Decade of the Plague by Rodway Margaret R.;Wright Marianne;

Author:Rodway, Margaret R.;Wright, Marianne;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1702393
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

GAY AND LESBIAN COMMUNITY

AIDS has had a profound impact on the gay and lesbian community. For many gays and lesbians there are overlapping areas of interest and concern. These overlapping areas and the social affiliation often observed is what is referred to as the gay and lesbian community. It has called forth a maturity in the face of crisis that marks another step in the coming of age of a people. It has also caused much emotional distress and “dis-ease” which could be alleviated in part by professional support. Individuals and couples seeking counselling are likely to name fear of AIDS as a concern with which they need help. AIDS has influenced how the gay and lesbian community is viewed by groups and institutions in society. AIDS has also influenced how segments of the gay and lesbian community interact with each other.

The increased visibility of death and dying has had profound effects on the gay and lesbian community. Most senior members of the gay and lesbian population are invisible, even within the community itself and until this point, the community has not had to face significant numbers of its members dying. Facing death and dying normally involves a reexamination of the values by which one lives; the AIDS crisis has predictably inspired an assessment of gay and lesbian liberation and lifestyles by its participants. Issues of spirituality, intimacy and friendship, political activism, and sexual expression are being readdressed in light of the AIDS threat.

Any crisis causes a great deal of distress and dysfunction. It can be expected that facing the fact that practices which were associated with sexual liberation have become a possible means of death results in frustration, demoralization and anxiety.

Some members of the community have radically altered their sexual practices based on fear rather than the deliberate learning of safe-sex practices. Practices born out of fear rather than deliberate choice result in diminished fulfillment and consequent loss of self-esteem. Some gay men experience a rekindling of self-hate and homophobia which they had thought had been irradicated. As a result, some members get out of the community they once found to be a support, and those with a bisexual capacity may even attempt to pursue heterosexual lifestyles and relationships. Some men have become fatalistic about the risk to themselves and others and make no changes in their sexual behaviour.

Rifts within the community can deepen if particular members wish to distinguish themselves from others they consider to be more at risk. For example, monogamous couples may criticize those people who are promiscuous and those who practice more conventional sexual activity may look askance at individuals who are involved in less conventional activity. Additionally, lesbians may criticize what they perceive to be risky gay male behaviour.

Another outcome of the AIDS crisis is a tendency to become disillusioned with particular expressions of sexual liberation and to return to sexual mores which, at one time, had been considered oppressive. With this shift in mores it becomes easy to accept negative descriptions of gay men and lesbians as narcissistic and immature.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.