Ritch C. Savin-Williams – författare

Gay, straight, bisexual: how much does sexual orientation matter to a teenager’s mental health or sense of identity? In this down-to-earth book, filled with the voices of young people speaking for themselves, Ritch Savin-Williams argues that the standard image of gay youth presented by mental health researchers—as depressed, isolated, drug-dependent, even suicidal—may have been exaggerated even twenty years ago, and is far from accurate today.The New Gay Teenager gives us a refreshing and frequently controversial introduction to confident, competent, upbeat teenagers with same-sex desires, who worry more about the chemistry test or their curfew than they do about their sexuality. What does “gay” mean, when some adolescents who have had sexual encounters with those of their own sex don’t consider themselves gay, when some who consider themselves gay have had sex with the opposite sex, and when many have never had sex at all? What counts as “having sex,” anyway? Teenagers (unlike social science researchers) are not especially interested in neatly categorizing their sexual orientation.In fact, Savin-Williams learns, teenagers may think a lot about sex, but they don’t think that sexuality is the most important thing about them. And adults, he advises, shouldn’t think so either.

Proud, happy, grateful—gay youth describe their lives in terms that would have seemed surprising only a generation ago. Yet many adults, including parents, seem skeptical about this sea change in perceptions and attitudes. Even in an age of growing tolerance, coming out as gay is supposed to involve a crisis or struggle. This is the kind of thinking, say the young men at the heart of this book, that needs to change.Becoming Who I Am is an astute exploration of identity and sexuality as told by today’s generation of gay young men. Through a series of in-depth interviews with teenagers and men in their early 20s, Ritch Savin-Williams reflects on how the life stories recorded here fulfill the promise of an affirmative, thriving gay identity outlined in his earlier book, The New Gay Teenager. He offers a contemporary perspective on gay lives viewed across key milestones: from dawning awareness of same-sex attraction to first sexual encounters; from the uncertainty and exhilaration of coming out to family and friends to the forming of adult romantic relationships; from insights into what it means to be gay today to musings on what the future may hold. The voices hail from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, but as gay men they share basic experiences in common, conveyed here with honesty, humor, and joy.

Most of us assume that sexuality is fixed: either you’re straight, gay, or bisexual. Yet an increasing number of young men today say that those categories are too rigid. They are, they insist, “mostly straight.” They’re straight, but they feel a slight but enduring romantic or sexual desire for men. To the uninitiated, this may not make sense. How can a man be “mostly” straight? Ritch Savin-Williams introduces us to this new world by bringing us the stories of young men who consider themselves to be mostly straight or sexually fluid. By hearing about their lives, we discover a radically new way of understanding sexual and romantic development that upends what we thought we knew about men.Today there are more mostly straight young men than there are gay and bisexual young men combined. Based on cutting-edge research, Savin-Williams explores the personal stories of forty young men to help us understand the biological and psychological factors that led them to become mostly straight and the cultural forces that are loosening the sexual bind that many boys and young men experience. These young men tell us how their lives have been influenced by their “drop of gayness,” from their earliest sexual memories and crushes to their sexual behavior as teenagers and their relationships as young adults. Mostly Straight shows us how these young men are forging a new personal identity that confounds both traditional ideas and conventional scientific opinion.

Originally published in 1990, Gay and Lesbian Youth: Expressions of Identity, reissued here with a new preface, addresses self-esteem in gay and lesbian adolescents and challenges the idea that this is lower than in the ‘normal’ adolescent. First, theoretical positions on self-esteem and coming out among gay men and lesbians, and the empirical evidence for these assumptions, are reviewed. These are followed by discussion of the author’s study on self-esteem and coming out in a sample of gay and lesbian youths. The study was unique at the time because of the adolescent population studied and the attention it gave to variations within the gay and lesbian sample. Today it can be read in its historical context.

