CV Science

Alain Giami PhD Social Sciences

Course and current status

Current Professional Situation 

Research Professor at INSERM (Institut de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale)  since 2001.

Director of the team : "Gender, sexuality, health" (INSERM U 1018 - CESP) since 2015. ¨     

Associate Research Professor : Post - Graduate Phd Program : "Cognition, Language, Interaction" (Université paris Saint - Denis) since 2000. 

Academic Training 

¨      HDR - Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches (Social Sciences) : Université René-Descartes,  Sorbonne, Paris, 1999

¨      PhD in Social Psychology: Université Paris-Diderot, 1978  

Complementary Training  abroad

• April – May 1985: Fullbright Post-doc : New York University / Professeur Jerome Siller (Education)
• September  - October  1995: Post-doc scholarship from the French Foundation for Medical Research (program : "Ensemble Contre le Sida"). State University of New York (Stony Brook, Pr. John Gagnon).
• August – November 2001 : Fullbright Post-doc: Columbia University – School of Public Health - Division of SocioMedical Sciences : Prof. Gerald Oppenheimer.

International Mobility 

• August – November 2006 : Invited Professor at the Institute of Social Medicine (UERJ) : State University of Rio de Janeiro. Program : Scientific Knowledge in sexuality in Collaboration with Prof. Jane Russo.
• May 2010 : Invited Professor : University of Sao Paulo / Ribeirao Preto (Medical School - Public Health) in Collaboration with Prof. Elisabeth Meloni Vieira

• August / Decembre 2014 : Invited Professor State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) Prof Jane Russo. Program : "Catedra francesa da UERJ" (French Chaire at UERJ : Progamm sponsored by the French Ministry of International relations and the French Embassy in Brazil.

Fields of expertise and consultancy

Public Health, Social Psychology, Sexology, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Disability, HIV Infection, Ethical aspects of sexuality.

Academic, scientific and expertise, national and international 

• Member of the Research and Training Committee of the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society IASSCS since 2015. 
• Faculty : Academy for the Social Sciences and Humanities in HIV (ASSHH) (2014)
• Virtual Network of Experts: STI prevention through sexual health promotion/combination prevention (since 2014)
• Expert WHO : Technical Consultation on Sexual Health Indicators : since January 2012-2014
• Expert WHO : Working Group on the Classification of Sexual Disorders and Sexual Health: since January 2012
• Scientific Director of the UNESCO Chair in sexual health and human rights (2011-2014). 
• President of the scientific Committee of WAS (World Association for Sexual Health) : 2009-2013. + Member of the Advisory Committee.
• Member of Task Force on preparation of the new French law on Bioethics. Conseil d'Etat  (Supreme Court): June 2008 – April 2009.
• Member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Inserm since 2007. 
• Member of the Executive Board of the Association Hospitalo-Universitaire de Sexologie – 2007-2011.
• Coordinator of a collaborative research program in sexual health: Inserm/Facultade de Enfermagem (State University of Rio de Janeiro) since 2006. Funding: French National Agency on HIV-Aids Research (ANRS)
• Principal investigator and Coordinator of the “Euro – Sexo” project : Sexology as a profession in Europe  (2005-2006).
• Scientific Advisor to the General Director of the French National Association of Persons living with Diabetes (AFD): since 2005.
• Member of the scientific steering committee of the French National Study on sexual behavior (CSF) - ANRS,   2003-2008. 
• Member of the task force on HIV prevention and sexual health (Ministry of Health) 1999-2000. / 2009.
• Chairman of the evaluation committee for the 10 years of activity of the French Brazilian program on HIV-Aids (2001). Ministry of Foreign affairs (France) and National program on IST/AIDS (Brazil) 2001.
• Chairman of a task force for a research program on “Sexuality and Medicine” INSERM (1999).
• Chairman of a task force on impotence treatment at the French Ministry of Health : 1998.
• Member of the scientific committee “Public Health and social sciences” French National Agency on HIV-Aids Research (ANRS) : 1990-1994.
• Member of the scientific committee of the French Committee for Health education : 1999-2002.

Membership in Scientific Societies

¨      WAS (World Association for Sexual Health): Full member since 2005.

¨      IASR (International Academy of Sex Research): since 1994 (Full member).

¨      ISSM (International Society for Sexual Medicine): Full member since 2005.

¨      SFMS (Société Française de Médecine Sexuelle) : Founding and Full member since 2005.

¨      AIHUS (Association Inter hospitalo-Universitaire de Sexologie) : Full member since 2005 / Elected Member of the Executive Board  : 2008-2011.

¨      Adjunct Editor  Sexologies / European Journal of sexology and sexual 

¨      Member of Scientific Board of journals 

• Archives of Sexual Behavior (USA),
• Sexual and Relational Therapy (UK),
• International Journal of Sexual Health (IJSH).
• Sexuality and Culture (USA)

¨      Brasilian and Latin-American Journals :  

• Paideia: Cadernos de Psicologia e Educação (Ribeirao Preto)
• Revista de Enfermagem da UERJ (Rio de Janeiro)
• Sexualidad, Salud y Sociedad - Revista Latino-americana (Rio de Janeiro).

