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Institutionalized Normative Heterosexuality : The Case Of Sexual Fluidity, Nicole Lamarre Jan 2022

Institutionalized Normative Heterosexuality : The Case Of Sexual Fluidity, Nicole Lamarre

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Since Alfred Kinsey’s early exploration of sexual behaviors, identities, and desires, there has been a proliferation of studies on what is generally regarded today as sexual fluidity. Inquiry into sexual histories that are neither wholly heterosexual nor homosexual (or even bisexual) has been incredibly well documented by this time. Generally, theories about sexual fluidity have taken one of two positions. The first camp interprets sexual variance as a sign of changing times and crumbling sexual and gender binaries. The second group of theorists postulate that sexual fluidity is neither new nor a particularly positive or liberating social trend. Instead of …


Gendered Rhetoric Of Video Game Streaming : Female Agency, Harassment And Cat Girls, Tommie Ann Sutton Aug 2021

Gendered Rhetoric Of Video Game Streaming : Female Agency, Harassment And Cat Girls, Tommie Ann Sutton

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The streaming community is large and varied, with the most popular streamers playing video games daily for audiences of tens of thousands of people. The community is well known for its exclusion and harassment of female players and streamers, despite demographic information showing that most player populations represent an even spread amongst men and women. This study analyzes two case studies in female streamer agency: the first is an IRL streamer named Pokimane and the second on the female animated streamers called VTubers. Specifically, it shows how Pokimane disrupts gendered harassment and how VTubers ignore harassment and perpetuate stereotypes that …


Flexible Lives On Engineering's 'Bleeding Edge' : Gender, Migration And Belonging In The Semiconductor Industry, Sarah E. Appelhans May 2021

Flexible Lives On Engineering's 'Bleeding Edge' : Gender, Migration And Belonging In The Semiconductor Industry, Sarah E. Appelhans

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation explores gender, flexibilization, and belonging within professional high tech employment, particularly amongst women and migrant engineers. Prior studies of women in the “integrated circuit” focused on low-skilled factory labor (Nakamura 2014, Grossman 1980); however, women are increasingly choosing careers in the male-dominated engineering workforce, which designs and manufactures semiconductor technology. Fieldwork for this dissertation took place between May 2018 – Aug 2019 in the Northeastern US, a regional hub for semiconductor manufacturing companies. Thirty-eight life history interviews were conducted with participants from several companies in the area, along with frequent follow ups and participant observation with seventeen engineering …


Reducing The Impact Of Exposure To Idealized Body Images Across Genders : An Experimental Investigation Of Policy And Media Literacy Interventions, Joseph M. Donahue Jan 2020

Reducing The Impact Of Exposure To Idealized Body Images Across Genders : An Experimental Investigation Of Policy And Media Literacy Interventions, Joseph M. Donahue

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Body image disturbances are associated with increased risk of depression, low self-esteem, and eating disorders. Research has established that exposure to images of idealized bodies can negatively impact an individual’s body image. The digital modification of such images is a widespread practice used by publishers, advertisers, and the general public alike. Recent attention has been focused on the inclusion of disclaimers labels on enhanced images as a way of preserving individuals’ body image. To date, several studies have explored the effectiveness of this intervention in women which have yielded conflicting results. Although evidence suggests that males are increasingly exposed to …


Making Good : World War I, Disability, And The Senses In American Rehabilitation, Evan Patrick Sullivan Jan 2020

Making Good : World War I, Disability, And The Senses In American Rehabilitation, Evan Patrick Sullivan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study looks at how disabled American soldier-patients and the US Army used the senses as tools of rehabilitation after the Great War. Contemporaries argued that, when the hundreds of thousands of American soldiers came home wounded or sick after the Great War, the men needed to make good. The phrase “making good” meant that sacrifice in the war was not enough, and veterans had to become socially and economically independent, and return to heterosexual relationships. In an effort to return to normalcy, the US Army relied on rehabilitation, which aimed to medically and socially re-integrate the men into society.


