Sense of safety: An exploration of a gay and lesbian community.
Item
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Title
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Sense of safety: An exploration of a gay and lesbian community.
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Identifier
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AAI3074626
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identifier
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3074626
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Creator
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Barry, Richard Eugene.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Michelle Fine
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Date
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2003
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Social | Anthropology, Cultural
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Abstract
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The role of gay and/or lesbian community was investigated. Using the rubrics of sense of community and community through place, in-depth interviews, participant observation, and a focus group were conducted to better understand community in the lives of 10 participants. The participants were four self-described lesbians and six self-described gay men ranging in age from 29 to 42. Their ethnicities were 7 white, 1 Filipino, 2 multiethnic (one Chippewa/Ojibwe, Sioux, French, and German, the other Haliwa-Siponi, African American, and Italian). Various themes emerged through the methodology, including the role of diaspora in gay and lesbian community, the importance of media to creating a sense of community, the roles of class, gender, and race in creating gay and lesbian community, the lack of family as a signifier for community, and the role of place in a sense of community. Primary among the themes uncovered was that of a Sense of Safety. This theme underlay each of the other themes. Unlike traditional conceptualizations of a sense of community, my participants each defined community through the potentiality of safety either in the physical locations of community or in the people intentionally chosen to comprise their communities. A primary position of safety within communities was not assumed. It had to be sought out or created. The importance of the role of a Sense of Safety in their conceptualizations of community even affected their interpretations of the events of September 11, 2001. The ability of a Sense of Safety to play an important conceptual role in other communities is also briefly discussed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
