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From The Outside Looking In: Transmasculine Narrative Identity, Experiences, And Larger Narratives On Social Media, Micah Roldan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Narrative identity development is an essential process in how individuals perceive themselves and the world around them. Often, narrative identity is studied in cisgender heterosexual individuals and applied to others without the acknowledgment of individuals that fall outside of these categories. Drawing upon existing literature and autoethnography, this thesis aims to meaningfully bridge this gap by studying the narrative identity development of transmasculine individuals through the lens of social media. This thesis proposes that the use of social media to share gender transition journeys has created a new digital trans and queer narrative for users and viewers. This narrative is …

Associations Between Tiktok Use, Mental Health, And Body Image Among College Students, Alexz Carpenter

Honors Theses

Background. Social media use continues to increase globally, and there is a large field of research examining the relationships between social media use with anxiety, depression, and body image. College-aged students are particularly vulnerable to these associations because they are at a unique developmental point of their life. College-aged students also use social media more frequently than almost any other age group, which may put them at increased risk for negative mental health and body image outcomes related to their social media use. TikTok is a relatively new social media app that has exponentially risen in popularity, especially among younger …

A Cultural Analysis Of Ethnic Identity, Socialization, And Familism From The Perspective Of Latino Csumb Students, Angelica Gutierrez Del Toro

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone aims to study the gender differences within Latino communities from the perspective of California State University, Monterey Bay students and whether these gender differences affect their ethnic identity/pride. This research intends on exploring two questions 1) Are there gender differences among college-going students and the way they are socialized to understand their ethnic identity? 2) If so, Are the respondents' ethnic identity index score and Familism index scores influenced based on their gender? These research questions will be tested by a convenience sample survey by two replicated survey scales. The first replicated study involved surveying 127 Latino adults …

Digital Masculinity: An Analysis Of How Masculine Values Are Manifested In Online Spaces, Catherine Thompson

Honors Projects

In this research paper, I utilize previous research to demonstrate how the history of masculinity in America impacts views of social hierarchy in gendered spaces online. I describe how hegemonic masculinity affects how men view themselves and others to understand why men’s online groups like incels, pick-up artists, men’s rights activists, 4chan, and 8chan develop and thrive by providing men with groups where they can demonstrate hegemonic masculinity to other men through degrading women. Using this framework, I use a binary logistic regression model to quantify the relationship between men’s opinions surrounding internet behaviors and attitudes towards the internet with …

Climbing The Masculine Hierarchy: Examining Constructions Of Masculinity Through Incel Identities, Alyssa Jewel Davis

All Theses

In a gender-segregated digital space known as the Manosphere, a group of men calling themselves “Incels,” or involuntary celibates, express feelings of hostility and hatred towards women. Incels hold a low position on a masculine hierarchy where the men who hold the most power in society are those who have access to women’s emotional and sexual services. Incels are characterized by feelings of entitlement to women’s services and aggrievement by their inability to access them. As a result, they often appear to fantasize about or engage in acts of violence to compensate for their lack of masculine privilege. However, there …

A Sense Of Belongingness Among Undergraduate Students Across Race/Ethnicity, Class, And Gender, Francesca Marino

Honors Projects

Research has shown that feelings of belongingness within an educational setting are likely to improve outcomes in various academic-related areas. In the present study, I examine BGSU undergraduate students’ sense of belongingness, feelings of value, and understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts on campus. Using an online campus climate survey, I explore differences in perceptions and experiences among students with different social identities. In particular, I focus on differences across race/ethnicity, social class, and gender identity. Findings show that there are racial/ethnic and gender differences across feelings and perceptions of the general campus climate, DEI, belongingness and value, …

A Multi-Method Examination Of The Effects Of Students’ Unconscious Biases On Student Evaluations Of Instructors, Brittany M. Kowalski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In this dissertation, I complete three studies to evaluate potential reactions to target role congruity, especially gender role congruity, through an examination of Student Evaluations of Instructors (SEIs). Target role congruity refers to assessments an observer makes of whether or not the various roles a target person fills “fit” with one another. For example, a woman surgeon may be perceived as being in an incongruent role due to the masculine characteristics associated with the occupation and the continued dominance of men in the field. Researchers utilizing congruity theories has shown that both women and men in roles that are incongruent …

پاکستان میں خواجہ سراؤں کی معاشی اور صحت کی صورتحال پر کووڈ 19 لاک ڈاؤن کے اثرات, Mehak Meraj

