VicHealth researcher: Gary Dowsett
“Sexual rights are human rights and they need safeguarding. One key way to do that is to understand human sexuality far better.”
Research Fellow Gary Dowsett from the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University is exploring new frontiers in men's sexual health.
Research topic: Men, sexuality and health: new issues, new directions
Website: www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs
Men’s health is attracting a great deal of interest from the media, among politicians, in trade unions, and in health research. This Fellowship focuses on men’s sexual health by exploring masculinity and what it means to men, how they understand their bodies, their sexual/emotional relationships, and how they organise their sexual lives. The study will explore new areas in men’s sexual health as social and cultural phenomena.
Gary Dowsett is a sociologist at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University and has long been interested in sexuality, particularly in our modern gay communities.
Since 1986 he has been researching the HIV epidemic and has worked on many international HIV/AIDS projects, including as a consultant and advisor to the World Health Organization. Gary has presented at many international sexuality, HIV/AIDS and sociology conferences, and lectured widely in Australia, the USA and UK.
He was elected to the International Academy of Sex Research in 2003 and in that year his first book (co-authored) was voted one of the top 10 most influential books in Australian sociology by The Australian Sociological Association.
Understanding men’s health, particularly in relation to sexuality, is important as we head towards living in a more complex world, one in which satisfying personal relationships and sexual fulfilment are regarded as important to our sexual rights. Sexual rights are human rights and these need safeguarding. One key way to do that is to understand human sexuality far better than we do now.
“The VicHealth Senior Research Fellowship provides a marvellous opportunity to specialise in this new field of research in a focused and concentrated way, and for an extended period to time. It’s a terrific opportunity.”