Digital Commons Network^™

Navigating Gender Inequality In Musical Subgenres, Adria Ryan Mclaughlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study looks at female musicians performing in subcultural rock genres commonly considered non-gender-conforming, such as punk rock, heavy metal, noise, and experimental. Twenty-four interviews were conducted with female musicians who reflected on their experiences as musicians. Themes emerged on women’s patterns of entry into music, barriers they negotiated while playing, and forces that may push them out of the music scene. Once women gained a musician identity, their gender functioned as a master status. They negotiated sexism when people questioned their abilities, assumed men played better, expected them to fail, held them to conventional gender roles, and sexually objectified …

Retrograde Returns Of The American Housewife: Reimagining An Old Character In A New Millennium, Ruth Emelia Wollersheim

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the immensely popular return of the housewife character in the twenty-first century. From films like The Stepford Wives (2004), to television dramas like Desperate Housewives (2004-2012) and The Good Wife (2009- ), to reality shows like Wife Swap (2004- ), Bravo’s The Real Housewives franchise (2006- ), Basketball Wives (2010- ), Mob Wives (2011- ), and most recently on the blogosphere with personalities like The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, the housewife character has reentered our imaginations on a mass scale. This anachronistic character trend is in stark contrast to the urban, working superwoman ideal of the 1980s …

A Case Study: The Role Of Women In Creating Community On The Dakota Frontier, 1880 To 1920, Ruth Page Jones

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

A CASE STUDY: THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN CREATING COMMUNITY

ON THE DAKOTA FRONTIER, 1880 TO 1920

by

Ruth Page Jones

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2015

Under the Supervision of Professor Genevieve G. McBride

During the Dakota Boom years of 1878 to 1887, Dakota Territory welcomed droves of new families, adding close to 400,000 people in the 1880s. Creating new homes on the treeless prairie, many people faced the challenge of sustaining life without the benefit of an established community. The conditions were too harsh, the weather too unpredictable, and the economy too fragile for anyone to live in …

The Painted Motifs Of Cypriot Ceramic Art: A Study Of Iconography & Identity, Paige Bockman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The aim of this master’s thesis is to explore the iconography of Chalcolithic (c. 3900-2300 cal. BC) Cyprus using ceramic motifs and identify their potential use in revealing differences between the cultural identity present at archaeological sites, as well as the possible causes of such variation. By exploring the existence and origins of subtle differences between the iconographic repertoires of related sites, the study seeks a better understanding of the movement of both ideas and symbols, and how the meaning of symbols developed within the context of a site.

Currently, Cypriot Chalcolithic sites are believed to be largely homogeneous in …

Without Mandate For Conquest: A Transnational Comparison Of Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon And Isabel Allende's Eva Luna, Vivianna Noelle Orsini

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In our current age of globalization, multiculturalism is a key component of human relations. Place, when thought of as a geographic concept is more than just coordinates on a map, it is a concentration of a set of social relations. Geographers use this information to see how places are relational to other places. Morrison and Allende are relational because of their consciousness of place especially exhibited in Song of Solomon and Eva Luna. This project examines the disparate histories, politics, and landscapes that both authors emerged from, and argue the complexity of their work stems from thinking geographically, their conscious …

Standing In The Intersection : Using Photovoice To Understand The Lived Experience Of Black Gay College Students Attending Predominantly White Postsecondary Institutions., Erica Caton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intersection of multiple oppressed identities is characterized by the compounded effects of victimization, intimidation and continued marginalization by dominant culture groups in society. Despite a growing body of knowledge about the individual experiences of racial and sexual minorities, there remains a lack of understanding of the unique life experiences of individuals with intersecting oppressed identities, specifically Black gay youth. Failure or inability to recognize, understand and take action in response to the needs of Black gay youth in college, perpetuates a culture of oppression that compromises the physical and mental well-being, and the academic success of these students. Engaging …

A Phenomenological Study Of Anticipated Intimacy And Sexual Expression Needs Of Aging Male And Female Baby Boomers., Charles Shawn Oak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the phenomenon of how heterosexual Baby Boomers define and understand intimacy, sexual expression, along expectations and desires relating to their respective expressions across the lifespan through their individual experiences and reflections. A set of guiding questions were used in a hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative research design. Data was gathered from thirteen subjects (n=13) using the Rappaport Time Line (RTL) that was used to develop individualized semi-structured interviews and follow-up interviews that were professionally transcribed. These were coded to identify emergent themes. Results of the study provided insight into the phenomenon of how heterosexual …

