Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Priestesshoods As Expressions Of Civic Identity, Isabella Kershner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis offers a comprehensive examination of the role of priestesshoods in shaping the civic identity of women in Classical Athens. It challenges the traditional narrative that confines Athenian women to the domestic sphere by highlighting their public and influential roles in religious practices. Through a meticulous analysis of archaeological, literary, and epigraphic evidence, the study traces the journey of Athenian females from childhood rituals to the esteemed positions of the High Priestess of Athena Nike and Athena Polias, revealing how these religious roles served as both a spiritual passage and a civic curriculum.

The thesis argues that these priestesshoods …

Shaping Western Views Of Homosexuality In 20th Century Europe Through Community, Sarah Palluconi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis will discuss a community of transnational sexual reformers and their influence on public and private views of homosexuality between the 1890s to the 1930s. This community of sexual reformers had ties to the World League for Sexual Reform (WLSR), an international organization that operated from 1928 to 1935. The WLSR discussed birth control, sexual education, prostitution, venereal disease, and, of course, homosexuality in terms of the law and society. By analyzing the few leading figures who studied homosexuality and sexology at the beginning of the 20^th century, I have found that the correspondence and discussion of homosexuality …

Feminist Realizations Of Assisted Reproductive Technology In Contemporary Science Fiction, Amanda Mullet

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Modern science fiction has seen an increase in reproductive fiction, particularly feminist reproductive fiction, but this has not always been the case. Science fiction has been called “a traditionally masculine territory” (Booker 337), which its social and academic history can attest to. Previous scholarship on science fiction has centered the work of a few key male authors, and ignored, with the exception of figures like Atwood, Le Guin, and Butler, large swaths of science fiction by feminist authors like Judith Merril. Within the source material itself, most previous explorations of reproduction have centered male perspectives, highlighting reproduction as a broad …

To Have Sex Or Not To Have Sex: An Exploration Of Medieval Christian And Jewish Sexual Values, Rachel Zaslavsky

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis is an exploration of Medieval Jewish and Christian conceptions of sex and aims to challenge the notion of Judeo-Christian values. Medieval Judaism and Christianity are at odds with each other in their understandings of sexuality. By considering Judaism, the belief that medieval religion was averse to sexuality and sexual pleasure is disproven. An analysis of religious works, such as those produced by Christian theologians and Jewish rabbis, yields the following conclusion: medieval Christianity restricted sex on the basis of abstinence, while medieval Judaism restricted sex on the basis of ritual impurity but mandated sex for procreation and female …

The Cult Of The Nymphs: Identity, Ritual, And Womanhood In Ancient Greece, Ivana Genov

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Examining archeological and epigraphic evidence in its historical context, in this thesis I explore the Cult of the Nymphs venerated across ancient Greek poleis. I analyze the nymph’s profound cultural and historical impact that is often overlooked in the study of ancient Greece. Nymphs were female deities thought to embody ecological sites, such as fountains and springs, and became fundamental to polis identity. Their locations were often central to city plans, and their faces, depicted on coinage, became representative of the city itself. In the community, nymphs were integral to rituals for major life events, most often in the lives …

Rethinking ‘Feminicide’: The Role Of Organized Crime Groups In Increased Rates Of Feminicide In Mexico, Giselle Figueroa

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Why has feminicide significantly increased in Mexico over the past two decades? Previous feminicide research in Mexico has centered around the idea that the introduction of neoliberal politics changed family structures and increased the vulnerability of women as they entered the workforce. However, this explanation does not fully explain patterns of political violence against women in Mexico. I argue that Mexico’s War on Drugs and the intrinsic patriarchal ideologies and structures of organized crime groups (OCGs) reinforce gender hierarchies and increase the vulnerability of women. To evaluate my argument, I analyze state-level public government data on organized crime and feminicide …

Celebrating And Destigmatizing The Sexuality Of Black Women, Bianca Augustine, Amber Pope, Juliana J. Lytle

School of Education Articles

No abstract provided.

Rainbow Connections: Clinical Practice Adaptations For Saige-Affirming Counseling, Amber Pope, Clark D. Ausloos, Bianca Augustine

School of Education Articles

Excerpt from publication: "Sexual, affectional, intersex, and gender expansive (SAIGE) communities are inclusive of LGBTQ persons, and all other individuals with identities that are not heterosexual and/or cisgender. SAIGE persons are more likely to seek counseling at some point in their lives, largely due to marginalization stress, stigma-related experiences that contribute to increased stress reactions, including mental health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, suicidality, and substance abuse (Hope et al., 2022; Pachankis et al., 2022)..."

