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Enhancing Sexual Health Self Identity and Wellbeing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men A Guide For Practitioners Rusi Jaspal
Enhancing Sexual Health Self Identity and Wellbeing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men A Guide For Practitioners Rusi Jaspal
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Enhancing Sexual
Health, Self-Identity
and Wellbeing among
Men Who Have Sex
With Men
A GUIDE FOR PRACTITIONERS
Queer Sex
A Trans and Non-Binary Guide to Intimacy, Pleasure and Relationships
Juno Roche
ISBN 978 1 78592 406 4
eISBN 978 1 78450 770 1
Enhancing Sexual
Health, Self-Identity
and Wellbeing among
Men who have Sex
with Men
A GUIDE FOR PRACTITIONERS
RUSI JASPAL
Foreword by Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell
Foreword by Dr Laura Waters
Part I: Introduction
1. Social Psychology for Practitioners in
Sexual Health and Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Foreword
Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell
7
8 Enhancing Sexual Health, Self-Identity and Wellbeing among MSM
Glynis Breakwell
January 2018
Foreword
Dr Laura Waters
11
12 Enhancing Sexual Health, Self-Identity and Wellbeing among MSM
Laura Waters
January 2018
Acknowledgements
15
Part I
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1
Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) can face a
series of psychosocial challenges during the life course. Some of these
challenges are transient and short-lived, while others persist over time.
Some are societal in nature, while others are psychological in origin.
Individuals may encounter homophobia, stigma, and rejection from
others. They may perceive aspects of identity (such as their sexual
orientation) to be problematic, internalise stigma, and experience
feelings of low self-worth, guilt and shame. The antecedents of these
social and psychological challenges are multifarious and include
the presence of particular stereotypes, images and representations
in our social context, as well as specific past experiences that shape
our perspectives on our identities and the world around us. The con-
sequences of these social and psychological challenges can be similarly
far-reaching and impinge on various dimensions of our lives, not least
on sexual health and psychological wellbeing. Some individuals may
come to experience shame, anxiety and depression, and engage in
behaviours that can put their sexual health at risk.
The tripartite relationship between sexual health, self-identity
and wellbeing constitutes the focus of this volume. The inter-relations
between these three components will be outlined and discussed in the
chapters that follow. The following three cases illustrate and exemplify
the social and psychological challenges faced by MSM, as well as the
ways in which wellbeing and sexual health may be affected:
19
20 Enhancing Sexual Health, Self-Identity and Wellbeing among MSM
1 Grindr is a gay geospatial mobile social networking application (see detailed overview
in Chapter 2).
2 The term ‘chemsex’ refers to the use of psychoactive drugs in sexualised settings
(see detailed overview in Chapter 2).
Social Psychology for Practitioners in Sexual Health and Wellbeing 21
did not like to play football and because most of his friends
were girls. These early experiences of teasing and bullying
caused Ahmed immense psychological distress and made him
feel inadequate. He became withdrawn at school and in other
contexts. After a while, rumours began to circulate about
Ahmed’s sexual orientation and soon several of his classmates
joined in and bullied him. Some even threatened him with
physical violence. These experiences, coupled with his early
belief that homosexuality was sinful, led Ahmed to believe
that he was right all along – that being gay was a terrible thing
and that the bullies were in fact right to treat him as they did.
Ahmed tried to immerse himself in religion as a means of
distancing himself from his sexual orientation but, as he got
older, he found it increasingly difficult to resist sexual urges. He
watched gay porn online but always felt awful about himself
afterwards – this made him feel confused, guilty and dirty. He
downloaded Grindr on his smart phone and began to meet
up with guys for sex. These experiences too contributed to
his sense of low self-worth and perceived immorality. One of
the men he met on Grindr invited him to a gay club in London.
Ahmed felt uneasy about going to a club where he might
be recognised and ‘outed’ to other people, but decided to
take the risk and accepted the invitation. In the club he felt
immensely uncomfortable and at times even feared that God
would deliver some form of divine punishment to him for
being in that environment. Now that Ahmed has completed his
degree at the University of Bradford, his parents have begun
to discuss arranged marriage and to introduce him to potential
spouses – the daughters of relatives and family friends. This
has made him feel very anxious and conflicted. On the one
hand, he knows he feels no attraction to women but, on the
other hand, he believes that an arranged marriage could be an
effective ‘distraction’ from his gay lifestyle. Sometimes Ahmed
refuses to discuss marriage with his parents, which has caused
them to become suspicious. Ahmed in turn is fearful of the
consequences – both for himself and for his family’s reputation
– if people in his community find out that he is gay. Ahmed
is feeling increasingly depressed, anxious and helpless. He
cannot imagine having a relationship with another man, even
Social Psychology for Practitioners in Sexual Health and Wellbeing 23
Some definitions
From the outset it is useful to provide some definitions. The title of
this volume refers to ‘men who have sex with men’; it points to three
concepts – sexual health, self-identity and wellbeing – each with
long-standing traditions of research, theory and commentary from a
multitude of disciplinary approaches; and it identifies a community of
beneficiaries, namely ‘practitioners’. Each requires commentary.
Identity is a complex construct. It is especially complex in the
context of sexuality due in part to the stigma that is often appended
to some sexual identity categories. Most same-sex attracted men in
Western, industrialised societies, such as the UK, self-identify as gay and
they may express great pride in their gay identity. A smaller minority
self-identifies as bisexual. However, it must be noted that some same-sex
attracted men reject these categories as inaccurate descriptors of their
sexual identity. They may attempt to eschew the social stigma appended
to gay and bisexual identities, which may be particularly acute in some
social and cultural contexts, as exemplified in Cases 2 and 3 above.
Some same-sex attracted men may in fact self-identify as heterosexual
and cite various reasons for doing so, such as ‘I only have sex with men
but feel no emotional attachment to them’ or ‘I am only top3 when I
have sex with men and so I’m not really gay’. Some may self-identify as
‘queer’, claiming that the categories ‘gay’ and ‘bisexual’ are restrictive.
It is also noteworthy that (sexual) identity categories only really
become available to people in particular social and cultural contexts. In
some Middle Eastern societies, sex between men has always occurred
but there has never been a category like ‘gay’ in public discourse, so
same-sex attracted men have never self-identified in those terms.
3 The terms ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ refer to insertive and receptive sexual partners,
respectively.
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