MSJ Capstone Projects

پاکستان میں رواں سال کووڈ19کے پیشِ نظرلگنے والےلاک ڈاؤن میں معاشرے کا پسماندہ ترین طبقہ خواجہ سرأ ، معاشی اور صحت کے حوالے سے بےپناہ متاثر ہوا۔جہاں دورانِ لاک ڈاؤن پیشے اور زندگی کی بنیادی سہولتیں نہ ہونے کی سبب اس طبقے نےسخت ترین حالات دیکھے وہیں جسمانی و نفسیاتی صحت کے اعتبار سے خواجہ سراؤں کی آزمائش کافی سخت رہی۔میری اس تحقیقی تحریر کا مقصد انہیں تمام صورتحال پر روشنی ڈالنا ہے۔

Lean On Me: Leadership Beyond The Patriarchy, Tamara Taylor

Master of Arts in Humanities | Master's Theses 1936 - 2022

Leadership styles have taken various forms throughout humanity’s trajectory on earth. Indicative of patriarchal systems, the most prominent styles of leadership that are widely recognized in the public and private sectors routinely favor individuals who portray characteristics of ambition, confidence and assertiveness that at times crosses over into aggression. When one considers which gender fit the stereotype of exhibiting leadership qualities under these assumptions, often hyper-masculine men fit the mold.

In contrast, when women are successful at ascending and working in higher ranking positions, the characteristics that are mapped on to their personas are often associated with collaboration and relationship-building. …

Often Overlooked, But Not Forgotten: The Influence Of Demographic Measure Constraints On Participant Affect, Attitudes, Behavior, And Response Codability, Joy S. Pawirosetiko

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Despite a growing number of recommendations varying in wording and response options, researchers have yet to agree on how to best request participant gender identity. Evidence suggests that gender binary and gender minority participants perceive gender identity measures differently, with gender binary participants potentially perceiving more gender inclusive measures as laborious and gender minority participants perceiving less gender inclusive measures as misgendering or invalidating. We sought to test whether seven versions of an online questionnaire (six experimental conditions with gender identity questions listed at the beginning of the questionnaire varying in gender inclusivity, and one control condition) significantly impacted participant …

The World Of Sports Sexual Harassment, Arsalan Sadiq Sheikh

MSJ Capstone Projects

Sexual harassment has been a major issue in all fields of life, similarly, the national and international level athletes also faced it on their way to the glory. The capstone project focused on exploring the state of sexual harassment in the field of sports in Pakistan, at the school, university, national and international level. During the investigative report, it was revealed that sexual harassment was much more common in sports than anyone had imagined. Moreover, the harassment was not always by male coaches or counterparts against female athletes. Instead, the females were being harassed by the same gender, while men …

Double Jeopardy: Minority Stress And The Influence Of Transgender Identity And Race/Ethnicity, Krystina Millar, Jason Eastman

Honors Theses

This study assessed gender and racial/ethnic differences in gender-related discrimination and psychological distress within a sample of transgender and gender nonconforming individuals. Prior research suggests transgender individuals with multiple minority statuses experience higher psychological stress than their singly disadvantaged counterparts, and both minority race/ethnicity and transgender minorities experience more frequent and severe forms of discrimination than white and cisgender individuals. Using data from a convenience sample of 101 self-identified transgender and gender nonconforming adults recruited through LGBTQ+ organizations from across North America, I analyzed the relationship between race/ethnicity, gender-related minority stress, and psychological distress. Gender-related discrimination and gender-related victimization did …

The Impact Of Sexual Assault Training And Gender On Rape Attitudes, Monica Krolnik Campos

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Sexual assault is a growing concern across college campuses in the United States. According to the Sexual Victimization of College Women study, the victimization rate is 27.7 rapes per 1,000 ­­­­women students (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000). In response to the high prevalence of sexual assault, college campuses are now mandated to implement various forms of sexual assault prevention programming. Sexual assault prevention programming is intended to promote awareness of sexual assault and reduce the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. Numerous studies have examined the short term effectiveness of sexual assault prevention programs (e.g., Anderson & Whiston, 2005). …

“Your Biological Clock Is Ticking”: Examining Stigma Of Childless Men And Women, Kayla Tamas

