Although mentalities across Western Europe have been evolving for the past years on LGBTQI+ and sexual orientation questions, it remains an issue. Decades of social movements in favor of LGBTQI+ rights have shaped a more inclusive society. For instance, after depanelizing homosexuality, numerous European countries have been legalizing same-sex marriage – it is now legal within 13 of them and going further in gay-friendly public policies. This is especially the case for Nordic countries and Benelux, that have been leading countries on the question over the past 20 years (Martel 2017, 184). Meanwhile, LGBTQI+ political and social movements have been increasing. But still, progress remains to be done, and stigmatization and homophobia persist in Western Europe, especially on the micro/family-level. While elaborating this research project, we thought interesting to focus on sexual orientation as a motivation to move abroad to study. We might also work on the impact of studying abroad on sexuality and individual emancipation.

In this context, this study will aim to determine the existence and importance of an eventual link between sexual orientation and the decision to settle and study abroad. This research will be driven by the following question: “To What Extent Does Belonging to the LGBTQI+ Community affects the Decision to Settle Abroad to Study”. It will therefore allow us to focus on the social phenomena that could constitute driving factors of migration. Indeed, we chose to focus the study on migrations towards and from countries of western Europe and North America. Indeed, past research already tend to demonstrate a link between sexual identity and migration (Manalansan 2006), although not necessarily focusing on the question of students in Western Europe. Therefore, this angle will lead to an observation of social forms within countries that supposedly have a somewhat close cultural background and a somewhat similar approach towards the LGBTQI+ community, allowing us to derive from questions regarding religious and cultural differences that we felt were not fitting the point of this work. This research work being linked to the experience of migration in the case of studying and targeting a specific population, we will focus on LGBTQI+ students between 20 and 25 years old who decided to migrate as a deliberate choice to study abroad. In order to ensure a wide-range of opinions, we expect between 10 and 15 participants to our study. 

If our general explorative hypothesis that sexual orientation influences the decision to settle abroad to study tend to be confirmed, then we will try to verify whether: 

• It has been driven by a wish to settle in a more “open-minded” or cosmopolitan society to study. 
• It has been driven by a wish to extirpate from a determined/”close-minded”/too normative family model. 
• Both. 

In the case where our general explorative hypothesis could not be verified and confirmed by this study, we would postulate that considering the evolution of LGBTQI+ rights, sexual orientation has become less of a determining factor in the decision to study abroad in Western countries. 

We chose to focus on the following concept as to frame our research and enroll it in a sociological perspective: Sexual identity, Gender identity, Chosen migration, Individual emancipation. Gender is considered to be at the heart of power relationships. As Joan Scott says, « gender is not only “a constitutive element of social relationships based on perceived differences between the sexes,” but also “a primary way of signifying relationships of power ». Gender relations, therefore, have been shaping society in the way that heterosexuality, being perceived as a social construct and norm, dominates other forms of sexuality within society. 

Especially, in the context of gender identity, sexuality is accepted as a social and historical product, as a « political regime » (Dorlin, 2008). This by shaping one’s behavior between “normal” and “abnormal”, based on sexuality and sexual orientation, and thus generating power relations between the dominant gender and the dominated one(s). In the same logic, Judy Butler, a leading theorist of gender studies, asserts that gender body is being ‘shaped’ by political forces, disciplined from childhood, which internalizes norms and behaviors, and which makes it possible to establish power relations between men and women, between so-called normal and abnormal behaviors which hierarchies. In short, gender is a set of practices and acts internalized by individuals.

Sexual Identity can be seen as stemming from sexual orientation. In our Western societies, a binary framework between heterosexuality and homosexuality dominates and does not account for the complexity of sexual orientations. In this research we will focus on all non-heterosexual sexual identities (Queer Theory). In our research, we will not focus on heteronormative relationships, but on all people who define themselves as homosexual, bisexual or pansexual, for example. In the context of our research, it is therefore interesting to see whether these power relations (gender and sexual identities) can be a factor that leads to study in another country. 

If these are very specifical concepts linked to queer and gender studies, we will also focus on more sociological concepts, as these could be seen as shaping power relations between groups in our contemporary society and being basic justification for our topic. Therefore, concepts such as chosen migrationor individual emancipation, as of now, are concepts that will also shape our research, but that we still need to define more precisely.

The methodological framework chosen for this paper will be based on qualitative data analysis. Especially, due to the quite subjective and non-normative nature of our research project, we chose to collect our data through conducting interviews with the population targeted by our research. Indeed, we believe that interviews will be a far more productive tool than a survey, enabling us to go deeper into the subjectivity of our topic and drawing more precise conclusions. As of now, we haven’t figured out if semi-constructed or focused interview was the most efficient way for us to collect our data. While the first is a frequent tool in social science (Van Campenhoudt, Quivy and Marquet 2011, 171), focused interviews will allow us to “analyze the impact of an event or precise experience on those who experienced it” (Van Campenhoudt, Quivy and Marquet 2011, 171), which is what we intend to do through analyzing the impact of sexual practices and LGBTQI+ belonging on the decision to migrate to study abroad. Finally, considering the global character of this work, we will conduct our interviews both in-person online means such as Zoom or WhatsApp calls. Already 15 people have accepted to be interviewed as part of our study. 

BIBLIOGRAPHIE

Butler, J. P., & Kraus, C. (2019). Trouble dans le genre (French Edition). La Découverte.

Campenhoudt, V. L., Marquet, J., & Quivy, R. (2017). Manuel de recherche en sciences sociales – 5e éd.DUNOD.

Dorlin, E. (2008). Sexe, genre et sexualités : Introduction à la théorie féministe (PUF éd.). PUF.

Lagrave, R. M. (1990). Recherches féministes ou recherches sur les femmes ? Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 83(1), 27‑39. 

Manalansan, M. F. (2006). Queer Intersections : Sexuality and Gender in Migration Studies. International Migration Review, 40(1), 224‑249. 

Martel, F. (2017). 5. Orientation sexuelle. Dans : , F. Martel, Global Gay. La longue marche des homosexuels: La longue marche des homosexuels (pp. 177-203). Paris: Flammarion. 

Scott, J. W. (1986). Gender : A Useful Category of Historical Analysis. The American Historical Review, 91(5), 1053.