Teaching Documents by Fred LeBlanc
Conference Presentations by Fred LeBlanc
Ukraine’s ouster of Kremlin-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, ... more Ukraine’s ouster of Kremlin-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and pro-Russian separatists in Luhansk and Donestsk Oblasts, has led to a harder situation for LGBT Ukrainian citizens. The wave of Euromaidan protests resulted in a number of ultranationalist groups that renewed the rhetoric of homosexuality as being a Western influence encroaching upon traditional values. Not surprisingly, then, the European Union’s insistence on gay-friendly anti-discrimination policies to accede to the EU have only superficially been applied in other post-communist countries and this presentation begins as a comparative analysis of the EU’s policies on the lingering homophobia that exists in Poland and Latvia, two recently new Eastern European nations of the EU. It suggests that Jasbir Puar’s notion of homonationalism, though a (Western) critique of homonormative nationalism, can be reconfigured as a survival strategy for LGBT citizens in Eastern Europe.
Film and cultural theorists have long explored the horror movie monster as social commentary; for... more Film and cultural theorists have long explored the horror movie monster as social commentary; for example, George Romero’s zombie film series has been explained as critiques of miscegenation, consumer consumption, and the Cold War. This presentation suggests the new-found rise of the zombie narrative has found particular resonance in a post-9/11 world, where the figure of the zombie has shifted from the undead to the infected, conflating the AIDS pandemic, LGBTQ paranoia, and the newer rhetoric of terrorism. In particular, this presentation sees the zombie as a drag figure, representing an excess of death and contamination and its role in exposing a heteromasculine penetration paranoia during the War on Terror and the development – turning? – of a queer zombie epistemology.
British comedian Stephen Fry published an open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron and... more British comedian Stephen Fry published an open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron and the International Olympic Committee comparing the Russian Federation’s recent homophobic laws to Nazi Germany and calling for a ban on the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. This essay suggests homonationalist Russophobia allows Western queer citizens, who often are denied full equal rights in their own countries, to enact both national and transnational belongings in the vilification of Russian policy. This paper suggests Russia’s 20th and 21st de- and re-criminalisations of homosexualities can be viewed as protection against a foreign threat within its own project of nation-building and focuses on media that (re)produce homonationalist, Western imaginative geographies that celebrate the multiculturalism, diversity, and sexual liberalism of gay-friendly North America and Western Europe whilst (re)configuring Russia as backwards and homophobic, and whose gays and lesbians need Western-style liberation.
"This paper suggeststhat the term transgender is largely understood through transsexual discourse... more "This paper suggeststhat the term transgender is largely understood through transsexual discourses, consisting of both the medicalization of transsexuality and the articulation of cross-gender performances, and (re)embodiment based on essentialist biological and psychiatric wrong body discourses. The cultural privilege of these medical discourses means they become hegemonic and develop the very terms and vocabulary of transsexual subjectivities, which are then reified by various transsexual narratives that rely upon these very vocabularies for their own formation. This is in opposition to the transgender subject that is idealised in queer theories for its fluidity and desire to playfully pick and choose between gender allusions. Furthermore, the public rendering of some transgender bodies as nonconformist results in violence and the need to explore alternate spaces of being, namely the internet. Since there are
virtually no controls over what can be published on the internet, it can be a place where marginalized voices and personal narratives can be heard, which has the potential to build community, and raise consciousness about gender(s) and transgender oppression, but can also be used to legitimate transnormative productions of the self. Online transgender resources, including informational resources, message boards, social interactions, etc. can be an effective medium through which to challenge cultural conceptions about gender dualism by providing critical and ontological alternatives to gender. This analysis of one online community of transgender individuals suggests that non-transsexual transgender subjects that do not wish to be reassigned to the opposite gender (that is, they desire an androgynous/nongender embodiment) are disempowered by medical practitioners who act as gatekeepers to medical technologies, as they do not reproduce transnormative medical and cultural confirmations of gender dualism. This paper suggests informal networks, like online communities, offer these subjects a space to explore alternatives to gender and learn ways to subvert the patient/practitioner dynamic and access hormone replacement therapy, among other technologies."
