Sissies, Mama's Boys, and Tomboys: Is Children's Gender Nonconformity More Acceptable When Nonconforming Traits Are Positive?

The evaluation of gender nonconformity in children was examined in two studies. In Study 1, 48 young adults evaluated the positivity of culturally popular labels for gender nonconformity, including "tomboy," "sissy," and two new labels generated in a pilot study, "mama's boy" and "brat." The "mama's boy" was described as a boy who has positive feminine traits (gentle and well-mannered) as opposed to the "sissy" who was described as having negative feminine traits (crying and easily frightened). 

In Study 2, 161 young adults read descriptions of gender-typical and nonconforming children, evaluating them in several domains. The label "mama's boy" was considered negative in Study 1 but an unlabeled positive nonconforming boy was rated as likable and competent in Study 2. However, participants worried about nonconforming boys, saying they would encourage them to behave differently and describing such children with derogatory sexual orientation slurs. "Tomboy" was generally considered a positive label in Study 1. 

In Study 2, gender nonconforming girls were considered neither likable nor dislikeable, and neither competent nor incompetent, reflecting ambivalence about girls' nonconformity. It may be that we use gender nonconformity labels as indicators of sexual orientation, even in young children. Therefore, even when an individual displays objectively positive traits, the stigma associated with homosexuality taints judgments about their nonconforming behavior.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/0Fru11

By:  Coyle EF1, Fulcher M2, Trübutschek D3,4,5.

• 1Department of Psychology, Beloit College, 700 College Street, Beloit, WI, 53511, USA. emilyfcoyle@gmail.com.
• 2Department of Psychology, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA, USA.
• 3Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DSV/I2BM, INSERM, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, Gif/Yvette, France.
• 4Ecole des Neurosciences de Paris Ile-de-France, Paris, France.
• 5Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
• Arch Sex Behav. 2016 Mar 7. 

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Stigma and Prejudice: The Experience of Crack Users

Objective

To evaluate the stigma and prejudice experienced by crack users in their social context.

Method

A qualitative study developed through the Fourth Generation Evaluation, conducted with four interest groups (ten users, eleven families, eight employees, and seven managers), components of the mental health care network. For data collection, we used observation and individual interview. The analysis was performed through the constant comparative method.

Results

Crack users suffer prejudice and are stigmatized as those who do not fit in the systems established by society (without family links, formal employment and dwelling), and are thus excluded. They exhibit undisciplined behavior and, therefore, are discriminated, marginalized and considered as criminals, losing their uniqueness and living in vulnerable situations.

Conclusion

The evaluation process emphasized the need to demystify the social imaginary that demonizes the chemically dependent, being thus important to develop public policies with actions focused on health, prevention, information and combat to stigma...

The capitalist society establishes the licit and illicit consumption of goods and products. In relation to crack, the user frequently consumes it in public spaces, occupying these places. Most people believes in the social imaginary that these people must be removed from the street, in order to "clean" these spaces - an urban cleaning(P1).

Therefore, it is necessary to construct a society that does not moralize life situations or the problems faced by citizens, because these factors influence the right of using public spaces that belong to everyone.

Concerning the issue of crack and drug addiction, before moving, preventing access and hiding, society must demystify the idea that the user is someone incapable, dangerous and without conditions. We need to disseminate information and deal with this problem as a health issue. We also must include the economic, educational and social assistance sector, in addition to policies, proposing the right to health care, access to public spaces and, especially, to support healthcare institutions that are prepared to assist this kind of user. To deal with drugs we need to combat prejudice and stigma and, thereby, health assistance is oriented by the production of social life.

It is possible to affirm that prejudice and stigma are very similar social processes that can result in discrimination, involving categorization and labeling, stereotyping and social rejection⁽ 12 ⁾...

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/TSJBs7

By:  Nathália Duarte Bard, 1 Beatriz Antunes, 2 Cristine Moraes Roos, 3 Agnes Olschowsky, 4 and Leandro Barbosa de Pinho5

¹Undergraduate student in Nursing, Escola de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Scholarship holder from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Brazil

²Master's student, Escola de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

³PhD

⁴PhD, Full Professor, Escola de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

⁵PhD, Adjunct Professor, Escola de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

Corresponding Author: Nathália Duarte Bard Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Escola de Enfermagem Rua São Manuel, 963 Bairro: Rio Branco CEP: 90620-110, Porto Alegre, RS

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HIV-Related Stigma among African, Caribbean, and Black Youth in Windsor, Ontario

HIV-related stigma has been shown to undermine prevention, care, treatment, and the well-being of people living with HIV. A disproportion burden of HIV infection, as well as elevated levels of HIV-related stigma, is evidenced in sub-Saharan African (SSA) and African-diasporic populations. 

