OK, kiddo! Here are all the fantastically amazing posts tagged with Studies
Cyberbullies Target GLBT Youth
A new study out of Iowa State University suggests that gay and lesbian teenagers are among the hardest hit by cyberbullying, a phenomenon unique to today’s youth. With the popularity of social networking, bullies have found new venues to harass and ostracize their peers, often without the threat of adult intervention.
The numbers aren’t terrifically encouraging. 54% of gay youth and friends of gay youth reported being cyberbullied within the thirty days prior to the researchers’ survey. The next highest group was females, at 21%.
Less encouraging still, victims of cyberbullying reported feeling helpless, with 55% saying that their parents couldn’t do anything to stop it, and 57% saying they don’t believe school officials could help either.
To help ameliorate the situation, I’ve decided to make an actual cybernetic bully, programmed to protect gay youth against its human counterparts. Any investors?
- Cyberbullying hits LGBT youth especially hard [CNET News]
Gay Youth At Greater Risk Of Bullying
Gay teens are nearly twice as likely to be bullied as straight ones, according to a new study conducted out of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
The study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, is based on a survey of 7,559 teens and young adults. While the number of out teens in the sample was relatively small, the results still re-confirm that GLBT youth are at a higher risk of being bullied, likely because bullies tend to target anyone perceived as being different.
Bullying is a huge problem—a problem with lasting, negative effects, and one that will not disappear on its own. Schools must train their staff to recognize and put a stop to it, or the problem will only continue.
High School Still Dangerous For Gay Teens
A professor researching harassment of gay teens is calling high school “the land that time forgot,” a place where aggressive anti-gay sentiment pervades student life.
Catherine Taylor, a professor of education and communications at the University of Winnipeg, regrets to have discovered that virtually all gay teens are verbally harassed, with a startling number even being physically abused. Worse, homophobia so ingrained in school culture that very few students step up to condemn the abuse.
This is the same study, incidentally, that was forbidden from being conducted inside several Catholic school boards in Canada. The study is currently in its second phase, and is seeking funding for its third and final phase to take place early next year.
- Gay teens ‘terrorized’ in Canada’s schools: prof [Ottawa Citizen]
Psychologist Assocation Re-Condemns “Ex-Gay” Therapy
The American Psychological Association has finished a two-year review of their 1997 policy denouncing reparative, conversion therapy for gays. The final verdict: “There is no evidence that sexual orientation change efforts work.”
This latest investigation, launched in 2007, reviewed over 80 studies on the subject of gay conversion therapies published between 1960 to present. The 183-page conclusion, which was released on Wednesday, states that “contrary to claims of sexual orientation change advocates and practitioners, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation.”
The APA removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973, and has warned that any attempt to change sexual orientation can be harmful to the healthy development of individuals. With this latest report, the APA also condemns non-professionals who portray homosexuality as a developmental disorder, saying that they should instead “increase family and school support and reduce rejection of sexual minority youth.”
While the report is all well and good, this exhaustive review really just reinforces what medical professionals have already known for years: gay conversion therapies don’t work because there’s nothing to cure. Whether you’re gay, lesbian, straight, or anything in-between, you’re every bit as worthy of love as anyone else!
A tip o’ the hat to the always indispensable Wayne Besen over at Truth Wins Out for the story!
Canada’s Pink, Frosted Glass Ceiling
A study on gay employees in Canada has shown that there are still barriers when it comes to advancing one’s career.
The Catalyst study, sponsored by the Bank of Nova Scotia, found that less than half of gay workers felt their coworkers were very comfortable with gay employees, and fewer than ten percent felt coworkers were informed about the issues gay employees face. The study also revealed a gender discrepancy when it comes to being closeted at work. While only about five percent of men are completely closeted at work, the figure is more than doubled for gay women at twelve percent.
Combined, these attitudes have resulted in gay people being passed over for promotions, and exclusion from business networks.
Of course, gay workers will always be welcome here at InterSlap Enterprises, Inc..
- On the job and in the closet [Globe and Mail]
Study: Family Reaction Key To Gay Health
Gay youth are at a greater risk of suicide, depression, and self-destructive behaviours if their family reacts negatively when they come out of the closet, a new study has revealed.
Researchers at San Francisco State University found that even marginally supportive behaviour from parents toward their gay children reduced cases of drug abuse threefold, severe depression sixfold, and suicide attempts eightfold.
Caitlin Ryan, the lead researcher of the study, said that while the results are intuitive, many parents still respond in very harmful ways. Parents may have severe, negative reactions to learning about their child’s sexual orientation—such as forcing teens out of their homes, or forbidding them from associating with gay friends—in the hopes that an expression of extreme disapproval will somehow turn their kids straight. Ryan suggested that, while most parents have the very best intentions, greater education is required, and doctors should help spread that message.
