Conversations about Psychology and Sexual Orientation

Introduction

Introduction The Conversation Begins Glenda M. Russell and Janis S. Bohan The idea for this book grew out of countless conversations between the two of us about psychology’s approach to sexual orientation. As we talked about this topic, we found ourselves alternately excited by the possibilities of rethinking sexual orientation and frustrated by the difficulty of doing so. At some point, one of us commented about how much fun and how challenging these conversations were, and the other suggested that they might form the basis for a book. The more we discussed the idea, the more it seemed appropriate to use a conversational format as a way to pursue the topic of psychology and sexual orientation. Our own conversations had left us not only with the certainty that we had no definitive answers but also with a wariness about such answers. It made more sense to approach the topic as an open-ended and ongoing conversation rather than as a treatise that begins with the statement of a problem and ends with a clear resolution. Format of the Book The format of this book reflects our belief that a conversational approach is an appropriate method for exploring psychology and sexual orientation . The book is designed on the model of a conversation where ideas are raised by one speaker and others respond with their own thoughts. In the first chapter, the two of us offer some general distinctions between essentialist and social constructionist approaches to sexual orientation. This is a theoretical discussion that anchors the rest of the book; it is one 1 rich with questions about real-world implications of how psychology construes sexual orientation. Chapters 2, 6, and 9 represent our efforts to apply the essentialist-social constructionist distinction to three specific realms—clinical work, research and theory building, and public policy. The divisions among these three application areas are not clear-cut. As some of the respondents point out, it is impossible to discuss, for example , clinical practice without touching on public policy or to discuss research and theory without commenting on the implications of those for clinical practice. However arbitrary, the distinctions among these three areas serve to promote some order in discussions that could be endless in their ramifications. We have asked distinguished and thoughtful people—theoreticians, researchers, practitioners, and educators—to provide commentaries on each of the three applied chapters. Of those we invited, six scholars provided essays in response to our chapters: Douglas Haldeman, Suzanne Iasenza, and Leonore Tiefer respond to our essay on clinical practice; Vivienne Cass and Fritz Klein respond to the essay on theory building and research; and Allen Omoto responds to the essay on public policy. These respondents were selected because collectively they represent a range of opinions on and experiences with social constructionist and essentialist approaches. In addition, we expected them to be able to look at the issue of psychology and sexual orientation in thoughtful ways, whatever their initial positions, and to juggle the complexity of issues in the area, rather than speak from rigid positions that push polemics at the expense of depth. We sent several items to all six commentators. First, they received the prospectus describing the book. They also received chapter 1, which outlines the basic theoretical issues underlying these discussions, and the specific applied essays to which they were to respond. Finally, they all received a single page of instructions for their task, in which we suggested that they view our chapter as one installment in a conversation (in which the two of us were admittedly long-winded). We invited them to join the conversation with their reactions, including areas of agreement, differing perspectives, new ideas, related material that might enrich the discussion , and anything else that came to mind. Each application section—our essay and the responses of contributors —can stand on its own without requiring the reader to read all other sections. This format allows the reader whose primary interest is in clinical applications, research and theory, or public policy to read only that 2 g l e n d a m . r u s s e l l a n d j a n i s s . b o h a n section of the book. Appreciation of any of the application sections, however, will be enhanced greatly by a prior reading of chapter 1. Following the presentation of our essays and the responses of other authors, our...