Books and editied books : 

1. Hekma, G., Giami, A. (eds.) Sexual Revolutions. London: Palgrave, (2014).
2. Giami, A., Hekma, G. (eds.) Les révolutions sexuelles. Paris, la Musardine (2015).
3. Giami, A., Py, B., & Toniolo, A.-M. (Eds.). (2013). Des Sexualités et des Handicaps. Questions d’Intimités: Presses Universitaires de Nancy. Editions Universitaires de Lorraine.
4. Russo, J., Rohden, F., Torrès, I., Faro, L., Fisher Nucci, M., & Giami, A. (2011). Sexualidade, Ciência e Profissão no Brasil. (Sexualité, Science et Profession au Brésil). Rio de Janeiro: Centro Latino Americano em sexualidade e direitos humanos.
5. Gogna, M., Jones, D., Ibarlucía, I., Russo, J., & Giami, A. . (2012). Sexualidad, Ciencia y Profesión en América Latina. El campo de la Sexología en la Argentina. (Sexualité, Science et Profession en Amérique Latine : Le champ de la sexologie en Argentine) Rio de Janeiro  Centro Latino Americano em sexualidade e direitos humanos. (ebook).
6. Giami, A., Schiltz, M.-A. (eds). L'expérience de la sexualité chez de jeunes adultes : entre  errance et conjugalité. Paris, éditions Inserm, 2004.
7. Giami, A. O Anjo e a fera : Sexualidade, deficiencia mental, instituiçao. Sao Paulo, Casa do Psicologo, 2004. (Edition revue et augmentée et traduction en portugais de : L'Ange et la Bête : sexualité, handicap mental, institution).
8. Giami, A. L'ange et la Bête : Représentations de la sexualité des handicapés mentaux par les parents et les éducateurs. Paris, éditions du CTNERHI, 2001 (réédition de l'ouvrage publié en 1983).
9. Giami, A., Leridon, H. (Eds.) Les enjeux de la stérilisation. Paris, éditions INSERM-INED, 2000.
10. Giami, A., Pietri, L. (Eds.) Les traitements de l'impuissance. Rapport du Groupe de Travail sur les Traitements de l’impuissance. Paris, La Documentation française, 1999.
11. Giami, A., Veil C., Samalin-Amboise C., Veil Barat C. e groupo Reas : Enfermeiras Frente a Aids. representaçoes e condutas, permanencia e mudanças. Porto Alegre, Ulbra editora, 1998. (traduction du français)
12. Bajos, N., Giami, A., Laurent, R., Leridon, H., Spira, A. (eds). ACSF Comportements sexuels et Sida en France - Données de l'enquête "Analyse des comportements sexuels en France", Paris, INSERM éditions, 1998.
13. Bajos, N., Bozon, M., Ferrand, A., Giami, A., Spira, A. (Eds.) La sexualité aux temps du sida. Paris, P.U.F., 1998.
14. Bajos, N., Bozon, M., Giami, A., Doré, V., Souteyrand, Y. (Eds.). Sexualité et sida-Recherches en Sciences Sociales. Paris, ANRS, 1995.
15. Giami, A., Veil, C., groupe Rits. Des infirmières face au sida. Représentations et conduites, permanence et changements.  Paris, éditions INSERM, 1994. (265 p.).
16. Giami, A., Humbert-Viveret, C., Laval, D. L'Ange et la Bête. Représentations de la sexualité des handicapés mentaux par les parents et les éducateurs. Paris, Eds du C.T.N.E.R.H.I., 1983, 113 p., série "Documents" n°2

Scientific summary

Sexual health and medicalization of sexuality

The medicalization of sexuality has become highly visible to the public and media with the emergence of new pharmacological treatments for sexual disorders [Giami & Pietri 1999]. Medicine now has drugs and means of intervention that can stimulate male sexual function and inversely, the pharmaceutical, hormonal, surgical and psychological means of regulating or inhibiting sexual deviance (treatment of sex criminals, together with their incarceration). Also developing rapidly, as shown by the volume of scientific publications, is a medical approach to the relations between various diseases (cancer, diabetes, HIV infection, mental illnesses, etc.) and sexual functioning. Maintenance and development of sexual health has become an important concern in the health field, from the point of view of both clinical practice, where it is a basic aspect of the patient's quality of life, and of public health. The concept of medicalization is used not only to analyze the expansion and development of medicine in the field of sexuality; it also helps to analyze how the view, theories and practices inspired by medicine have come to structure and organize, directly or indirectly, the entire contemporary experience of sexuality, in contributing to the redefinition of the norms governing healthy and unhealthy [Kleinman 1988], of the risks associated with sex, and of consent and to the development of the practices of health professions (physicians, nurses, psychologists and educators) as well as the development of new forms of sexual morality [Gagnon 1975].

