This study examined religious and sexual identity conflict and gay-related stress, and how they are related to difficulty with LGB identity formation and mental health outcomes. A sample of 172 adolescents and emerging adults were recruited as part of a larger research project. Study participants ranged in age from 14 to 26 years, and identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Descriptive information was collected regarding religious identity and religious/sexual identity conflict in the sample. Additionally, a model was tested that examined LGB identity difficulty as a potential mediator of the relationships between a) religious conflict and mental health, and b) gay-related stress and mental health. The Religious, Spiritual, and Sexual Identities Questionnaire was created to assess religious/spiritual identity and religious and sexual identity conflict. The Measure of Gay-Related Stress was used to measure gay-related stress. The Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Identity Scale was used to measure LGB identity difficulty. The Behavior Assessment System for Children was used to measure mental health. Adequate fit for the model was found after removing direct paths from religious/sexual identity conflict and gay-related stress to mental health, indicating that LGB identity difficulty fully accounted for these two relationships. These findings are clinically important as they emphasize the importance of LGB identity difficulty in examining mental health outcomes related to religious conflict and gay-related stress.

Under ungdomsåren sker stora förändringar, både fysiskt och psykiskt. Utforskandet av sexualiteten blir mer aktuell och den sexuella identiteten och den sexuella läggningen kan genomgå förändringar. Viktiga aspekter för att identifiera sig med den sexuella läggningen anses av vissa forskare vara självkänsla, nära socialt stöd och ifrågasättande. Syftet med denna studie är att finna svar på hur mönster av dessa faktorer kan påverka den sexuella identiteten bland gymnasieungdomar. Studien genomfördes med en kvantitativ ansats. En klusteranalys genomfördes för att söka svar på vilka mönster som ökar sannolikheten för att ungdomarna skall identifiera sig med sin egna sexuella läggning. Studien fann att den faktor i mönstret som följer identifiering med den egna sexuella läggningen är självkänsla.

In Swedish shops today there are a lot of magazines aimed at teenagers, which fight for young girls’ attention. These teenage-magazines are one of the most important sources for young girls to get information about sex and love-relationships; therefor it’s important how these magazines portray it.  We have examined how the magazine Frida has portrayed sex and love-relationships from 1991 until today. The way sex and love-relationships are portrayed in Frida’s articles affect the young readers in their process of building an identity.  Using a combined rhetoric- and discourse analysis we found that the main focus in Frida is for the reader to have a love-relationship with a guy, instead of a physical sex-relationship. Frida uses all the rhetorical tools to convince their readers that what they are telling them is the right way to think and behave.

The purpose of this study was to highlight LGBT asylum-seekers experiences of expressing their sexual identity or gender identity in the country of origin and in the asylum process in Sweden. By interviewing people who got permanent residence in Sweden because of gender or sexual orientation in Utlänningslagen (2005:716) we have been able to explore their own experiences from expressing themselves. This study analyse these experiences from a social psychological perspective, from this analysis we aimed to obtain a deeper understanding of how the experiences from the country of origin affects on the experiences in the asylum process. This study shows that LGBT asylum-seekers often is facing negative reactions from the environment in the country of origin, these reactions can limit their possibilities to express their sexual identity or gender identity in the asylum process in Sweden. The negative reactions they experience in the country of origin have contributed to that many LGBT people internalize feelings of fear to express themselves, feelings that often stays when they come to Sweden to seek asylum. We hope that this study will contribute to a better treatment and reception from social workers and other professionals who meet these people in their work, by increased knowledge of the conditions under which LGBT people are coming to seek asylum in Sweden.

