Sexual Diversity Studies

With co-authors: Debby Herbenick, Lori A Brotto, Emily A Harris, and Sara B Chadwick.
Low sexual desire in women partnered with men is typically presumed to be a problem-one that exists in women and encourages a research agenda on causation and treatment targeting women. In this paper, we present a distinct way forward for research on low sexual desire in women partnered with men that attends to a more structural explanation: heteronormativity. A heteronormative worldview assumes that relationships and structures are heterosexual, gender (usually conflated with sex) is binary and complementary, and gender roles fit within narrow bounds including nurturant labor for women. We propose the heteronormativity theory of low sexual desire in women partnered with men, arguing that heteronormative gender inequities are contributing factors. We outline four hypotheses and their predictions related to: inequitable divisions of household labor, blurring of partner and mother roles, objectification of women, and gender norms surrounding sexual initiation. We discuss some mechanisms-social, physiological, and otherwise-for the heteronormativity theory, especially related to stress, objectification, and nurturance. We close by noting some limitations of our paper and the ways that the heteronormativity theory of low sexual desire in women partnered with men provides a rigorous, generative, and empirical way forward.

Hormones, and hormone responses to social contexts, are the proximate mechanisms of evolutionary pathways to pair bonds and other social bonds. Testosterone (T) is implicated in tradeoffs relevant to pair bonding, and oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) are positively tied to social bonding in a variety of species. Here, we present the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds (S/P Theory), which integrates T and peptides to provide a model, set of predictions, and classification system for social behavioral contexts related to social bonds. The S/P Theory also resolves several paradoxes apparent in the literature on social bonds and hormones: the Offspring Defense Paradox, Aggression Paradox, and Intimacy Paradox. In the S/P Theory, we partition aggression into antagonistic and protective aggression, which both increase T but exert distinct effects on AVP and thus social bonds. Similarly, we partition intimacy into sexual and nurturant intimacy, both of which increase OT and facilitate social bonds, but exert distinct effects on T. We describe the utility of the S/P Theory for classifying 'tricky' behavioral contexts on the basis of their hormonal responses using partner cuddling, a behavior which is assumed to be nurturant but increases T, as a test case of the S/P Theory. The S/P Theory provides a comparative basis for conceptualizing and testing evolved hormonal pathways to pair bonds with attention to species, context, and gender/sex specificities and convergences.

The view that humans comprise only two types of beings, women and men, a framework that is sometimes referred to as the “gender binary,” played a profound role in shaping the history of psychological science. In recent years, serious challenges to the gender binary have arisen from both academic research and social activism. This review describes 5 sets of empirical findings, spanning multiple disciplines, that fundamentally undermine the gender binary. These sources of evidence include neuroscience findings that refute sexual dimorphism of the human brain; behavioral neuroendocrinology findings that challenge the notion of genetically fixed, nonoverlapping, sexually dimorphic hormonal systems; psychological findings that highlight the similarities between men and women; psychological research on transgender and nonbinary individuals’ identities and experiences; and developmental research suggesting that the tendency to view gender/sex as a meaningful, binary category is culturally determined and malleable. Costs associated with reliance on the gender binary and recommendations for future research, as well as clinical practice, are outlined.

Testosterone (T) and other androgens are incorporated into an increasingly wide array of human sexuality research, but there are a number of issues that can affect or confound research outcomes. This review addresses various methodological issues relevant to research design in human studies with T; unaddressed, these issues may introduce unwanted noise, error, or conceptual barriers to interpreting results. Topics covered are
(1) social and demographic factors (gender and sex; sexual orientations and sexual diversity; social/familial connections and
processes; social location variables), (2) biological rhythms (diurnal variation; seasonality; menstrual cycles; aging and menopause), (3) sample collection, handling, and storage (saliva
vs. blood; sialogogues, saliva, and tubes; sampling frequency,
timing, and context; shipping samples), (4) health, medical issues, and the body (hormonal contraceptives; medications and nicotine; health conditions and stress; body composition, weight, and exercise), and (5) incorporating multiple hormones. Detailing a comprehensive set of important issues and relevant empirical evidence, this review provides a starting point for best practices in human sexuality research with T and other androgens that may be especially useful for those new to hormone research.

