The meang of homosexual inty as shaped by the adult life urse is poorly scribed the liv of gay men. In particular, the transn om young adulthood to middle age rais qutns of how homosexual inty is refed as gay men alter their participatn gay sexual culture, exp …
Contents:
- STIGMA AND FAY RELATNSHIPS OF MIDDLE-AGED GAY MEN REVERY
- MIDDLE-AGED GAY MEN, AGEG AND AGEISM
- THE MIDDLE AG - A GAY MEN'S GROUP
- THE CURSE OF AN ATTRACTN TO OLR GAY MEN
- THE ADULT LIFE URSE AND HOMOSEXUAL INTY MIDLIFE GAY MEN
- MIDDLE-AGED GAY MEN
STIGMA AND FAY RELATNSHIPS OF MIDDLE-AGED GAY MEN REVERY
The Middle Ag II - a group for middle-aged gay men North of Boston. (A reprise of a group om 4-5 years ago.)We have groups the area for younger guys and on for olr guys, but not so much for those of the middle. So here is - if you're gay and your 40s or 50s (or on the edge), p * middle aged gay *
Mrice by EM ForsterThe gay grand-daddy of them all, Forster’s elegant love story was wrten 1913, but – for fear of sndal – remaed unpublished until his ath 60 years later.
MIDDLE-AGED GAY MEN, AGEG AND AGEISM
* middle aged gay *
Yet gay men may have a more difficult time accsg certa fay-level health rourc bee their fai of orig may stigmatize, reject or silence them on acunt of their sexual orientatn. Future rearch should explore how to rporate faial support to gay men’s revery, addrs ongog ternalized stigma, and velop a social rponse to stigma, rather than leavg to dividuals to nont on their own.
Keywords: Gay Men, Revery, Stigma, Mory Strs, Agg, Fay SupportIntroductnGay men often enter treatment wh more severe substance abe and mental health problems than heterosexual people (Butler Center for Rearch, 2013; Green & Feste, 2012). Yet gay men may have a more difficult time accsg certa fay-level health rourc bee their fai of orig may stigmatize, reject or silence them on acunt of their sexual orientatn (Diaz, 1998; Frost & Meyer, 2009). A fay’s stigmatizatn of gay sexual orientatn mak difficult for them to provi the type of emotnal support need by gay men men’s challenge wh stigma extends beyond faial relatnships.
Some gay men experience stigma, discrimatn, and vlence (Instute of Medice [IOM], 2011), and hence experience more social strs than their heterosexual unterparts (Conron, Mimiaga, & Lanrs, 2010; Frost, Lehavot, & Meyer, 2015; Mays & Cochran, 2001; Meyer, 2003).
THE MIDDLE AG - A GAY MEN'S GROUP
This may expla part why studi show that gay men experience higher rat of psychiatric morbidy and poor or fair self-rated health than their heterosexual unterparts (McLghl, Hatzenbuehler, Xuan, & Conron, 2012; Meyer, Dietrich, & Schwartz, 2008; Wallace, Cochran, Durazo, & Ford, 2011). A recent study monstrated that gay youth raised highly stigmatizg environments had a blunted rtisol rponse to strs, leadg rearchers to nclu that social excln may exert blogil effects ak to trmatic life experienc (Hatzenbuehler & McLghl, 2014).
THE CURSE OF AN ATTRACTN TO OLR GAY MEN
E., vigilance, chronilly activat a person’s psychologil strs rpons, which turn leads to negative health out (IOM, 2002; Meyer, 2003; Meyer et al., 2008) know that some gay men report abg alhol and other substanc to pe wh sexual stigma and fay rejectn, pecially their youth and as young adults (Author, 2014; Kertzner, 2001; K, 1991; McAdams-Mahmoud et al., 2014; Ryan, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2009). Yet the lerature on pg among gay men tends to foc on younger men (McDavt et al., 2008) or clu participants whose average age is below middle age (Christman, 2012).
THE ADULT LIFE URSE AND HOMOSEXUAL INTY MIDLIFE GAY MEN
Middle- aged gay men’s velopmental trajectory differs om that of younger horts terms of when they first regnized their same-sex attractn and then self-intified as gay (Floyd & Bakeman, 2006). In the Uned Stat, their historil ntext also differs om that of younger horts: the men were adolcents and young adults the 1960s and 1970s and would have wnsed the birth of the gay rights movement, followed by the AIDS epimic of the 1980s as well as the peak of AIDS-related aths between 1987 and 1996 (Rosenfeld, Bartlam, & Smh, 2012). All the factors shaped middle-aged gay men’s experienc of stigma, fay relatnships, alhol and substance e, and how they thk about revery unrstand how middle-aged gay men revery experience and pe wh stigma, we terviewed a multiethnic hort of gay men and looked at the chang their pg skills as they transned om young adulthood to middle age and om alhol mise to revery.
Gay inty is a stigmatized inty: gay men experience excs strs on acunt of their social posn as sexual mori and this strs is unique to them, chronic, and social gay dividuals who do experience stigma, mory strs typilly unfolds the followg manner: 1) there is a strsful event or ndn of a chronic nature such as relig nmnatn, fay rejectn, or ncealment of sexual orientatn; 2) those affected by this strs start to expect the events and therefore bee more vigilant; 3) over time, some of the negative attus bee ternalized (Meyer, 2003).
ParticipantsWe reced middle-aged gay men g a variety of methods such as postg flyers at 12-step centers, ntactg agenci throughout Los Angel County that serve gay men, and cha samplg (N = 30).
MIDDLE-AGED GAY MEN
We partnered wh a muny-based anizatn that operat three alhol and substance abe centers Los Angel County that clus programmg targetg gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr populatns.