Marginalization and stigmatization heighten the vulnerability of sexual minorities to inequitable health outcomes. Although men who have sex with men (MSM) are at elevated risk for HIV infection in India in comparison with the general population, there is a lack of MSM-focused research—particularly regarding stigma and mental health outcomes. This dissertation aimed to explore the influence of sexual stigma, gender non-conformity stigma and HIV-related stigma on depression and life satisfaction among MSM in South India. This study used a cross-sectional survey design and was conducted with MSM (n=200) in two locations in Tamil Nadu, South India: Chennai (urban) and Kumbakonam (semi-urban). Due to multicollinearity between sexual stigma and gender non-conformity stigma, the stronger predictor of each outcome (gender non-conformity stigma) was included in regression models. Results were analyzed to identify the associations between independent (gender non-conformity stigma, HIV-related stigma), moderator (social support, resilient coping) and dependent (depression, life satisfaction) variables. Due to significant differences between locations across a substantial number of variables, block regression analyses were conducted separately for each location. Higher levels of depression were predicted by gender non-conformity stigma in both locations, and also by HIV-related stigma in Kumbakonam. Lower levels of depression in both locations were predicted by higher levels of social support and resilient coping. Higher life satisfaction was predicted by social support and resilient coping in both Chennai and Kumbakonam. Lower life satisfaction was predicted by gender non-conformity stigma and HIV-related stigma in Kumbakonam, but not in Chennai. Social support and resilient coping did not moderate the impact of stigma(s) on depression or life satisfaction in either location. The results indicate that the majority of participants experienced stigmatization based on same-sex sexual behaviour and/or gender non-conformity. Another striking finding of the study was the alarmingly high rates of depression, whereby over half of participants in each region reported moderate to severe depression scores. Practice and policy implications include the development, implementation and evaluation of: multi-level stigma reduction interventions that account for socio-environmental and contextual factors; mental health interventions that promote resiliency and build social support; and policy initiatives to advance human rights protection.

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Problématique : La violence conjugale dans le couple lesbien est un phénomène très répandu et pourtant encore trop largement passé sous silence. On constate un manque d’intérêt pour cette question de la part des différentes communautés concernées, malgré plus récemment un regain d’attention pour le phénomène. Les tabous et les débats qui entourent la violence homoconjugale féminine continuent de l’exclure de la plupart des mouvements luttant contre les violences faites aux femmes. Pourtant, chaque année des femmes souffrent en silence de la violence de leurs conjointes; pourtant, chaque année ces victimes se perdent un peu plus dans l’invisibilité de leur condition. Le sujet de la violence conjugale dans le couple lesbien interpelle à plus d’un titre : à la fois sur la compréhension, mais aussi sur les solutions cliniques offertes. Comment dès lors apporter une réponse idoine à une catégorie de victimes méconnues et non reconnues, très souvent assaillies d’intolérance, de préjugés et d’ignorance de la part de celles et ceux censés les aider? Méthodologie : Des femmes victimes ainsi que des intervenantes de différentes disciplines des sciences humaines, familières avec la thématique de la violence homoconjugale féminine, ont été rencontrées. Avec un guide d’entrevue et des entretiens semi-dirigés, les répondantes ont raconté leur expérience. Selon la perspective sociologique wébérienne, elles ont ouvert sur le sens qu’elles donnaient à la violence vécue ou rapportée. L’analyse des données recueillies a ainsi été scrupuleusement effectuée selon une grille très précise afin de faire ressortir les thèmes et les sous-thèmes les plus emblématiques des discours en présence. La dimension interdisciplinaire a permis d’ouvrir sur une compréhension holistique plus aboutie de la thématique à étudier ainsi que d’être envisagée comme une piste de solution au niveau de l’intervention. Résultats : Il ressort que les formes de violence les plus utilisées par les abuseures sont les violences psychologiques, verbales, sexuelles et, dans une moindre mesure, physiques, dans le but d’assoir un pouvoir, une domination et un contrôle sur la victime. La présence du cycle de la violence conjugale a également été identifiée. Par comparaison avec les femmes victimes de leurs conjoints, les victimes homoconjugales féminines vivent un plus grand isolement et un plus grand stress, principalement en lien avec