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LGBT Inclusivity in Transpersonal Psychology: A Case for Incorporating LGBT Spiritual Experiences in Transpersonal Education
Get PDFAfter conducting three qualitative interviews on the somatic experiences of transgender individuals and finding relatively few resources with which to draw significant conclusions in the field, it is clear that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) scholarship is severely lacking in transpersonal psychology.
Method: This research revealed that an understanding and appreciation for the lived experiences of gay people––specifically that of gay men––are also limited and are not appropriately represented through the use of feminist or queer models. Therefore, an alarming number of issues affecting the transgender and gay male populations are not being adequately addressed within the discipline of transpersonal psychology.
Results: Several key issues surrounding the integration of spiritual and religious experiences were exposed, directly affecting the transgender and gay male populations, as well as areas in which practitioners may support and better understand the innumerable challenges facing LGBT clients and students.
Conclusion: Additional considerations were discussed to demonstrate how members of the trans and gay communities may assist the field of transpersonal psychology, as it seeks to expand its reach and visibility
Virtual “Meet-and-Greet” with Mie Hiramoto, Nikki Lane, Lucy Jones, and Denis Provencher
No full textA multimodal analysis of sex work discourses: Normativity and context
No full textPrevious discourse analytical studies on the media representation of sex work have stressed the prevalence of stereotypical representations, which can be condensed in four key themes: (a) feminisation; i.e. the assumption that sex workers are women only and clients only men; (b) victimisation; i.e. the representation of sex workers as victims; (c) problematisation; i.e. the construction of sex work as a problem by means of associating it with other social problems and (d) foreignisation, i.e. highlighting sex workers’ different descent (Sagredos 2019). Meanwhile, agendas of mainstream pro-sex-work activism oppose such representations, arguing that they reproduce stereotypes of the ‘sex worker’ category and sustain (if not contribute to) discourses of discrimination. Adopting the critical perspective of queer linguistics, this study shows that both traditional sex-work discourses and pro-sex-work activist discourses share an identity-essentialising line of argumentation that may sustain heteronormative representations and gender binarisms. The sample linguistic and multimodal analysis undertaken highlights that the discursive construction of “descriptive/prescriptive normativities” (Motschenbacher 2018) vis-à-vis sex work is always influenced by contextual factors, underlining the key role of contexts (e.g. macro-level social context, meso-level context of discursive practice) in the discursive construction of certain identities and practices as more-or-less normal/normative
Genderqueerness and the French Language: Why a more neutral French is important in a genderqueer context
No full textAn increase in visibility in the francophone world of people whose social gender sits or fluctuates outside the gender binary has prompted the question of how and why we must create a French language that accommodates them. The focus of this presentation, to argue in favour of a more neutral French, will be achieved through linguistic analysis of the two methods used to discuss genderqueer people in French, namely l’Écriture Inclusive and le Français Inclusif. L’Écriture Inclusive is characterised by the use of both the masculine and feminine endings, joined together in the written form by punctuation, e.g ‘Je suis un.e danseur.euse’. Le Français Inclusif is characterised by a multiplicity of options, including the usage of new neutral endings, e.g ‘Je suis an danseuxe’. The linguistic analysis will take as its basis the aim of a non-cissexist approach, which it will be argued that l’Écriture Inclusive fails to achieve. Linguistic and queer theory will also be applied, as well as evidence from personal testimonies collected through interviews. These will be used to show the importance of a more neutral French in a genderqueer context in terms of identity comprehension, identity formation, self-preservation, group and individual wellbeing. A lack of appropriate language means that a non-genderqueer public may have difficulties understanding non-binary identities. There is also a similar effect on non-binary people themselves, in terms of comprehending their own identity. This talk will demonstrate that le Français Inclusif, rather than l’Écriture Inclusive, should be employed as a genre commun and genre inconnu in order to stop genderqueer erasure and invisibility, and to facilitate a language with less emphasis on gender. It will be argued that all forms of neo-French should be valued as a genre social, based on emotive responses from participant testimonies collected during interviews
Direct and Indirect Non-binary Language in English to Spanish Translation
No full textAs non-binary and trans people and communities become more visible in the media, we begin to see more examples of translations of those identities. However, translating gender can bring its own set of problems, particularly when the target language is very clearly binary. In the clash between human gender and grammatical gender, and between norm and transgression, the translator often must take some risks. When translating a non-binary character, the choice is not simply to misgender or to translate correctly as there are two alternatives to misgendering: visibilizing the person’s gender or hiding it entirely.
The speaker will give an overview of several Netflix original series and the ways in which the trans or non-binary characters were translated from English into Spanish. They will look at four different Spanish translations for each series (subtitles and dubbing, both for Latin America and for Spain) to determine what queer meaning was lost or maintained in each translation and what translation techniques could be used to deliver a product that is simultaneously attractive to Netflix’s subscribers and faithful to the original, queer message
Gendered pronoun usage by Spanish and Russian EL2 speakers: Exploring epicene forms
No full textIn the last few years, there has been a focus on gender-inclusive language and particularly epicene pronouns. Epicene pronouns in English are third-person singular pronouns that refer to an indefinite or hypothetical human antecedent, whose gender is unknown or unspecified (Abudalbuh 2012; Everett 2011; Noll et al. 2018; Paterson 2011). The theoretical background lies in Queer Theory (Motschenbacher 2014) that problematizes the use of gender binarism in language (feminine and/or masculine forms).
This paper presents an exploratory study on the usage of epicene pronouns in English as an additional language (EL2) by native speakers of Spanish and Russian. It focuses on the epicene pronoun choices and avoidance strategies used, as well as the speakers’ reasons for their use of epicene pronouns and/or avoidance strategies. Epicene pronouns are the focus as they provide one way for EL2 speakers to be introduced to gender-inclusive language. By looking at both usage and reasons, a better understanding of how language and gender interact in these speakers’ L2 can be uncovered.
