Journal of Lesbian Studies最新文献

The following text is an excerpt from The Refugee Chronicles, a fictional diary written by Evgeny Shtorn, poet and activist, from his experience of seeking asylum. Shtorn had to flee Russia due to the government's hostile policies toward both queer sexualities and political dissent right after he was interviewed by the Russian secret police FSB in 2018. The run for life and liberty brought him to the utmost end of Western Europe, Ireland. Shtorn's experience of claiming asylum made him question clear cut boundaries between the West and the East along the lines of guarantees and protections of human rights. He also noted how queer sexuality plays a specific role in the asylum application process as a protected and even desired ground for granting refugee status. His experience of a lengthy stay in the dormitory for asylum seekers converted into a book-length, semi-fictional chronicle was published by an independent press, Poryadok Slov, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The book is full of queries, ambiguities, and doubts that surround the issues of queerness, migration, and the politics of human rights. The following chapter is introduced with a short pre-word by a scholar of sexuality studies Alexander Kondakov who offers a brief contextualization and conceptualization of The Refugee Chronicles.

LGBTQ+ women have long been overlooked in sexual and reproductive health research. However, recent research has established that LGBTQ+ women have unique and specific needs that need to be addressed in order to improve effectiveness of sexual health education and practice with this historically and presently underserved population. Informed by a reproductive justice framework coupled with liberation psychology theory, this review discusses the current state of sexual and reproductive health and technologies among LGBTQ+ women. In particular, we focus on a range of HIV prevention and reproductive technologies and their use and promotion, including the internal condom, abortion, oral contraceptives, dapivirine ring, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, intrauterine device, and other less studied options, such as the contraceptive sponge. Grounded in an intersectional framing, this review acknowledges the intersecting systems of oppression that affect multiply marginalized women inequitably and disproportionately. A sociohistorical, critical lens is applied to acknowledge the well-documented racist origins of reproductive health technologies and ongoing coercive practices that have led to medical mistrust among marginalized and stigmatized communities, particularly racialized LGBTQ+ women, women with disabilities, and women who are poor or incarcerated. Moreover, we discuss the urgent need to center LGBTQ+ women in research and clinical care, community-engaged health promotion efforts, affirming non-heteronormative sexual health education, and health policies that prioritize autonomy and dismantle structural barriers for this population. We conclude with recommendations and future directions in this area to remedy entrenched disparities in health.

LBTQ people have increased risks of complications during birth, risks potentially driven by minority stress and increased levels of mental illness and fear of childbirth. With the aim of exploring reproductive injustices in postpartum care for LBTQ people, we analyzed qualitative interviews where 22 LBTQ birth and non-birth parents shared their experiences of support needs during the postpartum period after births where complications had arisen. Results point to the importance of providing an LBTQ safe space, which includes the need to feel safe regarding one's gender or sexual identity, by avoiding cisheteronormative assumptions and using inclusive language. In the context of recently experiencing birth complications, parents needed a space where they were able to focus on physical and mental healing. The results further show the need for validation of the non-birth parent and inclusive breast/chest-feeding support. Results emphasize the need for more psychosocial support around the birth experience, including better medical support and information during the whole process of childbirth.

Black perinatal mental health is an area that has received less focus in psychotherapy research in the United States. This area is especially important as recent attacks on Reproductive Justice impact not only birthing people's rights and freedoms but also their mental health and emotional well-being. Current psychotherapy interventions are rooted in evidence-based treatments (EBTs) that may not always align with the values and practices of frameworks like radical healing and liberation psychology that are meant to emphasize collective healing and empower individuals. To date, psychological research involving radical healing and liberation psychology approaches have not had a specific focus on birthing people. Psychotherapeutic interventions have also largely excluded the unique intersectional identities and healing of Black birthing people. In moving toward decolonizing psychotherapy, this conceptual paper will propose a multi-pronged framework for addressing racial stressors and other mental health concerns during the perinatal period. The proposed framework, The Three Cs of Decolonization, includes three components: Community, Creativity, and Connection to Self. These components of the framework are meant to address and highlight culturally relevant ways of healing for Black birthing people. Larger systemic changes are needed and necessary for the desired change across mental health, medical, and other integrated systems of care that have been impacted by racism and discrimination. The current framework is dedicated to healing and empowering Black birthing people with approaches and considerations that are consistent with Reproductive Justice.

Having a multiplicity of identities not only makes it difficult to find inclusive spaces for Aboriginal bisexual+ (bi) people but may often be a barrier to building connections and relationships with people who have other queer identities. Bi + identities alone are often rendered invisible, unintelligible or erased when it comes to inclusion and solidarity among their peers. An intersectional lens is used to reflexively investigate existing literature to explore how a lack of solidarity among lateral communities may impact Aboriginal bi + people in Australia who face an array of racism and queerphobia from both LGBTQ + and Aboriginal communities. These unique and multifaceted layers of discrimination greatly impact mental health and wellbeing. These experiences stem from the heterosexist and monosexist status quo from heteropatriarchal settler colonialism that is seen in both Aboriginal and LGBTQ + communities respectively. As a result, Aboriginal queer people are constantly surveying risks, policing their own identities and identity expression, often hiding parts of their identity as a survival strategy to avoid rejection and adhere to dominant cultural norms. When specifically considering Aboriginal bi + identities, there are added unique stressors of lateral violence with other LGBTQ + groups, antibisexual prejudice, and assumed monosexuality, adding additional layers of minority stress. The author explores these experiences by extending upon borderland theory and minority stress models. Whilst there is solace in the holistic celebration of intersecting identities in emerging intersectional Aboriginal queer spaces, there is still a great need for solidarity and celebration of Aboriginal bi + people within the broader LGBTQ + community.