Thesis by Fred LeBlanc
A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for... more A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Gender & Women’s Studies
This research implicates gender in the study of sexuality and suggests a genealogy of transgender that consists of both the medicalisation of transsexuality and the articulation of gender performances in gay liberation’s politics of difference. While the transgender subject is often idealised in queer discourses, this research positions the transsexual (one articulation of transgender) as normative: conservative gender politics, the ontological separation of gender and sexuality that echoes assimilationist gay and lesbian politics, an identity based on
essentialist biology and psychiatric “wrong body” discourses, and the privileging of passing technologies such as hormone replacement therapies and sex reassignment surgery themselves justified though the elaboration of wrong body discourses).
Further to this, the public rendering of some transgender bodies as nonconformist results in violence and the need to explore alternate spaces of being, namely the internet which has the potential to build community, raise consciousness of gender and transgender oppression, but can also be used to legitimate transnormative (re)productions of the self. The analysis of two online communities of transgender individuals shows the most frequent users tended to be transsexual and privileging conservative gender politics and an essentialist medical etiology of transsexuality. Users were also typically more knowledgeable in passing biotechnologies than some medical professionals. In one community that are tailored to transgender individuals, subjects felt at ease to discuss a variety of topics and explore the complications of transgender. In the second community, tailored towards feminists in general, transgender issues were addressed in a more confrontational manner, often exposing the transphobic nature of some feminisms.
Papers by Fred LeBlanc
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2004
Bacterial superantigens, such as staphylococcal enteroxins A and B (SEA/SEB) stimulate T cells to... more Bacterial superantigens, such as staphylococcal enteroxins A and B (SEA/SEB) stimulate T cells to produce high levels of cytokines in blood. Previously it had been shown that these toxins were capable of stimulating increased neuroendocrine activity and enhanced behavioral reactivity to novel gustatory and non-gustatory stimuli. Therefore, it was suggested that these superantigens may promote anxiety-like behavior. In the current set of experiments, BALB/cByJ and C57BL/6J male mice were challenged with either SEB (50 lg) or SEA (5 or 10 lg) and tested for behavior in the elevated plus maze (EPM). Results suggested an absence of increased anxiety-like behavior, with exploration of the open arms being enhanced by SEA or SEB treatment. In another test of anxiety, the light-dark box, SEB challenge of BALB/cByJ mice 90 min prior to testing, did not alter exit latency, activity nor time spent in the dark. However, in a second experiment, it was found that if animals were first tested for consumption, followed by testing in the light-dark box, SEB challenged animals displayed increased exit latency and reduced exploration. These studies suggest that in standard tests of rodent anxiety-like behavior, evidence for the induction of anxiety-like processes subsequent to challenge with SEA or SEB is not patently discernable. However, neurobiological events induced by immunological challenge might synergize with reactivity to psychogenic and/or gustatory stimuli, thereby resulting in increased anxiety-like behavior that could be unmasked by standard behavioral tests such as the light-dark box or EPM.
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Teaching Documents by Fred LeBlanc
Conference Presentations by Fred LeBlanc
virtually no controls over what can be published on the internet, it can be a place where marginalized voices and personal narratives can be heard, which has the potential to build community, and raise consciousness about gender(s) and transgender oppression, but can also be used to legitimate transnormative productions of the self. Online transgender resources, including informational resources, message boards, social interactions, etc. can be an effective medium through which to challenge cultural conceptions about gender dualism by providing critical and ontological alternatives to gender. This analysis of one online community of transgender individuals suggests that non-transsexual transgender subjects that do not wish to be reassigned to the opposite gender (that is, they desire an androgynous/nongender embodiment) are disempowered by medical practitioners who act as gatekeepers to medical technologies, as they do not reproduce transnormative medical and cultural confirmations of gender dualism. This paper suggests informal networks, like online communities, offer these subjects a space to explore alternatives to gender and learn ways to subvert the patient/practitioner dynamic and access hormone replacement therapy, among other technologies."
