Therapeutic implications of viewing sexual identity in terms of essentialist and constructionist theories

One of the most challenging developments in recent historical studies and in empirical research in sociology has been constructionist theories relating to "sexual personalities." The "constructionist" view is that sexual identity is labile and can be therapeutically modified. In clinical work, this has presented an alternative view of the development of social sex-role and sexual orientation. Previously, views of sexual identity as a fixed personal characteristic (the "essentialist" view) provided clinicians with ways of treating psychologically distressed people either by transsexual conversion or aversion therapy. This article reviews some implications of "constructionist" and "essentialist" theory. It describes the author's clinical attempts to present constructionist views to clients who are in conflict about their sexual orientation and social sex-role. The article concludes that constructionist therapy has not taken into account clinical evidence that clients may adhere to "essentialist" beliefs.     

Navigating Identities: Subtle and Public Agency of Bicultural Gay Youth

Young people who discover their sexual attraction to people of the same sex often go through a period of ambivalence or distress, especially when they grow up in an environment that condemns homosexuality. The Dutch sociopolitical context makes the expression of same-sex desires among those with non-Dutch roots even more complicated and risky, as prevailing schemes of interpretation render the two identities incompatible. This study explores the expressions of same-sex desires and identities as well as the different forms of agency of bicultural gay youth. In-depth interviews with 14 young adults reveal how young people negotiate bicultural identities in Dutch society that brings to the fore complexities in managing diverse sexual identities and strong religious and cultural affiliations in tandem. Their strategies have the effect of questioning dominant discourses and transcend the oppositional dichotomy between sexual and ethnic forms of sociocultural otherness.     

Same-Sex Adoption as a Welfare Alternative? Conservatism,Neoliberal Values,and Support for Adoption by Same-Sex Couples

Despite conservatives’ long-term opposition to gay and lesbian parenting, scholars theorize that a strong commitment to neoliberalism may influence conservative Americans to become more tolerant of same-sex adoption as a way to relieve the government from subsidizing poor families. Drawing on national survey data (2010 Baylor Religion Survey), we test whether holding neoliberal values is associated with greater support for same-sex adoption in general and across political or religious conservatives. We find no support for either theory—emphatically the opposite, in fact. Neoliberal values are negatively associated with support for same-sex adoption for Americans in general and among political and religious conservatives. We find little evidence of a tension among conservatives regarding same-sex adoption as both their neoliberal values and moral beliefs incline them to oppose same-sex adoption along with other same-sex family relationships.     

Investing in children’s education: are Muslim immigrants different?

Using a unique data set on immigrants living in France in 2003, we investigate whether Muslims invest differently in their children’s education compared to non-Muslims. In particular, we want to assess whether educational inequalities between the children of Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants stem from differences between or within families. After controlling for a broad set of individual and household characteristics, we find no difference in education between children of different religions. However, we do find more within-family inequality in children’s educational achievements among Muslims relative to non-Muslims. The within-family variance is 15 % higher among Muslims relative to Catholics and 45 % higher relative to immigrants with other religions, but the intra-family inequality remains difficult to explain. Overall, our results suggest that Muslim parents tend to redistribute their resources more unequally among their children.     

The influence of same-sex marriage on the understanding of same-sex relationships

This study examines the ways in which legally recognized same-sex marriage affects the understanding of same-sex romantic relationships for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) individuals. Participants (N = 288) responded to an open-ended Web-based survey asking them to describe how legally recognized same-sex marriage influenced their view of their own romantic relationship or romantic relationships in general. Results indicate that legally recognized same-sex marriage impacted participants' understanding of romantic relationships by making existing relationships seem more real and by serving as a tool through which participants realized their desires for ideal potential partner and relationship characteristics. The results suggest that legally recognized same-sex marriage is seen as both beneficial and challenging for samesex couples.     

Youth, identity, and homosexuality: the changing shape of sexual life in contemporary Brazil

This essay examines the relationship between homosexuality and adolescence in contemporary Brazil, focusing on a distinction between two rather different systems of sexual meanings that have structured the experience of same-sex relations: a traditional model of the sexual universe that continues to dominate sexual life in rural areas, and a more modern set of notions that has become increasingly important in the cities. It examines the ways in which these rather different systems have affected the experience of same-sex desires and practices during youth or adolescence, and suggests some of the ways in which the emergence of a gay subculture in urban Brazil has transformed the range of sexual possibilities and choices currently available to young men and women.     

Terrorism and the integration of Muslim immigrants

We study the effect that a series of Islamist terrorist attacks across Europe in 2004–2005 had on the integration of Muslim immigrants. Using unique panel data that oversamples immigrants in the Netherlands, we show that, shortly after the attacks, Muslim immigrants’ attitudes toward integration worsened significantly compared to those of non-Muslim immigrants, with no evidence of a negative trend in the attitudes of Muslims prior to the attacks. While, in particular, low-educated Muslims became more geographically segregated and unemployed after the attacks, high-educated Muslims were affected most negatively in terms of their perceived integration. This decline in perceived integration is associated with a higher intention to permanently re-migrate to the country of origin.     

