Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Queer Coding And Representation: The Motion Picture Production Code And Its Impact On The Lgbtq Community, Amber Leech

English Summer Fellows

The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of guidelines for films imposed between 1934 and 1968 that prevented them from depicting immoral themes such as profanity, blasphemy, and glorification of criminal activity. While homosexuality was never explicitly mentioned, it was banned in films through a rule prohibiting the depiction of sex perversion. This resulted in many films using a technique called queer coding in which they could imply that a character was queer without alerting the Production Code Administration. Because queer characters could not be depicted without glamorizing homosexuality, however, many of these characters were villains, died in the …

Camp À La Campagne: Francis Poulenc’S Les Animaux Modèles, C.J. Everett

Dissertations

Francis Poulenc’s ballet Les Animaux modèles [The model animals] premiered in 1942 at the Paris Opéra during the German occupation of Paris to favorable reviews from prominent voices in the Parisian musical scene. Set in the French countryside (la campagne) in the seventeenth century, the ballet is a seemingly honest depiction of quaint rural life. To create the short vignettes that comprise the work, Poulenc (1899–1963) adapted well-known fables of the poet Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95). Existing discussions of Les Animaux modèles primarily focus on the ballet’s conception during World War II and the political implications of …

Publishing Inequality In Lgbtqia+ Research In Psychology: A Content Analysis, Mackenzie L. Fingerhut

Student Theses

Despite the American Psychiatric Association’s removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973 and ego-dystonic homosexuality in 1987, nonheteronormative sexual orientations remain stigmatized and underrepresented in scientific literature. To estimate the prevalence of LGBTQIA+ topics in popular psychological research, the author queried more than 20,000 articles from 1987 to 2022 in the two most cited journals in each of four major domains (cognitive, clinical, developmental and social). In addition, the author randomly queried 20% of all empirical articles published from 1987 to 2021 in the top eight empirical journals to understand how often sexuality …

Demons In The City Of Angeles: Gay Neo-Nazis In Southern California, Emma Bianco

Madison Historical Review

This article explores the perplexing history of self-proclaimed “Aryan homophiles:” the National Socialist League of Los Angeles. A neo-Nazi group made up of exclusively gay men, this organization’s reign from the 1970s to mid-1980s offers an atypical perspective into Southern California’s racial and political settings. Garnered from the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, this story showcases how far from utilizing a “paranoid style,” the NSL’s brand of hate did not stray too far from that already clearly established in the mainstream environment. The NSL forces us to challenge our preconceptions about what makes up the “typical” racial extremist.

Pastor Self-Perceived Preparedness And Training To Model And Lead Sensitivity In Their Congregations And Spiritually Lead Lgbtq Individuals: A Qualitative Study Of Pastors Of The Potomac Ministry Network Of The Assemblies Of God, Tina L. Boswell-Stickley

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Pastors are responsible for creating welcoming atmospheres within their church buildings and congregations. Societal changes have raised questions about pastors’ preparedness to do so, particularly regarding the LGBTQ community. This qualitative study interviewed lead pastors from the Potomac Ministry Network (PMN) of the Assemblies of God regarding their self-perceived preparedness to model sensitivity and minister to the LGBTQ community. It explored pastor training, experiences, perceptions, and needs to serve this population better. Interviews were transcribed, indexed, coded, and analyzed to identify themes and better understand the dynamics regarding this issue. Results are reported, including limitations, discussions, recommendations, and identified needed …

Lost Between Worlds: Gay Men In World War Ii, Braydon Conell

Graduate Review

While some queer World War II soldiers, like Christine Jorgensen, returned from war to become pioneers in the field of gender and sexuality, not all had the same support and experience. Anti-sodomy laws had a long history in the United States and its military, but no specific provision barred homosexuals from service until World War II. At the center of this change was the transition from a policy considering homosexual acts as a crime to a psychiatrist-controlled policy that homosexuality was an illness that made gay men unfit to fight. For those not excluded, the threat of an other-than-dishonorable discharge, …

Edmonds, John Buell, 1945-2020 (Mss 742), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 742. Manuscript of Called, Justified, Glorified, and Gay: The Fictional Memoirs of Gospel Singer, Josephus Hezekiah Carson, by John Edmonds, a memoir based on the Bowling Green, Kentucky native’s life as a gay, African-American gospel singer. Includes a proposal for marketing the book, and several handwritten notes and lyrics. This material contains graphic sexual content.

