American Public Health Association Program: LGBTQ Health Caucus

Session: Exploring Mental and Psychosocial Health Among LGBTQ+ People

Description:

Although holistic well being (including psychological, emotional, physical, sexual, financial, and spiritual health) is essential for 2SLGBTQIA+ flourishing and thriving, there is a noted theory-to-praxis gap. Concretely, we see that an overwhelming majority of monies allocated for 2SLGBTQIA+ health are spent on clinical and psychiatric intervention for diseases and disorders (e.g. HIV/AIDS and PrEP, suicidality, and substance use). This is, in part, because the majority of research on 2SLGBTQIA+ health focuses on stigma, bias, trauma, violence, and structural/systemic barriers, rather than facilitators, assets, and strengths. While 2SLGBTQIA+ research and clinical interventions offer healing for many, we cannot ignore what is lost, silenced, and/or undone by this approach. Sociologist Angela Jones calls this the “pleasure deficit” in sexual health research (Jones, 2018); while stef shuster and Laurel Westbrook (2022) recognize it as the “trans joy deficit.”

Join a representative of The Sexploration Project–a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneering Ideas grant project working to build a culture of embodiminded health–to discuss how to shift the focus of 2SLGBTQIA+ wellness from deficit/disorder to abundance/flourishing. We will detail how Sexploration community members and partner organizations push the boundaries of what 2SLGBTQIA+ health and health care can and should be. Examples include the work of somatic and body-based therapists (including sex surrogates); BDSM (bondage, discipline, Dominance/submission, and sadomasochism) practitioners and their clients; complementary and integrative efforts in the realms of meditation, yoga, and tantric massage therapy; and the work of intersex, trans, and disability advocates and clinicians.