The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of campus climate at the University of South Florida, Tampa Campus for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender students. Specifically, the study determined if there was any relationship between level of homosexual identity development acquired and perceptions of campus climate. If a relationship existed, it would influence the way that campus climate perceptions would be analyzed in future studies. The population was the undergraduate student body at the University of South Florida taking at least six credit hours in the fall semester 2007. An online survey was created with two instruments that have been validated in previous studies, one on campus climate and one that identified identity level. The campus instrument was completed by all respondents, while only those self identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or questioning were directed to the identity level instrument. Of the 31,030 email solicitations sent out to eligible students, 2345 students responded and completed the survey. Of those, 228 were from gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning students. Research questions sought to reveal the campus climate perceptions of GLBTQ students; to determine if perceptions varied between gay, lesbian, bisexual, questioning, and heterosexual students; and to determine if there was a relationship between homosexual identity development and perceptions of campus climate. Conclusions of the study include perceptions of campus climate at USF are more positive than those reported in the results of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Study conducted by Rankin (2003). Additionally, administrative responses to GLBT issues are not visible to students. The research also noted that significant differences exist between the perceptions of campus climate for GLBTQ students between the heterosexual and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning students. Finally, the level of homosexual identity development attained has a significant relationship with perceptions of campus climate The results of this study will impact the focus and delivery of student services, training, and diversity initiatives at the university. Future opportunities for advancing the knowledge of the subject matter include further development of the GIQ identity development instrument, and expanding the question of identity development and campus climate perceptions to a nationwide study.

The main problem addressed by this thesis is the question of how to assess the politics and the cultural effects and implications of 'Queer Theory' during the period of the 1990s. 'Queer' was invoked in numerous institutions, spaces, and cultural practices over this period, and yet queer-identified theorists – and many of their critics – have often assumed that this term refers to a relatively unified object. I ask if it is appropriate to treat these 'queer' occasions in this manner, and whether this 'dispersed' object requires a different approach: one that sets out to describe means and routes by which it became possible and desirable to pose 'queer' problems across so many diverse sites and practices. In addition, if there are discernible patterns to these distributed cultural capacities and inclinations, what political significance do they have? These questions inform my account of the career of 'Queer Theory' during the 1990s. A post-humanist approach to these matters is not premised on an essential or a socially constituted general category of 'subjectivity'. Instead, it addresses 'Queer Theory' as a problem, without automatically critiquing it; it is sceptical of the perfectionist pulsion that has treated this critical practice as either a good or a bad object: dual roles that are mandated by the logic of dialectical criticism. These roles are exemplified by the frequent relegation of 'queer' in the relevant literature to the 'innately political' or the 'merely aesthetic'. In this thesis I identify ethical, cultural, and political yields of these conventional choices and the modes of problematisation in which they operate; I positively redescribe them as aesthetico-political practices. My approach therefore not only deviates from the 'good' or 'bad' critical options, but also from a third option: the equally rationalist response of assuming that 'Queer Theory' is fundamentally a problem of under-theorisation.

