Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma käsittelee seksuaalivähemmistöihin kuuluvien naisten identiteetin rakentumista kielen näkökulmasta. Tutkielma perustuu neljän yksilön haastatteluihin, joissa keskeisenä teemana ovat oma identiteetti, coming out -tarinat ja LGBTQ-yhteisön sisäinen terminologian käyttö. Tämän lisäksi tutkitaan englannin kielen asemaa globaalin LGBTQ-yhteisön yhteisenä kielenä; englannin kielen keskeisyys näkyy myös haastateltavien kielenkäytössä. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu kahdesta Zoom-alustalla toteutetusta videohaastattelusta, joista kumpaankin osallistui kaksi toisilleen tuttua haastateltavaa. Keväällä 2020 puhjenneesta koronapandemiasta johtuen haastattelut suoritettiin etäyhteyden välityksellä. Haastattelut tallennettiin haastateltavien luvalla suoraan Zoomin kautta. Tutkimuksessa käytettiin äänitallenteita ja niiden pohjalta tehtyjä muistiinpanoja. Haastatteluaineiston analyysi tässä tutkielmassa yhdistelee sosiolingvistiikan ja queer-teorian tutkimushistoriaa, ja tärkeimmät teoreettiset käsitteet ovat Judith Butlerin performatiivisuuden teoria sekä Eckertin sosiolingvistiikan alalle tuoma käytäntöyhteisö (community of practice). Näiden lisäksi sosiolingvistiikan konseptit indeksikaalisuus ja asenne (stance) toimivat analyysin perustana. Coming out -tarinoita peilataan myös aiempiin samaa aihetta käsitteleviin tutkimuksiin. Tutkimusnäkökulma on deskriptiivinen ja kvalitatiivinen. Tutkielman tulokset on jaoteltu haastattelukysymysten mukaan: ensin käsitellään haastateltavien omaa identiteettiä, minkä jälkeen keskustelu laajenee käsittelemään yhteisön sisäistä terminologiaa ja kielivalintojen merkityksiä. Tuloksissa käsitellään eri termien eksklusiivisuutta ja inklusiivisuutta, konnotaatioita ja termien välisiä hierarkioita ja linkkejä. Tämän lisäksi käsitellään termien historiaa ja niihin liittyvien asenteiden muutoksia, esimerkiksi aiemmin halventavina käytettyjen termien (slur) takaisinottoa ja käyttöä nykypäivän arkikielessä. Haastateltavien näkemyksiä nykypäivän kielenkäytöstä peilataan aiempaan tutkimukseen terminologian muutoksista. Haastateltavat tuovat myös esille englannin kielen keskeisen aseman seksuaalivähemmistöjen terminologiassa, joka ulottuu myös muita kieliä äidinkielenään puhuvien kielenkäyttöön. Tutkielman keskeisimmät tulokset ovat, että termien konnotaatiot sekä yksilön identiteetin että yhteisön tasolla ovat vahvasti aika-, paikka- ja kontekstisidonnaisia. Yksittäisellä identiteettikategorialla, kuten nimikkeellä queer, ei siis ole yhtä sidottua merkitystä ja konnotaatiota, vaan esimerkiksi historiallinen tausta ja termin käyttöyhteys vaikuttavat sen merkitykseen ja puhujien asenteisiin. Lisäksi omaa identiteettiä kuvailevia termejä voidaan käyttää eri tavoin eri sosiaalisissa tilanteissa, koska konnotaatiot ovat sekä puhujasta että kuulijasta riippuvaisia. Näin ollen identiteetin performatiivisuus korostuu tutkielman tulosten analyysissä – kuten aiempi tutkimus on osoittanut, identiteetti on kielessä ja sosiaalisessa kontekstissa rakentuva ilmiö. Haastatteluaineistosta ilmenee myös, että LGBTQ-yhteisön kielenkäyttö on jatkuvassa muutoksessa uusien termien syntymisen myötä. Seksuaalivähemmistöjen kielenkäytön tutkiminen onkin jatkuvasti relevanttia, etenkin globaalin käytäntöyhteisön näkökulmasta.

This thesis analyses the specific moral discourses that popular class female sex workers and their regular clients create in the particular world of prostitution in Managua, Nicargua. My intention was to identify, through ethnographic narratives, what meanings sex workers and clients attach to intimacy and respect and how their street life (calle) and home making (casa) roles merge and interact. The specific kind of morality that emerges in sex workers' and clients' manner of speaking indicates how the limits of morality are fluid, pointing to where the spheres of calle and casa meet, intermingle and create specific meanings. This is not an investigation into deviant behaviour, although the actors are situated in a social world that is characterised as liminal. It is, rather, an ethnography of the particular aimed at dispelling stereotypical images portrayed of sex workers and clients. It attempts to bring a commentary to the ongoing discussion on masculinity and sexuality, where a stress is being placed on the multiplicity and shifting character of roles, and of the centrality of interaction between men and women. The study is based on ethnographical field work (Nov 1998 - Mar 1999) conducted in Managua. The main methodology used was taped life history interviews mainly with sex workers and clients; and, participant observation through site visits to both day time and night time locations. The total number of interviews conducted was 26 (women 18, men 8). Additionally, literary sources on sexuality and masculinity in Latin America were used. In the world of Managua prostitution we find popular class Managuans in their role as clients and sex workers, but we also glimpse their other, home making roles. The so called "ideal" picture of gender relations, and the real situation on the streets and homes of popular class Nicaraguans contradict each other. Men and women are conditioned to believe in romantic love, but in many Nicaraguan homes the reality is economic and emotional deprivation, violence, and abandonment. There is a lack of trust, of safety and of an opportunity for men and women to fulfil the roles of home making. Women and men live with the dream of having a home, a place of safety and love, understanding and communication. Through the game of courtship between sex workers and clients, respect and communication leads to a mutual sense of affection and a particular kind of morality. The safety arising from this interaction provides a means of making a home. In this process we find evidence of how the meaning of morality and masculinity is shifting and transformative.

