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SUMMARY:Sexual Health\, Risk and Migration: Challenging exclusionary const
 ructions of migrant men who have sex with men - Arthur Davis - Centre for 
 Gender Studies
DTSTART:20191128T131000Z
DTEND:20191128T140000Z
UID:TALK132604@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:David Gershlick
DESCRIPTION:Much research has been conducted on the sexual health of MSM (
 men who have sex with men) migrating from countries with high levels of in
 stitutionalised homophobia\, as well as the health risk posed to MSM who m
 igrate from such places to so-called ‘gay centres’ – such as London 
 – where sexually transmitted infections are much more prevalent. However
 \, little work has been done on how this research perpetuates the very pro
 blem it seeks to describe. Drawing on an understanding of discourse as con
 stitutive rather than descriptive\, my research raises questions around ho
 w the methodology employed by much epidemiological research reinforces an 
 exclusionary and misleading binary between risky\, ‘Eastern’ MSM and e
 nlightened\, ‘Western’ MSM. Drawing on the ‘Patient Zero’ trope\, 
 I argue that sexual health risks (which\, in reality\, transcend borders) 
 are implicitly assumed to be distinctly foreign threats to the purity of t
 he homeland. By contrast\, literature on rural-to-urban migration\, as wel
 l as literature exploring the specific dynamics of migration (be it intern
 ational or intra-national)\, illustrate the more complex\, chequered natur
 e of sexual behaviours and sexual risk across borders. The conceptual bina
 ry currently upheld in epidemiological research and sexual health policy r
 isks letting certain migrants fall through the cracks in sexual health ser
 vices\, while contributing to the stigmatisation and social exclusion of o
 thers. It is thus necessary to reformulate our conception of the ‘migran
 t’ in sexual health policy and research
LOCATION:The Richard King Room\, Darwin College
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