While existing research has explored practices such as barebacking and fetishised 'cum play', the identity of the 'cumdump', understood as a receptive partner whose primary sexual goal is to receive multiple ejaculates within a single session, is most often framed through risk-based and pathologising discourses. This study explores the lived experiences of gay and bisexual men who identify as cumdumps, situating the cumdump as a distinct sexual subculture and identity within contemporary sexual health provision in the UK. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four self-identified cumdumps and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Three experiential themes were developed: (1) 'Just that sloppy, wet feeling' (2); 'They're just a human dildo to me': Power and control in the cumdump experience; and (3) 'It's a big turn on that people know that I don't have any standards'. Findings present the cumdump identity as a meaningful sexual subculture rather than a purely 'risky' practice. Within this is a complex navigation of pleasure and power, which has historically been informed through heteronormative understandings of sexual positioning. This study contributes to understandings of sexual subcultures, pleasure and identity, while highlighting implications for expanding our understanding of sexual identity constructions within collective sex oriented sexual subcultures.
Consistent evidence documents the protective role of resilience in mental health, yet less is known about whether this association operates through different domains of perceived social support or varies by HIV suppression status. This study examined the direct and indirect associations between resilience and depressive symptoms through perceived support from family, friends, and significant others among young Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM) living with HIV. It further tested whether these pathways varied by participants' Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) status . Drawing on a community-based survey of 1,185 participants, moderated mediation analyses showed that resilience was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Perceived family support significantly mediated this association, whereas support from friends and significant others did not. HIV suppression status moderated the association between resilience and perceived family support and between perceived friend support and depressive symptoms. The cross-sectional design limits causal inference, and non-probability sampling may restrict generalisability. Findings suggest that the mental health benefits of resilience and perceived social support are shaped by both relational context and treatment-related status. Interventions for young MSM living with HIV should distinguish sources of social support and tailor psychosocial support according to individuals' HIV suppression status and related care needs.
Identity development is a process of negotiation between one's own subjectivity and cultural mandates and of internalisation dominant narratives in personal life stories. Minority groups create alternative narratives that challenge dominant ones to legitimise their experiences and provide an alternative pathway for self-definition. The prominence of cultural narratives within the discourse of non-binary people and its implications for identity development have not been deeply investigated. This study aimed to understand the impact of master and alternative narratives on the process of configuring the sexual and gender identities of Chilean non-binary people. Biographical interviews were conducted with six non-binary people. The identified narratives were grouped into two primary areas: gender and sexual orientation. In each case, three master narratives and two alternative ones were identified, organised within broader narratives. Non-binary people negotiate personal narratives with multiple master narratives. Not aligning with hetero-, cis-, and transnormativity configures complex and challenging scenarios in their life trajectories, of unintelligibility and stigmatisation. In this regard, they create multiple alternative narratives for the coherent and viable development of their identities. Thus, culture is not simply 'out there', but takes place in the identities of Chilean non-binary people.
Academic literature identifies two hegemonic discourses regarding aging women sexuality: the decline discourse, a traditional discourse which portrays the aging body as fragile and lacking sexual vitality; and the anti-decline discourse, a neoliberal discourse that encourages resisting the aging process to maintain sexual function. Feminist scholars have identified an alternative affirmative sexuality discourse, which challenges these perspectives by acknowledging bodily diversity and focusing on sexual self-awareness and exploration. This research examines how women engage with these discourses, drawing on 62 interviews with women born in the former Soviet Union and Israel, aged 50 to 76, currently living in Russia, Finland, and Israel. A Foucauldian discourse analysis identified five discourses. While the hegemonic decline and anti-decline discourses remain dominant, we identified three alternative discourses that function as nuanced variations of the affirmative sexuality framework: acceptance, which allows women to embrace natural changes; progress, which frames sexuality as improving over time through the accumulation of knowledge, skills, and agency; and critical, which employs a feminist lens to challenge structural inequalities. These findings highlight how different discourses shape the possibilities for constructing sexual desire and agency in later life. Findings highlight specific cultural manifestations of universal discourses about aging sexuality.
Despite calls for intersectional approaches in sexuality research, global Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) sexualities remain underrepresented and narrowly framed in psychological literature. This systematic review examines how Psychology & Sexuality, a leading journal, engaged global BIPOC sexualities from 2010 to 2024. Drawing on 30 empirical studies, the review applies an intersectional framework to assess how race, culture, gender, sexuality, and power shape the journal’s representation of global BIPOC sexual experiences. Studies were conducted in non-Western (56.7%), Western (40.0%), and both Western and non-Western (3.3%) contexts. More than one-third of studies (36.7%) included transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, or gender-diverse participants. Four themes emerged: adversity and structural strain; the absence of sexual pleasure; resisting marginalisation through collective meaning-making; and meaningful inclusion and limited centralisation of gender-diverse perspectives. Although some studies referenced intersecting identities, many did not examine how racism, heteronormativity, and colonial legacies structure BIPOC sexualities. Research aligned with risk-based frameworks often focused on African or African diasporic populations, reflecting broader historical patterns in which Black sexuality has been disproportionately examined through lenses of risk and regulation. This review calls for research beyond deficit models and risk paradigms that centres power, affirms pleasure, and honours the complexity of BIPOC sexualities.
Technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) among sexual minority adults is an increasingly important public health concern. Although several studies have examined the prevalence of TFSV victimisation and its association with mental health among heterosexual individuals, little is known about lesbian and bisexual women, particularly in China. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of TFSV victimisation and its relationship with mental health (i.e. depression, anxiety, stress, and self-esteem) among Chinese lesbian and bisexual women. A total of 175 participants (aged 18-43 years) who identified as lesbian or bisexual women completed this web-based survey. We first examined the prevalence of TFSV victimisation among lesbian and bisexual women and then assessed its associations with mental health and self-esteem. The results indicated that 70.3% of participants experienced at least one form of TFSV, with no significant difference between lesbian and bisexual women. Regression analyses showed that the frequency of TFSV victimisation was significantly associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress; however, it was not significantly associated with self-esteem. Greater attention to TFSV victimisation among lesbian and bisexual women is needed across academic, policy, and youth service domains. Providing healthcare, victim services, technical support, and legal assistance is essential in the Chinese context.
This article examines how emotional labour is carried out and managed by digital sex workers across four contrasting legal-cultural settings: the United States, Brazil, Germany, and Japan. Drawing on comparative analysis of existing research, it identifies shared pressures across platform-mediated sexual labour, including constant emotional availability, demands for authenticity, boundary-setting within parasocial interactions, unstable platform governance, payment-processor restrictions, and persistent stigma. The analysis also highlights cross-national differences. In the United States, criminalisation and racialised stereotypes heighten burnout and shape entrepreneurial self-branding. In Brazil, expressive sexual cultures intersect with structural inequality, producing strong peer support networks alongside intensified emotional demands. In Germany, legalisation offers formal protections while introducing new pressures linked to registration, privacy, and bureaucratic oversight. In Japan, cultural of modest, soothing intimacy (iyashi) generate an emotional style centred on care, restraint, and anonymity. Across contexts, workers use bounded authenticity, persona work, emotional distancing, and selective disclosure to manage these conditions. Overall, the analysis demonstrates that platform-mediated intimacy does not merely intensify emotional labour in digital sex work; it re-routes it into distinct configurations of vigilance, bureaucratic legibility, and aestheticised care depending on local law and culturally specific expectations about intimacy, care, and emotional self-presentation.
The research investigates the relationship between the frequency of usage of pornographic materials and the frequency of involuntary sexually oriented thoughts. To this end, 428 adults completed an online procedure consisting of several questionnaires: Porn Usage Questionnaire, Mind-Wandering Questionnaire, Mind-Wandering Deliberate and Mind-Wandering Spontaneous Scales, Questions about Sex Drive and Sociosexuality, and The Social Desirability Scale. In addition, we analysed gender differences in sex drive, sociosexuality, the frequency of usage of pornographic materials and the frequency of the occurrence of sexually oriented thoughts. The study found that men have a higher sex drive than women, which influences their greater tendency towards sociosexuality, pornography use, and involuntary sexual thoughts. Additionally, spontaneous mind wandering was positively associated with involuntary sex thoughts, while deliberate mind wandering showed a negative relationship. These findings suggest that gender differences in sex drive may initiate a chain of effects leading to involuntary sex thoughts, highlighting the complexity of these cognitive processes.
How have shifts in cultural attitudes and understandings of sexual and gender diversity impacted experiences of sexual identity development across generations? This study examined narratives of the experience of sexual identity development and its context across three generations in the U.S.A.: Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964, n=46), Generation X (born 1965-1980, n=69), and Millennials (born 1981-1996, n=76). Reflexive thematic analysis of interviews from participants in metropolitan areas in diverse regions of the U.S.A. yielded four primary themes: (1) across generations, narratives were characterised by experiences of minority stress, including prejudice, victimisation, and internalised stigma; (2) across generations, organised religion was narrated as a contaminating influence, serving as an institutional source of stigma; (3) generations differed in their engagement with language about sexuality and gender and the navigation of binary thinking, with Millennials encountering a more expansive language at earlier points in their development; (4) all generations narrated benefits of digital social technologies to explore identities and find support and relationships unbounded by geographic proximity but differed in the timing and nature of engagement with those technologies, with Millennials benefitting from access earlier in their development. Intersectional patterning emerged in themes 1 and 2, with participants of colour narrating challenges with community connection in White-dominated LGBTQ+ spaces, and Black participants narrating particular challenges with hostility from organised religion. These findings illustrate the value of narrative and life course perspectives on sexual identity development, which are sensitive to shifting social and historical contexts and the role of generation-cohort in human development.
