Showing papers in "Sexuality Research and Social Policy in 2009"
TL;DR: The realities of sex and intimacy in assisted living from the perspectives of residents, families, managers, and staff are discussed, exploring the discourse of sexuality, the impact of institutional structure and the role of oversight on sexual attitudes and behaviors, and the relationship of assisted living industry values to residents’ sexual expression.
Abstract: The assisted living industry provides residential, medical, nutritional, functional, and social services for approximately 1 million older adults in the United States. Despite their holistic approach to person-centered care and their emphasis on a consumer-empowered, social environment, assisted living providers pay scant attention to clients’ sexual needs. In this article, the authors discuss the realities of sex and intimacy in assisted living from the perspectives of residents, families, managers, and staff, exploring the discourse of sexuality, the impact of institutional structure and the role of oversight on sexual attitudes and behaviors, and the relationship of assisted living industry values to residents’ sexual expression. Also presented are practical recommendations and policy implications for addressing the sexual and intimacy needs of current and future cohorts of assisted living residents. Data for this article were drawn from 3 National Institute on Aging-funded ethnographic studies conducted in 13 assisted living settings over 9 years.
90 citations
TL;DR: This article provided an overview of the recent interdisciplinary research on the connection between sexual satisfaction and overall relationship happiness for couples and discussed the literature on same and opposite-sex couples and, cognizant of gender, race, and class differences, state a case for how specific aspects of sexuality, such as frequency of sex, emotion, and orgasm, affect individual and couple satisfaction.
Abstract: This article provides an overview of the recent interdisciplinary research on the connection between sexual satisfaction and overall relationship happiness for couples. The authors discuss the literature on same- and opposite-sex couples and, cognizant of gender, race, and class differences, state a case for how specific aspects of sexuality, such as frequency of sex, emotion, and orgasm, affect individual and couple satisfaction.
89 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated the relevance of the closet for describing the contemporary lives of lesbians and gay men and found that despite the clear benefits they associated with these organizations, some respondents faced a paradox: they either were compelled to downplay their homosexuality at work or were constrained by stereotypes about how LGB people were expected to look, act, and work.
Abstract: In recent decades, U.S. popular opinion has become more accepting of homosexuality, a shift apparent in the workplace, where gay-friendly policies increasingly are in effect. These changes in attitudes and organizational practices have led some scholars to question the relevance of the closet for describing the contemporary lives of lesbians and gay men. The authors investigated this claim by analyzing in-depth interviews with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals who were out at work and who described their workplaces as gay friendly. Despite the clear benefits they associated with these organizations, some respondents faced a paradox: They either were compelled to downplay their homosexuality at work or were constrained by stereotypes about how LGB people were expected to look, act, and work. Thus, just as in the era of the closet, the workplace—even contexts that LGB employees define as gay friendly—may involve forced choices between acceptance and visibility.
85 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define this silencing as a rhetorical move rendering elders invisible in queer theory and queerness invisible in gerontological theory and argue that the producers of these discourses, from a position of power, silence and ignore LGBT elders' rhetorical activities.
Abstract: The exclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) elders from queer and gerontological theories has resulted in the silencing of LGBT older adults and their experiences. Historically, this silencing has left LGBT elders without adequate social or material supports and has isolated them from both the LGBT and the older-adult communities, as well as the agencies serving those communities. The author defines this silencing as a rhetorical move rendering elders invisible in queer theory and queerness invisible in gerontological theory and argues that the producers of queer and gerontological theory, from a position of power within these discourses, silence and ignore LGBT elders’ rhetorical activities. The author further argues that although many LGBT elders have worked to arrange material and social supports for themselves and their peers, their activities have become audible only relatively recently, due to the activism of middle-aged and older LGBT members of human service and academic networks.
77 citations
TL;DR: In this study both discrimination and relationship quality were associated with depression among chronically ill LGB adults and their caregivers and preliminary findings suggested that relationship quality moderates the impact of discrimination as a risk factor for depression in chronically illLGB adults.