""Largely based on pre-theory that ties high testosterone (T) to masculinity, and low T to femininity, high T is mainly studied in relation to aggression, mating, sexuality, and challenge, and low T with parenting. Evidence, however, fails to support this, and the social variability in T is better accounted for by a competition–
nurturance trade-off as per the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds (van Anders et al., 2011). Four key domains are discussed: adult–infant interactions, sexual desire, sexual behavior, and partnering. Empirical engagements with gender/sex are shown to lead to important insights over assumptions about masculinity–femininity. Humans are discussed within a comparative framework that attends to cross species principles informed by human insights alongside human-specific particularities like social constructions, which are critical to evolutionary understandings of the social role of T. This paper thus integrates seemingly orthogonal perspectives to allow for transformative approaches to an empirically supported social phenomenology of T.""

With co-authors Zach C Schudson, Will J Beischel, Emma C. Abed, Aki Gormezano, & Emily R Dibble
Diversity-focused research can provide important insights about gender/sex and sexual diversity, including in relation to oppression and privilege. To do so, it needs to critically engage with power and include minoritized and majoritized participants. But, the critical methods guiding this are typically aimed at empowering marginalized groups and may "overempower" majority participants. Here, we discuss three diversity-focused research projects about gender/sex and sexual diversity where our use of critical methods overempowered majority participants in ways that reinforced their privilege. We detail how diversity-focused research approaches thus need to be "majority-situating": attending to and managing the privilege and power that majority participants carry to research. Yet, we also lay out how diversity-focused research still needs to be "minority-inclusive": validating, welcoming, and empowering to people from marginalized social locations. We discuss these approaches working synergistically; minority-inclusive methods can also be majority-situating, providing majorities with opportunities for growth, learning, and seeing that they-and not just "others"-are socially situated. We conclude by laying out what a diversity-focused research program might look like that includes both majority-situating and minority-inclusive approaches, to work towards a more just and empirical scholarship that does not lead to majorities who are even more overempowered.

Prior research has documented shifts in sexual orientation identity, attractions, and partnering behavior over time and social context, commonly referred to as sexual fluidity (Diamond, 2008). Social contextual factors may include relationship status and type of relationship, and these may be particularly salient in polyamorous communities where multiple relationships and some degree of fluidity are common. Also common, and potentially important for experiences of fluidity, are nonheteronormativities and nonmononormativities. This study aimed to explore the sexual trajectories (experiences of sexual identity, sexual attractions, and sexual and romantic partnering) over time in people of diverse relational identities and genders. A sample of 55 polyamorous or otherwise consensually nonmonogamous individuals and 61 monoamorous individuals completed online questionnaires regarding sexual identity, attractions, and partnering behaviors at two time points approximately 7 months apart. Relational identity had a number of implications for sexuality. Polyamorous individuals were more likely than monoamorous participants to identify their sexuality in nonpolar and nontraditional ways. Polyamorous women shifted attraction ratings over time at a higher rate than polyamorous men or monoamorous women or men, and differences in present and ideal attractions at Time 1 partially predicted these shifts. Results indicate the importance of relational identity alongside sexual identity and gender in sexuality research.

Gender/sex and sexual diversity are increasingly understood by the public as complex. But, scientific frameworks that address the
complexity of gender/sex and sexual diversity are few and not well situated for the public. Sexual configurations theory (SCT; van Anders, 2015) is one approach that provides a visual framework for understanding and measuring gender/sex and sexual diversity.
But how might knowledge users and creators actually use it? To make SCT more accessible to researchers, educators, clinicians, and the general public, we created three instructional videos (individual gender/sex, gender/sex sexuality, and partner number sexuality) that explained SCT and demonstrated how to use its diagrams. Participants (N = 242) of diverse gender/sex and sexual identities, including professionals who work in gender/sex- and sexuality-related fields, watched one of the three videos, filled out the diagrams, and evaluated the video and diagrams via scaled and open-ended questions. Results demonstrated that the SCT videos were sufficient for most participants to fill out the diagrams. Participants evaluated the video generally positively, with some variation by condition, identity group, and professional status. These results indicate that instructional videos are able to translate SCT, potentially facilitating uptake of SCT by clinicians, researchers, and educators as well as increasing awareness of gender/sex and sexual diversity more broadly within the public.

