Showing papers in "Journal of Homosexuality in 1990"

Substance use as a correlate of violence in intimate lesbian relationships.

Abstract: This article examines the problem of domestic violence as related to substance abuse in lesbian relationships. One hundred and four self-identified lesbians responded to a 70-item mail survey. Thirty-nine reported a past or present abusive relationship. Sixty-four percent reported alcohol or drugs were involved prior to or during incidents of battering. Respondents' frequency of drinking significantly correlated with committing abusive acts as well as with being the victim of abusive acts. Efforts must be initiated to improve the delivery of human services to lesbian batterers and victims and to encourage cooperation and cross-fertilization between practitioners from the domestic violence and substance abuse fields.

Racism, sexism, and erotophobia: attitudes of heterosexuals toward homosexuals.

Abstract: This investigation examines the differential power of explanation of a sexual conservatism theory of homophobia against a more general theory of intergroup prejudice. Forty-eight female and 31 male undergraduate introductory psychology students from a large Eastern university completed a survey assessing contemporary attitudes toward women, Blacks, and homosexuals, as well as their affective orientation towards sex. The results indicate that sexual conservatism, as measured by an affective dimension of erotophilia-erotophobia, and social prejudice, as measured by racist and sexist beliefs, are independent and equal predictors of antihomosexual sentiment. It is suggested that distinct etiological differences may exist in the development of the homophobic personality. Findings are discussed within the context of Herek's (1984) functional approach to understanding attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.

The Multidimensional Scale of Sexuality.

Abstract: Research on the assessment of sexual orientation has been limited, and what does exist is often conflicting and confusing. This is largely due to the lack of any agreed upon definition of bisexuality. The Multidimensional Scare of Sexuality (MSS) was developed to validate and to contrast six proposed categories of bisexuality, as well as categories related to heterosexuality, homosexuality, and asexuality. This instrument includes ratings of the behavioral and cognitive/affective components of sexuality. The MSS was completed by 148 subjects, the majority of whom were from identified homosexual and bisexual populations. Although subjects' self-descriptions on the MSS were consistent with their self-descriptions on the Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual Scale, the MSS provided a more varied description of sexual orientation. Subject's self-described sexual orientation on the MSS was more consistent with their cognitive/affective ratings than with their behavioral ratings. With the exception of self-described h...

The stigma of AIDS: fear of disease and prejudice toward gay men.

Abstract: Three hundred college students were presented with vignettes describing an ill person; the vignettes were identical except the illness was identified as either AIDS or leukemia and the individual was described as either homosexual or heterosexual. After reading one vignette, each subject completed a set of measures sensitive to interpersonal evaluation, prejudicial attitudes, and willingness to interact casually with the portrayed individual. The findings indicate the presence of highly stigmatizing attitudes towards AIDS patients and suggest that the public views AIDS patients and gay persons with similar attiudinal prejudice. The need for greater attention to AIDS by social and behavioral researchers is discussed.

Men together: understanding the gay couple.

Abstract: The present study surveyed male gay couples to determine how their relationships began and were maintained, the types of conflict they experienced, and how the issues of monogamy, sexual behavior and AIDS affected the relationships. Ninety-two couples responded to the survey. The gay bar was the most common initial meeting place and relationships had lasted from less than one to 35 years. Few had had a commitment ceremony, although many reported wanting one if it were available. Most of the close friends of respondents were also gay couples and about two-thirds of family members were supportive of the relationship. The most persistent conflicts centered around finances and relations with family members. Virtually all respondents described their relationships as monogamous, but only about half practiced safe-sex. More attention needs to be given to understanding male couples and to targeting AIDS-prevention messages to them.

A probability sample of gay males.

Abstract: Data are presented from a national probability sample of males interviewed by telephone and asked their sexual orientation. Of these males 3.7 percent reported that they were homosexual or bisexual. Homosexual/bisexual men were compared with heterosexual ones on the demographic variables. This sample produced larger numbers in those groups which appear to be underrepresented in the usual samples drawn from the gay world. These groups include those with little education, married men, older men, minorities, and those living in small towns. It is suggested that probability samples which do not draw directly or heavily from the gay world for homosexual respondents obtain a broader sampling of those having homosexual feelings or behaviors.

Power-sharing in lesbian partnerships.

