Prejudice, social strs, and mental health lbian, gay, and bisexual populatns: nceptual issu and rearch evince - PubMed

Contents:

• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSU
• ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER
• GAY MEN, WE HAVE A DRKG PROBLEM
• PREJUDICE, SOCIAL STRS, AND MENTAL HEALTH LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL POPULATNS: NCEPTUAL ISSU AND REARCH EVINCE
• HIV AND ALL GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• OUT GAY PRO WRTLER AC MACK LEAV THE RG AS AN SPIRATN
• GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• HOW N YOU OVERDOSE ON BENGAY?
• GAY MEN AND THEIR MOTHERS: IS THERE A SPECIAL CLOSENS?
• PREJUDICE, SOCIAL STRS, AND MENTAL HEALTH LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL POPULATNS: CONCEPTUAL ISSU AND REARCH EVINCE

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSU

The mic, the style, and the laws agast homosexualy have all changed, but that drk is still to today, s after the first brick was thrown at Stonewall, years after the 1990s brought gay characters to the mastream media, and months after same-sex marriage beme a right to all LGBT Amerins, the fn of gay culture is now limbo. Que ankly, the evolutn of morn gay life will only crease the prence of gay culture, as more men and women feel fortable exprsg their inty the way they stead of fightg to keep this boomg bar culture alive, younger generatns are champng new avenu and experienc that allow for gay men and women to navigate other areas of adulthood, wh their LGBT inti firmly tact.

An troductn to a muddled and sometim ntent world of scientific rearch—one whose fdgs, now as tentative as they are suggtive, may someday shed light on the sexual orientatn of everyoneThe issue of homosexualy has arrived at the foreont of Ameri's polil nscns. As Michael Bailey and Richard Pillard, the thors of one of the most important geic quiri to homosexualy, have observed, s of psychiatric rearch to possible environmental of homosexualy—that is to say, social and cultural —show "small effect size and are ally ambiguo. None of the uld be shown to change the sexual orientatn of the people those who looked to the matter was the sex rearcher Aled Ksey, whose 1948 report “Sexual Behavr the Human Male” showed homosexualy to be surprisgly mon across l of fay, class, and tnal and geographic background.

In his book Beg Homosexual, the psychoanalyst Richard Isay wr, Ksey and his -workers for many years attempted to fd patients who had been nverted om homosexualy to heterosexualy durg therapy, and were surprised that they uld not fd one whose sexual orientatn had been changed. Today's psychiatrists and psychologists, wh very few exceptns, do not try to change sexual orientatn, and those aspirg to work the fields of psychiatry and psychology are now traed not to regard homosexualy as a homosexualy moved om the realm of psychiatric pathology to the realm of normal variants on human sexual behavr, rearch efforts took a new turn.

ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER

Whether the dimorphism found by De Laste-Utamsg and Holloway tly exists remas a matter of nsirable 1985, three years after the publitn of the De Laste-Utamsg and Holloway article, Dick Swaab, a rearcher at the Netherlands Instute for Bra Rearch, Amsterdam, reported that he, too, had found evince of sexual dimorphism human bras— the form of a human homologue of the sexually dimorphic nucls that Gorski had found announced an even more remarkable disvery five years later, 1990.

Swaab said that the suprachiasmatic nucls was nearly twice as large homosexual men as was heterosexual te, this was somethg wholly new: an anatomil difference between homosexuals and Levay is a young nroblogist who at the time of Swaab's send disvery was nductg rearch at the Salk Instute, La Jolla, California. Specifilly, I hypothized that INAH 2 or INAH 3 is large dividuals sexually oriented toward women (heterosexual men and homosexual women) and small dividuals sexually oriented toward men (heterosexual women and homosexual men) dissected bra tissue obtaed om route topsi of forty-one people who had died at hospals New York and California. The data support the hypothis that INAH 3 is dimorphic not wh sex but wh sexual orientatn, at least rults were sufficiently clear to LeVay to allow him to state, "The disvery that a nucls differs size between heterosexual and homosexual men illtrat that sexual orientatn humans is amenable to study at the blogil level.

