Digital Commons Network^™

How Gender Shapes Music: A Comparison Within K-Pop, Payton Primer

Senior Theses

In this paper, I will discuss how Korean Pop (K-Pop) music gained such extensive popularity and prevalence in society in the past 5-10 years. Investigating the audiences in South Korea and the United States, I will examine what caused the rise in popularity and the steady increase in the audience of K-Pop music. Additionally, I will be looking into the demographics of these audiences. In looking at the target audience in both countries, I will be able to answer who the primary audience of K-Pop listeners is. Korean pop culture and music are still relatively new to the Western world. …

Sacrificial Bodies And Hegemonic Femininity: The Creation Of The Heroine In The Twilight, The Hunger Games, & Divergent Series, Tiffany R. Boyles

Senior Theses

Within this thesis, I analyze The Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games Trilogy, and The Divergent Trilogy and how the portrayal and treatment of the protagonists’ bodies within these texts uphold tenets of white, hegemonic femininity. I discuss first how their bodies are feminized, in part by their whiteness and smallness, but also through the comparison to the bodies of male characters. While the men are strong and physically capable, the protagonists are weak and physically incapable. As a result, the protagonists cannot act in the way a traditional hero might, using offensive action for self-preservation. Instead, the protagonists …

The Female Sports Fan Experience: How Women Consume Sports And How Sports Are Marketed To Women, Natalie Elser

Senior Theses

This study analyzes the growing subsection of female sports fans. Through a review of scholarly research articles, this study examines female sports fan motivations and behaviors and how they differ from the classic male sports fan. Additionally, this study aims to investigate how sports marketing executives try to appeal to women as sports consumers and how these practices have begun to change in recent years. This study will provide a summary of existing research on female sports fans along with a review of marketing initiatives used to engage female sports fans.

"Between Two Fires": Gender And American Socialism In The Progressive Era, Elisia Harder

Senior Theses

The Progressive Era (1890-1920) in the United States was a time of immense change in both the political and private spheres. Movements which sought to fundamentally upend the political status quo gained in popularity, including that of socialism. Socialism promised equality for workers regardless of gender, something that appealed to many American women at the time. A myriad of upper/middle-class and working-class women were thus initially drawn to the socialist movement. These women, however, would not find the salvation they were promised. Instead, they would confront the very same misogyny they experienced in mainstream political parties, as their struggle was …

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, …

Lesbian Love Sonnets: Adrienne Rich And Carol Ann Duffy, Robin Seiler-Garman

Senior Theses

Our conceptualization of sexuality is rooted in gender. Modern, western society defines sexuality as which genders one is and is not attracted to—often appearing as a binary between homosexuality and heterosexuality. Recently, however, queer theorists have begun to push against the idea of binary sexuality altogether.

The interplay between gender and sexuality additionally manifests in the history of literature. Because the two are so intimately intertwined, writing about sexuality necessitates writing about gender. Twenty-One Love Poems by Adrienne Rich and Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy are two poetry collections where, as lesbian poets, gender and sexuality play an important role. …

Music And Gender, Chris Buckman

Senior Theses

The purpose of this research project was to conduct a study on the correlation between gender and music listening habits. Based on the results of a music survey, the author tested four hypotheses: females have wider genre preference range than males, females spend more time listening to music, males and females listen to music for different reasons, and males and females prefer different genres of music. Analysis was performed using a variety of hypothesis testing methods in R. Only one hypothesis was rejected out of the four—that males and females prefer different genres. Discussion is presented on why this is …

The Gender Wage Gap In The Film Industry: A Review Of Literature, Christine Pires

Senior Theses

The gender wage gap is defined as the difference between the amounts of money paid to women and men, often for doing the same work (Cambridge, 2017). The gender wage gap is a reoccurring financial issue in all aspects of the business world. Most all career paths have had a wage gap between men and women. Having equal pay for equal work should be a thing of the past. However, women today are still fighting to close the wage gap and work equally in all fields. The film industry is one of the largest entertainment industries in America and still, …

Mother's Bed: Gender Representation In Children's Literature, Karin Hanni

Senior Theses

This children's book and accompanying research paper both address gender inequity in children's literature. There is a significant imbalance of gender representation in children's literature, with the number of central male characters almost doubling that of central female characters. Additionally, the roles of males and females still tend to be stereotypical: boys are action-oriented and heroic, while girls are nurturing and passive. Further, it is believed that boys will only enjoy books about boys, while girls will enjoy books about both boys and girls. This imbalance in children's literature hurts both genders. Children not only learn to read from books, …