Gender, Othering, And Loki 2015, Amanda Munson

Master's Theses

With many enigmatic characters and engaging stories, Norse literature and mythology have had a formative impact on English literature from the early Middle Ages in poetry like the Edda and many Icelandic sagas. A lot of scholarship has been done on Nordic myth and literature, including character studies on many figures, especially Odin and Thor. However, it is difficult to find studies of the figures who make up the "other" in Nordic tales, such as the trickster Loki. While Loki plays a significant role in many tales, his position as the "other" in general Norse mythology and folklore is perhaps …

The Shifting Structure Of Chicago's Organized Crime Network And The Women It Left Behind, Christina Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

Women are underrepresented in crime and criminal economies compared to men. However, research on the gender gap in crime tends to not employ relational methods and theories, even though crime is often relational. In the predominantly male world of Chicago organized crime at the turn of the twentieth century existed a dynamic gender gap. Combining social network analysis and historical research methods to examine the case of organized crime in Chicago, I uncover a group of women who made up a substantial portion of the Chicago organized crime network from 1900 to 1919. Before Prohibition, women of organized crime operated …

"Casting Aside That Ficticious Self.": Deciphering Female Identity In The Awakening 2015, Anne L. Dicosimo

Master's Theses

Kate Chopin’s female protagonists have long since fascinated literary critics, raising serious questions concerning the influence of nineteenth-century female gender roles in her writing. Published in 1899, The Awakening demonstrates the changeability of the various representations of woman. In the nineteenth century, the subject of women may be divided into two categories: the True Woman and the New Woman. The former were expected to “cherish and maintain the four cardinal virtues of piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity” (Khoshnood et al.), while the latter sought to move away from hearth and home in order to focus on education, professions, and political …

Teaching While Lesbian And Other Identities: Sexual Diversity, Race, And Institutionalized Practices Through An Autoethnographic Lens, Sondra S. Briggs

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Dissertations

The implicit acceptance among educators and in institutions of learning that discussions around LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) issues are off limits perpetuates the marginalization of these identities and those who inhabit them. In K-12 schools and college classrooms the prevailing silence sends disturbing messages about the treatment of adults and children when their sexual orientation fails to fit neatly into prescribed binary classifications. As one who has been silent as well as silenced, I understand this dichotomy from a unique perspective. Moreover, my lived membership within diverse cultural and racial groups that have been routinely marginalized through institutionalized practices …

Internal Migration, Networks And Gender Roles Among Domestic Workers In Vietnam, Van Nguyen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines social networks and gender roles among domestic workers who are rural-to-urban female migrants in Vietnam. Using qualitative data collected from 10 in-depth interviews and one focus group with 17 domestic workers and one interview with a NGO staff member, I argue that networks and gender are closely linked as migrant women drew support from their circles of female friends and families yet these networks also constrained them by monitoring behaviours against rigid gender expectations and ideal womanly virtues. My findings show that while most migrant women continued to adhere to their traditional gender roles and overcame many …

"Fire And Water Imagery" In Jane Eyre 2015, Shannon O'Loughlin

Master's Theses

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a study in contrasts. Critics have argued the implausibility of the novel, that an orphaned governess who marries her dashing employer is too far-fetched to be believed. However, a proper understanding of Jane Eyre must be based not on a sequence of events, but on the thematic form of the novel in which the signifiers relate to each other and shift throughout. Ferdinand de Saussure explains in his "Course in General Linguistics," that the mental concept one has of a word is its "signifier" (62). Charlotte Bronte relies not simply upon a sequence of events …

Perceptions Of Impediments To The Advancement Of Women Leaders In Community Colleges, Teresa Alley Yearout

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

As community college presidents, chief operating officers (CEOs), and other senior level administrators plan to retire, the critical demand for qualified leaders brings greater focus on previous trends and current statistics in community colleges leadership. These findings provide evidence of the continuing underrepresentation of women in senior level leadership positions. Further investigation examines women leaders’ perceptions of the barriers or impediments to their advancement into these leadership positions. The purpose of the current study was to examine the perceptions of impediments of women community college leaders in a variety of institutional settings (rural, suburban, urban).

The literature provided an inventory …

Honor, Courage, Commitment: Understanding Sexual Assault In The United States Navy, Caitlin Veronica Muldoon

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Recently, sexual assault within the military community has been drawing the attention of the media, military leaders, politicians and every day citizens. Criminologists however have traditionally not addressed this crime, and have specifically not addressed sexual assault within the US Navy. This dissertation seeks to address the current gap in literature by examining the sociocultural workplace climate of the US military and its possible contribution to the occurrence of sexual assaults. Utilizing original data obtained by NCIS, regression models were ran to evaluate sexual assault victim and offender demographics. The surprising findings were then discussed within the context of possible …

Why Do Girls Stay Silent? An Exploratory Research On Young Women's Tolerance Toward Stranger Harassment, Sui Lau

Theses & Dissertations

Stranger harassment has been a rising issue regarding gender equality globally. Nevertheless, this issue has been rarely explored in Hong Kong. This study aims at discovering its prevalence, the frequency of its occurrences, local women’s reactions toward it and variables that may determine women’s reactions in a local context. Both personal qualities, including gender-related belief, self-objectification and body image, as well as situational qualities, namely perceived situational norms, are examined.