Abstract: With the exception of HIV care, informal caregiving of chronically ill lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults has received very limited attention in the extensive caregiving literature. This article reports on research that considered the social context of care and a dyadic caregiving approach for 36 chronically ill LGB adults ages 50 and older and their informal caregivers. In this study both discrimination and relationship quality were associated with depression among chronically ill LGB adults and their caregivers. Furthermore, preliminary findings suggested that relationship quality moderates the impact of discrimination as a risk factor for depression in chronically ill LGB adults. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for social policy and future research. Given the changing demographics in the United States with the aging of the baby boomers, as well as an increase in chronic illness, fostering better understanding of caregiving across diverse sexualities and families is critical.
59 citations
TL;DR: The data suggest that gay men have little to no understanding of their prostate and the range of sexual challenges associated with prostate cancer and its treatment and gay men’s reactions to potential sexual problems arising from treatment are shaped by their sexual practices, sexual roles, and beliefs about gay relationships and the gay community.
Abstract: Prostate cancer is one of the most common health conditions among older men and, thus, among older gay men. Prostate cancer and its treatments present a challenge to men’s sexuality with each additional decade of aging. Men in same-sex relationships have a greater likelihood of contending with prostate problems — theirs, their partner’s, or both. Yet, until very recently, this health concern for older gay men has not been a subject of study. Using focus groups, the authors explored gay men’s knowledge of and responses to the potential sexual consequences associated with prostate cancer and treatments. The data suggest that gay men have little to no understanding of their prostate and the range of sexual challenges associated with prostate cancer and its treatment. In addition, gay men’s reactions to potential sexual problems arising from treatment are shaped by their sexual practices, sexual roles, and beliefs about gay relationships and the gay community.
58 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored a range of marital ideologies and relationship strategies in the lives of lala (lesbian) women in contemporary Beijing and found that marriage is at the core of negotiations that reconcile personal same-sex desires with normative social pressures.
Abstract: This article explores a range of marital ideologies and relationship strategies in the lives of lala (lesbian) women in contemporary Beijing. Although new discourses on same-sex marriage rights and sexual equality are becoming popular in parts of Chinese lala communities, the traditional marriage ideal continues to appear desirable, and it structures same-sex life aspirations as well as social, romantic, and family relationships. The author offers ethnographic data to demonstrate why seemingly oppressive structures retain such significance and overall positive association in lala everyday life and ideology. Narratives of 3 complex relationship strategies demonstrate that marriage is at the core of negotiations that reconcile personal same-sex desires with normative social pressures. Compliant-like conjugal strategies enable subversive possibilities that subtly challenge the status quo while appearing normal. This observation requires a rethinking of notions and meanings of agency, power, and the approach to studying the current global diversity of nonnormative sexualities.
50 citations
TL;DR: The concept of compulsory heterosexuality was initially developed by lesbian feminists and gay liberationists in the late 1960s and early 1970s as mentioned in this paper, and the center of analysis shifted from individual homosexual and from individual acts of discrimination to the institutional enforcement of normative heterosexuality and its consequences for nonheterosexuals.
Abstract: The concept of compulsory heterosexuality was initially developed by lesbian feminists and gay liberationists in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Compulsory heterosexuality proved to be a major conceptual innovation because it made possible a structural sociology of sexuality. The center of analysis shifted from the individual homosexual and from individual acts of discrimination to the institutional enforcement of normative heterosexuality and its consequences for nonheterosexuals. This essay provides a critical analysis of this concept as it has been elaborated from the late 1960s to the present. The author outlines the analytical and historical limits of the critique of compulsory heterosexuality without abandoning a notion of the institutionalization of normative heterosexuality.
49 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that LGB individuals would encounter more negative messages, be at risk for negative psychological effects, and increase their political activities, including voting, during elections with marriage amendments on the ballot.
