Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

“It Just Sends The Message That You’Re Nothing But Your Body” A Qualitative Exploration Of Adolescent Girls’ Perceptions Of Sexualized Images On Social Media, Alana Papageorgiou, Colleen Fisher, Donna Cross

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This qualitative study used in-depth interviews to explore adolescent girls’ perceptions of sexualized images they typically find when using social media. Twenty-four participants aged 14–17 years described sexualized images of females as normalized on social media. The interplay between gendered and social norms that endorsed and rewarded girls for posting sexualized images was seen to influence an expectation for girls to conform with their peers and post such images of themselves. They indicated sexualized images emphasize personal value on appearance and rejected this notion. However, participants also believed girls should be able to post sexualized images of themselves if they …

Performing Feminist Research: Creative Tactics For Communicating Covid-19, Gender, And Higher Education Research, Jo Pollitt, Emily Gray, Mindy Blaise, Jacqueline Ullman, Emma Fishwick

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Presenting research findings outside of the form of a traditional research report requires different modes of making and communicating. This paper offers an account of how The #FEAS Report, a satirical news video, was made to communicate the findings from interviews and a survey as part of the mixed-methods study, Sexism, Higher Education, and COVID-19: The Australian Perspective to a wider public. Three creative tactics for research communication were used: DIY aesthetics, humour, and situated bodies. These communication tactics enabled the researchers to think differently about what research findings mean, and how to articulate them in ways that are intelligible. …

A National Survey Of Gendered Grouping Practices In Secondary School Physical Education In England, Shaun D. Wilkinson, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Gendered grouping practices and curriculum provision are matters of long-standing contention and debate in physical education (PE) policy, research, and practice internationally. In England, there is a long tradition of single-sex grouping in PE in secondary schools, with accompanying gendered patterns of staffing and many boys and girls taught different activities in the curriculum. Research on the incidence of single- and mixed-sex grouping in PE is however scarce, dated, and limited in scale. At a time when education, sport, and society are challenged to move beyond binary discourses and critically review structures and practices that uphold stereotypical and established …

Risky Business: Policy Legacy And Gender Inequality In Australian Opera Production, Caitlin Vincent, Katya Johanson, Bronwyn Coate

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The field of cultural policy has seen a shift towards considerations of diversity, with government bodies increasingly leveraging funding to combat inequality within organisations. A barrier to this aim is a lack of quantitative data, which would provide a means to evaluate the impact of specific policies in practice. This article investigates the relationship between gender inequality at an organisational level and cultural policy at a sectoral level through a case study of Australia’s state-funded opera companies. Drawing on production data from 2005 to 2020, we consider women’s representation as conductors, directors, and designers at the state companies through the …

Beyond Inclusion: Developing Guidelines To Support Trans, Gender Diverse And Non-Binary Communities, Stevie Lane, Casey Thomas

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In early 2020, Edith Cowan University (ECU) identified the need for a proactive approach to supporting and affirming trans, gender diverse, and non-binary (TGDNB) students, staff, alumni, and the wider community. While there was general support and focus on LGBTIQA+ initiatives broadly at ECU, there were no existing supports to address the unique needs and raise awareness of the experiences of TGDNB people. This paper outlines ECU’s process to develop TGDNB Support Guidelines, including research, forming a working group to drive resource development, consultation from different areas within the university, a launch event, training, and ensuring the document was widely …

Reading Group As Method For Feminist Environmental Humanities, James Gardiner, Hayley Singer, Jennifer Hamilton, Astrida Neimanis, Mindy Blaise

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article argues that reading groups are a collective field building and research method in Feminist Environmental Humanities, an interdisciplinary scholarly area at the intersections of feminist social justice and environmental concerns. We begin by historicising three Australian Feminist Environmental reading groups (COMPOSTING Feminisms, Eco Feminist Fridays, The Ediths) within a longer feminist tradition, then demonstrate how they respond to declining research funding in the neoliberal university and accelerating ecological crisis. Drawing on survey data, we first thematically code and analyse the results to categorise the groups’ functions and impacts. Departing from more traditional data analysis, we then develop a …

