American Jewish rappers have become an increasingly prevalent topic in Jewish popular and scholarly media, where critics and scholars seek to understand how hip-hop performance and consumption serves as a platform for exploring and articulating Jewish identity. This thesis explores the work of what I term “Jewish parody rappers”—rappers who foreground Jewishness while destabilizing normative American Jewish identity using humor or parody—in order to demonstrate how nuanced gender and ethnoracial identity performances can be found in an often overlooked segment of Jewish rap. Using Jamie Moshin’s concept of “New Jewishness,” I argue that Jewish parody rappers recontextualize tropes of Jewish masculinity through black hip-hop codes, evoking a long history of Jewish engagement with African-American performance. Through an examination of Jewish parody rappers and their performances—including the Beastie Boys, 2 Live Jews, Chutzpah, and Athens Boys Choir—I demonstrate how these New Jews destabilize, or queer, Jewish identity through hip-hop performance. The Beastie Boys’ parodic performances highlight Jewishness as a liminal identity as they use the malleable and performative markers of Jewish masculinity to foreground their whiteness in the black-dominated arena of hip-hop. 2 Live Jews and Chutzpah recuperate tropes of effeminate and impotent Jewish masculinity through their extended parodies. Harvey Katz of Athens Boys Choir plays with tropes of Jewish masculinity not only to queer Jewishness, like other Jewish parody rappers, but also to articulate an explicitly queer Jewish identity. Each of these core samples illuminates various ways in which Jewish parody rappers perform New Jewish identity; however, these rappers do not evade the specter of problematic racial appropriation as they articulate Jewishness through and against tropes of black hip-hop hypermasculinity. / text

Adolescence is a challenging life period in which young people have to deal with both physical and mental changes. For gay, bisexual and questioning (BGQ) youth, the challenges in their adolescents could be tougher. Previous research has demonstrated the unique psychosocial and sexual health needs of this vulnerable sub-group of the youth population. However, most of these studies were conducted in the West. Local data has been far from enough for us to understand the lives and health needs of Hong Kong GBQ youth, who have been affected by a different set of cultural values and social situations. This study adopted a qualitative approach to explore the lives of and the factors affecting the health of GBQ youth in Hong Kong. Both focus groups and individual interviews were used. Data analysis was guided by the principle of grounded theory. Twenty sexual minority male youth aged between 15 and 21 were recruited in the study. It appeared that the discovery of sexual identities for Hong Kong GBQ youth usually began in the early adolescence and was usually followed by a stage of struggle and denial of same-sex attraction. Traditional Chinese family values and mainstream Christianity doctrine heavily influenced on the informants’ and others’ acceptance towards homosexuality. GBQ youth also encountered different forms of prejudicial events in practically all social situations which in turn affected their psychosocial wellbeing and sexual health. Furthermore, parents, school professionals and healthcare workers seemed to lack appropriate skills and attitudes to promote GBQ youth’s health. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

This non-experimental, quantitative study explored the effects of the Buddhist-derived practices of mindfulness and loving-kindness meditations on the wellness of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people. LGB people are at higher risk of mental illness and increased social isolation due to minority stress; Buddhist-derived mindfulness practices mediate these effects in other groups. Lazarus and Folkman's transactional model of stress and coping was the theoretical model explaining how positive cognitive appraisal induced by meditation can mediate effects of stress. This study examined whether mental health scores on the Emotional Symptoms Checklist (ESC), social attitudes measured on the Unjust World Views Scale, and self-perception measured by the Remoralization Scale improved individually and collectively after LGB participants engaged in 1 of 3 meditation conditions: mindfulness practice, loving-kindness practice, or a relaxation control group. ANOVA analyses revealed no significant improvements in participants' scores on the 3 measures as a result of either one of the meditation conditions or the control group. An unexpected finding emerged between participants who reported a history of depression and those who did not; ESC scores among those with depression significantly improved after the meditation or relaxation interlude regardless of group assignment, possibly due to disruption of ruminative thought processes. Future studies could build upon this study by training participants to meditate using more interactive means than online videos used here. The mental health needs of LGB people remain urgent, and further explorations of promising techniques such as mindfulness are the foundation of future social change.