Muslims in France: identifying a discriminatory equilibrium

We analyze the assimilation patterns of Muslim immigrants in Western countries with a unique identification strategy. Survey and experimental data collected in France in 2009 suggest that Muslims and rooted French are locked in a suboptimal equilibrium whereby (i) rooted French exhibit taste-based discrimination against those they are able to identify as Muslims and (ii) Muslims perceive French institutions as systematically discriminatory against them. This equilibrium is sustained because Muslims, perceiving discrimination as institutionalized, are reluctant to assimilate and rooted French, who are able to identify Muslims as such due to their lower assimilation, reveal their distaste for Muslims.     

Chicks with dicks, men in dresses: what it means to be a drag queen

One of the burning questions about drag queens among both scholars and audiences is whether they are more gender-revolutionaries than gender-conservatives. Do they primarily destabilize gender and sexual categories by making visible the social basis of femininity and masculinity, heterosexuality and homosexuality? Or are they more apt to reinforce the dominant binary and hierarchical gender and sexual systems by appropriating gender displays and expressing sexual desires associated with traditional femininity and institutionalized heterosexuality? We address this question through a case study of drag queens at the 801 Cabaret in Key West, Florida. On the basis of life histories, observations of their performances, and focus groups with audience members, we examine the role of gender and sexuality in the process of becoming a drag queen and in the personal identities of drag queens. We find that transgenderism, same-sex sexuality, and theatrical performance are central to the personal identities of these drag queens, who use drag to forge personal and collective identities that are neither masculine nor feminine, but rather their own complex genders.     

Christian–Muslim differences in child survival in Egypt

Ethnic and religious inequalities in child survival have been documented in many countries. In Egypt, during the 1980s and 1990s, Christians had higher childhood mortality than Muslims despite their higher socio-economic status (SES) and concentration in urban areas. This paper explores reasons for this Christian–Muslim mortality gap. Data for this study are drawn from Egypt’s 1988, 1992, 1995, 2005 and 2008 Demographic and Health Surveys, which recorded the respondents’ religious affiliation. The main analysis compares children of Christian and Muslim mothers in survival to age five using proportional hazards Cox regression models. Results indicate that differences in the regional distributions of Christians and Muslims positively contributed to the mortality gap during the 1980s–1990s. The majority of Christians resided in Upper Egypt where childhood mortality rates were considerably higher than in other regions. However, only part of higher Christian mortality can be explained by their regional concentration. In Upper Egypt, despite their higher SES, as well as greater urban residence, Christians had higher mortality than Muslims. These findings are at odds with research demonstrating the significance of SES and urban concentration in explaining ethnic–religious mortality gaps.     

Do perceptions of their partners’ childbearing desires affect young women’s pregnancy risk? Further study of ambivalence

We explore whether young women’s perceptions of their sexual partners’ childbearing desires contribute to their risk of pregnancy. We used weekly journal data collected from 787 young women to measure their childbearing desires and their perceptions of their partners’ childbearing desires. We then conducted hazard modelling to predict pregnancy risk with variables based on interactions between the women’s desires and their perceived partners’ desires. Models that include perceived partners’ desires perform better than one based on women’s desires alone. The best model contains three significant predictors: one confirms the importance of pronatal, ambivalent, and indifferent desires for pregnancy risk; one indicates that the perceived partners’ antinatal desires reduce women’s pregnancy risk; and one suggests that women who both perceive their partners accurately and are in agreement with them have a lower pregnancy risk. The results indicate that perceived partner data can improve prediction and enhance our understanding of pregnancy risk.     

Predicting Ambivalence: When Same-Sex Sex is Only “Sometimes Wrong”

ABSTRACT

Despite Americans’ growing acceptance of LGBTQ people and their sexual behaviors over the past 40 years, approximately 10% of the population consistently expresses conflicted feelings, reporting that same-sex sex is only sometimes wrong. This research employs a theory of socially structured ambivalence to examine how individuals with ambivalence toward the morality of same-sex sex differ from those with strong moral stances. Using multinomial regression analysis of General Social Survey data, we find that socio-structural conflicts—e.g. simultaneous membership in institutions with conflicting normative messages—are predictive of ambivalent attitudes, and the presence of these structured conflicts appears to have a cumulative effect. These findings provide evidence of the predictive power of socially structured conflicts in producing ambivalent attitudes and expand the existing literature on ambivalence and attitudes about same-sex relations. We propose that scholars conceptualize ambivalence as a distinctly socio-structural and relational construct that may help to signal fertile ground for social change.     

The evolution of homoerotic behavior in humans

This paper presents a theoretical model for the evolution of same-sex sexual behavior, or homoerotic behavior, in humans. Contrary to the traditional study of the topic, the emphasis is on homoerotic behavior itself, irrespective of sexual orientation. It is an inferential model drawn from cross-species evidence, cross-cultural evidence, and current evolutionary theory. It is posited that humans evolved a disposition for homoerotic behavior because it increased same-sex affiliation among peripheralized hominids and indirectly influenced rates of survival and reproductive success. The implications for the conceptualization of same-sex sexual behavior and future research are indicated.     

