Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of English, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-72).

À la fin du XIXème siècle, la médecine prend en charge de manière prégnante le phénomène homosexuel, à l'aune des découvertes en psychopathologie. Le personnage est non seulement identifié physiquement sur la base d'un certain nombre de critères dits scientifiques, mais plus encore, on dresse sa cartographie mentale. Bien que cette classification des comportements sexuels se fasse dans une intention moins punitive que curative, les pratiques sexuelles minoritaires sont encore stigmatisées. Au niveau juridique, les lois françaises sont réputées clémentes puisque les pratiques homosexuelles ne constituent plus un délit dans le code pénal de 1810. L'usage détourné de l’outrage public aux moeurs permet cependant de contrôler les comportements tandis qu’on observe une recrudescence des procès pour outrage aux moeurs en fin de siècle. Notre travail, qui s'inscrit explicitement dans le cadre des Gender studies et de la Queer theory, est d’abord épistémologique : il vise à analyser la construction d’un savoir sur l’homosexualité dans la seconde moitié du xixème siècle à travers le corpus médical,dont le rôle est souvent considéré comme majeur dans les études, et à travers les corpus juridiques et littéraires, parfois minimisés. Nos analyses relèvent également de l’histoire des représentations : il s’agit de proposer une définition de l’esthétique décadente à laquelle nous intégrons le signifiant homosexuel. Notre propos est enfin d’entrer dans l’étude détaillée des textes par le biais de trois thématiques majeures démontrant l’usage décadent d’une homotextualité : la symbolique des fleurs, la figure de l’androgyne et le mythe de Narcisse. / By the end of the 19th century, medicine overwhelmingly took hold of the homosexual phenomenon, basing itself on new findings related to psychopathology. Not only were characters physically identified thanks to a series of so-called scientific criteria, but they were also analysed through mental mapping. Although the aim of the classification of sexual behaviours was to cure rather than punish, the practices of sexual minorities were still stigmatized. As far as the judiciary system was concerned, French laws were considered to be quite lenient in so far as homosexual relationships had no longer been regarded as offences since the 1810 penal code. Nevertheless, the distorted use of the affront to public decency enabled to control people's behaviours and, by the end of the century, an increase of the trials focusing on cases of indecent exposure could be noticed. Our work, that definitely ascribes itself within the field of Gender Studies and Queer theory, is first and foremost epistemological and seeks to analyze how a body of expertise about homosexuality emerged in the second half of the 19th century, through the medical corpus that turned out to be prevalent in the studies that were conducted then, as well as through both legal and literary texts, although they were quite overlooked then. Our analyses also pertain to the history of representations, as we offer to define the aesthetics of decadence by adding a signifier: homosexuality. Finally, we also plan on scrutinizing texts by relying on three main themes that are meant to emphasize the decadent use of a homotextuality : the symbol of flowers, the figure of the androgyne and the myth of Narcissus.

In the following dissertation, I consider how the legal challenges faced by LGBTI refugees might compel reflection on and revision to traditional conceptions of citizenship in the United States. Specifically, I explore the question of how queer refugees and asylum seekers might alter – or queer – the meaning of “citizenship” in the United States. This project contributes to the conversation about citizenship in the field of rhetoric in multiple ways: (1) It highlights tensions between the cultural construction of citizenship and its legal parameters, (2) It expands rhetorical citizenship scholarship through attention to the intersection of identification, marginalization, and the political imaginary, and (3) It reveals tensions between norms of civic and sexual identity. It does this by tracing rhetorical precedent through a case study of sexual orientation and gender identity asylum in the United States. I argue that LGBTI refugees and asylees can shape a queered discourse of citizenship, but that the discourse produced is limited based on narrow definitions of sexual orientation and identity categories. To make this argument, I analyze the precedent-setting case involving Fidel Armando Toboso-Alfonso, in which I address how the establishment of that case as precedent set in place norms of sexual identity that persist in the adjudication of LGBTI asylum cases today. Next, I look to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration training module for handling LGBTI asylum claims in order to make sense of the ways the norms set forth in the precedent-setting case have become codified and interrogated in current efforts to adjudicate LGBTI asylum claims. Finally, I compare visual representations of LGBTI asylum seekers to other refugees in order to understand how photographs of LGBTI asylum seekers fit within or rupture the genre of refugee photography. Taken together, these case studies provide insight into how citizenship is discursively imagined when access to citizen status is predicated on simultaneous normative and non-normative performances of sexual identity.

“Textual Glory Holes” examines a particular online fan community called a kink meme, in which fans exchange sexually-charged fanfiction as gifts. In this essay, I argue that, not only does the genre of fanfiction help to create and sustain the concept of kink, but that kink as a category is an interpellation of, experimentation with, and performance of the eroticism of genre in fanfiction. Furthermore, the kink meme community constitutes itself by performing this fannish erotics for each other in fiction and in sexualized feedback, resulting in a community that embraces the pleasures of this performance but sometimes distances itself from the power and political implications of the performance. Moments when fans do not distance themselves from this erotics of genre—one of unearthing and understanding diverse and diffuse pleasures—hold the potential to become what Audre Lorde calls “creative energy empowered,” a shared pleasure that can “lessen the threat of difference.” / text

In this thesis I first aim to describe the way in which the decline of the respectability of reparative therapy in the United States created a need for Evangelicals to come up with another political defense against same sex marriage. I argue that this political defense is gradually becoming what I call the “spiritual friendship movement:” an emerging group of gay thinkers and writers who expand the notion of Christian celibacy to include same sex relationships that would be called “romantic” by modern categories. Because this concept is both so new and so complex, in this thesis I will spend time attempting to paint a picture of the implicit logical and theoretical assumptions made by the writers in “spiritual friendship movement” through their most popular books and blog posts and speaking engagements at key “gate-keeper” evangelical organizations.

