<p> My thesis examines the socially mediated construction of reality, and how through this, laws can come to be perceived as &lsquo;bad&rsquo;. I expand upon Berger and Luckmanns (1966) Social Construction of Reality theory to illustrate this process. A qualitative research approach called ethnographic content analysis or &lsquo;ECA&rsquo; was used to gather data from Twitter and Facebook (Altheide, 1996). With ECA I examine cultural artifacts like postings and publications on the Internet and in these social media networks. I explore how users of Twitter and Facebook construct a reality in which a law becomes bad through habitual use of social media. I illustrate the social mediated perception of &lsquo;bad&rsquo; laws using a case study of a proposed Arizona bill called <i>The Religious Freedom Restoration Act</i>, or &lsquo;Senate Bill 1062&rsquo; (AZ SB 1062). AZ SB 1062 would have protected a businesses right to refuse service to customers and allowed the use of a &lsquo;sincerely held religious belief&rsquo; as a defense in court for discriminating. An analysis of social media content about this &lsquo;bad&rsquo; law contributes to the scholarly literature by providing a broader look at power and influence in social media, how social media enables stereotypes, and the recycling of images and headlines. Social media reinforces the construction that a law is &lsquo;bad&rsquo; based upon carefully constructed repeated headlines that serve to typify a user&rsquo;s knowledge, in the form of an attention grabbing 140-character tweet.</p>

<p> The formation and maintenance of romantic pair bonds is a well-represented topic in human evolutionary sciences. This extensive body of work, drawn mostly from the field of evolutionary psychology, has proposed mechanisms for attracting a mate (e.g., resource display, physical cues), attaining a mate (e.g., intrasexual competition), and keeping a mate (e.g., competitor derogation, emotional manipulation). However, this evolutionary model of human pair bonding has not fully addressed relationship termination. If we accept that we have an evolved suite of behaviors that encourage and facilitate pair bonding, then we must also look to breakups and ask whether evolution has played a role in shaping &ldquo;heartbreak&rdquo;&mdash;the post-relationship grief (PRG) which many individuals endure.</p><p> The evolutionary model of human mating predicts divergent mating &ldquo;agendas&rdquo; for men and women. The first step in our research program was to conduct a modest pilot study to address how and when PRG differs between men and women. This pilot study is included as Chapter One for convenience. Having concluded that many of the existing suppositions about breakups were not supported by our initial inquiry, we set out to expand and revise the current model so that it can be used to make accurate predications regarding a more complex suite of variables (e.g., life history, sexuality). Chapter Two explains the logic and implications of this expansion via the example of a specific breakup scenario: the loss of a woman&rsquo;s partner to a romantic rival.</p><p> After presenting the possible evolutionary cause and adaptive benefits of PRG, we next tested both new and existing hypotheses as they relate to biological sex differences (Chapter Three) and life history variation (Chapter Four) in PRG. This quantitative foundation for ongoing qualitative study concludes with an overview of PRG in a population that is sorely underrepresented in evolutionary literature&mdash;individuals whose sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual.</p>

<p> This study assists in gathering narratives of lesbian lived experiences in the culturally conservative context of the Shenandoah Valley during the political shift toward marriage equality in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Framed in relational-cultural theory (Jordan, 2010), individual narratives document 5 Shenandoah Valley lesbian couples&rsquo; conversations about marriage among partners located between February 13, 2014, when U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen declared Virginia&rsquo;s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, and October 6, 2014, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeals, thereby removing the delays to legal same-sex marriage in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Conducting this inquiry during this cultural transition, the study&rsquo;s focus is centered on contextual factors contributing to personal responses to prospective legal marriage. A poststructuralist feminist inquiry, the thematic analysis provides a contextualized snapshot in a time when political change is leading culture and invites readers to reflect and challenge their own discursively defined views. The thematic analysis revealed 7 key concepts for deeper consideration: relative belonging, caution, equal protections, the respectable same-sex couple, revisiting the relationship, family of origin, and personal ideology about marriage. </p><p> This study broadens the discourse of marriage equality by contributing lesbian-generated knowledge to the literature on the impact of the political shift toward marriage equality, and presents 5 distinct interview narratives. The project documents the tensions between assimilation and re-imagining marriage for lesbians performing heteronormativity as a facet of creating connection in a socially conservative culture. The impacts on the socially conservative culture includes the creation of new myths that reconfigure a separate gay culture in the paradigm of Foucault&rsquo;s (1978a, 1978b) <i>homosexual </i> into an ambient community (Brown-Saracino, 2011) of the <i> posthomosexual</i> (Valverde, 2006) aligned with the emergent respectable same-sex couple (Valverde, 2006) and queer-blindness, an appropriation of the racism construct color-blindness aimed at queer sexualities rather than people of color. This project is significant to queer, feminist, and social justice scholars, activists and practitioners, lesbian couples considering marriage, and antigay activists whose collusion to subordinate this population has largely been an ideological fight against a disembodied other.</p>

