Ethnic minority gay men: Redefining community, restoring identity

This report presents the results of one of three studies investigating how social and cultural factors shape gay male identity and influence gay male social life in London today (see also Keogh, Dodds, Henderson 2004a; Keogh, Dodds, Henderson 2004b). These studies aim to problematise monolithic and (we believe) unhelpful concepts such as ‘gay community’ or ‘gay scene’ and show how the population of gay men in London is riven with cultural, political and social differences. It has often been said that ‘the gay community’ or the ‘gay scene’ is an essentially White, middle-class concept which excludes men from other classes or ethnic backgrounds. This research shows that this is not the case. Numerically, the population of gay men in London is disproportionately White and mainly British (as is the population of London), but it is also as multi-ethnic and multi-cultural as the broader London population. Although we regularly celebrate the multi-culturalism of the capital, we rarely, if ever describe the gay community in this way. This is unfortunate because the many facets of the gay community which should otherwise be acknowledged or represented in health or social policy for gay men are obscured. As a consequence, social and community services for gay men remain woefully impoverished. Moreover, by speaking the language of exclusion, we are condemned to always consider weakness as opposed to strength. There is an implicit assumption in nearly all research and policy work on gay men that to be within the charmed (White, middle-class) circle of the gay community is to be ‘included’ and therefore without need. It follows that, those outside of it are automatically ‘excluded’ and therefore, disadvantaged, weaker or more needy. These three reports will show that there is no paradigmatic gay experience or group. Rather, there are many ways of being gay, all of which are imbued with strengths as well as weaknesses. The three reports which emerge from this collection of studies can each stand alone, but are best read in relation to one other. One examines the relationship between being less well-educated, working class and having a gay identity. Another examines the experiences of gay adult migrants to London. This report investigates ethnic minority identity and gay identity specifically concentrating on the experience of British-born Black Carribean men and White Irish immigrants to London. Our aim in carrying out these studies is to change the way that health promoters and policy makers conceive of the gay male population. We want to replace the dominant ‘centre vs. periphery’ construction with a conception of the gay population of London as a composite of a range of different experiences; as fractured, antagonistic and constantly changing. Moreover, the factors which account for these differences amongst gay men are larger social and structural factors: ethnicity, religion, education, class, income etc. To put it simply, no gay man is simply gay, he also has a class background, an ethnicity, an employment history, a family and probably a religious affiliation. On a policy level, we hope to take gay men’s health and social concerns out of the policy ‘ghetto’ that is HIV. Gay and HIV community organisations should be broadening their policy objectives. We feel they should be seeking to transform the education of all boys as well as increasing the capacity of all families to live with and enjoy their gay children. We feel they should be challenging all services to meet the needs of their gay users and of all communities to capitalise on the presence of their gay members. In seeking to do this, we can all learn from the experiences of gay men from ethnic minorities, gay adult migrants and working class gay men

