings suggest that meaningfully involving more men in HIV care work may be a way to shift damaging hegemonic masculine norms related to care and health, and that South Africa's roll-out of National Health Insurance could be an opportunity to do so. Barriers to engaging men in this feminised profession are also explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores alcohol-related sexual storytelling. In a qualitative study of more than 100 male participants in the night-time economy in Norway, many told animated and cheerful stories laced with erotic excitement. However, a minority of men also told sex stories characterised by aggressive, belittling and degrading language. We propose that this minority of men may employ such locker room talk to: (i) achieve male bonding and intimacy, (ii) explore ambiguous and confusing sexual experiences and/or (iii) excuse sexual events characterised by overt aggression. We draw on theories of masculinity and homosociality and a narrative framework and show that for some men, sexual relationships with women are strongly influenced by their relations with other men. We discuss how these stories reflect degrading attitudes towards women and how they produce and legitimise sexual violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health decision-making is often explained by affective and cognitive processes, but this processing is rarely explored in relation to gender norms. We investigated how conformity to specific masculine norms is linked to the affective and cognitive processes that lead to US men's decisions regarding a new male contraceptive. US male college students (N = 151) completed an online survey. They read a description of a long-acting reversible contraceptive, then completed questionnaires measuring their affective and cognitive responses, their information-seeking and willingness-to-try the contraceptive, and their conformity to masculine norms. Participants reported less willingness-to-try the contraceptive when they endorsed masculine norms regarding men's Power Over Women and concern with Heterosexual Self-Presentation, and these effects were consistently mediated by beliefs about its negative impact on sex. Positive emotions predicted willingness-to-try and information-seeking but were unrelated to masculine norms. This broadens our understanding of how conformity to specific gender norms impacts health decision-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The desire for light(er) skin is widespread around the world and has been the subject of extensive critical scholarship. But far less attention has focused on skin-lightening practices among boys and men, even as historical and contemporary data show that it is both a long-standing and growing trend in many Asian countries. This study builds on a focused ethnography of young men's skin-lightening practices in two Philippine cities. Using Norbert Elias' notion of 'figurations', we look at how shifts in gender ideologies, socio-economic changes, processes of urbanisation and popular culture trends are reflected in these practices. We find that the pursuit of a whiter skin is not an individual project, but a mode of body modification which is enacted in figurations among male peers, between men and women, and between men and their employers and customers in a globalising economy. Overall, skin practices and preferences among young men in the Philippines are best understood in terms of changing notions of masculinity, the unchanging quest to look compatible (bagay) with one's peers, and the desire to keep up ever-changing trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the practice of and attitudes toward anal sexual stimulation among 30 heterosexual undergraduate men attending a UK university. While scientific and popular belief throughout the twentieth century has considered anal pleasure to be only for gay or gender non-conforming men, we find participants discuss such pleasure openly, and some have explored physically receiving anal pleasure. Participants did not stigmatise sexual pleasure derived from anal play, challenging cultural narratives that conflate anal receptivity with being gay. We document how ignorance around the best practices for anal sex may impede pleasure and the further exploration of sexual pleasure and highlight areas where sexual health and education interventions may be beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global research reveals that gender-role norms have a profound effect on socio- and psycho-sexual expression (e.g. sexual positioning) among gay and bisexual men, which in turn may affect mental health and sexual risks. However, little is known about these factors among gay and bisexual men in Muslim-majority countries such as Tajikistan. Using a combination of in-depth individual interviews and focus-group assessments, this exploratory, qualitative study examined how gender roles might function as a social determinant for the practice of sexual positioning, which in turn may influence intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual risk and relational power. Results suggest that being the 'active' partner in sexual relationships closely aligns with the construct of hegemonic masculinity, affording actives more power in male-male relationships which may in some cases result in IPV directed against 'passives'. Despite this imbalance, passives also hold power in some cases, such as easier access to public resources such as the police and gay and bisexual focused services. Further research should examine gender