To address this focus, this study utilizes a novel methodology that combines elicitation techniques with a stimulated recall based interview. The elicitation techniques are used in two tasks, i) a writing task consisting of three prompt questions and ii) a speaking task consisting of fifteen questions to gather epicene pronoun usage/non-usage in these modes. This develops a context to mimic authentic language use that focuses on the linguistic feature investigated, which otherwise might be underrepresented, without needing an example model (Eisenbeiss 2010; Hughes 2010; Rose, McKinley and Baffow-Djan 2020). This is followed by a semi-structured interview using stimulated recall to gather the participants’ motives to use/non-use epicene pronouns. The data collection for the project will occur in March-April, with the initial findings presented at the Lavender Language conference. These findings will help contribute to the field of queer linguistics and SLA by providing information about how EL2 speakers from Spanish and Russian L1 address, who are often underrepresented in the literature (see Stormbom 2018; 2019; 2020
A Spoken-Word Poet\u27s Gestural Guide to Creating a Queer World
No full textMembers within the LGBTQIA+ community continue to struggle with their identity in the face of a heteronormative world. At the heart of this struggle is the desire to be seen, heard and validated in a society that tells them that they are ‘going through a phase,’ ‘just doing this for attention,’ and/or that they are engaging in a ‘lifestyle’ that is fundamentally and morally wrong given societal norms. This desire takes form in many different ways, including art forms like dance, song and poetry, and it manifests in a way that showcases how a queer individual seeks to create a world in which validation comes first. In this research, we look at how queer spoken-word poets take part in ‘queer world making’ through their use of performative gestures, and we analyze both the speech and gestural components of their performance. The gestures used by the poets create a dichotomy between communication with the ‘other’—the presumably straight audience members—and a conceptualization of the self—the desire to be seen and heard as a queer individual. We find three prominent gestural patterns that manifest these functions: self-referential gestures corresponding with verbal reference to the queer self, deixis towards the audience corresponding to verbal reference to a straight “you,” and gestures corresponding to verbalized interactions between the queer self and the straight “you.” These three gestural expressions, when paired with the stories found within the poems, act as a way to concretely express the queer self. These performative gestures help to bridge the gap between audience and poet and build a world in which the queer identity is seen, heard and validated
Wake Thor and Woden . . . in our Saxon breasts : American Anglo-Saxon-Nordic Normative Masculinity and the Patriotic-Paranoid Style
No full text‘White male centrality’ (Katz 2021). ‘Aggrieved entitlement’ (Kimmel 2013). ‘Politicized anger’, ‘white nationalist’ (Kimmel 2018). ‘Trumpist.’ The 6 January 2021 insurrectionist attack on the US Capital produced numerous analyses that sought to describe, often using phrases like these, the masculinity on display that afternoon. Most argue that the largely White, male crowd of extremists display a potent form of right-wing masculinity characterized by what Kimmel (2021) has called ‘amped-up militarism and violence and hypermasculine posturing’ that can be traced to conservative discourses of the 1960s through the 1980s that sought to cultivate and then harness White males’ ‘aggrieved entitlement’ for political gains.
While images of the insurrection readily demonstrate its largely white male cohort, decked out in flannels, ball caps, hoodies, and paramilitary gear, there are a few participants who at first glance fail to fit the MAGA/Proud Boys/Three Percenters mold. I was particularly struck by the appearance of Jacob Anthony Chansley, aka Jake Angeli, aka the “shirtless horned man”, aka or “QAnon shaman.” Clad in faux buckskin, carrying a white bullhorn and an American flag on a spear-tipped staff, he was, unlike any of the other protestors on that chilly January day, bare-chested, his face painted in an abstract American flag design. The right side of his naked chest is covered in Nordic tattoos (Valknut, Yggdrasil, and Mjølnir), with other patterns on his arms and wrists. Perhaps because of his Nordic tattoos, journalists frequently described his headdress as Viking, following a line of reasoning based on white nationalists’ appropriation of pre-Christian Scandinavian symbols. But Chansley’s headdress appropriates indigenous North American buffalo warbonnets, worn by certain clan-members and other warriors of distinction from Sioux and other northern Great Plains nations.
This presentation focuses on how Chansley’s gender-political embodiment reflects an enduring discourse of American gender-normativity that was central to the nation’s formation as a settler-colonial ‘republic’ and to national belonging/citizenship, and which remains central to the present moment. This discourse draws on 18th and 19th-century notions of Anglo-Saxon-Nordicism, as well as a style of patriotic embodiment that requires dedication to the Nation’s ‘founding Anglo-Saxon values’ and to the constant surveillance of both one’s own masculine style and that of others in order to ensure the success of the Nation.
Thus 6 January 2021 is symptomatic of a gender-political habitus, a “practice-generating grammar[]” producing a “common repertoire of representations” (Bourdieu 1990: 35) flexible enough to accommodate various displays, including Chansley’s, yet enduring enough to ensure the normative ideological core remains intact and is reproduced.
In offering this presentation, I am not ignoring Leap’s (2020) recent call for a queer historical linguistics that refuses linear, teleological narratives. What I propose here is consistent with the spatiotemporal inquiry associated with a scavenger methodology (Halberstam 1998; Leap 2020: 45-50) that QHL requires. Moreover, instead of treating hegemonic masculinity as something that endures eternally, outside of history, this presentation encourages us to ask why these notions of (hetero)masculinity have been (re)imagined repeatedly in the U.S. and similar contexts, and why Anglo-Saxon-Nordic ‘savagery’ is so often the basis for that imagery