This short dissertation is an appraisal of same-sex marriages. The traditional arguments against same-sex unions are examined and rejected as being circular, unconvincing and baseless. Some of the international developments on the subject of same-sex unions are examined and it is noted that a slow but distinct change in attitude towards same-sex marriages is beginning to emerge from international judiciaries. The legal position of people with same-sex orientation in the South African legal system is examined with special reference to our Constitution. It is submitted that our Constitution is the foremost vehicle for legal change in this regard and that the equality clause of our Constitution is authority for the recognition by the law of same-sex marriages. This dissertation concludes that same-sex marriages ought to be fully accepted and recognised by the law for reasons, inter alia, of fairness and equality for people of same-sex orientation. / Constitutional, International & Indigenous Law / LL. M.

This short dissertation is an appraisal of same-sex marriages. The traditional arguments against same-sex unions are examined and rejected as being circular, unconvincing and baseless. Some of the international developments on the subject of same-sex unions are examined and it is noted that a slow but distinct change in attitude towards same-sex marriages is beginning to emerge from international judiciaries. The legal position of people with same-sex orientation in the South African legal system is examined with special reference to our Constitution. It is submitted that our Constitution is the foremost vehicle for legal change in this regard and that the equality clause of our Constitution is authority for the recognition by the law of same-sex marriages. This dissertation concludes that same-sex marriages ought to be fully accepted and recognised by the law for reasons, inter alia, of fairness and equality for people of same-sex orientation. / Constitutional, International and Indigenous Law / LL. M.

LSBT*-Personen unterscheiden sich häufig in gelebten Familien- und Partnerschaftskonzepten von der heteronormativen Idealvorstellung und weisen womöglich deshalb bedeutsame Differenzen in Bildungsabschlüssen, Löhnen und beruflichen Status verglichen zur heterosexuellen Cisbevölkerung auf. Mithilfe der gezielten Aufstockungsstichprobe von LSBT*-Personen des SOEP und der Onlinebefragung LGBielefeld analysiert die Dissertation die soziale Lage queerer Personen in der Intersektion von sozialer Herkunft, sexueller Orientierung und Geschlechtsidentität. LSB*-Cispersonen aus Arbeiter*innenklassen erreichen in Deutschland höhere Bildungstitel verglichen mit ihren heterosexuellen Pendants. Gemäß der ‚Queer Habitus‘ Hypothese führt das Begehren außerhalb der Heteronormativität zu einer Reflektion des Klassenhabitus und damit einer „Klassenflucht“ durch Bildung. Allerdings lohnen sich die höheren Bildungserrungenschaften finanziell weniger als für heterosexuelle Cispersonen, da LSB*-Cispersonen auf strukturelle Barrieren stoßen. Ambivalente Beziehungen zur Herkunftsfamilie und stärkere Bindungen zur Wahlfamilie bedeuten außerdem elternunabhängige Karrierewege. Das letzte empirische Kapitel präsentiert erstmalig gemeinsam den Gender Pay Gap und Sexual Orientation Wage Gap inkl. vielfältiger Geschlechter. LSBT*-Personen profitieren nicht von einer Eheschließung. Queere Paare organisieren Arbeit egalitärer, weshalb sie nicht wie heterosexuelle Cismänner auf die Übernahme von Fürsorge- und Hausarbeit der Ehefrauen zurückgreifen können und somit lediglich heterosexuelle Cismänner die Vorteile einer Heiratsprämie genießen. Gelebte Partnerschafts- und Familienverhältnisse jenseits heteronormativer Vorstellungen üben also einen bedeutenden Einfluss auf die soziale Lage aus. Vielmehr als Chancen zu erhöhen, legen die Analysen nahe, dass Dominanzverhältnisse und Vorteile abgebaut werden müssen, um Gleichstellung über rechtliche Veränderungen hinaus auch in die Realität zu übertragen. / LGBT* people often differ from the heteronormative ideals in their family and partnership concepts and may therefore differ substantially in terms of educational qualifications, wages and occupational status compared to the heterosexual cis-population. The dissertation analyzes the education and social destination of queer people in the intersection of social origin, sexual orientation and gender identity using the oversample of LGBT* people in the SOEP and by using the LGBielefeld online survey. LGB* cisgender people from working-class backgrounds achieve higher educational attainments in Germany compared to their heterosexual counterparts. According to the 'queer habitus' hypothesis, desire outside of heteronormativity can lead to a reflection of the class habitus and thus to "escape from home" through education. However, higher educational attainment is less financially rewarding than for heterosexual