Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

The Charge Of Deserting Their Sphere: The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society And Women’S Place In The Abolitionist Movement, Megan Irene Brady

Graduate Masters Theses

Responding to the all-male American Anti-Slavery Society and inspired by the expansion of women’s benevolent organizations, the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (BFAS) was founded in 1833. At the outset, the members defined themselves as pious women dedicated to immediate emancipation, while making no overtures to challenging their place in society. BFAS grew quickly in influence and membership, and helped organize the first national women’s anti-slavery convention in 1837. The convention brought together female abolitionists from all over the United States, some of whom espoused more radical views on women’s rights. This thesis examines how interactions at the national conventions—a network …

Life As The Wife Of Buffalo Bill, Summer Weaver

Student Works

Buffalo Bill was and still is considered a symbol for the American West. His Wild West Show brought the excitement of frontier life to people in the Eastern U.S. and even in Europe. The more subtle frontier story, however, is told by his wife, Louisa Frederici Cody. In her memoir, Memories of Buffalo Bill, Louisa further idealizes her husband by giving an "inside look" at the life of the great American hero. Never mentioning William Cody's two divorce attempts, Louisa maintains a flawless depiction of her husband as they both "worked for tomorrow."

My essay examines the reasons why …

“Your Love Is Too Thick”: An Analysis Of Black Motherhood In Slave Narratives, Neo-Slave Narratives, And Our Contemporary Moment, Kaitlyn M. Spong

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, Kait Spong examines alternative practices of mothering that are strategic nature, heavily analyzing Patricia Hill Collins’ concepts of “othermothering” and “preservative love” as applied to Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel, Beloved and Harriet Jacob’s 1861 slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Using literary analysis as a vehicle, Spong then applies these West African notions of motherhood to a modern context by evaluating contemporary social movements such as Black Lives Matter where black mothers have played a prominent role in making public statements against systemic issues such as police brutality, heightened surveillance, and the …

Contact, Christine M. Stevralia

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A year after Alyssa Milano’s tweet launched the #MeToo movement, survivors of sexual assault are being called ‘accusers’ in the media, and public opinion is swinging in favor of guilty men. #MeToo raised awareness but not understanding. What is rape? What is consent? As evidenced by the #MeToo movement and the backlash against it, clearly, as a society, we don’t know. Contact is a work of Creative Nonfiction that uses scenes and details from the narrator’s personal experiences to illuminate the micro-negotiations that occur in sex and seduction.

In a world where women are still expected to stay small and …

Uncovering The Voices That Have Been Silenced: How The Cherokee Young Women Are Continuing The Traditions Of Their Ancestors Through Literature And Rhetoric, Carly L. Callister

Student Works

When the Cherokee women, back in 1817, first heard the news that they were being stripped of their lands and being forced to journey through the Trail of Tears, they decided to fight for what was right by speaking up and using their voices to be heard around the world. They created petitions and speeches, explaining their love for their people, motherhood, and the land, and how it was “their duty as mothers” to fight for the right to stay in the southeastern part of the United States (Lauter 2399). Though the Cherokee women’s voices were silenced when their petitions …

Women, Blood, And Dreams: Gender, Dream Spaces, And Monstrosities In A Nightmare On Elm Street And Bloodborne, Amber Appleby

Theses and Dissertations from 2018

Video games exploded in popularity in the 80s and have been a staple in many people’s lives since. Because video games are popular and different, critics tend to ignore them beyond simple analysis like the sexist portrayal of women. Video games, like films, can be read and analyzed using different methods of theory. This is evident in the similarities in Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street and FromSoftware’s Bloodborne. Both media feature overtly gendered imagery and spaces, the monstrousness of women, the blurring of dreams and reality, and Gothic elements that tie them together. Though Bloodborne also manages to …

Women's Research Institute Of Nevada Season Greetings!, Women's Research Institute Of Nevada