norms and sexual positioning relative to IPV and sexual risks among Muslim men in Tajikistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory interventions with men and boys to transform masculinities are increasingly common to improve health and reduce intimate partner violence and HIV-related risk. Yet, despite this, there has been little consideration of how facilitators' own masculinities shape interventions. In this analysis of Stepping Stones and Creating Futures, a gender-transformative programme delivered to young men (aged 18-30 years) in urban informal settlements in Durban, South Africa we explore how facilitators' masculinities were employed to engender change in the masculinities of participants. We argue facilitators had to negotiate two tasks existing in some tension, the first, overt and the main aim of the programme: namely, challenging elements of the youthful masculinity at play in the lives of participants, such as exerting violent power over women. A second task was more covert: namely, establishing facilitators' credibility 'as men' in order to do this work with participants. Through strategies including clothes, mobile phones, jokes and storytelling, facilitators demonstrated to participants their 'successful' masculinity and could then engage with participants around emotions, non-violence and consistent condom use. This enabled facilitators and participants to undergo a limited processes of change, without 'compromising' their sense of masculinity, and without fundamentally challenging men's patriarchal privilege. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualitative research suggests that men's inability to achieve dominant forms of masculinity may be related to HIV-risk behaviours and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. Using clustered cross-sectional data, we assessed how young men's gender role conflict was associated with HIV-risk behaviours in urban informal settlements in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Gender Role Conflict and Stress (GRC/S) was measured using a South African adaptation of the GRC/S scale comprising three sub-scales: subordination to women; restrictive emotionality; and success, power and competition. In random-effect models adjusting for socio-demographics, we tested the relationship with GRC/S sub-scales and sexual health behaviours (transactional sex, use of sex workers, ≥2 main partners and ≥2 casual/once off partners), and relationship practices (relationship satisfaction, relationship control, partnership type and perpetration of IPV). Overall, 449 young men (median age = 25, Q1, Q3 = 23-28) were included in the analysis. Higher GRC/S scores, denoting more GRC/S, were associated with increased relationship control and increased odds of having ≥2 casual or one-off partners and engaging in transactional sex. We found differences in associations between each sub-scale and sexual health and relationship practices, highlighting important implications for informing both theoretical understandings of masculinity and gender transformative efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sperm banks in Denmark produce and export donor semen worldwide. The role of the sperm bank is to provide high-quality, safe semen from desirable donors. However, over the last 20 years, global sperm counts are reported to be falling. Along with these discourses comes the implication that poor fertility is a personal failing, which implies a conflation of 'fertility' with 'potency'. This paper draws on qualitative research with Danish sperm donors to explore how donors construct their identities as donors and as the producers of 'good sperm'. Accounts of the drive to produce the best sperm possible and the resultant confidence boost are bound up in ideas about masculine potency and potential and bodily performance and set against a backdrop of a moral panic surrounding the apparently declining Danish sperm count. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research investigating how men and women in heterosexual relationships negotiate contraceptive use focuses on the women's point of view. Using a sample of 44 interviews with men attending a western US university, this study examines norms governing men's participation in contraceptive use and pregnancy prevention and their responses to those norms. The paper demonstrates how competing norms around sexual health decision-making and women's bodily autonomy contribute to unintended outcomes that undermine young people's quest for egalitarian sexual relationships. While men largely agree that responsibility for sexual health decision-making should be shared with women, they also believe that women should have power over their own bodies and sexual health. However, the coexistence of these two competing norms - which call for both equal responsibility in decision-making and women's bodily autonomy - results in a disconnect between men saying that sexual health decision-making should be equal, but not always participating equally. Thus, men largely give contraceptive decision-making power over to women, putting the burden of pregnancy prevention onto women and letting men off the hook. It is concluded that men's negotiation of these competing norms reinforces unequal power and inequality in sexual relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper calls for a critical reframing of masculinity as an intersectional construct in the HIV epidemic and in public health. