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

"Purple People": "Sexed" Linguistics, Pleasure, And The "Feminine" Body In The Lyrics Of Tori Amos, Megim A. Parks

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The notion of a “feminine” style has been staunchly resisted by third-wave feminists who argue that to posit a “feminine” style is essentialist. Yet, linguists such as Norma Mendoza-Denton and Elinor Ochs discuss indexicality and shifting through salient variables, a process called entextualization. Further, French feminists such as Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva use the linguistic concept of intertextuality to explain certain poetic uses of language that might cause what Luce Irigaray calls “irruption of the semiotic chora”—moments within language where boundaries in the semiotic chain of signification are “blurred.” Thus, while current feminism has moved strictly away …

The Embodiment Of Masculinity Among Trans* Identified Men, Abby Marie Haak

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Within masculinity studies, the majority of the literature focuses on the perspectives of cisgender men. The current research project aimed to explore the concept of masculinity further by including the perspectives of trans* identified men. I conducted in-depth interviews with trans* identified men in order to answer three research questions: How do trans* identified men (FTM, transsexual, transgender, transguys, genderqueer, or gender variant) embody (incorporate and express) and perform masculinity? How do trans* identified men recount their experiences of gender socialization? And finally, how, if at all, do trans* identified men experience transphobic discrimination? I asked the first two questions …

Twice As Likely To..., Adrienne M. Ellis

SURGE

TRIGGER WARNING!

I am white. I am bisexual. I am female. I have been sexually assaulted. Three times. [excerpt]

Living Openly: 2 Narratives Of Black And White Lesbians Living In Cape Town, Rebecca Gant

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

After apartheid, South Africa created an amazingly progressive Constitution that was one of the first in the world to include gay rights. The passing of a law legalizing same-sex marriage, as well as the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act work to create a world of equality and acceptance of homosexuality, at least on paper. Unfortunately, a far different reality exists, as the failed implementation of these provisions has created a large dichotomy between Constitution and public opinion, with many individuals remaining unsupportive of gay rights. My project originally sought to explore the effects of this discrepancy …

Queer Pedagogical Desire: A Study Guide, Matt Brim

Publications and Research

This essay explores the queer pedagogical desires that attended my writing of the Study Guide for the documentary film United in Anger: A History of ACT UP (Jim Hubbard, 2012). The analysis takes up Robyn Wiegman’s central question in Object Lessons, “What is it we expect our relationship to our objects of study to do?”, which is of particular importance to the discipline of queer studies insofar as the field is oriented around the desire to meld social justice with critical pedagogy. The queer professor’s desire in the case of the Study Guide-as-object was to create a text that …

Framing Saint Johanna: Media Coverage Of Iceland’S First Female (And The World’S First Openly Gay) Prime Minister, Dean E. Mundy

Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought

This study investigates how international media covered a “first” event of its kind: the election of Iceland’s first female, and the world’s first openly gay, prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir. A qualitative content analysis examines if media framed Iceland’s new leader as a leader, a specifically female leader, or a specifically gay female leader. The findings provide insight regarding how media frame international female politicians in the 21st century, and the corresponding opportunities and challenges.

Nos Ancêtres, Les Pervers: Reading Queerly And Constructing The Homosexual Before The Closet (1810-1830), Gary C. Kilian Mr.

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Honors Projects

Homosexuality is, popularly imagined, a twentieth-century phenomenon wherein medicine created homosexual identity and society worked to stigmatize it. Yet the proto-homosexual role can be traced to several notable historical figures before the rise of medicine at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, especially through literature, and this is most apparent in France, which had been the first country to decriminalize same-sex relations in private after the adoption of the Napoleonic Code. But how do we understand same-sex desire and homosexuality before the homosexual existed as such while respecting the oftentimes-unclear nuances of human …

Mobile Activism: What Your Profile Picture Says About You, Laura J. Koenig

SURGE

I know you’ve all been seeing this image all of your Facebook news feeds. All of the sudden a few weeks ago it became everyone’s profile picture. People were sharing it, along with other images, explaining why Prop. 8 and the Defense Of Marriage Act should be repealed, and were generally expressing their support of marriage equality. [excerpt]

How To Look Like A Lesbian Without Even Trying, Laura J. Koenig

SURGE

“Ugh. I hate those pictures. I look like such a lesbian in them,” my cousin explained to me while her family and I sat around their kitchen table. After she said this, her younger brother laughed into his chicken noodle soup and she hit him over the head. “Shut up. I’m telling you. They’re so bad,” she said. As the conversation went on, I learn that she was referring to pictures that had been taken at one of her lacrosse practices. The important part is that she was displeased with the photos. And it’s certainly not because someone had caught …

Historical Butches: Lesbian Experience And Masculinity In Bryher's Historical Fiction, Haley M. Fedor

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This project analyzes three of Bryher's historical novels, while also providing background on the shadowy figure of Bryher herself. Looking at Gate to the Sea, Roman Wall, and Ruan, each serves to represent lesbianism in a variety of coded or metaphorical ways. Various geographical locations or landscapes serve to either represent or depict homosexual desire, and also construct queer spaces for characters to traverse. Limited scholarship exists on any of Bryher's works, particularly that which looks at lesbian sexuality. The genre Bryher writes in allows for a cross-writing of lesbian characters, or gendering lesbian characters as male, and displays awareness …

The Va-Jay-Jay Revolution

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and art about beauty standards, the portrayal of lesbians on television, a critique of the word bitch, organized religion as a violation of women's rights, harassment in public spaces, and the representation of women in various countries as observed by studying abroad.