This study explores factors that influence HIV-related stigma among 16- to 25-year-old youth residing in a Canadian city who identify as African, Caribbean, or Black. Stigma, as rooted in cultural norms and beliefs and related social institutions, combined with insights from research on stigma in SSA and African-diasporic populations, guided the development of a path analytic structural equation model predicting levels of HIV-related stigmatizing attitudes. The model was tested using survey responses of 510 youth to estimate the direct and indirect influences of ethno-religious identity, religious service attendance, time in Canada, HIV/AIDS knowledge, HIV-testing history, sexual health service contact, and gender on HIV-related stigma. 

Statistically significant negative associations were found between levels of stigma and knowledge and HIV-testing history. Ethno-religious identity and gender had both direct and indirect effects on stigma. African-Muslim participants had higher levels of stigma, lower knowledge, and were less likely to have been tested for HIV infection than other ethno-religious groups. Male participants had higher levels of stigma and lower knowledge than women. Time in Canada had only indirect effects on stigma, with participants in Canada for longer periods having higher knowledge and less likely to have been tested than more recent arrivals. 

While the strength of the effect of knowledge on stigmatizing attitudes in this research is consistent with other research on stigma and evaluations of stigma-reduction programs, the path analytic results provide additional information about how knowledge and HIV-testing function as mediators of non-modifiable characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, religion, and time in a country.

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By:  Mihan R1, Kerr J1,2, Maticka-Tyndale E1; ACBY Team.

• 1 Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology , University of Windsor , Windsor , ON , Canada.
• 2 Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health and Information Sciences , University of Louisville , Louisville , KY , USA. 
• AIDS Care. 2016 Mar 17:1-6. 

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HIV/AIDS: Trends in the Middle East and North Africa Region

HIGHLIGHTS

• New HIV infections have been on the rise in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in recent years.
• There is substantial heterogeneity in HIV epidemic dynamics across MENA, and different risk contexts are present throughout the region.
• Overall, the major route of infection in the MENA region seems to be sexual transmission, but a range of challenges limit interventions to determine the actual sexual trends.
• Despite unfavorable conditions, many countries in the region have put significant efforts into scaling up their response to this growing epidemic.

OBJECTIVES:

To give an overview of the HIV epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

METHODS:

Articles on the MENA region were reviewed.

RESULTS:

The MENA region comprises a geographically defined group of countries including both high-income, well-developed nations and low- and middle-income countries. While the annual number of new HIV infections in Sub-Saharan Africa has declined by 33% since 2005, new HIV infections in the MENA region have increased by 31% since 2001, which is the highest increase among all regions in the world. Moreover, the number of AIDS-related deaths in 2013 was estimated to be 15000, representing a 66% increase since 2005. However, the current prevalence of 0.1% is still among the lowest rates globally. There is substantial heterogeneity in HIV epidemic dynamics across MENA, and different risk contexts are present throughout the region. Despite unfavorable conditions, many countries in the region have put significant effort into scaling up their response to this growing epidemic, while in others the response to HIV is proving slower due to denial, stigma, and reluctance to address sensitive issues.

CONCLUSIONS:

The HIV epidemic in the MENA region is still at a controllable level, and this opportunity should not be missed...

Overall, the major route of infection in the MENA region seems to be sexual transmission. In 2011, heterosexual sex was the most common reported mode of HIV transmission among men in Tunisia (44.4%), UAE (50.0%), Syria (54.5%), Jordan (66.7%), Morocco (81.9%), Kuwait (100%), and Palestine (100%).⁸However, a range of challenges including (but not limited to) those listed below, limit interventions to determine the actual sexual trends, making the current data unreliable.