Abstract: This study of 70 lesbian couples explored whether partners who characterized certain aspects of their relationships as equal in power-sharing were similar in age, income, education, and financial assets, while those who viewed their power-sharing as unequal would be dissimilar on these social status variables, and, second, whether or not most lesbian couples considered their relationships as egalitarian. Power-sharing was assessed through a number of questionnaire items, and snowball sampling was utilized. Three types of couples emerged: (a) equal, (b) unequal but in agreement about who had more power, and (c) couples with differing perceptions about power-sharing. The findings indicated that power-sharing arrangements could not be explained by age, income, education, and asset differences between partners. Egalitarianism was the ideal in most relationships, but had not been achieved to the same degree in each of the areas investigated.

The influence of sexual orientation on career decision-making: a research note.

Abstract: This study investigates differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals of both sexes with regard to several variables in the career decision-making process: anxiety about making a career choice, indecisiveness about the choice, need to acquire information about the career of choice, uncertainty about the choice, and career choice dissatisfaction. Significant interactions are found on choice uncertainty (gay men having the highest level of uncertainty and lesbian women the lowest) and choice dissatisfaction (heterosexual women and gay men showing more dissatisfaction than the other two groups).

Attitudes towards homosexuality in American health care literature 1983-1987.

Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to content analyze a purposive sample of American health care literature from 1983-1987 to ascertain what impact if any, the AIDS epidemic has had on the images of gay men and lesbian women in health sciences literature. Empirical studies, letters to the editor, policy statements and opinion papers expressing attitudes towards homosexuality and psychosocial aspects of AIDS in nursing, general medicine, and psychiatric literature were content analyzed. Findings indicate that altbough positive, neutral and negative images were found in the 59 articles which were examined, the largest proportion (61%) were negative. This reflects a change in the literature from previously neutral positions. Implications for patient care and further research are addressed.

AIDS Victims and Heterosexual Attitudes

Abstract: This study reports on the development of a Likert scale that measures attitudes toward AIDS victims (ATAV) in five phases. A total of 582 undergraduate (means age = 24.2) completed the survey forms, 249 males and 333 females. The results for Phase 1 yielded a scale with high part-whole correlations (.62-.90, p less than .001), corrected split-half reliability (.87, p less than .001), and alpha coefficients (.91, p less than .001). The following phases yielded significant correlations between the ATAV scale and attitudes toward homosexuals (.60, p less than .001), homosexual parenting (.64, p less than .001), other minority groups (.33, .37, p less than .001), capital punishment (-.27 p less than .001), and sexually liberal attitudes (.22, .37, .23, p, less than .025). Attitudes toward homosexuals are the central component in attitudes toward AIDS victims. A varimax rotated factor analysis of the ATAV yielded one primary factor accounting for 85.9% of the variance.

Aikane: accounts of Hawaiian same-sex relationships in the journals of Captain Cook's Third Voyage (1776-80).

Abstract: The journals recorded by Captain James Cook and his associates on Cook's Third Voyage of discovery (1776-1780) include extensive eyewitness accounts and analyses of the Hawaiian people and their culture-the first to be made by Europeans and Americans. Among these are several reports of young men called aikane, who were attached to the court or train of the ali'i (chiefs), and whose functions were sexual, social, and political. Among these aikane were several who acted as intermediaries between the sailors and the Hawaiians, and whose influence and conduct profoundly affected the course of events at Kealakekua Bay, where Cook was killed in February, 1779. The information contained in these materials suggests that such Hawaiian same-sex relationships are more important than currently accounted for in accepted theories of Hawaiian ethnohistory.

Negative sexual experiences with men among heterosexual women and lesbians.

Abstract: Survey responses on traumatic experiences with men were compared from 50 matched pairs of heterosexual women and lesbians. Prior research has implied that lesbians have had more traumatic experiences with men than heterosexual women. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that lesbians would report more negative sexual experiences with men than heterosexual women. The findings of the present study did not support this hypothesis. The only significant difference found between the two groups was that heterosexual women were more likely to report multiple categories of traumatic experiences and lesbians were more likely to report experiences in only one category of trauma. Contrary to prior studies, these results indicate that previous traumatic experiences with men may not be a significant factor in the development of sexual orientation.

