Queer People Research Articles

The Representation of Black Queer Masculinities on YouTube in the Film Out of This World

This article is an explorative study of the documentary film Out of This World (2017), which captures the narratives and experiences of queer individuals in Johannesburg, South Africa, through a series of snapshots. Guided by activist and host Mykki Blanco, the film explores queer creative cultures in post-apartheid South Africa using YouTube as a platform. It exposes the lived realities of queer voices often silenced and marginalised, bringing visibility to stories of urban CBD and township queer experiences. The film navigates the experiences of the “born-free” generation within the queer community, as they grapple with continued marginalisation. Utilising social media, the film exemplifies self-fashioned queer visualities in post-apartheid South Africa, enabling visibility and belonging for some queer individuals. The film employs YouTube as a visual media to understand how black queer people forge spaces of visibility, countering historical oppression and erasure. The article serves to explore and discuss how black queer masculinities are represented on YouTube in the film Out of This World. The article will employ Grant Andrews’s concept of “mirror” and “mirroring,” utilising visual media to foster recognition and identity in the post-apartheid context. The project uses qualitative visual content analysis to unpack the complex social and cultural dynamics represented in these texts, and the analysis demonstrates how these visual texts are themselves sites of resistance and of imagining and claiming “liveable lives” that the transgressive vulnerabilities allow for.

Serving hot cakes and hashtags: how two popular resort towns entice LGBTQ+ tourists with food and drink on social media

ABSTRACT As the study of food culture has expanded, researchers have taken to examining the relationality of eating practices and social identities in media contexts. Employing an integrative approach to study social media, this research brings into focus the eating habits of a segment of the world’s population that has been studied infrequently: people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (or LGBTQ+). Connecting acts of tourism to social media and queer experience, the following examination illuminates how the eating experiences shown in social media marketing have parallels with earlier acts of politically charged commensalism among LGBTQ+ people. As such, this study speaks to the way that groups, businesses, and individuals have enacted culinary tourism by building upon queer discourses of food in the context of two American resort towns: Provincetown, Massachusetts and Palm Springs, California. Attending to the values created by food-related aesthetics, language, and social spaces, this article shows how social media postings construct and imagine the ideal tourism experiences of queer peoples. Consideration likewise is given to the cultural diversity of LGBTQ+ travelers including how resort towns have been putting forth efforts to create more inclusive culinary environs. 1

Representation Of LGBTQIA+ People in Selected Indian Web Series: A Study

LGBTQIA+ is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual. These terms describe the gender identity of those who do not come into the male and female categories. Before 2018 homosexual act between adults was unconstitutional in India under section 377 but on 6th September 2018 Indian supreme court neglected this and their sexual activities or homosexuality became a legal act in India. In the whole world, the media plays a very important and fascinating role to represent any controversy. Now our media like television, OTTs, and cinema also represent the content that discusses the idea of LGBT people. Nowadays the younger generation is moving or shifting towards OTT platforms. On the OTT platform, presenting this kind of content is becoming useful. OTTS is becoming the most trending and easy to represent the difficulties, trauma, depression, raising questions for identities, gender trouble, and the bitterness of life lived by LGBTQIA+. The aim of this article is to drill the concept of representation and acceptance of third-gender people in Indian society through OTT platforms and also it will put light on myths regarding third gender. It has been more than five years since the LGBT+ community and homosexuality are becoming a legal act in India but it has given only legal acceptance. In our society and especially in a small town their acceptance and their sexual acts are still unacceptable and odd. So, media and screens have the power to bring both positive and negative change in the stereotype myths regarding queer people. This research will focus on ‘Mismatched season 2’, ‘Four More Shots Please’ ‘Made in Heaven’, and ‘His Storyy’.

Boys, Masculinity, and Education

During the 1990s and 2000s, many countries witnessed new discourses on boys and education both within research and the wider popular discourse. This took place in the context of a feminist critique of patriarchal relations, a global monitoring of education, and an increased interest in the negative consequences of traditional masculinity, not only for women, queer people, or the nature and global ressources, but also for boys and men themselves. Mainly, the discussions centred on three key topics. First, boys’ encountering, incorporating, and/or resisting cultural ideas of masculinity were being looked at with a strong focus on gender hierarchies and gender norms (Connell 2000; Kimmel 2008; Plummer 1999; Salisbury and Jackson 1996). Second, boys’ situations in educational institutions were discussed controversially with regard to disadvantages and/or privileges of boys in education (Epstein et al. 1998; Kenway et al. 1997; Martino et al. 2009). Third, the situations of particular groups of boys were explored, acknowledging the diversity of boys and the intersectionality of masculinity and gender with other social categories and hierarchies (Martino and Pallotta-Chiarolli 2003; Nayak 2003).

