Abstract
Gay, bisexual, and queer (GBQ) men are at higher risk of negative body image. As having a negative body image is related to negative mood, sexual, and health outcomes, identifying and providing community-friendly tools for GBQ men is important. This paper describes the creation and evaluation of Rainbow Reflections, a comic anthology developed to promote awareness of and communication about body image. Rainbow Reflections includes comics from 38 trans- and cis-GBQ artists who drew inspiration from personal narratives based on pre-determined themes in the empirical literature and interactive inserts based on evidence-based practice. To evaluate Rainbow Reflections, 167 trans- and cis-GBQ men completed pre-post measures before/after viewing a selection of comics and responded to an open-ended question about their experience. Overall, participants rated the comic book positively, with a majority (61.1%) indicating that they would recommend the book to a friend. After viewing the comics, participants reported greater comfort with initiating conversations about body image, greater satisfaction with their bodies, and reported higher estimates of how common body image concerns are for queer men. Themes that emerged from open-ended responses included participants reflecting on personal struggles (~ 30%), relating with the stories of others (~ 22%), reflecting on the standards of queer men (~ 18%), recognizing cis-privilege (~ 11%), reflecting on others’ struggles (~ 9%), negative feedback about the comics (~ 7%), and balancing masculine and feminine (~ 3%). Results of the study provide preliminary evidence for Rainbow Reflections as an effective community-friendly tool to promote awareness of and communication about body image for GBQ men.
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Notes
Queer is a contested term and we recognize that language and identities are complex, diverse, and hold different meanings for different people. In this paper, we use the term queer in its reclaimed form.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Cynthia Sedlezky, Danielle Catenacci, Victoria Jackman, Kaitlin Derbyshire, Michaela Young, Yasmina Leveille, and Zwetlana Rajesh for their assistance with mobilizing Rainbow Reflections to health centers across Canada (Canadian Institutes of Health Research Garnt Nos. CIHR ICS 155506, CIHR Dalhousie ICS-155510, CIHR Dalhousie 155509).
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The knowledge translation product and research described in this manuscript were supported by three independent Hacking the Knowledge Gap Trainee Awards for Innovative Thinking to Support LGBTQI2S Health and Wellness, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Institute of Gender and Health), which were awarded to Stéphanie Gauvin, Phillip Joy, and Matthew Lee. This manuscript received recognition by the Society for Sex Therapy & Research through the Sandra J. Leiblum Student Research Award, awarded to Stéphanie Gauvin.
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Three of the authors of this manuscript, Stéphanie Gauvin, Phillip Joy, and Matthew Lee, are co-editors of ‘Rainbow Reflections: Body Image Comics for Queer Men’, the comic book discussed in this manuscript. Although Rainbow Reflections is for sale by Ad Astra Comix, a for-profit publishing company, the three co-editors are donating 100% of royalties to Queer Health organizations in Canada. As such, authors of this manuscript have no financial conflicts of interest to declare.
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Gauvin, S.E.M., Joy, P., Dunn, B.L. et al. Empirical Evaluation of Rainbow Reflections: A Comic Book Anthology on Body Image for Queer Men. Arch Sex Behav 50, 69–82 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01876-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01876-8