This project envisions the medicalization of sexuality as the principal determining factor ("dispositif") that organizes contemporary experience of it. The research is based on the concepts of dispositif, discipline and bio-politics [Foucault 1976], of representations [Giami & Veil 1994; Jodelet 1989], sexual scripts [Gagnon 2008] and of sexual experience [Giami & Schiltz 2004].

The research program is organized around three themes:

The first intends to analyze scientific and medical knowledge of sexuality, as well as the organizations in which this knowledge is developed socially. It focuses particularly on the study of sexology and of its contemporary transformations in the form of sexual health, sexual medicine and sexual rights. The international analyses will be approached from the perspective of globalization driven by the growing influence of the pharmaceutical industry, of the process of professionalization and of the development of the struggle for sexual and reproductive rights. This research is based on interviews with professionals and officials of professional and international organizations, on the textual analysis of scientific and medical documents and on participatory observations at scientific conferences in the field of sexual health. Our objective is to analyze the process of the globalization of the production of scientific and medical knowledge in the field of sexuality and to assess its national particularities. This work is taking place in France and in collaborations in Europe [Giami & de Colomby 2006] and Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru; "Science, occupation and sexuality in Latin America" project, in collaboration with the Centro Latino Americano em Sexualidade e direitos humanos (IMS-UERJ) (Latin American Center for Sexuality and Human Rights, University of Rio de Janeiro). A new research project is also in development: its aim is to analyze the discourse and representations of sexuality, of sexual health and of AIDS in the corpus of texts put out by international organizations such as the World Bank, OECD, WHO and UNAIDS. It will be conducted in collaboration with Prof. Kenneth Rochel de Camargo, IMS-UERJ (Brazil).

The aim of the second theme is to identify and analyze the practices, representations, systems of knowledge and values of health professionals, in their approach to sexuality This may concern the approach used by specialists in sexology or that which occurs in the process of the informal specialization" that involves all health professions that face questions associated with sexuality. The studies, covering sexologists, general practitioners and specialists, nurses, psychologists and specialized educators, are based on analysis of professional literature, surveys of these professionals by interviews and questionnaires, and on observation of their practices. The principal research question is the identification of the nature of professional work and of the possibility of specialization in sexuality and sexual health, as a function of the reference professions and of the definition of informal specialization in the field and in each of the professions considered. Three projects are under development: representations of sexuality among general practitioners in the context of AIDS (funding ANRS), representations of sexuality among nurses in the field of cancer (funding INCA) and representations of AIDS among nurses in Brazil (funding ANRS). Underlying these projects are important hypotheses on the question of informal specialization in sexuality and questions of gender: the particular orientation of the practice and distribution of skills as a function of the professional's gender. Emilie Moreau is working on representations of sexuality and practices among physicians working in the field of cancer. G De Larocque, continuing work already begun by the team, is beginning a dissertation in social psychology in 2008-2009, on general practitioners. The group also seeks to develop a research program on the social role of psychologists in the field of sexual health, at a time when drugs for sexual disorders are developing. These studies will take place first of all in France and in a collaboration with the Faculdade de Enfermagem (School of Nursing) of the UERJ and the School of Nursing of the Catarina Federal University of Health. The collaboration with these Brazilian teams may lead to the creation of an International Associated Laboratory (LIA) as part of an international agreement between INSERM, CNRS and the Brazilian CNPQ.

A third topic covers the experience of sexuality and sexual health. The work program seeks to explore the experience of sexuality, sexual disorders and the relations between sex life, health status, and living conditions among different groups of patients and vulnerable individuals. Situations of health and vulnerability to be studied include infertility, male and female sexual dysfunctions, transsexualism, AIDS, diabetes and cancer. This work is based on the construction of partnerships with teams of clinicians and epidemiologic researchers, who can facilitate patient recruitment and help refine research protocols. The team's work with a population of young adults (18-23 years) dealt with their experience of sexuality [Giami & Schiltz 2004]^. This research helped us to develop an approach that takes into account the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods. This research program is based on complementary approaches that make it possible to compare data collected from groups of patients and vulnerable individuals with data collected in the general population. Alexandre Mergui's dissertation on the experience of sexuality in adolescents born seropositive is part of this line of study. Moreover, the team is currently developing a project on the question of sexuality and vulnerability of transexuals. This project also includes an analysis of the medical-psychological system of management for "trans people", conducted in collaboration with the association "Gender". It is funded by the Directorate-General of Health. A project to study the sex life of women with breast cancer is currently being developed with Prof. Elisabeth Meloni Vieira and Prof. Ana Maria de Almeida of the University of Sao Paulo (USP-Ribeirao Preto).