Great post Beth. Thanks. It has been a while since I taught such a class, but these are often questions that develop. I am now covering this in my Soc. Psych class, but they are more timid.
TIPS needs facebook page...then I would just "like" Beth's post lol. G.L. (Gary) Peterson,Ph.D Psychology@SVSU > On Feb 8, 2015, at 7:09 PM, Beth Benoit <beth.ben...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Sorry to be so late to respond to this thread but I just returned from a long > weekend (and a drive through horrible weather) but returned safely to New > Hampshire. (Phew!) > > I have taught a course in Human Sexuality for a while, and offer this > research... > > First, from the text I use (by Simon LeVay and Janice Baldwin, 2012): > > "During the 20th century, the diversity of gay people became much more > apparent (Faderman, 1991; Chauncey, 1994). To accommodate this recognition, > a new idea took hold - that there are two kinds of lesbians and two kinds of > gay men. The two kinds of lesbians were called butch and femme: The butch > lesbians looked, dressed, and acted like men and took a dominant role in sex, > while the femme lesbians were like heterosexual women and took a submissive > role in sex. A lesbian couple would consist of a butch-femme pair. > Similarly, gay men were thought to be of two kinds, sometimes referred to as > tops and bottoms: Tops were defined by a preference for the insertive role > in anal intercourse and were relatively masculine and dominant generally, > while bottoms preferred the receptive role and were more feminine. With this > thinking, lesbian and gay male relationships were "regularized." Although > they were same-sex relationships, they mimicked heterosexual relationships > in the sense that they were formed by the union of a more masculine-gendered > and a more feminine-gendered partner. > > This general conception of gay sexuality persisted through the 1950s and was > very much part of gay and lesbian culture. According to an oral history of > mid-2oth century lesbian life in Buffalo, New York, young, working-class > women who entered the lesbian culture had to first figure out whether they > were butch or femme. After this fateful decision was made, all their > relationships, social roles, and sexual behaviors were governed by their > identity as one or the other (Kennedy & Davis, 1983). > > To some degree, this culture of complementary gender types still exists > today. The 10-year-old son of a lesbian couple living in Decatur, Georgia, > put it this way: "One of my moms id kind of like my dad, and my other mom is > the girly mom" (Bagby, 2008). But in general, today's gay and lesbian > communities are characterized by a kaleidoscopic variety of "types" and a > generally more playful attitude toward gender. Self-identified butch and > femme lesbians still exist, but the rules have loosened. No one would be > surprised to see two butch or two femme lesbians forming a couple, for > example. > > In addition, the lesbian/straight and gay/straight dichotomies are themselves > under siege, especially among women. While some women remain out-and-out > lesbians, others move fluidly between relationships with both men and women > (Diamond, 2008). Of course, one might call these women bisexuals...rather > than lesbians. However, they may reject any such labels themselves, > preferring to define their sexual desires in terms of the specific people > they are attracted to, rather than by overall classes of partners. This > may help explain why over 2% of the women in the National Survey of Sexual > Health and Behavior (NSSHB) survey...described themselves as "something else" > rather than gay, bisexual, or straight. Thus, they challenge the centrality > of sexual orientation as we currently define it." > > Some other thoughts on the subject were first offered by Donald McCreary in > 1994. (Rhoda Unger discusses his work in another text I've used when > teaching Psychology of Women (the text is called The Psychology of Women and > Gender). McCreary pointed out how men who appear "effeminate" are more > likely to be perceived as gay, while women who have masculine traits may be > less likely to be seen as gay. I know this isn't exactly the point Michael > was considering, but I always thought it was interesting, nonetheless. > > As you may have concluded from LeVay and Baldwin's description, the whole > concept of butch and femme is controversial, but still evolving. There are > still strong butch movements (here's a newsletter that has much of interest > http://www.butchvoices.com/category/announcements/page/2/ ) and the idea > that using/thinking of gays as butch and/or femme is not totally unacceptable > to the gay community, nor is it necessarily outdated. > > That said, I also want to stress that, as with any other person or group, > many understandably rebel against the idea that they be defined or labeled. > > After pondering all of this, I wonder if another concept you might want to > consider, Michael, is why humans feel the need to categorize and break groups > down into subcategories. > > Ah, I think I see another thread forming. At least, in the old days, that > would have happened on TIPS. > > Beth Benoit > Plymouth State University > Plymouth NH > >> On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 10:27 AM, Michael Britt <mich...@thepsychfiles.com> >> wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Can anyone point me to research on the topic of whether or not homosexual >> couples tend to “take on” the typical male and female roles that we see in >> heterosexual couples? When people see homosexual couples, they seem to ask >> a question like “Well, which one is ‘the guy’?” >> >> >> Michael >> >> Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. >> mich...@thepsychfiles.com >> http://www.ThePsychFiles.com >> Twitter: @mbritt >> >> >> >> >> --- >> >> You are currently subscribed to tips as: beth.ben...@gmail.com. >> >> To unsubscribe click here: >> http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aaf72&n=T&l=tips&o=41908 >> >> (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) >> >> or send a blank email to >> leave-41908-13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aa...@fsulist.frostburg.edu >> > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: peter...@svsu.edu. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13445.e3edca0f6e68bfb76eaf26a8eb6dd94b&n=T&l=tips&o=41945 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-41945-13445.e3edca0f6e68bfb76eaf26a8eb6dd...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > > > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@mail-archive.com. 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