ArticleArchives of sexual behavior2021
How Stigma Toward Anal Sexuality Promotes Concealment and Impedes Health-Seeking Behavior in the U.S. Among Cisgender Men Who Have Sex with Men.
Article in Archives of sexual behavior, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Barriers and facilitators to anal cancer screening among men who have sex with men: a systematic review with narrative synthesis.BMC cancer · 2025Pooled it
- The Inventory of Anal Sex Knowledge (iASK): A New Measure of Sexual Health Knowledge Among Adolescent Sexual Minority Males.The journal of sexual medicine · 2022Trial
- Designing Pleasure-Centered, Culturally Relevant PrEP Messaging for Black Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Same-Gender-Loving, and Other Men Who have Sex with Men (SGL/MSM) in New York City.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Evaluating PEACHES: Pleasure-Inclusive Implementation Strategies to Enable Healthcare Workers to Address Anal Sex Stigma During HIV Service Encounters.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of Action and Preliminary Impact of a Stigma-Mitigation Training to Enable Healthcare Discussions About Anal Pleasure and Health in China: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Pilot Study.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration and PrEP Use Among Sexual Minority Men: The Mediating Roles of Internalized Homonegativity and PrEP Stigma.AIDS and behavior · 2025Article
- Assessing Anorectal Sexual Function: Validity and Clinical Utility of a New Measure.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Robotic Reconstruction of a Surgically Absent Rectum Using AlloDerm.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2025Article
- Mobile Mpox Vaccination in New York City Provided Flexible Community-Responsive Vaccine Access During the 2022 Global Mpox Emergency.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Men who have sex with men experience low anxiety and few barriers to performing anal self or companion examinations: a qualitative study of the Prevent Anal Cancer Palpation Study.Culture, health & sexuality · 2024Article
- Pleasurable and problematic receptive anal intercourse and diseases of the colon, rectum and anus.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2024Review
- Pride in gastroenterology and hepatology.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2024Article
- Intersectional Microaggressions, Sexual Identity Concealment, and Mental Health of Young Black Sexual Minority Men and Transgender Women.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- Barriers and facilitators to PrEP use and HIV testing for subgroups of Latino sexual minority men.AIDS care · 2023Article
- Article
- Shared Decision-Making Concerning Anal Cancer Screening in Persons With Human Immunodeficiency Virus.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2023Article
- Psychosocial characteristics pattern correlated with HIV-related risky sexual behavior among HIV-negative men who have sex with men: a latent profile analysis.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2023Article
- The Correlates of Health Facility-related Stigma and Health-seeking Behaviors of People Living with HIV.Acta medica Philippina · 2023Article
- "The problem is that our culture is just so messed up about aging." Recruiting older men who have sex with men (MSM) into research studies: an example from a study of aging, HIV, and anal HPV.BMC medical research methodology · 2022Article
- A Newly Developed Scale for Assessing Experienced and Anticipated Sexual Stigma in Health-Care Services for Gay and Bisexual Men.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) experience alarming HIV disparities alongside sub-optimal engagement in HIV interventions. Among MSM, stigma toward anal sexuality could interfere with engagement in HIV prevention, yet few studies have examined MSM perspectives on anal sex stigma or its health-related sequelae. Guided by theory, we aimed to characterize anal sex stigma, related sexual concerns, and barriers to health seeking, like concealment. We elicited community input by purposively interviewing 10 experts in MSM health and then 25 racially, ethnically, and geographically diverse cisgender MSM. Participants reported experienced, internalized, and anticipated forms of anal sex stigma that inhibited health seeking. Experienced stigma, including direct and observed experiences as well as the absence of sex education and information, contributed to internalized stigma and anticipation of future devaluation. This process produced psychological discomfort and concealment of health-related aspects of anal sexuality, even from potentially supportive sexual partners, social contacts, and health workers. Participants characterized stigma and discomfort with disclosure as normative, pervasive, and detrimental influences on health-seeking behavior both during sex and within healthcare interactions. Omission of information appears to be a particularly salient determinant of sexual behavior, inhibiting prevention of harm, like pain, and leading to adverse health outcomes. The development of measures of anal sex stigma and related sexual concerns, and testing their impact on comfort with disclosure, sexual practices, and engagement in health services could identify modifiable social pathways that contribute to health disparities among MSM, like those seen in the HIV epidemic.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.