Abstract: More than half of U.S. states have passed amendments to their constitutions excluding same-sex couples from civil marriage. The impact of these ballot initiatives and debates on lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals has been underresearched. Extending research on racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as research on LGB groups, the study discussed in this article hypothesized that LGB individuals would encounter more negative messages, be at risk for negative psychological effects, and increase their political activities, including voting, during elections with marriage amendments on the ballot. A national cross-sectional online survey of 1,824 LGB participants conducted postelection in November 2006 confirmed these hypotheses.
45 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors chart current Thai sexual/genderminority terminology and identities, identify challenges in the lives of sexual and gender minorities in Thailand, and evaluate how both identities and challenges are reflected in voluntary-sector counseling.
Abstract: This article has 3 objectives: (a) to chart current Thai sexual/gender-minority terminology and identities, (b) to identify challenges in the lives of sexual/gender minorities in Thailand, and (c) to evaluate how both identities and challenges are reflected in voluntary-sector counseling. The author summarizes terminology and issues from existing Thai and foreign studies and reports the results of a qualitative inquiry into the state of counseling in 3 Thai nongovernmental organizations. The Thai sexual/gender-minority identities charted include saaaw-prapheet-soong/kathoey gay (king, queen, quing), torn (one way, two way, gay), dee, les (king, queen), and bi. These individuals face a number of challenges, such as legal nonacknowledgment, prevention of HIV, insufficient health and psychological services, discrimination, and troubled relationships. In the voluntary sector, HIV/AIDS counseling is the service most often emphasized, but all of the challenges that these minorities face need to be addressed through both services and continued activism to effect societal changes.
33 citations
TL;DR: In the low-income and violent urban periphery of Rio de Janeiro, religious leaders and institutions play key roles in molding community inclusion and exclusion and a comparison of the 3 major religious denominations shows a diversity of discourses about same-sex sexual desires and their impacts on community formation.
Abstract: This article reports on a study that examined how religious discourses of inclusion and exclusion—in Roman Catholic, evangelical Protestant, and Afro-Brazilian religious traditions—affected people’s rights to express same-sex sexual desires, behaviors, and identities in the socioeconomically marginalized urban periphery of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Using extended ethnographic observation of institutions and religious events over a period of 2 years, the authors identified how sexual rights were constructed within religious discourses and conducted ethnographic interviews with 45 religious leaders. In the low-income and violent urban periphery of Rio de Janeiro, religious leaders and institutions play key roles in molding community inclusion and exclusion. A comparison of the 3 major religious denominations shows a diversity of discourses about same-sex sexual desires and their impacts on community formation.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared 793 nonheterosexual baby boomers on their relationship status (single or in a civil union) and the state in which they lived (did or did not recognize same-sex civil unions) and revealed patterns attributable to participants' relationship status, state recognition, and the combination of these variables.
Abstract: The authors compared 793 nonheterosexual baby boomers on their relationship status (single or in a civil union) and the state in which they lived (did or did not recognize same-sex civil unions) Analyses revealed patterns attributable to participants’ relationship status, state recognition, and the combination of these variables Findings showed that state recognition of same-sex unions has an impact not only on nonheterosexual individuals’ current quality of life but also on their future plans and emotional responses to those plans A lack of legal recognition requires nonheterosexuals to take greater action to ensure that their end-of-life wishes will be carried out, and may lead to their having increased fears about late life
TL;DR: This article delineates some of the images of older adults’ sexualities using an interpretive content analysis of gerontology articles dealing with issues of sexuality in 21 gerontological journals over a 20-year span.
Abstract: Discursive portrayals of aging and sexuality have important implications for the creation and reproduction of inequalities. This article delineates some of the images of older adults’ sexualities using an interpretive content analysis of gerontology articles dealing with issues of sexuality in 21 gerontological journals over a 20-year span (1988–2007). The 3 main findings of this analysis were (a) that aging sexualities are asserted, (b) that the sexual identities of older adults vary, and (c) that older adults’ sexualities are regulated through a variety of mechanisms. Furthermore, these representations inform research and policy at the intersections of sexuality and aging.
