Date of Graduation
Fall 2022
Degree
Master of Arts in English
Department
English
Committee Chair
Jonathan Newman
Abstract
This thesis explores conversion trauma narratives with the goal of transforming—inverting The Book of Job’s holy resolution to instead entail queer liberation apart from Evangelicalism. Analyzing Conley’s bestselling memoir, Boy Erased, I discuss Conley’s suffering and how his liberation is not found by means of repressing or converting his attraction to the same gender. I also analyze Emily Danforth’s novel, The Miseducation of Cameron Post to highlight how fictional accounts of queer liberation from conversion therapy help to increase awareness of the harms of conversion therapy. Throughout my thesis, I incorporate my own story of queer suffering, survival, and resilience. I steal away Job’s narrative for the sake of my own resolution away from church, forced masculinity, and closeted identity.
Keywords
queer, conversion therapy, The Book of Job, drag artist, megachurch, worship leader, Boy Erased, The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Subject Categories
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies | Literature in English, North America | Nonfiction
Copyright
© Harrison Beau Palen
Recommended Citation
Palen, Harrison Beau, "Queering Job: Inverted Liberation in Boy Erased and Other Conversion Trauma Narratives" (2022). MSU Graduate Theses/Dissertations. 3799.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/3799
Open Access
Included in
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Nonfiction Commons
