American Studies Commons^™

"The Least Of These": Towards An Integrated Queer Of Color Critique Of The Prison Industrial Complex, Jahqwahn J. Watson

Senior Independent Study Theses

The prison is a site of social death and death-making. the technology of social death originates in the American institution of chattel slavery and has reemerged in the prison industrial complex. The text Prison and Social Death approaches social death in prisons through the lens of reproductive justice, but the author does so in a way that neglects the influence of race in one’s prison experience. Using the lens of necropolitics, I seek to understand how the markers of race, gender, and sexuality compound to produce experiences unique to the black woman/queer/and trans folk in the prison. Necropolitics contend that …

Queer Tastes: An Exploration Of Food And Sexuality In Southern Lesbian Literature, Jacqueline Kristine Lawrence

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Southern identities are undoubtedly influenced by the region's foodways. However, the South tends to neglect and even to negate certain peoples and their identities. Women, especially lesbians, are often silenced within southern literature. Where Tennessee Williams used literature to bridge gaps between gay men and the South, southern lesbian literature severely lacks a traceable history of such connections. The principal objective of this thesis is to explore the ways in which southern lesbians manipulate food metaphors to describe their sexual desires and identities. This thesis only begins to lay out a history of southern lesbian literature as many lesbian writers …

An Evolving Dyke-Otomy: Lesbianism And Learning, Megan Pugh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Homophobia and prejudice against the lesbian community have been argued to be consequences of lack of education within academic and non-academic spaces. This study introduces a pedagogical model of gendered lesbian identity that can act as a tool for educators to understand lesbian experiences, and thus contribute to addressing issues related to homophobia and prejudices in the classrooms and beyond. Based on thematic analysis of data generated by a qualitative online survey of 29 participants, this study argues that notions of social norms, individual agency, and importance of advocacy are critical points of emphases in the proposed educational model. Although …

Comparative Study Of Intentional Communities, Jessica Merrick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Moving to Florida to retire has become commonplace among American elders, though we have seldom addressed how lesbians and gay men navigate sexual identity in retirement. I undertake ethnography of three suburban, retirement-aged residential communities in Florida in which lesbians and gay men make community in order to understand how identities are produced by and within communities, the significance of suburban gay communities in the post-gay community era, and how residents from each community engage dominant discourse. Sanctuary Cove

1 is a ―gay and lesbian‖ retirement community; Bayside Park is a ―women‘s-only‖ (lesbian) community; and Heritage Estates is a heteronormative …

Metropolitan Community Church: A Perfectly Queer Reading Of The Bible, Matthew D. Stewart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the hermeneutical strategies that Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) has employed in interpreting the Bible. As a new religious movement (NRM) with an outreach to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered individuals MCC interprets the text in light of its membership. The interpretive strategies and methodologies employed are in keeping with other denominations in the Christian tradition. This provides a possible avenue by which MCC can be classified within the Christian tradition.

The interpretation of the biblical text is given in light of the gay people who compose MCC's membership. Gays and lesbians have experienced social and religious stress. …

Elizabeth Bishop And Her Women:Countering Loss, Love, And Language Through Bishop's Homosocial Continuum, Donna Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Elizabeth Bishop's seemingly understated and yet nuanced poetry with a specific focus on loss, love, and language through domesticity to create a poetic home. In this sense, home offers security for a displaced orphan and lesbian, moving from filial to amorous love, as well as the literary home for a poet who struggled for critical recognition. Further, juxtaposing the familiar with the strange, Bishop situates her speaker in a construction of artificial and natural boundaries that break down across her topography and represent loss through the multiple female figures that permeate her poems to convey the uncertainty …

The Effects Of Homophobia, Legislation, And Local Policies On Heterosexual Pupil Services Professionals' Likelihood Of Incorporating Gay Affirming Behaviors In Their Professional Work With Sexual Minority Youths In Public Schools, Lance Santoro Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that non-judgmental, unbiased counseling (that includes an advocacy component) is effective in addressing the psycho-social needs of sexual minority youths--a population of students considered at-risk (Reynolds & Koski, 1994; Savin-Williams, 1994). The ability to provide such services is impeded if the clinician has not first come to terms with his or her own feelings and attitudes about homosexuality (Pederson, 1988). This study examined the attitudes and anticipated professional behaviors relevant to sexual minority youths of 309 pupil services professionals in the fields of school psychology, school social work, school nursing, and school counseling. Participants from two regions of …

Narratives Of Lesbian Transformation: Coming Out Stories Of Women Who Transition From Heterosexual Marriage To Lesbian Identity, Clare F. Walsh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women who have transitioned to a lesbian identity from a previously heterosexual one lack a voice in the academic literature. Identity formation in this subset of women, those who chose a heterosexual marriage, had children, and later in life self identify as lesbian, has not been fully investigated. For this project, eight women were asked to answer this question: How have you negotiated the path from heterosexuality to lesbianism? Four main themes were found dealing with heteronormativity and accountability, relationship with children, transition, and acceptance by the lesbian community. Additionally, I introduce a new term---gender-normativity---to describe these women who only …

The 24th Of July: A Novel-In-Progress, Kimberley A. Hanna

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"The 24th of July" is a fictional novel set in the present day. The story centers around Michelle, an eighteen year old girl from Warm Springs, Idaho, who fears the sexual games she has played with her cousin Edna have tainted her for a Temple marriage. She meets Duke, a charismatic fundamentalist polygamist, who believes polygamy is part of the plan for eternal salvation as set down by the original doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the prophet Joseph Smith. Michelle sees Duke as her chance to put her relationship with Edna in the past …