Dead Boys Can't Dance: Sexual Orientation, Masculinity, and SuicideDead Boys Can't Dance is a ground-breaking exploration of the double taboos of homosexuality and suicide and their effect on males from fourteen to twenty-five. North American society has been reluctant to recognize that there is a link between the social stigmatization of homosexuality and the high level of suicide attempts by adolescent boys who are homosexual or are identified as homosexual by their peers. By examining first-person accounts from teenage boys and young men, Michel Dorais and Simon Louis Lajeunesse shed light on why some of them attempt to take their own lives. Dorais and Lajeunesse analyse the adverse ways being stigmatized as homosexual affects personality and behaviour, discerning four types of reaction: the 'good boy', whose perfectionism and asexuality are an attempt to minimize the difference between how he is perceived and what he is supposed to be; the 'chameleon', who attempts to keep everyone from suspecting his secret but constantly feels like an impostor; the 'designated fag', who serves as a scapegoat to his peers, especially at school, and suffers a consequent rejection and lack of self-esteem; and the 'rebel', who actively rejects any stigma based on his sexual orientation and non-conformity .They show that those who are heterosexual but suspected of being homosexual are most at risk of suicide and they make recommendations for suicide prevention. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
Social Factors and Suicide | 15 |
The Young Men Studied | 27 |
Two Profiles Four Scenarios | 33 |
Life Situations | 50 |
Isolation Shame and Stigmatization | 74 |
Resiliency Factors | 83 |
Recommendations for Suicide Prevention | 90 |
Challenging Homophobia | 106 |
Other editions - View all
Dead Boys Can't Dance: Sexual Orientation, Masculinity, and Suicide Michel Dorais Limited preview - 2004 |
Dead Boys Can't Dance: Sexual Orientation, Masculinity, and Suicide Michel Dorais,Simon Louis Lajeunesse No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
accepted adolescents adults attempted suicide Becker become behaviours believed bisexual males cent Chameleon Child Sexual Abuse cide DEAD BOYS deviant Dorais drugs Durkheim early-identified Émile Durkheim end their lives environments Erving Goffman especially exist experienced experiences father fear feel feminine friends gay and bisexual gay and lesbian gay males gay or bisexual Gay Village girl girlfriend guys homo homophobia homophobic homosexual orientation homosexual respondents Howard Becker identified as homosexual individuals later-identified lesbian masculine Montreal moral harassment mosexual mother negative nonconformable norm ostracism outcome parents peers perceived Perfect Boy psychological Quebec recognized rejection relationships respect result reveal risk role same-sex sample scenarios sexism sexual diversity sexual orientation sexually abused shame silence situation social representations social services study subjects suicidal ideation suicide attempts suicide problems teacher tion Token Fag Tremblay victims violence young gay young homosexual males