Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Testing The Gender Role-Perception Theory: A Proposed Explanation For The Lack Of Maternity Leave Policy In The United States, Erica R. Boucher

Student Publications

The United States is the only industrialized country in the world to not have a federally mandated paid maternity leave. While there is an obvious lack of maternity leave policy in the United States, there is not adequate explanation of this lack. There are some current theories used to explain this problem, such as Hofstede’s theory of individualism, and historical influence, but they are not able to fully explain why there is not maternity policy in the United States. A new proposed theory, the Gender Role-Perception Theory combines gender roles in the United States and attitudes/perceptions towards working mothers to …

White Women And White Supremacy: How And Why White Women Contribute To White Supremacy, Raegan M. Gawronski

Student Publications

This paper identifies the ways in which and the reasons why white women contribute to white supremacy through an analysis of a blog called "Wife With a Purpose" written by #TradWife Ayla Stewart. I found that the primary methods white women use to uphold white supremacy are reproducing it through the family, subscribing to hegemonic white femininity, and repeatedly choosing to identify with their privileged identity of being white as opposed to their oppressed identity of being a woman. White women contribute to those factors in covertly racist ways, often making it more difficult to call them out for it. …

Otterbein Aegis Spring 2019, Otterbein Aegis

Aegis: The Otterbein Humanities Journal

Editor's Introduction, Book Reviews and Essays including: To Keep or Not to Keep by Lindsay Lisanti, Fantastic Beasts and How to Value them by Casey Hall, Sex, Youth, and the Pill b Hannah Schneider, How Historiography is Crucial in Comprehending the Leading Circumstances of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 by Josh Wolf, Magic is no Cure by Casey Hall, The Ever-Evolving Relationship of the Supreme Court, Women and Homosexuals by Amanda Reed, Vietnam: A Love Story by Abigail Fahmi, Gender and Sex in 1920' America by Raven Manygoats.

Proof Positive, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This poem is an exploration of the aftermath of sexual assault and the myriad factors which determine how women, especially women of colour and Asian women, cope with that aftermath. I am particularly concerned with how the testimony and literature of Asian women can prompt other Asian women to unravel their own stories by reflecting these stories back to them and giving them a medium through which to have this confrontation. With this piece I attempt to communicate that the act of confronting and sharing trauma is a continuous and absolutely vital process for survivors of sexual assault.

Confirmation And Contradiction: A Continuous Recreation Of Gender And Ethnicity In The Works Of Josephus, Taylor C. Ashby

Religion: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

This essay addresses Josephus's The Life as a autobiographical representation of his own masculinity and ethnicity during the the first century.

Intimacy: In Moonlight, Black Boys Look Blue, Vanessa Iroegbulem

Sexual Ethics

This paper will analyze the role of hegemonic masculinity and homosociality in order to highlight how these social scripts contribute to the inhibition of expressing or displaying intimacy between men, specifically in the film Moonlight.

Becoming A Culturally Relevant Feminist Teacher: An Autoethnography Of An Exchange Student, Astri Napitupulu

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis recounts the journey of an exchange student at a public university in Central Illinois on becoming a feminist teacher. By reflecting on her experiences as a Master’s student in the United States and high school teacher in Indonesia, the author unpacks her journey on becoming a feminist teacher. The author argues for the need of a feminist lens to understand the White supremacist heteropatriarchal capitalist system that is also infused in United States educational system. Finally, this research contends for a culturally relevant feminism as viable in her home institution in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

Invisible Intersex: How Discourse Serves To Perpetuate Violence, Zoe A. Philippou

Student Publications

Critical discourse analysis surrounding intersex individuals makes it is clear that the violence against intersex individuals stems from a sense of othering due to the silence surrounding the public discussion and representation of intersex individuals. Additionally, the current discourse serves to create a circular argument of blame instead of serving to decrease the violence done upon intersex individuals. This research serves to explore the discourse surrounding intersex individuals and propose social and institutional ways of working to end the stigma surrounding intersexuality.

She's The Jazz: An Exploration Of Dance And Society In The Age Of The Flapper, Jillian Terry

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The 1920’s, most affectionately known as “The Roaring Twenties,” was a time of dramatic social and political change. Economic growth pushed Americans into an unfamiliar consumer society where people bought the same goods, heard the same songs, danced the same dances, and used the same slang. Prohibition laws led to the underground sale of alcohol in speakeasies where new freedoms were found through communities uniting in music and dance. Here we saw the emergence of flappers. Unlike the generations that came before, these women were seen performing unladylike actions, such as drinking and smoking, while embracing their sexuality. While not …

Sexual Assault On College Campuses: The Links Between Hegemonic Masculinity, College Sports, And Sexual Violence, Vanessa Iroegbulem

Sexual Ethics

This paper seeks to explore the social and neurobiological factors that shape men into sexual aggressors by rewarding violent behaviors. It will critique the exploitation and the commodification of male bodies through sports, namely football.

