RESEARCH AND ITS DISCONTENTS.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Author: Altman, Dennis
• Date: 01 January 1997

N.B: I have sought to use the standard format for `scientific' papers in order to demonstrate the difficulties of doing social `science'.

Objective: To determine whether the new self-conscious `gay' groups in Southeast Asia (and by extension in other `developing' countries) represent the development of new structures and perceptions of homosexuality, in other words whether it is more accurate to posit a continuity or a rupture between `traditional' and `modern' forms of homosexuality.

Methods; Participant observation (i.e. anything from sitting in on workshops and seminars to hanging around in smoky bars far too late and talking to young men whose interest fluctuates between emotional and financial, but is rarely academic). Analysis of printed materials (usually produced for HIV/AIDS education purposes, and hence as much a reflection of the wishes of funders as of "the community"). Interviews with key informants. Reflections on existing theoretical literature (not very much).

Results: There is considerable evidence of growing `gay' communities (far less so of `lesbian') in almost all countries with sufficient affluence and political space. The `invisibility' of lesbians is probably due to the...