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

Bunker, Lisa, Molly Roberts, Jesse Lucas

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Lisa Bunker is an author who lives in Exeter, New Hampshire and worked at WMPG at the University of Southern Maine for fourteen years during her process of coming out as transgender. She is the author of Felix Yz and an upcoming book called Zenobia July, but spent most of her life in broadcast radio before she left to pursue a full time career in writing.

Citation

Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, University of Southern Maine Libraries. …

Transgressive Acts: Adapting Applied Theatre Techniques For A Transgender Community, Theo F. Lefevre

Masters Theses

This MFA Thesis traces my work as a joker (a la Theatre of the Oppressed) and facilitator through a three-year-long project with a trans applied theatre troupe. The troupe explored several techniques, including Image Theatre, Playback Theatre, storytelling exercises, and somatic movement. In three semester-long workshops, the troupe focused work around three sets of techniques. In the first workshop, the troupe explored the community-based interview process of Undesirable Elements, as designed by Ping Chong in collaboration with Talvin Wilks and Sara Zatz. These techniques were interrogated using queer and trans temporalities. In the second unit, the troupe practiced Augusto …

Laverne Cox And The Fight For Lgbt+ Rights, Kelley Ambrose

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This research paper highlights Laverne Cox and her life, accomplishments, and fight for equality among women, people of color, and the LGBT+ community. It speaks of different laws and regulations that hold or have held transgender people back and explains Cox’s relevance to the First Year Seminar course “Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History”. It also touches on discrimination and the problems faced by transgender people in America.

Thicker Than Blood, Kendall Norwood

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Everyone seeks acceptance in one facet or another throughout his or her life, and for Riley McCracken this desire for acceptance is no different. “Thicker Than Water” is a photojournalistic look at the life of a young person who recently has entered the phase of physically transitioning from female to male. Through documentation of Riley’s journey, this project showcases a humanizing and personal face to the relevant discussion of LGBT rights fought for nationally as well as in Kentucky. Riley’s story is one that echoes the struggle that many trans and gender dysmorphic individuals face, but the struggle is not …

Research Brief: "Mental Health Of Transgender Veterans Of The Iraq And Afghanistan Conflicts Who Experienced Military Sexual Trauma", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the relationship between identifying as a transgender veteran, military sexual trauma, and mental health disorders. In policy and practice, transgender veterans who have experienced military sexual trauma should discuss the trauma history with a mental health provider, and health care providers should work with transgender veterans to connect them with proper counseling services. The DoD should work to reduce gender identity stigma within the military and the VA should research MST treatment effectiveness among transgender veterans. Suggestions for future research include using self-rated identity as a variable and determining more about the effectiveness of MST treatments …

Decoding Darkmatter, Crystal J. Waterton

Theses and Dissertations

Decoding DarkMatter is a documentary film about two Asian transgender poetry performance artists: Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian. It documents their journey from Stanford University to their first large theater production; It Gets Bitter, at Joe’s Pub in New York City.

Beyond Acceptance: Serving The Needs Of Transgender Students At Women’S Colleges, Annie Freitas

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

The inclusion of transgender students in women’s colleges has been widely debated on campuses and in the media. Despite some opposition, transgender students at women’s colleges are growing in number and visibility. This study examines the ways that transgender students’ experiences differ from the experiences of cisgender students in both single-sex and co-educational environments. Conclusions are based on assessments of support, reported attitudes towards transgender students, and reported knowledge about transgender history and social issues using responses to a survey completed by 184 students at a variety of colleges and universities. The study found significant differences between women’s colleges and …

Navigating University Bureaucracy For Social Change: Transgender & Gender-Nonconforming Students, Kate Hoffman

Senior Theses

In large university structures, bureaucracy serves to provide academic support and foster student success. Additionally, some argue that with the increasing view of universities as businesses, bureaucracy is ever-growing to serve as the ‘customer support’ for their students. Due to pressures for large university campuses to accommodate more and more students, the bureaucratic offices to serve those students are ever-increasing and ever-diversifying. Regardless of how one may view the purpose of bureaucracy, it has been lauded as an inefficient and frustrating necessity to navigating higher education. This paper will contain an analysis of a large Southern university campus, using the …

Flesh In Line With The Mind : Gender In Caitlin Kiernan’S The Drowning Girl., Sarah Buckley

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

This paper analyzes how Caitlyn R. Kiernan in her novel The Drowning Girl characterizes gender identity, particularly in regards to women, both transgender and cisgender. The book's characterization of gender roles for cisgender men, cisgender women, and transgender women, while seeming on the surface to subvert sexist stereotypes, reproduces the pitfalls of feminist literary criticism popularized in the 1970s and 1980s. Notably, such themes include viewing women's madness as a method of transcending masculine rationality, a dichotomized essentialism of masculinity and femininity, and universalizing women's experience without regards to race, class, and nationality. Transgender autobiographical and literary archetypes employed in …

Intersexion, Cynthia Davis

English Theses & Dissertations

A combination of memoir, reportage, and opinion writing, Intersexion explores the realities of growing up intersex while also examining the conservative mindset that caused the narrator—a happily married suburban mother—to lose a tenure-track position at a Christian university for being unwilling to label Danny’s intersex condition as “repugnant” and “offensive to God.”

Reimagining Movements: Towards A Queer Ecology And Trans/Black Feminism, Gabriel Benavente

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to bridge feminist and environmental justice movements through the literature of black women writers. These writers create an archive that contribute towards the liberation of queer, black, and transgender peoples.

