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Japan is known for being one of the most urbanized countries in the world, with bustling urbancities, with high rates of education and economic development, as stated in reports showcased by international organizations such as the OECD. Despite these indicators for high development, Japan has been reported to be lacking in the legal rights and treatment of sexual and gender minorities, this may be suprising for some as urban environments are often thought of as safe spaces for these groups of people. In this study the attitudes of Japanese people towards LGBT people are explored through the use of a survey, which inquires Japanese people about their social circles, and how these circles and the respondents themselves think that LGBT people are viewed and treated and if there are any specific differences in Japan's urban and rural areas. The findings of this study seem to agree with previous studies and reports published by organizations and individual scholars, the consensus suggests, that while Japanese people seem to be aware of some of the inequalities LGBT people face such as discrimination and in marriage and legal protection, the overall attitude towards LGBT issues is one of apathy.

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Queer theorists and sociologists have argued that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement further marginalizes some queer individuals in the pursuit of legitimacy from the dominant heterosexist culture. This study uses qualitative content analysis to examine the Web sites of four social movement organizations that claim to work for the LGBT community (Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal Defense Fund, National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force). In this thesis, I argue that these organizations participate in scripting the normative homo ideal while distancing themselves from problematic identities that challenge normative, natural frameworks for understanding identity. In doing so, they further marginalize bisexuals, transgender individuals, and other queers whose identities challenge the idea that core identities are authentic and immutable-denying the existence of some queer realities, reinforcing normative ideas about sex, gender, and sexuality, and reproducing the system of inequality that privileges heterosexuality.

In this thesis I look at five YouTube videos recommending lesbian literature within the YouTube sub community known as BookTube, with the purpose of exploring how BookTube creators mediate lesbian literature and stimulate a reading desire among lesbian readers through their recommendation videos. Using a deductive content analysis, I analysed the BookTube videos to gain an understanding of why and how the video creators recommend lesbian literature to their viewers. This was then followed by a thematic analysis of each respective videos commentsection, to explore the responses left by the commenters and understand what they gained out of the videos and how it has affected their desire to read, using the literature stimulating theories of subjective relevance along with personal/impersonal experiential/instrumental reading. I also explored the identity strengthening opportunities regarding the lesbian literature and community offered through BookTube. The theory of Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Lesbian Continuum have been used when discussing the lesbian angle of this thesis and connects to the reading stimulation through subjective relevance. The last theory used when analysing the comments of the video is the digital closet, which refers to when people use the selective anonymity of the internet to determine how much of their sexual identity they share.The study found that lesbian literature had a positive effect on the identity building of both the people making the video as well as on the commenters commenting on the video. The videos also had a literature stimulating effect on the commenters, with many commenters reporting they put the recommended books on their own to-be-read list, or recommending more books to the video creator and other commenters. Furthermore, the anonymity of the internet appears to give commenters who are not out with their sexual identity in real life the security to come out to the other people within the lesbian BookTube community.

Evidence Based Health Promotion Scientific Abstract Introduction & Background: Mental Health resources are scarce in rural areas. In 2020, suicide was the third leading cause of death for African Americans ages 15 to 24; this is only one example of the mental health disparities experienced by minority groups. Purpose Statement and Research Question: We saught to answer: “Are there greater mental health disparities among sexual and ethnic minorities, such as LGBTQ+ groups or Middle Eastern women, compared to their heterosexual, majority counterparts; if so, is there anything we can do about the issue as nurses?” Literature Review: To match the guidelines for our assignment, which were to have an article younger than five years with an author who has nursing credentials. We used terms such as “mental health issues” and “minority groups” to drive our search, and from there we chose articles that best fit our own individual interests. Findings: From our research, we found that these groups tend to have a much poorer mental health status compared to their majority counterparts. In healthcare settings, sexual minorities tend to be generalized and treated without understanding of their differences; the same can be said for ethnic minorities, who are often treated by uneducated or biased healthcare workers. Conclusions and Nursing Interventions: There is a severe lack of specialized mental health teaching being given to healthcare workers. In implementing comprehensive care teaching programs, we could greatly 2 improve the therapeutic mental health services being provided to these minority groups.