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with a sample of 56 Black men who have sex with men and women in the San Francisco Bay Area. Men described their sexual identities and practices via complex narratives of masculinity that drew on subordinated and resourceful adaptations to the structural effects of racism, economic marginalisation and homophobia. By focusing on men whose experience of masculinity operates outside fixed identity categories, the paper draws attention to the intersectionality that is, by necessity, constitutive of men's lived experiences. Findings suggest the value of an integrative framework for understanding Black masculinities as processes and practices simultaneously informed by structural inequalities (racism, economic marginalisation and/or homophobia, in particular) and cultural meanings of gender. By utilising an intersectional approach, public health and sociology can better understand the concurrent resilience and vulnerability of masculinities, while building an interdisciplinary understanding of the symbolic role of Black masculinities in the USA, as well as a means by which to promote health and well-being in and through these gendered contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how some South African teenage fathers in rural KwaZulu-Natal engage in heterosexual relationships. Drawing on findings from a qualitative based study with twenty teenage fathers aged between seventeen and nineteen years old, we examine how they talk about two highly sexualised gatherings - umhlalaphansi (an overnight Zulu dance ceremony) and inkwari (a weekend-long rave-like party). We find that these social and cultural gatherings provide opportunities to express gender and sexuality whilst simultaneously increasing the risk for early childbearing. Umhlalaphansi is produced at the cultural nexus which supports respect and cultural norms that prohibit sexual secrecy and unregulated sexuality. Paradoxically, umhlalaphansi is a key site in which teenage men and women engaged in courtships, sexual relationships and risky sexual conduct. Inkwari lacks cultural scripts and is based on partying, alcohol, drug use and engagement in spontaneous sexual encounters. We show how these two sites provide opportunities for young men to pursue sexuality in ways that are risky as they increase vulnerability for unplanned teenage fatherhood. Our conclusion provides some implications for school-based interventions to tackle sexual risk within rural contexts in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores two key norms that underpin intimate partner violence in Rwanda: men’s roles as economic providers and decision-making authorities in the household. It describes the political, legal and socio-economic factors affecting these norms and how they create opportunities and barriers to ‘undoing’ restrictive gender norms. Findings are drawn from an evaluation of Inadshyikirwa, an intimate partner violence prevention programme operating in Rwanda. Across three intervention sectors, 24 focus groups were conducted with unmarried and married men and women residing in intervention communities. Thirty interviews with couples and nine interviews with opinion leaders were conducted before they completed programme training designed to shift gender norms underlying intimate partner violence. The data indicate a strong awareness of and accountability to Rwandan laws and policies supporting women’s economic empowerment and decision-making, alongside persisting traditional notions of men as household heads and primary breadwinners. Transgression of these norms could be accommodated in some circumstances, especially those involving economic necessity. The data also identified increasing recognition of the value of a more equitable partnership model. Findings highlight the importance of carefully assessing cracks in the existing gender order that can be exploited to support gender equality and non-violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each year large numbers of Western men travel to Thailand for sex tourism. Although many will use condoms during their sexual encounters, others will not, potentially exposing themselves to the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Although sex tourism in Thailand has been well documented, the social drivers underpinning voluntary sexual risk-taking through the avoidance of condoms remain poorly understood. Engaging with R.W. Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity and drawing on data collected from 1237 online discussion board posts and 14 face-to-face interviews, this study considers the ways in which understandings and performances of masculinities may inform the sexual risk-taking behaviours of Western male sex tourists. It argues that for some of these men, unprotected sex is viewed not as a reckless behaviour but, instead, as a safe and appropriate masculine practice, supported by relationships that are often framed as romantic and within a setting where HIV is still largely considered a homosexual disease. With sex workers often disempowered to request safer sexual practices, and some men’s attitudes towards unprotected sex resistant to external health promotion advice, the paper concludes by considering what this might mean for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) may increase as women in patriarchal societies become empowered, implicitly or explicitly challenging prevailing gender norms. Prior evidence suggests an inverse U-shaped relationship between women’s empowerment and IPV, in which violence against women first increases and then decreases as more egalitarian gender norms gradually gain acceptance. By means of focus-group discussions and in-depth interviews with men in 10 Bangladeshi villages, this study explored men’s evolving views of women, gender norms and the legitimacy of men’s perpetration of IPV in the context of a gender transition. It examines men’s often-contradictory narratives about women’s empowerment and concomitant changes in norms of masculinity, and identifies aspects of women’s empowerment that are most likely to provoke a male backlash. Findings suggest that men’s growing acceptance of egalitarian gender norms and their self-reported decreased engagement in IPV are driven largely by pragmatic self-interest: their desire to improve their economic status and fear of negative consequences of IPV. