The Sociology of Lesbian and Gay Reflexivity or Reflexive Sociology?

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 188-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Heaphy
Keyword(s):  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Reflexive Sociology ◽  
Gay Identities

This article is concerned with sociological conceptualisations of lesbian and gay sexualities as reflexive forms of existence, and identifies core problems with these. Our sociological narratives about lesbian and gay reflexivity tend to be partial in two senses. First, they talk about and envision only very particular - and relatively exclusive – experience, and fail to adequately account for the significance of difference and power in shaping diverse lesbian and gay experiences. Second, they tend to be underpinned by overly affirmative and normative projects, and are often narratives about how lesbian and gay life should be. Our narratives about lesbian and gay reflexivity sometimes confuse analysis with prescription, and actualities with potentialities. Their partiality limits the analytical purchase they afford, and is an inadequate basis on which to analyse contemporary lesbian and gay identities and ways of living. The article proposes an approach to studying lesbian and gay living that is orientated more towards reflexive sociology than the sociology of reflexive sexualities.

‘I’ and ‘We’ Identities – an Eliasian Perspective on Lesbian and Gay Identities’

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Moore
Keyword(s):  
Self Determination ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Sexual Identities ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Norbert Elias ◽  
Reflexive Sociology ◽  
Gay Identities ◽  
Interdependent Relationships

Lesbian and gay sociology has witnessed a reflexive turn in recent years, which emphasises choice, self-creation and self-determination in the formation of sexual identities. Individuals are involved in, what GIDDENS (1991) called, a ‘project of self’ or a ‘reflexive biography’, which allows them to engage in a dynamic and constantly evolving process of defining and re-defining their self-identity. Identity becomes fluid, fragmented and plastic. In a recent issue of this journal, Brian Heaphy argued that such accounts of lesbian and gay reflexivity are partial and fail to take account of the ways in which structural factors continue to limit one's choice narrative and he proposed a move towards a reflexive sociology, rather than a sociology of reflexivity. This article seeks to develop Heaphy's argument further and suggests that the limitation of theories of reflexivity lies in their inability to adequately account for the continued significance of collectivity, interdependency and human relations in shaping an individual's identity. Drawing on Norbert Elias’ figurational sociology, it will be argued that against a reflexive model of identity that privileges individualism, choice and creativity over collectivity and material constraints, there is a pressing need to revisit and re-establish our interdependent relationships with one another.

scholarly journals Dance to the Two-Spirit. Mythologizations of the Queer Native

2018 ◽  
pp. 33-46
Author(s):  
Marianne Kongerslev
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
American Anthropologist ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
The Past ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Noble Savage ◽  
Two Spirit ◽  
Gay Identities

In 1998, the American anthropologist Will Roscoe referred to pre-colonial North America as “the queerest continent on the planet” (Roscoe 1998, 4), expressing a more universally accepted idea that before settlers arrived in North America, Indigenous peoples embraced and celebrated queer and trans people. Building on this anachronistic assumption, this article investigates the historical and anthropological constructions of the ‘Sacred Queer Native’ trope and argues that its attendant discourses perpetuate an idea of the ‘Sacred Queer Native’ figure as a mythological Noble Savage doomed to perish. The anthropological accounts therefore serve as settler colonial tools of elimination, relegating (queer) Indigenous peoples to the past, while emulating their ‘queerness’ in order to legitimize modern Lesbian and gay identities. At the same time, Indigenous poets celebrate(d) the same figuration as a strategy for empowerment, reclaiming historical positions of power and sovereignty through celebratory and often erotic poetries that directly and indirectly critique settler colonial heteropatriarchy. The article concludes that the contentions over the figure of the Sacred Queer Native and its anti-colonial, Indigenouscounter-construction, Two-Spirit, illustrates both the constructedness of gender and sexualities and the need for continued critique in the field.

scholarly journals The Construction of Lesbian and Gay Identities

1997 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 958-960
Author(s):  
Stephanie A. Bryson ◽  
Jeffrey L. Geller
Keyword(s):  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Gay Identities

Reclaiming a Transgender History: The Intertextual Life of Charlotte Charke

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Jack
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Transgender Identity ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Similar Work ◽  
Strategic Essentialism ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
Historical Presence ◽  
Gay Identities ◽  
Charlotte Charke

