Queer Studies Commons^™

The Good Knight, Elektra Koozer

University Honors Theses

The Good Knight is a comics adaptation of Sir Galahad's story through the lens of a queer retelling. This story focuses on queer relationships, struggling with depression and isolation, and death. It begins at the end of Galahad's life, where he is forced to question his legacy and who he is after completing the quest that has dictated his whole life. The story weaves through time, reflecting upon his past, thinking about his mother's expectations of him, being chosen for the grail quest, confronting his estranged father, and trying to cope with the world on his shoulders. He has to …

An Asexual Autist’S Feminist Musings On The Lord Of The Rings, Robin A. Reid

Journal of Tolkien Research

Abstract: This reader response is about how a seventy-year-old asexual autist began to discover her feminist queer politics by reading Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings at the age of ten. Countering the negative stereotype of feminists (and/or women) disliking Tolkien, Reid describes how her autistic obsession with Tolkien’s world and her love for Éowyn led her first into online Tolkien fandom and then into aca-fandom. She chronicles a journey from feeling isolated and weird in her childhood and adolescence (in small-town Idaho during the 1960s) to finding communities in which her weirdnesses (autism, asexuality, and feminism) were not only …

“As Bachelors Very Exceptional”: An Asexual Reading Of Frodo Baggins, Danna Petersen-Deeprose

Journal of Tolkien Research

Queer Tolkien scholarship has seen a number of homosexual readings of Frodo Baggins. While there are indeed many elements within the text that support a queer reading, it is a mistake to insist that queer elements necessarily point to homosexuality. This article advances an alternative queer reading of Frodo: an asexual reading. Drawing queer and asexual scholarship, including Ela Przybylo, Danielle Cooper, Audre Lorde, and Jack Halberstam, this article examines Frodo’s actions, journey, and characteristics through an asexual lens, focusing on his solitary life in the Shire, the way he is perceived by the other Hobbits, his lack of any …

Fetishismus:Facism, Sodomy, And The Exhibition, Matthew P. Gershovich

Masters Theses

Fetishismus examines the contemporary dislocation between homosexuality and queerness. Homosexuality is the biological, innate quality of same-sex attraction. Queerness is rooted in deviance, perversion, and sociologically attached to the “other.” Although almost always used in an explicitly homosexual connotation, “queerness” is not entirely contingent on the physical engagement of homosexual acts. In historical usage, queer is used as a pejorative adjective, implying a lack of masculinity with the intent to invoke repulsion. In contemporary parlance the two are treated as synonymous. This intertwined relationship relies on the forced lack of social and spatial belonging that is rooted in a foundational …

Archives Of The Future, Ka Oskar Ly

Masters Theses

Archives Of The Future is a practice-based thesis that invokes the archive and the future as simultaneous.

This research insists on the recentering of HMong Indigeneity and its own rooted traditions of HMong Queerness and HMong Feminism as ancestral knowledge systems.

They are the medicine. To recover their cosmological capacity is to traverse centuries of systematic eradication by empires and patriarchy.

I treat artistic making, community encounter, memory, and materials as equally valid ways of knowing and as collaborators. Field research from 2020 to 2026 moves through kinship and artisan teachings. It spans Southeast Asia, France, the United States, and …

Queering Poetry Workshops, Dobby Morse

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

To what extent do participants report that a poetry workshop builds connections between poets and strengthen their confidence in writing? What do participants want or expect from a poetry workshop?

Through this project I hope to attend and host poetry workshops with an emphasis on the queer community. I will collaborate with campus and community organizations like Queer Humboldt and other organizations that are interested in exploring queer experiences through writing, connection, and meditation. This project will serve as a how-to guide for those seeking to conduct their own workshops.

Abject And Uncanny Manifestations Of Sexuality And Sexual Desire In Nineteenth-Century Gothic Literature, Varvara Kuznetsova

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways in which psychoanalytic concepts of the abjection and the uncanny were used to depict monsters and monstrous bodies in nineteenth-century Gothic literature as a site of social, cultural, and sexual transgression. Through the intersections of queer theory, monster theory, and psychoanalytic theory, I examine and analyze depictions of women as monstrous figures in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Christabel (1816), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), and Sheridan Joseph Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872). In particular, I aim to detail how language and descriptions of women monsters become coded elements that reveal monstrosity and transgression.