Author list is: WJ Beischel, ZC Schudson, RA Hoskin, J Mao, A Zielinksi, SM van Anders

"Introduction. Research on postpartum sexuality has focused primarily on mothers, though new findings suggest that relational perceptions may have a strong influence over sexual desire and behavior. Little investigation exists regarding sexuality in partners of postpartum women. Additionally, recent findings point to the importance of a partner’s sexuality for postpartum women’s perceptions of their own sexuality in this time.

Aims. The goal of this research was to explore women’s partners’ sexuality in the early postpartum phase taking into account psychosocial context.

Methods. Partners (N = 114; 95 men, 18 women, 1 unspecified) of postpartum women completed a retrospective online questionnaire about their sexuality during the 3 months following their youngest child’s birth.

Main Outcome Measures. Primary measures included sexual desire (Sexual Desire Inventory), latency to sexual behavior, and enjoyment and initiation of sexual behavior. Other psychosocial variables were investigated: partners’ perceptions of the birth mother’s sexual desire, perceptions of the birth experience (Questionnaire Measuring Attitudes About Labor and Delivery), postpartum stress (Perceived Stress Scale), body image self-consciousness (Body Image Self-Consciousness Scale), social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support),
fatigue, and experiences surrounding breastfeeding.

Results. Partners reported most frequent engagement in intercourse in the postpartum period, earliest engagement
in masturbation, and highest enjoyment of receiving oral sex compared with other sexual activities. Partners’ sexual desire was not correlated with the psychosocial variables measured in the study. Findings for partners’ sexuality were similar by gender, except for perceptions of social support and likelihood to engage in intercourse.

Conclusions. This study provided a novel perspective on the study of postpartum sexuality by investigating physical and psychosocial influences on the experiences of partners of parous women. Given parallels between sexuality reported by partners in this study and by birth mothers in past studies, this study provided evidence that sexuality in the postpartum period may be experienced similarly, highlighting the social and relational nature of the postpartum."

Prejudice against or affirmation of gender/sex minorities is often framed in terms of beliefs about the ontology of gender/sex (i.e., what gender/sex is), or gender/sex diversity beliefs. We constructed the Gender/Sex Diversity Beliefs Scale (GSDB) to assess ontological beliefs about the nature of gender/sex, including essentialist and social constructionist beliefs, and validated the GSDB across a series of studies. In Study 1 (N = 304), we explored the factor structure of the GSDB and found evidence of associations with prejudice against transgender and/or nonbinary people. In Study 2 (N = 300), we
assessed the stability of the factor structure of the GSDB and examined its criterion-related validity, including its relationship to feelings toward multiple gender/sex groups. In Studies 3a (N = 48) and 3b (N = 500), we established test–retest reliability. We conclude that gender/sex diversity beliefs are important for understanding contemporary attitudes about gender/sex, including prejudice against gender/sex minorities, and that the GSDB is a reliable and valid way to measure them.

In Québec and elsewhere, school climate surveys have documented since 2000 the prevalence of homophobic violence, especially in high schools, and its negative impacts of its victimswhether or not they identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning (LGBQ). The dissemination of subsequent data, as well as similar observations made by various actors on the field, have resulted in calls for schools to be vigilant towards homophobic discriminations that could take place onto their premises. Many of these responsibilities have fallen onto the shoulders of teachers, partly because of their close proximity to students. However, despite the sheer number of sexual diversity awareness-building training sessions and publications available to them, teachers consistently report lacking the training, the abilities, the support, and the comfort needed to intervene against homophobia or to refer to sexual diversity in class. ! iv teachers suggest they themselves are influenced by these norms. They can decide to conform to the normative expectations that target them as teachers (for ex., by asserting their heterosexuality) or choose to resist to them (for ex., by coming out as non-heterosexuals to their students, or by avoiding to explicitly reinforce the expectations that target them) at the risk of being consequently penalized. This influence of gender norms varies from one teacher to another, but seems to be at play for both heterosexual and LGB teachers.

