Chapter 12: Social Work and Sexual and Gender Diversity PDF

11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn.   (/account/dashboard) DIGITAL TEXTBOOK Chapter 12: (/resource Social Work and Sexual and Gender Diversity  Notes ce/20/nodes/657/annotations) Search...  Media (/resource/20/nodes/657/student  × files) (/r —Kael McKenzie, Canada’s first trans judge...

11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn.   (/account/dashboard) DIGITAL TEXTBOOK Chapter 12: (/resource Social Work and Sexual and Gender Diversity  Notes ce/20/nodes/657/annotations) Search...  Media (/resource/20/nodes/657/student  × files) (/r —Kael McKenzie, Canada’s first trans judge (2015) https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 1/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Social work is embracing fluid ideas about gender and sexual identity. Chapter author: Sarah Todd exually and gender-diverse social workers and clients enrich our profession and have challenged its complicity in the regulation of sexuality and gender. As a result, social work is increasingly able to embrace fluid notions of identity while drawing on more inclusive ideas about what is normal or healthy in terms of gender expression and sexual desire. This shift is a work in progress, requiring professionals to question heteronormativity, cisnormativity, and our own conceptualizations about sexual and gender identities and practices. While many LGBTQ+ people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer, as well as two-spirited, transsexual, and intersexed) who reach out for social work services have needs similar to their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts, sexual orientation and gender identity may shape how they experience programs and resources. Social workers are also increasingly aware that sexuality and gender are not just issues for LGBTQ+ persons but are central to all our lives and the lives of our clients. As such, sexuality and gender are https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 2/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. central to social work practice, and practitioners are challenged to interrogate their own identities and practices while also seeing all clients as sexual and gendered beings. In this chapter, you will learn how to… understand the social and cultural experiences of sexually and genderdiverse communities in Canada become more aware of your own conceptualizations of sexuality and gender and how they influence your interactions with LGBTQ+ people promote an understanding of sexualities, gender, and identities as sometimes fixed, other times fluid, and always contextual unpack the social and material relations that privilege some genders and sexualities while marginalizing others expand and strengthen your understanding of human sexuality Key Concepts Sexology Kinsey Report Heterosexism Biological determinism Social constructionism Queer theory https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 3/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. LGBTQ+ Sex and gender Sexual orientation Two-spirited Cissexual/Cisgender Transgender Transsexuals Intersexuals Homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia Stonewall Rebellion Queer activism Heteronormativity Cisnormativity Transmisogyny Focusing Question What are your beliefs about sexuality and gender, and how might they impact your role as a social worker? Gender and Sexual Diversity: An Historical Context https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 4/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Two major historical developments over the past 50 years have helped to shape Thompson Learn. The Heterosexual Is Invented our thinking about gender and sexuality. In 1892, American doctor James Kiernan The first is sexology, a field of study was the first to use the term that attempted to classify sexual desire and gender identity. The second is community activism—a creative and “heterosexual.” He used the term in a scholarly article to describe people who were seen as deviant because they had sex primarily for pleasure, not procreation, focused movement that evolved in and were erotically attracted to people of response to a history of oppression and both sexes. marginalization shared by persons Kiernan’s article was also the first North embracing sexual and gender diversity. Community activism has led to growing recognition of sexual and gender rights in Canada. American publication to use the term “homosexual,” which described persons whom we would now think of as transgendered—people who bend or cross conventional gender roles (Katz, 1995). Sexology Influences Perceptions of Human Sexuality In the late nineteenth century, scientists and philosophers in Europe and North America increasingly applied notions of science and formal reason to explain and categorize the world around them. Part of that process of categorization involved documenting what was considered to be proper sexual attraction (Katz , 1995: 51). Thus, the science of sex—sexology—was invented, and the ideas of the “heterosexual” and the “homosexual” emerged. This is not to say that same-sex and different-sex desire did not exist before this time, but the turn of the century marked a shift in how people made sense of these desires and behaviours. One aspect of the study of sexual identities that occurred at the turn of the century is often termed ”medical colonization.” The end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century was a time when medical authority https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 5/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. began to replace pre-existing religious and judicial authorities. Prior to this transition, sexual and gender non-conventionality were most often understood as sinful or illegal. With the rise of professional “scientific medicine,” sexologists were called into courtrooms to provide evidence that such transgressions were caused by biological or neurological abnormalities that required treatment, rather than punishment. By 1900, much of the concern around sexual normality and abnormality was focused on whether people were engaging in sex primarily for reproduction (normal) or pleasure (deviant). One of the pioneers in creating categories of normal and abnormal behaviour was Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840–1902). Krafft-Ebing’s most famous piece of writing is a categorization of abnormal sexual behaviour entitled Psychopathia Sexualis. It is in Krafft-Ebing’s work that the heterosexual begins to represent normality—Krafft-Ebing implicitly defined heterosexuality as reproductive sex between a man and a woman, and homosexuality as same-sex desire. While some researchers were investigating the heterosexual, others were developing scientific theories of homosexuality. One of the first to do so was Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–1895), a