The goal of this dissertation was to explore aging lesbian and gay individuals living in rural communities, in terms of their social networks and the relationships between these networks, identity, health, and quality of life. Guiding the study were three overarching questions. Using a multi-method design, the research was grounded within a socio-ecological context and focused on how structural systems create pathways for health and are affected by social position (intersectionality). Participants (n=25) were recruited from Kentucky (n=20), West Virginia (n=3), and Tennessee (n=2). Thirteen participants self-identified as gay and twelve as lesbian. Findings highlight the complexity of the aging experience and the difficulty in parsing out the influence of a rural location, the aging process, and being a lesbian or gay male, on social network development, identity, health, and quality of life. Findings indicate that rural gay and lesbian individuals develop networks based on need with limited consideration for network members’ acceptance of their identity. The findings also indicate that networks are primarily composed of heterosexual members. Social isolation and loneliness remain a pervasive issue in the rural gay and lesbian aging community. Finally, network size does not affect the overall health and quality of life for rural aging lesbian and gay individuals, but identity congruence does. Conclusions point to the greater need for research to understand the factors affecting aging lesbian and gay individuals in rural environments. Opportunities abound for developing further research addressing social isolation among this population and exploring the positive relationship between identity congruence and quality of life. The findings highlight the collective need to continue research into sexual minority aging and rural sexual minority aging.

Although the social issue of intimate partner violence has come to receive increased attention in the social debate in recent decades, there are still different ideas regarding who is to be actually considered a victim of it. Intimate partner violence is often to be assumed as a phenomenon that occurs in heterosexual relationships only, leaving the abuse in homosexual relationships to be trivialized. This study seeks to fill the gap of knowledge about intimate violence in lesbian relationships together with the aim of shedding light on the existing support efforts, the prevailing heteronorm and its impact on our perception of intimate partner violence.    Using semi-structured interviews with professionals who meet women that has been a victim of violence in a lesbian relationship we wanted to investigate in what ways their approach against the target group is affected by the professionals prior knowledge and the general heteronorm in our society. Furthermore, the purpose is also to investigate whether these factors may in turn influence how the support efforts for this target group are designed. The results of this study showed that the professionals do not always have sufficient adequate knowledge of the potential needs of the target group, which in turn may affect the support available to women who have been subjected to violence. Furthermore, the result is presented based on connections to previous knowledge and the theories Social Constructivism and Gender Theory. These theoretical perspectives were used in order to inherit a critical approach to norms and structures in the society, and through different concepts gain a deeper understanding of how different norms can become established in our society. / Även om samhällsproblemet våld i nära relation har kommit att få en ökad uppmärksamhet i samhällsdebatten under de senaste decennierna råder det fortfarande skilda föreställningar kring vem som faktiskt anses vara offer för det. Ofta antas våld i nära relationer vara ett fenomen som enbart inträffar i heterosexuella förhållanden, vilket gör att våldet i homosexuella relationer bagatelliseras och osynliggörs. Denna studie syftar till att fylla kunskapsluckan om våld i nära lesbiska relationer tillsammans med syftet att belysa befintliga stödinsatser, den allmänna heteronormen och dess påverkan på uppfattningen om våld i nära relationer.   Med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer med yrkesverksamma som möter kvinnor som har blivit utsatta för våld i lesbiska relationer ville vi undersöka på vilket sätt bemötande av denna målgrupp påverkas av yrkesverksammas förkunskaper samt den allmänna heteronormen i vårt samhälle. Vidare är syftet även att undersöka om dessa faktorer i sin tur kan komma att påverka hur stödinsatserna för denna målgrupp utformas. Resultaten av denna studie visade på att de yrkesverksamma inte alltid har tillräcklig adekvat kunskap om målgruppens eventuella behov, vilket i sin tur kan påverka vilket stöd som finns att erbjuda kvinnor som har blivit utsatta för våld. Vidare presenteras resultatet baserat på kopplingar till tidigare kunskap och teorierna Socialkonstruktivism och Queerteorin. Dessa teoretiska perspektiv användes för att erhålla en kritisk inställning till normer och strukturer i samhället, och genom olika begrepp få en djupare förståelse för hur olika normer kan etableras i vårt samhälle.