In the novel Parable of the Talents, Octavia Butler constructs a world that highlights the pervasive effects of climate change. As climate change expedites poverty, Americans begin to blame others, such as queer people, for the destruction of their country. Butler depicts the dangers of fundamentalism as a response to climate change, highlighting an imperative for a movement that does not romanticize the environment as heteronormative, but …

Reblogging Gender: Non-Binary Transgender Subjectivities And The Internet, Lee (Molly) J. Fraser

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis is an examination of non-binary transgender communities on the internet and the new, non-binary modes of subjectivity that can be read within these spaces. After my first introductory chapter, which situates my work in the context of previous contributions to transgender theory, I approach non-binary online communities from different perspectives. My second chapter reads certain codes of communication within non-binary friendly online spaces (such as Tumblr) as a form of neo-Dadaism, as well as cyborgian manifestations. My third chapter contends with the interactions of non-binary online communities within a society structured by neo-liberal institutional capitalism. My fourth and …

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans And Queer + (Lgbtq+) Experiences While Accessing Healthcare And Social Services Within Brantford/Brant County, Christine Wildman

Social Justice and Community Engagement

The purpose of the qualitative study was to better understand how Brantford/Brant County LGBTQ+ community members experience accessing healthcare and social services. Over one month I interviewed 8 LGBTQ+ community members and conducted a focus group with 4 Trans and Gender non-conforming individuals. An intersectional feminist and critical Trans politic analysis was used to understand how LGBTQ+ community members experience accessing care. The results reveal that LGBTQ+ community members experience structural violence through oppressive administrative practices. Specifically, heteronormative and homonormative behaviors and assumed heterosexuality and/or gender, which creates a climate where LGBTQ+ people do not feel safe seeking healthcare and/or …

Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Youths’ Public Facilities Use And Psychological Well-Being: A Mixed-Method Study, Lance S. Weinhardt, Patricia Stevens, Hui Xie, Steven Alan John, Immaculate Apchemengich, David Kioko, Shannon Chavez-Korll, Katherine M. Cochran, Jennifer M. Watjen, Nickolas H. Lambrou

Public Health Faculty Articles

Purpose: In this study, we explored experiences and feelings of safety in public facilities in relation to psychological well-being among transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) youth in the Midwest in the summer of 2016, in the context of ongoing legislative proposals and regulations regarding school and public bathroom use in the United States.

Methods: We used a mixed-method approach, with (1) a self-administered, paper-and-pencil survey of 120 TGNC youth, focusing on differences of self-esteem, resilience, quality of life (QoL), perceived stigma, feelings of safety, and experiences of public facility use and (2) two focus group interviews (n …

Addressing The Needs Of Transgender Military Veterans: Better Access And More Comprehensive Care, Michelle Dietert, Dianne Dentice, Zander Keig

Faculty Publications

Purpose: There is a gap in social science literature addressing issues of access and quality of care for transgender military veterans. Psychologists, medical doctors, and other health professionals are beginning to address some of the barriers present in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system that affect veterans who are also transgender and intersex. Over a 7-year period, between 2006 and 2013, 2600 transgender veterans were served by the VA. Data from several surveys revealed that most transgender veterans perceive the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to be less than accommodating for their special needs. The goal of this study …

Drag Performance And Femininity: Redefining Drag Culture Through Identity Performance Of Transgender Women Drag Queens, Cristy Dougherty

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Viewing gender as a performance reveals how gender identity is shaped and formed. There is currently tensions associated with drag queen performance as an act of subversion and transgression from the heteronormative definition of gender and drag as a perpetuation of heteronormative definitions of gender. There is also a tension between the affirmation of femininity and transgression from gender binaries of womanhood. In order to address these tensions, this thesis project examined the reasoning behind how transgender women and gay men drag queen performers navigate the world of femininity. Specifically, this study explored the varied reasons behind performing femininity through …

The Partners Of Transgender People : Gender, Sexuality, And Embodiment In Relationships Through Transition, Carey Jean Sojka

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this dissertation, I explore the gendered, sexual, and embodied negotiations of the social world by thirty-five partners of transgender people as their significant other experienced various aspects of gender transition. This research shows the ways that people peripheral to a gender transition can be intimately impacted by it. Participants in this study demonstrated shifted understandings of their own and their partner’s gender and sexuality (i.e. Jason Cromwell’s (1999) transsituated perspective), as well as shifted understandings of gender and sexuality on a structural level, thus expanding our understanding of transgender studies by addressing how the perspectives of intimate partners of …

A Comparison Of Health Disparities Among Transgender Adults In Colorado (Usa) By Race And Income, Kristie L. Seelman, Sarah R. Young, Megan Tesene, Luis R. Alvarez-Hernandez, Leo Kattari

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Transgender individuals face heightened risks for discrimination, harassment, and violence that impact their psychosocial well-being and physical health. However, few studies have thoroughly examined the general physical and mental health of transgender adults or within-group health differences by race/ethnicity and income. To that end, after controlling for health insurance status, age, and engagement in exercise, this study asks: (a) are transgender people of color more likely than White transgender individuals to experience poor health outcomes?, and (b) is lower annual household income among transgender adults associated with poorer health outcomes? The current study analyzes secondary data from a survey of …

Bye Bye Binary: Exploring Non-Binary Youths' Experiences Of Mental Health, Discrimination, And Community Belongingness, Ellis Furman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In recent years, there has been an increase in research focusing on the impacts of social exclusion and discrimination on the mental health of transgender populations. Despite this, few studies have focused on the experiences of gender non-conforming, or “non-binary” individuals. This community-based participatory research (CBPR) study (N = 10) used the arts-informed method of body mapping, individual interviews, and group discussions to examine non-binary young peoples’ experiences of discrimination in relation to mental health. Participants consisted young people (ages 16-25) living in Waterloo, Ontario. A visual analysis, thematic analysis, and member-checking session were employed to analyze collected data. …