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Theses/Dissertations

2014

Gender

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Crescent City Nightingales: Gender, Race, Class And The Professionalization Of Nursing For Women In New Orleans, Louisiana, 1881-1950, Paula A. Fortier Dec 2014

Crescent City Nightingales: Gender, Race, Class And The Professionalization Of Nursing For Women In New Orleans, Louisiana, 1881-1950, Paula A. Fortier

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Through the examination of primary sources largely overlooked by historians, this dissertation traces the professionalization of nursing in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1881 to 1950 while placing this localized history within the context of national trends. In the late nineteenth century, nursing developed into a middle class profession for women inspired by the careers of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton. This dissertation investigates the process by which women became professional nurses while a complex intersection of issues related to gender, race, and class at times advanced, and at other times, hindered their progress towards professionalization. New Orleans serves as a …


"Tales" Of Text And Culture: Tropes Of Imperialism, Women's Roles, Technologies Of Representation, And Collaborative Meaning-Making In Rita Golden Gelman's Tales Of A Female Nomad, Female Nomad And Friends, And Personal Website, Michelle Lynne Van Wert Kosalka Dec 2014

"Tales" Of Text And Culture: Tropes Of Imperialism, Women's Roles, Technologies Of Representation, And Collaborative Meaning-Making In Rita Golden Gelman's Tales Of A Female Nomad, Female Nomad And Friends, And Personal Website, Michelle Lynne Van Wert Kosalka

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines contemporary travel writing specifically created for a popular reading culture, Rita Golden Gelman's Tales of a Female Nomad, Female Nomad and Friends, and personal website. The project is concerned with how culture is continuously represented and shaped through the dialogic interaction between writer and reader, and the subsequent liminal spaces which emerge in moments of meaning-making. Chapter 1 is a close reading of how Gelman's works reinforce and, in some cases, resist, tropes of imperialism. Chapter 2 examines patriarchal gender roles in Gelman's works and the ways in which recent advances in feminist psychiatry and psychology can …


The Cultural Crime Of Femininity: Advocating For Viable And Successful Womanhood In Charles Dickens And George Eliot, Mary K. Leigh Dec 2014

The Cultural Crime Of Femininity: Advocating For Viable And Successful Womanhood In Charles Dickens And George Eliot, Mary K. Leigh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mid-century Victorian England creates an environment for women in which they are expected to adhere strictly to a socially inculcated view of gender and prescribed behaviors. Difficulty arises, however, because women who follow these cultural expectations ultimately fail as they are not given the appropriate skills to function as wives or mothers. On the other hand, women who choose to disregard these social norms for gender are crushed by a cultural policing force that includes both women and men. Thus, prior to legal and educational reforms that allow for women to progress beyond these restrictive gender norms, they are unable …


"Murderous Mania": Gender And Homicide In Milwaukee Newspapers, 1840-1900, Kadie Kroening Seitz Dec 2014

"Murderous Mania": Gender And Homicide In Milwaukee Newspapers, 1840-1900, Kadie Kroening Seitz

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the ways in which Milwaukee's newspapers used gender norms to make sense of acts of murder during the nineteenth century. First, women victims of men's violence are examined, particularly through the lenses of ethnicity, class and race. Women victims who did not fit into middle class gender norms were less likely to be portrayed as "beautiful female murder victims." Then, women perpetrators of violence (not exclusively against men) are discussed, including a specific examination of women's use of an insanity defense. Newspaper tropes used to describe women's motivations for filicide are also examined, and found to vary …


Gender Difference In Emotional Reactions To Media: Examining Self-Report During Bittersweet Video Clips, Catherine C. Brown Dec 2014

Gender Difference In Emotional Reactions To Media: Examining Self-Report During Bittersweet Video Clips, Catherine C. Brown

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Project Space(S) In The Design Professions: An Intersectional Feminist Study Of The Women's School Of Planning And Architecture (1974-1981), Elizabeth Cahn Nov 2014

Project Space(S) In The Design Professions: An Intersectional Feminist Study Of The Women's School Of Planning And Architecture (1974-1981), Elizabeth Cahn

Doctoral Dissertations

The Women’s School of Planning and Architecture (WSPA) was an ambitious, explicitly feminist educational program created by seven women planners and architects who used the school to introduce ideas and practices of the 1970s women’s movement into design and planning education in the United States. Between 1974 and 1981, WSPA organized five intensive, short-term residential educational sessions and a conference, each in a different geographical location in the United States, after which the organization ceased formal programming and the organizers moved on to other activities. The founders and participants involved in WSPA collectively imagined and created a feminist space for …


