Showing papers on "Heterosexism published in 1992"

Living in two worlds: the identity management strategies used by lesbian physical educators.

Abstract: Twelve lesbian physical educators participated in an in-depth phenomenological study of their work experiences in relation to their identities as lesbians and teachers. All study participants held two assumptions: that they would lose their jobs if their lesbiansim were revealed, and that female physical education teachers are negatively stereotyped as being lesbian. Participants most often engaged in identity management strategies designed to conceal their lesbianism, such as passing as a heterosexual, self-distancing from others at school, and self-distancing from issues pertaining to homosexuality. The less common risk-taking behaviors included obliquely overlapping their personal lives with their professional, actively confronting homophobia and supporting gay and lesbian studies, and overtly overlapping the details of their personal and professional lives. The authors conclude this paper with recommendations for challenging homophobia and heterosexism in physical education.

“A WAY OUTA NO WAY”: Eating Problems among African-American, Latina, and White Women

Abstract: This article offers a feminist theory of eating problems (anorexia, bulimia, extensive dieting, and binging) based on life history interviews with African-American, Latina, and white women. Until recently, research on eating problems has focused on white middle-and upper-class heterosexual women. While feminist research has established why eating problems are gendered, an analysis of how race, class, and sexual oppression are related to the etiology of eating problems has been missing. The article shows that eating problems begin as strategies for coping with various traumas including sexual abuse, racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, and poverty. Identifying eating problems as survival strategies shifts the focus from portraying them as issues of appearance to ways women take care of themselves as they cope with trauma.

Creating a safer school environment for lesbian and gay students.

Abstract: Information obtained from clinical experiences of the University of Minnesota Youth and AIDS Project (YAP), a primary AIDS prevention program for gay and bisexual males ages 14-21, is described. More than 300 YAP clients have been interviewed regarding sexual behavior, suicide attempts, drug use, and experiences in disclosing their homosexuality to peers and parents during their high school years. The authors also have drawn from their experiences as support group leaders for gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth in high school and community settings. Constructive and destructive coping strategies employed by gay, lesbian, and bisexual students are described. Roles and responsibilities of school professionals to create a safer school environment also are presented. Key issues include how school professionals support or deny the existence of homosexuality in young people; how adults' biases against homosexuality, as well as institutionalized heterosexism, prevent lesbian and gay students from succeeding in school; how language, behaviors, and environmental cues contribute to school professionals' approachability; how children of lesbian and gay parents suffer when negative attitudes toward homosexuality are not challenged; and what resources and referrals can help lesbian and gay young people.

Structures of feeling in curriculum and teaching

Abstract: Those who enter secondary teacher education as graduate students have already spent years in both the academy and the school. As students, they have been relatively "successful" in these institutional settings and hence bring to their secondary teacher education very specific expectations about what it takes to teach and to learn. Their expectations do not yet include what it might require of them to understand the learning struggles of others and why practices in curriculum must engage with the perils of making sense of the meanings of others in order to do something more with the meanings one already holds. My dilemmas as a teacher educator begin with the perils of learning, with how larger social circumstances of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other forms of social and structural discrimination live in the contexts of school knowledge and in the social practices of students and teachers. To begin with questions of theory and practice in this way require a second look at how the dynamics of domination and subordination become lived experience in academic socialization.

Images of gays and lesbians in sexuality and health textbooks.

Abstract: Photographs have become a major form of illustration in college level health and sexuality textbooks and may be more memorable than the text itself. Unlike other forms of illustration, photographs are often viewed as objective and unable to "lie." Photographs of individuals from nondominant groups, in addition to being seen as objective representations of reality, are often seen as representing the group to which they belong. To study the representation of nondominant groups in textbooks, it is, therefore, as important to analyze the photographs as the text itself. This paper examines photographs of gay men and lesbians in 14 health and 16 human sexuality college level textbooks. The photographs of individuals present an inaccurate portrait of lesbians and gay men as white, young, and physically-abled. Individual and large group photographs of activism (31% of the total photographs of gay men and lesbians) were positive images that emphasized issues of civil rights. The paper discusses various interpretations of the photographs of gay men and lesbians, subtle homophobia or heterosexism in the texts, and progress that has been made.

AIDS Activism and the State in Canada

Abstract: The AIDS epidemic, which began in the 1980s and took more than 3000 lives by the end of 1991, posed enormous challenges for Canada's gay and lesbian communities. The spread of the disease provided a new vehicle for morally conservative homophobia and heterosexism, and created opportunities for intrusions by health officials into the private lives of gay men. The relative neglect of state health agencies in the early years of the epidemic placed burdens on local gay networks that could easily have overwhelmed them. All this could have led, as some predicted it would, to political weakness and retreat.