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Notions of masculinity, which promote the role of men as providers and decision-makers, alongside men’s opposition to modern forms of contraception, have long been assumed to be a barrier to women’s use of contraception in Pakistan. There has been little in-depth exploration of varieties of masculinity and how these may influence men’s views of child-bearing or fertility preferences. This study used Participatory Ethnographic and Evaluation Research to explore married men’s (aged 18 to 45 years) perceptions of marriage, child-bearing and fertility control. A total of 31 men were recruited as researchers in two provinces (Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), who, in turn, each interviewed two male friends. Men overall supported a ‘smaller’ family size and use of contraceptive methods. Drivers of this preference included perceived economic constraints, the desire to invest in children’s education, and wider acceptability of contraceptive use. Limiting family size was associated with both the value of competent male providers taking care of their children, as well as being poor. Men wanted to have better access to information through a range of channels. Understanding the sociocultural contexts in which masculinities are constructed is essential before involving men in family planning programmes, so that gender inequalities are not reinforced. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides a snapshot of the Top Ten free, digitalMen’s Healthmagazine articles, accessed on a randomly selected day, that can be viewed as a collection; both a product for readership consumption and a construct of readership priorities. Through close textual analysis, we examine how discourses about masculinity, heterosex and consumerism have intersected to create a model of masculinity based on the discipline of male pleasure, which impacts on men’s approach to female pleasure and gender dynamics. The analysis contributes to the developing research about the sexual and bodily discourses the magazine promotes and identifies a model of masculinity where men can ‘have their cake and eat it’; seeming to adhere to ideals of gender equality and reciprocity while retaining their traditional patriarchal position of producer/provider. They are encouraged to do so by approaching female orgasm as a product, which they can ‘purchase’ through adhering toMen’s Healthmagazine’s sexual advice and bodily labour at control, delay and discipline of their own pleasure and orgasm. We argue that this approach to sex disenfranchises men, and in turn their partners, of opportunities to access alternative models of embodied pleasure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A growing body of evidence focuses on the experiences of young men in low-income countries, including their health vulnerabilities. Much of this research has been conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America. Limited evidence exists on the norms influencing boys’ transitions into young adulthood in Southeast Asia, and in Cambodia in particular. To help fill this gap, we conducted a comparative case study using participatory methods with 16–19-year-old young men in rural and urban Cambodia, and with the adults who intersect in their lives. Findings suggest that in line with their counterparts growing up elsewhere, Cambodian boys welcome becoming young men as a time of newly acquired adult roles and responsibilities, while some may experience growing up as a time of bodily change, burgeoning sexual feelings and limited sources of support and guidance. As a result, some may strive more intensely to conform to the alcohol use and violence modelled by the older men in their environments. Additional research is needed to better understand the vulnerabilities of boys’ transition into young adulthood in Cambodia today, and how to prevent or reduce engagement with these more negative practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including identity and relationship in the accounts of Chinese immigrants to Canada; transnational experiences of Chinese immigrants; and intersection of masculinity and sexual practice.

