This book presents current research focusing on sexual minorities. Topics discussed include gay and lesbian parenthood; asexuality; media representations of marginalised minorities; the effect of image contact on heterosexual womens attitudes toward lesbian women; the high-school experiences of sexual and gender minority youth and best practices in the development of interventions designed to attenuate homonegativity. The final entry is a virtual discussion in which contributors responded to a set of questions that focused on key issues in the field of sexual minority studies.

Lambda Literary Award 2014 Finalist in LGBT Nonfiction Foreword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award 2014 Finalist in Family & Relationships Independent Publisher Book Awards 2015 (IPPY) Silver Medal in Sexuality/Relationships Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2015 Winner in LGBT -- What if you weren't sexually attracted to anyone? A growing number of people are identifying as asexual. They aren’t sexually attracted to anyone, and they consider it a sexual orientation—like gay, straight, or bisexual. Asexuality is the invisible orientation. Most people believe that “everyone” wants sex, that “everyone” understands what it means to be attracted to other people, and that “everyone” wants to date and mate. But that’s where asexual people are left out—they don’t find other people sexually attractive, and if and when they say so, they are very rarely treated as though that’s okay. When an asexual person comes out, alarming reactions regularly follow; loved ones fear that an asexual person is sick, or psychologically warped, or suffering from abuse. Critics confront asexual people with accusations of following a fad, hiding homosexuality, or making excuses for romantic failures. And all of this contributes to a discouraging master narrative: there is no such thing as “asexual.” Being an asexual person is a lie or an illness, and it needs to be fixed. In The Invisible Orientation, Julie Sondra Decker outlines what asexuality is, counters misconceptions, provides resources, and puts asexual people’s experiences in context as they move through a very sexualized world. It includes information for asexual people to help understand their orientation and what it means for their relationships, as well as tips and facts for those who want to understand their asexual friends and loved ones.

Offering an anthology of original articles on sexuality from a sociological perspective, Selves, Symbols, and Sexualities: An Interactionist Anthology focuses on the diverse and multi-layered meanings of sexuality, sexual behaviors and sexual identities. Thomas S. Weinberg and Staci Newmahr bring you essays that explore sexuality as a social process. As a whole, the book takes the perspective that what each of us understands to be sexual is constructed through everyday social processes and interaction, situated in particular spaces and moments, identified through our social-sexual presentations, and symbolized through language, objects and practices. The book is organized around these four distinct but interrelated processes, and augmented by personal narratives around relevant issues. The authors’ goals for the book are to engage students in the sociological enterprise by providing interesting and insightful entries that emphasize the importance of meaning-making in human sexuality, and to provide them with conceptual tools to understand human sexuality in a complex and quickly changing sexual landscape.

This timely volume examines the ways in which queer and trans theory are supported by recent findings from psychological science. In it, Ella Ben Hagai and Eileen Zurbriggen explore foundational ideas from queer thought and transgender theory including the instability of gender, variation in sexualities, intersectional theory, and trans writers’ rejection of the “born in the wrong body” narrative. These key ideas are juxtaposed with innovative empirical psychological research on the fluidity of gender, the proliferation of sexual identities, and transgender affirming medical and psychological care. This book explains the history and politics of key ideas shaping the study of the psychology of gender and sexuality today. It also describes the ways that the queer and trans* revolutions have changed how psychologists understand gender, sexuality, and transgender identities. It will be especially helpful for readers interested in interdisciplinary scholarship.

Featuring over 70 affirming interventions in the form of homework assignments, handouts, and activities, this comprehensive volume helps novice and experienced counselors support LGBTQ+ community members and their allies. Each chapter includes an objective, indications and contraindications, a case study, suggestions for follow-up, professional resources, and references. The book’s social justice perspective encourages counselors to hone their skills in creating change in their communities while helping their clients learn effective coping strategies in the face of stress, bullying, microaggressions, and other life challenges. The volume also contains a large section on training allies and promoting greater cohesion within LGBTQ+ communities. Counseling and mental health services for LGBTQ+ clients require between-session activities that are clinically focused, evidence based, and specifically designed for one or more LGBTQ+ sub-populations. This handbook gathers together the best of such LGBTQ+ clinically focused material. As such, it will appeal both to students learning affirmative LGBTQ+ psychotherapy/counseling and to experienced practitioners. Offering practical tools used by clinicians worldwide, the volume is particularly useful for courses in clinical and community counseling, social work, and psychology. Those new to working with LGBTQ+ clients will appreciate the book’s accessible foundation to guide interventions.

In the 1990s inter-ethnic conflicts threaten the stability of many states. As a result the issue of minority rights has become an urgent concern for international lawyers. Minority and Group Rights in the New Millennium examines the way in which existing international law and human rights instruments protect the rights of minorities. In addition the essays in this volume address current debates on the fundamental issue of defining a minority, the complex arguments for expanding existing definitions and the legitimacy of claims by specific groups to qualify for minority status.

A popular one-semester/quarter course offered at both 2-year and 4-year schools and taught by either the Health Sciences division or the Physical Education department. This is a survey of various health-related topics, such as nutrition, exercise, sexuality, substance abuse, disease, etc., usually with an emphasis on applying the concepts to students' own lives.

Same-sex attracted, and non-gender conforming African-Americans are substantial in number, yet underrepresented in the social and behavioral science literature. This volume addresses the issues of African-American LGBT psychology as a case of indigenous psychology. The authors present the research of scholars who are developing theory, practice, and services that are couched within the specific cultural complexities of this population. Some key topics addressed in AFrican-American Issues in LGBT Psychology are gender, spirituality, family, racism, "coming out", generational differences, health and safety issues, urban vs. rural realities, and implications for researchers.

This two-volume Handbook provides a major thematic overview of global sexualities, spanning each of the continents, and its study, which is both reflective and prospective, and includes traditional approaches and emerging themes. The Handbook offers a robust theoretical underpinning and critical outlook on current global, glocal, and ‘new’ sexualities and practices, whilst offering an extensive reflection on current challenges and future directions of the field. The broad coverage of topics engages with a range of theories, and maintains a multi-disciplinary framework. PART ONE: Understanding Sexuality: Epistemologies/Conceptual and Methodological Challenges PART TWO: Enforcing and Challenging Sexual Norms PART THREE: Interrogating/Undoing Sexual Categories PART FOUR: Enhancement Practices and Sexual Markets/Industries PART FIVE: Sexual Rights and Citizenship (And the Governance of Sexuality) PART SIX: Sexuality and Social Movements PART SEVEN: Language and Cultural Representation

This three-volume set is a rich resource for readers in any discipline interested in understanding the global, regional, and domestic experiences of LGB people. This interdisciplinary set makes a vital contribution to understanding how LGB rights are progressing—and in some cases, regressing—around the globe. The three volumes look at the lived experiences of LGB people from varied perspectives and provide comprehensive coverage on a wide variety of topics ranging from LGB youth and LGB aging to the approaches to LGB people of different religions, including Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Chapters focus on topics including the ongoing criminalization of same-sex sexual conduct and how international human rights law can be used to improve the lives of LGB people. Particular attention is paid to the rights of bisexuals, a group often ignored in works focusing on sexual orientation. Volume 1 focuses on history, politics, and culture relating to LGB people; Volume 2 focuses on the laws—domestic and international—governing LGB people; and Volume 3 provides snapshots of the current state of LGB experience in countries worldwide, presented by geographical region: Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific region.