cisgender people, as LGB* cisgender people seem to face structural barriers. Ambivalent relationships to the family-of-origin and stronger ties to the family-of-choice also indicate career paths independent of parents. The final empirical chapter jointly presents the Gender Pay Gap and Sexual Orientation Wage Gap including gender diversity for the first time. LGBT* people do not benefit from marriage. Queer couples organize work in a more egalitarian way, which is why they cannot rely on their wives to take on care and housework like heterosexual cisgender husbands, which means that only heterosexual cisgender men enjoy the benefits of a marriage premium. Lived partnership and family relationships beyond heteronormative ideas therefore have a considerable impact on the social situation. Rather than increasing equal opportunities, the analyses suggest that dominance relations and advantages must be minimized in order to implement equality in everyday life beyond legal changes.

It has only been in recent years that eating disorder researchers have begun focusing on sexual orientation as a variable that may affect prevalence rates. Heeding the call for studies that extend beyond identification of fixed eating disorder risk factors (e.g., gender), this study was designed to explore factors that contribute to the development of disordered eating among lesbians. In this study, a hypothesized Lesbian Model of Disordered Eating was tested using structural equation modeling. Lesbian Sexual Identity and Social Supports were hypothesized to positively influence Psychological Health. In addition, Internalization of U.S. Societal Norms of beauty and attractiveness was hypothesized to negatively affect Psychological Health. Psychological Health, in turn, was hypothesized to negatively influence Body Image Concerns. Body Image Concerns was then hypothesized to positively affect Disordered Eating. The fit of the model was evaluated and one of the hypothesized pathways, Internalization of Norms was moved to directly predict Body Image Concerns. After adjusting the model, the model accounted for 54% of the variance in disordered eating. Most notably, the results highlight the potential affects of adopting a positive lesbian identity on disordered eating and underscore the importance of including sexual identity as a demographic variable in studies of body image and disordered eating. Implications for counseling and directions for future research are discussed.

ABSTRACT Background: Sexual orientation is comprised of distinct components, including sexual identity, sexual attraction and sexual behavior. Lesbian, gay and bisexual adolescents are at an increased risk of experiencing poor health outcomes compared to non-sexual minority youth. Health care professional organizations recommend that health care providers discuss each component of sexual orientation at every adolescent health supervision visits in order to best assess the adolescent's health risks and needs for intervention and education. Objective: This survey assessed the frequency with which nurse practitioners (NPs) in the state of Vermont discussed sexual identity, attraction and behavior with adolescents during annual health supervision visits. Design: A cross sectional study that analyzed descriptive statistics of a small convenience sample of Vermont NPs. Setting and Participants: Attendees of the Vermont Nurse Practitioner Association 2015 annual conference. Participants in the study were licensed, practicing NPs in the state of Vermont responsible for the health supervision of adolescents. Results: Participants were overwhelmingly female (93%), with a median age between 40-49 years old, and a median length of years in practice of six to ten years. Sixty-two percent of respondents specialized in family practice. Respondents reported that they always asked adolescents about the sex of sexual partners at 49% of health supervision visits. Respondents always discussed sexual attraction and sexual identity at 31% and 24% of health supervision visits, respectively. Twenty percent of respondents reported rarely or never discussing sexual attraction, and 38% reported rarely or never discussing sexual identity. Conclusions: The Vermont NPs who participated in this survey were demographically similar to national NP cohorts. Vermont NPs discussed the adolescent's sexual behavior at health supervision visits as frequently as health care providers nationally, and Vermont NPs discussed sexual attraction and sexual identity more frequently than providers nationally. However, Vermont NPs discussed sexual attraction and identity much less frequently than they discussed sexual behavior. Results of this survey illustrate that there is substantial room for improvement regarding the frequency with which Vermont NPs discuss the three components of sexual orientation with adolescents, particularly the components of sexual identity and attraction.

