Who am I? 52 Tuesdays, intimacy and the search for an authentic life

Recent research shows that young people list media entertainment as one of the sources where they find information about what they really want to know about sex and what is not taught through the school curriculum – namely, relationships and eroticism. This paper addresses the potential role that may be played by small independent alternative feature films such as 52 Tuesdays in the sexual education of young people. While 52 Tuesdays’ purpose was never explicitly pedagogic, the subject matter – family relationships, sexual experimentation, sexual identity and agency, and transgender experience – situates it firmly within the concerns of contemporary young people.

Point of View: The Lesson of David Kato

Gay activist from Uganda had applied for an Oak Fellowship at Colby; his murder should serve as a warning of the sometimes dangerous power of Americans abroad. Ellen Morris ’11 on “knowing” slain gay-rights activist David Kato.

The gay subject in business and its discursive formation: an exploration on power, knowledge and sexuality

Issues related to the reality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals are being incorporated into institutional and social discourses, and show the challenges that must be overcome towards citizenship. The inclusion of gay rights in the domain of institutions like the United Nations and the Brazilian Secretariat of Human Rights are a response to broader movements that places the gay subject as an important topic of debate in the social-political sphere. In this scenario, some institutions deserve close attention from researchers related to gay issues, the business environment being a good example. In this domain, diversity has become an important topic of debate between scholars, where the question of sexual identity in most cases does not appear. The literature that actually focuses on the theme is explored through approaches that are not able to break with universalisms and a normatized vocabulary. Therefore, this research explores discursive structures related to sexuality and examines the meanings construed throughout these structures as described by gay individuals working in business. Furthermore, it investigates patterns of discursive normative structures and consequential challenges faced by gay people in the working environment, and also complements the current debate both in the socio-political sphere and in academic reality on LGBT challenges. The Foucauldian notions of discourse, knowledge and power, and the main concepts of queer theory are incorporated to the analysis, as well as concepts related to the politics of post-colonial sexuality, subordination, and hegemonic forces, together with role of reflexivity in modernity and its impacts on secularized mental structures. The research design takes a phenomenological approach and bases its knowledge claim on a participatory perspective, where the sample chosen for data collection consisted of gay individuals working in the business environment, aiming at generate categories of meanings through the description of their experiences.

A clínica psicológica e o público LGBT

Tendo como base os estudos recentes sobre as sexualidades e os gêneros e, em especial, os relativos à diversidade sexual, este artigo promove uma discussão ética sobre as vicissitudes da clínica psicológica com a população LGBT (lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais). Para tanto, problematizamos a construção sócio-histórica-cultural da homossexualidade e da heterossexualidade, as hierarquias das sexualidades e algumas ações terapêuticas na clínica direcionada ao público não-heterossexual, tendo em vista a Resolução do Conselho Federal de Psicologia nº 1/99 que estabelece normas de atuação para os psicólogos em relação à questão da orientação sexual. Desse modo, matizamos o discurso da clínica usualmente orientada para o trabalho com pessoas heterossexuais, pensando de modo crítico o trabalho desenvolvido com sujeitos que transitam entre a vulnerabilidade e a invisibilidade devido a sua dissidência dos preceitos heteronormativos.

O tráfico feminino para fins de superexploração sexual: o caso do Pará

No imaginário feminino da Amazônia Paraense, migrar é um sonho, cujo conteúdo onírico faz parte não só de uma estratégia de sobrevivência, como também de uma busca por ressignificação dos lugares/construções/imaginário/ atribuídos ao feminino, na herança cultural sexista, racializada e heteronormativa imposta na e para a região. Muitas sonham viver em um contexto livre da violência; ter uma casa bonita, filhos saudáveis e um marido bondoso; outras sonham ganhar muito dinheiro trabalhando na prostituição, como dançarinas ou qualquer trabalho que possibilite a realizarão daquele ou de outros sonhos. Todas já escutaram estórias de outras bem sucedidas que migraram, e hoje possuem carro, roupas caras e uma casa para morar. Ouvem dizer, que há boas perspectivas em torno dos Grandes Projetos, mas não fazem ideia de como chegar, pois, muitos desses locais são de difícil acesso, como minas e garimpos. Já ouviram dizer que “no estrangeiro” sua exoticidade rende muito dinheiro. Outras, já ouviram estórias ruins de gente que foi escravizada, presa, deportada ou morta. Mas, apostam na sorte e acreditam que o risco vale a pena. Sabem o quanto é difícil sair do país, tirar passaporte, negociar em outra língua, outra moeda, lidar com uma burocracia complexa, exigente e uma legislação rígida e restritiva. Acreditam que se tentassem migrar sozinhas, sem o apoio de alguém com experiência no ramo, provavelmente não conseguiriam. Até que, aparece alguém se dizendo com experiência e com a oferta de providenciar tudo, com um simples toque da varinha de condão...O tráfico de pessoas, especialmente o feminino para fins de superexploração sexual - que inclui mulheres, travestis e transgêneros é uma violação de direitos humanos no contexto da migração. Terceira atividade ilícita mais lucrativa do planeta perde, segundo a Organização das Nações Unidas – ONU, apenas para o tráfico de drogas e o de armas. Possui natureza multifacetada marcada por uma dupla regulação: a capitalista e a identitária, cuja finalidade é sempre o trabalho escravo, incluindo o casamento servil e a prostituição forçada. Seu contexto extrapola a esfera criminal, perpassa por questões culturais e de gênero. Seu enfrentamento reclama o reconhecimento da diversidade democrática, do direito à não discriminação e dos parâmetros de direitos humanos.

