Facilitator's Guide for "The Rectal Revolution is Here" Video - English Version NOW Available

As many of our readers  know – in December IRMA, the Microbicide Trials Network, and Population Council launched the video “The Rectal Revolution is Here: An introduction to rectal microbicide clinical trials.” The 14-minute video includes researchers, advocates, and trial participants and discusses the need for rectal microbicides and the role of clinical trials in developing products that are safe and effective. It is available on YouTube in English, Spanish, and Thai and has been watched by several thousand viewers already.

The team has produced a facilitator’s guide to accompany the video, and the English version can be downloaded here.

The guide is meant to be used as a preparation tool for people leading community discussions, workshops, and/or recruitment sessions who will be showing the educational video. You will find simple, clear background information on rectal microbicide research and the clinical trial process as well as helpful hints on using the video.

We are still finalizing versions in Spanish and Thai – and will post them as soon as they are ready to go.

Many, many thanks to our partners at MTN and Population Council for their help and expertise with this guide, our Video Advisory Committee that provided invaluable feedback, our fabulous graphic designer from Toolbox, Inc., and to our intrepid Spanish and Thai translation teams!

If you would like an electronic copy of the video that you can keep on your computer or a flashdrive to be used for presentations, send a note to rectalmicro@gmail.com.

We hope you find this guide helpful!

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*Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,200 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

*Please look for us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalRectalMicrobicideAdvocates, and you can follow us on Twitter: @rectalmicro.

*Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.

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Health Care Influenced by Masculinity

via Daily Collegian, by Roy Ribitzky

Men’s assumed and undeserving position in society is coming at a huge cost to our health. The performance of hegemonic masculinity is forcing men of all races, classes and education to sacrifice their mental and physical health.

Men are expected to be strong, athletic, successful, competitive, in control, relentless, risk takers, promiscuous, able to drink a lot of alcohol, breadwinners and stoic. When men are compelled to take the impossible task of fitting into society’s socially constructed image of what a real man is, the consequences on their mental health are ignored. We all know men who partake in risky and unhealthy behaviors. But we also know men who are alone, depressed and in conflict with who they are versus what they are supposed to be. It is called the “paradox of masculinity.”

Men are the dominant beings in patriarchal societies: Most Fortune 500 CEOs are men, most federal judges are men, most representatives and senators in the United States Congress are men. So while men as a group are powerful in our society, men as individuals feel powerless in the struggle to be a hegemonic man. Like all oppressions, there are costs to those who are privileged. Institutionalized racism negatively affects whites because it prevents integration among the races. Additionally, homophobia negatively affects straight men because of the violence perpetrated by homophobic individuals onto any man whom they deem to be gay or feminine. In no way do racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, etc., affect dominant groups in the same way it affected marginalized groups and individuals, but the oppressor’s house was still built with the tools of oppression.

On average, men die at least five years earlier than women. Men are more likely to suffer from heart and lung disease than women. For every woman that commits suicide, four men do, and it is the second leading cause of death for college students. Men are more likely to engage in unsafe sex practices, unhealthy drinking behaviors and suffer injuries in sports and in the workplace. Men are not as likely as women to get emotional or medical support. Before and after Columbine, it has been young men who pulled the trigger.

Read the Rest.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Johns Hopkins: Studies Show the Likelihood of HIV Infection in Female Sex Workers

via Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Female sex workers in low- and middle-income countries are nearly 14 times more likely to be infected by HIV compared to the rest of country’s population, according to an analysis by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The findings suggest an urgent need to scale up access to quality HIV prevention programs in these countries. The study was published online in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

“Although female sex workers have long been understood to be a key affected population, the scope and breadth of their disproportionate risk for HIV infection had not been systematically documented,” said Stefan Baral, MD, MPH, MBA, lead author of the study and associate director of the Bloomberg School’s Center for Public Health and Human Rights. “In addition to antiretroviral treatment and ongoing HIV prevention for sex workers, considerations of the legal and policy environments in which sex workers operate, and the important role of stigma, discrimination, and violence targeting female sex workers globally will be required to reduce the disproportionate disease burden among these women.”

For the study, Johns Hopkins conducted a meta-analysis of 102 previous published studies representing almost 100,000 female sex workers in 50 countries. Overall, HIV prevalence in female sex workers in low- and middle-income countries was found to be about 12 percent, which equated to an increased risk of infection for sex workers 14 times that of other women in these countries. In 26 countries where background levels of HIV were considered “medium” to “high,” approximately 31 percent of the female sex workers were found to have HIV and were 12 times more likely to be infected compared with women from the general population. Sex workers in Asia had a 29 percent increased risk for HIV infection compared to other women, which was the greatest disparity among the regions studied. Sex workers in Africa and Latin America were 12 times increased risk compared to other women in these regions.

