This qualitative practitioner research study examined a ninth-grade young adult (YA) queer book club curriculum and culturally relevant pedagogy. Students read two out of nine queer-themed YA novels paired with a collection of nonfiction and media on topics that ranged from rethinking gender norms in society to historical issues that impact people with intersectional queer identities. The author collaboratively designed, planned, and taught the 6-week unit at the center of the study, Disrupting Dominant Narratives and Queer Book Clubs, using a critical queer pedagogy framework. The findings illuminated the ways in which pedagogy that nurtures and prizes student voice, critical reading, discussion, and humanizing classroom discourse work to situate students as empathic critical readers and writers of the world. The findings suggest that analyzing queer- themed literature moves students to build empathy, disrupts oppression, and humanizes people of all identities, thus empowering youth as producers and consumers of knowledge that facilitates their growth and supports queer and questioning youth. In addition, students found common experiences as teenagers with the queer characters across the novels, therby affirming the decision to use exclusively YA fiction for the book club and serving to aid in disrupting dominant discourses about queer youth. The study concludes with a suggestion for seven implications for practice and a call for further research that aims to advance culturally relevant queer pedagogy.

"Queer Things" takes the connections between homosexuality and materiality, and those between literary texts and cultural objects, as major repositories of queer history. It scrutinizes the objects that circulate within the works of Oscar Wilde as well as in the output of high fashion designers and the critics and consumers who engaged with them, in order to ask how gay identities and affiliations are formed and expressed through things. Bringing recent critical interest in the subtleties of nineteenth-century "thing culture" into contact with queer theory, I argue that the crowded Victorian object-world was a crucial location not only for the formation of social attitudes about homosexuality, but also for the cultivation of homosexuality's distinctive aesthetics and affective styles. In attending to the queer pleasures activated by material attachments that have otherwise been deployed or disavowed as stereotypes, my project reconsiders some of the most celebrated works of the gay canon, and inserts into it some compelling new ones. Furthermore, in illuminating the Victorian origins of modern gay style and the incipiently modern gayness of Victorian style, it adds nuance and new substance to our understanding of the elaborate material landscapes inhabited by Victorian bodies and represented in Victorian texts. The first part of the dissertation uses extensive archival research to excavate a history of queer men's involvement in women's fashion in the mid-nineteenth century. In the first chapter, juxtaposing accounts of the famous Boulton and Park drag scandal with a simultaneously emerging genre of overwrought fashion criticism, I argue that an (over)investment in fashionable objects and a detailed knowledge of fashionability became important sites for the develop of gay-effeminate social styles. The second chapter positions Charles Worth, founder of the modern system of haute couture, as the progenitor of a queer species of cross-gendered, non-heterosexual relations between male high-fashion designers and female clients. Though they are not based on same-sex eroticism, I argue that these relations deserve consideration as queer. The second part of the dissertation considers the representational functions of objects in several works across the career of Oscar Wilde. The third chapter presents a reading of De Profundis, Wilde's infamously hard-to-read prison letter, which focuses on how the text interweaves anxieties about the transmission of material objects into its complex affective structure. The fourth chapter considers the effects of the risky but irresistible attractions of that letter's addressee, the widely-loathed Bosie Douglas, on Wilde's aesthetic practice. Juxtaposing Bosie's charms with those of Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest, and then moving to the little-read letters which document the final post-prison years of Wilde's life, I suggest that the frustrating states of intemperance and indolence become sites, for Wilde, of erotic excitement, artistic innovation, and political resistance.

