Intersecting the Academic Gender Gap: The Education of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual America

Although gender is central to contemporary accounts of educational stratification, sexuality has been largely invisible as a population-level axis of academic inequality. Taking advantage of major recent data expansions, the current study establishes sexuality as a core dimension of educational stratification in America. First, I analyze lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults’ college completion rates: overall, by race/ethnicity and by birth cohort. Then, using new data from the High School Longitudinal Survey of 2009, I analyze LGB students’ performance on a full range of achievement and attainment measures. Across analyses, I reveal two demographic facts. First, women’s rising academic advantages are largely confined to straight women: although lesbian women historically outpaced straight women, in contemporary cohorts, lesbian and bisexual women face significant academic disadvantages. Second, boys’ well-documented underperformance obscures one group with remarkably high levels of school success: gay boys. Given these facts, I propose that marginalization from hegemonic gender norms has important—but asymmetric—impacts on men and women’s academic success. To illustrate this point, I apply what I call a “gender predictive” approach, using supervised machine learning methods to uncover patterns of inequality otherwise obscured by the binary sex/gender measures typically available in population research.

The Allomothering Hypothesis: an Examination of the Adaptiveness of Female Sexual Fluidity in Self Identified Heterosexual and Mostly Straight Women

Exclusive same-sex sexual behaviour is problematic from the viewpoint of evolutionary theory because one of evolutionary psychology’s fundamental tenets is that species need to survive and reproduce. I contend that female sexual fluidity is an evolved predisposition in heterosexual women and the behaviour evolved as a result of the need for allomothering— helping each other’s offspring survive—and also providing assistance with survival of the females themselves. The Allomothering hypothesis asserts that same-sex sexual behaviour can be adaptive in condition-dependent circumstances because it promotes pair bonds that ultimately contribute to the survival of offspring. A revised definition of sexual fluidity, one that is different from the traditional definition, was devised. In this dissertation the revised definition states “sexual fluidity occurs when self-identified heterosexual (straight) or predominantly heterosexual females experience short-term fleeting physical (sexual) attraction to and/or a deep emotional connection (like romantic love) with other females in a condition-dependent circumstance.” Four studies were conducted to find evidence in support of the allomothering hypothesis. The first study compared self-identified heterosexual (mostly straight) women and men in terms of same-sex sexual experience. Overall, women more than men have engaged in various dimensions of same-sex sexual behaviour. The second study compared pornography geared toward heterosexual women and pornography geared toward heterosexual men. Female same-sex sexual behaviour occurred in almost all the top selling movies for both heterosexual women and men. The third study tested the allomothering hypothesis by having self-identified heterosexual (mostly straight) women who have engaged in same-sex sexual behaviour rate the person they had the experience with on “good mothering traits.” The more the women enjoyed same-sex sexual behaviour, the higher they rated the person they had the sexual experience with. Various aspects of same-sex sexual behaviour among heterosexual (mostly straight) women and allomothering were explored. The final study was an assessment of captive Bonobos (Pan paniscus) at the Milwaukee Zoo. Bonobos are humans’ closest genetic relative along with Chimpanzees (Pan troglodtyes). The study examined the connection between female same-sex sexual activity among bonobos in relation to pair bonding, grooming, play, and allomothering.

The Allomothering Hypothesis: an Examination of the Adaptiveness of Female Sexual Fluidity in Self Identified Heterosexual and Mostly Straight Women

Exclusive same-sex sexual behaviour is problematic from the viewpoint of evolutionary theory because one of evolutionary psychology’s fundamental tenets is that species need to survive and reproduce. I contend that female sexual fluidity is an evolved predisposition in heterosexual women and the behaviour evolved as a result of the need for allomothering— helping each other’s offspring survive—and also providing assistance with survival of the females themselves. The Allomothering hypothesis asserts that same-sex sexual behaviour can be adaptive in condition-dependent circumstances because it promotes pair bonds that ultimately contribute to the survival of offspring. A revised definition of sexual fluidity, one that is different from the traditional definition, was devised. In this dissertation the revised definition states “sexual fluidity occurs when self-identified heterosexual (straight) or predominantly heterosexual females experience short-term fleeting physical (sexual) attraction to and/or a deep emotional connection (like romantic love) with other females in a condition-dependent circumstance.” Four studies were conducted to find evidence in support of the allomothering hypothesis. The first study compared self-identified heterosexual (mostly straight) women and men in terms of same-sex sexual experience. Overall, women more than men have engaged in various dimensions of same-sex sexual behaviour. The second study compared pornography geared toward heterosexual women and pornography geared toward heterosexual men. Female same-sex sexual behaviour occurred in almost all the top selling movies for both heterosexual women and men. The third study tested the allomothering hypothesis by having self-identified heterosexual (mostly straight) women who have engaged in same-sex sexual behaviour rate the person they had the experience with on “good mothering traits.” The more the women enjoyed same-sex sexual behaviour, the higher they rated the person they had the sexual experience with. Various aspects of same-sex sexual behaviour among heterosexual (mostly straight) women and allomothering were explored. The final study was an assessment of captive Bonobos (Pan paniscus) at the Milwaukee Zoo. Bonobos are humans’ closest genetic relative along with Chimpanzees (Pan troglodtyes). The study examined the connection between female same-sex sexual activity among bonobos in relation to pair bonding, grooming, play, and allomothering.

