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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Autism, Sexuality, And Bdsm, Ariel E. Pliskin Nov 2022

Autism, Sexuality, And Bdsm, Ariel E. Pliskin

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This paper will explore the following areas in which idiosyncratic, sensitive and intense autistic ways of being result in patterns of sexual behavior and reasons autistic people may be particularly drawn to BDSM: 1) autistic sensorimotor intensity promotes non-normative movement, including sadomasochistic, patterns of movement 2) the autistic preference for literal and concrete language matches the BDSM culture’s norms of explicit verbal consent 3) idiosyncratic autistic attention fits will with opportunities within BDSM for developing a long-term career of learning and deep engagement. 4) the double empathy problem results in marginalization of autistic people from mainstream society while BDSM communities …


An Interactionist Approach To Btlg Pride, Lain A.B. Mathers, Jason E. Sumerau Nov 2022

An Interactionist Approach To Btlg Pride, Lain A.B. Mathers, Jason E. Sumerau

The Qualitative Report

Within and beyond Symbolic Interactionism, sociological studies of bisexual, transgender, lesbian, and gay (BTLG) populations have expanded dramatically in the past two decades. Although such studies have invigorated our understanding of many aspects of BTLG life and experience, they have thus far left BTLG Pride relatively unexplored. How do BTLG populations experience Pride, and what insights might such efforts have for sociologically understanding such populations and events? We examine these questions through an interview study of bi+ people (i.e., sexually fluid people who identify as bisexual, pansexual, or otherwise outside of gay/straight binaries; Eisner, 2013). Specifically, we analyze how bi+ …


Puritan Patriarchal Construction Of American Sexual Morality And Woman's Worth: A Daughter's Response, Savannah Mather Jun 2022

Puritan Patriarchal Construction Of American Sexual Morality And Woman's Worth: A Daughter's Response, Savannah Mather

Honors Projects

While modern conceptions of Puritanism regard it as an artifact of American history, whose woman-killing theologies are long buried and forgotten, the bible in my father’s closet and the recently leaked Supreme Court draft to overturn Roe. Vs. Wade would argue otherwise. Cotton Mather’s favorite book Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion outlined both the ideals and detriments of the Anglo-American female identity. In this text, white women were taught to absolve themselves of the “nakedness” in dress Puritan settlers associated Indigenous people with. A woman’s ability to align herself to the ideals of chastity determined her own and her …


There Are Ghosts In The Machine, Jonathan Green May 2022

There Are Ghosts In The Machine, Jonathan Green

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are ghosts in the machine is a body of paintings that dare to dissolve the boundaries between my physical body, intimate desires, and paintings. Utilizing the aesthetics of leather lifestyles, the paintings express the transformational potential of desire and transgression. Oriented within my experience as a queer, transgender male, I call upon influences that range from the body horror classics by director David Cronenberg or the transgressive attitude of Nine Inch Nails, to theoretical works on the power of eroticism by Audre Lorde and Georges Bataille.Modified by hardware such as chains, zippers, and grommets, the paintings express the transformational …


The Happiest Place On Earth: A Grounded Theory Of Fulfillment In Mixed-Orientation Marriages, Isadora Ferreira De Melo May 2022

The Happiest Place On Earth: A Grounded Theory Of Fulfillment In Mixed-Orientation Marriages, Isadora Ferreira De Melo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mixed-orientation marriages (MOMs) are often misunderstood. There is a general cynicism in research literature and in the broader culture regarding the relational viability of same-sex attracted (SSA) individuals who marry someone of the opposite sex. However, there exist couples in MOMs that are resilient and attain satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to better understand how MOMs might become successful. By interviewing maritally satisfied mixed-orientation couples, the Model of Relational Self- Determination in Mixed-Orientation Marriages was developed. This model is separated into five stages that are organized around the experience of disclosure of the SSA spouse’s sexuality. Depending on …


"You're So Pretty For A [Insert Racial Slur]" - A Study On Hookup Culture At A Small Pwi, Simran Subramaniam Apr 2022

"You're So Pretty For A [Insert Racial Slur]" - A Study On Hookup Culture At A Small Pwi, Simran Subramaniam

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.


