Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Gormley, Quinn, Liam Dunn, Katherine Sucy

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Quinn Gormley, who uses she/they pronouns, is 27 years old and lives with their husband and dog in Auburn, Maine. Quinn became involved in activism and trans liberation in 2011 after attending a support group with Maine TransNet, a grassroots trans organization serving Mainers. Since then, they have been highly involved with the organization and took on the role of Executive Director in 2016. Prior to Maine TransNet, Quinn worked in public health managing an HIV testing program for the Health Equity Alliance, one of the state’s main AIDS service organizations. She attended the University Church of Chicago for Percussion …

Nero, Dr. Charles, Hana Elabe

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Charles Nero was born in Decatur, Alabama and was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He discusses discovering at a young age that he was not heterosexual but not acting on that until college. Nero also talks about the challenges he faced when he came out to his parents. During his time at college, he made decisions that led him away from organized Christianity. He discusses the HIV/AIDS epidemic and his work with the Ithaca NY AIDS Taskforce. He also discusses some of the challenges presented by racism and homophobia. He and his husband have adopted two children and he talks …

Williams, Maya, Daisy Pelletier

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

*Included at the end of the interview is an original poem read by Maya.

Maya Williams is a 25-year-old Black, queer, trans, Christian person who grew up in North Carolina. Ey moved to Maine to attend grad school at the University of New England. They worked at Maine Inside Out as an intern while at the University of New England. She has also worked at Equality Maine, and now works at Maine Trans Net. Her Christian faith is important to her, and organizations like ChIME (Chaplaincy Institute of Maine), and interfaith organization that educations and ordains chaplains, and The BTS …

Ekart, Donna, Gretchen Muehle, Brooke Hall

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Donna Ekart is a 53-year-old queer, femme woman living in Portland, Maine. Ekart grew up in Manhattan, Kansas surrounded by both her immediate and extended family. Ekart moved to Portland, Maine with her wife when she was in her mid-forties. Ekart came out as queer to her friends and family when she was 40-years-old. She has been involved in LGBTQ+ organizations including Equality Maine, which is Maine’s biggest queer organization whose aim is to secure full equality for the LGBTQ+ community in Maine through political action, community organizing, education, and collaboration. Ekart’s religious identity and relationship with the Catholic Church …

Black Lips Don't Turn Blue: A Womanist Critique Of Discriminatory Language In Medical Education, Alison Lawrence

Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest

This paper examines race and gender inequities in healthcare as it pertains to the unequal presentation of descriptors of illness in medical textbooks. The author adopts a womanist perspective to criticize the use of the white male body as the standard for all patients, which causes signs and symptoms in women and people of color to be dismissed as less important. Following an analysis of normalizing language in current medical texts as well as its consequences for patients, the author calls for a system-wide shift to more inclusive, intersectional medical education that not only acknowledges differences among patient groups, but …

Medieval Infertility: Treatments, Cures, And Consequences, Zia Simpson

The Forum: Journal of History

Since the first civilizations emerged, reproductive ability has been one of the most prominent elements in assessing a woman’s value to society. Other characteristics such as beauty, intelligence, and wealth may have been granted comparable consequence, but those are arbitrary and improvable. Fertility is genetic, and for centuries it was beyond human control. Among the medieval European nobility, fertility held even greater power. The absence of an heir could, either directly or indirectly, bring about war, economic depression, and social disorder. Catholicism provided a refuge by allowing barren women to retain their hopes, while simultaneously enriching Rome’s coffers. Other women …

Nawal El Saadawi Memorial Tribute, Fawzia Afzal-Khan

Journal of International Women's Studies

On March 28^th 2021, almost a week after my dear friend, colleague, role model, the revolutionary feminist writer Dr Nawal el Saadawi passed away in Cairo, Egypt, I held a Virtual Memorial Tribute to honor her considerable achievements and impact on so many people across our world. In attendance were admirers of her work across the globe, mourning the loss of an icon of Arab feminism who exposed the many hypocrisies and corrupt power relations of our world West to East, top to bottom. In so doing, she alerted us through her uncompromising clarity of vision to the complex …

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 …

Naming And Re(Claiming) Feminism In Orthodoxy: Voicing The Gender And Religious Identities Of Greek Orthodox Women, Anne Marie Adams

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a qualitative study of the effects of Greek Orthodoxy on the gender and religious identity meaning-making of five Greek-American women. The emergent themes from this study indicate that participants’ gender and religious identities were heavily influenced by the dueling tensions and contradictions between patriarchy and feminism, conservative traditionalism and modernity, and secular life and the religious community (i.e., family and church). Underpinning this study are Narrative Identity Theory and Feminist Standpoint Theory. Portraiture methodology was employed across three semi-structured interviews, as well as three written/video reflection journals to reveal how women, as articulated through their own perspectives, …

Welcome To The New Dignity, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.