Homosexual Subjects Research Articles

Post-homophobic imaginaries amongst the far-right in Germany and Switzerland

ABSTRACT Alongside violently opposing gender and sexual equalities, far-right parties in Western Europe have increasingly denied their political positions as homophobic. This article explores how far-right party actors in Germany and Switzerland actively use liberal discourses to advance reactionary gender and sexual politics beyond outright opposition. It queries how party actors consolidate hetero-patriarchal ideological commitments with a desire to include homosexual subjects within the parties’ respective ideologies. This study argues that reactionary actors in Germany and Switzerland are highly adaptive to the ‘post-homophobic’ discursive terrain they navigate. In doing so, openly gay and lesbian actors within far-right parties and their allies are not operating in a vacuum. They can draw on an expansive archive of mainstream political discourses, including normative ideas about the neoliberal family, a gendered economy of reproduction and the potent construction of homophobic immigrants. Our analysis thus demonstrates that liberal ideas around sexuality are not always overtly opposed to but also actively invested in for reactionary gains.

Poetic Expression of Gay Lexicon Conveyed through Imagery in Lines of Poems

The focus of this study revolves around gay literature, specifically the poetics related to homosexuality. Gay literature includes literary works authored by individuals who identify as gay, as well as literary works by heterosexual writers that explore or discuss homosexual themes, and literary works that incorporate gay terminology. While there have been recent studies on gay literature and works, there has been a lack of attention given to gayspeak, which can be referred to more formally as a lavender lexicon, being incorporated into texts or selections that are thought to have literary significance. The study seeks to address how gayspeak is depicted in literature. Are there poetic elements present in texts that use gayspeak? The study seeks to determine the potential impact of homosexual poetics or gay speak on the advancement of literature and the teaching of literature, particularly about its literary qualities. The study utilized a limited selection of only two poems due to the scarcity of available poetry incorporating gay language. Every poetry in the collection is accompanied by translations in Filipino and English, which accurately convey the original phrases written in gayspeak. The poems were assessed based on their poetic substance and the extent to which the language used in the poem's lines demonstrates literary qualities, which is the study's primary objective. The analysis of these poems involved the application of established theories and research, such as Shklovsky’s concept of Defamiliarization (2004) and the Imagery and Symbolism concept by Dimalanta and Abad (2003). Gay language in poetry has literary qualities, conveying meaning through imagery. It enhances comprehension of a poet's work and creative process. Studying imagery provides insight into the poet's production and interpretation of the text, whether written in standard or specialized language.

The English Studies Interview with Alan Hollinghurst: In Conversation with Dominic Dean

ABSTRACT Alan Hollinghurst is the author of seven novels including The Swimming-Pool Library (1988), The Stranger’s Child (2011), The Sparsholt Affair (2017), and The Line of Beauty (2004), with the latter winning the 2004 Man Booker Prize. He is widely celebrated for his distinctive style, his tragicomical explorations of English life in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and his introduction of richly imagined and humanely observed gay themes to mainstream literary fiction. His latest novel is Our Evenings (2024). Alan Hollinghurst spoke with Dominic Dean about Our Evenings, its themes, inspirations and treatment of social and political history; the role of buildings and material objects in his fiction; his style and formal innovations and influences; and his relationships with TV adaptations and with the literary academy.

Contemporary Czech LGBT+ literature: The example of Muffin and Tea and Cupcakes and Conspirators

Based on a qualitative content analysis, we present two loosely related artistic narratives, Muffin and Tea (2018) and Cupcakes and Conspirators (2019) by Theo Addair, which belong to the current stream of contemporary young adult literature in which homosexuality is thematized. We have focused on selected narrative lines that relate to the themes of literary representations of homosexuality in contemporary intentional literature. Before the analysis, we set four questions: 1. How is the theme of homosexuality presented in these two works; 2. What is the originality of these artistic narratives; 3. How does the author portray the main characters in relation to their perception of themselves; 4. Are these works relevant to the issue of self-acceptance and acceptance by contemporary society in the area of minority sexual orientation? We conclude that sexual minority issues are depicted in these narratives in conjunction with the adolescents´ societal backgrounds, with the main theme presented alongside other minority characteristics or handicaps that affect the adolescents´ self-acceptance. It is in the accentuation of I other themes that we see the relevance of the publications for contemporary adolescent readers.

