Patriarchal ideology and frequency of partner abuse among men in batterer treatment groups

This research examined the relative influence of a number of factors, patriarchal ideology, age, socio-economic status, partner relationship, and problem behaviors on the frequency of partner abuse. Patriarchal ideology as measured by the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS), and the Inventory of Beliefs about Wife Beating (IBWB) among men in batterer treatment programs did not have the strong influence expected on whether men in treatment are more frequent abusers of their partners. Instead, having a criminal record and having been identified as having a substance abuse problem stood out as being the most influential factors associated with frequent partner abuse. Questionnaires were administered to 283 men in batterer treatment programs in Dade County Florida who volunteered to participate in the study. Specifically, men in batterer groups who scored low on the AWS or high on the IBWB indicating an adherence to patriarchal ideology were predicted to report more frequent abuse of their partners. Conversely, men in treatment who scored high on the AWS or low on the IBWB indicating a tendency towards a non-patriarchal ideology were predicted to report less frequent abuse. ^

Syndemic health disparities and resilience processes related to HIV transmission risk among African American/Black men in south Florida

Rates of HIV infection continue to climb among minority populations and men who have sex with men (MSM), with African American/Black MSM being especially impacted. Numerous studies have found HIV transmission risk to be associated with many health and social disparities resulting from larger environmental and structural forces. Using anthropological and social environment-based theories of resilience that focus on individual agency and larger social and environmental structures, this dissertation employed a mixed methods design to investigate resilience processes among African American/Black MSM.^ Quantitative analyses compared African American/Black (N=108) and Caucasian/White (N=250) MSM who participated in a previously conducted randomized controlled trial (RCT) of sexual and substance use risk reduction interventions. At RCT study entry, using past 90 day recall periods, there were no differences in unprotected sex frequency, however African American/Black MSM reported higher frequencies of days high (P<0.000), and drugs and sex used in combination (P<0.000), and substance dependence (P<0.000) and lower levels of social support (P<0.024) compared to Caucasian/White MSM. At 12- month follow-up, multi-level statistical models found that African American/Black MSM reduced their frequencies of days high and unprotected sex at greater rates than Caucasian/White MSM (P<0.001).^ Qualitative data collected among a sub-sample of African American/Black MSM from the RCT (N=21) described the men's experiences of living with multiple health and social disparities and the importance of RCT study assessments in facilitating reductions in risk behaviors. A cross-case analysis showed different resilience processes undertaken by men who experienced low socioeconomic status, little family support, and homophobia (N=16) compared to those who did not (N=5).^ The dissertation concludes that resilience processes to HIV transmission risk and related health and social disparities among African American/Black MSM varies and are dependent on specific social environmental factors, including social relationships, structural homophobia, and access to social, economic, and cultural capital. Men define for themselves what it means to be resilient within their social environment. These conclusions suggest that both individual and structural-level resilience-based HIV prevention interventions are needed.^

Syndemic Health Disparities and Resilience Processes Related to HIV Transmission Risk among African American/Black Men in South Florida

Rates of HIV infection continue to climb among minority populations and men who have sex with men (MSM), with African American/Black MSM being especially impacted. Numerous studies have found HIV transmission risk to be associated with many health and social disparities resulting from larger environmental and structural forces. Using anthropological and social environment-based theories of resilience that focus on individual agency and larger social and environmental structures, this dissertation employed a mixed methods design to investigate resilience processes among African American/Black MSM. Quantitative analyses compared African American/Black (N=108) and Caucasian/White (N=250) MSM who participated in a previously conducted randomized controlled trial (RCT) of sexual and substance use risk reduction interventions. At RCT study entry, using past 90 day recall periods, there were no differences in unprotected sex frequency, however African American/Black MSM reported higher frequencies of days high (P Qualitative data collected among a sub-sample of African American/Black MSM from the RCT (N=21) described the men’s experiences of living with multiple health and social disparities and the importance of RCT study assessments in facilitating reductions in risk behaviors. A cross-case analysis showed different resilience processes undertaken by men who experienced low socioeconomic status, little family support, and homophobia (N=16) compared to those who did not (N=5). The dissertation concludes that resilience processes to HIV transmission risk and related health and social disparities among African American/Black MSM varies and are dependent on specific social environmental factors, including social relationships, structural homophobia, and access to social, economic, and cultural capital. Men define for themselves what it means to be resilient within their social environment. These conclusions suggest that both individual and structural-level resilience-based HIV prevention interventions are needed.

