Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons^™

Swerf Necropolitics: Three Sites Of Feminist Mistranslation And The Politics Of Feminist Exclusion, Aaron Hammes

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

The acronym SWERF, or Sex Work(er) Exclusive Radical Feminism, and its attendant ideologies brings up a number of questions and potential schisms for the enterprise of feminist thought more broadly. This inquiry examines what it means for feminism to exclude, what the excluders believe is gained by protecting certain boundaries around which identities and practices are included, and the ideological foundations and consequences of this thinking. SWERF logics are understood as mistranslations of the radical potentialities of feminism, clustered around three sites: exclusion (against bodily autonomy) , equivocation (between sex work and labor trafficking), and misrepresentation (of the sex worker …

Love And Romance In Early Modern British Literature, Sophia Szeneitas

Senior Honors Projects

This paper seeks to describe and analyze the way in which themes of love and romance were presented in literature in early modern Britain, and how those may differ from or be similar to romantic themes in the media of today. The works being analyzed include plays by William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, as well as some of Shakespeare’s sonnets. A few different lenses will be explored, including the interaction that love could have with the societal power structure and hierarchy present within the literature (such as the ways in which someone being the lover of a powerful person might …

Gender Unfreedom: Gender Diverse Perspectives From Digital India, Sara Bardhan

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Digital Age: Giving Sex Work A New Meaning, Allison Garvey

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

No abstract provided.

An Intersectional Analysis Of Lgbtq+ Healthcare In The United States, Nicole Niles

Senior Honors Projects

LGBTQ+ healthcare has made some significant progress in the last few decades, yet countless studies have shown that the American healthcare system still lags behind in equitable healthcare. My project sought to identify the issues that prevent the LGBTQ+ community from receiving quality healthcare, which involved the curation of over twenty academic journal articles for an annotated bibliography, along with a paper discussing these articles.

One of the most important concepts to gender studies is intersectionality. Coined by legal theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, intersectionality describes the concept of how one’s individual characteristics, including race, class, and gender, intersect and …

The Life Of A Lesbian Feminist Activist And Professor. Trigger Warning: My Lesbian Feminist Life By Sheila Jeffreys, R. Amy Elman

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Andrea Revised: Andrea Dworkin: The Feminist As Revolutionary By Martin Duberman, Phyllis Chesler

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

History, Activism, Erasure: Archival Paradox As Institutional Practice, Sarah H. Salter

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This essay connects the reparative assemblages of queer archiving practice to growing conversations in university studies. Tracing the fraught legal history of Penn State University’s first “Homophile” association in the 1970s, this essay theorizes how university records—and the processes of recording they index—participate in the creation of institutional identity and help establish institutional relations with their communities. Ultimately, it suggests that archivists and librarians act as mediators, unintentionally or purposefully, of the relations between vulnerable communities and the structures of power in which they are embedded.

Erotic Fever In The Arquives: Imagining A Queer Porn Paradise In Cait Mckinney And Hazel Meyer’S Exhibition Tape Condition: Degraded, Genevieve Flavelle

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

Focusing on Cait McKinney and Hazel Meyer’s site-specific exhibition Tape Condition: degraded (2016) at the ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ+ Archives, this paper explores reparative and desire-driven approaches for working with partial and missing histories within archives. Focusing specifically on artists working as archivists, I consider how the limitations of evidence-based histories can be addressed through creative practice. The essay unfolds in two parts. The first examines a selection of objects from the exhibition to draw out the historical context of The ArQuives, grounding my analysis of the conditions that have created and perpetuated specific archival gaps; in this case, pornography made …

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 …

Kate O’Brien: Queer Hauntings In The Feminist Archive, Naoise Murphy

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

The archive of Irish writer Kate O’Brien is a notable example of how queerness haunts the mainstream of feminist literary spaces. The 2019 Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) exhibition Kate O’Brien: Arrow to the Heart, which set out to restore this censored novelist’s place in the archive of twentieth-century Irish writing, provides a case study of these dynamics. Queer and feminist perspectives on the archive, with a focus on affect, hauntings and Sara Ahmed’s “queer use,” illuminate the conflicting epistemologies regulating the O’Brien archive. Reading this exhibition as an Irish queer, affective experience collides with entrenched structures of power …

An Offering On The Altar Of Queer History: Amalia Mesa-Bains And Sor Juana’S Library, Maria P. Chaves Daza

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This paper argues that home altars are archives. I consider the history of altars within Chicana community practices; political, and feminist critique of both patriarchal nationalism; and the role of the altar in challenging the public and private divide defined by nationalist discourses of the US and Aztlan. Furthermore, I use Amalia Mesa-Bains’s altar installation The Library of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz to consider how altars are spaces of feminist queer memory-making and resistance against colonial logics.