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Prior research reveals that all childless individuals are negatively stigmatized, but voluntary and involuntary childless individuals are stigmatized to differing degrees. There is a little research investigating the differences in stigma associated with childless men and women. The current study examines the differences in stigma for voluntary and involuntary childless men and women by using a series of vignettes and having participants rate the childless individuals on fourteen general characteristics. Participants were recruited from psychology and sociology courses at the University of South Carolina Aiken as well as Psychological Research on the Net through Hanover College. It was hypothesized that …

The Impact Of Beauty, Body Image, And Health Discourses On Eating Disorder Risk In South Asian-Canadian Women, Nazia Bhatti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study explores socio-cultural influences that impact South Asian women’s self-perceptions and eating behaviours. The findings revealed that cultural gender ideologies played a substantial role in shaping the way women view themselves and their bodies. The analysis of interviews conducted with seven South Asian-Canadian women between the ages of 19-29 years, demonstrate that women’s perceptions of their own physical appearance is framed within the context of their South Asian cultural identity and cultural norms. This study was approached through the lens of post-colonial feminism by examining cultural factors that contribute to South Asian women’s increased risk for developing eating disorders. …

"This Isn't For You, This Is For Me": Women In Cosplay And Their Experiences Combatting Harassment And Stigma, Christopher M. Lucas

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In the past two decades, cosplay, or “costume play,” has become increasingly popular among fans of anime, manga, and video games. Despite the community’s nature of embracing social difference, problems persist with regard to gender discrimination and breaching of consent boundaries. Discussion in the extant literature on cosplay has yet to address the views of women in the community, specifically the idea of cosplay and popular culture conventions being a “boys’ club.” The principle research questions of this study are: (1) What are the lived experiences of women cosplayers at anime conventions? (2) To what degree have they had to …

“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 …

We Break Our Bodies To Save Our Souls: Identity Construction Through The Participation In Flat Track Roller Derby, Torisha Stone

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

While sociology of sport has been growing steadily over the last few decades, with an increased focus on how sports participation allow for active identity construction, research on roller derby is incredibly limited. I argue that research on roller derby provides an important window for understanding gendered sports construction and participation. Derby also provides a space where identities are created through performance in addition to the creation of unique personas or in some cases primary identities. In this study, I conducted 15 semi-structured open ended interviews using non-probability and snowball sampling techniques of a rural roller derby league as well …

The Harsh Reality: A Feminist Perspective On The Experiences Of Women Coaching Male Athletes, Emilee Shearer

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study, using a qualitative approach, examines the impact of patriarchy on females who coach a male-dominated sports team. The purpose of the study is to identify and examine the experiences of females who coach a male-dominated sports team in order to have a better understanding of the impact of the gender binary and patriarchy in the sport field. A qualitative approach was used in this study to gain an understanding of the individual and commonality of the experiences of women coaches. There were five female coaches interviewed; one was a high school basketball coach, two were high school football …

Social Support, Relationship Quality, And Self-Care Behaviors In Patients With Heart Failure, Majdi Mohammad Rababa

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the associations among social support, gender, relationship quality, and self-care behaviors in patients with heart failure (HF). Specific aims were to: 1) compare the psychometric properties of the 12-item and the 9-item European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior Scale (EHFScBS) when used to measure self-care behaviors in patients with HF in the United States; 2) determine whether gender moderated the association between perceived social support and daily sodium intake in patients with HF; and 3) determine whether a patient’s gender and relationship with the primary family caregiver (spousal or non-spousal) moderated the association …

What Street Harassment Means, Madison Davis

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper is exploratory research into how college-age women understand their experiences of street harassment. Street harassment is a normative experience for women living in patriarchal cultures, and is an intrusive experience faced regularly in public life. Women told their experiences as part of a narrative that changed over time as they aged from teens into college. Their experiences were not confined to the street, but experienced across public life, and women often carry the weight of harassment in silence. Women resign to the ongoing reality of harassment, and their experiences did not exist in a vacuum but a larger …

Queer University: An Ethnographic Case Study Of The Trans Student Experience Of College Campus Space, Madeline Johnson

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Operating from the premise that physical space becomes a gendered reality through social interaction, this study examines the social formation of self for gender nonconforming college students. Through ethnographic observations of an LGBTQ+ student organization and interviews with self-identified trans students, this research highlights the negotiation of campus space from a queer participant perspective. First, I present the trans student description of cisnormative space, the process of queering space through forming a queer community, and the experience of perceived safe space. This study finds that students experience all on-campus space as pervasively and fundamentally cisnormative, but upon the erasure of …

Facebook, Twitter, Gender: How Social Media Allows For Fragmentation Of The Self In The Digitally Native Millennial, Clark Wolff Hamel