TL;DR: Sexual risk behavior among low-income native-born and foreignborn Latinas of Mexican or Puerto Rican ethnicity seeking services at a community-based family planning clinic in a large Midwestern city is examined to suggest HIV-prevention intervention efforts that focus on relationship power among young heterosexual Latinas in the United States may be effective in reducing sexual risk behavior.
Abstract: Young adult Latinas are disproportionately overrepresented among HIV/AIDS incidence cases in the United States, and heterosexual contact has been identified as the primary mode of HIV transmission. This study examined sexual risk behavior among 40 low-income native-born and foreignborn Latinas of Mexican or Puerto Rican ethnicity seeking services at a community-based family planning clinic in a large Midwestern city. Participants were unmarried, noncohabiting Latinas ages 18–29 who were involved in primary heterosexual relationships. Survey data that were collected from participants included sociodemographics, relationship power, acculturation, and unprotected sex with primary and extradyadic partners. After statistically controlling for age and ethnic identity, the authors found that Latinas with less relationship power were significantly more likely to report having unprotected sex with primary partners. These findings suggest that HIV-prevention intervention efforts that focus on relationship power among young heterosexual Latinas in the United States may be effective in reducing sexual risk behavior.
TL;DR: For women in Chile, having a child involves not only exerting great effort and imagination but also bucking social expectations as mentioned in this paper, which is a reflexive project in which lesbians must question issues that heterosexual women take for granted.
Abstract: This article reports on a study that explored how Chilean lesbians perceive and carry out motherhood. Lesbian mothering is a reflexive project in which lesbians must question issues that heterosexual women take for granted. For lesbian women in Chile, having a child involves not only exerting great effort and imagination but also bucking social expectations. Homosexuals in Chile live under the heterosexual assumption (an institutionalized rejection of homosexuality) and continually face the possibility of discrimination. Consequently, lesbians who undertake maternity especially experience feelings of fear and vulnerability. The author addresses topics including (a) the intersection of the traditional identity—mother—and the transgressive identity—lesbian; (b) lesbians’ choice of the method used to achieve motherhood (i.e., sexual intercourse, artificial insemination, or adoption); and (c) how lesbian couples organize mothering and what the nonbiological mother’s position is in the family. The author concludes that in the construction of their families, Chilean lesbians combine tradition with transgression.
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that Filipino gay men conformed less to, and experienced greater conflict with, norms for family orientedness and for respectful deference to spouse, women, and elders.
Abstract: This article reports on a study that compared Filipino gay (N = 43) and heterosexual (N = 767) men on measures of male role attitudes and behavior, depression, and anxiety. The authors used the Filipino Adherence and Conflict with Expectations of Masculinity Questionnaire to assess 7 male role dimensions, as well as the Mehrabian Trait Anxiety and Depression Scales and the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale. Analyses indicated that Filipino gay men conformed less to, and experienced greater conflict with, norms for family orientedness and for respectful deference to spouse, women, and elders. Gay men’s anxiety was associated with less conformity to the male role prescription to be strong. Heterosexual men’s depression was associated with less conformity to the role prescription to be family oriented. The discussion explores the divergent attitudes of gay and heterosexual men regarding family life, as well as implications for clinical practice and public policy.
TL;DR: Using consecutive clinical cases of women ages 50 and older who presented for a sexual assault exam, the authors found significant differences by living arrangement in age and impaired consciousness at onset of assault; relationship of suspected offender to victim; and in type of coercion, weapon used, and body trauma.