Same-sex experiences are more prevalent than is thought. Individuals often engage in same-sex behaviours in order to understand their same-sex attractions, which may result in the incorrect integration of a homosexual or bisexual sexual identity. Same-sex behaviour may also lead to feelings of guilt and shame, and can result in confusion regarding sexual identity, which could ultimately influence the successful integration of a sexual identity (a key developmental task during adolescence) and subsequent stages of an individual’s life. This study investigated how young males experienced their sexual identity after having same-sex experiences. In order to better understand these experiences, this study also looked at sexual identity and its development from a psychosocial approach. In addition, this study also took a phenomenological approach into account to better understand how young males understand their same-sex experiences within their socio-cultural context. The qualitative research method was used because it aims to understand how people make sense of their everyday lives and foregrounds participants’ perceptions and experiences. When researching human behaviour, context and behaviour cannot be separated and therefore a phenomenological design was used. The population included five young males who lived in the Boland and Northern suburbs of the Western Cape and who have had same-sex experiences. The participants were selected utilizing the non-probability (convenient purposive) sampling technique, however, the sampling procedure also made use of snowball sampling. Biographically, the participants were between the ages of 18 and 24, and had different sexual orientations. The participants included black and white students who spoke Afrikaans or English, and originated from different provinces in South Africa. Data were collected through a two-part semi-structured interview. The first interview focused on questions about the participants’ sexual preference and identity, same-sex experiences and support system. During the second interview participants were asked to make a collage representing how they viewed their sexual identity with regards to the same-sex experiences they have had. This interview also focused on member checking. The collages and member checking served as forms of triangulation. Data were transcribed and analysed by means of a content analysis that focused on four main categories. These categories corresponded to four main questions that formed part of the first interview. The researcher concluded that each participant experienced his sexual identity and same-sex encounters differently and that none of them experienced the development of their sexual identity as ‘natural’ or as something that was present from birth. They all experienced confusion and conflict about their sexual preference because it was in contrast to their sociocultural context. Same-sex experiences were the result of confusion but also caused confusion and this confusion was mostly experienced in the earlier life stages. More research is needed on the heterosexual identity development of heterosexual identified individuals who have same-sex experiences, so that these individuals can also be accommodated within a sexuality. The development of programmes for therapeutic and/or educational purposes, that focus on the sexual identity and sexual identity development of adolescents, must also be considered in future research. / MA (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo apresentar uma leitura da peça Entertaining Mr. Sloane do dramaturgo inglês Joe Orton, investigando de que formas os artifícios literários são construídos para interromper as representações normativas sobre sexualidade e moralidade. Na obra de Orton, os comportamentos e discursos das personagens ignoram autoridades representativas de instituições que, como a família, trabalham para ratificar a noção de modos sexuais ligados à matrix heterossexual que constrói uma subjetividade configurada na equação essencialista de sexo-gênero-desejo. A investigação encontra suporte na História da Sexualidade, de Michel Foucault, e no conceito de performatividade de Judith Butler, usando a Desconstrução como uma estratégia de leitura. A estética literária nas peças de Joe Orton é alicerçada no anarquismo e na subversão como metáforas para interromper categorias convencionais de sexualidade que procuram controlar as vidas e os comportamentos humanos. Mostrando perversidade sexual pela fusão do que poderia ser ultrajante com o cômico, Joe Orton constrói um estilo único, conhecido como Ortonesco. Apesar de suas peças pertencerem ao território da comédia, são freqüentemente classificadas de acordo com estilos cômicos, ou sub-gêneros. Embora essa classificação seja muitas vezes problemática e não haja consenso entre os críticos em relação às categorias das peças, eu trato Entertaining Mr. Sloane como comédia de costumes por levar em consideração seus elementos e a definição desse estilo de comédia. Os discursos das personagens e suas ações mostram como as representações sexuais e de moralidade criam construtos sociais que prendem sexo, gênero e desejo em uma equação que deve resultar em uma identidade estável e universal. Os elementos literários mostram como esse sistema de representação é subvertido pela desestabilização de autoridades que trabalham como centro de sentido do mundo tradicional. / The present thesis aims at presenting my reading of the play Entertaining Mr. Sloane, by the English playwright Joe Orton. The analysis investigates in which ways literary artifices are constructed to disrupt normative representations of sexuality and morality, and in which ways the characters’ behaviors and discourses disregard authorities, such as that concerning the family institution, which work to maintain sexual mores embedded in Western society by a heteronormative matrix which constructs a subjectivity configured in the essentialist equation of sex-gender-desire. The investigation finds support in Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality, and Judith Butler’s concept of performativity, using Deconstruction as a strategy of reading. The literary aesthetics in Joe Orton’s plays is achieved by showing anarchism and subversion as a metaphor to disrupt conventional categories of sexuality which seek to control human lives and behaviors. Showing sexual perversity by fusing what could be outrageous with the comic mode, Joe Orton constructs a unique style, known as Ortonesque. Because his plays belong to comedy, they are often categorized according to the comic styles or sub-genres. However, that categorization is problematic many times, and there is no agreement from the part of many critics regarding the category of the plays. I consider Entertaining Mr. Sloane as Comedy of Manners by taking into account their elements and the literary definition of comedy style. The characters’ discourses and actions show how sexual and moral representations create social constructs that tie sex, gender and desire in an equation that must result in a stable and universal identity; and the literary elements show how that system of representation is subverted by destabilizing authorities which work as center of meaning to the Western world.