“Aves de toda especie”: representaciones sociales de la homosexualidad en la prensa en Antioquia, Colombia, 1960-2000

Objective/Context: This article explores, from the perspective of cultural history, the social representations produced by the press about homosexuality in Antioquia (Colombia) during the second half of the twentieth century. In doing so, it aims to approach the figure of the sexual monster, the ridiculous homosexual, the infectious “faggot”, the individual explainable by science, and the subject who conquers its citizenship and disputes its rights. Methodology: The discourses and representations of homosexuality in the newspapers Sucesos Sensacionales, El Colombiano and the radio newspaper El Clarín were identified; an interpretative matrix was constructed by cross-referencing cultural elements of the context with journalistic representations. Originality: The period 1960-2000 corresponds to an unexplored period on the subject. Its revision is articulated with the observation of previous and parallel representations of the processes of homosexual liberation and the conquest of rights: the decades of 1960-1970, the emergence of hiv/aids in 1980, and the appearance of a series of social organizations around the anti-aids struggle in the 1990s accompanied by the juridical-political path traced by social movements. Conclusion: During this period, a homosexual subject emerges who, in addition to being outlined by the media, begins to postulate an image of himself that tensions the field of representations. Despite pointing to changes associated with freedoms and rights, the novelties in the press - influenced by international and local contexts and contested by everyday practices that claimed sex/gender dissidence - also pose a conservative counter-response that reinstates old ghosts and prejudices. Thus, this is not a linear and progressive history that moves from darkness to light, that is, from a dark past of violence and denial to the conquest of rights, but reflects diverse continuities and simultaneities in the representation of homosexuality.

Antara Hasrat dan Privasi Diri: Anonimitas Penggemar Cerita Alternative Universe Harry Potter dengan Genre Homoseksual di Twitter

Understanding the diversity of sexuality is still taboo in Indonesia. This directly leads to the practice of marginalising groups with homosexual sexual orientation. Those who have homosexual tendencies cannot freely express themselves, both in the virtual and real worlds. This hegemony of heteronormativity then began to receive a kind of counter-hegemony from various parties, one of which was from the writers and readers of the Alternative Universe (hereinafter referred to as AU) Harry Potter on Twitter. Harry Potter itself is a fictional story with the theme of the wizarding world written by J.K. Rowling, which is often reproduced by fans through various media; AU is one of them. Through AU, fans can imagine creating their own stories using the characters in the Harry Potter story series. One of the highlights of this AU version is when fans make the people in the Harry Potter characters homosexual. Not only does it involve fantasy and imagination, fans also pay attention to their personal identity when interacting with homosexual stories. This study aims to find out how writers and readers of Harry Potter AU stories on Twitter play out homosexual fantasies, as well as how privacy management is used to feel safe interacting with homosexual subjects. To answer these questions, the author conducted research using the netnography method on Twitter. In the process, the author not only looked at user interactions on each Harry Potter AU story but also distributed questionnaires and interviews to the author and readers of the AU story. As for data analysis, the author uses the concept of schizoanalysis from Deleuze and Guattari and combines it with Sandra Petronio's communication privacy management theory. The results of this study show that writers and readers of Harry Potter AUs with homosexual characters have a tendency to want to hide their personal information. They do not want to be recognised when interacting with homosexual stories, even though they are actually very interested in them. This is partly due to social pressure that still upholds heteronormativity.

Study on Long-Term Care Service Awareness, Needs, and Usage Intention of Older Adult Male Homosexuals in Taiwan and Their Ideal Long-Term Care Service Model.

