Gay Culture: Ancient Wonr or Morn Creatn? - JSTOR Daily

Contents:

• NONVERBAL BEHAVR AND LBIAN/GAY ORIENTATN
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
• REVIEWSOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIL ASPECTS OF GAY INTY VELOPMENT
• GAY CULTURE: ANCIENT WONR OR MORN CREATN?
• SURPRISG THGS WE OWE TO THE GAY COMMUNY
• DISPTG CULTURAL SELV: CONSTCTG GAY AND LBIAN INTI RURAL LOL

NONVERBAL BEHAVR AND LBIAN/GAY ORIENTATN

Helpful rpons of a therapist treatg an dividual who is troubled about her or his same sex attractns clu helpg that person actively pe wh social prejudic agast homosexualy, succsfully rolve issu associated wh and rultg om ternal nflicts, and actively lead a happy and satisfyg life. The phrase “g out” is ed to refer to several aspects of lbian, gay, and bisexual persons’ experienc: self-awarens of same-sex attractns; the tellg of one or a few people about the attractns; wispread disclosure of same-sex attractns; and intifitn wh the lbian, gay, and bisexual muny.

The Ksey report of 1948, for example, found that 30 percent of adult Amerin mal among Ksey’s subjects had engaged some homosexual activy and that 10 percent reported that their sexual practice had been exclively homosexual for a perd of at least three years between the ag of 16 and 55. In rponse to their activism, many jurisdictns enacted laws banng discrimatn agast homosexuals, and an creasg number of employers Ameri and European untri agreed to offer “domtic partner” benefs siar to the health re, life surance and, some s, pensn benefs available to heterosexual married upl. However, most shared wh gay men the sire to have a secure place the world muny at large, unchallenged by the fear of vlence, the stggle for equal treatment unr the law, the attempt to silence, and any other form of civil behavur that impos send-class article was most recently revised and updated by Alison Eldridge.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

The existence of a larger muny cludg gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenred people has also been qutned by notg the excln of some of the groups by others; for example, bi-phobia among gays and lbians, transphobia among non-trans LGB people, or lack of clivens of lbians gay ix.

This may be due to larger numbers of men than women or transgenr people g out, may be due to gay men typilly beg more brash their g out, or may be due to Amerin culture as a whole still seeg men and male experience as the central experience culture, even if the men qutn are transgrsg om the norm.

REVIEWSOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIL ASPECTS OF GAY INTY VELOPMENT

For example, many cultur, people who are attracted to people of the same sex — that is, those who ntemporary Wtern culture would intify as gay, lbian, or bisexual — are classed as a third genr, together wh people who would the Wt be classified as transgenr or transsexual. Biblil terpretatn ma illegal for a woman to wear pants or a man to adopt female drs, and sensatnalized public trials warned agast “viants” but also ma such martyrs and hero popular: Joan of Arc is one example, and the chillg origs of the word “faggot” clu a stick of wood ed public burngs of gay men. This creasg awarens of an existg and vulnerable populatn, upled wh Senator Joseph McCarthy’s vtigatn of homosexuals holdg ernment jobs durg the early 1950s outraged wrers and feral employe whose own liv were shown to be send-class unr the law, cludg Frank Kameny, Barbara Gtgs, Allen Gsberg, and Harry Hay.

Fstrated wh the male learship of most gay liberatn groups, lbians fluenced by the femist movement of the 1970s formed their own llectiv, rerd labels, mic ftivals, newspapers, bookstor, and publishg ho, and lled for lbian rights mastream femist groups like the Natnal Organizatn for Women. The creasg expansn of a global LGBT rights movement suffered a setback durg the 1980s, as the gay male muny was cimated by the Aids epimic, mands for passn and medil fundg led to renewed alns between men and women as well as angry street theatre by groups like Aids Coaln to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and Queer Natn. Wh greater media attentn to gay and lbian civil rights the 1990s, trans and tersex voic began to ga space through works such as Kate Boernste’s “Genr Outlaw” (1994) and “My Genr Workbook” (1998), Ann Fsto-Sterlg’s “Myths of Genr” (1992) and Llie Feberg’s “Transgenr Warrrs” (1998), enhancg shifts women’s and genr studi to bee more clive of transgenr and nonbary inti.

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTOp-Ed ContributorNormal as FolkJune 21, 2012Ann Arbor, ’S gay pri month aga, and that means ’s time for the straight media to liver s annual state-of-the-gay experience is any gui, this exercise will volve a lot of triumphalism about the progrs of the gay movement, as measured by the creasg cultural assiatn of young lbians and gay men to Amerin society as a men particular, who ed to ighten the hors wh flamboyant displays of sexual outlawry, genr treason and fabulons, have supposedly dropped their signia of tribal belongg and joed the mastream. Olr gay men may still thrill to torch songs, show tun, classic Hollywood melodramas and Lalique; they may still spend hours arrangg the furnure jt all that foofy stuff looks irrelevant to morn gay men, who don’t see themselv as belongg to a separate culture, let alone such a queeny one. At least sce the 1970s, gay men have been drawg vid generatnal parisons between gay boys their teens and 20s — morn, liberated, enlightened, untouched by gay culture, “utterly distguishable om straight boys” and “pletely lm about beg gay” (as Andrew Holleran put his 1978 novel, “Dancer From the Dance”) — and olr gay men, fanatilly attached to an outdated gay culture and nvced that is the only gay culture there is.

