Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“We Need To Figure Out Who We Are”: Reframing Manhood In An Online Discussion Forum, Tomas Sanjuan Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I explore the potential of online communities in negotiating alternative forms of “doing” masculinity. I focus on the /r/bropill which is hosted on Reddit – home to thousands of active discussion forums called subreddits. I argue that the members of /r/bropill subreddit are attempting to redefine what it means to live your life not only as a man but as a “good man.” Using a purposive sample, I analyzed 24 discussions which totaled 1325 posts (n = 1325). I conducted a qualitative textual analysis of the original posts and comments inspired by grounded theory. My findings reveal …

A Queered Exhibition: Lgbtqia+ Artists Expressing Identity And Visibility Through Art-Based Research, Christy D. Paris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Too often museums, galleries, and art curriculum ignore or erase the lives and art of LGBTQIA+ individuals. This exhibition aimed to make the diverse lives and art from the queer community visible. Integrating queer perspectives and visibility is empowering and creates a sense of belonging. Queering the art world can present alternative perspectives, promote diversity, and provide exposure to a more inclusive experience for all. The aim of this inquiry is to inform institutional practices within museums on queer inclusivity and further scholarship on this topic by engaging with the queer art community and public during an exhibition held in …

“We Need To Have A Place To Vent And Get Our Frustrations Out”: Addressing The Needs Of Mothering Students In Higher Education Using A Positive Deviance Framework, Melissa León

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the experiences of mothering students at four different colleges using a positive deviance (PD) framework. PD is an approach that seeks to identify positive behavioral patterns that help members of a community overcome structural barriers (Gross, et al. 2017). The Positive Deviance Framework was applied to investigate how some mothering students are successful in college and how their experiences could potentially help new or struggling mothering students. Eleven mothering students were interviewed to determine what interventions could assist mothering students who lack representation in the traditional college environment, a situation that often leads to feelings of isolation. …

Standing Her Ground: Legal Constraints On Women Who Have Been Victims Of Violence, Janae E. Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women who have been the victim of violence have always been at a disadvantage under the laws in the United States because these laws stem from a patriarchal, sexist, heteronormative, and racist ideology under which this country was founded. Self- defense laws have shown to be no different and serve as a constraint to women who attempt to protect themselves at the hands of an abuser. This dissertation focuses on women who have been the victim of violence at the hands of an abuser to show that the law is not doing an adequate job of protecting them. It accomplishes …

Deconstructing And Decolonizing Identities Of “Gender” And “Sex” When Viewed As Anti-Black: Black Narratives Outside Of The Binary, Didier Salgado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

How is “Reality” experienced in the Black body? Is “Reality” an objective article which is outside of the realm of personal experience? Assigned sex is often assumed an objective biological phenomenon that exists everywhere and in all communities. Gender is often thought about as a socially constructed form of identity which is expressed in various ways. In this thesis, I critically examine the terror of “reality” on the Black body, looking at the ways that Black people who’ve experienced discomfort with gender and sex categories experience the “world” around them. Diving deeply into their own experiences and the meanings they …

Social Media And Women Empowerment In Nigeria: A Study Of The #Breakthebias Campaign On Facebook, Deborah Osaro Omontese

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines how the March 2022 #BreakTheBias campaign on Facebook was used as an empowerment platform in Nigeria, where women experience gender disparity. Research on the role of social media in women’s empowerment in Nigeria is an area that has not been fully studied. Previous studies have looked at women’s empowerment mainly through an educational or political lens, neglecting how social media have also been effective in empowering women. Other researchers have studied how women utilize social media platforms for leisure, entertainment, and media sharing. In the present study, non-probability sampling was used to identify 20 posts that convey …

Going Flat: Challenging Gender, Stigma, And Cure Through Lesbian Breast Cancer Experience, Beth Gaines

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the decision-making process of reconstruction surgery among lesbian breast cancer patients to better understand how identity impacts healthcare decisions. Breast cancer patients experience the disease in unique ways due to gender, sexuality, race, and class, impacting their individual decisions regarding treatment plans. Many breast cancer patients face mastectomy surgery as the first plan of treatment after diagnosis. By exploring the impact of gender, sexuality, stigma, and ideas of cure, this research aims to advance research about breast cancer by recognizing why some lesbian breast cancer patients forego reconstruction surgery and instead choose to “go flat.

An Assessment Of Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming Individuals Gender Affirming Health Care Practices In The Greater Tampa Bay, Sara J. Berumen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The LGBTQ+ community faces discrimination and oppression throughout U.S. history and today. In particular, transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals may face a variety of challenges when seeking biomedical health care tied to hostility, discomfort, lack of training, stigma, and denial of care at clinics or hospitals (Baker & Beagan, 2014; Lykens et al., 2018; Safer, 2021). TGNC individuals face medical gatekeeping when trying to access medical gender-affirming care (Aizura, 2018; Malatino, 2020). The research project aims to investigate these individuals' healthcare experiences, and access to both medicalized and nonmedicalized gender affirming health care practices.

