Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Shifting Course: Drawing On Feminist Principles To Inform Community-Engaged Teaching In Uncertain Times, Amie Thurber, Sarah V. Suiter, Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This autoethnographic case study explores teaching community-engaged courses during the onset of COVID-19. As educators who teach applied program evaluation courses at two universities, we consider how principles of feminist community engagement—relationality, border crossing, reflexivity, and disruptive pedagogy (Iverson & James, 2014)—ground our courses. Drawing from instructor reflections, interviews with community partners, students’ written reflections, and course evaluations, we explore how these principles informed our pedagogical response to teaching through the tumultuous spring of 2020, and the degree to which these practices enabled the continued participation of students and community partners. We close with implications for community-engaged teaching in these—and …

Getting Radical: Feminism, Patriarchy, And The Sexual-Exploitation Industries, Robert Jensen

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The sexual-exploitation industries, including prostitution and pornography, are patriarchal institutions that are inconsistent with dignity, solidarity, and equality. Radical feminism offers a compelling analysis not only for women but also for men striving to be fully human.

From Tajikistan To Russia And Back: Understanding Changes In Gender Relations Through The Lived Experiences Of Tajik Migrant Workers In Russia, Tahmina Shokirova

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation is the story of Tajik migrant workers who have lived and worked in Russia. It examines how gender relations of power change in the context of labour migration through the lived experiences of the migrants. The study asks the overarching research question: How do gender relations change in the context of Tajik labour migration to Russia? Following the social constructionist epistemology, gender is framed through the lens of post-structural, intersectional, and transnational feminist theories. The study employs a conceptual framework that integrates the following into a coherent whole: feminist theories of gender relations, the general context of international …

Interrogating The Construction And Representations Of Criminalized Women In The Academic Social Work Literature: A Critical Discourse Analysis, Sandra Marie Leotti

Dissertations and Theses

In the United States today, there are 2.3 million people behind bars in jails and prisons. Mass incarceration has swept up the United States to such a degree that we are known globally for holding more people in correctional facilities than any other country in the world. Although women have always, and still do, reflect a smaller proportion of the correctional population, over the last 40 years, their rates of criminalization and imprisonment have far outpaced that of men's. Drastic increases in the criminalization of women are intimately connected to the entrenchment of social disadvantage enabled under neoliberal globalization. Neoliberal …

Abuse Or Be Abused: Traumatic Memory, Sex Inequality, And Millennium As A Socio-Literary Device, Kate Rose

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article applies the research of French psychiatrist Muriel Salmona to literary analysis of Stieg Larsson’s protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, in the Millennium trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 2008; The Girl Who Played with Fire, 2009; The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, 2010). It suggests that Larsson’s novels may be useful in raising awareness of childhood sexual abuse, through reading neglected signs linked to the neurology of traumatic memory. In the tradition of Nordic noir novels, hyperboles in Salander’s sensationalized identity serve to magnify and bring to light a misunderstood social problem. The article …

The Intersections Of Good Intentions, Criminality, And Anti-Carceral Feminist Logic: A Qualitative Study That Explores Sex Trades Content In Social Work Education, Meg Rose Panichelli

Dissertations and Theses

This study uses anti-carceral feminist logic to explore the cultural meanings, criminal implications, and neoliberal influence that shape the landscape of social work education about the sex trades in the United States and transnationally. "What are social work instructors teaching students about the sex trades in coursework?" is the question that directs the study, which uses a feminist qualitative methodology inclusive of intersectional feminist epistemology as well as direct content analysis. To answer this question, I analyzed 20 social work course syllabi from sex trade related courses across the contiguous United States and interviewed 20 social work instructors from 14 …

An Introduction To Feminism And Cross-Cultural Body Image In The United States, Laura Darnell

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Feminism is a social movement that aims to end the oppression of women and to create opportunities for advancement of women. There are several types of feminism that have their own set of values and beliefs: liberal feminism, radical feminism, cultural feminism, and womanism. Central to these types of feminism is the call for sexism to cease and for women to have equal opportunity. Embedded within modem feminism is intersectionality, which is described as the effect of multiple oppressions that affect women. Misogyny, the hatred of women, affects the way that women feel about themselves. This is done through a …

