The Gendered and Sexual Scripts Shaping Gay Latino Fraternity Men’s Experiences of Dating, Love, and Sex at a Hispanic-serving Institution

In the United States, more than half of the cumulative total of adult male AIDS cases are among men who have sex with men (MSM) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2001). Even with an increase in reported AIDS cases among injection drug users (IDUs) and heterosexual men in the past decade, MSM continue to constitute the largest proportion of annually reported AIDS cases in this country. In the most recent CDC report, a total of 31,901 adult male AIDS cases were reported. Of these, the largest proportion of cases (42%) was among MSM compared with 16% among IDUs, 9% among heterosexuals, 5% among MSM IDUs, and 28% whose risk was not reported (CDC, 2001). A similar pattern exists in HIV infection rates among males. Cumulative rates of HIV infection for MSM exceed those of IDUs and heterosexuals (CDC, 2001). Even with new HIV infections, MSM are still the largest subgroup among males (CDC, 2001). In the United States, however, the AIDS epidemic has had a disproportional impact on racial and ethnic populations. Today, it is people of color who carry the burden of this disease. In 2000, for example, the U.S. AIDS rate among non-Hispanic Blacks was 57 per 100,000, among Hispanic/Latinos the rate was 22 per 100,000, among Asian-Pacific Islanders (APIs) the rate was 3 per 100,000, and among Whites the rate was 6 per 100,000 (CDC, 2002; U.S Census Bureau, 2002). As we enter the 3rd decade of this epidemic, MSM of color represent the largest number of persons living with AIDS in this country. In communities of color, the impact of AIDS is even more uneven across ethnic groups in large urban epicenters such as Chicago, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. In Chicago, for example, HIV disease disproportionately affects non-Hispanic Blacks compared with other ethnic groups. Since 1990, non-Hispanic Blacks have had the highest annual AIDS incidence rates in the city. The most recently reported AIDS rate for non-Hispanic Blacks was 54 per 100,000 compared with 18 per 100,000 for Hispanics/Latinos, and 14 per 100,000 for Whites (Chicago Department of Health, 2002). In other parts of the country, such as Miami, non-Hispanic AIDS Education and Prevention, 15, Supplement A, 1–6, 2003 © 2003 The Guilford Press

Latino gay men are at high risk for HIV/AIDS, and therefore it is critical that we increase our understanding of their sexual behavior. This paper discusses theoretical and methodological issues of conducting research with Latino gay and bisexual men. The importance of culture in psychological theory addressing sexual behavior is highlighted. Cultural and socioeconomic forces that impact the social construction of sexuality and sexual risk need to be taken into account to increase research validity. Social context and internalized sociocultural experiences can affect a variety of issues, including sexual scripts and the definition and fluidity of sexual orientation identity. Moreover, Latino gay men's sexuality may be influenced by experiences of oppression, discrimination, racism, and homophobia. Level of acculturation should also be considered. Measures that are developed by taking into account the cultural context and incorporating a Latino perspective are helpful in conducting meaningful research. Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods will help provide a picture rich in context and at the same time generalizable. The relationship between researchers and participants is affected by Latino cultural styles, and suggestions for approaches to conduct research in the Latino gay community are offered.

Background, context, and purpose of the studyEnrolling over 60% of all Latinx undergraduate students, Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) are poised to play a critical role in diversifying and strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and the STEM workforce. However, how HSIs serve STEM students is not well understood. Accordingly, guided by Garcia et al. (Review of Educational Research 89:5–745, 2019) multidimensional servingness framework, we conducted a systematic review of the research on STEM education within the HSI context. By attending to STEM education in conversations around how HSIs may serve Latinx students and their campus communities, our ultimate aim is to improve STEM education particularly at HSIs and advance STEM servingness more broadly.Results, main findingsThrough our systematic review of STEM education research at HSIs, we identified (under)studied components of servingness and gaps within this literature base. Specifically, among the 128 qualifying articles, nearly two-thirds focused on student outcomes but overlooked institutions’ organizational context, raising questions about the effect(iveness) of the studied interventions. Additionally, we identified three thematic gaps in this literature: ghosting the HSI context (i.e., relying on HSIs as research sites without considering the unique HSI context); ghosting Latinx culture (i.e., decentering Latinx students and the Latinx community’s sociocultural aspects and assets), and ghosting people and places (i.e., under-examining certain student populations like Latino men in STEM and places like Hispanic-serving community colleges). Ultimately, our study extends the field’s understanding of servingness by attending to STEM education within the context of HSI institutions.Conclusions, brief summary, and potential implicationsBy systematically reviewing studies on STEM education at HSIs, we identified (under)studied components of servingness and patterned gaps within this literature. In doing so, we highlight opportunities to advance STEM servingness at HSIs through future research, policy, and practice. Collectively, these avenues hold the promise of improving STEM education and diversifying the STEM workforce.