Social Connectedness And Eating Disorder Symptomatology, Nicole Nunez May 2019

Social Connectedness And Eating Disorder Symptomatology, Nicole Nunez

Psychology

Eating disorders are a well-known and well-documented issue with known deleterious effects on one’s health. Because of this fact, it is important to identify protective factors against the development and/or maintenance of eating disorders. Social support has been identified as a factor that can play a role in recovery from eating disorders. While the importance of social support has been broadly examined in research, social connectedness specifically has been explored less explicitly. Social connectedness involves feelings of belonging, identification with others, and healthy social interaction. This study sought to assess the role of social connectedness in eating disorder symptomatology. We …


The Impact Of Exposure To The Thin Ideal On Chocolate Cravings In U.S. -Born Women, Kathryn M. Helm May 2019

The Impact Of Exposure To The Thin Ideal On Chocolate Cravings In U.S. -Born Women, Kathryn M. Helm

Psychology

Food cravings are experienced by a large proportion of the population and have a variety of negative implications- including overweight/ obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Prior research has shown a lack of support for biological causes of craving. As such, we look to other factors such as culture, cognition, and sex, to explore why such factors have an influence on craving. The purpose of this study is to look at the impact of viewing thin ideal images on chocolate cravings in United States born women-including (but not restricted to) their reports of ambivalence towards chocolate. Participants were randomized …


Nuclear Families For The Nuclear Age: Disney's Part In Creating Gender Roles In The 1950s, Carlee T. Litt May 2019

Nuclear Families For The Nuclear Age: Disney's Part In Creating Gender Roles In The 1950s, Carlee T. Litt

History

The 1950s was a revolutionary period for American youth culture. The Walt Disney Company played an important role in forming and conveying a new image and set of ideals associated with childhood. My paper examines the Disney Company’s messages about growing up, in particular, the gendered expectations surrounding love that revolutionized the way Americans viewed family life. For both ideological and business reasons, Disney promoted an idealized concept of the nuclear family to children. My paper pays close attention to the conversation occurring between Disney and the American public by analyzing both 1950s Disney storylines, disseminated in multiple mediums such …


The Cognitive And Contextual Underpinnings Of Food Cravings : A Multi-Method Exploration, Martha Niemiec Jan 2019

The Cognitive And Contextual Underpinnings Of Food Cravings : A Multi-Method Exploration, Martha Niemiec

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The notion of addiction pervades Western vernacular. While firmly established in the substance and drug literature, the concept of addiction is now increasingly associated with other ingested substances (coffee, chocolate, highly processed foods) and a range of compulsive behaviors (gambling, sex, online social networking, gaming). Addiction is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, and a greater understanding of its etiology has significant public health implications. The physiological mechanisms thought to contribute to the development and maintenance of addiction (tolerance, withdrawal, and, possibly, craving) are widely considered hallmark features and primary treatment targets, while psychological and contextual factors are often underappreciated …


The Everyday Sacred : A Symbolic Analysis Of Contemporary Yucatec Maya Women's Daily Realities, Crystal Sheedy Jan 2019

The Everyday Sacred : A Symbolic Analysis Of Contemporary Yucatec Maya Women's Daily Realities, Crystal Sheedy

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

As a collaborative effort between myself and the Maya women with whom I worked, who live in Xocén, this dissertation seeks to illuminate the sacred world of Maya women, as well as dismantle the insidious narrative that younger generations of Mayas are losing their culture. Instrumental to this process is the use of decolonial methods (Lawless 1993) and descriptive theoretical premises (Geertz 1973; Turner 1967, 1969) that allowed me to analyze Maya women’s discursive speech, referred to as both chismes and heridos in Spanish, which can be translated as gossip, as well as the speech genre of u t’àan nukuč …


"We Get Nothing" : An Ethnography Of Participatory Development And Gender Mainstreaming In A Water Project For The Bhil Of Central India, Indrakshi Tandon Jan 2019

"We Get Nothing" : An Ethnography Of Participatory Development And Gender Mainstreaming In A Water Project For The Bhil Of Central India, Indrakshi Tandon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Through the close examination of a state-sponsored watershed project being implemented by Association for Integrated Social Development (AISD) in the district of Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, this dissertation project explores how current development approaches in water projects impact its intended targets, in this case the Bhil tribal community. A key aspect of this research is to analyze in detail how development narratives such as participatory or bottom-up approaches and gender mainstreaming often result in unintended consequences. With a focus on the gendered nature of participatory policies, I argue that popular development practices in India often lead to governing and managing target …


Gender In Politics: A Comparative Study Of Female Representation In The New York State Senate, Kaylynn Enright May 2018

Gender In Politics: A Comparative Study Of Female Representation In The New York State Senate, Kaylynn Enright