Research concerning lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals has, thus far, largely focused on understanding the many ways in which stigma operates to harm their lives (e.g., Hatzenbuehler, 2011; Meyer, 2003). Conversely, little is known about the potential positive consequences of stigma among LGB individuals, and even less is known about the mechanisms that may facilitate the development of such positive consequences. Drawing on the distinct, yet related, literatures of minority stress, stress-related growth, character strengths, and well-being, a conceptual model of stigma-related strengths was developed and examined for the purpose of this study. The specific aims of the current study were designed to examine the various components of the stigma-related strengths model. Specifically, this study had six specific aims: 1) To compare self-identified LGB and heterosexual individuals on character strengths. 2) To identify the possible cognitive, affective, and interpersonal (i.e., social) mediators of the relationship between sexual identity (LGB vs. heterosexual) and character strengths. 3) To examine the relationship between perceived interpersonal LGB-related stigma and character strengths among LGB individuals. 4) To identify the possible cognitive, affective, and interpersonal (i.e., social) mediators of the relationship between perceived interpersonal stigma and character strengths among LGB individuals. 5) To investigate which character strengths serve as mediators of the relationship between perceived interpersonal LGB-related stigma and mental health among LGB individuals. 6) To explore which character strengths may mediate the relationship between perceived interpersonal LGB-related stigma and well-being among LGB individuals. A sample of 718 individuals was recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk to complete an online (i.e., web-based) survey consisting of a set of self-report measures. Of those, 421 (59%) participants self-identified as LGB. In addition to self-identifying as either LGB or heterosexual, eligible participants had to be fluent in English, 18-60 years old, and living in United States. No significant differences in character strengths were found between LGB and heterosexual participants. Among LGB participants, an inverted U-shaped relationship was found between perceived interpersonal LGB-related stigma and five of the 24 character strengths, namely appreciation of beauty and excellence, curiosity, fairness, honesty, and kindness; these strengths were then referred to as stigma-related strengths among LGB individuals. Conversely, prudence and judgment were found to be negatively and linearly associated with perceived interpersonal LGB-related stigma. Cognitive flexibility mediated the relationship between perceived interpersonal LGB-related stigma and the five stigma-related strengths among LGB participants. Brooding mediated the relationship between perceived interpersonal stigma and both kindness and appreciation of beauty and excellence. Furthermore, suppression was found to mediate the association between perceived interpersonal stigma and kindness. Social support mediated the perceived interpersonal stigma-fairness relation. As for prudence and judgment, only cognitive flexibility was found to mediate their relationship with perceived interpersonal LGB-related stigma among LGB individuals. All five stigma-related strengths, as well as prudence and judgment, mediated the relationship between interpersonal stigma and well-being, whereas only curiosity mediated the relationship between interpersonal stigma and mental distress among LGB individuals. The findings demonstrate that moderate levels of stigma are associated with character strengths among LGB individuals. Further, findings suggest that interventions addressing LGB individuals’ engagement in cognitive flexibility, brooding, and social support will facilitate the development of their stigma-related strengths, which in turn, promote their well-being.

The purpose of this dissertation was to create a psychometrically sound measure of asexual prejudice through microaggressions that can be used to document and identify the unique experiences of asexual people (i.e., those reporting a lack of sexual attraction towards others). Asexual prejudice encompasses anti-asexual beliefs and attitudes that stem from sexual normativity which promotes sexuality as the norm while positioning asexuality as deviant (Carrigan 2011; Chasin, 2011; Flore, 2014; Gupta, 2013). Applying Sue’s (2010) description of microaggressions, asexual microaggressions are conscious and/or unconscious daily occurrences of insults and invalidation that stem from implicit bias against asexual people and asexuality. Development of the scale included creating items with content that was derived from close readings of the literature on asexuality and related measures of discrimination, prejudice or bias as well as expert review for clarity and verifying applicability of content. A total of 738 participants participated on-line and half were randomly assigned to Phase 1 for the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) while the other half was assigned to Phase 2 for the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Results of the EFA indicate a 16 item four-factor structure for the AMS that capture expectations of sexuality, denial of legitimacy, harmful visibility, and assumptions of causality as descriptors of the types of microaggressions that occur. The CFA revealed support for the AMS total score with good internal consistency and strong validity as reflected in strong positive relationships with stigma consciousness, collective self-esteem, and another measure of discrimination and bias. Combined, the AMS is a valid and reliable measure of asexual prejudice. Contextualization of these results as well as implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

