In the United States, people are encouraged and even coerced by social forces to behave and interact according to rigid social mores that tend to privilege individuals from a specific gender, racial, and class backgrounds. As many theorists have stated, sexual, gender, and racial minorities navigate their lives experiencing oppression at different levels and at the intersections of different systems of inequality. The marginal social location of these identities often results in people re-defining the social meanings through which they construct their social lives. Although much research has been devoted to investigating the different ways in which people resist the dominant social order, research on polyamory is still highly unexplored. According to the studied population, polyamory is a form of ethical non-monogamy that promotes egalitarian relationships among all parties involved. According to Dr. Mimi Shippers, "poly sexualities offers an opportunity to reorient […] gender and race relations" (2016:4). In this study, I collected data from nine semi-structured interviews that shine light upon how people in polyamorous relationships engage in the reorientation of gender relations. By looking at reported communication strategies between polyamorous individuals, this study found that the social location of marginalized sexual and gender identities fosters a sense of solidarity through which people redefine the meaning in their interactions as they inform people's identity. Nevertheless, these dynamics result in the resistance of some aspects of the dominant social order and the reproduction of others.

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Fan studies has examined how fan fiction resists heteronormativity by challenging depictions of gender and sexuality, but to date, this inquiry has focused disproportionately on slash, to the exclusion of other genres of fan fiction. Additionally, scholars disagree about slash’s subversive effects by setting up a seemingly stable dichotomy—subversive vs. misogynistic—where one does not necessarily exist. In this project, I examine multiple genres of fan fiction—namely, slash arising from bromances; femslash from female friendships; incestuous fan fiction from dysfunctional familial relationships; and polyamorous fics. I chose fics from four televisions shows—NBC’s Revolution, MTV’s Teen Wolf, the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, and its spin-off, The Originals—and closely read them to identify patterns in their representations of gender and sexuality and how they connect to the source texts. Taking a dialogic “both/and” approach, I argue that critics claiming that slash is often not subversive are right to a point, but miss a key potential of fan fiction: its ability to evoke possibility—for new endings, relationships, and sexualities. Heteronormativity often asserts itself in endings; queerness plays in the middles and margins. So, too, does fan fiction. While some individual fics may reinforce elements of heteronormativity, many also actively question and transgress norms of gender, sexuality and love. Further, they embrace fluidity and possibility, and engage with the source texts and larger culture around them in a way that provides a subversive interpretation of both and offers insight into the function of the constructed nature of institutionalized heterosexuality.

Pansexualität leitet sich aus dem griechischen Wort παν (gesamt, ganz, alles) ab und beschreibt eine sexuelle Orientierung, die eine Offenheit in der Partner_innenwahl beinhaltet. In Abgrenzung zu psychiatrischen Verwendungsweisen, die in pansexuellem Verhalten und Denken eine Persönlichkeitsstörung sehen, wird Pansexualität in queer-feministischen Debatten als subversiver Handlungsraum in heteronormierten Umwelten verstanden. In einem sozialwissenschaftlichen Kontext ist das Konzept der Pansexualität bisher deutlich unterbelichtet. Die im Konzept selbst angelegte Unmöglichkeit einer eindeutigen Definition führt zu ethischen und wissenschaftlichen Herausforderungen.

Based on five semi-structured in-person interviews with self-identified polyamorous people, I argue that people construct their relationships from the options they view available to them. Polyamory, the philosophy and practice of ethical and open non-monogamy, became how the five interviewees in my study decided to live out their relationships only after having heard of the term and concept. They found that polyamory answered crisis in their relationships and relationship views for which monogamy could not provide an adequate solution. The in-depth interviews conducted focussed on how polyamorous people envisioned, created, and maintained their multiple, loving relationships. The results speak to how people create their world from what they see around them and the options they feel are available to them. It points to how invisibility of options curtails people from being able to choose a life suited to them.

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“Queering Polyamory: Configurations, Public Policy, and Lived Experiences” explores polyamory, a relationship “lovestyle” that involves more then one loving partner, while taking a close look at the social construction of modern day queer polyamory including marriage and sex law. The author states that queer polyamory is socially constructed due to its inclusion of self-identifying gay men, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, gender-variant, omnisexual, pansexual, and queer individuals. This thesis includes a study of participants involved in queer polyamorous relationships. The study concludes that a population that engages in queer polyamorous relationships is diverse in regards to demographics; this is to say state of residence, age, gender, ethnicity, religious/spiritual affiliation, sexual identity and/or orientation, and relationship identity and/or orientation and ways individuals come to be part of queer polyamorous relationships. The study looks at how “out” the participants are and how public policy is affecting the lives of those who engage in queer polyamorous relationships. In conclusion, this study suggests future research options and ways society and public policy can begin to alleviate some of the stressors those in queer polyamorous relationships feel due to public policy and morality law. / M.S.

Pansexualität leitet sich aus dem griechischen Wort παν (gesamt, ganz, alles) ab und beschreibt eine sexuelle Orientierung, die eine Offenheit in der Partner_innenwahl beinhaltet. In Abgrenzung zu psychiatrischen Verwendungsweisen, die in pansexuellem Verhalten und Denken eine Persönlichkeitsstörung sehen, wird Pansexualität in queer-feministischen Debatten als subversiver Handlungsraum in heteronormierten Umwelten verstanden. In einem sozialwissenschaftlichen Kontext ist das Konzept der Pansexualität bisher deutlich unterbelichtet. Die im Konzept selbst angelegte Unmöglichkeit einer eindeutigen Definition führt zu ethischen und wissenschaftlichen Herausforderungen.