Margaret F. Gibson

A mark that is no mark? Queer women and violence in HIV discourse

Lesbian, bisexual and queer women are invisible and ignored in HIV discourse, as epidemiological classifications result in their institutionalised exclusion from risk categories. Simultaneously, these women live with HIV, often in situations of societal exclusion and under threat of violence. In this paper, we consider the connections between discourse and violence to examine how both are reproduced through, applied to and dependent upon people. The ways lesbian, bisexual and queer women do (or do not) appear in HIV discourse tells us much about how people and categories operate in the global pandemic. The fault-lines of lesbian, bisexual and queer womens constrained visibility in HIV discourse can be seen in situations where they are exposed to HIV transmission through homophobic sexual assault. In dominant HIV discursive practices, such homophobic assault leaves Judith Butlers ‘mark that is no mark’, recording neither its violence nor its ‘non-heterosexuality’. Structural violence theory offers a means to understand direct and indirect violence as it pertains to HIV and lesbian, bisexual and queer women. We call for forms of modified structural violence theory that better attend to the ways in which discourse connects with material realities. Our theoretical and epidemiological lens must be broadened to examine how anti-lesbian, bisexual and queer-women bias affects transnational understandings of human worth.

The Masculine Degenerate: American Doctors' Portrayals of the Lesbian Intellect, 1880-1949

Beginning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, American medical writers first attempted to define the troubling specter of the lesbian. As a central part of this endeavor, medical professionals tried to pinpoint the lesbians status in the intellectual hierarchy of the era. Given the assumptions of the time that masculine intellect was superior and that lesbians were masculine, medical writers had to respond to the possibility of a superior lesbian intellect. The resulting tension between prevailing medical images of the lesbian as both degenerate and intellectual played a significant role in the explosive controversies surrounding womens higher education, and in debates about the proper place of homosexuals in society. Furthermore, discussions of the lesbian intellect indicated the lack of a single unified medical evaluation of masculinity and deviance in this time period, producing a diversity that should be considered by historians of gender and sexuality.

Postpartum depression among visible and invisible sexual minority women: a pilot study.

PurposeSignificant numbers of sexual minority women are choosing to parent. Despite this, there is limited research on postpartum depression (PPD) with sexual minority mothers and less research considering differences within sexual minority women in the experience of PPD. This research examines two questions to address this gap in research: (1) Do experiences of PPD symptoms vary between different subgroups of sexual minority women, and (2) Which recruitment strategies effectively address the challenge of recruiting sexual minority women who are pregnant?MethodsTwo Canadian studies recruited participants via consecutive or convenience sampling from midwifery clinics and hospital sites. Participants completed prenatal and postnatal measures of PPD symptoms, social support, and perceived discrimination.ResultsConsidering our first question, we found an interaction effect between past sexual behavior and current partner gender. Women currently partnered with men reported higher scores on the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale when their sexual history included partners of more than one gender, whereas this effect was not found among women who were currently partnered with women or not partnered. Regarding our second question, most sexual minority participants recruited through convenience sampling were partnered with women and identified as lesbian or queer, while most participants recruited through consecutive sampling were partnered with men and identified as bisexual.ConclusionsWomen whose sexual histories include more than one gender and are currently partnered with men may be at a higher risk for PPD symptoms. Recruitment method may influence the type of sample recruited for perinatal mental health research among sexual minority women.

Depression and discrimination in the lives of women, transgender and gender liminal people in Ontario, Canada

This article uses an intersectionality lens to explore how experiences of race, gender, sexuality, class and their intersections are associated with depression and unmet need for mental healthcare in a population of 704 women and transgender/gender liminal people from Ontario, Canada. A survey collecting demographic information, information about mental health and use of mental healthcare services, and data for the Everyday Discrimination Scale and the PHQ-9 Questionnaire for Depression was completed by 704 people via Internet or pen-and-paper between June 2011 and June 2012. Bivariate and regression analyses were conducted to assess group differences in depression and discrimination experiences, and predictors of depression and unmet need for mental healthcare services. Analyses revealed that race, gender, class and sexuality all corresponded to significant differences in exposure to discrimination, experiences of depression and unmet needs for mental healthcare. Use of interaction terms to model intersecting identities and exclusion contributed to explained variance in both outcome variables. Everyday discrimination was the strongest predictor of both depression and unmet need for mental healthcare. The results suggest lower income and intersections of race with other marginalised identities are associated with more depression and unmet need for mental healthcare; however, discrimination is the factor that contributes the most to those vulnerabilities. Future research can build on intersectionality theory by foregrounding the role of structural inequities and discrimination in promoting poor mental health and barriers to healthcare.