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Rise Of The Neoliberal Chinese Female Subject In Go Lala Go, Su-Lin Yu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Built upon feminist critique of neoliberalism, this paper will examine a prominent medium through which neoliberal feminist ideology is disseminated: Go Lala Go. By analyzing the film, I will show how it co-opts the discourse of neoliberalism, and reworks it to construct neoliberal female subjects. First, I will explore what kind of role neoliberalism has enacted in the formation of an emergent type of female subject in China. Then, I will demonstrate how the contentious process of neoliberal feminism affects young career women’s identities. More than career guides promoting different techniques for making women more successful at their workplaces, …

Representations Of Nineteenth Century Mormonism In A Mormon Maid: A Cinematic Analysis, Elisabeth Weagel

Journal of Religion & Film

During the first quarter of the 20th century there was a trend in Hollywood to make films about Mormons. Practices such as polygamy created just the kind of sensationalism that attracted filmmakers (even Thomas Edison contributed with his 1902 film A Trip to Salt Lake). Many of these were B-pictures, but the 1917 film A Mormon Maid stands out because it was produced by a major production company (Paramount) and was backed by top director Cecil B. DeMille. It is often given passing reference, but very little genuine scholarship has been done on the film. A hundred years …

Guardians Of Virtue, Tamsen Maloy, Tasia Jensen

Capstones

Guardians of Virtue is a short documentary following Tamsen Maloy as she explores how the church of her upbringing--the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon church)--handles sexual assault. It is quickly revealed that the church does not have adequate resources for sexual assault survivors. On the contrary, the culture and system of the church enables assault and encourages survivors to feel they are to blame.

Link to capstone: https://tantproductions.wordpress.com/

Understanding Women´S Empowerment Through Indigenous Epistemologies: An Alternative Approach To Development?, Melissa Klara Vonimary Søvik

Master's Theses

Development projects that aim at empowering women have gained popularity among many actors and institutions in the field of development for their capacity to contribute in development and economic growth. Nevertheless, the concept of empowerment has also gained critics from various stands claiming it to be too technical, and not taking into account social relations in contexts where other epistemologies exist. It is necessary to adapt these kind of terms taking into account local world-views. This thesis explores the dynamics of women's empowerment in Tzeltal Mayan communities in Chiapas, Mexico. It aims at understanding the way empowerment is manifested in …

A Qualitative Case Study On The Domestic Violence Act, 2007 (732) And The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women, Victoria Hernandez

Master's Theses

On July 17, 1980, Ghana became a signatory to CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) under the United Nations in order to combat all forms of violence, discrimination and human rights violations that harm the security, freedom, privacy, and dignity of every woman. The Domestic Violence Act (732) stemmed from CEDAW in order to add on more layers of legal protection for victims of domestic violence and to penalize all acts according the bill’s definition and the different forms of domestic violence. Although there are stricter laws to punish any acts of violence inflicted …

Paper: An Ecowomanist View On The Dakota Access Pipeline, Ariana Raya

Womanist Ethics

This paper examines the Dakota Access Pipeline using ecofeminist and ecowomanist philosophies, provides a brief historical background of African American and Native American communities, explains the dangers of the pipeline to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, and offers constructive alternatives.

Limiting Queer Reproduction In Hungary, Judit Takács

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article discusses several limiting factors that affect queer reproduction desires and practices in present-day Hungary, including distorting media representations, legislative frameworks, and social inequalities. It draws on relevant legal developments and results from previous research studies. The article focuses on how Hungarian LGBTQI people can resist the social norms and policies of heteronormatively prescribed childlessness resulting from normative expectations that non-heteronormative reproduction must be limited as much as possible, and highlights that better-off couples and individuals have more chance to realize their fertility plans through adoption, surrogacy or accessing ART than those in a more disadvantageous situation. In this …

Negotiating Access To Assisted Reproduction Technologies In A Post-Socialist Heteronormative Context, Hana Hašková, Zdeněk Sloboda