Public Administration & Policy

This paper utilizes data obtained from the New York State Senate spanning five elections between 2008 and 2016 to determine if gender impacts election outcomes. More specifically, I attempt to understand if the New York State Senate matches the common belief in the literature that women tend to fare less well than men in elections, and female Democrats have greater success than female Republicans in winning elections. By focusing on the New York State Senate, I seek to uncover whether the idiosyncrasies of New York State politics are reflected in any distinctions from the prominent conclusions made in the literature …


Exploring Kindergartners' Understandings Of Gender : Responding To Picture Book Read Alouds With A Focus On Fairy Tales, Karen Marie Maher Jan 2018

Exploring Kindergartners' Understandings Of Gender : Responding To Picture Book Read Alouds With A Focus On Fairy Tales, Karen Marie Maher

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation explores four of my kindergartners’ understandings of gender across one academic year with an in-depth study of responses to a series of picture book read alouds including Cinderella variants. Critical literacy offered opportunities for these young students to critique inequities within social practices (Au & Raphael, 2000; Vasquez, 2014, 2017); whereas, poststructuralist feminism framed the inquiries into the locations of deeply ingrained gender identities (Blackburn, 2005, 2006; Blaise, 2005a, 2005b, 2014; Villaverde, 2008). This critical analysis of literature provided a means for the kindergartners to uncover underlying messages of power and inequity by interrogating whose voices were heard …


"Remarks On A March" : A Female Perspective On Gender, Rank, And Imperial Identities During The French And Indian War, Erica Ingrid Nuckles Jan 2018

"Remarks On A March" : A Female Perspective On Gender, Rank, And Imperial Identities During The French And Indian War, Erica Ingrid Nuckles

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation expands and complicates the study of women who accompanied and contributed to the British army in the French and Indian War (1754-1763), while also exploring the ways in which the war affected gender, rank, and imperial identities within the army and, more broadly, the British colonies in North America. This is done through the lens of Charlotte Browne, a British middling widow and mother who served as matron of the British army’s General Hospital for the entirety of the war. Browne kept a journal for much of her service that traces her journey with the army from London …


The Effect Of Social Media On College Students' Descriptive Norms Of And Intentions To Engage In Risky Sexual Behaviors, Gabrielle Groth Hoover Jan 2017

The Effect Of Social Media On College Students' Descriptive Norms Of And Intentions To Engage In Risky Sexual Behaviors, Gabrielle Groth Hoover

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Risky sexual behavior (RSB; i.e., behavior that increases the risk of contracting an STI and/or unplanned pregnancy) is common on college campuses and poses serious health risks to students. Yet, little research has examined the factors impacting students’ engagement in RSB. The current study examined the role of gender and social media in college students’ peer norms of and intentions to engage in RSB. An experimental design was used in which participants were exposed to one of four conditions (i.e., neutral or RSB content, within and without a social media platform) and then asked to report on peer norms of …


Sexism Makes Me Sick : An Examination Of Potential Mediators In The Link Between Sexism And Women's Mental Health, Kristin L. Mclaughlin Jan 2017

Sexism Makes Me Sick : An Examination Of Potential Mediators In The Link Between Sexism And Women's Mental Health, Kristin L. Mclaughlin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

It has been well established in the literature that discrimination is related to negative mental health outcomes. Consistent with this research, studies have found women’s exposure to sexist discrimination is associated with a host of mental health problems. Moreover, research on women’s exposure to a specific form of sexism called sexual objectification suggests links with specific psychological outcomes related to poor body image and eating problems. Based on a theoretical framework informed by system justification theory, this study attempted to unify and extend research on perceived sexism and objectification theory by investigating benevolent sexism and self-objectification as potential mediators of …


Application Of Cotter And Colleagues' Glass Ceiling Test To Examine Salary Disparity In Field Of Social Work, Kris Foote Jan 2016

Application Of Cotter And Colleagues' Glass Ceiling Test To Examine Salary Disparity In Field Of Social Work, Kris Foote

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract


Determinants Of Veterans' Help Seeking Intentions : An Application Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Tania Khan Jan 2016

Determinants Of Veterans' Help Seeking Intentions : An Application Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Tania Khan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Military veterans are often placed in mentally and physically challenging situations and may also endure stress when transitioning to civilian life after their military service, which can lead to many veterans experiencing mental health concerns (Bullock, Braud, Andrews, & Phillips, 2009; Cornish, Thys, Vogel, & Wade, 2014; Hoge, Auchterlonie, & Milliken, 2006; Seal, Bertenthal, Miner, Sen, & Marmar, 2007). Despite the increased risk, many veterans choose not to seek out professional mental health services (Kim, Britt, Klocko, Riviere, & Adler, 2010; Sharp et al., 2015).


