Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-69).

Abstract Bisexuality became a viable identity in Finnish sexual culture in the early 1990’s. Prior to this, bisexuality was not a concept to which identities could be credibly attached. Instead, the concept was used to explain the fundamental nature of human sexuality. This usage also played a role in sexual minority politics, explaining the existence of homosexuality and justifying its acceptance. Bisexuality has helped define the border between comprehensible and incomprehensible sexuality, at certain times strengthening the normal, at other times positioning itself among the weirdest of the weird. The research material of this dissertation includes volumes of publications by the Finnish organizations active in sexual minority politics from the years 1969–1994, volumes of porn magazines from the years 1972–2006, a selection of single articles collected from mainstream press from the years 1993–2012 as well as interviews of 40 Finnish bisexuals from the years 1999, 2005 and 2009–2010. There is a total of 52 interviews, 12 of the informants having been interviewed twice. These interviews form a longitudinal study of Finnish bisexuals and their experiences. This doctoral thesis explores the question of how changes in Finnish legislation, sexual minority politics and media landscape have affected the concept of bisexuality and the experiences of the people who define their sexuality through that concept. This research traces the processes which made bisexuality a viable identity term in Finland after the removal of same-sex fornication from the criminal law. The concept of bisexuality has seen frequent use in porn as well, and the study reflects on how bisexual experiences can be characterized in a situation where the concept of bisexuality has been pornified. This research explains how bisexuality evolved from an instrument of sexual minority politics in the 1970’s and 1980’s to a concept employed by identity politics starting from the 1990’s, and finally to a term which can be used to entice and entertain different audiences in the 2010’s. / Tiivistelmä Biseksuaalisuus identiteettinä on tullut suomalaisessa seksuaalikulttuurissa mahdolliseksi 1990-luvun alkupuolelta lähtien. Ennen tätä biseksuaalisuus ei ollut käsite, johon identiteettiä olisi uskottavasti voinut kiinnittää, vaan käsite, jonka avulla selitettiin inhimillisen seksuaalisuuden perusluonnetta. Tässä roolissa käsite toimi myös seksuaalivähemmistöpolitiikassa homoseksuaalisuuden olemassaolon ja hyväksyttävyyden oikeuttajana. Biseksuaalisuus on määrittänyt ymmärrettävän ja käsittämättömän seksuaalisen halun rajaa, välillä toimien normaalin vahvistajana, välillä sijoittuen oudoista oudoimman alueelle. Väitöstutkimuksen aineistona on seksuaalivähemmistöpoliittisten järjestöjen julkaisujen vuosikertoja vuosilta 1969-1994, pornolehtien vuosikertoja vuosilta 1972–2006, valtavirtalehdistöstä kerätty, yksittäisistä artikkeleista koostuva aineisto vuosilta 1993–2012, sekä 40 suomalaisen biseksuaalin haastattelua vuosilta 1999, 2005 ja 2009–2010. Yhteensä haastatteluja on 52, eli 12 haastateltavaa on haastateltu kahdesti. Haastattelut muodostavat suomalaisia biseksuaaleja ja heidän kokemuksiaan käsittelevän pitkittäistutkimuksen. Väitöskirjassa vastataan siihen, miten muutokset suomalaisessa lainsäädännössä, seksuaalivähemmistöpolitiikassa ja mediamaisemassa ovat vaikuttaneet biseksuaalisuuden käsitteeseen ja niiden ihmisten kokemuksiin, jotka määrittävät seksuaalisuutensa tuon käsitteen kautta. Tutkimus jäljittää sitä, millaisten prosessien kautta biseksuaalisuudesta tuli mahdollinen identiteettitermi samansukupuolisen haureuden rikoslaista poistamisen jälkeisessä Suomessa. Biseksuaalisuuden käsite on taajaan käytössä myös pornossa, ja tutkimus pohtii myös, miten biseksuaalista kokemusta voi luonnehtia tilanteessa, jossa biseksuaalisuuden käsite on pornoistunut. Tutkimus selvittää, miten biseksuaalisuus muuttui 1970- ja 1980-lukujen seksuaalivähemmistöpoliittisesta välineestä 1990-luvulta alkaen identiteettipoliittiseksi käsitteeksi, ja lopulta termiksi, jonka avulla voi 2010-luvulla viihdyttää ja houkutella erilaisia yleisöjä.

