Bakgrund   Ätstörningar påverkar ungefär nio procent av världens befolkning. De definieras som allvarliga och tvångsmässiga beteenden med potentiellt livsfarliga konsekvenser. Sexuella-och könsminoriteter är sårbara och marginaliserade grupper med hög risk för att lida av psykisk ohälsa. Deras upplevelser och erfarenheter som marginaliserade samhällsgrupper påverkar deras interaktion med vården. Syfte Att beskriva prevalensen och lidandet av ätstörningar hos sexuella-och könsminoriteter. Metod Studien är en icke-systematisk litteraturstudie. För att söka ut de 17 originalartiklar som inkluderades i studien användes tre separata databaser och manuell sökning. Alla artiklar har kvalitetsgranskats enligt Sophiahemmets Högskolas bedömningsunderlag. Därefter lästes materialet igenom och en integrerad dataanalys användes för att analysera det syntetiserade resultatet. Resultat Sexuella-och könsminoriteter påvisade en högre risk för att lida av ätstörningar än ciskönade heterosexuella individer. Helt homosexuella deltagare hade ofta en officiell ätstörningsdiagnos medan bisexuella deltagare rapporterade höga resultat på bedömningar om ätstörningar. Ätstörningar och ätstörningsbeteende var ofta förekommande hos könsminoriteter med motiveringen att framhäva eller förtrycka könskaraktärer. Deltagare rapporterade upplevt lidande på grund av en bristande kunskap eller möjlighet till vård. Slutsats Det finns ett behov av ett empatiskt förhållningssätt gentemot målgrupperna samt utbildning i att förstå minoritetsperspektivet för att minska lidandet bland sexuella-och könsminoriteter som lider av ätstörningar. Minoritetsstress måste tas i beaktning när man hanterar minoriteter då de löper hög risk för fysiska och psykiska sjukdomar. Resultaten illustrerade skillnader mellan grupperna vilket lyfte fram vikten av att se individen holistiskt. Genom att arbeta för att förstå minoritetsperspektivet kan vårdgivare bidra till globala mål samt lindra lidande för individen. / Background Feeding and eating disorders affect about nine percent of the human population. They are defined as serious and compulsory behaviours with potentially life-threatening consequences. Sexual and gender minorities are vulnerable and marginalised groups who are at risk of suffering psychological illnesses. Their experiences as marginalised groups of society affect their interaction with the healthcare system.  Aim To describe the prevalence and suffering of feeding and eating disorders amongst sexual and gender minorities. Method The study is a non-systematic literature review. Three separate databases along with manual search were used to find the 17 primary articles included in the study. All articles have been reviewed as per Sophiahemmet University’s assessment instruments. Thereafter, the source material was examined, and an integrated analysis was used to analyse the synthesised results.  Results Sexual and gender minorities exhibited a high risk for suffering feeding and eating disorders than cisgendered heterosexual individuals. Completely homosexual participants were more likely to have an official feeding and eating disorder diagnosis whilst bisexual participants reported high scores on feeding and eating disorder questionnaires. Feeding and eating disorders and disturbed eating behaviours were frequent amongst gender minorities with the motivation of accentuating or repressing sex characteristics. Participants reported further suffering due to lack of knowledge or care amongst healthcare providers.  Conclusions There is a need for an empathic attitude and education in understanding the minority perspective to reduce the suffering amongst sexual and gender minorities suffering feeding and eating disorders. Minority stress needs to be taken into consideration when dealing with minorities as they are at high risk of physical and mental illnesses. The results illustrated various differences between the subgroups which highlighted the importance of viewing the individual holistically. By working to understand the minority perspective, healthcare providers can contribute to global goals as well as alleviate suffering for the individual.

