Western University From the SelectedWorks of Paulette Rothbauer 2004 Finding and Creating Possibility: Reading in the Lives of Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer Young Women Paulette Rothbauer Available at: https://works.bepress.com/paulette_rothbauer/17/ Finding and Creating Possibility: Reading in the lives of lesbian, bisexual and queer young women Spine Title: Finding and Creating Possibility (Thesis format: Monograph) by Paulette M. Rothbauer Graduate Program in Library and Information Science Faculty of Information and Media Studies A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Graduate Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Paulette M. Rothbauer 2004 Abstract This study examines the voluntary reading practices of self-identified lesbian, bisexual and queer young women between the ages of 18 and 23 years. The practices associated with voluntary reading including finding, borrowing, buying, reading, sharing and talking about texts, especially those that fall into the genre of lesbian and gay literature, comprise the central theme of this study. Data collection and analysis were guided by principles of qualitative, interpretivist inquiry. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with seventeen young women in London and Toronto, Ontario. Three main themes related to reading emerged from analysis of interview transcripts. The first of these is an interrogation of the metaphor of reading as escape shown to be an inadequate description of the power of reading to give comfort through access to representations of lesbian, bisexual and queer female experience. The second major theme concerns the role of reading for possibility encompassing a rejection of modernist coming out narratives and an emotional engagement with memorable textual characters. The third theme suggests that reading functions as a way to engage with others augmenting social participation in larger communities. Modes of access to reading materials are also discussed. Two themes related to Internet use emerged: the Internet as a searching tool, and the Internet as a site of access to alternative digital texts. Libraries are a significant source of reading materials and thus support personal identity maintenance through the circulation of published materials containing lesbian, gay and queer representations, but libraries do little to augment social connectedness amongst participants. Bookstores play an important role in the reading accounts of participants, primarily as a source of information about lesbian and gay literature. Feminist and gay bookstores may constitute a ground for politically motivated consumption that contributes to the legitimation of alternative sexual identities. Implications for library services are also discussed. Key words: lesbian and queer young women, voluntary reading, public libraries, bookstores, qualitative research iii Acknowledgements This project has been such a source of delight in large part because I received much positive encouragement from so many people. My supervisory committee permitted me to follow flights of intellectual fancy while insisting that I ground them with good research practices. I thank them particularly for their expediency in providing responses to drafts of this work. I have never been very good at waiting for feedback and it was my great good fortune to have a committee that didn’t make me do so. I wish to thank my supervisor Dr. Lynne McKechnie who from the very beginning has been a true mentor. Lynne needed no convincing that this study of young women and reading was legitimate, and indeed, continues to be one of its strongest advocates. It is not an overstatement to say that I would never have made it without Lynne’s kind and much-called-on guidance. I would also like to thank the other members of my supervisory committee, Drs. Catherine Ross and Grant Campbell, for their careful readings and insightful comments on this work from its early stages to its final draft. I wish to thank the staff, faculty and doctoral students at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario for their assistance and support as I completed my studies there. My thanks to Boyd Holmes, Pam McKenzie, Steve Joyce, Nadine Wathen, Siobhan Stevenson, Elisabeth Davies, Catherine McInerney and Charles McClellan. Special thanks go to Cindy Morrison for her calm and constant support, and to Brendan Luyt for collegial exchanges and generous friendship. I would also like to acknowledge my colleagues at the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto for their support as I brought this phase of the research to a close. Others with whom I discussed this work deserve acknowledgement: librarians, social workers, educators and youth advocates. I am deeply appreciative of their assistance and I am truly inspired by their commitment to improving the lives of LGBTQ youth. I also thank the young women who participated in this study for their generosity and wisdom. The financial support I received from Ontario Graduate Scholarships and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship freed me from the grind of part-time work during full-time study and I am profoundly grateful for the privilege. I would like to acknowledge more personal debts of gratitude to friends and family. I particularly want to thank my parents, Thea and Duff Rothbauer for their love and encouragement through these five years and all the other years of my life. I also thank Maria Götz, Kun-Sung Chung, Doug Ruth and Alex Ross as they each played an important role in helping me complete this project. Finally, I thank Irene Götz for living every step of this experience with me—the desperate lows and exhilarating highs were tempered always by the certainty of her support and love. iv Table of Contents Certificate of Examination ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents v List of Appendices vii Chapter One – Introduction: Conceptual Influences and Overview 1 Assumptions about sexual identity 2 Reading and readers 7 Preliminary research questions 18 Significance 18 Thesis overview 19 Chapter Two – Methodology and Interpretive Framework: An Interpretivist Qualitative Inquiry 20 Background 20 Philosophical assumptions 22 Characteristics of the study 24 Research methods 26 Data analysis and interpretation 44 Evaluation criteria 50 Reciprocity 52 Chapter Three – Reading as Escape? 53 Declarations of queer, lesbian and bisexual identities 56 Reading as comfort 61 When reading fails 64 So is reading an escape or not? 65 Reading as escape: A conclusion 69 Chapter Four – Reading for Possibility 71 Beyond the modernist coming out tale 73 Reading for experience 80 Making connections with the textual other 86 Reading for possibility: A conclusion 91 v Chapter Five – Reading for Community 95 Reading local authors 96 Real communities and textual communities 100 Sharing books 105 Connecting with lesbian/queer readers 108 Reading for community: A conclusion 111 Chapter Six – The Internet: Failed Searches and Unsanctioned Reading 115 Searching the web for reading materials 116 Reading digital texts 125 Conclusion 132 Chapter Seven – Libraries 134 Summary of LIS research 134 Types of libraries used by participants 139 Dimensions of library use 142 Factors affecting library use 145 Conclusion 151 Chapter Eight – Bookstores 154 Studies of bookstores and bookselling 154 Bookstore profiles 157 Dimensions of bookstore use 160 Factors affecting bookstore use 163 Human intermediaries 170 Conclusion 172 Chapter Nine – Conclusions and Implications 174 Revisiting Certeau 174 Implications for Library Services 182 Conclusion: Revisiting the research questions 185 References 191 Appendices 210 Vita 231 vi Appendices 1.0 – List of participants 210 2.0 – Titles mentioned throughout thesis 212 2.1 – Online reading materials 218 3.0 – Ethics approval form 220 3.1 – Interview outline (probes) 221 3.2 – Participant consent form – interviews 222 3.3 – Participant consent form – protocol writing 223 3.4 – Personal writing exercise – instructions 224 3.5 – Information letter – adult gatekeepers 225 3.6 – Information letter – participants 227 3.7 – Research poster (sample) 228 3.8 – Paid advertisements 229 4.0 – Initial contact summary form 230 vii 1 Chapter One – Introduction: Conceptual Influences and Overview “I don’t think it’s asking too much of reading to become the many stories for our lives.” –Diane, 21 years When Diane, one of the participants in this study, spoke these words near the close of our interview, we both fell silent. For me, it was the shock of recognition to hear someone else articulate an experience of reading with such simple explanatory force. I knew in that moment that I wanted Diane’s words to open this thesis. If the quote can be permitted to represent the voices of my participants, it gives proper attention to the generosity and wisdom of the seventeen young women who agreed not only to give over a significant portion of their day to talk to me about reading but also allowed me to weave into our conversations the varied threads of our self-declared lesbian, queer and bisexual identities. The practices associated with voluntary reading including finding, borrowing, buying, reading, sharing and talking about texts, especially those that fall into the genre of lesbian and gay literature, comprise the central theme of this study. The research problematic is reading not identity. I sought to explore