The dilemma of essentiality in homosexual theory

A close examination of the literature on homosexuality reveals a long history of definitional crises in which the central consideration has been the maintenance of a belief in homosexuality as a state of being. This paper asks what, if anything, can be considered essential to the homosexual category. To answer this question, various approaches to homosexuality in the literature have been examined: as a general state of being (the person), as a state of desire (sexual orientation), as a form of behavior (sexual acts), and, more recently, as a personal identification (sexual identity). In addition, the interrelationships of these categorizations are explored.     

Ecological Bias: Use of Maximum-Entropy Approximations

The focus of geographical studies in epidemiology has recently moved towards looking for effects of exposures based on data taken at local levels of aggregation (i.e. small areas). This paper investigates how regression coefficients measuring covariate effects at the point level are modified under aggregation. Changing the level of aggregation can lead to completely different conclusions about exposure–effect relationships, a phenomenon often referred to as ecological bias. With partial knowledge of the within‐area distribution of the exposure variable, the notion of maximum entropy can be used to approximate that part of the distribution that is unknown. From the approximation, an expression for the ecological bias is obtained; simulations and an example show that the maximum‐entropy approximation is often better than other commonly used approximations.     

The gender identity/gender dysphoria questionnaire for adolescents and adults

The present study reports on the construction of a dimensional measure of gender identity (gender dysphoria) for adolescents and adults. The 27-item gender identity/gender dysphoria questionnaire for adolescents and adults (GIDYQ-AA) was administered to 389 university students (heterosexual and nonheterosexual) and 73 clinic-referred patients with gender identity disorder. Principal axis factor analysis indicated that a one-factor solution, accounting for 61.3% of the total variance, best fits the data. Factor loadings were all >or= .30 (median, .82; range, .34-.96). A mean total score (Cronbach's alpha, .97) was computed, which showed strong evidence for discriminant validity in that the gender identity patients had significantly more gender dysphoria than both the heterosexual and nonheterosexual university students. Using a cut-point of 3.00, we found the sensitivity was 90.4% for the gender identity patients and specificity was 99.7% for the controls. The utility of the GIDYQ-AA is discussed.     

The relationship between training availability and social workers' ability to treat problem drinkers

An explanatory cross sectional investigation was employed to assess how well master's level social work (MSW) programs in the State of New York prepare students for practice with problem drinkers. Five hundred and fifty questionnaires were mailed to members of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). A non-probability sample, consisting of 41 male and 48 female respondents (n = 89), was obtained. Fewer than 3% of the sample reported the completion of an alcohol related course as a degree requirement. Field placement completion was totally overlooked as a degree requirement. Findings imply that clients with alcohol problems are at risk of going untreated due to the lack of training social workers receive while completing their MSW programs and their subsequent inability to diagnose problem drinkers.     

Characteristics of Activities That Affect the Development of Women’s Same-Sex Relationships

The author utilized semistructured interviews with 56 women to explore how a wide range of activities affected the development of the participants’ same-sex attractions and relationships. The researcher was able to identify and describe some aspects of the process by which eight characteristics of activities that are more or less present in various social contexts have the potential to impact whether these contexts are more or less conducive or hindering to the development of women’s same-sex attractions and relationships. Activities were more apt to nurture the development of the participants’ same-sex attractions and relationships when the activity (a) included lesbians, (b) was composed primarily of women, (c) affirmed women, (d) facilitated bonding, (e) featured a climate of acceptance of lesbians/gays/bisexuals, (f) did not feature a climate that emphasized heteronormativity, (g) was perceived as gender neutral, and (h) generated or drew participants who were similar to each other.     

THE ELUSIVE QUEST FOR ‘THOSE MOST IN NEED’

It seems plausible to argue that scarce resources such as social security payments should be targeted to those most in need, and that income should play a large role in defining need. Even though some aspects of targeting, such as whether to have tapered means tests or not, are obviously political in nature, it may appear that at least the identification of ‘those most in need’ in terms of income is largely a technical exercise. The argument of this article is that even the measurement of income is only partly a technical exercise.¹ It is also a highly problematic and political one that will always lead to understandable resentment on the part of the ‘nearly poor’, that is, those who are excluded by policy decisions regarding components of the scale by which income is assessed. We illustrate this with an example of a hypothetical family payment where those who are classified as ‘poor’ and ‘nearly poor’ on one income-scale are classified otherwise on a plausible alternative scale. It does not follow that targeting of payments on the basis of income should be abandoned. But it does suggest that all targeting should be recognised for the blunt political instrument that it is, and that its status as a precise technical tool for achieving greater efficiency be regarded with less confidence than is currently fashionable.     

Reconceptualizing Social Movement Abeyance: The Role of Internal Processes and Culture in Cycles of Movement Abeyance and Resurgence

Abstract

Questions of social movement emergence and decline have long been of interest to social movement analysts, but discussions related to social movement endurance are relatively new to the field. In this work, we explicitly adapt Verta Taylor's concept of abeyance to a local grassroots social movement organization (SMO), Solutions to Issues of Concern to Knoxvillians (SICK), that has endured for 18 years and achieved success in multiple campaign issues. Arguing that an unfavorable external political climate is not the only reason for an SMO to decline in mass membership and mass-based challenges, we use the concept of abeyance to explain the SMO's continuity as a product of internal SMO processes and organizational culture. Our findings indicate that the grassroots organization emerged, won considerable victories, and then continued to survive rather than disbanding. The SMO subsequently underwent two cycles of abeyance-and-resurgence, which we assess using Taylor's set of five characteristics of movement abeyance structures. We conclude that some of the abeyance structures are applicable to a grassroots movement while others are not.     

Public duty and private prejudice: sexualities equalities and local government

Rather than critiquing social institutions and practices that have historically excluded lesbians and gay men, as did earlier social movements in the 1960s and 1970s, since the 1990s the politics of sexuality has increasingly been about demanding equal rights of citizenship. These citizenship demands have, at least to a degree, been answered via a raft of recent legislation in the UK including the Adoption and Children Act 2002, Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004, and by associated changes in policy making and practice that emphasize ‘Equality and Diversity’. In this article we consider how the implementation of sexualities equalities policies is related to processes of privatization and individualization. This is illustrated by using sexualities equalities work in local government as a case study to indicate how processes of change and resistance are aided by these processes. The article draws on findings from a study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equalities initiatives in local government in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which examined the views of those who now have a public duty to implement recent legislative and policy shifts and are obliged to develop equalities initiatives concerning ‘sexual orientation' and ‘gender reassignment’.     

Acting Surprised: Comparing Perceptions of Different Dynamic Deliberate Expressions

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior - People are accurate at classifying emotions from facial expressions but much poorer at determining if such expressions are spontaneously felt or deliberately posed....