Introduction: Sexually Transmitted Diseases, including HIV/AIDS, continue to be a major burden in the United States. Sexual partnering behaviors contribute to the spread of STDs. Sexual concurrency has been shown to exponentially increase STD prevalence in populations. Serial monogamy with short periods between sexual partners also introduces risk. Methods: We identified sexually active men and women from the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) and used sub sets for each particular study. Sexual partnering was defined as being concurrent, serially monogamous or monogamous in the previous year. Polytomous logistic regression models were developed to evaluate the associations between age of sexual debut among adult men, age of menarche and discordant heterosexual identity and behavior among all women and sexual partnering patterns. Descriptive, mediation, subpopulation and stratified analyses were also conducted. Results: Sexual debut < 15 and 15-17 years was associated with concurrency (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)<15: 2.19; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.36-3.55; aOR 15-17: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.04-2.75). This association was mediated by lifetime number of partners (further adjusted for lifetime partners: OR<15: 1.26; 95% CI: 0.74-2.22; OR15-17: 1.13; 95% CI: 0.67-1.92). Age of menarche was not associated with subsequent concurrent sexual partnering (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)early: 1.09; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.57-2.09; aORaverage: 1.13; 95% CI: 0.64-1.99) or serial monogamy (aORearly: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.41-1.38; aORaverage: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.39-1.29). A subanalysis among currently unmarried women did not alter this relationship. Heterosexually discordant women who had both male and female partners in the previous year were 5.5 times as likely to report having a concurrent relationship (95% CI: 2.77-11.09) and 2.43 times as likely to report engaging in serially monogamous relationships (95% CI: 1.19-4.97) with their male partners than concordant women. Conclusions: Sexual partnering behaviors are potentially modifiable and reducing risky partnerships will contribute to a decrease in STD acquisition and transmission. Our findings have important implications. Clinically, they support the provision of comprehensive services, regardless of sexual identity. For policy, they confirm the need for early, inclusive and thorough sexual and reproductive health programming for our youth, in particular focusing on the benefits of lifetime partner reduction.

M.A. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities (Journalism and Media Studies), 2012 / South Africa obtained a new constitution in 1994 that enshrined the right to sexual orientation, race and gender equality, as well as – crucially – ensuring the “freedom of the press and other media”. However, consequent national debates appear to indicate that the country is still grappling with issues of sexual orientation and of sexual practices. It is against the complexity of this background that this research examines – through a focus on reported conflict over South Africa’s blood transfusion service – how certain debates and controversies around issues of race and sexual orientation arose and played out in the media. The editorials and opinion pieces of both The Star and The Citizen newspapers were more than mere platforms for debates to unfold upon. While both publications did undoubtedly provide a seemingly neutral platform for the two controversies to play themselves out, which included ample input from their readers, both publications from their editorial position intervened in a wide range of editorials, opinion pieces, commentaries and one cartoon. Thus, in fact, they played a powerful role in the curating manipulation of the debates.