By using a poststructural discourse analysis, this study aims to investigate how the Swedish Armed Forces formulates the preventive work against discrimination due to sexual orientation and transgender identity or expression. The aim is to also bring knowledge of how the preventive work affect the work environment and the possible consequences for LGBTQ-people within the organisation.  The method “What’s the problem represented to be” by Carol Bacchi is used to analyse the chosen material of policies and qualitative interviews to find out what shapes the preventive work, how it has come about and the effects on different groups in the organisation. Theoretical concepts as hegemonic masculinity, queer, heteronormativity, peripheral inclusion and homonationalism is used as theoretical frame and applied throughout the method. This study shows preventive work tend to focus on Pride and attitudes, rather than questioning structures within the organisation. As result, the heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity within the organisation is not disrupted and LGB-people in the organisation still perceive homophobic tendencies as part of the work environment.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), as it would later be known, began to appear in the United States in 1981. Medical professionals from around the country began to track a mysterious set of illnesses that were affecting previously healthy people, most of who were homosexual men. As the disease spread, it was clear that homosexual men were being most affected. There was no cure to this illness which was quickly killing those infected. In October 1981, the Indianapolis Bag Ladies, a group of gay men, began as a simple Halloween Bus Tour around the city. Coby Palmer, Gary Johnson, and Ed Walsh teamed up by renting three charter busses for their new “Bag Ladies Bus.” Their campy drag involved multiple costume changes that required them to tote bags around, thus earning their name. By 1982, the Bag Ladies knew they needed to do more than have a party. The second bus tour was all about collecting money and creating a “war chest” for the gay community of Indianapolis in case AIDS made its way to the city. In doing this, they became one of the first grassroots HIV/AIDS support groups in the United States. After over 38 years of continued efforts, the Indianapolis Bag Ladies have impacted the Indianapolis LGBTQ communities through a variety of programs that expanded beyond the original bus tour. This thesis explores and analyzes these efforts which include Nurse Safe Sexx, a safe sex campaign; the Damien Center, a HIV/AIDS health clinic; and the Buddy House and Buddy Support Program, two programs connecting people with AIDS to support programs. The final chapter of this thesis expands on the discussion through a public program hosted by the Indiana Historical Society and demonstrates how programs surrounding these topics can be successful for museums and participants.

Through a critical phenomenological perspective using walking interviews (Ahmed 2006, Lee 2015, Weiss et al., 2019), this thesis explores different meanings associated with the sexual orientations of lesbian, bisexual, queer, fluid and pansexual women in the Montreal context. This approach is based on the experiential sharing of 21 lezbiqueer women with various positionnalities, co-constructing meaning through the trajectories we followed and the photographs submitted by the participants. Sexual identifications questions are linked to spatial questions (Jones and Garde-Hansen 2012, Longhurst and Johnston 2010, Collie 2013, Browne and Ferreira 2015, Podmore 2006 and 2019) through an analysis of both the content of the interviews and the way we walked during these interviews. The three parts of the thesis address migratory trajectories (the experience of arriving in Montreal as a lezbiqueer person), the spaces and identifications of lezbiqueer communities in Montreal from 1980 to today, and the visibilities and sensitivities perceived by lezbiqueer women in public spaces. / À travers une perspective phénoménologique critique mobilisant des entrevues marchées (Ahmed 2006, Lee 2015, Weiss et al., 2019), cette thèse explore différentes significations associées aux orientations sexuelles des femmes lesbiennes, bisexuelles, queer, fluides et pansexuelles dans le contexte montréalais. Cette approche se base sur le partage expérientiel de 21 femmes lezbiqueer avec différents vécus, coconstruisant du sens à travers les trajectoires parcourues et des photographies soumises par les participantes. Des questionnements identificatoires liés à la sexualité sont articulés à des questionnements spatiaux (Jones et Garde-Hansen 2012, Longhurst et Johnston 2010, Collie 2013, Browne et Ferreira 2015, Podmore 2006 et 2019) par une analyse tant du contenu des entrevues que de la façon nous avons bougées durant celles-ci. Les trois parties de la thèse abordent les trajectoires migratoires (l’expérience d’arriver à Montréal comme personne lezbiqueer), les espaces et les identifications des communautés lezbiqueer à Montréal de 1980 à aujourd’hui, et les visibilités et sensibilités perçues par les femmes lezbiqueer dans les espaces publics.

In the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Reading the Romance , Janice Radway offers a new introduction in which she states that women continue to be limited in their access to discursive spaces where they can participate and engage equally. This thesis argues that women have created their own discursive spaces, or safe spaces, to compensate for their restricted access to the public sphere through book clubs. By utilizing a critical ethnographic approach and feminist theory, this thesis analyzes the communal constructs and safe space of one book club in the Midwest U.S. This critical ethnography of this book club provides an important perspective because its members are both heterosexual and lesbian women, thus providing an intersectional perspective about this safe space. After six months of data collection, three themes emerged: current events, family and personal experiences. By analyzing these themes I was able to conclude that these women have constructed a safe space that protected and fostered them through difficult and challenging times and experiences while also giving them the place to safely be themselves by exploring nontraditional gender roles and sharing their identities.

This essay focuses on how masculinities are performed and portrayed in Annie Proulx’s novella “Brokeback Mountain” (1997). The thesis argues that through examining the characters’ portrayals of masculinity, readers might develop a deeper, nuanced understanding of gender normativity today. The novella is analysed through a queer perspective with hegemonic gender traits as the main tools for the analysis. The analysis shows how the protagonists Ennis and Jack perform their masculinities in accordance with the heterosexual matrix, while also living in fear of deviating from it. The essay also includes a pedagogical section in which the value of incorporating “Brokeback Mountain” in the EFL classroom is advocated to promote inclusive teaching and question gender normativity. Additionally, the pedagogical implications discuss the relationship between gender normativity and intolerance and homophobia.

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