Casual sexual relationship research has traditionally focused on dyadic relationship forms, including hookups, friends-with-benefits relationships, and situationships. Missing from these frameworks is a relationship structure increasingly recognized by adults themselves: the roster. Although roster dating has gained visibility in contemporary culture, little is known about how individuals define, construct, and experience having a roster. Using reflexive thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 46 adults (52.2
This article examines online sexual activities (OSA) among heterosexual adults with histories of established relationships from three age groups in Colima and Guadalajara, Mexico. Drawing on a social constructionist perspective and sexual script theory, it analyzes the prevalence and frequency of six digital sexual practices and compares participation by age group and sex. Adults in all three age groups reported OSA, although most engaged in them infrequently. Solitary or low-exposure activities, particularly viewing sexually explicit material and searching online for sexual information, were more common than practices requiring direct interaction, greater exposure, or contact with others. Age-related variations were found in several practices, although the effect sizes were very small and did not indicate a sharp age divide. Sex-based contrasts were also modest and practice-specific. Only viewing sexually explicit material was significantly more frequent among men. These patterns challenge dominant narratives that associate digital sexuality primarily with youth. Instead, they point to the ways in which the digital mediation of sexuality in adult life is shaped by socially situated processes of technological appropriation, characterized by non-linear trajectories and partial convergences across adulthood. These dynamics are articulated with normative continuities, gendered regulation, and unequal social conditions surrounding desire and intimacy in digital environments.
This study draws upon a survey of 95 independent online sex workers operating escorting businesses in the United States and examines variations in their self-reported monthly earnings. Analysis of earnings by demographic variables and escorts’ business practices suggests there are significant racial and gender disparities, as well as economic drivers of risk. This study finds that independent escorts with relatively lower earnings are more likely to engage in risky behaviors with clients to obtain short-term financial gains or to retain clients upon whom they depend as insurance against earnings fluctuations and shifting demand in commercial sex markets. Conversely, escorts with higher earnings seem less likely to engage in risky interactions, more likely to retain control during client interactions, and more insulated against market fluctuation. Notwithstanding its relative autonomy and economic privilege, the niche of independent escorts is also characterized by stratification, earnings inequities, and differential experiences of risk and reward.
Long-distance virtual romantic relationships are an emerging phenomenon that, due to the absence of physical presence and reliance on digital interfaces, involve complex psychological challenges. This study aimed to provide a rich description of the essential structure of the lived experiences of Iranian women (aged 18–40) engaged in long-distance virtual romantic relationships, with particular attention to their emotional challenges and adaptive strategies. A qualitative study was conducted using a descriptive phenomenological approach. The study population included women aged 18–40 who had been involved in a long-distance virtual romantic relationship for at least six months. Seventeen participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data were collected via semi-structured in-depth interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi’s thematic analysis method. Data analysis yielded three main themes and nine subthemes. The primary themes were: (1) psychological complexities in the silence of distance, (2) existential concerns arising from the absence of physical presence, and (3) efforts to maintain balance and continuity in a paradoxical space. Findings indicated that physical absence consistently activated maladaptive schemas and attachment-related anxiety. The essence of the lived experience in these relationships is characterized by a continuous oscillation between the idealized image of the partner and the harsh reality of distance, accompanied by intense feelings of longing, anxiety, and mistrust. The results underscore the importance of strengthening communication skills, emotion regulation, and affective transparency for the successful management of long-distance virtual romantic relationships.
