Posts Tagged ‘culture’

Gay Rights Essay

Gay and Lesbian Online Dating: We’re anti-fat!

In his 1990 essay “A matter of size” (not the classic Gay Porn video!), P. Giles highlighted the almost Fascist tendencies displayed within the Gay Community – to each other. Reading his essay I am left with the feeling that if you seek compassion and tolerance, you are best looking outside the LGBT community. We tend to belittle and deride overweight Gay Men and lesbians in the same way that anti-gay, right wing factions belittle us. 

Research has shown that gay men and lesbians differ from the straight community in terms of the emphasis we place on body image; both our own and others. No news there then. However this same research shows (depressingly) how much this extreme fixation on body image affects our own self-esteem. 

Apparently we make ten types of assumptions about another person based upon their physical appearance. Including: how much they earn, how trustworthy they are, how intelligent and their overall morals! Naturally, this in turn affects how willing we are to engage in a conversation with that person, let alone embark on an intimate relationship. 

Of course, we know that just because someone dresses in a Manchester United strip does not necessarily mean that they are going to behave and think like Cristiano Ronaldo. Well, we know that rationally, but emotionally it does seem we tend to get drawn into some fantasy along those lines! 

Similarly, we attribute similar attributes of character to individuals based upon other physical appearances. Within the LGBT community, this is all underpinned by a set of ideal images and at the other end of the spectrum, attributes that are to be chastised. It is clear from just spending 30 minutes in a bar or online that this tendency to idolise or chastise is much stronger within the LGBT community than in the straight community. 

So, what is the effect of this on us as a community? Well, ever since 1979 evidence has been presented to show that gay men in particular are less satisfied with their own body image than their straight counterparts. Yet, they are also more likely to criticise and judge others on their appearance. To compound this, having a negative self-image has a much bigger impact on self-esteem for a gay Man than for a lesbian or straight man or woman. 

When asked what type of partner is ideal, gay men generally tend towards someone who is thinner than them. Whilst lesbians do show some of this tendency, it is less pronounced. Why should gay men show such a bias? It has been suggested that this is a combination of messages we pick up from society and an internalised homophobia. In other words, we don’t seem to like ourselves as much as straight men like themselves! 

As I mentioned, lesbians don’t seem to have such extreme trouble with all this stuff. In fact research in 2004 showed that lesbians are slightly happier with their bodies than straight women. When asked to describe their physical ideal in a partner, lesbians were less anti-fat than were straight women and much less so than gay men. There is an interesting caveat to this: lesbians believe that other lesbians are looking for much thinner partners than they actually are! 

All of this suggests that we are as a community more fixated on image than the straight community. Whilst this may not be news, it is the effect that this has on our ability to engage in intimate relationships that concerns me. Painful preoccupation with our own image restricts our capacity to interact with potential partners. We need to remember that potential partners do not see what we see and they just don’t make the same judgements! 

In the end, the more we fixate on our own and others’ appearance and the more “anti-fat” we are, the lower our self esteem. In fact about a third of our self esteem is explained by these factors. I can’t help concluding that if we could practice being less judgemental of our own and others’ appearance and learn a little from our lesbian and straight friends we could boost our self esteem and the self-esteem of those around us. Go on; explore the Trueself, not the projected self! 

Article by Dominic James, with thanks to Jason S. Wrench and Jennifer L. Knapp (Journal of Homosexuality, 2008)

 

 

About the Author

Founder of a new open and honest dating site for the gay and lesbian community

http://www.tomdickandsally.com/tds-home

MultiMedia: Essay link – Gay Rights

Women’s Rights Emerges within the Anti-Slavery Movement, 1830-1870: A Brief History with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture) $8.38 Combining documents with an interpretive essay, this book is the first to offer a much-needed guide to the emergence of the women’s rights movement within the anti-slavery activism of the 1830s. A 60-page introductory essay traces the cause of women’s rights from Angelina and Sarah Grimké’s campaign against slavery through the development of a full-fledged women’s rights movement in the 1840s and…

The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory $38.01 The Second Wave collects many of the major essays of feminist theory of the past forty years, essays by the figures who have made key contributions to feminist theory during this period and have generated extensive discussion. Organized historically, these essays provide a sense of the major turning points in feminist theory. Contributors include: Norma Alarcon, Linda Alcoff, Michele Barrett, Els…

Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con $9.93 At the end of Virtually Normal, Andrew Sullivan called for the legalization of gay and lesbian marriages as a recognition of an individual’s right to enter into a committed relationship with the person he or she loves. Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con is, as the title suggests, a collection of arguments for and against such unions. Sullivan provides little commentary, allowing the various auth…

