Persistence of immunoglobulin heavy chain/c-myc recombination-positive lymphocyte clones in the blood of human immunodeficiency virus-infected homosexual men.

We studied blood lymphocytes of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive and -negative homosexual men for the presence of T(8;14) translocations that recombine c-myc and immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IgH) mu/IgH alpha switch regions. Clones with T(8;14) translocations were detected in 10.5% (12/114) of the HIV-positive and in 2.0% of the 99 uninfected patients. The majority of recombinations were found at a single time point only. Four patients, however, harbored multiple (up to four) and persistent (up to 9 years) translocation-positive cell clones. No correlation between the presence of these aberrant lymphocytes and a later lymphoma could be established. The exon 1/intron 1 region of the recombined c-myc was investigated for the presence of point mutations and these were found in the nonpersistent clones. Additional alterations detected in these clones included duplications and a deletion in the c-myc gene. The pattern of base substitution indicates that they were introduced after the translocation event.

Percepção e orientação de condutas de conselheiros tutelares sobre práticas sexuais de menores de 18 anos

A abertura política do Brasil à democracia promoveu uma série de mudanças legislativas e de organização do Estado. Na área da infância e adolescência, após a promulgação do Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (ECA), foram criados conselhos de nível federal, estadual e municipal, com o objetivo de promover e defender os direitos dessa população específica. Também foram formados os Conselhos Tutelares compostos por membros da sociedade civil, diretamente eleitos pela população, com a função de informar e promover esses direitos localmente. Utilizando a metodologia qualitativa-quantitativa do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo, a pesquisa analisou a percepção e opinião dos conselheiros tutelares a respeito de situações que envolvem a prática sexual voluntária heterossexual e homossexual de adolescentes da faixa etária de 12 a 17 anos. Os dados foram colhidos com o uso de questionários semiestruturados para autopreenchimento, apresentados em visita técnica aos membros dos 44 Conselhos Tutelares do município de São Paulo. Além do perfil social e familiar, foram coletadas opiniões dos conselheiros quanto à autonomia dos adolescentes e suas noções de desrespeito legal, além de sugestões de orientação de condutas frente a três casos hipotéticos de prática sexual realizada por adolescentes. Responderam à pesquisa 80 (36,4 por cento ) conselheiros de um total de 220, de 29 (65,9 por cento ) dos 44 Conselhos Tutelares da cidade. Observou-se que apresentaram tendência a reproduzir os modelos tradicionais negativos da sociedade brasileira no julgamento da prática sexual de adolescentes, avaliando sua ocorrência pela ótica moral e de opinião de familiares e outros adultos. Mais da metade não associa tais práticas a impactos específicos sobre a saúde e os direitos sexuais e reprodutivos dos adolescentes, nem realiza encaminhamentos para sua promoção. Adotam noções desiguais de gênero do senso comum, que remetem à preocupação com a imagem e impactos da publicização da sexualidade de meninas, não fazendo o mesmo para adolescentes meninos e veem as práticas homoafetivas sob a ótica da violência e sedução, associando-as à necessidade de orientação psicológica e problemas de saúde mental. Considera-se que conselheiros tutelares estão pouco preparados para lidar com a sexualidade de adolescentes e normalmente treinados para avaliá-la tal qual a violência sexual que acomete crianças. Como possuem status local de legitimidade, são procurados e tem poder de averiguação e encaminhamento público de ocorrências, terminando por, muitas vezes, desrespeitar os direitos humanos de adolescentes quanto à expressão e vivência da sexualidade e da prática sexual saudável. Considera-se fundamental discutir o papel dos Conselhos Tutelares frente aos direitos de adolescentes, de forma que ao contrário do proposto na democratização do país, não se configurem como mais um instrumentos de exercício de poder para perpetuar desigualdades sociais. Na área da sexualidade, a defesa dos direitos de adolescentes passa pelo respeito a sua sexualidade, acesso à informação, à garantia de serviços públicos que efetivamente os atendam para proporcionar exames, contracepção, prevenção de doenças sexualmente transmissíveis, etc., com respeito a sua cidadania, especificidades, necessidades, autonomia e dignidade pessoal, promovendo-os e defendendo-os frente a famílias, comunidade, a toda a sociedade e ao próprio poder público.

