Psychology

"Gay men and heterosexual women may share some common interests in critiquing hetero-­patriarchy. However feminism and gay liberationist politics do not always coincide and the role of individual subjectivities in recognising oppressive discourses of normativity remains debated. Interviews were conducted with seven friendship dyads of heterosexual women and gay men. Transcripts were subjected to discourse analysis, which suggested extensive management of heterosexist norms in the friends’ accounts of friendship. The analysis highlighted ambiguity over the ‘male’ status of gay men, a concern with constructing the friendships as legitimately asexual, and the use of parody in the face of homophobia to disrupt normative assumptions. Although we primarily considered the role of heterosexist discourses, there is also evidence that other dimensions of non-­normativity (for example, gender and ethnicity) are implicated in friendships constructed around shared otherness and mutual non-normativity.

Shepperd, D., Coyle, A., & Hegarty, P. (2010). Discourses of Friendship between Heterosexual Women and Gay Men: Mythical Norms and an Absence of Desire. Feminism & Psychology, 20 (2) 205-224."

Full reference:

Adams, J., Blair, K.L., Borrero-Bracero, N.I., Espín, O.M., Hayfield, N.J., Hegarty, P., Hermann-Green, L.K., Hsu, D.M.H., Maurer, O., Manalastas, E.J., McDermott, D.T., Shepperd, D. (2010). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Psychology: An International Conversation between Researchers. Psychology and Sexualities, 1 (1), 75-90.

Studying at university continues to grow in popularity and the modern-day university has expanded considerably to meet this need. Invariably as such expansion occurs pressures arise on a range of quality enhancement processes. This may have serious implications for the continued delivery of high quality learning experiences that meets the expectations of incoming students and is appropriate to their postgraduation aspirations. Ensuring students become active partners in their learning will encourage them to engage with a range of quality enhancement processes. The aim of the current work was, to examine the various factors that motivate students to engage in such a fashion. To examine such factors three focus groups were carried out to triangulate an effective set of recommendations for subsequent practice. The participants consisted of engaged, and non-engaged students as well as student-facing staff who were asked to comment on their experiences as to why students would want to en...

Gay men and heterosexual women may share some common interests in critiquing hetero-patriarchy. However feminism and gay liberationist politics do not always coincide and the role of individual subjectivities in recognising oppressive discourses of normativity remains debated. Interviews were conducted with seven friendship dyads of heterosexual women and gay men. Transcripts were subjected to discourse analysis, which suggested extensive management of heterosexist norms in the friends’ accounts of friendship. The analysis highlighted ambiguity over the ‘male’ status of gay men, a concern with constructing the friendships as legitimately asexual, and the use of parody in the face of homophobia to disrupt normative assumptions. Although we primarily considered the role of heterosexist discourses, there is also evidence that other dimensions of non-normativity (for example, gender and ethnicity) are implicated in friendships constructed around shared otherness and mutual non-normativity.