Punking: How appropriation revitalised it and the role institutions play in the protection and longevity of this elusive art

Abstract From the streets of Los Angeles in the early 1970s, a dance style named Punking emerged. This occurred at the height of the civil rights movement in the underground LGBTQ+ clubs of LA by a group of BIPOC queer men. A blend of sharp, exaggerated poses and movements borrowed from Hollywood films and pop culture became an art form that reflected their identity and encapsulated the escapism and liberation of a group of young queer people growing up in an environment where being queer was illegal and dangerous. By the late 1980s and 1990s, the dance faded, but it still influenced dance styles such as jazz, house, and even vogue. In the early 2000s, interest in the dance was reignited. However, its name and origins remained elusive, prompting an investigation into its history, shifting narratives and exclusion from dance history. In this article, I will explore how a dance form becomes lost in translation and how this dance can be preserved and introduced into institutionalised spaces to offer resources and legal protection for an art form on the verge of erasure from history.

For Me, Us, Our Community

This research offers an innovative qualitative methodology, kiki methodology, centering and understanding the experiences of Black queer people. This article connects to how Black queer people share and express their intersecting identities through Black queer storytelling in a novel qualitative methodology approach. Influenced by components of Queer of Color critique, narrative construction, phenomenology, and arts-based research (ABR), I offer a rich, complex, and communal threading of Black queer life within qualitative research. Kiki methodology utilizes three distinct components: (1) Black queer meaning-making (2) Black queer storytelling, and (3) Black queer artistic expression, situating and positioning Black queer narratives within higher education. Kiki methodology is a critical methodological approach that bridges Black queer ways of knowing, Black queer vernacular, and Black queer artistic expression.

Critically examining the experiences of queer people of color in culturally-based sororities and fraternities.

Critically examining the experiences of queer people of color in culturally-based sororities and fraternities.

Creating Queer Epistemologies and Embodied Knowledge Through Narrative and Arts-Based Research

Queer people historically shared personal and queer tales, recounted stories of queer joy to maintain hope, and whispered warnings through anecdotes of hardship. Further, queer artists contributed to the shaping of social trends and values through their creations. In this article, we explore how blending the practices of storytelling and artmaking can provide a powerful way to conduct research, co-construct knowledge, and sit within complex epistemological spaces with queer participants. We provide brief descriptions and reflections of our experiences conducting scholarship through the combination of narrative inquiry and arts-based research as queer researchers working with queer participants. Ultimately, we argue that combining these methods allows us to access new, deeper meanings alongside our queer participants.

Understanding Law and Sustainability in Children’s Literature through the Lens of Queer Studies in Animations and Cartoons from America

Objective: Queer Studies as a literary space explores the lives of non-heterosexual individuals. It developed as a literal theory in the 1990s with Terresa De Lauretis from her work Queer Theory Lesbian and Gay Sexuality. As the study develops, it covers the varied history of social acceptance faced by homosexuality in many cultures through a wide range of theories and concepts. Children’s literature profoundly shapes individuals from a young age and alludes to whose stories matter in a social setting.
 
 Result: Understanding queer studies in children’s literature would provide an extensive picture of representation, equality, and perceptibility, highlighting their difficulties and struggles, coping strategies, and even validation for the queer community.
 
 Method: On the same note, the researcher is aware that discussing queerness among children is sensitive; therefore, the paper will traverse through certain conjectures, such as the history of queer studies, Queer Law, the history of queer studies in children’s literature through cartoons, the political problems of studying queer people, and queer delineation among children in contemporary society.
 
 Conclusion: Through these trajectories, the research aims to understand queer law and sustainable representation as part of human rights amongst queer children in America.

