The palgrave handbook of the psychology of sexuality and genderdr soc

the Psychology of Sexuality and GenderEdited by Christina Richards Senior Specialist Psychology Associate and Clinical Research Fellow, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and West Lond

and Gender

the Psychology of Sexuality and Gender

Edited by

Christina Richards

Senior Specialist Psychology Associate and Clinical Research Fellow, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and West London Mental Health NHS Trust, UK

Meg John Barker

Senior Lecturer in Psychology, The Open University, UK

Individual chapters © Respective authors 2015

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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published 2015 by

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Richards, Christina.

The Palgrave handbook of the psychology of sexuality and gender / edited

by Christina Richards, Senior Specialist Psychology Associate and Clinical Research Fellow, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Meg John Barker, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, The Open University.

pages cm

Summary: “The Palgrave Handbook of the Psychology of Sexuality and Gender gives a thorough overview of all of the normative – and many

of the less common – sexualities, genders and relationship forms

including: Asexuality; Bisexuality; BDSM; Gay; Heterosexuality; Kink; Lesbian; Further sexualities; Trans sexualities; Cisgender; Intersex; Further genders; Non-binary gender; Monogamies; and Open Non-Monogamies The Handbook also considers psychological areas such as Clinical

psychology; Counselling psychology; Qualitative research; Quantitative research; and Sex therapy as they relate to sexuality and gender as well

as intersectional areas such as: Ageing; Ethnicity; Class; Disability;

Health Psychology; and Religion Contributions from leading scholars and practitioners in this area combine cutting edge research with

considerations on both clinical practice and academic study of sexuality and gender for psychologists from student to professor; and from any discipline interested in these ubiquitous aspects of humanity.” —

List of Tables and Figures xv

2 BDSM – Bondage and Discipline; Dominance and Submission;

Sadism and Masochism 24

Emma L Turley and Trevor Butt

v

BDSM and feminism 33Implications for applied psychology and the wider world 34

Early ‘bisexual-affirmative’ research: Acknowledging, defining,

and ‘measuring’ bisexuality as a distinct identity 48Becoming visible: 1990s research on bisexuality 49Bi-affirmative research in psychology since the

Second-wave feminist critiques of heterosexuality 95

Current debates and implications for applied psychology

Implications for applied psychology and the wider world 120

Implications for applied psychology and the wider world 140

Part II Gender

9 Cisgender – Living in the Gender Assigned at Birth 149

Ester McGeeney and Laura Harvey

Implications for applied psychology and the wider world 159

Key theory and research 186

Prenatal treatment and psychological outcomes 190

Implications for applied psychology and the wider world 191

Current approaches to assisting people with gender dysphoria 204

Ali Ziegler, Terri D Conley, Amy C Moors, Jes L Matsick,

and Jennifer D Rubin

Definitions of monogamy across biological and social sciences 220

You’re still single? Repercussions for not ‘settling down’ 227

Implications for applied psychology and the wider world 230

Open non-monogamies and normative social and counselling

The theoretical questioning/exploration of extra-dyadic

The effects of multiple-partner parenting on children,

The psychological exploration of the minutiae

Implications for applied psychology and the wider world 305

Gender identity: The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) 337

National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) 338Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) 339National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) 341

Future directions: Implications for applied psychology

Towards wider measurement of gender identities 348

Ageing as a product of societal arrangements 379

Newer currents – ambivalent resources of ageing 382Implications for applied psychology and the wider

Bridgette Rickett and Maxine Woolhouse

Intersections of gender, class, and sexualities 400

Implications for applied psychology and the wider world 402

Implications for applied psychology and the wider world 419

Key theory and research with implications for applied

Coming out from a race/ethnicity perspective 436

14.1 Content analysis of titles of PsycINFO-indexed articles on

19.1 Klein Sexual Orientation Grid (Klein, 1993; Klein et al., 1985) 336

19.3 Non-threatening ways to ask about sexual behaviours (adapted

20.1 Cognitive behavioural interventions traditionally used in sex

Figures

5.1 Lewes’ (1988) sexual results of the Oedipus complex as

determined by identification (or instinctual aim) and object choices 79

10.3 Spectra of gender (adapted from Barker, 2013) 17019.1 Three overlapping components of sexual orientation 33420.1 The biopsychosocial model of human sexuality (adapted from

xv

Christina Richards: For Phil (of course) and for Claire, Margie, Monica, and

their families – for tea, peace, and the things words can’t properly describe

I would also like to thank all my patients, as well as clinician colleagues andactivist friends across the world who have taught me so much; my colleagues atNottingham Centre for Gender Dysphoria who have welcomed me so warmlyand taught me more of these complex, beautiful areas in which we work – andperhaps especially the administrative staff – Helen, Jane, and colleagues whodon’t get nearly enough credit for keeping the whole thing running; James,Leighton, Penny, and Stuart at Charing Cross GIC for yet more years of knowl-edge and friendship (and their gentle prods forwards); Surya for all her workand being there when it counted; Clare for being ace and rather an inspiration;

my mother for showing me how to be a radical inside the system; and lastly(but never least) Meg John Barker, who frustrates and inspires me in a waywhich no one else quite manages and with whom I hope to have the privilege

of reciprocating until time or fate decreed otherwise

Meg John Barker: I would like to acknowledge all of the psychologists – and other

scholars, activists, therapists, and friends – who have helped me in my learningabout gender and sexual diversity over the years There are far too many tomention, but particular thanks must go to the psychology staff at the University

of Gloucestershire and the Open University; the members of the Psychology

of Sexualities and Psychology of Women sections of the British PsychologicalSociety (BPS); all of the participants in the Critical Sexology, Sense about Sex,and Gender and Sexuality Talks networks; and my pink, kink, poly, and queertherapist friends and colleagues

Particular gratitude must go to four of my main people, who have beenco-authors and so much more over the years: Darren Langdridge, Ros Gill,Alex Iantaffi, and – of course – Christina Richards I certainly hope to con-tinue inspiring and frustrating Christina (and vice versa) for as long as we havethe opportunity, and I am immensely grateful to her for including me in thisproject, on which she certainly took by far the heaviest load The finished prod-uct really is a wonderful testimony to all her hard work and creative thinkingaround these topics

xvi

Christina Richards is an accredited psychotherapist with the British

Associ-ation for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and is an associate fellow ofthe British Psychological Society (BPS), which she represents to National HealthService (NHS) England’s Clinical Reference Group (CRG) on Gender IdentityServices She is Senior Specialist Psychology Associate at the NottinghamshireHealthcare NHS Trust Gender Clinic and Clinical Research Fellow at WestLondon Mental Health NHS Trust (Charing Cross) Gender Clinic She works

in this capacity as an individual and group psychotherapist and gist conducting psychotherapy, assessment, and follow-up clinics as part of amultidisciplinary team, as well as conducting research, supervision, and ser-vice improvement plans She lectures and publishes on trans, sexualities, andcritical mental health, both within academia and to third sector and statu-

psycholo-tory bodies, and is a co-founder of BiUK and co-author of The Bisexuality Report.

