Working-Class Gay and Bisexual Men

by George Alan Abbleby

Overview

How well does social policy serve this understudied population?

Although public policy and social programs responding to the AIDS and hate crime epidemics of the past decades are supposed to be designed for the working-class gay man, in actuality they have been based more on socioeconomic bias, stereotype, and anecdote than on social science. What do these men actually want and need? How well do programs work for them? The answers are found in Working-Class Gay and Bisexual Men, the landmark international study that is among the first to empirically examine the lives, attitudes, needs, and concerns of this hidden population.

Working-Class Gay and Bisexual Men reports on research conducted throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand using a broad-based sample of working-class men. Using ethnographic techniques, researchers systematically captured and analyzed the social themes of their lives. The impressively detailed and consistent results should compel policymakers to rethink their assumptions about working-class gay men.

This carefully conducted scientific research project also provides a forum where the men's own voices can be heard. Topics include:

• What gives them the strength to cope with violence, homophobia, AIDS, and discrimination?
• How can they come out to their families, friends, and coworkers?
• How do rural gay and bisexual men handle their isolation?
• What kinds of social support networks do they have?
• How do Latino gay men handle the double discrimination of gay and minority status?
• What kinds of social services would reach these men?
• What are the risk factors and protective factors in their lives?
• How do socioeconomic factors affect them?
  
  Working-Class Gay and Bisexual Men is a powerfully persuasive work of scholarship with broad-ranging implications. Social workers, policymakers, AIDS activists, and anyone else concerned with the lives of gay and bisexual men will find this informative study an essential tool for designing effective programs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781560232551
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/21/2001
Series:	Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services Series
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	5.81(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Contents

• About the Contributors
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Practice and Theoretical Knowledge-Based Theory for Clinical and Policy Practice
• METHODOLOGY
• Framework for Practice with Working-Class Gay and Bisexual Men
• UNITED STATES AND CANADA
• Introduction
• Ethnographic Study of Gay and Bisexual Working-Class Men in the United States
• Gay Men Living in a Rural Environment
• An Ethnographic Study of Six Latino Gay and Bisexual Men
• Case Study of a Gay Mexican American
• Oh, Canada: The Experience of Working-Class Gay Men in Toronto
• AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
• Ethnographic Study of Twenty-Six Gay and Bisexual Working-Class Men in Australia and New Zealand
• Interviewing Working-Class Gay Men Over the Internet
• ANALYSIS
• IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL AND POLICY PRACTICE
• INTERVIEWING WORKING-CLASS GAY MEN OVER THE INTERNET
• Index
• Reference Notes Included

Editorial Reviews

Although targeted by public policy and social programs responding to AIDS and hate crimes, working class gay and bisexual men are still a hidden population. This study examines the lives, attitudes, needs, and concerns of this population, reporting on research conducted in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Men's experiences are given voice on topics such as homophobia, coming out, rural isolation, social support, and coping with the double discrimination of gay and minority status. Co-published simultaneously as , v.12, nos. 3/4, 2001. Appleby teaches social work at Southern Connecticut State University. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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