CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE Title Page When Deaf, Queer, and Leather Spaces Intersect. A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Social Work By Erik James Escareño May 2017 Signature Page The graduate project of Erik James Escareño is approved: _______________________________________ __________ Dr. Allen Lipscomb Date _______________________________________ ___________ Dr. Jodi Brown, Date _______________________________________ ___________ Dr. Eli Bartle, Chair Date California State University, Northridge ii Dedication This research project is dedicated to the Leather Community. Through adversary LGBTQ and Deaf LGBTQ people have risen and persevered to create much needed spaces for themselves. We exist. Our created families normalizes that we can be comfortable in our own skin and evidence that it gets better. “Blood is thicker than water, but leather is thicker than blood.” –Anonymous Leather person. iii Table of Contents TITLE PAGE ....................................................................................................................... I SIGNATURE PAGE .......................................................................................................... II DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. III ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... V INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................... 3 VIDEOVOICE .................................................................................................................... 3 THE LEATHER/BDSM COMMUNITY ................................................................................ 4 THE DEAF COMMUNITY ................................................................................................... 5 Audism ........................................................................................................................ 7 Historical Trauma and Oppression ............................................................................. 7 LGBTQ Deaf Leather Community ............................................................................. 9 METHOD ......................................................................................................................... 11 STUDY DESIGN .............................................................................................................. 11 SAMPLING STRATEGY .................................................................................................... 14 Recruitment ............................................................................................................... 15 DATA COLLECTION ........................................................................................................ 15 Procedure .................................................................................................................. 15 Instruments ................................................................................................................ 16 DATA ANALYTIC STRATEGY .......................................................................................... 16 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 17 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................... 25 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 28 APPENDIX A ................................................................................................................... 30 LEATHER COMMUNITY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS .......................................................... 30 APPENDIX B ................................................................................................................... 41 APPENDIX C ................................................................................................................... 42 VIDEOVOICE PROMPT ................................................................................................. 42 iv Abstract When Deaf, Queer, and Leather Spaces Intersect. By Erik James Escareño Master of Social Work Purpose: To explore the ways members of the LGBTQ Deaf Leather Community experience marginalization along various axes of their identities and how they cultivate community and resiliency via participation in the general leather community. Methods: Videovoice is a community-based participatory research (CBPR) strategy that embraces the strengths of Photovoice methodology and integrates film as a means to capture the ideals and voices of the participants of the study. Results: There were three prominent themes: LGBTQ space, development, and barriers in communication. Discussion: These three main themes supported the fact that there are communication barriers in the Leather community for Deaf Leather folks, however the use and creation of Deaf space through the means of sign language, interpreters, and other technologies help foster inclusivity within a niche group. According to the data all of the participants started their leather journey at a leather bar or event. This speaks to the importance of having an LGBT space that allows for a unique community to flourish, such as the, Leather community. v Introduction The Deaf leather community is one facet of the overall leather community. Comprised of diverse individuals that have varied fetishes and kinks; the leather community is far more than just kink: it is a community that focuses on creating safe spaces for exploring taboo desires. There is a sense of camaraderie, respect, and acceptance embodied within the spirit of leatherhood (Andrews, 2012). This experience for Deaf leather folk is met with many facets of intersectionalities. Across the United States various leather contests are conducted to select titleholders that represent a particular bar or group. Most of these Leather Contests are LGBTQ spaces that were historically created as a means to be able to be active within this community. The Leather community1 was born after WWII as a way to protect those who were LGBTQ to deter hate crimes through motorcycle clubs and so on (Andrews, 2012). This creation of LGBTQ space sparked many contests that over time changed from being solely sexual to now adding a community service component that was influenced by the AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s (Andrews, 2012). This brought many in this community together as a way to cope with the mass losses. Los Angeles has a number of contests, nine of which send their winners to compete in the Mr. Los Angeles Leather (LAL) contest which is not exclusively LGBTQ but the contest is formed mostly of those who are LGBTQ identified. The winner of LAL goes on to compete in the International Mr. Leather (IML) contest held in Chicago, which is also an open contest for any sexual orientation and does accept Trans- males as well. Most major events are interpreted for the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing (Leather Archives & Museum, 2016). Deaf leatherfolk have created a niche within the leather community and, because of lack of access, started the International Mr. Deaf Leather (IDL) contest in 1991 (which 1SEE Appendix A 1 also includes title competitions for Ms. IDL and IDL boy), as well as the Deaf Leathermen Fraternity in later years (International Deaf Leather, 2016) (Deaf Leather Fraternity, 2016). Deaf leather is not limited to the United States: there are many strong Deaf leather communities that have been established in other countries as well (International Deaf Leather, 2016). These spaces were created to be able to create safe spaces for those who do identify as Deaf Leather and LGBTQ. This video-voice research study focused on the lives of Deaf LGBTQ leatherfolk, which included discussion of the history of the leather community, International Deaf Leatherman contest, Deaf leathermen in different countries, communication barriers, ASL interpreters, as well as Deaf leather-specific vocabulary, Deaf spaces, and much more. Moreover, this video voice research study focused on the challenges of Deaf LGBTQ identified person through this intersectionality and more importantly through their perspective. This community has unique and poorly understood experiences at the intersection of their deaf, LGBTQ, and leather identities. For example, the coming out process may be a re-lived experience; i.e. coming out with orientation and as a leather person. Therefore, the need to be able to create space as an LGBTQ Leather person may vary from that of a Deaf LGBTQ person. This Videovoice qualitative research study hopes to answer the research question: in what ways do members of the LGBTQ Deaf Leather Community experience marginalization along various axes of their identities and how do they cultivate community and resiliency via participation in the general leather community? 2 Literature Review Videovoice In recent years, video-voice, a qualitative research strategy, has provided an outlet for many marginalized populations. For example, in 2005 Hurricane Katrina destroyed a critical portion of a vibrant community, New Orleans. It was estimated that 1,833 people