The minority stress model provides context to understand the mechanisms by which prejudicial experiences contribute to the disproportionate prevalence of adverse physical and mental health outcomes among LGBT people. The transactional model of stress and coping explains the appraisal processes through which people identify stigma-related stimuli as threatening and how they assess available coping resources to counteract these threats. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) were used in this study to measure resilience and stress in a sample of 99 lesbian and gay older adults. Women reported statistically significantly higher levels of resilience and lower levels of perceived stress compared to older gay men. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed statistically significant main effects for gender (Cohen's d = .51; ηp2 = .056; F(1,98) = 5.488, p = .021) while controlling for perceived stress (Cohen's d = 1.62; ηp2 = .375; F(1,98) = 55.840, p < .001). An interaction effect between gender and perceived stress was also statistically significant (Cohen's d = .72; ηp2 = .115; F(1,98) = 12.40, p < .001) indicating that the negative relationship between stress and resilience is stronger for older gay men. Clinical implications and relevance to future research are discussed.

Trans and queer children are experiencing discrimination starting in the earliest years of schooling. In a paradoxical era of increased support for transgender and queer children on the one hand, and persistent gender violence on the other, this study examines how the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) gender policy is taken up in Early Childhood Education practice. In particular, I ask: (a) What are early childhood teachers’ understanding of NYCDOE’s policy? (b) How do the larger social and material contexts, shape teachers’ enactments of the policy? (c) What do teachers’ understandings and enactments of NYC gender policy look like in their everyday classroom practices? I use a critical policy-as-practice conceptual framework that does not take policy for granted but understands that embedded in all the policy processes, there is always a great deal of negotiation of power, where some stakeholders are empowered and other perspectives are silenced. Through semi-structured interviews with district policymakers, school administrators, and early childhood teachers, this study unveils how different actors took up NYCDOE’s gender policy in their practice, in accordance with their own ideas, motivations, and broader social and material contexts. Findings indicate that the policy formation processes excluded the knowledge and perspectives of school communities and grassroots trans activist movements. Principals and teachers had little knowledge of the Guidelines on Gender and resources available, while several policy content and procedures reproduced gender and racial violence. Moreover, the sediment construct of childhood innocence shaped early childhood teachers’ gender-justice practices. Shifting understandings of gender, without revising understandings of childhood, this study concludes, hinders the possibility of transformative change.

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Background: Previous research has shown that sexual minority individuals (SM) are twice as likely to smoke, twice as likely to be overweight or obese, and less likely to be physically active than heterosexual persons; all of which place SMs at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). While information on CVD risk by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status is well documented, there is scant literature examining race, gender, and the potential CVD risk in SMs. The purpose of this study was to examine CVD risk in sexual minorities. Method: The current study used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The Framingham multiple-risk assessment, which uses a calculation of age, smoking, BMI, and blood pressure, was used to predict vascular age and the risk of experiencing CVD event in the next 10 years. 54% of the sample was male, 62% white, and 4% identified as a SM. The sample was split into three groups: 1) 100% heterosexual (N=4363); 2) mostly heterosexual (N=509); and 3) SM (N=188). Results: There was a trend towards significance, p = .056, for mean differences in vascular age/actual age, for SM participants (M=10.07), compared to 100% heterosexual (M=9.1) and mostly heterosexual (M=8.66) participants. Mostly heterosexual participants were 1.62 times more likely, and SM participants were 1.97 times more likely to be current smokers when compared to 100% heterosexual participants. SM participants endorsed having significantly more drinks (M = 4.50) when compared to both 100% heterosexual (M = 3.80) and mostly heterosexual (M = 3.38) participants. SM participants were 1.7 times more likely to endorse having 5 or more drinks on one occasion. SM participants also reported significantly higher stress levels than the other two groups Conclusion: While the data for the current study did not provide sufficient evidence to suggest sexual orientation differences in Framingham risk scores, the findings remain noteworthy. SM showed increased risk in smoking and stress levels. Additionally, the Population-based longitudinal studies and surveillance data are essential and necessary in order to minimize disparities in risk factors and to reduce the likelihood of subsequent disease in SM population.

This thesis describes the organization of two waves of pride parades in the city of Dallas, Texas. Using more than 40 sources, this work details how LGBT organizers have used pride parades to create a more established place for the LGBT community in greater Dallas culture. This works adds to the study of LGBT history by focusing on an understudied region, the South; as well as focusing on an important symbolic event in LGBT communities, pride parades.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-69).