Mapping Italian Women's Filmmaking: Urban Space In The Cinema Of The New Millennium, Laura Di Bianco Oct 2014

Mapping Italian Women's Filmmaking: Urban Space In The Cinema Of The New Millennium, Laura Di Bianco

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation lies at the intersection of Italian studies, film studies, women's studies, and urban studies. Applying gender studies and feminist theoretical perspectives, I trace a thematic map of contemporary Italian women's cinema (2000-2012) that investigates female subjectivity in urban contexts. Examining the works of the filmmakers Marina Spada, Francesca Comencini, Wilma Labate, Roberta Torre, and Alice Rohrwacher, I identify a common tendency to treat locations like characters, apply similar modalities of incorporating city-views into the narration, and recurrently construct parallels between physical journeys through cities and inner journeys of the self. As a prism through which to look at …


Face Value: Beyond The Surface Of Brand Philanthropy And The Cultural Production Of The M.A.C Aids Fund, Andrea Benoit Aug 2014

Face Value: Beyond The Surface Of Brand Philanthropy And The Cultural Production Of The M.A.C Aids Fund, Andrea Benoit

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation provides a cultural and business history of M.A.C Cosmetics and its philanthropic arm, the M.A.C AIDS Fund. M.A.C Cosmetics originated in Toronto, Canada in 1981 and its growth coincided with the AIDS epidemic. Since 1994, the M.A.C AIDS Fund has raised more than $315 million for organizations that assist people affected by HIV/AIDS, through the sale of M.A.C’s VIVA GLAM lipstick. While some business scholars have discussed M.A.C’s distinctive use of cause marketing, very few works on the cosmetics industry, as well as cultural and media studies works on cause marketing, have dealt at length with M.A.C. Tracing …


Social Exclusion And Casual Sex Willingness: The Role Of Gender And Relationship Status, Stephanie D. Finneran Aug 2014

Social Exclusion And Casual Sex Willingness: The Role Of Gender And Relationship Status, Stephanie D. Finneran

Master's Theses

Previous research has shown that social exclusion has very negative effects on individuals, even when the excluders are out-group members. In fact, certain forms of out-group exclusion, such as racial discrimination, can have more detrimental effects on one’s health and well-being than being excluded by members of one’s in-group. The current study used Cyberball—a computer ball-tossing game—to examine the effects of gender-based exclusion (i.e., same vs. opposite sex) on willingness to engage in casual sex. Results showed exclusion by same-gender (in-group) players led to higher casual-sex willingness than did opposite-gender (out-group) exclusion. However, the effect was moderated by participant gender …


A Health Promotion Perspective On Transitioning Into Retirement, Catherine P. Gelinas Aug 2014

A Health Promotion Perspective On Transitioning Into Retirement, Catherine P. Gelinas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The transitional stages towards retirement of those with chronic disorder(s) often present a diversity of additional challenges and people look at the measurement of their anticipated quality of life as a meaningful way of determining this successful adjustment. The overall objective of this research study was to understand transition into retirement considering the impact of comorbidity and associated socio-demographic factors have on the (physical and mental) health status. Quantitative data analysis of people (aged 50-65) with chronic upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders was used to inform health impacts in the group transitioning towards retirement; or who have selected or required early …


Inherited Masculinities?: Noble Fathers And Sons And Aspects Of Masculinity In Early Modern England, 1530-1630, Joshua Lane Durbin Aug 2014

Inherited Masculinities?: Noble Fathers And Sons And Aspects Of Masculinity In Early Modern England, 1530-1630, Joshua Lane Durbin

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the political lives of the most powerful men in Elizabethan England. It explores how the careers of these politicians were influenced by the models of masculinity they followed. This study argues that there were “inherited” masculinities in early modern England that functioned as both paternal and cultural forms of inheritance. By looking at the two father-son pairs that most dominated Elizabethan politics, this study examines the generational differences in Elizabethan politics and the changes in court culture during Elizabeth’s long reign. Examining the two father-son pairs that strongly guided and helped define Elizabethan politics—William Cecil and his …


The British Women’S Land Army: Gender, Identity, And Landscapes, Hilary M.K. Anderson Aug 2014