Diversidade sexual e ensino de ciências: buscando sentidos

Pós-graduação em Educação para a Ciência - FC

O corpo: entre o sofrimento e a criatividade

Bodily and gender subjective experiences challenge Psychoanalysis to reconsider its conceptual apparatus and to sustain an ethics which enables a careful and attentive listening. It puts into question the existence of a taboo in relation to the body that would prevent this listening. Bodily interventions and changes observed in transsexuals and transgender people experiences have been the subject of efforts to approximate Psychoanalysis and Queer Theory. We believe that this approximation will bring us the possibility to formulate concepts that might clear up the understanding of these experiences. In order to investigate the status of the body we separate it from gender and sexual norms by choosing three interlocutors: psychiatry - the hormone treatment of adolescent transsexuals; art and biotechnological feminism. This way of considering things allows us to take into account different aspects of deconstruction and reconstruction of the body.

A moldura em análise

Considering that our practice is intended to deconstruct stigmas andstereotypes socially produced and institutionalized from normativities ofgender and sexuality, this work proposes a reflection on two issues which hascaused concerns: the secrecy and the ethics in relation to the patients whocome to us. This is because, most of these are LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual,transvestite, transsexual and transgender), and that by being in a situation ofghettoization created by homophobia and resized by inner city context, aresubject to coexist and to relate, what makes be serviced by the same internshipproject or have friends or lovers in this. And, in this configuration, the group isquestioned by ethical dilemmas which imposes on the therapeutic relationship,forcing him to repositioning the respect of aesthetics, this is, the pictureframe setting, the treatment policy, the transference, the ethics and thesecrecy, forcing these concepts to the limit.

Dissidências existenciais de gênero: resistências e enfrentamentos ao biopoder

This article approaches the questions about the sexes, genders, desires and sexual standardization practices, starting from the appearance of new sexual identities that can be classified as queer – travesty, transsexual and transgender people. Still, we problematize how the manners of established forms of subjectivity and the hegemonic institutions marginalize such forms of existences, because of the immense difficulty in the encounter with the stranger, the different and the unusual. With those analyses, we are trying to provide the creation of devices to reduce the intensities of the discrimination, of the stigmatization, of the violence, so frequently lived by the people dissident from the heterosexual gender normative, what was reported about their own lived experiences.

Desejos, brasilidades e segredos: o negócio do sexo na relação entre clientela espanhola e travestis brasileiras

The gender ethinicization and the nationality sexualization are aspects that have been discussed in the relationship between Spanish clients and Brazilian transvestites in the brisk sex business in Spain. Sometimes, in these sexual relationships, which are also business relationships, erotic aspects are associated with exoticism that is not related only to nationality or race, but also to new sexual experiences that are more exciting than those considered conventional practices. Hence, the connection between Brazil and the transgender body, made by some Spanish clients, makes sense only when considering the dense sexual grammar involved in those relationships. These signs were structured based on continual colonial attributions, which have been given fresh meaning by the new migration flow resulting from the broad spread of images and insertion of Brazil into the sexual tourism route. Aiming at fully discussing this proposal, this research is based on the queer theory and on other studies in the literature that focus on the poststructuralist and post-colonial sex market. These tools were used to analyze the data gathered in an ethnographic study carried out in São Paulo, Madrid, and Barcelona, as well as data collected from Spanish websites about sexual interest in transvestites

"...Depois, querida, ganharemos o mundo": reflexões sobre gênero, sexualidade e políticas públicas para travestis adolescentes, meninos femininos e outras variações

This article originated in a research that was meant to map out and examine the life conditions of “travesti” (transgender) teenagers and youth living in the city of Campinas, state of São Paulo. We contacted our informants outside the environments usually identifi ed as the common spaces where members of this group spend their time and share their experiences, as a strategy that we believed could enable us to better perceive how they construct their subjectivities. As we began our ethnographic endeavors, we were surprised by the multiplicity of ways in which these young people experimented with gender and sexuality, yet which were, at the same time, accompanied by eff orts to fi t these experiments within available identity categories. Feminine boys, cross dressers and drags thus constructed their own ways of living the feminine, and in doing so, stirred our imagination regarding contemporary experiences and political struggles in the realm of sexuality.

