Asian Gay Men Research Articles

Religion, Sexuality, and Internalized Homonegativity: Confronting Cognitive Dissonance in the Abrahamic Religions.

This research was aimed at investigating how religious beliefs and internalized shame predicted homonegativity. An online survey, which consisted of a self-report questionnaire assessing religious orientation, internalized shame, and internalized homonegativity, was completed by 133 Caucasian and Asian gay men. The respondents also were asked to write a short answer in which they had to explain how they integrated their religion and sexual practices. The quantitative analyses of data demonstrated no significant difference in internalized homonegativity among the two cultural groups. Internalized homonegativity was predicted by the main Abrahamic faiths (i.e. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) and internalized shame. Qualitative analysis showed that gay men who adhere to a monotheistic religious faith follow a different path to reconciling their religion and homosexuality compared to gay men who adhere to Philosophical/New Age religions or to gay men who have no religious faith. The implications of these findings as well as directions for future research studies were discussed.

The Experience of Relationship Dissolution among British South Asian Gay Men: Identity Threat and Protection

Relationship dissolution has generally been associated with decreased psychological well-being, but little is known about how ethnic and religious minority gay men experience and cope with relationship dissolution. This article examines interview data from sixteen self-identified British South Asian gay men who provided insights into how they experienced and coped with relationship dissolution and into the potential effects of this for identity. Data were analyzed qualitatively using interpretative phenomenological analysis and identity process theory. The following themes are outlined: (i) constructing identity around the relationship; (ii) relationship breakdown and threats to identity; and (iii) repairing identity in silence. The data indicate the centrality of the relationship to identity because of its ability to enhance identity processes and the detrimental effect for identity processes that dissolution can therefore have. Individuals relied heavily upon intrapsychic, deflection strategies for coping with identity threat, which was due to a general lack of social support. Minority group members who are fearful of disclosing their sexual identity to others may cope inadequately with relationship dissolution, exposing identity to chronic threat.

Arranged Marriage, Identity, and Well-being among British Asian Gay Men

The cultural expectation of an arranged heterosexual marriage poses social and psychological challenges for British Asian gay men. This article examines the diary accounts of 12 British Asian gay men concerning their perceptions and feelings concerning marriage in face of familial pressure to get married and the implications for identity processes and psychological well-being. Data were analyzed qualitatively using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Identity Process Theory. The following themes are outlined: (1) “Bringing it up”: Coercion, threat, and negative emotions; (2) Sidestepping marriage: Strategies for coping with threat; and (3) “A no-win situation”: Marriage as a dilemma. Familial coercion into marriage can threaten identity and psychological well-being and individuals seem to deploy intrapsychic/interpersonal coping strategies which have limited long-term efficacy.

We Pretend like Sexuality Doesn't Exist: Managing Homophobia in Gaysian America

Despite the well documented cases of homophobia experienced by gay Asian men in Asian communities, there is currently little research examining how members of this group manage the stigmatized statuses of homosexuality. In this article, we examine stigma management strategies used by gay Asian men to deal with homophobia and explore how members of this group engage in both individual stigma management strategies as well as collective stigma management strategies with their family and friends in order to maintain family harmony. Finally, we also explore ways that members of this group attempt to redefine homosexuality in an effort to de-stigmatize what it means to be gay and Asian.

I Know a Lot of Gay Asian Men who Are Actually Tops: Managing and Negotiating Gay Racial Stigma

Despite the well documented cases of racism toward gay Asian men in the gay community in the United States, there is currently little research examining how gay Asian men manage the stigmatized statuses of race. In this article, we examine stigma management strategies employed by gay Asian men and explore how gay Asian men engage in both individual-level and group-level stigma management strategies in an attempt to maintain their self-esteem in light of racism and to directly address the stigma of race by reconceptualizing what it means to be both gay and Asian within the larger gay community.

Sexuality, space and migration: South Asian gay men in Australia

AbstractThis paper investigates the relationship between migration, private space and sexual expression for South Asian gay men who have relocated to Melbourne, Australia. Little is known about South Asian gay men who have moved to Australia, or the role of mobility and spatial setting in constituting their sexualities. To tackle this gap, 23 South Asian gay men (21–50 years old) living in Melbourne were interviewed. This paper discusses emergent themes on the contribution of migration and private space to constituting sexual identities. Cultural expectations for marriage, social stigma about homosexuality and a lack of private spaces for sexual exploration, constrained the participants' sexual expression in South Asia. These factors underpinned some men's migration decisions. But while living away from family and country of origin provide private spaces and greater freedom, ‘coming out’ and expressing homosexual interests within private domestic space in Australia is not always easy or possible.

