Sexuality, community and urban space : An exploration of negotiated senses of communities amongst gay men in Brighton
Sexuality, community and urban space : An exploration of negotiated senses of communities amongst gay men in Brighton
This thesis examines the relationships between sexuality, communality and space through the exploration of changing senses of community experienced by gay men in Brighton. A review of changing conceptualisations of sexuality reveals that the formation of sexual identities, communities and urban spaces cannot be reduced to a single historical narrative but are influenced by numerous contextual factors. In response, the thesis develops what is termed a 'negotiative framework' in which the tensions and contradictions associated with these differences can be reconciled with the need for strategic senses of resistance and solidarity. It is argued that Barthes' writings on doxa (systems of repression and control), paradoxa (forces of transgression) and atopia (processes occurring between and beyond these forces) provide such a negotiative framework.
Drawing upon evidence from in-depth, qualitative semi-structured interviews with gay men in Brighton, supplemented by group interviews and the analysis of secondary sources of historical documentation, five paths of transgression are observed: the establishment of the early underground scene; the gay political organisations formed in the wake of threats to civil liberties; the responses to HIV and AIDS; the responses to police harassment; and finally the development of the gay commercial scene. The study reveals how sites of both doxa and paradoxa are diverse and spatially and temporally contextual. Exploring changing conceptualisations of community amongst gay men in Brighton illustrated how concepts of atopia can reconcile bounded and boundless conceptions of space.
The Barthes-inspired approach of this thesis contributes to post-structuralist and queer theories by relating issues of negotiativity and process in a non-binaristic way to the functioning of systems of restraint and resistance in the context of gay spaces.
University of Southampton
Wright, David Nicholas Merle
071ab16a-4b13-497f-bef1-62da1a0854f4
1999
Wright, David Nicholas Merle
071ab16a-4b13-497f-bef1-62da1a0854f4
Wright, David Nicholas Merle
(1999)
Sexuality, community and urban space : An exploration of negotiated senses of communities amongst gay men in Brighton.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
This thesis examines the relationships between sexuality, communality and space through the exploration of changing senses of community experienced by gay men in Brighton. A review of changing conceptualisations of sexuality reveals that the formation of sexual identities, communities and urban spaces cannot be reduced to a single historical narrative but are influenced by numerous contextual factors. In response, the thesis develops what is termed a 'negotiative framework' in which the tensions and contradictions associated with these differences can be reconciled with the need for strategic senses of resistance and solidarity. It is argued that Barthes' writings on doxa (systems of repression and control), paradoxa (forces of transgression) and atopia (processes occurring between and beyond these forces) provide such a negotiative framework.
Drawing upon evidence from in-depth, qualitative semi-structured interviews with gay men in Brighton, supplemented by group interviews and the analysis of secondary sources of historical documentation, five paths of transgression are observed: the establishment of the early underground scene; the gay political organisations formed in the wake of threats to civil liberties; the responses to HIV and AIDS; the responses to police harassment; and finally the development of the gay commercial scene. The study reveals how sites of both doxa and paradoxa are diverse and spatially and temporally contextual. Exploring changing conceptualisations of community amongst gay men in Brighton illustrated how concepts of atopia can reconcile bounded and boundless conceptions of space.
The Barthes-inspired approach of this thesis contributes to post-structuralist and queer theories by relating issues of negotiativity and process in a non-binaristic way to the functioning of systems of restraint and resistance in the context of gay spaces.
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Published date: 1999
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Local EPrints ID: 463901
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/463901
PURE UUID: 85a28395-cc2c-4b1d-98ff-7d1d7999132c
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 20:58
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 19:06
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David Nicholas Merle Wright
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