Was Abraham Lincoln Gay?

Scholars and historians are blind to Lincoln's same-sex inclinations in part because of a personal aversion to male homosexuality, but more importantly because they fail to perceive the vast differences between the sexual culture of antebellum America and that of our own time, especially in regard to male-male physical and emotional intimacy. This article brings those differences to light and sets Lincoln's life in the context of the sexual culture of his own time. This enables one to see that Lincoln's same-sex sexuality was not only unproblematic, but commonplace, if not typical, in his day. Revising the Myth of Lincoln in regard to his same-sex inclinations will have a positive effect on contemporary culture, especially on the education and socialization of young boys.     

Black LGB Identities and Perceptions of Same-Sex Marriage

ABSTRACT

The 2015 SCOTUS ruling legalizing same-sex marriage was hailed as a universal victory for the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community, but the pervasive support mobilized to achieve this goal may mask important dissension and inequality within the community. Specifically, how race may shape or perpetuate inequalities in the LGB community through same-sex marriage largely has been absent from the discussion. Focusing on the perceived impact of same-sex marriage in respondents’ lives, I investigate the relationship between Black LGBs’ perception of same-sex marriage legalization and their intersectional identities and community membership. Drawing from the 2010 Social Justice Sexuality Project survey, I explain the complexity of the attitudes of Black LGBs to the legalization of same-sex marriage and illustrate that (1) Black LGBs exhibit heterogeneous interpretation of the effects of same-sex marriage legalization on their lives based on their racial and sexual identities, and (2) same-sex marriage may provide Black LGBs the rationale to affirm their racial community membership as sexual minorities. This study pushes our understanding of the relationship between intersectional identities and individuals’ perceptions of the self, identity-based community memberships, and social institutions.     

Validation of the Beliefs about Children’s Adjustment in Same-Sex Families Scale in Italian University Students

ABSTRACT

Assessing attitudes toward same-sex parenting has important implications for both intervention and prevention programs designed to foster the tolerance and normality of sexual and family diversity. Few empirically validated measures of rejection of same-sex parenting have been developed. The current study examined the psychometric properties of an Italian translation of the Beliefs about Children’s Adjustment in Same-Sex Families Scale, a 14-item scale distributed in two subscales that measure direct and subtle rejection toward same-sex parenting, for its use in assessing heterosexual people’s attitudes toward same-sex parents in Italy. The sample consisted of 344 Italian heterosexual university students (113 men) with a mean age of 20.48 years (SD = 1.60). The results showed that the scale has a good factor structure (via confirmatory factor analysis) and satisfactory reliability and acceptable criterion-related validity. Therefore, the BCASSFS can be used to measure opposition toward gay and lesbian parenting in the Italian context.     

Declining Segregation of Same-Sex Partners: Evidence from Census 2000 and 2010

Despite recent media and scholarly attention describing the “disappearance” of traditionally gay neighborhoods, urban scholars have yet to quantify the segregation of same-sex partners and determine whether declining segregation from different-sex partners is a wide-spread trend. Focusing on the 100 most populous places in the United States, I use data from the 2000 and 2010 Decennial Census to examine the segregation of same-sex partners over time and its place-level correlates. I estimate linear regression models to examine the role of four place characteristics in particular: average levels of education, aggregate trends in the family life cycle of same-sex partners, violence and social hostility motivated by sexual orientation bias, and representation of same-sex partners in the overall population. On average, same-sex partners were less segregated from different-sex partners in 2010 than in 2000, and the vast majority of same-sex partners lived in environments of declining segregation. Segregation was lower and declined more rapidly in places that had a greater percentage of graduate degree holders. In addition, segregation of female partners was lower in places that had a greater share of female partner households with children. These findings suggest that sexual orientation should be considered alongside economic status, race, and ethnicity as an important factor that contributes to neighborhood differentiation and urban spatial inequality.     

A demographic perspective on the Muslim world

A demographic perspective is relevant to understanding the position of Muslims in today’s world. This paper examines the size and growth of Muslim populations, and whether most Muslims live in overwhelmingly Muslim countries. It also examines indices of poverty and human development for Muslimmajority countries, and the growth of the youth population; finally, it examines the key components of population growth: mortality and fertility. Mortality has declined sharply over the past 15 years in many Muslim countries, though not in all, and Muslim countries are no longer prominent among the ‘outliers’ with higher mortality than expected on the basis of their income levels. Fertility rates are also declining sharply in a number of major Muslim-majority countries, raising interesting issues about attitudes of different schools of Islamic jurisprudence, village-level religious leaders and ordinary Muslims towards contraception and abortion, as well as the role of socio-economic development and family planning programs in fertility declines. Despite these declines, past high fertility in many Muslim-majority countries leaves as a legacy a rapidly growing adolescent population and a burgeoning, inadequately educated labour force.