L'étymologie même du terme homosexualité évoque si fortement les sciences médicales que la sociologie a longtemps fait fi du « phénomène » homosexuel. De plus, la prégnance des discours homophobes n'a pas épargné la discipline sociologique elle-même, qu'il s'agisse de dénigrement de ces pratiques sexuelles ou d'un souci démontré d'hétéronormativité. À titre d'exemple, dans son cours de 1892 sur la famille conjugale, Émile Durkheim écrit : « Le mariage fonde la famille et en même temps en dérive. Donc, toute union sexuelle qui ne se contracte pas dans la forme matrimoniale est perturbatrice du devoir, du lien domestique, et, du jour où l'État lui-même est intervenu dans la vie de la famille, elle trouble l'ordre public ». Toutes discriminantes qu'elles paraissent à l'oeil contemporain, ces considérations étaient légitimées par une sociologie du 19e siècle réduisant la sexualité à ses formes institutionnelles, voire uniquement à la famille.

Gender and sex diversity exist in humans, but are often seen as too complex for scientists to incorporate beyond a female/male binary or placement on single dimensions. Here, we demonstrate a novel method for assessing and visualizing diverse gender/sexes using diagrams adapted from sexual configurations theory (SCT; van Anders, 2015). We asked participants (N ϭ 242) with diverse gender/sex identities to locate their genders, sexes, and gender/sexes (i.e., "gender/sex configurations") by marking and writing on SCT's diagrams via an online platform. Results showed that visualizing gender/sex (a) demonstrated the complexity underlying seemingly simple gender/sexes such as "woman" and "man," and (b) provided a way to systematically describe seemingly complex gender/sexes. These findings suggest that SCT visualizations provide a way for people of diverse gender/sex identities and experiences to represent the fullness and complexity of their gender/sexes in ways that can help create a more inclusive psychological science. This article is Part 1 of a 2-part report, and Part 2 explores the ways participants reacted to and perceived SCT and this novel survey (Beischel, Schudson, & van Anders, 2021). Public Significance Statement We demonstrate a new way of visualizing gender, sex, and gender/sex via sexual configurations theory (SCT) that reveals insights into the complex nature of gender/sex categories. Our findings indicate that SCT may be a useful tool for researchers, educators, and clinicians who study and work with gender/sex diversity.

Eliciting direct feedback on theories and measures, particularly when they attempt to represent marginalized populations, is an important part of refining research methods and conducting culturally sensitive research. In this study, we collected reactions to and perceptions of a novel survey method using sexual configurations theory (SCT; van Anders, 2015). SCT is a theory and measure of gender/sex and sexual diversity that allows for greater nuance, flexibility, and specificity than most existing measures of gender/sex. After they had filled out SCT's gender/sex, gender, and sex diagrams, we asked participants (N ϭ 242) of diverse gender/sexes to report on their prior engagement with these concepts, their understanding of SCT, the ease/difficulty of the diagrams, and their perception of the utility of SCT. Participants reported generally understanding the concepts, and although some found the diagrams unnecessarily complicated, many saw their utility, either for describing their own gender/sex or as a tool for understanding gender/sex diversity in general. Gender/sex majorities and minorities differed in their level of prior engagement with gender/sex concepts, and accordingly, minorities found it more useful in describing themselves, whereas majorities were more likely to indicate that the study shifted their thinking around gender/sex. These findings indicate that SCT provides both challenges and opportunities for deeply engaging with gender/sex diversity and demonstrates the utility of direct feedback from community members. This article is Part 2 of a two-part report, and Part 1 contains visualizations of the ways people used SCT's diagrams (Beischel, Schudson, & van Anders, 2021). Public Significance Statement In this online survey, participants gave direct feedback about sexual configurations theory (SCT): their perception of its concepts and their reactions to its gender, sex, and gender/sex diagrams. The results indicated that using the diagrams is a challenging but productive process, with gender/sex majorities especially finding it educational and gender/sex minorities especially appreciating the nuance and flexibility SCT affords.

