Assemblages of Excess Pleasure and Connection: The sociosexual uses of virtual and chemical technologies among men who have sex with men

Citation

Numer, M., Hammond, C., Holmes, D. (2021). Assemblages of Excess Pleasure and Connection: The Sociosexual Uses of Virtual and Chemical Technologies Among GBMSM. Nursing Philosophy.

Abstract

Chemicals have penetrated everyday lives of men who have sex with men as never before, along with new online and mobile technologies used to seek pleasures and connections. Poststructuralist (including queer) explorations of these new intensities show how bodies exist in the form of (political) surfaces able to connect with other bodies and with other objects where they may find/create a function (e.g., reproduce or disrupt hegemonies). This federally funded netnographic study explored how a variety of chemicals such as recreational drugs, pharmaceuticals and steroids are contributing to the construction of gay, bisexual and other men having sex with men (GBMSM) communities and their interactions with idealized masculinities in the age of increasing technology. Five major thematic categories emerged from our analysis: (1) assembling bodies and technologies, (2) becoming orgiastic, (3) experiencing stigma, (4) becoming machinic and (5) negotiating practices. Our analysis explores how and why GBMSM pursue excesses of pleasure and connection through the assemblages they make with sexualized drug use, online platforms and other men.

Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nup.12370?casa_token=1djpweLw7KkAAAAA%3Ai3D3FAFaapkrG6IgyGFFUNsLPheNnvkUDbjkbZi4RioZ3yMVSFb1yYX6yqj-KGTH2H1vef-qZ_-77Q

Assembling Bodies and Technologies: A Nethnographic Account of Sexualized Drug Use Among Gay, Bisexual, and other Men Who Have Sex with Men

Citation

Holmes, D., Numer, M., Hammond, C., Joy, P., Sinno, J. (2021). Assembling Bodies and Technologies: A Nethnographic Account of Sexualized Drug Use Among Gay, Bisexual, and other Men Who Have Sex with Men. Gender, Technology and Development. DOI: 10.1080/09718524.2021.1940437 

Abstract

The identities and communities of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) are undergoing reconfiguration through two technologies: the digital spaces of social networking and hookup apps, and the sexualized use of chemicals such as recreational and illicit drugs, pharmaceuticals, and steroids. These technologies are creating spaces for GBMSM to indulge in excesses and extremes of pleasure, generating what has been described as an online chemculture. We approached this topic from a poststructuralist queer perspective, attending to the ways in which the fluid assemblages between GBMSM bodies and technologies produce sexual relations that resist heteronormative and other oppressive social structures. Using discourse analysis, this mixed method study (questionnaires and semi-structured interviews) of 50 GBMSM explored how they talked about their sexualized uses of digital and chemical technologies. Data collection occurred in three Canadian cities (Halifax, Ottawa, and Vancouver). The results identify the technologies most frequently employed in the sexual encounters of GBMSM, as well as participants’ self-identified purposes for using these technologies and the effects they have on GBMSM identities and communities. This study suggests that there is some potential, though not without some tension, in GBMSM using digital and chemical technologies to realize queer desires.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09718524.2021.1940437

A poststructural discourse analysis of the attitudes, beliefs, and values of undergraduate Canadian university students regarding sexual orientation

Citation

Joy, P., Crawford, Z., Sinno, J., Walters, J., & Numer, M. (2021). A poststructural discourse analysis of the attitudes, beliefs, and values of undergraduate Canadian university students regarding sexual orientation. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality.  

Abstract

The socio-politico-cultural context of sexual orientation often influences the attitudes, beliefs, and values produced in a given society. This study employed a qualitative methodology to explore the current attitudes, beliefs, and values of Canadian undergraduate students about sexual orientation. Students in a large human sexuality course at a Canadian university completed open-ended questions on the educational platform Top Hat. The data were analyzed using discourse analysis and four threads of discourse emerged: 1) The Nature of Sexual Orientation, 2) Gender Norms and Bisexuality, 3) Shared Connections, and 4) Foundations of Friendships. These findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge relating to changing attitudes, beliefs, and values about sexual orientation of Canadian university students.