Anti-Asian Sentiment Amongst a Sample of White Australian Men on Gaydar

Whilst the homogenizing descriptor ‘gay’ is often used in a singular sense to refer to ‘the gay community,’ research has increasingly recognized that individuals within gay communities are as diverse as they are within the broader community. Importantly, recognition of this diversity requires an acknowledgement of the fact that, just as in the broader community, discrimination occurs within gay communities. The present study sought to examine the degree to which racism occurs within gay men’s online communities (in the form of anti-Asian sentiment expressed in the profiles of a small number of the 60,082 White Australian gay men living in five major Australian states whose profiles were listed on the website gaydar.com.au during October 2010), the forms that such racism takes, and whether any White gay men resisted such racism. The findings report on a thematic and subsequent rhetorical analysis of the profiles of the sub-sample of 403 White gay men who expressed anti-Asian sentiment. Such sentiment, it was found, was expressed in four distinct ways: 1) the construction of racism as ‘personal preference,’ 2) the construction of Asian gay men as not ‘real men,’ 3) the construction of Asian gay men as a ‘type,’ and 4) the assumption that saying ‘sorry’ renders anti-Asian sentiment somehow acceptable. Whilst the numbers of White gay men expressing anti-Asian sentiment were relatively small, it is suggested that the potential impact of anti-Asian sentiment upon Asian gay men who view such profiles may be considerable, and thus that this phenomenon requires ongoing examination.

Gay Asian Masculinities and Christian Theologies

Gay Asian Masculinities and Christian Theologies Patrick S. Cheng The gay Asian American male body is a highly contested site with respect to masculinity. On the one hand, we gay Asian men1 are often seen by the white gay community as sexually undesirable because our “oriental” racialized bodies are perceived to be less masculine. On the other hand, we are often seen by the straight Asian American community as sexually dangerous because of our perceived deviance from the heterosexual norms of masculinity. The experience of living at the intersections of racism and homophobia is a common theme in the narratives of gay Asian men. Many gay Asian men experience a profound sense of metaphorical homelessness. To paraphrase Jesus’ saying about the Son of Man, we have nowhere to rest our embattled bodies.2 We neither belong fully to the gay community that is overwhelmingly white nor do we belong fully to the overwhelmingly straight Asian American community. This essay will explore how the embattled gay Asian male body, like the bruised and battered corpus of Jesus Christ on the cross, might serve an atoning purpose by decolonizing the racism and homophobia of contemporary Christian theologies. That is, gay Asian men—by the very fact of our hybrid and intersectional existence—are called to challenge both the whiteness of queer theology and the heterosexuality of Asian American theology. Gay Asian Narratives Although Asian male bodies have existed in North America since at least the 1700s, the voices of gay Asian men did not emerge until the rise of the gay rights movement in the United States in the 1960s. One of the earliest of such voices is that of Kiyoshi Kuromiya. He was a gay activist of Asian descent who wrote about his hybridized experiences of both racism and homophobia. Kuromiya, a third‐generation Japanese American, was born in an internment camp during the Second World War and raised in a conservative Christian household. In 1965, he participated in one of the first‐ever gay rights demonstrations, which actually occurred in Philadelphia several years before the Stonewall Riots in New York City. As someone who lived on the intersections of racism and homophobia, Kuromiya criticized both the exclusion of people of color by the predominantly white and middle‐class homophile movement as well as the homophobic slurs of activists of color such as the Black Panthers.3 In the mid‐1990s, the voices of gay Asian men emerged with full force. During this time, a number of groundbreaking anthologies of the LGBTQ Asian experience were published, including Asian American Sexualities: Dimensions of the Gay and Lesbian Experience (1996), Q&A: Queer in Asian America (1998), and Rice: Explorations in Asian Gay Culture and Politics (1998).4 It also saw the rapid growth of many gay Asian organizations across the United States, including Gay Asian and Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY) in New York City. The publication of several other anthologies of gay Asian voices followed, including Take Out: Queer Writing from Asian Pacific America (2000) and Embodying Asian/American Sexualities (2009).5 The narratives of gay Asian men in these anthologies include essays, short stories, poetry, art, and photography. One theme consistently appears throughout the various narratives: the experience of double marginalization in the form of racism from the white gay community and homophobia from the straight Asian American community. As the gay Asian writer Eric Wat puts it, those of us who are gay Asian men are caricatured as either submissive houseboys or corrupt perverts. In other words, we are “run over at the intersection of racism and homophobia” and “left in the middle of the road, unacceptable to those at either side of the street.”6 Racism and the Gay Community In a provocative essay from 1991, “Looking for My Penis: The Eroticized Asian in Gay Video Porn,” the gay Asian filmmaker Richard Fung writes about how Asian men are viewed as “undersexed” by the white gay community. In contrast to the Black man—who, according to the post‐colonial theorist Frantz Fanon, “is turned into a penis”7—Asian men are defined by a “striking absence” of the penis. As such, Asian men in gay...

