Introduction to Affirming Care for Gender and Sexual Minorities
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Top Contributors - Ewa Jaraczewska, Kim Jackson, Jess Bell and Tarina van der Stockt
Introduction[edit | edit source]
LGBTQ+ adolescents and adults experience marginalization, stigma and normative pressure resulting in their poor health and social outcomes. [1][2]This may be due to health care providers' lack of training and sensitivity to the health needs of LGBTQ+ people. [1] Healthcare workers resport being uncomfortable communicating with sexual and gender minority (SGMs) patients.[3] Additionally chronic stress related to marginalisation and discriminationcontributes to the health care disparities among this group. [4] They not only suffer poorer health, but also worse healthcare experiences.[2]Yet, the health care needs are well documented, as various reports indicate higher rates substance abuse, depression, suicidality, and cardiovascular disease among SGMs than heterosexuals.[2]
Gender and sexual minorities live in every part of the world and comprise of all races and/or ethnicities, religions, and social classes. They require access to healthcare to meet their medical needs. At the same time the healthcare organisations must ensure that their environment is inclusive for LGBTQ+ patients by educating staff on cultural awareness and nondiscrimination policies.[5]
Gender-Neutral Language[edit | edit source]
In recent years, LGBTQ activists and linguists around the world have championed more inclusive language, both by creating entirely new non-binary terms and by retooling already existing words and grammar constructions.
English grammar doesn’t distinguish between genders except in assigning a masculine or feminine singular pronoun.In 2019 the Merriam-Webster dictionary added “they” as the pronoun to use for a “single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.”
Spanish has feminine and masculine cases added to all nouns. In classrooms and daily conversations, young people are changing the way they speak and write — replacing the masculine “o” or the feminine “a” with the gender-neutral “e” in certain words — to change what they see as a deeply gendered culture,”
Arabic is another grammatically gendered language, with each verb, noun and adjective always assigned either a male or female case. The male is the default in plurals, even if it’s just one male in an otherwise female group.Public awareness and tolerance of this inclusive language remains extremely low in Arabic-speaking countries.
Hebrew, like Arabic, assigns a gender to verbs, nouns, and adjectives based on the noun. inverting the gender divides, such as defaulting to a feminine plural or using a “mixed” gender, sometimes male and sometimes female for the same person.
German’s notoriously complicated syntax includes male, female and neutral grammatical genders. “Traditionally, gender differentiation in German is signified by the suffixes “r” or “rn” for men (singular and plural), and “in” or “innen” for women (singular and plural) … Current attempts to shorten the space devoted to accepted forms of differentiation have included the introduction of an uppercase “I” sandwiched in compound nouns addressing both males and females at once. An asterisk, known as the “gender star” has also been added to include citizens who do not consider themselves either."
French also assigns a gender of male or female to all nouns referring to an individual; references to a group of people are by default defined by male pronouns unless the group is made up entirely of women. The idea is instead to use asterisks to combine case endings and create a more inclusive gender-neutral plural — like “ami•e•s” for friends — a first step that neither privileges the male as a norm nor excludes the male and a gender spectrum from the syntax.
n 2015, Sweden added to the country’s official dictionary the word “hen” — a gender-neutral pronoun that linguists had pushed as an alternative to the male pronoun “han” and female “hon.”[6]
Learn more about gender-neutral language here.
Gender and Sexual Minorities[edit | edit source]
LGB
TGNC
Cultural Competency[edit | edit source]
LGBTQIA+ Demographic[edit | edit source]
Resources[edit | edit source]
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References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wahlen R, Bize R, Wang J, Merglen A, Ambresin AE. Medical students’ knowledge of and attitudes towards LGBT people and their health care needs: Impact of a lecture on LGBT health. PloS one. 2020 Jul 1;15(7):e0234743.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Elliott MN, Kanouse DE, Burkhart Q, Abel GA, Lyratzopoulos G, Beckett MK, Schuster MA, Roland M. Sexual minorities in England have poorer health and worse health care experiences: a national survey. J Gen Intern Med. 2015 Jan;30(1):9-16.
- ↑ Hinchliff S, Gott M, Galena E. 'I daresay I might find it embarrassing': general practitioners' perspectives on discussing sexual health issues with lesbian and gay patients. Health Soc Care Community. 2005 Jul;13(4):345-53.
- ↑ Hughes TL, Jackman K, Dorsen C, Arslanian-Engoren C, Ghazal L, Christenberry-Deceased T, Coleman C, Mackin M, Moore SE, Mukerjee R, Sherman A, Smith S, Walker R. How can the nursing profession help reduce sexual and gender minority related health disparities: Recommendations from the national nursing LGBTQ health summit. Nurs Outlook. 2022 Apr 13:S0029-6554(22)00013-6.
- ↑ Goldhammer H, Maston ED, Kissock LA, Davis JA, Keuroghlian AS. National findings from an LGBT healthcare organizational needs assessment. LGBT health. 2018 Dec 1;5(8):461-8.
- ↑ A guide to how gender-neutral language is developing around the world. Available from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/12/15/guide-how-gender-neutral-language-is-developing-around-world/ [last access 6.6.2022]
- ↑ Stewart Maddux. Gen Silent, The LGBT Aging Documentary: Official Trailer. 2009. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV3O8qz6Y5g [last accessed 6/6/2022]
