Ada L. Sinacore

Teaching and social justice : integrating multicultural and feminist theories in the classroom

Teaching and Social Justice provides psychologists and educators with a foundation to create their own multicultural feminist pedagogy. The volume challenges them with self reflection and thought-provoking questions such as: How does ones multicultural or feminist theoretical orientation influence how one teaches social justice? How does this influence the manner in which one teaches about diversity issues? How might ones theoretical position influence the organization and structure of the classroom, the interventions used, or classroom dynamics and learning?

A global portrait of counselling psychologists’ characteristics, perspectives, and professional behaviors

Counseling psychologists in eight countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) responded to survey questions that focused on their demographics as well as their professional identities, roles, settings, and activities. As well, they were asked about satisfaction with the specialty and the extent to which they endorsed 10 core counseling psychology values. This article reports those results, focusing both on areas in which there were between-country similarities as well as on those for which there were differences. These data provide a snapshot of counseling psychology globally and establish a foundation for the other articles in this special issue of the journal.

Promoting Reflexivity in the Classroom

In this article, we describe teaching strategies that promote reflexivity, a practice of observing and locating ones self as a knower within certain cultural and sociohistorical contexts. Reflexivity leads to self-awareness, scholarly accountability, and recognition of a range of human truths.

Men in Families: Job Satisfaction and Self-Esteem.

This study assesses the effects of the family environment on mens job satisfaction and self-esteem. The results indicate that mens family environment as measured by the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1974) predicts only three aspects of job satisfaction as measured by the Job Descriptive Index (Smith, Kendal, & Hulin, 1975). In addition, results indicate that the family environment has a limited effect on mens self-esteem as measured, by the Four Component Self-Esteem Scale (Hampilos, 1988). The authors conclude that the limited relationship between these measures may be due to mens lack of involvement in their family and that men continue to have a traditional view of their role in the family as that of provider and disciplinarian. Implications for counseling are discussed.

A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Feminist Psychology Educators: The Classroom

Feminist pedagogy as a unique and legitimate form of teaching has been discussed widely in the literature, with an emphasis placed on teaching strategies and techniques. Limited attention has been given to the actual experience of educators when they use a feminist pedagogy. Thus, this study is a qualitative examination of the experience of 18 feminist psychology educators in the academy, with a particular focus on their experience of applying feminist pedagogical strategies in the classroom. The results indicate that, for these educators, their feminist identity and values are closely linked to their teaching and pedagogical decisions. In addition, the challenges, benefits and backlash connected to feminist teaching, as well as implications and recommendations for feminist educators, are discussed.

Counselling Psychology in Canada

Counselling psychology in Canada has experienced tremendous growth and greater recognition within the last 30 years. However, there is little empirical research on the practice of counselling psychology in Canada and the characteristics of Canadian counselling psychologists. We administered a 74 item questionnaire to 79 counselling psychologists who were members of the Counselling Psychology Section of the Canadian Psychological Association, achieving a 35.4% response rate. The survey asked various questions organized under the headings of: Background Information, Theoretical Orientations, Professional Activities, Training and Career Experiences, and Future. Overall, these Canadian counselling psychologists seem to see the discipline as moderately different from clinical psychology and from counsellor education, and are largely satisfied with their choice of career in counselling psychology. Results further indicate that independent practice is the most common work-setting and that respondents spend a large share of their time providing individual, non-career related, counselling/psychotherapy of primarily a rehabilitative/treatment-oriented nature. A strengths-focused approach was also highly valued by the sample. The development of the field, distinctive characteristics of Canadian counselling psychology, the place of counselling psychology in the Canadian health care delivery system, credentialing, professional organizations, education and training issues, allied professions, opportunities for the field, and threats to the field are also discussed.

Utilizing Community Portfolios in Teaching for Social Justice

This article describes how an Integrated Social Justice Pedagogy was applied in a graduate-level multicultural psychology course. As such, it provides an overview of the model and how it is utilized in the didactic, experiential, and reflexive components of the course.

The Role of Relationship in the Cultural Transitioning of Immigrant Women

The authors sought to understand the role of relationships in the cultural transitioning process of thirteen immigrant women from eleven different countries. This study utilized both feminist social constructionist and relational cultural epistemologies, and employed a phenomenological methodology. Four relational contexts were identified, which included societal, educational, cultural community, and family, and the dualities within each context were described. The role of relationships in each of these contexts, and how they served as facilitators or impediments to cultural transitioning is discussed. Implications for clinical practice are presented.

