M.A. / The objective of this thesis is to examine emerging themes around masculinity from within an eclectic psychoanalytic framework. In order to achieve the objective, the historical development of psychoanalytic theories on the male gender role are briefly examined. Thereafter, the thesis examines the eclectic psychoanalytic theories of masculinity proposed by Chodorow (1989, 1995) and Hudson and Jacot (1991). An investigation into the emerging themes around masculinity generated by the theories of Chodorow (1989, 1995) and Hudson and Jacot (1991) is then undertaken. The conclusion is that the theories of Chodorow (1989, 1995) and Hudson and Jacot (1991) share an eclectic psychoanalytic approach. The most important common themes in the development of masculinity, are identified as being the relevance of the pre-Oedipal years; the link between the development of the self and the formation of gender identity; and the relationship between psychoanalysis and social theory in the development of masculinity. The role of the mother is also explored in terms of her contribution to the development of masculinity and the maintenance of a gender bias.

This purpose of this study was to validate the concept of homosexual identity formation using psychosocial personality measures and occupational congruence. Of additional interest was personality or occupational congruence differences which may exist between men who choose to enter job fields stereotyped as gay and those who do not choose those fields.

The sexual identity development process in gay men was the focus of this study. It was theorized that, as a result of negative experiences with the dominant heterosexual culture, gay men might feel mistrustful of heterosexuals in various settings. A new theoretical construct, that of heterosexual mistrust, was identified and explored. A new scale, the Heterosexual Mistrust Inventory (HMI), was created to measure this construct. Gay male subjects' stage of homosexual identity formation (HIF) was also determined. Results indicated that heterosexual mistrust existed to a significantly stronger degree among gay men than among heterosexual men. Heterosexual mistrust was strongly related to stage of HIF. The various settings in which heterosexual mistrust was found to occur were discussed. Implications for current knowledge about HIF and about cultural belief systems unique to gay men were identified and explored.

The Institute of Medicine report of 2011 defined Transgender Specific Health Needs as one of four priority research areas. While there is research asserting that health care providers (HCPs) do not have adequate training in providing competent care to transgender patients, there are no studies to date assessing HCPs' gender identity attitudes and their willingness to learn the Standards of Care (SOC) developed for this patient population. According to the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, as of 2010, 52% of Nurse Practitioners (NPs) were practicing in primary care settings. As more than half of NPs practice in primary care and transgender patients often initially present their gender concerns to their primary care provider, this study focuses on the NP population. This study describes a sample of NPs' attitudes towards gender variance, as well as their perceived need and interest in learning the SOC as published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Multi-state purposive sampling of NP professional organizations was conducted. Two conservative and two progressive states' professional organizations were included in the sample. The states were randomly assigned within both geopolitical groups to intervention or control with the use of a random numbers table. Comparisons between geopolitical groups and between control and intervention groups cannot be made due to low response rates of all states. The majority of this small sample of NPs agreed that they needed and wanted additional training in transgender health care. Future research with representative sample sizes is needed to better understand provider-sided barriers to caring for this marginalized patient population.

The thesis "The role of men in current romantic relationships" is dedicated to the concept of manhood with an emphasis on romantic relationships and focuses specifically on an identity development and its male specifics, masculinity and various developmental paths leading to an achievement of manhood. It also describes the basic characteristics of romantic relationships and specifies the role of men in them. The empirical study is based on a qualitative methodology and maps male perspective of romantic relationships. Further focus is on how men perceive the romantic relationship and their role in it. Fifty men involved in a romantic relationship participated in this study. Participants filled in projective questionnaires, namely Incomplete sentences and Life at romantic relationship and its parts. The research results refer the cathegories of romantic relationship including its detailed descriptions from the perspective of participants and also offer an overview of activities done by men within the partnership with no claim for any generalization. Keywords Male, identity, gender identity, masculinity, partner, romantic relationships

