Lesbian and gay affirmative Rorschach research, critical gender consciousness, and psychosocial needs fulfilled by dental dams: student presentations that received the F&P student prize in 2016

Currently, Feminism & Psychology offers three annual prizes for student presentations on topics concerned with gender and sexuality. The prize consists of a certificate and a year’s subscription to Feminism & Psychology. The aim in awarding the prize is to foster the development of feminist theory and practice in and beyond psychology. As such the recipients of the award are recognized for producing work which holds great promise in this regard.

As readers know, Feminism & Psychology has long given a yearly prize for student work in conjunction with the Psychology of Women Section of the British Psychological Association. The prize is awarded to the best paper at the POWS conference. The 2016 winner is Katherine Hubbard, University of Surrey.  The title of her presentation was Treading of delicate ground: Comparing the Lesbian and Gay Affirmative Rorschach Research of June Hopkins and Evelyn Hooker.  Katherine Hubbard’s work was supervised by Dr. Peter Hegarty.

For the first time this year, Feminism & Psychology awarded a prize for the best student presentation at the conference of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). Mukadder Okuyan received the prize for her presentation, which was titled Critical Gender Consciousness among Pious Turkish Women. Mukadder Okuyan is a graduate student in psychology at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her work was supervised by Dr. Nicola Curtin.

Also for the first time this year, Feminism & Psychology awarded a prize for the best presentation in the Sexuality and Gender Division of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA). Avri Spilka received this year’s prize for her presentation titled Do dental dams fulfil motivational psychosocial needs amongst women who have sex with women (WSW) in Tshwane, South Africa? – A qualitative study.  Avri Spilka is a student at the South African College of Applied Psychology.  Her work was supervised by Dr Ian Opperman.

Congratulations, Katherine Hubbard, Mukadder Okuyan and Avri Spilka!