This analysis was conducted as part of a larger project entitled, "The Global Epidemics of HIV among Sex Workers: Epidemiology, prevention, access to care, costs, and human rights" led by Johns Hopkins researchers Deanna Kerrigan, PhD, MPH, and Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH. The larger project assesses not only the epidemiology of HIV among sex workers in low- and middle-income countries, but also documents the current state of HIV prevention interventions and the social context surrounding sex work in different settings, and uses mathematical modeling and cost-effectiveness analysis to assess the potential impact and resources necessary to scale up of comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment and care services among sex workers.

“Burden of HIV among female sex workers in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis” was written by Stefan Baral, Chris Beyrer, Kathryn Manning, Tonia Poteat, Andrea L. Wirtz, Michele R. Decker, Susan G. Sherman, and Deanna Kerrigan.

 
[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Why So Anal about Pleasure?

Via EmpowHer, by Hannah Cutts.

Whether you are a committed fan, a non-subscriber, or have been considering engaging in anal play, I believe it is a subject that women should make an effort to include in their sexual awareness and conversations, even if only to expand their education on the female body and become resources for friends/family members who may have questions about the behavior.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Survey of Family Growth, anal sex between heterosexual partners has been on the rise over the past decade. In 1992, 20.4 percent of women reported engaging in anal sex with a male partner, while in 2005, 32.6 percent indicated they include anal in part of their heterosexual repertoire (New York Magazine, 2006). While anal sex has historically been associated with gay couples, it is clear that people who enjoy sex with the opposite gender have adopted the practice, perhaps finally realizing what they have been missing out on. It is time for women—straight, gay and anywhere in between—to get the facts on anal play and what makes it worthwhile.

The bottom line is, like your vagina, your anus is packed with sensitive nerve endings that feel great when touched or stimulated. Although experimenting with this somewhat fragile opening is not necessarily a stand-alone endeavor (it requires some foreplay and careful lubrication), gentle exploration of the anus is a tremendous complement to other pleasure-giving (think cunnilingus). By slowly introducing the stimulation of this third hole into your sexual repertoire one step (or to be more accurate, one finger) at a time, you are opening yourself up to sensations that you won’t feel with vaginal-only penetration. Many sources suggest you begin simply with a massage of the anal opening, an action that carries almost no risk and allows both partners to get comfortable with the touch.

Read the rest here.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Hard Core Porn's Pervasiveness and Evolving Sexual Behaviors

via The Atlantic, by Natasha Vargas-Cooper

Excerpt:

Porn’s new pervasiveness and influence on the culture at large haven’t necessarily introduced anything new into our sexual repertoire: humans, after all, have been having sex—weird, debased, and otherwise—for quite a while. But pervasive hard-core porn has allowed many people to flirt openly with practices that may have always been desired, but had been deeply buried under social restraint. Take anal sex: in a 1992 study that surveyed sexual behaviors, published by the University of Chicago, 20 percent of women ages 25 to 29 reported having anal sex. In a study published in October 2010 by the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University, the instances of anal sex reported by women in the same age cohort had more than doubled, to 46 percent. The practice has even made its way into the younger female demographic: the Indiana study shows 20 percent of 18- and 19-year-olds have had anal sex at least once.

One of the Indiana study’s co- authors, Debby Herbenick, believes that Internet porn now “plays a role in how many Americans perceive and become educated about sex.” How this influence actually works is speculative— no one can ever really know what other people do in their bedrooms or why. Some experts postulate a sort of monkey-see, monkey-do explanation, whereby both men and women are conforming to behaviors they witness on their browser media players. But in many ways this explanation doesn’t account for the subtle relationship between now-ubiquitous pornography and sexuality. To take anal sex again, porn doesn’t plant that idea in men’s minds; instead, porn puts the power of a mass medium behind ancient male desires. Anal sex as a run-of-the-mill practice, de rigueur pubic waxing for girls—and their mothers—and first-date doggy-style encounters (this is but a small sampling of rapidly shifting sexual mores) have been popularized and legitimized by porn. Which means that men now have a far easier time broaching subjects once considered off- putting—for instance, suburban dads can offhandedly suggest anal sex to their bethonged, waxed wives.

Read the rest.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

South Africa and the 2010 World Cup: Pushing Women’s Rights Further to the Fringe…

via SANGONeT pulse, by Tian Johnson

Excerpt:

Now, with the Soccer World Cup a few days away we wonder how far we as women’s rights activists need to go to ensure that this critical life saving (and sexy!) disease prevention tool remains on the agenda - free of profiteering, corruption and power games that strip away yet another option that women have to ensure a healthy, productive life, not only for themselves but for their children, partners and communities as a whole.