I Hate The Archives: A Queer Lesbian Meditation, Helis Sikk

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

Questioning the neutrality of archives is nothing new as feminist scholars have been doing it since the 1970s. More recently, queer theorists have pushed the subjectivity of the archive even further by emphasizing the importance of desire and pleasure as its central tenants. The archive in these discussions is sometimes a metaphor for a variety of experiences and at other times a brick-and-mortar physical space. Yet, there has been a lack of focus on the relationships between these two approaches. Similarly, there has not been enough discussion on how to challenge the exclusivity of the archive in our everyday praxis …

An Examination Of Non-Traditional Bridal Wear And Its Primary Consumer, Erica Thalmann, Kristina Dimaria

Senior Honors Projects

Bridal wear has traditionally been viewed as big white dresses. But as times change, so do brides’ preferences for bridal wear. Jumpsuits, rompers, short dresses, and other “non-traditional” choices are experiencing an increased demand in the market. Unfortunately, brides who seek these options are often not met with a promising assortment. This study examined primary consumers of non-traditional bridal wear. Specifically, we sought to find out whether women who belong to the LGBTQ community choose to consume more non-traditional bridal wear compared to heterosexual brides. The study also examined through which channels (e.g., online, in store, etc.) consumers predominantly purchase …

Towards A Trans Feminist Disability Studies, Niamh Timmons

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

In this article, I investigate the ways in which Transfeminism and Trans Women can be more integrated and entangled within feminist disability studies and Disability Justice, and vice versa. This would make the field a seemingly rich arena for considering the linkages between Trans Women, Transfeminism, dis/ability, and feminism. Yet, the primary texts of the feminist disability studies consistently leave out Trans Women in their analyses. Specific inclusion and highlighting the experiences of Trans Women, especially Trans Women who are disabled, is often missing from disability rights and disability justice projects. This is especially alarming given the way Trans folks, …

Virtual Avatars: Trans Experiences Of Ideal Selves Through Gaming, Kai Baldwin

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This article aims to explore the experiences transgender gamers have with avatars. Building on a foundation of identity construction theories from both media studies and queer studies, this study theorizes that these gamers will use their virtual world avatars to experiment with gender performance and ideal selves. These theories of identity construction are explored and examined through digital ethnography, by using the participant observation method, in which trans gamers are interviewed about their experiences with avatar creation and use. Based on the evidence gathered from those interviews, this study concludes that trans gamers in general tend to create avatars who …

Final Report As A Member Of The Lgbtq Center Staff, Joseph A. Santiago

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

It is with a heavy heart that I write my final report as a member of the LGBTQ Center Staff. I have been part of the Center since 2002 and have seen it grow in many ways over the years. It is my hope that it will continue to improve and establish the programs and services that make it a leader and innovator in LGBTIQQ and cultural studies. The following is a brief breakdown of the spring 2012 semester.

Lgbtq Center 2012 Brochure, Joseph A. Santiago, Annie Russell

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

This is the LGBTQ Center's 2012 Brochure. LGBTQ Center 2012 Brochure; GLBT Center; Joseph A Santiago; Joe Santiago; Annie Russell; Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) We seek to work with both the GLBTIQQ and straight communities in order to help change the campus climate at URI.; LBTQ Women’s Group This group is designed to provide a space for LBTQ women to be themselves in a safe and welcoming environment, while receiving support from each other and having fun.; Gays, Lesbians, and Allies Advancing Medicine (GLAAM) Group currently forming through two colleges at URI and the LGBTQ Center.; Student Organizations Coming Fall 2012 …

The Sexual Orientation And Gender Non-Discrimination Act, Julia Churchill Schoellkopf

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

The United States is still not a safe place for members of the LGBT community, demonstrated by the lack of federal laws protecting them and frequent discrimination. Because discrimination against LGBT people is still legal in the work place, they are mistreated and put out of work. To ensure their safety and economic security, LGBT people need the protection that is granted to women, people of color, veterans, the disabled, and many other hard-working Americans. The Sexuality and Gender Non-Discrimination Act must be passed and enforced to give this protection to LGBT members by prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual …

Students Teaching Students: Lgbtq History, Brian Stack

Senior Honors Projects

When the Students Teaching Students program called for submissions for student created courses I jumped at the opportunity to learn and share with a group of peers dedicated to a subject. The close to year long process culminated in the first Students Teaching Students course at URI, focusing on the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people: HPR 107: Introduction to LGBTQ History.

