Paper ideas!!!

[J Snow]

Okay, so I have a 10 page paper I need to write for my "Introduction to Queer Studies" class, and its due in two days!!! I need ideas. Im pretty sure it can be anything that relates to LGBT lifestyle or history. Any ideas are welcome!

Some ideas that I already know are taken is Homosexual adoption and Gays in Holocaust.

Also, this one's not due til next week, but I need to do a paper for Evolutionary Psychology in which I take A standard social sciences theory and try to explain it using evolutionary psychology. I'd like to do this on something LGBT related too if I can, but there needs to be an actual article to start with.

Thanks for the ideas everyone!

[Mogget]

Homosexuality and Psychology/Psychiatry

[Homo Novus]

How free is the topic? Could you do something on mental health among LGBT youth? Give some statistics regarding suicide/depression? Talk about the suicides in October 2010? Even Jonah Mowry's vid? That kinda stuff?

Or how about the history of homosexuality? Talk about how LGBT members were treated in different eras... Punished, killed... Or how about anti-gay camps or programs that claim to "cure" homosexuality?

Alternatively... How homosexuality is viewed TODAY, in different parts of the world. For example, in Nigeria, homosexuality is still punishable of up to 14 years in prison. Furthermore, in the U.S., a larger number of states allows you to marry your cousin than the number of which will allow you to marry your homosexual partner.

The possibilities are endless! Feel free to shoot me a message if you're interested in discussing any ideas! I'd love to chat about these kinds of issues!

[Doctor Faustus]

Some suggestions:
1. Homosexuality and the law
2. Homosexuality in fiction
3. Homosexuality and religion.

As Homo Novus said, the possibilities really are endless. And yeah feel free to chat with me about ideas for the paper. You can email me some drafts, if you like (just pm me with your email as and when you want help and I'll drop a test message).

You may also find this thread helpful, if perhaps a little technical: LGBT Issues and Philosophy

[J Snow]

The following is the criteria for what the paper can be on. As you can tell its very broad. We spent really the whole class talking about LGB issues, and very little discussing transgender issues, so right now I'm kind of leaning towards that option. I need to get going though! I'm feeling a bit stressed...

Note that one of the options is "another option of your choice" so really I can do it on about anything I want lol

Choose a topic in the field of Queer Studies, and investigate written materials such as books, journal
articles, the internet, original documents, etc. This paper will be at least 10 pages (not including References
section), will provide an in-depth investigation of the topic, and will include a critical analysis of the area
under investigation. This paper is not a reflection of personal experiences or personal history, but rather, it
is a research paper. Topics could include, for example:
a. A Genre of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender Literature, for example:
i. Lesbian Pulp Fiction
ii. Contemporary LGBTQ Novels
iii. Early LGBTQ Novels
iv. Historical Novels
v. ―Underground‖ Novels
vi. Poetry
b. The Homophile Movement
i. The Mattachine Society
ii. The Daughters of Bilitis
c. LGBT people under the Nazi Regime
d. The Early German Homosexual Emancipation Movement
e. The Eugenics Movement and Treatment of Homosexuals
f. The Gay Liberation Movement, or Gay Activists Alliance, or Radical Lesbians, etc.
g. AIDS Activism
h. Women’s Music Festivals
i. A Religious Denomination of Your Choice and Its Position on LGBTQ People
j. The Political Right and Its Stance(s) on LGBTQ Rights
k. LGBT Visibility/Invisibility in the Popular Media
l. A Current Cultural/Political Issue from a Number of Perspectives, for example:
i. Same-Sex Marriage
ii. Same-Sex Adoption
iii. Military Inclusion of LGBT People
iv. 2008 Presidential Campaign and LGBTQ Issues
m. Transgender Issues and Activism
n. Intersexuality
o. Profile of a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender Personality—Current or Past
p. Overview of ―Queer Theory‖
q. Comparison and Contrasting of LGBT Studies and Queer Studies
r. The Status of LGBT/Queer Studies in the U.S.
s. Issues around Homophobia/Heterosexism/Biphobia/Transphobia
t. A Profile on a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender National or Local Organization, for
example:
i. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
ii. Human Rights Campaign
iii. Lambda Legal
iv. Gender Pac
v. Queering an Aspect of Popular Culture or Literature In Depth
u. Another Topic of Your Choice

[Kidd]

Writing about AIDS activism or various religious domination's stances on homosexuality are two really easy ones. I would do those, or write about modern LGBTQ literature and film.

[Mogget]

I'd probably do homosexuality in sacred texts, looking at the treatment of homosexuality in different religions' sacred texts (the Bible, Koran, Upanishads, Talmud and Mishnah, Buddhist Sutras, etc). But that's just me.

[J Snow]

Hmmm, right now I'm leaning on doing Catholicism and its view on LGBTQ rights since I went to Catholic school for 13 years. Of course it seems difficult to write ten pages on that... I mean it'd be easy if I was giving my opinions, but its research.

[FJ Cruiser]

It's already been suggested, but I think it would be interesting to look into how different cultures view homosexuality. It seems like it would fit both topics reasonably well.

[Mogget]

There's a lot to say about Catholicism and homosexuality. Not just its doctrine, but how that doctrine evolved, the role the RCC plays in promoting homophobic legislation, the positions of gay Catholic thinkers in the Church (and they are there), the list goes on.

[J Snow]

I've settled on Catholicism and the LGBTQ community. I'm about a page in but I still have to do like 9 more pages today =/

[J Snow]

I'm starting to regret this topic. I am raging so hard at the comments made by my paper's "sources."

After going through stupid analogy after stupid analogy, "homosexual is just as unnatural as bestiality" HOMOSEXUALITY IS ENGAGED IN BY OTHER NUMEROUS SPECIES IN NATURE!!! "Homosexuals aren't born this way, its an addiction that is caused by repeated exposure and abuse similar to alcholism," ALCOHOLISM IS LARGELY INFLUENCED BY GENETIC FACTORS! Where did the initial attraction come from!?!?

and then... after I'm on the brim of just wanting to scream at the person who made this site... I get to this gem.

"Those opposed to homosexual behavior are often charged with "homophobia"—that they hold the position they do because they are "afraid" of homosexuals. Sometimes the charge is even made that these same people are perhaps homosexuals themselves and are overcompensating to hide this fact, even from themselves, by condemning other homosexuals.

Both of these arguments attempt to stop rational discussion of an issue by shifting the focus to one of the participants."

Wait... what? After stupid nonsensical arguments and horribly interpreted scripture passages, just one after another. I get to this. That the homosexual community tries to win its case by stopping "rational discussion"... I want to slap the dude who wrote this so bad.