As the significance of long-term care services for older adults becomes more pronounced in Taiwan, especially considering the intensifying trend of an aging population, there remains a lack of comprehensive attention to the long-term care needs and experiences of older adult individuals within the LGBTQ+ community. The present study examines the long-term care service awareness, needs, and usage intention of older adult male homosexuals in Taiwan and assesses their ideal long-term care service model. This study of five older adult male homosexual subjects aged 66 to 73 years is intended as a preliminary exploration. Interviews were used to collect data. The study determined that the five subjects displayed high awareness of long-term care services, as they possessed actual experience of these services or had even participated in care service staff training to obtain certificates. Some even had experience in applying for home care services and reported problems during use. The subjects perceived that they were very likely to require long-term care services in the future and tended to opt for home care services if they required long-term support. Due to their personal experiences, the subjects displayed negative awareness of long-term care services and expressed worry that long-term care service staff harbored poor attitudes toward homosexuals. The subjects considered the most important aspects of long-term care to be basic medical care and lifestyle care. However, they worried that long-term care staff would delay or refuse to provide such services due to the subjects' sexual orientation or stereotypes related to it, and they were concerned above all about the "friendly attitude" of long-term care staff. They hoped that long-term care staff were friendly toward homosexuals and did not discriminate against them, feeling that it would be more appropriate for homosexual long-term care staff to provide assistance. In terms of vision, while preferring organizations with homosexual employees, the subjects worried that they would be stigmatized and discriminated against. Regarding ideal long-term care services, while considering institutions with homosexual staff to be ideal, the subjects also worried that these would be labeled as institutions that were dedicated to homosexuals, potentially resulting in discrimination. Therefore, they hoped that the sexuality sensitivity of long-term care staff could be improved and that they would undergo professional continuing education to learn about homosexuals, their situations, and care needs.

“I am different”: Navigating Queer Identity in 1980s Sri Lanka

This paper studies the portrayal of queerness in Shyam Selvadurai’s novels, Funny Boy and Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, focusing on the theme of homosexuality and character development. Further, the study delves into the significance of mother figures and female relationships in their lives, as well as their love for literature and art, which serves as a platform for introspection and self-expression. Drawing upon the method of textual analysis, the research examines the external and internal confinement experienced by the protagonists and their emotional journeys as they grapple with their identities. It explores how societal norms, family expectations, and internal struggles contribute to their need to hide their true selves. The paper also investigates the characters’ evolution from childhood to maturity, as they learn to accept and embrace their sexual orientation. Additionally, the research addresses the novels’ broader context, considering the historical and cultural setting of Sri Lanka in the 1980s. It examines the societal and familial pressures faced by closeted individuals during that time, shedding light on the challenges and emotional turmoil experienced by LGBTQ+ individuals. The analysis further reflects on the impact of the novels on readers and the significance of LGBTQ+ representation in literature. It underscores the importance of empathy, understanding, and acceptance in nurturing an inclusive and diverse literary landscape. The research contributes to a deeper comprehension of the complexities of queerness and self-acceptance in a conservative society.

What is love? Love from sociological perspectives and queer love in Indonesia

Love is a narrative that takes a defined form, even in lived experiences. This raises the question of whether same-sex love that follows the traditional romance narrative can be rightfully considered queer. Arab Muslims live in a society strongly tied to Islamic restrictions where the subject of homosexuality is strictly forbidden and considered taboo. The ideal of being loved and loving someone almost universally aspired to. This paper examines the definition of love, provides insight into the perspectives on love from sociologists Durkheim, Marx, Sorokin, and Parson, and analyzes queer love in Indonesia. Through four short narratives, this study aims to gain a deeper understanding of love for both heterosexual and homosexual individuals. The research employs a qualitative method, and the interviews were limited to four participants aged between 35 and 45 from Jakarta. The study affords participants considerable freedom in answering the provided questions. I conduct interviews at various locations such as shopping malls, restaurants, and coffee shops, following the interviewees' preferences. For privacy reasons, pseudonyms are used for all names mentioned in this paper.

