Jewish Gay Men's Accounts of Negotiating Cultural,Religious, and Sexual Identity

Abstract

Research on the construction of lesbian and gay identity has represented this process as carrying considerable potential for in-trapsychic and interpersonal stress and conflict. This process may be rendered even more psychologically challenging for those whose identities feature salient components that are not easily reconciled with a lesbian or gay identity. An example of this is the simultaneous holding of Jewish and gay identities. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of 21 Jewish gay men in Britain. Participants were interviewed about the development of their gay identity, the relationship between their gay identity and their Jewish identity, the psychological and social implications of holding these identities, and strategies for managing any difficulties associated with this. Data were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. All but one of the men reported experiences of identity conflict, arising mainly from the perceived incompatibility of Jewish and gay identities. This was said to have impacted negatively upon their psychological well-being. Those who had received negative reactions to the disclosure of sexual identity within Jewish contexts often attributed this to an anti-gay stance within Judaism and a concern with ensuring the continuation of the Jewish people. Various strategies were said to have been used to manage identity threat, including compartmentalizing Jewish and gay identity and revising the content or salience of Jewish identity. Recommendations are offered for psychological interventions which could help Jewish gay men manage identity conflict.     

Legible lesbian lines: The bilingual poetry of Irena Klepfisz

Abstract

This article focuses on the poetry of Jewish lesbian poet Irena Klepfisz, written in New York starting in the 1970s. While drawing on the tradition of Yiddish women’s poetry from the first half of the twentieth century, both as scholar and poet, Klepfisz also creates a brand new, bilingual, Yiddish-English poetic mode. By mobilizing both Yiddish and English to voice her poetic and political concerns, Klepfisz stages the English/Yiddish encounter as a site where dominant norms in both languages can be challenged and new possibilities emerge. Exploring both her turn to the past and her bilingual poetry, this article reveals how Klepfisz puts her politics and scholarship to poetic practice and suggests that Klepfisz offers a model of queer translation that undoes the borders between past and present, English and Yiddish, creating a unique mode of Jewish lesbian reclamation and invention.     

Research on Gay and Lesbian Parenting

SUMMARY

Gay and lesbian parenting is a fertile research field with many important new developments in content and methodology over the last decade. Gay and lesbian parenting occurs in a wide diversity of famly constellations, yet the cultural context of lesbian and gay parenting is a neglected topic. The relative depth of knowledge of lesbian parenting is contrasted with the lack of research on gay male parenting across different routes to parenthood. Gay and lesbian parenting researchers have employed a wide variety of methodological designs in their investigations, and the field has benefited from the employment of quantitative and qualitative techniques to investigate developmental outcomes for children and increase understanding of the variety of experiences of gay and lesbian parenthood. This review highlights significant developments in the field and suggests new directions.     

Holding on to history and each other: The unexpected LGBTQ legacy of a Czech Holocaust survivor and a Torah scroll from her hometown

Abstract

A Czech Holocaust survivor rescued by a Kindertransport in 1939; a long-lost Torah scroll, rediscovered in 1964, from a Jewish community wiped out in World War II; a German American lesbian who converted to Judaism in 2001. Three disparate stories, unfolding decades apart, converge in one memorable encounter, a Kristallnacht commemoration in Los Angeles organized by Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), the world’s first LGBTQ synagogue, which leads to an enduring friendship and fresh insight into contemporary queer Jewish life. In this personal essay, longtime BCC member Sylvia Sukop interweaves history and autobiography to explore the beauty and power of ritual, the resonance of the “Choose life” passage in Deuteronomy that her congregation reads from its rescued Czech scroll every Yom Kippur, and the many forms that good deeds and survival can take. Progressive faith communities, the author suggests, and the traditions in which they are rooted make space to witness and affirm the fullness of one another’s humanity, bridging differences and fostering unexpected kinship in a brutally divisive world.     

Gertrude Stein,Opium Queen: Notes on a Mistaken Embrace

Gertrude Stein was not only a fairly open lesbian but also Jewish, expatriate, and androgynous—all attributes that often retarded mass-market success. Why then was she so popular? The article offers original research highlighting how Stein was constructed as a kind of “opium queen” in the popular American press, and the ways that this decadent, bohemian celebrity persona allowed her to operate as “broadly queer” rather than “specifically gay” in the American cultural imaginary—a negotiation that accounts for the mass-market success rather than censure of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas despite the unparalleled visibility of its lesbian erotics.     

