Neutralizing the political threat of the marginal woman: Lesbians’ beliefs about bisexual women

One might expect lesbian and bisexual women to form a strong alliance because of their common marginalization in a heterosexist and sexist society. But previous research has shown that tension exists between lesbian and bisexual women and that some segments of the lesbian community consider bisexuality a threat to lesbian politics. In this article I report data on beliefs about bisexual women gathered from 346 self‐identified lesbians via self‐administered questionnaires and discuss the relationship between lesbian and bisexual women as a special case of intergroup relations. Most lesbian respondents believed that bisexual identity is more likely than lesbian identity to be a phase or a way of denying one's true sexuality and that bisexual women are less personally and politically loyal and more willing and able to pass as heterosexual than are lesbians. Lesbians’ beliefs about bisexual women were uncorrelated with demographics, but lesbians who reported having some heterosexual feelings were less inclined to hold derogatory beliefs about bisexual women than were lesbians whose feelings were exclusively homosexual. On the basis of intergroup relations theory, I argue that lesbian‐bisexual relations are in the “amicable consensus” stage of political development (Jackman & Senter, 1983) and that lesbians’ attitudes are likely to change as the nascent bisexual political movement grows in strength. Methodological issues pertaining to the measurement of lesbians’ attitudes toward sexuality, including the reactivity of these attitudes to various measurement strategies, are discussed.     

Isolated, invisible, and in the closet: the life story of a Scottish Muslim lesbian

In the last three decades, there has been a significant growth in the literature on lesbian identity and relationships, but the study of lesbians from a Muslim background is conspicuously absent. This article was prompted partly by the relative absence of research into the lives of Muslim lesbians in Britain, and partly by the fact that much of the literature on Islam and homosexuality has tended to focus on homosexual men, ignoring the position of lesbian sexuality in Islam. It also charts the difficulties faced by a heterosexual researcher in conducting an interview with a lesbian and calls attention to the invisibility of self-identified Muslim lesbians in Glasgow. The life story interview is used to explore the very hidden and untold story of a Muslim lesbian; as such the article draws heavily on the subject's narrative.     

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.     

African American Gay Men and Lesbians: Examining the Complexity of Gay Identity Development

Abstract

This article addresses the concept of gay and lesbian identity development with respect to African American gay men and lesbians. The authors suggest that the integration of one's gay identity and the coming out process are uniquely constructed for African American gay men and lesbians, who may be multiply challenged by racial prejudice, limited acceptance by the African American community, and a lack of integration into the larger, White gay community. Race, African American culture, a continuum of gay cultures, gender, and individual characteristics are suggested as salient variables that distinguish the gay identity experience of African American gays from that proposed by most gay identity models.     

Introduction

SUMMARY

This introduction to Lesbian and Bisexual Women's Mental Health reviews the need for research specific to lesbian and bisexual women's mental health. We also emphasize the need to provide research sensitive to the multidimensional nature of lesbian and bisexual women's lives. We provide a human ecological perspective consistent with lifespan developmental psychology and compatible with Clinical Social Work and Counseling Psychology as well as other interdisciplinary disciplines. With a strong emphasis on empirical research, this volume introduces readers to research that explores and reexamines the interactions between lesbian and bisexual women's mental health and the diverse social contexts in which they (we) live.     

Voicing Gay Women's Liberation: Judy Grahn and the Shaping of Lesbian Feminism

A closer look at the rich world of California feminisms demonstrates how Judy Grahn served as a central figure in bay area feminism, working to establish and support lesbian activist organizations, feminist publications, women's cultural events, and more. Two of Grahn's early political writings consider how lesbians sat at the nexus of homophobia and sexism. These writings demonstrate the formative role played by San Francisco lesbians in reframing ideas about “women-loving women” and the intersections of gender and sexuality in creating the oppressions faced by all women.     

Lesbian Health

ABSTRACT

Health care research suggests that lesbians may face unique physical and mental health risks, yet few studies make use of gender and sexuality theories to explain lesbian health. In this study, a social constructionist view of sexuality is used to examine the impact of lesbian identity on well-being. Drawing from nineteen intensive interviews with women who self-identify as lesbians, the results show that individuals' sexual identities change over time and are affected by their social environments. The data also demonstrate that sexual identity and social context have implications for well-being. Specifically, hostile environments, which are characterized by animosity toward gay men, lesbians, and others who do not conform to heteronormative gender expectations, are associated with distress over lesbian identity and with physical and mental health problems. By contrast, supportive environments, which many women report finding through feminism, facilitate the construction of a positive lesbian identity and enhance well-being.     

