Healthy Grandparenthood: How Long Is It,and How Has It Changed?

Healthy grandparenthood represents the period of overlap during which grandparents and grandchildren can build relationships, and grandparents can make intergenerational transfers to younger kin. The health of grandparents has important implications for upward and downward intergenerational transfers within kinship networks in aging societies. Although the length of grandparenthood is determined by fertility and mortality patterns, the amount of time spent as a healthy grandparent is also affected by morbidity. In this study, we estimate the length of healthy grandparenthood for the first time. Using U.S. and Canadian data, we examine changes in the length of healthy grandparenthood during years when grandparenthood was postponed, health improved, and mortality declined. We also examine variation in healthy grandparenthood by education and race/ethnicity within the United States. Our findings show that the period of healthy grandparenthood is becoming longer because of improvements in health and mortality, which more than offset delays in grandparenthood. Important variation exists within the United States by race/ethnicity and education, which has important implications for family relationships and transfers.     

“It Has No Color,It Has No Gender,It’s Gender Bending”: Gender and Sexuality Fluidity and Subversiveness in Drag Performance

ABSTRACT

Gender identity is a key question for drag performers. Previous research has shown a lack of consensus about the subversiveness and gender fluidity of drag performers. This article examines the question: How does the relationship between performers and their audience affect the subversive nature and gender representation of drag performers in this study? Furthermore, is this relationship complicated by sexuality? This study uses ethnographic and interview methods, examining experiences of 10 drag performers. Findings indicate mutuality in the relationship between performers and audience. The recursiveness of this relationship provides a constant feedback to the performers in their effort to displace the audience’s previously held notions. The performers have fluid understandings of gender and sexuality, often presenting multiple genders in and out of drag. Interactions between performers and their audience indicate their belief in gender fluidity; moreover, the drag performers themselves desire to be subversive and gender and sexually fluid.     

“You Bring Great Masculinity and Truth”: Sexuality,whiteness, and the regulation of the male body in motion

This study contributes to analyses of how heterosexuality and whiteness work together in the embodied social practice of dance and the representational realm of television. It does so by attempting to destabilize theories of sexual difference dependent upon the concept of a stable, “natural,” and unitary body by highlighting the representational work that underpins heteronormative (white) masculinity within the first season of the syndicated reality dance television series So You Think You Can Dance Canada. The paper argues that though the presence of male dancers in the (often feminized) representational realm has the potential to challenge simple heteronormative dichotomies of masculine/feminine, reality dance television in this case plays with, yet ultimately reaffirms, heteronormative masculinity and does so relationally, through the juxtaposition of racialized male and female dance contestants over the span of a series. While it is not surprising that a reality show depends heavily upon heteronormative stereotypes, these discursive mechanisms are rendered invisible, in this case, when couched in a discourse of authenticity, technical ability, and dance aesthetics, resonating beyond the context of television, into the ways we think about dance practice.     

Is Gaydar Affected by Attitudes Toward Homosexuality? Confidence,Labeling Bias,and Accuracy

Previous research has largely ignored the relationship between sexual orientation judgement accuracy, confidence, and attitudes toward homosexuality. In an online study, participants (N = 269) judged the sexual orientation of homosexual and heterosexual targets presented via a series of facial photographs. Participants also indicated their confidence in each judgment and completed the Modern Homonegativity Scale (Morrison & Morrison, 2002). We found that (1) homosexual men and heterosexual women were more accurate when judging photographs of women as opposed to photographs of men, and (2) in heterosexual men, negative attitudes toward homosexual men predicted confidence and bias when rating men’s photographs. Findings indicate that homosexual men and heterosexual women are similar in terms of accuracy in judging women’s sexuality. Further, especially in men, homophobia is associated with cognitive biases in labeling other men but does not have a relationship with increased accuracy.     

“It’s (not) handled”: race,gender, and refraction in Scandal

Much scholarship on mediated representations of race and gender claims that contemporary texts are examples of post-race and post-feminism, effectively communicating that our society is past the eras of inequality of races and sexes. Yet, many scholars have also argued that such representations are not so straightforward. Extending the work of this latter group of scholars, we call this tension refraction, a term we define as representational practices that draw attention to, or magnify, innate oppositions and inconsistencies in mediated representations surrounding identity markers. Through a case study of the first three seasons of the television series Scandal, we find multiple examples of refraction, as the protagonist Olivia Pope simultaneously embodies and critiques specific race/gender tropes. This ultimately depoliticizes issues of race and gender by simultaneously calling attention to, and drawing attention away from, those issues.     

