Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Boy-love (or BL) manga (comic book) is a subgenre of Japanese girl’s manga. It features the homoerotic relationships between beautiful young boys and is popular among young straight women. This thesis explores the transnational influence of BL manga on young women and examines how Chinese female readers perceive and interpret this cultural artifact. An online survey has been conducted to answer key questions including: Who consumes BL productions in Chinese-speaking communities, how is BL fandom formed and what are the patterns of such fandom. Outcomes indicate women enjoy the queer fantasy deriving from reading BL manga and such fantasy should not be stigmatized or pathologized.

Thesis (MA) -- Stellenbosch University, 1977. / No Abstract Available

My dissertation uses multiple methods to introduce the novel concept of racial sexual preference - individuals’ preferences for a sexual or romantic partner based on race. This project builds on an insight from Daryl Bem’s “Exotic Becomes Erotic” theory of sexual development: a diverse set of sexual preferences exists beyond gender. I argue the very real social consequences of race make preferences in regard to it (sexual or otherwise) an important area for systematic study. I focus on gay male subculture, which has uniquely developed a terminology for expressing racial preferences. I investigate how racial preference is understood and organized within this subculture by collecting gay men’s sexual history narratives of cross-race preferences through interviews, as well as collecting archival materials from the national organization Black and White Men Together (BWMT) that pertain to racial sexual preference. I find that racial sexual preferences are experienced early in the life course and are consistent over time, similarly to experiences of gendered sexual orientation, though generally less exclusive. Unlike gendered sexual orientation, identities are unlikely to form in relation to racial sexual preferences because there is little ideological structure to support expression of cross-race racial preferences. Even within the organizational structure of BWMT, founded to support racial sexual preferences, over time I find a decrease in discourse and identity related to racial sexual preference (in favor of a colorblind ideal of preferences). I end my study by using the concept of racial sexual preference, supported by the findings from interviews and case study, to build on and challenge the theoretical work of Daryl Bem, Lisa Diamond, and James Giles in the area of sexual development and desire.

No final do século I a.C., a Elegia Erótica Romana desafiou os gregos e as convenções poéticas apresentando um poeta-amante que cantava suas aventuras amorosas em primeira pessoa. Como se isso não bastasse, esse eu-elegíaco se dedicava à puella como se tal tarefa fosse uma militia, um seruitium amoris, e que exigia tempo integral. Galo, Propércio e Tibulo nos apresentaram suas dominas e se negaram a servir à pátria. Ovídio foi além: seguiu seus predecessores mas fez com que seus leitores aprendessem a entender o papel de cada uma das normas na construção desse gênero. Escreveu seu primeiro livro, Amores, e , a partir daí, começou a traçar um caminho ascendente: queria sua Elegia elevada, não apenas média. Para isso, produziu recusationes, elegias programáticas e, o mais importante, confluiu gêneros. Fez uso da Epistolografia, da Retórica, da Didática e de personas e exempla míticos para compor Heroides, Ars amatoria e Remedia amoris. Nesta dissertação, mostra-se a trajetória do poeta na elevação da Elegia Erótica de Ovídio. / At the end of the 1st. century b.C., Latin Erotic Elegy challenged Greeks and poetic conventions when portrayed a man, poet and lover, talking, in the first person, about his adventures: he also dedicated himself to a puella as if it were a militia, his seruitium amoris, which was a full-time job. Gallus, Propertius and Tibullus introduced us to their dominas and did not (want to) serve their nation. Ovid did more than that: he followed his predecessors but made his readers learn the role of each of the principles of the genre. He wrote his first book, Amores, and, from then on, delineated an ascendant path: he wanted his Elegy to be high, not only something that depicted an average subject. In order to achieve it, he composed recusationes, programmatic elegies and, most important of all, he converged genres: he was able to use Epistolography, Rhetoric, Didactic and mythological personas and exempla to write Heroides, Ars amatoria and Remedia amoris. In this dissertation, we show his trajectory in the elevation of Ovids Erotic Elegy.

Cette thèse porte sur le rôle que jouent les érotiques humaines dans la construction de la psyché humaine comme Moi et comme sujet. L'amour érotique c'est l'amour soudain, fusionnel et exclusif des commencements et du coup de foudre. Il y a deux formes d'amour érotique. Il y a d'abord les expressions érotiques "profanes" qui participent à la construction du Moi : l'érotique primordiale que connaît le nouveau-né dans la relation avec la Mère des origines, l'érotique maternelle son complément, et l'érotique amoureuse. Le temps de l'érotique profane construit une identification puissant à l'aimé, par laquelle un autre étrange et étranger devient brusquement le proche absolument. Quand le temps érotique est passé, quelque chose d'essentiel à cette identification s'est déposé, en soi, sous forme de couche moïque. L'altérité fascinante de l'autre est alors devenue mêmeté, et l'autre ne pourra plus être aimé érotiquement. Et il y a les érotiques philosophiques et religieuses en jeu dans l'émergence du sujet. Le point commun de toute érotique, c'est l'idéalisation de l'aimé, par lequel l'aimé devient cet Autre absolutisé qui s'incarne en Mère des origines, le Tout-petit, le Père spirituel qui fait face, en chacun, au Père Tribal, l'Aimé et l'Amant, et enfin le Frère aîné d'une humanité spiritualisée. / This thesis centres on the role played by the various forms of erotic love in the construction of the human psyche as in the Self and the Subject. Erotic love is sudden, symbiotic and exclusive. It is the love of the beginnings or love at first sight. There are two forms of erotic love. Firstly there are certain "profane" expressions that take part in the construction of the Self : primordial eroticism experienced by the new-born in its relationship with is Birth Mother, complemented by both motherly eroticism and erotic love. This period pf profane eroticism builds a powerful identification with the love one, in which a strange and foreign being is brought abruptly close to them. When this erotic period is over, it leaves behind essential identification markers, in a form of layer within the Self. Thefascinating otherness of the Other has thus become sameness and the Other can never again be loved erotically. In addition, philosophic and religious eroticism come into play in the emergence of the Subject. The common thread in all eroticism is the idealisation of the loved-one, by which the loved-one becomes this absolute Other, incarnated in the Birth Mother, the New-born, the Spiritual Father who takes on the tribal Father in each of us, the Loved-One and the Lover, and finally the older Brother of a spiritualised humanity.

