Minority Of Men Research Articles

Sexual compulsivity and substance use in hiv-seropositive men who have sex with men: Prevalence and predictors of high-risk behaviors

Most persons aware of their HIV-positive serostatus refrain from sexual behavior that could transmit HIV infection to others. However, a minority of men who test HIV-seropositive continue to engage in transmission risk behavior. One factor that may play a role in high-risk sexual activity involves sexual behavior self-management. The present study investigated the role of sexual compulsivity as a contributing factor to high-risk sexual behavior in HIV seropositive men who have sex with men ( N = 112). Participants also completed measures of factors known to be related to risky sexual behavior including: personal substance use, sexual partner substance use, pleasure associated with high-risk activities, beliefs about transmission risks, intentions to avoid future instances of risky behavior, and self-esteem. Men scoring high on sexual compulsivity reported engaging in more frequent unprotected sexual acts with more partners, reported greater use of cocaine in conjunction with sexual activity, rated high-risk sexual acts as more pleasurable, and reported lower self-esteem. Mediational analyses indicated that the relationship between sexual compulsivity and high-risk sexual behavior was partially mediated by both personal cocaine use and partner cocaine use in conjunction with sexual activity. The results suggest a need to integrate HIV risk-reduction services and substance use treatment for those persons living with HIV who have difficulty avoiding transmission risk behavior.

Understanding Barriers to the Early Detection of Prostate Cancer Among Men of Lower Socioeconomic Status

ABSTRACTObjectives: Prostate cancer accounted for more than 180,000 new cases and almost 40,000 deaths in the United States in 1998. Higher rates of mortality have been noted among racial minorities and lower socioeconomic status groups, primarily because of advanced stage of cancer at presentation. Understanding barriers toward early detection of prostate cancer may help diminish these variations.Materials and Methods: Thirty‐two focus group sessions with individuals of lower socioeconomic status addressed attitudes toward physical examinations, prostate cancer, and sources of health‐care information. Barriers to early detection were identified, based on transcripts that were analyzed using the Health Belief Model.Results: Most men of lower socioeconomic status viewed physical examinations negatively, with barriers including time, monetary costs, negative impressions of the prostate examination, and lack of belief in early detection. Among the minority of men who had had prostate examinations, they typically did so as part of examinations for chronic medical conditions or because of employer requirements for routine check‐ups. The rectal examination was viewed very negatively because of concerns of physical pain, social embarrassment, and uncertain value. Fear and fatalism regarding prostate cancer were expressed by the majority of attendees. With respect to sources of health information, men typically received health‐care information from the media, with television being the most common source. No significant differences in barriers to early detection efforts were observed between focus groups composed of white versus African American poor men.Conclusions: The Health Belief Model provides a framework for evaluating the perceptions of men of lower socioeconomic status toward the early detection of prostate cancer. Negative perceptions regarding physical examinations and skepticism about the value of early detection were major barriers to the early detection of prostate cancer. Targeted strategies directed at each of these barriers are needed to improve the rates of early detection in men of lower socioeconomic status.

Neodymium:YAG laser coagulation prostatectomy for patients in urinary retention.

Urinary retention necessitating catheterization is the presenting complaint for a significant minority of men requiring surgical therapy for bladder outlet obstruction. A total of 67 men presented in acute or chronic urinary retention and underwent Nd:YAG laser prostatectomy. Their mean age was 71 years, the mean estimated excess transition zone tissue was 40 g, and the mean laser energy delivery was 48 kJ. The median postoperative catheterization time was 10 days. Five men required catheterization for > or = 6 weeks, and in five men, the catheter was removed within 48 hours. In four men (6%), a successful postoperative voiding trial was never achieved. Postoperatively, mean voiding measures for the remaining 63 men were a peak flow rate of 16.1 mL/sec, a post void residual volume of 113 mL, and an AUA Symptom Index score of 7.7. Complications included urinary tract infection in two, urethral stricture in one, and bladder neck contracture in 3 men. Four men have subsequently elected additional treatment for bladder outlet obstruction (two transurethral resections, one repeat laser, and one terazosin), for an overall treatment failure rate of 6 of 67 (9%), including the two men who remain catheterized. Laser coagulation prostatectomy produces little or no acute morbidity with a successful long-term voiding outcome in the majority of men requiring treatment for acute or chronic urinary retention.