Background: The 'coming out' literature reveals there is a high degree of selectivity and fear of rejection around disclosure of sexual identity to others. It is suggested this distress can be particularly elevated around disclosure of sexual identity to the family. Recent research suggests that the age of disclosure around sexual identity within the family is shifting, but even with the recent growth of research within the lesbian, gay and bisexual community, researchers still do not fully understand the complexities of the 'coming out' process. Aim: This narrative study aimed to collect 'coming out' stories to better understand the process an adolescent goes through in disclosing their sexual identity to family. Participants: Seven participants were recruited through snowball sampling, four adolescents (one female and three male) who self-identified as lesbian or gay and three parents (three mothers) who had children that self-identified as lesbian or gay. Method: Participant stories were audio recorded in one semi-structured narrative interview, lasting up to 90 minutes. A narrative analysis was carried out drawing upon Labov's (1972) structural analysis and an adaption of Polkinghorne's (1995) narrative 'plots' to develop Thematic Concepts from the participant stories. Analysis: The structural analysis showed that participants did not restrict their stories to a single event of 'coming out' to the family. They spoke about 'coming out' experiences based around numerous chronological events across their life to date, and included evaluations of these. Five Thematic Concepts were developed from the seven participant stories - (1) the influence of self - a sense of knowing something; (2) the influence of the school environment; (3) the influence of culture and religion; (4) the influence of the digital age/new media; and (5) the influence of the family. Conclusions and Implications: Research literature suggests that 'coming out' should not be viewed as a one-time event, but an on-going process evolving across the lifespan. Historical and socio-political factors must also be considered in understanding the process of 'coming out'. With regards to clinical practice, this study suggests counselling psychology should be pro-active in advancing educative interventions to address heteronormativity and discrimination within society, as well as considering systemic approaches when working therapeutically with sexual minorities.

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo apresentar uma leitura da peça Entertaining Mr. Sloane do dramaturgo inglês Joe Orton, investigando de que formas os artifícios literários são construídos para interromper as representações normativas sobre sexualidade e moralidade. Na obra de Orton, os comportamentos e discursos das personagens ignoram autoridades representativas de instituições que, como a família, trabalham para ratificar a noção de modos sexuais ligados à matrix heterossexual que constrói uma subjetividade configurada na equação essencialista de sexo-gênero-desejo. A investigação encontra suporte na História da Sexualidade, de Michel Foucault, e no conceito de performatividade de Judith Butler, usando a Desconstrução como uma estratégia de leitura. A estética literária nas peças de Joe Orton é alicerçada no anarquismo e na subversão como metáforas para interromper categorias convencionais de sexualidade que procuram controlar as vidas e os comportamentos humanos. Mostrando perversidade sexual pela fusão do que poderia ser ultrajante com o cômico, Joe Orton constrói um estilo único, conhecido como Ortonesco. Apesar de suas peças pertencerem ao território da comédia, são freqüentemente classificadas de acordo com estilos cômicos, ou sub-gêneros. Embora essa classificação seja muitas vezes problemática e não haja consenso entre os críticos em relação às categorias das peças, eu trato Entertaining Mr. Sloane como comédia de costumes por levar em consideração seus elementos e a definição desse estilo de comédia. Os discursos das personagens e suas ações mostram como as representações sexuais e de moralidade criam construtos sociais que prendem sexo, gênero e desejo em uma equação que deve resultar em uma identidade estável e universal. Os elementos literários mostram como esse sistema de representação é subvertido pela desestabilização de autoridades que trabalham como centro de sentido do mundo tradicional. / The present thesis aims at presenting my reading of the play Entertaining Mr. Sloane, by the English playwright Joe Orton. The analysis investigates in which ways literary artifices are constructed to disrupt normative representations