The British Women’S Land Army: Gender, Identity, And Landscapes, Hilary M.K. Anderson

Masters Theses

The land girls who comprised the Women’s Land Army in Great Britain during the Second World War challenged cultural assumptions regarding gender and femininity. Through their work in agriculture, social anxieties were provoked regarding proper notions of femininity and separate spheres, which left these women in conflicting positions as they carved a spot for themselves in a war torn society. In order to carry out their work in the Women’s Land Army, land girls operated at the convergence of private and public spheres in a conjoined space. Living and operating in this conjoined space enabled them to blur the ideological …


Critical Influences That Encourage Adolescent Boys To Engage In Leisure Reading, Adam Wyse Aug 2014

Critical Influences That Encourage Adolescent Boys To Engage In Leisure Reading, Adam Wyse

Master of Education Research Theses

This mixed-method study identifies influences on the literacy habits of adolescent boys. The study sought to answer the question: what factors influence adolescent boys to pursue or not pursue leisure reading? Leisure reading has been found to have a positive impact on academic success (Hughes-Hassell & Rodge, 2007) and boys tend to lag behind in engaging it (Smith & Wilhelm, 2004). A Likert scale survey was given to 137 students, boys and girls, from an upper-middle class, private Christian school in the Midwest. Questions focused on why students do or do not read and what could encourage them to increase …


The Effects Of Perceived Gender Coaching Styles Of Female Coaches On Extrinsic Motivation Of Female Athletes On Team Sports, Cameron Sitler Aug 2014

The Effects Of Perceived Gender Coaching Styles Of Female Coaches On Extrinsic Motivation Of Female Athletes On Team Sports, Cameron Sitler

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study investigated the effect of perceived gender coaching style and gender stereotypes on the extrinsic motivation of female athletes. A t-test was utilized, with Masculine and feminine coaching styles as independent variables. The research question asked whether female athlete’s extrinsic motivation could be affect based on the type of gender coaching style used by female head coaches. H1 predicted that a masculine coaching style, respectively, would negatively influence the extrinsic motivation of female athletes. Fifty-four college female athletes filled out an online survey consisting of The Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) (Pelletier, Fortier, Vallerand, Tuson, Biere, and Blaise, 1995) and …


Reproducing Prevention: Teen Pregnancy And Intimate Citizenship In The Post-Welfare Era, Clare Daniel Jul 2014

Reproducing Prevention: Teen Pregnancy And Intimate Citizenship In The Post-Welfare Era, Clare Daniel

American Studies ETDs

This dissertation examines the politics of teen pregnancy prevention in the 1990s and early 2000s within public policy, popular culture, and local and national nonprofit advocacy. Widely viewed as a distressing social problem, teenage reproduction has provoked decades of prevention and regulation that pervade across public and private sectors. Teen pregnancy has been associated with, if not fully blamed for, a host of other so-called social problems throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and the beginning of the twenty-first century. As scholars such as Kristen Luker and Lisa Arai have labored to illustrate, causal connections between adolescent reproduction and the social ills …


Cisgenderism In Gender Attributions: The Ways In Which Social, Cognitive, And Individual Factors Predict Misgendering, Erica Jayne Friedman Jun 2014

Cisgenderism In Gender Attributions: The Ways In Which Social, Cognitive, And Individual Factors Predict Misgendering, Erica Jayne Friedman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current program of research investigated the ways in which social representations of gender, cognitive processes, and individual factors can be integrated to predict "misgendering," an example of cisgenderism in which people are categorized as a gender with which they do not identify. I proposed an (In)consistency Processing Model of Gender Attribution in which perceivers make a gender attribution by interpreting the stereotype-(in)consistencies of a target's gender characteristics through either a biology- or identity-based schema. Five studies were conducted to test different aspects of this model, the first of which was a secondary data analysis on a sample of students …


Challenging Identity Hierarchies In Julie Taymor’S Tempest, Aaron W. Vinson Jun 2014

Challenging Identity Hierarchies In Julie Taymor’S Tempest, Aaron W. Vinson

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Julie Taymor’s The Tempest was released in 2010 and received mixed critical response though almost all critics lauded Helen Mirren’s performance as Prospera, the first female Prospero in a major film. In the spirit of the original, almost all of the dialogue is Shakespeare’s save for some voiceover where Prospera explains a modified origin story. Taymor’s film challenges stereotypical character identities in Shakespeare’s plays through casting, dialogue, and editing. Casting Helen Mirren as Prospera changes the dominant figure from a patriarchal tyrant to a matriarchal enlightened despot while casting Djimon Hounsou as Caliban forces an examination of colonial history in …


