Publications

Femmephobia, the social policing of femininity, shapes how gay, bisexual, and queer men treat one another on dating and hookup apps. This qualitative analysis draws on semi-structured interviews with 79 people who described using these socio-sexual applications and interacting with online outreach and health information workers. Read through femme theory, the accounts show masculinity being privileged while femininity is devalued, influencing how men present themselves and how they judge others. Participants also describe femmephobia overlapping with anti-Asian racism online. The work argues that the regulation of femininity is a distinct and under-discussed harm within queer digital spaces that deserves closer attention.

Health professionals hear things about dating apps that surveys rarely capture. This British Columbia study drew on 28 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with practitioners serving young gay, bisexual, trans and queer men to explore how gay dating apps affect their clients' health and wellbeing. Thematic content analysis surfaced three tensions: sex made newly accessible could feel transactional or pleasurable; apps built community and safety while also exposing users to rejection and discrimination; and perceived escalation in sexual and drug-related risk-taking sat alongside real openings for education and prevention. The authors offer practical strategies for limiting harms and maximizing benefits.

Transgender and gender diverse people continue to meet stigma and discrimination when seeking care, including from social workers. This study asks whether treating their lived experience as legitimate practice knowledge could repair that relationship. Researchers interviewed 20 transgender and gender diverse people and ten social workers in a western Canadian province, analysing the material through feminist standpoint theory. Three possibilities emerged: interventions that validate trans bodies, identities, and experiences; advocacy and support networks grounded in shared community knowledge; and work that promotes resistance and transformation. The authors discuss practical implications at multiple levels, including involving trans peers directly in delivering psychosocial interventions.

COVID-19 containment measures reached into people's intimate lives. Researchers interviewed 93 gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex with men in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver across two waves between November 2020 and October 2021 to learn how public health measures reshaped sexual practice. Participants adapted rather than abstained, applying years of HIV and STI risk mitigation experience: social bubbles became sex bubbles, masks became safer sex tools, and guidance about outdoor gatherings and physical distancing turned into outdoor sex and voyeuristic masturbation. The authors read these adaptations through reflexive mediation, showing men as simultaneously self-monitoring and resistant, self-responsibilising and creative.

People with HIV were underrepresented in COVID-19 vaccine trials, so this study estimated how well the vaccines worked for them in Ontario. Using a test-negative design, researchers identified adults with HIV who had a PCR test between December 2020 and November 2021, before Omicron, and compared vaccination between 801 positive cases and 8,879 negative controls, adjusting for age, region, testing history, other conditions, and neighbourhood socioeconomic status. Two doses were 82 percent effective against any infection, 94 percent against symptomatic infection, and 97 percent against hospitalisation or death. Protection against any infection waned over time. Findings do not support claims of broadly reduced effectiveness.