O emergir deste novo século traz consigo mudanças significativas nas estruturas sociais, políticas e econômicas. Especificamente na esfera social, assistimos a reconfiguração dos modelos familiares, antes presos a estrutura patriarcal e nuclear, e hoje abertos a inúmeras possibilidades, dentre as quais os casais homossexuais. As discussões acerca dessas relações têm ganhado fôlego e visibilidade e seus debates transitam entre o campo político, jurídico, religioso, moral e científico. Observa-se uma relativa tendência dentro da academia e da prática psicológica de buscar uma postura não estigmatizante e preconceituosa. Em contrapartida, a literatura científica que trata do tema é escassa e os estudos nacionais são ainda mais raros. Neste sentido, este estudo qualitativo teve como objetivo conhecer de maneira aprofundada a experiência conjugal de casais homossexuais à luz das transformações da intimidade na contemporaneidade. Acredita-se que tal conhecimento pode oferecer subsídios para o planejamento e execução de intervenções psicológicas que considerem as necessidades e características específicas dessa população. Para isso, foram realizadas entrevistas abertas com seis casais homossexuais masculinos de Ribeirão Preto, constituídos de parceiros adultos com pelo menos três anos de coabitação. As entrevistas foram áudio-gravadas, transcritas na íntegra e submetidas à análise de conteúdo temática. Como complementação, foi mantido um diário de campo para registro de impressões e acontecimentos durante a fase de coleta de dados. A partir da análise do material pôde-se identificar que o processo de construção da relação desses casais é marcado pela busca de modelos de relacionamento em que ora leva a comparação ao modelo heterossexual dominante, ora culmina com o desenvolvimento criativo de um estilo particular de conjugalidade. Os casais relatam esforço de negociação das diferenças que emergem ao longo da história da relação e que demandam mudanças contínuas. Tais mudanças imprimem um caráter transformador à experiência conjugal. Os ritos que os casais desenvolvem atuam como forma de circunscrever os limites da relação, marcar o tempo e as fases compartilhadas e de oferecer segurança na medida em que produzem uma tradição confortante. Além disso, a relação homossexual é produzida em contínuo diálogo com as instâncias sociais que muitas vezes, por preconceito e discriminação, limitam e isolam a experiência conjugal, constituindo uma fonte de angústia. Nesse sentido, a ciência psicológica pode contribuir favorecendo a criação de espaços e contextos dialógicos onde esses casais possam encontrar apoio e auxílio na construção de seus relacionamentos. / The new century has brought meaningful changes in social, political and economical structures. In the social arena, we can notice a reconfiguration of familiar models, once bound to a nuclear and patriarchal standard, and nowadays open to several possible configurations, from among homosexual couples. The debate around such relations is getting louder and visible and its outcomes move in the political, legal, religious, moral and scientific fields. It can be noticed a relative bias either in the academic discussion or in psychological practice to search for a non-stigmatizing approach. On the other hand, scientific literature concerning this subject is scarce and national studies are even rarer. Thus, this qualitative study aimed at understanding the conjugal experience of male homosexual couples as part of the contemporary transformations on intimacy. We believe that such understanding can subsidize the planning and execution of psychological interventions designed to meet the specific characteristics and needs of this population. Six male adult homosexual couples from Ribeirão Preto with at least three years of cohabitation were interviewed. The interviews were audio-recorded, fully transcribed and submitted to a content analysis. A field diary was kept as a complementary form of data collection, in which impressions and especial events were registered. The interviews analysis shows that the process though which the couples construct their relations is marked by the search for relationship standards that either leads to a comparison to the dominant heterosexual model, or ends up in the creative development of a particular conjugal pattern. The couples report effort to negotiate the differences that emerges during the history of the relationship and that demands continuous changes. Such changes determine a transformative character to the conjugal experience. Rites developed inside the relationship works as forms of circumscribing the relations boundaries, marking time and stages and offering security once they produce a comfortable tradition. Furthermore, homosexual relationships are produced in a continuous dialogue with social instances that, often by prejudice and discrimination, constrain and isolate the conjugal experience, constituting a source of distress. In this sense, Psychology can contribute favoring the creation of dialogical contexts where these couples may find support in the construction of their relationships.