Invisible Women: Gender Representation In High School Science Courses Across Australia, Kathryn Ross, Shanika Galaudage, Tegan Clark, Nataliea Lowson, Andrew Battisti, Helen Adam, Alexandra K. Ross, Nici Sweaney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The visibility of female role models in science is vital for engaging and retaining women in scientific fields. In this study, we analyse four senior secondary science courses delivered across the states and territories in Australia: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics. We compared male and female representation within the science courses by examining the mentions of male and female scientists along with the context of their inclusions in the syllabuses. We find a clear gender bias with only one unique mention of a female scientist. We also find a clear Eurocentric focus and narrow representation of scientists. This bias …

Gender, Vulnerabilities, And How The Other Becomes The Otherer In Academia, Esme Franken, Fleur Sharafizad, Kerry Brown

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article draws on the work of Judith Butler, particularly the notion of vulnerability in/as resistance, to explore the gendered experiences of women in Australian academia. Through employing an arts-based research method, Draw, Write, and Reflect, with women academics in Australia, we explore the ways in which vulnerabilities are identified and navigated in the context of academia. Our study identified three key forms of vulnerabilities: the expectation paradox, the body, and age and experience. Such vulnerabilities appeared to be navigated through acts of othering, denying, and overcoming. We return to Butler's call for the creation of gender trouble in making …

She'll Be ‘Right… But Are They? An Australian Perspective On Women In High Performance Sport Coaching, Alexandra H. Roberts, Anthea Clarke, Caitlin Fox-Harding, Georgia Askew, Clare Macmahon, Sophia Nimphius

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Participation and media coverage of women in high-performance sport has been steadily increasing in recent years throughout the world. While this increase in interest has led to many young women and girls becoming involved in grassroots sport, there has yet to be a significant change in the number of women in coaching roles, particularly at the high-performance level. This paper synthesizes and summarizes the current challenges facing women sport coaches in Australia, drawing from existing research, media and government reports to understand the barriers for women entering and progressing in these roles. We also present some of the more recent …

Access To Urban Leisure: Investigating Mobility Justice For Transgender And Gender Diverse People On Public Transport, Shahin Shakibaei, Oscar Vorobjovas-Pinta

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Literature on mobility justice suggest that socially disadvantaged people experience uneven access to movement. The theme of diversity in terms of gender and its interplay with mobility and leisure have attracted some scholarly attention. However, research into transgender and gender diverse mobilities and its impact to leisure access remains limited, particularly from non-Western perspectives. This paper endeavors to fill this gap by investigating transgender and gender diverse mobilities in Istanbul, Turkey. Drawing upon 49 qualitative interviews with gender diverse and transgender public transport users in Istanbul, this study contributes to a scholarly discussion exploring the relationship between gender diversity, mobility, …

Advancing Feminist Innovation In Sport Studies: A Transdisciplinary Dialogue On Gender, Health And Wellbeing, Holly Thorpe, Sheree Bekker, Simone Fullagar, Nonhlanhla Mkumbuzi, Sophia Nimphius, Madeleine Pape, Stacy T. Sims, A. Travers

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Athlete health and wellbeing requires a holistic, multidimensional approach to understanding, supporting, and treating individual athletes. Building more supportive, inclusive, and equitable environments for the health and wellbeing of women and gender expansive people further requires gender-responsive approaches that promote broader cultural change. Feminist sport and exercise medicine practitioners, sports scientists, and social science researchers are increasingly coming together in their efforts to do this work. However, working across disciplines inevitably includes an array of ontological, epistemological, and political challenges. In this paper, we offer a curated ‘dialogue’ with a group of feminist scholars engaged in research and practice across …

Understanding, Promoting And Supporting Lgbtqi+ Diversity In Legal Education, Aidan Ricciardo, Shane L. Rogers, Stephen D. Puttick, Natalie Skead, Stella Tarrant, Melville Thomas

