While the LGBT equal rights movements in Hong Kong have become increasingly visible and popular in recent years, and lesbians, when compared to homosexual male, seem to enjoy high visibility in the city’s public space and relevant safety from violent discrimination, their presence in the public sphere continue to be low. Writings by local queer activists and scholars such as Mary Kam Pui Wai (2001) and Denise Tang (2011) point out that instead of violent attacks, since the beginning of local LGBT activism, female have been facing systematic silencing and marginalizing within the community, their presence invisible, and their problems often ignored or trivialized. However, lesbians are not imagined to be, and do not perceive themselves as, the most oppressed and disadvantageous members within the larger LGBT community. This study proposes that this seeming apolitical attitude and lack of acknowledgement of their marginalized position are the results of the unique “lesbian learning” taken place in the Hong Kong context that render their positions invisible and their problems unspeakable. I want not only to explore what these young women conceptualize as lesbian identity and sexuality, but through proposing the notion “lesbian learning”, offer a new framework to articulate and examine the formation and construction of the “field of sensible” that conditions their learning about lesbian(ism) in terms of perceptual equipment, information flow, as well as strategies of management and application, to see the meanings attributed to this identity, and the nuanced struggle for and negotiation of their lesbian identity formation, as both gender and sexual identity. The findings of this study shows that their conceptualization of lesbian identity as gender and sexual identity is largely conditioned by how they have learned to be female, with normative gender social expectations having a huge influence on how they perceive their sexual identity and sexuality, and their priority. Through documenting and examining the process of their learning the lesbian identity and ways of managing it, I hope to shed light on the mechanisms behind the social construction of female subjectivity that conditioned the specific configuration of lesbian identity and sexuality in the Hong Kong context, and the close ties between the two. To this end, 26 women between the ages of 20 - 30 were interviewed, additionally I spent 2 years conducting in-depth follow-up interviews and participant observation. With the help of social constructionist accounts of contextualization, interactionist accounts of meaning-making, the theory of sexual scripts, and Foucauldian notions of discourse and discipline, I seek to analyze how the Hong Kong lesbian subject is created, maintained, and regulated, both within different institutions operating at specific sites, namely family, school, and pornography, and by the lesbians themselves. By proposing the notion of “lesbian learning”, this study seeks to offer a new methodological tool of intervention, to examine the network of conditions of intersectional positions, and the negotiated agency of their understanding and imagination of identity, gender, and sexuality in the context of Hong Kong.

This thesis explores the application of ideologies of motherhood in the context of family law. The approach taken is to work from the ‘margins’ of motherhood, using the experience of lesbian mothers as a focal point, in order to explore the ‘centre’ of dominant discourse and ideologies of motherhood. Case law from Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA over the past 20 years is examined. These cases are used to explore the ways in which lesbian mothers are characterised as ‘bad mothers’, in order to ask what these configurations illuminate about the requirements of ‘good’ mothering. The cases used were primarily child custody decisions involving divorcing parents, but are supplemented with some welfare and adoption cases. The picture, or story, of lesbian mothers which emerges from the judgments is one of fear and horror - a mixture of claiming the foreignness of lesbians at the same time that ‘common sense’ assumptions about lesbian mothers abound. This ‘story’ is contextualised in the thesis with a discussion of the characterisation of lesbians in popular culture in the past 70 years, along with formulaic ‘types’ and narratives, and their presence in and parallels with the legal judgments are then explored. In part, this thesis asserts that rights based discourse has been unsuccessful in engaging the judiciary to any positive end for lesbian mothers in family law. A framework of mother archetypes is used in order to delve beneath the surface level of the judgments to deeper linking themes. These include such themes as requirements of maternal altruism and lack of agency, fear of maternal animality and fear of male dispensability in child rearing. All of these themes find links in feminist work on motherhood ideology in other contexts, and these commonalities are discussed in the conclusion.

