Culture and Women's Sexualities

Anthropological studies of women's same-sex relations in non-Western societies provide an important source for theorizing women's sexuality because they allow us to go beyond a narrow focus on Western cultures and concepts. Looking at studies from groups other than the dominant societies of Europe and America, I explore the diversity of women's sexualities and the sociocultural factors that produce sexual beliefs and practices. This article argues that sexual practices take their meaning from particular cultures and their beliefs about the self and the world. Cultural systems of gender, in particular, construct different sexual beliefs and practices for men and women. I conclude the article by suggesting some broad patterns at work in the production of women's sexualities across cultures.     

A New Paradigm for Understanding Women's Sexuality and Sexual Orientation

Major scientific findings about women's sexuality and sexual orientation are reviewed. Sexual orientation is unrelated to mental health. There is no inherent association between gender conformity and women's sexual orientation; masculinity and femininity are linked to sexual orientation in some social contexts but not in others. Research has so far failed to identify major biological or childhood antecedents of women's sexual orientation. Women's sexuality and sexual orientation are potentially fluid, changeable over time, and variable across social contexts. Regardless of sexual orientation, there are important commonalities in women's sexuality. In particular, women tend to have a relational or partner-centered orientation to sexuality. Together, these findings provide the basis for a paradigm shift in the conceptualization of women's sexual orientation.     

Biological Research on Women's Sexual Orientations: Evaluating the Scientific Evidence

The importance of biological influences on sexual orientation is hotly debated. This article summarizes public opinions about the causes of sexual orientations and documents shifts over time toward greater endorsement of biological rather than environmental explanations. Next, empirical evidence concerning neuroendocrine and genetic explanations of women's sexual orientation is reviewed. Currently, there is no convincing evidence that biological factors are a determining influence on women's sexual orientations. In some research areas, the data on women are incomplete. In areas where adequate research is available, studies on women do not conclusively support biological hypotheses. Implications of these findings are considered.     

Sexual Orientation and Sex in Women's Lives: Conceptual and Methodological Issues

Use of such categorical terms as heterosexual, bisexual, and lesbian is widespread, yet research indicates that sexuality is a multidimensional phenomenon. Sexual behavior, identity, and desire are not highly intercorrelated for women, and this has implications for new ways of conceptualizing sexual orientation. Furthermore, the multifaceted nature of sexual orientation has implications for conceptualizing sexual activity and sexual desire for women. Some methodological issues are presented for future research on female sexual orientation, including a better understanding of gender and a more multifaceted approach to sexual orientation.     

Afterword

In this final commentary, former Journal of Social Issues Editor Jacqueline Goodchilds discusses the role that JSI has played in giving visibility to psychological research on gender, sexuality, and sexual orientation. She encourages readers not to ignore the sexuality of older women.     

Women's abuse of their children in the context on domestic violence: reflection from women's accounts

This paper draws upon the findings of a study that looked at women's experiences of mothering in the context of co-occurrence of domestic violence and child abuse, and considers the issue of women's violence towards children – while acknowledging the fact that men are the main perpetrators of violence towards women and children in these families. The paper first explores the relationship between women's victimization and women's violence, and suggests that women's abuse of their children can be seen as a consequence of their own experiences of domestic violence. The findings nonetheless suggest that abused women have agency, and therefore have responsibilities when they chose to use violence towards their children. The paper also considers the feelings of guilt and blame that tend to arise in these circumstances. Implications for research, policy and practice are identified.     

Discourses of blame: deconstructing (hetero)sexuality, peer sexual violence and residential children's homes

Little research exists on sexuality and residential care, even less that position gender inequality as a central analytical component. This paper, based on a wider research project that focused on children’s and young people’s experiences of peer violence within residential care, seeks to help redress this disparity. The main aim of this paper is to explore how (hetero)sexuality, discourses of blame and male peer sexual violence are constructed and interrelated in residential child care. Young people’s and staff’s conceptualizations, evaluations and experiences are compared and contrasted to illuminate the range of discourses surrounding sexuality and sexual violence operating within residential settings. Findings relating to female culpability for male violence, normative male violence, female duplicity and challenges to traditional gender roles will be presented, and contextualized, in relation to previous studies. In addition, some broader implications of the research findings for residential practice are explored.     

“Female Virginity Complex” Untied: Young Chinese Women's Experience of Virginity Loss and Sexual Coercion

This article selects the critical moment of virginity loss in young Beijing women's lives to look at the meaning of sexual coercion in dating relationships. The authors observed that many young Chinese women presented their first experience of sex as containing some elements of sexual coercion that were being described as “minor,” do not involve obvious physical force, but are unpleasant and regretful experiences of virginity loss. This article contributes to a new understanding of virginity loss and sexual coercion in China and sheds light on the social transformation of sexuality from the Maoist era to the postsocialist era. Implications for social work practice and research in China are also discussed.     