The homosexual in literature; a chronological bibliography, circa 700 B.C.-1958,

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Choosing to have children or choosing to be childfree: Australian students' attitudes towards the decisions of heterosexual and lesbian women

Research has demonstrated that voluntarily childless heterosexual women, and lesbian women choosing to become mothers, are negatively stereotyped. However, there is little recent Australian research, and attitudes may have changed in line with changing family formation patterns. This study assessed young Australians' attitudes towards either a lesbian or a heterosexual woman who was planning, or not planning, to have children. One hundred and nineteen first year psychology students, and members of the general public, participated. The majority of participants were under 20, female, European Australian and single. Participants read a brief description of a woman who was variously described as having a male or a female partner, and as planning or not planning to have children. As expected, participants rated the heterosexual woman more favourably than the lesbian, and the woman wanting children more positively than the woman not wanting children. However, there was a trend for the lesbian woman planning to have children to be rated as happier, more mature and more individualistic than others. The legal and social implications associated with wanting to be a lesbian mother in Australia make motherhood a more difficult process for lesbian women than it does for heterosexual women, and may explain why lesbian women who have decided to take this difficult path are seen as happier and more mature, than women making more conventional life choices. While the predominantly young, female student sample limits the generality of the findings, they suggest that social attitudes towards female sexual orientation and women's childbirth decisions are changing.

A CONSTRUÇÃO DISCURSIVA E A RECEPÇÃO DA HOMOAFETIVIDADE NA TELEDRAMATURGIA BRASILEIRA: consumo, representação e identidade homossexual

Este estudo tem como objetivo avaliar a representação e discurso dos personagens homossexuais da teledramaturgia brasileira e sua potencial relação com as demandas da comunidade homossexual na sua luta por maior tolerância e emancipação. A metodologia inclui dois enfoques analíticos: o primeiro centra-se no campo da produção, a partir dos pressupostos da Análise do Discurso e dos Estudos Queer, verificando os aspectos textuais do discurso e da representação dos personagens gays das telenovelas. O segundo enfoque centra-se no campo da circulação e consumo, mediante os pressupostos dos Estudos de Recepção, a fim de avaliar como os receptores realizam a apropriação do discurso e representação homossexual da telenovela. Esse segundo enfoque conta com um instrumento quantitativo e uma entrevista qualitativa semidirigida, aplicados a uma amostra de 402 participantes, hétero e homossexuais, a maioria jovens estudantes de graduação em Belo Horizonte, MG. Quanto às análises discursivas, os resultados demonstram uma mudança no padrão de representação dos personagens homossexuais, deslocando-se do padrão heteronormativo para uma representação mais humanizada, seguindo o momento histórico de maturidade política da sociedade e a aprovação de marcos legais favoráveis aos sujeitos homossexuais. Quanto aos estudos de recepção, os resultados confirmam o potencial pedagógico da telenovela em ampliar a discussão sobre a questão homoafetiva; auxiliar o sujeito homossexual em aceitar sua identidade sexual e encorajá-lo a assumir sua orientação sexual.

Chronic illness in non-heterosexual contexts: towards a critical LGBTQ health psychology

In this thesis, I contribute to the expansion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) psychology by examining chronic illness within non-heterosexual contexts. Chronic illness, beyond the confines of HIV/AIDS, has been a neglected topic in LGBTQ psychology and sexual identity is often overlooked within health psychology. When the health of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people has been considered there has been an over-reliance on quantitative methods and comparative approaches which seek to compare LGB people?s health to their heterosexual counterparts. In contrast, I adopt a critical perspective and qualitative methods to explore LGBTQ health. My research brings together ideas from LGBTQ psychology and critical health psychology to explore non-heterosexuals? experiences of chronic illness and the discursive contexts within which LGB people live with chronic health conditions. I also highlight the heteronormativity which pervades academic health psychology as well as the „lay? health literature. The research presented in this thesis draws on three different sources of qualitative data: a qualitative online questionnaire (n=190), an online discussion within a newsgroup for people with diabetes, and semi-structured interviews with 20 LGB people with diabetes. These data are analysed using critical realist forms of thematic analysis and discourse analysis. In the first analytic chapter (Chapter 3), I report the perspectives of LGB people living with many different chronic illnesses and how they felt their sexuality shapes their experiences of illness. In Chapter 4, I examine heterosexism within an online discussion and consider the ways in which sexuality is constructed as (ir)relevant to a diabetes support forum. In Chapter 5, I analyse LGB people?s talk about the support family and partners provide in relation to their diabetes and how they negotiate wider discourses of gender, sexuality and individualism. In Chapter 6 I explore how diabetes intersects with gay and bisexual men?s sex lives. In the concluding chapter, I discuss the contributions of my research for a critical LGBTQ health psychology and identify some possible areas for future research.

