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Articles 1 - 26 of 26

Full-Text Articles in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies

Testing The Impact Of Sexual Minority Stress On Endorsement Of Prospective Behaviors Related To Borderline Personality Disorder Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Queer Adults, E. Elisa Carsten Jun 2026

Testing The Impact Of Sexual Minority Stress On Endorsement Of Prospective Behaviors Related To Borderline Personality Disorder Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Queer Adults, E. Elisa Carsten

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minority individuals face increased risk for numerous forms of psychopathology compared to heterosexual individuals, including borderline personality disorder (BPD). Previous investigation into the causes of these mental health disparities highlights several sexual minority-specific factors that may render sexual minority individuals uniquely vulnerable to meeting criteria for a BPD diagnosis, including chronic exposure to minority stressors, such as sexual orientation-based discrimination and stigmatizing beliefs. Some scholars have argued that the relevance of these minority-specific stressful experiences hampers the utility of a BPD diagnosis among members of this historically marginalized population. The present study experimentally tested the influence of minority stressors …


An Autoethnographic And Relational Exploration Of Identity Negotiation Within Romantic Relationships Between Nonbinary Partners And Cisgender Women, Maddison L. Russell Feb 2026

An Autoethnographic And Relational Exploration Of Identity Negotiation Within Romantic Relationships Between Nonbinary Partners And Cisgender Women, Maddison L. Russell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how trans and cisgender partners negotiate gender identity, care, and relational well-being through an autoethnographic examination of everyday communication. The study draws from eighteen personal narratives across family, academic, and romantic contexts to trace how gender-based microaggressions and cisnormative expectations become embedded in ordinary talk, gestures, and silences, shaping identity development and relational stability. At its core, this work argues that relationality emerges as a pervasive and constitutive condition that shapes how affirmation, misrecognition, and belonging are experienced within trans/cis relationships and across time. Through examining moments of misunderstanding, minimization, and avoidance, the study reveals how microaggressions …


In Case I Make It: An Autoethnographic Argument For Care, Space, And Utopia, Faelyn T. Cowan Mar 2025

In Case I Make It: An Autoethnographic Argument For Care, Space, And Utopia, Faelyn T. Cowan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Taking an autoethnographic and autotheoretical approach I examine within this project TomboloBooks’ Queer Comic Book Club. Drawing from José Esteban Mun֮oz’s ideas of queer utopia and Jen Jack Gieseking’s framework of constellations, and analyzing my own experiences, I present the Queer Comic Book Club (QCBC) as a moment of utopic queer worldmaking and argue for it’s potential as a site of alternative mental health care. Though I cannot provide here a generalizable model of book clubs as care, what I offer here is a series of possibilities, arguing for the potential of these spaces as community resources and sites of …


Breaking Binaries: Gender Non-Conforming Lesbians And The Undercurrent Of Biopower On Dating Apps, Lily M. Connolly Mar 2025

Breaking Binaries: Gender Non-Conforming Lesbians And The Undercurrent Of Biopower On Dating Apps, Lily M. Connolly

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how gender nonconforming lesbians experience and navigate algorithmic constraints, commodification, and self-expression on dating apps. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of biopower, this study analyzes focus group discussions to argue that dating apps encode and enforce traditional gender norms. However, rather than acting solely as sites of constraint, dating apps also provide spaces where gender nonconforming lesbians creatively resist these limitations and subvert platform design to assert their politicized queer identities. This research highlights how biopower operates within digital dating platforms while also illuminating the subversive strategies users employ to reclaim agency. By situating gender nonconforming lesbian …


Organizing Queer Civil Rights Movements: Pride Parades And Communicative Dilemmas, David J. Dooling May 2024

Organizing Queer Civil Rights Movements: Pride Parades And Communicative Dilemmas, David J. Dooling

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pride parades (“Pride”) are sites of communicative tension for the queer community. While the political origins of queer civil rights practiced widespread resistance to institutional heteronormativity and homophobia, Pride is a space where business owners, community stakeholders, and activists debate the political utility of queerness. This dissertation employs queer and sociomaterial theoretical traditions, and autoethnographic methodological approaches to explore the communicative strategies of Pride organizers—individuals who create, coordinate, and conceptualize the display of sexuality and gender in the public sphere. I draw on tension-centered approaches to organizational communication, feminist dilemmatic theorizing, and co-sexuality to investigate power-laden structures and decision-making in …


Band Members’ Attitudes Toward The Queer Community And Perception Of Band As A Safe Space, Brian J. Panetta Mar 2024