Virginity is a gendered, racialised, and classed construct disproportionately applied to girls and young women. As a disciplinary mechanism, purity ideals uphold the sexual double standard and regulate femininity through discourses of morality, respectability and innocence. Ideals surrounding ‘correct’ virginity loss also continue to shape female sexuality, including within youth-oriented popular culture and sexuality education. Against this backdrop, this article examines contemporary romantasy literature as a form of public pedagogy with the potential to disrupt and reconfigure dominant virginity narratives. Focusing on four female protagonists across three popular romantasy series – A Court of Thorns and Roses, From Blood and Ash, and The Five Crowns of Okrith – the article analyses varied depictions of sexual (in)experience and first sex, grounded in the legitimacy of female desire and sexual agency. Through embodied, emotionally rich narratives, romantasy creates imaginative spaces for exploring intimacy, sexual decision-making and pleasure beyond purity norms. While these texts do not fully escape heteronormative or romantic conventions, they offer valuable counternarratives to restrictive purity frameworks and open up more expansive possibilities for imagining female sexual subjectivity.
Body image discourse has historically excluded the experiences of men and gender diverse People of Colour who have sex with men (MPCSM). Across 805 Grindr users, we examined associations between race/ethnicity, skin tone, and body image variables for men and gender diverse people who have sex with men (MPSM). We found that MPCSM reported experiencing greater skin tone surveillance than White participants, but that other body image variables did not differ between races/ethnicities. Further, there was a curvilinear relationship between participant skin tone and actual-ideal skin tone discrepancy, whereby participants with extremely light or dark skin tones were most at-risk for skin tone dissatisfaction. These findings were complemented by the fact that MPCSM and participants with darker skin felt pressured (and were more likely) to skin lighten than their White and lighter-skinned counterparts, and vice versa for tanning. Taken together, these findings indicate that beauty standards pertaining to skin tones exist for MPSM in Western cultures. Specifically, they suggest that tanned/bronzed skin is revered for White men and gender diverse people, while lighter ‘caramel’ skin is idealised for MPCSM (i.e., there are hierarchies within hierarchies). Findings elucidate the need for additional body image research focusing on the unique experiences of MPCSM, including examinations of the intersecting impact of racial/ethnic identity and skin tone on body image.
Social media plays a crucial role in contemporary social movements, including advocacy for sex work decriminalization in the United States. In this study, I examined the framing of sex work decriminalization on public Twitter/X using a sequential multi-method qualitative design. Through analysis of 474 tweets collected in 2021, I identified ten prominent advocacy frames: safety/anti-violence, labor and human rights, “this is what sex workers want,” anti-sex-trafficking, anti-intersectional marginalization, anti-policing, evidence-based policy making, what decriminalization is not (clarification of related terms), bodily autonomy, and harm reduction. Recognizing that public tweets come from users with diverse backgrounds, who may or may not be directly involved in decriminalization advocacy, I subsequently interviewed 13 sex worker rights activists with Twitter advocacy experience to gain insider perspectives and contextualize the identified advocacy frames. Activists contested several, such as critiquing the anti-sex-trafficking frame for deviating from labor rights arguments. While some critiqued the bodily autonomy frame for obscuring survival sex realities, others grounded it in resistance to the criminalization of marginalized sexualities. Both perspectives, however, converged on concerns about the invisibilization of sex workers with marginalized identities. Overall, the findings suggest the need for more critically reflexive framing that moves beyond merely promoting persuasive messaging and instead asks what political visions and assumptions such framing messages might advance. Although sex workers and activists are better positioned for this important policy framing work, structural silencing through criminalization, racism, and digital surveillance may prevent many from doing so; consequently, the most visible frames online may disproportionately reflect the perspectives of those with greater digital access and safety.
National contexts have been overlooked by previous comparative studies on the impact of same-sex union (SSU) legislations on public attitudes toward homosexuality. This study examines the role of religion focusing on two aspects: the secular-religious divide and the GAL/TAN political cleavage polarization. Using 2002–2016 European Social Survey from 24 countries, I demonstrate that legislation has more diverging impact in more secular countries, with core church members developing stronger homonegativity. Stronger secular-religious divides in the population do not posit more negative legislative impact. However, the polarization along the GAL (green/alternative/libertarian)/TAN (traditionalist/authoritarian/nationalist) political cleavage induces more negative impact for partnership legislation, regardless of individual religiosity or partisanship. The study’s analysis of how national contexts influence the impact of SSU legislations on attitudes sheds light on the influence of secularization changes and political polarization enhancing “value polarization” in Western societies. While the backlash associated with secularization mostly occurs among strongly religious people and others become increasingly liberal, the undermining impact of political polarization is present even among the more liberal parts of the population.
