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This article explores the ways gay and queer men employ the concept of 'play' in relation to sex. Using Judith Butler's theory of performativity to analyse the experiences of 16 individuals from Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia who identified as a gay and/or queer man or a member of the gay community, I present how my participants used 'play' to refer to casual and/or kinky sexual encounters, describe certain safer sex practices, and delineate the difference between queer and straight sexual identities. 'Playing' also involved a range of personally cultivated rules connected to the pursuit of well-being. When these rules were broken, the activity no longer felt 'playful' and became risky for some. 'Play' was ultimately a way for my participants to discuss how risk, pleasure, desire, identity, relationships, and personal well-being related to sexual practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the development and implementation of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the characteristics of PrEP users have been configured in a range of ways. Drawing on the concept of 'imaginaries', we consider how clinicians imagine PrEP users and related communities. We conducted 28 semi-structured interviews in 2019–2020 with PrEP-providing clinicians based in New South Wales and Western Australia. Participants included general practitioners, sexual health nurses and sexual health doctors. We inductively developed three themes through a reflexive thematic analysis: 'PrEP users as 99% gay men/MSM', 'The informed and connected PrEP user', and 'Condom users in the PrEP era'. Participants imagined PrEP users primarily as gay men, and so we focused on how gay community was imagined in relation to PrEP users. Users were imagined as supporting one another to use PrEP effectively, but some were imagined as threatening norms of condom use amongst gay community. Analysing clinician imaginaries of PrEP users reveals insight into how clinicians speculate about and engage with changing community norms related to condom use and accessing PrEP. These imaginaries reveal ongoing tensions about who is believed to be best suited to PrEP, and PrEP's impact on norms of conduct in imagined biosocial communities like gay men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asian-born gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) who are newly arrived in Australia are at a higher risk of acquiring HIV than Australian-born gbMSM. We used a social constructionist framework to explore HIV knowledge and prevention strategies used by newly-arrived Asian-born gbMSM. Twenty four Asian-born gbMSM, aged 20–34 years, attending Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, who arrived in Australia in the preceding five years, participated in semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Participants described hiding their sexual identities in their country of origin, particularly from family members, due to fear of judgement and discrimination resulting from exposure to sexual identity and HIV related stigma in their countries of origin, although some were open to friends. Despite feeling more sexual freedom and acceptance in Australia, many were still not forthcoming with their sexual identity due to internalised feelings of stigma and shame. Exposure to stigma in their country of origin led many to report anxiety around HIV testing in Australia due to a fear of testing positive. Some described experiencing racism and lack of acceptance in the gay community in Australia, particularly on dating apps. Fear of discrimination and judgement about their sexual identity can have a significant impact on Asian-born gbMSM living in Australia, particularly in terms of social connectedness. Additionally, HIV-related stigma can contribute to anxieties around HIV testing. Our data highlights the potential discrimination Asian-born gbMSM face in Australia, which has implications for social connectedness, particularly with regard to LGBTQI communities and HIV testing practices. Future studies should determine effective strategies to reduce sexual identity and HIV-related stigma in newly-arrived Asian-born gbMSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global migration, diaspora's use of digital media to maintain transnational connections has become a focus of intense research. By deploying the walkthrough method and semi-structured in-depth interviews, this study explores the transnational practices of Chinese queer women living in Australia for maintaining digital connections with queer women communities in China through Rela, a Chinese lesbian social app. Rela live streaming is innovatively used by Chinese queer women in Australia to maintain diverse transnational relationships, including friendships with streamers and viewers, and romantic relationships with their partners. Rela groups have also become vital spaces through which diasporic Chinese queer women connect with the Rela queer women community. Nevertheless, although the use of Rela diversifies Chinese queer women's diasporic life and helps them gain a sense of belonging, it reduces their participation in local queer activities and limits their interactions with queer women communities in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on the concept of 'queer generations' as developed in the context of an ongoing study about belonging and sexual citizenship among two social generations of gender and sexual minority youth in Australia. We define the concepts 'queer' and 'generations' in the context of recent theoretical interest in temporality in childhood and youth studies in an attempt to think differently about gender and sexual difference. The main theoretical tension that lies at the heart of this article is how to take seriously the shared experience of growing up LGBT without insisting on a uniform narrative that is inherent to it. Drawing on an archival fragment from an