Le lien entre la santé mentale et la consommation de cannabis est encore incompris. De plus, les lesbiennes, gays et bisexuel.les (LGB) présentent des taux élevés de consommation de cannabis et de problèmes de santé mentale comparativement aux hétérosexuel.les. Objectifs. Examiner les associations entre le cannabis, la dépression et l’anxiété au cours de l’adolescence, ainsi que l’effet modérateur de l’orientation sexuelle. Méthode. Les liens entre le cannabis, la dépression et l’anxiété à 13, 15 et 17 ans sont examinés longitudinalement à l’aide d’un modèle à effets croisés chez 1548 participant.es. Des analyses multi-groupes sont effectuées pour examiner les modèles selon l’orientation sexuelle. Résultats. Des associations de petite taille qui demeurent significatives lors de l’ajout des variables de contrôle sont trouvées dans l’échantillon complet : la consommation de cannabis prédit positivement les symptômes d’anxiété subséquents et les symptômes de dépression à 15 ans prédisent positivement la consommation de cannabis à 17 ans. Les LGBs présentent un lien positif plus prononcé entre les symptômes de dépression à 15 ans et la consommation de cannabis à 17 ans, ainsi qu’un lien négatif entre les symptômes d’anxiété à 15 ans et la consommation de cannabis à 17 ans. Conclusion. Ces résultats soutiennent que les associations entre le cannabis, la dépression et l’anxiété sont bidirectionnelles, quoique de petite taille, au cours de l’adolescence. Les LGB présentent des liens particulièrement forts qui pourraient suggérer une pratique d’automédication pour les symptômes de dépression entre 15 et 17 ans. / The association between cannabis use and mental health is not yet well understood. Additionally, sexual minorities present higher rates of cannabis use and mental health issues than heterosexuals. Objective. To examine the developmental relationships between cannabis, and depression and anxiety across adolescence in heterosexual and LGB youth. Method. The relationships between cannabis, and depressive and anxiety symptoms at 13, 15, and 17 years were examined using cross-lagged models in 1548 participants. Multigroup analyses were conducted to examine the models according to sexual orientation. Results. Small bidirectional associations were found in the full sample, which remained significant once control variables were included in the model: cannabis use positively predicted later anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms at 15 years predicted cannabis at 17 years. LGB participants presented a considerably larger association between depressive symptoms at 15 years and cannabis at 17 years, as well as a negative association between anxiety symptoms at 15 years and cannabis at 17 years. Conclusion. These results suggest that the relationships between cannabis, and depressive and anxiety symptoms are bidirectional across adolescence, albeit small. Sexual minorities present particularly strong associations that may represent self-medication efforts for depressive symptoms between 15 and 17 years.

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<p>The purpose of this research study was to look at the effects of perceived discrimination and sexual positivity on relationship and sexual satisfaction of sexual minority couples. The present study hypothesizes that there will be a moderating relationship between sexual positivity and perceived discrimination; higher levels of sexual positivity will predict higher relationship and sexual satisfaction, and perceived discrimination will negatively effect relationship and sexual satisfaction of couples with lower sexual positivity. Individuals who identify as a sexual minority were asked to participate in this study and answer survey questions pertaining to the level of satisfaction they experience in their romantic relationship and their sexual relationship, how sex positive the individuals are, and the amount of perceived discrimination that they experience; all through a minority stress lens. The results suggest that neither perceived discrimination nor the interaction between perceived discrimination and sexual positivity has a significant impact on the relationship and sexual satisfaction of sexual minority populations. However, the results of this study do suggest a statistically significant relationship between sexual positivity and relationship and sexual satisfaction of sexual minority couples.</p>

Diversos autores han determinado conceptos referidos a la inclusión de problemáticas sociales en la publicidad, siendo uno de ellos el brand-cause fit, referido a la condición en la que una marca y un problema social –con el cual el público objetivo se sienta identificado–, se unen conceptualmente en una sola propuesta de comunicación. El propósito de este estudio fue analizar cómo perciben los universitarios el brand-cause fit como estrategia de comunicación en la campaña ‘No estás solo’ de Sprite. Se adoptó una metodología cualitativa y se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a 24 universitarios de los cuales 12 pertenecían a la comunidad LGTB y 12 eran heterosexuales. Los participantes perciben positivamente el brand-cause fit utilizado como estrategia publicitaria en la campaña de Sprite. No solo valoran que las marcas incluyan temáticas y problemáticas sociales en su forma de comunicación, sino que alegan que es responsabilidad de las marcas el hacerlo. / Several authors have determined concepts related to the inclusion of social problems in advertising. One of them is brand-cause fit, which refers to the condition in which a brand and a social problem —with which the target audience feels identified— are conceptually united in a single communication proposal. The purpose of this study was to analyze how university students perceive the brand-cause fit as a communication strategy in Sprite's ‘You Are Not Alone’ campaign. A qualitative methodology was adopted and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 university students of which 12 belonged to the LGBT community and 12 were heterosexual. The participants positively perceived the brand-cause fit used as an advertising strategy in Sprite's campaign. Not only do they value the fact that brands include social issues and problems in their communication, but they also claim that it is the brands' responsibility to do so. / Tesis