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Unequal And Unfair: Free Riding In One-Shot Interactions, Mary Kathryn Mcdougal

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

According to social psychologists, we as a species are inequity averse. We prefer conditions that foster fairness and reject injustice against common good. At the same time, however, unequal power and status hierarchies color almost every aspect of our lives. Advantages are distributed asymmetrically based on hierarchical status processes. Life, in other words, is systematically unfair in addition to being populated by free riders. Are the outcomes of potential free riders correlated with status as well? Does status affect the individual’s ability to successfully free ride? Are higher status actors typically granted a greater degree of social leniency than lower …

The Evolution Of Disney Princesses And Their Effect On Body Image, Gender Roles, And The Portrayal Of Love, Rachael Michelle Johnson

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

The media plays an essential role in determining people’s schemas of the real world, assumptions about cultural ideals, and perceptions surrounding body image, gender roles, and the idealization of love (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2008; Herbozo, Tantleff-Dunn, Gokee-Larose, & Thompson, 2004). Children in particular are vulnerable to these messages due to their high consumption of media and their cognitive development (Agarwal & Dhanasekaran, 2012; Herbozo et al., 2004). Disney is one the most powerful aspects in children’s media and their princess phenomenon plays an essential role in perpetuating stereotypes by having their heroines embody submissiveness, being young and thin, and attracting …

Protective Factors And The Role Of Gender In Childhood Mental Health: Application Of The Interrai Assessment Protocol, Alexandria Lynch

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present study examined how a child’s mental health is impacted by protective factors and his/her gender. Resiliency research has been growing in recent years as researchers recognize the value of focusing on strengths in individuals. Previous research has shown that certain protective factors help buffer against the negative effects of mental health disorders differently for males and females. The present study sought to explore this further. The participants were children and youth with severe mental health and behavioural challenges and were drawn from a tertiary care facility and other mental health organizations. The results revealed that the children and …

Do Culture And Biological Sex Influence People Who Engage In Non-Suicidal Self-Injury?, Rachel Berger

Graduate Theses

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) refers to behaviors in which a person intentionally harms and causes tissue damage to oneself, without the desire to end his or her life. There have been contradictory findings with regard to differences in NSSI by biological sex and culture. In this study, I sought to examine if adults with independent cultural self- construals would report more occurrences of NSSI in comparison to those with interdependent cultural self-construals. Furthermore, I was interested in whether females would report more instances of NSSI in comparison to males in independent based cultures, and I examined whether the methods and reasons …

Norm Articulation In International Organizations: Democracy, Governance, And Participation At The Undp And The World Bank, Roni Kay Marie O'Dell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Constructivist analyses of international norm articulation assume that norm articulation happens through the process of international discussion and agreement, yet such works lack a rigorous analysis of how international organizations articulate norms for the world internal to the organization. Further, analyses of international organization norm articulation almost completely ignore the important influence of leadership. This dissertation analyzes two distinct norms of gender equality and participation in two international organizations, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. The theory developed here argues that the leader's ability to influence norm articulation is dependent on the organizational culture which reflexively impacts …

Feminist Stereotypes: Communal Vs. Agentic, Emily R. Lindburg

Scripps Senior Theses

This study examined relationships between facial appearance, gender-linked traits, and feminist stereotypes. Naïve college students rated traits based on facial appearance of female CEO's whose companies appeared in the Forbes 1000 list. The photos of each female CEO (n=35) were randomly combined with two descriptive identifiers; an occupation (n=9) and an interest area (n=9), including 'feminist'. Participants then rated the head shots of the CEO's on a 7 point Likert scale of communal (expected feminine) traits like attractiveness, warmth, compassion and cooperativeness, and on agentic (expected masculine) traits like ambition, leadership ability and intelligence. If college students hold negative stereotypes …

Emotion Work On The Home-Front: The Special Case Of Military Wives, Kimberly Michelle Murray

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research includes interviews with twelve military wives to examine emotion-work techniques used to negotiate the everyday life of wives during their husbands' deployment. In this study, I seek to better understand the ways in which military wives negotiate their feelings within a context of military masculinity and how they manage role strain, feelings of loneliness, isolation, and marginalization. In addition, I examine the cultural constructs available to wives, such as traditional gender roles and subordination. Interviews confirm the complexity of the life of the military wife, revealing challenges of contradictory emotions in relationship to the military, her husband, her …