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Australian law schools are becoming increasingly diverse. Yet, there is very little quantitative or qualitative data on diversity in law schools and even less research examining how students’ diverse backgrounds and social identities–including their sexual orientation and gender identity–affect their law student experience. This article begins to fill this gap in the literature by reporting the findings from a study examining the law school experiences of LGBTQI+ students at all law schools within a single Australian state. The study reveals that much of the law school experience is similar for both LGBTQI+ and non-LGBTQI+ students, and that LGBTQI+ law students …

‘Own Your Narrative’: Teenagers As Producers And Consumers Of Porn In Netflix’S Sex Education, Debra Dudek, Giselle Woodley, Lelia Green

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Netflix’s Sex Education both represents sex education and educates viewers about sex. From the opening scene of the first episode, viewers are positioned to see this series as one that is not afraid to represent explicitly the details of a range of sexual experiences. The series’ frank depiction of sexual relationships between characters, and its exploration of characters’ hopes, fears, and choices regarding ways to express their sexual desire is, arguably, ground-breaking. This paper focuses upon the ways in which the series represents young people as producers and consumers of pornographic/erotic narratives, harnessing the communication options within their social settings …

Openness About Sexual Orientation And Exposure To Workplace Bullying, Helge Hoel, Duncan Lewis, Anna Einarsdottir, Guy Notelaers

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Previous studies of workplace bullying have not investigated whether Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) employees experience bullying in similar or different ways to their heterosexual counterparts. This study reports on how and to what extent sexuality or sexual orientation influences the experience of workplace bullying and whether openness about sexual orientation elevates risks and shapes exposure to bullying. Using a large and rigorously compiled sample of the British working population comprising 500 non-heterosexuals and 722 heterosexuals (N = 1,222) and applying latent Class Cluster Analysis, a similar behavioural pattern of bullying for LGB employees emerged as for heterosexuals, although LGB …

Questioning The Inclusivity Of Events: The Queer Perspective, Faith Ong, Clifford Lewis, Oscar Vorobjovas-Pinta

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Event programmes are typically designed with a target audience in mind, and such design can inherently signal inclusion or exclusion of marginalised segments. This is particularly the case for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) individuals, whose sexual and gender identities position them as an invisible minority on the periphery of society. Given the role of events in building community spirit, it is essential to ensure all members of a community feel able to participate in order to create a sense of belonging, fulfilling Sustainable Development Goals of inclusivity in community. Through the lens of Social Dominance Theory …

Breaking The Silence: Insights Into The Lived Experiences Of Wa Aboriginal/Lgbtiq+ People: Community Summary Report 2021, Braden Hill, Bep Uink, Jenny Dodd, Dameyon Bonson, Anne-Marie Eades, Sian Bennett

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The ‘Breaking the Silence’ research project is one of the first to focus on the unique experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ people living in Western Australia. Research focusing on the intersection of Indigeneity and gender/sexual diversity is severely lacking in Australia. This is the first survey to comprehensively capture the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ Western Australians. Previously, major research pertaining to LGBTIQ+ Australians rarely just focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander same sex attracted or gender variant individuals (Bonson, 2017; Dudgeon, et. al., 2017; Growing Up Queer, 2014; Hill, et. al., 2021; …

Breaking The Silence: Insights From Wa Services Working With Aboriginal/ Lgbtiq+ People: Organisations Summary Report 2021, Braden Hill, Bep Uink, Jenny Dodd, Dameyon Bronson, Anne-Marie Eades, Sian Bennett

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The ‘Breaking the Silence’ research project is one of the first to focus on the unique experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ people living in Western Australia. The report presents the first phase of a twopart research project that explores how a range of health, social support and education organisations respond to the needs of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, living in Western Australia and identifying as LGBTIQ+. This report presents the findings of focus groups, interviews and surveys with staff employed within a range of organisations that work closely with Aboriginal and/or LGBTIQ+ individuals. The discussion …

Making Space For Themselves: Lesbian Separatism In Western Australia, Amber-Lia Van Aurich