Coming out', defined in terms of identifying self as lesbian, as well as disclosure of this information to others, is seen as an issue only within a heterosexist society. Heterosexism serves to reflect and create social representations, containing inflexible conceptualizations of gender, and social identities, incorporating power inequalities. The study was based on content analysis of individual semi-structured depth interviews, with forty lesbians on perceptions and experiences of coming out; thirty heterosexual women and men on attitudes to homosexuality; and twenty women on communication with family and friends. Lesbian and heterosexual interviews were supplemented with stereotype tasks, including the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Coming out to self was shown to be based upon strong emotional feelings directed towards women, together with awareness of lesbianism as an option, and a level of emotional acceptance of homosexuality. Coming out to family, heterosexual friends etc. involved risks and benefits. The study revealed a social context reflecting lesbian 'invisibility', heterosexuals' lack of interest and minimal contact with lesbians; perceptions of threat and abnormality; and a masculine, abnormal, aggressive, lesbian stereotype. Heterosexual subjects defined 'lesbian' in terms of sex only, and perceived lesbians as masculine. Lesbian subjects perceived lesbianism as more than sex, and lesbians as androgynous. Communication issues most similar to coming out concerned identity, relationships, or a different way of life; threat, loss or stigma; or reactions of others. Case studies analysed within Breakwell's threatened identity model suggested extension of the theory to include additional identity principles of authenticity/integrity and affiliation. It is argued that changes, at the level of social representations, relating to gender conceptualization, and the consequent power inequalities, are necessary for aiding the coming out process.

Feminists of the past two and a half decades have been influential in the debates about the meaning of womanhood. Transsexualism as a state of being, and transsexuals themselves, have periodically presented challenging issues to the discussion. As a result, the boundaries of womanhood are being questioned and membership in sex and gender categories are being contested by transsexuals and non-transsexuals within feminist debates. Conflicts arise when questions of transsexuals' womanhood come to the forefront, and one controversy centres on whether sex and gender statuses change for transsexuals. Do male-to-female transsexuals become women (if ever)? Do male-to-female transsexuals become female (if ever)? Should transsexual women be included in women-only events? The last question stirs the debate that has been brewing in feminist communities since the 1970s. And because women-only events are largely organized and attended by lesbians, lesbians have often been at the forefront of feminist debates about the womanhood of transsexual women. There has been much lively debate in the 1970s and again in the 1990s on the topic of transsexualism, however there has been little research specifically looking at feminist attitudes about transsexuals. To expand our knowledge in these areas, the concepts of womanhood is explored from a feminist perspective. A context is provided with a review of radical feminist, radical lesbian feminist and lesbian separatist theories. Feminist literature on the issue of transsexualism is presented to show the many sides of the debate. Praxis of radical feminism is illustrated using the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival as an example of women-only space, a model of feminist-separatist utopia and a site where transsexual women have not been welcome. With this foundation, analysis of survey question results are presented to determine whether feminist attitudes, as presented in the literature, aptly reflect non-lesbian and lesbian feminist perspectives on transsexuals' womanhood. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the findings and suggestions for further study. / Graduate / 0626

Feminists of the past two and a half decades have been influential in the debates about the meaning of womanhood. Transsexualism as a state of being, and transsexuals themselves, have periodically presented challenging issues to the discussion. As a result, the boundaries of womanhood are being questioned and membership in sex and gender categories are being contested by transsexuals and non-transsexuals within feminist debates. Conflicts arise when questions of transsexuals' womanhood come to the forefront, and one controversy centres on whether sex and gender statuses change for transsexuals. Do male-to-female transsexuals become women (if ever)? Do male-to-female transsexuals become female (if ever)? Should transsexual women be included in women-only events? The last question stirs the debate that has been brewing in feminist communities since the 1970s. And because women-only events are largely organized and attended by lesbians, lesbians have often been at the forefront of feminist debates about the womanhood of transsexual women. There has been much lively debate in the 1970s and again in the 1990s on the topic of transsexualism, however there has been little research specifically looking at feminist attitudes about transsexuals. To expand our knowledge in these areas, the concepts of womanhood is explored from a feminist perspective. A context is provided with a review of radical feminist, radical lesbian feminist and lesbian separatist theories. Feminist literature on the issue of transsexualism is presented to show the many sides of the debate. Praxis of radical feminism is illustrated using the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival as an example of women-only space, a model of feminist-separatist utopia and a site where transsexual women have not been welcome. With this foundation, analysis of survey question results are presented to determine whether feminist attitudes, as presented in the literature, aptly reflect non-lesbian and lesbian feminist perspectives on transsexuals' womanhood. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the findings and suggestions for further study. / Graduate / 0626

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, August, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

