Male-to-Female Transgender Individuals Building Social Support and Capital From Within a Gender-Focused Network

ABSTRACT

The literature on male-to-female transgender myriad problems such individuals face in their day-to-day lives, including high rates of HIV/AIDS, addiction to drugs, violence, and lack of health care. These problems are exacerbated for ethnic and racial minority MTFs. Support available from their social networks can help MTFs alleviate these problems. This article explores how minority MTFs, specifically in an urban environment, develop supportive social networks defined by their gender and sexual identities. Using principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR), 20 African American and Latina MTFs were recruited at a community-based health care clinic. Their ages ranged from 18 to 53. Data were coded and analyzed following standard procedure for content analysis. The qualitative interviews revealed that participants formed their gender and sexual identities over time, developed gender-focused social networks based in the clinic from which they receive services, and engaged in social capital building and political action. Implications for using CBPR in research with MTFs are discussed.     

Beyond alphabet soup: helping college health professionals understand sexual fluidity

ABSTRACT

Many college students today are no longer using the terms straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender to self-identify their sexual orientation or gender identity. This commentary explores research related to fluidity of sexual identities, emerging sexual identities used by college students, and how these identities interact with the health and well-being of the student. Additionally, the authors discuss strategies to help college health professionals provide a sensitive environment and clinical experience for students whose sexual identity is fluid.     

The Effects of Sexual Orientation,Gender Identity,and Gender Role on the Mental Health of Women in Taiwan's T-Po Lesbian Community

SUMMARY

We obtained via the Internet a convenience sample of Taiwanese heterosexual (n = 287) and sexual minority females (n = 260). A significantly greater percentage of sexual minorities (lesbian and bisexual females) than heterosexuals reported they had used tobacco or alcohol. Relative to heterosexuals, sexual minorities were significantly more likely to report a serious suicide attempt. Overall, gender identity (masculine, feminine, and androgynous) and gender role (butch, femme, and pure or undifferentiated) were poor discriminators of lesbian mental health. Differences between sexual minorities and heterosexuals were more robust than were the variations in gender identities and gender roles among lesbian and bisexual women. We discuss the implications of these findings for further clinical research.     

Sexual Orientation,Gender, and Gender Identity Microaggressions: Toward an Intersectional Framework for Social Work Research

ABSTRACT

Professional ethics compel social workers to address all forms of discrimination and oppression. Microaggressions can contribute to health disparities for marginalized groups; yet, little is known about the frequency, mechanisms, and impact of microaggressions on sexual minorities, cisgender women, and gender minorities—particularly for those with intersecting marginalized identities. This article extends microaggression literature by exploring interrelated constructs of sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity microaggressions, and offering recommendations for future research using an intersectional lens to foster an integrated and complex understanding of microaggressions. Implications of an intersectional microaggression framework for social work education and practice are discussed.     

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.     

Missing from the Conversation: Sexual Risk Factors Across Young People by Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

Abstract

Objectives: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer/questioning (LGBQ), and transgender/nonbinary (trans/NB) youth experience health disparities. Much research combines gender identity with sexual orientation or siloes them, ignoring intersections. Methods: Logistic regressions with representative data from 2015 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (n?=?15,970) explores sexual risk. Results: Findings indicate LGBQ and trans/NB youth have differential levels of sexual risk (drugs during sexual interactions, not using condoms) compared to cisgender heterosexual peers. Other identities, mental health, and bullying are also related. Conclusions: There is a need for culturally responsive bullying prevention, mental health support, education, and sexual health services for marginalized populations.     

Revisiting the Sexual Orientation Matrix for Supervision

Abstract

This article addresses the use of the Sexual Orientation Matrix for Supervision (SOMS) in preparing supervisees to work with GLBTQ families. Originally published as a tool to assist supervisors and educators to help their supervisees work more effectively with gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) couples, the SOMS is founded on two core concepts: (1) degree of heterosexual bias; and (2) degree of acceptance of GLBTQ orientations and behavior. In this revision, we have expanded heterosexual bias to include sexual identities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. Supervisors can employ the Matrix to explore their own and their trainees' levels of comfort, knowledge, and experience. We also provide specific suggestions and tasks.     

Methodological challenges of designing a survey to capture young people’s (non-binary) affiliations in relationship to religion,sexuality and gender

ABSTRACT

Large-scale population studies surveying young people in relation to their worldviews have tended to frame their identities in a fixed and limited capacity while also treating the topics of religion/spirituality and sexuality/gender as discrete categories of scholarly analysis. We highlight the affordances and limitations of foregrounding fixed religious, sexual and gender-based identity categories in the process of collecting and analysing data related to the worldviews of young people. In this paper we argue the value of studying the complexities and intersections of these identities and worldviews together in one study. We do this through reference to the Australia’s Generation Z (AGZ) study: the first nationally representative sample focused on providing an evidence-based understanding of both the religious/spiritual/non-religious and sexuality/gender identities and worldviews of young Australians aged 13–18. We discuss how we built on existing surveys in designing the AGZ survey. We also demonstrate how this survey allowed for the incorporation of young people’s non-binary understandings of religion, sexuality and gender.     