Student Number : 7905085 - PhD thesis - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / This thesis is based on an exploration of human rights (in) South African education. In order to do so, however, it has been necessary to explore the origins of the notion of human rights in both its philosophical and legal senses. It covers the ways in which the claim of an equality of all human beings has developed historically and the ways in which they are articulated in the Universal Declaration of human rights and in the “new” South African Constitution. However, the argument in this thesis is that human rights tend to be generalised and universalised, and as such do not adequately address the ways in which human rights are experienced in specific social formations and in the contexts of particular people’s lives. In order to make human rights more specific and personal, I apply a sociology of human rights using Stuart Hall’s “theory of articulation” and demonstrate what this sociological analysis means in the context of South Africa under apartheid. In addition, to prevent reifying social categories and privileging particular types of human identity, I explore human rights under apartheid in relation to ‘race’, gender and sexual orientation. Throughout, I point to ways in which these identities and social categories interconnect with each and balance micro and macro approaches to an analysis of apartheid. Methodologically this thesis uses Sarah Lawrence-Lightfoot’s approach of “portraiture” in order to capture personal lives within a macro context and I provide accounts in this respect of Nelson Mandela and Simon Nkoli. I have also used a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches in my investigation of experiences of human rights in South African education. Teachers’ and learners’ questionnaires were conducted in schools in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in South Africa between 1996 and 1998. In addition, individual interviews with Grade 9 teachers were conducted and group interviews with Grade 9 learners in these schools were also done. Classroom observations in three schools, one in each of the provinces, were also conducted, and individual interviews with two gay learners also form part of the empirical data of this study. A national survey of what human rights programmes were used by educational institutions and organisations was also conducted. The thesis also contextualises the sampled schools experiences within the post-apartheid dispensation in South Africa, providing an account of how human rights are framed in South Africa generally and in the South African educational system in particular. Approaches to human rights (in) education are also covered, as are the principles of a human rights education. The conclusions that I arrive at in this thesis are that there are interventions in regard to human rights in South African education which tend to be located within legalistic and integrated approaches. In addition, experiences of racism in the sampled schools are prevalent within an assimilationist mode. In regard to sexual orientation, sex, gender and sexuality are conflated but the provision of human rights in terms of sexual orientation has had a positive impact on the sampled gay learners in this study. Finally, I argue that the sociological approach to human rights is useful and generative and has enabled this study to access an understanding of human rights in generalised macro terms and in specific contexts of people’s experiences.

Submitted by Rosina Valeria Lanzellotti Mattiussi Teixeira (rosina.teixeira@unisantos.br) on 2015-05-27T16:45:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Cristina V.de S. Gorisch.pdf: 521041 bytes, checksum: 3257a550bb118f22231881b0d926e465 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-27T16:45:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Cristina V.de S. Gorisch.pdf: 521041 bytes, checksum: 3257a550bb118f22231881b0d926e465 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-05-13 / This term aims to demonstrate the evolution of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) struggle since the Stone Wall Uprising, when the LGBT people finally imposed their civil rights, making the first gay parade ¿ just to get the attention of the whole society that the LGBT people exist and should be treated as citizens. The evolution of human thought of LGBT rights knocked on the doors of the UN many years ago, but finally in 2011 ¿ the same year that here in Brazil, the Supreme Court considered same-sex couple as a family entity and the Court of Justice allowed the marriage of a pair of lesbians ¿ the United Nations issued a landmark resolution condemning discrimination on sexual orientation and gender identity. We will defend the right to sexuality as inherent human attribute and therefore linked to the right to life, making an analysis of systems of human rights protection such as global and regional as well as national, linking Brazil to this resolution because it as was one of proponents and voters. This historical Resolution, places once and for all the LGBT rights on the map of human rights. / O presente estudo visa demonstrar o desenvolvimento e o avanço da luta LGBT (sigla mais usual para LGBTTIS ¿ lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, transexuais, travestis, transgêneros, intersexos e simpatizantes) com início da Revolta de Stonewall, quando finalmente a comunidade LGBT decidiu impor seus direitos civis, fazendo a primeira parada gay ¿ justamente para chamar a atenção de toda a sociedade de que a comunidade LGBT existia e que deveria ser tratada como pessoas de direito. A evolução deste pensamento humanista dos direitos dos LGBT começou a impactar a ONU há muitos anos, quando finalmente em 2011, no mesmo ano em que aqui no Brasil, o STF reconheceu a união de pessoas do mesmo sexo como entidade familiar, e o STJ permitiu que um par de lésbicas se casassem, a ONU editou uma Resolução histórica condenando a discriminação com base na orientação sexual e identidade de gênero, e reconhecendo os direitos LGBT como Direitos Humanos. Defenderemos o direito à sexualidade como atributo inerente ao ser humano e consequentemente, atrelado ao direito à vida, fazendo uma análise dos sistemas de proteção dos direitos humanos, nacional, global e regionais, bem como do nacional, vinculando o Brasil a essa Resolução, por ter sido um dos propositores e votantes. Essa Resolução histórica pontua os Direitos Humanos LGBT no mapa dos Direitos Humanos.

