Judit Takács

A randomized social network HIV prevention trial with young men who have sex with men in Russia and Bulgaria.

Objective:To evaluate the effects of an HIV prevention intervention with social networks of young men who have sex with men (YMSM) in St. Petersburg, Russia and Sofia, Bulgaria. Design:A two-arm randomized trial with a longitudinally-followed community cohort. Methods:Fifty-two MSM social networks were recruited through access points in high-risk community venues. Network members (n = 276) were assessed to determine risk characteristics, administered sociometric measures to empirically identify the social leader of each network, and counseled in risk reduction. The leaders of 25 experimental condition networks attended a nine-session program that provided training and guidance in delivering ongoing theory-based HIV prevention advice to other network members. Leaders successively targeted network members’ AIDS risk-related knowledge and risk reduction norms, attitudes, intentions, and self-efficacy. Participants were re-administered risk assessment measures at 3- and 12-month follow-ups. Results:Among changes produced, the percentage of experimental network members reporting unprotected intercourse (UI) declined from 71.8 to 48.4% at 3-month follow up (P = 0.0001). The percentage who engaged in UI with multiple partners reduced from 31.5 to 12.9% (P = 0.02). After 12 months, the effects became attenuated but remained among participants who had multiple recent sexual partners, the most vulnerable group. Little change was found in control group networks. Conclusions:Interventions that engage the identified influence leaders of at-risk YMSM social networks to communicate theory-based counseling and advice can produce significant sexual risk behavior change. This model is culturally pertinent for HIV prevention efforts in former socialist countries, as well as elsewhere for other hard-to-reach vulnerable community populations.

Homophobia and same‐sex partnership legislation in Europe

Purpose – This paper seeks to answer the practical question whether the institutionalisation level of same‐sex relationships can affect the social acceptance of lesbian women and gay men in Europe, and highlight some of the factors that can potentially determine the incidence of homophobia in 26 European countries.Design/methodology/approach – The study contributes to the literature on acceptance of lesbian women and gay men in Europe by using the European Social Survey dataset, focusing especially on a key variable measuring the agreement level with the statement that gay men and lesbians should be free to live their own life as they wish. For data analyses, explanatory models were constructed by applying multilevel mixed‐effects linear regression.Findings – The study presented empirically tested arguments that the introduction of same‐sex partnership legislation can lead to a decrease of anti‐gay/lesbian attitudes, as has happened in the European countries examined in this study.Research limitations/imp...

Social Attitudes Toward Adoption by Same-Sex Couples in Europe

By examining social attitudes on same-sex adoption in 28 European countries, we highlighted individual and country-level factors that can determine the level of social acceptance or rejection of this specific kind of adoption. This article contributes to the literature on social acceptance of lesbian women, gay men, and their adoption practices in Europe and directs attention to several previously under-researched aspects of social attitudes on same-sex parenting rights. The empirical base of this study was the fourth round of the European Values Study, conducted in 2008–2010. Using ordered logistic regressions, we examined the impact of several individual and country-level characteristics on the agreement level with the statement that “Homosexual couples should be able to adopt children.” We found strong relationships between social attitudes towards adoption by same-sex couples and the existence of legislation permitting same-sex adoption practices at the country-level, as well as some individual attitudes, including those related to traditional family formation practices, “justification of homosexuality,” and (non-) preference for homosexual neighbors. Our findings indicate a shift within the potential interpretational contexts of adoption by same-sex couples from a narrow sexuality-based framework to a different and possibly much wider context of family and parenting practices.

Effects of a social network HIV/STD prevention intervention for MSM in Russia and Hungary: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective:To test a novel social network HIV risk-reduction intervention for MSM in Russia and Hungary, where same-sex behavior is stigmatized and men may best be reached through their social network connections. Design:A two-arm trial with 18 sociocentric networks of MSM randomized to the social network intervention or standard HIV/STD testing/counseling. Setting:St. Petersburg, Russia and Budapest, Hungary. Participants:Eighteen ‘seeds’ from community venues invited the participation of their MSM friends who, in turn, invited their own MSM friends into the study, a process that continued outward until eighteen three-ring sociocentric networks (mean size = 35 members, n = 626) were recruited. Intervention:Empirically identified network leaders were trained and guided to convey HIV prevention advice to other network members. Main outcome and measures:Changes in sexual behavior from baseline to 3-month and 12-month follow-up, with composite HIV/STD incidence, measured at 12 months to corroborate behavior changes. Results:There were significant reductions between baseline, first follow-up, and second follow-up in the intervention versus comparison arm for proportion of men engaging in any unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) (P = 0.04); UAI with a nonmain partner (P = 0.04); and UAI with multiple partners (P = 0.002). The mean percentage of unprotected anal intercourse acts significantly declined (P = 0.001), as well as the mean number of UAI acts among men who initially had multiple partners (P = 0.05). Biological HIV/STD incidence was 15% in comparison condition networks and 9% in intervention condition networks. Conclusion:Even where same-sex behavior is stigmatized, it is possible to reach MSM and deliver HIV prevention through their social networks.