Gaydar,Marriage, and Rip-Roaring Homosexuals: Discourses About Homosexuality in Dear Abby and Ann Landers Advice Columns, 1967–1982

ABSTRACT

Over the past 70 years, the history of acceptance of the lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) community within the United States has seen much change and fluctuation. One of the places that this dialogue has been preserved is through the syndicated advice columns of Dear Abby and Ann Landers, in which individuals in the United States were writing in for advice to deal with their anxiety over a newly emerging and highly visible new community of individuals once considered to be mentally ill and dangerous. Using discourse analysis, this article traces the evolution of public and scientific opinions about the LGBT community during the years leading up to the Stonewall riots all the way to right before the AIDs epidemic. This analysis sheds light on several moral panics that emerged regarding this newly visible population, especially in regard to disturbances within the domestic sphere and a stigmatization of bisexuality.     

Professional women “rebalancing” in retirement: Time,relationships, and body

ABSTRACT

This is an interview-based study focused on how professional baby boomer women negotiate and narrate postretirement lives. This group came of age in the 1960s and represents a socially privileged segment of the baby boomer generation, a cohort that created new gendered pathways in employment. Today, these retired professional women are attempting to make sense of their multilayered complex and changing realities. In their accounts, the most salient themes are shifting identity, embodiment, and relationships. By using what we call a relational lens, we will show how many aspects of postretirement life, for these professional women, are mediated by changing relationships—relationships to time, work identity, friends and family, and body. Through these individual and relational contexts we see how female professional baby boomer retirees grapple with liberation and loss, autonomy and control, ongoing gendered work, and rebalancing in a new chapter of life. Perhaps most importantly, we see how learning about self in this stage of life, and perhaps across the life course, takes place largely in the context of relationships.     

“It Really Is Not Just Gay,but African American Gay”: The Impact of Community and Church on the Experiences of Black Lesbians Living in North Central Florida

ABSTRACT

The experiences of Black lesbians highlight the unique circumstance found at the intersection of sexuality, race, and gender. However, most sexuality research tends to focus on White lesbians and White gay men, and most race research tends to focus on Black heterosexuals. Furthermore, research on the Black gay community tends to focus on those living in the Northeast or on the West Coast, neglecting experiences of those living in the more politically, socially, and religiously conservative South. This article draws on data obtained from semistructured interviews with 12 Black lesbians living in north central Florida, exploring their perspectives as they negotiate a social world of intersecting oppressions. Participants especially highlight how they contextualized their sexuality in racialized terms and negotiated it in racially defined communities.     

“She Is Not Acting,She Is”

This essay examines the popular television show RuPaul's Drag Race to reveal the ways drag performance provides an ambivalent, contradictory space for wrestling with contentious issues surrounding cultural identity and authenticity in reality TV. Focusing on the show's controversial season three, the authors demonstrate how drag queens subvert and play with ideas of gender “realness” but find an impasse in open discussions of race. The racial minstrelsy of some contestants we observe created antagonisms between black/brown characters and their white/Asian counterparts, exposing a rift in ideas about racial play despite the general acceptance of flexibility in gender bending. Recognizing that reality TV exploits and uncovers these tensions, we demonstrate that while drag performance enacts a subversive mode of queer performance, it provides a contested site and complex semiotic space for dealing with sensitive matters of race/ethnicity, especially when certain forms of stereotyping are rewarded over others.     

Religion and the Rainbow Struggle: Does Religion Factor Into Attitudes Toward Homosexuality and Same-Sex Civil Unions in Brazil?

The provision of civil liberties to LGBT persons has become part of a global movement in societies across the world. In Brazil, a recent judicial ruling for the first time established the right for homosexual couples to enter into civil unions, despite the presence of widespread disapproval of homosexuality among the population and opposition from prominent religious groups. Picking up on this issue, the following study examines whether religion may factor into the attitudes Brazilians hold toward homosexuality and same-sex civil unions. Using data from the Brazilian Social Research Survey, we find that the most restrictive views toward homosexuality and the strongest opposition to same-sex civil unions are most prevalent among devoted followers of historical Protestant, Pentecostal, and Catholic faith traditions, whereas adherents of Afro-Brazilian and spiritist religions, as well as those with no religious commitment, are inclined to assume a more tolerant moral posture toward such issues. The findings point to religion as a potential influence in future public policy initiatives and social movements involving LGBT issues in Brazil.     

“Exciting” and “borderline offensive”: bloggers,binaries, and celebrity feminism

Feminism is “cool” like never before in popular culture and celebrity feminism is arguably the most visible manifestation of this currently chic status. Some scholars and commentators see this as evidence of a global feminist resurgence; others critique it as empty and devoid of political traction. The hypervisibility of celebrity feminism makes it an ideal site to explore sense-making of contemporary feminism. Long-standing feminist debates about sexuality, intersectionality, and commodification cohere around the figure of the celebrity feminist, and are debated amongst media commentators, feminists, and celebrities themselves. We analyse blogs and comments sections as a particular site where meanings of celebrity feminism are constructed and contested in the everyday. Our analyses underline the operation of a good/bad binary that constituted celebrity feminism as “other” to an imagined authentic, politically engaged feminism, although consensus about what constitutes an authentic feminist was elusive. However, celebrities were not always positioned as “other,” with the recognition that celebrities share with all women the contradictions and demands of inhabiting a postfeminist media culture. Our findings emphasise the need for a nuanced approach to theorising and understanding celebrity feminism’s relationship with other feminisms and its implications for feminist practices and identifications.     

