Sexual Orientation and Sexual and Reproductive Health among African American Sexual Minority Women in the U.S. South

Abstract Women differ in how they psychologically respond to the end of menstruation and onset of menopause (Lorber & Moore, 2002); however, little empirical evidence exists for understanding how sexual orientation and gendered dynamics contribute to menopausal experiences. Do women’s attitudes toward the cessation of menstruation vary by sexual orientation? Using data from the Midlife in the U.S. Study (MIDUS, Wave 2; N=2,951), we test how sexual orientation relates to attitudes toward menstruation cessation through norms and values surrounding womanhood (i.e., “traditional femininity concerns,” such as worries about fertility and attractiveness). Cisgender heterosexual women, compared to sexual minority women, expressed greater regret of menstrual periods ending, and heterosexual women’s heightened concerns about traditional femininity mediated the association between sexual orientation and regret, b=-.09, 95%CI [-.176,-.008]. This research yields implications for understanding aging stigma and women’s health, and we discuss how menopause may be differently experienced by women based on sexual orientation.

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Gender-based Structural Stigma and Intimate Partner Violence Across 28 Countries: A Population-based Study of Women Across Sexual Orientation, Immigration Status, and Socioeconomic Status

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260520976212 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 088626052097621

Author(s):

Jillian R. Scheer ◽

John E. Pachankis ◽

Richard Bränström

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

Sexual Orientation ◽

Sexual Minority ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Population Based ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Minority Women ◽

Sexual Minority Women ◽

Gender Based

Reducing structural drivers of intimate partner violence (IPV), including gender inequity in education, employment, and health, surrounding women worldwide represents a clear public health priority. Within countries, some women are at disproportionate risk of IPV compared to other women, including sexual minority women, immigrant women, and women in poverty. However, limited research has assessed women’s IPV risk and related circumstances, including police involvement following IPV experiences and IPV-related worry, across sexual orientation, immigration status, and socioeconomic status in a population-based survey of women across countries. Further, few studies have examined IPV against minority women as a function of gender-based structural stigma. This study aimed to determine whether gender-based structural stigma is associated with IPV and related circumstances among European women; examine minority-majority IPV disparities; and assess whether structural stigma is associated with IPV disparities. We used the population-based 2012 Violence Against Women Survey ( n = 42,000) administered across 28 European Union countries: 724 (1.7%) identified as sexual minority, 841 (2.0%) as immigrant, and 2,272 (5.4%) as living in poverty. Women in high gender-based structural stigma countries had a greater risk of past-12-month IPV (AOR: 1.18, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.34) and IPV-related worry (AOR: 1.09, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.15) than women in low structural stigma countries. All minority women were at disproportionate risk of IPV and IPV-related worry compared to majority women. Associations between gender-based structural stigma and IPV and related circumstances differed across minority status. Country-level structural stigma can possibly perpetuate women’s risk of IPV and related circumstances. Associations between structural stigma and IPV and related circumstances for sexual minority women, immigrant women, and women in poverty call for research into the IPV experiences of minority populations across structural contexts.

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Mothers’ Sexual Identity and Children’s Health

Population Research and Policy Review ◽

10.1007/s11113-021-09688-x ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Stefanie Mollborn ◽

Aubrey Limburg ◽

Bethany G. Everett

Keyword(s):

Sexual Orientation ◽

Sexual Identity ◽

Sexual Minority ◽

Minority Women ◽

Children's Health ◽

Children’S Health ◽

Sexual Minority Women ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Mostly Heterosexual ◽

Minority Identities

AbstractSexual minority women face a plethora of structural, socioeconomic, and interpersonal disadvantages and stressors. Research has established negative associations between women’s sexual minority identities and both their own health and their infants’ birth outcomes. Yet a separate body of scholarship has documented similarities in the development and well-being of children living with same-sex couples relative to those living with similarly situated different-sex couples. This study sought to reconcile these literatures by examining the association between maternal sexual identity and child health at ages 5–18 using a US sample from the full population of children of sexual minority women, including those who identify as mostly heterosexual, bisexual, or lesbian, regardless of partner sex or gender. Analyses using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 8978) followed women longitudinally and examined several measures of their children’s health, including general health and specific developmental and physical health conditions. Analyses found that children of mostly heterosexual and bisexual women experienced health disadvantages relative to children of heterosexual women, whereas the few children of lesbian women in our sample evidenced a mixture of advantages and disadvantages. These findings underscore that to understand sexual orientation disparities and the intergenerational transmission of health, it is important to incorporate broad measurement of sexual orientation that can capture variation in family forms and in sexual minority identities.

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