Photovoice Families Lesbian families captured in photographs

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Photovoice FamiliesLesbian families captured in
photographs

• Melissa Brusoski
• April 23, 2006

www.stkate.edu
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Overview

• Funded by a grant from the Womens Studies
  Student Research Fund
• An exploratory, qualitative study conducted in
  Pittsburgh, PA between June 2006 and March 2007
• Uses photovoice and photo-elicitation methodology
• Examined how 12 lesbian women create and define
  their families

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Background and Significance

• Family of Origin
• People related by birth or through legal ties
  such as marriage
• Traditional view of family
• parents (husband and wife)
• their children,
• siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents

Radcliffe-Brown, 1952 Schneider, 1968
Levi-Strauss, 1977 Trautmann, 1987
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Background and Significance

• Family of Choice
• An alternative definition of family for gay and
  lesbian people
• Community of friends who provide the support that
  family of origin traditionally supplies
• Studies suggest that lesbian and gay people
  create families of choice because their families
  of origin do not accept their sexual orientation

Weeks et al., 2001 Weston, 1991 Nardi, 1992
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Background and Significance

• Family of Choice
• Other studies suggest that gay and lesbian people
  receive more social support from families of
  choice
• Support from families of origin is less important

Kurdek, 1988 Smith and Brown 1997 Kurdek,
1987 Bryant and Demian, 1994 Green, 2000
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Background and Significance

• Conflicting Research
• Other studies found that families of origin are
  important sources of social support
• Gay and lesbian people do stay connected to
  families of origin

Laird, 1996 Oswald 2002 Gartrell et al,
1996 Caron and Ulin,1997 Patterson et al, 1998
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Background and Significance

• Conflicting Research
• There are few studies that consider family of
  origin in gay and lesbian populations
• Most studies concentrate on stories of coming out
  to families of origin
• Frequently focus on problem and pathology
• Do not examine family relationships

Laird, 1996 Oswald 2002
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Methods

• Photo-elicitation and Photovoice
• Participatory research tool
• Based on the social-ecological model of health
• Support and influence from others can impact a
  persons physical health and emotional well-being

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Methods

• 12 women used cameras to photograph their
  families
• Participated in interviews and used photographs
  to discuss their interpretation of family
• Encouraging lesbian women to visually capture
  their experiences can give them a voice to
  represent their own lives.

Images evoke deeper elements of human
consciousness than do words (Harper, 2002 13)
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I wanted to some way, officially acknowledge
my familyI would go and say hey, Im taking
pictures of my family, I consider you my family.
--Photovoice Families participant
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Results

• Participants
• 25 are African American and 75 are white
• Ages range from 20 to 61 years old
• 25 of the participants have children
• 58 have a partner
• two sets of women who participated are couples

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Results

• What is family?
• The experiences of women in this study are shaped
  by the people, culture and influences of the
  society in which they live
• Some women used terminology of family of choice
  and family of origin
• Other women defined family in a less conceptual
  and more emotional way

Its just like a given, you dont sit around and
think whos my family?...Its basically like,
who you trust.
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Results

• Families are people that are there for each
  other
• Women felt that families are people that protect
  and care for each other, regardless of how they
  are related
• Concept of reciprocity
• Women chose people who protect and care for them
• Women also chose people who they protect and care
  for

Family is those that I love, not necessarily
blood relatives, those that I am protective of
and those that got my back too. I got them and
they got me.
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Results

• Photography Subjects
• All participants photographs included some
  members of family of origin and family of choice
• Parents
• Siblings
• Nieces and nephews
• Children
• Partners
• Friends
• Communities and many others

I picked people that know me completely.
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Results

• Why people were chosen
• Shared history
• Friendship
• Role models
• Creating a new family
• Acceptance and understanding of sexual
  orientation
• Shared experiences

Weve gone through the same things together and
I think shes the only person who could
understand how my life has gone exactly because
shes always been with me.
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Discussion

• Emerging Themes
• Families of choice are important sources of
  support for lesbian women
• Lesbian women also remain close to families of
  origin
• Roles of family and friends are fluid and can be
  changed and inverted
• Stronger than blood ties were the connections
  between people taking care of and protecting each
  other

Theyve seen me through a lot of hard things and
I think Ive seen them through hard things too,
and thats part of what makes them so special.
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Discussion

• Families provide an affirmation of womens
  identities
• Where women had come from and what they had been
  through to become the person that they are today
• Relationships that would acknowledge and ground
  them in their present identities

We are looking for people who are going to
affirm us, whether they are straight or gay.
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Discussion

• Lesbian families are families of choice
• Creation of family is an active process
• women designate people whose relationships
  support and affirm them as daughters, mothers,
  partners, lesbians, or in any other role that is
  meaningful to them

They know me exactly who I am and still want to
be my family. They dont pick and choose the
parts of who I am and what they can accept.
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Discussion

• Future Studies
• Consider the influence of gender by conducting an
  identical study among gay men
• Examine the significance of place on
  participants responses to the subject of family
• Compare participants responses in cities that
  are known for attracting gay and lesbian people
  with participants in other types of cities, towns
  and rural areas

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References

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• Caron SL and Ulin M. Closeting and the quality of
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• Gartrell N, Hamilton J, Banks A, Mosbacher D,
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