German lawyer who was vocal in the fight to decriminalize sodomy (anal sex). Ulrichs created categories of the Urning (a female caught in a male body) and Urningin (a male caught in a female body) to make sense of same-sex attraction. He viewed homosexuality as inborn and natural. Ulrichs was also one of the pioneers of the gay and lesbian rights movement. In their efforts to provide ever-finer classifications of sexual differences, researchers sought physical markers. It was argued that one could determine a homosexual by the way he walked, the size of his hips, the shape of his penis, or his “womanly” behaviour. Female homosexuality was seldom https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 6/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. explored scientifically until the end of the nineteenth century. Sexologists largely considered female homosexuality in relation to “abnormal” or enlarged clitorises, hermaphroditism, and gender-reversed body types. By the 1920s, lesbianism was linked with “inappropriate female behaviour,” such as political activism or avoidance of motherhood. Many of the beliefs of early sexologists continue to influence common thinking about sexuality. Second-Generation Theorists In the years following this early exploration of gender and sexual identity, a second generation of sexologists emerged. One of the most well known scientists of this generation was Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956). The Kinsey Report, published in 1948 under the title Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, surveyed a wide variety of people and their sexual habits and surprised the Heterosexism A system of oppression that assumes heterosexuality is normal and superior Discriminatory laws and practices are changing to ensure that people of all sexual orientations and gender identities have equal rights and protection in our society. Such changes challenge what is sometimes called “heterosexual privilege”—the comfort and power accorded to people American public by revealing that 37 who are in, or are expected to be in, a percent of the men in Kinsey’s survey relationship with a person of a different reported having had a homosexual experience to the point of orgasm. Most sex and who thus conform to dominant gender norms. significantly, he showed that people’s sexual behaviours combined so-called perverse behaviours with those considered normal. In 1953, he published a second report, titled Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. Kinsey’s research was groundbreaking because it suggested that everyday sexual behaviour often transgressed laws, public opinion, and social norms. However, with the rise of Cold War anti-communism in the 1950s, Kinsey’s https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 7/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. work was viewed with suspicion. Rumours spread that he was a communist, working to destroy American values. He lost his research funding and died of a heart attack in 1956. But Kinsey’s research provided much of the basis for the political analysis developed by members of the gay liberation movement in the early 1970s. The second generation of sexologists suggested that our social world plays a significant role in shaping our sexual desires and behaviours, and it also challenged heterosexism. This change in our understanding of sexuality was, in itself, a result of social and political changes. For example, secondgeneration sexologists were influenced by the feminist movement, which challenged the notion of a woman’s “natural” place in society, suggesting that the “female” gender role is defined as much by social expectations as by any innate characteristics. Alfred Kinsey received a doctorate in biology from Harvard University in 1919. Before the publication of his books on human sexual behaviour, he was a professor of zoology at Indiana University. He is shown here in 1948. Shifting Theoretical Understandings of Human Sexuality The following summaries of some modern Western responses to sexual diversity highlight a shift in theoretical understandings of human sexuality. Each of these theories attempts to solve the puzzle of sexuality, but none has been able to explain fully the complex and multiple ways in which we constitute our gender identities, sexual desires, and sexual practices, or how these identities, desires, and practices vary according to historical and cultural contexts. https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 8/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Biological Determinism Early sexologists attempted to explain sexuality in terms of biology. These explanations are known as biological determinism, which has traditionally focused on the organic causes of non-conventional gender and sexual identities and behaviours. This theoretical approach is still used today. Recently, Simon LeVay, former Harvard University researcher and founder of the Institute of Gay and Lesbian Education, argued that the brain structures of gay men differ from those of heterosexual men. We have also witnessed the search for the “gay gene.” Such theories have been used to demand rights for queer communities on the grounds that queer persons are born queer and that their sexuality is not a matter of choice. While it has a certain potential for liberation, biological determinism also has serious limitations. First, the argument that sexual diversity and gender identity are rooted in biology has not ended homophobia, heterosexism, and cissexualism. In fact, biological determinism has often been used to entrench inequality. Second, scientific “truths” related to gender and sexuality have consistently been shown to reflect current socio-political norms and values. The search for clear, identifiable differences regarding gender and sexuality also raises ethical concerns. For example, what if prospective parents want to test their fetus for the “gay gene” and choose abortion based on the result? This line of reasoning also accentuates the differences that heterosexual privilege relies upon, rather than exploring the similarities shared by people who desire those of a different sex and those who desire those of the same sex. Social Constructionism https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 9/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Another group of theories related to sexuality is known as social constructionism. These are predominantly the theories advanced by the second generation of sexologists. According to this perspective, sexualities are constructed by our social and cultural context and also by our cultural history. It is as a result of such theories that gender reassignment surgery at birth was introduced for babies determined to be intersexuals—persons whose sexual organs are not clearly male or female. It is also on the basis of such theories that psychotherapeutic