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Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents abstracts of papers to be presented at the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS) Hanoi Conference to be held in 2009, including research about unwanted sex within marriage in Vietnam, sexual behavior of foreign male students studying in Indonesia, and sexual behavior of Filipino men during travel and on the internet.

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Marriage is a point of change in young people's lives, especially in parts of the world that place high value on it, such as in South Asian countries including Nepal. However, marriage practices are changing, with a move towards more love marriage; this is likely to have important implications on women's status and agency, household and couple dynamics, and mental and physical health. The aim of this paper is to describe how changing marriage formation patterns and traditional practices such as co-residence and dowry are intersecting and impacting relationships post-marriage. In-depth qualitative interviews took place with 20 intact triads of newly married women, their husbands and their mothers-in-law, in one district of Nepal in 2017. Many marriages remain arranged; however, couples often talk or meet before marriage and feel that they are able to build a foundation of love before marrying. Access to technology facilitates this practice, although some couples are reluctant to admit their communication, suggesting stigma about this practice. Husbands have growing ambivalence about dowry, leading to confusion and negatively impacting on relationships post-marriage. A clash of traditional and modern ideas and practices is occurring in Nepal, influencing newly married women's household status and relationship quality, and potentially impacting women's health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people experience significant healthcare inequalities and barriers to healthcare services. Contextualised within six Member States of the European Union (EU), this paper discusses efforts to identify and explore the nature of barriers to healthcare as part of Health4LGBTI, a 2-year pilot project funded by the EU. Data were generated through focus groups and interviews with LGBTI people and healthcare professionals and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings reveal that barriers to healthcare are underpinned by two related assumptions held by healthcare professionals: first, the assumption that patients are heterosexual, cisgender and non-intersex by default; second, the assumption that LGBTI people do not experience significant problems (and therefore that their experience is mostly irrelevant to healthcare). On the other hand, it is notable that responding healthcare professionals were broadly 'LGBTI-friendly'. Thus, we argue that efforts to improve LGBTI healthcare should not be limited to engaging with healthcare professionals with negative views of LGBTI people. Rather, such efforts should also tackle these assumptions amongst LGBTI-friendly healthcare professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the USA, Black girls and women face significant health disparities and disproportionately experience violence, racism, discrimination, stereotype messaging and elevated STI/HIV rates. Research shows the importance of familial systems and effective communication in decreasing risky behaviours among Black girls. This grounded theory study explored the sociocultural conditions that influence the process of becoming a sexual Black woman. Analytic results of interviews with 20 Black women identified protection as a major category associated with Black female sexual development and related risk behaviour. This paper describes the role of Black women as protectors of young Black female sexuality, the sociocultural protective strategies they used across the life course and the consequences of absent protection. Findings can inform future evidence-based, culturally sensitive interventions to promote the sexual health and development of Black girls and women in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ways in which certain fractions of urban educated women residing in Hanoi, Vietnam communicate with their daughters about sex and pleasure, and the various meanings attributed to these verbal interchanges. Drawing on a limited number of qualitative in-depth interviews, the findings suggests that these intimate conversations were framed by discourses concerning the purity of 'modern' women. A distinct lack of sexual knowledge and experience, along with a more generalised shyness in communicating about sexual matters, continue to be highly indicative of those deemed to be 'women of purity', especially before marriage. Such beliefs and allied practices were adhered to not only by mothers, but also by women themselves, exerting significant influence on the determination and expression of sexual perceptions and behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural values and practices influence many aspects of sexual and reproductive health and rights - from access to and quality of health education and services, to gender roles and responsibilities, to family planning and sexual freedoms. Culture is frequently marginalised in epidemiologically driven analyses of sexual and reproductive health and rights yet remains central to the ways in which inequalities within these fields manifest themselves and are engaged with in society. Using Papua New Guinea (PNG) as a case example, this paper sheds light on the enabling and restrictive role of culture in efforts to work towards equity and justice for gender and sexually diverse people. Drawing on four case stories, we offer insight into where culture can and has been deployed to redress serious inequalities in what is often a hostile environment. In these stories we illustrate how practical justice provides an innovative way to approach issues to do with sexual and reproductive health, particularly as they relate to enhancing the lives of people in visible, grassroots ways. In this