Surviving The City: Resistance And Plant Life In Woolf’S Jacob’S Room And Barnes’ Nightwood, Ria Banerjee

Publications and Research

In Jacob’s Room (1922) and Nightwood (1936), Virginia Woolf and Djuna Barnes use plant life to express a profound ambivalence about the masculine-inflected ordering functions of art and morality. They show that these processes codify lived experience and distance it from the feminine and sexual. To counter this turn towards the urban inauthentic, both novels depict non-urban spaces to upend conventional notions of usefulness. They fixate on evanescent flowers, wild forests, and untillable fields as sites of resistance whose fragility and remoteness are strengths. In Jacob’s Room, I argue that the eponymous protagonist is destroyed by his conventional education …

What You Need To Know About Sex, Lauren Gardner, Paula Pearl, Jessie Roth, Cristina Smith

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and artwork examining messages about sex and contraception in the media, intimate partner violence, sexuality and gender in popular music, and sexuality.

Ua35/11 Honors Program, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about the Honors Program. Includes brochures, awards programs, student handbooks, newsletters and research publications.

Determining Multidimensional Gender: Development And Psychometrics Of A Measurement Instrument, Karyl Lounsbery

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Gender identity is often thought of only as a binary construct, masculine and feminine, despite the fact that there are many people who do not see themselves as fitting this dichotomy (Rochman, 2006). Within the counseling field, it is likely that every counselor will eventually see someone who will be struggling with issues of gender identity (Ehrensaft, 2011). The introduction of the Arkansas Multidimensional Gender Scale (AMGS) will show there is a much broader scope of gender identity, more in line with the idea that all gender identities are normal and that there are as many gender identities as there …

The Androgynous Tomboy: Adolescent Liminality In The Contemporary Southern Bildungsroman, Brooke Alexandra Shippee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Androgynous Tomboy: Adolescent Liminality in the Contemporary Southern Bildungsroman is an analysis of the adolescent, specifically, of the young tomboy characters central to three Bildungsroman texts set in the American South during the twentieth century: Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding (1946), Bobbie Ann Mason's In Country (1985) and Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina (1993). I seek to challenge the very notion of the conventional tomboy within the coming of age literary genre by defining these youths as androgynous, rather than as young individuals who assume a singular gender opposite of their biological sex. Throughout my work, …

(R)Evolution Grrrl Style Now: Disidentification And Evolution Within Riot Grrrl Feminism, Lilly Estenson

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the evolution of feminist praxis within the riot grrrl movement, focusing on two specific riot grrrl demographics - founding riot grrrls in the early 1990s and currently active riot grrrls in southern California. This thesis argues that riot grrrl activism is still thriving but in diverse, strategically modified ways. Using José Muñoz’s concept of “disidentification,” it analyzes how contemporary riot grrrls have appropriated and adapted the original movement’s tenets to allow for greater accessibility and diversity.

Intersectionality Queer Studies And Hybridity: Methodological Frameworks For Social Research, Aristea Fotopoulou

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article seeks to draw links between intersectionality and queer studies as epistemological strands by examining their common methodological tasks and by tracing some similar difficulties of translating theory into research methods. Intersectionality is the systematic study of the ways in which differences such as race, gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity and other sociopolitical and cultural identities interrelate. Queer theory, when applied as a distinct methodological approach to the study of gender and sexuality, has sought to denaturalise categories of analysis and make normativity visible. By examining existing research projects framed as ‘queer’ alongside ones that use intersectionality, I consider the …

Ua32/4/4 The Coalition Zine!, Issue 1, Wku Coalition For Gender & Racial Equality

Student Organizations

Newsletter created by the WKU Coalition for Gender & Racial Equality a student organization sponsored by WKU Gender & Women Studies. This issue has articles regarding sexual orientation, right to life and racism.