Living positive: Life in community among Puerto Rican men living with HIV in Boston

Negative experiences of stigmatization, discrimination, and rejection are common among people living with HIV in the United States, and particularly when they are also members of a minority group. Some three decades after the first cases of AIDS were identified, people infected with HIV continue to be perceived and characterized negatively. While an HIV/AIDS diagnosis is typically associated with negativity, this study investigates the extent to which collective experiences among HIV-positive people result in healthy responses and positive social adjustment. This study is focused on the ways in which HIV-positive Puerto Rican men in Boston live positive despite being diagnosed with HIV. Rather than wrapping themselves in the social stigma of HIV and the isolation that entails, they participate in processes that affirm themselves and their peers. In so doing, they help generate both healthy and meaningful lives for themselves and others. The study examines the process in which Puerto Rican men living with HIV in Boston participate, promote, and reaffirm an HIV community, la comunidad, as a social entity with a unique culture and identity. This study also investigates how this community influences, supports, and encourages the adoption of positive transformations for living long term with HIV. On the basis of nine months of field research, this qualitative study employed both focus groups and interviews with fifty HIV-positive Puerto Rican men in Boston. These men were recruited, using convenience sampling, from different community-based organizations (CBOs) that provide HIV/AIDS services in Boston. The study finds that HIV-positive Puerto Rican men in Boston build community, not in response to social exclusion, but built on shared positive practices and strategies for living healthy with HIV. These men come together to negotiate and form a unique cultural community expressed in norms, beliefs, and practices that, although centered on HIV, are designed for living healthy. These expressions reaffirm a sense of community in everyday settings and transform the lives of these men with positive behaviors and healthy lifestyles. The findings reveal that this transformation takes place in the context of a community, with the support, encouragement, and at times, policing of others. La comunidad is where the lives of these men are transformed as they learn, adopt, and experience living positive with HIV.

On the Threshold of Paradise and Present: Memory in Contemporary Cuban – American Literature

The exile leaving his or her homeland for new and unknown territory travels with much more than just luggage and the clothes on his or her back. He or she carries a weighty collection of memories. Available for the exile in times when the harmony of the past is far removed from the difficult circumstances present during the process of cultural assimilation, these memories present an opportunity for the exile to fashion for him or herself an identity that mimics the realities of life in the home left behind. In this creative endeavor, I seek to examine the powerful potential of memory as it is exercised by a collection of Cubans and Cuban-Americans in different corners of the United States. Analyzing Achy Obejas’ Memory Mambo, Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, Ana Menéndez’s In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd, and Elías Miguel Muñoz’s Brand New Memory, I aim to trace the suggestive potential of memory as it is used by each of the characters in these works in an effort to reconcile their Cuban identities with the ones that are in the process of creation in the U.S. I will borrow from a collection of literature dealing with identity and exile, relevant graduate-level theses on Cuban-American literature, as well as theoretical perspectives on memory formation and nostalgia in order to trace the various ways in which memory is relied on in the process of cultural assimilation and emotional coping. Being presented in Miami, which hosts the largest concentration of Cuban immigrants, this thesis aims to present itself as a reflective tool for Cubans and Cuban-Americans who may find value in seeing their personal sentiments portrayed in literature, thus allowing for a potential reevaluation of identity. If the existing literature on my topic of analysis reveals anything, it is that the scope of my project is one that has not been inspected previously, thus making my analytical contribution a new one that will add a new interpretive set of lens through which readers of contemporary Cuban-American literature can examine the works.

