Help Launch Rowan's Academic Career!
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Who I Am:
An aspiring academic interested in (a)sexuality and gender looking to move on to the next stage of my academic career
I just graduated from Reed College a few months ago with a degree in Psychology. My senior thesis was titled "Where's the harm in that?": Asexuality, Same-Sex Sexuality, and the DSM Definition of Mental Disorder. I argued that both the past debate over the removal of homosexuality from the DSM and the current debate over the diagnostic status of asexuality should be viewed primarily as value judgments. In that vein, I surveyed therapists who specialize in the treatment of sexual disorders in order to investigate their attitudes towards asexuality.
My thesis concluded with a range of proposals for changing the DSM diagnostic criteria to reduce the stigma towards asexuality. Based on my thesis, I will be giving a talk at the 6th Annual Alternative Sexualities Conference about working with asexual clients in therapeutic settings.
Some of my other areas of interest include:
- Reducing the stigma within psychiatry towards transgender people and gender nonconforming children
- Sexual objectification: what psychological processes are involved in viewing someone as a sex object? Are there different types of objectification? How can those processes be influenced?
- How does a person's sexuality and gender identity develop over time?
- Applying social psychology research to the common wisdom in the polyamory community regarding relationships and regulating emotions
- The psychology of privilege: what are the different ways that people attempt to dismiss their own privilege? How can those defense mechanisms best be defused?
To put it generally, I am dedicated to fighting systems of oppression through theory and research. Though my focus is in psychology, I come from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on work from philosophy, sociology, and other disciplines.
Why I Need Your Help:
After coming back from being on leave for two years, I did very well my senior year and impressed my professors with the quality of my work. They have suggested that I divide my senior thesis into parts and submit them each for publication in academic journals. I know that I want to get a Ph.D. in psychology, and I feel excited about my future prospects.
I will be applying to graduate school and revising my thesis for publication over the next few months. However, I don't have any savings or financial resources to draw on. Applying to graduate school takes time and money: researching programs, reading research carried out by potential advisors, writing personal statements, paying for the GRE and application fees, etc. With my living expenses covered for a few months, I will be able to submit my thesis for publication this fall, greatly improving my grad school opportunities.
What happens over the next few months will have far-reaching effects on the future of my academic career. Your donation will help ensure that there is more scholarship on these important issues regarding sexuality, gender, and the stigmatization of marginalized groups.
Notes on Rewards:
I will cover all shipping costs up to 10 dollars per item shipped. Also, if you do not wish to receive emails updating you on my progress, or any of the other rewards, just tell me.
My senior thesis is hard-bound and 87 pgs (not including front or back matter). It includes
- A review of the academic research on asexuality
- An in-depth critique of Wakefield's "Harmful Dysfunction analysis" of the concept of mental disorder
- An revision and application of this analysis to the case of asexuality
- A historical investigation into the values underlying the DSM definition of mental disorder, which can be traced back to the removal of homosexuality from the DSM
- The results of a survey of sex therapists regarding their attidudes towards asexuality and their views toward a client who could potentially identify as asexual
- A range of proposals for revision to the DSM, which seek to reduce its stigmatizing effects on asexual clients
An aspiring academic interested in (a)sexuality and gender looking to move on to the next stage of my academic career
I just graduated from Reed College a few months ago with a degree in Psychology. My senior thesis was titled "Where's the harm in that?": Asexuality, Same-Sex Sexuality, and the DSM Definition of Mental Disorder. I argued that both the past debate over the removal of homosexuality from the DSM and the current debate over the diagnostic status of asexuality should be viewed primarily as value judgments. In that vein, I surveyed therapists who specialize in the treatment of sexual disorders in order to investigate their attitudes towards asexuality.
My thesis concluded with a range of proposals for changing the DSM diagnostic criteria to reduce the stigma towards asexuality. Based on my thesis, I will be giving a talk at the 6th Annual Alternative Sexualities Conference about working with asexual clients in therapeutic settings.
Some of my other areas of interest include:
- Reducing the stigma within psychiatry towards transgender people and gender nonconforming children
- Sexual objectification: what psychological processes are involved in viewing someone as a sex object? Are there different types of objectification? How can those processes be influenced?
- How does a person's sexuality and gender identity develop over time?
- Applying social psychology research to the common wisdom in the polyamory community regarding relationships and regulating emotions
- The psychology of privilege: what are the different ways that people attempt to dismiss their own privilege? How can those defense mechanisms best be defused?
To put it generally, I am dedicated to fighting systems of oppression through theory and research. Though my focus is in psychology, I come from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on work from philosophy, sociology, and other disciplines.
Why I Need Your Help:
After coming back from being on leave for two years, I did very well my senior year and impressed my professors with the quality of my work. They have suggested that I divide my senior thesis into parts and submit them each for publication in academic journals. I know that I want to get a Ph.D. in psychology, and I feel excited about my future prospects.
I will be applying to graduate school and revising my thesis for publication over the next few months. However, I don't have any savings or financial resources to draw on. Applying to graduate school takes time and money: researching programs, reading research carried out by potential advisors, writing personal statements, paying for the GRE and application fees, etc. With my living expenses covered for a few months, I will be able to submit my thesis for publication this fall, greatly improving my grad school opportunities.
What happens over the next few months will have far-reaching effects on the future of my academic career. Your donation will help ensure that there is more scholarship on these important issues regarding sexuality, gender, and the stigmatization of marginalized groups.
Notes on Rewards:
I will cover all shipping costs up to 10 dollars per item shipped. Also, if you do not wish to receive emails updating you on my progress, or any of the other rewards, just tell me.
My senior thesis is hard-bound and 87 pgs (not including front or back matter). It includes
- A review of the academic research on asexuality
- An in-depth critique of Wakefield's "Harmful Dysfunction analysis" of the concept of mental disorder
- An revision and application of this analysis to the case of asexuality
- A historical investigation into the values underlying the DSM definition of mental disorder, which can be traced back to the removal of homosexuality from the DSM
- The results of a survey of sex therapists regarding their attidudes towards asexuality and their views toward a client who could potentially identify as asexual
- A range of proposals for revision to the DSM, which seek to reduce its stigmatizing effects on asexual clients
Organizer
Rowan Hildebrand-Chupp
Organizer
San Carlos, CA