leur orientation sexuelle, couramment appelé : le stress des minorités sexuelles. De nouvelles formes de violence ont pu être identifiées, notamment la lesbophobie intériorisée. Entre deux femmes, la violence conjugale est banalisée et minimisée, réduite à un simple « crêpage de chignons ». Cette vision porte un tort considérable à la réalité de ce qui se passe dans l’alcôve lesbien, mais surtout constitue une atteinte supplémentaire à la victime. En dernier lieu, il s’avère que la relation d’aide pour les femmes, victimes de leurs conjointes demeure problématique et très insatisfaisante, principalement par le manque de structures adéquates, de formation des intervenantes, de publicisation sur le phénomène de la violence conjugale lesbienne. En outre, les préjugés des différents personnels socio-judiciaires sur le lesbianisme est encore très prégnant et constituent un frein à l’intervention. Conclusion : La violence conjugale dans le couple lesbien est engluée dans une toile d’araignée que tisse l’abuseure qui prend un pouvoir illicite sur sa partenaire avec la complicité du regard néfaste de la société à l’encontre du lesbianisme, du manque d’information et de formations des différents personnels sur cette thématique ainsi que du silence des communautés sur la lutte des violences faites aux femmes. Il y aurait tout lieu de privilégier la mobilisation, l’inclusion, l’éducation, l’information, la formation de tous. Car la violence conjugale lesbienne n’est pas une affaire privée. Elle est l’affaire de tous / Context. Domestic violence in lesbian couples is a widespread and largely ignored phenomenon. There is a lack of interest in this issue on the part of the various communities concerned, despite more recently renewed attention to the phenomenon. The taboos and debates surrounding female homoconjugal violence continue to exclude it from most of the movements fighting violence against women. However, each year, women suffer in silence from their partner's violence and each year these victims lose themselves a little more in the invisibility of their condition. The subject of conjugal violence in the lesbian couple raises many questions both on understanding and on the clinical solutions proposed. How to provide an appropriate response to this category of unrecognized victims who are very often confronted with intolerance, prejudice and ignorance from those who are supposed to help them? Methods. Women victims of domestic violence in a lesbian couple were met as well as practitioners from several disciplines of the humanities familiar with the theme of female homosexual violence. Using an interview guide and semi-structured interviews, we asked them to describe their experiences on this issue. The meaning they give to the violence experienced or reported has been gathered from a Weberian sociological perspective. The data analysis was scrupulously carried out according to a very precise grid in order to bring out the most emblematic themes and sub-themes of their narratives. The interdisciplinary perspective allows us for a more complete holistic understanding of the problem and can also be considered in itself as an avenue of intervention in the context of female homosexual violence Results. It appears that the type of violence abusers most commonly use to exert power, domination or control on the victim is psychological, verbal, sexual and, to a lesser degree, physical to exercise an authority, a domination, and a control on the victim. The conjugal violence cycle was also identified. In comparison to female victims of male partners, female homo-conjugal victims experience greater social isolation and stress, largely related to their sexual orientation, commonly referred to as stress of sexual minorities. New types of domestic violence have also been identified, such as internalized lesbophobia. Violence between two women is trivialized, minimized, and reduced to “cat fights.” This conception considerably detracts from the reality of what is happening in the lesbian alcove. Above all, it constitutes an additional attack on the victim. Finally, it appears that counseling support is very problematic and unsatisfactory for these women because of the lack of adequate support structures, training for practitioners and awareness of lesbian conjugal violence phenomenon. Furthermore, the prejudice from different personal socio-judiciary regarding lesbianism is still taking a stronger hold and can slow down the intervention process. Conclusion. Domestic violence in the lesbian couple is rooted in the spider web that the abuser weaves to take power over his partner with the complicity of society's harmful view of lesbianism, lack of information and professional training on the subject as well as the silence of the communities on violence against women. We must promote the mobilization, inclusion, education, information and training of all on this important issue. Domestic violence between lesbians is not a private matter. This is everyone's problem.