Lesbian Mother–Heterosexual Daughter Relationships: Toward a Postmodern Feminist Analysis

Although many studies have examined the overall adjustment of children of lesbian mothers as a group, an investigation of the unique relationships between lesbian mothers and their heterosexual daughters has been neglected. This article presents a postmodern feminist analysis of the relationship between lesbian mothers and their heterosexual daughters. Postmodern feminism is used to analyze the extant literature on lesbian-led families and the traditional psychological theories on mother-daughter relationships. The dominant discourses and binary constructs that define lesbian mother–heterosexual daughter relationships are revealed, thereby laying the groundwork for an examination of these relationships on their own terms.

The Institution of Heterosexuality

The goal of the book Thinking Straight: The Power, the Promise and the Paradox of Heterosexuality is to offer a discussion of heterosexuality as both natural and socially constructed. That is, the authors juxtapose the societal view of heterosexuality as naturally occurring against the ways in which heterosexuality is socially constructed. As the editor indicates, the metaphor of “thinking straight” means to embrace the institution of heterosexuality as naturally occurring, normal, and universal. All other forms or derivatives of sexuality are then socially constructed. With this definition at the forefront, the basic premise of the book is to identify the institutionalized history, materiality, practices, systems, contradictions, and power embedded in heterosexuality. The book is divided into three sections. Each of the sections contains a series of essays that address different aspects of the theme put forth by the section title. The first section, entitled “Power,” includes four articles that offer historical, theoretical, and cultural discussions of heterosexuality, gender, sexuality, and homosexuality. Of the three sections, this is the strongest and offers a balance between different perspectives on sexuality and gender. The second section, “The Paradox,” attempts to address the contradictions embedded in the duality of sexuality. Each of the essays offers a unique perspective on gender and sexual expression and the contradictions therein. Two of the essays are specifically focused on heterosexual men, with only one addressing female heterosexual imagery. Finally, “The Promise” offers four essays that analyze idealized heterosexuality. Three of the essays in this section analyze movies, books, and literature as media for conveying heterosexual expression, with one essay offering a sociological discussion about “poor women’s rejection of marriage.” Although each of the essays in the second and third sections provides interesting insights, there seems to be a lack of balance in the subject matter, with a tendency to overemphasize one area while ignoring or minimizing others. The strength of this book is that it offers a series of essays that require the reader to “think and rethink” what is “straight” and the ways in which “straight” is fundamentally embedded and institutionalized in society. Although many of the ideas included in the book are not new, the way the editor has organized the discussion into three sections helps the reader to continually assess and analyze the natural versus constructed aspects of sexuality. Although the book offers much food for thought, the writers struggle with the dualism between heterosexuality and homosexuality. That is, whereas the goal of the book is to offer a discussion of heterosexuality, the authors tend to juxtapose this construct against the definition of homosexuality. When this duality emerges, the focus is somehow moved away from natural versus institutional heterosexuality to an implicit comparison between gay and straight. This divergence takes away from the strength of the analysis of heterosexuality as “natural or normal,” moving the reader to assessing homosexuality as deviant from the heterosexual norm. When this occurs, as it does throughout the book, it serves to dilute the discussion and, at times, is antithetical to the fundamental goal of the book. A second limitation of this book is that, with the exception of one essay about women in poverty, there is no discussion of diversity. The book does not address racial, ethnic, or other forms of diversity that affect the nature of gender and institutionalized heterosexuality or other forms of sexuality. The examples from the movies and literature are predominantly of White people and, for the most part, the discussion is based on White societal systems and structures. With the exception of one essay that the author indicates is about “[W]hite heterosexuality,” the authors do not discuss explicitly the assumption of Whiteness embedded in their arguments. This omission renders White as the norm and makes the diversity within heterosexuality, sexuality, and gender invisible. Even the picture on the cover depicts a White heterosexual couple. Therefore, the book appears to offer a description of sexuality that assumes Whiteness. That being said, the book is well written, and each section leads naturally to the next. Not only is each chapter strong enough to stand on its own, but the book also offers a series of essays that can be read as a comprehensive whole. Overall, within the bounds of its limitations, this book provides a historical, theoretical, and cultural analysis of sexuality that requires the reader to continually assess and reassess his or her own social location with regard to gender and sexuality. This feature, in and of itself, is a major strength of the book and makes it a worthwhile read.