approaches to “curing” sexual orientation (if an individual is attracted to people of the same sex) or reversing gender identity (if it is inconsistent with an individual’s sex) evolved. While it is clear that society does play a large role in our sexual and gender expression, social constructivist theory has a number of shortcomings. First, research has found that people cannot change their sexual orientation. While some individuals can decide not to act on their desires, the desires themselves do not disappear. Equally, babies who have been reassigned a gender at birth, either as a result of a botched circumcision or the development of ambiguous genitalia, have not easily reinvented themselves as the gendered subjects that doctors have chosen for them. Many face challenges once they enter puberty and find that their gender identity is incompatible with their sex. It seems clear that our sex, gender expression, and sexual orientation rely upon at least some biological factors. Freud and Sexuality Sigmund Freud (1856–1939 critiqued many of the biological explanations for homosexuality, coming close to arguing that masculinity and femininity are socially constructed. However, Freud also suggested that homosexuality is an immature stage of development compared to heterosexuality. https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 10/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Freud’s theories about sexuality marked an important shift away from biology to psychology, but his approach, as adopted by psychologists, was not necessarily liberating for gay men and lesbians. More often, Freud’s theories were mobilized to further pathologize homosexuality as a mental illness that needed to be “cured.” Queer Theory One significant theory that has emerged in the past 20 years or so to explain sexuality and gender falls largely within the social constructionist school of thought— Queer theory. This body of thought raises doubts about the feasibility of legislative changes within a capitalist democracy to bring about liberation for marginalized groups. Indeed, these theorists argue for a radical transformation of societal norms and expectations related to human sexuality. By the late 1980s, people had begun to see the many ways in which women, people of colour, and members of LGBTQ+ communities were still marginalized, discriminated against, and oppressed, despite hard-won legislative protection. Such observations led some activists to conclude that the existing social structures of Western society, while offering many benefits, also generate some fundamental problems that limit the possibility for freedom, equality, and justice for all. Queer activists and theorists argue for a rethinking of the entire terrain within which we create categories of people and distribute power among them. In part, Queer theory responds to the realization that many people do not fit easily or neatly into the binary oppositions of man–woman, heterosexual–homosexual, and so on. Queer theorists suggest that identifying as gay or straight does not provide an unquestionable or complete description of who people are sexually attracted to, with whom they have sex, or with whom they share loving relationships. https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 11/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Current Terminology Related to Sexual and Gender Diversity Sex and gender refer to quite different aspects of our identities. Sex (usually male or female) is what doctors attribute to babies based largely on the shape and size of their genitalia. In fact, sex is determined by genetics, chromosomes, and hormones, which can combine to create an indeterminate number of sexes. Gender has two components: gender identity, which is the sense we have of ourselves as male, female, or transgendered; and gender role, which is our adherence to cultural norms of femininity and masculinity. Sexual orientation is an emotional, romantic, sexual, or affectional attraction to another person. It is not dependent upon a person’s gender identity or gender role. Two-spirited is a First Nations terms that recognizes gender as a continuum and includes sexual or gender identity, sexual orientation, and social values. Cissexual/Cisgender are terms used to define persons who are not transsexuals and who have only ever experienced their gender identity and physical sex as being aligned. The term “cisgender” is used to deprivilege those who consider themselves as having a “normal” gender expression and to validate an understanding of transgender identities as simply variants of gender expression. Cissexism refers to the belief that transsexuals’ identified genders are inferior to, or less authentic than, those of cissexuals. Transgender includes those who identify as bigender, gender benders, gender outlaws, cross-dressers, drag queens, drag kings, transvestites, and transsexuals. Some intersexuals also identify as transgender. Some https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 12/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. transgendered persons understand their experience in dimorphic absolutes (e.g., a male trapped in a female body), while others inhabit a zone “between” the sexes. Transsexuals are individuals whose gender identity is at odds with their physical sex. Some transsexuals undergo gender reassignment surgery to make their anatomy coincide with their gender. Others use hormones to reshape their body. Not everyone who identifies as transsexual uses medical interventions to change their physical appearance.Transsexualism is classified under “Gender Identity Disorders” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Intersexuals are individuals whose external sex or genitalia are indeterminate. These are people who appear to be males but are biologically females, people with female physical attributes who are biologically males, and people who have the external appearance of both sexes as well as the DNA chromosome karyotypes of both sexes. Homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia describe an individual’s and/or society’s fear and hatred of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered persons. The Rise of Community Activism In the 1950s, before the rise of the new understandings described in the earlier sections of this chapter, the psychiatric profession officially labelled homosexuality as a mental disorder. The profession’s response to such perceived https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read Human Rights Laws While same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in Canada in 1969, it was not until decades later that it became illegal to discriminate against gay men, 13/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM deviance included administering drugs to people, performing lobotomies, and subjecting gay men and lesbians to electroshock treatment. Some lesbians endured hysterectomies and estrogen injections (Warner, 2002: 24). Early gay and lesbian community activists challenged medical authority, and homosexuality was removed from the Thompson Learn. lesbians, and bisexual persons in the areas of immigration, employment, military service, housing, pensions and other benefits, marriage, and custody of children. Even then, the removal of prohibitions against same-sex relations had little effect on the lives of transsexual people, whose human rights are still not explicitly protected through legislation in Canada. