epublishing store: Intro

Sexual Health eBook Volume3
Chapter 13

Sexual Identities of Gay Men & Lesbians: Cultural Foundations & Controversies, Brent A. Satterly & Donald A. Dyson

This chapter should be read in conjunction with Blaise Parker’s work (chapter 10, volume 1) addressing sexual orientation identity development. There, Parker gives a thorough and thoughtful analysis of existing research and theories on the development of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender identities within the context of individuals’ experiences of the world.

In contrast, this chapter focuses on the ongoing process of identity development for sexual-minority people, picking up where Parker stops with initial identity formation, and examining the ways in which individuals continue to narrow and define their personal sexual identities beyond early acceptance of their orientation. It considers the life-span development of individuals and their exposure to, induction into, and development of countercultural identities based upon their sexual experience and practices.
Using the work of Michelle Eliason (1996b) as a foundation, we offer a model for the incorporation of additional personal identities, the managing of additional norms, and the development of an authentic sense of self related to each individual’s experience of both her or his authentic self and cultural environment.

The chapter goes on to identify some of the prescriptive norms that strongly influence gay male and lesbian cultures. Although these are not exhaustive, they give the reader a fair idea of the norms that exist within some of these cultural expressions. In offering these, however, we describe the alternative identities that many individuals choose in the face of these cultural norms. These identities are not exhaustive lists, but they are offered to give the reader some additional experiences of identity to consider that go deeper than the broad categories of “gay male” and “lesbian.”

As we offer these identities, we seek to highlight and explore the ways in which they create moral and ethical controversies. Many of the experiences of self shown here—whether private sexual acts between consenting adults, the raising of children, or marrying the love of one’s life—raise important questions in the larger culture.

Finally, we examine some of the alternatives to the categories of gay and lesbian outside the United States and other Western cultures. In so doing, we remind the reader of the different ways that people across the globe have attempted to explain and understand their experiences of self.

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