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Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Sociology

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Swarthmore College

2023

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Mommy, Me, And We: Why Black Mothers Have Turned To Doulas, Janessa Harris Jan 2023

Mommy, Me, And We: Why Black Mothers Have Turned To Doulas, Janessa Harris

Crossings: Swarthmore Undergraduate Feminist Research Journal

Maternal mortality mates have disproportionately affected black mothers for far too long due to the lack of value that black bodies hold in medical spaces. Because of this concerns voiced by black people are often disregarded and ignored until the very last minute. But what if this was changed? This paper will focus on how black mothers have worked against Western medical systems that silence our voices, but instead turn to doulas who work to make these mothers feel seen, heard, and cared for. Through this, we make birthing a careful and collective effort to turn Mommy&Me to Mommy&We.

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Skin Stories And Family Feelings: The Contradictions Of Skin Picking In Mother And Daughter, Katrina Jacinto Jan 2023

Skin Stories And Family Feelings: The Contradictions Of Skin Picking In Mother And Daughter, Katrina Jacinto

Crossings: Swarthmore Undergraduate Feminist Research Journal

Skin picking, otherwise known as dermatillomania, is considered to be a medical disorder by the DSM-5. However, the embodied experiences of skin picking in myself and my mother do not align with the neat definitions offered by psychiatry. Through autoethnographic material and an ethnographic interview with my mother, I argue that skin picking is a bodily technique that is pathologized through stigma. In particular, I suggest that skin picking reveals the body as a polyvalent entity, in which the same features and practices take on different meanings in different bodies. This frames the discrepancies between mine, and my mother's, experiences. …

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Queer Ecologies: A Final Syllabus/Zine Product Of Our Independent Study, Yeh Seo Jung, Ray Craig Jan 2023

Queer Ecologies: A Final Syllabus/Zine Product Of Our Independent Study, Yeh Seo Jung, Ray Craig

Crossings: Swarthmore Undergraduate Feminist Research Journal

This zine is the product of our independent study course Queer Ecologies, which is an exploration of bio-social systems using a queer and feminist theoretical lens. We aim to look critically at knowledge formation and construct alternative visions for more just and sustainable relationships between science, nature, and ourselves. While queer theory most directly interrogates the normative structure of heterosexuality both in humans and in biology more broadly, these studies include analyses of hierarchy, power, and value. Queer Ecology can be used to examine phenomena such as climate change, extinction, pollution, species hierarchies, agricultural practices, resource extraction, and human population …

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Masculinized Sovereignty: Understanding Violence Towards Mice And The Nonhuman, Anisha Prakash Jan 2023

Masculinized Sovereignty: Understanding Violence Towards Mice And The Nonhuman, Anisha Prakash

Crossings: Swarthmore Undergraduate Feminist Research Journal

This paper attempts to analyze how the definition of the normative “human” categorizes bodies that represent alternative political order against settler colonialism, and how the subjects that go against the dominant ideal of human are prohibited from living a free life, if not altogether eliminated. While conducting research, I view the lab as a site of social advancement where the differences between humans and nonhumans create a community of shared purpose. An interrogation of the laboratory as a site of violence can help us better understand how the State’s capitalist modes of advancement and production harm those of indigenous people, …

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The Afterlife Of Jennifer Laude: Trans Necropolitics And Trans Utopias, Max D. López Toledano Jan 2023

The Afterlife Of Jennifer Laude: Trans Necropolitics And Trans Utopias, Max D. López Toledano

Crossings: Swarthmore Undergraduate Feminist Research Journal

Jennifer Laude is a filipino trans woman who was murdered by a visiting member of the United States army in 2014. Her murder led to several protests in the Philippines and in the United States led by both queer and anti-imperialist movements that urged for the rejection of the 'Visiting Forces Agreement' in the Philippines. This essay explores how Laude's murder is located in a climate of 'trans necropolitics' that allocates death and disposability to unruly trans and brown bodies who fail to comply with cis-normative gender ideals. This essay understands her murder (and her afterlife) beyond her individual body, …

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