A Legacy Of Letters: The Construction Of An Aging Masculine Identity, K. Tiffani Baldwin Jun 2014

A Legacy Of Letters: The Construction Of An Aging Masculine Identity, K. Tiffani Baldwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the construction of a masculine identity through a qualitative analysis of personal letters written by an aging man over the last two decades of his life (age 68-89). Symbolic interaction and life-span communication are the guiding frameworks behind the development of the research questions and the subsequent analyses. Research question one asks: What themes emerge from the personal letters written by an aging man? The following two themes emerged: a) relationality, and b) age and aging. Research question two asks: What do the metaphors that emerge from personal letters reveal about the …


Risky Business: How Self-Monitoring And Gender Relate To The Participation In Risky And Unsafe Behaviors In College Students, Katherine Beale Jun 2014

Risky Business: How Self-Monitoring And Gender Relate To The Participation In Risky And Unsafe Behaviors In College Students, Katherine Beale

Honors Theses

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between gender, self-monitoring and risk taking behavior. Studies on gender differences and risky behavior have shown that women perceive certain behaviors as being more risky than men do, and that men are more likely to take risks than women as a result of perceived gender norms. The current study predicts that males who are high self-monitors, and are more susceptible to behave in accordance with the male norm of being a risk taker, will be more likely to partake in risky behaviors than low self-monitor males. Additionally, it is predicted …


Finding The Invisible Player And Understanding Women's Experiences In Online Multiplayer Video Game Environments, Catherine Lukianov Jun 2014

Finding The Invisible Player And Understanding Women's Experiences In Online Multiplayer Video Game Environments, Catherine Lukianov

Theses - ALL

There is no clear definition of what qualifies as a hardcore game, yet there is significant speculation around who qualifies as a hardcore gamer. Constantly relegated to the casual gaming market, women are assumed to dislike and shy away from hardcore games because of the difficult and competitive form of play such games require. Women are rendered invisible in traditional and competitive gaming because of assumptions and stereotypes surrounding women gamers, dismissal from game developers, and hostility in gaming culture. This research study explores how the invisible women gamers navigate and negotiate their gaming experiences while playing competitive online multiplayer …


The Sisters Of The Muslim Brotherhood: Islamic Activism For Better Or For Worse, Amira Elserafy Jun 2014

The Sisters Of The Muslim Brotherhood: Islamic Activism For Better Or For Worse, Amira Elserafy

Theses and Dissertations

This study is meant to tell the story of the Muslim Brotherhood Sisters (Al-Akhawat Al-Muslimat) in urban Cairo, Egypt. It mainly attempts to answer two questions: (1) what motivates the Sisters’ Islamic activism within the Brotherhood and within the Egyptian society at large despite its huge risks? (2) how do they (re)construct, contest and relate to the gender ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood? Relying on ethnographic fieldwork, this study explores the ways through which the Sisters of the Muslim Brotherhood conceptualize their engagement in Islamist politics amid the crackdown of 2013. Through examining the Muslim Brotherhood’s contexts, contention repertoires and …


A Comparison Of Contemporary Filial Piety In Rural And Non-Rural China And Taiwan, Li Ping Su Jun 2014

A Comparison Of Contemporary Filial Piety In Rural And Non-Rural China And Taiwan, Li Ping Su

Theses and Dissertations

There is evidence that industrialization and urbanization has led to an increase of immigration to urban areas for employment and has led to a change of family structure and connection between parents and adult children in Chinese societies. However, little research has compared different Chinese societies, as well as rural and non-rural regions. This study compared the adult children’s current level of filial piety, between non-rural and rural regions, and between males and females using data from an international study of countries in East Asia. Overall, China reported higher level of filial piety as compared to Taiwan. Moreover, for the …


Gender Representation In Sports Communication, Michelle R. Stiller Jun 2014

Gender Representation In Sports Communication, Michelle R. Stiller

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.


A Feminist Exploration Of Gender And Communication In The Professional Sales Workplace, Chelsea Heil Jun 2014

A Feminist Exploration Of Gender And Communication In The Professional Sales Workplace, Chelsea Heil

Communication Studies

For many years, the sales profession has been largely male-dominated, however recently there has been more and more women are taking on this career choice (Dawson, 1997). In order to better understand the implications of this change, I propose to conduct a critical analysis that addresses the roles of women in the sales profession. Primarily, I will engage in a feminist exploration of gender and communication in the professional workplace with regards to the sales profession.


