Emotionality in same-sex attracted men’s sexual scripting: four expatriate men in Burma tell their stories

 This thesis uses an autoethnographic approach to investigate how the construction of sexual scripts and sexual interactions of same-sex attracted men are influenced by the interaction and the intersection of sexual identity, desire, gender, emotional scripts and emotional geography; and points to implications for sexual counselling and education.

Out & online; effectiveness of a tailored online multi-symptom mental health and wellbeing program for same-sex attracted young adults: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Same-sex attracted young adults have been found to experience higher rates of mental health problems and greater difficulties in accessing specialist mental health care services compared to their heterosexual peers. Internet-based mental health interventions have the potential to be more engaging and accessible to young adults compared to those delivered face-to-face. However, they are rarely inclusive of lesbian women and gay men. Thus, the current study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an online mental health and wellbeing program, Out & Online (http://www.outandonline.org.au), in comparison to a wait-list control group, for reducing anxiety and depressive symptoms in same-sex attracted young adults aged between 18 and 25 years.

Building healthcare workers' confidence to work with same-sex parented families.

This article reports on a qualitative study of barriers and access to healthcare for same-sex attracted parents and their children. Focus groups were held with same-sex attracted parents to explore their experiences with healthcare providers and identify barriers and facilitators to access. Parents reported experiencing uncomfortable or anxiety-provoking encounters with healthcare workers who struggled to adopt inclusive or appropriate language to engage their family. Parents valued healthcare workers who were able to be open and honest and comfortably ask questions about their relationships and family. A separate set of focus groups were held with mainstream healthcare workers to identity their experiences and concerns about delivering equitable and quality care for same-sex parented families. Healthcare workers reported lacking confidence to actively engage with same-sex attracted parents and their children. This lack of confidence related to workers' unfamiliarity with same-sex parents, or lesbian, gay and bisexual culture, and limited opportunities to gain information or training in this area. Workers were seeking training and resources that offered information about appropriate language and terminology as well as concrete strategies for engaging with same-sex parented families. For instance, workers suggested they would find it useful to have a set of 'door opening' questions they could utilize to ask clients about their sexuality, relationship status or family make-up. This article outlines a set of guidelines for healthcare providers for working with same-sex parented families which was a key outcome of this study.

Psychological wellbeing among same-sex attracted and heterosexual parents: Role of connectedness to family and friendship networks

© 2015 Australian Association of Family Therapy. Increasing numbers of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults are entering into parenthood. Previous studies indicate many of these parents receive little or no support from their families of origin due to family members' negative attitudes toward homosexuality. This study looks at the extent to which LGB parents report a lower sense of connectedness to family of origin and friendship networks than heterosexual parents and whether this has an impact on psychological wellbeing in either of these groups. Data were derived from two studies of parents: Work, Love, Play, a study of Australian and New Zealand LGB parents (n=324); and the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a population-based study of young children and parents (n=6460). Structural equation modelling was used to explore the relationships between: parent sexuality and family/friendship connectedness, family/friendship connectedness and psychological wellbeing, parent sexuality and psychological wellbeing. LGB parents reported feeling less connected to their families of origin but more connected to their friendship groups than heterosexual parents. Counter to previous studies, we found no difference in the psychological wellbeing of LGB parents compared to heterosexual parents when examining the direct effect of sexuality on psychological wellbeing. Clinical implications for counsellors and family therapists are discussed.

Sacredness of the constitutional text and interpretative heresy: the Brazilian Supreme Court decision on same-sex civil unions

The paper provides a close lecture of the arguments and methods of legal construction, employed in the extensive individual opinions written by the Justices of the Brazilian Supreme Court in the case which authorized the same sex civil union. After tracing an outline of the legal problem and his possible solutions, we analyze the individual opinions, showing their methodological syncretism, the use of legal methods and arguments in a contradictory way as well the deficiencies in the reasoning. The Justices use legal arguments, but do not meet the requirements of rationality in the decision-making. We have a rhetorical attempt that aims to satisfy the public opinion than to offer a comprehensive and coherent solution according the normative elements of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988.

Sacredness of the constitutional text and interpretive heresy: the brazilian supreme court decision on same-sex unions

The paper provides a close lecture of the arguments and methods of legal construction, employed in the extensive individual opinions written by the Justices of the Brazilian Supreme Court in the case which authorized the same sex civil union. After tracing an outline of the legal problem and his possible solutions, we analyze the individual opinions, showing their methodological syncretism, the use of legal methods and arguments in a contradictory way as well the deficiencies in the reasoning. The Justices use legal arguments, but do not meet the requirements of rationality in the decision-making. We have a rhetorical attempt that aims to satisfy the public opinion than to offer a comprehensive and coherent solution according the normative elements of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988.