“I Caught It at the Movies”: Reflections on Medical History,Movie Theaters,and the Cinema of Contagion

ABSTRACT

Undertaking an examination of the precarious places of the movies and movie theaters in queer lives in the 20th century, this article takes up a series of anecdotal episodes and feature-length films to consider how the space-related stakes of LGBT health have been best understood in literal cinema houses and the narrative cinema projections inside of them. The author argues for an appreciation of LGBT-themed motion pictures as oscillating between perpetuator of queer pathology and its potential solution.     

“It's Complicated”: Collective Memories of Transgender,Queer, and Questioning Youth in High School

Using the qualitative participatory action methodology, collective memory work, this study explored how transgender, queer, and questioning (TQQ) youth make meaning of their sexual orientation and gender identity through high school experiences. Researchers identified three major conceptual but overlapping themes from the data generated in the transgender, queer, and questioning youth focus group: a need for resilience, you should be able to be safe, and this is what action looks like! The researchers discuss how as a research product, a documentary can effectively “capture voices” of participants, making research accessible and attractive to parents, practitioners, policy makers, and participants.     

“It’s a great benefit to have gray hair!”: The intersection of gender,aging, and visibility in midlife professional women’s narratives

Midlife professional women’s aging experiences, especially the experiences of changing physical appearance, are examined in this study. A discursive-narrative approach is used to analyze interviews of women working in senior professional and managerial jobs in Finland. The decline narrative is not enough to capture the experiences of these women; noticeable signs of aging can indeed have a positive connotation. After looking older and less attractive (in a stereotypical sense), women are no longer being subjected to a sexualized gaze and are taken more seriously. Aging opens up possibilities for “doing” gender differently and transcending rigid gender dichotomies and relationships.     

“It Would Have Been Impossible Before:” Reflections on Current Gay Life in Estonia

Estonian gays and lesbians currently enjoy more freedom than ever before. However, they still lack many basic legal protections as well an ongoing, organized political movement. The findings of this small, exploratory study along with the personal experiences of the first author, suggests how cultural factors like individualism, a strong preference for privacy, and distrust of the government not only impede political action and community organization but also obstruct empirical investigation.     

‘It Was the Right Time To Do It’: Moving House,the Life‐Course and Kairos

While much has been written on the two issues of home and of residential mobility, little has been written on the experience of moving house. This paper aims to fill this gap. While work on residential mobility has tended to conceptualise it in terms of transitions in the life‐course as triggering moves, this paper explores how these moves are experienced and narrated by those moving house. In doing so, it develops the concept of kairos, an ancient Greek notion of time meaning the ‘right time’ to act. I argue that people who move house narrate their moving experiences in such terms: they saw an opportunity to move home, an opportunity that arose at just the right time and their timely actions meant that they seized the moment. It is through such narratives of kairos that homes are created and (re‐)constituted.     

It’s Not Me,It’s You: Perceptions of Partner Body Image Preferences Associated With Eating Disorder Symptoms in Gay and Heterosexual Men

This study explored perceptions of partner body image preferences and symptoms of disordered eating in gay and heterosexual men. Participants were male college students (n = 201; M age = 20.46), and over one third identified as gay. We compared discrepancies between participants’ current and ideal body type and participants’ current body type and the body type they believed they should have to attract a dating partner. For gay men, the discrepancy between their current body and the body they believed they should have to attract a dating partner was significantly greater than the discrepancy between their current and ideal body types. In gay and heterosexual men, the discrepancy between current body and the body they believed they should have to attract a dating partner predicted eating, shape, and weight concern. Results suggest that perceptions of partner body image preferences may contribute to eating disorder pathology in men.     

“Fruits,” “Fags,” and “Dykes”: The Portrayal of Gay/Lesbian Identity in “Nance” Jokes of the ’50s and ’60s

ABSTRACT

What is humorous and how it is interpreted very much depends on the norms and values of a culture at a particular point in time, the characteristics of who is telling jokes, and the makeup of the audience. This article presents archival material and an analysis of an outsider's jokes about gays and lesbians. These were told to primarily heterosexual audiences by a heterosexual comic. They reveal the assumptions Americans held about gays and lesbians throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and a few years into the mid-1970s, when most of these jokes were compiled. Although generalizations about gay/lesbian humor in that period cannot be made from one person's private collection of nearly 1,000 jokes, they do reveal several clear patterns: Much of the humor about male homosexuality is used to debase men and their masculinity, by making them passive, feminine, or weak, except for their hypersexuality. The women are also depicted in the jokes as sexually eager, especially to give oral sex to possibly straight women or acting in the male insertor role. Rarely were the gay/lesbian jokes focused on political issues of discrimination, oppression, or romantic relationships.