As well as other papers, reports, and book chapters, she is the co-author of

the BPS Guidelines and Literature Review for Counselling Sexual and Gender ity Clients (2013), Sexuality and Gender for Mental Health Professionals: A Practical Guide (2013), and an edited collection on non-binary genders to be published in

Minor-2016 Website: christinarichards.co.uk; email: contact@christinarichards.co.uk;Twitter: @CRichardsPsych

Meg John Barker is a writer, academic, counsellor, and activist specialising

in sex and relationships Meg John is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at theOpen University and has published many academic books and papers on topicsincluding non-monogamous relationships, sadomasochism, counselling, and

mindfulness, as well as co-editing the journal Psychology and Sexuality They were the lead author of The Bisexuality Report, which has informed UK policy

and practice around bisexuality They are involved in running many lic events on sexuality and relationships, including Sense about Sex, CriticalSexology, and Gender and Sexuality Talks Meg John is also a United KingdomCouncil of Psychotherapy (UKCP) accredited therapist working with gender

pub-and sexually diverse clients, pub-and wrote the relationship book Rewriting the Rules.

xvii

Michael Berry is a psychology researcher specialising in couple and sexual

therapies He is currently completing a PhD in research psychology at versity College London and clinical training at McGill University in Canada.His PhD research examines the effectiveness of psychodynamic methods in sextherapy and couples counselling, and the use of integrative treatment strate-gies in the sexual health field He has a strong interest in gender and mental

Uni-healthcare, and is Managing Editor of the International Journal of Men’s Health.

He has published research articles and chapters in a number of internationaljournals and books Michael is particularly interested in the use of critical,social constructionist, and existential psychotherapy models in the treatment

of sexual problems His work evaluates how these models can be applied in thepsychotherapeutic treatment of diverse clinical groups, including lesbian, gay,bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) clients, and in the treatment of problematicout-of-control sexual behaviour Additionally, he is a member of the Laboratoryfor the Biopsychosocial Study of Sexuality at McGill University, where he is car-rying out a mixed-methods research project examining women’s experiences ofmultiple orgasms in both partnered and masturbatory sexual behaviour In hisclinical work, Michael is currently co-developing a group therapy protocol forthe treatment of problematic out-of-control internet-based sexual behaviour inyoung men

Walter Pierre Bouman is a consultant psychiatrist-sexologist who works as

lead clinician at the Nottingham Gender Clinic, a nationally commissionedclinical service for people with gender dysphoria and one of the largest of itskind in Europe He initially trained in psychiatry and psychotherapy in theNetherlands, and has over 25 years of clinical experience in general adult andolder people’s mental health Walter is an accredited member and supervisor

of the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT) He is tered with the UKCP as a psychotherapist He is an experienced clinical tutorand supervisor and has served the Royal College of Psychiatrists as a CollegeTutor, Membership Examiner, and Training Programme Director Walter servedthe World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) on theDSM-V Consensus Committee and on the Global ICD Consensus Group Herepresented the United Kingdom at the World Health Organization’s (WHO)Protocol Development Meeting for Field Testing of ICD-11 Sexual Disorders andSexuality-Related Conditions Walter is the former chair and a current mem-ber of the CRG for Gender Dysphoria, whose remit is to develop a nationalpolicy ensuring equity of access to and treatment for trans people at genderidentity clinic services Walter is a strong advocate for the de-stigmatisationand ‘de-psychiatrisation’ of gender dysphoria as a classified mental disorder

regis-Walter is Deputy Editor of Sexual and Relationship Therapy – International tives on Theory, Research and Practice He has published and co-authored widely,

Perspec-including several good practice guidelines for transgender health

Helen Bowes-Catton has been researching bisexual subjectivity, community,

and politics in the United Kingdom since 2004 A founder member of BiUK,

she was a co-author of The Bisexuality Report Helen lectures in psychology and

sociology in Higher Education and Further Education institutions in the south

of England

Jan Burns is Head of the School of Psychology, Politics and Sociology at

Canterbury Christ Church University, in the United Kingdom Jan is a cal psychologist by background, previously working in services for people withintellectual disabilities and forensic services She has also been a programmedirector of the Salomons Clinical Psychology Doctorate and supervised manytrainees throughout their training Jan was also one of the founder members

clini-of the BPS’s Psychology clini-of Women section and remains a keen proponent clini-ofclinical services, and those who deliver them, being sensitive and understand-ing of gender and sexuality Her publications reflect a wide range of interests,but have a consistent theme of an interest in minority groupings and issues ofpower These include publications in the areas of health psychology, intellectualdisabilities, forensic services, gender and sexuality, the discipline of clinical psy-chology, and professional development In more recent years, she has becomeinvolved in developing Paralympic sport for people with intellectual disabilitiesand worked with an international research group which received the presti-gious Research Councils UK award for ‘Exceptional Research Contribution’ forthe research This research led to the reinclusion of athletes with learning dis-abilities into the London 2012 Paralympic Games Jan would describe herself as

an ‘applied scientist’ and prefers to engage in research which has a real impact

on improving people’s lives

Trevor Butt worked full time in the NHS as a clinical psychologist before

becoming a senior lecturer at the University of Huddersfield He became Reader

in Psychology at Huddersfield in 1999, retired in 2007, and is now Emeritus

Reader in Psychology He is co-editor of Personal Construct Theory and tice and has authored Understanding People and Invitation to Personal Construct Psychology, amongst many other publications.