This thesis is divided into theoretical and empirical part. The theoretical section is devoted to adolescence, identity, gender identity and issues in formation of sexual identity in foster homes. The empirical part describes the process of research and summarizes the research results. The research was conducted in qualitative way. For this research was created semi- structured interview. Data were processed in several ways: non-parametric tests, Wilcoxon test and Mann-Whitney rank test; descriptive ways of creating a category or simple description of the phenomenon. The attention of research was mainly focused to the characteristics of a woman, men, boyfriend/girlfriend, me, mother and father. The results show differences between the experimental and the control group, especially in some characteristics relating to oneself within partnerships, award-winning fact to be someone within the relationship, the negative elements in the social representation of "Me". The research gives an insight on the issue. Its qualitative nature reveals the characteristics mentioned by respondents, rather than to seek confirmation of relationships. Keywords: Gender identity, adolescence, foster home, identity, orphanage

The thesis presents the processes of gender role transition and sex reassignment from the perspectives of psychology, medicine, and sociology. Its main focus is on the various aspects influencing the psyche of a person undertaking transition. The thesis investigates why trans identity is commonly viewed as a pathology and the impact of pathologization on the self-perception of trans people. Furthemore, the traditional outline of the transition process in Czech sexology is compared to some current international approaches. A section of the text addresses psychotherapy as a key factor in transition. A significant component of the thesis is that it takes a sociocultural viewpoint on gender identity and gender roles. One of the goals is to understand how medical experts dealing with trans identity conceptualize transition and how trans people themselves conceptualize it. The overall aim is to investigate how both of these sides influence each other and what psychological aspects enter the processes of gender role transition and sex reassignment. Key words: transsexuality, transgender, sex reassignment, gender identity, gender role.

Le principal objectif de notre recherche est de rendre compte des mécanismes psycho-sociaux par lesquels les enfants, âgés de 5-6 ans et scolarisés en grande section de maternelle, se différencient progressivement en tant qu’individus sexués et s’inscrivent dans des parcours scolaires genrés. En référence à une conception de la socialisation qui distingue un versant de l’acculturation et un versant de la personnalisation (Malrieu & Malrieu, 1973), nous formulons l’hypothèse selon laquelle l’identité sexuée médiatise et personnalise l’influence de la socialisation de genre familiale et scolaire sur l’élaboration de l’expérience scolaire des jeunes enfants, en raison du degré de stéréotypie et du niveau d’hétérogénéité de ces milieux de socialisation et de la période de développement des jeunes enfants.Pour tester cette hypothèse, nous avons privilégié une méthodologie centrée sur le point de vue de l’ensemble des sujets concernés (adultes et enfants). Nous avons interrogé, à l’aide d’un questionnaire d’enquête, les parents (pères et mères) de 61 enfants scolarisés en grande section d’école maternelle, leurs enseignants et A.T.S.E.M. sur plusieurs dimensions de la socialisation de genre. L’identité sexuée de l’enfant a été appréhendée à l’aide du P.S.A.I. (Golombok & Rust, 1993), du B.S.R.I. adapté par Tostain (1993) et du test de la constance de genre (Dafflon Novelle, 2010). Enfin, l’expérience scolaire a été étudiée sur la base d’un entretien semi-directif réalisé auprès des enfants.Les principaux résultats mettent en évidence trois types d’expérience scolaire : « conforme », « agonistique » et « épistémique ». Si la socialisation de genre scolaire, via la transmission de valeurs éducatives, oriente principalement l’expérience scolaire des enfants, la socialisation de genre familiale, quant à elle, influence plus particulièrement la construction de l’identité sexuée. En outre, quelques liens apparaissent entre l’identité sexuée et l’expérience scolaire des jeunes enfants. Bien que les analyses réalisées ne permettent pas d’établir le rôle médiateur de l’identité sexuée, l’ensemble de ces résultats confirme la pertinence d’adopter un modèle théorique de la socialisation plurielle et conflictuelle qui examine les liens entre les processus d’acculturation et de personnalisation dans l’étude de la construction des trajectoires scolaires différenciées des filles et des garçons, et ce dès le plus jeune âge. Sous ce modèle, la prise en compte de la construction de l’identité sexuée permet de mieux saisir la part active de l’enfant dans l’élaboration de son expérience scolaire. / The main objective of our research is to account for the psychosocial mechanism by which children, aged 5-6 years and who attend to nursery school, progressively differentiate themselves as boys and girls and fit into gender school development. In reference to a conception of socialization which distinguishes a side of acculturation and a side of personalization (Malrieu & Malrieu, 1973), our hypothesis is the following : Gender identity mediates the influence of family and school gender socialization on the construction of school experience, because of the degree of stereotypy and the degree of heterogeneity of these socialization backgrounds and of the developmental step of the children. In order to test this hypotesis, we choose a methodology centered on the point of view of all the subjects concerned (adults and children). We proposed a questionnaire on several dimensions of gender socialization to the adults (fathers and mothers of 61 children attended nursery school, theirs teachers and their “A.T.S.E.M”. Child’s gender identity was examined with the P.S.A.I; (Golombok & Rust, 1993), the B.S.R.I. adapted by Tostain (1993) and the test of gender constancy (Dafflon Novelle, 2010).School experience was examined with a semi-directive interview.The main results highlight three types of school experience: “conform”, “agonistic” and “epistemic”. If school gender socialization, with the transmission of educational values, influences children’s school experience, family gender socialization influences the construction of gender identity. Some links appear between children’s gender identity and their school experience. Although the analyses don’t permit to establish the mediator role of gender identity, the results as a whole confirm the pertinence to adopt a theoretical model of a plural and conflicting socialization which examines the links between the processes of acculturation and personalization in the study of the construction of the girls and boys school development from the early age. Within this model, the consideration of child’s gender identity allows to better understand in the construction of his/her school experience.