This thesis offers a critical analysis of psychopathological discourses (sexology, psychoanalysis and psychiatry) and feminist writings that contribute to the construction of representations of heterosexual female masochism and submission. Chapter One examines pseudo-scientific ideas about ‘women’ and ‘masochism’ developed in the works of sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. This chapter provides the necessary historical context with which to understand the Anglo-American iterations of discourses of heterosexual female masochism and submission from the 1970s to the present day, which form the case studies in Chapters Two to Four. Chapter Two complexifies and nuances polarised feminist arguments of the 1970s and ’80s (the so-called ‘Sex Wars’) regarding the political status of heterosexual female masochism and submission. This chapter considers the radical and liberal feminist conceptions of fantasy, sexual orientation and sadomasochism (SM), which are examined in relation to two fictional texts: Jenny Diski’s Nothing Natural and Pat Califia’s Macho Sluts. Chapter Three examines the relationship between self-injury and masochism using Steven Shainberg’s film Secretary as a case study. This chapter explores Secretary’s relation to the generic conventions of romantic comedy; demonstrates how the film borrows from normalising and mainstreaming discourses about SM; and finally shows that it engages implicitly and briefly, with notions of SM as a radical challenge to the prevalent cultural narrative of ‘health and harm’. Chapter Four examines the discursive construction of heterosexual female masochism and submission in contemporary sex blogs. This chapter brings together many of the currents that run through the thesis to highlight specific ways that blogging as a medium affects representations of these phenomena. It also examines ways that bloggers have begun to use the medium as a form of ‘confessional’ to co-opt the gay ‘coming out’ narrative for their own ‘kinky’ ends. The thesis concludes by examining some reasons why the complex political position that heterosexual female masochism and submission occupied when they were first coined in Western modernity persists to the present, postmodern day.

The aim of this master’s thesis is to study in what ways an audience who does not identify as heterosexual reflect over the Norwegian TV-show SKAM’s non-heterosexual representations. The research was carried out through five focus group interviews with thirteen people and used theories on identification, stereotypes and the media together with queer theory and intersectional theories. The study’s interviews show that SKAM gives different opportunities for identification. The respondents all identifies with ways the show deals with coming out and how the process is shaped by subtle forms homophobia. The show’s focus on heteronormativity and internalized homophobia is also strongly identified with and considered to be skilfully told. How Isak and Even’s relationship is portrayed is appreciated as well, which was a source for positive identification. The character Eskild was also brought up as a clever way to show how stereotypical representations can be used in a positive and inspiring way. The show’s general lack of non-heterosexual characters and their portrayal as all white, cis, middle class men was critiqued, as well as how the show handled fetishzation of non-heterosexual relationships. It becomes clear from the interviews how the respondents negotiate the non-heterosexual representations in SKAM in order to find identification, which helps them validate their own sexual identities. Moreover, the study also shows how representations, how they affect and regulate people’s social lives and identities, can be better understood by favouring not only the media but the viewers as well.

Are we witnessing the emergence of queer community? To answer this question, I interviewed self-identified queer people living in Atlanta, Georgia. During one-on-one and relational interviews, 31 participants reflected on how they understand and live queer, as well as socialize with other queers. An intention of this study is to advance theory; as such, this analysis inspected tenets asserted by “first wave” theoreticians and activists of the 1980s and 1990s. To test theory, I attend to queer as fluid, non-normative and diverse. The participants viewed their queerness in sexuality, gender, and political terms congruent with a first-wave framework. On the whole, participants supported the emergence of queer community, yet offered a cautionary tale as to whether collective queer will be able to achieve its political goals. “Still here, still queer” extends theory in the direction of shared identity and code for conduct, essential dynamics of community.

This thesis details the production process of a video documentary that describes the coming out processes of gay men who identify with the Bear subculture of the gay community and some of the conflicts and consequences that they face due to this action. The aim of this production was to portray with dignity and compassion the recorded feelings and personal histories of the subjects interviewed. Chapters are devoted to the development, pre-production, production and post-production phased of this documentary. A detailed script, transcripts, shot list, and other examples and illustrations are included to give a better understanding of the entire production. This thesis also includes other necessary documentation such as a detailed budget and copies of performance releas

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art (Digital Art), September 2017 / The aim of the research report is to establish a link between the field/practice of queer theory and the field/practice of animation. I propose that the linking factor between these two bodies of theory and practice is fantasy. the purpose of exploring this link s to understand how formal elements of the animated medium can be used to articulate queer scenarios of desire: [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version] / XL2018