Chronic illness in non-heterosexual contexts: an online survey of experiences

In this article we contribute to the expansion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) health psychology beyond the confines of sexual health by examining the experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual people living with non-HIV related chronic illness. Using a (predominantly) qualitative online survey, the perspectives of 190 LGB people with 52 different chronic illnesses from eight countries were collected. The five most commonly reported physical conditions were arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, asthma and chronic fatigue syndrome. Our analysis focuses on four themes within participants’ written comments: (1) ableism within LGBT communities; (2) isolation from LGBT communities and other LGB people living with chronic illness; (3)heteronormativity within sources of information and support and; (4) homophobia from healthcare professionals. We conclude by suggesting that LGBTQ psychology could usefully draw on critical health psychology principles and frameworks to explore non-heterosexual’s lived experiences of chronic illness, and also that there remains a need for specifically targeted support groups and services for LGB people with chronic illnesses.

Relationship status and identity construction in heterosexual women:A discourse analytic and personal construct study

This thesis reports the findings of three studies examining relationship status and identity construction in the talk of heterosexual women, from a feminist and social constructionist perspective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 women in study 1 and 13 women for study 2, between the ages of twenty and eighty-seven, discussing their experiences of relationships. All interviews were transcribed and analysed using discourse analysis, by hand and using the Nudist 6 program. The resulting themes create distinct age-related marital status expectations. Unmarried women were aware they had to marry by a ‘certain age’ or face a ‘lonely spinsterhood’. Through marriage women gained a socially accepted position associated with responsibility for others, self-sacrifice, a home-focused lifestyle and relational identification. Divorce was constructed as the consequence of personal faults and poor relationship care, reassuring the married of their own control over their status. Older unmarried women were constructed as deviant and pitiable, occupying social purgatory as a result of transgressing these valued conventions. Study 3 used repertory grid tasks, with 33 women, analysing transcripts and notes alongside numerical data using Web Grid II internet analysis tool, to produce principle components maps demonstrating the relationships between relationship terms and statuses. This study illuminated the consistency with which women of different ages and status saw marriage as their ideal living situation and outlined the domestic responsibilities associated. Spinsters and single-again women were defined primarily by their lack of marriage and by loneliness. This highlighted the devalued position of older unmarried women. The results of these studies indicated a consistent set of age-related expectations of relationship status, acknowledged by women and reinforced by their families and friends, which render many unmarried women deviant and fail to acknowledge the potential variety of women’s ways of living.

A 'sexy space' for women? Heterosexual women's experiences of a male strip show venue

The rise of male strip shows marketed towards heterosexual women has called into question the idea that only men can 'gaze' or be 'sexual scrutinizers' in public leisure spaces. This paper details the findings of an ethnographic study of a male strip event 'Cheeky's',1 located in the Midlands, England. Utilising observation, informal interviews and photography, the paper describes the physical environment and the atmosphere of the event, and analyses interview data with female customers. The paper questions what spaces such as Cheeky's mean for female sexualities, sexual roles and desires. The findings are twofold. On the one hand the club was a relatively novel sexual space, as some women spectators experienced it as an 'empowering' space in which they could be 'sexually aggressive'; on the other hand, the character of the club was actively and adeptly manufactured by the Master of Ceremonies (MC), and male dancers, so as to encourage - and even to coercively elicit - extrovert behaviour from women customers. Despite shifting normative gendered expectations of women's sexual behaviour to some extent, ultimately the club structured women's sexual experiences around traditional heterosexist lines. The club did not encourage women's autonomous sexual expression, and many women claimed they had not found it a very 'sexy space'. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

Discourses of friendship between heterosexual women and gay men:mythical norms and an absence of desire

Gay men and heterosexual women may share some common interests in critiquing hetero-patriarchy. However feminism and gay liberationist politics do not always coincide and the role of individual subjectivities in recognising oppressive discourses of normativity remains debated. Interviews were conducted with seven friendship dyads of heterosexual women and gay men. Transcripts were subjected to discourse analysis, which suggested extensive management of heterosexist norms in the friends' accounts of friendship. The analysis highlighted ambiguity over the 'male' status of gay men, a concern with constructing the friendships as legitimately asexual, and the use of parody in the face of homophobia to disrupt normative assumptions. Although we primarily considered the role of heterosexist discourses, there is also evidence that other dimensions of non-normativity (for example, gender and ethnicity) are implicated in friendships constructed around shared otherness and mutual non-normativity. © 2010 SAGE.