Este artículo tiene el objetivo de establecer un marco histórico de la organización social de lesbianas, gays,
bisexuales, transexuales y transgéneros (LGBT) en San Salvador, El Salvador. Asimismo, procura contribuir
al resguardo de la memoria histórica de las minorías sexuales en El Salvador. La metodología utilizada
fue la exploratoria, para recuperar la información del movimiento social y organizaciones LGBT (desde
el surgimiento de las dictaduras militares en 1932 hasta el 2015). Las técnicas de investigación fueron
las entrevistas a activistas LGBT y una búsqueda arqueológica documental. Los resultados apuntan a la
organización social de las identidades LGBT en San Salvador y conquistas políticas restringidas.

Notwithstanding Gore Vidal’s praise of the story as one of the best ever written by Tennessee Williams, ‘The Knightly Quest’ (1966), a dystopian fable with a spacefaring ending, has received sparse critical attention. Largely sketched during the 1940s, the novella, a hybrid of SF and Gothic, shows Williams’s awareness of the sexual deviant’s political resistance in a world verging on totalitarianism; and, simultaneously, illustrates the author’s use of counter-narrative strategies against the normative order. In choosing apocalyptic SF Williams is reversing the logic of the favorite Cold War genre. Here the threat does not come from an external space (the alien invasion or the Russian nuclear attack) but from within: the emergence of a nation which annihilates any form of alterity and dissidence. Likewise, by making a homosexual vampire (the quintessential expression of the Jungian shadow and the polymorphous perverse) the morally superior hero of a world in its death throes and the survivor in a future utopia, Williams is granting a privileged position to the demonized Other as the savior of the American dream of limitless individual freedom.

Este capítulo aborda el estudio desarrollado con el objetivo de conocer las reflexiones del futuro profesorado de Educación Primaria sobre el tratamiento de la diversidad sexual dentro del ámbito de la educación musical y el papel que otorga a la educación musical para abordar la di- versidad sexual dentro del aula mediante un pensamiento crítico en pro de la justicia social. Esta propuesta de innovación consistió en la lectura y reflexión por escrito de una serie de artículos científicos sobre la temática LGTBI en educación musical por parte de cuatro grupos de estudiantes de la asignatura “Educación Musical” del Grado en Educación Primaria de la Universidad de Granada, durante los cursos académicos 2018/2019 y 2019/2020. El análisis de contenido de los datos reflejó la toma de con- ciencia por parte del estudiantado sobre la existencia de una discriminación hacia las personas LGTBI dentro de las aulas, así como la identificación y propuesta de varias estrategias para abordar la atención a la diversidad sexual y las identidades de género desde la asignatura de Música. De esta manera, la asignatura “Educación musical” puede ampliar la visión sobre la atención a la diversidad en la escuela y suplir las ca- rencias formativas que presentan los planes de estudio de formación inicial del profe- sorado de Educación Primaria en relación con la diversidad sexual. Además, desde un enfoque de educación musical crítica se fomenta el pensamiento crítico en el aula como herramienta educativa para el aprendizaje, pero también para la reflexión de la futura práctica docente en pro de la justicia social.

Sexual configurations theory (SCT) is a trans-inclusive theory, model, and measure of gender/sex and partnered sexuality that destabilizes ideas of universal gender truths and recognizes individuals’ authority to self-define. SCT makes space for binary and nonbinary trans existences and provides a visual medium for trans people and their partners to communicate their genders and/or sexualities with or without identity labels for themselves or others. It was published in 2015 by Sari van Anders and is rooted in trans lived experiences and scholarship, feminist and queer approaches, and marginalized and majority gender and sexual experiences. This entry summarizes the concepts in SCT and explains their relevance to trans understandings and experiences of gender, sex, and sexuality.