If I was infected with HIV, I would be letting my family down: Family influences on risk and protective factors for unsafe sex among gay Asian Pacific Islander men

This article examines family influences on risk and protective factors associated with unsafe sex among gay Asian Pacific Islander men. Twenty-five gay Asian Pacific Islanders completed individual interviews regarding factors that may lead them to engage in unsafe sex as well as factors that may lead them to engage in protective sex. Analysis of qualitative data revealed three ways by which family members influence sexual behaviour. We found that the way that (1) the way these men perceived family obligation and the need to avoid shame, (2) the level of active family participation, and (3) internalisation of what these men perceived to be ‘Asian’ values influenced whether their families acted as a protective factor or not in terms of HIV risk behaviours.

Negotiating Sissyphobia: A Critical/Interpretive Analysis of One “Femme” Gay Asian Body in the Heteronormative World

A selection of literature suggests that gay Asian men are considered unattractive and undesirable, because they are socially positioned as “feminine” in the gendered hierarchy of White centered hegemonic masculinity among gay men. However, the author questions why the discourse of oppression is the only way to interpret performative aspects of gay Asian cultural identity constructions in this multicultural and globalized era. In identifying with such labeling, he perceives multiple “realities” of performative aspects of its cultural identity constructions, since the perception of Asians in the West has been in constant change. Thus, this analysis utilizes performance autoethnography to explicate the author's personal text; the process of negotiating performative aspects of gay Asian cultural identity construction in the heteronormative world.

Disclosure, discrimination and desire: experiences of Black and South Asian gay men in Britain

Using findings from a qualitative investigation based on in-depth email interviews with 47 Black and South Asian gay men in Britain, this paper explores the cross-cutting identities and discourses in relation to being both gay and from an ethnic minority background. Taking an intersectional approach, detailed accounts of identity negotiation, cultural pressures, experiences of discrimination and exclusion and the relationship between minority ethnic gay men and mainstream White gay culture are presented and explored. The major findings common to both groups were: cultural barriers limiting disclosure of sexuality to family and wider social networks; experiences of discrimination by White gay men that included exclusion as well as objectification; a lack of positive gay role models and imagery relating to men from minority ethnic backgrounds. Among South Asian gay men, a major theme was regret at being unable to fulfil family expectations regarding marriage and children, while among Black gay men, there was a strong belief that same-sex behaviour subverted cultural notions related to how masculinity is configured. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of social location, particularly education and income, when examining the intersection of ethnicity and sexuality in future research.

Asian Girls are Prettier: Gendered Presentations as Stigma Management among Gay Asian Men

Despite the well‐documented cases of racism toward gay Asian men in the gay community, there is currently little research on how gay Asian men manage racial stigma. In this article, I examine the racial stigma management strategies of gay Asian men. I examine the nature of gay racial stigma toward gay Asian men and find that they use gendered presentations to counter the stereotype that they are more feminine than gay white men. While some gay Asian men engender a hypermasculine presentation, others use a hyperfeminine presentation to trade a more‐stigmatized status for one that is less stigmatizing. More important, these men actively embrace stereotypes to successfully make these transitions. This article demonstrates that stigmatized groups can manage stigma by highlighting their spoiled identities rather than attempting to minimize them.

Sexy like a Girl and Horny like a Boy: Contemporary Gay 'Western' Narratives about Gay Asian Men

In recent decades, gay people of color have begun to challenge old assumptions regarding what it means to be 'gay', posing a threat to older notions of 'gay' identity. However, much of the coverage in 'mainstream' gay publications remains geared toward white readers. Using critical discourse analysis, this article analyzes the coverage in 'mainstream' gay magazines and argues that 'gay' publications have marginalized gay Asian men by simply ignoring their existence or employing existing stereotypes about Asian men in general, thereby, maintaining 'gay' as largely a 'white' category and relegating gay Asian men to the margins of the gay 'community'.

"Perceived group devaluation, depression, and HIV-risk behavior among Asian gay men": Correction to Chae and Yoshikawa (2008).

"Perceived group devaluation, depression, and HIV-risk behavior among Asian gay men": Correction to Chae and Yoshikawa (2008).

Perceived group devaluation, depression, and HIV-risk behavior among Asian gay men.

This study examined depressive mood and HIV-risk behavior in relation to perceived group devaluation and group identity. Cross-sectional survey of 192 Asian gay men. Depressive mood assessed using the Centers for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and self-reported receptive or insertive unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) in the past 3 months. Group devaluation was positively associated with depressive mood. Among participants most attracted to Whites, group devaluation was associated with higher levels of nonprimary partner UAI; but was associated with lower levels of nonprimary partner UAI [corrected] among those most attracted to non-Whites. Among participants reporting higher levels of group devaluation, those with more positive personal evaluations of the Asian gay community had lower levels of total UAI compared to those with more negative personal evaluations of the Asian gay community. Results suggest that group devaluation is associated with higher levels of depressive mood among Asian gay men. Asian gay men most attracted to non-Whites or hold more positive evaluations of their group may be buffered from the influence of high perceived group devaluation on UAI.

