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Arts and Humanities Commons

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Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Bridgewater State University

2023

Agency

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Older Women As Active Online Agents: Diversifying Cultural Conceptions Of “Grannies” Through Social Media, Hanna Varjakoski Oct 2023

Older Women As Active Online Agents: Diversifying Cultural Conceptions Of “Grannies” Through Social Media, Hanna Varjakoski

Journal of International Women's Studies

With the advent of social media, the media environment has become more participatory for its users, making it possible for older adults to produce content for social media and be agential in online spaces. This article observes a group of older women known as Activist Grannies (Aktivistimummot in Finnish) and 60+ Finnish women bloggers who identify as “grannies” to discover what kind of agency social media potentially enables for older women. In addition, this article explores the cultural knowledge produced by older women’s self-representations as activist grannies and “granny bloggers.” I demonstrate that social media offers a space to …


The Madness Of Women As An Illusional Power In Charlotte Brontë’S Jane Eyre And Fadia Faqir’S Pillars Of Salt, Luma Balaa Oct 2023

The Madness Of Women As An Illusional Power In Charlotte Brontë’S Jane Eyre And Fadia Faqir’S Pillars Of Salt, Luma Balaa

Journal of International Women's Studies

Historically speaking, women have been associated with madness, be it Medea from Ancient Greece, the medieval trials of the witches of Salem, or so called “hysterical” women in the Victorian era. Even in 21st-century literature, arts, and media, the madness of women is widely discussed and often romanticized. Some women authors employed the madwoman trope to show the effects of patriarchal oppression on women. Other studies have associated women’s madness in literature with subversion. This paper, however, claims that the portrayal of madness in both Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and Fadia Faqir’s Pillars of Salt (1996) is not subversive, …


Bollywood As A Site Of Resistance: Women And Agency In Indian Popular Culture, Sheetal Yadav, Smita Jha Apr 2023

Bollywood As A Site Of Resistance: Women And Agency In Indian Popular Culture, Sheetal Yadav, Smita Jha

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article evaluates the contemporary Indian redefinition of gender norms, subjectivity, and practices by analyzing Bollywood films as a major influence upon its global audiences. This study explores how Indian cinema redefines women’s status and promotes gender-neutral entertainment by harnessing the powerful energies of current movements such as #MeToo. The article closely examines the textual and conceptual features of current women-focused movies like Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga (2019), Thappad (2020), and Paglait (2021). This examination focuses on key insights from popular Bollywood actresses’ critical feminist roles to understand their assertions of women’s power, agency, and equality. Additionally, …