Gay Men's Experience of and Resistance Against Weight and Sexual Orientation Stigma Patrick Blaine Mcgrady
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2012 Sexuality and Larger Bodies: Gay Men's Experience of and Resistance Against Weight and Sexual Orientation Stigma Patrick Blaine McGrady Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND PUBLIC POLICY SEXUALITY AND LARGER BODIES: GAY MEN’S EXPERIENCE OF AND RESISTANCE AGAINST WEIGHT AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION STIGMA By PATRICK BLAINE MCGRADY A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall 2012 Patrick B. McGrady defended this dissertation on August 31, 2012. The members of the supervisory committee were: John Reynolds Professor Directing Dissertation Jasminka Illich-Ernst University Representative Douglas Schrock Committee Member Koji Ueno Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are a number of people who deserve acknowledgement for making this dissertation possible. I would first like to thank my advisor and mentor, John Reynolds, who is the chair of my dissertation committee. From day one at orientation where he “welcomed me aboard,” John helped me organize my life as a graduate student, set high goals for me, and even stuck with me through a radical dissertation topic change. While writing this, his enthusiasm during our brainstorm meetings where we both scrambled to take notes that probably would not make sense to anyone else energized me and helped take a study about a subculture to something more general and methodologically savvy. Generally speaking, John kept me enthusiastic about this project. Of course I would not have chosen to study the bears had it not been for my qualitative methods guru Doug Schrock. This project started as a course paper and he encouraged me to take it further. Through countless meetings, encouraging emails, and general welcoming demeanor, Doug got me to think more complicatedly about my data and always had an answer when I hit a wall on the qualitative analysis. I also would like to acknowledge Koji Ueno, my other committee member, for the excellent methods training early in my graduate school career and his willingness to contribute his statistical genius—which became invaluable resources in this process. He deserves more thanks for selflessly taking time out of his sabbatical to help with this project and write countless recommendation letters for jobs. My outside members, both deserve thanks: Amy Koehlinger for encouraging me to travel to the West Coast to collect more data and Jasminka Illich-Ernst for stepping in late in the process to offer valuable feedback on my study. I also would like to acknowledge that this dissertation is supported by a Florida State University Dissertation Grant I received in 2011. Of course there are people outside of FSU that were important to my success as a graduate student. Much thanks goes to my “Berea family” of supervisors, professors, and peers. In particular, my supervisors Heather Schill and Betty Hibler, who constantly encouraged me to connect my work in the service learning center to academic sociology. My sociology professors, Dianne Sykes, Jill Bouma, and Tom Boyd, who nurtured my aspirations in sociology and continued to be mentors to me after my time at Berea. And JoEllen Pederson, a fellow Berean and FSU sociologist, who has been my closest friend, roommate, co-author, co-conspirator, and social support throughout the past ten years. iii The support of my family made my time at FSU possible. My father, who was somewhat a sociologist himself, taught me to think empathically about the condition of others and was the first family member to support my decision to go into sociology. My mother, who continually encouraged and supported me throughout my school career and was always just a phone call away when I felt homesick or overwhelmed. And Chris, for always being a great big brother and always being willing to “talk shop” about graduate school. I also owe much to Warren Lambert, my confidant and closest friend on this planet. He inspired this research, eased my anxieties around teaching and research, and always remained supportive of all my endeavors—even through my worst of moods. I count him as a member of my family and I am lucky to have such a gifted and empathic person in my life. Finally, I would like to say thanks to all of the men who selflessly opened their homes and peer groups and shared their lives for this research. I hope my writing here effectively communicates their stories. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ............................................................................................................................ viii Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Chapter Two: The Emotional Costs of Weight and Sexual Orientation Stigmas ............... 8 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 8 Data and Methods ................................................................................................. 14 Results ................................................................................................................... 17 Discussion ............................................................................................................. 20 Chapter Three: “Grow the Beard, Wear the Uniform, and You’ll Fit In”: Resisting Weight and Sexual Orientation Stigmas in the Bear Subculture ...................................... 33 Analysis ................................................................................................................. 46 Discussion ............................................................................................................. 73 Chapter Four: Conclusion ................................................................................................. 78 Contributions of the Study .................................................................................... 78 Major Findings of the Study ................................................................................. 80 Strengths and Limitations ..................................................................................... 82 Directions for Future Research ............................................................................. 83 Appendices ........................................................................................................................ 81 A: Additional Statistical Tables and Figures ........................................................ 81 B: Glossary of Bear Subcultural Terms ................................................................ 85 C: Qualitative Interview Guide ............................................................................. 86 D: Sample Informed Consent Form ...................................................................... 88 E: Human Subjects Approval Memorandum ........................................................ 89 References ......................................................................................................................... 90 Biographical Sketch .......................................................................................................... 98 v LIST OF TABLES 2.1 Percentages and Means of Outcome Measures by Gender-Sexuality Groups ........... 18 2.2 Binary Logistic Regressions of Weight Satisfaction on Sexual Orientation and BMI among men; Odds Ratios (standard errors in parentheses); National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Waves II and III ........................................... 19 2.3 OLS Regression Unstandardized Coefficients (standard errors in parentheses) of Depression Symptoms on Sexual Orientation, Weight Perceptions, and BMI among Men; National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Wave II and III ..................... 23 3.1 Interviewed Subjects, by Demographic Characteristics ............................................ 38 A.1 Binary Logistic Regressions of Weight Satisfaction on Sexual Orientation and BMI for all Gender-Sexuality Groups and Alternate Measure of Sexual Orientation; Odds Ratios (standard errors in parentheses); National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Waves II and III ................................................................................................... 81 A.2 OLS Regression Unstandardized Coefficients (standard errors in parentheses) of Depression Symptoms on Sexual Orientation, Weight Perceptions, and BMI for all Gender-Sexuality Groups and Alternate Measure of Sexual Orientation; National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Wave II and III ............................................. 82 vi LIST OF FIGURES 2.1 Weight Satisfaction by Sexual Orientation/Gender, Wave