AN EMPOWERMENT APPROACH
BOOK REVIEW Social Work With Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals: A Strengths Perspective by Katherine van Wormer, Joel Wells, and Mary Boes, Needham Heights, MA, Allyn and Bacon, 2000, 184 pp., $28.00 paper. ISBN 0-205-27931-7.
Ten years ago, you could hardy find a social work textbook on practice with lesbians and gay men. Now there are several such texts on the market. Social Work with Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals: A Strengths Perspective is a recent arrival on the circuit. This book is designed for undergraduate or graduate social work practice courses, or courses more specifically on social work practice with lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. The information may also be helpful for those in other helping professions, such as psychology or counselor education, although the framework and jargon are clearly those of social work.
Grounded in a strengths-based, empowerment approach to practice, Social Work with Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals consists of three main parts with a total of eleven chapters.
Part One, "The Cultural Context," contains a chapter on social work mission and policies, a chapter on homophobia and heterosexism, and a chapter on strengths of gay/lesbian culture.
The second part, "Across the Life Span," covers gay youth; sexuality, erotophobia, and etiology of sexual orientation; laws pertaining to homosexual acts; workplace issues for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals; and aging lesbians and gay men.
The final part, "Social Work Practice with Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals," contains an overview of counseling with gay, lesbian, and bisexual clients; two chapters on social work with lesbians and gay men in health care settings; and a chapter on counseling families of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals.
The authors of the book have team-taught a course in gay/lesbian studies at University of Northern Iowa. Two of the three professors note they have children who are lesbian or gay. The authors write the book from an unapologetic, affirmative standpoint, which is congruent with the profession's Code of Ethics as it relates to lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. Students or professors who adhere to a view of homosexuality that is based primarily in the old medical model (homosexuality as a mental disorder or sickness) or the traditional religious model (homosexuality is a sin) will likely find little in the book to support their positions. . . .
Although there are some limitations to the book, there are several aspects that deserve praise. The authors do a credible job of combining the presentation of findings from empirical research (science) with poetry, commentaries, and narratives of human experience (art). Students will most likely relate to several of the boxes written by fellow students, such as Box 11.1, "Interview with Stacy Wilsen," a transcript of an interview of a daughter of a lesbian mother conducted by a social work student. . . .
In several places, the authors suggest that heterosexuals have much to learn from gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. For example, in the chapter on sexuality (chapter five), the authors note that gays and lesbians are better at communication and sexually pleasing their partners than heterosexual couples. Society has depleted us as "deviant" and "abnormal" for so long that it is refreshing to read a perspective that recognizes that straights have something positive to learn from gays/lesbians/bisexuals.
I also thought that the cultural context section of chapter two ("The Heterosexist Society") was particularly good in its global focus and in its coverage of the historical phenomenon of scapegoating and persecution of out-groups.
In sum, I would recommend this book for social work practice courses. Realistically, I know there is much to cover in basic foundation and advanced practice courses, and a book focusing on one population may not be possible for required reading. Therefore, this book is probably more suited for specialized courses in social work practice with lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. Practitioners in the field who would like more information about this population would also benefit from this book, especially material from chapter eight on the social worker's role in the coming-out process, counselor self-awareness, and lesbian/gay/bisexual therapists.
--Excerpted from The Lesbian Review of Books/Vol VI, No. 3/Spring 2000
Elizabeth P. Cramer is an assistant professor of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her practice, research, and scholarship areas include domestic violence, group work, and lesbians and gay men.