Christian Motives in Selected Works with Homosexual Themes in Czech Literature

The main aim of the paper is to highlight the relationship between Christianity and homosexuality based on selected fiction texts by Czech writers and poets (Zeyer, Fuks, Kuběna, Georgiev). The selected authors represent different historical periods and different currents of opinion. We are convinced that the theoretical part provides a suitable methodological basis for the part of the paper in which we discuss homosexual motives in selected works of the mentioned authors. To sum up, we can state that the explicit expression of homoerotic and other motives is only relevant today; in artistic narratives dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries, these symbols are expressed in a hidden way, and it is up to each recipient to decide whether and to what extent they see them in these narratives. Zeyer could not fully express himself; he was forced to use hidden symbols to be who he felt he was, at least in his works. Kuběna, in the context of the 1970s, treats the topic of homosexuality very openly, he is not afraid of being condemned by society. Fuks´ works are characterized by a considerable degree of autobiography. Despite Georgiev´s clear rejection of faith, a believing homosexual appears more than once in his work. In this paper we try to fill a certain gap in the field of comparative research in works of art and poems by authors who in some way tended to homosexuality because within the Czech context, we have encountered this area of scholarly articles sporadically.

Politics of the Poisoned Belly

This article argues that homophobia should be read as a political engagement with social and economic uncertainty and its perceived causes through an extended analogy with the work on the modernity of witchcraft. “Figuration” is theorized as a way to account for, first, how senses of moral peril are given a human form, and second, why certain signifiers of deviance become more convincing than others at particular historical moments. The content of the myths that animate homophobia in Sierra Leone point to the gay man as a figuration of deviance that rehearses anxieties about illicit appropriation through patron-client networks at a time of heightened awareness of corruption, exploitation, and fears of foreign meddling in the politics and economics of African postcolonies. The article makes the case that the homosexual man becomes a more convincing signifier of contemporary social anxiety than the witch because of his connections with Western modernity not only in the minds of Sierra Leoneans but also in global pro-queer discourse. This insight places discourses about homosexuality more generally, whether positive or negative, in a field of contestation over who gets to speak for Sierra Leone, what the future of the country is, and its inclusion in Western modernity. The question of modernity is used to explain the state's marked irresoluteness on the subject of homosexuality, challenging dominant explanations of homophobia as state led.

Un acercamiento a la poesía de tema homosexual de Abigael Bohórquez

"His article briefly reviews the homosexual theme in the poetry of the Mexican writer Abigael Bohórquez, particularly that which he wrote during the 1960s and 1970s, which corresponds to the context of the emergence of sexual diversity movements in Mexico, who fought for the visibility and respect of non-heterosexual communities. The love and sexual discourse of the poet is reviewed as part of his personal struggle to write his freedom, both in the field of poetry and in the choice of love and homosexual practices. In recent years, Bohórquez poetry has been a subject of interest for specialized critics who, with different eyes and gradually, recognize the place that their contemporaries avoided. Keywords: body; dissidence; diversity; literature; sexuality"

Choreographing Queer Social Bodies: Chinese Choreographer Hu Shenyuan’s Cross-Stage Practices

Mainland Chinese society heavily stigmatizes nonnormative sexuality, and the government imposes strict censorship on media representations of homosexuality. It seems improbable that choreographer Hu Shenyuan, whose dances do not hide homosexual themes, would be so successful as a performer and artist in the Chinese context, which signifies a tension between state control and audience demand. This article reads Hu’s choreography and its reception as queer texts. While queer identities might seem virtually invisible and unspeakable in China, I argue that Hu’s choreography makes visible a culturally unrepresentable queerness and incubates collective reflection about nonnormative identities.

BINGKAI HETEROSEXISM DALAM KARYA SASTRA INDONESIA KONTEMPORER BERTEMAKAN HOMOSEKSUALITAS

Since the early 2000’s, Indonesian literary works raising the issue of homosexuality have been increasing in number. However, the proliferation of discourse on homosexuality cannot be necessarily interpreted as Indonesian literature’s increasing sympathy with homosexuality. Adequate discussion is needed regarding perceptions, perspectives, and attitudes towards homosexuality in literary works with the theme of homosexuality. In relation to this, we found that works raising the issue of homosexuality have not been able to escape from the framework of the prevailing social order and norms, namely heterosexism. This study aims to see how the idea of heterosexism works in narrating and embodying homosexuality in six chosen works with the theme of homosexuality. Results show that these six works address the robustness of heterosexism by presenting homosexual characters as individuals who are haunted by confusion about their own sexual orientation, giving stereotypical reasons for being homosexuals, and establishing homosexual relationships with gender roles that operate within the framework of heterosexuality.

