International perspectives on lesbian psychology

Abstract

Researchers from the Philippines, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Chile, Canada, Brazil, China, and the US shed new light on important questions in lesbian psychology while subverting the hegemonic status of Western scholarship. Articles part of this special issue move away from treating LGBTQ + identity as a monolith and center lesbian identity. An eclectic set of contributions explore central questions in the field of psychology, including differences between gay men’s and lesbian women’s mental health as well as similarities and differences between bisexual and lesbian women’s sense of identity. This special issue pushes the field to consider how cultural values such as collectivism and individualism, religious affiliation, and the intersections of misogyny and homophobia configure the risk of mental health problems, intimate partner violence, and body dissatisfaction among lesbian women.

Keywords:

• Lesbian identity
• international perspectives
• LGBTQ + psychology
• lesbian psychology
• sexual minority women
• queer identity

Contributions to this special issue expand our view of lesbian psychology through an international perspective. Researchers from the Philippines, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Chile, Canada, Brazil, China, and the US shed new light on important questions in lesbian psychology while subverting the hegemonic status of Western scholarship. Using an international perspective moves the field of lesbian psychology forward by allowing us to consider how lesbian psychology may differ between countries with more acceptance of sexual minorities compared to countries with less acceptance. It also provides a more nuanced understanding of how cultural values and religious beliefs shape lesbian identity and how structural barriers (such as access to health care or citizenship) may explain differences in lesbian mental health.

Articles in this special issue center on lesbian identity. They work against treating LGBTQ + identity as a monolith. At times, using LGBTQ + samples are sensible when the factors facing these populations are similar. Still, there are fundamental differences in how lesbians and bisexual women come to be aware of their sexual identity, engage in romantic relationships, experience stigma, and form communities compared to gay and bisexual men (Ben Hagai, 2022; Rosario et al., 2008). For instance, studies included in this issue demonstrate important differences between lesbian/bisexual women and gay/bisexual men in terms of the emphasis on emotional compared to sexual bonds. These differences impact how lesbians experienced the COVID-19 pandemic (Mendoza-Pérez et al., in press). They also impact how internalized homonegativity shapes lesbian relationships differently than gay men’s relationships (Bahamondes et al., 2022). Other contributions explore similarities and differences between lesbians and bisexual women. For instance, researchers in this special issue suggest that bisexual women may have more mental health problems than lesbians because of lower access to mental health care and decreased levels of public acceptance in some countries, such as Italy (Pistella et al., 2022). However, another study found no such differences in Germany, perhaps due to higher levels of acceptance (Sattler et al., 2022). this special issue pushes the field to consider how cultural values such as collectivism can serve as both a protective factor and a risk factor. For example, strong collectivist values may help form a strong lesbian community (Alibudbud, 2022), but they may also bring restrictive family obligations such as the imperative to be a submissive daughter (Lo, 2022). Finally, our special issue highlights that across geographical areas, sexism and misogyny shape lesbian lives, such as through immigration experiences (Kassan et al., 2022), experiences of their bodies (Robinson et al., in press), and the careers of researchers who study lesbian psychology (Pinchbeck et al., 2022).

Differences between sexual minority women and sexual minority men

Contributions to this special issue address important differences between the experiences of gay men and lesbian women. In a timely study examining differences in sexual behavior and mental health among Mexican sexual minority women and sexual minority men, Mendoza-Pérez and colleagues (2022) find that sexual minority women used dating apps more frequently during the pandemic. However, unlike sexual minority men, this increase in using dating apps did not correspond to an increase in their number of sexual partners. Furthermore, sexual minority women were less likely to use drugs when having sex compared to gay men. In contrast, during the pandemic, sexual minority women reported much higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and suicide ideation compared to sexual minority men. Differences suggest that the increased isolation brought forth by the pandemic affected sexual minority women’s mental health to a greater extent than men.

Another study examining differences between lesbian women and gay men from Latin America finds differences in internalized homonegativity and its impact on romantic relationships (Bahamondes et al., 2022). Among Chilean lesbian couples, when one of the women holds internalized homonegativity, their partner is less likely to feel sexually satisfied. This did not happen among gay men couples. Bahamondes et al. (2022) explain this difference in terms of lesbians’ greater propensity to be involved in sexual relationships that are driven by emotional attachment to their partners. Since lesbians may be more emotionally in touch with their partners, when their partners experience internalized homophobia, they may be less likely to enjoy sex with their partners.

Differences between lesbians and bisexual women

Submissions to this special issue address another important question in the field: potential differences between bisexual and lesbian women. In many studies, mostly from the United States, bisexual women are found to experience greater levels of mental health difficulties compared to lesbian women (Chan et al., 2020; Ross et al., 2018). In a contribution from Italy, Pistella et al. (2022) offer further explanations as to why there may be differences between bisexual and lesbian women in terms of mental health. They find that Italian lesbians report less internalized sexual stigma and more self-awareness of their sexual identity than bisexual women. For some bisexual women, uncertainty about sexual identity may be associated with feeling lower levels of safety and contentment. This suggests that this subset of bisexual women who do not feel certain of their identity may contribute to discrepancies between lesbians and bisexuals in terms of greater mental health problems for bisexual women (Pistella et al., 2022). A juxtaposition of these findings from Italy with research from Germany indicates that the prevalent discrepancies between lesbian and bisexual women in mental health are not universal. Sattler et al. (2022) compared mental health difficulties across sexual identities in Germany. They find that bisexual and lesbian women experience higher rates of mental health problems compared to heterosexual women. Nevertheless, unlike research from other countries, they did not find significant mental health differences between bisexual and lesbian women (Sattler et al., 2022). They argue that structural differences in access to mental health support, as well as lower levels of stigma against LGBTQ people in Germany compared to other countries in Europe, may result in no significant difference between German bisexual and lesbian women’s mental health.