In order to conduct this …

“Even If You Have Food In Your House, It Will Not Taste Sweet”: Central African Refugees’ Experiences Of Cultural Food Insecurity And Other Overlapping Insecurities In Tampa, Florida, Shaye Soifoine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, resettled African refugee populations experience food insecurity at rates up to seven times higher than those of the general population. In Tampa, Florida, anthropologists have documented high levels of food insecurity among Central African refugee households since members of this population began to be resettled in the area in 2016. Utilizing an intersectional lens and drawing upon theoretical concepts such as cultural food security, navigational capital, and social reproduction, this thesis examines how Central African refugees, particularly women, experience food (in)security and other overlapping forms of (in)security as they integrate into US systems of structural inequality …

Vulnerable Resistance In Victorian Women’S Writing, Stephanie A. Harper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how socially vulnerable characters, often dismissed as lacking access to agency, create space for resistance in nineteenth-century women’s writing. Central questions the dissertation addresses are, “Why is resistance by vulnerable characters not read?” and “How are women writers encoding resistance?” Working within a comprehensive historical picture of the challenges and concerns women writers of the nineteenth century had to contend with, and informed by feminist scholarship on women writers of the nineteenth century, the dissertation looks at vulnerable characters within Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh, George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss, and Olive …

Transnational Perspectives On The #Metoo And Anti-Base Movements In Japan, Alisha Romano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the connections between the #MeToo movement and the anti-base movement in Japan regarding transnational activism and Japanese feminist activism. As both movements have focused on sexual violence and the impacts on victims, the movements are strongly linked in their goals. While the anti-base movement in Okinawa has a long history, the #MeToo movement is a relatively new movement, therefore these connections aid in establishing the #MeToo movement as a part of a history of feminist activism in Japan. There is a limited amount of English language scholarly work done on the #MeToo movement in Japan and the …

Making A Way: An Auto/Ethnographic Exploration Of Narratives Of Citizenship, Identity, (Un)Belonging And Home For Black Trinidadian[-]American Women, Anjuliet G. Woodruffe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research study is to gather, convey and explore the lived experience related to transnational identity construction for Black Trinidadian[-]American women. I adopt an interdisciplinary approach to better understand what it means to live as, and be, a Black Trinidadian[-]American. Using auto/ethnography and interviews, I seek to answer the following research questions: (1) How do Black Trinidadian[-]American women describe their negotiation of cultural identity in Trinidad and the United States? (2) How do Black Trinidadian[-]American women describe “in-between” homeplaces within the intersectional context of gender, race, class, and culture? (3) How do Black, Trinidadian[-]American women describe transnational, …

Complex Identities: Putting Casey Plett’S Fiction In A Trans And Religious Studies Context, Catherine Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The work of Casey Plett is a prime place to discuss the experiences of being transgender and a Mennonite. However, her writing has received little discussion in the field of trans and religious studies, simply because fiction is rarely the focus of analysis in the field. This thesis argues that not only does fiction have a place in the field, but that there are unique analytic tools, such as trans standpoint theory, that can be used in the analysis of works of fiction to heighten what is gained and found in the endeavor. And so, this thesis not only argues …

Incorrect Athlete, Incorrect Woman: Ioc Gender Regulations And The Boundaries Of Womanhood In Professional Sports, Sabeehah Ravat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Professional sports are a cornerstone of mainstream capitalist society, a site where issuesof race, class, gender, nation, and religion amongst others are produced, contested, and negotiated. In particular, gender regulation policies serve to delineate the acceptable boundaries of racialised gender and create sanctioned opportunities to surveil transgressive bodies. In this thesis, I posit that professional sports rely on and protect uniformity of gender experience to regulate and exclude trans* and intersex participation and, furthermore, that gender regulation policies delineate the boundaries of gender and particularly womanhood in a way that further marginalises nonbinary athletes. Using critical discourse analysis, a methodology …

Listening To Queens: Ghana's Women Traditional Leaders As A Model For Gender Parity, Kristen M. Vogel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A movement begun in 2011 inspired multilateral organizations such as the United Nations to collaborate with Ghana’s women traditional leaders on an inherently postcolonial indigenous and transnational feminist project, promoting Queens’ national recognition. Despite the initial power of the movement, it faded over time. Yet it spurred the formation of various new Queens’ associations throughout Ghana. The associations have grown and continue to grow, and the National Council of Women Traditional Leaders that spurred the first movement has returned stronger and with new strategies. As Ghana’s Queens seek their traditional right, an equal voice at all levels of leadership, it …