"The study, as LeVay himself readily adms, has several problems: a small sample group, great variatn dividual nucls size, and possibly skewed rults bee all the gay men had AIDS (although LeVay found "no signifint difference the volume of INAH 3 between the heterosexual men who died of AIDS and those who died of other ").

GAY MEN, WE HAVE A DRKG PROBLEM

For s endocrologists had speculated that bee male sex hormon are known to be rponsible human begs for mascule body characteristics and animals for certa aspects of male sexual behavr, follows that adult homosexual men should have lower levels of ttosterone, or else higher levels of trogen, the bloodstream than adult heterosexual men, and that homosexual and heterosexual women should display the oppose pattern. Two studi actually reported higher levels of ttosterone homosexual men than heterosexual men, and one unhelpfully showed the levels to be higher bisexuals than eher heterosexuals or me to be wily accepted that adult hormone levels were not a factor sexual orientatn, scientists shifted their attentn to prenatal hormone exposure. If such feedback were to be found nsistently homosexual men—by means of chemil analysis of the blood after jectn wh trogen—uld this not be taken as evince that some cisive prenatal hormonal event, wh important bearg on subsequent sexual orientatn, had ed occurred?

More precisely, Pillard and Werich theorized that although gay men do unrgo masculizatn—they are, after all, fully male physilly—they go pletely if at all through another part of the procs: fet, Pillard pots out, human begs of both sex start out wh plete female and male "anlag, " or precursors of the basic terr sexual equipment—vaga, utes, and fallopian tub for women, and vas ferens, semal vicl, and ejaculatory ducts for men. Lbian women uld be unrstood as women who have some blogilly duced mascule experimental basis is provid by rearch by the psychiatrist Richard Green, of the Universy of California at Los Angel, which shows that children who manift aspects of genr-atypil play are often gay. Although good statistics do not exist, appears that there may be two gay men for every gay woman, which would be nsistent wh the vulnerabily is important to remember that although homosexuals and heterosexuals may be "sex-reversed" some ways, other ways they are not.

" Gay men and straight men also seem to display an intil strong drive for multiple sexual partners; lbians and straight women seem to be alike favorg fewer sexual evince om hormonal rearch may circumstantially implite blogy sexual orientatn, but is far om nclive.

PREJUDICE, SOCIAL STRS, AND MENTAL HEALTH LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL POPULATNS: NCEPTUAL ISSU AND REARCH EVINCE

“The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them, ” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer.

HIV AND ALL GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails, ” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN. “There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns, ” Roth said.

SiegedSec, a self-scribed group of gay furry hackers, took s skills to state ernments late June, breachg agenci across five stat and releasg a wealth of data.The stat targeted on June 27 were Texas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and South Carola. Lol NewsMIAMI – The diplomatic ti between the Uned Stat and Jamai uld soon be jeopardy.There are reports that Jamai is refg to accred the spoe of a gay Amerin diplomat.“Our culture is not really acceptg of ,” said Renae Stevens, who was visg the Jamain nsulate Miami Wednday.Attorney Wayne Goldg is an advisor to Jamai’s ernment.“The whole ia of legislatn to legalize same-sex marriag, I thk they still have a long way to go,” he said. Louis have found that young men who are pre domantly or exclively homosexual generally have lower levels of the male sex hormone ttosterone their blood than do young hetero sexual scientists said uld not be termed om the fdgs whether the hormone differenc were a e or an effect of, they agreed, the fdg adds strong new evince to small but growg body of re cent rearch challengg the tradnal view that sexual orientatn is a purely social and psychologil recent improvements bchemil assay methods, re peated attempts to fd phys logil differenc between heterosexuals and homosexuals failed.