• The prevalence data available for KPs are principally derived from passive surveillance data, which tend to underestimate the role of high-risk behaviors because of individuals’ fear of disclosure.⁹
• There is intense HIV-related stigma and discrimination in the region, which is likely a major challenge for behavioral research.¹⁰
• Same-sex conduct is illegal in 76 countries, 19 of which are in MENA. In seven countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, homosexual acts are subject to the death penalty in some cases.⁶ Other countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, and the UAE, either criminalize adult consensual same-sex sexual conduct or have criminally prosecuted lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people under other laws on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.⁶
• Cultural and religious norms disapproving and penalizing sex between men may contribute to the nondisclosure of homosexual orientation and/or sexual conduct.¹¹

Other challenges that may be related to HIV surveillance in the MENA countries include infrequent surveillance of populations most at risk of HIV infection, lack of behavioral data, over-reliance on HIV case reporting and facility-based surveillance, and limited quality of HIV surveillance in general.¹²

  

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/e48IMn

By:  Gökengin D1, Doroudi F2, Tohme J3, Collins B4, Madani N5.

¹Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Medical Faculty, Ege University, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey. Electronic address: deniz.gokengin@ege.edu.tr.

²UNAIDS - The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Islamic Republic of Iran. Electronic address: DoroudiF@unaids.org.

³M-Coalition, Yazbeck Center, Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon. Electronic address: jtohme@afemena.org.

⁴International HIV Partnerships, London, UK. Electronic address: bc@ihp.hiv.

⁵Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Electronic address: navid_madani@dfci.harvard.edu.

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Factors Influencing the Uptake of Voluntary HIV Counseling & Testing in Rural Ethiopia

Background

Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) has been one of the key policy responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Ethiopia. However, the utilization of VCT has been low in the rural areas of the country. Understanding factors influencing the utilization of VCT provides information for the design of context based appropriate strategies that aim to improve utilization. This study examined the effects of socio-demographic and behavioral factors, and health service characteristics on the uptake of VCT among rural adults in Ethiopian.

Methods/design

This study was designed as a cross sectional study. Data from 11,919 adults (6278 women aged 15–49 years and 5641 men aged 15–59 years) residing in rural areas of Ethiopia who participated in a national health extension program evaluation were used for this study. The participants were selected from ten administrative regions using stratified multi-stage cluster sampling. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed accounting for factors associated with the use of VCT service.

Results

Overall, men (28 %) were relatively more likely to get tested for HIV than women (23.7 %) through VCT. Rural men and women who were young and better educated, who perceived having small risk of HIV infection, who had comprehensive knowledge, no stigmatization attitude and discussed about HIV/AIDS with their partner, and model-family were more likely to undergone VCT. Regional state was also strongly associated with VCT utilization in both men and women. Rural women who belonged to households with higher socio-economic status, non-farming occupation, female-headed household and located near health facility, and who visited health extension workers and participated in community conversation were more likely to use VCT. Among men, agrarian lifestyle was associated with VCT use.

Conclusions

Utilization of VCT in the rural communities is low, and socio-economic, behavioral and health service factors influence its utilization. For increasing the utilization of VCT service in rural areas, there is a need to target the less educated, women, poor and farming families with a focus on improving knowledge and reducing HIV/AIDS related stigma. Strategy should include promoting partner and community conversations, accelerating model-family training, and using alternative modes of testing.