Prac-Mark Carrigan is Research Assistant at the Centre for Social Ontology and

Dig-ital Fellow at the Sociological Review He recently completed his PhD thesis in

sociology, which has sought to develop a framework for the empirical gation of personal morphogenesis His research interests include sociological

investi-theory, social movements, sociology of personal life, and the sociology ofhigher education As well as his research activity, he has a practical inter-est in the use of social media within academic life, continuing to work as a

consultant and trainer He is working on a book, Social Media for Academics, due to be published in late 2015 He edits The Sociological Imagination with

Milena Kremakova He co-convenes the Quantified-Self Research Network with

Christopher Till He is a founding member of the editorial board of Discover Society, social media associate editor for The International Journal of Social Research Methodology, and assistant editor for Big Data and Society He was co-

founder of the British Sociological Association (BSA)’s Digital Sociology groupand has previously supported the BSA’s activity in a range of capacities He isalso a regular blogger and podcaster

Dawn Clark is a registered chartered counselling psychologist and

psychother-apist practising in local authority, NHS, and prison services She works clinicallywith complex mental health presentations, addiction, psychosexual health,offending behaviour, dual diagnosis, and specialist psychosexual presentations

in children, youth, and families services Dawn is also a research gist with an interest in critical psychology and psychiatry, and her researchprojects are diverse These include the political aspects of early interventionstrategy, psychiatric diagnosis, psychological interventions in prisons, and ado-lescent sexual behaviours and attitudes Dawn has developed sexual health andpsychological therapy services for the NHS and local authority, and she hasproduced lesson plans and resources for personal, social, and health educa-tion (PSHE) and sex and relationships education (SRE) at local and nationallevels Her clinical work and research on pornography, sexting, and sexualbehaviour has contributed to changes in local government policy and devel-opment of educational resources and good practice guides for practitioners

psycholo-in sex, relationships, and sexual health Dawn is a consultant and trapsycholo-iner forpractitioners working in local authorities and the NHS She is also a regularspeaker on sex, gender, and sexual health services for Brighton and Sussex Uni-versities Hospitals Trust, Sussex Partnerships NHS Trust, and the Royal Society

of Medicine Her work with young people on sex, relationships, and sexual

behaviours has been featured in published educational materials, the Sunday Times, and the BBC.

Rob Clucas is Lecturer-in-Law at the University of Hull His current research

interests are in the field of sexuality, gender, and the law, with a particularinterest in church equality issues, and he is drawn to integrating Gestalt the-ory into his research and teaching practice He has published and presented onthe following issues: equality and the Church of England; a law-specific disci-plinary approach to pedagogy in higher education; and, as B Clucas, on legal

theory; medical ethics, particularly conjoined twins; human rights; and dren’s rights and welfare With G Johnstone and T Ward, he co-edited the

chil-Nomos collection Torture: Moral Absolutes and Ambiguities He was supported

by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) Research Leave Scheme forthe project ‘Children’s rights: autonomy and the welfare/best interests tension

A Welsh perspective’, a study on the practice of the first Children’s sioner for Wales His PhD thesis was concerned with a modified application ofAlan Gewirth’s moral theory to the rights of children He was the inauguralchair of the LGBT Staff Network at the University of Hull and has been anational trustee of the Anglican pressure group Changing Attitude He is atrainee Gestalt psychotherapist

Commis-Terri D Conley is a professor in the Psychology and Women’s Studies

fac-ulty at the University of Michigan She received her PhD in social psychologyfrom the University of California, Los Angeles, and her undergraduate degreefrom the University of Wisconsin In her research, Terri explores gender differ-ences in sexuality, such as casual sex, desire, sexual fantasy, and orgasm rates;monogamy and departures from monogamy; and also the relationship betweenmembers of different groups, with a particular interest in marginalised groupmembers’ perceptions of dominant groups

Roshan das Nair is Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Nottingham

Univer-sity Hospitals NHS Trust and Honorary Associate Professor at the UniverUniver-sity ofNottingham He completed his training in clinical psychology at the NationalInstitute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in India and his PhD in psychol-ogy from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom He has previouslyworked in the areas of sex, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS in Zambia and India.Roshan was a board member of the Nottingham Sexual Health Providers forum

and was the Editor-in-Chief of the Psychology of Sexualities Review of the BPS’s

Psychology of Sexualities Section He was also their representative on the national Network on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns and TransgenderIssues in Psychology He was a member of the Working Party responsible for

Inter-writing the BPS guidelines Working therapeutically with sexual and gender minority clients and was a co-author of the BPS Position statement on therapies attempting to change sexual orientation He is Associate Editor and an editorial board member for the journals Sexual and Relationship Therapy and Journal of Lesbian Studies.

His academic interests include HIV and sexual health in marginalised lations, the interface between ethnicity and sexuality, and critical appraisalsand discourse analysis of medicalised constructs such as ‘sex addiction’ He

popu-is one of the trustees of BiUK He popu-is the co-editor of Intersectionality, ity, and Psychological Therapies: Working with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Diversity

Sexual-(2012)

Robin Dundas is Senior Specialist Psychology Associate at West London

Men-tal Health Trust Gender Identity Clinic He recently trained in counsellingpsychology at Regent’s University and has a special research interest in thepsychological effects of stigma and discrimination on trans* people

Sonja J Ellis is Principal Lecturer in (Social) Psychology at Sheffield Hallam

University, with a passion for both feminism and social justice Her mainfield of expertise is gender and sexuality, in particular LGBTQ psychology.She has published numerous journal articles exploring, among other things,homophobia at university, moral reasoning around lesbian and gay issues,and engagement in the creation of positive social change More recently, shehas – together with Jay McNeil, Louis Bailey, and others – been engaged in amajor piece of research exploring mental health and well-being in trans peo-ple With Victoria Clarke, Elizabeth Peel, and Damien Riggs, she is co-author

of the leading textbook in the field: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Psychology: An Introduction (2010) She also has chapters in a number of other books, including Intersectionality, Sexuality and Psychological Therapies: Exploring Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Diversity (das Nair & Butler eds., 2011), Out in Psy- chology (Clarke & Peel eds., 2007), British Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Psychologies: Theory, Research and Practice (Peel et al eds., 2007), and Lesbian and Gay Psychol- ogy: New Perspectives (Coyle & Kitzinger, 2002) Her current projects include the

development of pedagogical approaches to embedding inclusivity in the ing of psychology (funded by a Higher Education Authority (HEA) InternationalScholarship), a collaborative project on ‘voluntary childlessness’ (funded by theBritish Academy), and some new research on mental health and well-being inlesbian women

teach-Panteá Farvid is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Auckland University of