The invisible -ism: Heterosexism and the implications for mediation

Abstract: The mediation field has made great strides in its commitment to multicultural understanding, but lesbians and gay men remain invisible within the conflict resolution community. There is virtually no dispute resolution literature, except anecdotal, to support this claim. However, there is evidence to support the fact that lesbians and gay men are a significant but often invisible portion of the U.S. population. This article discusses ways in which the mediation field perpetuates this invisibility, explores whether mediation really provides an alternative dispute resolution process for lesbians and gays, assesses the impact of this exclusion on the practice of mediation, and suggests ways in which mediators and mediation programs can address homophobia and heterosexism.

Teaching college students about sexual identity from feminist perspectives.

Abstract: Feminist analysis has contributed notions about the following: the political nature of sex the compulsory nature of heterosexuality the viability of other sexual options the delineation of the sex/gender system roles of homophobia the variability of sexual orientation the influences of social and cultural differences the significance of culture and social institutions and the role of the state in regulating sexual expression and behavior. The aim of this chapter was to elaborate on the teaching implications of feminist approaches to evaluate these approaches in womens college studies classes and to suggest other ways to teach about sexual identity. Discussion was based on teaching experiences at Ohio State University and specifically on the basic survey course on women taken by 1700 students annually of whom 25% are men. A constructionist approach was adopted because it encourages more self-reflection. Gender and social identify were identified as being socially constructed and variable with culture race and class. The course goals; activities; readings from the work of for instance Carol Smith-Rosenberg; the use of lesbian panels; student reactions; and the implications for lesbians are discussed. The teaching about womens identities exposes the social contradictions. The proposal is to encourage social construction along the lines of De Cecco and Shively and others and to resist the dominant ideology of hierarchies and replace it with the practical adage "until all of us are free none of us are free." The argument is to move away from the biological determinism that is reinforced by heterosexism and homophobia toward individual meaning in a socially-constructed context. The emphasis should be on relationships and the exploration with students on how they identify themselves.

Working with Gay Men

Abstract: This chapter will offer a basic model for the use of cognitive therapy with men who are struggling to better understand and integrate their same-sex sexual orientation Its aim is to aid the expansion of a man’s social, behavioral, and self-identity to include more positive feelings and actions consonant with his sexual and affectional attraction to men This chapter will take the reader through the course of a simulated case and will present reading suggestions for gay men in therapy and/or their therapists Although it is presented in largely linear fashion, the therapeutic focus with this population (as with others) would likely oscillate between the delineated stages as gains were solidified The examples in this chapter are based on gay men I have known and worked with clinically, but do not represent any one person (The approach could probably easily be applied also to lesbians but because of my own limited experience on this account, I purposely focus here on the population with which I have worked most closely) The word heterosexism is used here to refer to the valuing of heterosexual over homosexual behavior and orientation, rather than the more common term homophobia, because of the latter’s imprecise meaning

The 'coming out' process for lesbians: A comparison of lesbian and heterosexual perspectives.

Abstract: Coming out', defined in terms of identifying self as lesbian, as well as disclosure of this information to others, is seen as an issue only within a heterosexist society Heterosexism serves to reflect and create social representations, containing inflexible conceptualizations of gender, and social identities, incorporating power inequalities The study was based on content analysis of individual semi-structured depth interviews, with forty lesbians on perceptions and experiences of coming out; thirty heterosexual women and men on attitudes to homosexuality; and twenty women on communication with family and friends Lesbian and heterosexual interviews were supplemented with stereotype tasks, including the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire Coming out to self was shown to be based upon strong emotional feelings directed towards women, together with awareness of lesbianism as an option, and a level of emotional acceptance of homosexuality Coming out to family, heterosexual friends etc involved risks and benefits The study revealed a social context reflecting lesbian 'invisibility', heterosexuals' lack of interest and minimal contact with lesbians; perceptions of threat and abnormality; and a masculine, abnormal, aggressive, lesbian stereotype Heterosexual subjects defined 'lesbian' in terms of sex only, and perceived lesbians as masculine Lesbian subjects perceived lesbianism as more than sex, and lesbians as androgynous Communication issues most similar to coming out concerned identity, relationships, or a different way of life; threat, loss or stigma; or reactions of others Case studies analysed within Breakwell's threatened identity model suggested extension of the theory to include additional identity principles of authenticity/integrity and affiliation It is argued that changes, at the level of social representations, relating to gender conceptualization, and the consequent power inequalities, are necessary for aiding the coming out process