Disciplining gender and (homo)sexuality in state-socialist Hungary in the 1970s

This article discusses how gender and (homo)sexual relations were disciplined in Hungary during the 1970s, part of the Kádár era, named after János Kádár, the top political leader of the Peoples Republic of Hungary between 1956 and 1988. The first part of the article examines the widespread effects of the New Economic Mechanism of 1968 (which could not be rounded off by political reform) on critical thoughts on family formation, as well as some largely absent aspects of gender equality. The second part of the article presents pieces of empirical evidence on the social existence of sexuality in the context of a system of ‘tolerant repression’ celebrating asexual socialist reproduction. The article concludes that most Hungarians seemed to be able to negotiate their lives between the constraints of state socialism and their longing for enjoyable human relationships even in the ‘uniformly pallid’ 1970s.

Unattainable desires? Childbearing capabilities in early 21st century Hungary

This chapter addresses the issue of weak capabilities for having and caring for children in Budapest as being reflected by the views of 100 working parents on their fertility-related desires. Capabilities are understood as the freedom to achieve valued functionings; in our case that is the parents’ notions of the real opportunities they have regarding the (family) life they may lead (Sen, 1987), more specifically, being a working parent with as many children as they would like to have. The aim of my study is to highlight the many ways in which Hungarian parents’ fertility-related capabilities are constrained, which can be detected not only in their achieved fertility, but also already at the level of their desired family size.

Public Support to Young Families in the European Union

Presumably, the biggest transition in life is becoming a parent. Compared to a first job, getting married or buying a house, having a baby has a much larger impact on small daily routines as well as on overall life perspective. Becoming a parent fundamentally changes one’s life; the birth of a child creates new responsibilities and new strains but also opens up new enjoyments and parental privileges.

Voicing Women in Eastern Europe—An Introduction

This special issue maps out real and symbolic spaces of women who are attracted to women in Eastern Europe, and highlights some of the challenges they face. One of the main themes emerging from the articles is that constructing spaces for women outside the heterosexual mainstream can be a useful political strategy in societies where non-conventional sexual interests, attractions, and gender expression have discriminative consequences. All of the eight articles in this special issue represent different voices, while demonstrating that there are many similar tendencies concerning the main goals and difficulties of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and lesbian movements of the region, in terms of legal and social developments related to the most heated issues of same-sex marriage and parenting on the one hand, and the violent attacks against pride marches and political backlash on the other.

Trans* citizenship in post-socialist societies

This article reports findings from research about trans* citizenship in 14 post-socialist countries. It evidences substantial deficits concerning trans policy making, and a lack of policy debate in this area. Most examined countries have a lack of protocols for official gender change in birth certificates, IDs, passports and other documents. Usually there are no guidelines, measures and procedures defining the standards of healthcare for trans persons. Practice concerning healthcare varies widely, and trans people and advocates exercise agency in negotiating access to care. The article suggests that trans citizenship studies need to foreground legal and social aspects of citizenship, as these are highlighted in the post-socialist context. Policy implications are discussed in relation to key citizenship debates including those concerning challenges to normative models of citizenship.

LGBT Employees in the Hungarian Labor Market

This chapter focuses on the vulnerable situation of LGBT employees in the Hungarian labor market. One of the key issues is whether Hungarian LGBT people dare to come out at their workplace (and elsewhere)—as it is very hard, if not impossible, to articulate the interests and defend the rights of socially invisible actors. In present-day Hungary most LGBT people are still in the closet, thus it is impossible to gain reliable information on the exact scope of their employment related discrimination. The limited visibility of Hungarian LGBT employees also means that employers and other labor market institutions often have the impression that they do not have any LGBT people working for or around them, and thus they do not have to deal with these issues.