An Initial Typology of Contexts of Dyadic Sexual Encounters Between Men & Associations with Sexual Risk & Pleasure

Background:

Although many within-subjects comparisons conducted on samples of men who have sex with men have sought to understand the association between specific situational characteristics (e.g. drug use or location of sex) and sexual risk behaviour, none have considered the 'clustering' of patterns of situational characteristics. An initial typology of sexual encounters is derived and the relationship of this typology to condomless anal intercourse (CAI) and pleasure is tested.

Methods:

Data from a longitudinal survey of men who have sex with men living in England were used. Multilevel latent class analyses were estimated to determine an optimal class solution on the situational characteristics, and then pseudo-imputation was used to estimate the association between class and both CAI and pleasure.

Results:

A three-class solution fit the data best, with a scaled relative entropy of 92.4%. Classes were characterised as featuring: regular steady partners in private locations with low drug use

• Class 1, casual partners with increased probability of sex occurring in a sex-on-premises venue 
• Class 2, and high levels of polydrug use together with increased probability of casual partners
• Class 3. Encounters were different both in pairwise comparisons and overall on probability of CAI. 

They were different overall but not necessarily pairwise on pleasure.

Conclusions:

These initial findings demonstrate the possibility of understanding sexual encounters in terms of the contexts, or classes, within which they occur. This may have implications for tailoring HIV prevention to specific encounter types. Future research should seek to extend encounter-level typologies to specific drug use variables.

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By:  G. J. Melendez-Torres A D, Ford Hickson B, David Reid B, Peter Weatherburn B andChris Bonell C 

A Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry. B Sigma Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. C Department of Social Science, UCL Institute of Education, University College London D Corresponding author. Email: G.Melendez-Torres@warwick.ac.uk 

Sex Health. 2016 Mar 9. doi: 10.1071/SH15218

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Defining Pleasure: A Focus Group Study of Solitary and Partnered Sexual Pleasure in Queer and Heterosexual Women

Solitary and partnered sexuality are typically depicted as fundamentally similar, but empirical evidence suggests they differ in important ways. 

We investigated how women's definitions of sexual pleasure overlapped and diverged when considering solitary versus partnered sexuality. Based on an interdisciplinary literature, we explored whether solitary pleasure would be characterized by eroticism (e.g., genital pleasure, orgasm) and partnered pleasure by nurturance (e.g., closeness). 

Via focus groups with a sexually diverse sample of women aged 18-64 (N = 73), we found that women defined solitary and partnered pleasure in both convergent and divergent ways that supported expectations. Autonomy was central to definitions of solitary pleasure, whereas trust, giving pleasure, and closeness were important elements of partnered pleasure. Both solitary and partnered pleasure involved exploration for self-discovery or for growing a partnered relationship. 

Definitions of pleasure were largely similar across age and sexual identity; however, relative to queer women, heterosexual women (especially younger heterosexual women) expressed greater ambivalence toward solitary masturbation and partnered orgasm. 

Results have implications for women's sexual well-being across multiple sexual identities and ages, and for understanding solitary and partnered sexuality as overlapping but distinct constructs.

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By:  Goldey KL1,2, Posh AR1, Bell SN3, van Anders SM4.

• 1Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
• 2Department of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, St. Edward's University, Austin, TX, USA.
• 3Departments of Psychology and Women's Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
• 4Departments of Psychology and Women's Studies, Programs in Neuroscience and Reproductive Sciences, Science, Technology, and Society Program, Biosocial Methods Collaborative, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA. smva@umich.edu. 
• Arch Sex Behav. 2016 Mar 23.

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A Qualitative Study Trialling the Acceptability of New Hepatitis C Prevention Messages for People Who Inject Drugs: Symbiotic Messages, Pleasure & Conditional Interpretations

AIM:

Prevention of hepatitis C (HCV) remains a public health challenge. A new body of work is emerging seeking to explore and exploit "symbiotic goals" of people who inject drugs (PWID). That is, strategies used by PWID to achieve other goals may be doubly useful in facilitating the same behaviours (use of sterile injecting equipment) required to prevent HCV. This project developed and trialled new HCV prevention messages based on the notion of symbiotic messages.

METHOD:

New HCV prevention messages were developed in a series of 12 posters after consultation with staff from needle and syringe programs (NSPs) and a drug user organisation. Two posters were displayed each week for a 6-week period within one NSP. NSP staff and clients were invited to focus groups to discuss their responses to the posters.