Resilience And Health Outcomes Of Sexual Minority Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Christi L. Nelson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While research on lesbian, gay, and bisexual (hereafter referred to as sexual minority) middle-aged and older adults has increased over the past decade, there is still a critical need for more research on the health and resilience in this growing subpopulation. Research has provided evidence that sexual minority adults have an increased risk of negative health outcomes when compared to heterosexual adults. Research has also demonstrated possible resilience in sexual minority middle-aged and older adults; however, few studies have measured resilience in middle-aged and older adults. Gaining a better understanding of resilience in sexual minority adults may help identify modifiable …

Criminalizing Lgbtq+ Jamaicans: Social, Legal, And Colonial Influences On Homophobic Policy, Zoe C. Knowles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Based on colonial and neocolonial models of oppression, Jamaica has adopted many laws, policies, and systems mandated by the British monarchy. Many of these laws contain anti-LGBTQ+ policies which remain in effect today. To address the criminalization of LGBTQ+ identities, I used queer theory and queer criminology to analyse the ways Jamaica constructs LGBTQ+ people as criminals and how they are treated in the legal and criminal justice systems from a postcolonial standpoint. Using a qualitative text-based feminist and queer policy analysis, I investigated social, legal, and colonial influences on current anti-LGBTQ+ policy by looking at the Offences Against the …

Jane Anger Her Protection For Women And The Emergence Of A Radical Female Voice In Late Sixteenth Century England, Ashley M. Wessel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how women authors responded to masculine discourses of dominance in late sixteenth-century England. Directly, it concentrates on the pamphlet Jane Anger her Protection for Women, written in 1589 and published under the pseudonym Jane Anger. I argue Anger’s pamphlet was a radical voice within Elizabethan print culture which lends a view into gender politics of the time in which this piece was produced. I also argue that though Anger’s target audience was the gentlewomen of England, she crafted her pamphlet for a broad audience that included any literate man or woman across social station. The importance …

Bad Bunny’S Purplewashing As Gender Violence In Reggaeton: A Feminist Analysis Of Solo De Mi And Yo Perreo Sola, Dairíne Hoban

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bad Bunny has skyrocketed to fame in the past few years, gaining worldwide recognition as one of the best reggaetoneros of his time. His self-promoted image as an ally to women’s movements and the Queer community has garnered him the recognition of being a role model for youth and as an anomaly in the misogynistic genre of reggaeton. However, few have looked beyond the assertion of allyship to see if his work truly does support women and anti-gender violence ideology. While scholarship on reggaeton has well documented the prevalence of gender violence in the lyrics, videos and overall culture of …

Women Entrepreneurs In China: Dialectical Discourses, Situated Activities, And The (Re)Production Of Gender And Entrepreneurship, Zhenyu Tian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the number of women entrepreneurs on the rise globally, the business world and the identity of the entrepreneur remain to be normed masculine and male gender stereotyped. This male gender stereotyping situates women who practice entrepreneurship in disadvantages, limiting their access to resources on which they depend to make meaning of their activities and identities. This imbalanced masculine gender order also manifests in China’s economy. Women entrepreneurs in China face complex contradictions and challenges when navigating an arena that privileges men and masculinity. However, not much is known about the micro-dynamics of Chinese women’s entrepreneurial experiences in light of …

Dismantling Hegemony Through Inclusive Sexual Health Education, Lauren Wright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the process of developing a sexual health education curriculum that is not only tailored to the unique needs of foster-engaged young women, but also those who may experience further marginalization from other mainstream programs due to their race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or their religious beliefs. In conjunction with the Adolescent Sexual Health Education and Research (ASHER) Program, I helped develop a sexual health education curriculum, "Choosing Myself," targeted toward foster-engaged young women and young women (ages 13-24) in the state of Florida. "Choosing Myself" is intended to be an inclusive program that empowers participants, improves their …

Peminist Performance In/As Filipina Feminist Praxis: Collaging Stand-Up Comedy And The Narrative Points In Between, Christina-Marie A. Magalona

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project documents the interdependent effort between performers, authors, and texts, through re/theorizing the role of the personal narrator in autoperformance as both an individual, and a part of a political collective. Through a scripted and staged performance, studied as the data, I critically engage with representations of first-generation women of color via comediennes (Ali Wong and Cristela Alonzo) and their personal narratives, and dialogically consider moments of dis/identification as a Filipina American.