Read the whole item.

Will the Female Condom Ever Catch On?

via The Daily Beast, by Joyce C. Tang

The first version of the female condom made a weird noise, fell out, and was expensive, too. Now public health experts are pushing a new and improved version in American cities. Can it overcome stigma?

Made from polyurethane, which is less pliable than latex, the female condom could be uncomfortable and resulted in a less-than-intimate sexual experience. Users complained of a "crinkling" or "squeaking" noise—not to mention a tendency for the condom to slip out if not inserted properly.

But last year's FDA approval of the second-generation female condom, called FC2, has prompted two U.S. cities, Chicago and Washington, D.C., to launch campaigns to reintroduce the contraceptive. Now made of nitrile, the crinkling and squeaking have been nearly silenced, and the FC2 costs 30 percent less than its predecessor did.

Read the rest.

Sexual tolerance and inclusion must not forget anal sex/health

Acknowledging anal sex
via The Michigan Daily, by Rose Afriyie

[thanks for this important piece Rose!]

Excerpt:

The vision of sexual tolerance we must adopt is one where everyday people acknowledge differences in sexual relations while promoting public health provisions that accommodate our sexual diversity. We need a sexually tolerant healthcare system that accounts for the various kinds of activities that occur in our sexual lives.

And although anal sex is here to stay, it seems that people who practice anal sex, both occasionally or exclusively do not have access to the same kinds of care as people who practice vaginal sex.

Read the whole item.

FDA Panel Backs New, Less Costly Female Condom

An FDA advisory panel on Thursday voted 15-0 to recommend approval of the new, less costly version of the female condom developed by the Female Health Company, Reuters reports. When determining whether to recommend approval of the new product -- called the FC2 female condom -- the panel heard that the condom's lower price could attract more women to the product and allow health organizations to increase distribution in an effort to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports. Approval of the less costly version also could boost U.S. sales -- which accounted for 10% of the company's 34.7 million unit sales in 2008 -- Reuters reports (Heavey, Reuters, 12/11).

Read the rest on the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report.

Keep Those LGBTI Health Summit Endorsements Coming!

So far more than 100 people have endorsed the mission of the 2009 LGBTI Health Summit coming to Chicago next August. It's a great start, but we need more support. Please keep spreading the word out far and wide. Remember, by endorsing the Summit, you are voicing your support for the health and wellness of the LGBTI community - nothing more, nothing less. So come on and sign up; it takes a village people!

Endorsers: please send your name and location to Pete Subkoviak at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago – Psubkoviak@aidschicago.org

Announcing a Call to Action
Please join us for
LGBTI Health Through the Life Course
The 2009 National LGBTI Health Summit, in conjunction with
the BiHealth Summit
August 14 – 18, 2009 in Chicago

About the Summit

The 2009 National LGBTI (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex) Health Summit is an event dedicated to preserving and improving the emotional, physical, spiritual, intellectual, psychological, environmental, and social health and wellness of LGBTI people, a population that continues to experience significant health disparities because of its members’ sexual orientations and/or gender identities.

We welcome all individuals who support the health and well-being of LGBTI people as well as all members of the community (no previous health experience necessary) to explore what it means to be a healthy LGBTI person, living in a healthy LGBTI community.

We invite you to spend a few days in Chicago working intensively with colleagues from all over the nation and world who are grappling with similar challenges, and engage in deep thinking and extended discussion about innovative programming related to the theme of “LGBTI Health Through the Life Course.”

We are especially excited to be holding this summit in the year marking the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the event frequently cited as the beginning of the LGBTI rights movement. The Stonewall Riots was a series of spontaneous, raucous demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn of New York City. in response to a government-sponsored system that persecuted homosexuals, and started the modern gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

This summit is different from traditional health conferences. Our LGBTI Health Summits (previously in Boulder, Colorado; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and most recently in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) have been described as nurturing retreats, exciting and intense think tanks, and an event of great enlightenment. Participants come away with a renewed passion for the cause, energized and inspired to tackle the problems confronting LGBTI health and wellness.

The Summit is a chance for all participants to reach out across differences in sexual and gender identity, ethnicity, race, age, and socioeconomic status and begin to work toward common goals. We avoid a focus on celebrities and big names, and we take plenty of time to relax, have fun, and make meaningful contact with other participants.