This is the first systematic large-scale study of lesbian health that has been conducted in the U.K. Its purpose is to provide data about lesbians' breast and cervical screening behaviour and experiences of health care. Comparable studies in the U.S.A. suggest that lesbians do not attend for routine screening tests and are less likely, than heterosexual women, to practise breast self examination. A questionnaire (the Lesbians and Health Care Survey) was distributed to 1066 lesbians in the UK. Four follow-up focus groups (n = 30) were used to explore some of the issues arising from the survey. The major quantitative survey findings include: 12 per cent of lesbians have never attended for a cervical smear; 20 per cent have never practised BSE, and only 11 per cent attend for a mammogram every three years. The qualitative survey data were content analysed in order to identify the reasons given by lesbians for their healthcare behaviour. In the follow-up focus groups, breast health is taken as a case study. This thesis contributes to defining a lesbian feminist health agenda by its valuing of lesbians' own perspectives; by providing alternative conceptions of lesbians' health that do not rely on biomedical, disease models; and it locates lesbians' health experiences within a socio-political framework. By providing a range of data about-lesbians' health, the findings may help to inform the understanding of health providers about lesbians' health needs, improve the practice of health care delivery for lesbians and be of value to lesbians in making decisions about their health care behaviour.

This thesis explores the application of ideologies of motherhood in the context of family law. The approach taken is to work from the ‘margins’ of motherhood, using the experience of lesbian mothers as a focal point, in order to explore the ‘centre’ of dominant discourse and ideologies of motherhood. Case law from Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA over the past 20 years is examined. These cases are used to explore the ways in which lesbian mothers are characterised as ‘bad mothers’, in order to ask what these configurations illuminate about the requirements of ‘good’ mothering. The cases used were primarily child custody decisions involving divorcing parents, but are supplemented with some welfare and adoption cases. The picture, or story, of lesbian mothers which emerges from the judgments is one of fear and horror - a mixture of claiming the foreignness of lesbians at the same time that ‘common sense’ assumptions about lesbian mothers abound. This ‘story’ is contextualised in the thesis with a discussion of the characterisation of lesbians in popular culture in the past 70 years, along with formulaic ‘types’ and narratives, and their presence in and parallels with the legal judgments are then explored. In part, this thesis asserts that rights based discourse has been unsuccessful in engaging the judiciary to any positive end for lesbian mothers in family law. A framework of mother archetypes is used in order to delve beneath the surface level of the judgments to deeper linking themes. These include such themes as requirements of maternal altruism and lack of agency, fear of maternal animality and fear of male dispensability in child rearing. All of these themes find links in feminist work on motherhood ideology in other contexts, and these commonalities are discussed in the conclusion. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

Yes / Nigeria is one of many countries in Africa that criminalize same-sex relations, and this has been reinforced by law enforcement agencies and the courts. As part of efforts to protect LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) persons from various forms of discrimination and violence, the growing LGBTQ movement sometimes approaches the court for rights enforcement. There is a dearth of cases specifically focused on lesbian rights except for a 2018 case, Pamela Adie v. Corporate Affairs Commission. This limits empirical evidence for assessing the role of the courts but also strengthens the case for an enquiry into how the courts can protect lesbians in Nigeria against discrimination on the grounds of their sexual identity. This chapter analyzes how intersecting categories of gender, sexual orientation, class, and location affect lesbians’ experiences of discrimination. It also explores impediments in laws and the formal justice system that result in discrimination, thereby affecting access to justice. The analysis reveals opportunities for the courts to adopt a proactive approach to interpreting fundamental rights guarantees in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. Pragmatic recommendations are made for a multi-stakeholder approach and cross-jurisdictional learning.

This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between sexuality, ‘race' and space within the context of urban night-time leisure spaces for women. It is informed by and draws on different fields: sexual geographies, critical ‘race' scholarship, feminist and queer theories, studies on whiteness, postmodern spatial theories. The intellectual roots of this thesis lie in black feminist theories of gender, ‘race' and sexuality (and class) as intersecting categories and fields of experience. The thesis draws on poststructuralist approaches that theorise sexuality and ‘race' as discursively and performatively produced. It argues that ‘race' and sexuality are mutually constitutive categories and that they can only be understood in relation to each other. The ethnographic fieldwork of this study is carried out in specific sexualised spaces, namely two lesbian bars in Manchester's Gay Village. Through participant observations in those bars and qualitative interviews with women who identify as lesbian and bisexual and white, mixed-race, black and East Asian, the thesis explores the role of ‘race' in the construction of lesbian bodies and spaces and how sexuality, ‘race' and space work together in shaping subjectivities. The aims of this study are manifold: to develop an understanding of how practices of inclusion and exclusion work in leisure spaces designed to meet the needs of a marginalised group; to find new ways of understanding ‘race' and sexuality by looking at their spatial relationship; to contribute to debates on sexuality and space by investigating how space is simultaneously sexualised and racialised; to contribute to existing research on whiteness through an exploration of how different forms of whiteness spatially intersect with sexuality.