<p> The study investigated the impact of ethnicity and gender on sexual orientation disclosure in the workplace. A total sample of 129 African American lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) workers between 20 and 61 years of age completed an online survey on PsychData. Respondents were given several measures to determine their ethnicity, gender conformity, and workplace sexual identity coping strategies. A 2x2 multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine the differences between the independent variables (gender conformity/nonconformity and ethnic identity) and dependent variables (passing, covering, implicitly out, and explicitly out). Based on the minority stress model, the research questions focused more on passing and covering coping strategies among LGB individuals who have dual minority identities (i.e., sexual orientation and African American ethnicity). No significant differences were found in terms of using passing and covering coping strategies among LGB individuals who identified with their African American ethnicity combined with gender-nonconforming behaviors. This may have been due to several factors such as a restricted sample size, change or shift in social stereotyping, or the contradicting feelings or concerns of LGB workers with regard to disclosing their sexual orientation. Although previous researchers posited that LGB individuals have a fear of being discriminated against and rejected in the workplace, there are few laws that prevent sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination, leaving the LGB individual to engage the continuum of coping strategies. Methodological implications and limitations of the study are discussed, and suggestions for future research are presented.</p>

<p> This study examined the effects of bullying on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students age 18 to 25 who attended high schools in Shelby County, Tennessee. A qualitative research method was utilized to examine and determine the perception of fifty-three lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth homophobic experiences while attending high school. The study obtained the perceptions of LGBT youth based on the following questions: (1) What do LGBT youth believe are the reasons for homophobic bullying?, (2) How do acts of homophobic bullying affect, mentally and emotionally, the lives of those involved?, (3) And what types of homophobic bullying are evident in public high schools in Shelby County, Tennessee? </p><p> Although there has been a plethora of research conducted to document the effects of homophobic bullying on the lives of LGBT youth, no research could be found that investigated the effects of homophobic bullying on the lives of LGBT youth attending high school in Shelby County, Tennessee. Furthermore, most anti-bullying policies in schools in Shelby County, Tennessee do not include bullying against LGBT youth. </p><p> The study found that LGBT believed they experienced homophobic bullying because they were gay or presumed to be gay. Some LGBT youth felt the homophobic bullying they experienced caused poor grades, depression, and low self- esteem. </p><p> The study provides the information that will assist high school administrators and staff in combating homophobic bullying and discrimination against LGBT youth. Protecting LGBT students mean making changes to some anti-bullying policies that may exist in some schools. Schools must establish clear comprehensive policies which specifically address homophobic bullying. All schools should implement safe school policies that encompass the welfare of all students. </p>

<p> The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning population has high prevalence rates of nicotine dependence in comparison to their heterosexual counterparts, creating a health disparity that is under-researched. Past research has indicated that factors such as minority stress and anxiety play key roles in the development of smoking behaviors in the general population but has not been researched in the LGBTQ population. In addition, internalized homophobia has been linked to substance abuse but its role in nicotine dependence has not been examined. This study proposed that anxiety and internalized homophobia would predict nicotine dependence in the LGBTQ population. A total of 61 LGBTQ individuals participated by completing an online survey. A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted and results suggested that anxiety and internalized homophobia were not predictors of nicotine dependence in the LGBTQ population. However, it was found that individuals questioning their identity did experience more internalized homophobia than those who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. </p>

<p> Citizens&rsquo; increased access to the internet is transforming political landscapes across the globe. The implications for civil society, culture, religion, governmental legitimacy and accountability are vast. In nations where one does not typically expect &ldquo;modern&rdquo; or egalitarian ideals to be prevalent among highly religious and conservative populations, those with motivations to unite around socially and culturally taboo causes are no longer forced to silently acquiesce and accept the status quo. The internet has proven to be an invaluable tool for those aiming to engage in social activism, as it allows citizens in highly oppressive authoritarian regimes to covertly mobilize and coordinate online protest events (such as hashtag campaigns, proclamations via social media, signing of petitions, and even DDoS attacks) without the fear of repression.</p><p> What catalyzes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) equality movements in authoritarian regimes, specifically with respect to the Middle East and North African region? This thesis argues that gay rights movements are more likely to emerge in politically repressive, more conservative states when new political opportunities&mdash;namely access to the internet for purposes of political organization&mdash;become available. This master&rsquo;s thesis identifies why LGBTQ movements emerged in Morocco and Algeria, but not in Tunisia until after it underwent democratization. These states will be analyzed in order to gauge the strength of their LGBTQ rights movements and, most importantly, to identify which variables most cogently explain their existence altogether.</p>

