Researcher ORCID Identifier

0009-0002-5273-9280

Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Dance

Second Department

Sociology

Reader 1

Kevin Williamson

Reader 2

Erich Steinman

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2024 Sophie Kim

Abstract

Throughout popular culture, friendships between girls are often portrayed as emotionally intimate partnerships. The fact that these relationships are rarely questioned about the possibility for attraction, while encounters between boys and girls often are, demonstrates the hegemony of the heteropatriarchal social order. The prevalence of passionate, partnership-like friendships among girls within mainstream society will be analyzed through a queer lens, positing that common conceptions of girlhood are inherently queer regardless of the presence of attraction. By conducting open-ended, semi-structured interviews, this qualitative research study aims to ask: how do young adults interpret their experiences with closeness in relationships with other girls in childhood? Study findings suggest that respondents interpret their feelings and experiences related to intimate friendships in a myriad of ways, which are impacted by how “queer accepting” their social environment is. Overall, the study highlights the pervasiveness of the elimination of lesbian possibilities from the cultural imagination due to the interaction between heteronormativity and patriarchy and the simultaneously expansive queer possibilities that prevail within girlhood friendships.

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