Exploring queer people of colour’s perceptions of pride in Sydney

Pride events in majority-White contexts reflect social structures and power relations which privilege individuals from that group. The normative Whiteness that shapes these societies influence the dominance of Whiteness in queer spaces and Pride events which take place in them. This paper focused on queer people of colour (QPoC), in Australia, to understand how their intersectional identities shape perceptions of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Drawing on intersectionality as a framework, the study analysed interviews with 12 individuals. Results indicate participants feel a disjuncture between their queer identities and ethnicities and that queer spaces in Australia are premised on a normative Whiteness. While Mardi Gras is a meaningful and positive experience for respondents, the findings suggest the event perpetuates a narrow understanding of what it means to be queer by centring a White subjectivity and stereotypical queer representations. Findings suggest greater inclusivity can be achieved by ‘inviting in’ QPoC, meaningfully supporting more diverse expressions of ‘queerness’, including QPoC in all stages of the event, and being sensitive to the diverse needs of different groups.

Radical Incrementalism and the Queer Institution in Campus Climate Studies

In this article, I examine campus climate studies through radical incrementalism and queer pragmatism. As a statistician and institutional researcher, I embrace data-informed decisions to promote resource reallocation and policy formation. Yet, as a queer person, I have misgivings about incrementalism as a dominant strategy that aligns queerness with interests of the state (or in this context, the institution). I use campus climate studies as a vehicle to illustrate the epistemological and practical implications of radical incrementalism and a queered institution, relying on both my own queer embodiment and my expertise in campus climate studies. My intended audiences include administrators with positional power at colleges and universities, especially those with influence concerning campus climate studies and data-informed decision making. I also direct my conversation to researchers who conduct campus climate studies, including institutional researchers and assessment professionals, academic scholars, and consultants. Lastly in this article. I also provide clarity and disruption for queer people who exist in higher education and who engage in the campus climate landscape to illuminate often silenced discourse concerning tensions and opportunities for queer liberation in the academy. I begin my article with my theoretical groundings, including radical incrementalism and queer pragmatism. I then provide an overview of campus climate studies in higher education, including federal mandates from the Department of Education, the campus climate industrial complex, and data trauma through deficit-based assessment. I close my conversation with hope and queer agency.

Queer in Fear: The Role of Homophobia and Transphobia in Wrongful Convictions

This paper will explore how the criminal justice system’s ingrained prejudice against LGBTQ2S+ people can lead to wrongful convictions. Primarily, this paper will focus on the negative stereotypes of and myths surrounding queer people, rooted in homophobia and transphobia, that lead to wrongful convictions. Examining the cases of Miguel Castillo, Bernard Baran, The San Antonio Four, and Monica Jones, this paper will prove that these pervasive and dangerous stereotypes impact queer people at every step of the criminal justice system. This paper will conclude by briefly discussing instances of queer wrongful convictions in the Canadian context.

What’s identity got to do with it? The social life of sexual identity in the Netherlands

Same-sex erotic desire, or same-sex orientation, has become commonly understood and expressed through the notion of sexual identity. This article takes an intergenerational perspective to study the genealogy of sexual identity in the Netherlands. The authors explore how queer people perceive their feelings of same-sex desire and whether or not they come to understand their erotic desire in terms of sexual classifications. Their research shows that when discourses on gender and sexuality shift, the way people make sense of their erotic desire takes different forms. It appears that people’s lived reality is messier than the notion of sexual identity presumes.

Experiences of gender-diverse youth during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: A longitudinal qualitative study.

Recent studies have suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased existing health challenges experienced by transgender (trans) and non-binary people. Additionally, COVID-19 has also negatively impacted youth mental health. However, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to the intersection of youth and trans and non-binary populations is currently not well established. The present longitudinal qualitative study aimed to examine the evolving challenges experienced by trans and non-binary youth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gender-diverse youth, defined as participants who did not identify as cisgender in April 2020, were invited to participate from among the participant pool of a COVID-19 cohort study in Canada. Qualitative interviews were conducted in August 2020, January 2021, and August 2021, during the first year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative themes were identified based on reflexive thematic analysis and plot-line narrative inquiry. Ten participants aged 18 to 28 were included in the present analysis, yielding 29 transcripts. We identified themes of (1) losses of connection to gender-diverse communities, (2) changes in gender identity, affirmation, and self-reflection, (3) a dual burden of trans and non-binary specific health and service access challenges as well as COVID-19 pandemic related health challenges, and (4) virtually rebuilding gender-diverse communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gender-diverse youth may experience unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The losses with gender-diverse communities may further isolate queer people from access to healthcare, housing, and employment. Public health policy targeted at gender-diverse youth may consider addressing "upstream" disparities in healthcare and housing in order to support the rebuilding of queer and gender-diverse communities by gender-diverse people.