GAY CULTURE: ANCIENT WONR OR MORN CREATN?

(Of urse, those sorry gay men their 30s and 40s, who allegedly clg to an outmod, passé versn of gay culture, mt be the very same people who, only a few years earlier, were those pneerg gay teenagers, takg their first nocent steps a brave new world whout homophobia, ignorant of gay culture and different to . Instead of worryg that the feme associatns of diva worship, terr ratg or the performg arts may make gay male psychology look diseased, the real qutn we should ask about gay style is what s refal of nonil masculy achiev and what enabl s practners, straight or gay, to quire to melodrama, mp, irony, drag, bodybuildg or Art De as “gay” styl is to seek the ntent of gay culture s practic — to scribe the terventn gay culture mak the world as is given.

It is argued that, orr to velop an effective theory of gay inty velopment, empiril rearch should foc upon the levels of analysis, acknowledgg that there is a dynamic terplay between them; the multiplicy of inty self (nsistg of sometim petg elements); and the motiv that unrp the nstctn, management and protectn of inty (prcipally self-teem, self-efficy, ntuy, posive distctivens and belonggns). Gregory Woods’ HOMINTERN: How Gay Culture Liberated the Morn World is a vast, cultural atlas of a book that maps the migratn of (mostly upper class) gay and lbian creativ throughout the twentieth century, tracg the diverse and rmal works that gay people the arts njured for themselv.

In orr to prepare graduat to provi affirmative and appropriate re pennt practice, or other clil settgs, psychology trag programs should require standards for asssg and addrsg cultural petence for trae so that they are prepared to work wh lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr clients. The prent paper is an attempt to beg velopg those standards and the remendatns offered should be nsired ncert wh the other papers this special the prent paper, the followg fns are specified to characterize the diversy found wh the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr muni. Although there are a number of fns of cultural petence, the nstct has generally been fed as havg a necsary unrstandg of cultural fluenc to provi appropriate re for patients om a diverse cultural group, which may or may not differ om the background of the clician (see Hays, 2001; Sue, Zane, Nagayama Hall, & Berger, 2009).

SURPRISG THGS WE OWE TO THE GAY COMMUNY

Internatnally, untri that have basic human rights laws clive of sexual and genr mory dividuals stand ntrast to the recent spate of legal barriers to equaly such as the threat of the ath penalty for homosexualy Uganda (Cowell, 2013), up to 10 years for “homosexual acts” India (Harris, 2013), and crimalizatn of LGBT tn Rsia (Herszenhorn, 2013). The panelists agreed that practners should be faiar wh the scientific lerature on sexual orientatn formatn, the gree to which LGB issu were related to client goals, and the role of dividual and stutnal homophobia (and transphobia) the liv of LGBT people (Eubanks-Carter, Burckell, & Goldied, 2005).

Some remend tl clu: Cognive-Behavral Therapi wh Lbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients (Martell, Saen, & Prce, 2003), the Handbook of Counselg and Psychotherapy wh Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Clients (Bichke, Perez, & DeBord, 2007), and the Handbook of Affirmative Psychotherapy wh Lbians and Gay Men (Rter & Tendp, 2002). Guile 19 stat that psychologists [should] strive to clu lbian, gay, and bisexual issu profsnal tn and trag, while guile 20 stat that psychologists are enuraged to “crease their knowledge and unrstandg of homosexualy and bisexualy through ntug tn, trag, supervisn, and nsultatn.

DISPTG CULTURAL SELV: CONSTCTG GAY AND LBIAN INTI RURAL LOL

Although neher the accredatn guil nor the lerature pot to a specified number of clil hours or practice-based activi orr to achieve petence workg wh lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr clients, we remend that graduate programs require direct clil experienc workg wh the LGBT populatn. Addnal areas that should be nsired for tegratn for those terted specializatn LGBT health at the fellowship level clu: (a) human sexualy, genr inty, and multidimensnal mols of sexual orientatn and genr inty velopment over the lifpan; (b) mental health issu and dispari affectg lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr dividuals; (c) lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr inty velopment a heteronormative society, cludg ethnic and cultural factors affectg inty; (d) the effects of stigmatizatn upon lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr dividuals, upl, and fai; (e) tersectnaly of multiple inti; (f) unique reer velopment and workplace issu experienced by LGBT dividuals; (g) nontradnal relatnship forms, e.

It is also reasonable to expect postdoctoral fellows to be a part of profsnal anizatns that are associated wh LGBT health broadly an extensive review of the most current science, the APA published new practice guil for workg wh lbian, gay, and bisexual clients (Amerin Psychologil Associatn, 2012). At least one CEU should be dited to issu of cultural petence wh sexual and genr, we broan the discsn wh a few addnal remendatns and nclns orr to provi a profsnal ntext of sexual and genr mory Profsnal ContextIt has been over 40 years sce the Amerin Psychologil Associatn classified homosexualy as a mental disorr and stead regnized that variatn human sexualy is normal (Amerin Psychologil Associatn, 1975).