Author Archives: Julia Benjamin

Living at the Intersection: Reflections on the Graduate Student Experience

Welcome to APAGS‘s new blog column on intersecting identities! Each of us has a complex combination of personal identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability status, and other life statuses like parenthood. We hope through this series to give voice to those complexities. Each month a student author will share reflections on their experiences at the intersection of their many identities. Join us each month to hear new stories and insights from students across the country!

Two Chairs, One Life

Vanessa Martinez-Morales_ASU Counseling PsychologyGuest columnist: Vanessa Martinez-Morales, Arizona State University

I invite you to join me in my counseling room where I have invited myself to engage in a two-chair exercise for two of my identities; one is for the proud Mexican-Cuban first generation American and another is for the burgeoning bisexual woman. Both these women share a parallel process: my denial and acceptance throughout the years. I brought these women here today to discuss their most recent endeavor in graduate school. I sought to explore their challenges and experiences in navigating this new environment. The two are in unchartered territory; they are both strangers and family; self and others; in synchronicity and in isolation. Today they focus on one conversation and one understanding.

Mexican/Cuban: Starting graduate school I felt pressure to perform and to prove that I, and others like me, deserve these kinds of opportunities. I wondered if I was accepted for my abilities or for the marketability of a program that accepts “students of color.” I felt a weight on my shoulders to be the best “Latina psychologist” I could be. I struggled with the absence of one image of what that would look like. And I began to search for that image.

Bisexual:  I was fearful that others would find me out and cast me off as “unprofessional, confused, unstable, attention seeking, and dishonorable.” I had no worries that my presence gained me admittance into the program, but rather fear of exclusion. I thought I could easily separate myself from the graduate school experience and let you take over. After all, I believed you were who was best equipped for this sort of thing, at least out of the two of us.

Mexican/Cuban:  I felt you “shy away” and I wanted to include you but I didn’t know how. I could barely find a “Latina psychologist” to model myself after and I admit I didn’t want to complicate my search any further. So I let you have your own friends and enjoy yourself socially, and I stayed in class, attended the faculty parties with my male partner, and worked hard to establish our academic identity. I resented your freedom.

Bisexual: You thought I was free! How do you think it felt to bite my tongue anytime sexuality was discussed in class? To only share my questions with myself? To seek only this underground railroad of friendships where I could be assured safety? To feel your doubt and questioning anytime I showed even a glimpse of myself? At times I felt I needed to be free of you and your worry that we wouldn’t be seen as a “real Latina” if I joined the conversation.

Mexican/Cuban: I am sorry. My heart races when you speak but I want you to join me. We will create our own image; our reflection.

It has taken three years for the two of you to begin this conversation. I only ask for the courage to continue and the maturity to understand that reflection on our disintegration will lead to our integration.

This column is sponsored by the APAGS Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity and the Committee for the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Diversity. Are you interested in sharing about your own navigation of intersecting identities in graduate school? We would be happy to hear from you! To learn more, please contact the chair of APAGS CSOGD (Julia Benjamin, jzbenjam@gmail.com) or CARED (James Garcia, jjg0136@gmail.com).

A few members of the committee formerly known as CLGBTC strike a pose at APA's 2014 Convention in DC, from left: Natalie Alizaga, Nick Grant, and Julia Benjamin.

What’s in a Name? An Inclusive Name for an Inclusive Committee

A few members of the committee formerly known as CLGBTC strike a pose at APA's 2014 Convention in DC, from left: Natalie Alizaga, Nick Grant, and Julia Benjamin.

A few members of the committee formerly known as CLGBTC strike a pose at APA’s 2014 Convention in DC, from left: Natalie Alizaga, Nick Grant, and Julia Benjamin. (Source: the author).

The APAGS Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns disagrees with Juliet’s assertion in Romeo and Juliet that “a rose by any name would smell as sweet.” Research indicates names do have the power to affect the way we perceive and interact with reality and the way we see ourselves and those around us.

Our committee believes in the importance of names—which is why we changed ours.