How To Make A Monster: The Homosexual Experience In Horror And Thriller Cinema, Mia Lindenburg

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

Horror and thriller’s subtextual stories within cinema have been prominent across many subgenres, creating a wide-spread correlation between the homosexual and the monstruous that grew even noticeable after the start of the AIDS epidemic. Much of horror critique and analysis has been focused on the objectification of the feminine, but the unique role that the male plays in horror and thriller (both as a villain and victim) deserves equal inspection. The research done in this paper demonstrates how horror cinema skews the suggested gender roles and how fear makes us more easily let go of the societal norms held so …

Archives Of “Sexual Deviance”: Recovering The Queer Prisoner, Vic Overdorf

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

Queer federal prisoners are a population often inaccessible to queer memory due to the strong institutional barriers that separate these individuals from life outside of prison walls. This paper asks: how can we employ feminist methodologies in the recovery of queer voices from federal prison archives? By documenting perceived deviance and perversions, carceral institutions in the 1930s-1950s built a case to justify their use of discursive and physical violence against queer bodies. This paper argues that carceral archives serve as norming mechanisms, creating barriers between normal and abnormal, heterosexual and homosexual. To counter this norming, Ann Laura Stoler (2002) provides …

A Queer(Er) Genocide Studies, Lily Nellans

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This paper examines how queerness interacts with and is implicated in traditional genocides, i.e. those directed at racial, religious, national, and ethnic groups - the groups defined as protected classes in the Genocide Convention. It poses the following question: How can scholars of Genocide Studies learn from the queer theory-Genocide Studies nexus? To answer, this paper demonstrate how three distinct queer theory concepts can be woven with Genocide Studies to reveal novel insights into some of the field’s preeminent questions. Specifically, it draws on queer intellectual curiosity, heteronormativity, and reproductive futurism. Connecting queer theory with Genocide Studies yields empirical, analytical, …

Marching Straight In Sweden: The Parade Of A Queer Swedish Utopia Or False Hope?, Ainslie Lounsbury

Scandinavian Studies Student Award

Sweden is considered to be one of the most open, welcoming countries in the world. Often, the country is viewed as a shining example of inclusion, especially in regards to their support of the LGBTQ+ community. When analyzing various media from the country, however, many questions arise. Are the groups creating these advertisements doing so for the benefit of the LGBTQ+ community? Or are they for boosting sales, tourism, and recruitment? What if these advertisements actually harm the LGBTQ+ community through stereotyping? Through the analysis of Swedish military and corporate images supporting the LGBTQ+ community, Lounsbury explores possible ideas about …

Confronting Wartime Sexual Violence: Public Support For Survivors In Bosnia, Douglas D. Page, Samuel Whitt

Political Science Faculty Publications

Existing research on conflict-related sexual violence focuses on the motivations of perpetrators and effects on survivors. What remains less clear is how postconflict societies respond to the hardships survivors face. In survey experiments in Bosnia, we examine public support for financial aid, legal aid, and public recognition for survivors. First, we find a persistent ethnocentric view of sexual violence, where respondents are less supportive when the perpetrator is identified as co-ethnic and survivors are perceived as out-groups. Second, respondents are less supportive of male survivors than female survivors, which we attribute to social stigmas surrounding same-gender sexual activity. Consistent with …

Harold, They're Lesbians!: Interrogating And Understanding The Histories Of "Lesbians.", Chloe Sheraden

History Presentations

No abstract provided.

Perpetua And Felicity: The Unofficial Lesbian Saints, Mari Tonsfeldt

Essential Studies UNDergraduate Showcase

The concept of homosexuality did not exist prior to the nineteenth century. In literature, this made lesbians a rarity. With the absence of women writers and even fewer lesbian writers, the question for historians became how to find our queer ancestors. Defining anyone in the Medieval Age as homosexual is anachronistic at but modern lesbians could hardly be the first.