Books on adolescence have been written for a variety of purposes. Hall''s (1904) two volume Adolescence encompasses most of them: to advocate a particular theoretical approach to adolescence, to stimulate use of a particular brand of scientific methodology when studying youth, to address issues of the basic nature and importance of adolescence, and to propose recommendations on how adolescents ought to be treated and educated. In Hall''s words, "It [the two volumes] constitutes the first attempt to bring together the various aspects of its vast and complex theme" (xix), a full survey of "pedagogic matter and method. " This is necessary because, "In no psychic soil, too, does seed, bad as well as good, strike such deep root, grow so rankly, or bear fruit so quickly or so surely" (xviii-xix). Mead (1928) retorted with Coming of Age in Samoa, a refutation of Hall''s conclusions: "Are the disturbances which vex our adolescents due to the nature of adolescence itself or to the civilization? Under different conditions does adolescence present a different picture" (p. II). Thus, Mead wanted to correct a theoretical injustice and to promote the impact that culture has on the developing adolescent personality. Hollingshead''s (1949) Elmtown''s Youth was produced to further support Mead''s conclusions-"Is the social behavior of an adolescent a function of physiological changes in the maturing individual or of his experiences in society?" (p. 6). His answer was clearly the latter, specifically the family''s economic and social status within Elmtown''s social structure.

Books on adolescence have been written for a variety of purposes. Hall's (1904) two volume Adolescence encompasses most of them: to advocate a particular theoretical approach to adolescence, to stimulate use of a particular brand of scientific methodology when studying youth, to address issues of the basic nature and importance of adolescence, and to propose recommendations on how adolescents ought to be treated and educated. In Hall's words, "It [the two volumes] constitutes the first attempt to bring together the various aspects of its vast and complex theme" (xix), a full survey of "pedagogic matter and method. " This is necessary because, "In no psychic soil, too, does seed, bad as well as good, strike such deep root, grow so rankly, or bear fruit so quickly or so surely" (xviii-xix). Mead (1928) retorted with Coming of Age in Samoa, a refutation of Hall's conclusions: "Are the disturbances which vex our adolescents due to the nature of adolescence itself or to the civilization? Under different conditions does adolescence present a different picture" (p. II). Thus, Mead wanted to correct a theoretical injustice and to promote the impact that culture has on the developing adolescent personality. Hollingshead's (1949) Elmtown's Youth was produced to further support Mead's conclusions-"Is the social behavior of an adolescent a function of physiological changes in the maturing individual or of his experiences in society?" (p. 6). His answer was clearly the latter, specifically the family's economic and social status within Elmtown's social structure.

What bisexual youth can tell us about today's gender and sexual identities Despite the increasing visibility of LGBTQ people in American culture, our understanding of bisexuality remains superficial, at best. Yet, five times as many people identify as bisexual than as gay or lesbian, and as much as 25 percent of the population is estimated to be bisexual. In Bi, noted scholar of youth sexuality, Ritch Savin-Williams, brings bisexuality to centerstage at a moment when Gen Z and millennial youth and young adults are increasingly rejecting traditional labels altogether. Drawing on interviews with bisexual youth from a range of racial, ethnic, and social class groups, he reveals to us how bisexuals define their own sexual orientation and experiences—in their own words. Savin-Williams shows how and why people might identify as bisexual as a result of their biology or upbringing; as a bridge or transition to something else; as a consequence of their curiosity; or for a range of other equally valid reasons.With an understanding that sexuality and romantic attachments are often influx, Savin-Williams offers us a way to think about bisexuality as part of a continuum. He shows that many of the young people who identify as bisexual often defy traditional views, dispute false notions, and reimagine sexuality with regard to both practice and identity. Broadly speaking, he shows that many young people experience a complex, nuanced existence with multiple sexual and romantic attractions as well as gender expressions, which are seldom static but fluctuate over their lives.Savin-Williams provides an important new understanding of bisexuality as an orientation, behavior, and identity. Bi shows us that bisexuality is seen and embraced as a valid sexual identity more than ever before, giving us timely and much-needed insight into the complex, fascinating experiences of bisexual youth themselves.