The Most Common Misconceptions Of Employers About Asian Females, Searching For A Position In Engineering Fields In The United States, Manaswini Bhamidipati, Tatiana Goris

Posters

The purpose of this study is to identify the common misconceptions of employers about the Asian female employees who are searching for a position in the engineering field. The study is conducted under quantitative methodology and ground theory design. The participants of this study are aware of the content of the study and are not forced to participate in the study. The research is limited to the United States. Asian female immigrants with an engineering degree are encouraged for the study.

Asian Women In Stem Industry, Nikhila Bashetty, Tatiana Goris

Posters

The image of engineering as a masculine profession has reproduced the perception that engineering is unsuitable for women. Various strategies have been used to try to increase the number of women entering engineering education and employment, but their success has been limited. This study will provide explicit insights to the problems encountered by the female engineers from Asia. This study will help Asian women engineers’ aspiring careers in American engineering industries to understand the real-life scenario in terms of employment in the USA. It will also help the employers to acknowledge the problems faced by the female engineers and incorpo­rate …

The Effect Of Threat On Preferences For Male Versus Female Candidates, Marley Sandberg

Honors Theses

In the United States, there is a continuing question of why the political bodies of the government, (i.e. the Senate and the House of Representatives) lack descriptive representation for women (Paxton, Kunovich & Hughes, 2007). We have seen a growing body of research that tries to explain this lack of female politicians. While many explanations have been found that partially explain this, such as incumbent status favoring men, and fewer political role models for women (Paxton, Kunovich & Hughes, 2007), there still has been no definitive answer. There is reason to believe that threat may play a role in a …

Violence In The Hands Of Women: An Analysis Of Gendered Violence In Life Is Strange And Before The Storm, Mitchi Anne Maja

Senior Theses

This thesis is an analysis of the video games Life is Strange and Before the Storm and how they serve to reflect social expectations and norms placed upon both women and men even today. Cultural studies recently accepted video games as a form of media to study, especially with the prevalence and accessibility of video games in various platforms. Violence in video games is culturally associated with men and the male audience; my analysis focuses on violence in the hands of women. By analyzing the choices I made as a player and how these games present their narratives and characters, …

Performing Queerness, Jasmina Sinanovic

Open Educational Resources

This is a syllabus for a course Performing Queerness

Opposing Abortion To Protect Women: Transnational Strategy Since The 1990s, Carol Mason

Gender and Women's Studies Faculty Publications

This article examines the transnational work that since the 1990s has increasingly opposed abortion in terms of protecting women. It therefore explores how pro-woman rhetoric is used to foster right-wing politics by way of, and beyond, the fight over abortion. Narratives depicting white women as dupes of a sordid, satanic system of abortion provision ignore the fact that most women report feeling relief—not grief, regret, or trauma—after terminating an unwanted pregnancy. To get a sense of the political and cultural influence that right-wing movements gain when they play the woman card, we must trace antiabortion collaborations transnationally. Reading representations of …

In A Child's Place: Centering Black Girlhood In Black Feminisms Through The Bildungsroman, Taylor L. Bailey

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines the effects of misogynoir— a specific form of oppression Black women experience due to the intersection of being deemed inferior in both race and gender— on the development of Black girlhood. In Black feminist theory and criticism, though, the language used often subordinates Black girls and does not ascribe adequate import to their experiences. Using the Black girl bildungsroman, specifically The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson, as a way to survey the effects of misogynoir and the significance of homosocial, intraracial bonding, I argue that Black feminisms should center Black girlhood …

Positionality Matters: School Choice Decisions Based On Ethnographic Accounts Of African American Parents, Dr. Stacy L. Thomas

Dissertations

This research delves into experiences with reasoning and selected criteria for choosing the right school for their children. Beginning with a series of vignettes that assist with recognition of parental empowerment, this research archives acknowledgement of their own positionality when it comes to making life changing decisions. As selected parents of African American children grapple with the strategic balance and possibilities of educational outlets, family and finances, they offer ethnographic accounts of their successes and failures with school choice. Individual accounts of parental school choice decisions posing as data ascertained from interviews provided research that explored the critical frequencies and …

Feminist Anthems: A Musical Journey Through The Decades, Amanda Alcox

Women and Gender Studies Student Work

No abstract provided.

Ossie, Johnna Conference Paper “Querying The Past: Intergenerational Conversations And Queer Community”, Johnna Ossie

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Paper from a presentation given by Johnna Ossie (University of Southern Maine, Class of 2019)

Talking Bodies: fourth biennial interdisciplinary, international conference

Institute of Gender Studies at the University of Chester, England

April 10 - 13, 2019.

Citation

Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, University of Southern Maine Libraries.

For more information about the Querying the Past: Maine LGBTQ Oral History Project, please contact Dr. Wendy Chapkis.