While the summit will include speakers, panels, workshops, pre-summit institutes and organizing meetings, it will also include interactive exercises, such as experiential education activities, yoga and other forms of self and communal care, as well as creative festivities. The Summit will address a range of topics that includes, but is not limited to:

· LGBTI health through the life course

· Understanding LGBTI history and its health impacts

· Wellness for all of our communities

· Bisexual visibility & well-being

· Health leadership

· Health care access

· Frontiers in HIV/AIDS and STD prevention and care

· New HIV prevention technologies like microbicides and PrEP

· Youth and elder strategies

· Tobacco and LGBTI health

· The role of alcohol and other substances in LGBTI communities

· Universal Health Care and other paths to good LGBTI health

· LGBTI Spirituality and its role in the health of individuals and communities

· Culturally competent LGBTI mental health research and programming

· Self-care for the community organizer

· Marriage equality as a health strategy

· Addressing racism, sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia to enable healing

· Diversity of family structures as a part of LGBTI health

· Understanding our identities and our bodies: what does it mean to be L,G,B,T or I?

The BiHealth Summit

The BiHealth Summit will bring together professionals, advocates, activists, and allies of bisexual health concerns for updates on the field, movement-building, and strategizing about future directions and collaborations. The BiHealth Summit will be both a concentrated event and a broader presence within the LGBTI Health Summit.

Who We Are

The LGBTI Health Summit includes a diverse group of health educators, healthcare providers, policy makers, activists, grassroots organizers, advocates, people with HIV, and members of diverse LGBTI communities with powerful concerns about the ways current health challenges and sociopolitical trends will impact our communities in the months and years to come.

We come from different locations, cultures, class backgrounds, generations, and professions, and we identify in myriad ways, but we share a common interest in improving LGBTI health and wellness, strengthening our local communities and subcultures, and enlisting service providers, activists, health professionals, researchers, sex workers, spiritual leaders, writers, allies, and cultural workers in our efforts.

We know that language can be problematic, and that many people do not identify with terms such as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Our summit strives to welcome those who identify otherwise--as queer, genderqueer, same-gender loving, and a wide diversity of other sexual and gender identities. We also embrace those who may not fit any of the above, but are allies in this cause.

We believe it is critically important for all of us to join together, commemorate our collective triumphs, and strategically address in new and innovative ways the core challenges facing our communities.

As with previous summits, the 2009 National LGBTI Health Summit, in collaboration with the BiHealth Summit, is a grassroots organizing effort with very ambitious aims. It is organized by dedicated volunteers from all parts of the country who work together to handle logistics, program planning, fundraising, publicity, and housing.

It is imperative that everyone plan now to attend this event.

We Need You

The Summit needs the input of those who face daunting questions and formidable challenges as well as those who have succeeded in creating effective programs and campaigns related to LGBTI health and wellness. We welcome activists as well as researchers, doctors as well as holistic health practitioners, religious and spiritual leaders as well as sex workers. Most of all, we request the participation of ordinary LGBTI-identified people who will share their valuable experiences, questions, and energy as we build a movement around community health and empowerment. We welcome all individuals who support the health and well-being of LGBTI people and all members of the community (no previous health experience necessary) to explore what it means to be a healthy LGBTI person, living in a healthy LGBTI community.

Registration and a call for abstracts will be announced in the first quarter of 2009. In the meantime, you can stay abreast of our work by contacting Cat Jefcoat at CatJ@howardbrown.org or Jim Pickett at JPickett@aidschicago.org. We will be disseminating information about the Summit widely as details are finalized. Please stay tuned.

Thank you, and see you in Chicago, August 14 – 18, 2009!

The Chicago Host Committee of the 2009 National LGBTI Health Summit

We ask that individuals endorse the Summit, its philosophy,

and its objectives. By endorsing the event, you are simply voicing your backing for the mission embraced by the Summit, and no other form of sponsorship or participation is required.

Endorsers

Stephan Adelson, Boston, MA

Kadiri Audu, Lagos, Nigeria

Sameena Azhar, Chicago, IL

Lark Ballinger, Seattle, WA

Hope Barrett, Chicago, IL

Chris Bartlett, Chester, PA

Earl Battles, Chicago, IL

Deborah Benford, Chicago, IL

Wendy Bostwick, Chicago, IL

Latifa Boyce, Washington, D.C.

Cecilia Boyd, Chicago, IL

Elizabeth Bowen, Chicago, IL

Robin Brennan, Philadelphia, PA

Doug Bruce, Chicago, IL

Vanessa Brocato, New York City, NY

Hadiyah Charles, New York, NY

Michael Cook, Chicago, IL

Alanna Costelloe-Kuehn, New York City, NY

Patti Daschbach Chicago, IL

Julie Davids, Providence, RI

Nicholas Deroose Philadelphia, PA

John Dinauer, Chicago, IL

Liudmyla Dmytriieva, Chicago, IL

Kevin Downer, Chicago, IL

Julie Ebin, Cambridge, MA

Rob Ferrante, Los Angeles, CA

Beverly Fitzgerald, Chicago, IL

Barry Floore, Cincinnati, OH

Rebecca Fox, Washington, D.C.