Laying The Groundwork For Liberatory Expressive Arts Research: A Queer Review, Robyn E. Ginsberg

Expressive Therapies Theses

The goal of this thesis was to reveal the interconnectedness of disparate discourse across diverse disciplines and locate it within one queer domain. The intersection of (expressive) art and (community/participatory) action is a space within which queer collaboration can take place. It is a space that can accommodate and energize non-normative idea generation and exchange which can mobilize queer resistance to create societal change (Fernández & Fine, 2024; Rutten, 2016). By engaging with interdisciplinary literature and situating conceptual frameworks in dialogue this review provides a foundation for liberatory expressive arts research (LExAR) and practice. Key themes include: centering queer and …

Queer Ga(Y)Ze And Desire In Flesh And Pink Narcissus, Kel R. Karpinski

Publications and Research

Through their portrayals of gay-for-pay hustlers, the films Flesh and Pink Narcissus, offer an expansive view of queerness and illuminate the queer history of Times Square.

Embodied Archives, Emerging Futures, Xuân-Lam Nguyen

Masters Theses

Fifty years after the end of the U.S.–Vietnam War, this thesis reflects on the entangled relationship between the two nations, inspiring hope while challenging dominant representations of trauma and tragedy. Drawing from autobiography, family history, folk art traditions, colonial photographs, hierarchies within art history, archives of student activism, and key geopolitical events, the work explores the complex intersections of queer identity and glitchy historical narratives. Combining research-based inquiry with time- and labor-intensive processes, it reimagines historical materials to construct alternate possibilities for the future.

Queerness In The Ability To Choose, Haley Kamola

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This presentation delves into examples of LGBTQ+ authors and characters within the choose your own adventure genre. With a primary focus on Anna Anthropy’s story game “queers in love at the end of the world” and Carmen Maria Machado’s memoir In The Dream House, instances of queerness found within the choose your own adventure genre are analyzed. Anthropy’s story game depicts two women with ten seconds to live until the world ends. The story game itself only exists for ten total seconds before players are given the chance to restart and try again. Machado’s memoir retells her experience in an …

"You Know The Rules": A Dramatic Experiment In Aromantic Literary Theory, April Chronowski

English

This paper proposes a new literary theory framework based on the zine "an aromantic manifesto" by yingchen and yingtong, as well as the work of Erving Goffman, using theater as a device to examine romantic relationships. Blending English and sociology, I focus each chapter on a different literary period and examine two plays each: early modern (Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing), modern (Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Djuna Barnes' "To The Dogs"), and contemporary (Caryl Churchill's Cloud 9 and Margaret Edson's W;t). In tandem with analysis of formal elements---like …

Apocalypse As Utopia: The Exorcisms And Memorials Of Las Yeguas Del Apocalipsis And Queer Liberation In Chile, 1987-1997, Nicolas Poblete

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a comprehensive history of the queer activist-art collective Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis (1987-1997) and their performance-based resistance to the Chilean dictatorship (1973-1990), cultural homophobia, and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Through art actions blending ritual, protest, and queer poetics, the collective redefined public space and national identity, envisioning a utopian queer apocalypse rooted in memory.

Queer X Trans Memoir: In Sight Of An Embodied History, Rhyan Warmerdam

English (MA) Theses

Are queer and trans identities innate or constructed? What constitutes a queer or trans identity? What prompts a person to identify with a particular queer or trans identity category? Prominent queer theorist Judith Butler contends that “There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; that identity is performatively constituted” (Butler, Gender Trouble 34). However, many scholars have claimed that Butler’s theory is “not compatible with lived experience” (McCann & Monaghan 134). This project utilizes the genre of memoir to gain insight into lived experiences to put this theory to the test. Through a mini historical archive of twelve …

Why You're Gayhee For Jaehee: How Dating Sims Promote Queer Self-Discovery, Amira Elliby

