ju st out ▼ O c t o b e r 17. 1097 T 13
national news
It's a start
Researchers in the field of lesbian health convene in the hopes that if they gather data now the funding will follow
by Bob Roehr
he Institute of Medicine conducted a
workshop on lesbian health research
priorities in Washington, D.C., on Oct.
6 and 7. The gathering, the first of its
kind, is part of a $200,000 study which
should wrap up with a report next summer.
‘The big news is that they are even funding
this study,” says Marj Plumb, policy director for
the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.
Dr. Donna Futterman, a researcher at the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine, was one of those
who spoke at the workshop.
“We know that coping skills, self-care behav
ior and health-seeking behavior are established
early and have an impact on a lifetime of interac
tions with the health care system,” she said. “It
should be no surprise that delay in health-seeking
and lack of preventive services and gyne
cologic care are consistent findings in re
search of lesbians of all age groups.”
However, Futterman cautioned, “We
have only begun to scratch the surface and
much of the information we have obtained
may not remain relevant because the social
and cultural environment continues to
change.”
One of the major problems facing re
searchers is the very definition of who is a
lesbian. Is it a question of self-identity,
sexual acts or a combination of the two?
Social stigma in both study and delivery of
care also remains a major impediment.
T
S ex
and
sex activities hidden from their male partners.
Women also bear the burden of sexually trans
mitted disease morbidity because transmission
from male to female is much easier than the
reverse, Rothblum said.
Rothblum’s research also found that
heterosexual women and gay men ap
pear more preoccupied with their weight,
and report lower ideal weights than do
lesbians or heterosexual men.
Dr. Jonathan Zenilman of Johns
Hopkins University School of Medi
cine, meanwhile, noted that only a dozen
research papers have been written that
focus on lesbians and sexually transmit
ted diseases.
He differentiated between the STDs
B
reast
C
ancer
Deborah Bowen of the Fred Hutchinson Can
cer Research Center in Seattle is conducting a
B
Futterman
that can be easily identified and cleared from the
body and those such as “herpes—human papi Iloma
virus, which is the cause of genital warts and [98
percent of] cervical cancer—and HIV,” which
once acquired are permanent conditions.
Women in an extended phase of exclusive
same-sex activity are at low risk for the former,
while risk for the latter is determined by one’s
entire sexual history and the pattern of one’s
partners’ sexual activity. He strongly urged Pap
smears as the best way to detect and prevent
cervical cancer.
ia s a n d
I n v is ib il it y
STDs
“Lesbians don’t have sex as often as do CE
heterosexual cohabiting couples, gay maleg
couples and married heterosexual couples,
said Esther Rothblum, a researcher at the“
University of Vermont. “But on the otherg
hand, lesbians often define sex m ore|
broadly. So how do you count that? What
Donna
about people who live together and call
themselves partners, yet have never had sex? The
1990s have just brought up so many problems.
“Most lesbians have been heterosexually ac
tive,” she continued, adding that perhaps 20 per
cent of younger women at a lesbian bar are con
currently having sex with men.
Rothblum found that younger lesbians have
more male partners “because nowadays with gen
der blending they feel freer to have sex with men
and women.”
Anecdotal evidence is that these women tend
to seek out heterosexual men and keep their same-
two gay males will have a significantly larger
income.
"Gay men earn about 25 percent less than
comparable heterosexual men,” Badge« said.
large-scale breast cancer screening program.
Her research leads her to believe that lesbians
may not suffer a higher rate of breast cancer.
She believes previous conclusions may have
been based upon faulty sampling techniques, and
she worries that “in some ways we might be
negatively affecting folks” with misinformation.
E
a r n in g
P
ow er
Money matters were also addressed during the
workshop. Labor economist Lee Badge« said
lesbians are more likely than heterosexual women
to work full time, however, there seems to be little
difference in their levels of income.
“Gender is more important to determining
income than sexual orientation,” she said, but also
cautioned against assuming that a household with
Workshop participants
tackled the topic of institu
tional bias.
Plumb pointed to the
“amount of concern” over
study design and sampling
when applying for funding
or attempting to get research
published on lesbian issues.
“When was the last time
a piece of research on the
homeless was sent back
because it was not repre
sentative?” she asked. “Is
this not lesbian-phobia?”
"It seems to me what is
driving the research on
these other populations is
the perceived need for the
information,” added Dr.
Jocelyn White, a researcher
at Oregon Health Sciences
University in Portland.
White added she doesn’t
feel that same sense of ur
gency from funders and edi
tors when it comes to les
bian health concerns.
But she also urged researchers to avoid getting
bogged down i n creati ng an “ideal” research frame
work. She said researchers must work around the
bias and create knowledge that is useful, even if
imperfect.
Others reported that research on lesbian health
issues has been met with a cool reception from
some colleagues. A quarter of all researchers said
that publicly identifying as lesbian or studying the
subject had a negative impact on their employ
ment and promotion opportunities.
Plumb noted that past Institute of Medicine
reports have led almost immediately to funding of
research projects by the National Institutes of
Health.
She wondered if that will happen when this
report is completed, which will mark the next key
step in the evolution of lesbian health care.
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