The purpose of this research was to explore social hardships of non-gay identifying, [behaviorally] bisexual, and “other” marginal LGBTQ+ men who are sexually intimate with men in a heteronormative and [toxic] masculine world. Relatedly, hegemonic masculinity dominates the patriarch through regulating behavioral norms that often stigmatize and discriminate opposing traits, ideologies, or groups, such as LGBTQ+. This has been known to affect and mediate health outcomes and “outness.” Therefore, this study explored how minority stressors impact self-concept, mental health, well-being, and motivations to disclose and/or conceal. Data collection involved survey and interview formats (mixed-methods cross-sectional design) that assessed internalized homophobia, conformity to masculine norms, subjective masculinity stress, disclosure, and concealment in relation to lifestyle and social context. While all variables had expected linear associations, not all were causal. Those who conformed to masculine norms significantly experienced internalized stigma/homophobia. Hence, it can be hypothesized that participants who conformed sought to conceal stigma under pressure of heteronormative culture and the patriarch. However, subjective masculinity stress was nonsignificant, exemplifying hegemonic influence as more defining to their self-concept than their own. Further, minority stress constructs (masculine norms, internalized stigma/homophobia, and subjective masculinity stress), when age, regional location, and faith were controlled, significantly predicted less disclosure and more concealment in social contexts. This reinforces the power of modern patriarchy/masculine norms/minority stress and its adverse effects on mental health, well-being, and outness in marginalized populations of LGBTQ+. Relatedly, qualitative data validated these quantitative findings but generally over the lifecycle of “coming out” as opposed to respondents’ current growth and development in outness, mental health, and well-being. However, to further affirm such quantitative findings, both survey and interview data did report distress regarding modern day masculinity and its ill standards that place unrealistic expectations on men, which continue to create disparities among and between many communities and humanity.

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<p>Although liberal attitudes toward homosexuality have been increasing in recent years, sexual minority youth continue to face bullying and isolation at school. Gay-straight alliances (GSAs) have recently emerged as a solution to this problem. While research demonstrates positive effects of GSAs, little is known about the specific processes through which GSAs work to improve the school climate. We must also consider that GSAs operate in high schools which function as their own bounded social worlds with unique sets of rules and social hierarchies. These hierarchies influence both gay and straight youth’s experiences, including who gets bullied, and who carries out the bullying. Using qualitative research methods, including semi-structured interviews with 50 students from 6 Windsor high schools, including 21 lesbian, gay, bisexual, bi-curious, pansexual and queer (LGBPQ) youth, this study explores these issues. I begin by examining how status hierarchies in high schools vary based on the size of the school and average parental income. In doing so, I argue that status hierarchies should be re-conceptualized from being thought of as simply vertical to accommodate multiple sources of status and varying competition. I then delve into an examination of how status and bullying are interconnected. Here, I find that for both gay and straight students, social networks work to prevent isolation as well as bullying. Bullying in high schools also takes on a situational nature, as bullying episodes often predominate in certain areas and in front of certain status group audiences. Finally, I explore how social networks intersect with gay-straight alliances in various social hierarchies, and how GSAs work as social networks that have a protective ability against bullying. I find that GSAs can work to improve school climate and challenge existing hierarchies, but this is tempered by the hierarchies in place. Implications for anti-bullying strategies are also discussed.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This dissertation is a history of Accra residents’ memory and experiences with family planning programs in the capital of Ghana from national independence in 1957 through the 1990s. In the final chapter I extend my analysis to the present to explore the ways that the NDC Generation, the youngest generation in this study, are currently navigating fertility decisions and parenting. Beginning my analysis at independence allows me to explore how the discourses of nation-building reignited existing, and facilitated new, negotiations over gender, sexuality, fertility and family as the government and everyday people sought to build prosperous lives as individuals, families, communities, and as a nation. Examining family planning discourses and programs through the 1990s is useful because members of this generation were adolescents and young adults during a particularly dynamic moment in population, family planning, and sexual health. During this decade, international paradigmatic shift in population