Adopting Difference: Thinking through Adoption by Gay Men in Ontario, Canada

Discussions of “gay adoption” in North America have been loaded onto existing political constructs of citizenship, reproduction, and gender. Through a primary focus on a government-commissioned report from Ontario, Canada, this article considers how strategic references to adoption by gay men are deployed to support particular visions of a state and its citizenry. Drawing upon transnational feminist theory, this analysis traces the ways that language of choice and diversity can be invoked in nationalist narratives of tolerant modernity even as ongoing practices of exclusion persist. Furthermore, I argue that a narrow framing of adoption diverts attention away from the ongoing inequities that underlie adoptable children’s “need” for “rescue,” thus exalting the rescuers and the state. Finally, I consider how neoliberal privatization and existing social hierarchies may emerge bolstered through adoption rhetoric and related legislation.

Development and Initial Evaluation of the Cyber-Counseling Objective Structured Clinical Examination (COSCE)

Objectives: This study developed and validated the Cyber-Counseling Objective Structured Clinical Examination (COSCE), a method and tool used to assess the competence level of trainees and professionals who practice cyber-counseling. Method: The COSCE’s development involved the creation of a cyber-counseling performance rating scale and two simulated client scenarios, and the recruitment and training of three raters. The COSCE was tested on six masters of social work students and six seasoned cyber-counseling practitioners. Results: We examined the COSCE’s internal consistency, interrater reliability, and interclient reliability. In addition, we assessed the construct validity through exploratory factor analysis and known-groups validation method. Conclusions: With further improvement, the COSCE can be a reliable and valid tool in assessing the competence of cyber-counseling practitioners.

‘This is real now because it’s a piece of paper’: texts, disability, and LGBTQ parents

Abstract What role do texts play in LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) parents’ experiences of disability service systems? In interviews with 15 LGBTQ parents of disabled children in Toronto, Canada, participants selected documents to be used as a focus for discussion. Parents considered how LGBTQ identity and other intersectional identities influenced their experiences of institutional texts including adoption certificates, intake forms, and assessments. Findings suggest that documentation practices can operate as forms of systemic gatekeeping. LGBTQ identity was sometimes very significant in parents’ accounts, and sometimes less central than other aspects of their families identities and experiences.

Predator, Pet Lesbian, or Just The Nanny? LGBTQ Parents of Children With Disabilities Describe Categorization

ABSTRACT How are lesbian/gay/bisexual/trans/queer (LGBTQ) parents of children with disabilities categorized by service providers, and how do parents anticipate, interpret, and respond to such categorizations? This intersectional study investigated the experiences of LGBTQ parents of children with disabilities with service providers in Toronto, Canada. Parents described pressures to “fit” into providers’ limited understanding of family. Some parents described facing overt discrimination, including one parent who was seen as a possible sexual predator. Some described being perceived as representatives of “diversity” for organizations, or “pet lesbians” in the words of one couple. Others described being misread as a non-parent, as in “just the nanny,” particularly in conjunction with their racial minority status. Parents described how their experiences of being “outside the mainstream” helped them challenge systems and normative beliefs. Findings suggest that a context of scarce disability resources shapes parents’ experiences of how LGBTQ identity comes to matter.

In spite of the system: A qualitatively-driven mixed methods analysis of the mental health services experiences of LGBTQ people living in poverty in Ontario, Canada

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or queer (LGBTQ) people face barriers to accessing mental health care; however, we know little about service experiences of low income LGBTQ people. In this qualitatively-driven mixed methods study, over 700 women and/or trans people completed an internet survey, of whom 12 LGBTQ individuals living in poverty participated in interviews. Low income LGBTQ respondents saw more mental health professionals and had more unmet need for care than all other LGBTQ/income groups. Narrative analysis illustrated the work required to take care of oneself in the context of extreme financial constraints. These findings highlight the mechanisms through which inadequate public sector mental health services can serve to reproduce and sustain both poverty and health inequities.

Assessing ‘Insight’, Determining Agency and Autonomy: Implicating Social Identities

In this chapter, we draw on a critical analysis of 120 inpatient charts from a large psychiatric institution in Toronto, Ontario to examine the concept of ‘insight’ as it is operationalized by psychiatrists in chart documentation. We argue that psychiatrists use insight as a discursive means to delegitimize patient perspectives that diverge from the medical model of mental illness, particularly those that are more likely to be held by marginalized people. Patients who expressed the logics and lived realities of white, middle class, male heteronormativity were often accorded more respect and were more likely to be perceived as insightful. The construct of ‘insight’ plays a fundamental role in the justification of coercive measures such as involuntary hospitalization or detention and compulsory treatment. Thus, the attribution of ‘insight’ and its associated discursive logic has serious implications for patient agency and bodily autonomy.