Male androphilia (i.e., male sexual attraction to males) is an evolutionary paradox. It is unclear how genes for male androphilia persist given that androphilic males have lowered reproduction? Evidence suggests that ancestral androphilic males were transgendered. Hence, I address this paradox by focusing on a group of Samoan transgendered androphilic males (i.e., fa’afafine). Specifically, I show that male androphilia has consistent developmental correlates across Samoan and Western populations, indicating that fa’afafine provide a suitable model for the evolution of male androphilia across populations. In addition, I test hypotheses concerning the evolution of male androphilia. Fa’afafine’s mothers and grandmothers exhibit elevated reproduction. Also, compared to Samoan men and women, fa’afafine exhibit unique kin-investment cognition that would enhance indirect fitness. Elevated reproduction by female kin, and enhanced kin investments may, therefore, contribute to the evolution of male androphilia. Lastly, I outline a developmental model for this unique kin-investment cognition in androphilic males. / xvii, 201 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm

Stereotypes about Appalachia abound through dubious and reductive representations of the ‘hillbilly’ icon. Sexuality and how it functions in Appalachia is usually cast from the outside as wild, violent, bestial, incestuous and generally base. Movies such as Deliverance and television shows such as The Beverly Hillbillies and The Dukes of Hazard render images of Appalachian sexuality as hyper-sexual, both naive and violent. These images of Appalachian sexual ignorance and violence that permeate popular culture have had problematic and reductive implications for rural gay/trans Appalachian folk. Mainstream gay culture has often used the perceived meanings of these images to circumscribe and foreclose upon the possibility of rural queer life, rendering the rural as monolithically homophobic and impenetrable. This research attempts to destabilize this perspective and critique the impulse for mainstream gay culture to further marginalize rural gay/trans folk in Appalachia. The project reveals the possibility for rural queer life to exist in Appalachia to show not only its presence, but also its varying forms of visibility. To do this, experimental methodologies are employed, drawing on autoethnography that have located my body as an active participant and research object in one particular Appalachian queer geography. By actively participating in a rural queer network, the possibility for Appalachian queer geographies to exist in ways that surpass popular representations emerge in a way that force us to renegotiate our understandings of homophobia and what sets its conditions. This project begins to uncover and theorize the ways in which kinship as a ‘social technology’ mitigates social strangeness and operates as a means for social protection and intimacy within rural queer populations. This research is presented in a way that neither dismisses nor emphasizes homophobic violence, but rather argues the imperative for strong political advocacy that recognizes both the struggles and accomplishments of rural gay/trans folk. Three interlinked approaches are used to highlight these possibilities and foreclosures: the exterior representation of Appalachian sexuality in American metropolitan gay cultures and its politico-cultural effects on rural gay/trans folk, a more nuanced interpretation of homophobia in Appalachia, and how ‘place’ is made through the operation of rural queer networks.

Rent: Same-Sex Prostitution in Modern Britain, 1885-1957 chronicles the concept of “rent boys” and the men who purchased their services. This dissertation demonstrates how queer identity in Britain, until contemporary times, was largely regulated by class, in which middle-and-upper-class queer men often perceived of working-class bodies as fetishized consumer goods. The “rent boy” was an upper-class queer fantasy, and working-class men sometimes used this fantasy for their own agenda while others intentionally dismantled the “rent boy” trope, refusing to submit to upper-class expectations. This work also explains how the “rent boy” fantasy was eventually relegated to the periphery of queer life during the mid-century movement for decriminalization. The movement was controlled by queer elites who ostracized economic-based and public forms of sex and emphasized the bourgeois sexual mores of their heterosexual counterparts. Sex between adult men in private was decriminalized, but working-class men selling sex suffered harsher laws and more strictly enforced penalties under this new, ostensibly “progressive” legislation.

Sexual minority students’ encounters with discrimination and harassment are increasing in school settings. Per the research, the discrimination and harassment they experience partly stems from teachers’ negative attitudes toward sexual minorities and a lack of understanding of the needs of these individuals, which can negatively impact students’ psychological well-being and create an unwelcoming environment (Dessel, 2010; Mudrey & Medina-Adams, 2006; Riggs, Rosenthal, & Smith-Bonahue, 2011). Teachers are responsible for ensuring a safe environment for students that promotes mental and physical health (Larrabee & Morehead, 20’10; Mudrey & Medina-Adams, 2006; Riggs et al., 2011). Therefore, it’s vital to determine ways to reduce teachers’ negative attitudes and increase their knowledge and empathy toward sexual minorities in order to enhance students’ well-being and create a supportive school atmosphere (Maddux, 1988). Although researchers have independently tested the effectiveness of intervention strategies (e.g., workshops, courses) designed to reduce negative attitudes, a comprehensive study to determine which one may be most successful in reducing negative attitudes, while enhancing knowledge and empathy, has yet to be conducted. The current study assessed the effects of three intervention strategies designed to reduce pre-service teachers’ negative attitudes, and increase their knowledge and empathy toward sexual minorities. Due to conservative religious beliefs being a main contributor to negative attitudes toward sexual minorities, this study also examined the impact of religious beliefs on participants’ responses to the interventions. Pre- and post-data were collected from 139 pre-service teachers enrolled in undergraduate educational psychology and teacher education courses at a Southeastern University. Students participated in one of three intervention strategies, a video documentary, a workshop, or regular classroom instruction. Results demonstrated that there were no significant differences between participants in the video, workshop, and control groups on attitudes, knowledge, or empathy from pre- to post-intervention. However, within group differences were found in the video and workshop interventions on certain aspects of attitudes, empathy, and knowledge. In addition, results illustrated that religious beliefs had an impact on participants’ knowledge and empathy towards sexual minorities. Contributions to the literature and implications of the findings are discussed as well as limitations and directions for future research.