Working class gay men: Redefining community, restoring identity

This report presents the full results of one of a suite of three studies investigating how a range of pre-existing social and cultural factors mediate the development of gay male identity and shape the many forms of gay male social life in London today. These studies aim to problematise monolithic and (we believe) unhelpful social categories such as ‘gay community’ or ‘gay scene’ and show how the population of gay men in London is riven with cultural, political and social differences. It is common to talk simplistically about ‘gay men’ or ‘the gay community’. Commentators have unsuccessfully attempted to undermine such simplistic concepts by asserting that these identities and communities are restricted to White, middle class men. However, we believe that this position on its own is unhelpful because it fails to articulate the broader impact of such sweeping terminology. It serves to obscure the myriad ways of being gay that are not currently being described or represented in health or social policy or interventions for gay men. It implicitly robs anyone who is not White and middle class of a gay identity and sociality. It therefore uses the rhetoric of exclusion to ensure that so-called excluded groups are never considered in mainstream health and social policy for gay men because they are somehow not ‘properly’ gay. In addition, it is reductionist in relation to White middle class gay men. It is always well to be suspicious of any notion of the ‘default’ group which is considered powerful, wealthy etc. Such groups are usually one of two things: an aspirational ‘brand’ created by marketeers to sell us certain lifestyles (a quick review of the commercial gay media supports this suspicion) or a conceptual construction which everyone else uses as a benchmark to establish their own ‘individuality’ or ‘difference’. In short, we are asserting that, in policy terms, the White middle class ‘mainstream’ gay community is a useful political fallacy. In short, our representations of gay men and gay sociality remain woefully impoverished and simplistic. There is one additional over-arching effect of the White middle class fallacy. That is, by speaking the language of inclusion and exclusion, we are condemned to always consider weakness as opposed to strength. There is an implicit assumption in nearly all research and policy work on gay men that to be within the charmed circle of the White middle classes is to be without need. Thus, other experiences of being gay and other groups of gay men are described as automatically disadvantaged and weaker. These three reports will show that there is no paradigmatic gay experience or group. Rather, there are myriad ways of being gay, all of which are imbued with strengths and weaknesses. To this end, we have conducted a suite of qualitative studies into gay men resident in London. One of the others examines the relationship between ethnic minority identity and gay identity and the other investigates the lives of gay migrants in London. This report examines the experiences of blue collar or working class gay men. We aim, with all these studies to change the way that health promoters and policy makers conceive of the gay male population. We want to challenge the construction of the gay male population as having a centre which is privileged – White and middle class – and a periphery of excluded ethnic minorities, migrants, bisexuals and working class men etc. Instead, we present a conception of the gay population of London as a composite of a range of different experiences. As fractured, antagonistic and constantly changing. Moreover, the factors which fracture that population, which create the flux and antagonisms are larger social and structural factors such as ethnicity, religion, education, class, income etc. To put it simply, no gay man is simply gay, he probably also has a class background, an ethnicity, a job, a family, and a religious affiliation or history among other things. It is these differences that animate the gay population of London. Therefore, in all these reports we talk about things rarely considered in policy-oriented research on gay men. We talk of the importance of biological family and heterosexual forms of sociality for many gay men. We talk of the centrality of spirituality and organised religion. We talk about education and the passage from school to work. We talk about masculinity and health. We talk about nationalism. We talk very little about HIV and AIDS and sexual health. We have a transparent aim in doing so. We are hoping to take gay men’s health and social concerns out of the service and policy ‘ghetto’ that is HIV. We are reasserting a particularly sociological perspective that gay men’s health (sexual and otherwise) and the HIV epidemic are fundamentally influenced by broader social factors. In short, if we were to recommend one practice outcome as a result of these studies it would be to produce less community interventions telling gay men what to do (or how to be). Rather, we should be seeking to transform the education of all boys and to increase the capacity of all families to live with and enjoy their gay children; of all services to meet the needs of their gay users and of all communities to capitalise on the presence of their gay members. This is not as socially transformative an agenda as it sounds. We have much to learn from the experiences of working class gay men, gay men from ethnic minorities and gay migrants. Such interventions are, properly speaking, HIV health promotion

Pengalaman menjadi Gay

Beren (2013) menyatakan bahwa homoseksualitas terjadi di seluruh lapisan masyarakat dunia dengan perkiraan 21% pria di dunia adalah kaum gay. Pandangan pro dan kontra yang terjadi di masyarakat menyebabkan kaum gay melakukan penyesuaian sosial setelah kaum gay melakukan coming out. Penyesuaian diri pada kaum gay bukanlah hal yang mudah karena kaum gay menghadapi tekanan-tekanan dari dalam dirinya sendiri maupun tekanan dari lingkungan. Peneliti menggunakan pendekatan fenomenologis dengan metode Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Pengambilan data dilakukan dengan wawancara dan observasi. Partisipan dalam penelitian ini memiliki karakteristik utama pria homoseksual yang sudah mengungkapkan diri sebagai sebagai gay pada keluarga dan lingkungan. Hasil penelitian menunjukan faktor pendukung individu menjadi gay adalah pola asuh yang salah, tidak adanya role model laki-laki yang terdapat pada figur ayah sehingga individu mengidentifikasi diri sebagai gay dan memutuskan untuk coming out. Persepsi lingkungan yang menerima atau menolak serta stressor yang dialami oleh gay mengakibatkan ketiga subjek untuk melakukan coping stress berupa sikap menghindar, mengalihkan perhatian, menyembunyikan identitas, dan membatasi pergaulan sebagai usaha untuk berinteraksi dengan masyarakat. Kata kunci: gay, coming out, coping stres

Pengalaman Menjadi Gay (Studi Fenomenologi pada Pria Homoseksual menuju Coming Out)

Beren (2013) menyatakan bahwa homoseksualitas terjadi di seluruh lapisan masyarakat dunia dengan perkiraan 21% pria di dunia adalah kaum gay. Pandangan pro dan kontra yang terjadi di masyarakat menyebabkan kaum gay melakukan penyesuaian sosial setelah kaum gay melakukan coming out. Penyesuaian diri pada kaum gay bukanlah hal yang mudah karena kaum gay menghadapi tekanan-tekanan dari dalam dirinya sendiri maupun tekanan dari lingkungan. Peneliti menggunakan pendekatan fenomenologis dengan metode Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Pengambilan data dilakukan dengan wawancara dan observasi. Partisipan dalam penelitian ini memiliki karakteristik utama pria homoseksual yang sudah mengungkapkan diri sebagai sebagai gay pada keluarga dan lingkungan. Hasil penelitian menunjukan faktor pendukung individu menjadi gay adalah pola asuh yang salah, tidak adanya role model laki-laki yang terdapat pada figur ayah sehingga individu mengidentifikasi diri sebagai gay dan memutuskan untuk coming out. Persepsi lingkungan yang menerima atau menolak serta stressor yang dialami oleh gay mengakibatkan ketiga subjek untuk melakukan coping stress berupa sikap menghindar, mengalihkan perhatian, menyembunyikan identitas, dan membatasi pergaulan sebagai usaha untuk berinteraksi dengan masyarakat