Nasty People: An Illustrated Guide To Understanding Sex, Sophia Weaver

Senior Honors Projects

Sex made me and it probably made you too, but for many of us sex remains a mystery for our entire lives. I see sexual images every day, but I rarely hear it discussed openly or factually. This is problematic. If most people are having sex and most people have a lot of misinformation about it, STDs, unwanted pregnancies and even sexual assaults are much more likely. Research suggests that increased (and well developed) sex ed. can reduce all of the possible negative outcomes of sexual misinformation. My observations of everyday life and my research in academia have given me …

Evolving From An Illusionary And Self Destructive Quest For Power To A State Of Empowerment: The Curative Potential Yoga May Hold As A Vehicle To Reclaiming Bodily Empowerment For Women With Anorexia, Heather C. Pizzanello

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Eating disorders disproportionately afflict women and they are one of the most lethal mental health conditions that practitioners in the field of social work and related mental health fields encounter. Equally alarming is the fact that Anorexia Nervosa is the deadliest of all eating disorders, yet, we are struggling to find an efficacious means of successfully intervening in the treatment and recovery maintenance of anorexia. Drawing from past empirical and theoretical literature, this study explored the potential that the mind body practice of yoga might hold as a complementary therapeutic tool for women struggling to recover from anorexia. The findings …

Basic Income Guarantee: The Gender Impact Within Households, Sara Cantillon, Caitlin Mclean

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The potential of a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) to contribute to gender equality is a contested issue amongst feminist scholars. This article focuses on the nature of BIG as an individually- based payment to explore its potential for reducing gender equality, specifically intra-household inequalities in material or financial welfare; economic autonomy; psychological well-being; and time allocation, especially leisure time and time spent in household and care work. We employ a gender analysis of existing BIG pilots/schemes as well as close substitutes (e.g., universal child benefits) to assess some of the key claims about the effects of a basic income (BI) …

Values Guiding The Use Of Public Spaces And Presence Of Women, Shweta Singh

Women's Studies & Gender Studies: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper articulates the concept of space and gender using illustrations from the cultural iconography of Hindu Goddesses. The boundary and control of public and private spaces leading to differences in toleration of women within them is discussed. I apply the popular conception of values outlined within Ramayana and Mahabharata texts as they impacted Goddess Sita and Princess Draupadi. I have juxtaposed this against the cultural construction of Rani from the Bollywood cinema Queen. The paper contributes to a discussion and reflection on the values that guide women’s visibility and access in public and private spaces as a likely factor …

Exploring Gender Equity: A Social-Justice Oriented Program To Encourage Male College Students To Advance Gender Equity, Lucas Brown

MSW Capstones

A number of social justice issues, ranging from sexual assault to economic equality, disproportionately affect women and persons who represent a challenge to heteronormativity. Holding a privileged position among other gender identities in society, and representing slightly less than half of the population, it is important for men to be involved in addressing these issues of gender inequity. A review of literature and interviews with key informants found that building awareness of gender equity issues with a social justice or human rights oriented perspective through education and service learning opportunities, promoting men’s involvement without reinforcing hegemonic masculinity, discussing how the …

“I Am Not Free While [Anyone] Is Unfree”: A Proposal And Framework For Enmarginalized Feminist Policy Analysis, Avina Ross

Social Work Student Works

This paper introduces a new feminist approach and framework to policy analysis. As an integration of intersectionality, Black feminist thought and endarkened feminist epistemology, enmarginalized feminist policy analysis (EFPA) offers an intersectional and flexible scope in a framework to assess policy for a diversity of populations, focusing on groups who are forced to live marginal and oppressed lives. Discussion is provided on existing approaches and frameworks in addition to an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of EFPA. A nine-component framework, which includes a section for analyst reflexivity, is provided to guide users in conducting EFPA. The author concludes with implications …

Successful Approaches To Ending Female Genital Cutting, Kay Young Mcchesney

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Female genital cutting (FGC) is practiced in 28 African countries; infibulation is practiced in nine African countries. Six unsuccessful approaches to ending FGC are reviewed: cultural absolutism, cultural relativism, health education, feminism, human rights legislation, and psychosocial approaches. Two successful programs that have resulted in communities abandoning FGC, including Tostan in Senegal, are described. Successful programs are community-led, aim to change social norms in the whole community, and empower women. Governments and NGOs should use community-led programs based on participatory methods as recommended interventions in order to promote community-wide abandonment of FGC.