Older Lesbians and Work in the Australian Health and Aged Care Sector

While research has identified challenges lesbians face in the workplace, there is limited understanding of the particular experiences of older lesbians, especially those working in the health and aged care sector. This article draws on the stories of four women who participated in a narrative research project on lesbian and gay people's experiences of health and aged care. It highlights the need for future research to examine the complexity of identity expression and community affiliation, how people negotiate “coming out” in the workplace, the impact of discrimination, and the resources (such as friends) available to lesbians in the workplace.     

The 'Pygmalion Syndrome': The Case of Mizrachi Lesbians in Israel

This article examines the mobilization of a lesbian identity in Israeli society by Mizrachi lesbians as a means to reach individual mobility through establishing social contacts with educated well-off professional Ashkenazi women. Based on interviews with ethnic lesbians living in steady relationships with educated professional women of the dominant group and with some of their partners, this study investigates how Mizrachi lesbians shoulder aside their distinctive features while mobilizing their lesbian identity as a means to establish connections, gain acceptance in the lesbian community, get better jobs, and succeed in schooling. Upon both professional and personal success, Mizrachi lesbians come to terms with their origins, redefine their identity components, and form a distinctive ethnic-lesbian identity to be supported with a strong ideology. While the obliteration of ethnic traits in favor of acceptance in the lesbian community allows mobility on a personal basis, it reinforces the invisibility of ethnic lesbians and reproduces the power relations between dominant and ethnic groups in Israel.     

The Physical Self-Perceptions of Rural Lesbians and Heterosexual Women

Lesbians are underrepresented in women's health research. Research exploring lesbians in rural environments is virtually nonexistent. The current study adds to the knowledge base of lesbian health and explores the perceptions of body image, fitness, and health for both lesbians and heterosexual women in rural communities. Findings from exploratory analyses indicated that both groups of women are significantly overweight. However, lesbians exercised more times per week than heterosexual women. Results demonstrated that lesbians with college educations had more positive body image and fitness self-perceptions, whereas heterosexual women with college educations had less positive body image and fitness self-perceptions. Findings have implications for direct practice with lesbians in physical and mental health service settings.     

The Construct of Identity and Its Use in Career Theory and Research

Erikson's construct of identity has received much attention in the contemporary literature on adolescent development (e.g., Archer, 1989a, 1989b; Blustein & Palladino, 1991). In the vocational literature Bordin (1984) and Holland (1985) have made significant efforts to incorporate a construct of vocational identity into their theories. Although most contributors to the career development literature has acknowledged Erikson as the intellectual father of the construct of identity, none have succeeded in formulating a construct of identity that is more than a caricature of Erikson's thinking. In this article, I suggest that what is needed is a serious look at the requirements for formulating a viable, dynamic, developmental conceptualization of the construct of vocational identity.     

Mentoring for Gay and Lesbian Youth

Abstract

Coming to terms with one's sexual identity always has presented a challenge to gay and lesbian adolescents. Older gays and lesbians have useful knowledge to contribute to the younger generation, whose members usually lack role models of successful gay and lesbian adults. Mentoring programs that involve gay and lesbian youth and adults are an important, but overlooked resource for sexual minority youth.     

Wanting to be Anna: Examining Lesbian Sporting Celebrity on The L Word

This article adds to the limited literature on coming out and on lesbians in sport by highlighting the presence of lesbian sporting celebrity on Showtime's series The L Word. Through a reading of The L Word's character/professional athlete, Dana Fairbanks, we explore the economic impetus and the racial and classed undertones of corporatized coming out narratives. We devote considerable effort to unpacking Fairbanks’ articulation that she wishes to be “the gay Anna Kournikova” and speculate on the consequences of this utterance for both real lesbian sporting celebrities and the lesbian fans that necessarily follow Fairbanks’ corporate-sponsored coming out.     

Effects of an Educational Unit About Lesbian Identity Development and Disclosure in a Social Work Methods Course

This article describes an investigation of the effects of a short-term educational intervention on graduate social work students’ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, their knowledge about lesbian identity development and disclosure, and their anticipated professional behavior with lesbian clients. The author describes the importance of reducing homophobia among social work students and presents a theoretical framework for the educational intervention used in this study. Although knowledge acquisition significantly increased among students in both of the study’s treatment groups relative to the comparison group, and although students from one treatment group showed significant improvement in their attitudes toward gay men relative to the comparison group, neither treatment group significantly improved in their attitudes toward lesbians or their anticipated professional behavior with lesbian clients relative to the comparison group.     

