Same-sex Experience Research Articles

Trends and Predictors of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Antibody Testing by Homosexual and Bisexual Adolescent Males, 1989-1994

To identify temporal trends and predictors of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody testing in homosexual and bisexual youth, using the Health Belief Model as a conceptual framework. Cross-sectional survey. Five hundred one male volunteers, 13 to 21 years old, self-identified as homosexual, bisexual, or as having sex with men, were enrolled from June 1, 1989, to May 30, 1994. Structured reviews and written instruments, including measures of perceived susceptibility to and severity of HIV disease, benefits and barriers to testing, and cues to action. Based on significant (P < .001) bivariate association, variables were selected for forward stepwise logistic regression analysis. Self-reported HIV antibody testing. Forty-five percent of the subjects had undergone HIV antibody testing, with no significant differences between annual cohorts. Predictors of testing were having discussed same-sex feelings or experiences with a physician or counselor, a history of unprotected receptive anal intercourse, substance abuse, younger age at self-identification as bisexual or homosexual, ever having had a steady male partner, having many friends who understand sexual orientation, living away from family, and older age. Testing practices did not change significantly across time. Human immunodeficiency virus testing was related to age, risky behaviors, living situation, bisexual or homosexual acculturation, and contacts with health professionals, corresponding to Health Belief/Model dimensions of perceived susceptibility, barriers, and cues to action.

The Effects of Premarital Heterosexual and Homosexual Experience on Dating and Marriage Desirability

This study concerns the relationship between past sexual behavior and one's acceptability as a dating or marriage partner. Samples selected from two different university populations confirm an earlier finding that preference is shown by both men and women for partners without previous coital or oral heterosexual experience. We also investigated the effects of homosexual experience on dating and marriage preference. The very strong rejection of those with any form of same-sex experience overshadows all findings concerning heterosexual behaviors. This seems to represent a generalized homophobia rather than a concern about AIDS.

Writing Gone Wilde: Homoerotic Desire in the Closet of Representation

The name Oscar Wilde has become one of the best-known indexes of late nineteenth-century male homoerotic desire. To situate Wilde's emergence as “a homosexual” in late nineteenth-century literary contexts and thereby explore the ways that sex-gender ideologies shape specific literary works, I focus first on Teleny, a novel widely attributed to Wilde and one of the earliest examples of male homoerotic pornography. Then, by analyzing the more celebrated and yet manifestly “straight” text The Picture of Dorian Gray, I illustrate that, even in the absence of explicit homosexual terminology or activity, a text can subvert the normative standards for male same-sex behavior. In considering how these works challenge the hegemonic representations of male homoerotic experience in late Victorian Britain, I suggest that textual depictions of male same-sex experience both reproduce and resist the dominant (hetero)sexual ideologies and practices.