Master of Arts / Department of Communications Studies / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / The military operates through a system of gender and sexuality hierarchies that privilege masculinity and heterosexuality as the ideal category of service member. This symbolic national institution is also conceptually tied to notions of citizenship. For marginalized groups, gaining the ability to freely enlist in the military represents a benchmark toward achieving full and equal status as political subjects. Such has been the case for the mainstream lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights movement. For much of the past century, military discourses have aided in rhetorically constructing homosexual identities as pathological, deviant, and unfit to serve in the armed forces. A recent shift in this rhetoric from Department of Defense (DoD) officials, which contributed to a repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, calls into question how changing discourses about gay and lesbian service members rhetorically construct queer citizenship. To answer this question, theories of gender and sexuality performance, corporeal rhetoric, and critical security discourse inform an analysis of the Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, a DoD document assessing potential risks to the military upon repeal. The analysis reveals that despite assertions made in the document that open service by gay men and lesbians poses minimal threat, this claim is ultimately grounded in the presumption that institutional hegemony adequately constrains performative possibilities for LGB identity articulation.

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate a scale that measures gender role construction and the various components associated with this process in men of color (i.e., African American, Latinx, and Asian American men). Existing psychological models for understanding this paradigm have primarily focused on the experiences and worldviews of White, Euro-American men without taking into consideration the various societal influences and socializing agents that uniquely impact this process in men of color. In an attempt to more accurately capture this process in people of color, through qualitative data, Miville, Bratini, Corpus, Lau, and Redway (2013) developed the Multicultural Gender Roles Model, which described eight unique components people of color may experience in their gender roles negotiation. For this study, the Multicultural Gender Roles Model (MGRM) was adapted for the development of the Multicultural Gender Roles Scale – Male Version (MGRS – Male Version). Qualitative research from the MGRM and feedback from experts in gender/gender roles research contributed to the development of 69 items that were analyzed through an exploratory factor analysis resulting in a 41-item measure. Exploratory factor analysis of data from 200 men of color resulted in 5 factors reflecting experiences men of color undergo in the gender role development process: (a) Transforming Self-Perceptions, (b) Negative Psychological Symptomatology, (c) Understanding Impact on Others in Family, Community, and Society, (d) Intersecting Identities, and (e) Navigating Emotions related to Privilege and Oppression.