They were pared wh fd gs a group of 50 hetero sexual mal of the same homosexuals were rated acrdg to the followg five‐ group Ksey sle system:¶Predomantly heterosexual but more than Incintally homosexual¶Equally hetero‐ and homo sexual¶Predomantly homosexual but more than cintally heterosexual¶Predomantiy homosexual but only cintally hetero sexual¶Exclively average ncentratn of ttosterone i the blood of the heterosexuals was found to be 689‐billnth of a gram per 100 cubic centimeters of parison, men who were judged to have been ex clively homosexual through out their liv had an average of about 40 per cent as much ttosterone their blood. Notable among them were Brish report last November that hormonal differenc were tected tae ure of three male and four female homo sexuals, and a Los Angel study last April showg subtle differenc the breakdown products of ttosterone ure of 14 homosexuals.

OUT GAY PRO WRTLER AC MACK LEAV THE RG AS AN SPIRATN

) While mon, over-the-unter ache-relief products nta a much lower percentage of methyl salicylate than is ntaed oil of wtergreen—for example, both Icy Hot and BenGay Extra Strength nta 30 percent, the hight percentage of all topil creams—their toxic potential is real: The U.

GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

This uld expla why homosexualy persists throughout evolutn, state the om chang gene exprsn to why someone is attracted to a person of the same sex is probably a qutn for which science may never fd the answer, stat Marlene Z, an evolutnary blogist at the Universy of Mnota, Tw Ci.

Published fal eded form as:PMCID: PMC2072932NIHMSID: NIHMS32623AbstractIn this article the thor reviews rearch evince on the prevalence of mental disorrs lbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) and shows, g meta-analys, that LGBs have a higher prevalence of mental disorrs than heterosexuals. This nceptual amework is the basis for the review of rearch evince, suggtns for future rearch directns, and exploratn of public policy study of mental health of lbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) populatns has been plited by the bate on the classifitn of homosexualy as a mental disorr durg the 1960s and early 1970s.

This herage has tated discsn on mental health of lbians and gay men by associatg—even equatg—claims that LGB people have higher prevalenc of mental disorrs than heterosexual people wh the historil antigay stance and the stigmatizatn of LGB persons (Bailey, 1999). The answer, therefore, pends on scientific and social nsens that evolv and is subject to the vicissus of social change (Gergen, 1985, 2001) distctn between prevalenc of mental disorrs and classifitn the DSM was apparent to Marmor (1980), who an early discsn of the bate said, The basic issue … is not whether some or many homosexuals n be found to be nrotilly disturbed. In a society like ours where homosexuals are uniformly treated wh disparagement or ntempt—to say nothg about outright hostily— would be surprisg ed if substantial numbers of them did not suffer om an impaired self-image and some gree of unhapps wh their stigmatized stat.

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

Evince om this rearch suggts that pared wh their heterosexual unterparts, gay men and lbians suffer om more mental health problems cludg substance e disorrs, affective disorrs, and suici (Cochran, 2001; Gilman et al., 2001; Herrell et al., 1999; Sandfort, Graaf, Bijl, & Schnabel, 2001). Acrdg to the formulatns, prejudice and discrimatn related to low socenomic stat, racism, sexism, or homophobia—much like the chang precipated by personal life events that are mon to all people—n duce chang that require adaptatn and n therefore be nceptualized as strsful (Allison, 1998; Bart, Biener, & Bach, 1987; Clark, Anrson, Clark, & Williams, 1999; Meyer, 1995; Mirowsky & Ross, 1989; Pearl, 1999b) notn that strs is related to social stctur and ndns is at once tuively appealg and nceptually difficult.

Applied to lbians, gay men, and bisexuals, a mory strs mol poss that sexual prejudice (Herek, 2000) is strsful and may lead to adverse mental health out (Brooks, 1981; Cochran, 2001; DiPlacido, 1998; Krieger & Sidney, 1997; Mays & Cochran, 2001; Meyer, 1995).

HOW N YOU OVERDOSE ON BENGAY?

Mory inty is lked to a variety of strs procs; some LGB people, for example, may be vigilant teractns wh others (expectatns of rejectn), hi their inty for fear of harm (ncealment), or ternalize stigma (ternalized homophobia) FactorsAs early as 1954, Allport suggted that mory members rpond to prejudice wh pg and rilience. Ined, reappraisal is at the re of gay-affirmative, Black, and femist psychotherapi that aim to empower the mory person (Gars & Kimmel, 1991; hooks, 1993; Sha, 1990; Smh & Siegel, 1985) distctn between personal and group-level pg may be somewhat plited bee even group-level rourc (e. Th, overg negative self-evaluatn is the primary aim of the LGB person’s velopment g out and is a central theme of gay-affirmative therapi (Coleman, 1981–1982; Diaz et al., 2001; Loiano, 1993; Malyon, 1981–1982; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Rotheram-Bos & Fernanz, 1995; Troin, 1989).