The Effect of Chronic Estrogen Administration on Same-Sex Social Behavior and Central Oxytocin Levels in Prairie Voles (Microtus ochrogaster)

The purpose of our study is to investigate the effects of chronic estrogen administration on same-sex interactions during exposure to a social stressor and on oxytocin (OT) levels in prairie voles (Microtus orchrogaster). Estrogen and OT are two hormones known to be involved with social behavior and stress. Estogen is involved in the transcription of OT and its receptor. Because of this, it is generally thought that estrogen upregulates OT, but evidence to support this assumption is weak. While estrogen has been shown to either increase or decrease stress, OT has been shown to have stress-dampening properties. The goal of our experiment is to determine how estrogen affects OT levels as well as behavior in a social stressor in the voles. In addition, estrogen is required for many opposite-sex interactions, but little is known about its influence on same-sex interactions. We hypothesized that prairie voles receiving chronic estrogen injections would show an increase in OT levels in the brain and alter behavior in response to a social stressor called the resident-intruder test. To test this hypothesis, 73 female prairie voles were ovariectomized and then administered daily injections of estrogen (0.05 ¿g in peanut oil, s.c.) or vehicle for 8 days. On the final day of injections, half of the voles were given the resident-intruder test, a stressful 5 min interaction with a same-sex stranger. Their behavior was video-recorded. These animals were then sacrificed either 10 minutes or 60 minutes after the conclusion of the test. Half of the animals (no stress group) were not given the resident-intruder test. After sacrifice, trunk blood and brains were collected from the animals. Videos of the resident-intruder tests were analyzed for pro-social and aggressive behavior. Density of OT-activated neurons in the brain was measured via pixel count using immunohistochemistry. No differences were found in pro-social behavior (focal sniffing, p = 0.242; focal initiated sniffing p = 0.142; focal initiated sniffing/focal sniffing, p = 0.884) or aggressive behavior (total time fighting, p= 0.763; number of fights, p= 0.148; number of strikes, p = 0.714). No differences were found in activation of OT neurons in the brain, neither in the anterior paraventricular nucleus (PVN) (pixel count p= 0.358; % area that contains pixelated neurons p = 0.443) nor in the medial PVN (pixel count p= 0.999; % area that contains pixelated neurons p = 0.916). These results suggest that estrogen most likely does not directly upregulate OT and that estrogen does not alter behavior in stressful social interactions with a same-sex stranger. Estrogen may prepare the animal to respond to OT, instead of increasing the production of the peptide itself, suggesting that we need to shift the framework in which we consider estrogen and OT interactions.

Tel Aviv - Mumbai - Tel Aviv: Same-Sex couples seeking parenthood in India

In Israel religious belonging remains a central category of citizenship. Laws concerning reproductive technologies such as the surrogacy law from 1996 are strongly informed by Orthodox rabbis’ kinship concepts (Kahn 2000, Shalev 1998, Weisberg 2005). A set of regulations secures that heterosexual Jewish couples bring into being children who are unequivocally Jewish themselves. The Israeli surrogacy law can therefore be understood as part of a policy seeking to reproduce the boundaries of the Jewish-Israeli collective. Same-sex couples do not fit this narrow definition of family and have no access to surrogacy in Israel. Yet gay couples maintain that parenthood is a universal civil right and bypass their exclusion through surrogacy arrangements abroad. The proposed paper follows these couples to Mumbai, which has become a popular destination for surrogacy in recent years. After their children’s birth the couples spend three to five weeks in India. In this time they not only take on their new tasks as fathers. They are also occupied with the bureaucracy of disconnecting the children from India and turning them into Israeli citizens. The paper elaborates on the bureaucratic processes and the hurdles same-sex couples encounter when seeking recognition of their parenthood and citizenship for their children. It unveils the intricacies and ramifications of Israel’s contradicting surrogacy policy of enforcing narrow definitions of family inside the country and simultaneously outsourcing problematic cases.

Why Males ≠ Corvettes, Females ≠ Volvos, and Scientific Criticism ≠ Ideology: A Response to “Equal ≠ The Same: Sex Differences in the Human Brain” by Larry Cahill in Cerebrum

A recent Cerebrum article by Larry Cahill about sex differences in the human brain has prompted a group of women academicians to respond and for the author to reply to their response. We encourage you to evaluate both points of view, as well as the original article, and form your own opinion.

Same-sex attracted youths: Suicide and related factors

Same-sex attracted youths comprise 10 percent to 11 percent of the secondary school population although not all of those who experience same-sex attraction will adopt a gay, lesbian, transgender or transsexual lifestyle. Most, if not all, will experience homophobia in one or more of its forms. Many of these young people will cope well with the heterocentric attitudes and prejudices prevalent in secondary schools and the wider community and make the transition into adulthood having learned how to mask their sexual preferences or develop effective coping mechanisms to deal with homophobia. Some will succumb to the pressures they experience and seek less ideal solutions that include drug use and promiscuity. Some will take their own lives. This article draws attention to the complications of same-sex attraction and argues for a school and community response that recognises and appreciates the positive contributions that diversity of sexual preference brings to any community.

Not if but when: Out-group reactions to the timing of disclosure of an individual's same-sex attractions

One factor that research suggests impedes positive contact between outgroup members is the experience of anxiety that can occur when anticipating negative consequences of such interactions. Research examining attitudes and behaviour towards same-sex attracted individuals indicates that this intergroup anxiety is particularly evident when the anticipated interaction involves members of the same gender. The current studies investigate the effect of timing of disclosure of a person’s same-sex attractions in an effort to identify a means of reducing this anxiety. Study 1 uses a hypothetical scenario to gain insight into participants’ stated preferences for early or delayed knowledge of a person’s sexual orientation. Results reveal an association between experiencing close contact with gay individuals of the same gender in real life (but not opposite gender), and a preference for early disclosure. Results from an experimental study concur with these findings. After a face-to-face interaction task with a confederate of the same gender, participants sit further from the confederate for the late disclosure condition when compared with the early disclosure and no disclosure control. Future studies investigating the interaction between timing of disclosure of same-sex attractions and the intimacy of disclosure (casual vs. intimate), are discussed.