![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This study examined the rewards and costs that lesbians and gay men experience in their sexual relationships. Participants were 23 lesbians and 15 gay men who completed questionnaires and participated in a semi-structured interview. Frequently identified sexual rewards included emotional and physical intimacy, feeling accepted and supported, communication, and a positive view of self. Sexual costs included feeling vulnerable and negative social and cultural attitudes toward same-sex relationships. Sexual rewards and costs tended to cluster into three main categories: relationship factors, sexual factors, and factors related to being a sexual minority. The participants' responses illustrate the limitations of applying conventional (biomedical) models of sexual response to men as well as to women. Moreover, they strengthen calls for theories of sexual functioning that are based on diverse experiences and that consider sociocultural, political, economic, relational, psychological, and medical factors.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the women and men who were interviewed for this study as well as Marvin Claybourn, Shannon Glenn, and Angela Weaver for their assistance with the interviews.
Notes
1. This study was conducted in 2002–2003. In 2003, marriage was legalized for same-sex couples in British Columbia and Ontario. However, it was not until June 2005 that a court ruling made same-sex marriage legal in the province of New Brunswick. In July 2005, the Canadian government enacted legislation providing marriage for same-sex couples across all provinces and territories.
2. The Rewards/Costs Checklist is available from the authors.