Space, Place, Gender, And Sexuality : Situational Gender In Four Coffee Houses, Kimberly Tauches Jan 2016

Space, Place, Gender, And Sexuality : Situational Gender In Four Coffee Houses, Kimberly Tauches

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this dissertation, I explore the notion of situational gender in four coffee houses. Drawing on recent theoretical contributions by Barrie Thorne (1993) and Jacob Hale (1997) I determine the ways in which gender changes salience, as well as how gender shifts for individuals in these specific social settings. The crux of my research question focuses on determining the fluidity of gender in everyday life by highlighting the importance of situation while still maintaining a deep understanding of how gender operates as a major social structure. I draw on recent theoretical notions in gender performance, queer theory, and postmodern theory …


All The Single Ladies : How The Intersections Of Race And Family Type Influence Health, Cassandra G. Carter Jan 2016

All The Single Ladies : How The Intersections Of Race And Family Type Influence Health, Cassandra G. Carter

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Decreasing rates of marriage and the delay of motherhood or decision to forsake childbearing altogether are emergent trends in the United States. Historically, shifts in family composition have always been important, yet the increase in the number of unmarried and child-free adults is rarely acknowledged by health researchers. Race and family type will be used to investigate the health of Black and White unmarried, childless women (SWANS), using intersectional theory, the Social Determinants of Health, and the Sojourner Model. The frequencies of poor health outcomes are analyzed to determine if family type influences health outcomes, and if so, does this …


Explaining Participation : An Explanatory History Of Select Gender Patterns In Undergraduate Stem, Michael Pasquale Mastroianni Jan 2015

Explaining Participation : An Explanatory History Of Select Gender Patterns In Undergraduate Stem, Michael Pasquale Mastroianni

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This explanatory study examines three focal periods in undergraduate STEM as related to the gender gap. Social, economic, and more general historical data are used to develop a clear and powerful explanation of baccalaureate trends in biology and engineering. Specifically, historical accounts are offered for 1) a ten-year period in undergraduate biology in which the number of baccalaureates awarded to men decreased 44 percent, while the number of baccalaureates awarded to women decreased one percent; 2) the start of a twenty-year period in which the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in the biological sciences increased 150 percent—from 36,068 degrees in …


Refugee Protection And Assistance : Locating Gender In Refugee Policies, Programs, And Experiences, Mwaka Nachilongo Jan 2014

Refugee Protection And Assistance : Locating Gender In Refugee Policies, Programs, And Experiences, Mwaka Nachilongo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

REFUGEE PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE: LOCATING GENDER IN


Condom Use Among Married Women In India, Claire Arielle Nicolas Jan 2014

Condom Use Among Married Women In India, Claire Arielle Nicolas

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Recent research on HIV/AIDS in India has not focused on married women, although married women have shown increasing rates of infection. This study examines how condom use among married women varies by regional and residential location, and further examines how the variation may be explained by a set of potential mediators. My theories used in this study are Urbanization, Information-Motivation-Behavioral Model, and Gender Theory to capture how society and location may not only provide women with the necessary education about HIV/AIDS prevention, but also motivate them to put that knowledge to use. Using the Demographic and Health Survey for India …


"I'M Not Good Enough For Anyone" : Legal Status And The Dating Lives Of Undocumented Young Adults, Daniela Jan Torres Pila Jan 2014

"I'M Not Good Enough For Anyone" : Legal Status And The Dating Lives Of Undocumented Young Adults, Daniela Jan Torres Pila

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Legal status' impact on romantic relationships has not yet been adequately explored in the literature. Based on video and phone interviews with twenty five undocumented activists from the ages of 18 to 28 years old, this research brings to light how legal status affects the romantic relationships of undocumented women and men. Gender roles are highly prevalent among young adults' accounts and were consistent with stereotypical male and female roles in dating which often attribute more power and responsibility to men. As such, women experienced a slight advantage because traditional notions of courtship did not require them to provide resources, …


Self-Effacement Of The "Author" To Circulate Texts : Strategies To Construct Authorship In Antebellum America, Rumi Takahashi Jan 2014

Self-Effacement Of The "Author" To Circulate Texts : Strategies To Construct Authorship In Antebellum America, Rumi Takahashi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