Just getting ready to teach was a multifaceted process, since I tend to fluctuate between ravenously seizing every book I can get my hands on and devising practical applications for that intellectual knowledge. First …

Gender Identity Disorder: An Unethical Diagnosis Of Normal Human Diversity, Julia Churchill Schoellkopf, Jasmine Mena

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is very unique among the other disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) because the treatment is used to confirm the alleged disordered belief (Ross 2009). All other disorders in the DSM-IV-TR are defined as the treatment altering the disordered belief and removing the symptoms, not reinforcing them as GID does (Ross 2009). This contradictory nature of the diagnosis has received lots of criticism from professionals over the years and many have offered alternatives.

Gender-Neutral Restrooms: Creating Safe And Accessible Spaces For All Students At Uri, Julia Schoellkopf

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

Is the simple task of going to the restroom uncomfortable, dangerous or inaccessible for you? If not, what if it was? This is something that many people struggle with on a daily basis. Most public restrooms are gender specific – men or women. There is no other option for people who feel uncomfortable with both options. Some populations that struggle with this are disabled people, families, and transgender people. As a member of the LGBTQ community and aide for special needs children, I want to make a difference for transgender and disabled students.

History, Current Practice, And Construction Of Drag, Floyd Anderson, Rob Koob, Lgbtq Center

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

History, Current Practice, and Construction of Drag by Deja D. Dellatarro (Floyd Anderson) and Autumn De La Rue (Rob Koob) was part of the 19th Annual LGBTIQQ Symposium.

The Lgbt Special Emphasis Program Of The Us Department Of Agriculture’S Natural Resources Conservation Service, Gary Blazejewski

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

The Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) is a branch of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The NRCS assists farmers and forest landowners to protect the soil, water, and other natural resources on their land. Located in almost every county within the United States, the NRCS employs almost 12,000 people.

The NRCS is an equal opportunity employer and provider. Within the NRCS and other agencies of the USDA, Special Emphasis Programs (SEPs) have become established as a component of the Equal Employment Opportunity Program. SEPs were set up to address the unique concerns of members of certain groups in achieving …

The 2nd Lgbtq Town Hall Meeting‏, Annie Russell, Joseph A. Santiago

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

On March 7th the Women's Center hosted the second LGBTQ Town Hall Meeting‏. A few people attended and questions about URI and the future campus climate survey were asked.

Love Is Louder Rally, Joseph A. Santiago, Brian Sit

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

Due to inclement weather the Love IS Louder Rally was held in Atrium 1 in the Memorial Union. This event was brought to and a collaboration of the GSA, LGBTQ Center, eXposure, ASA, and HVC. This event had 40 people attendance.

Lgbtq Center Training On Sexual Assault And Dating Violence, Keith Labelle

Women's Center

Keith Labelle faciliated a training to the LGBTQ Center on Sexual Assault and Dating Violence focused on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people. This is the powerpoint used for the training.

The First Lgbtq Town Hall Meeting‏, Joseph A. Santiago, Annie Russell

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

This was our first LGBTQ Town Hall Meeting, an event where students, faculty, and staff came to share thoughts and feelings on how our center should move forward. It took place Thursday, February 16 at 7pm in Multicultural Center, Room 005. Please share this pod cast of the meeting and we hope you will join us next time! Any and all are welcome and this was the first of many more opportunities for feedback.

Winter 2012 First Year Ra Training On Lgbtiqq Issues, Annie Russell

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

This is the Winter 2012 First Year RA Training on LGBTIQQ Issues presented by Annie Russell.

Six Crosses, Michael C. Vocino

Technical Services Department Faculty Publications

Brief short story or observation about life in a small southern Italian town.