The Relationship Between Culture, Personality, and Sexual Jealousy in Men in Heterosexual and Homosexual Relationships

Abstract: This study proposes a new approach to sexual jealousy, that of attitude theory. Within that framework, it examines the roles of culture and personality in the development of sexual jealousy. Using 194 men representing 62 male homosexual couples and 81 heterosexual couples, three hypotheses were analyzed: (1) that jealousy measured by a standard attitude measure, the semantic differential technique, will significantly positively correlate with scores on a standard jealousy measure, Eugene Mathes' Interpersonal Jealousy Scale; (2) that men in heterosxual couples will have higher levels of sexual jealousy than men in homosexual couples; and (3) that sexual jealousy is inversely correlated with self-actualization personality. All three hypotheses were supported, suggesting that sexual jealousy, viewed as an attitude, is mediated by culture and personality.

The Biblical prohibition of homosexual intercourse.

Abstract: Exegese des versets de la Thora relatifs a la prohibition des relations homosexuelles. Interpretation rabbinique

An examination of demographic variables, nurturance, and empathy among homosexual and heterosexual big brother/big sister volunteers.

Abstract: Potential volunteers are often screened for sexual orientations and, in most circumstances, excluded if they are gay men or lesbians. This is especially true if the volunteer's work involves children. Big Brothers/Big Sisters of San Fransisco deviates from this practice and screens volunteers based on other attributes. This study investigates differences in demographic variables, nurturance, and empathy among homosexual and heterosexual Big Brothers/Big Sisters of San Fransisco. Two hundred nineteen questionnaires were returned and results indicated that there were no significant differences in demographic factors, nurturance, or empathy based on sexual orientation. Gender differences for the study variables were found and these are consistent with the results of earlier studies. Three significant factors were identified: stability, social support and personality attributes. Sexual orientation was not a significant factor.

Categorization in concentration camps as a collective fate: a comparison of homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and political prisoners.

Abstract: Using socio-historical data some critical features of Nazi Concentration Camps are discussed; uniqueness vs. normality; extermination vs. re-education of gay prisoners. The special fate of the Pink Triangle in comparison to other non-Jewish victims is demonstrated. The determinative qualities of life and death conditions in the camps are: the National Socialist interpretation of the prisoner category; the repressive content of social control; the marginalisation in general society. The relative strength of a single influence cannot be separated one from the other.

The distant self: unexpressed homosexuality in Andre Gide's L'immoraliste.

Abstract: The preponderance of literary critics have characterized Andre Gide's protagonist, Michel, in his L'immoraliste as a Nietzschean narcissist and have frequently seen his homosexuality pejoratively, as a function of a putatively immoral ideological persuasion. Such readings evince a certain homophobic reaction to the text on the part of critics, as well as an insensitivity to the real dynamic in the text--Michel's struggle to fight both his conservative Protestant and academic orientations in order to affirm and express his true sexual orientation. Viewed in the latter fashion, the text is seen as a truncated portion of a broader coming out process, one that must necessarily include turmoil, ambivalence and intense introspection. Thus, Michel is seen more as a victim of strict social circumscriptions than as the victimizer critics have traditionally cast him.

Using Sexton to read Freud: the pre-oedipal phase and the etiology of lesbianism in Sexton's "Rapunzel".

Abstract: In her poem "Rapunzel," Anne Sexton maps out a model of lesbian etiology that at once parodies the model proposed by Freud and significantly amends it. Freud's famous model for female development, as he articulates it first in "Some Psychological Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction Between the Sexes," and later in "Female Sexuality," may be profitably compared to the model implied by Sexton's poem. The female pre-Oedipal phase is crucially at stake in such a comparison, as Sexton's account suggests that the pleasures of the pre-Oedipal mother-daughter dyad are dangerously strong for the girl child, and seem to be the force that compels the majority of girls into the rechanneling of libidinal desire from the mother to the father. Sexton's poem emphasizes the continuous pressures exerted by the pre-Oedipal phase upon the psyche of the developing girl. Sexton's emphasis on the pre-Oedipal phase, and her depiction of heterosexual love, in "Rapunzel" and elsewhere, as regressive, suggests that the "normal" heterosexual female, who seeks a father figure in order to save herself from re-absorption into the primal mother-daughter dyad, is actually acting out an infantile fantasy of the devouring mother. The morbid irony of Sexton's "Rapunzel" stems from its depiction of a young woman who flees the boundary-less world of the pre-Oedipal state, only to resurrect the infantile fantasy of the devouring mother in the arms of a father substitute.