Sexuality Orientation: Gay, Straight, or Bi? Chapter 15 Sexuality Orientation: Gay, Straight, or Bi? Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-1

Sexual Orientation Sexual orientation- a person’s erotic and emotional orientation toward members of his or her own gender or members of the other gender Homosexual - a person whose sexual orientation is toward members of the same gender Bisexual - a person whose sexual orientation is toward both men and women Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-2

Sexual Orientation Lesbian - a woman whose sexual orientation is toward other women Gay - refers to homosexual; especially male homosexuals Straight - heterosexual LGB - abbreviation that stands for lesbians, gays and bisexuals Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-3

Attitudes Toward Gays and Lesbians Attitudes - many Americans disapprove of homosexuality (57% in one study) Homophobia - a strong, irrational fear of homosexuals; negative attitudes and reactions to homosexuals Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-4

Attitudes Toward Gays and Lesbians Antigay prejudice - negative attitudes and behaviors toward gays and lesbians Hate Crimes Statistics Act - passed in 1990; included gays and lesbians Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-5

Gays and Lesbians as a Minority Group Job and wage discrimination Receive dishonorable discharges from the armed services Fired from federal employment Change must occur at many levels, as well as society and its institutions to prevent or end this prejudice Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-6

Life Experiences of LGBs Covert - a homosexual who is “in the closet,” who keeps his or her sexual orientation a secret Overt - a homosexual who is “out of the closet,” who is open about their sexual orientation There are varying degrees of covert and overt homosexuality Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-7

Coming Out The process of acknowledging to oneself, and then to others, that one is gay or lesbian Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-8

Coming Out Six stages of identity development: Identity confusion Identity comparison Identity tolerance Identity acceptance Identity pride Identity synthesis Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-9

Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Communities Many LGB communities exist in neighborhoods in large cities Gay bars Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-10

Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Communities Gay baths - majority were closed in the 1980’s, but have been resurrected in the 1990’s Gay liberation movement Metropolitan Community Church Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-11

Gay and Lesbian Relationships They have similar issues as heterosexual couples Like heterosexuals they must find a balance between 3 aspects of the relationship: Attachment Autonomy Equality Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-12

Lesbian and Gay Families Most children growing up in gay and lesbian families have a heterosexual orientation Heterosexuality of parents is not essential for healthy child development Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-13

How Many People Are Gay, Straight, or Bi? The percentage of gay and lesbian people ranges from 1% to 10%, depending upon the study Probably about 92% of men, and 95% of women are exclusively heterosexual Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-14

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-15

Sexual Orientation and Mental Health Sin and the medical model - view used to be that homosexuality was a sin or a heresy; the view has been replaced by the medical model; now viewed as a sickness or illness Being called “sick” could be considered as another form of persecution of gays and lesbians Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-16

Research Results Three kinds of research designs have been used to study homosexuality: Clinical studies Studies with control groups Nonpatient research Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-17

Can Sexual Orientation Be Changed by Psychotherapy? Sexual dissatisfaction - Masters and Johnson’s term for the discontent of gays and lesbians who seek therapy to become heterosexual Conversion therapy - any one of a number of treatments designed to turn LGBs into heterosexuals Conversion therapy has been around for over 100 years Traditionally, psychologists have achieved a change rate of only about 10% in converting gays to straights Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-18

Why do People Become Homosexual or Heterosexual? Biological Theories Genetic factors Prenatal factors Brain factors Hormonal imbalance Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-19

Why do People Become Homosexual or Heterosexual? Psychoanalytic Theory Freudian Theory Bieber’s research Learning Theory Interactionist Theory - Bem: the exotic becomes erotic Sociological Theory Effects of labeling Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-20

Empirical Data Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith’s conclusions: Sexual orientation seems to be determined before adolescence It is likely that there is a biological basis for homosexuality No single factor emerges as a cause of homosexuality or of lesbianism Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-21

Sexual Orientation in Multicultural Perspective Different cultures hold different views of same-gender sexual behavior Less tolerance for homosexuality in the African American community Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-22

Sexual Orientation in Multicultural Perspective The very definition of homosexuality is set by culture Some ethnic groups are even more disapproving of homosexuality than are U.S. whites Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-23

Bisexuality Ambisexual - another term for bisexual; a person whose sexual orientation is toward both women and men Sexual identity and sexual behavior Sexual identity - one’s self-identity as homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual Bisexual development Deprivation homosexuality - homosexual activity that occurs in certain situations, such as prisons, when people are deprived of their regular heterosexual activity Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1-24