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association in 1973. The emergence of gay communities in Canada can be traced back to at least World War II. During this time, the traditional patriarchal family structure was disrupted to some extent. There were increasing opportunities for people to socialize in predominantly same-sex groups, since men were in the army and at war, while many women were working together in large factories. Many people moved to cities, where anonymity and lack of parental supervision allowed more opportunities for sexual exploration. This freedom was circumscribed, however, by the hunt for “subversives” that characterized the Cold War in the 1950s. Any kind of deviance became suspect, because the logic of the day was that if you had anything to hide (and same-sex attraction was considered something to hide), then you were more likely to be blackmailed into working for a foreign government (Girard, 1987). Thus, the 1950s were a terrible time for gay men and lesbians, especially in the Canadian civil service. The RCMP collected close to 9,000 names of people within the service who were suspected of being homosexual (Kinsman, 2003). Many of these people were subjected to police interrogation https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 14/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. and surveillance. It was within this climate that in 1952, homosexuals were prohibited from entering Canada under the Immigration Act. While the next few decades brought an easing of anxieties over communism, it would not be until 1976, after significant activism, that the provision denying entrance to homosexuals was removed from the act. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, a growing gay and lesbian political movement began to shape public discourse and scientific understandings about sexuality. This movement symbolically coalesced on June 27 and 28, 1969, when a series of riots erupted in response to a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a New York City gay bar. The riots, which were later called the Stonewall Rebellion, marked the beginning of a more public, largescale movement for gay and lesbian rights. A new national organization, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), was formed with the mandate to create freedom for all oppressed people, not just members of LGBTQ+ communities. Prominent transgender activists at the time, such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, who subsequently co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), were also involved in clashes with police during the Stonewall riots. Gay and lesbian organizations worked systematically to challenge laws limiting the civil and social rights of members of LGBTQ+ communities. An important year for the recognition of the civil rights of gays, lesbians, and bisexual persons in Canada was 1969. With the passing of Bill C-150 and then-justice minister Pierre Trudeau’s statement that “there is no place for the State in the bedrooms of the nation,” gross indecency and buggery (the legal terms used to describe gay sex) were decriminalized as long as these acts were committed in private between two consenting adults over the age of 21. Since then, there have been a number of changes to the Criminal Code (see the feature on “Same-Sex Rights in Canada: A Timeline and Highlights”). https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 15/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Queer Activism A disparaging term once often directed Heteronormativity at gay men and lesbians, “queer” has been The belief that people fall into distinct reclaimed by LGBTQ+ communities to genders (male and female) with natural represent an inclusive celebration of all roles in life and that heterosexuality is the persons whose sexual and gender only sexual orientation Cisnormativity expressions differ from heterosexual norms. The founders of the first queer activist group, Queer Nation, belonged to ACT UP, a radical AIDS activist group that succeeded in getting pharmaceutical companies and governments to finally respond to the AIDS pandemic that swept through the United States and Canada in the 1980s. As gay and lesbian activism became more prominent in the 1990s, queer activism popularized the term “queer” to be more inclusive of sexual minorities and other marginalized people. “By adopting ‘queer’ they reclaimed and politicized a derogatory term commonly used before gay and lesbian liberation. It represented the belief in an identity that is more ambiguous and more fluid than gay, lesbian, or homosexual” (Warner, 2002: 262). https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 16/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Queer activists distanced themselves Cisnormativity from gay and lesbian organizers by The mistaken assumption that all, or critiquing identity-based movements. almost all, individuals are cisgender Queer activists reject Transmisogyny heteronormativity, cisnormativity, and transmisogyny and are skeptical of viewing identities as coherent, stable, and possessing clear boundaries. Instead, they suggest that such identities mask significant diversity among the members within various categories while also ignoring similarities between different categories. PFLAG Canada is a national charitable organization founded by parents who wished to help themselves and their family members understand and accept their non-heterosexual children. https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 17/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Transmisogyny The negative attitudes, expressed through cultural hate, individual and state violence, and discrimination, directed toward trans women and trans and gender non-conforming people on the feminine end of the gender spectrum A timeline and highlights Same-Sex Rights in Canada Recent Developments in LGBTQ+ Rights in Canada In the past few decades, there has been a complete revamping of the legislative framework that excluded and punished homosexuality in Canada. Also, Jan Buterman is a transgendered teacher from the Edmonton area who was fired by significant legislative changes have been the Roman Catholic school board in 2008 made in order to actively include gay after being told his gender change from men and lesbians in mainstream society. Until the early 1990s, gays, lesbians ,and bisexual persons were not allowed to serve in the Canadian military. In 1992, woman to man is not aligned with the teachings of the Catholic Church. In October 2015, an Edmonton judge reserved his decision on whether Buterman can have his case heard in front the federal courts lifted this ban, and with this ruling, the legislative barriers to https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 18/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM LGBTQ+ persons joining the armed forces were removed. Nevertheless, LGBTQ+ persons have continued to raise Thompson Learn. of the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal. Buterman said the decision could take weeks or even months. concerns about the treatment they In 2011, Buterman was offered a $78,000 receive in the military. Changing the settlement, which he refused, largely due culture of the armed forces to become queer-positive has been a tremendous challenge that continues today. In the late 1990s, a significant change to a confidentiality clause prohibiting him from discussing the reason for his termination. Buterman has been in legal proceedings for more than seven years. occurred in the area of spousal benefits. In 1999, an act regulating survivor benefits, known as the Public Service Superannuation Act, was amended to extend such benefits to same-sex couples. The most comprehensive package of changes for people living in same-sex relationships came with Bill C-23, the Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act. This bill amended 68 federal statutes to provide everyone in common-law relationships with nearly all the rights and responsibilities ascribed to heterosexual married couples. In 1980, federal Member of Parliament Pat Carney first attempted to have sexual orientation included in the Human Rights Act, but the bill did not pass. While other attempts were made in the intervening years, it was not until 1996 that discrimination based on sexual orientation was officially added to the act. During this period, major legal battles were also fought to challenge Canada’s obscenity legislation, which allowed Canada Customs to confiscate gay literature, including safer sex material depicting anal sex. In December 2000, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that Canada Customs was discriminatory against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered materials, https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 19/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. and placed the burden on the Crown to prove obscenity as opposed to requiring community bookstores or other importers to defend against the charge. Gay rights activists claimed a victory. In February 2001, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was reformed so that same-sex partners can be recognized as members of the family class of immigrants. Now, a common-law partner is anyone who has been in a conjugal relationship for at least one year. Refugee processes also now recognize that people have legitimate refugee claims if they fear persecution in their country of origin due to their sexual orientation. The battle over gay marriage in Canada was particularly intense, with some religious groups suggesting that the legalization of gay marriage would violate their religious freedom. However, in 2005, Canada enacted federal legislation providing for marriage for same-sex partners. Transgendered and transsexual persons have also faced significant barriers to acknowledgement of their rights. Not every trans person wants genderconfirming surgeries, but for those who do, the surgeries are considered essential. After sustained battles, eight provinces (all but New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) now fund some combination of gender-confirming surgeries (GCS). In a 2013 CBC radio documentary about the challenges faced by trans people waiting for GCS, freelance reporter Maggie Rahr stated that those on the lengthy surgical wait lists were “statistically at a higher risk of suicide than any other known population.” In March 2013, the House of Commons passed Bill C-279 to include the rights of trans persons in the Canadian Human Rights Code. However, the bill has faced significant opposition in the Senate and remains in limbo at the time of the writing of this chapter. https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 20/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Legislation that shows honour and respect for same-sex relationships has had little impact on the lives of transsexual people. Discrimination against transgendered and transsexual people is, even today, not explicitly illegal under the same human rights laws that formally recognize the human rights of gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons. In the late 1990s, educational institutions began to face the problem of the bullying and subsequent suicides of LGBTQ+ youth in their schools and thus initiated sensitivity training for staff and students. Positive changes resulted from the activism of student-led, school-based gay–straight alliances (GSAs). This movement started in the United States, and the Canadian version (known as “Day of Pink”) evolved when a teen was bullied with homophobic slurs for wearing a pink t-shirt. By the mid-2000s, GSAs had spread across Canada, and in 2006 the Canadian Teachers’ Federation distributed a handbook on how to develop GSAs. While the courts and legislative changes have been proactive in ensuring that GSAs are allowed in every school, GSAs have been less successfully implemented in private and Catholic school settings. The first transgender Miss Universe Canada contestant in 2012, Jenna Talackova. Emerging Concepts of Sexual and Gender Diversity As we learn more about the broad range of sexual behaviours, desires, and identities, it has become increasingly clear that social workers must be aware of and open to the complex and varied roles that sexual practices and communities play in our society. As societal understanding of sexual behaviour shifts, social workers must reflect on their own beliefs and values https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 21/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. around sexuality and determine how they can work effectively with people whose experiences may be either quite different from, or very similar to, their own. It is important to consider how to communicate acceptance when unexpected disclosures happen and how to create a sex-positive atmosphere in one’s work so that clients can feel safe when discussing their sexuality or gender if it is relevant to the challenges they are facing. Non-monogamy/Polyamoury As the social work profession rethinks Gender-Fluid Children how it situates itself in relation to Our society has taught us that there are supporting healthy sexuality and healthy relationships, many workers have also had to grapple with our