Framing The Female Narrative: Male Audiences And Women's Storytelling Within Two Brontë Novels, Sammy Murphy

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since being published, both Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights have attracted scholarly and critical attention on account of their framed narratives. At the time of publication, some portion of this attention was negative; however, since the early 20th century, scholars have moved towards recognizing and analyzing potential purposes for the narrative structures of both texts. Within my thesis, I enter into this field of scholarship so as to analyze how the frame narrative functions as a tool for both simulation and subversion within the two texts. More specifically, I argue that Emily and …

Asking For Forgiveness: Negotiating The Creation Of Memory Through Public Memorialization, Alyssa Castronuovo

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The practice of spatializing culture, or “examining space through theories of embodiment, discourse translocality, and effect,” localizes the global and separates hegemonic narratives of space from how it is actually utilized by the people who interact with it. Setha Low argues that this perspective is especially useful to the anthropologist committed to challenging the discipline’s historically eurocentric approach to studying culture. She writes that a spatial focus “[draws] on the strengths of studying people in situ, producing rich and nuanced sociospatial understandings.” This project began with an interest in theorists such as Edward Soja, Michel de Certeau, and Henri Lefebvre, …

The Bodies Politic: Sex, History, And The Promise Of A Black Queer America, Jonathan Newby

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This essay examines and critiques the ways in which Black, Queer, and Black Queer people's culture, politics, and lived experiences are experienced in the United States, historically and in the present day. The Bodies Politics calls for American history and culture to be reoriented to acknowledge and center the contributions of Black Queer people to the nation.

'Carcern' And 'Wordcræft': Enclosure, Connection And Gender In Cynewulf's "Juliana" And "Elene", Katherine Grotewiel

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The scholarly narrative around monastic enclosure has centered on rigid gender divisions. But Cynewulf's Juliana and Elene reveal a more complex picture. Through images of enclosure, binding and the creation of words, Cynewulf unwinds these restrictive ties of gender in the epilogues of his poems and instead identifies with the figures in these poems not along lines of gender, but in their experiences of enclosure.

Feelings Of Fallenness: Affect And Gender In Victorian Fallen Woman Novels, Kate Kowalski

Undergraduate Honors Theses

A famous poem by Coventry Patmore articulated Victorian expectations for women: to be “the angel in the house.” The woman was the arbiter of morality, spiritual guide and helpmeet, and was worshiped almost as a goddess of purity— and goddesses need no legal protections. Chastity and submission were not only expected, but demanded of Victorian women. After all, these qualities were scientifically inherent in women (to the Victorian mind); the biological imperative of reproduction and maternity rendered women’s bodies a sacred space and prevented their minds from developing as a man’s could.The twin forces of Victorian patriarchal science and religion …

The Influence Of Internalized Heterosexism On Life Satisfaction: Comparing Sexual Minority Women In Belgium And Turkey, Esra Ummak, Ezgi Toplu-Demirtaş, Amber Pope, Jeffry Moe

School of Education Articles

To date, the majority of research studying lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) health has been conducted in Westernized, predominantly individualistic countries. Building on minority stress theory and models of LGBTQ health, we explored how sexual orientation and nationality moderated the association between internalized heterosexism and life satisfaction for lesbian and bisexual (LB) women living in two countries (Turkey and Belgium) with contrasting social contexts. The results of two-way MANOVA, in a sample of 339 Turkish and 220 Belgian LB women, revealed main effects but no interaction effects. LB women in Belgium reported less internalized heterosexism and more life …

Women In The Wilderness: An Exploration Of How Women Interacted, Adapted, And Thrived In The American Environment, Elizabeth Rall

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Women of all backgrounds have contributed to the environmental history of the United States, but most of the environmental historical scholarship places such women alongside men and by doing so clouds their involvement as well as their achievements. This discussion introduces readers to pieces of environmental history that engage gender as a framework, while also acknowledging that there is not an individual women’s environmental experience by covering specific yet contrasting geographical spaces. The American West and the New York Adirondacks offer diverse perspectives and experiences of pioneering women who interacted with the environment, including Diné women, park rangers, Adirondack guides …