Theses : Honours

This study documented and reconstructed the stories of lesbians who experienced separatism during the 1970s and 1980s in Western Australia. This era of history has received little attention, particularly the Western Australian context, therefore sharing these marginalised women’s stories addresses the knowledge gap and provides a sense of place and identity in the past. I aimed to explore Western Australian examples of lesbian separatism in addition to aspects of identity, connection, community, and culture. The research involved a narrative study of stories by six informants who self-identify as lesbian, collected in multiple one-hour interviews in situ and reconstructed into a …

Escape Velocity Walks The City: Kindness And Intimacy In Public Space In The Transgender And Gender Diverse Teen Experience, Renée Newman

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Escape Velocity Walks the City took place 23rd-26th October 2019 as part of the Future Echoes Festival in Melbourne, Australia. Created by Rosana Cade with Ivor MacAskill, Laurie Brown and St Martins Youth Theatre, audience and performer walk and talk together through the inner city of Melbourne. Walking and sitting, hand in hand with transgender and gender non-conforming teens, the performance was often silent, uneasy and yet, kind. Simultaneously fragile and powerful the work provoked a gentle expectation to open our hearts and minds. From the surreal zone of isolation (mid COVID-19 pandemic) this paper is a memory of a …

Re-Composing Feminism: Australian Women Composers In The New Millennium, Talisha Goh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In the age of postfeminism and fourth-wave feminism online, Australian women composers are theoretically able to “have it all,” however, the proportion of women in the occupation appears to have plateaued in recent years. In this thesis, I explore the multiple ways in which gender and feminism interact with practising Australian women composers. Feminist musicology has had a large impact on the Australian musicological scene, with theorists such as McClary and Macarthur bringing the subject of women in music to the fore in the 1990s, aiding efforts to advocate for reform on behalf of women composers. Additionally, third-wave feminist scholars …

Older Indigent Women’S Economic Crimes: Subsuming Feminism In Favour Of A Human Rights Explanation, Patricia Joan Rhodes

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Many people today believe the concept of gender inequality is outmoded, irrelevant and unnecessary in Western societies that are deemed egalitarian. As a consequence, feminism as a movement with gender equality at its core has often been proclaimed ‘dead’,a relic of the past. Feminist perspectives, nevertheless, have produced differing points of view about the sources of gender inequality affecting crime rates and criminal behaviour.

For the last 50 years or so, women and girls have been the subject of criminological research that has largely evolved from sociological perspectives and specifically from feminism. Although gender intersects with other social realities and …

The Elephant In The (Class)Room: Parental Perceptions Of Lgbtq-Inclusivity In K-12 Educational Contexts, Jacqueline Ullman, Tania Ferfolja

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While little is known about parental beliefs and desires regarding LGBTQ-inclusive education, assumptions about these appear to justify teachers’, curriculum writers’ and policy makers’ silences regarding sexuality and gender diversity in the K-12 classroom. Thus, in order to better inform educators’ practices, this paper presents an analysis of interview data from focus groups with parents from across the Australian state of New South Wales. Findings highlight parents’ desires for LGBTQ-inclusivity, not only as a protective factor for sexuality and gender diverse students, but also to engender social cohesion and prepare all students for adult life in the modern social landscape. …

Early Maladaptive Schemas In An Australian Adult Alcohol Dependent Clinical Sample: Differences Between Men And Women, Diana Lanie Janson

Theses : Honours

Recent literature suggests that there are widespread differences between men and women’s Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) and that EMSs are highly prevalent in alcohol dependent populations. The present study examined differences between men and women’s EMSs in an Australian clinical sample who had sought treatment specifically for alcohol dependence. A total of 111 men and 114 women completed the Young Schema Questionnaire – Long Form (YSQ-L3) between 2012 and 2015 in order to assess them on 18 EMSs. Despite previous findings suggesting that women report higher levels on a number of EMSs the present study found that women only scored …

Global Measures Of Gender Empowerment: A Case Study Of Sri Lankan Export Processing Zone (Epz) Workers, Peter Hancock, Sharon Middleton

