The aim of this Masters thesis is, partly, to examine the information needs of Lesbians: what discernable information needs they have, how they seek information and which information sources they use. The purpose is also to examine what part fiction plays regarding the information needs mentioned above and how fiction indexing could improve retrieval. The study is conducted through ten qualitative interviews with Lesbians as well as through textual analysis. The theoretical framework includes queer theory and theory concerning information needs and uses. The results indicate that Lesbians have evident information needs that mostly concern identity.

There was a silence surrounding homosexuality in the People's Republic of Poland. One can almost get the impression that same sex love, and same sex relationships, did not even exist there; that the communists had successfully removed homosexuality from society. The roots of this silence can be found in the Communist Party´s disdain for anything deemed individualist and deviant, and also in the conservatism and religiosity of the Polish society.In my thesis I study when and how gays and Lesbians found a way out of the silence that surrounded their sexuality. Gay men did so by creating subcultures, which found refuge in parks, public bathrooms and a few bars in larger Polish cities, and offered a sense of belonging for them. Lesbians, on the other hand, lacked this access to semi-public spheres, which made it even harder for them to find each other and create a space for their sexuality.

The means that the Swedish State has to legitimize and standardize different perspectives of women and their sexuality is significant. Persecution of gender and sexuality is today something that can grant refugee status according to the Swedish Aliens Act. By studying the documents that forestall the amendment of the laws is it possible to unveil the concept and ideas about women sexuality that the state manifests and reproduces through these laws and official documents.The aim of this essay is to look upon the sexual policy as it occurs in official the documents that deal with lesbian refugees. The study cover and maps present research on this group of women and gives an answer to how norms about women sexuality are expressed in these documents.Throughout the survey of the research field not much previous research was found, therefore even research that only partly covers the field is included and reviewed.As method a detailed reading of the official documents and a discourse analysis with it?s emphasize on theoretical themes like gender and sexuality, lesbianism and state feminism, was made.

In this essay I plan to mainly write about the Christian church. However, I will shortly mention other parishes.In the first part I will in the first chapter write how the church saw earlier on HBLT (Homo-, Bisexual, Lesbians and Transgender) people. In the second chapter how the situation is today and finally in the third chapter I will try to see how the situation is in the future in both in a positive and negative aspect.In the second part I will write about Troy Perry, the founder of M.C.C. Metropolitan Community Churches). In the first chapter I will write shortly about when he was growing up, in the second about his vocation to become a minister and in the third chapter about his founding of M.C.C.In the third and last part I will in the first chapter write about the first years, in the second chapter about how it is today and in the third and last chapter what the elders in the church sees how the future will look like.My main question is to see if M.C.C.

The HBTQ-society is not a homogeneous group; it contains a range of different sub-groups. QX is Sweden?s biggest magazine aimed at members of the HBTQ-society. The purpose of this study is to analyze if the magazine is more directed towards gay men or women ? both by examining how many men versus women appear in QX, but also by looking at the different ways in which the articles are more relevant to either men or women, such as by tone, language or choice of subjects.In this study, we have analyzed twelve issues of QX, from January 2012 to December 2012, in order to get the most current results as possible.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how same-sex couples experience the second-parent adoption process. To assist us, we have used our questions: how do the couples describe their experiences of the adoption process? Which are the couples? stories about the experience of contact with the involved professionals? What are the opportunities and barriers for same-sex couples to start a family? How do the couples describe their experience of reactions from the community and society, and how do they think the future will look like for same-sex couples? This study has been achieved through a qualitative approach. The empirical data is based on seven semi-structured interviews with same-sex couples or pair members that want to or have had a second-parent adoption. The theory we have used for analyzing the results is phenomenology with focus on queer theory, heteronormativity, and power.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how same-sex couples experience the second-parent adoption process. To assist us, we have used our questions: how do the couples describe their experiences of the adoption process? Which are the couples? stories about the experience of contact with the involved professionals? What are the opportunities and barriers for same-sex couples to start a family? How do the couples describe their experience of reactions from the community and society, and how do they think the future will look like for same-sex couples? This study has been achieved through a qualitative approach. The empirical data is based on seven semi-structured interviews with same-sex couples or pair members that want to or have had a second-parent adoption. The theory we have used for analyzing the results is phenomenology with focus on queer theory, heteronormativity, and power.

