Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Monstrous Maternity: Folkloric Expressions Of The Feminine In Images Of The Ubume, Michaela Leah Prostak

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ubume is a ghost of Japanese folklore, once a living woman, who died during either pregnancy or childbirth. This thesis explores how the religious and secular developments of the ubume and related figures create a dichotomy of ideologies that both condemn and liberate women in their roles as mothers. Examples of literary and visual narratives of the ubume as well as the religious practices that were employed for maternity-related concerns are explored within their historical contexts in order to best understand what meaning they held for people at a given time and if that meaning has changed. These meanings …

Representations Of Feminist Theory And Gender Issues In Introductory-Level Sociology Textbooks, Jena Amber Zarza

Dissertations and Theses

A review of sociological literature reveals a long history of the study of gender, and an increased popularity in the application of feminist theories and ideas to sociological research. As transmitters of the discipline, introductory-level textbooks have been heavily studied over the past quarter-century to assess the accuracy with which they portray the field of sociology. In order to update the literature available on the topic, this study analyzed the current cohort of top-selling, introductory-level sociology textbooks for coverage of feminist theory and gender issues. Each of the ten textbooks was read cover-to-cover and coded for both latent and manifest …

Jewish Women’S Transracial Epistemological Networks: Representations Of Black Women In The African Diaspora, 1930-1980, Abby S. Gondek

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how Jewish women social scientists relationally established their gendered-racialized subjectivities and theories about race-gender-sexuality-class through their portrayals of black women’s sexuality and family structures in the African Diaspora: the U.S., Brazil, South Africa, Swaziland, and the U.K. The central women in this study: Ellen Hellmann, Ruth Landes, Hilda Kuper, and Ruth Glass, were part of the same “political generation,” born in 1908-1912, coming of age when Jews of European descent experienced an ambivalent and conditional assimilation into whiteness, a form of internal colonization. I demonstrate how each woman’s familial origin point in Europe, parental class and political …

Recollections, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Edna Saffy recollects her time campaigning for women's rights with the National Organization of Women and other civil rights ventures in the 1970's.

Pope Francis Won't Support Women In The Priesthood, But Here's What He Could Do, Lisa Mcclain

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

On March 13, Pope Francis will complete his first five years as head of the Roman Catholic Church. Since his election, Pope Francis has engaged the estimated 1.2 billion Catholics and innumerable non-Catholics worldwide with his frank, inclusive talk on issues as diverse as poverty and homosexuality. In fact, many observers seem confused by the church’s apparent willingness to reconsider traditions regarding some contentious issues, such as divorce.

For Those About To Rock: Gender Codes In The Rock Music Video Games Rock Band And Rocksmith, Elisa M. Melendez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores gender codes within the intersection of two American pop culture staples, video games and rock music, by conducting a feminist analysis of two video games (Rock Band and Rocksmith). Both video games and rock music have had their share of feminist academic critique: Musicologists point out how lack of canonical inclusion, gendered attitudes towards instruments, and messages from supporting media create an unwelcome environment for women to pursue a rock music career. Game studies scholars have examined similar attitudes, including a lack of women represented in both the video games and the studios that create them.

Through …

Lavish Weddings, Ambiguous Anniversaries: How Relationship Histories Shape The Experience Of Getting Married For Gays And Lesbians, Aaron Hoy

Sociology Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Exposed: Environmental Politics & Pleasures In Posthuman Times By Stacy Alaimo, Nathan Tebokkel

The Goose

Review of Stacy Alaimo's Exposed: Environmental Politics & Pleasures in Posthuman Times.