Sten Vermund, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt University, agreed, saying that while many parents may have difficulty offering the support their gay children need, it’s important to try:
Someone can still be uncomfortable with their child’s sexual orientation, but if they are somewhat more accepting and do the best the can, they will do the youth a lot of good. That, to me, is an important message.
A great message, indeed, and an excellent lesson with which to start off the new year. Hope you all had a fantastic holiday, kids!
Gays At Higher Risk Of Teen Pregnancy
Researchers at the University of British Columbia have found that gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens are at a significantly higher risk of becoming pregnant or causing pregnancy than their straight counterparts.
The study, which was published yesterday in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, suggests that the higher pregnancy rate among gay teens is largely due to overcompensation—an attempt to “camouflage” one’s homosexuality. Another proposed theory suggests that a higher number of gay teens living on the streets may also have contributed to the counter-intuitive results.
Either way, I have a new concern to lose sleep over. All those anti gay marriage people said I couldn’t reproduce—a horrible lie, apparently. I’m not ready to be pregnant, or a father!
- Gay teenagers at higher risk for pregnancy: Study [Canada.com]
- Gay B.C. teens at higher risk for pregnancy [CTV News]
Study: Gun-Toting Canadians Don’t Like Gays
A study conducted by Wilfred Laurier University has found that gun-toting voters held the same opinions on controversial topics than non gun owners—with exactly one exception: Same-sex marriage.
Using data donated by Ipsos Reid, researchers noted that of the 5,954 gun-owning Canadians polled, same-sex marriage was the only topic that gun owners opposed in numbers significantly higher than the rest of the Canadian population. Despite their similarities in opinion on other topics, gun owners were also 10% more likely to vote for the Conservative party, which has historically opposed gay rights.
Interesting stuff! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go pick out some lead curtains.
- Gun owners are more likely to vote Conservative: study [National Post]
- The Gun Vote [Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy]
Study: Gays Are Not Inherently Unhealthy
A study of over 400 gay and bisexual men by the University of Minnesota has shown that internalized homophobia, and not simply being gay, leads to poor mental and sexual health.
Results are to be published in the esteemed medical journal, Dr. Obvious’ Journal of Obviously Obvious Obviousness.
Still, the study is actually pretty important because it runs counter to the claims of anti-gay lobby groups who repeatedly assert that gay people are somehow inherently miserable—spotlighting some ill-defined (but always destructive) lifestyle that all gay people are supposed to share. As an actual gay person, I can say that’s just nutty; so, while my official reaction to this study is an enthusiastic “well, duh“, it is kind of nice that someone went through the menial task of putting it on the record. And put in such a blunt way, as Dr. Simon Rosser, one of the researchers, demonstrates:
Given the debates in many religious denominations about homosexuality, and in society about homosexuals and civil rights, [this research] is also timely. In particular, the old advice to gay men to fight, deny, or minimize their homosexuality likely only increases depression, greater isolation, and poorer sexual health.
So, there you have it. Love yourself for who you are, and you’ll be better off for it. And, as a small aside, why not start with some delicious gay pasta, courtesy of the McGill Daily?
- Homosexuals’ Negative Feelings About Sexuality Predict Poor Mental and Sexual Health [University of Minnesota]
The Existence of Gaydar
I’m super-happy to introduce today’s guest author / illustrator! Premee is an environmental specialist currently living in Calgary. She says her degree in molecular genetics has given her no noticeable edge in telling whether or not she’s hitting on a hot gay waiter, but it does make for interesting party conversation.
Gaydar exists, apparently, which is a bit of a shock to someone who’s spent years arguing that it doesn’t. (My arguments were based on the fact that I don’t have it. I just don’t. Elton John and his husband could come sit on my lap wearing WE’RE GAY t-shirts and I still wouldn’t know.)
Secondly, I had always thought it was an innate thing, like… well, like gayness itself. It turns out new research is showing that it can be traced to some very specific and definable physical characteristics—and I don’t mean the tired old stereotypes of mesh shirts or an iPod full of showtunes. This kind of basic research really provides more weapons in the arsenal against people who continue to insist that homosexuality is either learned or a choice. It’s becoming more and more obvious that it is innate, biological, and immutable.
So, without further ado, I summarize Lippa et al’s research as follows:
- A gay man’s index finger will tend to be about as long as his ring finger, similar to straight women; lesbians tend to have shorter index than ring fingers, similar to straight men.
- There exists a recognizable ‘accent’ in about 75% of gay men (sidenote: Rufus Wainwright is gay? I didn’t know th… now, see, this is what I was talking about.)
- More gay men than straight men have counterclockwise hair whorls.
- Gay men tend to have bigger… good heavens. You’ll have to read the article for that one.
- The gay man’s hypothalamus cell cluster INAH3 is similar to the size of a straight woman’s.
There you have it! Now go forth in comfort, dear readers, secure in the knowledge that talented scientists are working night and day to decode the signals behind what most of you do without even thinking twice.
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