Commercial sex work (CSW) remains a deeply contested issue in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), shaped by poverty, gender inequality, and structural exclusion. This narrative review synthesises evidence on the motivations, challenges, countermeasures, and success stories reported among women engaged in CSW in SSA. Guided by the Structural Violence Theory, the paper highlights how structural and systemic inequalities, manifested through gendered labour markets, patriarchal norms, household poverty, and limited social protection, compel many women into sex work as a means of survival. The findings also revealed that countermeasures addressing risks and vulnerabilities of CSW in SSA have largely been punitive involving legal restrictions as well as health-based interventions. Further, while criminalisation approaches often exacerbated stigmatisation and vulnerability around CSW, health-based strategies such as the Sex Workers Outreach Programs (SWOP), and empowerment initiatives involving microfinance schemes, and community-led programmes, showed promising results in enhancing the safety and well-being of sex workers. Success stories across SSA illustrate that when policy shifts prioritise poverty reduction, gender equity, and inclusive health access, the potential to reduce exploitation while promoting dignity becomes more attainable. This review argues that sustainable responses and reform efforts are needed to address the structural drivers of commercial sex work rather than focusing solely on its suppression. This includes a reconsideration of punitive legal frameworks to efforts that prioritise harm reduction, protection from exploitation, and increasing access to justice.
While previous research has focused on age at first sexual intercourse less is known about which key features of sexual debut influence adult relationship patterns. This study examines how multiple dimensions of the first sexual intercourse including timing, context and perceived quality relate to relationship status and type among young adults, accounting for mental health and sociodemographic factors. Data were drawn from a 2017 Swiss national survey on youth sexual behaviors and questionnaires from 2718 female and 2016 male young adults were analyzed. Participants were classified into three groups: “Single”, “Stable/monogamous relationship type”, and “Casual relationship-type” and reported on first sexual intercourse characteristics and current relationship status. Multinomial logistic regression models examined associations, stratified by gender. Older age at sexual debut was linked to lower odds of being in a relationship. Mental health scores were highest among participants in stable relationships. Among women, those in casual relationships were less likely than singles to report uncertainty about timing versus perceiving it as the “wrong moment” (OR = 0.37, 95
This research investigates the nuanced navigational strategies employed by Ugandan sexual and gender minorities to ensure their safety and survival following the enactment of the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act. Moving beyond a victimhood framework, the study aims to document and theorize how these communities strategically leverage and subvert visibility across digital, physical, and organizational terrains, arguing that their practices constitute a sophisticated, agentive, and embodied East African feminist epistemology of survival. A qualitative research design was employed, utilizing semi-structured interviews to gather rich, nuanced data. Twelve participants completed semi-structured interviews lasting between 45 and 120 min (average 75 min). The sample included 7 cisgender gay men, 3 cisgender lesbian women, 1 transgender woman, and 1 non-binary participant, aged 20–44 (average 32 years). Given the criminalized and clandestine nature of the population, a snowball sampling technique was essential for recruitment. Interviews were conducted via encrypted Signal voice calls to ensure participant safety. Interview questions explored three domains: digital platform use and safety practices; physical mobility and spatial mapping; and coping strategies, support networks, and psychological well-being. The study adhered to rigorous ethical protocols, including institutional anonymization and the use of pseudonyms, to protect participant safety and mitigate risks of exposure or legal prosecution under the repressive law. The findings reveal a complex repertoire of tactics for managing the central paradox of visibility and invisibility. Participants demonstrated a hierarchical use of digital platforms, from encrypted “sanctuaries of the self” (e.g., Signal) to public “semiotic battlefields” (e.g., Instagram) for coded signalling. In physical space, they employed a collectively generated “geographic literacy” to mentally map the city into zones of safety and danger, requiring constant disidentificatory performance. This relentless navigation exacts a profound psychological toll, reframed as a “politics of depression,” a rational response to structural oppression. Yet, within this exhaustion, profound resilience is forged through “affective solidarity” and “moments of stolen authenticity” in clandestine communities. The study concludes that the daily practices of Ugandan sexual and gender minorities far exceed simple evasion; they represent a form of tactical world-making and a powerful assertion of agency within overwhelming constraint. This challenges liberal queer narratives that prioritize “coming out” and instead affirms a “right to opacity” and the creation of intimate publics. Ultimately, while recognizing this profound resilience, the research underscores the imperative to dismantle the oppressive structures that necessitate such exhaustive navigational labour in the first place.