Rethinking Patriarchy Through Unpatriarchal Male Desires, Gul Ozyegin

Arts & Sciences Book Chapters

Since scholars began interrogating the meaning of gender and sexuality in society, this field has become essential to the study of sociology. Gender Reckonings aims to map new directions for understanding gender and sexuality within a more pragmatic, dynamic, and socially relevant framework. It shows how gender relations must be understood on a large scale as well as in intimate detail. The contributors return to the basics, questioning how gender patterns change, how we can realize gender equality, and how the structures of gender impact daily life. Gender Reckoningscovers not only foundational concepts of gender relations and gender justice, …

Female Autistic Perspectives: Limits In Diagnosis And Understanding, Alexandra Helmers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder has increased dramatically within the last two decades, with males being diagnosed, on average, four to five times more than females. Although researchers in the medical community have searched for a biological explanation for this discrepancy, no definitive cause has been found. I argue that our understanding of autism is primarily a social and cultural construction, in addition to a diagnosable medical disorder. The gender disparity in diagnosis reflects cultural narratives surrounding social interaction and the widespread belief in two distinct gender roles. Furthermore, narratives surrounding the topic of autism tend to unintentionally highlight …

What Does It Mean For The Husband When His Wife Keeps Her Own Surname?, Rachael D. Robnett, Marielle Wertheimer, Harriet R. Tenebaum

Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Race, Sexuality, And Masculinity On The Down Low, Stephen Kochenash

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In a so-called post-racial America, a new gay identity has flourished and come into the limelight. However, in recent years, researchers have concluded that not all men who have sex with other men (MSM) self-identify as gay, most noticeably a large population of Black men. It is possible that a tainted history of Black enslavement in this country that is inextricably linked with ideas of space, surveillance, subversion, and survival inform a Black male’s self-identification as being “on the down low” (DL). This begs the question: What does mainstream society view as gay-ness and how is the DL constructed …

Modifying The Qualitative Delphi Technique To Develop The Female Soldier Support Model, Daniel L. Roberts, Joann Kovacich

The Qualitative Report

The U.S. Army chaplaincy did not have a gender specific model for providing emotional and spiritual support to women soldiers. Such a model was needed because women often experience the military differently than men. The Comprehensive Female Soldier Support (CFS²) model was developed using a modified Delphi technique and a feminist theoretical framework. This study altered the Delphi design by using two successive panels of experts. The first panel, consisting of 10 wounded female soldiers, developed a list of pastoral needs experienced by the women. The second panel, composed of 11 female chaplains, provided solutions for those needs. …

Research Before Teaching And Service? Performances, Perceptions, And Experiences Of Faculty At Teaching-Intensive Institutions, Megan Elizabeth Throm

Wayne State University Dissertations

The privileging of research over teaching is well documented in scholarship regarding the teaching-research nexus. In this dissertation I analyze the experiences and identities related to research, teaching, and service of sixteen faculty members at teaching-intensive institutions through intensive interviews. The focus on teaching-intensive institutions is driven by two goals. The first goal was to gain a better understanding of how the privileging of research over teaching and service is experienced, understood, and reified by faculty members at teaching-intensive institutions. Second, by giving voice to the experiences of those at teaching-intensive institutions I hope to increase the value placed on …

Editorial: Sprinkle Throughout The Years, Emma Sturm

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Editorial: Continuing Our Work, Elizabeth Adan

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Does Racial Triangulation Unravel Intersectionality?, Samantha Keng

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This essay explores how Claire Kim’s idea of racial triangulation complicates intersectionality in its classic sense. Specifically, I argue that the racial triangulation of Asian Americans introduces new dilemmas for intersectional frameworks by destabilizing analyses of subject formation and understandings of privilege and oppression. How, for example, can Asian American complicity in anti Blackness be incorporated into understandings of identity and its mobilization? By expanding discussions of race beyond binary thinking, racial triangulation both poses new questions and creates new possibilities in the realm of intersectional theory. Especially given today’s racial landscape, this paper attempts to engage in the critical …

A Forbidden Act: Illicit Sex And The Colonial Heterosexual Matrix, Rain Tiller

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper will discuss the cases in which illicit sex becomes mechanisms of disruption. The first section will explore the theoretical underpinnings of sex and the body as an access point to politics and normative critique. Then, I will discuss the examples of illicit sex in the novels Women of Sand and Myrrh and Woman at Point Zero. It is important to study the role of sex in literature to expand the symbolic understanding of sex and sexuality. It is also necessary to bring an analysis of colonial dynamics to sexuality studies in order to fully critique the racial and …

