Sexual identity and its contribution to MSM risk behavior in bangaluru (Bangalore), India: The results of a two-stage cluster sampling survey

A. E. Phillips, M. C. Boily, Catherine Lowndes, G. P. Garnett, K. Gurav, B. M. Ramesh, J. Anthony, R. Watts, S. Moses, M. Alary

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    32 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In India, there are categories of MSM (hijras, kothis, double-deckers, panthis and bisexuals), which are generally associated with different HIV-risk behaviors. Our objective was to quantify differences across MSM identities (n = 357) and assess the extent they conform to typecasts that prevail in policy-orientated discourse. More feminine kothis (26%) and hijras (13%) mostly reported receptive sex, and masculine panthis (15%) and bisexuals (23%) insertive anal sex. However, behavior did not always conform to expectation, with 25% and 16% of the sample reporting both insertive and receptive anal intercourse with known and unknown noncommercial partners, respectively (p 0.000). Although behavior often complied with stereotyped role and identity, male-with-male sexual practices were fluid. Reification of these categories in an intervention context may hinder our understanding of the differential HIV risk among MSM.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)111-126
    Number of pages16
    JournalJournal of LGBT Health Research
    Volume4
    Issue number2-3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2008

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    The India AIDS Initiative, including this study, is supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Michel Alary is a National Researcher of the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec, Canada (Grant # 8722). The authors confirm that the work in this article has not been published elsewhere.

    Keywords

    • HIV
    • Hijra
    • Identity
    • India
    • Kothi
    • MSM
    • Transexuals

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