Band Members’ Attitudes Toward The Queer Community And Perception Of Band As A Safe Space, Brian J. Panetta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework of human development and Yuval-Davis’ analytical framework of belonging as a lens to explain how the band environment might cultivate positive attitudes toward the queer community, this study investigated band members’ attitudes toward the queer community and their perception of the band as a safe space. Utilizing adapted inventories with established reliability and validity, the following research questions were addressed: 1) What are queer and non-queer band members’ attitudes toward the queer community? 2) What are queer and non-queer band members’ attitudes toward the band as a safe space? 3) What differences exist between the independent …


Differences In Mental Wellbeing Factors Amongst College Students By Intersections Of Race/Ethnicity And Sexual Orientation/Gender, Hannah N. Schlichte Oct 2023

Differences In Mental Wellbeing Factors Amongst College Students By Intersections Of Race/Ethnicity And Sexual Orientation/Gender, Hannah N. Schlichte

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine our understanding regarding the intersection of both racial/ethnic and sexual/gender minority identities and its impact on the mental health of college students. A secondary data analysis of the Wake Forest University Wellbeing Assessment was utilized. The total number of participants was comprised of 528 students from a large research university in the Southeastern United States. For this study, new categories representing the intersection of race/ethnicity (White, Black, Hispanic etc.) and sexual orientation/gender (LGBTQ, heterosexual, cisgender etc.) were created: double majority, single minority race/ethnicity, single minority sexual orientation/gender, and double minority. One-way ANOVA …


The Sun Shines On Us, Too: Bobby Smith And Tampa's Early Lgbtq Community, Connor G. Lasseter Oct 2023

The Sun Shines On Us, Too: Bobby Smith And Tampa's Early Lgbtq Community, Connor G. Lasseter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bobby Smith (1923-2008) was a Tampa Bay butch lesbian, photographer, and earlyLGBTQ Florida figure, together with his partner of nearly fifty years, Katherine “Kay” Thompson (1923-2009). Coming of age as the Second World War provided women and girls with a certain level of independence, Smith easily found comfort presenting in a masculine, butch fashion outside of certain spheres such as school, and quickly dropped any remaining femininity once he left it. Throughout his life, in the workplace, at social gatherings, and at home, he maintained a masculine presentation for his entire life. As a photographer, Smith documented numerous photographs of …


A Queered Exhibition: Lgbtqia+ Artists Expressing Identity And Visibility Through Art-Based Research, Christy D. Paris Oct 2023

A Queered Exhibition: Lgbtqia+ Artists Expressing Identity And Visibility Through Art-Based Research, Christy D. Paris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Too often museums, galleries, and art curriculum ignore or erase the lives and art of LGBTQIA+ individuals. This exhibition aimed to make the diverse lives and art from the queer community visible. Integrating queer perspectives and visibility is empowering and creates a sense of belonging. Queering the art world can present alternative perspectives, promote diversity, and provide exposure to a more inclusive experience for all. The aim of this inquiry is to inform institutional practices within museums on queer inclusivity and further scholarship on this topic by engaging with the queer art community and public during an exhibition held in …


“I Don't Know Where The Lesbians Are”: Exploring Lgbtq+ Women’S Experiences Of Place And Community, Ashley M. Green Jun 2023

“I Don't Know Where The Lesbians Are”: Exploring Lgbtq+ Women’S Experiences Of Place And Community, Ashley M. Green

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines LGBTQ+ women’s experiences of place and community in Central Florida. Through the use of in-depth interviews and virtual ethnography, I begin to answer the following questions: 1. To what extent does geographic location contextualize how LGBTQ+ women experience place and community?, 2. How do LGBTQ+ women within a similar geographic location utilize virtual spaces for the purpose of building community?, and 3. How are the intersections of gender, race, and sexuality significant to LGBTQ+ women’s experiences of place and community? This project provides a glimpse into the phenomenon of consuming community, which speaks to the ways in …


Complex Identities: Putting Casey Plett’S Fiction In A Trans And Religious Studies Context, Catherine Brown Mar 2022

Complex Identities: Putting Casey Plett’S Fiction In A Trans And Religious Studies Context, Catherine Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The work of Casey Plett is a prime place to discuss the experiences of being transgender and a Mennonite. However, her writing has received little discussion in the field of trans and religious studies, simply because fiction is rarely the focus of analysis in the field. This thesis argues that not only does fiction have a place in the field, but that there are unique analytic tools, such as trans standpoint theory, that can be used in the analysis of works of fiction to heighten what is gained and found in the endeavor. And so, this thesis not only argues …


Wwa Reflection: Losing Sight, Making Scholarship, Sabrina M. Durso Dec 2021

Wwa Reflection: Losing Sight, Making Scholarship, Sabrina M. Durso

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.


