Research

Suggestions for possible master's projects/research projects in sexuality history

The list of possible master's projects/research projects should be considered as suggestions, and does not presume that the Queer Archives has source material available for all projects. The list assumes that students and researchers familiarize themselves with whether the project is feasible in terms of scope, source material, and contact with potential supervisor(s). Feel free to contact the Queer Archives at skeivtarkiv@uib.no if you have questions about the list

 

Homosexuality and Punishment:

• Criminalization of sex between men 1842-1902
• Proposals to repeal the ban on sex between men 1902-1972
• Police control of male homosexuality in (large) cities
• History of prostitution
• The seduction theory
• Blackmail of male homosexuals
• Deviant sexuality in cathedral chapter judgments ca. 1300-1700
• Coverage of court cases regarding homosexuality in Norwegian press
• How did international criminal law debate influence the debate in Norway about paragraph 213 in the post-war period?
• Punishment and same-sex sexuality in Norway 1940-1945 - views on same-sex sexuality and gender transgression in the NS, resistance movement and society at large during this period
• The great morality case in Bergen in 1938. Views on homosexuality and assault in court and police documents as well as press coverage
• Norwegian prisoner accounts from German captivity 1940-45 and homosexuality. How did Norwegian prisoners describe gay prisoners and same-sex sexuality in the camps?

 

Queer History and Norwegian Press:

• The concept of sodomy and coverage of the phenomenon in Norwegian press
• Coverage of international scandal cases like the Oscar Wilde case (1895), Krupp affair (1902) and Eulenburg affair (1906-1909) in Norwegian press
• Orientalism and sexuality in Norwegian press. Coverage of sexuality in different cultures
• The concept of homosexuality and coverage of the phenomenon in Norwegian press
• How have gender transgressions been covered in Norwegian press?
• A room of one's own - Norwegian gay press from the 1950s
• Queer magazines - the history of Supergutt (or one of the 50 other Norwegian magazines)
• How did new ideals/ideas about women and men affect coverage of homosexuality and trans* in Norwegian press?
• Weekly press and "women's magazines'" views on same-sex sexuality and trans in the 1950s and 1960s

 

Religion and Views on Homosexuality:

• Religious literature and same-sex sexuality 1800-1900
• Religious literature and same-sex sexuality 1900-1945
• Homosexuality in the Norwegian church 1945-1977
• Discourses on Islam and queer sexuality in Norway 1950-2017
• The distinction between "orientation" and "practice"

 

Etymology and Representation in Words and Images:

• Historical concepts of queerness in Norway - an etymological history
• The terms sex, sexual, and sexuality - when did they appear and how has their content changed through time
• The term "tvetoling" and similar terms for gender transgression
• When did the term "homofili" breakthrough in Norwegian public discourse? Why did this term become dominant (unlike most other countries)?
• Queer biographies
• The history of pornography in Norway
• Lesbian representations in pornography aimed at men - 1970-1990
• Deviant sexuality and gender in Norwegian traditional materials (folk songs, folk life materials, NEG, life memory histories, etc.)
• Norwegian queer art

 

Sexual Practice:

• The history of onanism in Norway - legal materials, medical books and religious writings
• The history of oral sex in Norway - legal materials, medical books
• The history of anal sex in Norway - legal materials, medical books
• The history of sex aids in Norway/cultural history of sex toys
• BDSM history in Norway
• How did homosexual men and women practice their sex lives outdoors and at home?
• How is homosexual sexuality/sex described in films, novels, biographies, interviews, gay magazines and in personal ads?
• Lesbians and penetration through the ages

 

The Military and Other Professions:

• Homosexuality in the Military
• The school system and LGBT
• Foreign service and homosexuality. A sanctuary for queers or a security risk?
• Homo* and trans* as subject terms in Norwegian library catalogs

 

Disease and Medical Perspectives:

• "Hermaphroditism" and other gender transgressions in Danish and Norwegian medicine 1700-1900
• Psychiatry and homo/bisexuality in the post-war period
• The discussion about "de-diagnosis"
• The gay movement's activism regarding HIV/AIDS
• HIV/AIDS activism in Norway and patient organizations like Pluss (HivNorge's archive at the Queer Archives)
• Norwegian health authorities and HIV/AIDS
• Cultural expressions in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Norway

 

Literature, Politics and Intellectual History:

• "Lesbian love" in literature, theater and other cultural expressions ca. 1920-1972
• Gender transgressors and hermaphrodites in literature - gender transgression in Norwegian literature
• Cultural debate, psychoanalysis and homosexuality 1930-1960
• "The homosexual Nazi". An investigation of how Norwegian intellectuals and Norwegian press constructed this figure through coverage of specific cases and on a more abstract level (often inspired by psychoanalysis)
• Popular literature and homosexuality 1950-1970
• The labor movement and views on homosexuality 1887-1940
• Different political parties and groups' views on queer sexuality and gender transgression
• Reviews of literature, film and theater. How was queerness discussed in reviews of cultural expressions from the late 1800s onwards?

 

Children, Youth and Sexuality:

• Bad girls and bad boys, reform schools and regulation of sexuality
• Sexual abuse - changing historical perceptions
• Children with "deviant" gender identification/gender practice

 

Environment:

• What were the queer "environments" like in different cities such as Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø, Stavanger and smaller cities?
• The queer history of public urinals
• Boarding houses and queer lives
• Queer organizations - from handball to BDSM
• Minority within minority - environment and organization of persons with multiple minority backgrounds

 

The Home:

• Collectives and other unconventional ways of living together
• Queer interiors - objects and interior design's dialogue with queerness
• Queer photographs - life and everyday life. Photo albums, framed photographs, etc.
• Queer clothing - wardrobes, clothing style and queerness
• How have queer homes been portrayed in magazines, newspapers and literature?

 

Sexuality and Identity:

• Lesbian identity in the 1950s and 1960s
• Coming-out stories - changes and continuity
• Changing male ideals in different gay cultures
• Feminine boys
• Masculine girls

 

Relationships and Contact:

• Friendship networks and love relationships between homosexual men/women - different time periods
• Travel and tourism's role for queers in different periods
• International contacts in the queer movements
• Monogamy versus open relationships in queer cultures
• Queerness and the dream of partnership
• Romantic friendships between women
• Romantic friendships between men
• "It belongs to the impossible things" - sexual relationships between women before these were recognized
• From personal ads to Tinder - non-heterosexual meeting points in a heterosexual world
• Queer personal ads - from Vennen to Grindr
• Queer personal ads - ideals related to intimacy and domestic life
• Queer domestic lives in Norwegian press
• Claude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.