Despite recent increases in institutional efforts to improve sexual health safety, few studies have explored Latino college men’s sexual risk behaviors. Considering prior research examining links between sexual risk behaviors and factors such as condom use self-efficacy, sexual health knowledge and education, and sexual empowerment, it is critical to examine their influence on Latino college men’s sexual health in the context of cultural values and sexual scripts. Quantitative cross-sectional design and linear regression models were utilized to analyze responses from 177 Latino college men attending a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the Southeastern region of the United States (U.S.). Our findings revealed that higher satisfaction with sexual health knowledge and education when obtained from informal sources such as family members and peers significantly increased condom use self-efficacy. Contrastingly, greater levels of sexual empowerment significantly decreased Latino college men’s condom use self-efficacy. Findings underline the importance of considering the dynamic interaction of multilevel factors and the sexual decision-making process from a developmentally appropriate, evidence-based, and culturally syntonic lens to address sexual risk behaviors among Latino college men students.

We examined how verbal disclosure affects subjective well-being among gay Latino and White men. In Study 1, increased gay identification predicted increased verbal disclosure for gay White men but not for gay Latino men, who reported verbal disclosure levels in line with a tacit coming out strategy (expressing one’s sexual orientation to others more non-verbally) regardless of their gay identification. Moreover, low verbal disclosure hindered subjective well-being only for gay White men. In Study 2, we show that increased intrinsic self-expression and higher relational self-construal explained the positive relationship between verbal disclosure and well-being among gay White men. This mediational model did not hold for gay Latino men. We discuss verbal disclosure in relation to mainstream understandings of coming out.

There is a high prevalence of childhood sexual abuse and HIV among Latino gay men, with limited proven HIV prevention interventions. This study used qualitative methods to explicate earlier findings showing differential health outcomes among Latino gay men who had no sex, voluntary, or forced sex before age 16. Analyses of in-depth interviews with 27 Latino gay men revealed that structural factors in childhood contribute to their developing sexuality by enhancing or inhibiting a sense of agency. Agency is essential for making decisions that are in line with their intentions to have healthy sexual lives. Findings suggest that interventions should focus on developing a sense of sexual agency among Latino gay men by (a) increasing their recognition of structural factors that contribute to feelings of worthlessness in order to relocate internalized blame and homophobia to external structural forces, (b) facilitating awareness of the social structural oppressions that lead to psychological and sexual risk in order to enhance their options for sexual health, and (c) shifting from individually focused constructions of sexual health to those that consider the structural factors that reduce agency and contribute to diminished sexual health among Latino gay men.

Latino men who have sex with transgender women make up an overlooked sector of the population that requires more attention than is currently given in sexuality and gender studies, particularly in regard to their non-commercial, long-term sexual and romantic relationships with transgender women. Sixty-one sexual histories were selected for this qualitative analysis from a larger study on Latino male bisexuality in the New York City metropolitan area. Findings suggest that participants’ sexual and gender scripts with transgender women are strongly regulated by heteronormativity. Furthermore, homonegativity and transphobia often intersect in the lived experiences of men who have sex with transgender women, resulting in relationship conflicts over the control of transgender women’s bodies, sexual behaviours and gender performance both in public and in private. Findings also suggest that low relationship conflict is more common among men who have sex with transgender women who exhibit diverse sexual roles (being both insertive and receptive during anal sex), or transgress heteronormative scripts through dialogue of desires and/or by embracing transgender women as human beings and not as hyperfeminised objects of desire. Stigma reduction and alternatives to heteronormative interventions are needed to improve relationship dynamics and potentially positively impact on the sexual health and overall wellbeing of Latino men who have sex with transgender women and their transgender partners.

We examined the relationship between verbal disclosure of sexual orientation and mental health among gay Latino and gay White men. In Study 1, we recruited 164 gay Latino ( n = 81) and gay White ( n = 83) men via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Participants completed measures assessing the degree to which they verbally disclosed their gay identity to others, as well as their depression and anxiety symptoms. Increased verbal disclosure predicted better mental health among gay White men only; no statistically significant relationships emerged among gay Latinos. In Study 2, we recruited 281 gay Latino ( n = 130) and White ( n = 151) men via MTurk, in which feelings of shame and guilt independently mediated the relationship between verbal disclosure and mental health. Among gay White men, increased verbal disclosure predicted less shame and guilt, which predicted better mental health. These relationships did not emerge for gay Latinos.

ABSTRACTStudents do not uniformly feel welcome in university environments, and their experiences vary across race. Drawing on 19 interviews with Black and Latino men at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, this study demonstrates that participants perceive the campus racial climate at the organizational level differently. However, perceptions and experiences in microclimates converge and are informed by the lack of Black and Latinx faculty, the underrepresentation of Black students, and experiences with racial microaggressions. This study bridges prior research on microclimates and campus racial climates to advance the concept of campus racial microclimates. I also introduce the concept of academic homeplaces, which are campus racial microclimates that foster a sense of community and affirmation.