Technology in New Zealand Her work includes examining the intersection

of gender, sexuality, power, culture, and identity She has worked on largeprojects examining the social construction of heterosexual casual sex and con-temporary heterosexualities Drawing on critical and feminist approaches to thestudy of sex, sexuality, gender, heterosexuality, gender relations, and mascu-line/feminine identities, she has an analytic interest in the personal narratives

of individuals, as well as the critical analysis of popular culture/media tations related to these Currently, Panteá is working on projects examining thesex industry in New Zealand (e.g media representations of prostitution, menwho buy sex) and ‘cyber intimacies’ (e.g Tinder, ‘sugar dating’ websites) She isalso working in collaboration with Auckland City Public Libraries to develop a

represen-‘Teen Empowerment Programme’ for New Zealand youth that promotes criticalengagement with media and daily life She has supervised numerous student

projects examining topics such as Fifty Shades of Grey, teen girls’ engagement

with Tumblr, teen girls’ daily engagement with mass media, heterosexual delity’, and men’s and women’s experiences of online dating Alongside heracademic position, Panteá is strongly dedicated to being involved within thecommunity, both politically and as an ambassador for social justice and equal-ity She was a political candidate, gender spokesperson, and gender policylead for one of the political parties contesting the 2014 New Zealand elec-tion Taking on the role of ‘critic and conscious’, she is also a frequent mediacommentator in New Zealand when it comes to issues related to gender, power,and sexuality.

‘infi-Gareth Hagger-Johnson’s research falls between epidemiology, quantitative

psychology, and statistics He studies how health behaviours (including sexualbehaviour) and individual differences (including sexual orientation identity)influence health, disease, and employment patterns over the life course Hehas worked on data from several large cohort studies, including the AberdeenChildren of the 1950s (ACONF), Health and Lifestyle Survey (HALS), LothianBirth Cohort 1936 (LBC, 1936), Longitudinal Study of Young People in England(LSYPE), and Whitehall II He is also interested in the causes and consequences

of data linkage errors in administrative hospital data

Laura Harvey is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Surrey Her work

takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on sociology, gender studies,social psychology, and cultural studies Her interests include sexualities, every-day intimacies and inequalities, research with young people, the mediation ofsexual knowledge, feminist methodologies, and discourse analysis

Nikki Hayfield is currently Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology in the

Depart-ment of Health and Social Sciences at the University of the West of England(UWE), Bristol, United Kingdom Nikki teaches social psychology and qualita-tive research methods and methodologies to students at undergraduate andpostgraduate levels Her PhD was a feminist mixed-methods exploration ofbisexual women’s (visual) identities She has published journal papers and bookchapters on the topics of bisexualities and bisexual marginalisation Nikki alsohas experience and expertise in qualitative research methods in psychology,and has authored and co-authored chapters and papers on qualitative data col-lection and analysis She has contributed to a number of qualitative researchstudies on social-psychological topics, which have included perceptions ofvolunteering, charity and pro-social behaviours, civil partnership, and youngpeople’s understandings of bisexuality Nikki also supervises undergraduate andpostgraduate students who have chosen to use qualitative methodologies toinvestigate social psychological topics, including genders and sexualities Shecontinues to use and develop qualitative methodologies, focusing her own

research mainly on the exploration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and heterosexualsexualities, relationships, and appearance More recently, her research interestshave broadened to include (alternative) families and relationships Nikki is achartered psychologist and member of the BPS.

Alex Iantaffi is Assistant Professor with the Program in Human Sexuality,

Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, at the University ofMinnesota He is also a licensed marriage and family therapist and Editor-in-

Chief for the international Journal of Sexual and Relationship Therapy His

ther-apeutic work is currently focused on transgender and gender non-conformingyouth, and their families Alex also has experience working as a sex therapistand with a broad range of clients and families in diverse relationships and fam-ily systems Alex has conducted research and published extensively on gender,disability, sexuality, bisexuality, polyamorous parenting, Bondage and Disci-pline; Dominance and Submission; Sadism and Masochism (BDSM), deafness,education, sexual health, HIV prevention, and transgender issues His scholarlywork has been increasingly focused on issues of intersectionality and sexualhealth disparities He is currently Principal Investigator for a study, funded

by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), on deaf men who have sex withmen (MSM), HIV testing and prevention, and technology Alex is also engaged

in local, national, and international communities as an activist, speaker, andtrainer In 2000 his PhD thesis on the experiences of women with disabilities

in higher education was awarded the Best Dissertation Award from the BritishEducational Research Association; in 2012 he received the Breaking the SilenceAward from the University of Minnesota; and in 2013 he was awarded the TwinCities Deaf Pride Community Organization Awards for his current study on deafMSM and HIV

Tony Kainth is a counselling psychologist currently working at WLMHT

Gen-der Identity Clinic in the role of senior specialist psychology associate Hecompleted his doctoral training at City University, London, where his researchexplored the role of psychological therapy in managing multiple minority iden-tities His specialist interests include sexuality, gender identity, ethnic minorityidentities, and health psychology

Penny Lenihan is the lead consultant psychologist at the West London Mental

Health NHS Trust (Charing Cross) Gender Identity Clinic, where she specialises

in trans health-care and sexualities and runs the psychology service and theclinical training placement programme

Del Loewenthal is Professor of, and Convenor of Doctoral Programmes in,

Psy-chotherapy and Counselling, Director of the Research Centre for Therapeutic

Education, University of Roehampton He is an analytic psychotherapist,chartered psychologist, and photographer Del is Founding Editor of the

European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Universities Psychotherapy

and Counselling Association (UPCA) chair, and former founding chair UKCP

Research Committee His books include Phototherapy and Therapeutic raphy in a Digital Age; Post-Existentialism and the Psychological Therapies; Case Studies in Relational Research; Relational Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Coun- selling (with Andrew Samuels); Against and for CBT (with Richard House); Critically Engaging CBT; Childhood, Wellbeing and a Therapeutic Ethos; and Postmodernism for Psychotherapists (with Robert Snell) Del’s forthcoming books are Critical Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Counselling, and Existential Psy- chotherapy and Counselling after Postmodernism Del also has a small private

