Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Aging Intimately, Niamh Mcdonnell, Giulia Hjort

Capstones

We’re both familiar with grief after the loss of family members over 75. This project is our way of giving back in a small way by listening, but also as a way of remembering the people we unexpectedly lost. Each person we’ve met on this journey has inspired us in their own way, with their stories of resilience through grief and aging. All of our collaborators on this project are constantly learning, taking risks, and moving forward through loss and pain. They aren’t defined by their age. Rather, they embrace it with a willingness to reinvent their approach to romance …

Crip Time In Fin-De-Siècle Spain: Disability, Degeneration, And Eugenics, Erika Rodriguez

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A period of intense nation-building, the late nineteenth century was marked by the search for medical and legal solutions to the increasing number of bodies that did not align with culturally constructed expectations of productivity and reproduction in Spanish modernity. Authors of this time used representations of disability to engage in urgent political questions about population control and the rights of individuals in the face of increasing medical intervention. In carrying out this analysis, I raise the question of how representations of disability created a space to reconfigure the social values that determined what lives matter. Focusing on canonical realist …

“Tell Me, Bambi Or Yogi Ever Hunt You Back?” The Windigo Myth: A Metaphor For Imperialism And Mental Illness, Christine Carlough

Senior Capstone Theses

The Canadian indigenous myth of the windigo, originating from Algonquian-speaking tribes of the subarctic Northeast like Ojibwe and Cree, is a manifestation for a multitude of fears. This myth originated hundreds of years ago in order to explain the horror and lack of understanding of a mental illness, which would later be known as Windigo Psychosis. Windigo Psychosis is a culture-bound syndrome for an insatiable desire to consume human flesh. A culture-bound syndrome is recognizable and unique only within a specific society or culture, so in other words, Windigo Psychosis is specific to this area in Canada due to a …

Queen Nanny, A Case Study For Cultural Heritage Tourism: The Archaeology Of Memory And Identity, Lacy Risner

Liberal Arts Capstones

This research project is intended to provide a foundation of knowledge of the Maroon culture in Jamaica, through the legends of one of their most prominent founders, Queen Nanny, as an aid for those who want to educate themselves before approaching community leaders about tourism development. Documentation of Queen Nanny’s life is contested and shrouded in mystery. Yet, that is part of what makes her memory so powerful. The various roles that Queen Nanny is associated with feature her adamant pursuit of an independent life for herself and her Maroons. Whether she is catching bullets or teaching the Maroons how …

Changing Gender Representation In Television, Alexandria N. Palmer

Sociology Student Work Collection

Representations on television have lasting effects on those who watch it, especially children. Unfortunately, in such a male-dominated industry, the lack of women creating television content mean men are predominately telling women's stories.

The Black Identity, Hair Product Use, And Breast Cancer Scale, Dede Teteh, Marissa Ericson, Sabine Monice, Lenna Dawkins-Moultin, Nasim Bahadorani, Phyllis Clark, Eudora Mitchell, Lindsey S. Treviño, Adana Llanos, Rick Kittles, Susanne Montgomery

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

Introduction
Across the African Diaspora, hair is synonymous with identity. As such, Black women use a variety of hair products, which often contain more endocrine-disrupting chemicals than products used by women of other races. An emerging body of research is linking chemicals in hair products to breast cancer, but there is no validated instrument that measures constructs related to hair, identity, and breast health. The objective of this study was to develop and validate the Black Identity, Hair Product Use, and Breast Cancer Scale (BHBS) in a diverse sample of Black women to measure the social and cultural constructs associated …

Family Conflict Observations And Outcomes Among Adopted School-Age Children With Lesbian, Gay, And Heterosexual Parents, Rachel H. Farr, Samuel T. Bruun, Kyle A. Simon

Psychology Faculty Publications

Children’s externalizing problems are associated with family conflict among children and their biological parents, yet these linkages have remained unexamined among adoptive or lesbian and gay parent families. Investigating family processes facilitative of adjustment among adoptees, who face unique developmental challenges, is warranted. This multimethod study of 96 (26 lesbian, 29 gay, 41 heterosexual parent) adoptive families examined observations of adoptive family conflict and associations with child adjustment and feelings about adoption (children’s M_age = 8 years). The sample was recruited from 5 private, domestic infant adoption agencies across the United States. Parents and children reported about children’s externalizing …

Affect And Activism: An Interview With Deborah Gould, Deborah Gould, Rory Barron, Brittany Frodge, Robby Hardesty

