Culture, Health and Sexuality
Volume 17, Issue 1, 2015, Pages 17-33

Condom use and intimacy among Tajik male migrants and their regular female partners in Moscow (Article)

Zabrocki C.* , Polutnik C. , Jonbekov J. , Shoakova F. , Bahromov M. , Weine S.
  • a Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois, Chicago, United States
  • b Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois, Chicago, United States
  • c Prisma Research Center, Moscow, Russian Federation
  • d Prisma Research Center, Moscow, Russian Federation
  • e Prisma Research Center, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
  • f Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois, Chicago, United States

Abstract

This study examined condom use and intimacy among Tajik male migrants and their regular female partners in Moscow, Russia. This study included a survey of 400 Tajik male labour migrants and longitudinal ethnographic interviews with 30 of the surveyed male migrants and 30 of their regular female partners. of the surveyed male migrants, 351 (88%) reported having a regular female partner in Moscow. Findings demonstrated that the migrants' and regular partners' intentions to use condoms diminished with increased intimacy, yet each party perceived intimacy differently. Migrants' intimacy with regular partners was determined by their familiarity and the perceived sexual cleanliness of their partner. Migrants believed that Muslim women were cleaner than Orthodox Christian women and reported using condoms more frequently with Orthodox Christian regular partners. Regular partners reported determining intimacy based on the perceived commitment of the male migrant. When perceived commitment faced a crisis, intimacy declined and regular partners renegotiated condom use. The association between intimacy and condom use suggests that HIV-prevention programmes should aim to help male migrants and female regular partners to dissociate their approaches to condom use from their perceptions of intimacy. © 2015, © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Author Keywords

Sexual risk behaviour labour migration Intimacy Condom use regular partners

Index Keywords

Moscow Interpersonal Relations Eastern Orthodoxy Islam human sexuality Sexual Partners statistics and numerical data condom Condoms ethnology human relation Young Adult Humans male female Behavior Intention adult migration utilization Transients and Migrants Tajikistan Russian Federation
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84912024872&doi=10.1080%2f13691058.2014.937748&partnerID=40&md5=29da0606b496e7928f618724dec6de6c
DOI: 10.1080/13691058.2014.937748
ISSN: 13691058
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English