Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Addressing Disparities: A Study Of Service And Resource Gaps For Bipoc Community Members In Hamilton And The Surrounding Area, Michelle Scott

Capstone Research Posters

This research investigates the challenges faced by the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community in Hamilton, Ontario, with a focus on hate crimes, social support, and access to community resources. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, data was collected through surveys administered to twenty-five BIPOC individuals, parents/guardians of BIPOC children, and social service providers. Findings reveal a significant surge in reported hate crimes targeting specific communities, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive action to address discrimination and promote inclusivity. Moreover, the study identifies gaps in awareness and utilization of community resources among BIPOC individuals, underscoring the importance of culturally sensitive …

Social Media “Ghosts”: How Facebook (Meta) Memories Complicates Healing For Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence, Nicolette Little

Publications and Scholarship

This paper contributes to feminist conversations about algorithms and design justice by examining ways Facebook’s (Meta) Memories affordance, when it draws on previously posted photographs of abusive former partners, is problematic for gender-based violence (GBV) survivors. With analyses drawn from semi-structured interviews with twelve “survivor-users” and a walkthrough of Memories’ settings to better understand what opportunities users have to control this function, this paper finds that Memories triggers survivors, makes their abuser seem inescapable and reduces survivors’ sense of agency, among other challenges to their well-being. By extending abusers’ intimidation back into survivors’ lives, Memories unintentionally supports perpetrators’ aims: to …

10 Tips For Being More Inclusive Of Gender And Sexuality, Centre For Equity And Inclusion

Resources

Adapted from the UBC brochure “Recognizing Heterosexism and Homophobia: Creating an Anti Heterosexist, Homophobia-Free Campus.”

Your Right As A Trans Person, The 519 Space Or Change, Centre For Equity And Inclusion

Resources

A guide to creating authentic spaces

Changing The Game: The Continuous Adaptation Of Resilient Single Mothers, Lea Caragata, Elizabeth C. Watters, Sara Cumming

Publications and Scholarship

This paper explores theoretical and conceptual developments in our understanding of resilience as these apply to single mother-led families. Rather than the earlier and simpler notion that resilience implied 'bouncing back' we suggest, consistent with work by other resilience scholars, that the varied demonstrations of resilience are a ‘changing of the game’. By this we mean that resilience involves the creation of new outcomes, or, new ways of being through constant adaptation. Further, we argue this transformation to resilient ways of being occurs across all categories of resilience. This is a significant contribution of this work as we submit that …

Beading Practice Among The Samburu And Its Impact On Girls Sexual And Reproductive Health: A Critical Overview Of The Literature, Kelly Mclay

Publications and Scholarship

Gender inequalities stemming from deeply rooted cultural practices negatively affect the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of East-African women and girls, particularly in the extremely patriarchal Kenyan pastoralist community of Samburu. This report describes secondary research and existing literature review with a focus on the cultural practice known as beading. The practice of beading in the Samburu community remains one of the worst silent contemporary forms of sexual exploitation. It can be briefly described as a community-sanctioned, non-marital sexual relationship between men in the warrior age group, and prepubescent girls who are not yet eligible to be married. This research …

Passionate About Early Childhood Educational Policy, Practice, And Pedagogy: Exploring Intersections Between Discourses, Experiences, And Feelings...Knitting New Terms Of Belonging, Pam Whitty, Monica Lysack, Patricia Lirette, Joanne Lehrer, Jane Hewes

Publications and Scholarship

We are five early childhood researchers, from across Canada, thrown together amongst a series of alarming discourses, where developmental, economic, and neuroscientific rationales for ECEC drown out alternative theoretical perspectives, as well as personal experience, values, subjective knowledges, and the fierce passion we feel for our work. In the midst of this “throwntogethness” (Massey, 2005), how do we bring our situated knowings and desires to these discursive material relational mashups? How do we engage with the throwntogetherness that is the Canadian ECEC field as we knit together alternative ways of being, doing, and acting, figuring out what resonates in localized …

“Once You Arrive, Se Te Sala Todo” (Everything Is Salted): Latina Migrants’ Search For “Dignity And A Right To Life” In Canada, Rupaleem Bhuyan, Bethany Osborne, Janet Flor Juanico Cruz

Publications and Scholarship

This study explores how Latina women fleeing gender-related violence seek protection for themselves and their children under Canada's humanitarian laws. Rising emphasis on border control contributes to a growing number of forced migrants whose transnational movement is constructed as “illegal.” Migrants who fall outside legal migration channels are exposed to precarious conditions that can lead to further violence. Through interpretive analysis of in-depth interviews with women from Mexico and Central America, we explore how immigration policies produce gendered forms of “illegality.” We also highlight how women's migration in search for rights and protection represents a form of substantive citizenship.

Unprotected, Unrecognized: Canadian Immigration Policy And Violence Against Women, 2008-2013, Rupaleem Bhuyan, Bethany Osborne, Sajedeh Zahraei, Sarah Tarshis

Publications and Scholarship

The Migrant Mothers Project (MMP) was launched in 2011, as a collaborative research project led by Rupaleem Bhuyan at the University of Toronto in partnership with a network of community stakeholders, legal clinics, community health centres, and grassroots women. The MMP examines how immigration policies contribute to the production of violence against women and creates barriers for women seeking safety and support.

In 2013, The Migrant Mothers Project conducted research to understand how immigration and refugee policies impact the safety of immigrants who have a precarious status. Since 2008, the Canadian government has introduced an unprecedented number of legislative and …

Foodwork Or Foodplay? Men’S Domestic Cooking, Privilege And Leisure, Michelle Szabo

Publications and Scholarship

Market research documents a rising passion for cooking among men. Yet, some feminists argue that men see cooking as ‘leisure’ in part because they have distance from day-to-day care obligations. However, empirical research on men’s home cooking is still limited. This article investigates the relationship between cooking and leisure among 30 Canadian men with significant household cooking responsibilities. Drawing on interview, observational and diary data, and poststructural conceptualizations of leisure, I ask, to what extent do these men understand cooking as leisure and why? Opposing the notion that women’s cooking is ‘work’ and men’s, ‘leisure’, I find that these men …