HIV campaign produced in Australia and distributed in the 1990s and targeted at young gay and bisexual men, we consider the shifting conditions through which visibility has featured as a key problem for the deployment of sexual citizenship. This archival fragment is valuable because of the way that it problematizes the in/out, visible/invisible, gay/straight binaries that have dogged attempts to grapple with the at once individual and collective experience of growing up LGBT. The concept of 'queer generations' suggests critical insights into the limits and affordances of the production of generations as containers for generalized experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When viewed over time, many gay men's relationships are not static, or firmly fixed to monogamy or non-monogamy. This paper uses in-depth interviews with 61 Australian gay men to explore how monogamy and non-monogamy are experienced over time, expectations of what constitutes the norms regarding gay men's relationships and how couples experience and practices change. Although some gay men may idealise monogamy, particularly at the beginning of a relationship, it is often experienced as temporary. Non-monogamy is often seen as a likely prospect for gay relationships owing to the social and cultural norms that operate in gay communities. These expected trajectories are reflected in practice - many relationships begin monogamously and then become non-monogamous over time. While the application of 'rules', experimentation and flexibility can facilitate change, couples may struggle to navigate new territory as their relationship structures shift. This is particularly the case when partners value monogamy and non-monogamy differently, or when one partner's values change. These findings shed light on how gay men approach change to the status of 'fidelity' within their relationships, and the tensions and opportunities that change can produce for couples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research concerning drug use in the context of sexual activity among gay and bisexual men derives from public health scholarship. In this paper, we critically examine how the relationship between methamphetamine use and sexual risk practice is treated and understood in this body of research. While public health has made important contributions to establishing the link between methamphetamine use and sexual risk-taking, the precise nature of the relationship is not well defined. This creates space for ungrounded assumptions about methamphetamine use to take hold. We outline what appear to be two dominant interpretations of the methamphetamine/sexual practice relationship: the first proposes that methamphetamine has specific pharmacological properties which lead to sexual disinhibition, risky behaviour and poor health outcomes; the second proposes that methamphetamine attracts men who are already inclined toward highly sexualised interactions and risky practice, and that such men are likely to engage in these practices with or without drugs. We suggest that both interpretations are problematic in that they individualise and cast drug and sex practices as inherently risky and biopsychologically determined. We outline a more historically, socially and politically engaged way to understand methamphetamine use in the context of sexual activity by drawing on the concept of sex-based sociality and the ways in which gay and bisexual men may use methamphetamine and sex as social resources around which to build identities, establish relationships, participate in gay communities, and maximise pleasure while protecting themselves and others from harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gay and bisexual men typically report high rates of illicit drug use, including methamphetamine use. This paper aimed to analyse trends in crystal methamphetamine ('crystal') and powder methamphetamine ('speed') use among gay and bisexual men in Australia, and characterise the sociodemographic, drug use, and sexual risk practices of men who reported crystal use.Methods: The Gay Community Periodic Surveys, routinely conducted behavioural surveillance surveys of gay men in Australia, were analysed to examine trends in recent crystal and speed use during 2005-14 (any use in the previous 6 months), and trends in regular crystal and speed use during 2007-14 (at least monthly use in the previous 6 months). Covariates of recent and regular crystal use were analysed using 2014 data.Results: Speed use declined from 25.0% to 10.2% during 2005-14 (p-trend <.001), while regular speed use declined from 7.0% to 2.3% during 2007-14 (p-trend <.001). Any crystal use declined from 15.6% to 11.4% during 2005-14 (p-trend <.001) and increased during 2010-14 (from 9.6% in 2010; p-trend <.001). Regular crystal use declined from 6.1% to 4.0% during 2007-14 (p-trend <.001) and remained stable during 2010-14 (3.9% in 2010; p-trend=.64). Participants who reported regular crystal use were more likely than men who used crystal less frequently to have used gamma-hydroxybutyrate, used party drugs for sex, and to have injected drugs in the previous 6 months. High rates of crystal use and injecting were reported among HIV-positive participants.Conclusion: Rates of both crystal and speed use, despite fluctuations, were consistently high throughout the study period. The high rates of crystal use and associations with potentially risky sexual practices indicate that gay and bisexual men should be a particular focus for targeted harm reduction and combined harm reduction and sexual health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sense of belonging to the general and broader gay communities has been shown to be beneficial for gay men’s mental health. This research investigated the interrelations between sense of belonging to three forms of gay community (the broader gay community, gay groups, and gay friends), sense of belonging to the general community, and depressive symptoms by examining