Digital Commons Network^™

Since The Time Of Eve : La Leche League And Communities Of Mothers Throughout History., Joanna Paxton Federico

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

La Leche League International (LLL) is the oldest and largest breastfeeding support group in the world. This thesis examines how, beginning in 1956, seven Catholic housewives from suburban Chicago built up the institutional knowledge to sustain a cohesive global network of breastfeeding mothers. It also explores how LLL managed this knowledge over time in response to developments in scholarship and changing social conditions. Based on a narrative analysis of LLL publications, this thesis argues that the League’s founders drew selectively from existing bodies of knowledge and from their own cultural perspectives to establish a sense of community among breastfeeding women. …

Out Of Bounds: The Bodies, Borders, And Voices Of Female Athletes, Scarlett Leigh Hester

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Professional sports and sports culture permeate almost every aspect of contemporary American culture. By its very nature, sports culture focuses on the bodies and perfomances of athletes. While this is a natural result, the taken-for-granted norms of professional sports culture priviliges cisgendered, White, heteronormative bodies. This study investigates how professional sports culture operates as an apparatus of discipline that is inundated in notions of whiteness. Through the case studies of UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, tennis champion Serena Williams, and WNBA star Brittney Griner, this study exposes the modes of discipline that are deployed by professional sports culture and the impact …

Ironic Deference : An Inquiry Into The Nineteenth-Century Feminist Rhetoric Of Kesiah Shelton., Melissa Rothman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the works of Kesiah Shelton, a writer for popular magazines in the late nineteenth century who used irony in interesting ways to critique the social norms of the period. Although, scholars have noted that female authorship was a an expanding field during this period, there were very specific gendered expectations limiting what female authors wrote about; women were primarily limited to writing about domestic matters and were discouraged from taking up other topics associated with the male public sphere such as politics. Many scholars have noted how the cult of domesticity valorized women as superior moral beings, …

Duality, The Methodology Of Shooting A Documentary As A One-Man Crew, James Mcmahen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will discuss Duality, a long-form documentary about artistic nude models who also create art involving the nude female form. This thesis will discuss the inspiration for the film, as well as the deciding factors that made me choose this as the topic for my thesis documentary.

This thesis will also cover the process and methodology of shooting a documentary as a one-man crew, beginning with the process of preproduction, then the principal photography of the documentary, followed by the editing and postproduction process, and finally premiering the final film.

Resurrection Fern, Amanda Larkin Muir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Resurrection Fern is a collection of essays that explores the liminal space of becoming a woman; specifically, an independent woman with different ideas and values from what is considered the norm for the speaker's family. The speaker uses vignette-style essays to tell stories of her childhood, trauma, mental illness, and the threshold of adulthood. Themes of overcoming fear and mental illness to find a voice within the spectrum of feminism dominate the essays. The essays are broken into chapters to divulge the speaker's personal stories in relative chronological order.

It’S About ‘That Time’ To Break The Cycle: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Challenging Menstrual Taboos, Audrey Marie Lamborn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Menstrual taboos exist around the world, and while new conversations are starting to address these issues, in many regions these taboos limit women’s daily lives and can even lead to serious health problems. Artifacts around the world are starting to emerge to challenge these preconceived notions and bring menstrual hygiene awareness as well as products to women in need. While the origination of the menstrual taboo is not clearly defined, various literature discusses both the cultural and religious origin and perpetuation of menstrual taboos. This thesis examines various artifacts found in the regions of the United States and the United …

Women's Hit Cheating Songs: Country Music And Feminist Change In American Society, 1962-2015, Madeline Rachel Morrow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines songs about cheating performed by women in country music that appeared on year-end country songs charts in Billboard magazine from 1962 through 2015. The study of a total of fifty qualifying songs included a focus on their lyrical and musical content, the performers' personae and careers, and the way the particular outside factors of feminism and changing gender relations in American society may have influenced them. These songs do not show a purely linear progression of or emphasis on social change, in spite of country music's pride in conveying the truth about the lives of its songwriters, …

The Parton Paradox: A History Of Race And Gender In The Career Of Dolly Parton, Lindsey L. Hammers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With a career that has spanned over five decades, country music artist Dolly Parton has continually redefined her image and her music to remain relevant. By incorporating the musical and lyrical stylings of disco and other popular music genres into her songs, Parton moved beyond music’s color line to increase her popularity as an artist. This thesis shows how Parton established a distinct career that catered to different audiences as she traversed the musical color line and repackaged what feminism looked like to country music fans during the Women’s Movement of the 1960s. Placing Parton’s actions in conversation with music’s …

Funny In A Man's World: Women Comedians' Use Of Political Satire At The White House Correspondents' Dinner, Jessica M. Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Satire and politics are typically considered masculine fields within the societal constructs of the United States. Wanda Sykes and Cecily Strong both navigate these male-dominated worlds with their addresses at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. This analysis views these addresses through three rhetorical lenses: feminist standpoint theory, rhetorical citizenship, and rhetorical and political agency. This study explores the way women’s issues in society exposed to various audiences through Sykes’ and Strong’s satirical addresses. Communication scholars have not previously considered both of these addresses; this analysis furthers our understanding of feminist viewpoints being shared to audiences and encouraging audiences to take …