Clinical psychology’s relevance and future viability depend on its ability to render services that are relevant and sensitive to multicultural and minority issues. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are one such group that professional psychology – both in South Africa and abroad - has identified as having unique treatment needs for which psychologists require specialised knowledge and skills in order to render appropriate treatment. Competence to treat non-heterosexual patients has been framed in terms of a gay affirmative paradigm which has as its basic tenet the recognition that same-gender orientation is not pathological but rather a healthy alternative to heterosexuality. From this perspective being “gay friendly” or “gay accepting” is not enough. To implement a gay affirmative approach in practice, practitioners must have resolved their possible prejudice and heterosexist bias and have the requisite knowledge of concerns unique to lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals to be able to apply their skills in a culturally sensitive manner. Although more American post-graduate psychology programmes are addressing sexual diversity, their failure to produce psychologists who feel competent to treat lesbian/gay or bisexual individuals has highlighted the need to develop effective training strategies based on empirical nvestigation. The dearth of comparable data about local South African psychology training prompted this inquiry which had four broad aims namely, (i) to establish to what extent trainees’ prior training had equipped them with the knowledge, awareness, and skills to approach their work with non-heterosexual patients in a gay affirmative manner, and (ii) to implement and (iii) to evaluate to what extent a brief structured training programme is effective in engaging the trainees; in increasing knowledge, in raising awareness, and in changing specific attitudes and imparting specific skills required for treating lesbian and gay patients.; and (iv) what, if any, recommendations should be made for the future with respect to training of sychologists in this area? The field of sexual orientation research has been expanded to include issues pertaining to bisexual, transgendered and intersexed people, but serious time constraints meant that issues pertaining to these groups could not be addressed in depth. Although the exclusion of these groups is problematic and may be seen as reinforcing their invisibility, it was decided to focus primarily on gay and lesbian issues s an introduction to same-sex orientation. It is envisaged that bisexual and transgender issues would be dealt with in depth in more advanced training. Nine trainee psychologists employed at hospitals in the greater Cape Town area volunteered to participate in the programme which comprised a series of two-hour experiential workshops offered once a week over six weeks. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods. The first stage entailed gathering information to better understand trainees’ existing level of competence. Individual interviews were conducted prior to the course to obtain data about their attitudes and perceptions regarding the need for such specialised training, and how qualified they considered themselves to be to treat LGB patients, and their experience in this regard. For the purpose of the over-all analysis information was also gathered about pertinent personal and social characteristics of the trainees, as well as their contact with lesbian/gay persons. In addition, an attitude survey and the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Counselling Self-efficacy Scale (LGB-CSI) were administered to obtain benchmarks against which change could be measured. The second stage involved the implementation of the educational programme and gathering information about trainees’ responses to its various components. This stage concentrated on discovering how individual trainees reacted to material on lesbian, gay, and bisexual issues and how they used the programme to improve their self-awareness and skills. The results indicate that local psychology training might not address same-gender orientation adequately, thus reinforcing trainees’ belief that sexual orientation is irrelevant, and that their generalist training equips them to work with gay/lesbian/bisexual patients. While the training strengthened existing positive attitudes, it was less effective in changing blatant antigay prejudice. However, both quantitative and qualitative data suggest that the programme increased individuals’ awareness and insight into their previously unrecognised heterosexist biases and created greater understanding of the effects of stigmatisation on sexual minority individuals. In addition, the training increased trainee’s sense of competence to provide affirmative treatment as evidenced by the significant differences between the pre- and post-training mean scores on the Relationship, Knowledge, and Advocacy Scales and between the mid- and post-training means scores on the Assessment and Awareness Scales of the LGB-CSI. Despite the limited generalisability of these findings on account of possible sampling bias, the need and value of such training was confirmed by trainees’ recommendation that this programme should be a mandatory offering in the first year of clinical psychology training.

Text in Afrikaans / It is alarming that psychologists are in many cases insufficiently trained with regard to homosexuality. Against this background and on the basis of a literature study and empirical research, this study aims to provide guidelines to educational psychologists on working with homosexual clients. Within the Educational Psychology, a person's self actualisation rests on three pilars, namely experience, meaning assignation and involvement. The premise of the qualitative research (focus group interviews) used in this study is homosexual persons' experience of psychologists - the investigation was therefore approached from an Educational Psychology viewpoint. Altogether 75% of the focus group respondents' experience of psychologists was negative. The possibility exists that insufficient training may cause insufficient knowledge and insight, which in turn may lead to homosexual persons' negative experiences of psychologists. It is therefore imperative that the aspect of training of psychologists with regard to homosexuality will receive attention. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.

This dissertation explores one family's experience of a son's disclosure of homosexuality, through the use of a second-order cybernetic epistemology, and social constructionist theory. Second-order cybernetics enables a description of patterns and themes that recursively connect the family's ideas and behaviour. Social constructionism enables the family's reaction to disclosure to be recursively linked to their fit with wider society. By using semantic and political frames of reference to describe the family's narratives around disclosure, this study indicates that disclosure is a relational metaphor, dependent on the family's locally co-constructed and transgenerational meanings. It also shows that although the family change with disclosure, stability is regained in a way consistent with the family's rules and norms. This study therefore demystifies viewing disclosure in one way only and creates alternative ways of conceptualising it. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