This article examines debates on nudity, sexism, and pornography in the Canadian gay and lesbian newspaper The Body Politic, tracing its use of images and people’s responses to them over time. In the 1970s, concerns about sexism and the objectification of the body shaped discussions over sexual and erotic imagery. In the 1980s concerns about pornography were more current, since they mirrored the then-contemporary debates over pornography and censorship. Drawing upon archival sources and oral histories, the article argues that TBP’s visual culture—particularly its sexual and erotic imagery—played a key role in the paper’s community-building project. The article also shows how responses to images reflect a deep ambivalence, and the conflicting perspectives shaping the paper’s production and reception. While liberationist politics, feminist theory, and ideas of a “gay community” influenced the paper throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the meanings that people ascribed to such concepts were diverse and sometimes incompatible.

El presente proyecto fue realizado a través de una movilidad académica de licenciatura, en la modalidad Excelencia, en la sede Bogotá de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UN-Bogotá). Se trata de un ejercicio etnográfico realizado entre agosto y diciembre de 2018, lapso que duró el intercambio y durante el cual se identificó la prevalencia de conductas discriminatorias por preferencia sexual en el campus mencionado. La observación se realizó tanto dentro como fuera del aula y, además, se incluyeron algunas anotaciones sobre la interacción durante en el Paro Nacional que vivieron 32 instituciones de educación superior en toda Colombia. En el caso de la UN-Bogotá, el paro comenzó en octubre de 2018 y se mantuvo el resto de la investigación.

Resumen El presente texto es parte de mi trabajo de tesis de maestría en Educación Física de la Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina, Brasil (2015). En el mismo me propongo cuestionar si el juego puede huir de los determinismos de género. La pregunta provocativa del título, si se puede decir así, indaga si el juego en la infancia puede huir de una marcada heteronormatividad (Butler, 1999) que invade y se proclama como hegemónica en nuestros cuerpos. Reina y Cea (2005) atribuyen a los juegos ciertos estereotipos de género, en ese sentido Mc Phail Fanger (2006) va a decir que ciertos patrones se inculcan y reproducen en la infancia, resultado de esa reproducción es el que se le asigna a las niñas para jugar muñecas y a los varones autitos. La investigación fue realizada en un barrio del oeste de Montevideo, Uruguay, en el que se entrevistaron a personas adultas, padres y madres de niñas/x/os menores de 10 años de edad. La metodología utilizada fue predominantemente cualitativa, estudio de caso, donde se realizaron observaciones, entrevistas en profundidad y donde luego se relacionaron las observaciones y lo que esas personas manifestaron con la teoría. Se observó que las personas adultas mayoritariamente reproducen ciertos estereotipos de género en los juegos que realizan con sus hijxs, y son pocas las personas adultas que no reproducen patrones heteronormativos. Este trabajo pretende aumentar las investigaciones que se vienen realizando en relación al juego y la infancia, desde una perspectiva de género y diversidad sexual. 1 Este artículo es parte de mi trabajo de maestría financiada por la beca CAPES de Brasil, para docentes de la UDELAR, Uruguay.

El presente texto trata sobre un área de estudio no explorada en El Salvador, tiene como objetivo analizar el proceso de organización de identidades gays, lesbiana, bisexual, travesti, transexual, transgénero e intersexuales (LGBTI) en San Salvador entre 1992 hasta 2015. Se identifican cuatro momentos de estructuración: 1) el orgullo gay, los primeros momentos de organización en el periodo de la postguerra; 2) lo LGBTI, consolidación de identidades; 3) Diversidad Sexual, el surgimiento de un actor político y 4) Haciendo la diferencia sin ser diferentes, reconocimiento social restringido. Se utilizan los conceptos de política sexual y acciones simbólicas para el análisis de cada momento histórico propuesto. Se concluye, el movimiento social LGBTI ha promovido el cuestionamiento de los patrones binarios de la sexualidad y los esencialismos de género, por medio de acciones simbólicas. En cuanto a la política sexual se ha focalizado en la promoción de los Derechos Humanos de la población LGBT.

