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Terminology

When doing research related to sexualities, it is important to have a firm grasp of the concepts involved, because the terminology is imprecise. There are four areas to consider:

SEX This refers to biology, genetics, and genitalia. Relevant terms include: female, male, intersexed, hermaphrodite.

GENDER IDENTITY This refers to an individual's own definition of self. It is usually, but not always, congruent with their biological sex. Relevant terms include: woman, man, transsexual, transgendered, male-to-female, female-to-male, bigendered.

GENDER EXPRESSION This refers to the type of behavior an individual displays; definitions of each concept are often heavily influenced by one's culture. Relevant terms include: feminine, masculine, androgynous, cross-dressing, transvestite.

ORIENTATION/ATTRACTION This refers to the types of sexual, emotional, social, and political bonds people form. One must also distinguish between self identity, behavior,and perceived identity; they may be different for the same person. Relevant terms include: homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, monosexual,asexual, lesbian, gay, queer.

It is important to note that these terms are not used consistently from source to source. Instead of "gender", SocioFile uses the terms "sex roles" or "sex" for subject headings, thus confusing sex and gender. Psych Info lists subject headings "masculine" and "feminine" under "gender identity". Many sources (including the Library of Congress) don't even include "intersexed" or "transgendered" as subject headings, and so one must rely on keyword searching for those topics. Materials published by the medical or scholarly communities will often use terms for non-traditional groups rather differently from those who are members of those groups.

In short, one must be flexible, creative, and thorough in selecting terms when one is doing research in sexualities.

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Reference Sources

  • REF HQ 9 .C64 1995 Francoeur, Robert T., ed. The Complete Dictionary of Sexology. New York: Continuum, 1995
    Concise definitions of terms from a technical, medical perspective, strongly reflective of Kinsey. Appendices include lists of philias and phobias.

  • REF HQ 76.25 .S74 1995 Stewart, William. Cassell's Queer Companion: a Dictionary of Lesbian and Gay Life and Culture. New York: Cassell, 1995
    The focus here is more on queercultural than scholarly usage. Names, terms, concepts, people, legalcases, expressions, novels, films, and historical information arepresented from an international perspective.
  • REF HQ 9 .H846 1994 Bullough, Vern L. and Bonnie, eds. Human Sexuality: an Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, 1994
    Basic articles with goodbibliographies about all aspects of the topic, written largely from themedical and traditional cultural point of view. A good starting placefor research
  • REF HQ 75.5.L4395 2000
  • REF HQ 75.13.G37 2000 The Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures, 2 vols. NY: Garland 2000
    Volume 1 covers lesbians and Volume 2 covers gay men. Both are quite thorough.

  • REF HQ 75 .H63 1998 Hogan, Steve and Lee Hudson. Completely Queer: the Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia. New York: Henry Holt, 1998
    An excellent starting point, with many illustrations, some bibliography, and a chronology. The article on constructionism versus essentialism is particularly helpful. The authors combine scholarly and cultural approaches to the material, and are wonderfully inclusive, despite the subtitle: materials on bisexuality, transgender, transsexuality, cross-dressers, and hermaphrodites are also present.

  • REF HQ 21 .I68 1997 Francoeur, Robert T., ed. The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality, 3 volumes. New York: Continuum, 1997
    Cross-cultural comparisons of 32 countries covering all aspects of sexology in a consistent pattern. The length of articles varies widely, from over 300 pages (U.S.) to 19 (Czech Republic and Slovakia). Extensive bibliographies.

  • REF KF 9325 .A7 L46 1993 Leonard, Arthur S. Sexuality and the Law: an Encyclopedia of Major Legal Cases. New York: Garland Publishing, 1993
    Summary discussions of major cases,organized by broad subject (reproduction, criminal law and sexual conduct, speech and association, family, discrimination, educational institutions, immigration/naturalization, and estates and trusts). All aspects and varieties of sexuality and gender expression receive some treatment. A very useful volume.

