Therapeutic Conversations with Queer Youth: Transcending Homonormativity and Constructing Preferred Identities

Description

This is the first therapy book that focuses on clinical work with youth who construct queer identities (as differentiated from essentialized gay or lesbian identities). It's also the first practice-based book that draws on queer theory, constructionist philosophy, and cultural studies to inform and guide therapeutic work with queer youth. As such, it offers fresh, critical, and hopeful resources for therapists committed to culturally responsive work with youth. It also helps to make ideas from queer theory and cultural studies accessible to clinicians and widely applicable in therapeutic practice. This book presents the perspicacious and provocative comments of the Q-Squad, five queer youth who served as cultural consultants to the research and writing of this book. By bridging the gaps that exist between social science scholarship and therapeutic practice, and between queer theory and the lived experiences of queer youth, Therapeutic Conversations with Queer Youth breaks new ground in the conceptualization and practice of therapy with queer youth. Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction: Queering Your Practice or Practicing Queer? Glossary 1 Where Do You Stand?: Queer Ethos and Accountability 2 Social Construction: I Was Discursively Produced This Way 3 Queer Theory: The Audacity of Difference 4 Queer as Youth: Resisting the Homonormative of Identity Development 5 Bringing Sexy Back: Sex Positivity and the Rejection of Erotophobia 6 iQueer: Popular Culture and Therapeutic Moments 7 Bullies, Bible-Bangers, and Haters: When Others Don’t Want It to Get Better 8 Resisting Conclusions Appendix: Sex-Positive Resources References Index About the Author