<p>Migrationsverket har kritiserats hårt för att inte ha tillräcklig kunskap i homo-, bi- och transsexualitetsfrågor, eftersom människor nekats uppehållstillstånd trots att de uppfyllt kriterierna. Samkönade par har inte behandlats som par i ansökningsprocessen. Människor med "fel" sexualitet har fram till 2005 inte beviljats asyl med sin sexuella läggning som skäl, eftersom det inte klassats som tillräcklig förföljelsegrund för flyktingstatus. Praktiker som dessa har kritiserats för att utgå från en heteronormativ diskurs som är diskriminerande.</p><p>Queerfeministisk teori kritiserar samhälleliga normer som påverkar hur människor behandlas. Med hjälp av en queerfeministisk teori urskiljs och analyseras heteronormativa diskurser i svensk migrationspolicy. Policyn får här representeras av fem statliga utredningar vilka behandlar flyktingskap och anhöriginvandring.</p><p>Vad som framträtt genom analysen är att det finns tendenser till både heteronormativa och patriarkala strukturer inom migrationspolicyn. Idag finns emellertid en större förståelse för könsrollsfrågor och det finns en vilja och strävan efter att använda ett köns- och sexualitetsneutralt språk. Begreppet partnerskap förekommer allt mer frekvent vilket tolkas som att partnerskapet som institution införlivats i den allmänna samhällsnormen om tvåsamhet. Däremot är det endast den homosexuella mannen som synliggörs. Kvinnors sexualitet i allmänhet och homosexuella kvinnors sexualitet i synnerhet, osynliggörs i diskurserna.</p> / <p> </p><p>The Swedish migration authority has been criticized for not having enough knowledge on issues concerning gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people since visas has been declined even if the person fulfil the conditions. Couples of the same sex have not been processed as a couple. People with the "wrong" sexual orientation have had their asylums applications declined if sexual identity was the reason for persecution until 2005, when sexuality was accepted as reason for refugee status. These types of actions have been criticized for discrimination caused by heteronormative discourses.</p><p>Queer feministic theory is sceptical to societal norms and their influence on how people are being treated. Heteronormative discourses in Swedish migration policy will be visible and analysed with the queer feministic theory. The policy will be represented by five public investigations dealing with refugees and family reunification.</p><p>The results from the analysis show tendencies to both heteronormative and patriarchal structures in the migration policy. Today the consciousness of gender issues is present which results in a will to use gender and sexuality neutral language. The term registered partners is more frequently used which can be seen as the institution of partnership has been included in the norm. The gay man is only part who has been accepted. The female sexuality has in general been ignored in the discourses and even more the sexuality of the homosexual woman.</p>

<p>Uppsatsen <em>Män med män</em> handlar om hur par bestående av män bildas i två svenska romaner, Jonas Gardells <em>Präriehundarna </em>(1987) och Bengt Martins <em>Sodomsäpplet </em>(1968). Det som studeras är gestaltningen av hur förhållandet mellan männen påverkas av heteronormen och hur heterosexuella förhållanden står som en motpol för parbildandet. Identitet och maskulinitet är andra ämnen som behandlas i uppsatsen som tittar på hur romanpersonernas identitetssökande gestaltas. Uppsatsen finner hur paret i <em>Präriehundarna </em>gestaltas att de starkt är påverkade av den heteronormativa och väljer att använda detta som ett sätt att utgå ifrån och ta avstånd från detta, men samtidigt har paret svårt att finna sig själva och vara bekväma i sin maskulinitet i en samkönad relation. I <em>Sodomsäpplet</em> finner uppsatsen tydliga bevis på att den kulturella kontexten påverkar stort i identifikation hos huvudpersonen och att Martins gestaltning är grundad i den samma. Den teoretiska basen är queerteori, främst med Judith Butler och Eve Koskofsky Sedgwick som bas. Queerteorin används för att visa hur genus är en social konstruktion och att gestaltningen har påverkats av kulturella idéer om genus och relationer.</p>

<p>Under en individs ungdomsår händer det mycket i hans eller hennes liv. Du växer upp, skapar nya relationer och tar död på gamla. Du försöker desperat finna ut vem du är och vad du vill med ditt liv. Du lär känna dig själv och lär dig tycka om dig själv. Du finner ting hos dig själv du tycker illa om och saker du tycker bra om. För många människor, unga som gamla, är litteratur och böcker ett viktigt redskap i detta sökande. Litteraturen spelar inte bara en viktig roll för den personliga utvecklingen utan även för nöjes skull. Du kan fly in i andra världar liksom ta del av en annan människas livsöde. Andra söker sig åt andra håll. Som att spela fotboll eller musik.Sedan sjukdomsstämpeln på homosexualitet togs bort av Socialstyrelsen 1979 har acceptansen och öppenheten kring homosexualitet växt. Tiina Rosenberg kallar det ”Den nya svenska öppenheten”. En avvikande sexualitet är inte längre så betydelsefull hos dagens ungdomar utan vikten ligger i att inte utmana några könsroller. Om du som ung kvinna identifierar dig som lesbisk är det inte en stor sak så längre, så länge du inte utmanar din roll som kvinna.</p>

