Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Romancing The University: Bipoc Scholars In Romance Novels In The 1980s And Now, Jayashree Kamble

Publications and Research

English-language mass-market romance novels written by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) writers and starring BIPOC protagonists are a small but important group. This article is a comparative analysis of how recent representations of diversity in this sub-set of the genre, specifically the character of the Black academic and the language of racial justice, compare with the first group of BIPOC novels that were published in 1984 (Sandra Kitt’s Adam and Eva and All Good Things as well as Barbara Stephens’s A Toast to Love). In Adrianna Herrera’s American Love Story (2019), Katrina Jackson’s Office Hours (2020), and …

The Maine Queer-Y: An Analysis Of A "Gender Queer" Book Challenge In Maine, Antyna Gould

Honors College

Beneath the idyllic scenery of Midcoast Maine lives a monster. This monster does not have a preference for where it lives, in fact its siblings reside all over the country. It is not a physical being, but a rising trend gaining national attention, book bans. Across the nation groups and individuals are attempting to censor information contained within books due to their allegedly inappropriate nature for a designated age range. For the last year one book in particular has received much scorn. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe is a graphic novel memoir with a focus on the author’s journey as …

Lg Ms 052 Sage Hylton (-Lemons) Papers, K A. Perry

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Sage Hylton-Lemons grew up in Portland, Maine. In high school, Hylton-Lemons found sanctuary as a gay teenager in the youthdriven group Outright, where his involvement progressed from attending weekly meetings to being a member of the Board, then President of the Board. As an Outright member and activist, Hylton-Lemons spoke at schools and events, became a peer-advisor, and helped other communities organize their own Outrights. He was instrumental in conceiving and organizing Outright's first annual prom in 1998. He was profoundly influenced by Christian T. Chenard, a nurse practitioner for the City of Portland Public Health Positive Healthcare Program. …

From Vertical To Horizontal Empowerment Of Women (In) Peace And Security: Toward A Feminist Perspective Of Human Security, Ma. Lourdes Veneracion-Rallonza

Political Science Department Faculty Publications

Human security, a people-centered approach to security, typically seeks to examine vulnerabilities and identify ways of protecting people from threats. However, people are not perennial victims—they also have agency and are capable of acting on their own. This study looks at how the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda has created both the discursive and actual spaces for women's agency, particularly in the case of women's civil society organizations (CSOs), as illustrated by their work on the ground. This chapter investigates how the Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute (GZOPI), Sulong Peace, and Women Engaged in Action on United Nations Security …

A "Misfit" Revision: Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable And Transitional Stardom In Postwar Hollywood, Emily Carman

Film and Media Arts Faculty Articles and Research

Director John Huston’s The Misfits (1961) was one of the most volatile productions of his career, with its ensemble cast headlined by a trio of screen icons: Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift. Drawing on new archival research, I argue that The Misfits illuminates the transition from old to New Hollywood in terms of its behind-the-scenes star negotiations of Gable and Monroe, who had varying levels of creative control to appear in the film. My analysis of their respective deals underscores how The Misfits anticipates the shift from the female driven star system of Classical Hollywood to the male …

Lg Ms 079 Steven G. Bull Papers, Jill Piekut Roy, Jeremy Rundstrom

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Papers include correspondence, photographs, publications, and ephemera documenting the beginning of the gay liberation movement in Maine and Steve Bull's participation in the movement both in Maine and nationally, especially through his involvement with the founding of the Wilde-Stein Club at University of Maine Orono in 1973 and his chairmanship of the first Maine Gay Symposium in 1974. Letters received by Bull and his friends, both personally and as Wilde-Stein Club officials, are evidence of the attitudes of both supporters of gay liberation and its opponents in the 1970s. Bull's research papers document the University of Maine's reaction to …

Fluidity And Inconstancy: Australian Bush Tomatoes As An Exemplar Of Non-Normative Sex Expression, Christopher T. Martine

Faculty Journal Articles

Solanum, a genus of ~1500 global species, is one of the more interesting plant groups in which to study reproductive biology and ecology. Overwhelmingly, species in this group express full cosexuality, where individual plants have flowers containing both fully-functioning “male” (staminate) and “female” (carpellate) organs. However, there have been multiple and widespread evolutionary transitions within the genus to non-normative variations on this ancestral condition. Australian bush tomatoes (ca. 40 species) are especially diverse in this regard, with uncommon variation and combinations of unisexuality and cosexuality -- including, most notably, two sexual systems known as dioecy (unisexual male or female …

Kathleen Hanna: An Investigation Into Riot Grrrl, Elena Haffner

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

A zine on the third-wave feminist movement riot grrrl and one of its most prominent members, Kathleen Hanna.