Engendering Trans Inclusion In Interscholastic And Intercollegiate Athletics: A Critical Analysis Of Sex And Gender In Sports, Title Ix Protections Post-Bostock, And Intersectional Methods Of Antidiscrimination Law, Jack Mackey

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Following the legalization of gay marriage by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges and the failure of so-called “bathroom bills” to gain widespread traction across the country, conservative advocacy groups have turned to the arena of locker rooms and school-sponsored sports to pursue legislative and legal action against the inclusion of transgender people in spaces according to their gender identities. This thesis takes up legal challenges presented in Hecox v. Little and Soule v. Connecticut in order to (re)articulate the means by which we understand the language of sex and gender in sports, the protections afforded to trans …

Flipping The Castle: Evolution Of Gothic Spaces In The Domestic Sphere, Kate Lucas

Undergraduate Honors Theses

"Flipping the Castle" explores topics of domesticity in Gothic literature over the course of three centuries. The Gothic is a genre with roots in 18th century British literature, but more broadly, it can be described as horror that has a social function, and it is the birthplace of some of the most successful narratives in horror fiction. The aspects of the Gothic this research is concerned with is its themes of unchecked masculine aggression versus repressed femininity, its ability to adapt over time, and its preoccupation with setting, specifically the home, whether that be a medieval castle, a haunted house, …

“Garden-Magic”: Conceptions Of Nature In Edith Wharton’S Fiction, Jonathan Malks

Undergraduate Honors Theses

I situate Edith Wharton’s guiding idea of “garden-magic” at the center of my thesis because Wharton’s fiction shows how a garden space could naturalize otherwise inadmissible behaviors within upper-class society while helping a character tie such behavior to a greater possibility for escape. To this end, Wharton situates gardens as idealized touchstones within the built environment of New York City, spaces where characters believe they can reach self-actualization within a version of nature that is man-made. Actualization, in this sense, stems from a character’s imaginative escape that is enabled by a perception of the garden as a kind of natural …

Dame Ethel Smyth And The Prison: Gender, Sexuality, And The "Bonds Of Self", Mary Shannon

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research investigates the use of personal gender and sexuality references in Ethel Smyth’s composition The Prison. Smyth’s last major work, The Prison (1929-1930), is a choral symphony that follows a dialogue between a Prisoner and his Soul as the Prisoner works to understand his own mortality and accept death. This study explores the question: How does Ethel Smyth use intertextuality, the subversion of expectations, and the idea of the “bonds of self” in The Prison to position the work within her gender and sexuality experiences? A focus is placed on the sociolinguistic notions of identity and desire, seeking to …

Interrogating Injustice: Carceral Feminism, Brock Turner, And The Dilemmas Of Seeking Accountability For Sexual Violence In Our Prison Nation, Willa Quinn Moffatt

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis uses the 2016 sexual assault case The People vs. Brock Turner to argue that there is no clear path for justice for sexual violence in the current criminal justice system while incarceration remains the primary form of punishment. I draw on court documents and the victim Chanel Miller's 2019 memoir Know My Name to inform my analysis.

I briefly review, as a necessary backdrop, how rape has historically been ignored in the criminal legal system as a serious crime and large-scale social problem and how this history is tied to anti-Black racism in the United States. I am …

Roman Bacchae: Dionysiac Mysteries, Masculinity, And The State In Livy’S Bacchanalian Narrative, Vassiliki Panoussi

Arts & Sciences Book Chapters

How does the treatment of women's rituals in Latin poetry and prose reveal Roman ideas of female agency?Powerful female characters pervade both Greek and Latin literature, even if their presence is largely dictated by the narratives of men. Feminist approaches to the study of women in Greek literature have helped illustrate the importance of their religious and ritual roles in public life—Latin literature, however, has not been subject to similar scrutiny. In Brides, Mourners, Bacchae, Vassiliki Panoussi takes up the challenge, exploring women's place in weddings, funerals, Bacchic rites, and women-only rituals. Panoussi probes the multifaceted ways women were able …

From Adultery To Incest: Messalina And Agrippina As Sexual Aggressors In Tacitus’ Annals, Vassiliki Panoussi