On the Threshold of Paradise and Present: Memory in Contemporary Cuban‐American Literature

The exile leaving his or her homeland for new and unknown territory travels with much more than just luggage and the clothes on his or her back. He or she carries a weighty collection of memories. Available for the exile in times when the harmony of the past is far removed from the difficult circumstances present during the process of cultural assimilation, these memories present an opportunity for the exile to fashion for him or herself an identity that mimics the realities of life in the home left behind. In this creative endeavor, I seek to examine the powerful potential of memory as it is exercised by a collection of Cubans and Cuban-Americans in different corners of the United States. Analyzing Achy Obejas’ Memory Mambo, Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, Ana Menéndez’s In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd, and Elías Miguel Muñoz’s Brand New Memory, I aim to trace the suggestive potential of memory as it is used by each of the characters in these works in an effort to reconcile their Cuban identities with the ones that are in the process of creation in the U.S. I will borrow from a collection of literature dealing with identity and exile, relevant graduate-level theses on Cuban-American literature, as well as theoretical perspectives on memory formation and nostalgia in order to trace the various ways in which memory is relied on in the process of cultural assimilation and emotional coping. Being presented in Miami, which hosts the largest concentration of Cuban immigrants, this thesis aims to present itself as a reflective tool for Cubans and Cuban-Americans who may find value in seeing their personal sentiments portrayed in literature, thus allowing for a potential reevaluation of identity. If the existing literature on my topic of analysis reveals anything, it is that the scope of my project is one that has not been inspected previously, thus making my analytical contribution a new one that will add a new interpretive set of lens through which readers of contemporary Cuban-American literature can examine the works.

The Blue Highway

The Blue Highway is a collection of eleven literary short stories and ten miniatures that depict men in trouble, searching for a code to live by. The miniatures are repressed memories, appearing suddenly like the tips of ice bergs and act as stepping stones (tension bridges) between the larger works. The stories begin at the end with "Time Out", the story of Frank, a down and out homeless vet at the end of his rope. Then we begin the journey along "The Blue Highway" with Danny and his gang of teenage bandits, taking themselves to Disney World to see if they can recapture their lost dream. On our journey we will meet Mark, the ex-killer, an old Cuban fisherman who will not give up his honor, a young man on a way to a war who discovers a fantastic treasure, a soldier on his way home again, two MP's who nearly kill the wrong man, we will spend a night on an African savannah with wild hyenas and finally, meet a grandfather who discovers the one gift which might save his family. The same gift which might save Frank as well. ^

Without women: Masculinities, gay male sexual culture and sexual behaviors in Miami, Florida

Recent studies have reported alarmingly high rates of HIV infection and risky sexual behaviors among gay men in Miami, Florida. Previous research has suggested that the risky sexual behaviors of many gay men reflect the pursuit of intimacy and love, and that barriers to intimate relationships among gay men may stem from traditional masculinity norms. This dissertation examines the meanings which gay men ascribe to their sexual behaviors, as well as the intersections of those meanings with both traditional masculinity constructions and Miami's gay male sexual culture. ^ The study is based upon participant observation, print media content analysis, surveys and ethnographic interviews of a purposive snowball sample of 30 Cuban American, Puerto Rican, African American and Anglo gay men who reside in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Analysis of research questions was accomplished through grounded theory methods and descriptive and non-parametric statistics, including Pearson chi-square, Fisher's Exact and Mann-Whitney U tests. ^ The study shows that culturally-specified masculinity norms vary in the relative importance ascribed to heterosexual prowess, economic providership and competitiveness. These cultural differences appear important not only to the timing of sexual awareness and to the strength of homosexual stereotyping as effeminacy, but also to men's strategies in coming out as gay. The meanings men attributed to their sexual behaviors were, however, constructed in response to both inherited masculinity norms and the hypermasculine structure of Miami's gay male sexual culture. In addition to providing an ethnographic account of this subculture, the study elaborates men's issues relative to casual sex and committed relationships. Unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners during the previous twelve months was associated with growing up without one's father in the home, having been teased for effeminacy during childhood, being defensive about one's masculinity, not trusting men, having been cheated on by boyfriends, and believing that long-term gay male relationships are problematic. ^ It is concluded that the continuing epidemic of HIV infections among local gay men, as well as the hypermasculine form of the gay sexual subculture itself, are nihilistic symptoms embedded in the masculinist gender structure of the larger society. ^

Social factors influencing antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence among Black men living with HIV who use illicit drugs

