Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Open Access Articles

Language Lessons: Gender-Based Material Signifiers Of Social Intent In Better Off Dead, Elizabeth Brady

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

While there is significant evidence of Lévi-Strauss’s model of women as material signifiers of male intent present in Better Off Dead, two characters undercut the absoluteness of this theory. Monique freely dwelled outside of the realm of the system, indicating that there are alternate models. Lane’s willingness to and success in denying the system and departing from it indicates that even those within the system are not inevitably bound to the tenets of the theory.

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The Fall Of The Yellow Wallpaper, Rachel Payne

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Many have acknowledged the Gothic influence of Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” on Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Critics often examine the opposition of genres in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” arguing it as either a feminist movement or Gothic tale. However, the Female Gothic genre centers the female role inside a Gothic tale. This genre typifies a criticism of oppressive patriarchies and support for female independence. Both “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” demonstrate women who overcome repressed voices by finding their expressions through writing.

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The Bollywood Hindu Heroine, Emily Holmstead

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

The melodramatic, high-grossing Bollywood film industry is intertwined in almost every aspect of Indian culture with its blunt commercialism and unapologetic enthusiasm. Both the western world and the feminist movement are changing women’s depictions in these films. These featured women fill university classrooms and cry out against social injustice all the while pursuing husbands and performing traditional rituals. The power structure of the female-male relationship is also changing as women’s education and career are given more importance while maintaining their devotion to romance and motherhood. The appetite for female-centered films will grow as the theories and practices of female empowerment …

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Gilda's Gowns, Rachel Ann Wise

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Critics have overanalyzed the portrayal of the femme fatale in film noir as female ruthless seduction in attempts to overpower men. However, a paramount aspect of the femme fatale has been under analyzed—women’s use of and exploitation of fashion. In film noir, Gilda particularly showcases the importance of fashion in the film’s plot. Gilda’s undressing and dressing in the film signifies the multifarious personalities and complexity of the femme fatale character. In understand Gilda’s character via her diegetic, fashionable, and mutable clothes, the femme fatale is exposed as a complex being defying stereotype by the variety of her wardrobe, but …

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

Language Lessons: Gender-Based Material Signifiers Of Social Intent In Better Off Dead, Elizabeth Brady

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

The Fall Of The Yellow Wallpaper, Rachel Payne

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

The Bollywood Hindu Heroine, Emily Holmstead

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Gilda's Gowns, Rachel Ann Wise

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)