Introducing LGBTQ psychology

Victoria Clarke; Sonja J. Ellis; Elizabeth Peel; Damien W. Riggs

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511810121.002

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1 - Introducing LGBTQ psychology

from Section I - History, contexts and debates in LGBTQ psychology

Elizabeth Peel and

Victoria Clarke: Affiliation:
University of the West of England, Bristol
Sonja J. Ellis: Affiliation:
Sheffield Hallam University
Elizabeth Peel: Affiliation:
Aston University
Damien W. Riggs: Affiliation:
University of Adelaide

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Summary

Overview

• What is LGBTQ psychology and why study it?

• The scientific study of sexuality and ‘gender ambiguity’

• The historical emergence of ‘gay affirmative’ psychology

• Struggling for professional recognition and challenging heteronormativity in psychology

What is LGBTQ psychology and why study it?

For many people it is not immediately obvious what lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) psychology is (see the glossary for definitions of words in bold type). Is it a grouping for LGBTQ people working in psychology? Is it a branch of psychology about LGBTQ people? Although LGBTQ psychology is often assumed to be a support group for LGBTQ people working in psychology, it is in fact the latter: a branch of psychology concerned with the lives and experiences of LGBTQ people. Sometimes it is suggested that this area of psychology would be more accurately named the ‘psychology of sexuality’. Although LGBTQ psychology is concerned with sexuality, it has a much broader focus, examining many different aspects of the lives of LGBTQ people including prejudice and discrimination, parenting and families, and coming out and identity development.

One question we're often asked is ‘why do we need a separate branch of psychology for LGBTQ people?’ There are two main reasons for this: first, as we discuss in more detail below, until relatively recently most psychologists (and professionals in related disciplines such as psychiatry) supported the view that homosexuality was a mental illness.

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Psychology
An Introduction
, pp. 3 - 24

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511810121.002 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2010

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References

Barker, M. (2007) Heteronormativity and the exclusion of bisexuality in psychology. In Clarke, V. and Peel, E. (eds.), Out in psychology: lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer perspectives (pp. 95–117). Chichester: Wiley.CrossRef Google Scholar

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Greene, B. (2000) Beyond heterosexism and across the cultural divide: developing an inclusive lesbian, gay, and bisexual psychology: A look to the future. In Greene, B. and Croom, G. L. (eds.), Education, research and practice in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered psychology: a resource manual (pp. 1–45). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar

Meyerowitz, J. (2002) How sex changed: a history of transsexuality in the United States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar

Sullivan, N. (2003) A critical introduction to queer theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar

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