Premature Ejaculation: A psychophysiological review

This review examines the most common male sexual dysfunction, premature ejaculation (PE). The prevalence, classafication, neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, and psychologacal studies thatofer evidence useful for understanding and clinically evaluating PE are reviewed. It is proposedthat there are two basic kinds of PE: biogenic and psychogenic. Studies reporting pharmacologzcal aspects of ejaculation offer some suggestions regarding the mechanisms of ejaculation as well as possible pharmacologic aid for some premature ejaculators. The traditional assumption amongsex therapists that PE is almost universally caused 4 psychologacal features, and easily treated with sex therapy behavioral techniques, is drawn into question. Based on the limited available results from systematic investigations, behavioral treatments for PE remain benejicial to only a minority of men three years afer treatment ends, suggesting that this male dysfunction is daficult to treat effectively. The mediocre results reported in treatment outcome studies may be due, in part, to reports on heterogeneous groups of premature ejaculators, for whom treatment has beengeneralized rather than targeted to the specific type of PE. We propose a biologzcal and psychologzcal etiology. With more discriminating assessment and more specific diagnosis of PE, and withtreatment designed to address the particular type of PE, long–term outcome should improve for this common sexual dysfunction.

A typology of perceived HIV/AIDS risk‐reduction strategies used by men who “cruise” other men for anonymous sex

A minority of men who have sex with other men continue to engage in unsafe sex practices. Evidence suggests that some may do so because they falsely believe themselves capable of selecting HIV‐negative (i.e., “safe”) sex partners while “cruising,” or while searching for anonymous sex. I explored this idea further by looking at reported strategies, or “partner‐screening procedures,” perceived as effective for identifying “safe” partners. Thirty‐five men who sought other men sexually by cruising were interviewed in depth, and a typology of seven partner‐screening procedures was constructed from their accounts of how they identified high‐risk or low‐risk partners. Operational definitions of each procedure were formulated, examples of how each procedure was used are given, and frequencies of those who used or advocated using them are reported. Virtually all participants strongly preferred HIV‐negative sex partners, and 77% believed that casual sex partners can be screened to some extent by gathering information about them. Although most used or advocated using partner‐screening procedures as an additional means of HIV avoidance, some respondents reported using them as the only means of protection when they believed that they had successfully identified an HIV‐negative partner. It is suggested that partner‐screening procedures, and the beliefs behind them, are unanticipated products of contradictory AIDS‐prevention messages. Further research is recommended to learn the extent to which the procedures are used, which social and psychological factors may be associated with those who use them, and how their use varies among setting and circumstance. I also recommend that research be extended to men and women seeking other‐gender partners.

Body Mass Index and Nutrition in the Aetiology of Osteoporosis

Musculoskeletal disorders are the most frequently reported long-standing illness or disability in Britain. Osteoporosis is a subheading of these disorders frequently first diagnosed following fracture. British research shows body mass index (BMI) to be the most statistically significant risk factor, showing an increase by a factor of 6.7 for hip fractures as BMI fell from 25 to under 20. Research in nine countries is introduced showing BMI is an accepted key risk factor for osteoporosis. Irregular menstruation is a risk factor for poor nutrition and later osteoporosis. Exercise on an adequate diet increases bone mineral density, but increases the risk of osteoporosis on an inadequate diet and low BMI. A minority of men and women live until their 80s with fully adequate bone density, suggesting that osteoporosis is wholly preventable. But the majority, and particularly women over 50, have a deteriorating bone density. Hormone replacement therapy is a valuable preventative for women at risk. Several studies...