Research on mental health outcomes among racial-ethnic, sexual, and gender minority young people indicates that they may be at increased risk for service use disparities when these identity statuses intersect. However, evidence of how having multiple minority identities is related to using mental health services is lacking. This dissertation used a mixed-methods, convergent design to explore and describe relationships between intersecting minority identities and mental health service use in the experiences of 31 Black and Hispanic, sexual and gender minority young adults. Consistent with an intersectional perspective, findings indicated that mental health service use was more strongly associated with minority identities collectively than with any single minority identity, and that experiences of intersecting minority identities could facilitate, as well as hinder, mental health service use among participants. A theoretical model was revealed in which participants negotiated multiple minority identities within four dimensions related to their service use: ethnic-racial culture, intersecting identities, family, and personal identities. Results suggested provider strategies that support intersecting minority identity strengths around culture, community belonging, and self-efficacy may encourage service use and engagement with treatment.

This dissertation rethinks the category of queer desire in early modern drama and early colonial travel narratives. Moving beyond previous scholarship which has conceived of early modern sexuality chiefly in terms of same-sex erotic acts, proto-homosexual identities, or homosocial relations, this dissertation describes new forms of heightened erotic feeling which are qualitatively queer in how they depart from conventional or expected trajectories, and not because of the genders of lover and love object. Each chapter considers an iconic scene in early modern literature, and draws out a specific, recurring affective mode - paranoid suspicion, willing instrumentality, inexhaustible fancy, and colonial melancholia -- which I argue constitutes a queer form of desiring. Chapter 1 argues that both a witch trial pamphlet, Newes from Scotland (1591), and a witch trial play, The Witch of Edmonton (1621) exemplify the violent, projective cycle of paranoid suspicion by which the witch trial defines a witch according to his or her secret, deviant desires. Chapter 2 focuses on cross-dressed figures who are willingly instrumentalized as erotic facilitators in two comedies, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's Philaster (1609) and Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker's The Roaring Girl (1611), arguing that "being used" makes the go-between an integral part of an ostensibly heterosexual relationship, transforming it into a queer triad. Chapter 3 takes up the promiscuous desire for too many objects in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (1602) and Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair (1614). I read these very different comedies as both propelled by impossible-to-satisfy hunger, and trace the etymology of the concept of "fancy" to show how desire for pleasurable and beautiful things became characterized as a queer desire for improper and unproductive commodities. Chapter 4 moves into the New World, analyzing two accounts of failed colonialism: Thomas Harriot and John White's reports from the English expeditions on Roanoke Island (1590); and Jean de Léry’s memoir of the short-lived French colony in Brazil (1578). In these texts I uncover a distinctly melancholic and queer mode of colonial desire: one predicated on impossible longing, renunciation, and haunting, thwarted identification with lost native American "others."

No description available.