Plusieurs enquêtes états-uniennes et canadiennes montrent que les personnes de la diversité sexuelle et de genre sont plus vulnérables face aux problèmes de santé mentale (détresse psychologique, dépression, troubles anxieux, problèmes de consommation, etc.) et plus à risque d’être victimes de violences conjugales au cours de leur vie. Mais cette population n’est pas homogène : parmi les différents sous-groupes de la communauté LGBTQ+ (lesbienne, gai, bisexuel·le, trans, queer et autre), les femmes de la diversité sexuelle sont particulièrement vulnérables face à ces problématiques. Le modèle du stress minoritaire explique cette vulnérabilité par le fait que les personnes de la diversité sexuelle et de genre souffrent de facteurs de stress spécifiques qui peuvent avoir des conséquences sur leur santé mentale et leurs relations. Ces facteurs peuvent être exogènes, c’est-à-dire provenir de l’extérieur de l’individu, comme les préjudices vécus dus à son identité sexuelle et de genre (harcèlement, discrimination, violence physique, etc.). Mais ils peuvent aussi être endogènes, c’est-à-dire provenant de l’individu lui-même. Ils sont alors plus subjectifs, comme le fait de s’attendre à être stigmatisé (la stigmatisation anticipée), le non-dévoilement de son identité sexuelle et/ou de genre et l’homophobie ou la transphobie intériorisée. L’objectif principal de ce mémoire est d’examiner l’impact des facteurs de stress minoritaire et des différentes formes de victimisation conjugale sur les symptômes de dépression et d’anxiété chez les femmes de la diversité sexuelle, en fonction de leur identité sexuelle et de genre. Pour réaliser cette étude, 209 personnes qui s’identifient comme femme (âge moyen = 33,9 ans), vivant au Canada et qui ont vécu des violences dans une relation intime avec une femme par le passé ont répondu à notre questionnaire en ligne. Nous avons mesuré l’identité sexuelle et de genre, la victimisation conjugale, les facteurs de stress minoritaire, et les symptômes de dépression et d’anxiété. Des régressions hiérarchiques montrent que les sentiments négatifs sur son appartenance à la diversité sexuelle sont positivement associés aux symptômes de dépression et d’anxiété, même après avoir contrôlé pour l’âge, l’ethnie, l’identité sexuelle et de genre et la victimisation. La victimisation psychologique est également positivement associée aux symptômes d’anxiété et la victimisation sexuelle aux symptômes de dépression. L’âge est négativement associé aux symptômes d’anxiété et ne pas être attiré strictement par les femmes (s’identifier comme bisexuel·le, pansexuel·le, queer ou autre) est positivement associé aux symptômes de dépression dans notre échantillon. Ces résultats apportent de nouvelles informations sur l’association entre les violences conjugales, le stress minoritaire et la santé mentale. Ainsi, ce mémoire montre l’impact de la victimisation conjugale sur la santé mentale des femmes de la diversité sexuelle ayant été victimes de violences conjugales. Il met également en avant l’impact significatif des sentiments négatifs sur son appartenance à la diversité sexuelle, une composante de l’homophobie intériorisée, sur les symptômes d’anxiété et de dépression. Il vient souligner la nécessité d’évaluer les besoins de cette population, et plus largement de toute la diversité sexuelle et de genre, et d’adapter les interventions auprès des victimes de violences conjugales à ces besoins. / Canadian and American population surveys show that people from the sexual diversity and gender-diverse people are more at risk of mental health problems (psychological distress, depression, anxiety disorders, substance use problems) and of being victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime. But the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other) community is not homogeneous: between the different subgroups of this population, sexual minority women (SMW) are at particularly high risk of experiencing stigma, mental health problems and being victims of IPV. This vulnerability can be explained by the sexual and gender minority stress model, stating that sexual and gender minority people suffer from specific stress factors added to general stressors, leading to more mental health and relationship problems. Those stress factors can be distal, such as prejudice events one suffers from based on their sexual or gender identity (harassment, discrimination, physical violence, etc.). But they can also be proximal, and therefore more subjective, such as expecting to be rejected or discriminated (also called stigma consciousness), concealing one’s sexual or gender identity, or suffering from internalized homophobia or transphobia. The main goal of this Master’s thesis was to assess the impact of minority stress factors and of different forms of past IPV victimization on the current mental health of Canadian SMW, as a function of their sexual and gender identity. In total, 209 individuals identifying as women (M age = 33,9), living in Canada and who lived in a violent intimate relationship with a woman in the past answered our online survey. Questionnaire assessed sexual orientation and gender identity, IPV behaviors, minority stress factors, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Hierarchical regressions showed that psychological aggression was positively associated with anxiety symptoms and sexual coercion with depressive symptoms. Not being strictly attracted to women (i.e. identifying as bisexual, pansexual, queer or something else) was also associated to high symptoms of depression and age was negatively associated to anxiety symptoms. After controlling for age, race/ethnicity, sexual and gender identity and IPV victimization, having negative feelings about being a SMW was strongly associated with both depression and anxiety symptoms. This Master’s thesis provides new information on the interconnected associations among IPV, minority stress and SMW’s mental health. It shows the importance of LGBTQ+ specific stress factors, particularly of negative feelings about being a SMW, on the mental health of SMW IPV survivors. It highlights the necessity to evaluate the needs of SMW IPV survivors and, more broadly, of all sexual and gender minorities. This could allow clinical intervention to be more adapted to the needs of LGBTQ+ IPV victims and therefore help buffer against victimization they are faced by.

