What values of the social work profession support the provision of services to immigrant populations, including those that are undocumented? Note: You only need to make your init
What values of the social work profession support the provision of services to immigrant populations, including those that are undocumented? Note: You only need to make your initial post and one response during the week. The Wednesday deadline and 3-day minimum do not apply.
This discussion does NOT require in-text citations.
Unit 8
eBook:
Zastrow, C., Kirst-Ashman, K.K. & Hessenauer, S.L. (2019). Empowerment series: Understanding human behavior and the social environment (11th Ed.). Cengage Learning.
· Chapter 13: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Articles, Websites, and Videos:
The highly politicized topic of sex, gender and sexual orientation from the view of a health care provider will be discussed in this video. It provides information on how we utilize terms to describe others, yet these terms eventually become labels which do not consider the uniqueness of the individual and therefore, turn into stereotypes and assumptions.
Unit 8: Chapter 13: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Chapter Introduction
Learning Objectives
This chapter will help prepare students to
· LO 1 Explain sexual orientation and gender identity (including concepts such as homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender people)
· LO 2 Review stereotypes about lesbian and gay people
· LO 3 Discuss conceptual frameworks concerning sexual orientation
· LO 4 Address discrimination and the impacts of homophobia
· LO 5 Describe lesbian and gay lifestyles (including lesbian and gay relationships, sexual interaction, gay pride, and empowerment and a sense of community)
· LO 6 Explore significant issues and life events for lesbian and gay people (including legal empowerment, violence against them, coming out, ethnicity, adolescence, parenting, aging, and HIV/AIDS)
· LO 7 Recognize gay and lesbian pride, empowerment, and a sense of community
John had been attending the state university for more than a year. He didn’t have a chance to visit his parents in their small Midwestern town very often. When he did get home, his visits were usually limited to holidays. So when Thanksgiving rolled around, he found himself hopping on the Greyhound bus headed for Slab City, Wisconsin, his home.
This trip home was a problem for him. No matter how often or how deeply he mulled it over in his mind, he couldn’t find an answer. He had something to tell his parents that he didn’t think they would like very much. Over the past year, John had come to realize something about himself. He had come out; he was gay.
As he watched the countryside roll by, he thought about his childhood, about his high school friends, and even about the girl, Millie, he had dated for two and a half years during high school. What would they think if they found out?
Dating Millie was “safe” for him. She was a nice girl, in addition to being cute and extremely popular. With her, he didn’t feel the pressure of constantly having to push for sex. Typically, every Saturday night they’d go to a movie or a basketball game or something like that. Then afterward they’d fool around in his car in the driveway for just a bit. That couldn’t last too long because Millie’s parents were pretty strict and imposed a midnight curfew. She was in by midnight, or else. John always had to put a little bit of a move on her and try to get to second base. At that point, she always stopped him, told him she loved him, and firmly stated she was waiting for marriage. What a relief.
At college, things were different. John had chosen the state university for a variety of reasons. He found that a person could do a lot of hiding among 40,000 other students. He also found that there were other men who felt just like he did. There was an exceptionally active gay rights group that sponsored a spectrum of social and recreational activities for gay men. Through one of these activities, he had met Hank. Lately they had been spending a lot of time together. He had never felt so comfortable in a relationship before. He found he could talk to Hank about his most intimate thoughts. He also discovered how much he enjoyed expressing his affection for Hank both verbally and physically.
John was jolted from his reverie as the bus pulled up to the local bus stop. He could see his parents waiting to pick him up. There was his father with a big smile on his face, waving at the son he was so proud of. John smiled, waved back, and thought, “Oh, boy. Well, here goes.” He stepped off the bus.
Although most people have a sexual orientation toward the opposite gender, many do not. Many are attracted to members of the same gender and some to both genders.
For whatever reasons, the idea of a same-sex intimate relationship, which involves having a sexual orientation for members of the same gender, frequently elicits a strong negative emotional response. As future professional social workers, you need to identify and address this negative response. The National Association of Social Workers’ (NASW) Code of Ethics specifies that “social workers [should] respect and promote the right of clients to self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identify and clarify their goals” (NASW, 2008). Additionally, it specifies that “social workers should obtain education about and seek to understand the nature of social diversity and oppression with respect to race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, political belief, religion, and mental or physical disability” (NASW, 2008). The NASW Policy Statement on “Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues” states that “NASW is committed to advancing policies and practices that will improve the status and well-being of all lesbian, gay, and bisexual people” (NASW, 2012, p. 221). Clearly, determination of one’s sexual orientation is a person’s right.