An Essay on Rights $36.55 An Essay on Rights

Gay Rights Now! $6 Gay Rights Now! – Milk (Original Soundtrack)

Gay Rights $6.38 This book is in Good Used condition

Gay Rights and Moral Panic $21.65 In 1977 and 1978, voters across the country went to the polls in a series of referenda to decide whether lesbians and gay men were citizens deserving equal protection under the law—or perverts and outcasts. These contests served as the first nationa

Political Institutions and Lesbian and Gay Rights in the United States and Canada $93.33 Political Institutions and Lesbian and Gay Rights in the United States and Canada

Gay Metropolis $12.69 An entertaining and informative social and political history of modern gay life focuses on New York City, describing the growth of the gay rights movement and offering profiles of prominent gay figures since the end of World War II. Reprint.

Gay Rights, Military Wrongs $12.98 This book is in Good Used condition

Gay and Lesbian Rights Organizing $98.83 This book is in Good Used condition

Gay Rights and American Law $25.45 This book is in Good Used condition

The Gay Rights Movement $61.48 This book is in Used condition

Gay and Lesbian Rights $16.6 This book is in Like New condition

Gay & Lesbian Medical Rights $11.24 This book is in New – Excellent condition

The Case For Gay Rights $22.46 This book is in New – Excellent condition

Gay Rights Activists $39.5 This book is in Used condition

Gay Rights on Trial $55 This book is in New – Excellent condition

Gay Rights are Human Rights Gay Light T-Shirt by CafePress $15 Look cool without breaking the bank. Our durable, high-quality, pre-shrunk 100% cotton t-shirt is what to wear when you want to go comfortably casual. Preshrunk, durable and guaranteed.5.6 oz. 100% cotton Standard fit Gay Light T-Shirt Tee, TShirt, Shirt Look cool without breaking the bank. Our durable, high-quality, pre-shrunk 100% cotton t-shirt is what to wear when you want to go comfortably casual. Preshrunk, durable and guaranteed.5.6 oz. 100% cotton. Standard fit.

Gay and Lesbian Rights By Newton, David E. $91.7 Discusses issues raised by gay and lesbian rights, profiles activists on both sides, documents varying views, and lists organizations. Author: Newton, David E. Series Title: Contemporary World Issues Subtitle: A Reference Handbook Publication Date: 2009/10/27 Number of Pages: 301 Binding Type: Hardcover Language: English Depth: 1.25 Width: 6.00 Height: 9.25

Out of the Past: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Rights in America $6.88 This 64-minute documentary, winner of the “Audience Award” at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, details the hurdles that determined teenager Kelli Peterson had to confront when she decided to organize a Gay-Straight Alliance at her Utah high school in 1996. After both the school board and the state legislature made efforts to bar the Alliance from the school, the teens drew national attention as they continued to fight for their rights. Peterson, her family, and friends are interviewed by filmmaker Jeff Dupre, who put the situation in perspective with five historical segments, presented chronologically yet intercut with the modern-day Utah conflicts — the secret diary of 17th-century Puritan clerk Michael Wigglesworth; the 19th-century “marriage” in Boston of novelist Sarah Orne Jewett and socialite Annie Fields; the 1924 organization in Chicago of the first American gay rights group; Bayard Rustin and his role in the Civil Rights movement; and the work of activist Barbara Gittings during the ’50s and ’60s. Actors Stephen Spinella, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cherry Jones, Edward Norton, and Leland Gantt deliver the narration for these historical segments through readings of letters and diaries. Filmed in 16mm color and black-and-white, Out of the Past was shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Reference Handbook $52.55 No Synopsis Available

Gay Republicans $16.98 The 2004 presidential election left Log Cabin, the gay republican organization, in a state of extreme turmoil. President Bush had taken an open stand against gay marriage, effectively forcing the members of Log Cabin to chose what was more important to each of them: being gay or being republican. This documentary examines this difficult process and what it meant to many of the people involved. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi rights. Faced with a difficult decision between their politics and their personal lives, various members of the community took diverging paths in their attempts to follow what they thought was right. This documentary follows a group of Log Cabin members as they attempt to parse their own path on the way to Decision 2004, in a process by turns moving, humorous, and politically prescient.

got rights? Gay Light T-Shirt by CafePress $15 Look cool without breaking the bank. Our durable, high-quality, pre-shrunk 100% cotton t-shirt is what to wear when you want to go comfortably casual. Preshrunk, durable and guaranteed.5.6 oz. 100% cotton Standard fit Gay Light T-Shirt Tee, TShirt, Shirt Look cool without breaking the bank. Our durable, high-quality, pre-shrunk 100% cotton t-shirt is what to wear when you want to go comfortably casual. Preshrunk, durable and guaranteed.5.6 oz. 100% cotton. Standard fit.