In the United States 1.2 million persons are HIV infected. Among men, HIV rates in Blacks are seven times higher than Whites. More Black men progress to AIDS because of treatment failure and adherence problems. Antiretroviral therapy (ART), the only treatment effective for long term HIV suppression, requires near perfect adherence. Illicit drug use and homelessness pose further challenges. Suboptimal ART adherence leads to HIV mutations that can render entire classes of medication ineffective and transmission of mutated HIV to others in the community. The purpose of this study was to investigate ART adherence behaviors of Black men living with HIV who use illicit drugs. A sample of 160 Black men living with HIV who use illicit drugs was recruited using flyers and snowball sampling. These men completed study questionnaires that included: demographics, the K-10, PSOM and Social Capital Integrated Questionnaire, among others. One-way ANOVAs, multiple regression, and path analysis were used to address the study's research questions. Most of the Black men in this sample were high school graduates and single, with high rates of being marginally housed and homeless. Unemployment and disability were common, and personal and household income was low. The men reported high numbers of sexual partners both over the past year and during their lifetimes, suggesting continued engagement in high risk behaviors. The majority of the men attributed their HIV to heterosexual sex, with sexual commoditization being common. About half of the 105 men currently taking ART reported the current regimen was their first. Patient-provider relationship was positively associated with tolerability of ART. ART adherence was greater with less psychological distress, lower frequency of current illicit drug use, and greater tolerability of ART. Partner status negatively influenced ART adherence. This study of Black men's ART adherence behaviors has implications for public health. It identified social context factors that influence ART adherence among the men and provides evidence to refine existing, or develop new, ART adherence interventions.

Racialized sexualities within the romance tour industry: The influence of affect and emotion upon transnational hierarchies of desire

Online international introduction sites that offer romance tours to American men in search of a foreign bride are an important and rapidly growing component of the internet dating industry; the number of these agencies in the U.S. tripled from two hundred to six hundred in the past 10 years. Previous scholars have examined the so-called `mail order bride' industry in order to demonstrate that the women involved are agents and not victims. Many scholars have also highlighted the importance of race in shaping American men's desires in one particular region or country. My dissertation provides an important addition to the literature surrounding romance tourism by including participants from all three major regions associated with romance tourism: Eastern Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia. I collected the data for the dissertation by becoming a participant observer of a romance tour in Ukraine, Colombia, and the Philippines. I argue that romance tourism is an important example of the global intimate, and the ways in which globalized processes are created and sustained through everyday intimate emotions and interactions. By examining the ways in which the emotions of desire, disgust, and anxiety influence individual romance tour participant's constructions of racialized hierarchies, the links between individual emotions and global systems are revealed. The concept of the global intimate challenges the hierarchy of scale that places the body, the home, and the intimate on a much lower level than the scale of the global or the national, and at the same time challenges the binary that divides the individual from the global. Through highlighting the different emotional negotiations that are constantly occurring in the romance tour industry, I highlight the important ways in which individual emotions and affects influence global processes on a large scale and vice versa.^

Racialized Sexualities within the Romance Tour Industry: the Influence of Affect and Emotion Upon Transnational Hierarchies of Desire

Online international introduction sites that offer romance tours to American men in search of a foreign bride are an important and rapidly growing component of the internet dating industry; the number of these agencies in the U.S. tripled from two hundred to six hundred in the past 10 years. Previous scholars have examined the so-called ‘mail order bride’ industry in order to demonstrate that the women involved are agents and not victims. Many scholars have also highlighted the importance of race in shaping American men’s desires in one particular region or country. My dissertation provides an important addition to the literature surrounding romance tourism by including participants from all three major regions associated with romance tourism: Eastern Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia. I collected the data for the dissertation by becoming a participant observer of a romance tour in Ukraine, Colombia, and the Philippines. I argue that romance tourism is an important example of the global intimate, and the ways in which globalized processes are created and sustained through everyday intimate emotions and interactions. By examining the ways in which the emotions of desire, disgust, and anxiety influence individual romance tour participant’s constructions of racialized hierarchies, the links between individual emotions and global systems are revealed. The concept of the global intimate challenges the hierarchy of scale that places the body, the home, and the intimate on a much lower level than the scale of the global or the national, and at the same time challenges the binary that divides the individual from the global. Through highlighting the different emotional negotiations that are constantly occurring in the romance tour industry, I highlight the important ways in which individual emotions and affects influence global processes on a large scale and vice versa.