Cultural Afrofascism and the Homosexual Subject in Trifonia Melibea Obono Ntutumu’s La bastarda (2016)

One of the significant innovations brought about by sexual liberty is that it is now possible to debate and analyse the theme of homosexuality fearlessly in terms of social oppression (García Sarduy et al., 2002). However, despite gaining freedom in Western countries, homosexuals are far from living harmoniously within society. Although it arouses the traditional and religious authority’s indignation, homosexuality has been recognised as an individual right in certain African countries. This work aims to analyse, by using the Sociocriticism method, the interactions between the homosexual subject and the actors of cultural Afrofascism (the traditional Fang society in this case), as well as the image of the homosexual in the same society. It also shows that through this novel, Melibea Obono takes a stand for personal rights and mutual tolerance in traditional African societies.

Mujercitos: The Profane of Mexican Citizenship

The American sociologist Jeffrey Alexander has pointed out that the degree of membership and solidarity in the civil sphere is expressed through the deep cultural codes installed in public opinion and regulatory institutions framing the sacred and the profane of citizenship. This article shows how the sensationist press perceived and judged queer individuals, giving an account of the reasons, relationships, and institutions that founded their exclusion/inclusion during the emergence of the homosexual movement. To this aim, the present study conducts a semiotic analysis of forty-two articles published between 1976 and 1985 by the magazine Alarma! The research demonstrates the existence of a “discursive triangle of homosexual exclusion” based on male heteronormativity, criminality, and morality. It also highlights the degrading, scandalous, and profane in the Mexican civil sphere. Despite media condemnation, the homosexual protest published in Alarma! allows us to perceive signs of inclusion and reconfiguration of the homosexual subject as citizen.

Swimming in the Dark

Swimming in the Dark

Respectable outness: Examining the coming-out narratives of Latin American Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual YouTube celebrity vloggers

Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual YouTube celebrities have come to the limelight of popular media culture. This article explores how 10 of the most popular and influential YouTubers from three Latin American countries (Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico) have come to occupy lesbian, gay, and bisexual subject positions in their coming out vlogs. We argue that through the entwinement of YouTube’s political economy of celebrity and performances of respectability, these vloggers were able to turn their coming-outs into a form of emotional labor that positions them as exemplary models of queer success within the neoliberal economy and cultural regime.

‘Anomaly’: psychiatry and homosexuality in 1970s Australia

Australian legal and medical institutions grappled with the changing status of homosexuality during the 1970s. Historians have argued that psychiatry, as a prominent institution on the subject of homosexuality, was key to its de-medicalisation and therefore contributed to homosexuality’s increasing social acceptance. Following key legal reforms, and the 1973 Clinical Memorandum released by the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry, psychiatrists shifted away from treating homosexuality as a pathology. However, several prominent psychiatrists continued to practise therapy on homosexual men. Though aimed at alleviating the distress of their ‘patients’, these therapies reinforced the medical status of homosexuality. This, in spite of progressive reforms by the broader institution of psychiatry, contributed to a medical and social understanding of homosexuality as a medical condition, within a pathological framework. In short, psychiatry in 1970s Australia was a social pressure point on the issue of homosexuality, a place of both relief and medicalisation.

Hero loves Hero: Understanding the Changing Rendition of Sexuality through the Movie Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan

In the contemporary scenario, there is a growing number of shows in films and television that include gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer characters as central figures and have a queer thematic structure. This paper intends to explore the homosexual themes in the bollywood film Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020). The film is a big leap in bollywood culture of queer films being bollywood’s first mainstream film presenting the love story of a gay couple Aman Tripathi and Karthik Singh. The paper focuses on locating the specific instances where queer themes of identity, acceptance, homophobia, and same-sex love emerge. The paper also aims to capture the response of traditional Indian family and society to same-sex relationships as depicted in the film.