Prejudice events Siar to rearch wh Ain Amerins and other ethnic mory groups (Ksler, Mickelson, & Williams, 1999), rearchers have scribed antigay vlence and discrimatn as re strsors affectg gay and lbian populatns (Gars et al., 1990; Herek & Berrill, 1992; Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 1999; Kertzner, 1999). Antigay prejudice has been perpetrated throughout history: Instutnalized forms of prejudice, discrimatn, and vlence have ranged om Nazi extermatn of homosexuals to enforcement of sodomy laws punishable by imprisonment, stratn, torture, and ath (Adam, 1987). Wh the formatn of a gay muny, as LGB dividuals beme more visible and more readily intifiable by potential perpetrators, they creasgly beme targets of antigay vlence and discrimatn (Badgett, 1995; Herek & Berrill, 1992; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Safe Schools Coaln of Washgton, 1999).

GAY MEN AND THEIR MOTHERS: IS THERE A SPECIAL CLOSENS?

Antigay bias crim had greater mental health impact on LGB persons than siar crime not related to bias, and bias-crime victimizatn may have short- or long-term nsequenc, cludg severe reactns such as posttrmatic strs disorr (Herek et al., 1999; McDevt, Balboni, Garcia, & Gu, 2001) Expectatns of rejectn and discrimatn Goffman (1963) discsed the anxiety wh which the stigmatized dividual approach teractns society.

Hetrick and Mart (1987) scribed learng to hi as the most mon pg strategy of gay and lbian adolcents, and noted thatdividuals such a posn mt nstantly monor their behavr all circumstanc: how one drs, speaks, walks, and talks bee nstant sourc of possible disvery. In another study among HIV-negative gay men, those who ncealed their sexual orientatn were more likely to have health problems than those who were open about their sexual orientatn (Cole et al., 1996b)In addn to supprsed emotns, ncealment prevents LGB people om intifyg and affiliatg wh others who are gay.

PREJUDICE, SOCIAL STRS, AND MENTAL HEALTH LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL POPULATNS: CONCEPTUAL ISSU AND REARCH EVINCE

Dpe signifint challeng to measurg ternalized homophobia and lack of nsistency s nceptualizatn and measurement (Mayfield, 2001; Ross & Rosser, 1996; Shidlo, 1994; Szymanski & Chung, 2001), rearch has shown that ternalized homophobia is a signifint rrelate of mental health cludg prsn and anxiety symptoms, substance e disorrs, and suici iatn (DiPlacido, 1998; Meyer & Dean, 1998; Williamson, 2000). Before the 1973 classifitn of homosexualy as a mental disorr, gay-affirmative psychologists and psychiatrists sought to refute arguments that homosexualy should rema a classified disorr by showg that homosexuals were not more likely to be mentally ill than heterosexuals (Bayer, 1981).

At the time, some wrers sisted that homosexuals were more likely than heterosexuals to be ill and that this monstrated that homosexualy should be classified as a mental disorr, but many of the studi were based on biased sampl, for example of prison populatns or clil (primarily psychoanalytic) observatns (Marmor, 1980). Th, although Saghir and lleagu (1970a) were reful not to claim that gay men had higher prevalenc of mental disorrs than heterosexual men, they noted that they did fd “that whenever differenc existed they showed the homosexual men havg more difficulti than the heterosexual ntrols, ” cludg, “a slightly greater overall prevalence of psychiatric disorr” (p. This ncln has been wily accepted and has been often rtated most current psychologil and psychiatric lerature (Cabaj & Ste, 1996; Gonsrek, 1991) recently, there has been a shift the popular and scientific disurse on the mental health of lbians and gay men.