RESULTS:

A total of four focus groups were conducted; one group of seven staff members and three groups of clients with a total of 21 participants. Responses to each of the posters were mixed. Staff and clients interpreted messages in literal ways rather than as dependent on context, with staff concerned that not all HCV prevention information was included in any one message; while clients felt that some messages were misleading in relation to the expectations of pleasure. Clients appreciated the efforts to use bright imagery and messages that included acknowledgement of pleasure. Clients were not aware of some harm reduction information contained in the messages (such as "shoot to the heart"), and this generated potential for misunderstanding of the intended message. Clients felt that any message provided by the NSP could be trusted and did not require visible endorsement by health departments.

CONCLUSIONS:

While the logic of symbiotic messages is appealing, it is challenging to produce eye-catching, brief messages that provide sufficient information to cover the breadth of HCV prevention. Incorporation of symbiotic messages in conversations or activities between staff and clients may provide opportunities for these messages to be related to the clients' needs and priorities and for staff to provide HCV prevention information in accord with their professional ethos.

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/XRCNIe

By:  Treloar C1, Newland J2, Maher L3.

• 1Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia. c.treloar@unsw.edu.au.
• 2Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia. j.newland@unsw.edu.au.
• 3Population Health Services, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, Penrith, NSW, Australia. Louise.Maher1@health.nsw.gov.au.
• Harm Reduct J. 2015 Mar 4;12:5. doi: 10.1186/s12954-015-0042-5. 

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Introduction to Psychoactive Drugs

Via:  http://goo.gl/mqlmlj
By:  http://goo.gl/WUevak and http://goo.gl/kjharo

"Sex Is Sweet": Women from Low-Income Contexts in Uganda Talk About Sexual Desire and Pleasure

In many patriarchal societies in Africa, heterosexuality is privileged as the single legitimate form of sexual interaction; other sexualities are marginalised because they are perceived as un-African, abnormal, sinful and are repressed. Female sexuality too is subordinated and controlled with it being reduced to women's conventional mothering roles that are conflated with their reproductive capacities. However, there is evidence that women in heterosexual relations have the opportunity to assert themselves and to define pleasurable sex. 

Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with married women in heterosexual unions the article examines the extent to which women from low-income contexts in Uganda express their sexual agency. 

The findings show that within heterosexual relations, these women are able to express their sexual desires freely and negotiate diverse options for pleasurable sexual experiences. The evidence indicates the need for acknowledging variations within heterosexual experiences and the possibility of positive heterosexual relationships that resist hegemonic masculinity and subordinated femininity.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/NaEW2q

By:   Muhanguzi FK1.

• 1Senior Lecturer, School of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, UGANDA. Electronic address: floramuha@yahoo.com. 

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Aesthetic Emotions and Aesthetic People: Openness Predicts Sensitivity to Novelty in the Experiences of Interest and Pleasure

There is a stable relationship between the Openness/Intellect domain of personality and aesthetic engagement. However, neither of these are simple constructs and while the relationship exists, process based evidence explaining the relationship is still lacking. This research sought to clarify the relationship by evaluating the influence of the Openness and Intellect aspects on several different aesthetic emotions. Two studies looked at the between- and within-person differences in arousal and the emotions of interest, pleasure and confusion in response to visual art. 

The results suggest that Openness, as opposed to Intellect, was predictive of greater arousal, interest and pleasure, while both aspects explained less confusion. Differences in Openness were associated with within-person emotion appraisal contingencies, particularly greater novelty-interest and novelty-pleasure relationships. Those higher in Openness were particularly influenced by novelty in artworks. 

For pleasure this relationship suggested a different qualitative structure of appraisals. The appraisal of novelty is part of the experience of pleasure for those high in Openness, but not those low in Openness. This research supports the utility of studying Openness and Intellect as separate aspects of the broad domain and clarifies the relationship between Openness and aesthetic states in terms of within-person appraisal processes.

Below:  A depiction of the multilevel models

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/zRdkM7

By:   Kirill Fayn,1,* Carolyn MacCann,1 Niko Tiliopoulos,1 and Paul J. Silvia2

¹School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

²Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

Edited by: Nadin Beckmann, Durham University, UK

Reviewed by: Cornelia Wrzus, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany; Matthias Ziegler, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany

*Correspondence: Kirill Fayn, ua.ude.yendys.inu@nyafk

  

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