hommagethis work is built upon and intended as an homage to the writingstyle of the author Jean Genet. this through post modernreference collage and pastiches of selected works from thequeer cultural heritage.Genets style could be described asa strikingly beautiful, yet morbid, corporeal world ofmasculinities. the dualism of disgustand the embrace of the decay of morality. / Program: Modedesignutbildningen

Orientador: Susanna Busato / Banca: Diana Martha Junkes Toneto / Banca: Antonio Donizeti Pires / Resumo: O objetivo da pesquisa é propor uma leitura de Poemas malditos, gozosos e devotos (1984), de Hilda Hilst, a partir do tema e do paradigma do sacrifício. Segundo Hubert e Mauss (2005), o sacrifício é uma dádiva, um presente, que o homem religioso oferece a seres superiores aos quais lhe convém se ligar. Em todo o sacrifício, um objeto (a vítima) passa do domínio comum ao domínio sagrado. Bataille (1987) estabeleceu uma similitude entre o ato erótico e o sacrificial. O ato amoroso, segundo ele, não desintegra menos o ser que o sacrificante ao imolar sua vítima. O domínio do erotismo torna-se o domínio da violência, da violação. A parte feminina, enquanto vítima, se dissolve e a parte masculina toma o lugar do sacrificador, e ambos se perdem, durante a consumação do ato erótico, numa continuidade estabelecida por um ato que se fundamenta na destruição. Nesse sentido, uma vez que a obra de Hilda Hilst, desde seu surgimento, perscruta o Sagrado (COELHO, 1993), a relação entre erotismo e sacrifício é uma via privilegiada de leitura para essa poesia. Considerando-se o modo de representação do discurso poético hilstiano, que encena o jogo entre eu e tu, a leitura do conjunto evidencia a anulação do sujeito poético, configurando-se como vítima, e a figuração do Outro como grande sacrificador. O tema do sacrifício conteria em si uma possibilidade de elucidação do sentido estético dessa poesia, como a admissão mais radical de sua lógica contraditória, na qual a retórica místico-religiosa convive com o sensualismo mais desbravado. Nesse contexto, os paradoxos sobejam, fazendo comunicar o mais alto e o mais baixo, seja tematicamente, seja linguisticamente / Abstract: The objective of this reflection is to scrutinize one of the topics dear to Hilda Hilst's poetic: the representation of the Sacred, in order to establish a knowledge about the construction of the lyrical subjectivity in such poetry. According to Hubert and Mauss (2005), the sacrifice is a gift that religious man offers to the gods. In every sacrifice, an object becomes sacred. Bataille (1987) has established a similarity between the act erotic and the sacrificial. The loving act, according to him, not least disintegrates the being that sacrificer to slay his victim. The field of eroticism becomes the field of violence and violation. The female part, as victim, is dissolved and the male part takes the place of the sacrificer. Since Hilda Hilst's poetic scrutinizes the Sacred (COELHO, 1993), the relationship between eroticism and sacrifice is a privileged way of reading for this poetry. The theme of sacrifice would contain within itself a possibility of elucidation of aesthetic sense that poetry, such as the admission more radical in its contradictory logic, in which the rhetoric mystical-religious coexists with the sensuality more uncovered. In this context, the paradoxes were stationed, and communicate the 'highest' and the 'lowest', thematically and linguistically / Mestre

No description available.

The Spirit of Friendship: Girlfriends in Contemporary African American Literature examines spiritual subjectivities that inspire girlfriends in three contemporary novels to journey towards actualization. It examines the girlfriend bond as a space where the Divine Spirit can flourish and assist girlfriends as they seek to become actualized. This project raises epistemological questions as it suggests that within the girlfriend dynamic, knowledge that is traditionally subjugated is formed and refined. Finally, girlfriend epistemology is considered in light of Black Girl Magic, a contemporary social and cultural movement among Black women.

This thesis comprises two works: a novel ‘Libertine’ and a monograph ‘A writer’s reflection’. ‘Libertine’contemplates the eroticising and brutalising of being, and sex as currency, as need and as sacrament. It is set in a city where war is the norm, nightmare the standard, and ancient deities are called upon to witness the new order of killing technologies. The story is narrated by a woman chosen to be the consort of the General, a despostic war leader who believes that he has been chosen by the goddess Kali. She journeys deep into a horror which exists not only around her, but also within her. ‘Libertine’, by melding the erotic and the Gothic, tells the story of a woman enacting the role cast for her in the complex theatres of war. ‘A writer’s reflection’ discusses the themes of the novel, introducing the notion of existential erotica. The existential experience particular to the expression of the erotic being is discussed, and the dilemma which arises from a self yearning to merge ecstatically with an/other in order to obtain a heightened or differently valued self. This theme is elaborated in ‘Libertine’ with regard to subjectivity and the broader issues of nausea, horror and choice, drawing on the conventions of Gothic literature and apocalyptic visioning. This visioning, as eroticised death worship, is found in a Sadian credo of cruelty, the tantric rituals of Kali devotion, and the annihilating erotic excess propounded by Bataille. The monograph illustrated that ‘Libertine’ is not a re-representation of these elements, but an original contribution to the literature of erotica. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)