A Perspective
This chapter will provide information about various aspects of sexual orientation and gender identity. The intent is to encourage readers to examine their own feelings and reactions. Understanding the effects of diverse sexual orientations on human behavior is necessary for objective, professional social work practice. Assessing one’s own values toward people’s diverse sexual orientations is a major step in developing professional social work values.
13-1 Explain Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
13-1aDimensions of Sexuality
It is a mistake to view sexuality as static and binary (that is, male-female, gay-heterosexual). In actuality, sexuality is a fluid concept that is experienced differently by different individuals. To illustrate this perspective, we will look at three major dimensions of sexuality: biological, sexual orientation, and gender.
13-1bBiological Dimension
This dimension refers to an individual’s chromosomal and genital structure. Typical males have penises with accompanied male organs and XY chromosomes. Typical females have vaginas and accompanying female organs and XX chromosomes. However, there are also some individuals who have ambiguous genitalia with chromosomal structures that are different from the typical corresponding ones. These biological conditions are termed “intersex,” as these individuals have sexual characteristics between a typical male and typical female.
13-1cSexual Orientation Dimension
This dimension refers to romantic and sexual attraction. Most individuals are heterosexual, as they are attracted to the opposite sex. However, there are gay and lesbian individuals who are attracted to the same sex, and there are bisexuals who are attracted to both sexes.
Transgender individuals can feel attraction to people of the same sex, opposite sex, or both sexes. There are also asexual individuals who do not feel a sexual attraction to either sex.
There also “questioning” individuals who question whether they are heterosexual, gay/lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. There are also individuals who struggle with determining what sexual attraction is “right” for them; these individuals may “try on” different forms of sexual attraction to arrive at the one that feels most congruent with their internal experience.
13-1dGender Dimension
As indicated in Chapter 9, gender relates to the feeling of being “male or “female.” Typically, persons with male biology feel “male,” and those with female biology feel “female.” However, there are persons with female biology who feel “male,” and persons with male biology who feel “female.” The general term “transgender” may apply to these individuals. There are also individuals who may feel both female and male (“bigender”): and persons who may feel neither male nor female (“agender”).
13-1eThe Fluidity of Sexuality
A man is committed to prison and has sexual relations with other men. Is he gay? A shy, lonely woman who has never dated any men is approached by a lesbian friend. The lonely woman decides to have an affair with her friend. Is she a lesbian? Two 14-year-old male adolescents experiment with each other by hand-stimulating each other to orgasm. Are they gay? While having sexual intercourse with his wife, a man frequently fantasizes about having sexual relations with other men. He has never had any actual sexual contact with a man in his adult life. Is he gay?
The answers to these questions are not so easy. Placing people in definite, distinct categories is difficult. It is not always easy to draw a clear distinction between a heterosexual and a person who is gay/lesbian. It may make us feel more secure and in control to cordon off the world into neat and predictable little boxes of black or white. However, in reality, the world is an endless series of shades of gray. People frequently like to polarize others as being either heterosexual or gay/lesbian. Perhaps such labeling makes situations appear to be predictable. If a person is labeled a heterosexual, then many assume that they know a lot of things about that person. For example, if a woman is labeled a heterosexual, then she is probably unassertive, sweet, demure, and emotional. She will date men and probably marry and become a mother and homemaker. If a man is gay, then he will probably frequently flick his wrists and become a hairdresser. In reality, things are not so predictable and clear. Chapter 9 discussed the construction and complexity of gender.
The problem with these neat categories is that they foster stereotypes. As we know, a stereotype is a fixed mental image of a group that is frequently applied to all its members. Often the characteristics involved in the mental picture are unflattering. Stereotypes refuse to take into account individual differences. They negate the value and integrity of the individual. Highlight 13.1 identifies some of the stereotypes characterizing lesbian and gay people.
Highlight 13.1
Review Stereotypes about Lesbian and Gay People
LO 2
Lesbian and gay people are not only the victims of homophobia, but also the targets of derogatory, inaccurate stereotypes. Some of the more common ones are that gay and lesbian people like to assume either a male or female role, and that they are potential child molesters. These stereotypes are false.