Lesbian Books,Lesbian Book Reviewing

Abstract

The emergence of lesbian book reviewing as a genre has several causes: the boom in lesbian book publishing; the increased visibility of lesbian books in mainstream bookstores; heterosexual readers' current fascination with lesbians and lesbianism; a growth in academic and feminist interest in lesbianism and “queer studies”; a general appetite for the “good” lesbian fiction that has appeared recently; and a new world market for lesbian writing. Responsible lesbian book reviewing should have as its goals to review as many books by lesbian authors as possible, including those not “about” lesbian issues or topics; to review books about lesbianism and lesbian issues, including those written by heterosexuals; to cover the entire range of genres, from serious academic books to popular romances; to seek out and publicize lesbian writers from around the world; to make known smaller lesbian and lesbian-friendly presses; and to present a wide range of responsible reviewer comments on the books reviewed, as the lesbian book market continues to grow, lesbian book reviewing should let readers know what's available, create dialogue about the ideas presented in lesbian books, establish ethical stances, support lesbian publishing, become a responsible member of the “lesbian community,” and create a wider space for lesbian writing in the world of readers.     

Lesbian Stepfamilies

ABSTRACT

Cherlin's (1978) model of remarriage as an incomplete institution is used to show how lesbian families' experiences are similar to and different from those in heterosexual stepfamilies. We examine how heterosexism and homophobia enhance the marginalization of lesbian stepfamilies. Despite the importance of the partner's role in the family, much of the lesbian stepfamily research neglects her. Ways to involve the partner's perspective in practice and research and to broaden research perspectives on lesbian stepfamilies are suggested.     

Psychotherapy with Lesbian and Gay Clients from an Adult Life Course Perspective

Abstract

A life course perspective of gay and lesbian adulthood enriches our understanding of clinical presentations and modifies our conception of psychotherapy. The author describes shifts in his psychotherapeutic orientation characterized by an increasing recognition of the importance of social, cultural, and historical forces that shape gay and lesbian mental health. Given the uncharted nature of many gay and lesbian lives across adulthood, existential questions about the meaning of life choices are often present in the consulting room. Therapists working with gay and lesbian clients embark on an empathic journey informed by treatment skills as well as our joint participation in a world of significant social change.     

Workplace Problems and Needs for Lesbian and Gay Male Employees

Abstract

This article presents research findings pursuant to the problems and needs of lesbian and gay male employees, as perceived from a randomly selected national sample of employee assistance professionals. The research was based on a conceptual model for framing workplace interventions addressing issues of protection, inclusion and equity (PIE) for gay/lesbian employees. Findings indicate that heterosexual employees greatly underestimate the level of discrimination sexual minorities experience; women respondents were more sensitive to gay/ lesbian workplace issues than men; existing EAP and human resource services, programs and policies inadequately address gay/lesbian needs; significant differences exist between heterosexual and gay/lesbian employees' on perceptions of diversity training content and gay/lesbian EAP professionals feel the workplace is only somewhat “safe” for them as sexual minority employees.     

Lesbian Therapists and Lesbian Clients

Abstract

The authors, on the basis of their own experience, explore issues specific to therapists working openly as lesbians with lesbian clients. Their discussion covers the structure of a private practice, the therapeutic relationship between lesbian therapist and lesbian client, and personal challenges for the lesbian therapist. Questions are raised and direction given with the aim of facilitating congruence among the therapist's personal capacities, the therapeutic setting, and the psychological intention of the therapeutic work. The authors note the therapist's need to tolerate the exposure of her personal life and the pressure toward fusion that are both entailed in work with lesbian clients, and they suggest that these special challenges, when the lesbian therapist's engagement with them is conscious, offer rich material that can deepen the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic work.     

Staying Current with Gay and Lesbian Research and Practice Knowledge

Abstract

The field of gay and lesbian psychotherapy has grown dramatically over the last two decades. Indeed, there is an increasing number of professional journals and books, which makes staying current in any area of mental health a full-time job. Many clinicians can feel daunted by having to remain up-to-date in their subspecialty, as well as in the mental health field in general. In addition, there are many allied fields of medicine, sociology, biology, and gerontology which contribute to the richness and complexity. We are a heterogeneous community, mixed by gender, race, ethnicity, class, religion, and other demographics, each of which has special characteristics for us to know and understand. Being current and remaining current are two distinct and formidable tasks. This paper will focus upon how clinicians in private practice stay current in the field of research and practice knowledge while working in the gay and lesbian community. While hoping to provide some sources of information, this paper only begins to address some of the areas of research which affect our communities.     

