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Honors Theses

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Identity

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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Decolonizing The Western Perception Of Afghan Women: A Feminist Critique, Parwana Azimi May 2024

Decolonizing The Western Perception Of Afghan Women: A Feminist Critique, Parwana Azimi

Honors Theses

Abstract: Feminist theory and activism have often been reduced to singular movements from Western literature and history. Thus, the exploration of Feminist theory is often limited to Western ideology and values. In doing so, Western Feminism has primarily promoted the rights of Women living in developed countries while leaving women in developing countries or otherwise out of the discussion of women’s rights and status. Most often, women's rights struggles outside of the West are seen as colonial projects which portray Muslim women as helpless and requiring liberation from their cultures. A prominent example of this is the case of Afghan …


Les Réalisatrices Et Le « Regard Masculin » Dans Le Cinéma Francophone, Arianna Kosakowski Apr 2019

Les Réalisatrices Et Le « Regard Masculin » Dans Le Cinéma Francophone, Arianna Kosakowski

Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on how the male gaze is confronted in French and Francophone cinema, particularly in the films of the female directors Celine Sciamma, Euzhan Palcy and Claire Denis. The male gaze is a look in cinema in which women are regarded generally as sexual objects. The male gaze renders women mostly relevant only to fulfill male sexual desires, and thus as weak or background characters with little to contribute to moving the narrative action along. All six films by the female directors analyzed in this thesis, however--Bande de filles and Tomboy (Sciamma), Rue case-nègres and A Dry …


Acting The Part: How Audience Problematizes Butlerian Performativity In The Films Of Darren Aronofsky Kathryn Bigelow And Lars Van Trier, Ryan Semerad Jun 2013

Acting The Part: How Audience Problematizes Butlerian Performativity In The Films Of Darren Aronofsky Kathryn Bigelow And Lars Van Trier, Ryan Semerad

Honors Theses

Feminist and gender studies critics laud Judith Butler’s theory of the performative construction of identity because of its capacity to liberate gender from the biological essentialism entailed by previous identity theories. In this thesis, I show how six twenty-first century films demonstrate the importance and problematic nature of ‘audience’ in the performative construction of identity. Each film employs a dialectic model between their protagonists and the reception they receive from diegetic audiences within the film to describe performativity. Black Swan (2010) and The Wrestler (2008) demonstrate how performative identities require an audience to legitimize them. Antichrist (2009) and The Hurt …


The Politics Of Sex: Analyzing The Relationship Between The State And Gender Identity And Desire, Rachel Mayer Jun 2012

The Politics Of Sex: Analyzing The Relationship Between The State And Gender Identity And Desire, Rachel Mayer

Honors Theses

The disenfranchised experiences of women are central to feminist understandings of identity. Crucial to this understanding is the question of what is the cause of female oppression and how to remedy the situation. This introduces the concept of state power and its relationship to women. The state, as the seat of legal and political power, has the ability to serve as both protector and oppressor. The thesis is devoted to exploring feminist perspectives and critiques on state power such as arguments for state intervention in the protection of women through concrete action such as gender-specific laws. Opposing this view is …