Although adolescent attachment to their parents significantly impacts adolescents' sexual behaviour, its specific association with their goal-directed thoughts and relationship values remains underexplored. This study examined associations between parental attachment (angry-distress, availability, and goal-corrected partnership), goal-directed thinking, and relational attitudes, as well as the relevance of these cognitions for delaying sexual debut and for future planning. High school students in Florida were recruited to participate in the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) programme. The analytic sample included 497 U.S. high school students (Mage = 15.43, SD = 1.04; 49.5% female) who completed the SRAE entry survey and reported no history of sexual intercourse. Structural equation modelling was employed to examine the associations. Results indicated that adolescent attachment were significantly and positively associated with higher levels of goal-directed thinking. Angry-distress and availability were significantly and positively related to healthier relational attitudes. Additionally, healthier relational attitudes were significantly associated with an increased willingness to delay sexual debut, while goal-directed thinking was positively associated with future planning. Demographic covariates also played significant roles within the model. Findings suggested that adolescents' attachment, relational attitudes, and goal-directed thinking may serve as important protective factors supporting healthier sexual decision-making and future planning.
Contemporary sexual health frameworks emphasise positive sexuality, yet research has largely prioritised risk-based outcomes, with pleasure-focused evidence remaining scarce in the Global South. This study examined how attitudes towards specific sexual practices (masturbation, pornography, and oral and anal sex) predict distinct dimensions of positive sexuality. A sample of 475 Colombian heterosexual university students aged 18-35 years (M = 23.10, SD = 4.42) completed measures of demographics, psychological wellbeing, attitudes towards specific sexual behaviours, and four dimensions of positive sexuality: sexual pleasure, satisfaction, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Hierarchical regression analyses assessed the incremental contribution of practice-specific attitudes beyond demographic and wellbeing factors. Demographics and wellbeing explained a modest proportion of variance in positive sexuality. In contrast, favourable attitudes towards masturbation, oral and anal sex consistently predicted all explored dimensions of sexuality (pleasure, satisfaction, self-efficacy, and self-esteem). Attitudes towards pornography were not associated with any outcome. Older age was positively related to all dimensions, and men reported higher pleasure than women. Openness towards diverse sexual experiences plays a meaningful role in positive sexual functioning, extending beyond traditional risk-focused perspectives. Results support the inclusion of pleasure- and agency-focused components in sexuality education and intervention efforts, particularly for young adults in Latin American settings.
Subcultures are a prominent part of community life for gay, bisexual, queer, and other cisgender and trans men who have sex with men (hereafter, MSM). However, less attention has been paid to consolidating the complex and diverse literature in this space. This scoping review aimed to synthesise the empirical literature on subcultural groups of MSM to understand which (and how) subcultures have been studied. We identified 80 studies across nine databases (Ntotal = 232,103) that met inclusion criteria (i.e. empirical studies sampling subcultures of MSM). Overall, 76 subcultural groups were identified, most commonly being bears (k = 37), leathermen (k = 17), drag queens (k = 15), twinks (k = 12), daddies (k = 10), jocks (k = 10), otters (k = 10), cubs (k = 8), and house/ball community members (k = 8). Studies were clustered into five primary themes reflecting the types of outcomes and contexts through which these subcultures have been researched: (a) subcultural group comparisons, (b) community and identity (e.g. community/social connection and support, community spaces and events, subcultural norms), (c) sexual experiences (e.g. sexual practices and preferences, sexual risk and HIV), (d) gender and gender expression, and (e) psychosocial well-being (e.g. stigma and discrimination, substance use, health, body image and attractiveness). Across studies, many subcultural groups were researched alongside community-based experiences, and others remained understudied, conceptually ambiguous, or demographically limited. This review highlights the need for clearer conceptual frameworks and more representative research that centres within-group diversity as fundamental to MSM's identity and belonging.
Over the past several decades, the social, cultural, and political landscape framing the possibilities for LGBTQ+ lives has changed significantly in the United States. These shifts have produced distinct generations of LGBTQ+ people. In 2019, we developed The LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project to bring together LGBTQ+ generations for dialogue, storytelling, artmaking, and shared meals. Each year, 15 youth (ages 18-30) and 15 elders (60+) meet for 3-hour biweekly sessions across 9 months. In this article, we explore how generations of LGBTQ+ people navigate cultural change within the context of our LGBTQ+ intergenerational community. We present ethnographic vignettes that richly describe moments of harmony and tension as cultural change is collectively negotiated. The vignettes are grouped into three sections: changes in how language is used to describe LGBTQ+ lives and experiences, changes in identity possibilities with an emphasis on expanding genders, and changes in the target and forms of activism. These vignettes make visible the need for LGBTQ+ communities to embrace the future while holding onto aspects of the past, as new LGBTQ+ possibilities are co-constructed in dynamic intergenerational spaces. We conclude by offering lessons learned to community-engaged scholars and practitioners who wish to harness the potential of LGBTQ+ intergenerational connection.