Making a Spectacle of Herself

Abstract

The now-famous photograph of singer k.d. lang and model Cindy Crawford on the cover of the August 1993 Vanity Fair magazine was notable for being one of the first images in popular culture to feature a self-identified lesbian in an image with lesbian thematic content. This paper explores Vanity Fair's cover in terms of lesbian visibility issues, different interpretive strategies for constructing meaning, and the use of lesbian/gay symbology and aesthetics. The appropriational relationship of the image to other representational forms in popular culture and the significance of lesbian sexual imagery are discussed. Examination of the use of inversion, hyperbole, and irony reveals the image's polysemic references to both lesbian re/presentations and mainstream society's stereotypes.     

Building a Translengua in Latina Lesbian Organizing

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the challenges and rewards, as well as the affective labor, involved in forging a Latina lesbian “translengua,” in other words a common language in the context of Latina lesbian organizing. I explore how members of Latina Lesbians en Nuestro Ambiente (LLENA) and Amigas Latinas, Chicago-based Latina lesbian organizations, attempted to foster consensus for collective action in the face of language differences and preferences. Through analysis of archives and interviews with activists, I untangle how LLENA and Amigas Latinas negotiated deeply personal and sensitive issues around language use as they worked to build an inclusive movement. I also identify strategies used to enact a translengua that could bridge linguistic differences within the Latina lesbian community.     

Not the “Other” Mother

SUMMARY

This paper presents findings from recent Australian qualitative research with lesbian co-parents where study participants' fluid narrative identities are deconstructed in order to better understand how language constructs relationships within private and public domains. Language used to define, describe and give meaning to roles and relationships of lesbian co-parents within social and kinship networks and wider community is explored. Through claiming language and telling their stories lesbian co-parents give meaning to their lives; affirm their identity; and present their relationships as visible and valid.     

Jewish studies underground in Leningrad in the 1980s†

ABSTRACT

This article is a first-hand report of a participant and leader of a number of underground initiatives within the “refuseniks’” community which aimed to encourage Jewish studies. These underground initiatives involved seminars (scholarly as well as public), excursions through Jewish historical sites, and the publication of a samizdat journal. In short, these initiatives sought to recover and disseminate knowledge of Jewish history and culture.     

Counselors as Social Advocates

ABSTRACT

The authors discuss the importance of social advocacy and empowerment models in working with lesbian clients. They also explore the multiple contexts that impact lesbian clients and their families. A case illustration involving a lesbian client facing issues of internalized homophobia, heterosexism, sexism, and legal issues is presented. Suggestions for applying a feminist and social advocacy approach are offered.     

Sappho Goes Hollywood

Abstract

This essay recalls an evening at a lesbian social club in the mid-1980s just prior to the eventual boom in gay and lesbian film distribution. A popular “video night” served as the occasion for a lecture/presentation by an independent filmmaker who had carefully compiled a history of lesbian film images. This informal introduction to Hollywood lesbophobia, in contrast to our search for positive screen images which reflected our active and healthy lives, gave impetus to numerous creative projects amongst the club membership, including a successful attempt to meet with actress Lily Tomlin.     

Reviews

‘Mirror Opposites’. Steven E. Aschheim, Brothers and Strangers: The East European Jew in German and German Jewish Consciousness, 1800–1923. The University of Wisconsin Press, 1999. xxxi + 331pp. Bibliography. Illustrations. Notes. Index. ISBN: 0–299–09110–4

Hoping to Live in Harmony. Henry Abramson, A Prayer for the Government: Ukrainians and Jews in Revolutionary Times, 1917–1920. Cambridge: Harvard University Press for the Ukrainian Research Institute and Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University, 1999, xxi + 255pp. Bibl. Index. Illus. $34.95 (cloth); $18.95 (paper)

A Jewish‐Russian Hybrid. Dovid Knut, Sobranniye sochineniia (Collected Works) (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Vol. 1. 1997, 417pp.; Vol. 2, 1998, 719pp. Compiled by Vladimir Khazan. Appendices. Index

Russian Jewish Intellectuals in America. Steven Cassedy, To the Other Shore: The Russian Jewish Intellectuals Who Came to America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997. xxiii + 197 pp. Illus. Index. ISBN: 0691–02975‐X.