Understanding Adolescent Female Prostitution: A Literature Review

Correspondence to Dr Jill Jesson. Aston Business School, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B47 7ET. Summary Sexual behaviour and sexuality are currently topical issuesof concern for child care social workers. Social workers arespending more and of more of their time with children who comeinto care because of sexual abuse, or who have an involvementin the ‘rent’ scene or Prostitution. In additionmany teenage young women come into care because of social orparental concern over their lsquo;promiscuous’ behaviour.The review of research on adolescent prostitution offers severalexplanations for involvement in prostitution. which vary accordingto the discipline of the author. Explanations vary from pathologicaland personal psychology factors to the wider social aspectsof the family and local environment. This literature reviewwas used as a basis for research which examined the incidenceof female prostitution for a social services department. Thisis a relatively new field of interest and consequently thereis very little British research published on the issue of adolescentprostitution, or on under age (16) prostitution. There is nopublished research on girls in care and prostitution. We needto know much more about the reality of young people's livesbefore social workers can offer a meaningful response.     

Gender, Hierarchy, and Leadership: An Introduction

Although women's status has improved remarkably in the 20th century in many societies, women continue to lack access to power and leadership compared with men. This issue reviews research and theory concerning women's leadership. The articles included in the issue provide evidence of bias in the evaluation of women, discuss effects of gender stereotypes on women's influence and leadership behaviors, and evaluate strategies for change. This introductory article provides a brief summary of changes in women's status and power in employment and education and the absence of change at the upper echelons of power in organizations. Also included is an outline of the contributions of the other articles in the issue.     

Adolescents Who Sexually Abuse and Residential Accommodation: Issues of Risk and Vulnerability

Summary This article, arising out of quantitative and qualitative researchstudies conducted by the authors, begins with a brief overviewof current knowledge about male adolescent sexual abusers andassociated policies, procedures and services. A particular concernraised by professionals and welfare agencies, who are strugglingto develop appropriate responses to young sexual abusers, concernsthe circumstances and problems of young people who are placedin residential accommodation as a result of their sexually abusivebehaviour, often where there are also child victims of sexualabuse. The vulnerability of young sexual abusers and the riskthey pose to others is considered in the light of the findingsof qualitative research by one of the authors into the constructionand control of children and their sexualities in residentialchildren's homes. This research suggests that the inadequateways in which sexual behaviour in children's homes is perceivedand managed, serves to compound the problems of both the sexuallyabusive and non-abusive adolescents placed there. The findingsfrom both authors' research are then theorized within broaderconceptual frameworks about the nature of childhood, childhoodsexuality and institutionalization and its links with peer sexualabuse.     

Unique Challenges of Transgender Aging: Implications From the Literature

Transgender elders are both underserved and understudied. Neither the etiology nor prevalence of transgender is well understood. Because sex, gender, and sexuality are at the very core of individual identity, it is difficult to dislodge one's ideas and feelings about them. Unlike biological sex and sexual orientation, gender has several aspects: gender identity, gender expression, and gender classification. A discussion of the terminology of transgender is presented, and the issues facing aging transgender individuals are identified. Although the challenges of adequate healthcare, social support, and legal obstacles are faced by many elderly individuals, the way they are presented and managed are unique to this often invisible group.     

Bisexuality: A Contemporary Paradox for Women

The cultural construction of 'lesbian' and 'heterosexual' women in late-nineteenth-century European cultures created both the possibility of conceiving the "bisexual" woman and the belief that bisexuality cannot exist. Social scientists have suggested several alternatives to dichotomous constructions of sexuality to facilitate the conceptualization of, and therefore empirical research on, bisexuality. This article reviews these alternatives and summarizes the current state of researchon bisexuality, including research on 'situational homosexuality' (behavioral bisexuality), recent national probability studies on sexual behaviors and identities in the United States, the meanings of bisexual self-identities among women, masculinist biases in methods of assessing and theorizing sexual self-identities, and prejudice against bisexuals. The article concludes with suggestions for future social scientific research on bisexuality.     

Mental Health and Domestic Violence: 'I Call it Symptoms of Abuse'

Correspondence to Dr Cathy Humphreys, School of Health and Social Studies, University of Warwick CV4 7AL, UK. E-mail: c.f.Humphreys{at}warwick.ac.uk Summary Research evidence now clearly shows a direct link between women'sexperiences of domestic violence and heightened rates of depression,trauma symptoms, and selfharm. A research project based in Women'sAid outreach services provides further evidence of women's experiencesof severe emotional distress. However, their experiences ofmental health services were often found to be negative. A numberof practices within the medical model of mental health wereunhelpful including: the lack of recognition of trauma or provisionof trauma services; making the abuser invisible through focusingon the woman's mental health reified from her experiences ofabuse; blaming the victim; offering medication rather than counsellingsupport; the negative, consequent effects on child contact andchild protection proceedings if the woman is labelled with mentalhealth problems. Alternatively, women found services, oftenin the voluntary sector, helpful when they provided the followinginterventions: helping women name domestic violence; activelyasking about the abuse; attending to safety planning; respondingto women's specialist needs; and actively working with womento recover from abuse experiences. Support for her childrenwas also seen as very helpful. Implications for practice includethe commissioning of further services in the voluntary sector,addressing the inadequate response within the medical model,and increasing the sensitivity of responses to women's emotionaldistress across all sectors.     