Banning Blackness: Race, Gender-Based Violence, And Classroom Censorship, Amelia Roskin-Frazee

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper examines how the relationship between race and gender-based violence impacts how schools choose which books to ban. In particular, this paper focuses on Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) and the novel’s place on the American Library Association’s compiled lists of the most frequency banned books in the United States. Using an analysis of The Bluest Eye in conversation with the work of academics such as Spillers (1987) and Crenshaw (1991), this paper posits the intersection between race and rape in The Bluest Eye — and how that intersection implicates white supremacy in gendered violence —which leads to …

The Legacy Of The Feminist Bookstore Network: Lesbianism’S Indelible Bookstore Beginnings, Hannah Quire

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

In the mid-to-late twentieth century, lesbian feminist bookstores exploded across the United States, facilitating the creation and spread of a network that would be fleeting but impactful for those involved. Through its brief vibrancy, the lesbian feminist bookstore network not only provided an outlet through which women could discover their own local communities, but also served as a catalyst through which lesbian feminist politics was expanded, enforced, and encouraged. The positivity of the movement, however, was branded with a distinct lack of intersectional politics, a move that would ultimately see the movement to its demise.

(C)Locked Up: Transgender Women In The American Prison System, Krystina Millar

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

The most recent statistics indicate there are an estimated 3,200 transgender inmates in the United States correctional system. The majority of trans inmates in prison are trans women. Regardless of criminal status, transgender individuals face social isolation, violence, and both explicit and implicit discrimination. These hardships are often magnified inside the walls of a correctional facility. In addition to facing institutional challenges, transgender women must navigate the culture of prison as someone who falls outside of normative conceptions of gender in a sex-segregated environment, often characterized by androcentrism, hypermasculinity and violence. This article aims to review the literature on the …

The Challenges Lgbt+ Asylum-Seekers And Refugees Face In The United States, Yordanos Molla

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

The discussion surrounding LGBT+ asylum-seekers and refugees is becoming more prominent as advocacy for LGBT+ rights increases around the world. LGBT+ asylum-seekers and refugees encounter unique challenges due to their identities that shape their journey to find sanctuary, such as history of discrimination, requirement to validate one’s LGBT+ identity, and detrimental issues of mental health. Other problems regarding LGBT+ asylum-seekers and refugees involve mental health and active global legislation prohibiting homosexuality. These problems are analyzed throughout this research paper in order to provide solutions to improve the current resettlement process for LGBT+ refugees. Resolutions that assist LGBT+ asylum-seekers and refugees …

A Gender-Non-Conforming Method: Trans* Methodologies For Trans* Subjects, Ilia Forkin

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper analyses the methodology of sociological studies on gender-non-conforming (GNC) subjects in the context of prominent critiques by GNC theorists who have asserted the necessity of centering the needs, perspectives, and cultural work of transgender (trans*) and GNC academics and subjects. The paper explains how studies which favor an interactionist model of sociology prioritize notions of gender which uphold heteronormativity and erase the lived-experiences of the subjects they concern. As a solution to this obstacle, this paper proposes strategies to assist in the creation of participatory models of sociology which engage with gender in a way which reflects the …

Necrocapitalism And U.S. Imperialism: The Gulf War, Hurricane Katrina, Palestine, Gentrification, And Police, Gianna Bissa

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

U.S. American law has been responsible for slavery and genocide through the use of imperial forces such as the military and policing since the beginning of the formation of this nation. In this essay, I present contemporary forms of State sanctioned violence that have ultimately increased the United States’ economy through rendering particular communities as disposable. I use examples of war, removal, occupation, and murder perpetrated by American law in order to disrupt the notion that law guarantees security. Furthermore; I build from Foucault’s theories of biopolitics and apply a more modern framework of necrocapitalism to further contextualize and problematize …

Decolonizing Gender-Based Violence Advocacy: The Development Of An Undocumented Survivor Resource Training, Zulema Aleman

