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Disciplined/Docile Gay Bodies:

My MA thesis examined representations of gay bodies in alternative media and argued that images bear striking similarities to mainstream images of gay identity. I argued that this served as an example of what I called the disciplined gay body: a body that, despite being subjected to normalizing forces, is a powerful subject position because of its ability to coerce and normalize bodies forcing them to attempt to conform to a very strict and exclusionary understanding of gay identity.

I have also been fortunate enough to turn part of my thesis into two publications; the first, “Not Fab enough?” is an essay in a  forthcoming book entitled Homofiles: New Criticism From LGBT Graduate Students. The second, entitled “Super Undies, Buff Bodies and Body Facism” was published by Stream: Culture/Politics/Technology a graduate journal from the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University [Click Here for Article]

Decoupling Marriage and Equality:

This project sought to examine and critique some of the problematic ways in which same-sex marriage advocacy links concepts of equality and equal rights to the inclusion of gay unions into marriage legislation. My critique is not about marriage in itself but rather the problematic linking between a historically contentious institution of marriage to a discourse of empowerment and equality.

Although this project is currently on hiatus there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in this area. My initial paper was presented at the Intersections Graduate Conference in 2008 and was included in their conference journal. [Click Here for Article]