culture’s deep only two genders—male and female—but this is not the case. Not all people fit neatly into a male or female gender identity. This may be particularly investment in normative practices of confusing for children who best describe heterosexual monogamy. Increasingly, their reality as having the sense of being non-monogamous and polyamorous communities and individuals are defending the moral and legal aspects of “both” or “neither.” Some of these children may speak of being more male on some days and more female on other days; in other words, they see themselves their relationships, viewed as contentious as “gender fluid.” by many Canadians. Some observers view These are all normal variations in human institutionalized non-monogamy in the gender and do not mean something is form of polygamy as harmful to women, wrong with a child. A child’s gender is children, society, and the institution of not what others tell them, but who they marriage. At the same time, some female polygamists, female polyamourists, and female researchers question the ways in know themselves to be. Parents of genderfluid children can be supportive by accepting their children for who they are. which we attribute harm to certain forms of non-monogamy such as polygamy, but not to others such as adultery https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 22/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. (Rambukkana, 2015). While the impact of these debates on social work has been limited to this point, non-monogamous lifestyles are likely to continue to unsettle some of our ideas about sexual, romantic, and/or institutionalized relationships. Asexuality Another community that is challenging taken-for-granted norms related to sexuality is the one percent of our population who identify as asexual (Bogaert, 2004). This group challenges society to reflect on the fact that we define our most significant relationships as those that are romantic and sexual, and how by doing so, we can marginalize those people who are single and asexual (as either a life-long or a temporary identity). For social workers, especially those in the field of mental wellness, these are important considerations, as they question our notion that people must be romantically or sexually paired to be healthy and happy. Again, this emerging area of sexuality is one that social workers need to keep in mind when working with clients. Kink The kink community includes people who are interested in a wide range of kinky sex, including, but not limited to, bondage, sado-masochism, and leather, all of which involve manifestations of dominance and submission through consensual role-playing in a sexual context. While recent decades have seen social workers shift their perceptions of LGBTQ+ people and their sexual and gender practices, there has been less of a movement to understand and accept what are called “paraphilias” (Nichols, 2006). Kinky activities may be unusual, but they are generally safe and consensual. Kink communities have well-established codes of behaviour stating that all participants be fully informed, capable of consent, and free to avoid activities that incur medical https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 23/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. or mental danger. There is no evidence that people who engage in kinky sex are any more or less healthy than people who do not. However, people who participate in kink communities sometimes struggle with internalized or external stigma. Sexual Trauma A significant amount of social work is focused on working with people who are victims or perpetrators of sexual violence (or both). Rates of sexual trauma and sexual harm are high in this country, which means that social workers are likely to come into contact with people who have experienced and/or perpetrated sexual trauma. When working with such clients, whether they are gay, straight, or trans, it is crucial that social workers reflect on their own experiences of sexual trauma, if any have occurred, as well as their own feelings around such issues. Family members commit half of all reported sexual abuse. This type of abuse is also the most harmful because it involves a significant violation of a trusting relationship. Friends, colleagues, and, less frequently, strangers can also perpetrate sexual violence. Working with survivors of sexual abuse often involves helping people to cope with stigma and shame and to rebuild a sense of security and dignity. Some social workers support survivors by accompanying them through the medical system and/or the legal process of laying charges and going to court. This can be a particularly painful process for survivors. Most often, survivors of sexual trauma need an opportunity to speak openly about their feelings in order to deal with the effects of the trauma. Social workers play a vital role in ensuring that victims of sexual trauma have a say in decision-making processes and in what their healing will look like. https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 24/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Intimate partner violence and sexual assault are also of concern in the LGBTQ+ community, partly because such incidents are often hidden and denied. In the practitioner profile for this chapter, for example, Ottawa social worker Dillon Black observes that intimate partner violence and gender-based violence have been occurring for many years within the queer community of which they are a member. It has been cloaked in silence and shame, however, and non-disclosure has made it difficult for social workers to reach out to help survivors of violence within the LGBTQ+ community. Dillon sees an urgent need to talk openly about this problem. Sexual Offences Social workers also work with people who commit sexual offences. Increasingly, the goal of this work is to encourage potential perpetrators to seek treatment Sexuality, Aging, and Disability Until recently, society has imagined that people who are elderly or who have physical, psychiatric, or intellectual before committing a crime. This requires disabilities are non-sexual beings. In that, as a society and as a profession, we recent decades, these beliefs have been communicate respect and value for people who have sexual fantasies that include harming others, while being clear that such acts are unacceptable. Preventative programs are becoming more prevalent across North America and Europe, and there are signs that early challenged. Increasingly, social workers are becoming more aware that many older people and people with disabilities are sexual beings and may be sexually active. Older people, as a group, enjoy the full spectrum of sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identities. Social workers need to be well versed in how to support older people and people with disabilities in interventions, accompanied by ongoing enjoying their sex lives. They can help support, can be very effective. While prevent the spread of sexually transmitted social work has taken a clear and important position that it is not possible or ethical to “fix” people’s sexual desires, https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read infections (STIs) and also ensure that vulnerable persons who wish to be sexually active are protected from victimization. 