The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #58686

Sue J. Dyson, Australian Research centre in Sex, Health and society, La Trobe University, 1st floor, 215 Franklin St, Melbourne, 3000, Australia, +61 3 9285 5282, s.dyson@latrobe.edu.au

Dominant discourse among lesbian health advocates has situated lesbians as passive subjects in relations with a homophobic health system that privileges heterosexuality.

Many lesbians choose to remain silent about their sexual orientation when they present to a health service provider, and this avoidance of disclosure interacts with the prejudices of service providers to compound their belief that they have never seen a lesbian. The outcome is that lesbians are effectively rendered invisible. It appears, however, that invisibility is a more complex process, in which visibility and disclosure are negotiated in a dialectical process in which lesbians exercise agency.

Lesbians report feeling anxious, mistreated and misunderstood by providers if they reveal their sexuality and there has been a tendency to portray invisibility as always having negative outcomes, which has lead to pressure on lesbians to disclose and on service providers to assist this process. Attempts to increase visibility have not been universally accepted by lesbians and some have posited that invisibility may be a useful protection against discriminatory practices.

This paper will report on research in progress, that aims to understand whether lesbians are passively positioned subjects in their dealing with the health system, or wether invisibility is the result of an active choice to not disclose. It will also report on the outcome of interviews with lesbian health service users concerning practices that renders them invisible, and how these processes act upon, are enacted and contested by lesbians.

Learning Objectives:

• Many doctors believe they have never seen a lesbian patient and attitudes of service providers have found to be heterosexist and homophobic. Lesbians presenting to a health service or GP are always faced with a decision about whether or not to disclose their sexual orientation. This paper will present the findings of research in progress.
• By the end of this session, participants will:
• - Appreciate some of the processes that influence lesbian in/visibility and some of the ways in which lesbians construct their interactions with the health system.
• - Recognise the extent to which lesbians are constituted as healthy or unhealthy subjects in their dealings with health services.

Keywords: Lesbian Health, Access and Services

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.