Resilience And Health Outcomes Of Sexual Minority Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Christi L. Nelson Nov 2021

Resilience And Health Outcomes Of Sexual Minority Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Christi L. Nelson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While research on lesbian, gay, and bisexual (hereafter referred to as sexual minority) middle-aged and older adults has increased over the past decade, there is still a critical need for more research on the health and resilience in this growing subpopulation. Research has provided evidence that sexual minority adults have an increased risk of negative health outcomes when compared to heterosexual adults. Research has also demonstrated possible resilience in sexual minority middle-aged and older adults; however, few studies have measured resilience in middle-aged and older adults. Gaining a better understanding of resilience in sexual minority adults may help identify modifiable …


Criminalizing Lgbtq+ Jamaicans: Social, Legal, And Colonial Influences On Homophobic Policy, Zoe C. Knowles Oct 2021

Criminalizing Lgbtq+ Jamaicans: Social, Legal, And Colonial Influences On Homophobic Policy, Zoe C. Knowles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Based on colonial and neocolonial models of oppression, Jamaica has adopted many laws, policies, and systems mandated by the British monarchy. Many of these laws contain anti-LGBTQ+ policies which remain in effect today. To address the criminalization of LGBTQ+ identities, I used queer theory and queer criminology to analyse the ways Jamaica constructs LGBTQ+ people as criminals and how they are treated in the legal and criminal justice systems from a postcolonial standpoint. Using a qualitative text-based feminist and queer policy analysis, I investigated social, legal, and colonial influences on current anti-LGBTQ+ policy by looking at the Offences Against the …


Consumerism And Pride: The Fate Of Paris’ Marais “Gayborhood”, Christina M. Csensich Mar 2021

Consumerism And Pride: The Fate Of Paris’ Marais “Gayborhood”, Christina M. Csensich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the 1980s the Marais neighborhood in Paris, France, became a haven for queer people, specifically gay, white men, filled with queer-owned and queer-centric businesses. By the year 2020, however, these businesses had been priced out by name-brand international corporations. In the 1990s, French television commercials and programs would not speak the word ‘homosexual,’ even when a character was openly queer. By the 2010s, companies regularly featured queer people and gay pride imagery and slogans in their advertising. The queer community in Paris has a unique relationship with the consumer economy, one that ties aspects of queer identity directly to …


A Queer(Er) Genocide Studies, Lily Nellans Dec 2020

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, …


Spilling The Lgbt(Ea)Q: A Study Of Lgbtq Youth Early School Experiences, Nicholas Catania Nov 2020

Spilling The Lgbt(Ea)Q: A Study Of Lgbtq Youth Early School Experiences, Nicholas Catania

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this arts-based qualitative study, I explore the experiences of LGBTQ youth regarding inclusion during their early schooling. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of youth participants regarding inclusion during their early school experiences to better assist educators and policy-makers at all levels with information to provide safe and equitable learning environments for LGBTQ youth to succeed. The intent of this study was to uncover the ways schools may marginalize or be inclusive of LGBTQ youth by examining school experiences with a particular focus at the elementary level. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, …


Elemental Climate Disaster Texts And Queer Ecological Temporality, Laura Mattson Mar 2020

Elemental Climate Disaster Texts And Queer Ecological Temporality, Laura Mattson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis approaches climate disaster texts as an opportunity to challenge constructions of the body, space, and time. Developed from embodied experiential knowledge about hurricanes, my work will explore how climate disasters can teach us to reimagine human-nature relationships. In my two analysis chapters, I use critical textual analysis and autoethnography to challenge particular representations of the human-nature relationship as a binary between nature and culture. By intervening in the nature-culture binary, I theorize queer ecological temporality as an opportunity to reveal and challenge constructions of nature and time. Working at the intersections of queer and ecocritical theory, this thesis …


Pathways To Parenthood: Attitudes And Preferences Of Eight Self-Identified Queer Women Living In Tampa Bay, Fl, Emily Noelle Baker Oct 2019

Pathways To Parenthood: Attitudes And Preferences Of Eight Self-Identified Queer Women Living In Tampa Bay, Fl, Emily Noelle Baker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This small-scale ethnographic study looks at the how queer women living in Florida imagine navigating family building decisions under the current climate of policies such as a lack of federal non-discrimination protections and the largely unregulated use of assisted reproductive technologies. Despite the federal legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States in 2015, state and county legislations continue to vary greatly on the extent of support they will provide for LGBTQ families. The goal of this research is to evaluate parenting desire, intentions, and preferences for queer women living in Tampa Bay since the passage of the Marriage Equality …


Queer Authority In Old And Middle English Literature, Elan J. Pavlinich Jul 2019

Queer Authority In Old And Middle English Literature, Elan J. Pavlinich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I argue that select early English texts queer normative authorizing conventions to authorize Old English and Middle English literatures. During the European Middle Ages, Latin cultures and literatures were privileged with authority that extended to and subverted the cultural capital of the inhabitants of England at the edge of the known Western world. I identify four exceptional English texts that employ authorizing conventions to disrupt normative networks of power that traditionally privilege Latin and to authorize English literature instead. The Norman Conquest had altered the English language and social structures; still, these altered networks of power continued to marginalize English …


