Abuse and Violence Experienced by Gay Men living in Pakistani cultural context: An interpretative phenomenology analysis

Abstract

This study was conducted using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore and understand psychosocial issues of the gay community living in the Pakistani cultural context. Six adult gay men, aged 20–40 years, were interviewed using semi-structured interviews at their preferred locations. Thorough and in-depth analysis of the transcripts revealed two superordinate themes: (1) The experience of verbal harassment and associated emotional disturbance was universal, (2) The experience of sexual violence was universal. These themes describe participants’ experience of verbal harassment with followed emotional reaction, and experiences of different forms of sexual violence. This study helps in understanding what it means to be a gay man in Pakistan.

Keywords:

• Gay men
• Pakistan
• verbal harassment
• emotional disturbance
• sexual violence

Acknowledgments

The authors are very thankful to all the participants of the study who showed great courage in disclosing their identity to authors and helped us understand their issues and challenges. We also thank all those people who helped us get in touch with the participants.

Disclosure statement

The authors have not received benefits or funding from any institution, industry, or elsewhere to conduct this study. This study has never been submitted to any other publication.