BREAKING THE LAST TABOO: CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE BY FEMALE PERPETRATORS

In the past two decades the truth about the sexual violation of children has been spoken over and over. Finally, the magnitude of this problem is being recognised. Volumes have been written about the prevention of and intervention in child sexual abuse, and services (although inadequate) have been established. Sexual abuse by women until recently, has been treated as a taboo subject. The knowledge that the overwhelming proportion of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by males left the issue of female perpetrators unexamined. Having only recently made progress in a hard-fought battle to place gender and male power at the centre of an analysis of sexual abuse, practitioners and theoreticians are understandably reluctant to focus any attention on female abusers. However, it is now becoming clear that a significant minority of victims are abused by women and it is essential that no child should be silenced by ideology which denies the reality of abuse by females. This article examines the controversies surrounding the issue of female sexual abuse and the struggles which we have in confronting this abuse. An explanation of sexual abuse by women within feminist understanding is proposed. Current evidence on the prevalence of female sexual abuse and characteristics of perpetrators is outlined. Practice implications for practitioners working with child victims or adult survivors are explored.     

Victim Experiences in Hate Crimes Based on Sexual Orientation

Using interview data from a convenience sample of 450 lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults, the varieties of victim experiences in hate crimes based on sexual orientation are described. Most crimes were perpetrated in public settings by one or more strangers, but victimization also occurred in other locales, and perpetrators included neighbors, coworkers, and relatives. In deciding whether a crime was based on their sexual orientation, victims tended to rely primarily on contextual cues and perpetrators' explicit statements. Victims' concerns about police bias and public disclosure of their sexual orientation were important factors in deciding whether to report antigay crimes, as were beliefs about the crime's severity and the likelihood that perpetrators would be punished.     

Everyday Sexism: Evidence for Its Incidence, Nature, and Psychological Impact From Three Daily Diary Studies

Three daily diary studies were conducted to examine the incidence, nature, and impact of everyday sexism as reported by college women and men. Women experienced about one to two impactful sexist incidents per week, consisting of traditional gender role stereotypes and prejudice, demeaning and degrading comments and behaviors, and sexual objectification. These incidents affected women's psychological well-being by decreasing their comfort, increasing their feelings of anger and depression, and decreasing their state self-esteem. Although the experiences had similar effects on men's anger, depression, and state self-esteem, men reported relatively fewer sexist incidents, suggesting less overall impact on men. The results provide evidence for the phenomena of everyday prejudice and enlighten our understanding of the experience of prejudice in interpersonal encounters from the perspective of the target.     

Sex after divorce: older adult women’s reflections

People who divorce experience a number of negative impacts, and yet divorce also offers opportunities for growth and transformation. This qualitative study of older adult women offers the possibility that divorce may be sexually empowering, especially for women, based on in-depth interviewing of women who had gone through one or more divorces. Detailed examples of the experiences of fourteen women with divorce and sexual expression are offered, focusing on in which situations divorce might be empowering and how it could contribute to sexual exploration and satisfaction. Overall, for the fourteen women in the study who had experienced divorce, the quality of sex in the marriage impacted the quality of sexual expression after the divorce. Also, these findings supported the idea of transformational learning through divorce, and expand divorce-stress-adjustment and transformational learning perspectives to apply more specifically to sexual expression. Understanding possible impacts of divorce over the lifespan, including strengths-based aspects, is important for social workers as the population they serve ages.     

Physical and Sexual Abuse,Battering, and Substance Abuse

Abstract

Women born before 1945 are the older women of today. Many of these women were subjected to childhood physical and sexual abuse and spouse battering at a time where there were no laws to protect them and few people discussed such subjects. Some of these women became substance abusers or lived with substance abusers. While there are retrospective studies on the experiences of adult women who suffered abuse in the family, little is known about the experiences of women over the age of 60 years.

Similarly, there is information on substance abuse among young and middle-aged women, but very little information on or about older womens' experiences with substance abuse. In this study, we review the literature on abuse and substance abuse. We present three clinical cases of older women who have experienced various forms of abuse and who in turn abuse substances. The cases are analyzed. Assessment, treatment, and evaluation methods for social workers are discussed.