how r u??? Lesbian and bi-identified youth on MySpace.

For lesbian/bi youth, MySpace Groups have become virtual gathering places to flirt, joke, and occasionally engage one another on issues of identity and relationships. These Groups offer them opportunities to connect in ways unknown to previous generations of lesbian/bi women. This article identifies types of Topic Forums within Groups that members use to initiate ongoing exchanges as a form of virtual conversation. Four topic threads that emerged from these Forums were explored to gather information on the kinds of issues discussed by young lesbian/bi women online. The topics were "should frequent sex be relevant to a great relationship?"; "Random"; "r u out?? how did u come out?? how did ur parents take it?? when did u come out??"; and "bi or lesbian"). They provide the basis for a descriptive analysis of the ways in which young lesbian/bi women present themselves to others, react to one another, and share thoughts, experiences, and emotions in cyberspace.

Three types of memory for childhood sexual abuse: relationships to characteristics of abuse and psychological symptoms.

ABSTRACT. Data from a clinical sample (N = 88) reporting childhood sexual abuse was compared by types of memory, abuse characteristics, and psychological symptoms. Three types of memory were identified from a questionnaire ("Always" n = 27 [31%], "Recovered" n = 41 [46%], and "Both" n = 20 [23%]). When compared with narrative reports from a subset (n = 30) of the sample, the lines between "Always," "Recovered," and "Both" types of memory were ambiguous. Consistency across reports, however, was 83%. Memories classified as either "Recovered" or "Both" were associated with earlier age-at-onset and more severe psychological symptoms compared to those who "Always" remembered CSA. No significant differences were found between the "Both" and "Recovered" groups.

Memories of childhood sexual abuse: narrative analyses of types, experiences, and processes of remembering.

The study explored types of memory for childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in a clinical sample of 30 women and identified factors that led some women (n = 24) to report recovered memories. Questionnaires produced three types of memory: always (n = 6), recovered (n = 14), both (n = 10); however, analysis of narrative data also revealed the use of language that could not be categorized into discrete types. Recovered memories were linked to three categories of experience (cumulative reactions, atypical reactions, and atypical experiences). Subcategories identified specific contexts associated with those experiences. Findings suggest that further research is needed on the phenomenology of memory experiences using language derived from CSA survivors and a better understanding of the long-term process of interpretations of key experiences that result in reports of recovered memories.