The efforts of the Cuban socialist state to create a ‘New Man’ shared basic characteristics with endeavours in Eastern European and Soviet state socialisms, including the promotion of gender equality and stable marital relationships. In Cuba, this also included the goal of creating greater stability in the largely matrifocal family relationships. Ethnographic evidence from contemporary Havana suggests that Cubans have widely embraced some aspects of the state’s notions of socialist marital relationships, but insecurities still play a significant role in love relationships. Infidelity, ‘plotting’ and shaky trust in their romantic partner are of constant concern for Cubans. Exploring how Cubans negotiate doubts and trust in love relationships, this paper relates jealousy to uncertainties endemic in the transformations of contemporary Cuban socialism. The material deficiencies and dissatisfactions of post-Soviet Cuba, indissociable from a major increase in international tourism, intertwine with local notions of masculinity and femininity and fuel insecurities in relationships. While Caribbean family relationships have for long been described as fragile and unstable, this paper examines new insecurities that have emerged in post-Soviet Havana as part of important changes in contemporary Cuban socialism rather than of longue-durée.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kyrgyz society got entangled in discussions about what it means to be Kyrgyz. Even though Kyrgyzstan has experienced a surge in nationalism over the last decades, it is only since recently that non-heteronormative sexualities are increasingly constructed as a threat to the continued existence of the Kyrgyz nation. Based on five in-depth interviews with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals, I explore how they rationalise the increasing homophobia in Kyrgyz society and what kind of behavioural strategies they adopt to cope with the hostile environment. In particular, I assess whether the discursive exclusion of LGBT individuals from the Kyrgyz nation alters their relationship with the nation and the state. The research participants demonstrate an awareness for the connection between increasing nationalism and worsening attitudes against LGBT people and report corresponding adjustments in their behaviour, ranging from adaptation and hiding strategies to activism and emigration. While all respondents have a negative relationship with the Kyrgyz state, most report a decreasing sense of belonging to the Kyrgyz nation amid growing homophobia as well. These results suggest that the increased emphasis on the purportedly heteronormative nature of the Kyrgyz nation succeeds in redefining individual belonging to the nation and shifting the imagined boundaries of the nation.

The study deals with the sexuality and gender of young people and the way they get expressed in various practices at school. I interviewed 30 non-heterosexual young people, 16 girls and 14 boys. Their ages ranged from 15 to 20 years. The reason to interview non-heterosexual young people was my interest in their experiences, and the assumption that non-heterosexual youth have more memories of heteronormativity. I analysed their stories, and, on the basis of the interviews, reconstructed school practices and studied ways of challenging and maintaining heteronormativity. The study draws largely on gender-specific studies in the sociology of education as well as on lesbian and gay studies. For gender analysis and the study of performativity, Judith Butler provided useful theoretical ideas. Other important scholars were Tuula Gordon, Elina Lahelma, Sinikka Aapola, Tarja Palmu, Tarja Tolonen, Helena Saarikoski, Janet Holland, Debbie Epstein, Mairtin MacAnGhaill, James Sears, and Jeffrey Weeks. I am involved in a research project 'Citizenship, Difference and Marginality at School – with Special Reference to Gender', lead by Tuula Gordon. I research at the construction of sexuality and gender in school practices. I analyse the ways in which heteronormativity becomes intertwined in these practices. Heteronormativity involves the idea that heterosexual masculinity for men and heterosexual femininity for women are seen as self-evident, or natural basis for gender and sexuality, or that they are presented as something better compared to other alternatives. I analyse sex education as well as the gendered sports and craft education at school, and the behaviour of teachers. I study the relationships between young people, abusive words and bullying based on gender or sexuality, as well as the stories dealing with sexuality told. I am interested in the ways non-heterosexuality is both manifested and concealed. I look at the use of space and embodiment. I analyse the three layers of school: the official school with its textbooks and organisation of teaching, the informal school involving the informal relationships between students, and the physical school with the various uses of space and body. School cultures vary from one school to another and even within one school depending on the way students and teachers feel about these practices. Ideas about yourself in terms of gender and sexuality are formed as part of the school practices which, in turn, interact with the surrounding culture and society. Heteronormativity and the ways it is challenged get expressed in the school practices in many ways. Heterosexual masculinity for men and heterosexual femininity for women are conceived as something natural and depicted as the only present and future alternative. Other alternatives are not brought up, or they are presented as something questionable. Alternative gender and sexual behaviours are controlled by teachers and, in particular, by students themselves. Some young people are put in an unfair position. Because of heteronormative practices, some students avoid close relationships with their peers, or choices transgressing the gender boundaries. School practices also include various ways of challenging heteronormativity by both the school employees and students. The practices of heteronormativity themselves enable its challenging, and the challenging of heteronormativity may, in turn, lead to attempts to maintain it.

This chapter focuses on how minority young people search for ways to build their lives, gain respectability and perform agency in a societal context characterized by the previously mentioned processes. It also focuses on the gendered and sexualized aspects of racism, as they are lived out by young people in a multi-ethnic suburb in Finland, and the different strategies they develop to question, ignore and disturb practices. The chapter examines the interviews with young people who have one or two parents born outside Finland. It also examines how gendered racism shapes the conditions in which racialized minority youth live their everyday lives and how the young people challenge, ignore and disturb such discourses and practices. The concept "territorial stigmatization" also rightly points to the importance of media coverage in the establishment of othering narratives of the residence areas where ethnic/racial and class-bound inequalities merge.