Perceptions Of The Communications Studies Major: Is There A Female Stereotype?, Kyle Petersen, Karina Almaguer Jun 2014

Perceptions Of The Communications Studies Major: Is There A Female Stereotype?, Kyle Petersen, Karina Almaguer

Communication Studies

This paper investigates whether there is or is not a correlation between feminine perceptions of Communications and the relevance of the major. One Hundred Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students were asked to complete a survey that included basic student demographics as well as if they have taken courses within the major or know anyone within it, their perceived relevance of the major, and whether they believed it to be for males or females. The test between the two variables was shown as approaching statistical significance. After analyzing these results, using feminine perceptions as the independent variable and the relevance …


Happiness And Anxiety As A Function Of Gender And Religiosity, Kara Kaufman Jun 2014

Happiness And Anxiety As A Function Of Gender And Religiosity, Kara Kaufman

Honors Theses

The current research intended to extend upon previous research on the relationship between happiness and religiosity by looking at the role gender plays in this relationship. It was hypothesized that while there would be a positive correlation between religiosity and happiness in both genders, the correlation would be stronger for women. The study also aimed to test if different aspects of religion mediate this relationship for men and women. It was hypothesized that for women, the aspects of religion that would be most closely related to increased happiness and decreased anxiety would be aspects that allow for a sense of …


America's Heroes And Darlings: The Media Portrayal Of Male And Female Athletes During The 2014 Sochi Games, Matthew K. Curtis May 2014

America's Heroes And Darlings: The Media Portrayal Of Male And Female Athletes During The 2014 Sochi Games, Matthew K. Curtis

Theses and Dissertations

It has been well documented that female athletes receive much less media attention than male athletes, with estimates placing coverage of male athletes at 95% of all sport-related media (Coakley, 1986). While not to that extent, studies focusing on media portrayals of Olympic athletes also confirm that the media dedicates the majority of coverage to male athletes (Duncan, 1990; Duncan & Hasbrook, 1988; Hambrick, Simmons, Greenhalgh, & Greenwell, 2010; Higgs, Weiller, & Martin, 2003; Lee, 1992; Kinnick, 1998; Pfister, 1978). Some evidence suggests that media coverage of female athletes and the recognition of their achievements are slowly increasing (Higgs et …


Femininity, Masculinity, Gender, And The Role Of Shame On Christian Men And Women In The Evangelical Church Culture, Joy L. Hottenstein May 2014

Femininity, Masculinity, Gender, And The Role Of Shame On Christian Men And Women In The Evangelical Church Culture, Joy L. Hottenstein

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Previous research has suggested that individuals (men and women) who endorse more feminine characteristics according to Bem’s Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) are more prone to shame. There have been no known studies conducted to determine if this link also exists within the Evangelical Christian church. Shame, across the research literature, is linked to psychological maladjustment and is defined as a sense that one’s core self is defective and comes up short on expectations. The purpose of this study is to test the relationship between gender, gender role, and shame for men and women who are active in the Evangelical church …


American Apparel Advertisements, Heather Bowles May 2014

American Apparel Advertisements, Heather Bowles

Sociology Theses

American Apparel advertisements are deemed offensive and controversial and many of their ads have been banned due to its presentation of women. Despite the controversy, there has been no sociological study on how gender is presented in their ads. This thesis explores how men and women are presented in twelve of their print ads.


Envisioning The Apocalypse: (Dis)Order, Progress, And Brazil’S Canudos War, 1896-1897, Gray Fielding Kidd May 2014

Envisioning The Apocalypse: (Dis)Order, Progress, And Brazil’S Canudos War, 1896-1897, Gray Fielding Kidd

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis uses the Canudos War (1896-7) as an analytical lens for unpacking issues of class, race, and gender in late nineteenth century Brazil. Brazil’s perhaps bloodiest civil war between millenarian backlanders and the state and federal military sheds light on elite urban social preoccupations during a critical formative period of republican rule. I analyze travelogues, newspaper reports, political cartoons, and other period documents. I do so in order to engage with elite urban Brazilians’ readings of, and prescriptions for, Order and Progress as articulated through questions of gender, class, and race. Throughout this project, I argue that urban sympathetic …