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

The field of advocacy for the end of gender-based violence has constantly grown. Some could say that there is continual action taking place at multiple levels to ensure the protection of survivors, but the direction is often influenced by the perspective of those in positions of power. Regardless, both the social and legal movements have focused primarily on gender and often disregarded how other social identities, such as immigration status and race, intersect with sexual violence and thus create a range of experiences. The undocumented community is one of these groups who face higher rates of gender-based violence due to …

The Only Thing We Have To Queer Is Queer Itself: Naming The Cultural Machine Of Radical Sexual Politics, Cassiopeia Mulholland-London

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Language is a machine, and words are individual technologies within that machine. Sociocultural theory applied as activism is also a machine. Over the course of the past thirty years, the linguistic technology of “queer” has been recalibrated, moving from naming a cultural machine of radical, anti-capitalist sexual politics to naming a cultural machine of assimilationist, identity-based sexual politics. This has left the machine of radical sexual politics without a name, making it more difficult for people to find it and integrateitinto their technological existences. The machine of radical sexual politics is essential because it focuses on dismantling the societal systems …

Cyber Fantasies: Rina Sawayama, Asian Feminism, And Techno-Orientalism In The Age Of Neoliberalism, June Kuoch, Allegro Wang

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

In the 21st century, neoliberalism and technological innovations in Asia produce techno-Orientalism, a "new" framework by which the West dominates Asia. In this process, Asian bodies are configured as inherently technological beings who exist solely for the production of information and neoliberal goods. Techno-Orientalism is a byproduct of the violence wrought by modernity. Yet, Rina Sawayama, a British-Japanese music artist, produces a new form of resistance that can be characterized as diasporic Asian cultural production. Her work challenges the white hegemonic masculine gaze by interrogating modernity in her lyrics, aesthetic, and performance. Sawayama's aesthetic and music videos produce a new …

Growing Economic Possibility In Appalachia: Stories Of Relocalization And Representation On Stinking Creek, Kathryn Engle

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

This project explores the agricultural heritage and current social landscape of the Stinking Creek community of Knox County, Kentucky, and the legacy of the local nonprofit organization the Lend-A-Hand Center. Through participatory research, this project presents a reflexive account of the Lend-A-Hand Center Grow Appalachia Gardening Program examining the diverse economy of the Stinking Creek watershed and possibilities for new economic imaginings and post-coal futures for central Appalachia. This dissertation includes an oral history project, a theoretical examination, and an ethnographic reflection, bridging several literatures in the fields of agricultural history, Appalachian Studies, Participatory Action Research, research within the diverse …

Asexuality: To Include Or Not To Include A Slice Of Cake In The Lgbtq+ Community, Devin Oliva-Farrell

Tredway Library Prize for First-Year Research

Due to the growing number of sexual orientations and genders that have joined the LGBTQ+ community, a debate has sparked on whether all of these should be included. Specifically, this paper analyzes the debate on whether asexuality should be included or excluded from the group. The results from including or excluding asexuality will have drastic effects on the LGBTQ+ community, self-identified asexuals, and society as a whole when it comes to examining sexualities and genders.

This is illustrated in the following ways: 1) examining the definition of asexuality; 2) exploring the debates surrounding its inclusion or exclusion; 3) highlighting the …

Let’S Escape Into The Music: A Cross-Generational Oral History Of Orlando Lgbtq+ Spaces, Hannah Powell

Honors Program Theses

Since Orlando’s first gay bar, The Palace Club, opened in 1969, LGBTQ+ spaces have played an essential role in the Orlando queer community. They have acted as loci of gathering, solidarity, identity-formation, recreation, and even healing. There is an absence of literature on the LGBTQ+ community in Orlando and, more generally, in Central Florida as a whole. The legacy of LGBTQ+ spaces in Orlando is worthy of study due both to the city’s rich queer history and Orlando’s singular experience of the deadliest act of hate-motivated violence against the LGBTQ+ community in the history of the United States. Through documenting …