Does and Gündemir aim to study LGBTQ+ youth in the Netherlands in three ways. First, they will study LGBTQ+ youth of colours’ experiences of racism and ethnic discrimination within the Dutch LGBTQ+ community, and society at large. They will use insights from intersectionality theory, which proposes that LGBTQ+ youth of colour can experience intersecting forms of oppression, including (hetero)sexism and racism.
Second, they will examine online and offline communities that hold space for LGBTQ+ youth of colour in the Netherlands, and shed light on how these communities may mitigate some of the negative outcomes that LGBTQ+ youth of colour face, and provide positive role models, a sense of community, joy, and empowerment. Finally, Does and Gündemir aim to uncover the different ways in which the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth of colour are invisible or insufficiently considered in the design of interventions, (mental) health care, and policy measures in the Netherlands.
Serena Does indicates that she is delighted and honoured by the awarded grant. Does: "I am looking forward to collaborating with colleagues at VU who do work in this area. My goal for this project is to produce knowledge that can be used to really benefit this community of folks. We will not exclusively focus on the negative experiences that LGBTQ+ youth of colour face, notwithstanding their importance, but we also want to focus on identifying opportunities and avenues to create more positive experiences for this group. After all, a good life consists of both components: The absence of negative experiences like discrimination and exclusion and the presence of positive experiences like a sense of community and joy.
With the awarded grant in the sum of almost 420,000 euros, the researchers can, among other things, offer someone a full-time PhD position for four years starting in fall of 2022.The Fund for Scientific Research on Sexuality (FWOS) sponsors research into the sexual development of young people within various disciplines that emphasises the actor perspective and sexual, gender and ethnic diversity.
In addition to being endowed professor at VU Amsterdam, Serena Does is senior researcher at the Verwey-Jonker Institute and programme coordinator at the Knowledge Platform for an Inclusive Society (KIS).