Saints Perpetua and Felicity are commonly regarded among the LGBTQ community and members of the Catholic Church as the Patron Saints of Same-Sex Relationships but in St. Perpetua’s self-penned diary and martyr story, the two women have only one direct …

Male Same-Sex Relations In Socialist China, Wenqing Kang

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hiding Behind The Closet Door: Representations Of The Homosexual Experience In A Streetcar Named Desire, Antonia Piccirillo

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

Themes related to homosexuality and the homosexual experience are interwoven in many layers throughout Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. This research paper analyzes contemporary commentary on homosexuality from the 1940s and ‘50s, Blanche’s experiences with light and perception, and moments of homosociality between the male poker players, to interpret how the homosexual experience is represented and exposed on stage through the two main characters in the play, Blanche and Stanley. Williams uses a heteronormative context to portray the homosexual experience, thus mirroring the way gay men had to navigate life in the closet while presenting to the public …

The Anti-Orpheus: Queering Myth In Ducastel Et Martineau’S Théo Et Hugo Dans Le Même Bateau (Paris 05:59), Todd W. Reeser

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau’s 2016 film Théo et Hugo dans le même bateau (Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo) concludes on an Orphic note, inviting a consideration of the entire film as based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The film appropriates but also radically transforms elements of the foundational myth—including especially Orpheus’s turn to pederasty in Ovid’s Latin version—crafting a queer love story based on potentiality out of the tragedy of the heterosexual love story. In so doing, the film channels Herbert Marcuse’s idea of Orphic refusal in Eros and Civilization, opening up the myth …

Quiet Heroes, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Quiet Heroes (2018), directed by Jenny Mackenzie, Jared Ruga, and Amanda Stoddard.

Believer, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Believer (2018), directed by Don Argott.

Incomplete Utopianism: Homosexuality In The Dispossessed, Beck O. Adelante

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

This paper draws on research about queer theory and history to analyze, through a literary utopian lens, Ursula K. Le Guin’s treatment of homosexuality in her novel The Dispossessed. The novel itself is said to be “an ambiguous utopia,” a description that holds up in an analysis of the other various parts of the novel. When it comes to sexuality, however, Le Guin’s discussion and writing on the topic is notably lacking. It is paid lip service through a brief showing of neutral attitude on the “anarchist” planet in the novel, but never given further analysis or a more …

"A Most Disgraceful, Sordid,Disreputable, Drunken Brawl": Paul Cadmus And The Politics Of Queerness In The Early Twentieth Century, Samuel W D Walburn

The Purdue Historian

This paper examines the work of Paul Cadmus from 1930 to 1948. Over the span of nearly three decades, Cadmus's art evolved from covert depictions of queer culture to an explicit depiction of the politics of queerness in immediate postwar America. Cadmus’s legacy is unique because his art documents the shifting conceptualizations of gender and sexuality in the first half of the twentieth century. He is also notable because he so masterfully maneuvered the liminal space between private and public, painting subversive images immersed in covert queerness early in his career and later using queer art as a tool of …

Coming Out And Losing Out: Gay Men In Emerging Adulthood And Family Support, Joshua Cafferty

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis utilizes interviews completed on twenty homosexual, cisgender men who are in emerging adulthood to gain a better understanding of the ways in which family support functions, and can change at this lifestage. Unlike much of the previous research, this qualitative study argues that family support is not a question of simple acceptance or rejection, but is instead a complex combination of multiple forms of support, that can be lost or sustained for a multitude of reasons. Emerging adulthood is applied to show the benefits of family support during this life-stage, as well as to show the complexity of …

The Representation Of Instinctive Homosexuality And Immoral Narcissism In Gide’S The Immoralist (1902) And Mann’S Death In Venice (1912), Louise Willis