Photog-practice in Wimbledon and Brighton

Jes L Matsick is a doctoral candidate in the dual degree program in Psychology

and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan Her works aim to elucidatehow people with less power (minorities) perceive those with more power (dom-inant groups), identify ways in which societal norms surrounding gender andsexuality influence health outcomes, and evaluate recruitment strategies in pro-moting diversity in academia At the intersection of these lines of research, Jesexamines stereotypes and prejudice based on gender, sexual orientation, race,and relationship status

Ester McGeeney is an early career researcher with a background in youth advice

and support Her research is principally in the fields of gender, sexuality, andyouth culture, with a particular interest in creative and participatory researchmethods Ester is passionate about developing ways of using research to involveyoung people and practitioners in organisational, policy, and political change.She recently completed a PhD at the Open University in collaboration withthe young people’s sexual health charity Brook Her doctoral research exploredyoung people’s understandings and experiences of ‘good sex’ and sexual plea-sure Ester has since continued to work with Brook to use the findings fromher doctoral study to develop training materials and explore innovative ways

of reanimating data for non-academic audiences

Sara Mize is Assistant Professor and licensed psychologist at the Program

in Human Sexuality (PHS), Department of Family Medicine and CommunityHealth at the University of Minnesota Medical School She is actively involved

in clinical work, teaching, and research She is an eye movement desensitisationand reprocessing (EMDR) trained clinician and a Sensorimotor PsychotherapyCertified Advanced Practitioner She is passionate about working with clientsusing mindfulness and body-oriented approaches In 2012, she began the first

Body-Oriented and Mindfulness (affectionately named Da BOM!) Women’s ual Health Group at PHS She brings this orientation to her work in sexualityand disability, relationship health, trauma recovery, and compulsive sexualbehaviour She lectures on sexuality and disability both inside and outside theUniversity, and coordinates the disability section of the medical school course

Sex-on human sexuality She is a reviewer for a number of professiSex-onal journals Sheand her colleague, Alex Iantaffi, PhD, licensed marriage and family therapist(LMFT), have published in the area of mindfulness and body-based approaches

to sex therapy and have received a grant to study sexuality, mindfulness, andthe body in ageing individuals

Amy C Moors is a doctoral candidate in the dual-degree program in

Psychol-ogy and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan Her research criticallyexamines societal values and norms regarding gender, sexuality, and family Shefocuses on social-contextual processes (e.g bias, stigma, and hostile environ-ments) that can impede the professional and personal lives of women, sexualminorities, and people in non-normative relationships

Sarah Murjan is a consultant psychiatrist who works as a clinician at the

Nottingham Gender Clinic, a nationally commissioned clinical service for ple with gender dysphoria, and one of the largest of its kind in Europe Sarahtrained in psychiatry in Nottingham and has over 20 years’ clinical experience

peo-in mental health She has worked peo-in the Nottpeo-ingham Gender Clpeo-inic for 15 yearsand has extensive experience assisting trans people

Nathan Rambukkana is Assistant Professor in Communication Studies at

Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada His work centres on the study

of discourse, politics, and identities, and his research addresses topics such asdigital intimacies, hashtag publics, mixed-race representation, intimate privi-lege, and non-monogamies in the public sphere He has presented on the topic

of non-monogamy in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada and

is the author of the book Fraught Intimacies: Non/Monogamy in the Public Sphere

(forthcoming) He also has an edited collection on the topic of hashtag publicsunder contract He blogs at complexsingularities.net, tweets @n_rambukkana,and can be reached at nrambukkana@wlu.ca

Bridgette Rickett is Principal Lecturer and the Psychology Group lead at Leeds

Beckett University, where she has worked for 14 years She is an tional psychologist and a feminist researcher In addition, Bridgette is a foundermember of the ‘Feminism and Health Research Group’ at Leeds Met Univer-sity and co-lead on the research programme for the Centre of Applied Social

organisa-Research (CeASR) – Sex, Gender, Identity and Power Bridgette’s main researchinterests are critical social psychological explanations of health; in particular,feminist perspectives on class and health, including talk around femininity,risk, class, and violence in the workplace; and organisationally situated sexualharassment, harassment, and bullying Lastly, Bridgette is interested in classedunderstandings of equality, diversity, and organisational identities and, moregenerally, debates and issues around class, gender, sexuality, identity work, and

space Bridgette has published in journals such as Gender, Work and Organization, Journal of Health Psychology, and Feminism and Psychology, and is Associate Editor for the journal Psychology and Sexuality.

Damien W Riggs is Associate Professor in Social Work at Flinders University

and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow His research focuses on der/sexuality, mental health, and families, and he is the author of over 100

gen-publications in these areas, including What About the Children! Masculinities, Sexualities and Hegemony (2010) Damien is also a Lacanian psychotherapist in

private practice, where he specialises in working with gender-variant youngpeople

Katrina Roen is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University

of Oslo, Norway Her research concerns issues of embodiment, youth, gender,and sexuality, taking an interdisciplinary approach informed by feminist, queer,and critical psychological understandings Her current work focuses specifically

on intersex or diverse sex development and the way critical/queer ical understandings might intervene in dominant psycho-medical approaches.The focus is on opening up understandings, challenging the assumptions thatmake normalising treatment seem to be the only option for many parents andintersex youth She is also doing research on queer youth and self-harm Thefocus here is on the notion of embodied distress and an examination of howself-harming and suicidal possibilities come to be entwined with queer youthsubjecthood in some instances Her earlier work focused on adult transgender

psycholog-identities and politics Her work can be found in journals such as Psychology and Sexuality, Body and Society, Signs, and Social Science and Medicine.