The construction of an identity among lesbian women during 1950-­?1965 is in focus in this master ?s thesis. My starting point is that identity, such as lesbian or any other identity, is formed in relation to other people and groups, as well as society. This thesis will also examine how lesbian women met and formed bonds with like-­minded, and whether these aspects changed, during the defined time period. The empirics is made up by letters written by women to Riksfo?rbundet fo?r sexuellt likabera?ttigande (a Swedish organisation for lesbian and gays) as well as an interview with two lesbian women who were born in 1938 and 1940.

This paper aims to investigate the terms and conditions of a lesbian gaze and a lesbian spectatorship from a feminist and queer theoretical point of view. The empirical material consists of three paintings by the American artist Romaine Brooks (1874-1970).  Brooks was based in Paris in the early 20th century where she was surrounded by a group of intellectual and usually cross-dressing Lesbians. The women within this context are the ones depicted in Brooks? paintings and this makes her one of the first artists in modernity to openly portray lesbian and cross-dressing women.

Introduktion: Antal regnbågsfamiljer kommer att öka i Sverige, eftersom fler homo- och bisexuellaställer sig positiva till eller planerar att skaffa sig barn. En del studier har gjorts om barn som levermed homosexuella föräldrar. Det finns även en del studier om pappors upplevelse under den tid parväntar barn och under förlossningsvården. Men kunskapen om hur medmammor i ett lesbisktförhållande upplever barnmorskans bemötande på mödravården under den tid de väntar barn ärbegränsad. Studien kan förhoppningsvis bidra till större kunskap och förståelse för medmammor i ettlesbiskt förhållande.

Bakgrund: Lesbiska och bisexuella kvinnor har sämre fysisk och psykisk hälsa än heterosexuella kvinnor. De är en osynliggjord grupp inom vården. Inom kvinnosjukvården (gynekologi och obstetrik) finns en tradition av heterosexualitet i och med dess fokus på reproduktion. Tidigare studier har visat att lesbiska och bisexuella undviker gynekologisk vård på grund av dåligt bemötande. Obstetriken kommer framöver att få ta emot alltfler samkönade par.

AbstractDet har i ett antal internationella undersökningar framkommit att HBT- personer har sämre hälsa än heterosexuella. I den förbindelsen har syftet med denna uppsats varit att diskutera kring vilka åtgärder som är möjliga för att förändra denna ohälsa, där jag har koncentrerat mig på särlösning kontra integrationsteorier. Jag har inriktat mig på lesbiska och bisexuella kvinnor inom HBT- området. Med hjälp av Nancy Fraser och Iris Marion Youngs teorier om erkännande eller omfördelning diskuteras särlösningen och integreringens fördelar och nackdelar. Problemet är att det vid särlösningar finns en risk för att lesbiska och bisexuella kvinnor fasthålls i sin marginalisering och att det inte arbetas med roten till problemet.

AbstractFokus för denna uppsats är våld i lesbiska parrelationer och hur man teoretiskt kan konceptualisera detta våld. Mitt övergripande syfte har varit att öka förståelsen för denna form av våld och därmed bidra till ett relativt outvecklat forskningsfält. Ett ytterligare syfte har varit att undersöka om den könsmaktsanalys som haft stor betydelse för tolkningen och förståelsen av mäns våld mot kvinnor i heterosexuella relationer även kan förklara våldet i en lesbisk parrelation. Fokus för min analys har dels varit om och i så fall på vilket sätt kön är en faktor som kan förklara det lesbiska relationsvåldet, dels om en förståelse av våldet inom en könsbaserad teori kan innebära en viss problematik. Jag har även undersökt andra faktorer som heterosexism och homofobi och dess betydelse för våldets uppkomst och former samt mer individrelaterade förklaringsmodeller.