Joseph Franklin, Chicago, IL

Lonnie Fulton, Maywood, IL

Rick Garcia, Chicago, IL

Howard Gelb, Chicago, IL

Jennifer Glick, New Orleans, LA

Jeff Glotfelty, Chicago, IL

Lorraine M. Grabinsky, Cohoes, New York

Beau Gratzer, Chicago, IL

Jamison Green, Oakland, CA

Howard Grossman, Boston, MA

Johnny Guaylupo, Brooklyn, NY

Doreen Hardy, West Chester, PA

Bess Hart, Chicago, IL

Eric Heilbronner, San Francisco, CA

Donald Hitchcock, Washington, D.C.

Kert Hubin, Chicago, IL

Mark Ishaug, Chicago, IL

Peter Jabin, Seattle, WA

Catherine Jefcoat, Chicago, IL

Jeffrey Jenne, Philadelphia, PA

Bill Jesdale, San Francisco, CA

Tobi-Velicia Johnson, Oak Park, IL

Inova Juniper, Springfield, Virginia

Gay Krishna, Andhra Pradesh, India

Ben Kudler, Boston, MA

Kevin Kukoleck, Chicago, IL

Stewart Landers, Boston, MA

Rabbi David Lazar, Tel Aviv, Israel

James Learned, New York City, NY

Kali Lindsey, Silver Spring, MD

Gwen Mastin, Chicago, IL

Dan Matos, Stony Brook, NY

SoJourner McCauley, Bronx, NY

Ali McDonald, Chicago, IL

Michael McFadden, Chicago, IL

Denise Miles, Washington, DC

Sonji Miller, Chicago, IL

Jason Mitchell, Portland, OR

James R. Moser, San Francisco, CA

Elise Niedermeier, Chicago, IL

Will Nutland, London, England

Davide Obonyo, Kericho Town, Kenya

T. Scott Pegues, Denver, Colorado

John Peller, Chicago, IL

Julie Peugeot, Chicago, IL

Jim Pickett, Chicago, IL

Mark Pineda, Chicago, IL

Frank Pizzoli, Harrisburg, PA

Guy Pujol, Atlanta, GA

Leo Rennie, Washington, D.C.

Manuel Rodriguez, Chicago, IL

Victor Rollins, Nassau, Bahamas

Guido Sanchez, Jersey City, NJ

Christina Santiago, Chicago, IL

Michael Scarce, San Francisco, CA

Kathleen Schlagel, Chicago, IL

Scout, Boston, MA

Erick Seelbach, Seattle, WA

Nurit Shein, Philadelphia, PA

Shane Snowdon, San Francisco, CA

Anne Statton, Chicago, IL

Byron Stewart, Chicago, IL

Pete Subkoviak, Chicago, IL

Fred Swanson, Seattle, WA

Pendo Tamu, Kericho Town, Kenya

Joseph Taylor, Chicago, IL

Michelle Taylor, Chicago, IL

Josh Thomas, Providence, RI

Lance Toma, San Francisco, CA

Roxy Trudeau, Chicago, IL

Tony Valenzuela, Los Angeles, CA

Modesto Valle, Chicago, IL

Dr. Justin Varney, London, England

Dr. PD Wadler, Chicago, IL

Bill Westervelt, Philadelphia, PA

Laurie Wettstead, Chicago, IL

Jamie Williamson, Chicago, IL

Andre Wilson, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Will Wilson, Chicago, IL

Rae Wright, Chicago, IL

Michael Woodford, Ann Arbor, MI

Serena Worthington, Chicago, IL

Marisol Ybarra, Chicago, IL

Bo Young, Brooklyn, NY

Endorsers: please send your name and location to Pete Subkoviak at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago – Psubkoviak@aidschicago.org

Hurray for Female-Controlled STD Prevention!

A great article by Ryan Graff of Northwestern University's Medill Reports reports that female condom sales are on the rise, and, according to the condom's manufacturer Female Health Co., the future looks bright. With the increased funding for HIV/AIDS programs seen under the Bush Administration, prophylactic sales are on the rise.

Graff writes, "The worldwide budget for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS has ballooned – from $4 billion in 2004 to $10 billion in 2007. And things may be getting better. Last summer the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief committed $48 billion to AIDS relief over the next five years."