The importance of accounting for cultural values in the study of lesbians across the globe

Synergies between the contributions to this special issue highlight the importance of looking at cultural norms and practices in understanding lesbian psychology in different parts of the world. For example, research from the Philippines presented in this special issue suggests that both straight and sexual minority women have daily experiences with discrimination because of their gender, such as being treated unkindly in restaurants or stores (Alibudbud, 2022). For sexual minority women, these experiences with daily discrimination increase the odds of becoming depressed and experiencing anxiety. Alibudbud (2022) explains that the increase in odds for anxiety and depression among sexual minority women compared to straight women may be due to the lack of support from tight-knit peer-cohort, which is a common norm in Filipino culture. In other words, protective factors specific to the Philippines’ culture which include cohort peer support may be absent from the lives of sexual minority women in the Philippines. Writing from China, Lo (2022) highlights the high levels of intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by lesbians compared to heterosexual women (a phenomenon also prevalent in the West). According to Lo, heterosexism impacts lesbian relationships through the family expectations of lesbian women in Chinese society. These include being a filial daughter who remains closeted or who joins “contract marriages” with gay men in order to sustain family harmony. Furthermore, the lack of state acknowledgment of lesbian couples in China leads lesbians who face intimate partner violence to rely on LGBTQ + and feminist organizations for support and protection from violence. Whereas many of the articles in this special issue rely on minority stress theory, it seems that cultural values and norms that serve as both protective and risk factors need to be theorized in a more expansive manner than the minority stress paradigm can account for.

Additional stressors to the mental health of sexual minority women and lesbians

A final set of contributions examine in-depth sexual minority women’s experiences that are related to mental health processes such as depression and anxiety. In a contribution from Brazil, Robinson and colleagues (2022) argue that psychological processes such as perfectionism and low self-esteem contribute to higher levels of body dissatisfaction in heterosexual women and sexual minority women. They find an additional stressor that may further increase body dissatisfaction among sexual minority women is the concealment of one’s sexual minority identity and the internalization of homophobic attitudes. This finding helps mental health professionals better treat disorders such as excessive dieting, anorexia, and bulimia by not only focusing on self-esteem but also considering how women understand their sexual identity.

Another contribution in this special issue introduces the novel concept of multiple migrations. Lesbians often form transnational community networks in which women from different parts of the world can be free and celebrate their existence. In these spaces lesbian women develop friendships and relationships with each other. However, state laws that do not acknowledge lesbian relationships create a problem for women who wish to immigrate to be with their partner. Kassan’s et al. (2022) investigation of the struggles of a lesbian couple who immigrated across several countries highlights a combination of sexism and homophobia that shapes their lives. Not only do they have to face structural barriers to acquiring a permanent visa, but they also face lack of employment opportunities and microaggressions at work due to sexism and gender nonconformity. Furthermore, the inability to live near their families leads to disconnection and loss of family. This in depth analysis highlights the interlocking forms of oppression such as homophobia and sexism that shape queer women’s lives (Kassan et al., 2022).

The last contribution in this special issue is an interview of graduate student editorial assistants for the Journal of Lesbian Studies with the outgoing editor-in-chief of the journal, Esther Rothblum. Rothblum has edited the Journal of Lesbian Studies since 1995. She is also a trailblazing researcher on lesbian psychology, asexuality, and fat studies. In her interview, she discusses some of the themes addressed in this special issue such as lesbian similarities with bisexual women (both tend to be highly educated, nonconventional, and live far away from their family homes). She also discusses the importance of accounting for misogyny within research on lesbians’ psychology. Unlike gay men, lesbians experience oppression not just because of minority stress but also because they are a threatening nonminority group membership (i.e., women). These oppressions of sexism, misogyny, and lesbophobia are interlocking together with cultural differences and structural barriers creating a unique lesbian experience across geographical locations (Bowleg, 2012). In a time in which there are few research studies that center lesbianism in psychology, this special issue adds important findings and deepens the nuance of our understanding of lesbian identity across geographical and cultural spaces. In sum, this special issue’s focus on International Perspectives on Lesbian Psychology aims to push the field forward in a variety of ways, including considering how cultural values such as collectivism relate to lesbian and bisexual women’s lives and how the intersections of misogyny and homophobia in different countries work to exacerbate mental health problems, intimate partner violence, and body dissatisfaction among lesbian and bisexual women. We hope that future work continues to identify unique cultural values and lesbian experiences that explore the ways lesbian women are hurt in our world as well as ways their communities work to heal.

Disclosure of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ella Ben Hagai

Ella Ben Hagai was trained in anthropology at the London School of Economics and in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her PhD at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is an Associate Professor of Psychology at California State University, Fullerton. Her recent book, Queer Theory, and Psychology: Gender, Sexuality, and Transgender Identities, explores intersections between queer theory and psychology. Her recent empirical research examines identity differences between LGBTQ + people of different generations. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Lesbian Studies.

Christine R. Starr

Christy Starr is a developmental psychologist focused on academic motivation. She explores ways society demotivates underrepresented students in STEM (such as stereotypes and discrimination) as well as ways to bolster STEM motivation (such as via family support and role models). She is currently a postdoctoral scholar at University of California, Irvine, working on an NSF funded project about intersectional identities and STEM motivation among adolescents. She received her PhD in developmental psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.