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This pape r focuses on global measures of gender empowerment released a n- nually by the UNDP and the World Economic Forum. It discusses and critiques these measures on a global level and juxtaposes this analysis against research conducted among women who work in Sri Lanka's Export Processing Zones (EPZs). Global measures of gender equality show that in Sri Lanka gender-based inequality is increasing, despite the nation dramatically improving its economy and poverty levels and meeting some of the Millennium Development Goals. To explain this contradiction, we sampled 2,304 women to explore how they experienced gender and empowerment and to …

Feeling The Fleshed Body: The Aftermath Of Childhood Rape [Thesis], Brenda Downing

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The point of propulsion for this research is my raped and censured body with its somatic aftermath narrative. This doctoral research project is a feminist and creative investigation that sought to uncover and articulate the long term somatic impacts of childhood rape as they manifest in the adult female body. I employed a multi-modal, complementary, and embodied methodology using a combination of autoethnography, somatic inquiry, writing-as-inquiry, and performance-making-as inquiry. In addition to my autoethnographic explorations, I gathered information from other women raped in childhood, as well as information from women’s healthcare professionals. Drawing on the autoethnographic and participant information gathered, …

The Australian Football League And The Closet, Andrew Douglas

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines the complete absence of openly gay males from the ranksof the professional players in the Australian Football League (AFL). It seeks to explain this absence in the context of the modern gay rights movement. incontemporary Australian society. It compares and contrasts the effects of thismovement on both the AFL and other mainstream Australian social institutions.

Over more than four decades, the gay rights movement has effected a number of social changes. These changes include both specific legal reforms and more general trends such as the increasing social visibility of gay men across a range of mainstream institutions …

Masculinity, Mass Consumerism And Subversive Sex: A Case Study Of Second Life's 'Zeus' Gay Club, Judith A. Elund

Research outputs 2013

This article is a case study of a Second Life region in reference to the prevailing attitudes of sexual conservatism and the growing acceptance of homosexual coupling. The site of Zeus is a contested site of legitimacy in view of tensions regarding masculinity as it applies to sex, sexuality, gender conformity and consumption practices. Furthermore, it is representative of the tensions between an acceptable, albeit conservative gay male identity, and the subversive hyper-sexual and hyper-masculine subject of desire.

Resilience In Same-Sex-Parented Families: The Lived Experience Of Adults With Gay, Lesbian, Or Bisexual Parents, Angharad E. Titlestad, Julie Ann Pooley

Research outputs 2013

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual parents experience stress, as heterocentricism and/or homonegativity permeate the Australian context. Despite challenges faced by these parents and their families, research consistently shows children raised by same-sex parents to be as psychologically healthy, and as socially and academically well-adjusted, as their peers raised in traditional heterosexual-parented families. The ability of these children to flourish despite the challenges they face highlights the resilience of this minority group. Contrary to comparative research, the current study is framed by a phenomenological approach, and utilized narrative methodology to qualitatively explore the lived experiences of the adult children of same-sex parents. …

Full-Forward And, Macho Homos : Toward A Masculist Reframing Of Male Homosexuality, Kristian Guagliardo

Theses : Honours

The following work explores the nexus of male homosexuality and traditional masculinity.

The creative work examines the ways in which both patriarchal and popular, purportedly feminist or queer theorist cultures arbitrarily assign allegedly immanent feminine qualities to homosexual males even when these characteristics are not congruent with the male subject. This facet of western, and specifically Australian, culture is explored through the prism of a hegemonically masculine ‘country boy’ who finds that despite his own comportment and identity, he becomes culturally and socially feminised by virtue of his homosexuality alone. He experiences isolation, angst, anger and cognitive dissonance as he …

Re-Presenting Gender Fluid Identity In A Contemporary Arts Practice, Matthew Jackson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This dissertation addresses the paucity of representation of gender fluid identity within contemporary imagery. An examination of historical and socio-political structures inherent in modern Western society serves as a foundational position for a broader exploration of differently gendered communities globally. The case is made for contemporary art to be encouraged as a tool for the emancipation of subjugated gender fluid identities. Examples of contemporary gender fluid visual art and artists are presented to illustrate the ability of art to enable agency within the broader gender fluid community. Finally, a commentary on my own artwork is presented and discussed in relation …