Gay marriages and communities of sexual orientation

This article focuses on gay male couples as they exist within friendship networks of other gay men. By comparing homosexual men who are part of a gay community with those who are less integrated into a gay community, we attempt to show that the sexual liaisons of the former are more “marriage-like.” Gays committed to a community of other homosexual men were found to live more often with their lovers, be more sexually faithful to their lovers, and to have more emotionally intimate relationships. Also, they were found more likely to associate with other gay couples. Commitment to a gay community was not found to be associated with length of a liaison, and it seemed that when respondents defined emotional intimacy in terms of sexual exclusiveness there may have been a tendency for disruption of relationships. The gay community validates the sexual liaisons of gay men in the same way that the heterosexual world validates the pairings of heterosexuals and transforms their subinstitutional sexual liaisons into the institution of marriage.     

Work

This paper examines the workplace as a social environment which may promote or impede various patterns of intimacy. Industrialized society has limited social contexts for developing intimate relations and pair-bonding. Alterations in work and family patterns influenced by feminism, civil rights legislation, and changing economic conditions have integrated more people into the labor force, thus providing the occupational realm as a major link into social circles where intimate relationships may develop. Workers' structural location and differential distribution across occupational positions are analyzed in relation to opportunities for intimacy. The article concludes that the workplace can provide a stable environment for the development of intimacy and pair-bonding.     

Dimensions of Intimacy: The Interrelationships between Gender and Listening

In the introduction to their text on intimate relationships, Perlman and Duck (1987, p. 9) note that psychologists, sociologists, family scientists and communication experts “are all making important contributions” to the study of personal relationships, thereby reflecting the recent multidisciplinary aspect of this field. However, in many important works on intimacy and intimate relationships, the gender differences that often create barriers to intimacy, and how these differences are reflected in the communication process, have, until recently, been notably absent.¹ While alluded to repeatedly, nowhere, in fact, is the connection directly made between intimacy and the listening behavior of women and men. This paper therefore attempts to fill this absence by integrating into the literature on intimacy the salient aspects of listening that affect the quality of intimate relationships between women and men. Hopefully, such understanding will contribute to our knowledge of the concept of intimacy in our culture and will facilitate razing the barriers to intimate relationships that are a product of cultural expectations.     

An equal distance? Individualisation,gender and intimacy in distance relationships

Intimacy is usually thought to require physical proximity as a prerequisite, so how are intimate relationships maintained when partners do not live their daily lives in the same place? Couples who are frequently apart are not an entirely new phenomenon, but the dual‐career, dual‐household couples examined in this pilot study of contemporary distance relationships illustrate new ways of relating. This paper will explore these new ways of relating in terms of debates about the impact of individualisation processes on intimacy. It is argued that the extension of such processes to women has been limited. Ways of being intimate at a distance may offer alternative formulations of gender and power, but the rationalised timetabling necessary to maintain such relationships imposes new gendered constraints with bodily and emotional consequences.     

THE EFFECTS OF PARENTAL LOSS ON THE FORMATION OF INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS*

Effects of parental loss on subsequent intimate relationships were studied with a sample of young married couples and with a sample of college students. Compared to those with no parental loss, young adults with parental loss tended to exhibit one of two patterns: avoidance of intimacy, or accelerated courtship. Persons with parental death exhibited both of the described patterns, but tended as a group to be more hesitant about intimate relationships. Persons with parental divorce generally indicated accelerated courtship patterns. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

Intimacy and Emotion Work in Lesbian,Gay, and Heterosexual Relationships

Knowledge about how gender shapes intimacy is dominated by a heteronormative focus on relationships involving a man and a woman. In this study, the authors shifted the focus to consider gendered meanings and experiences of intimacy in same‐sex and different‐sex relationships. They merged the gender‐as‐relational perspective—that gender is co‐constructed and enacted within relationships—with theoretical perspectives on emotion work and intimacy to frame an analysis of in‐depth interviews with 15 lesbian, 15 gay, and 20 heterosexual couples. They found that emotion work directed toward minimizing and maintaining boundaries between partners is key to understanding intimacy in long‐term relationships. Moreover, these dynamics, including the type and division of emotion work, vary for men and women depending on whether they are in a same‐sex or different‐sex relationship. These findings push thinking about diversity in long‐term relationships beyond a focus on gender difference and toward gendered relational contexts.     