Second-generation Central Americans and the formation of an ethnoracial identity in Los Angeles

ABSTRACT

Whether Latinos in the United States are an ethnic or racial group is extensively debated. Some propose Latinos are an ethnic group on their way to becoming white, others contend Latinos are a racialised group, and an alternate perspective posits Latinos are an ethnoracial group. This study intervenes in this debate by examining the identities of second- and 1.5-generation Central Americans in Los Angeles, California. Drawing on 27 in-depth interviews, I show Central Americans have an identity repertoire, which includes national origin, panethnic, racial, and minority identities. I also capture the situations and reference groups that influence the deployment of ethnic and racial identities. These results suggest Central Americans develop an ethnoracial identity. I argue Central Americans’ ethnoracial identity emerges from agency – subjective understandings of themselves and resisting invisibility in Mexican Los Angeles – and from structure – a racialised society, institutionally-created panethnic categories, and racially-based experiences.     

What’s in a name? Exploring use of the word queer as a term of identification within the college-aged LGBT community

ABSTRACT

The language one uses for self-identification can be instrumental in the development and integration of one’s sense of self. This is particularly true regarding gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. This seems to be particularly marked with use of the term “queer.” This research project explored terms that college-aged people use for self and other reference, especially use of the word queer. The results from this study provide empirical evidence that college-aged people have reclaimed the word queer as acceptable for gender or sexual orientation identification, although it is not the most frequent term used for their own self-identification.     

Dimensions of ethnic identity as protective factors for substance use and sexual risk behaviors in African American college students

Objective: To examine ethnic identity and ethnic socialization as potential protective factors for risk behaviors among US college students. Participants: Participants were 398 African American and Afro-Caribbean students recruited from 30 colleges and universities during September 2008–October 2009. Methods: Data on hazardous alcohol use, substance use, sexual behaviors, ethnic identity, and ethnic/racial socialization were collected. Hierarchical linear and negative binomial regression analyses were conducted to determine the degree to which ethnic identity and ethnic/racial socialization predicted the risk behaviors. Results: Ethnic Identity affirmation, belonging, and commitment (EI-ABC) significantly predicted lower substance use and hazardous alcohol use. Ethnic/racial socialization was not a significant predictor of substance use or sexual risk behaviors. Conclusions: Components of ethnic identity are potentially protective against alcohol and substance use behaviors. Additional research is recommended to determine effective intervention strategies.     

Homosexuality as Practice and the Social Implications of Representation

ABSTRACT

What tends to be represented when talking about homosexuals is not the diversity of people who have sex with others of the same sex-gender, but a kind of group or a defined collective with some identifiable characteristics and specific identities: a collection of others, a historically oppressed minority, a community. As a result, not all people who practice homosexuality are included in the representations of homosexuals, nor do all included in these conform to the images projected onto them. This involves a series of social and political consequences, related to the reproduction of hegemonic gender and power structures. Therefore, I question the use of these representations in social sciences and propose to consider, as the analysis element, sexual practices and not the identities and categorizations created around them, showing the power relations that exist between them.     

“Gay Equals White”? Racial,Ethnic, and Sexual Identities and Attitudes Toward LGBT Individuals Among College Students at a Bible Belt University

While past research has certainly explored a variety of correlates of attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals, the current study is among the first in an emerging line of inquiry that examines attitudes toward each of these groups separately utilizing an intersectional framework with special attention to racial, ethnic, and sexual identities. Using a college sample of students from the Bible Belt of the United States (N = 1,940), I investigated the roles of racial and ethnic identities (Caucasian/White, African American/Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American/Alaskan Native, other race, and Hispanic/Latinx), religiosity, patriarchal gender norms, parental perspectives, and the intersections among these identities and experiences as they relate to attitudes toward LGBT individuals among heterosexual (n = 1,551) and LGB respondents (n = 389). This moves beyond explorations of White heterosexual people’s attitudes about “homosexuals” (i.e., away from a focus only on gayness and Whiteness) and expands to include non-White LGB people’s LGBT attitudes. Overall, results indicate that racial, ethnic, and sexual identities play a significant role in southern college students’ LGBT attitudes, and these patterns are further complicated by interacting cultural experiences with religiosity, patriarchy, and family dynamics. Campus policy and program implications are provided.     