Abstract Bisexuality became a viable identity in Finnish sexual culture in the early 1990’s. Prior to this, bisexuality was not a concept to which identities could be credibly attached. Instead, the concept was used to explain the fundamental nature of human sexuality. This usage also played a role in sexual minority politics, explaining the existence of homosexuality and justifying its acceptance. Bisexuality has helped define the border between comprehensible and incomprehensible sexuality, at certain times strengthening the normal, at other times positioning itself among the weirdest of the weird. The research material of this dissertation includes volumes of publications by the Finnish organizations active in sexual minority politics from the years 1969–1994, volumes of porn magazines from the years 1972–2006, a selection of single articles collected from mainstream press from the years 1993–2012 as well as interviews of 40 Finnish bisexuals from the years 1999, 2005 and 2009–2010. There is a total of 52 interviews, 12 of the informants having been interviewed twice. These interviews form a longitudinal study of Finnish bisexuals and their experiences. This doctoral thesis explores the question of how changes in Finnish legislation, sexual minority politics and media landscape have affected the concept of bisexuality and the experiences of the people who define their sexuality through that concept. This research traces the processes which made bisexuality a viable identity term in Finland after the removal of same-sex fornication from the criminal law. The concept of bisexuality has seen frequent use in porn as well, and the study reflects on how bisexual experiences can be characterized in a situation where the concept of bisexuality has been pornified. This research explains how bisexuality evolved from an instrument of sexual minority politics in the 1970’s and 1980’s to a concept employed by identity politics starting from the 1990’s, and finally to a term which can be used to entice and entertain different audiences in the 2010’s. / Tiivistelmä Biseksuaalisuus identiteettinä on tullut suomalaisessa seksuaalikulttuurissa mahdolliseksi 1990-luvun alkupuolelta lähtien. Ennen tätä biseksuaalisuus ei ollut käsite, johon identiteettiä olisi uskottavasti voinut kiinnittää, vaan käsite, jonka avulla selitettiin inhimillisen seksuaalisuuden perusluonnetta. Tässä roolissa käsite toimi myös seksuaalivähemmistöpolitiikassa homoseksuaalisuuden olemassaolon ja hyväksyttävyyden oikeuttajana. Biseksuaalisuus on määrittänyt ymmärrettävän ja käsittämättömän seksuaalisen halun rajaa, välillä toimien normaalin vahvistajana, välillä sijoittuen oudoista oudoimman alueelle. Väitöstutkimuksen aineistona on seksuaalivähemmistöpoliittisten järjestöjen julkaisujen vuosikertoja vuosilta 1969-1994, pornolehtien vuosikertoja vuosilta 1972–2006, valtavirtalehdistöstä kerätty, yksittäisistä artikkeleista koostuva aineisto vuosilta 1993–2012, sekä 40 suomalaisen biseksuaalin haastattelua vuosilta 1999, 2005 ja 2009–2010. Yhteensä haastatteluja on 52, eli 12 haastateltavaa on haastateltu kahdesti. Haastattelut muodostavat suomalaisia biseksuaaleja ja heidän kokemuksiaan käsittelevän pitkittäistutkimuksen. Väitöskirjassa vastataan siihen, miten muutokset suomalaisessa lainsäädännössä, seksuaalivähemmistöpolitiikassa ja mediamaisemassa ovat vaikuttaneet biseksuaalisuuden käsitteeseen ja niiden ihmisten kokemuksiin, jotka määrittävät seksuaalisuutensa tuon käsitteen kautta. Tutkimus jäljittää sitä, millaisten prosessien kautta biseksuaalisuudesta tuli mahdollinen identiteettitermi samansukupuolisen haureuden rikoslaista poistamisen jälkeisessä Suomessa. Biseksuaalisuuden käsite on taajaan käytössä myös pornossa, ja tutkimus pohtii myös, miten biseksuaalista kokemusta voi luonnehtia tilanteessa, jossa biseksuaalisuuden käsite on pornoistunut. Tutkimus selvittää, miten biseksuaalisuus muuttui 1970- ja 1980-lukujen seksuaalivähemmistöpoliittisesta välineestä 1990-luvulta alkaen identiteettipoliittiseksi käsitteeksi, ja lopulta termiksi, jonka avulla voi 2010-luvulla viihdyttää ja houkutella erilaisia yleisöjä.