Becoming Close: Intimate Relations Among College Students

Abstract

Creating intimate relationships is an emotional necessity and a significant developmental task for late adolescents. Acknowledging these needs and acquiring those skills is uniquely risky and stressful for students who often are trying to achieve greater independence, particularly with their parents, while simultaneously wanting intimacy and its concomitant dependency and vulnerability. Identified is the intimacy stress associated with various stages of college relationship: A) becoming interested, b) ending the hometown relationship, c) staying free, d) being sexual, and e) breaking up. Counseling strategies are suggested for counselors who, however skilled at working with the communication, sexual, and identity problems of relationships, may need to comprehend the developmental context in which intimacy is framed for students.     

THE ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND WHITE ADOLESCENTS

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we analyze African-American and white respondents' reports of the nature of their romantic experiences. We explore levels of companionate intimacy, including frequency of interaction and intimate self-disclosure, degree of romantic and sexual intimacy, as well as problem areas including relationship violence and nonexclusivity. African-American respondents report relationships of longer average duration relative to white youths, but overall responses reflect a somewhat less intense or intimate relationship style. These observed differences were not completely attenuated once relevant controls are introduced. We connect these findings to prior research on African-American adolescent family and peer relations, and call for additional research that supplements the behavioral emphasis of Add Health.     

Social Control of Healthy Behavior Between Intimate College Students

Abstract

Objective: The author examined whether the type of intimacy (ie, emotional, intellectual, sexual, social, recreational) featured in college students’ romantic relationships affects the extent to which a partner's health-related behavior may be influenced by a variety of behavior change appeals. Participants: One hundred and thirteen female and 94 male college students were surveyed. Methods: A questionnaire sought demographic information and included 2 scales to determine intimacy type levels and estimated responses to behavior change appeals. Results: It was determined that emotional and intellectual intimacy had the greatest effects on compliance estimates. The liking strategy was rated as generally most effective, whereas caring fared better in highly intimate relationships, and both threat and responsibility appeals functioned better in relationships featuring lower levels of intimacy. Conclusions: When appropriately qualified as initial findings, the outcomes may suggest routes to successfully inspiring particular health behavior changes, especially among partners in emotionally and intellectually intimate relationships.     

Golden wedding couples

The implications of retirement for marital and family relationships were explored in golden wedding couples, against a background of those few studies that have so far examined relationships in long-married couples. Older couples can be described in two domains: behavioral and affective. Five activity types are derived from the amount or diversity of shared activities between spouses during a typical day. These types interact with the degree of intimacy measured on two instruments. It was concluded that retirement does not affect intimacy directly, but that it does indirectly through extra time and proximity which provide opportunity for enhancing prevailing intimacy between partners or for magnifying irritations.     

Negotiating the boundaries of intimacy: the personal lives of asexual people

This paper uses findings from research diaries to explore the use of practices of intimacy among asexual people. While much of the literature to date has focused on the supposedly transformative and political nature of uniquely asexual practices of intimacy, our findings suggest something different. Rather than seeking to transform the nature of intimate relationships, asexual people make pragmatic adjustments and engage in negotiations to achieve the forms of physical and emotional intimacy they seek. We discuss this in relation to three areas: friendships, sex as a practice of intimacy, and exclusion from intimacy. Our findings suggest the importance of not only considering the social context in which asexual people practise intimacy, but also how the practices in which they engage may be shared with non‐asexual people.     

Finding Love: Passion,Intimacy, and Commitment in the Relationships of Gay Men

This paper identifies the stages of gay male relationships through a qualitative analysis of the interviews of 12 gay men within the context of the Sternberg ( 1986 ) three component model of love. Four stages were identified: Confrontation with sexuality: Preparing for intimacy, Exploration of Sexuality: Engaging with passion, Experimentation with Relationships: Uniting intimacy and passion, and Formation of Committed Relationships: Integrating passion, intimacy, and commitment. Confrontation with Sexuality was a necessary first step before forming intimate relationships, as it provided a context for the second stage of Exploration of Sexuality, where passion could be explored. Once sexuality had been explored, Experimentation with Relationships was the next stage which involved uniting passion with intimacy, often including a period of experimenting with the types of relationships that are usually explored much earlier for heterosexuals. Finally, the fourth stage of Formation of Committed Relationships was identified which involved the integration of passion, intimacy, and commitment. The therapeutic implications of these results are elaborated by an analysis of these stages in clinical cases.     

STIGMATIZED INDIVIDUALS AND THE PROCESS OF IDENTITY

We conducted intensive interviews with ten gays and ten lesbians drawing on research and theorizing on gay and lesbian identity, symbolic interactionism, and stigma. Key concepts from symbolic interactionism, reflected appraisals and situational identity negotiation, provide a more coherent theoretical way to examine identity development and the situated complexity of identity negotiation and disclosure among gays and lesbians. Romantic relationships are significant because they aid in identity development but also complicate social interactions by confronting many heterosexuals' "phantom acceptance" of gays and lesbians. These findings inform the literature on gay and lesbian identity by critiquing the stage models of identity and connecting this literature back to the symbolic interactionist literature on self and identity.     