Ethnic identities and national identities: Some examples from Malaysia

Using examples from Malaysia, this paper emphasizes the importance of relating ethnicity to the power of the state and political processes involving different ethnic groups. Ethnic group formation involves processes that make people identify as an imagined community in a nation‐state. Indeed, the processes that create ethnic and national identities are part and parcel of the same historical processes. It is also necessary to relate national identity to ethnicity, as national identity is imagined differently by different ethnic groups in a nation‐state. The paper describes Malay and Chinese ethnicity as well as the complex ethnic identification and ethnogenesis of the indigenous peoples of Sarawak.     

Gender Dysphoria: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

The long-awaited DSM-5 has finally been published, generating controversy in many areas, including the revised diagnostic category of Gender Dysphoria. This commentary contextualizes the history and reform of the pathologization of diverse gender identities and expressions, within a larger perspective of examining psychological viewpoints on sexual minority persons, and the problems with continuing to label gender identities and expressions as pathological or disordered.     

“Getting pregnant might make me seem more normal to them”: Attitudes,experiences, and gendered nuances regarding pregnancy and parenting among youths experiencing homelessness

Homelessness among youths exacerbates an array of challenging life experiences, notable examples of which are pregnancy and parenting. Research is lacking on young men’s attitudes and experiences, and also the influences which homeless youths’ gender identities and sexualities may have on their pregnancy and parenting outcomes and trajectories. This study qualitatively explores gender differentials, including youths’ gender identities and sexual orientations, with regard to their attitudes and experiences of pregnancy and parenting while homeless. Qualitative data were obtained from interviews with a diverse sample of 30 female, male, and transgender homeless youths, ages 18 to 21. Findings revealed that topics of pregnancy and parenting represent a wide range of complexities, different standards, and threats for homeless youths. Although pregnancy is often viewed positively within this community, it is received and experienced differently for each gender and sexuality. Results demonstrate that youths’ unimpeded access to and knowledge of all available reproductive and sexual health care services is essential. These services must be designed and delivered for youths of all gender identities and sexual orientations. Interventions and resources on parenting and co-parenting, particularly models that more inclusively engage a greater diversity of young parents’ involvement, are also urgently needed.     

Trans Men: Embodiments,Identities, and Sexualities

This article examines the experiences of 25 persons who were assigned female status at birth but do not wish to live as women and take on a masculine or queer gender identity. We employ the concept of “gendered embodiment” and introduce the concept of “sexualized embodiment” to highlight what is involved in this process. We ask how experiencing a masculine gender identity is reflexively tied to a trans man's sexuality and the ways in which these two embodiments are tightly, moderately, or loosely coupled. For example, a tight coupling appeared when trans men began to use testosterone and obtained surgery such as breast removal; a moderate coupling was found where gender validation was sought from a sexual partner (with this being related to sexual preference identities as well as the interpretation of vaginal penetration); the loosest coupling of the gender‐sexuality embodiments was linked to the liberality of the locale and whether “queer” identities could be easily adopted. In sum, our research demonstrates the link between gender and sexuality as a result of the body work trans men do and the historical and geographical situations in which they find themselves.     

Integrating Religious and Sexual Identities: The Case of Religious Homosexual Men in Singapore

Abstract

The sexual and religious ecosystem in Singapore represents an intricate interplay of factors that religious homosexuals navigate to attain a well-adjusted personal identity. A qualitative research project was conducted to understand how Christian and Muslim homosexual men in Singapore integrate their religious and sexual identities. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine religious homosexuals to elicit responses on their dual-identity experience, and coping strategies. Narrative analysis revealed three themes (and a number of subthemes): (1) Intrapersonal factors (a personal journey, knowledge seeking, reinterpreting belief system, redemption by good deeds, and love prevails over sin), (2) Interpersonal factors (segregating social circles, involvement in the gay community, role models, and social support), and (3) Sociopolitical factors (state and societal tolerance of homosexuals, and homosexual events). Interestingly, the participants assigned positive attributes to being both religious and homosexual, and reported that embodying both identities was enriching than if they had possessed just one of the two identities. This suggests that integrating positive psychological frameworks (e.g., stress-related growth) to existing ones may provide a more holistic account of identity integration among religious homosexuals.     

The understudied half of undergraduates: Risky sexual behaviors among community college students

Abstract

Objective: This study examines the prevalence and risk factors associated with risky sexual behaviors in community college students. Participants: A diverse sample of 18–19-year-old community college students (N?=?264). Methods: Baseline data from an online prevention program administered in 2015. Results: Community college students in this sample disproportionately experienced sexual assault and were unlikely to test for STIs. Higher intentions to engage in risky sexual behaviors were associated with gender and sexual experience, but also with having lower intentions to communicate with a sexual partner about pregnancy and STIs, and having higher gender norm endorsement. Conclusions: Older adolescents attending community colleges may be at high risk for poor sexual health outcomes, and appropriate theory-based education should be tailored to meet the needs of these underserved students.