Im Rahmen eines explorativen Vergleichsuntersuchungsplans wurde untersucht, inwieweit sich die durch biologische Faktoren bedingte unterschiedliche Lebenserfahrung sowie die Sozialisationsbedingungen in der psychosexuellen Entwicklung bei hetero-, homo- und postoperativen transsexuellen Männern (N = 191) auf die Integration der Geschlechterstereotypen in die kognitiven (Selbst-, Fremdwahrnehmung), emotionalen (Selbst- und Fremdbewertung) und verhaltensmäßigen Aspekte (Normen der geschlechtsspezifischen Verhaltens) der Geschlechtsidentität auswirken und ob sich Identifikationsmuster der Entwicklung des geschlechtlichen Selbstkonzepts ableiten lassen. Die Messung der kognitiven Aspekte des geschlechtlichen Selbstkonzepts (Maskulinität und Femininität) erfolgte mittels der GERO-Skala von Brengelmann und Hendrich (1990). Zur Erfassung der emotionalen Aspekte und Identifikationsmuster der Entwicklung des geschlechtlichen Selbstkonzepts wurden die Werte für die Variablen Maskulinität und Femininität zuerst mittels der computergesteuerten Methodik IDEXMONO und IDEXIDIO, die auf der Identitätsstrukturanalyse (Identity Structure Analysis) von Weinreich (2003) basiert, aufgearbeitet und weiter interferenzstatistisch ausgewertet. Weiterhin wurden der Fragebogen zur Messung normativer Geschlechtsrollenorientierung (NGRO) von Athenstaedt (2000) sowie ein ad hoc entworfener demographischer Fragebogen eingesetzt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Verlauf der psychosexuellen Entwicklung einen starken Einfluss auf die Integration der Geschlechterstereotypen in die geschlechtliche Selbst- und Fremdwahrnehmung hat. Im kognitiven Bereich, bezogen auf die persönliche Identität (Grad der Selbstzuschreibung männlicher und weiblicher Merkmale), stellt die Maskulinität eine stabile und erstrebenswerte Variable zur Herausbildung des geschlechtlichen Selbstkonzepts bei allen Gruppen dar. Die Femininität trägt am meisten zur Differenzierung zwischen den Hetero-, Homo- und Transsexuellen bei. Sie wird, je nach der Entwicklungsphase, unterschiedlich in das geschlechtliche Selbstkonzept integriert. Hinsichtlich der sozialen Identität (Zugehörigkeitsgefühl) lassen sich die Gruppen bezüglich der wahrgenommenen Ähnlichkeiten sowohl mit männlichen als auch weiblichen Personen, je nach der Entwicklungsphase, unterscheiden. Die soziale Wahrnehmung von Männern und Frauen (Fremdwahrnehmung), ist bei Transsexuellen traditioneller als die der Hetero- und Homosexuellen. Bei der Selbst- und Fremdbewertung ergaben sich keine signifikanten Unterschiede. Bei der Internalisierung der sozialen Normen des geschlechtsspezifischen Verhaltens zeigt sich, dass Heterosexuelle der Ausübung der Geschlechterrollen gegenüber egalitärer eingestellt sind als Trans- und Homosexuelle. Bei den Sozialisationsfaktoren ist hervorzuheben, dass generell weibliche Identifikationspersonen einen stärkeren Einfluss auf die Herausbildung des geschlechtlichen Selbstkonzeptes hatten als männliche Identifikationspersonen. Es scheint jedoch, dass Homosexuelle bei der Entwicklung ihres geschlechtlichen Selbstkonzepts stärker unter dem Einfluss der Frauen stehen als die anderen zwei erforschten Gruppen. Zur Beantwortung der Frage, welche selbstkonzeptbezogenen Variablen und Entwicklungsfaktoren die größte statistische Bedeutung für die Trennung und Prädiktion der einzelnen untersuchten Gruppen haben, wurde eine Diskriminanzanalyse berechnet. Die größte diskriminatorische Bedeutung besitzen die Variablen „Stereotypische Wahrnehmung der männlichen Personen“ und „Ego-Involvement mit weiblichen Personen“ für die Diskriminanzfunktion 1 (Trennung der Transsexuellen von Hetero- und Homosexuellen) und