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Within the last 50 years, the UK has moved from prosecuting male homosexuality to identifying sexual orientation as a protected characteristic. There have been differing explanations for how this change has occurred. In the present study, we investigate how this political and moral change is understood by those who witnessed it, with the aim of gaining new insight into this change process. We elicited accounts from 25 heterosexual UK residents over the age of 65 years. First, we conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 21 participants. Second, we used a memory work method. Specifically, a group of four participants met four times with one of the researchers to share and discuss memories relevant to the research question. The analytic process aimed to reconstruct and make sense of the participants' theorisations based on a thematic reading of the transcripts. Contact with LGBTQ people and increased awareness through the media were construed as central to the shift in societal homophobia. Participants remembered contact with LGBTQ people mediated by friends and family members but accounts show a complex understanding of social change that includes but also transcends direct personal experience and extant psychological theorising. Overall, this was a fragmented story of changing social norms, albeit one embedded within a canonical narrative of tolerance, decency and fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores contemporary understandings and representations of the penis. It presents an overview of recent trends which re-frame long-standing penile anxieties within a new hybrid world of health and [...]

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00242.x Byline: Darren Langdridge (a1), Paschal Sheeran (b), Kevin J. Connolly (b) Abstract: This study examined the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of several variables proposed to augment the theory of reasoned action (TRA), using both principal components analysis (PCA)/multiple regression and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)/structural equation modeling (SEM) among a sample of the UK population regarding their intention to have a child. PCA revealed good convergent and discriminant validity for attitude vs. anticipated regret, subjective norm vs. moral norm vs. social relations, but not for intention vs. desire or perceived behavioral control. Multiple regression analyses showed that the additional variables predicted a significant increment in the variance in intention. CFA, however, showed moderate convergent validity and poor discriminant validity and the structural model comprised the 2 predictors from the TRA only. Author Affiliation: (a)The Open UniversityMilton Keynes, United Kingdom (b)University of SheffieldSheffield, United Kingdom Article note: (1) Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Darren Langdridge, Psychology Discipline, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA UK. E-mail: d.langdridge@open.ac.uk

Gay affirmative therapy (GAT) has recently emerged in an attempt to rectify previously discriminatory psychotherapeutic practice with lesbians, bisexuals and gay men. GAT aims to achieve this by providing a framework for practice which is affirmative of lesbian, gay and bisexual identities. This 'positive framework' is clearly challenging for psychotherapies which seek to avoid imposing specific expectations on their clients, and a number of humanistic and existential psychotherapists have challenged the applicability of such a framework for their practice. This paper examines these arguments and suggests that Ricoeur's formulation of hermeneutic phenomenology may provide a solution. It is argued that incorporating a version of a hermeneutic of suspicion and critique of the illusions of the subject into psychotherapeutic practice would enable therapists to recognise and work with the twin impact of the psychotherapist and social world on the construction of a client's sexual identity. KEYWORDS. Bisexual, ethics, existential psychotherapy, gay affirmative therapy, hermeneutic phenomenology, homosexuality, humanistic psychotherapy, lesbian, Ricoeur, subjectivity

A common criticism of phenomenological methods has been that there is a singular focus on individual experience at the cost of broader group level phenomena. In contrast, psychoanalytically informed psychosocial methods have continued to develop novel ways of exploring group level material. A notable recent methodology is the visual matrix method (Froggett, Manley & Roy 2015), an innovative methodological development that draws on ideas from social dreaming (Lawrence 2003, 2005). In this article, we describe the development and application of a group level existential-phenomenological method, inspired by the visual matrix method. In collaboration with a filmmaker, we produced a film series designed to engage the public with research findings on "enduring love." The viewing experience was explored using a modified version of the visual matrix method. We discuss the value of this methodological development for research within the phenomenological tradition as well as potential tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Increasing appropriate HIV testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) is crucial to HIV prevention. Mass media interventions are effective in promoting testing, but to date, there has been little examination of their active content. Design: We conducted a qualitative analysis of intervention materials (n = 69) derived from a systematic review of mass media interventions designed to improve testing with MSM. Methods: Visual data were analysed for their affective and ideological content using a novel method drawing on concepts from semiotics (i.e., broadly speaking, the analysis of signs). Results: Whilst affect was not explicitly theorized or examined in any of the studies, there are clearly identifiable affective elements implicitly at play in these interventions. Four thematic categories of affect/ideology were identified including (1) sexual desire and the 'pornographication' of the gay/bisexual male subject; (2) narratives of romance and love; (3) fear, threat, and regret; and (4) 'flattened' affect. Conclusions: This is the first study to examine and detail the affective and ideological aspects of intervention content in this field. Using analytic techniques such as those reported here, in addition to approaches that focus on the manner in which intervention content address more proximal determinants of behaviour, can provide a rich and potentially more useful evidence base to assist with future interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we explore the history, culture and practice of the phenomenon known as 'puppy play'. Puppy play is a practice in which people take on the persona of a dog (or handler), with participants often wearing specialist gear to further enhance the experience of being a puppy. We argue that puppy play is best understood sociologically as a 'postmodern-subculture' (Greener and Hollands, 2006). Additionally, we use Irwin's (1973) model of scene evolution to explore the socio-history of the community. Whilst this practice appears to have its historical roots within the highly sexual gay leatherman subculture, there is a division within this community between sexual and social play, with some participants eschewing the sexual entirely. We explore possible reasons for this split through an analysis using recent political theory concerning technologies of the self, sexual citizenship and BDSM. Through this analysis we contribute valuable empirical evidence to debates and discussion about the development of sexual subcultures and tensions therein concerning claims for rights and the 'politics of respectability' (Cruz, 2016a, 2016b). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]