1st Edition

Navigating Differences Friendships Between Gay and Straight Men

By John Dececco, Phd Copyright 1999
    186 Pages
    by Routledge

    188 Pages
    by Routledge

    Navigating Differences: Friendships Between Gay and Straight Men is a one-of-a-kind cross-sexual study that shows you how today’s gay and straight men build, maintain, and foster true friendships. In this activist, participatory study, you’ll get a day-in-the-life look at 44 pairs of cross-sexual men’s friendships and see what helps them negotiate the terrain of their emotional, sexual, psychological, and social differences in today’s climate of often publicly defended homophobia and heterosexism.

    Navigating Differences succeeds in bringing the true picture of cross-sexual men’s relationships to you, regardless of your personal orientation or political affiliation. You’ll find information--straight from the lives of the study’s participants--that shows you how different sexual orientations impact the way men spend time together, maintain friendships, cope with sexual struggles, and open good communication channels. Most importantly, you’ll get detailed facts and feedback concerning:

    • hegemonic masculinity
    • embracing, struggling with, and ignoring differences
    • group demographic characteristics
    • embeddedness and emotional communication
    • outness
    • in-groups, out-groups, and reference groups

      Hearsay and prejudice might claim to know what gay and straight men think of each other, but Navigating Differences replaces rumors with research and shows you what really keeps gay and straight men in lasting friendships in all arenas of life. You’ll learn firsthand what it takes to overcome differences and what it means to turn difference into meaningful relationships.

    Contents Foreword
    • Preface
    • Acknowledgments
    • Introduction
    • Chapter I. Literature Review
    • Men’s Friendships
    • Men and Emotions
    • Gender
    • Men Doing Gender
    • ChapterII. Methods
    • Data Collection
    • Data Analysis
    • Group Demographic Characteristics
    • ChapterIII. Embracing Differences
    • Time Together
    • Embeddedness
    • Emotional Communication
    • Sexual Challenges
    • Conclusion
    • ChapterIV. Ignoring Differences
    • Time Together
    • Embeddedness
    • Emotional Communication
    • Sexual Challenges
    • Conclusion
    • ChapterV. Struggling with Differences
    • Time Together
    • Embeddedness
    • Emotional Communication
    • Sexual Challenges
    • Conclusion
    • ChapterVI. Power, Difference, and Multiplicity
    • Gender Enactment
    • Taking the Role of “Different” Other
    • Additional Explanations
    • Integrating Sexuality and Gender
    • Conclusion
    • ChapterVII. Methodological Reflections
    • Sample Limitations
    • Researcher/Participant Dynamics
    • Impact on Men’s Lives
    • ChapterVIII. Conclusions: Activism as an Unintended Consequence of Value-Committed Research
    • Influence of Activism on Research
    • Getting Started
    • Shifting the Position of Power
    • Conclusion
    • Appendix A: Interview Guide for Gay Men
    • Appendix B: Interview Guide for Straight Men
    • Appendix C: Informed Consent
    • Appendix D: Transcription Confidentiality
    • Notes
    • References
    • Index

    Biography

    Jammie Price