No fats, femmes, or Asians: the utility of critical race theory in examining the role of gay stock stories in the marginalization of gay Asian men

In the last few decades, proponents of critical race theory have uncovered everyday forms of injustice that continue to affect the lives of men and women of color by exposing the subtle forms of racism that exist in the stock stories told by the dominant group as well as the counterstories told by subaltern groups. However, rarely have we examined the stock stories articulated by subaltern groups to marginalize other subaltern groups. In this paper, I consider the stock stories told by gay White men and the counterstories expressed by gay Asian men to examine subtle forms of racism within the gay community. I argue that we need not only to reveal how the stories narrated by the dominant group continue to maintain social inequality, but that we also need to consider how subaltern groups help to maintain social inequality by adapting the language of the dominant group to use against other subaltern groups.

Negotiating Social Stigma Among Gay Asian Men

It has long been argued that stereotypes have led many gay Asian men to have negative feelings about themselves and other gay Asians, to the idealization of white men as potential partners, hostility towards other gay Asians, internalization of the stereotypes as passive and submissive, and being sexually objectified by some white men. To counter the effects of the stereotypes, critics and theorists of the gay Asian experience suggest increasing the visibility of Asian role models in the gay community, developing a strong sense of self-identity by choosing Asian men as potential partners, and encouraging involvement with the mainstream gay community. In contrast, we explore resistance to the stereotypes at a personal level, using narratives obtained through a series of interviews to analyze the ways in which gay Asian men negotiate and (re)frame the social stigma associated with their bodies and desire for white men. We argue that gay Asian men do not simply accept the negative stereotypes imposed by the dominant culture; rather, they actively resist and continuously reconstruct meanings about their bodies and desires.

Geisha of a different kind: Gay Asian men and the gendering of sexual identity

Much has been written about how gender, sexuality, and race are socially constructed. However, less common have been examinations of how these categories are constructed for, and influence, those who inhabit the margins of multiple categories. In this paper, I explore the various ways that gay Asian men have been portrayed in Western, particularly American, narratives and media images. Rather than simply experiencing oppression for being gay and again for being Asian, I argue that gay Asian men have experienced a unique set of social dilemmas because they are gay AND Asian. As such, I explore media images and popular narratives that have gendered Asian men in general and gay Asian men in particular to create a contextual basis for gay Asian male identity development. In doing so, I argue that much more than simply prescribing a gendered role for gay Asian men to “perform,” these constructions may have detrimental affects for gay Asian men’s sense of self-esteem, mental well-being, and physical health.

Asian Gay Men's Bodies

Men's bodies have been increasingly placed under scrutiny in contemporary Western culture. Gay males have been identified as presenting a greater risk of body image disturbance than heterosexual males as a consequence of the aesthetically driven gay culture. While there are few services available for gay men with body image concerns, there are even fewer available for gay men from non-English speaking cultures. This is a concern for young gay males coming from masculinised cultures in which living up to archetypal heterosexual masculine ideals is a cultural family imperative. This paper reports qualitative research with six Asian gay males living in Adelaide, Australia, aged 18–25. A life historical perspective provides reflections on the participants' bodies growing up gay in masculinised cultures. The paper also highlights the men's current plight as they struggle to come to terms with being Asian gay men living in a white, heterosexual, Anglo-Australian environment.

Gay Asian men in Sydney resist international trend: no change in rates of unprotected anal intercourse, 1999-2002.

Against a background of increasing unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) in the Sydney gay community (and internationally), complementary cross-sectional surveys of sexual practice were conducted among gay men of Asian background in 1999 (N = 319) and 2002 (N = 457). Self-complete questionnaires were used with recruitment at gay bars, gay social functions, and gay sex-on-premises venues. In 2002, self-report HIV status was 73.7% HIV-negative, 3.6% HIV-positive, and 22.8% unknown status (no significant change from 1999). Over time, the proportion of gay Asian men who reported any UAI with regular partners (in the previous 6 months) did not change significantly: 27.9% in 1999; 24.3% in 2002. Similarly, rates of any UAI with casual partners remained steady: 16.3% in 1999; 14.4% in 2002. Only one factor, more extensive engagement in esoteric practices (fisting, sadomasochism, group sex, rimming), was independently associated with sexual risk practice. This suggests that risk in this population of gay men, as in others, has more to do with the sexual cultures in which men are embedded rather than individual-level differences.