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Author ORCID Identifier
Date Available
6-3-2027
Year of Publication
2026
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College
Education
Department/School/Program
Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology
Faculty
Sharon S. Rostosky
Faculty
Kathleen Aspiranti
Abstract
This explanatory-sequential mixed-methods study (Ivankova et al., 2006) 1) examined the contributions of dehumanization and EBID to queer womxn’s embodiment, and 2) qualitatively probed deeper into queer womxn’s experiences of embodiment. Queer womxn (ages 18-29; N = 228) with lifetime EBID completed a survey about embodiment. Regression analyses indicated that among queer womxn, identifying as Black, experiences of dehumanization, and EBID, were significantly associated with embodiment; this model explained 51.3% of variance in queer womxn’s embodiment.
Selected participants (n = 15) then engaged in focus groups exploring their lived experiences of embodiment; the transcripts were analyzed via critical-constructivist reflexive thematic analysis (RTA). Queer womxn’s EBID, social identities/locations, experiences of dehumanization, and additional identity-mediated factors impact their embodiment. Queer womxn’s definitions of embodiment are often wholistic and collectively-oriented, and allow for discomfort and simultaneous connection/disconnection. Queer womxn use a variety of creative strategies to experience embodiment and navigate disembodiment.
Collectively, these findings show that queer womxn’s social identities/locations relate to embodiment through their relationships with their bodies, the people, and world around them. EBID and dehumanization (self-objectification) can alternately facilitate and inhibit queer womxn’s embodiment. These results can inform interventions for enhancing queer womxn’s embodiment and well-being, and addressing their EBID.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2026.312
Archival?
Archival
Funding Information
This study was supported via internal funding by the Ellen & Arvle Turner Thacker Award for dissertation research (2024), and the John Edwin Partington & Gwendolyn Gray Partington Scholarship Fund (2024).
Recommended Citation
Blaber, Isabelle, "“MAKING MY BODY SPACE A PLACE I WANT TO BE”: A MIXED-METHOD EXPLORATION OF EMBODIMENT AND ITS CORRELATES IN EMERGING ADULT QUEER WOMXN" (2026). Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology. 135.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/edp_etds/135
Included in
Counseling Commons, Counseling Psychology Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Queer Studies Commons