O presente trabalho de dissertação se propôs a pesquisar, desde uma perspectiva de gênero, brincadeiras e jogos que fazem pais, mães e pessoas adultas com seus filhos nos tempos de cuidados infantis no âmbito doméstico e em espaços públicos de um bairro urbano periférico da cidade de Montevidéu, capital e principal cidade do Uruguai. Trata-se de um trabalho que se pretende interdisciplinar, em que se articulam estudos de Sociologia de gênero e de Educação Física sobre infância, cuidados, brincadeiras, tempo livre e lazer.

Los bears son hombres homosexuales que no encajan en el estereotipo gay (son gordos, velludos, maduros, de aspecto tosco). Surgieron en Estados Unidos, en la década de 1980, para demandar el reconocimiento de su identidad. Esta comunidad se extendió globalmente y perdura en la actualidad, pero enfrentándose a otro estereotipo: el superbear, que no sólo tiene todas las características de un oso, sino maximizadas cada una.
La rápida propagación y consolidación del movimiento evidencian que la discriminación contra –y entre- los bears no tiene sólo fines estéticos, también implicaciones identitarias, lo que profundiza sus consecuencias individuales y colectivas: inseguridad ontológica, baja autoestima, segregación, homofobia internalizada y violencia simbólica, entre otras; esto ha sido escasamente estudiado desde las ciencias sociales y las humanidades, no sólo en México, sino en el propio país de origen de la comunidad.
Al abordar el tema, fácilmente puede caerse en la equivocación de considerar que se trata de sujetos que siguen al pie de la letra las normas de género asociadas a su sexo, si no consideramos que estamos hablando de hombres homosexuales, cuya imagen y comportamiento debería ser -según lo dictado por estas mismas normas- tendiente a lo femenino o lo andrógino (ser jóvenes, delgados, lampiños, sofisticados, entre otros rasgos) de tal manera que resulte sencillo diferenciarlos de los hombres heterosexuales.
¿Dicha expresión de género –parte importante del conjunto de materiales simbólicos comunes con los que se identifican los integrantes de la comunidad bear- corresponde a una mascarada -una construcción deliberada, artificial- o a una esencia asignada por naturaleza? Es posible que la respuesta se encuentre en un punto entre estos extremos en el que, si bien estas pautas son transmitidas socioculturalmente, también son reconocidas e internalizadas por los agentes sociales como parte de una identidad no necesariamente forzada o plástica.
A partir del concepto de identidad (siguiendo a Peter Berger y Thomas Luckmann, Anthony Giddens y Gerd Baumann), así como de la elaboración de un concepto propio de masculinidad (basado principalmente en los estudios de género de Marta Lamas), se llevará a cabo una discusión que pueda dar respuesta a la interrogante planteada.

Aunque inicialmente el término gay se resignificó para contrarrestar el carácter patológico de la categoría homosexual a fines del siglo pasado, pronto devino una construcción excluyente que enaltecía, entre otras cuestiones, un tipo de cuerpo (delgado o atlético, lampiño o depilado, joven y blanco) que no caracterizaba a todos los hombres que se identificaban como gays. La respuesta de un grupo de estos hombres, con rasgos como sobrepeso, vello facial y corporal, y edad madura, fue darse un nuevo nombre, bears, para visibilizarse como homosexuales pero con sus propias expresiones corporales (estéticas, eróticas e identitarias) de la masculinidad y la homosexualidad. Actualmente, esta intención se ha modificado a tal grado que se han convertido más un club de encuentros y entretenimiento tan restrictivo como el gay.
Usando el concepto de conciencia discursiva (la capacidad de explicar nuestros actos), de Giddens, y la metodología de la hermenéutica profunda, de Thompson (para revelar los aspectos discursivos y de la acción que están más allá de lo expreso), se hará un análisis de los materiales simbólicos que los bears mexicanos tengan en común (empezando por sus características físicas) para determinar si hay en ellos estructuras de significación que sustenten su identificación como parte de esa comunidad.

