A New Dimension in Snapshot of Gay Teenagers.... Dr. Savin-Williams does not dispute that some gay youth engage in harmful behavior. But a major drawback of much research, he said, is that the studies include only those willing to identify themselves as gay or at least acknowledge same-sex attraction. That sample, he argued, is significantly smaller than the total number who will eventually turn out to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Many teenagers in the larger group may be adjusting very well but simply prefer to keep their sexual orientations to themselves even on anonymous surveys, he added. Dr. Savin-Williams said that although researchers often discussed these limits, they generally highlighted only the alarming statistics when presenting the results. "That's great for headlines, but I'm saying let's look at the kids who are doing extraordinarily well and see how they got that way," he said.
Others share Dr. Savin-Williams's concerns. "The studies are starting to become very two-dimensional," said Dr. John D'Emilio, a gay historian and the director of gender and women's studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Very often people who confront social hostility develop incredible strength and resilience. If you emphasize where the strengths are instead of what's bad, it helps you figure out, for example, what kind of environment you want to create in schools."
On the one hand, it's nice to know that things may not be as dire as they've have appeared heretofore.
On the other hand ... when "doing extraordinarily well" essentially equates to "being gay and shutting up about it so that nobody knows because it's just easier that way".... isn't that, perhaps, just a bit odd? Wouldn't most people consider that feeling that you have to keep quiet about a major aspect of yourself is, perhaps, just a bit repressed?
Of course, the sample bias problem is likely to be with us for a very long time on all surveys of gay men and lesbians. Basically, they will continue to identify only those who are comfortable coming out on even anonymous surveys, and will be vulnerable to what could be called "collection point bias". That is, a great many surveys of adult gays and lesbians tend to take place in bars, as a major community access point. While it's true that they are such, that means that surveys completely miss people who don't go to the bars. Similarly, surveys of teenagers will get only those who, for whatever reason, aren't afraid to identify themselves, if only to the surveyor. Surveys of teens on issues of sexuality are also vulnerable to a different type of issue: many people simply don't know or aren't sure yet.
Posted by iain at December 24, 2002 09:31 PMComments
Wouldn't most people consider that feeling that you have to keep quiet about a major aspect of yourself is, perhaps, just a bit repressed?
I dunno, I tended to keep most major aspects of myself hidden as a teenager.
Contrary to the rebellious teen stereotype, I would assume (possibly wrongly) that most people don't really explore their identities until college age or so... early twenties. Puberty is such a tough thing to survive in itself that repressed identity issues tend to be put on hold.
Seriously; highschool students tend to be repressive about bad hair. I don't think it's too ominous that they are hiding any non-mainstream sexual feelings. If people are reaching 30 with this kind of stuff still hidden, then there is a problem...
Posted by Ewin at December 26, 2002 05:07 PMall ican say is ewwwwww but yeahi dont care about this shit i care about my 3 mmuth year old dauther hey im 11 whats new ha ha
Posted by shaina r at April 10, 2003 03:31 PM