Jennifer D Rubin is a doctoral candidate in the dual-degree program in

Psy-chology and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan Her researchbroadly focuses on LGBTQ youth identity development, sexual desire and enti-tlement to pleasure, monogamy as a social norm, and gender differences insexual behaviour and attitudes Her current work assesses real and anticipatedexperiences of social exclusion on Facebook for sexual minority youth and thehealth consequences associated with these unique stressors

Joanna Semlyen is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at London Metropolitan

University, where she teaches health psychology and qualitative gies She completed her PhD at City University She is a registered healthpsychologist and a chartered psychologist She has published a number of arti-

methodolo-cles in the field of sexuality and health, has co-edited the journal Psychology

of Sexualities Review, and is Past Chair of the BPS’s Psychology of Sexualities

(previously Lesbian and Gay) section Her research focuses on lesbian, gay,bisexual, and transgender health, and she is currently carrying out researchinto heteronormativity and health, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender(LGBT) psycho-oncology, and longitudinal population health indices in sexualminorities

Sarah Seymour-Smith is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Nottingham Trent

University Her research interests include the study of gender across differentcontexts such as men’s health (funded grants include projects on male obesityand prostate cancer in African Caribbean men), non-custodial fatherhood, andmale sex offender identities Other core areas of research include the study ofsupport groups (both face-to-face and online support) Sarah is a discursive psy-chologist with expertise in teaching qualitative research at both undergraduateand postgraduate levels

Paul Simpson was awarded a PhD in 2011 for a thesis addressing the ways

in which middle-aged gay men in Manchester deploy narratives resources tonavigate growing older He is a qualitative researcher who specialises in inter-view and observation methods and, in addition to LGBT ageing, is interested

in changing masculinities and gender relations in service and health sectorworkplaces and their intersections with performances of masculinity in per-sonal lives He is currently Lecturer in Health and Social Care at Edge HillUniversity and an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology

at the University of Manchester He is the principal investigator of an disciplinary, cross-institutional research project investigating older care homeresidents’ narratives about sexual and intimate citizenship He is also founder

inter-of the Older People’s Understandings inter-of Sexuality (OPUS) research group that iscurrently co-located at the Universities of Manchester, Bradford, Edge Hill, andQueensland

Emma L Turley is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Manchester

Metropoli-tan University She is interested in gender, LGBTQ psychology, sexualities, anderotic minorities, particularly BDSM and kink, and the ways that these areunderstood and experienced from a non-pathologising perspective Her PhDexamined the erotic experience of participating in consensual BDSM, and she

is currently working on a multi-institution research project investigating the

experience of masculinity in sexually submissive men Emma’s other specialareas of interest include qualitative methodologies, especially phenomenolog-ical psychology and experiential research, and the use of innovative researchmethods Outside work, Emma is a keen animal rights activist, with a penchantfor pet rats and good vegetarian food.

Maxine Woolhouse is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Beckett

Univer-sity, United Kingdom Her teaching focuses mainly on critical/feminist socialand health psychology, philosophical issues, and qualitative research methods

In terms of research, Maxine is interested in discursive approaches to standing how gender and social class intersect to shape identities, and, inparticular, how these inform so-called normal and disordered eating and bodymanagement practices

under-Ali Ziegler is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Alaska

Southeast Ketchikan Her research examines sociocultural explanations for der differences in sexual desires, fantasies, and behaviours She is currentlyfocusing on research related to gender differences in sexual fantasies

gen-Claudia Zitz is a London-based clinical psychologist and systemic practitioner

working with young people and their families at the Tavistock Gender IdentityDevelopment Service within the NHS, United Kingdom Their research inter-ests include postmodern perspectives on identities, particularly in relation todiverse gender identities, sexualities, and embodied discourses

Christina Richards and Meg John Barker

An edited collection on sex and gender, for a major and highly respectedpublisher, consisting of an eclectic selection of fiercely intelligent authors – allrecognised experts in their field – and from a variety of different backgrounds,countries, and disciplines, themselves completing the set of pretty much all thegenders and sexualities covered in this book What could possibly go wrong?Well, quite a lot, apparently People have had personal and professionaltragedies and triumphs over the course of the writing process: been promoted,left institutions, started at others; lost computers, gained children, lovers,friends In short, life, in all its messy, beautiful complexity, has happened tothe people who wrote the book you now hold in your hands Naturally, peoplehave responded in a variety of different ways to such events, and with myriadphilosophies drawn from personal as well as professional discourses And so thisbook is a reflection of that mix, that life, that variety of ways of thinking about

the world, of what even can be thought about – the epistemology and ontology,

if such words float your boat (and it may be worth purchasing a small dinghyfor some chapters if they don’t ).

Maybe we shouldn’t say “going wrong”, though Maybe having such a mix is,

in fact, what went right with this book For within its pages you will see many

different positions on sexuality and gender, from hard quantitative analysis tocomplex qualitative approaches and everything in between – and all with thegolden thread of psychology running throughout

Please remember, though, that when writing a handbook of this sort theeditors are, inevitably, called upon to determine the nature of the contents.Pleasurable as this is when the idea for the book is first mooted over teaand cake, at the point of writing the proposal to the publisher it becomes ataxonomic, almost epistemological, exercise which will, inevitably, not workperfectly for everybody The problem is that, to have some form of readabil-ity, one must choose concise chapter headings which convey something of theintent of the chapter – one must endeavour to carve the subject at the joints,

1

if you will The question is: Which joints? Some issues are discrete and easilyseparated; however, many are contiguous – heterosexuality, bisexuality, gay,and lesbian, for example; and some overlap – trans and intersex, for example.

We wondered whether we should, therefore, have one chapter on trans or two(or three or four ) We elected to have two – broadly concerning trans as

a sexuality and trans as a means of living gender (and a separate chapter forintersex) – but, of course, this is not fully satisfactory Similarly, we determined

to have separate chapters for gay men and lesbians, but not for heterosexualmen and heterosexual women, or bisexual men and bisexual women, although,

of course, their psychologies also both overlap and are discrete There are sions Educational and forensic psychologies would have been useful additions,sadly lacking for want of space – and forensic psychology carries with it such aPandora’s box of non-consensuality, which runs counter to the other chapters,that we hope, for this edition at least, you will forgive its omission

omis-Caveats primed, then, we turn to the constitution of the volume you hold inyour hands.1The book consists of five sections: Sexuality, including chapters on

Asexuality, BDSM, Bisexuality, Further Sexualities, Gay Men, Heterosexuality, bians, and Trans Sexualities; Gender, including chapters on Cisgender, Intersex, Further Genders, and Trans Gender; Relationship Structures, including chapters