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

Deborah Gould is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz (and Affiliated Faculty in Feminist Studies, History of Consciousness, and Politics). Her book Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP's Fight Against AIDS (University of Chicago Press, 2009) won the Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association's Political Sociology Section (2010) and the Ruth Benedict Book Prize from the American Anthropological Association (2010). She is currently working on another book about political emotion, Composing Collectivities: Appetite, Encounters, and the Not-Yet of Politics. She was involved in ACT UP /Chicago for …

Defining Worthy Victims: State-Level Legislative Decisions To Prevent The Criminalization Of Commercially Sexually Exploited Children In The United States, Kathleen A. Price

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) includes children (anyone under 18) who are sexually exploited for commercial purposes in its definition of human trafficking victims. However, most states currently arrest and/or prosecute sex trafficked children for prostitution. From 2008 to 2017, six states neither arrested nor prosecuted sexually exploited children for prostitution; eight retained the right to arrest, but not prosecute minors for prostitution; and 36 states both arrested and prosecuted this population for prostitution. All 50 states passed their first human trafficking laws between 2003 and 2013. Washington passed the first in 2003 and Wyoming was …

Recovery After The Rupture: Linking Colonial Histories Of Displacement With Affective Objects And Memories, Aarzoo Singh

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

The notion of home and belonging, specifically in the context of South Asian postcolonial diasporas, is connected to past traumas of colonization and displacement. This paper addresses how trauma, displacement, and colonialism can be understood through and with material culture, and how familial objects and items emit and/ or carry within them, emotional narratives. I turn to the affective currency that emit and are transferred on and down from objects, by diasporic subjects, to access the possible reclamation of otherwise silenced narratives within colonial and postcolonial histories. By following the events of the Partition of India in 1947 as a …

He, She, They, Them, Us: Teaching Gender Studies In A Stem Environment, Erin Micklo, Leah Kind

Faculty Publications & Research

In this session, we will share the importance of teaching Gender Studies as an English elective in a STEM school. We will introduce our curriculum, including biological and socially constructed theories of gender and how these inform gender-related legal and social challenges in our world. Areas of focus include the role of gender in: politics, sports, media, literature, and culture. Our aim is to share our experiences and course materials with other humanities teachers and discuss and strategize ways to eliminate gender bias in our own schools as well as prepare students for the post-secondary world.

Trans Sports Illustrated: Identities And Experiences Of Transgender Athletes Assigned Female At Birth, Sophia Neely

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This empirical study explores how transgender athletic adults assigned female at birth narrate their identities and experiences related to gender and sports participation. Using the methodology of social science portraiture filtered through a lens of queer feminist theory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with two trans men and three nonbinary participants. The participants are diverse in terms of age (21 to 54), race (white, Asian American, and African American), current primary sports interest (squash, CrossFit, powerlifting, baseball, and rock climbing), and pronouns (he/him/his, ze/zir/zirs, and they/them/theirs). Media reports and extant research on transgender athletes tend to recount bleak histories of exclusion, …

Gender-Based Perceptions Of The 2001 Anthrax Attacks: Implications For Outreach And Preparedness, Christopher Salvatore, Brian J. Gorman

Christopher Salvatore

Extensive research dealing with gender-based perceptions of fear of crime has generally found that women express greater levels of fear compared to men. Further, studies have found that women engage in more self-protective behaviors in response to fear of crime, as well as have different levels of confidence in government efficacy relative to men. The majority of these studies have focused on violent and property crime; little research has focused on gender-based perceptions of the threat of bioterrorism. Using data from a national survey conducted by ABC News / Washington Post, this study contrasted perceptions of safety and fear in …

Feminism As An Evolving Culture Of Inclusion And Affirmation: A Review Of Contemporary Feminist Research From Theory To Practice, Alexandra Ch Nowakowski

The Qualitative Report

In Contemporary Feminist Research from Theory to Practice, Dr. Patricia Leavy and Dr. Anne Harris (2019) translate feminist principles into good research practice to offer learners of all career stages a concise and lively blueprint for bringing feminism out of the realm of theory and into that of application. Their constant critical thinking and consistent attention to detail orient readers to feminism as a dynamic, continuously evolving culture of inclusion and affirmation.

