Thesis (Ph.D. Law)--University of Waikato, 2009. / Title from PDF cover (viewed December 10, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 501-535)

abstract: Same-sex couples establish and maintain relationships for many of the reasons heterosexuals do, even without widespread acceptance. The manner in which couples maintain their relationships constitutes a subject of considerable research, though such research has primarily examined heterosexuals. Yet, two studies have evaluated relational maintenance behaviors for same-sex couples and heterosexuals: Haas and Stafford (1998, 2005). Although these studies found similarities between heterosexual and homosexual relationships, significant differences emerged involving social networks and meta-relational talk. Haas and Stafford attributed these differences to the lack of societal and legal support. The present thesis examined empirically the link between perceived social approval, and relational maintenance behaviors, focusing on differences between cross-sex and same-sex involvements. Dainton and Stafford's (1993) typology of social network compositions, measures of social approval and encouragement based on Felmlee (2001), and Canary and Stafford's (1992) five behavior relational maintenance typology tool with Haas and Stafford's (2005) measures of meta-relational talk were utilized for an online survey. A total of 157 online, geographically diverse surveys were collected from heterosexual and homosexual individuals involved stable, intimate relationships. Unique to this study, results demonstrate significant correlations between overall social approval and the use of relational maintenance behaviors for both heterosexual and same-sex couples. Previous literature has linked lack of social approval with the use of unique maintenance strategies employed by same-sex couples; however, findings from the present study do not support this. Interestingly, increases in overall social approval, not decreases, are positively correlated with the use of meta-relational talk for same-sex couples. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Communication 2011

abstract: Above all else, this project is about parentage in the modern American legal system and culture. Advanced reproductive technologies require our courts to reconsider the long-standing presumption that a child has only one female mother and one male father. We now have children of choice, rather than chance. Assisted Reproductive Technology and its widespread availability and use and changed the landscape of parentage maybe forever. And the children of such efforts remain largely unprotected by our current legal system that favors reproduction by chance within a recognized marriage or at the least, a traditional two-parent paradigm. However, assisted reproduction calls into question the current legal framework for determinations of parentage based in marriage and/or biology. Based on a long and convoluted history, our current legal system conflates marriage and parentage. Moreover, in many circumstances the law restricts both the number and gender of the parties to a marriage or possible parents. One of the more compelling historical and still salient justifications for doing so is to accord the "Best Interest of the Child" standard which purports to underpin all such determinations. Unfortunately, that standard cannot best be met when weighed in a balance against a constitutionally protected exclusive right to parent vested in an adult either by a determination of a genetic link to the child or marriage to another parent. Children of choice, who result from the affirmative and purposive engagement in assisted reproduction, should be entitled to the same protections as children of chance born to a man and woman who are married. Once we look beyond marriage and biology as determiners of parentage, a better way for our legal system to serve the best interests of children, and their parents, is to identify and protect those adult relationships that are parental in nature and that benefit the child irrespective of a marriage between parents or genetic links to the child. Fortunately, the tools to accomplish this paradigm shift already are in existence. The expansion of our commonly used definitions and broader view of our current statutes will allow the legal system to better protect both children of choice and children of chance by making better parentage determinations. To that end, this project also takes on the ambitious task of praxis; of applying the theories to the law as it stands and demonstrating how the new paradigm might look as it is implemented with all of its far-reaching tentacles. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Justice Studies 2012

abstract: Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals are exposed to specific stressors due to their sexual minority status. One such stressor may result from the negative family reactions to one’s romantic partner. Encountering this stress may be especially harmful for LGB individuals’ emotional well-being, as it could be considered a “double rejection”: that of their partner and possibly their own sexual orientation. The stress surrounding family members’ negative attitudes about their partner may affect how one feels about their partner. Furthermore, there may be individual differences that affect how an individual may perceive and respond to this stress. Specifically, one’s attachment style could either exacerbate (anxious) or weaken (avoidant) the experiences of stress, which may influence the emotions they feel about their partner. Using 14-day daily diary data from 81 same-sex couples, the purpose of this study was to examine whether there was an association between daily perceptions of stress via negative family reactions to partner and negative partner-related emotions, and whether attachment insecurity (anxiety and avoidance) moderated this association. Individuals’ perceptions of stress via negative family reactions was found to be positively associated with their reports of negative emotions about one’s partner. Anxious and avoidant attachment did not moderate the association between perceptions of stress and negative emotions due to one’s partner. The finding suggests this specific stressor on negative emotions due to partner may be an intrapersonal process, in which case couple therapists can increase clients’ awareness of this stress and how it impacts their feelings towards their romantic partner. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Counseling Psychology 2017

This thesis examines the gendered and sexualised politics of a lesbian identity in contemporary Zimbabwe. Recent writings of well-intentioned scholars, memoirists, bloggers and LGBTQ+ activists that are writing about African lesbian women have largely constructed them as passive victims, trapped in a history of political homophobias and the abusive hegemony of Western ethnocentric discourses that have objectified, erased or even violated African women’s bodies. In these scenarios lesbian women are portrayed as passive bodies on which different forms of gendered and sexualised power act. While great injury and harm has indeed come to some lesbian women, such a limited reading of lesbian lives, and experiences belies the complex ways in which power operates in both liberating and disempowering ways and how it is navigated and resisted by those it is directed at. Drawing on extensive field work I demonstrate firstly how individual and unique the identity formation journeys are and how despite the extreme and in some cases violent force of compulsory heterosexuality individuals still come to same-sex identities. Secondly, I argue that by using a phenomenological approach, African sexualities can be reimagined and explored to generate more than just new data sets, and instead provide new information and understandings of lesbian identity. Finally, through in-depth examination of participant narratives I argue that there is no unitary understanding of lesbian identity and that only those who identify as such can define what the identity means to them as well as shed light on the ways in which the identity is negotiated and navigated. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Centre for Human Rights / DPhil / Unrestricted

