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Radical Housewife Activism: Subverting The Toxic Public/Private Binary, Emma Foehringer Merchant
Radical Housewife Activism: Subverting The Toxic Public/Private Binary, Emma Foehringer Merchant
Pomona Senior Theses
Since the 1960s, the modern environmental movement, though generally liberal in nature, has historically excluded a variety of serious and influential groups. This thesis concentrates on the movement of working-class housewives who emerged into popular American consciousness in the seventies and eighties with their increasingly radical campaigns against toxic contamination in their respective communities. These women represent a group who exhibited the convergence of cultural influences where domesticity and environmentalism met in the middle of American society, and the increasing focus on public health in the environmental movement framed the fight undertaken by women who identified as “housewives.” These women, …
Shots, Everybody? : British Anti-Smallpox Vaccination And The Development Of Multifaceted Anti-Vaccine Rhetoric On Internet Parenting Forums, Marta B. Bean
Scripps Senior Theses
Vaccination is an important public health measure that can help reduce disease at the population level. Substantial evidence exists that vaccines are safe and effective at reducing the incidence of diseases like pertussis, measles and cervical cancer. However, on Internet parenting forums, parents discuss whether or not vaccination is the right choice for their children. In this thesis, I highlight the historical context of the anti-vaccine movement in mid 19th century to early 20th century Victorian Britain in the era of compulsory smallpox vaccination. Vaccination in this time was a very different and more overtly dangerous process, and …