Orientador: Patricia Porchat da Silva Knudsen / Banca: Ana Paula Leivar Brancaleoni / Banca: Larissa Pelúcio Maués Silva / Resumo: A experiência transexual é uma temática de especial evidência no contexto acadêmico contemporâneo, sendo descrita como um fenômeno complexo, que pressupõe uma incompatibilidade entre gênero e sexo biológico. Por interrogar o modelo binário sexo/gênero, permite que se questione os discursos científicos envoltos em pressupostos de naturalização dos corpos. A deficiência, fora dos modelos reabilitativos, representaria per si um transgressão da "ordem anatômica", ainda que seja reconhecida pelo modelo biomédico como o resultado de uma falha, congênita ou adquirida, que afetará o funcionamento "normal" do corpo ou de algumas de suas partes. A percepção de ambos os corpos recebe novos contornos quando de encontro à leitura de Judith Butler, para a qual, o lugar de patologização e abjeção conferido a estas experiências são resultado de práticas discursivas que estabelecem relações de poder que incidem sobre os corpos. Refletindo sobre as múltiplas possibilidades de experiências compreendidas a partir do feminino e considerando a posição de subalternidade conferida a esses corpos diante das normas hegemônicas, este trabalho se propõe a oportunizar um espaço de narrativa e análise para uma experiência pouco explorada academicamente: a experiência subjetiva de mulheres trans deficientes. Focalizando em especial os disability studies e suas possíveis interlocuções com a Teoria Queer como aporte teórico, foram realizadas entrevistas com três mulheres trans deficientes, sendo elas: duas p... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The transsexual experience is a highlighted theme in the current academic context, being portrayed as a complex phenomenon, which presupposes an incompatibility between gender and biological sex. By questioning the binary sex/gender model, it is allowed to question the scientific speeches wrapped in body naturalization presumptions. Disability, out of rehabilitative model, would represent, per se, a transgressions of the "anatomic order", even if recognized by the biomedical model as the result of a flaw, either congenital or acquired, that will affect the "normal" functioning of the body or of some of its parts. The perception of both bodies acquire new outlining when facing the reading of Judith Butler, for whom the place of pathologization and abjection conferred to these experiences are the result of speech practices that establish power relations that act upon the bodies. Reflecting upon the multiple possibilities of experiences, understood on the basis of feminine, and considering the subordinate position conferred to these bodies in the face of the hegemonic rules, this work aims to create a space of narrative and analysis for an experience that has been little explored academically: the subjective experience of disabled trans women. Focusing, specially, on the disability studies and its possible interlocutions with the Queer theory as theoretical basis, interviews with three disabled trans women were made, being them: two physically disabled women and a sensorial disa... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Claude Cahun was an artist and a leader who subverted social binaries by employing a non-determinable style. This intentional ambiguity is omnipresent in all of Cahun’s works, regardless of their style. To demonstrate this commonality, I will analyze her work of theatre, Heroines, five of Cahun’s self-portraits and her autobiography, Aveux Non Avenus. Although Cahun’s artistic mediums are very different respectively, all three of these works use a sense of artistic ambiguity to resist social binaries. Such techniques of indeterminacy include subversive rewritings of famous characters and self-portraits that use motifs such as masks and masquerade to subvert the gaze of the spectator. Additionally, her photomontages include a fleeing gaze, an obstructed gaze, and a gaze that confronts itself. In this thesis, I affirm that Cahun's methods are aligned with queer theory because the way that Cahun uses a queer identity in her works creates a form of political and social resistance against heteronormativity and homophobia. Therefore, I will show all of the ways that Cahun has used visibility as a Jewish gender neutral lesbian for social resistance.

The main problem addressed by this thesis is the question of how to assess the politics and the cultural effects and implications of 'Queer Theory' during the period of the 1990s. 'Queer' was invoked in numerous institutions, spaces, and cultural practices over this period, and yet queer-identified theorists – and many of their critics – have often assumed that this term refers to a relatively unified object. I ask if it is appropriate to treat these 'queer' occasions in this manner, and whether this 'dispersed' object requires a different approach: one that sets out to describe means and routes by which it became possible and desirable to pose 'queer' problems across so many diverse sites and practices. In addition, if there are discernible patterns to these distributed cultural capacities and inclinations, what political significance do they have? These questions inform my account of the career of 'Queer Theory' during the 1990s. A post-humanist approach to these matters is not premised on an essential or a socially constituted general category of 'subjectivity'. Instead, it addresses 'Queer Theory' as a problem, without automatically critiquing it; it is sceptical of the perfectionist pulsion that has treated this critical practice as either a good or a bad object: dual roles that are mandated by the logic of dialectical criticism. These roles are exemplified by the frequent relegation of 'queer' in the relevant literature to the 'innately political' or the 'merely aesthetic'. In this thesis I identify ethical, cultural, and political yields of these conventional choices and the modes of problematisation in which they operate; I positively redescribe them as aesthetico-political practices. My approach therefore not only deviates from the 'good' or 'bad' critical options, but also from a third option: the equally rationalist response of assuming that 'Queer Theory' is fundamentally a problem of under-theorisation.