a path model. A community sample of 177 gay men, aged 18 to 79 years, completed the Sense of Belonging Instrument–Psychological subscale, the Centre for Epidemiological Studies–Depression Scale, and the Sense of Belonging within Gay Communities Scale. The model provided excellent fit to the data in which sense of belonging to the general community mediated the relationships between a sense of belonging to gay groups and with gay friends and depressive symptoms. Results imply that enhancing gay men’s sense of belonging to gay groups and with gay friends is likely to be associated with fewer depressive symptoms, by virtue of their enhanced sense of belonging to the general community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many commentators regard gay men's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s as a remarkable example of a communal response to an external threat, while others view it as notable because of how a community of men responded to a serious threat to their health. This article examines how a non-representative sample of 80 Australian gay men understood the meaning of community in the early 2000s. A substantial majority of interviewees reported positive involvement with the gay community. This included work for people living with HIV/AIDS, counselling and other support services, interaction with a local social group, participation in parades, festivals and the 'scene', and political activity. An articulate minority of men interviewed for the study also gave accounts of negative experiences of community. On the whole, these concerned their inability to relate to other gay men and a sense that they either could not trust them or expect their welcome in gay social settings. The men with positive views tended to support the proposition that communities form when members have and can articulate a shared understanding of identity, while those with negative views showed that there are gay men who have no need of or can live without attachment to same-sex communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically examines how the public health governance of HIV/AIDS has constructed the racialized biopolitics of the gay Asian Australian community. The old biopolitics of health that excluded the Asian at the turn of the 19th century is now eclipsed by a new biopolitics that foregrounds the racialized body as a site of inclusion. The new biopolitics has emerged from within policy innovations in Australia's multicultural sexual health programs. Since the mid-1990s, the diversity of Asian communities was recognized in various AIDS councils through the employment of ethno-specific social workers, carers and peer-to-peer educators. This article problematizes how diasporic gay Asian sexuality has emerged in queer, mainstream and modern Australia through such a viral politic of containment. These policies, I argue, have paradoxically contributed to the production of a new queer Asian Australian body aesthetics that has enabled the conditions of possibilities for new sexual subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on health and aged care services for older lesbian and gay adults in Australia. In interviews, 14 of these individuals reflected on past and anticipated care and presented narratives related to culture, community, and friendship. The article also discusses the recognition and legitimation of gay and lesbian communities and gerontology in Australia. Information is presented on service engagement for older people, social isolation, public and private identity expression, and diversity as well.

Compares how emerging gay and lesbian communities are articulating homosexual rights in Australia and Indonesia. Definitions of homosexuality; Impact of economics and inter-cultural communication on homosexual sensibilities; Indonesian perspectives on human rights; Conceptual framework for mapping homosexual rights.

Discusses the development of the gay movement and gay activism as indigenous radical and countercultural norms in Australia. Liberal elements of the gay movement in the country; Comparison of the gay political history between Australia and the U.S.; Occurrence of individual prejudice and discriminatory acts.

Explores how one Asian gay man came to find a place for himself within the predominantly white-oriented gay community in Australia. Migration from Hong Kong; Efforts to escape the side-show of freaks in the community; Views about cross-cultural relationships.

I develop a conceptual approach to changes in masculinity that emphasizes the dynamics of the gender order as a whole. Homosexual masculinity is an important locus of these dynamics. After a critique of conventional discourses of masculinity I develop a theorized life-history method for researching gender. Analysis of eight life histories from an Australian gay community finds (1) initial engagement with hegemonic masculinity, (2) sexuality as the key site of difference, and (3) gradual closure based on relationships or on bodily experience that eroticizes similarity. Conventional masculinity is an aspect of the object of desire, yet is subverted by this object-choice; a contradictory masculinity is produced. Though the men in this study do not directly contest the gender order, the reification of "gayness" provides a social basis for sexual freedom, and the stabilization of a dissident sexuality opens possibilities for change in the social structure of gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various issues that highlight the effects of HIV infection on GLBT communities in Australia. It also presents information on the forum "Out There Too" organized by the HIV/AIDS Programs Unit of the SA Health Commission in March 1996. Researcher Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli in the forum examines issues associated with gender and sexualities. AIDS has considered as an illness that is still without a cure and revealed the great depth of caring which exists throughout Australian society.