Abstract: Sexual assault of older women may occur within the context of elder mistreatment, domestic violence, or victimization of homeless or mentally ill individuals. Older women with self-care deficits due to impaired physical, cognitive, or psychiatric function or substance use may be vulnerable to sexual assault either because of an inability to self-defend or make wise choices about their environment, or due to exposure to potential offenders. Using consecutive clinical cases of women ages 50 and older (N = 198) who presented for a sexual assault exam, the authors searched for differences in victim, suspected offender, and assault characteristics by alleged victims’ living arrangement (institutional, domestic, homeless, or unknown). The authors found significant differences by living arrangement in age and impaired consciousness at onset of assault; relationship of suspected offender to victim; and in type(s) of coercion, weapon(s) used, and body trauma. Findings have implications for practice, research, and policy.
TL;DR: This article explored young adults' perceptions of sexual expression among older women in the context of confronting ageism and sexism from a feminist perspective, and found that young adults perceive older women's sexuality, perceptions about ageism, and comfort level with discussing aging women's sexual expression.
Abstract: This article reports on a study that explored young adults’ perceptions of sexual expression among older women in the context of confronting ageism and sexism from a feminist perspective. Deirdre Fishel’s educational film about aging and sexuality,Still Doing It: The Intimate Lives of Women Over 65, was shown to 277 undergraduate students (82 male and 1 95 female) enrolled in a global issues human sexuality course. Data consisted of students’ narrative responses to 6 reflexive questions. Using grounded theory methodology, the analysis revealed 4 key themes organized around the following topics: (a) how young adults perceive older women’s sexuality, (b) perceptions about ageism and sexism, (c) students’ comfort level with discussing aging women’s sexuality, and (d) life lessons: learning from older women. The authors discuss implications for education and practice.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the relationship between migrants' sexuality, their decision to migrate, and their post-migration experiences and found that most participants increased their social mobility or remained at the same economic level after migration.
Abstract: Based on a 3-year study of migrant Puerto Rican sexual minorities, the authors explored the relationship between migrants’ sexuality, their decision to migrate, and their post-migration experiences. All study participants were raised in Puerto Rico and migrated stateside for the first time as adults. Using data from qualitative fieldwork and in-depth interviews with 74 lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual (LGTB) Puerto Rican migrants, this article focuses on individuals’ decision to migrate, gender conformity, and social mobility. The findings suggest a complex relationship between the participants’ decision to leave the island and their sexuality and gender conformity. For most participants, sexuality was not the reason they left Puerto Rico, but it was a factor in their decision to not return. Most study participants increased their social mobility or remained at the same economic level after migration. However, an increase in social mobility for participants was mitigated by a racialized identity.
TL;DR: The authors argues that, starting in the 1960s, myriad social factors helped transform the broader emotional culture in the United States from one of restraint to one of expressiveness, particularly in the case of sexual shame.
Abstract: This article argues that, starting in the 1960s, myriad social factors helped transform the broader emotional culture in the United States from one of restraint to one of expressiveness. This transformation is particularly evident in the case of shame and, specifically, in the case of sexual shame. Shame, the emotion of self-loathing and spoiled identity, has come out of the closet into a new cultural visibility. This article examines some of the key social actors who have helped effect this change, including sex education advocates, members of the Human Potential Movement, and social movements such as feminism and the lesbian and gay movement. The author also explores the new work of shame in such venues as entertainment and political activism by both the left and the right. This article is based on the author’s presentation for the 2007 John H. Gagnon Distinguished Lecture on Sexuality, Modernity and Change.
TL;DR: This article examined how nine K-12 teachers who self-identified as gay or lesbian connected their classroom practices to their experiences as gays and lesbians and found that in doing so, they taught in ways that put queer pedagogy into practice.
Abstract: This article reports on a study that examined how nine K-12 teachers who self-identified as gay or lesbian connected their classroom practices to their experiences as gays and lesbians. The author found that in doing so, they taught in ways that put queer pedagogy into practice. Using a coconstructive grounded theory approach, the author explored participants’ relationships with the term queer and how they enacted queerness as teachers. The author found that even though participants (with one notable exception) rejected the term queer as a means of self-identification, they practiced a range of queer pedagogy. Although all participants queered their teaching practices and saw relationships between their teaching and their experiences as gays and lesbians, the openly gay participants were explicitly able to use their gayness to queer their teaching.
