Psychoterapy and the Culture Wars In this interview, psychoanalyst Jack Drescher (MD) takes us through the winding path in and out of psychopathological theories of homosexuality. In his view, the greatest challenge regarding ‘conversion therapies’ is “helping the general public understand the differences between what the mental health mainstream and groups presenting disinformation about homosexuality are saying.
Migration, bisexuality and HIV World AIDS Day is observed every year on December 1st. Many studies have focused on homosexuality & Aids, however bisexuality has been scarcely addressed. Researcher Miguel Muñoz-Laboy (Columbia University) looks at the relation between bisexuality – especially among Latino men and HIV prevention, topics rarely linked in studies about Aids transmission.
Colonial legacy Although 66 States members of the UN condemn violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, lots of countries still have laws against consensual sex between adults of the same sex. “These laws were left behind by colonial rulers”, researcher Rhoda Redock points out.
“There is much to be undone” Anthropologist Richard Parker (Columbia University) analyses Barack Obama’s victory, the long period of moral conservatism and religious extremism of George W. Bush’s administration and the moral panic around issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
Silent homophobia Read psychologist James T. Sears’ interview about LGBT youth and Education and download his latest lecture "Homophobic bullying in schools". Sears is author of "Overcoming Heterosexism and Homophobia: Strategies that Work", among other titles.
Governments’ obligation Leading scholar in the area of sexual orientation, attorney Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law in the School of Law, King’s College London, believes that many things have changed for better since the first legal recognition of same sex couples, in 1979.
Causing a commotion Read Don Kulick’s paper on travestis and the politics of scandal in Brazilian society, presented at CLAM in May 2008. His book Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture Among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes has recently been launched in Portuguese.
Racial marginalization among MTFs Sel Julian Hwahng, research investigator at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. in New York City, conducted the ethnographic study Marginalization and HIV vulnerabilities among male-to-female transgendered comunities. See details.
Cultural analysis of reproduction Influencing the concepts of women about menstruation, menopause, pregnancy and birth was the main purpose that made north-American anthropologist Emily Martin (New York University) write The woman in the body, a book that, after two decades, has finally been translated into Portuguese.
The social dimension of sexuality Interview with American sociologist John Gagnon, who developed the social study of sexuality and the theory of the “sexual scripts” in the 1960’s. Gagnon recently presented, in Brazil, An interpretation of desire (CLAM/Editora Garamond), his first book to be translated into Portuguese.