Ua12/2/2 Talisman, Vol. 83, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

2012 Talisman:

• Couch, Drew. Life Inside the Suit – Big Red
• Waggoner, Tabitha. Mike Nichols
• Plunkett, Amber. Rememberng 9/11
• Cherry, Lauren. Understanding Each Other
• Brown, Bianca. East Meets Western – Confucius Institute
• Heyne, Richard. Cage the Elephant Comes Home
• Clements, Kristin. Never Solo – Track & Field
• Spees, Monica. Out on the Water - Hilltopper Bass Club
• Simmons, Natasha. Kentucky’s Miss America – Ann-Blair Thornton
• Alleyne, Zirconia. The Hungriest Fans – Football
• Wood, Shane. The Making of a Game – Football
• Duke, Alex. Building Confidence – Football
• Henye, Richard. Clearing the Air – Cheerleading
• Florence, Sara. Two-Wheeled Freedom – Bicycling …

Study Guide For United In Anger: A History Of Act Up, Matt Brim

Open Educational Resources

The United in Anger Study Guide facilitates classroom and activist engagement with Jim Hubbard’s 2012 documentary, United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. The Study Guide contains discussion sections, projects and exercises, and resources for further research about the activism of the New York chapter of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). The Study Guide is a free, interactive, multimedia resource for understanding the legacy of ACT UP, the film’s role in preserving that legacy, and its meaning for viewers' lives.

Lgbtq Womyn Of Color Conference — Crossroads And Crosswinds Connecting Across Race And Space, Arianne Benford

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

When I first arrived at the Second Annual LGBTQ Womyn of Color Conference, I was nearly knocked over by the embrace the conference's coexecutive director, Adrienne Williams. We had only spoken on the phone a few times, yet the last time I can remember being so warmly received was during one of my infrequent trips home to see my mother. While I was sure that in that moment she had a long list of other things to do, she still made time to ensure that I was being treated well. Adrienne's hug was not a singular experience, but more of …

In Amerika They Call Us Dykes: Lesbian Lives In The 1970s, Sarah Chinn

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

This past October, CLAGS hosted a historic conference to commemorate, celebrate, and evaluate the diverse contributions of lesbians over the course of the 1970s. The conference culminated a semester-long series of events that unfurled over the Spring 2010 term. In planning for the conference, the organizing committee (made up of Melissa Gasparotto, Andrea Freud Loewenstein, Roberta Sklar, Urvashi Vaid, and myself) imagined this conference as embracing as broad a field of lesbian lives as it could.

Investigating Trait Attribution Through Gendered Avatar Play: An Analysis Of The Sims 3, Erika M. Behrmann

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates whether the life-simulation videogame, The Sims 3, enables the deconstruction of the gender binary. The Sims 3 permits its players the capability to attribute similar traits to male or female avatars. In doing so, players can experiment with taboo trait attributions and potentially defy a male-female binary. A group of 82 The Sims 3 players was surveyed to determine their overall male and female Sims trait selections during gameplay. Participants were questioned on how their trait selection related to their personal identities. Results indicated that players tend to select traits that maintain a gender binary. This …

Review Of Hollow Bodies: Institutional Responses To Sex Trafficking In Armenia, Bosnia, And India By Susan Dewey, Kumarian Press, Sterling Va, 2008., Tiantian Zheng

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

No abstract provided.

Review Of Religion At The Corner Of Bliss And Nirvana: Politics, Identity And Faith In New Migrant Communities By Lois Ann Lorentzen, Joaquin Jay Gonzales Iii, Et. Al. Duke University Press, Durham, Nc: 2009., Ellen T. Mccabe

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

No abstract provided.

Review Of Black And Green: Afro-Colombians, Development, And Nature In The Pacific Lowlands By, Kiran Asher, Duke University Press, Durham, 2009., Brett Troyan

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

No abstract provided.

Predicting Breast Cancer Screening Among African American Lesbians And Bisexual Women, Cheryl B. Fields

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2009, 713,220 new cases of cancer were diagnosed for women in the United States with more than a quarter million deaths. African American women and lesbians exhibit behavioral risk factors as well as diminished access to and utilization of breast cancer screening that reduces opportunities for early detection. This secondary analysis of a national convenience-based study examined screening compliance among 647 African American lesbian and bisexual women. Barriers to accessing screening represented the theoretical framework for this study. Bivariate chi square analysis was used to assess the association between independent variables: sociodemographic characteristics; participation in wellness activities; sexual orientation/gender …

Lesbians In The 1970s, Sarah Chinn

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

The 1970s was a period of intense excitement, change, activism, and activity for lesbians. As lesbian feminism redefined what qualified as a "political issue" and challenged every assumption about gender, race, class, ability, sexuality, and any number of other social categories, lesbians of all kinds created cultural, social, political, economic, and regional organizations and networks.

Director's Letter, Sarah Chinn

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Dear Friends: CLAGS's mission to nurture LGBT scholarship means that we're often looking into the past and into the future at the same time, remembering the queer past as we encourage cutting-edge scholarship. This feels especially true right now, since we're preparing for our 20th anniversary and putting the finishing touches on our historic (in all senses of the word) conference, "In Amerika They Call Us Dykes: Lesbian Lives in the 1970s."