Aun cuando México es el segundo país de Latinoamérica con más asesinatos por homofobia y su revista más leída es TVNotas, algunos creen que la homofobia es problema de otros tiempos o lugares, y los estudios sobre periodismo desestiman a la prensa rosa por considerarla irrelevante académicamente. Pero la ciencia de la comunicación ha probado que el discurso es parte de un fenómeno estructurante y reconstructivo de interacciones significativas y comunidades de sentido. Un análisis semántico-pragmático de la revista permitió detectar no sólo los significados formales de sus textos sobre el tema, sino sus implicaciones culturales. Con el objetivo de identificar agresiones no explícitas en contra de la diversidad sexual, se aplicó el concepto de violencia simbólica, que se refiere a las formas tácitas por las cuales un significado se impone como legítimo y natural, del que resultan representaciones generalizadas y hasta irreales, en este caso, de la población LGBTI.

Por más de un milenio -después de la caída del Imperio Romano y con la instauración de la Iglesia Católica en el poder durante la Edad Media-en casi todo el mundo, los sectores dominantes de la religión, la ciencia y el Estado -principalmente-se han turnado para encargarse de la proscripción de lo que identificaron como un mal que atentaba contra el orden moral, natural y social del universo: la homosexualidad.

Esta investigación analiza la diversidad sexual (sexo, género y sexualidad) en la programación televisiva infantil. Los docentes en formación participantes, reflexionan sobre la identidad sexual de los personajes de ficción, para revisar los estereotipos proyectados desde la Cultura Visual a la infancia. Concluyendo que: [1] existe sesgo en cuanto a diversidad sexual, [2] se invisibiliza la diversidad en el rasgo de la sexualidad, [3] el alumnado encuentra dificultades para tratar el tema de la identidad sexual en las escuelas.

Introduction/Background
Cultural competency is an important attribute of all health professionals. At the University of Western Sydney,
allied health students are educated about cultural, social and sexual diversity via face-to-face lectures and
tutorials within an interprofessional education (IPE) setting in a unit called Culture, Diversity and Health.
Purpose/Objectives
Our aim is to assess, within an IPE setting, if learning activities, which encourage reflexivity, can positively
impact on students’ perceptions of cultural competency, professional capacity and IPE. To this end, we are
applying pedagogical and sociological theories on reflexivity to a learning activity scaffolded across lectures
and tutorials in Culture, Diversity and Health. In lectures (n=750+ across two campuses), we are showing five
(3-5 minute long) videos featuring individuals living in the greater Sydney region living with disability from a
range and combination of cultural, social and sexual backgrounds. In tutorials, we are asking students to roleplay
as interprofessional teams in a supervised setting.
Issues/Questions for exploration or ideas for discussion
We will analyse, within a realistic evaluation framework, the impact of the reflexivity teaching exercise on
students’ perceptions using validated close-ended Likert scales and open-ended questions. During tutorials
students will be given questionnaires that gauge their perceived cultural competency, professional capacity
and experience of IPE.
Results
In our presentation, we will present preliminary analyses and implications for future innovations into this
under-researched area of health professional education.

This essay approaches the persistence of certain forms of conservatism against recent processes of social change in Brazil, related to the increasing visibility of sexual minorities in public sphere. Although many collective controversies concerning this issues emerged along the last years, I wish to adress here a topic somewhat different. I discuss conservative values embedded in conducts and judgments with wich, in everyday life,  people operate without much awareness. I intend to focus, particularly, some representations about the distinction between "homosexuality" and "heterosexuality" which are connected with certain family models and beliefs about the processes of social reproduction. Could the way "heterosexuality" is routinely portrayed articulate forms of subordination of sexual diversity? I would like, through this brief reflection, to highlight some of the challenges that are posed to education professionals committed to building respect for sexual diversity and gender in Brazil.