25/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. certain forensic programs have been quite successful in working with clients to increase their own understanding of their harmful sexual desires and to work effectively to reduce their risk of re-offending. These programs help people to see how sex with consent is better sex, and teach clients skills to increase the likelihood of having relationships in which they can enjoy consensual sex. The programs help clients to understand what triggers them to want non-consensual sex and how to avoid and/or manage these triggers. Canada has been a pioneer in the establishment of Circles of Support and Accountability programs, in which citizen volunteers support convicted sexual offenders upon release from prison in order for them to avoid reoffending. Studies have found that without treatment, rates of recidivism for sexual offences are between 13 and 17 percent, but with treatment, this figure falls closer to 2 or 3 percent (Federoff and Moran, 1997). A positive but controversial movement Gender: No Longer an Immutable Quality Combatting Oppression, Discrimination, and Stigma In 1999, Carol-Anne O’Brien highlighted the ways in which social work may be Social Workers as Advocates for LGBTQ+ Communities implicated in the pathologization of gay, The following are useful points to lesbian, and bisexual identities. She consider in this context: found that social workers can sometimes https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 26/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. promote the belief that homosexuality is Just because someone presents a phase that some people pass through. outwardly as a particular She concluded that the most common gender does not mean that the way in which social workers reinforce person sees themselves as heteronormativity—the “normalcy” of always, or even often, fitting heterosexuality—is through silence about within that gender norm. non-heterosexual identities. This People make sense of gender reinforcement of heteronormativity is discomfort in many ways. exacerbated by the relatively few Attempting to be supportive of numbers of openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, how people understand their transgendered, or transsexual role models gender, however complicated or in the profession. counterintuitive, is important. There are two extremes in social work counselling involving lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered or transsexual persons, and gay men. The first occurs when social workers exaggerate the difficulties of living in a heterosexist society and obscure the fact that LGBTQ+ persons are often happy and healthy and enjoy positive relationships with family members, straight colleagues, and friends. The second occurs when social workers assume that sexual orientation and gender identity make no difference to a person’s experience, attitudes, or behaviour. The challenge is to find a There are no “cures” for transsexualism. In fact, the social work profession considers the conversion therapy practices that are sometimes used to “treat” homosexuality and gender identify issues to be largely discredited. Gender transitions can cause a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty in a family, so support for family members is also important. Couples and families do sometimes stay middle path between these two extremes https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 27/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. in order to provide balanced support to together during and after a members of queer communities (van gender transition. Wormer et al., 2000). Employers/workplaces may Challenging Heterosexist Norms need education and sensitivity There has been a long history of people in social work who have challenged the heterosexist norms of our society. Gay training to respond respectfully to an employee’s gender transition. men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered and transsexual persons have enriched society as a whole and our profession specifically. Their contributions have helped to develop queerpositive practices, HIV/AIDS services, responses to women’s health needs, activism for social justice, and improved social work knowledge and practice. The homophobia, transphobia, and heterosexism institutionalized within schools, the health-care system, and social services have led many gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and transsexual people to feel reluctant to ask for help. As a result, LGBTQ+ communities are developing queer-positive social services. These organizations are involved in policy change, community organizing, advocacy, and service provision. Most medium- and large-sized cities in Canada have social services specifically organized to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ persons. The personal experience of heterosexism and oppression is felt through stigma, stress, guilt, and shame. It is often difficult to accept one’s sexual and romantic attractions to people of the same sex because we live in a society that is generally hostile to such desires. It is equally difficult to accept one’s sexual identity as different from what one is assigned at birth. Thus, many members of LGBTQ+ communities experience internalized homophobia. https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 28/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. External cultural messages that suggest that lesbians, transgendered and transsexual people, and gay men are somehow failing to meet social standards become internalized as guilt, shame, and stress. Often (although not necessarily) as a result of discrimination and devaluation by society, members of LGBTQ+ communities struggle with selfacceptance. On average, gay adolescents and young men are six to sixteen times more at risk for attempting suicide compared to their straight peers (Dorais, 2004). Studies have shown that it is not gay sexuality that causes suicide, but rather having a homosexual or bisexual orientation in a highly homophobic environment. Young gay men, lesbians, and transgendered youth are known to experience both ostracism and harassment in their everyday lives. They are sometimes rejected by their families and end up on the streets, where they are vulnerable to sexual and physical violence. Social Work with Persons Who Are Homophobic and/or Transphobic In their practice, social workers can encounter people hostile to LGBTQ+ persons. Generally, individual feelings of homophobia