MULTI-OPPRESSION
SENSITIVE DRAWINGS OF SEXUAL ACTIVITY IN HUMAN SEXUALITY TEXTBOOKS: AN ANALYSIS ON COMMUNICATION AND BIAS, CAROL A. POLLIS, JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY, 1986, VOL 13(1), P59-73.
Sensitive drawings are a distinctive genre of explicit sexual imagery which has become a standard way of illustrating sexual acts in human sexuality textbooks. This essay presents an analysis of signs defining age, ethnic status, class, and sexual identity encoded in such sensitive drawings as used in 23 recent text-books and of the biases which this encoding reflects. The strong class and heterosexual biases characterizing the images are consistent with those found in the sex manuals which inspired the style of drawing. Functions of the drawings and their relationship to the texts' written materials are discussed, and it is argued that the biases mirror problems in treatment of social class and sexuality and in the treatment of sexual acts, e.g. masturbation, oral sex, anal sex, and coitus, as they relate to sexual identities.
INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE. COUNSELORS BE AWARE: CLIENTS COME IN EVERY SIZE, SHAPE, COLOR, AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION, SARI H. DWORKIN, FERNANDO GUTIERREZ, JOURNAL OF COUNSELING & DEVELOPMENT, 1989, VOL 68, , P6-8.
In order to guarantee that each indibidual is free to pursue his/her potential, each member of AACD is charged to (a) engage in ongoing examination of his/her own attitudes, feelings, stereotyupic views, perceptions and behaviors that might have prejudicial or limiting impact on women, ethnic minorities, elderly persons, gay/lesbian persons and persons with handicapping conditions; (b) contribute to an increased sensitivity on the part of other individuals, groups or institutions to the barriers to opportunity imposed by discrimination; (c) advocate equal rights for all individuals through concerted personal, professional and political activity. (Position paper of the Human Rights Committee of the American Association for Counseling and Development, 1987, p1)
PATHS TOWARD DIVERSITY: AN INTRAPSYCHIC PERSPECTIVE, SUSAN E. BARRET, WOMEN & THERAPY, 1990, VOL 9(1/2), P41-52.
The life experience of an individual woman has an impact on the ideas she contributes to feminist therapy theory. One critical dimension of her life is her personal journey of identifying as a member of a minority group and learning self-value as a result. The Minority Identity Development Model developed by Sue (1981) and Atkinson, Morton, and Sue (1983) is used here to describe a process of self-valuation. The connection between self-valuing and the development of feminist therapy theory is explored, with emphasis placed on the need for diversity in the development of a feminist theory.
CROSS REFERENCE
ADOLESCENCE
VICTIMIZATION OF LESBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL YOUTH IN COMMUNITY SETTINGS, NEIL W. PILKINGTON, ANTHONY R. D'AUGELLI, JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOTHERAPY, 1995, VOL 23, JANUARY, P33-56.
One hundred ninety-four lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth between the ages of 15 and 21 were surveyed about victimization due to their sexual orientation. Three areas were assessed: (1) the prevalence of different kinds of victimization, ranging form verbal abuse to armed assault; (2) the specific social contexts in which anti-lesbian/gay victimization occurred, including family, school, work, and the broader community; and (3) correlates of anti-lesbian/gay victimization, including age-related sexual orientation milestones, concealability of sexual orientation, sex, race/ethnicity, and safety fears. Most respondents had experienced some form of victimization, with no social environment being free from risk of harm. Particularly vulnerable for abuse were youth who self-labeled or self-disclosed at an earlier age and those whose sexual orientation was less concealed or concealable.
ATTITUDES
RELIGIOUS ORIENTATION AND PREJUDICE: A COMPARISON OF RACIAL AND SEXUAL ATTITUDES, GREGORY M. HEREK, PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN, 1987, VOL 13(1) P34-44.
Past research on the relationship between religious orientation and prejudice against out-groups has focused on racism. A greater tendency toward racist attitudes has been found among persons with an external religious orientation, whereas an intrinsic orientation has sometimes been associated with tolerance. This study examined the influence of religious orientation on attitudes toward an out-group not widely accepted by contemporary religions: lesbians and gay men. Using questionnaire data from white, heterosexual students on four university campuses, an extrinsic orientation was found to be positively correlated with racism, while an intrinsic orientation was not. Intrinsics, however, tended to be more prejudiced against gay people than were extrinsics. It is suggested that an intrinsic orientation does not foster unequivocal acceptance of others but instead encourages tolerance toward specific groups that are accepted by contemporary Judeo-Christian teachings. The hypothesis is discussed that attitudes toward outgroups serve different psychological functions for persons with extrinsic and intrinsic orientations.