Thesis by Fred LeBlanc
This research implicates gender in the study of sexuality and suggests a genealogy of transgender that consists of both the medicalisation of transsexuality and the articulation of gender performances in gay liberation’s politics of difference. While the transgender subject is often idealised in queer discourses, this research positions the transsexual (one articulation of transgender) as normative: conservative gender politics, the ontological separation of gender and sexuality that echoes assimilationist gay and lesbian politics, an identity based on
essentialist biology and psychiatric “wrong body” discourses, and the privileging of passing technologies such as hormone replacement therapies and sex reassignment surgery themselves justified though the elaboration of wrong body discourses).
Further to this, the public rendering of some transgender bodies as nonconformist results in violence and the need to explore alternate spaces of being, namely the internet which has the potential to build community, raise consciousness of gender and transgender oppression, but can also be used to legitimate transnormative (re)productions of the self. The analysis of two online communities of transgender individuals shows the most frequent users tended to be transsexual and privileging conservative gender politics and an essentialist medical etiology of transsexuality. Users were also typically more knowledgeable in passing biotechnologies than some medical professionals. In one community that are tailored to transgender individuals, subjects felt at ease to discuss a variety of topics and explore the complications of transgender. In the second community, tailored towards feminists in general, transgender issues were addressed in a more confrontational manner, often exposing the transphobic nature of some feminisms.
Papers by Fred LeBlanc
virtually no controls over what can be published on the internet, it can be a place where marginalized voices and personal narratives can be heard, which has the potential to build community, and raise consciousness about gender(s) and transgender oppression, but can also be used to legitimate transnormative productions of the self. Online transgender resources, including informational resources, message boards, social interactions, etc. can be an effective medium through which to challenge cultural conceptions about gender dualism by providing critical and ontological alternatives to gender. This analysis of one online community of transgender individuals suggests that non-transsexual transgender subjects that do not wish to be reassigned to the opposite gender (that is, they desire an androgynous/nongender embodiment) are disempowered by medical practitioners who act as gatekeepers to medical technologies, as they do not reproduce transnormative medical and cultural confirmations of gender dualism. This paper suggests informal networks, like online communities, offer these subjects a space to explore alternatives to gender and learn ways to subvert the patient/practitioner dynamic and access hormone replacement therapy, among other technologies."
This research implicates gender in the study of sexuality and suggests a genealogy of transgender that consists of both the medicalisation of transsexuality and the articulation of gender performances in gay liberation’s politics of difference. While the transgender subject is often idealised in queer discourses, this research positions the transsexual (one articulation of transgender) as normative: conservative gender politics, the ontological separation of gender and sexuality that echoes assimilationist gay and lesbian politics, an identity based on
essentialist biology and psychiatric “wrong body” discourses, and the privileging of passing technologies such as hormone replacement therapies and sex reassignment surgery themselves justified though the elaboration of wrong body discourses).
Further to this, the public rendering of some transgender bodies as nonconformist results in violence and the need to explore alternate spaces of being, namely the internet which has the potential to build community, raise consciousness of gender and transgender oppression, but can also be used to legitimate transnormative (re)productions of the self. The analysis of two online communities of transgender individuals shows the most frequent users tended to be transsexual and privileging conservative gender politics and an essentialist medical etiology of transsexuality. Users were also typically more knowledgeable in passing biotechnologies than some medical professionals. In one community that are tailored to transgender individuals, subjects felt at ease to discuss a variety of topics and explore the complications of transgender. In the second community, tailored towards feminists in general, transgender issues were addressed in a more confrontational manner, often exposing the transphobic nature of some feminisms.