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“Well, Don’T Walk Around Naked... Unless You’Re A Girl”: Gender, Sexuality, And Risk In Jamtronica Festival Subcultural Scenes, Kaitlyne A. Motl

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

The purpose of this study was to explore emerging issues surrounding gendered fear, threat, and violence perpetration at music festivals – particularly events that feature a synthesis of jam band and electronic dance music acts – a genre termed jamtronica by its fans. Though gendered violence perpetration and prevention have been widely studied within other party-oriented settings (i.e., sexual violence perpetration on college campuses), very little research exists to address how wider disparities of gender and sexuality permeate a community whose members frequently claim the scene’s immunity from external inequalities.

In this three-year multi-sited ethnography, I incorporate participant observations, group …

Living Without God: Female Atheists And Stigma Management In The South Of The United States, Jamie L. Pond

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

This study focuses upon the experiences and perceptions of women Atheists in the Southern U.S., a region which is highly religious and, therefore, has comparatively low numbers of Atheists. Taking a Symbolic Interactionist approach, I examine how these Southern Atheists understood what it means to be an “Atheist,” how they became Atheist, their strategies to manage their stigmatized identity as Atheists, and finally the role gender has in managing this stigma. I utilize a Feminist methodology to investigate and foreground women’s experiences. I conducted participant observation at 23 Atheist and Humanist meetings in two southern cities in two different states; …

Science Wars As Culture Wars: Fracking And The Battle For The Hearts And Minds Of Women, Jenrose D. Fitzgerald

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

In this thesis, I examine how claims regarding the environmental and health impacts of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” are constructed by industry advocates who promote the practice and environmental and social justice groups who reject it. More specifically, I examine the cultural underpinnings of the debate over fracking, and the prominence of gender as a central framing device in that debate. While the controversy over fracking is often presented as scientific or technical in nature, I maintain that it is as much a culture war as it is a science war. I demonstrate this by showing how both pro-fracking and …