and transphobia are rooted in three different areas: Religion. In this situation, it can be helpful for the social worker to refer to religious teachings that promote acceptance and understanding. In addition, there is an increasing body of literature that argues that various religions do accept sexually and gender-diverse persons. See, for example, Daniel Helminiak’s book What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality (1994, 2000) and Samar Habib’s Islam and Homosexuality (2010). Insecurity in gender roles. Sometimes homophobia and transphobia are rooted in insecurity about one’s own gender identity. In this situation, exploring childhood messages about sexuality and gender and encouraging https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 29/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. increased self-reflection can help to reframe the situation and make encounters with persons of diverse gender and sexual identities less threatening to the person concerned. Negative past experience with someone who identifies as LGBTQ+. In this situation, it can be helpful to increase someone’s exposure to more positive experiences, first through films, books, or websites, and, when possible and safe for others, with people who are members of LGBTQ+ communities. The challenge for social workers is to develop compassion for people who show little compassion for others and to see that such attitudes are often a survival skill for those who feel powerless and insecure. It can be important to help such people refocus their anger in a more appropriate and positive way that encourages healthy attitudes and healthy living. Kael McKenzie, Canada’s first transgender judge, credits his new position to lots of hard work and a determination to simply be himself. Communicating acceptance Sexual and Gender Diversity Social work practice and counselling LGBTQ+ clients Social Workers as Role Models https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 30/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Social work with intersex, transgendered, and transsexual individuals Offering Unconditional Support Social work practice with sex-trade workers Harm-Reduction Strategies Social work practice with persons with HIV/AIDS A Complex Public-Health Issue https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 31/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Social Work Practitioner Dillon Black “I think it’s important to look at how systems like sexism, misogyny, and rape culture affect our bodies and identities in different ways.” Chapter 12 Review https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 32/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Review Questions What are the main theories that are helpful in understanding sexuality? Briefly explain each one. What is “internalized homophobia”? Why is it important for social workers (and others) to understand this concept? What is the social work profession’s perspective on gender and sexual diversity, and how has it changed in the last few decades? What is “coming out,” and what are some related factors of which social workers should be aware? What are some key practice and policy issues that might help to ensure equality for trans persons? Do you think that children born with indeterminate sex characteristics or genitalia should be assigned a gender based on their genetic and hormonal test results, as opposed to undergoing surgery? Why or why not? How might social work practitioners ensure that their workplaces are supportive of people who do not fit within heterosexist gender binaries? Give some examples of how some social and material relations privilege some genders and sexualities while marginalizing others. https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 33/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Exploring Social Work The Trans Ally Quiz helps the general public and service providers understand how to support members of trans communities. Download the quiz at transacademics.com (www.trans-academics.org/TransAllyQuiz.doc) and test your understanding of trans-positive service. Some social workers consider their sexual orientation and gender identity to be private, but it can be important for clients exploring their sexuality to know the sexual orientation of their social worker. In small groups, discuss whether you think social workers should be obligated to disclose their sexual or gender orientation to LGBTQ+ clients. Watch a film that has a gender or sexual diversity theme. While you are watching the film, pay attention to your own emotional reactions. After the film, reflect on what your reactions might indicate concerning your feelings about gender and sexual diversity. https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 34/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. Websites Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE) (http://www.egale.ca) This national organization is committed to advancing, at the federal level, equality and justice for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transidentified people. The website has a vast collection of news items, articles, and other resources. Included is a summary of lesbian and gay rights in each jurisdiction in Canada. Gender Education and Advocacy (GEA) (http://www.gender.org) Gender Education and Advocacy (GEA) is a national organization focused on the needs, issues, and concerns of gender-variant people. It seeks to educate and to advocate for all persons who experience genderbased oppression in all of its many forms. Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Canada (http://www.pflag.ca) This website includes information and resources for gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals, and for their families and friends. Most chapters have scheduled meetings that provide support and information. International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) (http://www.iglhrc.org) IGLHRC’s mission is to protect and advance the human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status. Its website contains excellent resources, news items, and urgent action items. Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) (http://www.asexuality.org) https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 35/36 11/30/23, 10:38 AM Thompson Learn. AVEN is not only home to a large number of resources about asexuality, but also hosts the world’s largest online community for asexual persons.  (/resource/20/nodes/656/read)  (/resource/20/nodes/658/read)  About Us (http://thompsonbooks.com/about-tep/) Contact (http://thompsonbooks.com/contact-us/) Privacy Policy (http://thompsonbooks.com/privacy/) Terms & Conditions (https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/terms-and-conditions/) © Copyright 2023 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. https://learn.thompsonbooks.com/resource/20/nodes/657/read 36/36