way, given evidence, good normative judgement and the opportunity to do good and be fair, practical justice may be seen to be taking place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the factors associated with the cultural phenomenon of bacha posh in Afghanistan (in which girls are dressed and raised as boys), which occurs against a background of rigid gender norms and the male-centric nature of Afghan families. Survey data were collected from 1463 women in two provinces of Afghanistan, Kabul and Nangarhar. The primary outcome is a nominal variable, derived from the question, 'Do you have any girl in your family who has been raised for any time as a boy?' Independent variables comprise women's socio-demographic characteristics, family composition, economic characteristics, patriarchal gender attitudes and perceptions of community patriarchal attitudes. Factors associated with bacha posh include women having fewer sons and more daughters, working in the past three months and having less patriarchal gender attitudes. That bacha posh is often driven by a large number of daughters in the family with a corresponding low number of sons suggests that bacha posh is a response to very contextual features of Afghan life, including the preference for sons. Bacha posh in the family is linked to less patriarchal gender norms and can be a way for girls and women to acquire education, mobility and engagement in income-generating activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reproductive abuse is a poorly understood form of violence against women. It is defined as a deliberate attempt to interfere with or control a women's reproductive choices and is usually perpetrated by a male intimate partner. Reproductive abuse is associated with a range of poor health outcomes for women, increasing the likelihood that they will visit a healthcare provider. Despite this, there is a dearth of evidence to inform best practice in health settings, particularly research that highlights the voices of survivors. Qualitative studies to date have focused on intimate partner or sexual violence more broadly, yet it is likely that reproductive abuse presents its own nuance in terms of a supportive response. In this paper, we address this gap by reporting qualitative data from 14 women who self-identified as survivors of reproductive abuse. Findings suggest that healthcare providers have an important role to play in responding to reproductive abuse, focusing on taking the problem seriously, reinforcing that the behaviour is wrong, asking about other forms of violence and addressing women's needs and priorities for contraception and reproductive autonomy. This study has important implications for the development of best practice guidelines for healthcare providers responding to reproductive abuse in female patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores young iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) women's perceptions and experiences of sexual risk. It draws on qualitative data collected in Suva, Fiji in 2011 and 2012. Participants included iTaukei female university students aged 18-29 years. We describe nine forms of sexual risk identified by young iTaukei women, and group these risks into three clusters - social risks, physical risks and intimate relational risks. We discuss how young women prioritise these risks differently depending on context, location and relationship. Findings point to a critical mismatch between current public health risk priorities and those risks identified as most important in the lives of young iTaukei women. Findings have important implications for strengthening sexual and reproductive health policy and practice in Fiji. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between changes in individual beliefs and behaviours, couple relationship dynamics and gender norms - and how interventions can influence these. It draws on longitudinal qualitative research with heterosexual couples who participated in the Indashyikirwa programme in Rwanda. The couples followed a curriculum designed to improve relationship skills and reduce the gender-inequitable beliefs, behaviours and norms that underpin intimate partner violence. Qualitative findings show that the programme resulted in moderate, but significant, positive 'shifts' in individual beliefs and behaviours, couple relationship dynamics and levels of inequality - increasing men's engagement in domestic duties, women's participation in household decision making, and women's access to economic resources. They also suggest which parts of the couples' curriculum were most effective in catalysing these changes. However, the data also show that these 'shifts' occurred without fully transforming deeply-entrenched beliefs and norms around gender roles and male authority over economic resources. The paper suggests that the persistence of these beliefs and norms constrained the extent of changes among couples - and could potentially constrain their longevity and act as an obstacle to longer-term, larger-scale changes in gender inequalities and violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intersectionality theory has been used primarily in legal research to provide a framework for understanding the experiences of populations situated within multiple systems of oppression, particularly in relation to anti-discrimination law and gender-based violence. Gender transformative approaches to health seek to move beyond individual-level change and instead centre on restructuring the power relationships that create and maintain gender inequalities. Intersectionality theory is well-suited for the study of gender transformation on health, but there is a lack of consensus on clearly defined intersectional methodology in the field of public health, particularly for quantitative studies. Because qualitative methodologies are well-developed and employed with regularity for intersectional health research, the objective of this paper is to describe innovative quantitative and mixed methods approaches underutilised in public health and provide researchers examples of how to design a study's methodology to adequately address intersectional research questions. The proposed methods provide a toolkit for the investigation of complex interactions across multiple levels, which may offer insight into effective points of intervention to reduce disparities, strengthen larger social movements, and ultimately alter structural and policy contexts. Despite challenges posed by the theory, intersectional approaches may be the key to addressing persistent inequalities that limit gender transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescent girls and young women have recently gained a central position in gender equality and development. However, little research investigates female experiences of the complex dynamics of both change and resistance to change in gender norms and structures. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, Connell and Schippers to analyse longitudinal in-depth interviews, this paper explores how girls in northern Uganda learn, challenge and (re)produce patriarchal structures throughout the life-course and across social fields. It highlights the costs, consequences and benefits at stake in expressing hegemonic femininity and expands understanding of how adolescent girls and young women actively strategise to protect their wellbeing and create space for contestation. Findings call for greater attention to the coexistence of resistance to, and reproduction of, gender orders, and offer opportunities for additional research for theory building and programme implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ways in which rural women living with and/or affected by HIV are portrayed in films can potentially influence how social transformation is imagined, including the extent to which the women can be involved in problem-solving processes. This is because, in addition to conceptualising the problem, such representations often place women in a certain position in relation to, or within, the problematic situation, which in turn influences how solutions are framed. This paper uses a discursive approach to explore the portrayal of South African rural women living with and/or affected by HIV in Darrell Roodt's film, Yesterday (2004), which is set in rural KwaZulu-Natal. It considers how the film deals with the tension between structural violence and rural women's agency in grappling with HIV. Structural violence has a significant impact on the experiences of rural women and, hence, their health outcomes. However, when representing rural women, too heavy an emphasis on structural violence runs the risk of portraying them as passive or helpless victims, thus severely limiting their agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes findings from an institutional ethnography that arose out of the concerns of women living with HIV in Ontario, Canada, regarding the disclosure of their HIV status while accessing perinatal care. The enquiry traces the connections between women's experiences of perinatal care, the activities of healthcare providers delivering such care and the ruling relations that organise women's experiences and healthcare providers' activities. Focusing on HIV disclosure as a concern expressed by women, the findings make visible the day-to-day, routinised practices of healthcare providers working in perinatal care for women living with HIV, as well as the ideological discourses of 'fear of contagion' and 'AIDS hysteria' that contributed to producing the kinds of care experiences that were articulated by women. Opportunities to strengthen perinatal care policies and practices for women living with HIV are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender- and sexually diverse youth are often represented in popular discourses through concepts of movement and mobility. Conceptual stories of LGBTQ youth transitions to adulthood in particular are marked by narratives of movement from regional (rural and/or small towns) to major urban areas. Although not wholly outside lived experience, a cultural myth that portrays the experience of gender- and sexually diverse young people entering into 'adulthood' via such mobility continues to circulate in scholarship, popular media, personal accounts of coming out, support resources and self-help guidance documents. This paper draws on a recent study of gender and sexual diversity, support and belonging to examine instances of LGBTQ youth mobility in relation to participant interviews and focus groups undertaken in an Australian project examining two generations of sexually diverse subjects' views on growing up, support and belonging. Participants differed generationally in how they experienced mobility from regional to urban settings, demonstrating that contemporary real-world accounts of such mobility are complex, nuanced and diverse and that the felt 'expectation' that one should migrate to a city in order to live a full gender- or sexually diverse life has waned among young people in the more recent generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is global recognition that competent and willing health care providers remain the most important determinant of safe abortion or termination of pregnancy services. The psychosocial well-being of providers is critical to the provision of responsive termination of pregnancy services. In light of the dearth of scholarly attention on termination of pregnancy providers' coping strategies in low- and middle-income countries, this paper explores coping strategies among these providers in the urban Gauteng and the mixed rural-urban North West provinces of South Africa. During 2015, in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 termination of pregnancy providers working at abortion facilities in these provinces. Questions focused on providers' lived experiences of abortion service provision, the meanings they attached to their work and their reported coping strategies. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the interviews. Interviewees' mean age was 45.8 years, all were professional nurses and the majority were female (82%), working for an average of 3.6 years in abortion services. Four overlapping themes emerged in relation to reported coping strategies: silence and concealing emotions; seeking support; detachment or disengagement; and belief systems. Study findings point to the need for effective, sustainable employee wellness programmes, within an overall context of positive practice environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undocumented migration from Central Vietnam to Laos stretches Vietnamese families and generates marital tensions and social anxieties around the extramarital relationships that migrant husbands establish with vợ hầu (second wives), an emic term that encompasses mistresses and more stable partners. This paper sheds light on these processes via an ethnographic study on how migration from Central Vietnam to Savannakhet - a town located in Central Laos bordering Thailand - shapes family formation, marital relationships and double standards in gender and sexuality. It argues that husbands and first and second wives manage these issues by preserving family integrity, negotiating extramarital relationships and retreating from marriage. These strategies are shaped by and constitutive of normative double standards that families refer to, reinforce and in some cases transcend to make sense of the marital challenges and disruptions caused by dislocation, translocality and the intrusion of second wives in their marriages. Overall, the study emphasises that families remain committed to a domestic division of labour and to the institutions of marriage and family, albeit with some adjustments. This argument resonates with broader discussions about migration, gender and sexuality in Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated girls' confidence to undertake menstrual management tasks at home and in school environments using cross-sectional data from a survey of 1,359 schoolgirls in Bangladesh. At home, 57% of girls reported they were 'very confident' undertaking tasks to manage their menstrual bleeding, while this figure was only 7% at school. We assessed personal, interpersonal and environmental contributors for each context. The use of sanitary pads was positively associated with confidence to manage menstruation at home, while other menstrual hygiene practices were unrelated. In multivariable models, features of sanitation facilities such as cleanliness and the presence of a bin were associated with increased confidence at home. At school, supportive policies, such providing permission to use the toilet when needed, were associated with greater confidence. Talking to a friend about menstruation was positively associated with confidence at school, while at home having discussed menstruation with parents predicted lower confidence. Findings provide quantitative support for the role of multiple independent predictors in girls' confidence to manage menstruation highlighted by qualitative studies. There is unlikely to be a single 'silver bullet' to improving menstrual experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa continues to bear a heavy burden of HIV and a significant proportion of the nation's population consists of immigrants from other severely afflicted African nations. Yet little is known about how migrant populations respond to HIV in shifting cultural and clinical landscapes. Analysing 21 ethnographic life history interviews, this paper explores the social complexities of living with antiretroviral therapy and disclosure of serostatus among HIV-positive Mozambican migrants in Johannesburg. It focuses on (i) conceptualising the 'biosocial ambiance of illness'; (ii) how transformations occur in perceptions of disease; and (iii) how stigma produces an ambit of loneliness and secrecy, which inflects disclosure unevenly in different life-spaces and health-worlds. The net effect of these three processes is a silence which is detrimental to the social normalisation of HIV, treatment-seeking and clinical drug adherence, which in turn may increase rates of morbidity and mortality and contribute to drug resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the results of an evaluation of a Story Circles intervention to reduce individual level abortion stigma among women who have experienced abortion in Mexico. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study explored whether participation in the intervention reduced 18 women's experience of stigma one month after having participated. The study used the Individual Level Abortion Stigma Scale (ILAS Scale), qualitative interviews and focus groups to gain an understanding of women's experiences of the intervention and any changes in stigmatising feelings. Findings suggest that the Story Circles offered women a place to talk about their abortion in an affirmative and supportive environment, unlike the context of their daily lives where stigma generated silence and affected their well-being. Participants were able to build trust, share their experiences, create connections and transform their perception of their abortion from a negative experience to one that was empowering and life-affirming. This also led to other significant positive changes in their lives. The paper offers recommendations about programme and intervention design and implementation for practitioners working to reduce individual level stigma among women who have experienced abortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite public health interventions targeting sex workers in an attempt to increase condom use, HIV still remains a significant health issue for those involved in the sex industry in many countries. In this paper, we analyse data collected as part of an ethnographic study of sex work in Soweto, South Africa. We show that the main problems with consistent condom use are clients who threaten violence if sex workers insist on condoms, clients who are 'rough' and refuse to stop intercourse when the condom breaks, and clients who offer to pay more money for unprotected sex. These issues relate to unequal gender norms that disempower female sex workers and dismiss the importance of consent in sexual relationships. The