Social Inequality and Black Sexual Pathology: The Essential Relationship

SUMMARYSexuality, in a historical and biological sense, was the tool by which Homosapiens reproduced their species. There is evidence that in its original form, there were few regulations or controls of this powerful drive when property was held in common by human tribes. Only as the concept of private property developed did sexuality become a part of property relationships in Western society. The female body was objectified and bartered as a commodity among men of the bourgeoisie. However, black women in the United States, always fell under a special set of rules. As true of black males, they were used primarily for their labor value. Because the could not legally enter into a legally-recognized contractual marriage except in rare instances, sexuality was not a commodity to exchange for the frequently given- and taken- by the physically superior males in her environment. Where possible, during slavery and immediately afterwards, she tried to stay in monogamous relationships. However; the social and legal sanctions for her sexual exclusivity were either absent or weak in the post-bellum South.Positives can come out of negatives and the result was a healthier articulation of the sexual impulse for black men and women. Yet, the sexual ideology of American society, which was puritanical and restricted sexual activity of women, had the effect of conservatizing the black females sexual activity and behaviors, as Afro-American women took on the sexual values of Euro-Americans. Bargaining became common in the working class as women sought the exchange of their sexuality for the meager, material and psychic rewards in the black community. Men, in turn, used the weapons of physical force and social coercion to elicit sexual compliance when their carnal desires were unrequited. The effect of this internecine conflict about sexual access, rebounded to the power elite, as men and women organized into separate interest groups over the availability of sexual congress.The laissez faire period of the twentieth century unleashed the female sexual instinct, as the industrial revolution and numerous wars made them less dependent on marriage for a decent standard of living. Since humans are capable of a variety of sexual permutations, a range of sexual behaviors evolved when women were unshackled from their sexual straight jacket. Still the dominant sexual motif was the treatment of women as organic property and a number of sexual pathologies developed therefrom. Because blacks had the fewest resources of all sex-race groups, they were most likely to be the victims of those sexual pathologies. White males, in control of everything, were the biggest benefactors of a system that devalued women and pitted them against men. While the battle ostensibly, was over control of her body, in reality, the sexual Conflict has been a war for access for society's material resources. Black male sexuality can only be understood in the context of race and class constraints on the expression of that sexuality. Because other avenues of mobility have been blocked by the persistent racial barriers, sexual expression has taken on a status beyond mere fulfillment of physical desires. Sexual competence becomes a status enhancing value, which is often translated into hypersexuality on the part of black males. However; such perversion of a “normal” or healthy sexual appetite seems largely confined to lower class black males, and only a minority of men in that class. Only through the elimination of poverty and the provision of adequate employment opportunities can we hope to avoid the use of sexuality as an instrument of domination and control. Once sexual expression is freed from its link to definitions of masculinity, both men and women can develop healthy modalities of sexual communication and interaction.

GENDER AND VARIETIES OF WHITE‐COLLAR CRIME*

The Wheeler et al. (1982) data set of white‐collar defendants is used to compare men's and women's socioeconomic profiles and occupations and the nature of their illegalities. The results show that a minority of men but only a handful of women fit the image of a highly placed white‐collar offender. Most employed women were clerical workers, and most employed men were managers or administrators. Women were more likely to be nonwhite, less likely to have completed college, and owned less in economic assets. Men were more likely to work in crime groups and to use organizational resources in carrying out crimes, and their attempted economic gains were higher. Occupational marginality, not mobility, better explains the form of women's white‐collar crime. The results raise questions about white‐collar arrest data and the nature of crime and offenders in white‐collar sentencing samples. They compel an investigation of the multiple injuences of gender, class, and race relations in generating varieties of white‐collar crime and in being caught and prosecuted for white‐collar crime.

A Population Profile of Very Old Men and Women in the United States

This article presents the 1st population profile of men and women aged 85 and over. The analysis uses Sample A the 5% sample of the 1980 census microdata files. Results show that there are not very many very old men. In 1980 nearly 70% of those aged 85 and over were women. Men were better off than women in both socioeconomic and relational characteristics in that they had higher personal incomes from nearly all sources and were more likely to be married and living independently. They were often cared for in their own homes by younger spouses; consequently they did not live in nursing homes in as great a proportion as very old women. In a sense then the generalizations about the very old have a female bias; the hidden minority of men fits the stereotype of the very old less closely than do women. (authors modified)

Male sex hormone status in dermatitis herpetiformis.

In twenty-eight men with dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) the mean serum testosterone levels were within normal limits, but high levels were found in three patients with partial villous atrophy and two who had normal jejunal biopsies. The introduction of a gluten-free diet in patients with villous atrophy produced a statistically significant fall in the testosterone level in those able to discontinue their drug treatment but not in those noticing no change or only a reduction in drug requirements. The serum levels of luteinizing hormone or follicle-stimulating hormone were increased in nine patients; only one of these had a raised testosterone level and six were over 60 years of age. Four out of twenty married males with DH had no children, a figure higher than expected. Three of these men had elevated gonadotrophin levels although none had an increased serum testosterone. Thus, raised levels of testosterone and gonadotrophin were found in only a minority of men with DH, in contrast to the more marked changes previously reported in males with coeliac disease.

