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Gendered genital modifications in critical anthropology: from discourses on FGM/C to new technologies in the sex/gender system. Int J Impot Res 2023; 35:6-15. [PMID: 35246630 PMCID: PMC9935393 DOI: 10.1038/s41443-022-00542-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Revised: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Since the late 19th century, genital modifications (female and male) have been an important research subject in anthropology. According to a comparative and constructivist perspective, they were first interpreted as rites of passage, then as rites of institutions. In a complex dialogue with feminist movements, 20th-century scholars recognised that the cultural meanings of these modifications are multiple and changing in time and space. Conversely, according to WHO, since the 1950s, Female Genital Mutilation or Cutting (FGM/C) has been considered a form of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). Interpreted as VAWG, FGM/C has progressively been isolated from its complementary male rite, selected for special condemnation, and banned. An order of discourse has been built by WHO and other international organisations. This article provides a genealogic deconstruction of the order of discourse lexicon, highlighting dislocations between anthropology and the human rights agenda. Today, genital modifications encompass FGM/C, male circumcision, clitoral reconstruction after FGM/C, gender reassignment surgery, and intersex and 'cosmetic' genital surgery. I propose to call these procedures Gendered Genital Modifications (GGMo). GGMo implicates public health, well-being, potential harm, sexuality, moral and social norms, gender empowerment, gender violence, and prohibitive and permissive policies and laws. The selective production of knowledge on FGM/C has reinforced the social and political polarisation between practices labelled as barbaric and others considered modern, accessible, and empowering. I suggest an anthropological interpretation for the socio-cultural meanings of health, sexuality, purity and beauty. I propose future interdisciplinary studies of how consent, bodily integrity and personal autonomy bear on concepts of agency and subjectivity in the sex/gender system.
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Naz-McLean S, Clark JL, Reisner SL, Prenner JC, Weintraub B, Huerta L, Salazar X, Lama JR, Mayer KH, Perez-Brumer A. Decision-Making at the Intersection of Risk and Pleasure: A Qualitative Inquiry with Trans Women Engaged in Sex Work in Lima, Peru. AIDS Behav 2022; 26:843-852. [PMID: 34436712 PMCID: PMC9897010 DOI: 10.1007/s10461-021-03445-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
To inform culturally relevant HIV prevention interventions, we explore the complexity of sex work among Peruvian transgender women. In 2015, we conducted twenty in-depth interviews and demographic surveys with transgender women in Lima, Peru to examine how transgender women enact individual- and community-level resistance strategies within a context of pervasive marginalization. Although 40% self-identified as "sex workers," 70% recently exchanged sex for money. Participants described nuanced risk-benefit analyses surrounding paid sexual encounters. Classification of clients as "risky" or "rewarding" incorporated issues of health, violence, and pleasure. Interviews highlighted context-informed decision-making (rejecting disrespectful clients, asserting condom use with specific partner types) demonstrating that motivations were not limited to HIV prevention or economic renumeration, but considered safety, health, attraction, gender validation, hygiene, and convenience. These findings underscore the complex risk assessments employed by Peruvian trans women. These individual-level decision-making and context-specific health promotion strategies represent critical frameworks for HIV prevention efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Naz-McLean
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 181 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
| | - Jesse L Clark
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Sari L Reisner
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 181 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Joshua C Prenner
- Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | | | | | - Javier R Lama
- Asociación Civil Impacta Salud Y Educación, Lima, Peru
- Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Kenneth H Mayer
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Beth Israel Lahey Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Amaya Perez-Brumer
- Division of Social and Behavioural Health Sciences, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
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Moore EV, Ddaaki W, Hirsch JS, Chang L, Nalugoda F, Santelli JS. "Sex is supposed to be naturally more pleasurable": Healers as providers of holistic sexual and reproductive healthcare in Uganda. Soc Sci Med 2022; 296:114756. [PMID: 35151149 PMCID: PMC8900654 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2021] [Revised: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Global health researchers often approach Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) from a health efficacy perspective, asking whether the presence of plural medical systems helps or hinders the uptake of biomedicine. Medical anthropologists, by contrast, typically emphasize how plural medical systems encourage us to rethink health ontologies-that is, who and what comes to constitute the experience of health and illness, and through which practices. Building on both approaches, we explore the role of "healers," a term we use to encompass several different kinds of TCAM providers, in the sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRH) of young people from southcentral Uganda, a region well known as an HIV/AIDS epicenter. Drawing from ethnographic data, we describe three reasons that young people seek SRH from healers. First, they associate stigma, scarcity, and high costs with biomedical SRH. Second, healers work across biomedical and non-biomedical therapeutic divides, prescribing herbs for sexually transmitted infections while simultaneously referring clients to biomedical HIV clinics. Third, healers provide counseling focused on pleasurable and economically-motivated sex. Because these therapies diverge from international and national HIV prevention messaging that frames non-marital and transactional sex in terms of danger and disease, healers' holistic approach to SRH may help to reconstitute the meaning, practice, and experience of "sexual health" in contemporary Uganda. This has important implications for improving global SRH programs and for understanding the continued appeal of TCAM more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jennifer S Hirsch
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Larry Chang
- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | | | - John S Santelli
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA.
