Construction of gay identity among different classes : a case study in Ankara

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Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology, Turkey

Approval Date: 2010

Thesis Language: English

Student: Haktan Ural

Supervisor: FATMA UMUT BEŞPINAR AKGÜNER

Abstract:

This thesis mainly aims to understand how construction of gay identity differentiates in terms of class inequalities. Regarding the conceptual framework of Deniz Kandiyoti, it inquires in what way class position reshapes the experience of gay sexuality and how gay men of different classes bargain with heteronormative order through different perceptions of homoeroticism and gender identities. In discussing this issue, how gay men identify themselves, how they represent their body, how they interact with and percieve other gay men, how they percieve masculinity and femininity in construction of gender identities engender as primary questions to understand plurality of gay experience. These featured aspects of gay experience in Turkey entail a dynamic process in the way of both multiple formation of gay experience due to class differences and contradictory character of such plurality. Perception of other forms of gay experience is included to the discussion for understanding a comprehensive analysis for plurality of gay experience.