The essays in this volume focus upon the psychological dimensions of lesbian, gay and bisexual identities from puberty to adulthood.

At a time when lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals-often referred to under the umbrella acronym LGBT-are becoming more visible in society and more socially acknowledged, clinicians and researchers are faced with incomplete information about their health status. While LGBT populations often are combined as a single entity for research and advocacy purposes, each is a distinct population group with its own specific health needs. Furthermore, the experiences of LGBT individuals are not uniform and are shaped by factors of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographical location, and age, any of which can have an effect on health-related concerns and needs. The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People assesses the state of science on the health status of LGBT populations, identifies research gaps and opportunities, and outlines a research agenda for the National Institute of Health. The report examines the health status of these populations in three life stages: childhood and adolescence, early/middle adulthood, and later adulthood. At each life stage, the committee studied mental health, physical health, risks and protective factors, health services, and contextual influences. To advance understanding of the health needs of all LGBT individuals, the report finds that researchers need more data about the demographics of these populations, improved methods for collecting and analyzing data, and an increased participation of sexual and gender minorities in research. The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People is a valuable resource for policymakers, federal agencies including the National Institute of Health (NIH), LGBT advocacy groups, clinicians, and service providers.

This book assembles a diverse group of scholars working within a new, pathbreaking paradigm of sexual science, fusing perspectives from history, sociology, and psychology. The contributors are united in their commitment to the idea of "narrative" as central to the study of sexual identity, offering an analytic approach to social science inquiry on sexual identity that restores the voices of sexual subjects. The result is a rich examination of lives in context, with an eye toward multiplicity and meaning across the life course. Central to the chapters in this volume is the significance of history, generation, and narrative in the provision of a workable and meaningful configuration of identity.

This important book provides unique new knowledge on the lived experience of openly bisexual men without medicalizing or pathologizing them. Presenting research from sexology, sociology, and psychology, it features extensive findings on the sexual, social, romantic, and emotional behaviors of the 90 men interviewed in the U.S. and U.K. Issues and challenges are examined in such areas as identity and self-concept, along with the burden of social erasure and the paradox of stigma from both the gay and straight communities. However, the research reveals evidence of a recent cultural transition toward acceptance of bisexual identity and behavior, with younger bisexual men experiencing better social lives and increased recognition of the legitimacy of bisexuality. Among the topics covered: Examining the components of sexuality. Measuring and surveying bisexuality. Bisexual burden Demonstrating a generational cohort effect Expansion of gendered boundaries. Erosion of the one-time rule of homosexuality. Coming out in the 21st century. Bringing clarity and focus beyond the gender binary—and compelling insights into why society and science have trouble shedding that paradigm—The Changing Dynamics of Bisexual Men’s Lives will interest sexuality scholars, sexologists, and social scientists studying the social aspects of sexuality.

Is love “blind” when it comes to gender? For women, it just might be. This unsettling and original book offers a radical new understanding of the context-dependent nature of female sexuality. Lisa M. Diamond argues that for some women, love and desire are not rigidly heterosexual or homosexual but fluid, changing as women move through the stages of life, various social groups, and, most important, different love relationships.This perspective clashes with traditional views of sexual orientation as a stable and fixed trait. But that view is based on research conducted almost entirely on men. Diamond is the first to study a large group of women over time. She has tracked one hundred women for more than ten years as they have emerged from adolescence into adulthood. She summarizes their experiences and reviews research ranging from the psychology of love to the biology of sex differences. Sexual Fluidity offers moving first-person accounts of women falling in and out of love with men or women at different times in their lives. For some, gender becomes irrelevant: “I fall in love with the person, not the gender,” say some respondents.Sexual Fluidity offers a new understanding of women’s sexuality—and of the central importance of love.

"...And Then I Became Gay is about the lives of young men who express the complications, adversities, and satisfactions of being a sexual outsider in North America during the 1980s and 1990s. Consisting of narratives which chronicle developmental progression from first memories of being attracted to other males to a subsequent integration of their sexual identity with a personal identity, this book is also unique in its cross-section of men from different ethnic backgrounds. Although each story in this volume has a personal meaning to the individual youth disclosing it, aspects of these narratives can express a normative experience growing up gay or bisexual during the past two decades. For many of the contributors and readers, these stories may prove to be not only ones of coming out, but coming of age.