Abstract
A wealth of evidence documents non-heterosexuals’ disadvantaged health status and healthcare access (Jillson, 2002; Sandfort et al., 2006; Tjepkema, 2008). While gender has become accepted as a ‘routine’ indicator of health inequality among the heterosexual population, non-heterosexuals’ experience remains largely invisible (Leonard, 2002; NHS Scotland, 2003; Rogers et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2007). This is often (justly) attributed to the heterosexism and homophobia that characterize even societies considered otherwise liberal (such as Australia, the UK, Canada and western European nations). Yet the ways in which gender, sexuality and embodiment have been theorized are important, if less obvious, influences veiling the healthcare needs of non-heterosexuals.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Key reading
Bakker, F. F, T. Sandfort, I. Vanwesenbeeck, H. Lindert and G. Westert (2006) ‘Do Homosexual Persons Use Healthcare Services More Frequently than Heterosexual Persons: Findings from a Dutch Population Survey’, Social Science & Medicine, 63 (8), 2022–30.
Edwards, J. and H. van Roekel (2009) ‘Gender, Sexuality and Embodiment: Access to and Experience of Healthcare by Same-sex Attracted Women in Australia’, Current Sociology, 57 (2), 193–210.
Hunt, R. and J. Fish (2008) Prescription for Change: Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Health Check 2000, at: www.stonewall.org.uk, accessed 22 March 2009.
Jillson, I. (2002) ‘Opening Closed Doors: Improving Access to Quality Health Services for LGBT Populations’, Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs, 19 (2/3)***, 153–90.
References
Annandale, E. and K. Hunt (2000) ‘Gender Inequalities in Health: Research at the Crossroads’, in E. Annandale and K. Hunt (eds), Gender Inequalities in Health (Buckingham: Open University Press), 1–35.
Annandale, E. and E. Riska (2009) ‘New Connections: Towards a Gender-inclusive Approach to Women’s and Men’s Health’, Current Sociology, 57 (2), 123–33.
Bakker, F. F, T. Sandfort, I. Vanwesenbeeck, H. Lindert and G. Westert (2006) ‘Do Homosexual Persons Use Healthcare Services More Frequently than Heterosexual Persons: Findings from a Dutch Population Survey’, Social Science & Medicine, 63 (8), 2022–30.
Beehler, G. (2001) ‘Confronting the Culture of Medicine: Gay Men’s Experiences with Primary Care Physicians’, Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, 5 (4), 135–41.
Callahan, J., B. Mann and S. Ruddick (2007) ‘Editors’ Introduction to Writing against Heterosexism’, Hypatia, 22 (1), V11–XV.
Cochran, S., V. Mays, D. Bowen, S. Gage, D. Bybee, S. Roberts, R. Goldstein, A. Robison et al. (2001) ‘Cancer-related Risk Indicators and Preventive Screening Behaviours among Lesbians and Bisexual Women’, American Journal of Public Health, 91 (4), 591–7.
Cochran, S. and V. Mays (2007) ‘Physical Health Complaints among Lesbians, Gay Men and Bisexual and Homosexually Experienced Heterosexual Individuals: Results from the California Quality of Life Survey’, American Journal of Public Health, 97 (11), 2048–55.
Commonwealth of Australia (1989) National Women’s Health Policy: Advancing Women’s Health in Australia (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service).
Diamant, A., C. Wold, K. Spritzer and L. Gelberg (2000) ‘Health Behaviours, Health Status and Access to and Use of Health Services: A Population Based Study of Lesbian, Bisexual and Heterosexual Women’, Archive of Family Medicine, 9 (10), 1043–51.
Diamant, A. and C. Wold (2003) ‘Sexual Orientation and Variation in Physical and Mental Health Status among Women’, Journal of Women’s Health, 12 (1), 41–9.
Edwards, J. and H. van Roekel (2009) ‘Gender, Sexuality and Embodiment: Access to and Experience of Healthcare by Same-sex Attracted Women in Australia’, Current Sociology, 57 (2), 193–210.
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and LGBT health experts (2001) Healthy People 2010: Companion Document for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Health (San Francisco: Gay and Lesbian Medical Association), at: www.glma.org, accessed 19 March 2009.
