Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: To date, very little health research has examined the social organization of sexuality and its relationship to health and well-being. In this article, I apply the stress process model as a framework to understand sexual sociality and its impact on health among urban gay men in a large North American gay enclave. Data consisting of in-depth interviews with seventy gay men coupled with three years of fieldwork demonstrate a sexual status order that privileges White, middle-class men in their twenties and early thirties, while disadvantaging Black and Asian men, men over forty years of age, and poor men. Men with low sexual status faced significant stressors in the form of avoidance from others, stigmatization and rejection. These stressors, in turn, taxed personal resources, including self-esteem, sense of social support, and sense of control, and also negatively affected mental health in the form of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. Finally, some low status men were unable to consistently negotiate safe sex as a consequence of a history of field stressors and diminished personal resources. The results suggest that more work on sexual status structures and their connection to health is needed, both within gay enclaves and across a broader spectrum of sexual subcultures.