Global Journal of Human Social Science, G: Linguistics and Education, Volume 23 Issue 3

voices of LGBTQI youths? These are some of the questions that I wrestle with when I think about my country, Jamaica, and the Caribbean as a whole. As a phenomenologist, I stop to look at the things that people typically would not look at. I am interested in understanding and then describing LBGTQI people’s lived experiences. I am also curious about the lives of people; therefore, as a phenomenologist, I ask questions to interrogate and get a glimpse into the way individuals live and operate. Another thing I do as a phenomenologist is to focus on the phenomena. I try to capture glimpses of phenomena as it is being lived out in real life. I am curious to understand what it might be like to live in a homonegative society as a woman that loves women. I will never get to the essence of these phenomena because phenomena are always moving and never stable. My hope is to record flashes and glances of the phenomena as it bubbles up in the data. In this chapter, I focus on one participant from my research. I choose to zoom in on Tracy, a young woman who loves women. There are a few studies out of Jamaica and the Caribbean that center on homosexuality; however, to this date, only one study that I am aware of focuses solely on women-who-love- women in Jamaica (Martin-Kerr, 2016). My goal is to shine a light on the daily lives of women who love women and share what it is like to live on one of the most beautiful islands in the world, one of the most homophobic places to reside. Hence, my research question is how does societal homonegativity shape the lived experiences of a young woman-who-loves-women in Jamaica? Below, I share a brief literature review from the Caribbean and a few African countries with published empirical peer-reviewed studies that center people in same-sex relationships. II. R eview of the L iterature I included a total of 19 empirical studies in this review of the literature. Publication dates ranged from 1996 to 2015. Eight of the studies were conducted in Jamaica. Four of the studies were from other Caribbean islands, namely: Curacao, Guyana, and Suriname, and two were conducted in Barbados. Three of the studies compared Jamaica with first-world countries. Three studies from the continent of Africa were included in this literature review, namely: South Africa and Namibia, to extend the geographic phenomena of this issue. The review of the literature included geographic regions where same sex-same relationships are legal and other studies where this relationship is illegal. Same-sex relationships are illegal in Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, and Namibia. Same-sex relationships are legal in Curacao, Suriname, and South Africa. The only country I reviewed that has anti-discriminatory laws to protect same-sex couples is South Africa. Regardless of the legality or the illegality of same-sex relationships in these geographic regions, homonegativity is pervasive in all these regions. Meaning policies are not enough to rid society of homonegative behaviors. Researchers investigate a range of topics related to the societal homonegativity that exists in colonized countries. Six of the studies investigated perceptions and prejudices towards same-sex relationships (Boxill, Martin, Russell, Walker, Meike, & Mitchell, 2011; Boxill, Galbraith, Mitchell, & Russell, 2012; West & Hewstone, 2012a; West & Hewstone, 2012b; Gromer, Campbell, Gormory, & Maynard, 2013; West & Cowell, 2014). Five studies examined gender and sexuality (Peake & Trotz, 1999; Graziano, 2004; Anderson-Levy, 2008; Gunkel, 2009; Kempadoo, 2009). Another five studies examined public discourse and policies towards 1 a) Formal Ways of Operating homosexuals (Currier, 2010; Charles, 2011; Cowell & Saunders, 2011; Cowell, 2011; Jackson, 2015). Two focused on the unheard voices of women who love women in the Caribbean (Clemencia, 1996; Wekker, 2006). One study examined health-related issues (White & Carr, 2005). The 19 studies investigated a range of topics related to societal homonegativity; however, only two focused specifically on women's lives, hence my interest in women who love women. Homonegativity is bred by inherited formal and informal ways of beings; below, I explain these formal and informal ways encultured in our society. The formal legacy that has been inherited from colonization was documented in more than half of the 19 studies was the law that criminalizes homosexuals (Peake & Trotz, 1999; Anderson-Levy, 2008; Kempadoo, 2009; Currier, 2010; Charles, 2011; Cowell & Saunders, 2011; West & Hewstone, 2012a; West & Cowell, 2014; Jackson, 2015). The Offenses Against the Person Act , the law against homosexuality, was the basis of the introduction of Cowell and Saunders’ (2011) paper. These researchers briefly discussed the consequences of this law on the local level and international levels, describing how it negatively affects the Jamaican economy and the livelihood of the Jamaican people. They addressed how the enactment of the law not only punishes individuals who are homosexuals but also had negative implications for the country in the international arena. For example, because of the law, gay cruise ships are prohibited on the island. Homosexuality is still a criminal act in many countries colonized by Britain. These countries inherited the Offenses against the Person Act (1864) Sections 76 and 77, which reads: 1 In this paper, the word homosexual is used at times to refer to both gays and lesbians. Volume XXIII Issue III Version I 40 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 G © 2023 Global Journals A Post-Intentional Phenomenological Study of a Queer Identified Youth in Jamaica