Views of Intimate Partner Violence in Same‐ and Opposite‐Sex Relationships

Attitudes toward same‐sex intimate relationships and intimate partner violence (IPV) are changing. Little research, however, has examined norms about IPV in same‐sex relationships. Using a fractional factorial (experimental vignette) design, we conducted random‐digit‐dialed interviews in four languages with 3,679 community‐residing adults. Multivariate analyses of responses to 14,734 vignettes suggest that IPV against gay male, lesbian, and heterosexual women is more likely than that against heterosexual men to be considered illegal and that it should be illegal, police called, and a stay‐away order issued. Regardless of gender and sexual orientation, the type of abuse and whether a weapon was displayed are the strongest predictors of respondents’ judgments about whether a behavior is illegal and merits a range of societal interventions.     

Neogamy and older persons

This paper represents an initial attempt to bring together the literature on neogamy among older persons and to provide a conceptual framework for its understanding. To do so, converging demographic and social factors regarding older persons as they relate to the need for and the expression of intimate relationships are explored. Next the existence and implications of new forms of intimacy among older persons are examined. Finally, some attention is given to the impact of these issues with regard to research, counseling, and public policy.     

Does (mixed‐)race matter? The role of race in interracial sex,dating, and marriage

Though sociologists have long focused on the role of race as a dynamic in romantic and sexual relationships, there is currently limited research on the experiences of mixed‐race people and the ways their racial identities may be influencing how people navigate race and/or ethnicity as part of these intimate relationships. Due to the increase in the number of Americans—in both opposite‐sex and same‐sex relationships—reporting partners of a different race or ethnic background between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, race, and intimacy remain at the forefront of mainstream social concerns. However, research exploring how multiracial people—a rapidly growing population—fit in these trends is underrepresented. In this review, I discuss the existing research on race, dating, and marriage, particularly the meanings attached to interracial relationships in an online era. I also assess how recent research has begun to discuss the impact of mixed‐race identity on intimate relationships both online and offline.     

有亲密关系的跨性别交流与语言礼貌策略

美国学者Nessa Wolfson认为，与社会距离处于中间位置的人群相比较，处于两个极端的具有亲密关系的人们之间同陌生人之间一样，在交流中极少使用语言礼貌。本文主要研究在具有亲密关系的跨性别交流中使用语言礼貌策略的必要性，同时将布朗和列文森提出的积极和消极礼貌策略作为提高具有亲密关系的男女性之间交流质量的策略进行了介绍。文章认为，用于增加亲密、减少摩擦以提高交流质量的礼貌策略不但可以，而且有必要应用在具有亲密关系的跨性别交流中。     

Into the Dark Heart of Ethnography: The Lived Ethics and Inequality of Intimate Field Relationships

In response to critiques from feminist, existential, and postmodern qualitative researchers, the idea of maintaining objective and distant relationships with research subjects gave way to the belief that researchers could and, in some cases, should become intimately connected to research participants. These traditions opened the door for contemporary field workers to unapologetically forge close relationships to setting members. Several ethical evaluations have emerged from this intimate literature warning researchers of the harm that can come when we “go to far” in the quest for intimate familiarity. In this paper, I reflect on some of the debates regarding intimacy and exploitation by examining my experiences of dating, marrying, and eventually divorcing my key informant. I trace the way that, despite my attempts to follow the existing ethical guides, I reinforced several larger inequalities in my intimate stance. Using my failure to avoid or mitigate harm, I argue that our discussions of intimate methods and immersion in the field have failed to accurately note how we reinforce or resist structure in our research endeavors. Viewing ourselves as “doing structure” in the field would lead us to stop debating whether intimacy is better than objectivity, celibacy is better than sex, disclosure is better than silence, or conventional behavior is better than deviance in the field. Instead, we should locate how our behaviors, research roles, or discursive choices enact structures and the effect this enactment has on the people who we research.

The social regulation of grief

This article explores the social regulation of grief as a function of normative criteria that assign differential social merit to different kinds of major relationship losses. Grief scholarship has been built largely on conventional assumptions about intimate attachment and its loss that overlook the possibility that the loss of an intimate other may not confer a socially legitimate right to grieve. This suggests the importance of understanding both the grief role and the subjective experience of grief itself as socially constructed. The social regulation of grief is examined in terms of the loss of de-moralized intimate relationships — those that are socially undervalued as well as those that are socially devalued, or stigmatized.