Worlding Sexualities under Apartheid: From Gay Liberation to a Queer Afropolitanism

Examining gay journalism as gay liberation literature, this essay forwards a cultural history of sexuality informed by comparative urban and queer studies. My main argument is that gay liberation literature under apartheid lags behind important shifts in sexual activism; and my larger aim is to extend the valences of postcolonial queer studies towards a historical examination of North–South interactions in theorizing sexual activism. Gay liberation literature here refers to texts which contributed to the emergence of gay and lesbian sexualities in South Africa, including works of fiction, poetry, drama, anthologies as well as newsletters, newspapers, and newsletters. The primary archive used as an example of gay liberation literature is Link/Skakel, the official newsletter of the GASA, which later became a mainstream gay newspaper called Exit

Attitudes towards lesbians and gay men and support for lesbian and gay human rights among psychology students

A questionnaire comprising two scales, the short form of the Attitudes Towards Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (ATLG-S; Herek, 1984) and the newly devised Support for Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Scale (SLGHR) were administered to 226 students taking undergraduate psychology courses at universities in the United Kingdom, to assess their attitudes towards lesbians and gay men, and their level of support for lesbian and gay human rights. The results indicated that whilst only a small percentage of respondents expressed negative attitudes towards lesbians and gay men on the ATLG-S, the sample as a whole did not overwhelmingly support lesbian and gay human rights. The lack of support for lesbian and gay human rights is discussed in relation to its implications for psychology students as future practitioners and policy makers. </p

The Friends and Family Plan: Assessing the Impact of Knowing Someone Gay on Support for Gay Rights

I estimate the impact of knowing someone gay on acceptance of homosexuality and support for gay rights. Method: Logit analyses on individual-level data from 27 national surveys control for demographic and political variables that predict both acquaintance with lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) and support for gay rights. Findings: Knowing LGBs affects beliefs on the morality of homosexual relations, employment discrimination, gays in the military, sodomy laws, and same-sex marriage. Conclusion: Coming out remains an important strategy in the battle for gay rights. Working Paper 08-1

Rights-based reasoning in discussions about lesbian and gay issues: implications for moral educators

Despite a paucity of psychological research exploring the interface between lesbian and gay issues and human rights, a human rights framework has been widely adopted in debates to gain equality for lesbians and gay men. Given this prominence within political discourse of human rights as a framework for the promotion of positive social change for lesbians and gay men, the aim of this study was to explore the extent to which rights-based arguments are employed when talking about lesbian and gay issues in a social context. An analysis of six focus group discussions with students showed that when lesbian and gay issues are discussed, rights-based reasoning is employed intermittently, and in relation to certain issues more so than others. The implications of these findings for moral education aimed at promoting positive social change for lesbians and gay men are discussed.</p

Location, safety and (non) strangers in gay men’s narratives on ‘hook-up’ apps

Hook-up websites and apps are said to be transforming the sexual lives of gay men and have been linked with the apparent erosion of gay publics as the basis for identity politics and social action. This article examines these dynamics in the interview and focus-group talk of gay men living on the economic and geographical margins of metropolitan gay culture. It offers perspectives on the importance of location – class, generation and space – for the experience of digital media, the negotiation of safety, and the new codifications and elaborations on sex with the (non) stranger; a figure who is not alien, yet not familiar, in sexual sociality. Reflecting on these situated perspectives in connection with debates on the erosion of gay publics, this article argues against monolithic framings of gay men’s sexual lives after digital media

"Appearance potent"? A content analysis of UK gay and straight men's magazines.

With little actual appraisal, a more 'appearance potent' (i.e., a reverence for appearance ideals) subculture has been used to explain gay men's greater body dissatisfaction in comparison to straight men's. This study sought to assess the respective appearance potency of each subculture by a content analysis of 32 issues of the most read gay (Attitude, Gay Times) and straight men's magazines (Men's Health, FHM) in the UK. Images of men and women were coded for their physical characteristics, objectification and nudity, as were the number of appearance adverts and articles. The gay men's magazines featured more images of men that were appearance ideal, nude and sexualized than the straight men's magazines. The converse was true for the images of women and appearance adverts. Although more research is needed to understand the effect of this content on the viewer, the findings are consistent with a more appearance potent gay male subculture