In contrast to East European cities, West European cities have increasingly targeted gay and lesbian travelers as part of their tourism campaigns. In order to exemplarily analyze the potential of international gay tourism for Budapest, nineteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews with non-Hungarian gay travelers, about their motivation to come and their experiences, were conducted in different gay establishments in the city. One result of the study is that their motivations for travel did not differ from "mainstream tourists"; while their expectations about gay life in the city were negative, their experiences were mixed. Implications for Budapest's city-marketing are discussed. (authors' abstract)

published_or_final_version / abstract / Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis sets out to investigate, and concludes by defining, a genre of modern women's writing. This genre, which 1 have called 'intimatopia' for its depiction of fictional worlds which centre around intimacy, explores close relationships between men, I use this thesis to elucidate the ideological assumptions which underlie this genre, as well as to consider the textual features which are commonly used to support them. My investigation is facilitated by my choice to focus on the appropriative fictions which form a significant part of the intimatopic genre. The appropriative text is particularly apposite to any project which, like this one, seeks to investigate distinctive ideologies, for in a comparison between the text and its source the ideological perspectives of the writer can be glimpsed. As a result of this approach one of the central features of this thesis is a comparison between hegemonic and intimatopic ideologies, which are found to be markedly different. Central to the intimatopic text, which may be sexually explicit, sexually discreet, or sexually ambiguous, is the assumption that there exists a fluid link between love, friendship and intimacy. This ideological perspective is one which many theoreticians, in fields as diverse as literary criticism, psychology and biology, have connected to feminine, rather than masculine, ways of thinking. Although it is therefore unsurprising to find that this is a feature of a predominantly feminine genre, its application to relationships between men runs counter to ideological assumptions about masculine interaction. From examining a variety of appropriative literature 1 move on to less overtly appropriative texts in which the by now familiar intimatopic features can be identified. Following this, 1 discuss the interpretive communities which produce intimatopic texts, using the example of slash fiction, where the interpretive community is readily accessible, I begin to investigate the ideological assumptions about human interaction which underpin the interpretations typical of intimatopic writing. Finally, I consider the genre's antecedents, and mention other texts which, although they do not take male intimacy as their theme, nonetheless share intimatopic features. Thus this thesis offers an insight into an area of women's writing which has received little critical attention and which I have been able to crystallise into the genre of intimatopia. Whilst it is clearly inaccurate to describe all women's writing as intimatopic, this genre accounts for a significant number of texts by women and should be recognised alongside other feminine genres as part of the varied field of women's literature.

In this thesis I first aim to describe the way in which the decline of the respectability of reparative therapy in the United States created a need for Evangelicals to come up with another political defense against same sex marriage. I argue that this political defense is gradually becoming what I call the “spiritual friendship movement:” an emerging group of gay thinkers and writers who expand the notion of Christian celibacy to include same sex relationships that would be called “romantic” by modern categories. Because this concept is both so new and so complex, in this thesis I will spend time attempting to paint a picture of the implicit logical and theoretical assumptions made by the writers in “spiritual friendship movement” through their most popular books and blog posts and speaking engagements at key “gate-keeper” evangelical organizations.

The purpose of this research was to look into the issues one might encounter as a gay and lesbian Muslim with especial focus on the individual experience. I was interested in analyzing the dynamics of one's sexual identity interconnecting with one's religious identity with the assistance of identity theory, personality and culture concepts. I interviewed three different individuals who are all practicing Muslims and live openly as gay in their community, and gathered secondary resources to gain insights from gay, lesbian and transgender Muslims from other communities. The research disclosed individuals’ perceptions on the legitimacy of homosexuality in Islam and their lived experiences regarding their sexuality and the role their culture has played. / <p>Presentationen skedde genom Skype där lärarna satt i Uppsala och jag själv vid datorn hemma, boende i Paris, Frankrike. </p>

Att vara homosexuell och att resa kan ge upphov till många problem trots uppfattningen att en homonormativitet håller på att utvecklas i dagens samhällen. Inom ramen för denna uppsats undersöks homosexuella svenskars upplevelser och behov som turister. Perspektivet intersektionalitet har tillämpats för att se eventuella privilegier och förtryck hos homosexuella män och kvinnor i en turismkontext. De metodiska angreppssätten är kvalitativa mejlintervjuer där ett snöbollsurval applicerats samt en temaanalys för att analysera respondenternas svar. Uppsatser har visat att när personerna reser till icke-gayvänliga destinationer och utrymmen blir de utsatta för förtryck i olika former. Både män och kvinnor reflekterar över sin säkerhet vid val av destinationer och i viss mån undviker att resa till vissa länder. Kvinnor avsäger behovet av specifika produkter och tjänster som homosexuella, medan männen bejakar gaykulturen. Kvinnor, i detta fall, kan vara mer benägna att utsättas för förtryck i många olika perspektiv. I viss mån anser författarna att ett heteronormativt förtryck existerar i dagens turism och att det är ett långsiktigt arbete för att rå bukt med de problem som homosexuella utsätts för. / Being gay and to travel can give rise to many problems despite the perception that a homonormativity is evolving in today's societies. Within the scope of this paper it examines homosexual Swedes' experiences and needs as tourists. The perspective of intersectionality has been applied to distinguish privilege and oppression of gay men and women in a tourism context. The methodological approaches are qualitative e-mail interviews with a snowball sample and a thematic analysis to analyze the respondents' answers. This paper has shown that when people are traveling to non-gay-friendly destinations and spaces they’re subjected to repression in various forms. Both men and women reflect on their safety when choosing destinations and to some extent avoid traveling to certain countries. Women disclaim their needs of specific products and services as homosexuals, while the men affirm the gay culture. Women, in this case, may be more likely to be subjected to oppression in many different perspectives. To some extent, the authors consider that a heteronormative oppression exist in today's tourism and it is a long-term effort to overcome the problems that homosexuals are subjected to.