The False Dichotomy Of Sex And Religion In America, Kelsy Burke Feb 2022

The False Dichotomy Of Sex And Religion In America, Kelsy Burke

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Religion and sexuality are polysemic categories. While conservative religion often fights against progressive sexual politics in contemporary America, this “usual story” is fractured and destabilized by people navigating the relationship between religion and sexuality as complex social creatures, not pundits or caricatures. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship, I examine salient issues of sexual politics—including abortion and reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and pornography—to show how religious actors have been on both sides of these debates. Because of this polysemic complexity, scholars of religion must not only tend to the dynamic interaction between religion and other categories, we must also recognize and study …


Catholic Seminarians On “Real Men”, Sexuality, And Essential Male Inclusivity., Medora W. Barnes Jan 2022

Catholic Seminarians On “Real Men”, Sexuality, And Essential Male Inclusivity., Medora W. Barnes

2022 Faculty Bibliography

This paper is based on an empirical study using in-depth qualitative interviews that examines how Roman Catholic undergraduate seminarians in the United States understand gender, sexuality and masculinity. The findings describe how seminarians reject interactionist and social constructionist models of gender, and rely on a strict biological based model where sex/gender are seen as a unified concept. This leads them to adopt an “essential male inclusivity”, where they argue that all people assigned male at birth have equal claim to “manhood”, which eases pressures on them to act in gender normative ways. The social-psychological and identity-based motivations of these beliefs …


Regulating Latina Sexuality: Unlearning An At-Risk Framework To Make Meaning Of Sexual Autonomy, Victoria Jaqueline Amezcua Jan 2022

Regulating Latina Sexuality: Unlearning An At-Risk Framework To Make Meaning Of Sexual Autonomy, Victoria Jaqueline Amezcua

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.


Fragments Of An Anarcha-Transfeminist Sociology Of Sex Work, Veronica Andrek Jan 2022

Fragments Of An Anarcha-Transfeminist Sociology Of Sex Work, Veronica Andrek

Senior Projects Spring 2022

The purpose of this study is to explore ways in which feminist and sociological theory can be expanded by looking at the experiences of transgender women who are engaged in sex work specifically with an eye for transfeminist and anarchist political theory. Based on qualitative interviews with five transfeminine sex workers, I found that transfeminine sex workers, while facing substantial obstacles such as criminalization, transmisogyny, and poverty, are capable of building communities and forging new meanings in their lives. Within sex work are opportunities by which to reimagine labor and its role in our lives, with the possibility of abolishing …


Institutionalized Normative Heterosexuality : The Case Of Sexual Fluidity, Nicole Lamarre Jan 2022

Institutionalized Normative Heterosexuality : The Case Of Sexual Fluidity, Nicole Lamarre

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Since Alfred Kinsey’s early exploration of sexual behaviors, identities, and desires, there has been a proliferation of studies on what is generally regarded today as sexual fluidity. Inquiry into sexual histories that are neither wholly heterosexual nor homosexual (or even bisexual) has been incredibly well documented by this time. Generally, theories about sexual fluidity have taken one of two positions. The first camp interprets sexual variance as a sign of changing times and crumbling sexual and gender binaries. The second group of theorists postulate that sexual fluidity is neither new nor a particularly positive or liberating social trend. Instead of …


Satanists’ Sexual Self-Concept, Samuel Danielson Jan 2022

Satanists’ Sexual Self-Concept, Samuel Danielson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The present study examines sexuality within an international sample (n = 908) of modern Satanists. Sociodemographic and religious data from this sample are provided. Frequencies of Satanists’ engagement in different sexual behaviors are also explored. Furthermore, two aspects of Satanists’ sexual self-concept, sexual self-esteem and sexual anxiety, are assessed along with these variables’ relationships with the strength of Satanists’ group identity and the length of time identifying as a Satanist. Results indicate that the strength of Satanists’ identity impacts both their sexual self-esteem and sexual anxiety. Limitations and directions for future research on Satanism and sexuality are discussed.


New Directions In State Crime: A Queer Criminology Perspective, Haley Elizabeth Bates Jan 2022

New Directions In State Crime: A Queer Criminology Perspective, Haley Elizabeth Bates

Online Theses and Dissertations

While recent decades have seen an expansion of state crime literature, the scholarship has been slow to integrate new criminological perspectives. The field is aware of state-perpetrated harms committed against queer and gender non-conforming individuals, yet there are limited works that explicitly frame the state as a criminal actor. This paper argues for the integration of queer criminology into the field of state crime to elevate harms against the LGBTQ+ community into academic awareness. Case studies demonstrating direct state violence in Russia’s Chechen Republic and indirect state violence against trans women in the United States are included to highlight the …