Hear Us Out! $18 What was it like being young and gay during the closeted 1950s, the exuberant beginnings of the modern gay rights movement in the 1970s, or the frightening outbreak of HIV and AIDS in the 1980s? In this unique history, Nancy Garden uses both fact and fiction to explore just what it has meant to be young and gay in America during the last fifty years. For each decade from the 1950s on, she discusses in an essay the social and political events that shaped the lives of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people during that era. Then, in two short stories, she explores the emotional experiences of young gay people coming of age during those times, giving vivid insight into what it really felt like. Hear Us Out! is a comprehensive and rich account of gay life, both public and private, from one of the pioneers of young adult lesbian and gay literature.

Other Mens Sons $2.87 Looking for Brothers, Michael Rowe’s first essay collection (1999), won international critical acclaim, heralding the arrival of one of the most perceptive and insightful journalist essayists writing on popular culture and gay themes today. Other Men’s Sons contains the best of his creative non-fiction written between 2000 and 2005. The journalism includes profiles of the coming-out story of Playgirl magazine’s 30th anniversary centerfold, Scott Merritt; Philip Ing, creative director of the legendary MAC Cosmetics AIDS fundraiser, Fashion Cares; and exclusive interviews with diverse trailblazers, from openly gay horror superstar Clive Barker, to firebrand minister and gay rights activist The Reverend Brent Hawkes. The personal essays cover a range of subjects including the power of erotica, the beauty of men, the real reason for gay marriage, and the importance of the chosen family; these will resonate with many readers, gay and straight alike. The collection ends with a powerful autobiographical essay, “My Life As a Girl,” which is a meditation on the author’s unique childhood.

Public Opinion And Constitutional Controversy $99 American politics is most notably characterized by the heated debates on constitutional interpretation at the core of its ever-raging culture wars, and the coverage of these lingering disputes are often inundated with public-opinion polls. Yet for all their prominence in contemporary society, there has never been an all-inclusive, systematic study of public opinion and how it impacts the courts and electoral politics.Public Opinion and Constitutional Controversy is the first book to provide a comprehensive analysis of American public opinion on the key constitutional controversies of the twentieth century, including desegregation, school prayer, abortion, the death penalty, affirmative action, gay rights, assisted suicide, and national security, to name just a few. With essays focusing on each issue in-depth, Nathaniel Persily, Jack Citrin, Patrick Egan, and an established group of scholars utilize cutting edge public-opinion data to illustrate these contemporary debates, methodically examining each one and how public attitudes have shifted over time, especially in the wake of prominent Supreme Court decisions. More than just a compilation of available data, however, these essays join the "popular constitutionalism" debate between those who advocate a dominant role for courts in constitutional adjudication and those who prefer a more pluralized constitutional discourse. Each essay also vividly details the gap between the public and the Supreme Court on these hotly contested issues and analyzes how and why this divergence of opinion has grown or shrunk over the last fifty years. Ultimately, Public Opinion and Constitutional Controversy sheds light on a major yet understudied part of American politics, providing an incisive look at the crucial part played by the voice of the people on the issues that have become an indelible part of the modern-day political landscape.

Public Opinion And Constitutional Controversy $29.95 American politics is most notably characterized by the heated debates on constitutional interpretation at the core of its ever-raging culture wars, and the coverage of these lingering disputes are often inundated with public-opinion polls. Yet for all their prominence in contemporary society, there has never been an all-inclusive, systematic study of public opinion and how it impacts the courts and electoral politics.Public Opinion and Constitutional Controversy is the first book to provide a comprehensive analysis of American public opinion on the key constitutional controversies of the twentieth century, including desegregation, school prayer, abortion, the death penalty, affirmative action, gay rights, assisted suicide, and national security, to name just a few. With essays focusing on each issue in-depth, Nathaniel Persily, Jack Citrin, Patrick Egan, and an established group of scholars utilize cutting edge public-opinion data to illustrate these contemporary debates, methodically examining each one and how public attitudes have shifted over time, especially in the wake of prominent Supreme Court decisions. More than just a compilation of available data, however, these essays join the "popular constitutionalism" debate between those who advocate a dominant role for courts in constitutional adjudication and those who prefer a more pluralized constitutional discourse. Each essay also vividly details the gap between the public and the Supreme Court on these hotly contested issues and analyzes how and why this divergence of opinion has grown or shrunk over the last fifty years. Ultimately, Public Opinion and Constitutional Controversy sheds light on a major yet understudied part of American politics, providing an incisive look at the crucial part played by the voice of the people on the issues that have become an indelible part of the modern-day political landscape.

Edited: September 10th, 2011