Overview of Stereotypes
A prevalent stereotype about gay and lesbian people is that gay men typically look extremely feminine and that lesbians appear very masculine. In truth, these stereotypes are not accurate in most instances (Johnson, 2014; Nugent, 2014; Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2014; Tully, 2001). People are individuals with individual traits. With the breakdown of traditional gender roles, identifying lesbians and gay men by appearance is difficult.
The stereotypes about how gay and lesbian people look is the result of confusion between two central concepts—gender identity and sexual orientation. Gender identity refers to a person’s internal psychological self-concept of being either male, female or another gender. We have indicated that sexual orientation refers to “one’s erotic, romantic, and affectional attraction to the same gender, to the opposite gender, or to both” (Greenberg et al., 2014, p. 370).
Playing Male and Female Roles
Another common stereotype about gay and lesbian people is that in any particular pair, one will choose a “masculine,” dominant role and the other a “feminine,” submissive role. As with most heterosexual couples, this is usually not the case (Johnson, 2014; Morrow, 2006c; Rathus et al., 2014). Any individual, gay/lesbian or heterosexual, may play a more dominant or more submissive role depending on his or her particular mood, activity, or the interaction involved. People are rarely totally submissive or totally dominant.
The Myth of Child Molesting
Another derogatory stereotype targeting gay and lesbian people is that they are inclined to molest children (Greenberg et al., 2014; Rathus et al., 2014; Tully, 2001). This stereotype is especially damaging for gay/lesbian teachers in that it can cause them to lose their jobs. In reality, the majority of all child molesting is done to young girls by heterosexual men, usually people trusted and close to them (e.g., a father, stepfather, or brother) (McAnulty & Burnette, 2003). Heterosexual men are 11 times more likely to be child molesters than are gay men (McCammon & Knox, 2007; Moser, 1992).
Ethical Question 13.1
1. Do you harbor any stereotypes about lesbian or gay people? If so, what are they? What, if anything, do you plan to do about them?
13-1fWhat Does Being Gay/Lesbian Mean?
Many theories in the past have focused on how people develop their same-gender sexual orientation by passing through a number of stages. Numerous models have been proposed, all of which “tend to have several things in common. There is almost always a predictable progression from some sort of first awareness of same-gender attractions and feelings; to a stage of self-labeling as being gay, lesbian, or bisexual; through stages of becoming more accepting of the new identity and sharing it with others; to a final stage of incorporating the identity into the total sense of self” (Crooks & Baur, 2014; Kelly, 2008, p. 375; Rathus et al., 2014).
An important aspect of any definition of “gay/lesbian” is that above all else, a gay/lesbian is a person. In the eyes of some heterosexuals, the sexuality of a lesbian or gay person often takes precedence over all other aspects of his or her personality, and the person becomes lost or invisible (see Figure 13.1).
Figure 13.1The Personality Pie
The same-sex sexual orientation is seen as prominent, at the expense of all other aspects of the lesbian or gay person’s personality. A more realistic view is one in which the same-sex sexual orientation is seen in context. The fact that a person is lesbian or gay is only one slice of a person’s personality pie. A realistic perspective allows the many various aspects of the person’s personality to be acknowledged and appreciated.
Many people are taught homophobia , the extreme and irrational fear and hatred of gay and lesbian people. These feelings warp their perception of gays and lesbians. Some people feel that being of the same-gender orientation is “pathological” (Bieschke, McClanahan, Tozer, Grzegorek, & Park, 2000, p. 311; Greenberg et al., 2014). Highlight 13.2 describes conversion therapy that attempts to change people to heterosexuals.
Highlight 13.2
The Ethical Problems of Conversion Therapy
Some people harbor the belief that “same-sex attraction represents a deviation from normal sexual and gender development” (Bieschke et al., 2000, p. 311). They support the idea of conversion therapy (also referred to as reparative or reorientation therapy) to convert people who are gay or lesbian to heterosexuals (Bieschke et al., 2000; Johnson, 2011b; Morrow, 2006b). The idea is that having a same-gender sexual orientation is simply wrong and should be changed. The implication is that external values (specifically, heterosexism , the intolerant attitude and discriminatory behavior against gay and lesbian people by heterosexuals) should be forcibly imposed upon people, thus denying their right to self-determination in this area.
In the past, such treatment included “techniques such as prayer, exorcism, religious-based guilt inducement, and punishment-oriented forms of behavior modification (Tozer & McClanahan, 1999; White, 1995)” (Morrow, 2006b, p. 185). Today’s approaches tend to focus on “cognitive-behavioral techniques in an attempt to suppress an individual’s attraction to others of the same sex” (Bieschke et al., 2000, p. 312). Cognitive-behavioral therapy “involves the modification of thoughts and actions by influencing an individual’s conscious patterns of thought” (Boyle, Hull, Mather, Smith, & Farley, 2009, p. 363).
