Issue
27(2)
Out
in Psychology: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Perspectives.
(2007). Victoria Clarke
and Elizabeth Peel (Eds.). Chichester
: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
497 pp. Price $200,00. ISBN # 978-0-470-01287-1
Review
by: Shannon
L. Young
Department of Media, Culture, and Communication
New
York University
Out
in Psychology is an ambitious
anthology that offers a wide range of theories related to sexual
orientation, sex/gender identity, and psychology. The main theme
of the book is the notion of “inclusivity” (p. 3), the attempt
to include multiple perspectives, experiences, and histories in
the study of sexual minorities, including those of lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. The chapters
within “draw attention to the centrality of visibility” (p. 1)
for each of these communities and explore how the work of psychology
can impact empowering social change.
The
collection includes four sections, each one examining a particular
facet of LGBTQ lives, including the history of LGBTQ psychology,
the diversity of lived experiences amongst sexual minorities,
workplace and lifestyle, and healthcare issues. Each chapter researches
a different population or analyses a particular psychological
framework in relation to working with sexual minorities. While
some chapters seem best suited to psychology professionals, certain
articles are particularly thought-provoking and could be useful
to advisors. Damien W. Riggs’, “Recognizing Race in LGBTQ Psychology:
Power, Privilege and Complicity” skillfully shows how psychological
texts often view “race” as pertaining only to people of color,
rather than as an identity factor that shapes every person’s experience.
Riggs’ arguments remind advisors to question how we use the term
“race” and to consider the role racial identity plays in all students’
development. Meg Barker’s chapter reviews popular Psychology textbooks
to examine how sexual minority issues are represented; this chapter
might interest advisors and students of Psychology. Two chapters
on transgender issues, Clair Clifford and Jim Orford’s, “The Experience
of Social Power in the Lives of Trans People” and Katherine Johnson’s,
“Transsexualism: Diagnostic Dilemmas, Transgender Politics and
the Future of Transgender Care,” offer timely reflections on the
experiences of transgender people, a population who demands increasing
visibility and responsive services on university campuses.
One
of the book’s recurring themes is the diversity of issues that
fall under the umbrella term “sexual minorities.” This point is
illustrated in the oftentimes disparate perspectives, since each
chapter explores a different issue, population, or psychological
approach. With such a large range, it can be challenging to find
an organizing thread in the book (aside from a general focus on
sexual minorities). The editors acknowledge this ambiguity and
view the text as an attempt to begin bridging such varied interests
and bringing them into conversation. How successful the book is
at doing this is less clear. Also, because the book’s contributors
hail from the United Kingdom
or Australia
, the cultural and professional
conditions seem strikingly different from a North American one.
Although there is a kind of shared “Western” perspective, the
language, political and social history, and therapeutic approaches
differ from the context that a typical North American reader might
bring to the book.
For
advisors, the text is most useful to those who seek more information
about the emotional life and psychological well-being of sexual
minority students. In particular, the articles about bisexual
and transgender issues, multiple identities, and the emergence
of the label “queer,” are especially relevant as sexual and gender
identities continue to shift and find new means of expression.
The book offers advisors a critical vocabulary from which we can
make new meanings of students’ sexual identity development.