Recent Pain Among Older Women and Men in the United States by Sexual Orientation

Pain is not only a result of other health problems but an independent condition that can negatively impact quality of life. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual older adults report more pain compared to their straight counterparts when pain is measured in the aggregate (e.g. “one or more of the following types of pain”). However, scant national research has examined if specific types of pain vary by sexual orientation among older adults. Using 2015-2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data, we used logistic regression to separately model four types of pain among women 50+ and men 50+ (lesbian/gay women: n=377, bisexual women: n=142, straight women: n=33,216; gay men: n=508, bisexual men: n=115, straight men: n=25,998) as functions of sexual orientation, controlling for age, race, education, and income. Lesbian women and bisexual men were more likely (AOR=1.46, 95% CI:1.03, 2.08; AOR=2.95, 95% CI:1.08, 3.79, respectively), but bisexual women were less likely (AOR=0.6, 95% CI:0.33, 1.05), than their straight counterparts to have had a migraine or severe headache in the past three months. Bisexual men were also more likely than straight men to report lower back pain in the past three months (AOR=1.66, 95% CI: 1.02, 2.72). Sexual minority women were more likely than straight women to report joint pain in the past 30 days and lower back pain in the past three months. Future research may examine why the prevalence of specific types of pain vary by sexual orientation among older adults.

Linking gender, sexuality, and affect: The linguistic and social patterning of phrase-final posttonic lengthening

This paper furthers our understanding of the social forces driving prosodic variation by reporting on production and perception studies of phrase-final posttonic lengthening in American English. Building on past research showing gender-based variation in the production of phrase-final lengthening, I show that this gender effect surfaces only when comparing straight men and straight women. Gay men and straight women lengthen their phrase-final posttonic syllables equally, and both groups do so more than straight men. A matched-guise social-perception experiment shows that listeners associate increased lengthening not only with femininity and male gayness, but with expressive affect. I suggest that the link between increased lengthening and expressive affect is forged iconically and that this link underlies the gender and sexuality patterns observed in the production study. What surfaces from this work theoretically is how variability in expressions of affect may drive correlations between gender/sexuality-based categories and linguistic variants.

Understanding Re-partnership in Non-normative Conjugality: Narratives of Gay Men in Odisha, India

Drawing on biographical narratives of two gay men in mixed-orientation marriage who have later gone on to establish re-partnership with another gay man, this paper seeks to critique the inherent heteronormativity in the discussion around re-partnership. It examines the consequential kinship dynamics among concerned social actors such as gay men, straight women, and their biological children, and their ongoing negotiations with the social institutions of marriage and family. Further, the discussion around re-partnership between two gay men in a Western context does not necessarily consider the alternative negotiations that characterize South Asian queer experiences. Borrowing from De Villiers’ concept of queer opacity (2012) and Jingshu Zhu’s (2017) ambivalence, the paper demonstrates that the kinning process of gay men in mixed-orientation marriage forging partnership with other gay men exists in a continuum. The boundary between what needs to be undone and what needs to be redone is porous, ambiguous, and interpenetrative. In that case, this paper suggests a non-Western framework to understand re-partnership in non-normative conjugality.

Post-Intimate Partner Violence Difficulty Sleeping, Perceived Mental Health, and PTSD Among Heterosexual and Bisexual Women in the United States

Using data from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence survey, this paper examines the relationship between sexuality and mental health outcomes in survivors of intimate partner violence. Findings indicate that heterosexual/straight women abused by women and bisexual women abused by women are significantly more likely to report current difficulty sleeping, while heterosexual/straight women abused by women and bisexual women abused by men are more likely to self-rate their overall mental health as poor (versus good or excellent). This is the first study using population-based data that takes into account all forms of violence and its impact on sexually diverse women—when we include psychological abuse and controlling tactics, the impact on mental health is worse than previously noted: around 80-90% of all women experience some form of anxiety, depression, intense fear, restlessness, nightmares, or stressors that impact their ability to work, go to school, and complete daily life activities.

No girls allowed?: Fluctuating boundaries between gay men and straight women in gay public space

How are boundaries between sexual identities constructed and maintained through interaction? I draw on ethnographic observation in Philadelphia gay bars popular among heterosexual patrons and supplemental interviews with young gay-identifying club-goers to illuminate how men make situational claims to gay space by drawing distinctions between who ‘belongs’ in gay bars and who does not through interaction. Conceptualizing gay space as a collectively accomplished ‘mesh’ of particular interaction rituals, I find that men activated membership boundaries when presumably straight women's nightlife rituals were perceived to threaten the continued production of gay space by ‘straightening’ it. Men did not enact boundaries when straight women energized men's rituals with positive emotional energy and contributed to a bar's collective ‘gay’ feeling. Broadly, these findings suggest that the generation of shared emotions across groups in spaces with contested meaning or function helps determine the salience of boundaries.