die Variablen „Empathische Identifikation mit männlichen Personen in der Vergangenheit“ und „Zuwachs an empathischer Identifikation mit weiblichen Personen“ für die Diskriminanzfunktion 2 (Trennung der Hetero- von Homosexuellen). / The aim of the present explorative-comparative study was to find out to which extent the biologically determined differences as well as socialization conditions in the psychosexual development of hetero-, homo- and transsexual men (N = 191) affect the integration of the gender stereotypes in cognitive (self-perception und perception of the others), emotional (appraisal of self and the others), and behavioral aspects (norms of gender behavior) of gender identity, as well as to deduce identification patterns in the development of the gender self-concept. The GERO-scale by Brengelmann und Hendrich (1990) was used to measure the cognitive aspects of the self-concept of gender (masculinity and femininity). The collected data of masculinity and femininity were further processed using the computer-operated Identity Structure Analysis based method IDEXMONO and IDEXIDIO (Weinreich, 2003) to detect the emotional aspects and identification patterns of the development of the self-concept of gender. Furthermore, the questionnaire of normative gender role orientation by Athenstaedt (2000) and an ad hoc designed demographic questionnaire were applied. The results show that the course of the psychosexual development has a strong impact upon the integration of the gender stereotypes in gender related self-perception and perception of others. As for cognitive aspects related to personal identity (grade of self-attribution of masculine and feminine traits), the masculinity represents a stable and desirable variable in the construction of the self-concept of gender in all samples. The femininity contributes the most to the differentiation between hetero-, homo- and trans-sexuals. Femininity has been integrated in the gender self-concept to a different extent, depending on the phase of the psychosexual development. As for social identity (feeling of social affiliation), there are differences among the samples in self-perceived similarities to both masculine and feminine persons, depending on the phase of the psychosexual development. The social perception of men and women (perception of the others) is more traditionally oriented in transsexuals than in hetero- and homosexuals. There are no significant differences in the appraisal of self and the others. As for the internalization of the social norms of gender specific behavior, heterosexuals are more egalitarian in their attitude towards the practice of gender roles than homo- and transsexuals. The examination of the socialization conditions shows that in general, feminine identification persons have a stronger impact upon the construction of self-concept of gender than masculine ones. However, it seems as though women have a stronger impact upon the construction of self-concept of gender in homosexuals than in the other groups. A discriminant analysis was computed to answer the question which self-related variables and developmental factors have the strongest statistical importance for the division and prediction of the samples. The variables “stereotypic perception of masculine persons” and “ego-involvement with feminine persons” have the strongest discriminant importance for the discriminant function 1 (division of transsexuals from hetero- and homosexuals) and the variables “empathic identification with masculine persons in the past” and “growth of empathic identification with feminine persons” for the discriminant function 2 (division of heterosexuals from homosexuals).