1 Neuropsychological Assessment with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) Individuals: Results from a Practice, Education, and Training Survey

Objective:The field of clinical neuropsychology has increasingly recognized the importance of cultural and identity factors through the development of clinical, research, and educational initiatives. Only within the last 10 years have guidelines for psychological practice with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people included recommendations for neuropsychological assessment. However, it remains unclear to what extent neuropsychologists have acquired the knowledge and skills necessary to implement these recommendations. It is also unknown whether they engage in LGBTQ+ inclusive neuropsychological assessment. In this study, we surveyed the LGBTQ+ related education, training, and clinical practice of independently licensed neuropsychologists in the United States. We sought to understand the implementation of inclusive guidelines, including factors that predict affirmative neuropsychological assessment. We hypothesized that sexual/gender identities, female identity, recency of training, and LGBTQ+ related education would be associated with use of recommended practices.Participants and Methods:A workgroup of clinical psychologists with experience in LGBTQ+ psychology and neuropsychology developed a survey to identify personal and professional factors that predict LGBTQ+ affirmative neuropsychological assessment practices. The survey was distributed through professional organizations and listservs between August and September 2021 with 118 responses meeting inclusionary criteria. We used logistic, multinomial logistic, and ordinal logit regressions to examine unadjusted, univariate effects. Predictors included in the final, adjusted, univariate and multivariate models were those for which we had specific hypotheses and variables that predicted more than two affirming practice behaviors.Results:The majority of participants identified as heterosexual (70.3%), cisgender (97.5%), and female (66.1%). Participants reported obtaining their highest degree between 1977 and 2019. Most obtained a Ph.D. (73.7%), were not board-certified (69.5%), and worked primarily with adults (54.2%). Generally, participants reported having little experience working with LGBTQ+ patients. However, they reported greater exposure to lesbian, gay, and bisexual identities as compared to transgender and queer identities. Most (48-63%) received LGBTQ+ training post-licensure. Between 19% and 32% of participants reported never completing LGBTQ+ specific education. Participants described using affirmative clinical practice behaviors either “always/often” or “never/rarely.” Factors predicting those practice behaviors were LGBTQ+ education/training, prior experience with LGBTQ+ patients, primary patient population (child vs. adult), and personal background (sexual minority status, female gender, and years since degree). When in need of consultation, the current sample consulted with their colleagues most often (n = 95) followed by academic literature (n = 90) and professional organizations (n = 80). Qualitative responses indicated varying attitudes and knowledge regarding collection of LGBTQ+ information and modification of clinical practice.Conclusions:Consistent with the broader clinical psychology literature, neuropsychologists have limited education/training on LGBTQ+ concepts. Neuropsychologists underutilize affirming practices as evidenced by low rates of querying pronouns, knowing whether LGBTQ+ health information is available at their institutions, and adjusting evaluation and feedback approaches. Our findings imply a great need to expand continuing education trainings to address providers’ gaps and limitations, including opportunities for inclusive neuropsychological services throughout the assessment process (interview, testing, feedback). We present additional recommendations for future research as well as resources.

Heteronormative silences and queer resistance in queer people’s experiences of eldercare and home

The meaning of home for queer people has been widely empirically explored as well as theorized. Not least has the home been important for the older generations of queer people, who lived in times where their sexualities and gender identities have been criminalized and pathologized and where there have been few public meeting places historically. However, having care needs may blur the lines between private and public and complicate notions of integrity in one’s home. This article is based on qualitative interviews and aims to explore experiences of queer people in a Swedish context who have eldercare services—either people who have home-care-services or who are living in care homes. A queer theoretical framework and reflexive thematic analysis was used. The results illustrate how there is a silence around gender and sexuality in the everyday life within eldercare. This in turn is caused by material conditions where downsizing and effectivization of the eldercare have created pressed working conditions that leave little room for small talk between staff and recipients of care. Norms on age, gender, and sexuality with notions on older people as asexual (as well as cisgender and straight) may play into this silence as well. The boundaries between the private (home) and the public (eldercare) become blurred. This in turn conditions which intimacy practices that become im/possible. Simultaneously, there is a presence of queer resistance as well as of longings for other (queer) futures.