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Dating simulators are a video game sub-genre in which the player’s primary goal is to romantically pursue their favorite love interest through in-game interactions. While some dating sims present situations that encourage heterosexual female players to question, explore, and even accept possible queer identities for themselves, there is little research on what specific game elements foster this exploratory behavior. This project examines player responses and in-game content from two dating sims, Chrono Days Sim Date and Mystic Messenger, to determine which game aspects women found most helpful in encouraging them to question their own sexualities. Out of five key …

A Tale Of Two Women, Cassady Brown

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Mass Of Perpetual Indulgence, Michael Joseph Willette

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Mass of Perpetual Indulgence for chamber orchestra, electronics, soprano solo, and drag performer was written to bridge the gap between queerness and spirituality, to sanctify queer people and celebrate queer lives and communities. Amalgamating musical styles ranging from disco to opera, art song to EDM, this appropriation of the traditional Mass blurs the lines between the sacred and the profane. This work features original text by librettist Caroliena Cabada that responds to the narrative of the Mass Ordinary from a distinctly queer perspective. Ultimately, this work celebrates the queer body as a holy body, queer community as a sacred communion, …

Pedro Aceves Mfa Thesis, Pedro M. Aceves

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My Work is about looking at Cruising through a queer decolonial lens. Using multiple mediums such as photo, glass, Augmented reality, and film, I explore these queer histories and aesthetics through not just an anthropological approach but also an artistic epistemological approach weaving together narratives of prehispanic and modern queer Latinidad.

The Icarian Dilemma: The Battle Of Faith Versus Identity Addressed With Scenic Design, Allistar G. Barrett

Senior Honors Theses

American Christians and the LGBTQ+ community have long been in a cultural war with one another. However, queer Christians – individuals who are both LGBTQ+ and Christian – have rarely found solace in either community, instead being shunned and ostracized for their beliefs and identities. Using the transformative art of theatre to address cultural divides, a theatrical scenic design was developed for Joe Calarco’s Shakespeare’s R & J, a retelling of the traditional Romeo and Juliet script through the lives of four Catholic school girls. This design uses the Greek mythology of Icarus, Catholic culture, the original Romeo and Juliet, …

Le Silence, Le Prédéterminisme Et La Sexualité : Le Cas De Thérèse Desqueyroux, Daniel E. Folger

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

Le silence fait partie intégrante de l’histoire de Thérèse Desqueyroux. A Argelouse, née d’une famille dont la tradition exige l’effacement de l’individualité, elle n’échappe pas à cette répression en se mariant avec Bernard, ni en se sauvant à Paris. La nature inéluctable de son destin fait qu’elle est parfois comparée aux héroïnes tragiques Andromaque et Phèdre. Néanmoins, la parole de cette dernière possède un pouvoir que celle de Thérèse ne détient pas. Malgré la nature étouffante du mutisme imposé sur elle, le silence prend quelquefois un côté positif, notamment lorsque Thérèse est auprès de son amie Anne de la Trave. …

Sobre El Arcoíris: The Queering Of Mariachi, Tyician Charles Knight

Music ETDs

Mariachi is an internationally renowned artform and tradition whose history spans over decades and several continents. However, there are many aspects still embedded in mariachi culture that remain problematic; machismo (toxic masculinity), alcoholism, and homophobia to name a few. While there has been an increase of mariachi scholars who have critically examined these issues, mariachi culture itself has yet to address the challenges brought forth by its history of gender discrimination and homophobia and embrace practical changes that would enable the creation of a more equitable environment and further develop this living tradition. This thesis analyzes the trajectory of queering …

Un-Silencing Dickinson: Emily Dickinson's Aversion To The Male Body And Heterosexuality In "My Life Had Stood–– A Loaded Gun", Cassandra Barron

Global Tides

This paper examines Emily Dickinson's aversion to heterosexual marriage and sexual initiation in her poem "My Life had stood-- a Loaded Gun". The ethics of deciphering through identifying and categorizing potentially Queer authors and texts impacts our understandings of frequently canonized authors such as Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson's nineteenth-century American context informed her ability to write deliberately about her experience of subversive sexual desire. Instead, Dickinson utilizes images of death, apathy, and immortality to illustrate her revulsion toward the male body and heterosexual marriage. This paper illustrates how utilizing Queer and feminist theories illuminates new and potential understandings of Emily …

Queer Bodies Defying Standards, Billy Adams

Audre Lorde Prize

No abstract provided.