of sexuality and morality, and in which ways the characters’ behaviors and discourses disregard authorities, such as that concerning the family institution, which work to maintain sexual mores embedded in Western society by a heteronormative matrix which constructs a subjectivity configured in the essentialist equation of sex-gender-desire. The investigation finds support in Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality, and Judith Butler’s concept of performativity, using Deconstruction as a strategy of reading. The literary aesthetics in Joe Orton’s plays is achieved by showing anarchism and subversion as a metaphor to disrupt conventional categories of sexuality which seek to control human lives and behaviors. Showing sexual perversity by fusing what could be outrageous with the comic mode, Joe Orton constructs a unique style, known as Ortonesque. Because his plays belong to comedy, they are often categorized according to the comic styles or sub-genres. However, that categorization is problematic many times, and there is no agreement from the part of many critics regarding the category of the plays. I consider Entertaining Mr. Sloane as Comedy of Manners by taking into account their elements and the literary definition of comedy style. The characters’ discourses and actions show how sexual and moral representations create social constructs that tie sex, gender and desire in an equation that must result in a stable and universal identity; and the literary elements show how that system of representation is subverted by destabilizing authorities which work as center of meaning to the Western world.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-02-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:59:05Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 elias_va_me_assis.pdf: 1043261 bytes, checksum: afd1e1dd4322b0395924fdb47ca77376 (MD5) / O presente trabalho buscou realizar um estudo psicanalítico sobre as transexualidades a partir da clínica com transexuais femininas, no âmbito hospitalar, e sua demanda de alteração corporal, dirigida ao corpo médico, com o discurso de adequarem o seu sexo anatômico à sua alma feminina. Pretendeu-se com esta pesquisa oferecer uma reflexão para o tema da transexualidade partindo da ótica de quem a vive, ou seja, sobre o discurso de adequar o sexo na singularidade de quem o expressa, mantendo-se a articulação entre o individual e o social. Utilizou-se o método de pesquisa em psicanálise, optando-se pela narrativa na apresentação dos casos clínicos pautados no acompanhamento específico de sete transexuais femininas adultas (que não mais estavam em atendimento), possibilitando vislumbrar um panorama representativo da dinâmica subjetiva de cada uma. A questão principal que norteia este trabalho se refere a: como se organiza a subjetividade de uma pessoa que, em nome de sua identidade sexual, demanda uma transformação definitiva no corpo, com o propósito de aproximar sua anatomia ao sexo biológico oposto? A leitura psicanalítica do material clínico obtido privilegiou os aspectos que permearam a busca pela cirurgia de 'mudança de sexo' e os processos de subjetivação que atuaram na construção desse pedido de alteração corporal. Foi possível constatar que tais construções subjetivas sofrem os efeitos dos modos como os processos de identificação e sexuação foram vivenciados. As saídas ou soluções encontradas, em sua dinâmica pulsional, revelam que, enquanto um fenômeno do nosso tempo, além da fascinação pela imagem, a busca pela tecnologia (que se supõe ser capaz de dominar o Real) esteve pautada em um duplo eixo: um horizontal... / The current paper results from clinical experience with female transsexuals patients who look forward to undergoing sex-change surgery in order to adjust their physical body to fit their feminine soul. This research intends to address the issue of transexualities through the eyes of he who lives it, i.e., through their sex adjustment speech in the singularity of he who expresses it, keeping a reflection on the articulation between individual and social factors. The approach method used on seven adult female transsexuals (no longer being treated) was research in psychoanalysis and narrative in clinical vignettes in order to offer a representative panorama of the psychic dynamics of each one. The main issue of this paper is how to organize the subjectivity of a person who, in the name of their sexual identity, demands a definitive body adjustment so as to bring their body closer to the one of the opposite gender. The psychoanalytical reading of clinical data collected privileged the reasons