Spain is experiencing a resurgence of hate speech, discrimination, and reactionary movements against women and LGBTQIA+ communities, a trend mirrored across Europe. Understanding how discrimination is interpreted—whether recognized, denied, or justified—is essential for advancing more equitable societies. This study explored how women and men perceive and explain everyday episodes of sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. An online questionnaire presented three vignettes depicting these forms of discrimination, each followed by a Likert-type scale and an open-ended justification. The sample comprised 412 women and 219 men (M = 32.5 years, SD = 13.37). Open-ended responses were analyzed using the Constant Comparative Method. Findings show that recognition of discrimination was shaped not only by judgments of disrespect but also by whether the victim’s social identity was deemed relevant. Within the analyzed qualitative material, some participants framed the episodes as manifestations of structural inequality and objectification, whereas others denied or minimized them by invoking the absence of hostile intent, individualizing the behavior, or appealing to essentialist views of gender and sexuality. Across the qualitative subsamples, women more often adopted structural perspectives, whereas men more often tended toward situational or individualizing accounts. These results suggest that identifying discrimination is a socially embedded process shaped by context and by the interpretive frameworks participants use to make sense of everyday inequality. Implications are discussed for anti-essentialist approaches in education, community practice, and interventions addressing everyday inequality.
Bisexual individuals remain significantly underrepresented in research, practice, and policy, particularly beyond Anglophone contexts. This scoping review aims to map and synthesize empirical studies on the lived experiences of bisexual (bi +) populations in Southern Europe. Our research goal was to examine the types of studies, main themes, and forms of evidence used between 2010 and 2024 to explore bi + experiences within psychology, sociology, and gender studies. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we conducted a systematic search across five databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest Dissertations Theses), using terms such as bisexual, pansexual, plurisexual, and non-monosexual. A total of 935 records were identified. Gray literature was also reviewed (n = 12,433). The screening processes were conducted using Rayyan software. After analysis, 16 studies met inclusion and quality criteria. The findings reveal a sparse, uneven empirical landscape, with most studies conducted in Italy. There is a notable lack of research addressing how bi + individuals experience their identities in everyday life, especially within cultural, religious, and sociopolitical contexts that may act as both stressors and sources of resilience. We can conclude that the lack of consensus regarding terminology is a challenge for research on bisexual experiences. In addition, the main areas of research addresses by studies included (i) health and well-being, (ii) intersectional bisexual experiences and monosexism and (iii) binegativity. This review underscores the need for context-sensitive intersectional research and prompts a call for inclusive policies, competency-based education, and efforts to dismantle heteronormative and monosexist structures across health, education, and social services.