Link: https://www.utpjournals.press/eprint/YJIH3M8IAHRARPX9U96P/full

Dancing in a culture of disordered eating: A feminist poststructural analysis of body image among young girls in the world of dance

Citation

Doria, N., & Numer, M. (Accepted). Dancing in a culture of disordered eating: A feminist poststructural analysis of body image among young girls in the world of dance. PLOS ONE.

Grinding Against HIV Discourse: A Critical Exploration of Social Sexual Practices in Gay Cruising Apps.

Citation

Numer, M., Holmes, D., Joy, P., Thompson, R., & Doria, N. (2019). Grinding Against HIV Discourse: A Critical Exploration of Social Sexual Practices in Gay Cruising Apps. Gender, Technology and Development. DOI: 10.1080/09718524.2019.1684022

Abstract

Social networking applications (SNAs), such as Grindr, are shaping the identities and sexual practices of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBM). This qualitative study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the role of such technologies in social sexual practices, particularly in relation to risk management and prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted blood-borne infections (STBBIs). Poststructuralism and queer theory were used to critically examine the relationship between GBM and SNAs in a sample of people who use Grindr. Sixteen people, identifying as men who used Grindr, were interviewed. Discourse analysis was employed to critically examine the relationship between GBM and SNAs, and three threads of discourse emerged: Language and images, Filtering, and Trust. These threads of discourse provide insight into how the sexual beliefs, values, and practices of GBM are shaped on SNAs.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09718524.2019.1684022

HIV/AIDS and the public health paradox: A poststructural discourse analysis of the impact of HIV Messaging on gay men in Nova Scotia.

Citation

Numer, M., Gahagan, J., Brown, M., & Atkinson, S. (2017). HIV/AIDS and the public health paradox: A poststructural discourse analysis of the impact of HIV Messaging on gay men in Nova Scotia. The International Journal of Health, Wellness and Society, 7(3), 91-104. DOI: 10.18848/2156-8960.

Abstract

Three decades of public health and health promotion policies and programs, in Nova Scotia, have aimed to reduce the rate of new HIV infections. Yet, gay men in this province continue to experience the highest rates of HIV transmission and have the highest proportion of people living with this disease in Canada. In this paper, the authors employ a Foucauldian conceptual framework and a qualitative post-structural discourse analysis to examine the role of public health in HIV messaging and how this has shaped our knowledge and understanding of gay men in the modern age of HIV/AIDS. Seventeen HIV activists in Nova Scotia were interviewed, and the transcripts are the textual source of the discourse analysis. An investigation of local public health efforts can illustrate the impact of the often-unseen dimensions of power and also the unintended consequences of health messaging on target populations. The findings suggest that public health efforts aimed at HIV prevention and stigma reduction are neither apolitical nor neutral. Rather, while these public policy efforts are aimed at HIV prevention, by attempting to regulate sexual subjectivities, they have become a form of discourse that has entered into the subject experience of gay men. This paper explores some of the ways in which public health HIV discourse impacts the subject experience by examining the effects of mainstreaming HIV messaging, sanitizing messaging for public consumption, and avoiding candid discussions about gay men’s sexual practices in the context of public health.

https://doi.org/10.18848/2156-8960/CGP/v07i03/91-104

The sexual health of gay men in the post-AIDS era: Feminist, post-structuralist and queer theory perspectives.

Citation

Numer, M., & Gahagan, J. (2009). The sexual health of gay men in the post-AIDS era: Feminist, post-structuralist and queer theory perspectives. International Journal of Men’s Health, 8(2), 155-168. DOI: 10.3149/jmh.0802.155

Abstract

This article discusses feminist, post-structuralist and queer theories as a framework for masculinities research on sexual health promotion efforts targeting gay men, particularly in relation to HIV prevention. The theories discussed have the potential to challenge the social categories associated with gender, sex, sexual identity and sexual orientation which often determine identities and subjectivities. Recognizing masculinity as a gender "performance" rather than a fixed identity enables health researchers to more fully investigate gendered sexual behaviors which are imbued with social, political and economic meaning. A combined feminist, post-structuralist and queer theoretical framework provides a way to understand how concepts of masculinity organize social interactions and how these in turn shape and inform the sexual health behaviors of men. The purpose of this article is to offer an approach for use by gay men's health researchers working on health promotion.

http://dx.doi.org/10.3149/jmh.0802.155