for the sexchange seek and the subjectivity processes that acted in favor of the body adjustment plead. It was possible to conclude that these subjective constructions depend on how the processes of identification and sexuation were lived. The exist, i.e., the solutions found, in its pulsional dynamics, reveal that, while a phenomenon of our time, beyond image fascination, the seek for technology (which assumes being able to dominate the Real) in some cases traveled on double tracks: horizontally in relation to his fellow, so that the desire for another man wouldn't be homossexual but a result of his heterossexuality, getting rid of homophobia and stigma) ; vertically, in relation to the Other of science, created in his imaginary that it is the shape of his genital that defines his sexual identity and not the... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo apresentar uma leitura da peça Entertaining Mr. Sloane do dramaturgo inglês Joe Orton, investigando de que formas os artifícios literários são construídos para interromper as representações normativas sobre sexualidade e moralidade. Na obra de Orton, os comportamentos e discursos das personagens ignoram autoridades representativas de instituições que, como a família, trabalham para ratificar a noção de modos sexuais ligados à matrix heterossexual que constrói uma subjetividade configurada na equação essencialista de sexo-gênero-desejo. A investigação encontra suporte na História da Sexualidade, de Michel Foucault, e no conceito de performatividade de Judith Butler, usando a Desconstrução como uma estratégia de leitura. A estética literária nas peças de Joe Orton é alicerçada no anarquismo e na subversão como metáforas para interromper categorias convencionais de sexualidade que procuram controlar as vidas e os comportamentos humanos. Mostrando perversidade sexual pela fusão do que poderia ser ultrajante com o cômico, Joe Orton constrói um estilo único, conhecido como Ortonesco. Apesar de suas peças pertencerem ao território da comédia, são freqüentemente classificadas de acordo com estilos cômicos, ou sub-gêneros. Embora essa classificação seja muitas vezes problemática e não haja consenso entre os críticos em relação às categorias das peças, eu trato Entertaining Mr. Sloane como comédia de costumes por levar em consideração seus elementos e a definição desse estilo de comédia. Os discursos das personagens e suas ações mostram como as representações sexuais e de moralidade criam construtos sociais que prendem sexo, gênero e desejo em uma equação que deve resultar em uma identidade estável e universal. Os elementos literários mostram como esse sistema de representação é subvertido pela desestabilização de autoridades que trabalham como centro de sentido do mundo tradicional. / The present thesis aims at presenting my reading of the play Entertaining Mr. Sloane, by the English playwright Joe Orton. The analysis investigates in which ways literary artifices are constructed to disrupt normative representations of sexuality and morality, and in which ways the characters’ behaviors and discourses disregard authorities, such as that concerning the family institution, which work to maintain sexual mores embedded in Western society by a heteronormative matrix which constructs a subjectivity configured in the essentialist equation of sex-gender-desire. The investigation finds support in Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality, and Judith Butler’s concept of performativity, using Deconstruction as a strategy of reading. The literary aesthetics in Joe Orton’s plays is achieved by showing anarchism and subversion as a metaphor to disrupt conventional categories of sexuality which seek to control human lives and behaviors. Showing sexual perversity by fusing what could be outrageous with the comic mode, Joe Orton constructs a unique style, known as Ortonesque. Because his plays belong to comedy, they are often categorized according to the comic styles or sub-genres. However, that categorization is problematic many times, and there is no agreement from the part of many critics regarding the category of the plays. I consider Entertaining Mr. Sloane as Comedy of Manners by taking into account their elements and the literary definition of comedy style. The characters’ discourses and actions show how sexual and moral representations create social constructs that tie sex, gender and desire in an equation that must result in a stable and universal identity; and the literary elements show how that system of representation is subverted by destabilizing authorities which work as center of meaning to the Western world.