350 self- administered questionnaires were collected from local women aged between 18 and 25, in either pencil-and-paper or online forms. Results showed that more than 80% of respondents reported experiencing …

Does Gender Matter? Human Elephant Conflict In Sri Lanka: A Gendered Analysis Of Human Elephant Conflict And Natural Resource Management In A Rural Sri Lankan Village, Katherine Eileen Griffin

Dissertations and Theses

This study is a gendered analysis of natural resource management at the local scale of a poor rural Sri Lankan village in a conservation buffer zone. This village experiences destruction of forests and human elephant conflict. The objective of this study is to gain an in-depth knowledge of residents' use and understandings of environmental resources, and to investigate if gender helps shape these factors. This study relies on a social sustainability conceptual framework. It tracks participation of local women and men in natural resource management, and in conservation within and outside of the Bibile community. Local nongovernmental organizations focus on …

Giving A Voice To The Powerless: Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation As A Tool For Inclusive Development Through Microfinance, Evan T. Burke

Capstone Collection

The greatest experts on the situation of the marginalized peoples of the world are the marginalized communities themselves. This paper explores how participatory monitoring & evaluation can be a powerful tool for giving voices to marginalized communities, ensuring that the voices of beneficiaries and local stakeholders are heard and inform sustainable project design. It analyzes a participatory monitoring and evaluation methodology implemented for women’s credit cooperatives in Gujarat, India by the Human Development & Research Centre, and examines lessons to be learned to design evaluations facilitating inclusive development.

Strategies for the monitoring and evaluation of microfinance have evolved along with …

Implementation Of A Participatory Approach To Monitoring And Evaluation: Literature Review & Case Study Application, Lucas Sokol-Oxman

Capstone Collection

A literature review is presented drawing from a variety of experts and practitioners who discuss their knowledge and experience with participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E). The findings suggest that the broader participation of stakeholders further enhances the quality and credibility of monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Collaboration and engagement between implementors and beneficiaries enhances the sustainability of program outcomes after the program’s involvement ends. Recommendations are made about how participation could be incorporated into the implementation of an M&E system for Women Thrive Worldwide. Additional resources to facilitate the development of a PM&E system are offered.

Keywords: participation, participatory monitoring and …

Reading Queerly In The High School Classroom: Exploring A Gay And Lesbian Literature Course, Kirsten Helmer

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how teaching an English literature curriculum centered on the stories, experiences, cultures, histories, and politics of LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex) people constitutes a meaningful site for teaching and learning in a high school classroom. The dissertation offers insights on how the teaching of LGBTQI-themed texts in English language arts classes can be reframed by bridging the goals, practices and conceptual tools of queer theory to critical literacies teaching. The project follows principles of critical qualitative research and employs an ethnographic case study approach with the purpose of transforming educational …

"Anne Rice For Kids" And Twilight For Tv: Young Adult Media Franchising And The Vampire Diaries, Megan Corinne Connor

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines The Vampire Diaries as representative of the contemporary state of feminized media franchises, especially those that address young women. The Vampire Diaries exists primarily as a book series and a television series, produced by Alloy Entertainment and The CW Network respectively. Alloy’s production of the franchise, and others like it, connects to the company’s history of feminized media production as a book packager, and is indicative of its current transmedia consumerist model. Further, it underlines the importance of trends and the problematic role of the author in YA literature. The CW’s use of franchises like The Vampire …

Creating The Black California Dream: Virna Canson And The Black Freedom Struggle In The Golden State’S Capital, 1940-1988, Kendra M. Gage

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines the black struggle for racial equality in the Golden State’s capital from 1940-1988 and an integral leader of the movement, Virna Canson. Canson fought for nearly fifty years to dismantle discriminatory practices in housing, education, employment and worked to protect consumers. Her lifetime of activism reveals a different set of key issues people focused on at the grassroots level and shows how the fight for freedom in California differed from the South because the state’s discriminatory practices were harder to pinpoint. Her work and the larger black community’s activism in Sacramento also reveals how the black freedom …

Sexual Harassment In Las Vegas Nightclub Industry, Ksenia Kondratyuk

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Las Vegas nightclub industry creates awfully ideal conditions for workplace sexual harassment. Considering the history of sexual harassment cases against major Las Vegas nightclub operators, the industry is currently facing the problem of either continuing to follow the “good old days” model of using bottle service girls’ sexuality to attract business or develop safer and more efficient business model to protect themselves and their employees. Analyses of secondary data including academic literature, trade publications and press, showed that similarly to the city itself, Las Vegas nightclub industry expanded and evolved from a boy's town to one of the most visited …