The Segregation Of Religion: How Othering Influences Society’S Narrative Understanding About The Symbiotic Relationship Among Racism, Sexism, And The Church, Ajanet Rountree

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The social dependence on the sociology of male spiritual leadership is substantial. This dependence accomplishes two ideas: neutralizes the feminine experience and obviates the anthropological implications of religion in the perpetuation of oppression and subjugation. When considering racism and sexism in religion, specifically as they relate to the Black Christian church, a dismissal of accusations and assertions occurs by yielding to the context of the social era. This paper seeks to further clarify the position of women, who pushed against the grain of the gendered and racialized spaces of their churches and communities, as they sought to establish human rights …

Fgm In Egypt Between Socio-Cultural Barriers And Lack Of Political Will, Yasmin Khodary, Nehal Hamdy

Political Science

Purpose – This study aims to detect the main factors impeding the anti-female genital mutilation (FGM) efforts in Egypt post the January 25 revolution, with a special focus on the era of president El-Sisi. The purpose of this paper is to explain the reasons behind the continuation of violence against women in Egypt, namely, FGM, in light of the patriarchal structures and the state willingness to address that challenge. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilizes a qualitative methodology. The study embarks on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 participants who experienced FGM and nine key informants from medical, religious, political and civil …

The Imposition Of White Beauty Standards On Black Women, Sabrina E. Robinette

Student Publications

This paper explores the impact of racist beauty ideals on black women through a survey of personal testimonies and an examination of media’s role in perpetrating white beauty. Without sufficient black representation in media, Western beauty standards have excluded black women from defining beauty, which inflicts psychological, physical, and even economic harm on women of color. Companies make profits off of black women’s insecurity from products such as skin lightening cream, chemical straighteners, and hair dye, all of which are an economic burden on black women at best and are life-threatening at worst. Often, black women are forced to turn …

Editor’S Introduction To Meridians Vo. 18, No. 2, Ginetta Candelario

Sociology: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Not-So-Decriminalized: Consequences Of Intersectional Identity For Migrant Sex Workers In Switzerland, Teagan Langseth-Depaolis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sex work in Switzerland, which was decriminalized long ago, has been regarded as one of the most liberal systems of sex work in the world. However, this reputation is contested when factoring in the interaction between immigration and sex work policies. Migrant sex workers in Switzerland are put at a precarious intersection of decriminalized sex industry and restrictive migration policy and attitudes, and are not addressed or protected from violations of the law or violations of their human rights. Using databases containing Swiss legislation, I will critically examine the intersectional effects of migration policy and the treatment of migrants on …

The Inclusion Of Displaced Women In The Women, Peace, And Security Agenda, Ava Strasser

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

On October 31, 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325, which stresses the importance of women’s involvement during times of conflict as decision-makers in peace-building processes. While this resolution and the broader Women, Peace, and Security agenda are dedicated to including women in important post-conflict reconstruction processes, the international community; comprised of states, international organizations, and civil society; has been criticized for its failure to implement this agenda. Further, it is evident that displaced women are a large population whose voices are widely left out of the post-conflict reconstruction processes. Within the discourse regarding the experience of displaced …

The Female Worker: An Analysis Of Women Residing Along The Moroccan-European And U.S.- American Borderlands, Marlen G. Renderos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My independent research project is a comparative study focusing on women experiences among the Mexican-U.S. borderlands and Moroccan-European borderlines. For the Mexican-U.S.American context, I will focus on females maquiladora workers and stay-at-home wives. For the Moroccan-European context, I will focus on the mujeres mulas – women mules. My paper will discuss the ways in which society and governments run under a male-dominated lens contributing to the placement of women in vulnerable positions.

Barriers Between Effective Transnational Changemaking: Relationships Between Ingos And Moroccan Ngos, Julia Walters

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper seeks to explore the relationships held between international non-governmental organizations, primarily based in the West, and Moroccan NGOs. The existing literature on the topic explores the ways in which international NGOs can both benefit and harm domestic NGOs, which seek to fix issues not thoroughly addressed and solved by the state or by the market, such as issues of gender-based violence, female education, and lack of rural healthcare. The data gathered was organized into two types of relationships; financial and non-financial. Financial relationships between INGOs and NGOs were often depicted as crucial in enabling critical projects, such as …

La Participación Y Representación De Las Mujeres Afrodescendientes En Los Movimientos De Ni Una Menos Y La Marea Verde En El Buenos Aires Actual, Olivia S. Sabini-Leite

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The myth that "there are no blacks in Argentina" or that "we do not have an afrodescendant population" remains prevalent in present-day Argentina since the beginning of state nationalization. However, immigrants and youth have sparked a movement geared at the recuperation of afrodescendancy among afroargentines. From this influence and the 31st National Women's Encounter, a strong wave of Afro-descendant women has grown, promoting the visibility, recognition and constant presence of the afrodescendant population.