This paper is part of the academic effort to recover historical memory in post-Civil War Spain and metaphorically applies the so-called Giobert Tincture to Carmen Martín Gaite’s El cuarto de atrás (1978), Dulce Chacón’s La voz dormida (2002) and Pedro Almodóvar’s La mala educación (2004) in order show how these works reveal the ghosts of the repression exerted against the epitome of the abject/obscene by Franco’s dictatorship: the queer collective. This collective continues to suffer from marginalization as well as from the effects of repression. I argue that El cuarto de atrás reveals C.’s repressed hybrid/queer identity and sexual orientation, that La voz dormida reveals Tomasa and Reme’s homoerotic/queer relationship and that La mala educación reveals in the form of cross-dressed/hybrid bodies how gender performativity is based on the repression of generic and sexual identity. First, I analyze the historical and artistic-cultural context of the selected works. Second, I outline the methodology and poststructural theoretical concepts that frame my thesis. Although the following chapters develop an episodic structure, a comprehensive reading of the paper provides a holistic perspective of the repression of queer people and its palimpsestic-spectral representation in the works of the above-mentioned authors.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 90).

Bakgrund: Cis-normativa uppfattningar finns genomgående i samhället och når även hälso- och sjukvården, där de på flertalet sätt påverkar dess utformning. Transpersoner, vilka står utanför dessa normer, har ett försämrat hälsoläge jämfört med cis-personer, och upplever också att de stöter på hinder då vård söks. Sjuksköterskan skall sträva efter en god vård på lika villkor för hela befolkningen, men ofta påvisas begränsade kunskaper gällande transpersoner och gruppens specifika behov. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka sjuksköterskors kunskaper om, och upplevelser av att vårda transpersoner. Metod: Genom åtta individuella intervjuer samlades information för att söka svar på syftet. Inhämtat material analyserades sedan med latent innehållsanalys. Resultat: Då sjuksköterskor vårdade transpersoner upplevde de ofta en otillräcklighet, vilken grundades i osäkerhet, okunskap eller upplevelsen av maktlöshet att påverka situationen. Det syntes också en strävan efter att erbjuda god vård genom att lösa uppkomna problem och se människan istället för könet. Cis-normativiteten i samhället upplevdes påverka både rådande uppfattningar om transpersoner samt sjukvårdssystemets utformning och funktion. Slutsats: Sjuksköterskors utbildning och fortbildning på ämnet är bristfällig. Behovet av vidare forskning är stort för att kunna vidta åtgärder och garantera transpersoner en god vård. Nyckelord: Bemötande, intersektionalitet, kunskap, könsidentitet, omvårdnad, transperson, upplevelse / Background: Cis normative conceptions can be found throughout society and therefore also affect the health care system. Transgender people, whom are excluded in this normative way of thinking –  have a poorer health status compared with cis-persons, and when seeking health care, they tend to experience various obstacles. Nurses have the responsibility to strive for good and equal care for all, but often tend to lack knowledge of transgender people and their specific needs. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore nurse’s knowledge and experiences of caring for transgender people. Method: During 8 individual interviews, information was gathered to answer the purpose. Obtained material was analyzed with latent content analysis. Results: While caring for transgender people, nurses felt insufficient due to insecurity, incapability or lack of knowledge. They also strived to offer good health care regardless of gender, through solving problems that arose. Society’s cis normativity seemed to affect the way transgender people were perceived, but also the form and function of the entire health care system. Conclusion: Education and further training on the subject is insufficient. Further research is necessary to provide good health care for transgenders people Keywords: Experience, intersectionality, knowledge, gender identity, nursing, transgender, treatment