TL;DR: This article explored how living during the transition from a Soviet system to a post-communist society affected gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people in Russia and explored the advantages and disadvantages of invisibility for GLBT Russians, the effects of globalization on the GLBT community in Russia, and uncertainty about the future.
Abstract: This article reports on a study that explored how living during the transition from a Soviet system to a postcommunist society affected gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people in Russia. A grounded theory method was used to analyze the interviews of 10 Russian GLBT individuals. The core category, leaving the herd— the lingering threat of difference in postcommunist Russia, reflected how dangerous perceived difference of any kind remains for those living in a country where, traditionally, standing out has had consequences ranging from social ostracization to prison sentences. Results also addressed the advantages and disadvantages of invisibility for GLBT Russians, the effects of globalization on the GLBT community in Russia, and uncertainty about the future. Clinical and research implications of the study are discussed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the changes to the age of consent in Canada from a queer theory perspective, and examine how heterosexual hegemony is maintained and reproduced by these legislative changes and how a shift from an identity-based view of sexuality to a performative perspective can help better illuminate how the Canadian state has deployed paternalistic conceptualizations of childhood and sexuality, most notably embodied through a shift in legislative language from consent to protection.
Abstract: Recent changes to age-of-consent legislation in Canada have prompted debates focusing on youth sexuality and queer sexuality. Using as a backdrop similar debates in the United Kingdom, the author investigates the changes to the age of consent in Canada from a queer theory perspective. The author comments on how heterosexual hegemony is maintained and reproduced by these legislative changes and how a shift from an identity-based view of sexuality to a performative perspective can help better illuminate how the Canadian state has deployed paternalistic conceptualizations of childhood and sexuality, most notably embodied through a shift in legislative language from consent to protection. This sociolegal look at state policy surrounding age of consent involves an examination of the history of sexual regulation in Canada and how hegemonic formulations of normative and deviant sexual activity influence and threaten access to education on sexuality and sexual health.
TL;DR: In this paper, a study that employed ethnographic methods to understand how social constructions influence the social identity development of collegiate gay and bisexual men (CGBM) in the United States.
Abstract: This article reports on a study that employed ethnographic methods to understand how social constructions influence the social identity development of collegiate gay and bisexual men (CGBM) in the United States. Data included 15 weeks of participant observations at a large southwestern university; the review of university documents, including 69 newspapers, 88 handouts, and 9 reports or websites; 1 focus group; and formal interviews with 25 self-identified CGBM, 7 student-affairs professionals, and 5 community health educators who work with CGBM. Living in an environment more tolerant of homosexuality than in the past, CGBM seem required to interpret subtle social cues to identify the degree to which they can be out in a given location or situation. How they interpret these cues, often with little institutional support or few mentors, appears to shape their identity. This article elaborates on some of the social constructions that have contributed to CGBM’s social identity formation and discusses policy implications.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the importance of longitudinal data in sex research by considering methodological and statistical procedures for conducting longitudinal research and conclude that longitudinal research is the best method for discovering developmental patterns in sexuality by addressing intraindividual change.
Abstract: Longitudinal research is essential for the understanding of human sexual development. This article highlights the importance of longitudinal data in sex research by considering methodological and statistical procedures for conducting longitudinal research. Among other methodological issues, the authors review volunteer bias and attrition in longitudinal data collection. They also evaluate new statistical methods useful for analyzing longitudinal data, including hierarchical linear modeling, structural equation modeling, and growth mixture modeling. To illustrate these considerations, the authors provide an example from data on peer sexual harassment victimization and discuss the opportunities for working with large-scale longitudinal data sets that are available to the public. The authors conclude that longitudinal research is the best method for discovering developmental patterns in sexuality by addressing intra-individual change.
Journal Article•