Group sex, understood as sexual encounters involving three or more participants, constitutes an important yet understudied dimension of contemporary sexual life. Although frequently examined in relation to HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), or chemsex, group sex is rarely treated as a social and sexual phenomenon in its own right. Moreover, the widespread adoption of biomedical HIV prevention strategies, particularly pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), has transformed how sexual risk, intimacy, and responsibility are negotiated in collective sexual contexts. This scoping review synthesizes peer-reviewed literature published between 2011 and 2025 that examines group sex cultures and sexual health across populations, settings, and methodological approaches. The review maps dominant conceptual frameworks, study designs, and health outcomes, with particular attention to differences between gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) and non-GBMSM populations and to shifts associated with the biomedical era. Findings reveal a fragmented literature dominated by cross-sectional quantitative studies focused on GBMSM populations, while qualitative research offers richer accounts of pleasure, negotiation, and care. Across studies, group sex environments function as socially organized spaces governed by norms, infrastructures, and collective risk-management practices. While biomedical prevention has reduced HIV-related anxiety and expanded sexual possibility, bacterial STIs, stigma, and selective disclosure in healthcare settings persist. The review highlights recurring contradictions between epidemiological framings and participants’ lived experiences and argues for treating sex in the plural as a necessary analytic shift. Future research would benefit from longitudinal, event-level, and ethnographic approaches that better capture the relational and collective dimensions of sexual health.
Understanding how individuals first encounter sexual content, initiate sexual relationships, and engage in digitally mediated intimacy, and how these experiences are temporally organized, is essential for explaining contemporary sexual development. Drawing on sexual script theory and life-course theory and engaging critically with stage-based models of sexual development, this study examines the timing and sequencing of three milestones first exposure to pornography, sexual debut, and onset of sexting in a large convenience sample of Honduran adults (analytic sample N = 6233; full survey N = 32,542). A cross-sectional retrospective design was used, combining variable-centered multivariate regression models including sex, age cohort, and interaction terms with temporal sequence analysis. Results showed clear cohort gradients across all milestones, with earlier onset in younger cohorts, particularly for digitally mediated experiences. Sex differences were larger in older cohorts and narrowed in younger ones, indicating a partial reconfiguration of historically gendered sexual norms. No single trajectory dominated: 42.3
This study examines how “exterminatory homophobia” is constructed through both evaluative discourse and cinematic form in selected African queer films. Drawing on Appraisal Theory (Martin White, 2005) alongside a multimodal approach to film analysis, the study investigates how language, visual framing, sound, silence, gesture, and spatial organisation work together to encode moral condemnation, symbolic erasure, and queer silencing. Using a qualitative methodology, the study analyses We Don’t Live Here Anymore, Rafiki, and Walking with Shadows. The findings reveal recurrent patterns of Judgement, Engagement, and Graduation that position queer identities as morally dangerous, culturally illegitimate, and socially disposable. These evaluative meanings are intensified through cinematic techniques such as isolation framing, hostile crowd composition, silence, and spatial exclusion. The study argues that African cinematic discourse does not merely reflect homophobic attitudes but audiovisually performs and normalises symbolic violence against queer existence.
Portugal is among the Western European countries with the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses. Despite pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) efficacy in reducing HIV transmission, adherence rates remain below UNAIDS targets, even among key populations. A qualitative study was conducted with 17 semi-structured interviews with men who have sex with men (MSM) living in Portugal, both PrEP users and non-users. Data were analyzed using content analysis combined with elements of consensual qualitative research, informed by the PrEP care continuum as an organizing framework. Findings showed that interconnected structural, psychosocial, and individual factors across the care continuum shape PrEP engagement. Specifically, community-based services and peer networks are central in facilitating awareness and uptake, although their limited availability outside urban areas creates barriers for individuals living in rural areas. Stigma related to PrEP use emerged as a cross-cutting barrier, particularly among individuals with intersecting marginalized identities, and was associated with concerns about sexual identity and disclosure. Perceived HIV risk influences engagement with PrEP, with higher perceived risk facilitating awareness, uptake, and adherence, whereas lower perceived risk was associated with reduced interest and PrEP discontinuation. The study contributes to understanding PrEP implementation among MSM in Portugal and supports ongoing efforts to integrate PrEP into primary healthcare following models already established for other prophylactic interventions.