Rooted in performance in/and communication studies, the overarching method employed is conspicuous aesthetic performance, via a scripted and staged narrative performance. I join performance and other methods …

Consumerism And Pride: The Fate Of Paris’ Marais “Gayborhood”, Christina M. Csensich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the 1980s the Marais neighborhood in Paris, France, became a haven for queer people, specifically gay, white men, filled with queer-owned and queer-centric businesses. By the year 2020, however, these businesses had been priced out by name-brand international corporations. In the 1990s, French television commercials and programs would not speak the word ‘homosexual,’ even when a character was openly queer. By the 2010s, companies regularly featured queer people and gay pride imagery and slogans in their advertising. The queer community in Paris has a unique relationship with the consumer economy, one that ties aspects of queer identity directly to …

Spilling The Lgbt(Ea)Q: A Study Of Lgbtq Youth Early School Experiences, Nicholas Catania

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this arts-based qualitative study, I explore the experiences of LGBTQ youth regarding inclusion during their early schooling. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of youth participants regarding inclusion during their early school experiences to better assist educators and policy-makers at all levels with information to provide safe and equitable learning environments for LGBTQ youth to succeed. The intent of this study was to uncover the ways schools may marginalize or be inclusive of LGBTQ youth by examining school experiences with a particular focus at the elementary level. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, …

Transfat Representation, Jessica "Fyn" Asay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study defines and analyzes representation of transfats, those who are both transgender and fat, through the examination of two popular media texts, Jabba the Hutt from The Return of the Jedi and Pat from the Saturday Night Live tv program in the 1990’s. I analyze these two texts using a queer feminist media studies lens to reveal the media construction of a transfat representation that is rooted in racism, transnormativity, and fatphobia and that positions the transfat body as non-normative and grotesque through the use of abject horror and fear. My analysis reveals how racism, transnormativity, and fatphobia shape …

“Placing Our Breasts On A Hot Kerosene Lantern”: A Critical Study Of Microfinancialization In The Lives Of Women Entrepreneurs In The Informal Economic Sector In Ibadan, Nigeria, Olubukola Olayiwola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study uses an anthropological perspective to investigate everyday lived experience of women borrowers and entrepreneurs (in the informal economic sector in Ibadan, Nigeria) relating to microfinancialization. Study such as this becomes important given the popular Yoruba metaphor “owo komulelanta” (“Placing our breasts on a hot kerosene lantern”) women borrowers use to express their experience particularly in their attempts to make repayments of MFB loans. Hence, there is a need to pay close attention and listen more carefully to operators of the informal sector and borrowers of MFB loans. This study employs ethnographic mixed methods to generate data in various …

Aligning Voice And Communication With Identity – A Survey On Transgender And Gender Diverse Populations, Rachel T. Chalom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This research has two goals. The first goal is to examine transgender (TG) and gender diverse (GD) voice and communication functioning and the impact of voice on their everyday lives. The second goal is to examine the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs speech-language pathologists (SLP) have about the TG and GD community and to investigate the relationship between self- and listener-perception and its correspondence to quality of life (QoL).

Methods: A total of 59 participants took part in this research. The research was separated into two parts, the first included 24 TG and GD individuals who participated in a Qualtrics …

Anorexia Nervosa And Bulimia Nervosa As Expressions Of Shame In A Post-Feminist, Emily Kearns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa are heavily gendered conditions affecting women to a far greater degree than men in a post-millennium Western setting. The psychologistic and medicalized approaches to studying and treating these disorders do not account for socio-cultural and epistemic preferences. This paper draws a connection between shame (as emotion and affect) and these gendered disorders. Further, this work analyzes neo-liberalism, post-feminism, and consumerism as predatory elements of Western culture especially affecting women.

Social Exclusion Of Older Mossi Women Accused Of Witchcraft In Burkina Faso, West Africa, Clarisse Barbier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Among the most marginalized populations in the world, one group of women has been persistently ignored, silenced, and forgotten. In Burkina Faso, West Africa, older women in rural villages are often the target of witchcraft accusations; the consequences of these accusations are alarming because these women undergo violent attacks, face exclusion from their villages, and become the most vulnerable and marginalized segment of the Burkinabe population. Between August 2017 and November 2018, I conducted an ethnographic study of Burkinabe women accused of witchcraft living in two shelters in the capital city of Ouagadougou and examined women’s experiences of accusation, trauma, …

Identity, Breakdown, And The Production Of Knowledge: Intersectionality, Phenomenology, And The Project Of Post-Marxist Standpoint Theory, Zachary James Purdue

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

After breaking with the Marxist tradition, feminist standpoint theory operated without a backing framework and explanation for the privileged perspective of the oppressed. This project investigates phenomenology and breakdown as an alternative framework and explanatory mechanism for standpoint theory. I attempt to show how certain phenomenological programs are able to "back up" the claims of standpoint theory, and I argue that such a phenomenological standpoint theory can be coherent with intersectionality.

Chapter 1 focuses on intersectionality and standpoint theory, and surveys the controversy over their demarcation. This discussion allows me to develop several desiderata for theory of identity and knowledge, …