RACISM, SEXISM, AND EROTOPHOBIA: ATTITUDES OF HETEROSEXUALS TOWARD HOMOSEXUALS, THOMAS J. FICARROTTO, JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY, 1990, VOL 19(1), P111-116.
This investigation examines the differential power of explanation of a sexual conservatism theory of homophobia against a more general theory of intergroup prejudice. Forty-eight female and 31 male undergraduate introductory psychology students from a large Eastern university completed a survey assessing contemporary attitudes toward women, Blacks, and homosexuals, as well as their affective orientation towards sex. The results indicated that sexual conservatism, as measured by an affective dimension of erotophila-erotophobia, and social prejudice, as measured by racist and sexist beliefs, are independent and equal predictors of antihomosexual sentiment. It is suggested that distinct etiological differences may exist in the development of the homophobic personality. Findings are discussed within the context of Herek's (1984) functional approach to understanding attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.
BLACK AND MINORITY ETHNIC LESBIANS
AN ANALYSIS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES: A MULTICULTURAL APPROACH TO COUNSELING, CHRISTINE K. HO, WOMEN & THERAPY, 1990, VOL 9(1/2), P129-150.
This article presents a preliminary analysis of domestic violence in Asian American communities, and reports results from a focus group study on domestic violence in Southeast Asians (Laotians, Khmer, Vietnamese, and Chinese). It examines the influence of traditional Asian values, the assimilation of process into American cultures, and the impact of sexism and racism on the oppression of Asian women. It is suggested that traditional Asian values of close family ties, harmony, and order may not discourage physical and verbal abuse in the privacy of one's home; these values may only support the minimization and hiding of such problems. The role of the cultural values of fatalism, perseverance, and self-restraint reduce the incentive of Asian American women to change their oppressive situations. The results from the focus group study have implications for clinical and community intervention.
JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY, 1993, VOL 26(2/3) SPECIAL ISSUE: CRITICAL ESSAYS: GAY AND LESBIAN WRITERS OF COLOR INCLUDES:
SURVEYING THE INTERSECTION: PATHOLOGY, SECRECY, AND THE DISCOURSES OF RACIAL AND SEXUAL IDENTITY, M. DIGGS, P1-19.
"Surveying the Intersection: Patholody, Secrecy, and the Discourses of Racial and Sexual Identity" cautions against the risks of metaphorical imperialism in readings of codified gay and lesbian representation. Taking issue with Foucault's suggestion that the secret of the nineteenth century was the secret of sex, I suggest that, in nineteenth-century American culture, where African-American identity and equality were among the most controversial issues of the century, the secrets of identity were secrets of race as well. Because scientific and literary representations of pathological and/or secret, essential identities are sites of intersection in the discourses of homosexual and mixed-race identity, they should be investigated as intersections, rather than read as codifications of sexual difference.
Surveying the discourses of scientific racism, genetics, and eugenics, and doing readings of Frances E.W. Harper's Iola Leroy and Alice Dunbar-Nelson's "The Stones of the Village," I suggest that Harper's representation of the mulatto leader can be read as an act of resistance to the representation of the mulatto as a degenerate, hybrid species; and that in Dunbar-Nelson's story, the thematics of passing, secrecy, and the fear of detection, while having a recognizable homoerotic quality, should not be read simply as a codification of homosexual difference and panic. I conclude with a call for more work on historicizing the intersection of racial and sexual identity in the discourses of pathology and degeneration.
PREMATURE GESTURES: A SPECULATIVE DIALOGUE ON ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER LESBIAN AND GAY WRITING, A Y. HOM & MING-YUEN S. MA, P21-51.
A collaborative exploration of the political realities and implications faced by self-identified Asian Pacific Islander lesbian and gay writers. Mixed-genre piece combining the essay and dialogue form, it contains sections co-written as well as individual pieces by the authors. The issues touched upon through this discussion are: available community-based writing, relation between grassroots political organizing and writing, API and lesbian/gay identity issues, internalized racism and homophobia, and other barriers for API lesbian and gay writers.