Les-on MLes-onogamy and NLes-on-MLes-onogamies; Psychological Areas, including chapters

on Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology, Qualitative Methods, Quantitative Methods, and Sex Therapy; and Intersections, including chapters on Ageing, Class, Disability, Ethnicity, Health, and Religion Each section or chapter may

be read individually, although naturally many areas cross over one another anddifferent stances on many topics may be found in different chapters by differentauthors In addition, each chapter will cover history; key theory and research;current debates; implications for psychology and the wider world (especiallyregarding applied psychological practice); and future directions for that area ofstudy There will also be a bullet point summary, suggestions for further reading,and box-outs including important points for students, applied professionals,and academics, respectively

As stated above, there are a range of different viewpoints included withinthese chapters We did not view it as our job as editors to champion views weagreed with and quash those we didn’t – to become members of the InvisibleCollege, if you will The place of academic publishing of this sort is surely topromote well-written and researched views of all kinds (provided that they arekind) and for others to rebut them, either through journals or by other means.And so we hope there will be content here to nod along with, to cheer for, and

to incite red-penned marginalia for the obvious misinterpretation of this study

or that We hope also, though, that the chapters will not offend and will thusreceive a fair reading To that end, readers who are unfamiliar with terminol-

ogy may find the glossary in the editors’ Sexuality and Gender for Mental Health

Professionals: A Practical Guide (Richards & Barker, 2013) to be of assistance – it

is also likely to be a useful place for further reading on applied practice with thegroups contained within this volume

Why a handbook of psychology, then, and not simply an academic volume

on sexuality and gender in general? To some extent this volume is, indeed, ageneral academic volume on sexuality and gender: one of the great strengths

of psychology is the breadth of the discipline – from the edges of medicine andneuropsychology to social psychology and on into sociology and cultural stud-ies – and that breadth is reflected in this volume Indeed, many of the authorshave job titles other than psychologist and yet, being leaders in their field, wereselected as being the most appropriate for the job of writing a chapter pertain-ing to psychological understandings Of course, this follows the great tradition

of Freud (a medical doctor who won the Goethe Prize for literature rather thanthe Nobel Prize for medicine) and Wundt (a medical doctor, physiologist, andfounder of modern psychology), as well as Kraft Ebbing, Ellis, and Hirshfeldspecifically in the area of sexuality More recently, works by workers such asDenman (a psychiatrist, e.g 2004) and Weeks (a sociologist, e.g 2007) havehad marked influence upon the practice of both academic and applied psychol-ogy in the fields of sexuality and gender without the authors having psychology

as their main profession

Psychology, then (whether it is undertaken by people having psychologist

as their professional title or not), with its complex subtle rigour and passing purview, is perhaps the best placed of all the sciences to consider suchcomplex and subtle notions as sexuality and gender It is to be hoped that it

encom-is flexible enough in its approach to accommodate the rate of change in thencom-ismost exciting and developing field We also hope that it continues to navigatethe choppy waters of political and journalistic interest in sexuality and gen-der without losing its soul: too often we see tenuous assertions being made bytelevision psychologists on the basis of a pretty scan of a single brain – whichmakes good TV but demonstrates little – or on the basis of personal experiencerather than quantitative or qualitative research Adjunctive to this is the impor-tance of moving beyond the lab, clinic, or lecture hall and out into the world,where psychological knowledge can be vital in informing debates around suchthings as abortion, sex education, gender rights, sexuality rights, and the like,not just in countries with a high GDP, but globally

Our hope is that this volume will aid in these endeavours, through edge transmission, certainly, but hopefully also as a means of inspiration toseek new ways of thinking and understanding about sexuality and gender, and

knowl-as inspiration to take those knowledges and to apply them for the benefit ofothers As we have said elsewhere (Richards & Barker, 2013), we feel it is imper-ative that applied practitioners in this area have the same level of knowledgeregarding the basics of their clients’ gender and sexuality as is readily available

in the general culture regarding normative sexualities and genders – thus, if youknow what a condom is, you should know what a dental dam is, as they arepretty analogous in terms of STI prevention.

Beyond applied psychological practice, however, we think that knowledgetransmission in this area is especially important in a world which appears

to lurch forward and then back again – with reactionary political influencesblaming ‘non-normative’ sexualities and genders for everything from disease

to climate change Our hope is that research-informed practice and activismmay moderate this, as it has in the case of trans and same-sex attraction inthe West Indeed, it is useful to look to the future in these areas while hold-ing in mind that what was considered quite unacceptable rather recently hasoften become commonplace now Similarly, we hope that the research held

in these pages and elsewhere will moderate the tendency of groups who gainsome political leverage over time to jettison those parts of the group who arefurther marginalised in some way – a crude example being the women’s move-ment jettisoning lesbian rights, lesbian feminists who jettisoned trans rights,and so on

So, you have in your hands a book continuing references on everything fromprairie-vole partnerships (Getz & Carter, 1996) to Sartrean philosophy (Sartre,

2003 [1943]), to genital surgery (Boyle et al., 2005) We hope you enjoy it, wehope you recommend it but, most of all, we hope you use it.

Note

1 Or are reading on your e-reader and are thus depriving future generations of the sure of a dust-covered and yellowing treasure in the corner of a small and forgotten second-hand bookshop with doorways which are surely too small for an average-size

plea-human to enter – and which perhaps wasn’t there yesterday and, indeed, may not be

tomorrow Ahem, we digress.

References

Boyle, M E., Smith, S., & Liao, L M (2005) Adult genital surgery for intersex: A solution

to what problem? Journal of Health Psychology, 10(4), 573–584.

Denman, C (2004) Sexuality Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Foucault, M (1978) The history of sexuality (Vol 1) New York: Pantheon.

Getz, L L & Carter, C S (1996) Prairie-vole partnerships American Scientist, 84, 56–62 Richards, C & Barker, M (2013) Sexuality and gender for mental health professionals:

A practical guide London: Sage.

Sartre, J.-P (2003 [1943]) Being and nothingness (trans H E Burns) London: Routledge Weeks, J (2007) The world we have won: The remaking of erotic and intimate life (new ed.).

London: Routledge.