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article centres on the impact of heteronormativity on the ways in which parental desires, intentions and practices of lesbian, gay, or trans people in Czechia are subjected to barriers. It explores heteronormativity by analysing how access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART) for non-straight couples (including single women) has been negotiated. We discuss discrimination against, and the statistical marginalisation of, homoparental families; the fact that same-sex Czech couples are not yet allowed to marry and that instead a new legal institution, the civil union, was introduced exclusively for them, explicitly prohibiting them from forming parental couples; the political disregard of …

Unfit For Parenthood? Compulsory Sterilization And Transgender Reproductive Justice In Finland, Julian Honkasalo

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article examines the rationale of the continuing Finnish transgender sterilization requirement against the background of reproductive justice. I examine how and why the Finnish public debate on removing the sterilization clause from the Trans Act does not include an equal demand to 1) include a parental law reform and 2) a legislation on accessible, affordable and just reproductive health care for transgender persons and (cis)women alike. I will argue that since the citizens’ initiative of the marriage equality legislation in Finland was followed by another citizens’ initiative to reform the Maternity Act to include lesbian couples, transgender reproductive justice …

Unlearning Cisnormativity In The Clinic: Enacting Transgender Reproductive Rights In Everyday Patient Encounters, Theo Erbenius, Jenny Gunnarsson Payne

Journal of International Women's Studies

In recent years, transgender reproduction has become increasingly visible in public debates in Sweden. Heated debates and years of activism and advocacy ultimately led to a change in law in 2013. In the new law, the previously controversial demands for patients to be unmarried and sterile had been removed from the legal framework. As a consequence, transgender patients also became entitled to fertility preservation through assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). This gave rise to a new patient group of fertility patients with specific medical and psychosocial needs.

Drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews with healthcare professionals in a Stockholm clinic for reproductive …

Queer And Trans Access To Assisted Reproductive Technologies: A Comparison Of Three Eu-States, Poland, Spain And Sweden, Doris Leibetseder

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article is about the legal challenges and difficulties of queer and trans reproduction with ART in three purposely selected European states: Sweden, Poland and Spain, representing the north, east and west of Europe. Isabell Engeli and Christine Rothmayr Allison’s (2017) continuum model of classifying countries according to their permissive, intermediate or restrictive regulations for ART access serves as an example how a national comparative analysis on ART policies is established. However, this framework needs to be adjusted to address the regulations pertaining to queer and trans people’s reproductive, parenthood, and partnership opportunities. Thus, the queer and trans model I …

Introduction: Queer And Trans Reproduction With Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Art), In Europe, Doris Leibetseder, Gabriele Griffin

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Degoosh, Milo, May Hohman

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Milo Degoosh is a 28 year old FTM transgender adult. He works at Bard Coffee Shop in Portland, and competes in National Barista competition. He elaborates on how the Queer community has influenced the Barista competition and how he is a Queer figure in this environment. Milo has two moms and big family, all of which have helped him in his transition. He started hormones in 2015 and has had many changes since, such as mood, attitude, and work ethic. Milo participating in the National Campaign for Marriage Equality by knocking on doors. The necessity and cost for transition …

Meera Atkinson. The Poetics Of Transgenerational Trauma. Bloomsbury, 2017., Katie Lally

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Meera Atkinson. The Poetics of Transgenerational Trauma. Bloomsbury, 2017.

Beck-Poland, Sherry, Ariana Wenger, Johnna Ossie

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Sherry Beck-Poland is 64 years old and lives in Lewiston, Maine with their wife Dee, and two sons, Jacob and Joe. Sherry has dedicated much of their life helping others including fostering over ten children, adopting their two sons, working for DHHS with individuals with PTSD, personality disorders, and other disabilities, as well as their involvement with political activism for marriage equality, and their help in organizing pride in Lewiston.

