Sexual Orientation

1. Sexual Orientation PSYC 3570: Multicultural Issues in Psychology

2. Definition of terms • Sex • Gender • Gender identity • Gender expression

3. Definition of terms • Sex • Refers to a person’s biological status (M, F, or I.S.) • Gender • Refers to the attitudes and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex. • Gender identity • Refers to one’s sense of oneself (M,F, or T.G.) • Gender expression • Refers to the way in which a person acts to communicate their gender.

4. Sexual Orientation • Refers to the sex of those to whom one is sexually and romantically attracted. • Typically: • Gay • Lesbian • Heterosexual • Bisexual • Or is it a continuum?

5. The Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale Which of the following 7 statements best describes your past sexual experiences? Please rate yourself in terms of overt actions only, not in terms of psychological or sexual arousal. Read ALL responses before indicating your answer. Pick only ONE Response. (Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6. The Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale Which of the following 7 statements best describes your psychological reactions? Please rate yourself in terms of sexual arousal only, not overt experiences. Read ALL responses before indicating an answer. Pick only ONE response. (Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7. What defines sexual orientation? • Sexual experiences (what you do / have done) vs. • Sexual arousal (what turns you on) • What do you think?

8. The Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale Sexual Orientation as a Continuum: Strictly Heterosexual Strictly Homosexual Bisexual 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9. Sexual Orientation as an Identity • What does it mean to self-identify as GLHB? • Does it matter? • Is it important to you and how you view yourself? • “What are you?” • What others think • Coming Out, Being Out, Getting Called Out

10. To complicate things further… • Intersection of multiple identities: • Wanda Sykes on being gay and Black: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_wWJ-_4uSY Gay Black

11. To complicate things further… • Intersection of multiple identities: Gay Latino White

12. To complicate things further… • Intersection of multiple identities: Bisexual White Deaf

13. To complicate things further… • Intersection of multiple identities: Heterosexual Ally (Brother is gay) Muslim

14. To complicate things further… • Intersection of multiple identities: Lesbian African American Christian

15. Intersection of Race & Sexual Orientation • Cultivating both a sexual and a racial identity • Both can take time, and each may develop at a different pace • Resolving potential conflicts in allegiance to one group or the other • When you can only pick one side: whose side are you on? • Negotiating stigmas because of both homophobia and racism • Having people of your same race reject you based on your sexual orientation • Having people of your same sexual orientation reject you based on your race

16. Intersection of Race & Religion • Cultivating both a sexual and a religious identity • Resolving potential conflicts in allegiance to one group or the other • When you can only pick one side: whose side are you on? • Negotiating stigmas because of both homophobia and hate/fear of religion • Having people of your same religion reject you based on your sexual orientation • Having people of your same sexual orientation reject you based on your religion

17. Sexual Orientation & the Bible • Does the Bible state that homosexuality is forbidden by God? • What do you think? / What have you heard?

18. Sexual Orientation & the Bible • Does the Bible state that homosexuality is forbidden by God? • Depends how you interpret it… • Bible condemns violence, idolatry, and exploitation, not same-gender sexual behaviors per se. • There was no word in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek for “homosexual” or “homosexuality”. • In the Bible, marriage was NOT an equal partnership but a matter of a man owning a woman or women as property. • The Biblical concept of marriage is not the same as the concept of marriage today.

19. Homelessness • July 2012 report from the Williams Institute: • 40% of homeless youth are LGBT • Note that LGBT youth make up no more than 10% of the general youth population • 68% respondents indicated that family rejection was a major contributing factor • 54% indicated that abuse in their family was another contributing factor http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/press-releases/94-of-homeless-youth-service-providers-report-serving-lgbt-youth/

20. Hate Crimes • 1 in 10 adult sexual minority individuals has been victim to a violent crime. • 50% of all gay men and lesbians have experienced being verbally insulted or abused. • 20% of all gay men and lesbians have experienced a crime against their person or property.

21. Hate Crimes • Sexual orientation ranks as the 3rd highest motivator for hate crime incidents, accounting for 17% of all reported hate crimes. • Victimization based on sexual orientation is linked to greater risk for depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder than are other forms of violence.

22. The Solution? • Main factor contributing to violence against sexual minorities is sexual prejudice (prejudice based on sexual orientation). • Gordon Allport, 1954: The Contact Hypothesis • That contact with a minority group can result in the reduction of prejudice that the majority group holds against that minority group: • That contact can reduce prejudice. • Contact with sexual minorities may lead to the reduction of sexual prejudice.