Recent critical studies of men and masculinities have encouraged greater consideration of global, international and transnational perspectives and processes. Drawing on interview data from a larger research study of transnationalism and HIV risk through the experiences of recent male Chinese immigrants to Canada, this article examines the intersection of masculinity, sexual practice and the HIV risk in a transnational context. As a gendered strategy, transnational mobility is not only employed by men to cope with the challenges of masculinity enactment encountered in Canada, but also to facilitate sexual activities back in China. By highlighting particular risk factors arising from transnational spaces these men inhabit, the paper reveals the interactive and interconnected effects that such experiences have on Chinese immigrant men’s particular behavioural patterns associated with HIV risk, as well as their capacity to respond to this risk. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Contemporary social theorists emphasise the cultural quest for authenticity under conditions of increasing artificiality. Within this context, the body is commonly treated as an ‘unfinished’ surface requiring ongoing transformation to fulfil identity obligations. In this paper, we examine one such identity authentication project in the form of marketing of men’s sexuopharmaceuticals. We use online pharmaceutical advertising for four approved sexuopharmaceuticals (Viagra, Cialis, STAXYN and Stendra) to describe the ideal neoliberal consumer. These campaigns underscore the robust role of pharmaceuticals in sexual authentication projects undergirded by neoliberal consumerist and aspirationalist ideals. Penile dependability as a luxury consumerist project reinvigorates traditional sexual (masculine) authentication as yoked to phallic control, by repackaging sexual enhancement medication use as a neoliberal beacon of aspirational achievements. The ideal targeted user is increasingly younger, and consumption of sexuopharmaceuticals is represented as achieving elite status and exclusive pleasures; masculine authenticity and choice; progressive relationships and a contemporary urban, fast-paced life; and a prepared yet spontaneous romantic sexuality. Women are also increasingly used in promotional materials directed at men; their responsibility centres on coaching and coaxing potential users. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In predominantly isiXhosa-speaking township communities in South Africa, men who have sex with men negotiate their identities and sexual practices alongside heteronormative cultural scripts of what it means to be a man. Such idealised notions of masculinity are predicated on the selective appropriation of cultural practices that preserve (heterosexual) male privilege and power. In this paper, we explore the identity work done by men who have sex with men, with particular reference to male circumcision as a cultural practice widely drawn on to inform and regulate normative masculinity. Through a narrative-discursive analysis of the accounts provided by men who have sex with men from township communities, we highlight how participants’ dissident sexualities are constructed as compromising their masculine identities. Participating in cultural practices such as traditional circumcision aligns participants to the idealised forms of masculinity that afford men full citizenship in their communities. Study findings suggest that sexual dissidence is less troubling to participants than deviating from gendered markers of hegemonic masculinity, and point to ways in which marginalised men might have an interest in maintaining the dominant gendered order. We conclude with implications for research and programmatic work with gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

High-risk sexual behaviours include practices such as relationship violence and substance use, which often cluster together among young people in high-risk settings. Youth gang members often show high rates of such behaviours, substance use and relationship violence. This paper draws on data from in-depth interviews with male and female gang members from six different gangs to explore the role of powerful socialising peer groups that set gender, sexual and relationship roles and expectations for their male and female members. High-risk sexual behaviours among gang members included sex with multiple partners and group sex. Gang norms included the belief that male members were sexually insatiable with multiple sexual partners and that female gang members should be sexually available to male members. Alcohol and drugs were seen to have a large influence on sexual desire and the inability to use condoms. Much sexual behaviour with gangs, such as group sex, was viewed with ambivalence and seen as somewhat coercive. Finally, gendered sexual expectations (boys as sexually insatiable and girls as sexually available) made forming long-term romantic relationships problematic for gang members. The influence of gang norms such as these must be addressed in future programmes and interventions with gang members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses discourses of masculinity, femininity and sexuality in Stand Proud, Get Circumcised, a public health campaign promoting circumcision as an HIV-prevention strategy in Uganda. The campaign includes posters highlighting the positive reactions of women to circumcised men, and is intended to support the national rollout of voluntary medical male circumcision. We offer a critical discourse analysis of representations of masculinity, femininity and sexuality in relation to HIV prevention. The campaign materials have a playful feel and, in contrast to ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, Use condoms) campaigns, acknowledge the potential for pre-marital and extra-marital sex. However, these posters exploit male anxieties about appearance and performance, drawing on hegemonic masculinity to promote circumcision as an idealised body aesthetic. Positioning women as the campaign’s face reasserts a message that women are the custodians of family health and simultaneously perpetuates a norm of estrangement between men and their health. The wives’ slogan, ‘we have less chance of getting HIV’, is misleading, because circumcision only directly prevents female-to-male HIV transmission. Reaffirming hegemonic notions of appearance- and performance-based heterosexual masculinity reproduces existing unsafe norms about masculinity, femininity and sexuality. In selling male circumcision, the posters fail to promote an overall HIV-prevention message. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Men’s perpetration of gender-based violence remains a global public health issue. Violence prevention experts call for engagement of boys and men to change social norms around masculinity in order to prevent gender-based violence. Yet, men do not comprise a homogenous category. Drawing on probability estimates of men who report same-sex practices and preferences captured in a multi-country gender-based violence prevention survey in the Asia-Pacific region, we test the effects of sexuality-related factors on men’s adverse life experiences. We find that sexual minority men face statistically higher risk of lifetime adversity related to gender-based violence, stemming from gender inequitable norms in society. Sexuality is thus a key axis of differentiation among men in the Asia-Pacific region, influencing health and wellbeing and reflecting men’s differential engagement with dominant norms of masculinity. Integrating awareness of male sexual diversity into gender-based violence prevention interventions, particularly those that work with boys and men, and bridging violence prevention programming between sexual minority communities and women, are essential to tackle the root drivers of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Men are less likely than women to test for HIV and engage in HIV care and treatment. We conducted in-depth interviews with men participating inOne Man Can(OMC) – a rights-based gender equality and health programme intervention conducted in rural Limpopo and Eastern Cape, South Africa – to explore masculinity-related barriers to HIV testing/care/treatment and how participation in OMC impacted on these. Men who participated in OMC reported an increased capability to overcome masculinity-related barriers to testing/care/treatment. They also reported increased ability to express vulnerability and discuss HIV openly with others, which led to greater willingness to be tested for HIV and receive HIV care and treatment for those who were living with HIV. Interventions that challenge masculine norms and promote gender equality (i.e. gender-transformative interventions) represent a promising new approach to address men’s barriers to testing, care and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sexual violence against women and girls is commonplace in Papua New Guinea (PNG). While the experiences of women are rightly given central place in institutional responses to sexual violence, the men who perpetrate violence are often overlooked, an oversight that undermines the effectiveness of prevention efforts. This paper draws on interviews conducted with young men as part of a qualitative longitudinal study of masculinity and male sexuality in a rural highland area of PNG. It explores one aspect of male sexuality: men’s narratives of sexual violence. Most striking from the data is that the collective enactment of sexual violence against women and girls is reported as an everyday and accepted practice amongst young men. However, not all women and girls were described as equally at risk, with those who transgress gender roles and roles inscribed and reinforced by patriarchal structures, at greater risk. To address this situation, efforts to reduce sexual violence against women and girls require an increased focus on male-centred intervention to critically engage with the forms of patriarchal authority that give license to sexual violence. Understanding the perceptions and experiences of men as perpetrators of sexual violence is a critical first step in the process of changing normative perceptions of gender, a task crucial to reducing sexual violence in countries such as PNG. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Female sex tourism has become an accepted income generator for many underemployed men in Jamaica who seek to reap economic benefits from relationships with visiting tourist women. This issue provides contexts to explore the numerous ways in which health intersects with issues of masculinity, sexuality and marginality. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a popular Jamaican resort town, this paper examines the health implications of female sex tourism for the local population and tourist visitors. Data from this project indicate the need for improved sexually transmitted infection education and HIV outreach work towards men who are involved in transactional sex with tourist women. Due to prevalent perceptions of masculinity and gendered notions of sexuality, men who engage in sex tourism constitute a population that rarely receives the attention of local and national health authorities. Data from this qualitative study suggest that engaging this particular vulnerable population could potentially decrease the risk of STI and HIV infection in the country’s most popular resort areas. Research of this kind is urgently needed to better understand the risk factors and challenges for Caribbean populations, as well as to inform future prevention efforts in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]