Anthony Giddens argues that late modernity is characterized by a democratization of intimate relationships and that gay men and lesbian women appear to be an expression of that movement. This paper is based on interviews with 20 New Zealand men – representing 11 gay couples – who discussed issues of monogamy, trust and sexual behaviour negotiations in their relationships. Overall, they had conventional notions of relationships, romantic love and monogamy that prompted decisions to discard condoms for anal sex as proof of their love for each other. They simultaneously believed that monogamy was not sustainable. Generally, the relationships were marked by ‘infidelity’ anxieties and a reluctance to disclose sexual encounters outside the relationship and to discuss or negotiate their possibility. These experiences serve as reminders to not assume that gay relationships are necessarily as democratic and open as Giddens suggests – pertinent when regarding the development of programmes aimed at reducing HIV transmission within relationships.

This article considers the terms prostitution, sex work, transactional sex, and survival sex, the logic of their deployment and utility to research concerned with people who are paid for sex, and HIV. The various names for paid sex in HIV research are invested in strategically differentiated positionings of people who receive payment and emphasize varying degrees of choice. The terminologies that seek to distinguish a range of economically motivated paid sex practices from sex work are characterized by an emphasis on the local and the particular, efforts to evade the stigma attached to the labels sex worker and prostitute, and an analytic prioritizing of culture. This works to bestow cultural legitimacy on some locally specific forms of paid sex and positions those practices as artifacts of culture rather than economy. This article contends that, in HIV research in particular, it is necessary to be cognizant of ways the deployment of alternative paid sex categories relocates and reinscribes stigma elsewhere. While local identity categories may be appropriate for program implementation, a global category is necessary for planning and funding purposes and offers a purview beyond that of isolated local phenomena. We argue that "sex work" is the most useful global term for use in research into economically motivated paid sex and HIV, primarily because it positions paid sex as a matter of labor, not culture or morality.

This paper provides a thematic review of the literature on cancer in Aboriginal people in Australia, focusing on experiences in diagnosis, treatment and care as well as addressing sociocultural factors to guide the public health response to poorer treatment outcomes. A search of both medical and social scientific databases for journal articles published between 1995 and 2006 show that cancer incidence and possibly survival and mortality data are likely to be underestimated in Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people are more likely to die from cancer than non-Aboriginal Australians. There are significant differences between the cancer experiences of those living in the city and in rural or remote areas. There is also a relative absence of literature on cancer in Aboriginal men, who are likely to have particular needs during diagnosis, treatment and care. In drawing conclusions from these data, it can be seen that Aboriginal people with cancer have poorer outcomes than non-Aboriginal Australians, and there is a need for further research in the patterns of care and predictors of outcomes in Aboriginal men and women with cancer. Particular attention should be given to the different needs and experiences of Aboriginal people in urban or rural/remote areas. These findings indicate an urgent need to allocate additional resources to the treatment and care of Aboriginal people with cancer, in addition to screening interventions. There is also a continuing need to acknowledge cultural differences in the health beliefs of Aboriginal people and to work in partnership with Aboriginal community controlled health organisations.

Young people are a key group for HIV prevention in the Pacific region where levels of STIs are high and condom use is low. During 2008, 62 in-depth interviews were conducted with people aged between 18 and 25 years in Tonga and Vanuatu. The research was aimed at understanding factors impacting on young peoples' condom use in two Pacific Island nations. The data show a marked disjuncture between attitudes and practice with regard to condoms. This paper discusses factors underpinning that inconsistency and directs attention to the effect of social and cultural influences on young people's condom use. The authors conclude that individual-level approaches to improving rates of condom use will be inadequate unless they are informed by an understanding of the role of identity, culture and tradition in young peoples' decisions around condom use. The findings also underline the need for country-specific approaches to condom promotion efforts in the Pacific.