Abstract Feminist historians and eighteenth-century scholars alike have employed strategic essentialisms of identity categories like the sapphic to reclaim the historical presence and agency of social groups whose histories have been erased (or obscured) under patriarchy. Methodologically, strategic essentialisms enable the speculative alignment of eighteenth-century figures with contemporary identity categories even though such categories may not have been constituted as such at the time. Works like Susan Lanser’s Sexuality of History exemplify the use of strategic essentialisms to retain a phenomenological position in relation to power structures without assimilating historical figures into contemporary identity constructs.1 Though work like Lanser’s exists for lesbian and gay identities, similar work has yet to focus on the intertextual experience of transgender embodiment, despite the fact that scholars have recently argued that the lack of a speculative transgender/transsexual history in the West has led to the problematic interpolation of so-called ‘third genders’ across the globe through a Western (largely white) lens.2 In this article, I seek to construct and employ a strategic essentialism of Western trans embodiment and experience to reconstitute the historical presence and agency of individuals whose unique experiences align in degrees to transgender identity today.3 I argue that the intertextual experience of Charlotte Charke with her multi-faceted identities and roles, her resistance to pseudo-histories, as well as her negotiation and generation of origin narratives and embodied borderlands, constitutes a phenomenology of intertextuality and serves as a viable starting place for the (re)construction of a lost, Western transgender history.

scholarly journals Interpersonal Antecedents to Selective Disclosure of Lesbian and Gay Identities at Work

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian M. Rengers ◽  
Liesbet Heyse ◽  
Rafael P. M. Wittek ◽  
Sabine Otten
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Identity ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Disclosure Decisions ◽  
Resource Group ◽  
And Bisexual ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Gay Identities ◽  
Selective Disclosure

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) employees’ sexual identitymay be considered a concealable stigmatised identity. Disclosing it to others at work could potentially lead to discrimination and rejection, hence threatening their inclusion. Therefore, they may hide their sexual identity instead, which may then come at the cost of, e.g., guilt for not living authentically. However, disclosure is a continuum—rather than a dichotomy—meaning that LGB workers may decide to disclose selectively, i.e., telling some, but not all co‐workers. Most literature on disclosure focuses on the interplay between intrapersonal (e.g., psychological) and contextual (e.g., organisational) characteristics, thereby somewhat overlooking the role of interpersonal (e.g., relational) characteristics. In this article, we present findings from semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews with nine Dutch lesbian and gay employees, conducted in early 2020, to gain a better understanding of interpersonal antecedents to disclosure decisions at work. Through our thematic analysis, we find that LGB workers may adopt a proactive or reactive approach to disclosure, which relates to the salience of their sexual identity at work (high/low) and their concern for anticipated acceptance. Other themes facilitating disclosure include an affective dimension, being in a relationship, and associating with the employee resource group. We demonstrate the importance of studying disclosure at the interpersonal level and reflect on how our findings relate to literature on disclosure, authenticity, belonging, and social inclusion of LGB individuals at work.

‘Our Nameless Desires’

2020 ◽  
pp. 566-584
Author(s):  
Michael G. Cronin
Keyword(s):  
Male Homosexuality ◽  
Literary Expression ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Gay Movement ◽  
Gay Identities

The chapter surveys the development of Irish lesbian and gay fiction since the early 1990s. It traces the emergence of a generation of gay-identified authors who, buoyed by the gains made by the lesbian and gay movement since the 1970s, which culminated in the decriminalization of male homosexuality in the Republic in 1993, sought to give literary expression to the diversity of lesbian and gay identities in contemporary Ireland. The analysis distinguishes between two significant compositional principles in this body of fiction—plots that are structured temporally and those that are structured spatially—and examines their treatment in novels by Mary Dorcey, Emma Donoghue, Tom Lennon, Colm Tóibín, Micheál Ó Conghaile, Keith Ridgway, Barry McCrea, and others.

Coming Out and Outcomes: Negotiating Lesbian and Gay Identities With, and in, the Family

10.1068/d277t ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gill Valentine ◽  
Tracey Skelton ◽  
Ruth Butler
Keyword(s):  
Coming Out ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Individual Decision ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Families Of Origin ◽  
The Family ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Gay Identities

In late modernity there has been a shift in the ways that individuals relate to society, in which traditional ideas, expectations, and hierarchies are being reworked. Released from the constraints and social norms of tradition, individuals, it is argued, are now freer to choose between a range of options in the pursuit of their own happiness. Notably, these social changes have been understood to provide more opportunities for lesbians and gay men to ‘come out’—disclose their sexuality and live the lifestyle of their choice. Coming out is often implicitly discussed in academic literatures as an individual decision, and the consequences of coming out are also usually explored in relation to the personal narratives of the individual who has disclosed a lesbian and gay sexuality. To date, little attention has been paid to the actual processes through which sexual dissidents negotiate their identities with others, and to the consequences of such disclosures for those who are close to them or share their lives in various ways. In this paper we address this omission by focusing on young people's experiences of coming out with, and in, families of origin. We begin by examining what is at stake in the decision whether to come out or not by examining the role that families of origin play in young people's lives. We then explore how the process of coming out is actually negotiated within different families. Finally, we consider the ‘outcomes’ of these choices. In doing so we contribute to research on geographies of sexualities, geographies of the ‘family’, youth transitions, and the emerging field of social studies of emotions.

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