  • REF HQ 9 .E52 1995 Levinson, David, ed. Encyclopedia of Marriage and the Family, 2 volumes. New York: Macmillan, 1995
    Brief articles with some bibliographic sources. Entries include adolescent sex, gay and lesbian parents, gender, love, marital sex, mate selection, and sexuality. Be sure to use the index in volume 2 when researching a topic.

  • REF B 51 .R68 1998 Craig, Edward, ed. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 10 volumes. New York: Routledge, 1998
    Useful entries on love, sexuality, personal identity, essentialism, Foucault, and feminist approaches to several philosophical pursuits, as well as references to heterosexuality, homosexuality, gay and lesbian studies, and constructionism, which may be found through the index volume.

  • REF HQ 74 .B558 1999 Ochs, Robyn, ed. Bisexual Resource Guide, 3rd ed. Cambridge, MA: Bisexual Resource Center, 1999
    A few brief articles, then extensive bibliograpies, filmographies, information on the Internet,and an international directory of bisexual and bi-friendly groups. As bisexuality is only beginning to be recognized in its own right, this is one of the few reference works devoted to it exclusively.

  • REF HQ 75.15 R43 2000 Murphy, Timothy F. Readers Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000.
    A guide to academic literature on important topics in queer studies. Excellent starting place for research.

  • REF PN 56 .H57 G36 1994 Malinowski, Sharon, ed. Gay and Lesbian Literature. Detroit: St. James Press, 1998
    Biographies, bibliographies, and literary criticism of authors of all types of literatures. Inclusion is based on the writers' thematic content and not their sexual identity.  International in scope.

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Indexes

  • REF BF 30 .A56 Annual Review of Psychology. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Review, Inc., 1950+
  • REF HM 1 .A763 Annual Review of Sociology. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews, 1975+
    These are annual collections of bibliographic essays in their respective disciplines. Each article in a volume discusses recent research findings on a subject, comparing experimental results and placing them in a larger context, then concluding with a thorough bibliography of writings on the topic from the last several years. Subjects will vary from year to year, so use the cumulative chapter indexes to locate material. A potential goldmine for research, provided someone has done an essay on your topic.You can search the Annual Review of Sociology and the Annual Review of Psychology electronically as well.

  •  Gender Studies
    Available: Colby only
    Coverage: 1972-present
    Gender Studies Database combines NISC's  Women's Studies Internationaland Men's Studies databases with the coverage of sexual diversityissues. GSD includes gender-engaged scholarship inside and outsideacademia.  Source documents include professional journals, conferencepapers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion andworking papers, theses & dissertations and other sources. Severalhundred links provide access to carefully selected and importantwebsites. This database includes more than 552,250 records withcoverage spanning from 1972 and earlier to present.
  • MLA International Bibliography Available: CBB only Coverage: 1963 - present Updated: quarterly Access: Ebsco Produced by the Modern Language Association of America, the MLA International Bibliography indexes critical materialson modern language, literature, linguistics, and folklore. Covering literary scholarship, it provides access to over 3,000 journals and series published worldwide, monographs, working papers, proceedings, and bibliographies.

    Coverage in the Web index begins in1963; there is also a paper index in the Miller Reference collection(REF Z 7006 .M64) from 1921 through 1992.

  • Philosopher's Index Available: Colby Only Coverage: 1940 - present Updated: quarterly Publisher: CSA Provides indexing and abstracts from books andover 300 journals of philosophy and related interdisciplinary fields.It is a major source of information in the areas of aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics: it is also a rich source of material on the philosophy of various disciplines, such as education, history, law, and religion.
  • PsycINFO Available: CBB only Coverage: journals 1967 - present, books 1987 - present Updated: quarterly Access: Ebsco Citations of abstracts to over 1,300 journalsin psychology and the behavior sciences, plus book chapters and bookrecords. Compiled by the American Psychological Association. Topics covered include all aspects of psychology, as well as the behavioral aspects of education, medicine, sociology, law, and management.

    The electronic version covers journals from 1967 on and books from 1987 on. For earlier material, consult Psychological Abstracts (REF BF 1 .P65), which the APA has published since 1927; our collection runs from 1927 to 1973.