The American Psychological Association (APA) rejected the effectiveness of and ethics involved in conversion therapy after an APA panel reviewed “83 studies on sexual orientation change conducted since 1960” (Associated Press, 2009). The APA determined that no concrete support existed on the behalf of conversion therapy. If anything, it determined such “therapy” could be damaging by causing depression and suicidal inclinations.
Thirteen professional organizations of helping professionals and educators have published a pamphlet entitled “Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth” that is available online without charge (APA, 2008; Just the Facts Coalition, 200S). It concludes,
Because of the aggressive promotion of efforts to change sexual orientation through therapy, a number of medical, health, and mental health professional organizations have issued public statements about the dangers of this approach The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of Social Workers, together representing more than 480,000 mental health professionals, have all taken the position that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and thus is not something that needs to or can be “cured” (Dively et al., 2008, p. 9)
Morrow (2006b) comments on conversion therapy for youth:
Parents who are uncomfortable with having a gay or lesbian child may seek out conversion therapy practitioners under the mistaken assumption that their child’s sexual orientation can be changed through such therapy. There is no credible empirical support for the success of conversion therapy in actually changing sexual orientation … Conversion therapy practice can cause psychological harm, to LGBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender] youth by reinforcing negative stereotypes and misinformation and inducing, internalized homophobia. (pp. 185–186)
The National Association of Social Workers Policy Statements (NASW, 2012) state that conversion therapy is unethical. Specifically,
· NASW supports the right of the individual to self-disclose, or to not disclose, sexual orientation and encourages the development of supportive practice environments for lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients and colleagues.
· NASW reaffirms its stance against reparative therapies and treatments designed to change sexual orientation or to refer to practitioners or programs that claim to do so. (p. 222)
Morrow and Tyson (2006) suggest how social workers can help people who are seeking conversion therapy to better understand themselves and their sexual orientation:
An initial response would be to assess the nature of the personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences that could have led the client to the point of seeking sexual orientation change. Affirmative practice would include helping the client understand the powerful forces of homophobia, internalized homophobia, and heterosexism—at the micro and macro levels of social power and influence—and the ways in which these forces create and perpetuate the internationalization of GLB-negative messages. Thus, initial intervention in such cases lies in helping clients understand the power of heterosexism in how they view sexual orientation in their own lives. Also, it would be appropriate to inform clients that conversion therapy is scientifically unproven and that its practice is considered unethical. (p. 396)
The word homosexual is derived from the Greek root homo, meaning “same.” The word homosexual itself, however, was not used until the late 1800s (Karlen, 1971). Terms used to refer to lesbian and gay people can be confusing. Both women and men with same-gender orientations have been labeled homosexuals. Gay men prefer the term gay instead of homosexual because it has neither the direct sexual connotations nor the demeaning implications frequently associated with the word homosexual.
The word lesbian refers to female homosexuals. Around the year 600 BCE, a woman named Sappho lived on the Greek island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea (from which the term lesbian is derived). Although Sappho was married, she remains famous for the love poems she wrote to other women.
Many people who are not lesbian or gay have traditionally used the term gay to refer both to lesbians and gay men. However, many lesbians have expressed concern that men are given precedence over women when this term is used by itself to refer to both genders. There is some indication that the media now often use the phrase “gay men and lesbians” (American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists [AASECT], 2006, p. 17). Although we have established specific definitions of lesbian, gay, and homosexual, many who use these terms do not have a clear picture of what they mean. All three words may refer to a person with slight, moderate, or substantial interest in or sexual experience with persons of the same gender. Heterosexual people are often referred to as straight .
Note that sometimes the concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity are confused, although they are distinctly separate concepts. We have defined gender identity as a person’s internal psychological self-concept of being either male or female, or possibly some combination of both. Some people assume that gay men really want to be women and that lesbians desire to be men. This is false. Gay men and lesbians are simply romantically attracted to (i.e., have a sexual orientation toward) their same gender instead of the opposite gender.
Some people, however, regardless of whether they are gay or heterosexual, feel that their biological gender identity is wrong. In a discussion about the complexity of gender, Chapter 9 introduced transgender and tr
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