Sexuality

Asexuality

Mark Carrigan

The history of asexuality

What is ‘asexuality’? While answers to this question would once havepredominantly involved references to biological processes, it is increasinglylikely that someone asking this question will receive a rather different response:

an asexual person is someone who does not experience sexual attraction Bogaert

(2004) was an early and influential contribution to the literature on asexuality,reporting on a secondary analysis of the National Survey of Sexual Attitudesand Lifestyles (NATSAL), in which 1.05% of participants reported never havingexperienced sexual attraction towards anyone Follow-up studies on the nextgeneration of NATSAL found 0.5% of respondents falling into this category(Bogaert, 2012, p 45) While asexual people are numerous, it is still difficult

to be clear about how numerous they are First, these results do not indicate

identification as asexual, but only experiences which have, in other instances,

led people to identify as such Second, there are important questions which

can be raised about the criterion of having never experienced sexual

attrac-tion, reflecting different orientations to how we understand something like

‘asexuality’ The question “what is asexuality?” is much more complicated than

it can initially seem

One way to go further is to look towards the commonalities and differenceswhich can be found among those who self-identity as asexual (Carrigan, 2012)

Another is to clarify what asexuality is not, so as to better understand the topic

by addressing the confusions surrounding it Finally, we can look beyond identification and consider asexuality as a sexual orientation (Bogaert, 2006).This chapter will pursue all three strategies, using them as a framework throughwhich to make sense of a growing academic literature It will then discuss some

self-of the key debates that have emerged within this literature, before turning

to their implications for applied practitioners The chapter concludes with adiscussion of directions for future research and suggestions for further reading

7

Key theory and research

The asexual community

The notion of ‘asexual’ as a social identity is a relatively recent one, idating through online community spaces and moving from the ‘online’ tothe ‘offline’ as these communities gave rise to activists and were discovered bythe media and academics However, people not experiencing sexual attraction

consol-is certainly not a new thing (Cerankowski & Milks, 2010), nor consol-is identifyingoneself positively in these terms (Kahan, 2013) What does seem to be entirelynovel, however, is the affirmative community, partly virtual though, nonethe-less, obviously real, which has both given rise to and been strengthened bythe growth of this identity One identifiable strand within the asexuality litera-ture, within which we might locate Carrigan (2011), Chasin (2010), Hinderliter(2013), and Scherrer (2008, 2010a, 2010b), has been primarily concerned1withunderstanding the character of this community, the experiences of those within

it, and the relationship between the two

Investigation of this community immediately cautions against a tendency toassume we know what asexuality ‘is’ Przybylo (2011) warns that ‘asexuality’

as an identity category should be addressed with care, given that such gories delineate ‘inside’ from ‘outside’2and, in doing so, foreclose certain ways

cate-of being asexual while recognising others What can appear to be a converging

self-identification as asexual might, nonetheless, mean very different things fordifferent people Some asexual people experience romantic attraction, devel-oping ‘crushes’ and pursuing relationships, while others do not Some asexualpeople are entirely indifferent to sex, some are viscerally repulsed by it, whileothers can derive enjoyment from sexual acts without these acts being moti-vated by sexual attraction Carrigan (2011) suggested that this can be usefullyunderstood in terms of divergent attitudes towards sexual behaviour (positiv-ity, neutrality, repulsion) and romance (aromanticism and romanticism, whichcan take heteroromantic, homoromantic, biromantic, and panromantic forms).Other identifications include gray-a, commonly understood to refer to thosefalling within the ‘grey area’ between sexuality and asexuality, as well as demi-sexuality, referring to the experience of sexual attraction as something ensuingfrom romantic attraction and never independently of it

Our few sources of information about the size of groups within the asexual

community, as opposed to the distribution of asexual people within the ulation at large, come from The Asexual Awareness Week Community Census.Conducted in 2011 as part of a broader visibility project, this community-ledproject collected responses from 34303 respondents about their demographiccharacteristics (Miller, 2011) While there are obvious issues of self-selectionand social selection attendant to internet-based research, particularly whenrecruitment is enacted through in-group networks, this is a broader point

pop-applicable to much of the existing literature on asexuality rather than a critiquethat can be made specifically of the census (Carrigan et al., 2012).4The results ofthe census reflect the aforementioned diversity within the asexual community,with 56% of respondents reporting identification as ‘Asexual’, 21% as ‘Gray-asexual’, 21% as ‘Demisexual’, and 2% as ‘None of the above’ Attitudes towardsoneself having sex were variable, with a greater proportion of asexually iden-tified respondents reporting complete repulsion (25%) than was the case withGray-As (8%) and Demisexuals (6%) However, reported indifference was loweramong these respondents (24%) than among Gray-As (32%) and Demisexuals(34%) Significant numbers of respondents among these latter two groups, whocan too easily be reductively conceptualised as being ‘less asexual’ but not sex-ual, reported an attitude of repulsion towards oneself having sex Completelyrepulsed Gray-As (8%) and somewhat repulsed Gray-As (43%), as well as com-pletely repulsed Demisexuals (6%) and somewhat repulsed Demisexuals (31%),serve as a reminder of the complexity of these categories (Miller, 2011) Anotherimportant finding is those asexually identified respondents who reported thatthey ‘Enjoy having sex’ (1%) and the larger number of Gray-As (4%) andDemisexuals (11%) for whom this was true.

While the asexual community5 emerged online, with a number of diversestrands preceding the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) andthe emergence of many other online spaces across a range of digital platforms,

we risk missing the reality and significance of these engagements if we construethem solely as ‘virtual’ Certainly, the internet was crucial, with the diffusion

of information and communications technology in the late 1990s facilitating

an “ability to maintain contact with others irrespective of their geographicallocation, with the flexibility of asynchronous contact and without huge costimplications to the sender or receiver” (Evans, 2013, p 82) This allowed anotherwise geographically dispersed group to begin to talk, compare experiencesand elaborate new ways of thinking about their selves and their lives

Nonetheless, the possibility to connect in such a way does not account forthe needs and desires served by such a connection, nor does the simple fact ofthis communication being ‘online’ help us understand the rich array of ‘offline’activities which have emerged around the globe In fact, the online/offlinedistinction arguably hinders us in making sense of the activities and associa-tions which have emerged from these early beginnings As will be discussedlater in the chapter, the need for support and acceptance that the communityserves, described by Scherrer (2008) and others, must be understood in terms

of the assumptions, habits, and judgements encountered within the broadersocial and cultural context Another risk is that talk of online communitiescan convey an impression of inwardly looking groups talking to each otherabout themselves While these online dialogues have been important bothfor individuals and for the asexual community as a whole (Carrigan, 2011),