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This thesis examines how the Supreme Court of Canada, across legal contexts, has tended to conceptualize sexuality. It focuses primarily on areas of public law including sexual assault law, equality for sexual minorities, sexual harassment and obscenity and indecency laws. There were a number of trends revealed upon reviewing the jurisprudence in this area. First, the Court’s decisions across legal contexts reveal a tendency to conceptualize sexuality as innate, as a pre-social naturally occurring phenomenon and as an essential element of who we are as individuals. This is true whether one is speaking of the approach to gay and lesbian rights, the occurrence of sexual harassment, or the sexual abuse of children. However, there is an exception to this trend. The exception relates to the Court’s conceptual approach towards sexual violence against adults. The research revealed, likely as a result of feminist activism both in the legislative and judicial arenas, that there has been a shift in the way that the Court understands sexuality in the context of sexual violence. It is a shift away from understanding it as pre-social and naturally occurring towards understanding it as a product of society, as a function of social context. This change in the Court’s conceptual approach towards sexual violence has engendered a shift in the law’s moral focus as well – a shift away from a moral focus on specific sexual acts and sexual propriety and towards a moral focus on sexual actors and sexual integrity. The thesis weaves together the analytical observations about the jurisprudence just described with a theoretical argument that is both grounded in the case law and which draws upon a number of different theorists. The argument developed suggests that the Court, regardless of the legal issue involved, ought to conceptualize sexuality as socially constructed/ contextually contingent, that it ought to orient itself towards protecting sexual integrity, and that it ought to understand this sexual integrity as a common interest.

Research to date in South Africa has explored the coming out narratives of lesbian and gay people. Most of this research suggests these people experience their parents’ reactions as largely negative. This negativity is attributed to the patriarchal culture and religious beliefs which insist on compulsory heterosexuality that dominate African discourse in South Africa. However, thus far, little work has been done focusing specifically on the perceptions of the parents of lesbian, gay or bisexual offspring, and on the parents’ own coming out about their children’s alternative sexual orientation. In this qualitative study, I explored the lived experiences of black mothers of lesbian, gay or bisexual children from diverse backgrounds with the aim of capturing their own voices and gaining an understanding of their journeys, from the moment that each discovered that her child belongs to a sexual minority to her acceptance of the child’s alternative sexuality. I conducted semi-structured interviews with six black South African mothers of lesbian, gay or bisexual offspring in order to learn about these mothers’ experiences. I analysed the interview transcripts using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. I identified three main themes, namely the mothers’ journeys; responses to the study’s research questions, and other concerns the black mothers still have regarding their lesbian, gay or bisexual offspring. Each main theme was comprised of several sub-themes. In a nutshell, the study shows that in contrast to the assumption that South African black urban communities are hostile spaces with no visible familial support for lesbian, gay or bisexual youth, in reality, there are examples in urban African communities of parental support for members of sexual minorities. Although all the mothers in this study held Christian beliefs, none subscribed to a ‘same-sex attraction is a sin’ discourse. Instead, most of these mothers regarded their children as special gifts from God, and some saw their children’s alternative sexuality as God’s way of teaching them as mothers about unconditional love. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology: Research Consultation)