23. The Contact Hypothesis • Allport argued that 4 conditions must be met in order to reduce prejudice via contact: • (1) there must be equal status between the groups involved, • (2) the groups must have common goals, • (3) they must participate in intergroup cooperation, • & (4) the interaction between the groups must receive institutional support (i.e.: by law, custom, or general local social climate). - Examples? - Do you think all 4 conditions are necessary? - What studies so far have found

24. The Marriage Equality Debate

25. The Marriage Equality Debate • March 2013: • Supreme Court heard cases for and against DOMA (The Defense of Marriage Act) and California’s Proposition 8. • What’s DOMA? • What’s Prop. 8? • When will the court decide? • 2.7 million users changed their profile pictures on Facebook to a pink-on-red equal sign to show support for same-sex marriage • Did you? What’s your stance on this issue?

26. Sexual Orientation & the Media • Will and Grace • Queer Eye for the Straight Guy • The L Word • Queer as Folk • Sex and the City • The Ellen Show • Modern Family • The New Normal • What are some other examples? • Mostly gay men, mostly White?

27. History in Psychology • Freud’s take on homosexuality: • (1935) "Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation, it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc.). It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime, and cruelty too.... “

28. History in Psychology • The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (or DSM) is the American Psychiatric Association’s guide for diagnoses: • DSM-I / the original DSM (1952) • DSM-II (1968) • DSM-II, 7th printing (1974)* • DSM-III (1980) • DSM-III R (1987) • DSM-IV (1994) • DSM-IV TR (2000) • DSM-V is due to come out this May (2013)

29. History in Psychology • DSM-II (pre-1974): • 302 Sexual deviations: This category is for individuals whose sexual interests are directed primarily toward objects other than people of the opposite sex, toward sexual acts not usually associated with coitus, or toward coitus performed under bizarre circumstances as in necrophilia, pedophilia, sexual sadism, and fetishism. Even though many find their practices distasteful, they remain unable to substitute normal sexual behavior for them. This diagnosis is not appropriate for individuals who perform deviant sexual acts because normal sexual objects are not available to them: 302.0 Homosexuality 302.1 Fetishism 302.2 Pedophilia… etc…

30. History in Psychology • Proposed Change in DSM-II: 302.0 Sexual orientation disturbance (Homosexuality): This category is for individuals whose sexual interests are directed primarily toward people of the same sex and who are either disturbed by, in conflict with, or wish to change their sexual orientation. This diagnostic category is distinguished from homosexuality, which by itself does not constitute a psychiatric disorder. Homosexuality per se is one form of sexual behavior and, like other forms of sexual behavior which are not by themselves psychiatric disorders, is not listed in this nomenclature of mental disorders.

31. History in Psychology • DSM-III (1980): • 302.00 Ego-dystonic Homosexuality: The essential features are a desire to acquire or increase heterosexual arousal, so that heterosexual relationships can be initiated or maintained, and a sustained pattern of overt homosexual arousal that the individual explicitly states has been unwanted and a persistent source of distress.

32. Behind the DSM Changes • For the story of what happened behind the scenes between 1968 and 1974: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/204/81-words • An overview: • Gay activists infiltrated several APA conventions • The secret formation of the “GAYPA” • John Fryer (a gay psychiatrist) put on a Nixon mask and spoke at the 1972 APA convention as “Dr. Anonymous” • Dr. Evelyn Hooker conducted a series of studies and established than heterosexuals and homosexuals were not different in any clinically-significant way • Before Hooker, only Kinsey had contributed to the literature on the normality of homosexuality

33. Behind the DSM Changes • On December 15, 1973 the APA called a press conference where they announced to the world that they had approved the deletion of homosexuality from the DSM. • Out of those who were against the change, some continue to argue that homosexuality is a treatable disorder. • Idea of conversion / reparative therapy • Do you think homosexuality is ‘treatable’?

34. What You Can Do • An Ally strives to: • confront his or her own prejudices, • commit him or herself to personal growth in spite of the discomfort it may sometimes cause, • recognize when to refer an individual to additional resources, • engage in the process of developing a culture free of homophobia and heterosexism, • recognize his or her mistakes, • recognize the legal powers and privileges that heterosexuals have and which GLBT people are denied.

35. What You Can Do • Trevor Project: • Preventing Suicide Among LGBTQ Youth: • Trevor Lifeline: 866 488 7386 • “It Gets Better” video series: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jTiwWPkr7A

36. Questions? Comments? • For more resources: • Watch “For the Bible Tells Me So” on Netflix • Go to: www.hrc.org Human Rights Campaign • Go to www.ngltf.org National G & L Task Force • Interested in volunteering for a research lab. that does work related to this topic? Contact me (Irene Daboin): idaboin1@student.gsu.edu