In activists' circles as in sociology, the concept "safe space" has been applied to all sorts of programs, organizations, and practices. However, few studies have specified clearly what safe spaces are and how they support the people who occupy them. In this paper, we examine one social location typically understood to be a safe space: gay-straight alliance groups in high schools. Using qualitative interviews with young adults in the United States and Canada who have participated in gay-straight alliances, we examine the experiences of safe spaces in these groups. We unpack this complex concept to consider some of the dimensions along which safe spaces might vary. Participants identified several types of safe space, and from their observations we derive three inter-related dimensions of safe space: social context, membership and activity.

Abstract:We examine the lived experiences of high-school students who participated in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)-centered activism of some kind, highlighting the promise of gay-straight alliance groups by comparing the experiences of students at schools with gay-straight alliances (GSA schools) with the experiences of students at schools that did not have an LGBTQ-specific group (no-GSA schools). We compare students at GSA and no-GSA schools based on their experiences of harassment, experiences of support from authority figures, and patterns of friendships. We find that students at both types of schools experienced harassment and heard negative comments about lesbian and gay people. However, students at GSA schools reported more support from teachers and administrators than students at no-GSA schools, who have stories of teachers and administrators actively opposing equality for LGBTQ people. Students at GSA schools reported a wide variety of friendships across sexual identities, while students at no-GSA schools felt more isolated and withdrawn. This much-needed qualitative comparative analysis of students' experiences brings a human face to the improved quality of life that schools with gay-straight alliances can bring to young people.

This paper illustrates how hip hop practitioners in Athens, Greece legitimate hip hop asan authentic musical form within the restricted field of cultural production. First, this paperoutlines how fields of cultural production operate. Second, this paper illustrates how the data forthis project was collected. Third, this paper highlights how past and current struggles within thefield shape how authenticity is defined. Fourth, this paper highlights the discursive techniquesused by hip hop practitioners to position rap music as aesthetically superior to the commerciallysuccessful genres of new wave laika, 'hip pop,' corporate American hip hop and Greek pop. Fifth,I illustrate how hip hop practitioners use two competing processes of aesthetic legitimation: localauthentication and translocal authentication, within the restricted field of cultural production.Finally, I conclude with some suggested avenues for future research.Sent from Mail for Windows 10

Abstract:We examine the lived experiences of high-school students who participated in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)-centered activism of some kind, highlighting the promise of gay-straight alliance groups by comparing the experiences of students at schools with gay-straight alliances (GSA schools) with the experiences of students at schools that did not have an LGBTQ-specific group (no-GSA schools). We compare students at GSA and no-GSA schools based on their experiences of harassment, experiences of support from authority figures, and patterns of friendships. We find that students at both types of schools experienced harassment and heard negative comments about lesbian and gay people. However, students at GSA schools reported more support from teachers and administrators than students at no-GSA schools, who have stories of teachers and administrators actively opposing equality for LGBTQ people. Students at GSA schools reported a wide variety of friendships across sexual identities, while students at no-GSA schools felt more isolated and withdrawn. This much-needed qualitative comparative analysis of students' experiences brings a human face to the improved quality of life that schools with gay-straight alliances can bring to young people.

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