Transphobic discourse and moral panic convergence: A content analysis of my hate mail

AbstractRecently, new social anxieties about transgender people have begun to emerge, framed as an issue of “grooming”—a term typically used in the context of child sexual abuse. In this way, moral panic about transgender people seems to be merging with oft‐repeated social fears about pedophilia, resulting not only in policies criminalizing trans people and their allies but also in escalating hatred and threats toward trans‐affirming educators. This pattern requires further inquiry. As a trans academic who has been at the center of moral panic, my own hate mail can provide material for this exploration. I conducted a content analysis of 231 letters and e‐mails sent to me containing messages of hate, to answer the following research questions: What beliefs and understandings did my correspondents indicate having about me and my research? To what extent did my correspondents’ beliefs and understandings about me reflect intersecting contemporary moral panics around trans and queer people, pedophilia, and educators? What stated or implied goals did my correspondents aim to achieve by writing to me? The findings of this study can add to understanding of how moral panics can converge, and the consequences of their convergence for marginalized groups in academia and beyond.

It’s a joke, not a dick. So don’t take it too hard”: online sexual harassment in Indian universities

ABSTRACT Recently, while there has been some attention to the issues online harassment in higher education, the impacts of online sexual harassment have been lost within the broader focus. There is negligible research looking at these specific experiences within Indian universities. To address this gap, this paper explores three different but interconnected forms of online sexual harassment—image-based sexual abuse, online chat rooms, and trolling in the context of Indian universities. Following the works of Liz Kelly (1987) and Clare McGlynn, Erika Rackley and Ruth Houghton (2017), this paper establishes the importance of understanding online sexual harassment as a continuum of other forms of offline sexual violence having physical, mental, and financial impacts on survivors, deeply affecting their sense of safety. In doing so, this paper attempts to develop a materialist understanding of online sexual harassment in Indian universities in turn demonstrating the confluence of India’s patriarchal and casteist society and an authoritarian state who use technology as a powerful disciplining tool to push women and queer people out of digital public spaces. This research attempts to establish that this disciplining and silencing of women and queer people are essential for the spread of both techno-capitalism and Brahmanical Hindutva nationalism.

Assessing the feasibility of SMART Recovery for sexual and gender minority individuals: Results from a feasibility and preliminary outcomes trial

Sexual and gender minority individuals (SGMI; e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people) experience increased rates of alcohol use disorder and additional barriers to participating in alcohol use interventions compared to their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts. This suggests a need for accessible, evidence-based alcohol use interventions for these populations. Through conducting a feasibility and preliminary effectiveness trial of SMART Recovery, a cognitive-behavioral mutual help group for addictive behaviors, with a sample of SGMI (N = 32), this study evaluated the feasibility and preliminary outcomes of SMART Recovery for reducing alcohol use and related problems for SGMI. Primary feasibility metrics included average number of sessions attended per participant and average number of participants per session; preliminary outcomes were evaluated by comparing alcohol use symptoms at pre- and post-test through a t-test. Results suggest that SMART Recovery is potentially a feasible and effective intervention for SGMI experiencing challenges with alcohol use. On average, participants attended 5.36 sessions (target: 4–6 sessions). The average session was attended by 3.63 participants (tentative target: 5 participants). A comparison of pre and post-tests (n = 13) suggested significantly lower alcohol use among participants at the end of the intervention relative to the beginning (t = 1.92; p < 0.05).

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) People in Adult Education Journals: A Literature Review 2010–2022

This article reviews LGBTQ literature in US-based adult education journals and proceedings. Categories focused on workplace issues, identity, health, learning climate, educational methods, and research. Key themes included (1) harassment, isolation, and discrimination, (2) meaning-making in a heteronormative society, (3) a call for inclusion, and (4) education, training, and inclusive policies and acts. Based on the findings, implications for research and practice will be provided.