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Logie CH, Berry I, Ferguson L, Malama K, Donkers H, Narasimhan M. Uptake and provision of self-care interventions for sexual and reproductive health: findings from a global values and preferences survey. Sex Reprod Health Matters 2022; 29:2009104. [PMID: 35100942 PMCID: PMC8812803 DOI: 10.1080/26410397.2021.2009104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Self-care interventions hold the potential to improve sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and well-being. Yet key knowledge gaps remain regarding how knowledge and uptake vary across different types of self-care interventions. There is also limited understanding of health workers’ confidence in promoting SRH self-care interventions, and how this may differ based on personal uptake experiences. To address these knowledge gaps, we conducted a web-based cross-sectional survey among health workers and laypersons from July to November 2018. We investigated the following information about SRH self-care interventions: knowledge and uptake; decisions for use; and associations between health workers’ uptake and providing prescriptions, referrals, and/or information for these interventions. Participants (n = 837) included laypersons (n = 477) and health workers (n = 360) from 112 countries, with most representation from the WHO European Region (29.2%), followed by the Americas (28.4%) and African (23.2%) Regions. We found great heterogeneity in knowledge and uptake by type of SRH self-care intervention. Some interventions, such as oral contraception, were widely known in comparison with interventions such as STI self-sampling. Across interventions, participants perceived benefits of privacy, convenience, and accessibility. While pharmacies and doctors were preferred access points, this varied by type of self-care intervention. Health workers with knowledge of the self-care intervention, and who had themselves used the self-care intervention, were significantly more likely to feel confident in, and to have provided information or referrals to, the same intervention. This finding signals that health workers can be better engaged in learning about self-care SRH interventions and thereby become resources for expanding access.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmen H Logie
- Associate Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Correspondence: .,Adjunct Professor, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Isha Berry
- Doctoral Candidate, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Laura Ferguson
- Adjunct Professor, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kalonde Malama
- Associate Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Correspondence:
| | - Holly Donkers
- Associate Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Correspondence:
| | - Manjulaa Narasimhan
- Scientist, Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research, includes the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction - HRP, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
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Carter A, Gormley B, Muchenje M, Zhu D, Patterson S, Kestler M, Hankins C, Logie CH, Brotto LA, Tharao W, Lee M, Li J, Ding E, de Pokomandy A, Loutfy M, Kaida A. Prevalence and correlates of sexual concerns and associated distress among women living with HIV in Canada. WOMEN'S HEALTH 2022; 18:17455065221074877. [PMID: 35088623 PMCID: PMC8801632 DOI: 10.1177/17455065221074877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Objectives: We assessed the prevalence and correlates of sexual concerns and associated distress among women living with HIV in Canada. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional survey data from the Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (2017–2018). Self-identified women living with HIV were asked about sexual concerns post-HIV diagnosis and associated distress (none, mild, moderate, severe). Five areas of concern were assessed, including difficulties related to sexual self-esteem, sexual function, relationships, and emotional and behavioral aspects of sex. Logistic regression analyses identified correlates of reporting any sexual concerns and severe distress about these concerns. Results: Of 906 participants (median age 48, Q1–Q3 = 41–55), 596 (65.8%) reported sexual concerns post-HIV diagnosis. We found a high prevalence of concerns related to relationships (43.3%), sexual self-esteem (49.4%), and emotional aspects of sex (45.4%), relative to sexual functioning (38.4%) and behavioral aspects (33.7%). Of those with sexual concerns, 36.7% reported severe distress. Reports of severe distress were the highest for relationship difficulties (32.5%), relative to other areas of concern (21.4%–22.8%). In adjusted analyses, women reporting sexual dissatisfaction and high HIV-related stigma had significantly higher odds of reporting sexual concerns. Conversely, those reporting higher resilience, better mental health, African, Caribbean, and Black identity, and sex as somewhat unimportant, not at all important, or neutral to their lives had lower adjusted odds. Factors associated with severe distress about sexual concerns included older age, body dissatisfaction, sexual dissatisfaction, and high HIV-related stigma, while better mental health and getting support from someone living with HIV were protective. While 84.4% of women had discussed with a provider how viral load impacts transmission risk, only 40.6% had conversations about sexual wellbeing. Conclusion: More attention to women’s sexual wellbeing within social and relational contexts is critical to ensure the sexual rights of women living with HIV are upheld.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison Carter
- Kirby Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Australian Human Rights Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Becky Gormley
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Marvelous Muchenje
- Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Denise Zhu
- Faculty of Science, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Sophie Patterson
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
- Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
| | - Mary Kestler
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Oak Tree Clinic, British Columbia Women’s Hospital and Healthcare Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Catherine Hankins
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Carmen H Logie
- Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Women’s College Research Institute, Women’s College Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Lori A Brotto
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Women’s Health Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - Melanie Lee
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Jenny Li
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Erin Ding
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - Mona Loutfy
- Women’s College Research Institute, Women’s College Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Angela Kaida
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
- Women’s Health Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Logie CH. Sexual rights and sexual pleasure: Sustainable Development Goals and the omitted dimensions of the leave no one behind sexual health agenda. Glob Public Health 2021; 18:1953559. [PMID: 34278957 DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2021.1953559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
This commentary explores the missing discourse of sexual rights and sexual pleasure in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that purport to leave no one behind. The SDG propose a welcome focus on sexual health and human rights for all, expanding beyond the Millennium Development Goals. While promising in many ways for advancing global sexual and reproductive health, and reproductive rights, the omission of sexual rights is troubling. So too is the erasure of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) persons, and sex workers, from the SDG discussions of social inequities. Illustrative examples are provided to demonstrate how a sexual rights focus could advance SDG 3 focused on healthy lives and well-being for all. First, sexual rights are presented as integral to realizing Target 3.3's focus on ending the HIV pandemic among LGBTQ persons and sex workers (and LGBTQ sex workers). Second, sexual pleasure is introduced as an integral component of sexual health and sexual rights that could facilitate the realization of Target 3.7's aim to provide universal access to sexual and reproductive health information and education. To truly leave no one behind and realize sexual health for all, the SDG need to begin from a foundation of sexual rights.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmen H Logie
- Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.,Women's College Research Institute, Women's College Hospital, Toronto, Canada.,Centre for Gender & Sexual Health Equity, Vancouver, Canada
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