The pioneering women mathematicians

The first creative and professional woman mathematician was Sof'ya Vasil'yevna Kovalevskaya (1850-1891), [11] and [20], bu t six w o m e n are k n o w n to have achieved some distinction in mathematics before her (cf. the very title of [17]). The lives of those six pioneers were extraordinary in the strict sense of the word, since no ordinary woman could possibly have succeeded in an intellectual activity in which only a tiny minority of men had worked seriously.

The Sharp End: The Fighting Man in World War II.

Originally published in 1980, The Sharp End has been through several editions on both sides of the Atlantic and has established itself a classic work of military history, Aurum is delighted to be publishing this new edition with the addition of a specially commissioned Foreword by one of today's most distinguished historians, Sir Max Hastings. In any army, it is only a minority of men who end up as combat soldiers, at the 'sharp end' where they have to shoot and be shot at, but it is, of course, their experiences which are the most intense and which tell us most directly what war is actually like. In this book John Ellis has drawn together the testimony of men who fought with the British, Commonwealth and American armies in all theatres of the Second World War, from Western Europe to Burma and from North Africa to the Pacific. He uses these eyewitness accounts to explain how they were trained, the different landscapes and climates in which they fought, their attitudes and aspirations, how they relaxed when they were out of the line and, above all, how they reacted to the experience of battle. Reviewers of the original edition were unanimous in their praise: 'It is the most comprehensive, best balanced, most sensitive and best informed study of the condition of the fighting man in our time.' General Sir John Hackett 'I believe John Ellis to be an exceptionally gifted writer and historian. I have returned to The Sharp End many times.' Len Deighton 'It would not be easy to find a better book about war...Mr Ellis has got it exactly right.' Major-General John Strawson John Ellis' other books include Cassino: The Hollow Victory, The World War I Databook, The World War II Databook (all published by Aurum), The Social History of the Machine Gun and Brute Force: Allied Tactics and Strategy in the Second World War.

Edmund Halley, F. R. S. 1656-1742 (A commemorative lecture given on 21 November 1956, at the Royal Society’s celebration of Halley’s tercentenary)

TODAY we celebrate the tercentenary of Edmond Halley. The reputed date of his birth is 29 October (Old Style), 8 November (New Style) 1656, but I think it likely that our celebration is a year too soon. An uncertainty of one year in 300 is of little importance, but the later date implies a still more remarkable precocity in the youthful Halley. Only a tiny minority of men are remembered three centuries after their birth. Halley’s claims to such remembrance are strong and numerous. He was a scientist of singular ability, enthusiasm and versatility. The range of his achievements during his long life, of over 85 years, far surpasses that of most men of science. They made him an outstanding figure in the scientific world of his time, and assure him a place in any comprehensive history of science.

The Birth of Democracy

The origins of modern democracy are so closely bound up with the history of liberalism that it is a matter of considerable difficulty to disentangle them and to distinguish their distinctive contributions to the common political tradition of modern Western culture. For this question also involves that of the relation between the three revolutions, the English, the American, and the French, which transformed the Europe of the ancien régime, with its absolute monarchies and state churches, into the modern world. Now all these three revolutions were liberal revolutions and all of them were political expressions of the movement of the European enlightenment in its successive phases. But this movement was not originally a democratic one and it was only in the second half of the eighteenth century that the democratic ideal was clearly formulated. On the continent of Europe the revolution of ideas preceded the political and economic revolutions by half a century, and the revolution of ideas was not in any sense of the word a democratic movement; it was the work of a small minority of men of letters who looked to the nobles and the princes of Europe rather than to the common people, and whose ideal of government was a benevolent and enlightened absolutism, like that of Frederick the Great or the Empress Catherine of Russia. There was an immense gulf between the ideas of Voltaire and Turgot, of Diderot and D'Alembert, and the opinions of the average man. The liberalism of the philosophers was a hothouse growth which could not be easily acclimatized to the open air of the fields and the market place.