From the post-Revolutionary days, American print materials and political institutions were interrelated with each other for the purpose of building a new nation. The democratic institutions composed of the president and a sovereign people marked the country's difference from European monarchy, while the book trade served as a means that would disseminate a moral image of an ideal citizen to endorse the national identity. Yet, as drastic changes of industry in the 1820s enabled more people to participate in the economic system, the sovereignty of people turned out to be potentially subversive power of the mob, which required the literary …


The Gendering Of Space In Colonial Burma : Race, Sex, And Power On The Road To Mandalay 1888-1948, Michael Zaborowski Jan 2014

The Gendering Of Space In Colonial Burma : Race, Sex, And Power On The Road To Mandalay 1888-1948, Michael Zaborowski

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis contends that British colonials reproduced Victorian ideas about separate roles and spaces for the genders in Burma during the period of British rule from 1888 to 1948. This reproduction affected and was affected by issues of race, sex, power, and identity in the ruling British class and the subject Burmese population.


"Es Hora De Que Aprendamos A Leer Entre Líneas":Discurso Patriarcal, Género Y Autoritarismo En Cola De Lagartija De Luisa Valenzuela Y Para Que No Me Olvides De Marcela Serrno, Laura Rose Colaneri Jan 2013

"Es Hora De Que Aprendamos A Leer Entre Líneas":Discurso Patriarcal, Género Y Autoritarismo En Cola De Lagartija De Luisa Valenzuela Y Para Que No Me Olvides De Marcela Serrno, Laura Rose Colaneri

Languages, Literatures and Cultures Honors Program

In this analysis of Cola de lagartija by Luisa Valenzuela and Para que no me olvides by Marcela Serrano, I seek to explore common themes in how gender is represented and its relation with the authoritative discourse of dictatorship. A historic and political review of the rhetoric used by the Argentine and Chilean dictatorships in the 1970s to solidify their totalitarian power and of the strategic reactions of the various women’s organizations that contributed to movements against the dictatorships will reveal various tactics that are also used by Valenzuela and Serrano in their novels in order to dismantle and disarm …


Making Sense Of Mason Jars : A Qualitative Exploration Of Contemporary Home Canning, P. Suzanne Pennington Jan 2013

Making Sense Of Mason Jars : A Qualitative Exploration Of Contemporary Home Canning, P. Suzanne Pennington

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The practice and popularity of home canning in the United States has dramatically fluctuated since John Mason’s 1858 invention of the ‘fruit’ jar, influenced by cultural trends and sociopolitical events such as war, economic oscillation, activist movements such as environmentalism, and the politicization of food. The contemporary social context in which popular interest in home canning has most recently revived is an era of high cultural awareness and activity regarding multiple food issues. Traditional American foodways, including food preservation techniques such as home canning, are regaining importance as many Americans look to the past for solutions to current needs. This …


Negotiating Ethnosexual Difference In The Armenian Transnation, Nelli Sargsyan Jan 2013

Negotiating Ethnosexual Difference In The Armenian Transnation, Nelli Sargsyan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Since heteronormativity is an inextricable part of the ethnonationalist ideologies and discourses of Armenianness, conformity and transgression are communally policed both in the Republic of Armenia, as well as in the Armenian diaspora, albeit in different ways. In the diaspora it is through public silence regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) and queer self-identified Armenians that hetero-belonging is managed. In the Republic of Armenia, on the other hand, it is managed through hate speech promoted by public figures and through mass media. In both cases the anxiety that the issue of non-heteronormativity points to in the public outcry is that …


Pragmatism And Democratic Embodiment : The Poetics Of Constructive Conflict In Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Mina Loy, And Laura (Riding) Jackson, Aidan Patricia Thompson Jan 2013

Pragmatism And Democratic Embodiment : The Poetics Of Constructive Conflict In Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Mina Loy, And Laura (Riding) Jackson, Aidan Patricia Thompson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

My dissertation, "Pragmatism and Democratic Embodiment: The Poetics of Constructive Conflict in Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Mina Loy, and Laura (Riding) Jackson," establishes a methodology based on William James's notion of the subject (1890) as fluid to interrogate how these poets, working roughly between 1860 and 1970, complicated questions of writing in order to critique systems of gender. I reconsider a presumed relation between language and feminism in Modernist Studies that understands the aesthetic practice of unsettling linguistic norms to be counter to feminist concerns relating to the body. Through this reassessment, I argue that the poets anticipated problems associated …