MYTH SMASHERS, MYTH MAKERS: (RE)VISIONARY TECHNIQUES IN THE WORKS OF PAULA GUNN ALLEN, GLORIA ANZALDUA, AND AUDRE LORDE, AL. KEATING, P73-95.
"BEING BRIDGES": CLEAVER/BALDWIN/LORDE AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN SEXISM AND SEXUALITY, S. WALDREP, P167-180.
In an attempt to place James Baldwin and his ideas within the context of a debate on black sexuality and sexism, this paper begins with a section on Eldridge Cleaver and his critique of Baldwin's position on sexuality and race. Cleaver's own homophobia and misreading of Baldwin's essays and published comments on Richard Wright contribute to his inability to grasp Baldwin's sophisticated analysis of race/sexuality/sexism within Western culture. The second section takes up Baldwin explicitly and attempts both to outline his position more fully and to suggest the breadth and depth of his analysis of sexuality and the work yet to be done to chart it. In the final section of the paper I turn to Audre Lorde in order to update the critique of Baldwin's position within the debate. Lorde, like many other contemporary writer-theorists, sees the terms of the discussion, differently from Baldwin. She agrees with his hatred of racism, homophobia, and sexism, but she disagrees with his solution that acceptance and "brotherly" love are a solution to the real problems facing black (and gay) people today. She posits a belief in the necessity for delineating the particular subject position she holds: black, lesbian, female, Western, etc., and she is wary of any allegiances that might elide the clues to her oppression. The paper attempts to demonstrate that these differing positions are, nevertheless, linked in ways historical and otherwise.
"THE VERY HOUSE OF DIFFERENCE": ZAMI, AUDRE LORDE'S LESBIAN-CENTERED TEXT, C. KADER, P181-194.
Locating the feminist subject at the intersection of shifting social groups, or "homes," allows me to explore the connections between concepts of home and identity in Audre Lorde's "biomythography," Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. While Lorde's writing attends to the complex intersections of race, gender, and sexuality, as the prologue to the text makes apparent, it also testifies to the "naturalness" of lesbianism as the ground of writing, thinking, and acting. In Lorde's text, the lesbian body figures neither as an essential or fixed identity nor as the site for a unified conception of community or home, but rather, as a paradigm for a new kind of writing - one which inhabits the very house of difference.
EDUCATION
DEALING WITH PREJUDICE AND CONFLICT IN THE CLASSROOM: THE PINK TRIANGLE EXERCISE, MARK A. CHESLER, XIMENA ZUNIGA, TEACHING SOCIOLOGY, 1991, VOL 19 (APRIL), P173-181.
A classroom exercise designed to explore students' attitudes and encounters with homophobia and discrimination against gay males and lesbians asked students to wear a pink triangle for one day. Students reported their internal conflicts - fears and anxieties - about identifying with gay and lesbian people, their external conflicts - encounters with peer pressure and prejudice - and their own efforts to assert a progressive and anti-discriminatory stance in the midst of these situations. In classroom discussion a heated encounter between a straight male and a gay male brought these issues into direct, personal focus and manadated the use of creative conflict management techniques to preserve open dialogue and positive learning. The exercise, and the classroom encounter, have great utility for examining other forms of oppression and discrimination and for experiential learning about important social psychological principles.
EMPLOYMENT
WE'RE COUNTING ON EQUALITY, MONITORING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WORKPLACE IN RELATION TO SEX, RACE, DISABILITY, SEXUALITY, HIV/AIDS, AND AGE, MAREE GLADWIN, CITY CENTRE, 32-35 FEATHERSTONE ST, LONDON, EC1Y 8QX.
MEDIA
OUT OF THE MAINSTREAM: SEXUAL MINORITIES AND THE MASS MEDIA, LARRY GROSS, JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY, 1991, VOL 21(1/2), P19-47.
In a society dominated by centralized sources of information and imagery, in which economic imperatives and pervasive soures of values promote the search for large, common-denominator audiences, it is useful to look at the fate of those who, for one reason or another, find themselves outside of the mainstream. This paper addresses the general qustions of minority perspectives in the context of the study of mass media content and effects. More specific attention is paid to the situation of lesbian women and gay men as members of the mass media audience.