Single motherhood has been socially constructed as a deviant identity category. Up against the master societal framework of hegemonic heterosexuality, single mothers, as a social group, have been systematically discriminated against and subjected to moral regulation. The single mother has consistently been depicted as either criminal or victim, and she has almost always been cast as an individual actor whose lot is explained in individualized, apolitical terms. The current rhetoric of choice feeds the idea that single mothers in need deserve their hardships because they have freely and singularly chosen their sexual and reproductive behaviors and circumstances. In light of the historically constructed identity position of the single mother, it is evident that a more sociologically sensitive analysis of single motherhood has been culturally suppressed. Feminism has long been adamant about the significance of the role that reproduction plays in gender inequality. Queer Theory, with its critique of the sexualization of social life, is amenable to such a perspective and is employed here to illuminate how familial, sexual, and/or reproductive realities rigidify into overarching identity categories that shape and restrict rights and freedoms. / N/A

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Guelph, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-189).

The word “queer” generates mixed feelings. For some, it is a way to denigrate gays and lesbians, though, in recent years, those in LGBT communities have re-appropriated the term and have given it a more positive spin. This project aims to investigate exactly that kind of social action, specifically, looking at the way some take socially constructed norms and queer them in order to develop new meanings. First, this thesis explores how social norms impacted identity creation in ancient Rome and Greece. It then surveys the theories behind norms, along with their formation and maintenance in current society. Next, this project looks at queer theory and how norms have shaped the ways we build our identities, and vice versa. Finally, this research takes a rhetorical perspective by applying components of the canon to different elements of identity cultivation and presentation, with invention representing the former and delivery the latter.

Marriage has come to be center-stage in a semiotic and ideological “culture war.” The issue of same-sex marriage has emerged as a defining political argument shaping the manner by which the contemporary gay rights movement positions itself. In Georgia’s 2004 election, a constitutional amendment was proposed defining marriage as legal unions between only biological men and women. In response, campaigns were organized by both supporters and opponents to same-sex marriage. This thesis examines the politics of spectacle at play through which both sides of this argument positioned themselves. This thesis employs anthropological theory, queer theory and public sphere literature to illuminate the campaign against same-sex marriage as one of not only the denial of citizenship rights, but of identity recognition. The methods of theatricality employed by both sides of this debate are examined alongside the manners by which they represented themselves as legitimate voices in the fight over “marriage.”

Willa Cather contests the contemporary notion that identification links to a natural or original order. For example, that man equals masculine and femininity comes from an essential connection to woman. Cather deconstructs normativity through her use of character relationships in order to redefine successful interpersonal alliances. Thus, Alexandra, the protagonist of O Pioneers! builds a home and friendships that exemplify alternatives to stasis. My readings of O Pioneers! display the places in the novel where Cather subtly contests the ideology of naturalization. I make lesbian erotic and queer social interactions visible through a discourse on Cather’s symbolism. I favor queer theory as a mode of inquiry that magnifies the power and presence of heteronormativity and I examine Cather’s work as a critique of cultural principles that inflict violence against individuals who participate in dissent from conformity.

The aim of this study is to combine queer theories with quantitative methods. In social sciences, queer theories are being widely and increasingly used. Quantitative method is also widely used, and as a traditional method it can be regarded as a cornerstone in social sciences, sociology in particular. However, the two perspectives, queer theories and quantitative method, seem at a first glance to be very different in their understanding of social phenomena. Queer theories have, with some exceptions, mainly focused on qualitative research concerning such phenomena as sexuality, while the field of science is quite diverse. In this field, except from qualitative, queer research, there are also quantitative studies that use surveys to gather information.This study combines the two perspectives, thus creating a study inspired by queer theories and focusing on the methodological problems that occur when embracing queer theories’ elements of difference and social constructivism, and using a method which aims to standardize… The study also explores if the descriptions of sex and sexuality proposed by queer theories are reflected in the population. Using surveys, information have been gathered from students of five different institutions at Uppsala University.