Repositioning Art Work From Patients Suffering From Anorexia Nervosa In A Gendered, Socio-Cultural Context: A Self-Reflective Study, Dafna Rehavia-Hanauer

Journal of Clinical Art Therapy

This article, conceptualized within a post-structuralist, feminist approach to art therapy, addresses the role of visual images as a controlling constituting discourse significant to the formation of the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. As a core position this article argues for a change in the way art work created within the art therapy process by women who suffer from anorexia nervosa is interpreted and analyzed by art therapists. The article argues for an enhanced appreciation and critical analysis of gendered, social-cultural contextualization of visual images and recognition of how these forces have a role in directing women to enact behaviors of …

Voices Made (M)Other, Lizbett Benge

MAIS Projects and Theses

Voices Made (M)other is a theatrical project I created consisting of two original short plays, Momologues and ILL. This interdisciplinary project combines motherhood studies, feminist studies, whiteness studies, and theatre. One cannot have political change without revolutionizing each individual; and so I am sharing the process behind creating ILL, an autobiographical play tracing events throughout my motherline, to demonstrate the ways in which this project has helped create a more nuanced version of motherhood that incorporates mental illness, maternal abuse, and healing from trauma. This project builds upon the theory of empowered mothering (O’Reilly, 2006) by which society begins looking …

Moving Beyond The Criminal Justice Paradigm: A Radical Restorative Justice Approach To Intimate Abuse, Peggy Grauwiler, Linda G. Mills

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article traces the history of the development of the treatment of domestic violence as a crime in the United States and the conceptual and practical limitations of this approach in addressing this important social issue. An extensive body of research on restorative justice practice suggests that restorative approaches may contribute to reducing and preventing family violence. Drawing on restorative justice principles, an alternative or supplement to criminal justice approaches is outlined for working with all parties involved in abusive relationships.

The Effectiveness Of Feminist Social Work Methods: An Integrative Review, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

This integrative review of the effectiveness of feminist social work methods compared 35 independent studies of feminist interventions with 44 independent studies of social work practice that were based on other theoretical orientations. Feminist interventions were observed to be more effective than those based on other practice models. And among feminist social work interventions, radical methods seemed to be more effective than liberal methods. These findings are consistent with a theory by target system interaction that was suggested by a previous meta-analysis (Gorey, Thyer, & Pawluck, 1998). While personal theoretical orientations such as cognitive-behavioral modes of practice seem more supportive …

Feminine Socialization Or Codependency, Anna Claire Trimble, Donna Marie Venardos

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Indications Of Feminist Influence On Contemporary Social Work Practice, Clara Elizabeth Miller

Dissertations and Theses

It is criticism of traditional theory and methods, and the advocacy of new approaches that feminists have tried to present to social workers and to other professionals in mental health and other social services. The feminist goal has been to convince social workers and others to modify their beliefs and practice in order to be more helpful (as the feminists believe) to women. In this study of the beliefs and practice of social workers in Oregon, I attempt to find out to what extent, ten years after the "rebirth of feminism," they have adopted feminist beliefs and recommendations for practice.

Recent Role Changes Made By Women And The Effect These Changes Have Had On Marital Adjustment, Nancy L. Scolar

Dissertations and Theses

Sex Roles, A History. From Insects to humans, gender is associated with specific behavior. Below the mammals there are sex differences in dominance that are correlated with androgen function on the inside, and with certain types of stimulation on the outside. In higher forms, the increasing complexity of brain development means increasing capacity for modification through experience and learned modes of adaptation to the environment.

By the time the primate level is reached, social influences have become so intricate and compelling as to clearly foreshadow culture.

According to Elizabeth Janeway in her article Reflections on the History of Women, in …