Orientador: Luci Regina Muzzeti / Banca: Andreza Marques de Castro Leão / Banca: Fábio Tadeu Reina / Banca: Flávia Baccin Fiorante / Banca: Darbi Masson Suficier / Resumo: A presente pesquisa foi realizada por meio de uma análise descritiva/analítica da proposta de implantação e seus desdobramentos de uma escola destinada ao público LGBTTI, a E-JOVEM, sendo uma na capital do estado de São Paulo, duas no interior e uma no litoral paulista. O estudo possibilitou perceber a cada um desses segmentos e como a E-JOVEM contribuiu para a promoção ou não ao combate à homofobia e o respeito pelas diferenças no período de 2009 até 2012. A abordagem metodológica desta pesquisa é qualitativa e com os resultados e análises das narrativas trazidas pelos gestores/fundadores, granjeamos os pontos críticos e relevantes da E-JOVEM. As fontes são de duas naturezas: documentais, sobre a criação e implementação da E-JOVEM e a percepção sobre o trabalho desenvolvido pelos principais atores/atrizes, neste caso, os fundadores/diretores assim como, os resultados objetivados na vida dos depoentes. Além disso, observou-se qual a percepção da direção, dos professores e dos alunos sobre os resultados que a referida formação pedagógica trouxe a cada um desses segmentos, à luz do objetivo da criação da escola: promover o combate à homofobia e o respeito pelas diferenças. Nesse sentido, o objetivo central entrecruzou ações e reações derivadas de políticas públicas específicas ao grupo LGBTTI. / Abstract: The present research was carried out by means of a descriptive / analytical analysis of the proposal of implantation and its unfolding of a school destined to the public LGBTTI, the EJOVEM, being one in the capital of the state of São Paulo, two in the interior and one in the coast paulista The study made it possible to perceive each of these segments and how EJOVEM contributed to promoting or not the fight against homophobia and respect for differences between 2009 and 2012. The methodological approach of this research is qualitative and with the results and analyzes of the narratives brought by the managers / founders, we get the critical and relevant points of E-JOVEM. The sources are of two natures: documentaries, about the creation and implementation of E-JOVEM and the perception about the work developed by the main actors / actresses, in this case, the founders / directors as well as the objective results in the life of the deponents. In addition, it was observed the perception of the direction of teachers and students on the results that the pedagogical training brought to each of these segments, in light of the objective of the creation of the school: to promote the fight against homophobia and respect for differences. In this sense, the central objective intertwined actions and reactions derived from specific public policies to the LGBTTI group. / Doutor

This study investigated the utility of applying the social constructionist perspective to adolescent sexual minority identity development, disclosure, and identity explorations. Differences between middle and late adolescents and male and females were examined. No differences were found between middle and late adolescents on measures of identity development and identity exploration; however, differences in identity disclosure were found regarding history of accidental discovery of sexual orientation. Biological sex differences were found for identity development, disclosure, and exploration. Relationships between same- and opposite-sex attractions, behaviors, romantic experiences, and self-labels are presented. Trends in intentional disclosure patterns and unintentional discovery identify predicted reaction as a primary motivator in disclosure. Finally, different relationship styles in which sexual minorities engage are presented. Outcomes of relationship styles show better psychosocial outcomes for those engaging in different relationship styles compared to those who do not participate in relationships.

In this thesis, I examine how colonial constructs on Chinese culture affects people's views toward sexual minorities in Hong Kong. In the first Chapter, I explain the shift of my research focus after I started my research. I also conduct a brief literature review on existing literature on sexual minorities in mainland China and Hong Kong. In the second Chapter, I examine interviewees' accounts of family pressure and perceived conflicts between their religious beliefs and sexual orientation. I analyze interviewees' perceptions of social attitudes toward sexual minorities. Hidden in these narratives is an internalized colonial construct of Chinese culture in Hong Kong. This construct prevented some interviewees from connecting Christianity with oppression toward sexual minorities in Hong Kong. In the third Chapter, I examine the rise of right-wing Christian activism in pre- and post- handover Hong Kong. I also analyze how sexual-minority movement organizations and right-wing Christians organized in response to the political situation in Hong Kong. Then, I present the result of content analysis on debates around two amendments to the Domestic Violence Ordinance (DVO)-the first legislation related to sexual minorities in Hong Kong after handover. I draw on data from online news archives and meeting minutes and submissions of the Legislative Council (LegCo). Based on the rhetoric of US right-wing Christians' "(nuclear) family values," Hong Kong right-wing Christians supported excluding same-sex cohabiting partners from the DVO. This rhetoric carved out a space for different narratives about "Chinese culture" and "Chinese family." These different versions of Chinese culture matched diasporic sentiment toward the motherland and gained currency from post-handover political landscape and power configuration in Hong Kong. These versions also revealed the colonized and diasporic mindset of opponents of the amendments; these mindsets also reflect the same internalized colonial construct of "Chineseness" my interviewees have. Based on analyses of interview data in Chapter II and in Chapter III of how people view sexual minorities, I argue that a colonial diasporic psyche aptly captures people's views toward sexual minorities in Hong Kong. Since the political situation and DVO are specific to Hong Kong, I do not include interviewees who are not of Hong Kong origin in this thesis.