  • Our name started as the “Task Force on Sexual Minority Concerns,” which then changed to the “Committee on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns.”
  • In 2001, we became the “Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns.”
  • Over the past few years, the committee has become aware that individuals are increasingly using labels beyond “lesbian,” “gay,” “bisexual” and “transgender” to describe themselves. We contemplated incorporating additional specific identities to our name, but felt the “alphabet soup” created by the acronym used to represent those identities would be increasingly unwieldy and confusing.
  • After much discussion regarding how to shift our committee name to represent the diversity of our student members, we decided to change our name in September 2014 to the “Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.”

This mirrors what’s happening outside of APAGS. Some groups have begun shifting away from adding more letters to their acronyms and toward using more inclusive phrases like “Gender and Sexual Diversity.” This can be seen elsewhere in APA; in March 2014, APA Division 44 (Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues) launched a new quarterly peer-reviewed publication titled Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.

When we introduced the idea of our own name change to the full APAGS committee, it was unanimously and enthusiastically approved. Thus, as the new Chair of this committee, I am very excited to present to you the “Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity!”

I am very excited to present to you the Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity!

Since its foundation 22 years ago, this group has worked to support graduate students who identify within the spectrum of sexual orientation and gender diversity by advocating for their concerns and providing educational, personal, and professional development opportunities. That hasn’t changed, but our name has.

Our website will show our new name soon, but we wanted to let you all know even quicker! Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in getting involved with the committee or if there are ways we can support you in your graduate training. We are here for you.

Go Team! College Athletes and LGBTQ Health

Editor’s note: This post coincides with LGBT Health Awareness Week, March 23-29, 2014. It was written by Julia Benjamin, a member of the APAGS Committee on LGBT Concerns. Stay tuned for the second post in this series later this week.

Are we as supportive of LGBT players in sports as we could be? (Source: "Luke Lewis, Penrith Panther and NSW Blues" by Acon Online on Flickr. Some rights reserved.)

Are we as supportive of LGBT players in sports as we could be? (Source: “Luke Lewis, Penrith Panther and NSW Blues” by Acon Online on Flickr. Some rights reserved.)

When members of the Westboro Baptist Church protested openly gay University of Missouri football player Michael Sam, over one thousand Mizzou students formed a human chain around campus to support Sam and block the protest. This show of solidarity stands in contrast to the traditional locker room culture of homophobia that was recently highlighted by the bullying of former Miami Dolphins player Jonathan Martin. In light of this tension between heteronormative locker room culture and shifting national levels of LGBTQ acceptance, what are the health implications of identifying as both a student athlete and as LGBTQ?

Meyer’s theory of minority stress posits that LGB individuals experience more mental illness due to constant environmental prejudice. A recent national study supports this theory; LGBTQ individuals who live in communities with negative attitudes toward them were found to have shorter lifespans. In particular, deaths associated with stress, like suicide and cardiovascular disease, were higher for LGBTQ individuals living in high-stigma areas.

Minority stress may be especially high for student athletes. According to Campus Pride’s 2012 LGBTQ National College Athlete Report, twice as many LGBTQ student-athletes reported experiencing harassment as their straight peers. They also reported experiencing a more-negative overall climate that was detrimental to their academic success.  Additionally, studies indicate that stress may be stronger for male-identified LGBTQ students because male student athletes have been found to hold more negative LGBTQ attitudes than females.

However, there is cause to be optimistic about the future of the mental and physical health of LGBTQ student athletes:

  • In the past few months, several college athletes have received support after publicly coming out, including All-American University of Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam, Notre Dame tennis player Matt Dooley, and Drew University baseball captain Matt Kaplon.
  • Many college communities and athletic departments are becoming more accepting of LGBTQ individuals. New research has indicated that a majority of college coaches and athletic trainers hold positive attitudes toward lesbian and gay athletes.
  • National organizations like Go!Athletes, Outsports, and You Can Play work to support and empower gay student athletes.
  • Acceptance of gay athletes appears to be infusing professional sports as well. In a recent ESPN poll of NFL football players, 86% indicated that a player’s sexual orientation did not matter to them and 75% said that they would be comfortable showering around a gay teammate.
  • Studies show that knowing someone who identifies as LGBTQ leads to greater acceptance.

As more college athletes come out and as campus communities encourage awareness, support, and inclusive language and policies, it is inevitable that college locker rooms will become healthier and safer spaces for all athletes.