Sherry has attended the University of Southern Maine for their undergraduate degree where they graduated with honors, then attended Seminary where they received their master’s degree in theology. Sherry is …

The Lack Of Female Directors And Artistic Leaders: Discrepancy In The Number Of Women From Theatre Education To Career, Madeline Lang-Ree

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Recently, society has slowly started to take initiative against the large gender gap that exists in positions of leadership. Though this gender gap stretches across all work fields, the theatre industry is extremely guilty of a lack of female representation in many of its career paths. In both studies and personal experiences, it is repeatedly reported that there are considerably more girls than boys participating in theatre during educational and formative years. Despite this, the number of female directors and artistic leaders in the theatre industry is significantly lower than males. Why is there such a large amount of young …

Biopolitics, Risk, And Reproductive Justice: The Governing Of Maternal Health In Canada's Muskoka Initiative, Jacqueline Potvin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this dissertation, I examine how Canada’s Muskoka Initiative discursively constructs and addresses maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) as a global development problem. I evaluate how the Muskoka Initiative aligns with, and departs from feminist articulations of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice. I do this by analyzing how the Muskoka Initiative drew on and reinforced dominant norms of motherhood, and aligned with neoliberal development frameworks. I also examine how the reproductive bodies and lives of women in the Global South were configured as sites of both development intervention and biopolitical governance. My findings are based on a …

A Community In Motion: Preventing Trauma And Abuse Where We Are [Poster], University Of Northern Iowa. Women's And Gender Studies Program.

Women’s and Gender Studies Program Documents

No abstract provided.

The Rise Of Women, #Metoo And Why It Matters, Meredith Conroy, Tiffany Jones, Kathy Nadeau

Anthropology Faculty Publications

In light of current political events here in the United States and around the world, such as the #MeToo movement, discussions about toxic masculinity, the tumultuous appointment of Justice Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, and a worldwide surge of participation of women in politics, it is obvious that we are living in an important historical period where ideas about gender and power are being debated, reinforced, and challenged. While some political leaders blatantly dismiss gender discrimination and gender-based violence, the global community has recently acknowledged the significance of this issue by awarding the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to two …

En Sus Propias Palabras: Testimonios Of Latinas In Elected And Appointed Office, Andrea Guajardo

Theses & Dissertations

Governance in the United States has been the domain of men since the idea of democracy and independence from England was in its infancy. The systematic oppression and exclusion of persons of color and women was the backdrop upon which the United States was founded. Many continue to experience conflict and struggle in their efforts to gain and maintain civil rights and seek personal and professional experiences free from marginalization and oppression. This purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the lived experiences group of Latinas who have been elected or appointed to public office with an emphasis critical …

“I’Ve Always Identified With The Women:” How Appalachian Women Ballad Singers’ Repertoire Choices Reflect Their Gendered Concerns, Sara Lynch-Thomason

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how contemporary Appalachian women’s gendered experiences influence their choices of ballad repertoire. This inquiry is pursued through a feminist analysis of interviews with six women ballad singers from Madison County, North Carolina. In evaluating the women’s choices of ballads and their commentary on the songs, this thesis draws upon narratological theories as well as concepts from Appalachian traditional music studies.

This study finds that women’s repertoire preferences reveal contemporary female concerns for physical safety and political agency. The singers also extract hidden transcripts from ballad texts and use ballads to educate audiences about women’s historic oppression. However, …

Women's Research Institute Of Nevada Newsletter, Women's Research Institute Of Nevada

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Intersectional Invisibilization: Black Female Movement Leaders In Mexico And Their Private Sphere Resistance, Lindsay Fasser

Undergraduate Honors Theses

International attention drew to Afro-Mexican individuals in 2015, when the Mexican inter-census survey first allowed Black Mexican people to self-identify as Afro-Mexican. The Black movement in Mexico revolving around recognition rather than liberation had been stirring in Coastal regions for decades prior, fueled by the work of incredible activists across the gender spectrum. However, the representation of such activists in public discourse is largely male. In analyzing this particular movement, the importance of intersectional theory becomes apparent, in unpacking both gendered and racialized forms of hierarchy and invisibility. By exploring the intersections between social movement and social suffering, as well …