jgieseking.org

Request for Participants:
Living in an (In)Visible World: Lesbians & Queer Women’s Spaces & Economies in New York City (1983-2008)

I am inviting women who identify as lesbian, queer, and/or gay to participate in a set of a few focus groups/interviews that I am conducting to explore the different generations of lesbians and queer women’s spaces in New York City over time. Specifically, this project explores the changing experiences and landscapes of lesbians and queer women’s lives from 1983 to 2008. Participants will be financially compensated $70 each for their participation.

If you came out between 1983 and 2008 and spent the majority of that time in New York City, I invite you to participate in this research study to share your stories and insights. Participation involves three meetings including three focus groups, or two focus groups and a one-on-one interview.
• There are two in-person focus groups so that participants can have an opportunity to connect and discuss their experiences first with those who came out in the same era as one another.
• Then a few individuals from each of the first groups will meet with women who came out across different eras/generations to discuss their experiences across time.
• Those women who do not to participate in the second, across-generational focus group will have a one-on-one interview with the facilitator.
• Each of these first two activities will take about two hours and refreshments will be served.
• Finally, all participants will participate in an online focus group for about an hour to review the findings and provide further insights and consensus on those findings.

As facilitator, I will ask some general questions about your experiences and choices your everyday experiences of places and movement through New York City, as well as about some of the feelings involved during and after those situations. Also, participants will be asked to sketch some maps and record their experiences on shared timelines, but no drawing skills are expected or necessary. There are no right or wrong answers or responses. I’m simply interested in exploring some of the ways in which you experience space in terms of safety, comfort, access, visibility, and rights over time, and the types of social contexts in which that occurs. (Please note that individuals who are intentionally passing as heterosexual to some may have their sexual identity disclosed through participation in the focus groups. Your anonymity will be protected in the writing of the findings from this research.)

Your participation is voluntary. Anyone interested in finding out more can contact me by email at jgieseking @ gmail.com. You are welcome to read about the research design of this project by clicking here, or about the more about author by clicking here.

Please feel free to forward this web site to anyone you think may have interest in this research project. Thank you.

Interviews and focus groups will take place from March through June of 2008.