The rate of AIDS transmission through gay contact is 1.7 times greater for Latinos than for Whites, while among bisexual men the relative risk for Latinos is 2.5 times higher. Yet, Latino men who have sex with men remain a poorly understood population. This paper describes the Latino Gay Men's Health Project, an anthropologically informed effort to reduce AIDS risk among Latinos by: ethnographically documenting risk patterns; using community outreach to recruit project participants; and, enrolling participants in a community based program designed to assist them in enhancing positive identities as Latino gay bisexual men, acquiring and using AIDS prevention information/skills, and building social support.

This multi-sited case study explored Men of Color (MoC) programs at Hispanic-serving community colleges. By employing frameworks designed to make meaning of Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) organizational identity, we examined how MoC program practitioners define the organizational identity of their Hispanic-serving community college, and how these understandings shape the services provided to Latino men. Findings underscored factors and identity markers that practitioners used to define HSI identity and servingness toward Latino men. In addition, our findings highlighted the problems and inconsistencies that exist when it comes to prioritizing the educational needs of community college Latino men. We provided implications for practice tailored for community college practitioners.

The pervasiveness of sexual assault among college women prompted examination of college students' sexual-consent expectancies using sexual scripting theory as a framework. We aimed to understand how personal beliefs, experiences with sexual violence, and dominant cultural gendered sexual scripts in music media inform sexual-consent expectancies among a sample of primarily White heterosexual college students at a northwestern university (n = 364). Participants viewed music videos with sexual and objectifying content and reported their perceptions of how women were portrayed. Linear mixed modeling with Maximum Likelihood with interactions by biological sex revealed associations between past sexual victimization and lower expectancies to adhere to a sexual partner's consent wishes. Men with a history of perpetrating sexual violence had lower expectancies to ask for consent, and women with more traditional sexual stereotypes had lower expectancies to seek consent or refuse unwanted sex. Having lower expectancies to adhere to a partner's consent wishes was associated with holding more traditional sexual stereotypes for both men and women. Participants who perceived women as powerlessness in viewed music videos had lower expectancies to ask for consent from a sexual partner, to refuse unwanted sexual advances, and to adhere to a decision regarding sexual consent. Through the lens of sexual scripting theory, results advance understanding of how the intersection of biological sex, experiences of sexual violence, gendered beliefs, and cultural scripts in music media inform young adults' sexual expectancies and potential for sexual risk. Implications for prevention include addressing gendered sexual scripts to reduce ambiguity around sexual consent among college students. Media-based interventions are discussed as a strategy toward this end.

Surprisingly little is known about how young gay men structure their sexual behavior in the era of AIDS. This research examines the sexual stories told by 30 White and Latino gay men between the ages of 18 and 24 based on data collected from semistructured interviews. Four dominant sexual scripts (romantic love, erotic adventures, safer sex, and sexual coercion) frame their sexual experiences. These stories illustrate how gay male youth use and adapt gendered sexual scripts encountered in particular social, cultural, and situational contexts. The author examines how interpersonal dynamics, social contexts, and masculinities shape and constrain their sexual experiences. The findings suggest new approaches to studying sexualities based on wedding sexual scripts and queer and gender theories, and accounting for agency and constraint. Directions for HIV-prevention policy-making in light of these newly revealed sexualities conclude this article.

Research on high-achieving Latino men is nascent, especially considering the gender attainment gaps that exist for Latino men in higher education. This multiple-site case study explored two men of color (MoC) programs located at two Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) community colleges in Texas. Using two rounds of qualitative semi-structured interviews, a participant intake form, and an institutional questionnaire, this research applied Schreiner’s (2010) “The Thriving Quotient” and Garcia’s (2018) “Organizational Frameworks for Decolonizing HSIs” to understand how MoC program staff define high-achievement and how MoC programs support high-achieving Latino men. Findings show that MoC staff define high-achievement in various ways that include traditional and decolonial measurements. Moreover, MoC programs support high-achieving Latino men by providing them with mentorship, academic support, and opportunities to learn and engage with the world outside of the classroom. These findings highlight the importance of MoC programs as institutions work to address the gender attainment gaps. Implications for research, policy, and practice are included in this study.

While scholars agree that enrolling a large percentage of Latinx students is not enough for postsecondary institutions to be considered “Latinx-serving,” there continues to be a debate about what it means for institutions to have an organizational identity for serving this population. The Typology of HSI Organizational Identities is a guiding framework that suggests there are multiple ways for an institution to serve Latinx students, and thus multiple “types” of Hispanic- Serving Institutions (HSIs). The typology considers academic and non-academic outcomes for Latinx students as well as the institution’s ability to provide a culture that enhances their racial/ethnic experience. In this study, I used the typology to classify four HSIs and two emerging HSIs in the Midwest, a geographic area in the United States with a growing population of Latinxs and HSIs. I drew on secondary data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and primary data from institutional websites. In doing so, I sought to test the utility of the typology for classifying institutions for research, practice, and policy, and found that it is a useful tool for looking at how postsecondary institutions may serve Latinx students beyond enrollment. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.