In recent years, the rights of trans people in the United Kingdom and elsewhere have been increasingly under scrutiny. This paper considers forms of resistance to Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism (TERF) and neo-fascist gender conservative movements in Edinburgh, Scotland through an analysis of trans-positive stickers in public space. Using an archive of 461 images of trans-rights-related stickers photographed in Edinburgh between August 2018 and May 2022, we explore how trans-positive activism is publicly (en)countering transphobic politics and discourses. Our analysis begins by examining palimpsests of conflict, or the layerings of trans-positive and transphobic stickers - removed, written on, or covered up - in the materiality of public space. We then turn to the transformative potential of stickers as materials of resistance, arguing that trans-positive stickers can undermine transnormative, TERF and neo-fascist gender conservative ideologies and political tactics. Stickers offer public expressions of allyship, communicate political solidarity across social justice movements and marginalised communities, and also provide representations of non-normative trans identities and embodiments. Through this analysis, we present the political potential of stickers as important materials of public resistance that intervene in transphobic political and cultural discourses to produce trans-affirming encounters in public space.

For five years the UK lesbian community has witnessed growing animosity over the acceptance or otherwise of trans people. This division has been increasingly recognised and commented upon outside of the lesbian community as part of the mainstreaming of so-called 'gender critical' (trans-exclusionary) views. Focussing on the lesbian gender critical position, this article tackles its persistence despite the oft-presented counter that empirical research shows its concerns to be unfounded. This article aims to ask questions of this persistence, and to this end ponders the primacy of emotion in the development and sustaining of the lesbian gender critical movement. By tying its rise not only to concerns about trans rights, but instead to an opportunity to recreate lost lesbian community, purpose and solidarity, it is hoped new avenues of understanding can be explored. A centring of the emotional needs met through gender critical activism might explain why it persists even as it has become a movement that vociferously defends the strict gender categories that lesbianism itself rallies against. This centring also poses uncomfortable questions about when anti-establishment itself becomes (some form of) establishment and how that relative power is wielded. While many lesbians view the current dire situation as demanding solidarity with trans people, and make excellent arguments to promote this, this article suggests that the emotional pull of 'gender critical' will not be easily overcome and greater attention should be paid to it.

In this article, I examine lesbians' solidarity with trans people in the United States. Trans exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) are feminists who believe that there is a stark difference between the biological reality of sex and the socially constructed nature of gender. They argue that sex is essential and innate. This leads some feminists to the argument that trans people are trying to infiltrate sex exclusive spaces. While TERFs are not always lesbians, lesbians are assumed to make up a large proportion of TERFs. As Thomsen and Essig argue that current ideologies within the media are allowing for the slippage between the terms "lesbian," "feminist," and "TERFs." Some scholars are suggesting that equating lesbian identities with transphobia and trans exclusion is but a new form of lesbian marginalization. I utilize 49 in-depth, qualitative interviews with lesbians across the United States to interrogate the stereotype that lesbians are largely TERFs. Through the voices of lesbians across the United States, I illustrate how many lesbians despise TERF ideology and argue that lesbians must stand in solidarity with trans people in the fight for social justice.

Transmen are a crucial gender group within the umbrella of transgender identities, yet there remains a lack of understanding regarding their gender identities and sexualities. Transmen often face challenges related to gender discrimination and inequalities, particularly in accessing government services such as healthcare and social welfare, and in securing legal recognition of their gender identity and rights. This article explores the challenges faced by transmen in Thailand. It through a discussion of the lived experiences and gender identities of Thai transmen by examining the societal context through existing literature and qualitative interviews of transmen on their own. The aim is to examine the specific local context of Thai transmen using a reproductive justice approach to examine how transmen experience gender discrimination when challenging the dominant cis-normative gender norms in Thai society. Understanding these challenges can contribute to creating fundamental knowledge for a better understanding of transmen's identities and inform recommendations for public policies that support greater gender diversity and a more inclusive environment. Importantly, supporting legal gender recognition based on self-identified gender can promote reproductive justice for transgender people.

A foundation of rights-based solidarity has fostered an environment of cooperation between LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) rights and reproductive justice in Northern Ireland (NI) following the introduction of equal marriage and the decriminalization of abortion in 2019. This article provides a grounded look at this reproductive justice organizing in NI as an example of transformative organizing for reproductive futures. The case study considers a conversation with two activists who have been central to this work. Emma Campbell coconvenor of Alliance for Choice and Danielle Roberts the coconvenor of Reclaim the Agenda and former Senior Policy and Development Officer of HERe NI. Reclaim the Agenda is a coalition of feminist, youth, LGBTQ+ and community organizations that connects and mobilizes women to promote feminist activism through education, campaigning and celebration. HERe NI is a community organization and registered charity based in Belfast that supports lesbian and bisexual women and their families across NI. Alliance for Choice campaigns for free, safe legal and local abortion access for everyone who needs it in NI. Together these groups approach reproductive justice using a framework informed by lesbian feminist organizing and an intersectional approach that views access to abortion as part of a broader understanding of gender justice inspired by Black-women led SisterSong through (1) cross-movement organizing (2) centering bodily autonomy and (3) trans affirming feminist approaches to navigating shifting language about gender. The case study will be of interest to those working provide abortion services in a queer-informed way, as well as those navigating the challenges of reforming abortion policy.