Background characteristics of study population by gender, rural Ethiopia, 2010

		Total		Women		Men
Variables		N	%	N	%	N	%
Socio-demographic variables
Overall		11,919		6278	52.7	5641	47.3
Age group, year
	15–19	1342	11.3	770	12.3	572	10.1
	20–24	1785	15.0	1123	17.9	662	11.7
	25–29	2196	18.4	1357	21.6	839	14.9
	30–39	3635	30.5	1921	30.6	1714	30.4
	40+	2961	24.8	1107	17.6	1854	32.9
Marital status
	Married	9400	78.9	4973	79.3	4427	78.5
	Never married	1860	15.6	758	12.1	1102	19.6
	Divorced/Widowed	651	5.5	542	8.6	109	1.9
Educational level
	Never attended/<1 year	6934	58.2	4386	70.9	2548	47.1
	Primary	2835	23.8	1183	19.1	1652	30.5
	Secondary or higher	1832	15.4	619	10.0	1213	22.4
Gender of household head
	Female	1794	15.1	1233	19.7	561	10.0
	Male	10,113	84.8	5041	80.4	5072	90.0
Occupation of household head
	Farmer	10,688	89.7	5599	90.3	5089	91.3
	Gov't employee/merchant	569	4.8	314	5.1	255	4.6
	Other	519	4.4	291	4.7	228	4.1
Religion
	Orthodox	4749	39.8	2493	39.8	2256	40.1
	Islam	4122	34.6	2170	34.6	1952	34.7
	Protestant	2527	21.2	1331	21.3	1196	21.3
	Other	494	4.1	270	4.3	224	4.0
Socio-economic status index
	Low	2084	17.5	1123	17.9	961	17.1
	Low-middle	4192	35.2	2233	35.6	1959	34.8
	Middle	3586	30.1	1863	29.7	1723	30.6
	High-middle	1720	14.4	884	14.1	836	14.8
	High	329	2.8	170	2.7	159	2.8
Settlement pattern
	Pastoral/agro-pastoral	1724	14.5	909	14.5	815	14.5
	Agrarian	10,195	85.5	5369	85.5	4826	85.6
Region
	Tigray	1152	9.7	622	9.9	530	9.4
	Afar	358	3.0	191	3.0	167	3.0
	Amhara	2677	22.5	1409	22.4	1268	22.5
	Oromia	2852	23.9	1461	23.3	1391	24.7
	Benshangul-Gumuz	644	5.4	330	5.3	314	5.6
	SNNP	2063	17.3	1052	16.8	1011	17.9
	Gambela	1128	9.5	649	10.3	479	8.5
	Dire Dawa	137	1.1	83	1.3	54	1.0
	Harari	170	1.4	93	1.5	77	1.4
	Somali	738	6.2	388	6.2	350	6.2
Behavioral variables
Risk partner in past 12 months
	No	11,694	98.1	6177	98.4	5517	97.8
	Yes	225	1.9	101	1.6	124	2.2
Self-perceived risk of HIV
	No risk	7128	59.8	3581	57.0	3547	62.9
	Small risk	1183	9.9	573	9.1	610	10.8
	Moderate/great risk	708	5.9	360	5.7	348	6.2
	Don’t know	2900	24.3	1764	28.1	1136	20.1
Believes HIV/AIDS is fatal
	No	2113	17.7	1336	21.3	777	13.8
	Yes	9806	82.3	4942	78.7	4864	86.2
Believes HIV/AIDS can be cured
	No	10,321	86.6	5458	86.9	4863	86.2
	Yes	1598	13.4	820	13.1	778	13.8
HIV/AIDS knowledge index
	None	4151	34.8	2597	41.4	1554	27.6
	Low	2592	21.7	1328	21.2	1264	22.4
	Moderate	3007	25.2	1455	23.2	1552	27.5
	High	2169	18.2	898	14.3	1271	22.5
HIV/AIDS stigma scale
	No stigma	4222	35.4	1907	30.4	2315	41.0
	Low stigma	2049	17.2	1020	16.3	1029	18.2
	Moderate stigma	3009	25.2	1671	26.6	1338	23.7
	High stigma	2639	22.1	1680	26.8	959	17.0
Talked with partner about HIV
	No	6436	54.0	3668	58.4	2768	49.1
	Yes	5483	46.0	2610	41.6	2873	50.9
Programmatic variables
Walking distance to HF
	<=10 min	9510	79.8	5016	79.9	4494	79.7
	10–30 min	1639	13.8	861	13.7	778	13.8
	30+ minutes	770	6.5	401	6.4	369	6.5
Proactively visited HEW
	No	7242	60.8	3839	62.5	3403	62.2
	Yes	4373	36.7	2304	37.5	2069	37.8
HEW visited home
	No	6511	54.6	3474	57.0	3037	55.9
	Yes	5016	42.1	2624	43.0	2392	44.1
Source of HIV information
	Never exposed	1207	10.1	833	13.3	374	6.6
	Only to mass media	745	6.3	338	5.4	407	7.2
	Community conversations	9967	83.6	5107	81.4	4860	86.2
Model-family
	No	11,221	94.1	5917	95.4	5304	95.1
	Yes	555	4.7	283	4.6	272	4.9
VHPs in village
	No	5594	46.9	2995	47.7	2599	46.1
	Yes	6325	53.1	3283	52.3	3042	53.9

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

By:  Hailay D. Teklehaimanot, Awash Teklehaimanot, Mekonnen Yohannes, and Dawit Biratu

Center forNational Health Development in Ethiopia, Columbia University, Kebele 06, H No 447, PO Box 664 code 1250, Bole Sub City, Addis Ababa Ethiopia

The EarthInstitute, Columbia University, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 401, New York, NY 10025 USA

College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, PO Box 1871, Mekelle, Ethiopia

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