  • LGBT Life with Full Text
    Available: Colby only
    Coverage: 1977 - present
    Access: Ebsco
    GLBT Life indexes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender literature and emphasizes history, culture, social issues, interests and concerns of the GLBT community. Materials covered include periodicals, books,conference proceedings, newspapers, dissertations and web documents.
  • Sociological Abstracts Available: CBB only Coverage: 1963 - present Updated: monthly Access: CSA CSA Sociological Abstracts abstracts and indexesthe international literature in sociology and related disciplines inthe social and behavioral sciences. The database provides abstracts ofjournal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,700serials publications, and also provides abstracts of books, bookchapters, dissertations, and conference papers. Records added after1974 contain in-depth and nonevaluative abstracts of journal articles.

    For earlier materials, see the print Sociological Abstracts (REF HM 1 .S67), which runs from 1953 to 1973.

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Full Text

  • Contemporary Women's Issues Fulltext articles from 600 journals and other sources published by morethan 100 organizations from around the world. Useful for its coverageof lesser-known titles and alternative viewpoints.
  • REF H 35 .C67 CQ Researcher. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1991+
    Excellent starting place for almost any topic. Each week, CQ issues a report on a topic "in the news", covering its history, statistics, recent developments, pro's and cons, and further resources for research. Under its earlier title, Editorial Research Reports (REF H 35 .E35), it covers from 1967 through 1990.

  • REF PS 129 .D52 1998 Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook. Washington, DC: Gale Group, 1982+
    Use the most recent volume of this as an index to the entire set of the DLB series, which covers authors, playwrights, poets, novelists, and other writers from a wide range of countries, time periods, and ethnicities.

  • REF HQ 76.3 .U5 S75 1998 The Gay and Lesbian Almanac. New York: St. James Press, 1998
    Lengthy essays covering the wide range of issues of importance to gay men and lesbian women, including history, legal matters, family, activism, literature, the arts, religion and spirituality, and local and regional views. A good source for bibliographies as well.

  • REF PN 56 .H57 G365 1995 Summers, Claude J. The Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage. New York: H. Holt, 1995
    Essays on individuals, authors, historical periods, types of writings, and various countries.
     
  • REF HQ 75.6 .U5 L35 1996 National Museum & Archive of Lesbian and Gay History, compiler. The Lesbian Almanac. New York: Berkley Books, 1996

    REF HQ 76.3 .U6 G39 1996 National Museum & Archive of Lesbian and Gay History, compiler. The Gay Almanac. New York: Berkeley Books, 1996
    Both volumes are standard almanacs, with articles, lists, illustrations, quotes, statistics, history, notable names, slang, and articles on a range of topics. These would begood places to "break the ice" if you are just learning about gay men and/or lesbians and their concerns.

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Associations, Organizations, and Departments

Other Sites

  • AcademicInfo Site on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies A superb site for Web research, with well-organized lists of sites.
  • Alan Guttmacher Institute News releases, periodicals, and reports on sexual behavior, reproduction, and law and public policy.
  • Bisexual Resource Center Offersarticles, bibliographies, and a list of links covering a wide range oftopics and issues relevant to bisexuality. An excellent site, thorough,well organized, and easy to use.
  • Maine Gay Network The Maine page of the Queer Resources Directory
  • PFLAG-Talk Home Page Apage for two e-discussion lists, PFLAG-Talk, which offers support tofamily and friends of lesbians and gays, and TGS-PFLAG, which providessupport for families and friends of transgendered folk. Containsinformation and link to other sites.
  • PlanetOut Information servers of interest to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered communities and their allies.
  • Queer Frontiers Generated by a 1995 conference at USC-LA, this page provides a spacefor queer theory and other academic approaches to queer issues.
  • Queer Resources Directory The most all-encompassing list of links for information on LGBTTs and their allies.
  • Robert Koch Institute Archive for Sexology Adescription of the Archive and its collections, with goodbibliographies, some full text papers and reports, lengthy lists of Websites, information on the history of sexology, and a world-widedirectory of organizations and institutions. Very useful for aninternational perspective.

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Last Updated Date: 11/08/2007    
Created by:  Pukkila, Marilyn R. 
Email: mrpukkil@colby.edu