Abstract
Sexual and gender minorities are often studied from a health perspective. Their sexual health, in particular, is a central concern. However, the scope and nature of these health issues largely depend on how we define and circumscribe these populations. Often lumped together under the acronym LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi, trans), sexual and gender minorities bring together diverse and varied existences. This presentation aims to reflect this plurality, as well as the associated health issues. Long confined to the study of HIV infection in gay men, research into the sexual health of LGBT people has gradually expanded to include the other letters in the acronym. It has also broadened beyond the sphere of sexual practices to include social characteristics and lifestyles. The presentation will review the different ways in which sexual and gender minorities have been addressed in sexual health research, while proposing new perspectives. It will focus on the decisive importance of sexual and preventive socialization, the inextricable nature of gender and sexuality, the entanglement of gender and sexuality with class and race, and the diffuse effects of the minority condition.
Emmanuel Beaubatie
Emmanuel Beaubatie is a sociologist and CNRS research fellow. He is a member of the Centre européen de sociologie et de science politique (CESSP) in Paris, and teaches at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS). His work on gender and sexuality combines feminist studies with methods and concepts from the sociology of social classes. His research explores sexual and gendered multiplicity beyond the binarity of woman and man, as well as the mobilities of gender and sexuality over the life course. He is also interested in the boundaries of the feminist political subject and reflexivity in the social sciences. His publications include Transfuges de sexe. Passer les frontières du genre (La Découverte, 2021) and Ne suis-je pas un.e féministe? (Seuil, 2024).