O direito de pertencer a si mesmo: a despatologização do transexualismo e sua regulamentação jurídica como direito fundamental ao gênero

Pós-graduação em Direito - FCHS

Examining the Role of Vocational Rehabilitation on Access to Care and Public Health Outcomes for People Living with HIV/AIDS

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of vocational rehabilitation services in contributing to the goals of the National HIV/AIDS strategy. Three key research questions are addressed: (a) What is the relationship among factors associated with the use of vocational rehabilitation services for people living with HIV/AIDS? (b) Are the factors associated with use of vocational rehabilitation also associated with access to health care, supplemental employment services and reduced risk of HIV transmission? And (c) What unique role does use of vocational rehabilitation services play in access to health care and HIV prevention? Survey research methods were used to collect data from a broad sample of volunteer respondents who represented diverse racial (37% Black, 37% White, 18% Latino, 7% other), gender (65% male, 34% female, 1% transgender) and sexual orientation (48% heterosexual, 44% gay, 8% bisexual) backgrounds. The fit of the final structural equation model was good (root mean square error of approximation = .055, Comparative Fit Index=.953, Tucker Lewis Index=.945). Standardized effects with bootstrap confidence intervals are reported. Overall, the findings support the hypothesis that vocational rehabilitation services can play an important role in health and prevention strategies outlined in the National HIV/AIDS strategy.

Beyond Racial Precedents: Loving v. Virginia as an Appropriate Legal Model and Strategy for Same-Sex Marriage Litigation

This thesis explores how LGBT marriage activists and lawyers have employed a racial interpretation of due process and equal protection in recent same-sex marriage litigation. Special attention is paid to the Supreme Court's opinion in Loving v. Virginia, the landmark case that declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. By exploring the use of racial precedent in same-sex marriage litigation and its treatment in state court cases, this thesis critiques the racial interpretation of due process and equal protection that became the basis for LGBT marriage briefs and litigation, and attempts to answer the question of whether a racial interpretation of due process and equal protection is an appropriate model for same-sex marriage litigation both constitutionally and strategically. The existing scholarly literature fails to explore how this issue has been treated in case briefs, which are very important elements in any legal proceeding. I will argue that through an analysis of recent state court briefs in Massachusetts and Connecticut, Loving acts as logical precedent for the legalization of same-sex marriage. I also find, more significantly, that although this racial interpretation of due process and equal protection represented by Loving can be seen as an appropriate model for same-sex marriage litigation constitutionally, questions remain about its strategic effectiveness, as LGBT lawyers have moved away from race in some arguments in these briefs. Indeed, a racial interpretation of Due Process and Equal Protection doctrine imposes certain limits on same-sex marriage litigation, of which we are warned by some Critical Race theorists, Latino Critical Legal theorists, and other scholars. In order to fully incorporate a discussion of race into the argument for legalizing same-sex marriage, the dangers posed by the black/white binary of race relations must first be overcome.

The role of the social environment in non-suicidal self-injury among LGBTQ youth: A mixed methods study

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), such as cutting and burning, is a widespread social problem among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Extant research indicates that this population is more than twice as likely to engage in NSSI than heterosexual and cisgender (non-transgender) youth. Despite the scope of this social problem, it remains relatively unexamined in the literature. Research on other risk behaviors among LGBTQ youth indicates that experiencing homophobia and transphobia in key social contexts such as families, schools, and peer relationships contributes to health disparities among this group. Consequently, the aims of this study were to examine: (1) the relationship between LGBTQ youth's social environments and their NSSI behavior, and (2) whether/how specific aspects of the social environment contribute to an understanding of NSSI among LGBTQ youth. This study was conducted using an exploratory, sequential mixed methods design with two phases. The first phase of the study involved analysis of transcripts from interviews conducted with 44 LGBTQ youth recruited from a community-based organization. In this phase, five qualitative themes were identified: (1) Violence; (2) Misconceptions, Stigma, and Shame; (3) Negotiating LGBTQ Identity; (4) Invisibility and Isolation; and (5) Peer Relationships. Results from the qualitative phase were used to identify key variables and specify statistical models in the second, quantitative, phase of the study, using secondary data from a survey of 252 LGBTQ youth. The qualitative phase revealed how LGBTQ youth, themselves, described the role of the social environment in their NSSI behavior, while the quantitative phase was used to determine whether the qualitative findings could be used to predict engagement in NSSI among a larger sample of LGBTQ youth. The quantitative analyses found that certain social-environmental factors such as experiencing physical abuse at home, feeling unsafe at school, and greater openness about sexual orientation significantly predicted the likelihood of engaging in NSSI among LGBTQ youth. Furthermore, depression partially mediated the relationships between family physical abuse and NSSI and feeling unsafe at school and NSSI. The qualitative and quantitative results were compared in the interpretation phase to explore areas of convergence and incongruence. Overall, this study's findings indicate that social-environmental factors are salient to understanding NSSI among LGBTQ youth. The particular social contexts in which LGBTQ youth live significantly influence their engagement in this risk behavior. These findings can inform the development of culturally relevant NSSI interventions that address the social realities of LGBTQ youth's lives.