Lesbesocial is a mobile application for same-sex attracted women, with the main purpose to strengthen the community and provide a safe environment for social interactions. Lesbesocial was designed with the intention of providing a space to discuss LGBTG-related topics, meet new people and find events. However, Lesbesocial struggles with participation among members. Lesbesocial is not the only online community, targeted to same-sex attracted women, that struggles in this way. While applications targeted to gay-males are thriving, similar applications for women are few with less downloads. Previous research on communities for same-sex attracted women have been emphasizing the importance of having them, because being in such communities can help to support identity formation and increase self-esteem. Furthermore, This paper utilizes a community-centered design approach to investigate how to improve lesbians’ participation in online communities. I do this through examining previous research on online communities and investigating fears and desires of the lesbian community in relation to being same-sex attracted. The analysis identifies six design implications to improve the application and engage users to participate. Social- and personal trust, as well as a sense of belonging, was found to be the most relevant aspects to consider when developing a community for same-sex attracted women. / Lesbesocial är en mobil applikation för bisexuella och lesbiska kvinnor, med huvudsyftet att stärka gemenskapen mellan dem och tillhandahålla en säker miljö för sociala interaktioner. Lesbesocial utformades med avsikt att ge utrymme för att diskutera HBTQ-relaterade ämnen, träffa nya människor och hitta event. Lesbesocial kämpar med att få medlemmarna att aktivt delta i communityn och är inte den enda communityn riktat till homo- och bisexuella kvinnor som, genom tiden, har gjort det. Medan liknande applikationer riktade till homosexuella män utvecklas och växer på marknaden, är liknande applikationer för kvinnor färre med mindre nedladdningar. Tidigare forskning om communityn för bi- och homosexuella kvinnor har betonat vikten av att ha dem, eftersom att communityn kan hjälpa till att stödja identitetsbildning och öka självkänsla hos de personersom deltar. I denna forskningsuppsats används en community-centrerad designmetod för att undersöka hur man förbättrar lesbiska kvinnors deltagande i en online-community. Jag gör det genom att undersöka tidigare forskning om onlinecommunityn och undersöker farhågor och önskningar hos lesbiska kvinnor i förhållande till att attraheras av samma kön. Analysen identifierar sex designimplikationer för att förbättra applikationen och engagera användarna till att delta. Socialt och personligt förtroende, liksom en känsla av tillhörighet, visade sig vara de mest relevanta aspekterna att överväga när man utvecklade en community för homo- och bisexuella kvinnor.

This dissertation used queer rhetoric as a lens for studying queering gender norms on Instagram by using Lady Gaga's, Nicki Minaj's, and fan posts as case studies. The research considers how celebrities may use social media, like Instagram, for queering gender norms, and what this might look like. This research also aimed to better understand if and how fans may take up celebrities' efforts at queering gender norms and, in turn, queer gender norms in their own Instagram posts where they tag Gaga or Minaj. To conduct this research, I took a multimodal methodological approach and collected and coded 1,000 posts from Gaga and Minaj, respectively, and 1,000 posts that used the hashtag Gaga and another 1,000 posts that used the hashtag Minaj. My findings suggested that Gaga and Minaj do not engage in the queering of gender norms as frequently as anticipated, and when they do it is often in relation to their public, staged performances as musicians. Furthermore, Gaga also spoke on issues relating to gender and marriage equality whereas Minaj also spoke on issues relating to racial equality. The data collected on fans was inconclusive in part because of the large number of spam posts and also because, without interviewing fans, it was difficult to discern whether they were taking up celebrity messages in their posts given information shared in the photo and in the caption. However, I was able to note that, most often, fans were engaging with celebrities by expressing admiration. This research is useful for considering how gender performance manifests on Instagram, and possible ways celebrities can utilize Instagram to queer gender norms as well as promote other messages. With regard to fan posts, I argue for continued research in ways to support fans becoming critical rather than passive consumers of celebrity culture.