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "The Representation of Instinctive Homosexuality and Immoral Narcissism in Gide’s The Immoralist (1902) and Mann’s Death in Venice (1912)" Louise Willis examines two early literary representations of homosexuality in André Gide's The Immoralist (1902) and Thomas Mann's Death in Venice (1912). She reads them with fin-de-siècle sexological theory, mainly Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905). Willis argues that the texts reflect the reconception of homosexuality as a latent instinct with pathological expression, rather than a sinful act of free will. The article explains that visual imagery conveys homoerotic desire, by incorporating Nietzsche's concept of …

The Unkindness Of Strangers: Exploring Success And Isolation In The Dramatic Works Of Tennessee Williams, Chelsea Nicole Gilbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to explore the theme of isolation in the dramatic works of Tennessee Williams using his essay “The Catastrophe of Success” as the base theory text. The essay attacks the American idea of success though an in-depth examination of the “Cinderella myth” that Williams claims is so prevalent in both Hollywood and American Democracy. Williams’ deconstruction of this myth reveals that America’s love for stories like it results the isolation of three groups: homosexuals, women and the physically disabled and terminally ill. Williams passes no judgment on his characters, instead showing their lives as they truly are. Through …

The Wound, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Wound (2016), directed by John Trengove.

Lobbying To Lawsuits : Optimistic Biases And Tactical Transitions In The Movement For Lgbt Equality, Katherine Zuber

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This research examines the question of strategic choice in the context of the gay and lesbian rights movement. Although social movements often combine legislative, electoral and legal strategies to effect change, systematic legal efforts on behalf of gay rights did not emerge until well after a concerted lobbying and legislative campaign arose. Why did a politically powerless group seeking rights turn to litigation much later than we might have expected? A targeted case study of gay activism in Boston confirms that political opportunity is an important external factor that shapes strategic choice. However, the impact of these structural factors is …

Fertility And Reproduction's Niche: Human Sexual Diversity, Samuel W. Austin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract: Biologically exploring the origins and forms of human sexuality is of paramount importance. Scientific research has indicated that homosexuality was linked to reproduction, fertility, and adaptive child caring strategies, traits that seem to display cross-cultural similarities. This suggests that sexual diversity may be one of human’s earliest adaptations. While most of the previous research has been on individuals of European descent, little research on Native American populations has been completed to test whether these patterns continue in their population.

The research presented here tests the Sexually Antagonistic Hypothesis for Male Homosexuality, Fraternal Birth Order Effect, and childhood atypical gender …

Maurice's Love, Peggy Wood

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

“By linking their love to the past he linked it to the present” (Forster 745).

E. M. Forster’s Maurice is a widely read and taught text that features homosexuality in Edwardian England. The focus of this thesis is an in-depth analysis of Maurice’s character, with a specific emphasis on the character’s coming out process. The coming out process is still a significant issue in today’s world. Hate crimes, ostracism, and many other negatives can be associated with the coming out process that is not entirely different from what Maurice Hall faced. This statement is easily supported by historical accounts and …

D’Une Altérité L’Autre. L’Énigme De L’Homosexualité Dans Le Bel Immonde De V. Y. Mudimbe, Justin Bisanswa

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This study of V. Y. Mudimbe’s novel Le bel immonde is situated at the intersection of sociology and rhetoric and examines the complexity of its female character, Ya, through the question of homosexuality. Presented as a minor news item, homosexuality is constantly represented as a social, sexual and affective enigma, eliciting in the novel a synthesis of meaning which ads to discoveries and a range of considerations on human relationships. Mobile, but elusive, fleeting and ephemeral, Ya represents an irreducible alterity as well as an emblematic portrait of an individual caught between two worlds. The lover of a minister who …

Perceived Life Satisfaction Among Gay Males: The Coming-Out Process, Kimberly D. Carter

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research project was a mixed method of both a quantitative and qualitative design to examine the perception of 38 gay male’s life satisfaction post coming out. In the past few years, laws affecting the gay community have been at the forefront of policies and debates, given all communities an insight into the specific challenges that are endured. As the gay community starts to openly live their lives as a gay man, there has been a need to accept and understand not only the challenges, but to give acceptance.

Additionally, this project sought out to determine if the gay community …