Guy, R., A. McDonald, M. Bartlett, J. Murray, C. Geile, T. Davey, R. Appuhamy, P. Knibbs et al. (2007) ‘HIV Diagnoses in Australia: Diverging Epidemics within a Low-prevalence Country’, Medical Journal of Australia, 187 (8), 437–40.
Hayes, R. (2003) ‘Promoting Men’s Health: From Pathologies to Partnerships’, in P. Liamputtong and H. Gardner (eds), Health, Social Changes and Communities (Melbourne: Oxford University Press), 142–62.
Hunt, R. and J. Fish (2008) Prescription for Change: Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Health Check 2000, at: www.stonewall.org.uk, accessed 22 March 2009.
Jillson, I. (2002) ‘Opening Closed Doors: Improving Access to Quality Health Services for LGBT Populations’, Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs, 19 (2/3)***, 153–90.
Kuhlman, E. (2009) ‘From Women’s Health to Gender Mainstreaming and Back Again: Linking Feminist Agendas and New Governance in Healthcare’, Current Sociology, 57 (2), 135–55.
Lacquer, T. (1990) Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).
Leonard, W. (2002) ‘Developing a Framework for Understanding Patterns of Health and Illness Specific to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (GLBTI) People’, in Department of Human Services (ed.), What’s the Difference? Health Issues of Major Concern to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (GLBTI) Victorians (Melbourne: Department of Human Services), 3–8.
Lorber, J. (1994) Paradoxes of Gender (New Haven: Yale University Press).
Lorber, J. and L. Moore (2002) Gender and the Social Construction of Illness, Second Edition (Walnut Creek: Altamira Press).
McDonald, C., M. McIntyre and B. Anderson (2003) ‘The View from Somewhere: Locating Lesbian Experience in Women’s Health’, Healthcare Women International, 24 (8), 697–711.
McNair, R. (2003) ‘Lesbian Health Inequalities: A Cultural Minority Issue for Health Professionals’, Medical Journal of Australia, 178 (12), 643–5.
McNair, R. (2008) ‘Recognizing the Unique Health-care Needs of Sexual Minorities’, The Lancet, 371, 377–8.
Mathieson, C., N. Bailey and M. Gurevich (2002) ‘Health-care services for Lesbian and Bisexual Women’, Healthcare for Women International, 23 (2), 185–96.
NHS Scotland (2003) Towards a Healthier LGBT Scotland, at: www.lgbthealthscotland.org.au, accessed 22 February 2009.
Pitts, M., A. Smith, A. Mitchell and S. Patel (2006) Private Lives: A Report on the Health and Well-Being of GLBTI Australians (Melbourne: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University).
Rogers, G., C. Barton, B. Pekarsky, A. Lawless, J. Oddy, R. Hepworth and J. Beilby (2005) ‘Caring for a Marginalised Community: The Costs of Engaging with Culture and Complexity’, Medical Journal of Australia, 183 (10), S59–S63.
Sandfort, T., F. Bakker, F. Schellevis and I. Vanwesenbeeck (2006) ‘Sexual Orientation and Mental and Physical Health Status: Findings from a Dutch Population Survey’, American Journal of Public Health, 96 (6), 1119–25.
Scarce, M. (2000) ‘The Second Wave of the Gay Men’s Health Movement: Medicalisation and Cooptation as Pitfalls of Progress’, Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, 4 (1), 3–4.
Schofield, T. (2008) ‘Gender and Health Inequalities: What Are They and What Can We Do about Them?’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 43 (1), 139–57.
Tjepkema, M. (2008) ‘Health-care Use among Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Canadians’, Health Reports, 19 (1), 53–64.
Wang, J., M. Hausermann, P. Vounatsou, P. Aggleton and M. Weiss (2007) ‘Health Status, Behaviour and Health-care Utilization in the Geneva Gay Men’s Health Survey’, Preventive Medicine, 44, (1), 70–5.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2010 Jane Edwards
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Edwards, J. (2010). The Healthcare Needs of Gay and Lesbian Patients. In: Kuhlmann, E., Annandale, E. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Healthcare. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230290334_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230290334_16
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-31135-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-29033-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)