Youth Bullying: From Traditional Bullying Perpetration To Cyberbullying Perpetration And The Role Of Gender, Erica D. Sizemore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Youth bullying is a common form of youth violence; and recently, this behavior has diverged into two forms: traditional bullying and cyberbullying. Bullying has typically occurred within the context of school; however, with the aid of electronic devices and the Internet, youth are now able to bully beyond the schoolyard. Cyberbullying is a transmutation of traditional bullying earmarked by anonymity, a lack of guardianship, and physical distance. Using data from the 2009-2010 Health Behaviors of School-aged Children survey, this study examines the relationship between traditional bullying perpetration and cyberbullying perpetration. Logistic regression analyses suggest a relationship exist between the two …

A "Greedy" Institution With Great Job Benefits: Family Structure And Gender Variation In Commitment To Military Employment, Karen M. Brummond

Masters Theses

Scholars describe both the military and the family as “greedy institutions,” or institutions that require expansive time and energy commitments, and alter participants’ master status (Segal 1986; Coser 1974). However, the military’s employment benefits may counteract its greedy elements. I use data from the 2008 Survey of Active Duty Members to examine commitment to military employment in wartime, accounting for greedy elements of military service (such as geographic mobility, risk of bodily harm, and separations), job benefits, family structure, and gender. The results show that women in dual-service marriages, unmarried men, and those who experienced separations reported lower career commitment …

Pushing For New Perspectives: Policy Model Of Criminalized Prostitution And Its Effect On Victims Of Sex Trafficking, Melanie C. Basil

Global Honors Theses

Sex trafficking has become one of the world’s fastest growing crimes, affecting nearly every single country on our globe, and is inevitably linked to prostitution. Although prostitution has been criminalized in the United States for decades, recent literature has shown that this type of prostitution has little effect on aiding the overall sweeping and devastating effects of sex trafficking on its victim’s. The current research therefore uses interviews from experts and individuals with experience in prostitution and sex trafficking to understand—from the eyes of those with actual experience—the realistic role that criminalized prostitution plays in the lives of sex trafficking …

Therapy And The Nontraditional Transgender Narrative, Dylan Ellingson Waller

Dissertations and Theses

The history of transgender identity is inextricable from the mental health industry. Since the late 1970's transgender people have required permission from mental health professionals to make medical modifications to their sex characteristics. During the time of this research, it was difficult for transgender individuals to receive the hormones or surgeries they desire without first being diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID).

This study applies labeling theory to the label of GID. Labeling theory poses that if an individual is labeled with a mental illness, they will either reject or accept the label. Acceptance of the mentally ill label will …

Staying On Script: Sexual Scripts And Sex Education, Elizabeth Carol Hauck

Dissertations and Theses

Existing research suggests that men and women develop differing sexual scripts that influence their behavior, interactions and emotions regarding sex. The objective of this project is to examine the experiences of men and women with formal sex education programs, especially in regards to information about: anatomy and biology, sexual responsibility and risk taking, sexual desire, virginity and abstinence, as well as to explore sources of sex education outside of school. Several studies suggest masculine sexual scripts dictate that men generally construct a more body-focused approach to sex, with an emphasis on competition, aggression and achievement. Conversely, emphasized feminine sexual scripts …

Online Dating And Relationships On Campus: Gender, Religion, And Parental Marital Status Influencing Expectations And Experiences, Carla Gottlich

Honors Theses

Past research of college campus relationships and dating has found that gender, religion, and parental marital status may each play a role in determining expectations and experiences. Due to the recent popularity with online dating, I explore college student’s expectations and experiences and the roles that gender, religion, and parental marital status play in this pursuit. An anonymous survey was sent to a random sample of 918 student e-mail addresses. Students were asked what they expected from online dating, and what the experiences have been like for those who have participated. The survey, containing both open and closed ended questions, …

Tongues Untied Truth Revealed: Body Image, Social Media, Identity Development, And Meaning-Making In Overweight And Obese Black Gay Msm, Amari Ja-Lynn Enam

Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored the meanings attributed to internalized messages about body image within the context of identity development from the perspectives of overweight/obese men of African descent (OMAD) among a group of 6 men who have sex with men (MSM). I was interested in those messages that have been incorporated, adopted, or integrated into OMAD-MSM’s sense of self. Informants shared body image-related experiences from interactions with family, friends, dating/sex partners, and the media/social media.

Academic literature has explained identity development processes among African Americans through various lenses but research has not adequately explored the convergence of multiply oppressed social …