criminalisation of sex work increases vulnerability and reduces sex workers' agency as sex workers are reluctant to report crimes committed against them. Persistent 'whore stigma' adds to this dynamic by dehumanising sex workers. In conclusion, we advocate for decriminalisation and posit that public health interventions aimed at increasing condom use and reducing HIV rates need to specifically engage clients, address unequal gender norms and involve local communities to tackle stigma directed against sex workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper describes how South African soldiers draw on notions of gender, sexuality and morality in their constructions of identity and heterosexual sexuality. Popular discourses around HIV and AIDS in South Africa and elsewhere have highlighted the centrality of notions of morality, many of them problematic, in the response to the epidemic. In Southern Africa, the centrality of heterosexuality to HIV transmission has triggered a focus on morality in sexuality, including calls for abstinence or, in married relationships, monogamy. This paper discusses the findings of a research study that explored male soldiers' constructions of masculinity, sexuality and risky sexual practices. Discourses that emerged reflected dominant attitudes regarding men and women's sexual rights and, in particular, the moralisation of women's sexuality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on qualitative research in Jiwaka Province, in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), to examine the changing nature of marriage in that context. In particular, it examines how changes in the practice of brideprice have been associated with an increase in intimate partner violence. Violence, a relational process, is to be understood in the context of the customary unequal power relations between men and women. It is argued that men in the highlands of PNG see any gain in power for women as a loss for themselves, and so actively resist it. Men who see their power over women challenged resort to the discourse of brideprice, arguing that the payment of brideprice gives them absolute authority over wives. A good understanding of the norms that sanction violence is a vital step in developing interventions to prevent violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the importance of working with young men to transform traditional gender norms has been widely acknowledged, programmes for young men remain sparse in highly gender stratified settings such as India, and those that have been implemented have not reached those in rural areas and those out-of-school. Drawing on data from a cluster randomised controlled trial with panel surveys, of a gender-transformative life skills education and sports-coaching programme conducted among young men aged 13-21 who were members of youth clubs, this paper examines the extent to which it transformed the gender role attitudes of young men and instilled in them attitudes rejecting violence against women and girls. The intervention succeeded in changing gender role attitudes and notions of masculinity, attitudes about men's controlling behaviours over women/girls, attitudes about men's perpetration of violence on a woman/girl and perceptions about peer reactions to young men acting in gender-equitable ways. Effects were particularly significant among young men who attended regularly, underscoring the importance of regular attendance in such programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Collective male sexual violence is part of a continuum of sexual coercion in South Africa. This paper is based on long-term ethnographic work in an urban township in the former Transkei region. Drawing on intensive participant observation and interviews with young men in particular, it attempts to make sense of emergent narratives relating to streamlining , a local term for a not uncommon form of collective sexual coercion involving a group of male friends and one or more women. The paper begins with an overview of existing anthropological literature on collective male sexual violence, going onto elaborate the different scenarios associated with group sexual violence in the fieldsite. It seeks to provide a multi-layered contextualization of the phenomenon by considering prevailing gender discourses, subcultural issues pertaining to the urban tsotsi phenomenon, the rural practice of ukuthwala (bride capture), young working-class Africans' experiences of marginalization, and the complex links between political economy and violence in this setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanding AIDS epidemic in Mozambique is fuelled principally by heterosexual transmission, with young people identified as a key group for prevention efforts. However, little is known about the sexual behaviour of young people in Mozambique and the protective practices they adopt. This paper seeks to identify the contexts and rules governing sexual risk-taking among young people in Maputo. In doing so, the paper affirms the importance of context in understanding risk practices, but highlights the fluidity of practice as an important limitation for the use of contextual analysis in prevention interventions. By focusing on one innovation, the saca cena one-night stand, this paper shows how a subgroup of young people in Maputo has redefined a “risky” sexual practice to include exclusive condom use. As a risk context, the saca cena dictates a set of implicit rules emphasizing anonymity, discretion, verbal and non-verbal cues, and for a set of select innovators, condom use. The saca cena challenges the hegemonic gender roles found among many young people in Maputo of male dominance through sexual conquest and female acquiescence. Instead, the practice allows young people to be both adventurous and responsible. The discourse demonstrates how sexual identities have been redefined to combine risk reduction with sexual experimentation and the satiation of desire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents reply to letters to the editor about prostitution and public health in New South Wales.