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An Intersectional Examination of Disability and LGBTQ+ Identities in Virtual Spaces Justine E

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An Intersectional Examination of Disability and LGBTQ+ Identities in Virtual Spaces Justine E University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School April 2018 An Intersectional Examination of Disability and LGBTQ+ Identities In Virtual Spaces Justine E. Egner University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Education Commons, and the Sociology Commons Scholar Commons Citation Egner, Justine E., "An Intersectional Examination of Disability and LGBTQ+ Identities In Virtual Spaces" (2018). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7149 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. An Intersectional Examination of Disability and LGBTQ+ Identities In Virtual Spaces by Justine E. Egner A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Sara E. Green, Ph.D. Sara Crawley, Ph.D. Doni Loseke, Ph.D. Maralee Mayberry, Ph.D. Allison Carey, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 12, 2018 Key Words: Disability, Sexuality, LGBTQ+, Queer Theory, Crip Theory Copyright © 2018, Justine E. Egner DEDICATION To my wife Shannon. And for the queer, the crip, and those who experience intersectional invisibility but refuse to stop fighting. Your Existence is Resistance! ACKNOWLEGMENTS I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to all the people who supported and encouraged me throughout graduate school as well as the writing of this dissertation. First, I would like to thank my wonderful advisor and dissertation chair, Dr. Sara Green, for all the guidance, wisdom, constant encouragement, coffee, and chocolate she has bestowed upon me. I greatly appreciate the countless hours she has spent advising me as well as her unwavering support and mentorship. She has been an exceptional mentor who does not just mold students in her own image, rather she encourages them to explore from their own perspective while pushing them to be the best scholar they can be. I am truly grateful to the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Sara Crawley, Dr. Donileen Loseke, Dr. Maralee Mayberry, and Dr. Allison Carey for their time, energy, support and valuable feedback. I would like to thank Dr. Sara Crawley for acting as a “scholarly sparing” partner as it has contributed greatly to my ability to articulate my point of view. I am grateful to Dr. Maralee Mayberry for her guidance as a member of my dissertation committee and as director of pedagogy as her influence has greatly shaped both my scholarship and pedagogical philosophy as a teacher- scholar. I would also like to thank Dr. Donileen Loseke, her methodological expertise and voice of reason has helped me better communicate my arguments with clarity. The brevity and clarity with which she writes is something I greatly admire and aspire to emulate. I am also extremely grateful to Dr. Allison Carey, whose work as both a scholar and a mentor as greatly impacted my life’s trajectory. It was when sitting in her undergraduate sociological theory class at Shippensburg University that I decided I wanted to pursue sociology and it was she who first introduced me to sociology of disability. I will be forever appreciative that my first explorations into sociology of disability were under her guidance. I would also like to thank Dr. Elizabeth Aranda, Dr. James Cavendish, Dr. Laurel Graham, Dr. Rob Benford, Dr. Michelle Hughes Miller, and the rest of the faculty and staff in the Department of Sociology for all they have done to assist and guide me. Additionally, I would like to express my appreciation to my mentors from my alma maters, Dr. Barbara Denison, Dr. Jennifer Dunn, and Dr. Patricia Maloney for their continuous guidance and support. I am also extremely appreciative to my fellow graduate students for their fellowship and camaraderie. I am especially thankful to Jasmon Bailey, Mindy Maconi, Toria Kwan, Mary McKelvie, Dr. Loren Wilbers, and my sociology sisters Carley Geiss and Erik Withers for their consistent encouragement and incredible support. I am also eternally grateful to my best friend Dr. MC Whitlock, who has been a guiding force in the direction of this dissertation, my scholarship, and my life. Additionally, I would like to thank Adrian Silbernagel and Elizabeth Desmarais for their friendship and encouragement throughout my graduate school experience. Furthermore, I feel it necessary to thank my elementary school teachers who informed me that an autistic person like me should “stick to my strengths,” “understand my limits” and purse a career that didn’t require much education, for fuelling a fire in me at a very early age. Lastly, I would like to give thanks and appreciation to my mother, father, Jesse, Alex and Noel for their unconditional love and support. I am especially grateful to my wife Shannon, without which this accomplishment would not have been possible, for her patience, love, and fantastic editing skills. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Previous Research: Disability and LGBTQ+ Experiences .............................................................. 3 Intersection of LGBTQ+ and Disability Identity ................................................................ 3 LGBTQ+ & Disability Social Movements ......................................................................... 6 Chapter Descriptions ........................................................................................................................ 7 References ...................................................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER TWO: ......... A MESSY TRAJECTORY: FROM MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY TO CRIP THEORY ......................................................................................................................... 19 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 19 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 20 A Brief History of Medical Sociology ........................................................................................... 25 The Concept Of Medicalization As A Social Process ................................................................... 28 Social Constructionist Critiques of Medicalization ....................................................................... 30 Medicalization of Sexuality .............................................................................................. 33 Medicalization of Disability ............................................................................................. 34 Critical Responses to The Medicalization of Disability ................................................................ 36 Social Model ..................................................................................................................... 36 Critical Disability Perspectives ......................................................................................... 38 Feminist Disability Studies ............................................................................................... 41 Crip and Queer Theories ................................................................................................... 46 Summary and Implications For Future Scholarship and Research ................................................ 52 References ...................................................................................................................................... 56 CHAPTER THREE: HEGEMONIC OR QUEER?: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FIVE LGBTQ+ INTERSECTIONAL SOCIAL MOVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS ............. 65 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 65 Previous Literature ......................................................................................................................... 68 Collective Identity and Collective Consciousness ............................................................ 69 Boundary Making ............................................................................................................. 71 Hegemonic and Queer Discourses: Sameness or Difference in Assimilation or Anti- assimilation Politics .......................................................................................................... 72 LGBTQ+ Movements and Queer and Hegemonic Discourses ......................................... 78 Disability Movements and Queer/Crip and Hegemonic Discourses. ............................... 79 i Methodology .................................................................................................................................
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