<p>Samuelsson, Camilla & Solca, Marlene (2010). <em>Den normkritiska dramapedagogen?</em><em> –En undersökning om dramapedagogers uppfattningar av att arbeta normkritiskt</em>. C-uppsats i dramapedagogik, Akademin för utbildning och ekonomi, Högskolan i Gävle.</p><p>Syftet med undersökningen är att belysa och problematisera vad det kan innebära för dramapedagoger att arbeta utifrån ett normkritiskt förhållningssätt. Det undersöks med frågeställningarna:</p><p>- <em>Hur går det att förstå och tolka dramapedagogers erfarenhet av att arbeta normkritiskt? </em>- <em>Vilka strategier går det att finna i dramapedagogers normkritiska arbete? </em>- <em>Vilka styrkor för att arbeta normkritiskt går det att finna inom dramapedagogiken? </em>- <em>Finns det några svårigheter i mötet mellan dramapedagogik och normkritisk pedagogik?</em></p><p>Undersökningen är kvalitativ med en hermeneutisk ansats som utgår från queer- och intersektionalitetsteorier och <em>anti-opressive education. </em>Forskningsmetoden är fokussamtal med dramapedagoger som arbetar med ett normkritiskt förhållningssätt.</p><p>Empirin resulterade i en analys med två tydliga huvudgrenar: styrkor som dramapedagog i ett normkritiskt arbete och strategier för att arbeta normkritiskt. Analysen är kopplad till litteratur om icke förtryckande, normkritisk och dramapedagogisk verksamhet.</p>

<p>The aim of this essay is to answer the question of how – in what ways – Jeanette Wintersons Written on the Body and Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet are queer texts. My method is that of a thematic analysis, focusing on words and phenomenon related to definitions of the multi facetted term “queer”. The analysis covers themes of lesbian focus, performativity, performance, speech-acts, and heteronormative and queer relationships. My results are presented in a dialogue between the novels themes and queer theory, foremost represented by Judith Butler. My conclusion is that the literary texts are indeed queer, in several ways, and that both of them, although different, serve important queer purposes.</p>

<p>The aim of this essay is to answer the question of how, and in what ways Martina Bigert’s and Maria Thulin’s picture <em>Allt om min buske</em> (literally, <em>All about my bush</em>) is queer. Inspired by Judith Butler’s idea of the heterosexual matrix, and Michel Foucault’s discourse I attempt to investigate how sex and sexuality are described in relation to heteronormativity, and if <em>Allt om min buske</em> is either norm-breaking or norm-creating in a wider perspective. This study concludes that antinormativity and queerness are evident within the framework of the picture. It portrays, for example, female masculinity and male femininity, a woman’s desire for another woman, femininity attracted to femininity and phallic symbols associated to female characters, all in a narrative structure that resembles female sexuality. My study also reveals how film critics used <em>Allt om min buske</em> to create and maintain social and cinematic norms.</p>

Single motherhood has been socially constructed as a deviant identity category. Up against the master societal framework of hegemonic heterosexuality, single mothers, as a social group, have been systematically discriminated against and subjected to moral regulation. The single mother has consistently been depicted as either criminal or victim, and she has almost always been cast as an individual actor whose lot is explained in individualized, apolitical terms. The current rhetoric of choice feeds the idea that single mothers in need deserve their hardships because they have freely and singularly chosen their sexual and reproductive behaviors and circumstances. In light of the historically constructed identity position of the single mother, it is evident that a more sociologically sensitive analysis of single motherhood has been culturally suppressed. Feminism has long been adamant about the significance of the role that reproduction plays in gender inequality. Queer Theory, with its critique of the sexualization of social life, is amenable to such a perspective and is employed here to illuminate how familial, sexual, and/or reproductive realities rigidify into overarching identity categories that shape and restrict rights and freedoms. / N/A

The film "Brokeback Mountain" was released in December of 2005 into mainstream theaters and to general audiences. Director Ang Lee, screenwriters Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry, and actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal made this film in which the storyline revolves around two men falling in love and how this forbidden love would affect the rest of their lives. The shock of having a film with two men kissing and having sex in the theaters seemed to have struck a nerve with many viewers. Some were very positive, hailing the film as a new step in mainstream films to show a queer relationship, others were negative, criticizing the film even at times condemning what was shown on the screen. The impact of the film made debate and conversations about queer content available to a public forum, in this case newspapers from around the country.