Poesía Y Transgresión: Figuraciones Góticas En Poeta En Nueva York De Federico García Lorca, Inés Ordiz Jun 2019

Poesía Y Transgresión: Figuraciones Góticas En Poeta En Nueva York De Federico García Lorca, Inés Ordiz

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Poeta en Nueva York refleja las impresiones que causaron en Lorca su viaje a la gran ciudad manzana y a Cuba, unos meses después. Su crisis personal se proyecta en el contexto extranjero y alienante que le rodea, para dar como resultado un texto repleto de poderosas metáforas y significados cruzados, retratos angustiosos de la vida en la gran urbe e imágenes de destrucción, muerte y violencia. Mi propuesta busca leer estas evocaciones desde la perspectiva de la literatura gótica, con el fin de iluminar los sombríos mecanismos de transgresión que propone el texto. Así, este análisis explora conceptos como …


(Dis)Enchanted: (Re)Constructing Love And Creating Community In The, Shannon A. Suddeth Jun 2017

(Dis)Enchanted: (Re)Constructing Love And Creating Community In The, Shannon A. Suddeth

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines a queer fan community for the television show Once Upon a Time (OUAT) that utilizes the social networking site Tumblr as their primary base of fan activity. The Swan Queen fan community is comprised of individuals that collectively support and celebrate a non-canon romantic relationship between two of the female lead characters of the show rather than the canonic, heterocentric relationships that occur between the two women and their respective male love interests. I answer two research questions in this study: First, how are members of the Swan Queen fan community developing counter narratives of …


Contextual Factors And The Syndemic Of Alcohol Use And Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Men Who Have Sex With Men, Humberto López Castillo Oct 2016

Contextual Factors And The Syndemic Of Alcohol Use And Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Men Who Have Sex With Men, Humberto López Castillo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the early 1990s with the AIDS pandemic, there has been an increasing interest on the importance of risky sexual behaviors, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM). An important antecedent for these behaviors is alcohol use. Studies consistently show an increased frequency of both alcohol use and risky sexual behaviors in MSM populations. However, to date, there has not been a precise estimate of the effect size in these diverse populations and a consistent way to measure it. More so, the importance of context is often cited as a source of variability, but is rarely measured in …


Reconceptualizing The Role Of Essentialism In Attitudes Toward Gays And Lesbians: The Intersection Of Gender And Sexual Orientation, Vanessa Hettinger Mar 2014

Reconceptualizing The Role Of Essentialism In Attitudes Toward Gays And Lesbians: The Intersection Of Gender And Sexual Orientation, Vanessa Hettinger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social psychology researchers have become increasingly interested in the role of essentialist beliefs in predicting attitudes toward social groups. However, there is little agreement about what the term actually means, whether it means different things for different groups, what endorsement of essentialism (or its sub-components) means for attitudes, and how much this varies depending on the relevant social context. This underlying lack of clarity helps to explain some of the difficulty in understanding the relationships between essentialist beliefs about sexual orientation and attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. In the current project, I suggest a fundamental shift in the approach …


Learning From Voices Of Diverse Youth: School-Based Practices To Promote Positive Psychosocial Functioning Of Lgbtq High School Students, Troy Nicholas Loker Jan 2013

Learning From Voices Of Diverse Youth: School-Based Practices To Promote Positive Psychosocial Functioning Of Lgbtq High School Students, Troy Nicholas Loker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify school-based practices that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth endorse as ways for high schools to provide social, emotional, and academic support to LGBTQ youth. A diverse sample of LGBTQ high school students (N = 18) from one large urban school district in a southeastern state participated in individual semi-structured interviews and/or small group brainstorming sessions. Eleven individual interviews were conducted to gather detailed accounts of a) supportive behaviors and policies that youth had experienced in their schools, as well as b) supportive behaviors and policies that were suggested as …


The Harm Of Influence: When Exposure To Homosexuality Elicits Anger And Punishment Tendencies, Timothy Andrew Caswell Jan 2013

The Harm Of Influence: When Exposure To Homosexuality Elicits Anger And Punishment Tendencies, Timothy Andrew Caswell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the current project, I examined the distinct elicitors and behavioral outcomes of anti-gay anger and anti-gay disgust. The CAD triad hypothesis (Rozin, Lower, Imada, & Haidt, 1999) suggests that anger and disgust are elicited by distinct moral violations and cognitive appraisals. A plethora of research has documented the strong link between disgust and sexual prejudice, but very little attention has been given to the role of anger in sexual prejudice. The biocultural framework of stigmatization (Neuberg, Smith, & Asher, 2000) suggests that people who counter-socialize against prevailing social norms are stigmatized by others. If homosexual sexual behavior does not …