Older Lesbian Sexuality: Identity,Sexual Behavior,and the Impact of Aging

In response to the very limited and mostly outdated literature on older lesbian sexuality, this exploratory study examined older lesbian sexual identity, romantic relationships, the impact of aging, and experiences of discrimination within these contexts. Utilizing an online survey that recruited via numerous online lesbian communities and snowball sampling, 456 lesbians over the age of 50 responded to closed, Likert scale, and open-ended questions that provided a preliminary understanding of older lesbian sexuality. The results indicated that older lesbians have experienced fluidity in past romantic and sexual relationships, as well as in erotic fantasies, despite strong identification with being lesbian. The findings also indicate a decreased focus on sexuality in the context of relationships, with more focus on stability and continuity. Future research is needed that provides greater specificity and detail about older lesbian conceptions of sexual behavior and sexual identity labels, as well as specific sexual behaviors.     

Building Strength Through Challenging Homophobia: Liberation Workshops with Younger and Midlife Irish Lesbians

Drawing on the theoretical framework of liberation psychology, this article details workshops on liberation psychology conducted in Ireland with lesbian and transgendered persons aged from early 20's to late 50's. Both younger and older lesbians in the workshops benefited from the opportunity to focus on oppression and to explore options for transformation. The workshops illustrated many of the strengths and vulnerabilities associated with living with homophobia and demonstrated the value of action and engagement. Midlife lesbians were more aware of the systemic nature of homophobia and of the negative emotions related to that. They saw many of these as understandable and even necessary reactions to oppression rather than as negative patterns. These older lesbians tended to be more accepting of the course their lives had taken and of the ways in which choices had been influenced by homophobia and heterosexism. They tended to be more relativistic in their views on coming out, viewing coming out as a decision for each context rather than an overall principle. They valued the importance of community and of activism, and though they were aware of some of the challenges, they also had more positive experiences in this area. These strengths can facilitate managing both homophobia and aging more effectively.     

Older lesbian sexuality: identity, sexual behavior, and the impact of aging

In response to the very limited and mostly outdated literature on older lesbian sexuality, this exploratory study examined older lesbian sexual identity, romantic relationships, the impact of aging, and experiences of discrimination within these contexts. Utilizing an online survey that recruited via numerous online lesbian communities and snowball sampling, 456 lesbians over the age of 50 responded to closed, Likert scale, and open-ended questions that provided a preliminary understanding of older lesbian sexuality. The results indicated that older lesbians have experienced fluidity in past romantic and sexual relationships, as well as in erotic fantasies, despite strong identification with being lesbian. The findings also indicate a decreased focus on sexuality in the context of relationships, with more focus on stability and continuity. Future research is needed that provides greater specificity and detail about older lesbian conceptions of sexual behavior and sexual identity labels, as well as specific sexual behaviors.     

Three critical questions for future research on lesbian relationships

ABSTRACT

In this article I discuss three questions that should be priorities for future research on lesbian love and relationships. The first question concerns the very definition of “lesbian relationship,” given how many women may be engaged in same-sex relationships without identifying as lesbian. The second question concerns the potential influence of childhood neglect and abuse on adult women's same-sex relationships, a topic that has important implications for both psychological well-being and relationship functioning. The third question concerns the potential downsides of legal marriage for women's same-sex relationships, a topic that is particularly important in light of the newfound legal recognition of same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Although there are many understudied questions in the domain of women's same-sex relationships, research on these three questions has particularly strong potential to advance our understanding of lesbian love and relationships in important ways.     

A Land of Milk and Honey? Breastfeeding and Identity in Lesbian Families

ABSTRACT

This article explores the relationship between breastfeeding and identity in lesbian-identified families based on a pilot study of qualitative interviews and a short survey of six lesbian families in Canada and the United States. Although breastfeeding is assumed to be “natural” and a biological function, we problematize the practice as both gendered and heteronormative. In our research we found that breastfeeding has a complex role to play within the construction of one's identity as a mother, of one's gender, and of one's sexual orientation. These women's experiences offer interesting insights into the nebulous boundaries of biology and the ways in which assumptions about what is “natural” are actually social and cultural constructions.     

Lesbians in Psychotherapy

SUMMARY

Using self-report measures, this study explored the relationship of attachment style and internalized shame among 100 self-identified lesbians. The participants were in the highest stage of lesbian identity integration (Cass's model, stage 6, synthesis) and were in ongoing interpersonal psychotherapy. Compared to earlier research on a non-clinical national sample of 317 self-identified lesbians, this sample of mid-life lesbians (predominantly European-American and college educated) reported higher levels of secure attachment and lower (non-clinical) levels of internalized shame. Collectively, scores of the four attachment styles predicted 43% of the variability in internalized shame. Secure attachment significantly predicted reduced shame. This article includes a discussion of theoretical and practical implications of the findings.