During the same years, Ni Una Menos (Not One Less Girl) that responds to gender violence and Marea Verde (Green Tide) that responds to the struggle for …

Finding A Common Ground Between Theology And Women’S Reproductive Rights: Assessing The Societal Levels Of Influence Of Religion On The Sexual And Reproductive Health Of Women, Natalie Montufar

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The principle aim of this study is to explicate and elucidate the intersection between religious beliefs and practices and Sexual and Reproductive Health throughout distinct levels of society in the developing world. A literature review identified relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature on religious beliefs held on sexuality and procreation, the landscape of influence of religion on laws and policies at a national and international level, the effects of religion on individual sexual behavior, and modern interventions aiming to be culturally and religiously sensitive. The intricacies and nuances of three Abrahamic faiths were assessed to highlight the dogma of sacred texts …

Ua19/16/2 Womens' Basketball Press Releases, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Archives Records

Press releases, photos and game statistics related to WKU womens' basketball team from July to December 2019.

Socio-Cultural Norms And Perceptions Of Menstruation: An Intergenerational Analysis Of Rural Jamkhed, Maharashtra, Addison Scales

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study analyzes the socio-cultural norms and perceptions of menstruation between two generations of women in rural Jamkhed, Maharashtra. Interview questions were prepared for women between the ages of 18-26 and 35 or older to determine the level of dilution of the menstrual taboo and stigmas between age groups. All women resided in two villages in the rural area surrounding Jamkhed, Maharashtra. A variety of socio-cultural perceptions and practices were explored to determine their correlation with external influences on the shifting menstruation narrative. The socio-cultural factors of focus are family structure, media exposure, choice of material use, disposal and sustainability, …

Climate-Smart Agriculture: Building Resilience For Women Farmers In Kalchebeshi, Nepal, Annika Ruben

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This case study outlines women’s involvement in climate-smart agriculture and key climate adaptation strategies which are being implemented in the town of Kalchebeshi, Nepal. Kalchebeshi is considered a Resilient Mountain Village because of the town’s integrated approach to addressing climate change and building resilience for farmers. Key findings examined gender differences in farming responsibilities and the significance of farmers’ groups in women’s overall decision making and community involvement. Additionally, changes in water management and pesticide use have been shown to have a positive impact on the lives of women farmers in Kalchebeshi. This paper reinforces the importance of involving vulnerable …

The Future Is Non-Binary: Investigating The Genesis Of The Non-Binary Movement In Amsterdam And Beyond, Sky Karp

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project examines butch and crossdresser communities in Northern Europe in the late 20th century, and their transformation into the non-binary movement of the last ten years. This research investigates the recent trajectory of gender-diverse communities and evaluates the role of the non-binary moment in the history of gender-diverse people in the Western world. Findings come from interviews with Dutch individuals who identify as non-binary, genderqueer, or otherwise outside of the gender binary, as well as periodicals and other materials related to crossdresser and butch identities from the IHLIA LGBT Heritage Archives and the Atria Institute. This study demonstrates that …

Sex And Senesce: A Exploration Of Aging Women’S Sexual Selves, Cordray Mccann

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The sexual lives of women over the age of 50 are often forgotten from just about every medium. This research hopes to uncover how aging women interpret their current sexual selves, sexual histories, and changing bodies. In thinking about this, four women were interviewed about their life stories surrounded love, passion, and sex. Each of these women told brave accounts of their lives and through their narratives, we were able to draw theoretical conclusions about bodily shame, age performativity, and prescribed stereotypical roles. These four stories, told individually as to support each woman's personal narrative are vastly different yet intersect …

Fictions Of Sexuality, Emelyn Schaeffer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I conducted a Creative Independent Study Project and wrote two short stories that include themes of women’s sexual desire/pleasure, sexual debuts, masturbation, discoveries, and understandings of one’s sexuality. Because women receive so many messages about keeping their chastity and so few about pursuing the pleasures sex can provide, the opportunities to promote the exploration of women’s sexual desire cannot be missed. To write my stories and answer my research question, I read and watched a variety of both academic and creative materials. I wanted to do this work because these are the stories I needed in high school when I …