Queer Advocacy For Palestinian Liberation, Andrew J. Joseph

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This paper is an examination of the ways that queer individuals have advocated for the decolonization of Palestine, and the ways in which tensions have arisen as a result of the intersection of the movements.

"The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love": Identity Creation, Compartmentalization, And Belonging Among Queer Peace Corps Volunteers, Laura N. Keeran

Theses and Dissertations

The Peace Corps advertises that it accepts anyone, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation; however, recruiters and staff ask volunteers to go back into the closet for their twenty-seven months of service due to the Peace Corps’ safety concerns about their volunteers being out in their host countries. Queer Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) answer the call to serve, accepting that it means they will need to keep their queer identities concealed for two years and three months. I conducted ethnographic interviews with ten people who have served or are currently serving in the Peace Corps and identify under …

Grieving In Doorways: A Critical Autoethnographic Exploration Of Embodied Knowledge Amid Shifting Reality And Radical Possibility, Holly Rae

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis is a critical autoethnographic exploration of embodied knowledge amid shifting reality and radical possibility. Beginning and ending with my own body, I explore how grief, as an embodied companion, offers wisdom and power in moments of profound change. Rooted in a methodology of slowness, rest, walking, and active listening, this work resists the extractive pace of modernity and instead invites building a relationship with grief and discomfort. This research is an experiment in co-creating knowledge with bodies and their intersectionality within systems that would keep us separate from knowing our embodied knowledge. As a location of research for …

Prophets Instead Of Priests: Diagonal Orientations & Coming-Of-Age Queerness In Jane Eyre And Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Emily G. Flanders

Honors Theses

This project asserts that the moment in which a girl leaves the trajectory of the expected in favor of the unknown in order to pursue her discovery of self is when her coming-of-age narrative becomes queer. This is demonstrated through Jane in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Jeanette in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. Jane and Jeannette’s respective coming-of-age narratives–that is, them creating their fully embodied selves, the girl they believe and know themselves to be–happen off the expected life path in the liminal, in-between, undefined space of the queer oblique. There are moments …

Equity And Representation In Video Games: An Analysis Of Attitudes Toward Queer In-Game Romance And Sexuality Across Diverse Populations, Jai Yerbich

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Despite studies showing that women play video games at close to, if not the same rates as men, there still lies a sexist belief that games are only for men, and no one else. In 2004, the Developers Software Association reported that games catered primarily to men’s sexuality, using advertising attempts to lure in players by catering to that sexuality and portraying women in their games to appeal to them. In recent years, with the release of massively popular role-playing games (RPGs) such as Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, gamers have complained that games are now “too …

Queer In & Out Of Montana: Oral Histories Of The Lgbtq+ Exodus From Montana, Erin T. Heaton

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This project will summarize findings from six oral histories of LGBTQ+ people who lived in Montana, but have left or are leaving in the near future. This project will explore the questions: Why are queer and transgender people leaving Montana? What are common experiences for LGBTQ+ people living in Montana? The answer to these questions will be derived from the stories of the Narrators who provided their oral histories. The questions utilized in the oral histories covered topics of identity, “coming out,” living history, cultural observations, community experiences and perceptions, well-being, healthcare, laws, and reasons for leaving. Thematic Analysis was …

One Man Show/ Who Am I, Devin Baker

Dance (MFA) Theses

Historically, stereotypes of ideal masculine physiques and attributed qualities have led to discriminatory and exclusionary practices that adversely affect black queer men and how they show up in various performance and social spaces. As a result, black male bodies in these spaces have employed the alter ego as a tool to imagine themselves inside/outside these constructed masculinities. How can the alter ego aid in transcending dated notions of race and gender, beholden to black male bodies within concert dance? Through the intertwining of personal narrative and research rooted in psychology and gender studies, this work examines the alter ego as …