Cause Branding Lizzo And The Body Positivity Movement, Natalie Pesqueira

Whittier Scholars Program

Known for her songs about self love and acceptance, Lizzo has become a body positive icon and a role model for so many people with larger bodies since her rise to fame. This paper is an analysis of Lizzo’s place in the current body positive moment as a fat, Black woman and the ways in which she has been forced to participate in fat activism and fat resistance due to her identity. This paper will also analyze the ways in which Lizzo’s shapewear brand Yitty is branded– is it positive inclusion or is it a case of cause branding?

The Role Of Gender And Curiosity On Transformational Leadership: A Mixed-Methods Study, Brooke Colleen Mott

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Environmental leaders are tasked with finding innovative solutions to dynamic environmental challenges. Leaders must gain and use new knowledge and experiences that motivate resolving gaps in one’s knowledge (i.e., curiosity) and thereby find forward-thinking solutions. Although curiosity is an integral part of human existence, it may be experienced in various ways. Studies have shown that men and women may possess different leadership styles. Nevertheless, the influence of curiosity on leadership between genders has not been as readily explored. Women exhibit unique characteristics for successful leadership in many contexts, but they are often underrepresented in natural resource management overall. Characteristics of …

Muslim Enough? Egyptian Enough? American Enough?, Essraa Nawar

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Essraa has studied, lived and worked in many places, including the Gulf area (Qatar), Washington D.C., where she worked for The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, and Alexandria, Egypt where she worked for Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In 2002, she moved with her husband and family to the United States where they have been studying, working, and living for 20 plus years. In this vulnerable presentation, Essraa will share for the first time her journey navigating motherhood as an immigrant, Muslim women while thousands of miles away from her family in Egypt. Everyday Essraa will ask herself: Is …

Consent In Conversation: Education Of Sexual Violence In Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Emily Benning

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

Maya Angelou’s memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is just one of many titles challenged and banned in public schools for “sexually explicit” content. On page 71 of her 281 page autobiography, Angelou discloses that she was raped at 8 years old by her mother’s boyfriend, and despite it being followed with scenes that emphasize the value of healing through literature, public attention has been directed to the (non-consensual) intercourse itself as a reason for censorship. As censorship efforts have expanded in the past two decades, challengers have continued to add more ban-worthy qualities to the list …

Lg Ms 160 Dale Mccormick Gay Side Story Interview, Jill Piekut Roy

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Collection includes two copies of an oral history interview (one edited) and an automatically generated transcript.

In the edited version of the interview, Dale McCormick recalls her role as producer of "Gay Side Story," an adaptation of the musical West Side Story, with Diane Elze, Miles J. Rightmire, Cheryl Ring, and others. The play was performed for two nights in Luther Bonney Hall at University of Southern Maine during the 10th Maine Lesbian & Gaymen's Symposium in May 1983. McCormick discusses her work on the writing team, the set design, and the positive reception of the production during a …

Critical Discourse Analysis: Sexual Violence In Maine Department Of Public Safety (Dps) "Crime In Maine" Reports, Emma V. Grous

Honors College

Sexual violence is incredibly prevalent in the state of Maine. These crimes, which disproportionately affect at-risk communities – women, children, people of color, and impoverished persons – are not accurately represented in legal discourses within Maine. Changes to how victims and survivors of sexual violence are represented and discussed in law enforcement reports and other materials are necessary in order to promote social change and justice for the survivors in our communities.

Critical Discourse Analysis has been used broadly since its conception and has even previously been used in understanding political and social implications of discourse in the United States. …

Exploring Interfaith Sex Education, Bailey Lewis

Honors College

Sacred Sexuality explores the intersections of religion and sexuality. I worked with Dr. Birthisel, Director of the Wilson Center, and Kate Dawson, co-facilitator of the sex education class, to survey the sex education class participants on how the experience has been for them. I surveyed the sex education class participants after the class to analyze their opinions of the sex education class, interfaith dialogue, and how their spirituality or religious perspectives inform their beliefs around sexuality. Overall, the sex education class was highly recommended and gave an interesting look into how faith and sexuality interact. While the sex education class …

“Yellow Fever” + Pornhub Statistics: A Sociological Sickness, Patricia Plachno

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

This essay was written to explore the complexities behind "Yellow Fever," or the fetishization of Asian women. In further understanding the origins of "Yellow Fever", shining a light on historical stereotypes and microaggressions assist in problematizing this phenomenon. Pornhub's yearly statistics provide a tangible outline of the sheer volume of participants in racial fetishization.

