Queer Theory and/or LGBTIQ Psychology

Higher education is a site of ‘thundering heteronormativity’, where lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) sexualities continue to be silenced (Epstein et al., 2003, p.102). Whilst curricula at liberal institutions occasionally add on LGB-relevant material, a heterosexual norm is still perpetuated in the hidden curriculum (Epstein, 1995) through overt harassment of staff and students, structural impediments to those who identify as LGB, and only tokenistic course coverage which gives a clear message that LGB sexualities are different and strange (Eyre, 1993). This chapter updates Simoni’s (2000) research to display the ways in which such heteronormativity is reproduced within psychology textbooks.

تبیین زمینه ی کامل اجتماعی و سیاسی ای که اصطلاح کوییر در آن پدیدار شده
است از حد این فصل فراتر خواهد رفت و تلاش برای تعریف دقیق معنای این مفهوم،
ایده ای است که ما آن را کنار گذاشتیم. این تصمیم، نه تنها به دلیل تنوع زیادی است
که در زمینه ی شناخت و کاربرد اصطلاح کوییر وجود دارد، آنچه که به شکلی
غیرقابل حل با یکدیگر در تضاد هستند

¿Hasta qué punto la identidad es una exigencia cultural por asumir roles, aceptar tareas y metas que participan en la construcción paulatina de uno mismo, no son tareas y metas empobrecidas, sesgadas y homogeneizantes? Como bien sabemos, son metas ajenas al individuo, que provienen de discursos impositivos y que no facilitan la construcción de nuevas realidades. En este documento se analiza entonces el papel controlador del discurso de la identidad, especialmente la sexual, como fomentadora de exclusiones y de conflictos, además del rol que desempeña en la socialización de los jóvenes de hoy

This study seeks to record and document the voices, experiences and representations of men who sell sex to men in London through advertising in queer media. It examines the diverse experiences and representations of men who sell sex to men and the roles they have in co-constructing the meanings of queer, male, and sexual identities and practices. It explores data triangulated from a queer ethnography of London's queer scenes, including: semi-structured interviews with key informants (n=20), samples of escort and masseur advertisements collected from print media, data from social networking websites aimed at gay men, and field notes from collecting data within London's queer scenes. Eighteen of the interview participants are gay or bisexual men who have used advertising to sell sex to other men in London themselves. The study finds that classified advertising can be used as a canon of texts to explore socially constructed records of sexual and economic stories. It details how men have used promotion strategies and technologies to sell sex to other men in London from the early 1990s to the present and how those media have evolved in that time. It suggest ways that sex in this queer, commercial scene is often comparable to more explicit forms of commercial sex transactions. In turn, shifts are illustrated in how sex work is defined here, including ways that the socioeconomic , embodied, performative priorities of queer men are interrelated with their geographic and temporal contexts. The study examines ways that typological models can be limiting to how sex work is understood and proposes an (inter-) relational model grounded in the data from men who have sold sex, semiotic structures of analysis, and queer theory. Finally, it argues that these frameworks usefully operationalise structures of subjectivity in empirical research of human and social sciences.
Link to full thesis: https://openresearch.lsbu.ac.uk/item/873y9

The Palgrave Handbook of the Psychology of Sexuality and Gender combines cutting edge research to provide a thorough overview of all the normative - and many of the less common - sexualities, genders and relationship forms alongside psychological and intersectional areas relating to sexuality and gender.

This paper evaluates the potential efficacy of using life writing to address mental health disparities and to promote health and well-being among young LGBTIQA+ persons. It examines the potential benefits of young LGBTIQA+ people engaging with life writing including memoir, autobiography, creative nonfiction, journaling and digital storytelling. These benefits include exploring identity and making sense of one's experiences, unifying and empowering marginalised communities, providing people with agency, illuminating common experiences, and facilitating the exchange of resources and support. It evaluates current developments in literacy and English education and identifies an increasing trend towards neo-liberalism and economic discourses, potentially at the expense of providing opportunities for young people to develop creativity and engage in self-exploration. It discusses the author's experiences in running life writing workshops with groups of LGBTIQA+ young people and offers suggestions on how to run similar workshops in educational and wider community settings, including possible prompts, modes of working and debriefing the participants. Overall, the findings suggest that life writing can be used to improve the health and well-being of LGBTIQA+ young people; however, the paper concludes that this sort of intervention needs to be run respectfully, strategically and with full awareness of how sensitive and traumatic the content may be that can emerge for young people. For this reason, the paper presents guidelines and recommendations to provide structure and support.

This study seeks to record and document the voices, experiences and representations of men who sell sex to men in London through advertising in queer media. It examines the diverse experiences and representations of men who sell sex to men and the roles they have in coconstructing the meanings of queer, male, and sexual identities and practices. It explores data triangulated from a queer ethnography of London’s queer scenes, including: semi-structured interviews with key informants (n=20), samples of escort and masseur advertisements collected from print media, data from social networking websites aimed at gay men, and field notes from collecting data within London’s queer scenes. Eighteen of the interview participants are gay or bisexual men who have used advertising to sell sex to other men in London themselves. The study finds that classified advertising can be used as a canon of texts to explore socially constructed records of sexual and economic stories. It details how men have...

Many primary, secondary and tertiary educators need support to engage in inclusive pedagogical practices that challenge homophobia, transphobia and heteronormativity. We present a border-crossing pedagogy (BCP) designed to assist English language arts educators in translating knowledge into action to demolish deeply engrained anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and intersex (LGBTIQ+) bigotry, discrimination and violence. This model is timely given the rise in anti-LGBTIQ+ bigotry as governments pass LGBT-inclusive hate crime laws, executive orders prohibiting LGBT discrimination and marriage equality. We illustrate how the BCP can be used to explore affordances and barriers located in the English curriculum, and beyond, to teach about diverse genders and sexualities, positively recognising and affirming LGBTIQ+ identities.

In 2013, the organization ´In the Name of the Family´ organized the campaign that resulted in a referendum for inclusion of a definition of marriage as a union of man and woman in the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia. As a reaction on a campaign Zagreb Pride organized the biggest Pride March until then, gathering around 15 000 supporters, under the motto ´This country is for all of us!´. Those events took place in the political and social context of country burdened with recession, numerous corruption affairs and civil distrust in political institutions. This led to radicalization of different politics and created the favorable atmosphere for political populist actors, often supported by neoconservative civil society organizations.

This presentation will introduce the results of recently finished ethnography on the PROMISE project about Zagreb Pride LGBTIQ non-government organization. PROMISE (Promoting youth involvement and social engagement: opportunities and challenges for ´conflicted´ young people across Europe) is a Horizon 2020 project which aims to understand and promote young people´s engagement in society in different European countries. The objectives of PROMISE are to explore young people´s role in shaping society (past, present and future) and to investigate their responses to these challenges, as well as transform them to positive social achievement.

As the project is focused on young people that are ´in conflict´ with authority and social norms, Zagreb Pride was chosen because of the social and political context of the LGBTIQ movement in Croatia. This especially refers on years following the campaign for marriage referendum because of increase of hate speech against LGBTIQ people in Croatia. The paper will present the result of ethnographic fieldwork that lasted for eleven months, after which a qualitative analysis of 31 semi-structured interviews was made. As one of the key findings of the ethnography is the existence of stigmatization as well as experiences of violence and bulling for LGBTIQ community in Croatia.


Key words: Gender equality, sexuality, conflict, marriage referendum, LGBTIQ rights, stigmatization