programs, renewed government emphasis on curbing population growth and corresponding attention on women’s rights and contributions to nation-building, and increased government promotion of sex education and HIV/AIDS programming for children. Including the perspectives of Accra residents who grew up in the 1990s allows us to examine how contestations over the course of several periods of political and economic stability and instability have led to the current moment as members of this cohort build their own families.In this dissertation I ask: how have government and NGO actors promoted family planning as useful for particular ideas of economic development, national prosperity, biomedical reproductive health, and promoting gendered roles in nation-building? how have Ghanaians interpreted and engaged with these discourses and family planning programs throughout their lives from adolescence to adulthood as they navigated decisions regarding their reproductive health, family size, roles as parents and spouses? how have Ghanaians seen family planning in relation to their own ideals of gender, sexuality and family, and how have these ideals have shifted over the course of their lives? And finally, how have those that did not fit the presumed model of family planning discourses and programs—monogamous, heterosexual marriages—seen family planning as relevant to their sexual and reproductive health and desires? I utilize oral histories to analyze shifts in women and men’s perspectives regarding fertility, reproduction, and health across their own life course and in the context of broader political, social and economic change. With assistance from Theodora Agyeampong Oduro and Steven Danso, I conducted 206 life history interviews with Ghanaians aged 35+, who grew up in, and/or raised their children in Accra, with the vast majority being low-income with a middle-school education or less. Centering life history interviews was crucial for moving beyond a focus on state and institution-led population, health, and social initiatives, and instead evaluate the perspectives of everyday people as they experienced reproductive health and family planning campaigns. I investigate the ways that peoples’ views of what it means to be a woman or man at various phases of life between adolescence, adulthood, parenthood, and old age have shifted as they have navigated these stages themselves, and watched their elders and children do the same. Analyzing these ideas in relation to peoples’ perspectives on and engagement with the family planning movement over the course of their lifetimes allows me to examine how gender and age have impacted their approaches to parenthood, spousal relationships, fertility, reproductive health, family, and sexual behavior. I include 26 interviews with lesbian and bisexual women as part of this dissertation to investigate the perspectives of people who have historically been marginalized or altogether ignored in discourses of family planning, population, and nation-building. I examine how these women have seen family planning as valuable to their own lives and the LGBT+ community more broadly. My analysis of government policies using archival sources is in service of better understanding the frameworks that shaped government interventions in population and family planning that Ghanaians experienced. When possible, I privileged government and NGO sources that were directly aimed at the public, such as advertisements and documents that reveal program strategies, rather than those that illuminate the inner workings of these institutions. I made this choice to ensure that my exploration of government efforts concentrated on aspects that were visible to the public, and that would potentially have been reflected in peoples’ memories of population and family planning efforts. By tracing the life histories of women and men alongside government interventions in the realm of family planning, I merge life histories with national history to examine how everyday people and government actors have engaged with this idea and influenced each other to form ideas about the future of women, men, families, and the nation. The first major argument of my dissertation is that the family planning movement was a turning point in the history of reproduction in Ghana. Everyday people and early family planning advocates distinguished between existing fertility management methods and family planning programs. Each group contributed to local definitions of these concepts and highlighted that the latter was new and distinct. The second argument is that in their views of the value of family planning movement, people across generations have been primarily concerned with the impact on their own health, social, and religious lives rather than the broader community, and were mostly uninterested in dictating other peoples’ participation. The third argument is that Accra residents’ openness about discussing sex education and family planning has increased over time despite the fact that questions of women’s and men’s sexual’ morality have remained. However, concerns over morality have shifted from focusing on women’s sexual behavior towards more general worries of increased social vices such as petty crime, loitering, and drug use. The fourth argument is that the family planning movement has been interpreted by both governments and everyday people first and foremost in terms of economic impact rather than potential to shift social norms regarding gender, family and sexuality. Ideals of family and gender roles have remained similar across all generations with the exception of the youngest generation in this study. Moreover, people have articulated support for shared financial and childcare responsibilities between spouses and small family sizes in terms of economic circumstances rather than interest in women’s rights or gender equality.