Imagining Gender Euphorias, Willow Wind

Honors College

Our society needs to talk about gender, but we aren’t very good at it. Avoiding these discussions has harmful impacts on body image and various health disparities (The Trevor Project, 2020). What if we have better and regular conversations about ways we can positively experience gender? This study’s model of negotiating gender can be used by families and educators seeking affirming exploratory learning opportunities. Insights into meanings of gender euphoria help validate diverse sets of experiences, informing a broader cultural discourse that increasingly questions gender binarism (Griffin, 2020).

This study explores conceptualizations and enactment of gender euphoria across demographics and …

La Ausencia/Presencia De La Asexualidad Y La Sexualnormatividad En La Educación Sexual Integral En Las Escuelas Secundarias En La Ciudad Autónoma De Buenos Aires / The Absence/Presence Of Asexuality And Sexualnormativity In Comprehensive Sexual Education In Secondary Schools In The Autonomous City Of Buenos Aires, Marin Hart

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este proyecto investiga el lugar de la asexualidad en la Educación Sexual Integral en el nivel medio en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Desde una mirada basada en la teoría queer, este trabajo analiza los lineamientos curriculares del nivel medio y entrevistas a personas involucradas en la ESI, y concluye que la asexualidad, como todas las identidades queer, no aparece en los lineamientos y aparece muy poco en la ESI en general. Además, cuando aparecen las identidades queer en la ESI, se presentan dentro del marco de la tolerancia y no discriminación, y por el modo de hacerlo, terminan …

An Undergraduate Consortium For Addressing The Leaky Pipeline To Computing Research, James C. Boerkoel Jr., Mehmet Ergezer

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Despite an increasing number of successful interventions designed to broaden participation in computing research, there is still significant attrition among historically marginalized groups in the computing research pipeline. This experience report describes a first-of-its-kind Undergraduate Consortium (UC; https://aaai-uc.github.io/about) that addresses this challenge by empowering students with a culmination of their undergraduate research in a conference setting. The UC, conducted at the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), aims to broaden participation in the AI research community by recruiting students, particularly those from historically marginalized groups, supporting them with mentorship, advising, and networking as an accelerator toward graduate school, AI research, …

Response To Professor Dinner, Martha Albertson Fineman

Faculty Articles

I want to thank the Texas A&M Law Review for including my work in this special Issue and express my appreciation to Professor Dinner for her thoughtful comments concerning the evolution of my scholarship. Professor Dinner raises the question of whether that earlier work is relevant to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion, specifically, and to broader issues of reproductive justice, more generally. For me, Dobbs illustrates—once again—how our American obsession with both individual rights and Supreme Court jurisprudence can distort our sense of the possibilities for achieving social (or reproductive) justice. I see my work as an …

Lookism, Social Media, Beauty Prejudice, Diana Saiki, Alyssa Dana Adomaitis

Publications and Research

"Lookism” is a term to describe appearance discriminationor “the practice of discrimination on the basis of physical appearance in the workplace” (Ghodrati, Joorabchi, & Muati, 2015, p.1). In popular literature, it has been called “beauty prejudice” (Etcoff, 1999, p. 1). The notion that a pleasing appearance results in favorable outcomes (e.g., higherwages, promotions) from others is not necessarily new, as literature on physical attractiveness is rather extensive. The Washington Post Magazine first used the term “lookism” in 1978 (e.g., Ayto, 1999), however, the term “lookism” was first recognized as a form of discrimination by authors of the Oxford English Dictionary …

Social Media “Ghosts”: How Facebook (Meta) Memories Complicates Healing For Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence, Nicolette Little

Publications and Scholarship

This paper contributes to feminist conversations about algorithms and design justice by examining ways Facebook’s (Meta) Memories affordance, when it draws on previously posted photographs of abusive former partners, is problematic for gender-based violence (GBV) survivors. With analyses drawn from semi-structured interviews with twelve “survivor-users” and a walkthrough of Memories’ settings to better understand what opportunities users have to control this function, this paper finds that Memories triggers survivors, makes their abuser seem inescapable and reduces survivors’ sense of agency, among other challenges to their well-being. By extending abusers’ intimidation back into survivors’ lives, Memories unintentionally supports perpetrators’ aims: to …

Dress, Body Modifications, And Emotional Attachment, Alyssa Dana Adomaitis, Diana Saiki

Publications and Research

Dress consists of all body modifications and supplements added to the human body. Dress includes not only changes that can been seen by the eye, but changes to the body that involves taste, smell, sound, and touch of the body. Dress supplements are inclusive of hats, shoes, and jewelry (Roach Higgins &Eicher, 1992). There is also an emotional attachment to dressing the body. When one dresses feelings about the clothes, the body, curves, and personal perceptions form when dressing. Dressing can include dressing up and having special moments when wearing a particular garment. Sometimes, dressing can take effort, even extra …