Arts & Sciences Book Chapters

This chapter continues the investigation of rhetorical maneuvers clustering around social and amorous hierarchies in the fraught sphere of sexual agency by studying the trope of the sexually aggressive older female preying on a younger man in Tacitus’ Annals. On the basis of a detailed examination of the portrayal of Messalina and Agrippina, it argues that it is precisely the recognizable rhetoricity and artificiality in the deployment of this trope, here dramatized through rich intertextual echoes and connections (notably Vergil’s Aeneid and Euripides’ Bacchae), which narratively undercuts any unambiguous condemnation of female superiority over male inferiority, disrupts any …

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, …

Manipulating Entitativity Affects Implicit Behavioral And Neural Attentional Biases Toward Gay Couples, Cheryl L. Dickter, Catherine A. Forestell, Nicholas Gupta, Joellen J. Blass

Arts & Sciences Articles

This study investigated whether attentional bias toward homosexual couples differs as a function of the manipulation of perceived entitativity, the degree to which group members are perceived to share common values and pursue common goals. Across two experiments, heterosexual college students were randomly assigned to read statements that suggested that homosexual and heterosexual couples were either high or low in entitativity. Following this task, 199 participants completed a dot probe task in Experiment 1 and electroencephalogram (EEG) activity was recorded for 74 participants in Experiment 2 to measure the implicit attentional processing that resulted from viewing pictures of gay, lesbian, …

"'Dying To Live': Remembering And Forgetting May Sinclair”, Suzanne Raitt

Arts & Sciences Book Chapters

For Sinclair, the past was a wound. She feared being unable to escape it, and she feared in turn her own persistence in a form that she could not control. Mystic ecstasy – what she called the “new mysticism” – was a way of entering a timeless realm in which there was no longer any past to damage her. But she was also fascinated by what could never be left behind – hence her interest in heredity, the unconscious, and the supernatural. However, the immanence of the future can also emancipate us from the past, in Sinclair’s view, and this …

Photographic Automatism: Surrealism And Feminist (Post?) Modernism In Susan Hiller's Sisters Of Menon, Katharine Conley

Arts & Sciences Book Chapters

Excerpt from book chapter: "Susan Hiller stated in a 2005 interview that what drew her ‘to look again at surrealism’ and ‘the repressed history of automatism within modernism’ was the experience she had drawing Sisters of Menon (1972) as part of a group project she initiated involving automatic practice. One reason for this reconsideration must surely have been the surrealists’ engagement in the countercultural ideals of her own generation as evidenced by their commitment to the May 1968 student protests in Paris..."

Uniting Interests: The Economic Functions Of Marriage In America, 1750-1860, Lindsay Mitchell Keiter

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This dissertation, "Uniting Interests: Money, Property, and Marriage in America, 1750-1860," examines how marriage was an essential economic transaction that responded to the development of capitalism in early America. Drawing on scholarship on the history of economic development, household organization, law, and gender, I argue that families actively distributed resources at marriage as part of larger wealth management strategies that were sensitive to regional and national economic growth. I focus particularly on women's property holding and how families deployed the legal protection of women's property as bulwarks against financial disaster. This project restores the family and women to the narrative …

Stressed, Pregnant, And Behind Bars, Caroline Malory Kelsey

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

What Can The Digital Humanities Learn From Feminist Game Studies?, Elizabeth M. Losh

Arts & Sciences Articles

When game studies became an area for scholarly inquiry in the academy, feminist game studies soon followed. The first generation of feminist theory in game studies built on the work of Sherry Turkle, Brenda Laurel, and Janet Murray, although some might argue that the legacy of challenging gender norms in game studies goes back even earlier. Now feminist game scholars organize international conferences, edit journals and scholarly collections, and shape trends in the profession, much as their counterparts in the digital humanities attempt to do, but critics in feminist game studies have been able to take advantage of what is …

Women In The Trenches: Barriers To Female Staff's Advancement In Higher Education, Carla A. Costello

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This qualitative phenomenological case study examined the intersection of organizational structures and gender, as well as perceptions of climate, and their collective impact on professional advancement opportunities of women working in lower-level positions in higher education, namely classified and professional staff (Acker, 1990; Allan, 2011; Kanter, 1977). Kanter's (1977) theory of the role of structure in organizations posits that position in the organizational hierarchy and work role influence the amount of access an employee has to information, resources, promotional opportunities, and support. In gendered organizations (Acker, 1990, 2006), women face barriers in advancement. While Kanter (1977) argued that structure not …