MENTAL
HEALING FROM CULTURAL VICTIMIZATION: RECOVERY FROM SHAME DUE TO HETEROSEXISM, J.H. NEISEN, JOURNAL OF GAY & LESBIAN PSYCHOTHERAPY, 1993, VOL 2(1), P49-63.
The author draws parallels between the painful effects of sexual/physical abuse and heterosexism. Heterosexism is defined as a form of cultural victimization that oppresses gay/lesbian/bisexual persons. Heterosexism stymies individual growth and development just as individuals who have been sexually/physically abused struggle with the painful effects of their own victimization. Recognizing heterosexism as a form of victimization and abuse, the parallels between the effects of sexual/physical abuse and heterosexism become more clear. A paradigm based on the healing process for individuals who have been sexually/physically abused can also be used with individuals who have been culturally victimized. The utility of the paradigm is in providing helping professionals and their gay/lesbian/bisexual clients a means to articulate (1) how heterosexism is abusive, (2) the painful consequences of victimization, and (3) the healing process.
SUICIDE
AN ANALYSIS OF AGE, GENDER AND RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN RECENT NATIONAL TRENDS OF YOUTH SUICIDE, C. RAYMOND BINGHAM, LAYNE D. BENNION, D. KIM OPENSHAW AND GERALD R. ADAMS, JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE, 1994, VOL 17, P53-71.
Using estimated poulation figures generated by the National Center for Health Statistics, national mortality data for 1979 and 1984 were converted to rates of suicide per 100,000 living population. Using these adjusted rates of suicide, Multiple Classification Analysis was used to test main and interaction effects of historical time period, race, sex and age group on the adjusted rates of suicide. The data showed no overall change in rates of suicide from 1979 to 1984. Only main effects for race, sex and age were significant predictors of total suicide rates. Results indicate that males are at greater risk for suicide than same-race females and the rates of suicide increase rapidly with age. In addition, race patterns reveal that Caucasian adolescents and adolescents from other non-African American races are at nearly equal risk for suicide, with African American adolescents demonstrating a significantly lower risk of suicide. Future research should examine differences in suicide risk among members of more specifically defined racial groups.
THERAPY
PSYCHOTHERAPY WITH LESBIANS, DOROTHY I. RIDDLE, JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, 1978, VOL 34(3), P384-100.
Psychotherapeutic work with lesbians is confounded by both sexist and heterosexist factors. This paper traces three aspects of women's socialization - self-concept, feminine sex-role behavior, and sexuality - which have particular implications for lesbians and discusses the implications of these three in therapy. The impact of women's conditioning to base self-esteem on acceptance by others is noted, particularly as such conditioning combines with the cumulative stresses of lesbian life. Finally, examples of ways in which heterosexual bias may become apparent in therapy are given, and alternative therapeutic approaches are discussed.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN COUNSELING GENDER, RACE, AND CULTURALLY DISTINCT GROUPS, SUSAN E. CAYLEFF, JOURNAL OF COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT, 1986, VOL 64, P345-347.
This article addresses the complex ethical and cultural issues that arise when counseling women, Blacks ethnic minorities, poor people, lesbians, and gays. Common dilemmas arising from the social context of the counselor-client relationship, the need to respect client autonomy, and the imperative for ethical and quality health care are outlined and discussed and management strategies are suggested.
LESBIAN CAREER DEVELOPMENT, WORK BEHAVIOR, AND VOCATIONAL COUNSELING, KRIS S. MORGAN, LAURA S. BROWN, THE COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST, 1991, VOL 19(2),
P273-291.
Women's career development has recently been a popular topic in counseling psychology, for both theoretical and empirical work. This article extends that line of inquiry to address the unique career development issues of lesbians. The available literature on lesbians and work is reviewed, and parallels are drawn between the work experiences of lesbians, nonlesbian women, and other minority status groups. Three models of career development in women (Astin, 1985; Farmer, 1985; Gottfredson, 1981) are presented, and the applicability of each theory to increasing understanding of lesbian experience is explored. Implications for vocational and work-related counseling for lesbians are suggested, and recommendations for the field are made.
© J. Bridget/Lesbian Information Service