Prior research suggests a gender difference in friendship intimacy where men repeatedly report less intimacy. While several studies have identified a gender difference, others have raised alternative possibilities to explain the gender difference, such as measurement error, or that men’s friendships function differently from women’s friendships. Our qualitative study explored the possibility that men’s friendships are different than what is described in the literature using an inductive and anonymous online survey. The collected data from 64 self-identified men in emerging adulthood (19-25 years) was thematically analyzed to present a thematic map of their perception of intimacy in close friendship. Findings indicated that the participants valued their close friendships highly and that the generated themes showed an overall high degree of similarity with earlier studies. However, the themes confrontational honesty, flow, and timeless connection diverged from prior research and are discussed. We provide suggestions for future research that can advance the understanding of the divergent themes, and further the understanding of intimacy in men’s close same-gender friendships.

Existe un consenso respecto a que incluir personajes LGTB en la literatura infantil podría ayudar a cambiar la situación actual de homofobia basada en un discurso hegemónico que defiende la heteronormatividad. Este trabajo se enfoca en el análisis de las traducciones del inglés al español de siete álbumes ilustrados infantiles con parejas del mismo sexo. Aborda específicamente la representación de las familias homoparentales tanto en los textos fuente como meta, con especial atención a los posibles cambios en las traducciones que visibilicen o invisibilicen a las subjetividades homosexuales en diferentes niveles. Para ello recupera conceptos propuestos por diversos autores relacionados, por un lado, a la literatura infantil y su traducción; y por otro, a la representación de personalidades homosexuales en este género literario y las posibilidades que se despliegan frente a este fenómeno en la traducción.  De este modo, mediante el análisis contrastivo multimodal de las traducciones del corpus de siete álbumes ilustrados con temática LGTB, se indagará en las estrategias de traducción y su repercusión en la representación de las familias homoparentales en el producto final. / There is a growing consensus on how the inclusion of LGTB characters in children’s literature could help change the current situation in which homophobia is based upon a hegemonic debate that defends heteronormativity. This paper will focus on the analysis of seven children’s picture books about same-sex parents, translated from English to Spanish. It addresses specifically the representation of same-sex parent households both from the source and target texts, with special attention to the possible changes in translation that could reflect or hide the subjectivities of homosexuals at different levels. To this end, we will survey a series of concepts proposed by several authors related to both children’s literature and its translation and to the representation of the homosexual personalities in this genre of literature as well as the possibilities that unfold out of this phenomenon through translation. Thereby, by employing a multimodal contrastive analysis of the translation of a corpus of seven children’s picture books with the LGBT theme, the translation strategies as well as the repercussions of the representation of same-sex parent households in their final product are to be explored. / Trabajo de investigación

There have been leaps in both fields of epigenetics and reproductive technology. This has culminated in the production of bi-maternal mouse offspring through a few studies utilizing direct gene mutations as functional-imprints. While these genetic interventions result in positive results, it has yet to be described, in full, what mechanisms underlie the epigenetic barriers to human gynogenesis. Between maternal and paternal imprints, differences in methylation patterns of CpG island promoters, non-coding regions, microsatellites, transposons, and histones result in differences in higher order chromatin structure, which ultimately impacts expression of certain genes. While the necessary components of a minimal paternal epigenetic program are described, programming this imprint onto m2, a hypothetical, experimentally-produced maternal genome with a paternal epigenome is still not elucidated. Sequential timing of imprint acquisition and maintenance and the numerous regulatory factors associated with them illuminate how difficult potential assisted reproductive epigenetic interventions will be. Other processes like histone-protamine exchange which also plays a crucial factor in structural regulation of imprints, as well as signaling through and after fertilization, pose logistical problems to creating a gynogenote through epigenetic means. Lastly, ethics surrounding the introduction of dangerous mutations and epialleles into the human population add another wall of caution and hesitance in exploring human gynogenesis as a reproductive technology.

While same-sex marriage rights have expanded to twelve states, the time-lag in research and publishing has meant that most published studies on same-sex relationships has relied on a hodge-podge of same-sex relationship types. This study uses interview data with same-sex couples who have wed in the years after marriage became available and examines their incentives to wed and the decision making process they go about in planning their weddings. Against a backdrop of larger debates in the queer community surrounding assimilation and access to benefits, couples are changing how we must think about marriage and creating new norms for the institution. This study seeks to answer the following questions: This raises the following questions: How do a group of people previously barred from a legal institution make the decision to enter into that institution? Do they consciously see the act of marrying as a political decision, as a flouting of convention or as a reproduction of it? Does this shift to marriage represent an assimilationist tendency on the part of participants, or are they changing relationship norms and the institution of marriage itself? Studying the ways in which same-sex couples answer these questions allows us to see the meaning making that those couples do when engaging in public rituals and they will be shaped by access to this institution while changing marriage itself.

Ensuring the safety and welfare of children has a lasting effect on society. As we progress to a more inclusive concept of what constitutes a family, the effect of same sex parenting (SSP) must be considered. Health related outcomes describing the advantages, disadvantages and unique challenges experienced by this population is surprisingly robust.