Sexual Minorities: Discrimination, Challenges, and Development in America

Michael K. Sullivan

Routledge, 2003 - Social Science - 253 pages

Explore the crucial issues facing the GLBT population in their struggle for acceptance in contemporary America!

Sexual Minorities: Discrimination, Challenges, and Development in America examines the stumbling blocks that prevent gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and trangenders from living wholesome, healthy lives. This book concentrates on the effects of outside influences on the homosexual psyche from adolescence to mid-life and programs and services that need to be developed to improve quality of life. While some outside influences can make positive changes—such as Internet-based outreach to educate men in chat rooms about HIV—sexual minority groups face negativity from society in the forms of homophobia and heterosexism.

Sexual Minorities uses statistics, charts, graphs, and surveys to reveal a remarkable trend correlating how contemporary American society treats sexual minorities and how it affects their psychological and psychosocial health. This book also reveals how—when internalized— this hurtful discrimination can cause self-hatred and depression. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the GLBT population, including:

• the history of homophobia and intolerance toward homosexuals with its basis in cultural, religious, and sociological views
• an in-depth survey utilizing Erikson’s psychosocial model to determine the lifespan development of seven “out” gay males who discuss their coming-out period, their roles in society, their legacies, and later-life issues
• the lack of federal legislation protecting GLBT employees in the workplace and recommendations for creating a sense of security for these employees
• a case study revealing the high incidence rate of heterosexism amongst social workers and the repercussions this could have among homosexual clientele
• surveys and statistics investigating the rate of abusive behavior in lesbian relationships
• three chapters involving specific issues of gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents, such as coming out, risk and protective factors, and being homosexual in a rural environment as opposed to a city

Sexual Minorities is an important tool for everyone in today’s society—from students and practitioners of social work, health care, human sexuality, psychology, and sociology, to legislators, lawyers, activists, and business owners. This book is also vital for every parent, relative, or friend of a man or woman labeled as a sexual minority.

Contents

• An Analysis of Testimonies: 15
• Cultural Competence: 55
• An Ethical Issue: 75
• A Potential Precipitant: 93
• Experiences: 129
• Providing HIV Education and Outreach via Internet: 145
• Sex Role Identity and Jealousy as Correlates: 153
• LesbianHeaded Stepfamilies: 171
• Life Course AnalysisThe Courage to Search: 189
• The Firing of a Transsexual: 225
• Index: 241

Popular passages

Page 219 - Baum, MC (2000). Relationship of activity and social support to the functional health of older adults.‎

About the author

Mike Sullivan Professor of Mathematics at Chicago State University received a Ph.D. in mathematics from Illinois Institute of Technology. Mike has taught at Chicago State for over 30 years. He is a native of Chicago's South Side and currently resides in Oaklawn. Mike has four children. The two oldest have degrees in mathematics and assisted in proofing, checking examples and exercises, and writing solutions manuals for this project. Mike III co-authored the Sullivan "Graphing with Data Analysis "series as well as this series. Dan, the youngest, sells for Prentice Hall as a generalist. Mike has authored or co-authored over ten books. He owns a travel agency, and splits his time between a condo in Naples, Florida and a home in Oaklawn, where Mike enjoys gardening. Mike first signed this series with Deleen Publishing (Acquired by Macmillan) in 1985. Mike Sullivan III is a professor of mathematics at Joliet Junior College. He holds graduate degrees from Depot University in both mathematics and economics. Mike has co-authored both of the Sullivan graphing series and collaborated with his sister to author supplements for all of the Sullivan series. Mike has recently authored a brand new successful Statistics book for Prentice Hall "Fundamentals of Statistics, 1/e 2005 and Statistics: Informed Decisions Using Data, 1/e, 2004." Mike is currently working on a developmental math series for Prentice Hall that will be published in 2007. Mike is the father of three children. He is an avid golfer and tries to spend as much of his limited free time as possible on the golf course. Why We Wrote the Book: Work on this series began with a unique perspective. Teaching at a large urban institution and asmaller two-year college has allowed us to see firsthand the challenges associated with teaching students with diverse backgrounds in an urban setting. Successful textbooks must be accessible to students. As lead author of this series, one of the most important things I bring to the project is my experience as author of a successful calculus text. Mike and I are both aware that students must be prepared in a Precalculus course for subsequent mathematics courses. We also realize that many College Algebra students will not be going on to take upper level math courses. In this series we resolved the seeming dilemma without sacrificing accessibility. The books in this series are designed to be mathematically comprehensive and to provide substantial mathematical preparation for subsequent courses. At the same time, great effort has been expended to motivate the material and to make it accessible to even poorly prepared students.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Sexual Minorities: Discrimination, Challenges, and Development in America; Volumes 2-3; Volume 8 of Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment Monograph
• Editor: Michael K. Sullivan
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Routledge, 2003
• ISBN: 0789002353, 9780789002358
• Length: 253 pages
• Subjects: Social Science / Gay Studies; Social Science / Gender Studies; Social Science / Minority Studies; Social Science / Social Work