<p> At a time when technology seems increasingly poised to render the material realities of its users obsolete, putting the body back into digital media has become a matter of pressing social significance. Scholars like Lisa Nakamura have written compellingly about the importance of attending to the embodied identities of those who sit behind the screen: a crucial step toward disrupting the systems of inequality that characterize much of twenty-first-century Western digital culture. Similarly dedicated to issues of social justice, this project argues for turning attention to another essential element of the relationship between technology and the body: how digital media makes users feel. Far from being disembodied, digital tools have become crucial platforms for expressions of selfhood and desire. Yet, on a phenomenological level, virtual experiences also have a surprising capacity to directly affect the real, physical body. To demonstrate this, this project maps a network of key examples that illustrate how pain and pleasure&mdash;commonly imagined as the most embodied sensations&mdash;have in fact been brought to life through a range of media forms. </p><p> Beginning with the novels of the Marquis de Sade, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, and Pauline R&eacute;age, this project contends that concepts of sadomasochism and literature have evolved side by side for more than two centuries. Moving from textual to visual forms, the project turns to Pier Pasolini&rsquo;s <i> Sal&ograve;,</i> a film that notoriously &ldquo;hurts to watch,&rdquo; to investigate the intersection of violence, complicity, and viewership. Next, the project moves into the digital realm, offering a reading of the erotic power exchange that drives video-game interactivity. In the final chapter, the project explores digital BDSM: practices of bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism that take place entirely in virtual spaces. Across these chapters, the project argues for the value of &ldquo;kink&rdquo; as a critical lens, much like the &ldquo;queerness&rdquo; in queer studies, which underscores the cultural and personal significance of experiences that hurt. Together, the works and cultures considered here bring much-needed attention to the place of non-normative desires in media, both digital and non-digital. They also serve to productively challenge the perceived divide between the &ldquo;virtual&rdquo; and the &ldquo;real.&rdquo;</p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions of Lesbian and Gay senior administrators regarding their self-identity and coming-out in the workplace, and their perceived effectiveness as leaders at higher-education institutions. Senior administrators in this study were second line, and reported to the President/Chancellor or Provost of an institution; their titles generally were Provost, Vice President, or Dean. Past research studies did not specifically address the self-identity and perceived leadership effectiveness of Lesbian and Gay senior administrators at colleges and universities, and the effect their coming-out had on their workplace experiences. </p><p> This study used a qualitative phenomenological approach within a constructivist paradigm. After the initial participants were recruited for the study, a snowball technique of purposive sampling was used to identify additional participants. In-depth interviews were performed with eight participants who were self-identified as Gay or Lesbian and who occupied a senior administrative position at a college or university in the United States for at least 3 years. </p><p> The analysis of the findings from the lived experiences of the senior administrators in the workplace revealed four main themes, which were memorable leadership experiences, coming-out in the workplace, Lesbian and Gay identity and leadership effectiveness, and multiple self-identities of Lesbian and Gay leaders in the workplace. The lived experiences of these self-identified Lesbian and Gay senior administrators were affected by their past and present experiences; they described those experiences as memorable, either as accomplishments or as challenges. The participants' choice to come out at their workplaces was affected by the "comfortableness" they felt with their coworkers, the partners in their lives, the needs of LGBT students, and the views of the institution president or other influential individuals. The participants perceived their Lesbian and Gay identity to be both an integral part of their self-identity, which they reported to have "very successfully" integrated into their leadership, and of their leadership effectiveness.</p>

<p> The present study examined the possible relationship between sexual orientation, stigma consciousness, and intimate partner violence reporting (IPV). The study focused on the influence of sexual orientation on decision to report, reasons for reporting, and history of IPV. The study explored the relationship between stigma consciousness and decision to report, reasons for reporting, history of intimate partner violence, and ability to identify discriminatory reasons in reporting decisions and who IPV was reported to regarding same-sex IPV. Twenty-two participants filled out a demographic questionnaire and a self-made qualitative survey regarding IPV experiences/reporting. Those who experienced same-sex IPV filled out a modified stigma consciousness questionnaire. Results showed sexual orientation and stigma consciousness were not significant factors regarding decision to report, reasons for reporting, and history of IPV among opposite-sex and same-sex IPV. Exploratory and overall results suggest a possible correlation between stigma consciousness and same-sex IPV reporting.</p>