Same-sex sexuality and health: Psychosocial scientific research in South Africa (original) (raw)
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Journal of Medical Humanities, 2018
This article works across multiple disciplinary boundaries, especially queer theory, to examine critically the controversial, and often socially controlling, role of biomedical knowledge and interventions in the realm of human sexuality. It will attempt to situate scientific/medical discourses on sexuality historically, socially, and culturally in order to expose the ways in which Bproper^sexual health in medical research and clinical practice has been conflated with prevailing social norms at particular historical junctures in the 20th and 21st centuries. How might the relationship between clinical and cultural spheres be better engaged in biomedical knowledge and clinical practice in understanding sexual health, given the impact of homophobic and transphobic assumptions in the diagnostic histories of homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder in Childhood, a new diagnostic category introduced into the DSM following the removal of homosexuality from the DSM-III? The article will argue further that biomedical knowledge is always already mediated through culture by analyzing normative racial, gender, class, and sexual ideologies that regulated early understandings of the epidemiology of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the West and in the postcolonial world while informing global health policy on HIV/AIDS. The article concludes by examining the implications of medical education for both LGBTQI patients and medical professionals, for understanding gender and sexual rights as human rights, and for thinking about new kinds of interventions, contestations, and struggles to resist continued homophobic and transphobic assumptions in biomedical practice today and their ongoing effects in the everyday world.
The aim of this essay is to indicate the centrality of psychiatry's scientific discourse in the negotiation, construction and normalization of human sexuality. After a short historical account upon the dominant psychiatric discourse about homosexuality from the beginning of the nineteenth century when psychiatry emerged as a medical specialty, our focus will be on the presentation and negotiation of homosexuality in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). DSM was the first formal recording and scientific categorization of mental disorders, which was edited by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1952 and is still being constantly enriched. Our target is to highlight the role of psychiatry and its functions as a means of the normalization of human bodies, as well as to highlight the role of gender within specific regimes of truth as another regulative norm.
Sexuality and Gender in Psychiatry: Ethical and Clinical Issues
FOCUS, 2020
The inclusive lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community (LGBTQ+) is a diverse and underserved population in the United States. The prevalence of mental illness among this population makes the ethical considerations surrounding evaluation and treatment for this population particularly compelling. Compared with their heterosexual counterparts, LGBTQ+ youths have higher rates of mental illness, including depression, suicide, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and alcohol and drug misuse, as well as preventable sexually transmitted infections (1). Elevated rates of mental illness may be attributed to the high degree of stress and discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ individuals compared with that of heterosexual and cisgendered individuals (i.e., those whose gender identity matches the sex assigned at birth) (2). More specifically, the elevated prevalence that exists is likely attributable to persistent social stigma and discrimination that have been internalized by many individuals in this population. Both internalized and externalized homophobia and transphobia can contribute to problems with self-acceptance, anxiety, depression, forming intimate relationships, and being open about one's sexual orientation (i.e., an individual's innate attraction to members of the same sex, opposite sex, or both sexes) and gender identity (i.e., an individual's identification as male, female, or other gender) (3). Therefore, it is paramount for mental health care providers to attune to this population. Working with LGBTQ+ populations can be challenging for some providers in the field of psychiatry, given the amplified degree of vulnerability and intimacy that can exist in therapeutic relationships. Additionally, physicians and health professionals often have little to no formal training in human sexuality and gender identity, despite their important role in human development, psychology, and relationships (2). Nevertheless, psychiatrists, after educating themselves, should strive for open discussion of issues pertaining to gender and sexuality with their patients to develop a therapeutic alliance and normalize conversations surrounding these topics. In this article, I attempt to emphasize ethical guidelines when working with LGBTQ+ populations, with a focus on understanding and confronting common limits on expertise and scope of practice with working with LGBTQ+ patients.
MEDICALISATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY 2016 FORENSIC MENTAL HEALTH copy.docx
For this case study I will look at the historical aspect of homosexuality. They will be an exploration of some measures that were taken to control or cure homosexuality. Before homosexuality was considered a mental disorder, it was viewed as a sin hence the term sodomy and punishable crime up until 1967. In some countries it is still a crime and can lead to heavy persecution.