Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

Mapping The Conceptualization Of Gender In Gambling Literature, Abu Saleh Mohammad Sowad

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

This study maps the existing conceptualization of gender in peer-reviewed gambling scholarship to locate areas of future inquiry for a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between gender and gambling. In this study, we located the literature relevant to the conceptualization of gender in gambling published between 2000-2020 by searching eight academic databases using Boolean operators and various key search terms, yielding 31,533 results. After a thorough screening based on inclusion/exclusion criteria and excluding duplicates, we located 2,532 journal publications that addressed gender and gambling. Among them, 53.4% used gender as a descriptive demographic variable, 44.3% explored the comparative analysis between …

A Cultural History Of Anti-Feminism In Marvel's Scarlet Witch, Madison M. Kooba

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Marvel Comics character Wanda Maximoff, otherwise known as the Scarlet Witch, has received significant attention in popular culture due to her recent appearances as the primary protagonist and antagonist in television show WandaVision (2021) and film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). These depictions foregrounding Wanda’s struggles with mental health have made her an admirable character to many who see her drawing power from her emotions as a celebration of aspects of womanhood that have long been shamed by society. Sourcing these contemporary adaptations, however, lies decades of blatantly anti-feminist and sexist comics that villainize and ridicule Wanda’s …

Multiple Approaches To Examining Gender Norms In Romantic Relationships, Carrie Underwood

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Romantic relationships are essential to the human experience, and gender stereotypes are so ingrained they can be automatic. In this dissertation, I address three empirical questions through both quantitative and qualitative research methods, all of which contribute to the growing body of literature on gender norms and romantic relationships. In Chapter 2, I present a mixed-methods study that examines how heterosexual men reason about benevolent sexism. Results revealed themes of equality in the workplace and men’s roles as providers. In Chapter 4 I implemented a two-study research design to understand how heterosexual women and men reason about troubled romantic relationships. …

Malice Within Meanness In Psychopathy Predicts Unrestricted Sociosexuality, Michal Newhouse-Van Vlerin

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

This study examines the relationship between the Meanness in Psychopathy-Self Report Short Form (MiP-SR-SF) and the Sociosexuality Orientation Inventory-Revised (SOI-R). It links the fields of personality and sexual functioning.

College Students’ Attitudes Toward Condom Use In Pornography: Associations With Sexual History, Sexually Transmitted Infections, And Pornography Use, Bailey M. Way

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The depiction of condomless sex in pornography has significant public health implications for adult film (pornography) actors and potentially for its consumers. Previous research suggests that most consumers of pornography are in favor of condom use in pornography; however, available research on attitudes toward condom use in pornography has surveyed mostly White, male, American undergraduate students. Currently, there is a need to explore viewers’ attitudes toward condom use in pornography among women and racially/ethnically diverse individuals. The current study investigated United States (US) college students’ attitudes toward condom use in pornography using the Pornography Actors’ Condom Use Attitudes Questionnaire (PACUAQ). …

Consumers Of Sex, Romance And The Spectacle: An Ethnographic Study Of Female Tourists In Bangkok’S Adult Entertainment Zones, Jason H. Scott

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research is an ethnographic study of female sex tourism in Bangkok, Thailand and explores how women, as consumers, participate in activities and spaces that were historically reserved for male tourists. Much of the existing scholarly literature investigates the way men from the global North participate in sex tourism practices. Very little attention, however, has been given to the way female tourists engage as consumers in the global sex tourism industry. Studies conducted in the Caribbean suggest that sexual consumption practices among female tourists are dichotomously different from men because of traditional gender roles and sexual scripts. To guide this …

Communicating Pain Unseen: Addressing Health Outcomes In Sexual Activity For Women With Endometriosis, Madison Wiese

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Roughly 160 million women live with endometriosis, a chronic disease involving the uterine lining shedding on the outside of the uterus causing immense physical and emotional pain (Becker et al., 2020). One common symptom of endometriosis is dyspareunia, or painful sex (Ballard et al., 2008). This study aims to uncover how gender expectations from society impact women with endometriosis specifically in sexual encounters. Informed by the traditional sexual script theory and sexual script theory, the study examines how traditional gender norms might influence women’s prioritization of their own health needs as well as the physical, emotional, and relational health outcomes …

“Who Says Lowriders Are Only For Men?”: Lowriders In Las Vegas, Nevada, Alejandra Herrera

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since its creation, Las Vegas, Nevada, has been associated with casinos, nightlife, drinking, and neon lights. Las Vegas is not associated with Lowriders. Historically, lowrider vehicles are associated with crime, gangs, and male drivers. When lowriding comes to mind, Lowriders are associated with major cities in California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. Lowriders are not usually visualized as having female participants or as being present in Las Vegas. This thesis highlights members of the Lowrider community (especially Christal Leyva, Ivelys Franco, and Juanita Salazar) through the use of oral interviews and personal correspondence. The Lowriders interviewed for this thesis …

Constructing The Perfect Girlfriend: Gender, Class, Race, & Performativity Of Paid Intimacy In Nevada Brothels, Christina Parreira

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

While most research on commodified intimacy, especially in the sex industry, has explored gender dynamics, sex work researchers are beginning to also explore intersectional dynamics in the industry. But little research has examined whether or how workers may navigate these dynamics differently through the ways in which they understand and perform service labor. Much research has explored commodified intimacy in different settings, but very little attention has been paid to the different ways that workers in the same setting perform intimacy. In this dissertation I ask how do different performances of intimate service in the brothels- the girlfriend experience (GFE) …

Hybridity, Ecocriticism, And Feminist Perspectives In She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power, Sarah Warso

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children’s cartoons are growing increasingly nuanced in the twenty-first century. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) is an animated television series targeted towards young girls that includes themes of ecocriticism and feminism. The show does this by introducing cyborg, or hybrid, characters. My research explores how cyborg identities in children’s media and their feminist, ecocritical meanings in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. The cyborg, as a feminist mythic hero, breaks down binaries and recodes communication between opposing forces. The She-Ra is filled with characters that inhabit multiple identities. The main character, Adora, identifies as both a former Evil …

The Experience Of Self-Coherence: Self-Coherence As The Hub Of All Needs, April Ursula Fox

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Self-coherence as the hub of all needs is a novel proposition made by Carol Dweck (2017), and not yet further explored. While supporting self-coherence with a comprehensive review of its presence within behavioral sciences, Dweck does not dive deeper into it, and offers an invitation for further research of its workings. In this study I respond to that invitation. I design a continuation to her theory. I also expand her theory to include what I have found to be missing, but essential, additional components that cannot be ignored within the context of self-coherence as a master sensor of needs. Finally, …

It’S Not You, It’S Me: Measuring Erotic Self–Focus, Evan Fertel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research suggests the presence of a non-relational aspect of women’s sexuality wherein a focus on oneself may be linked to elevations in sexual desire/arousal. Some theorists have even asserted that women may be, in some ways, their own sexual objects. Building on a previous exploration of what is now termed Erotic Self-Focus (ESF; Fertel, 2015), the present study developed a refined measure of ESF to further assess the validity and nature of this new construct. An exploratory factor analysis revealed four factors: Arousal to Own Body, Self/Own-Gender Focus vs. Partner/Other-Gender Focus, Self-Focused Arousal – Physical, Self-Focused Arousal – Mental. Although …

Is Pristine Inner Experience Linked To Biology? An Examination Of Experience Across The Menstrual Cycle Among Women With Premenstrual Distress, Alek E. Krumm

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The link between mind and biology is intuitively known: We notice changes in our mood and behavior when hungry, in pain, or under the influence of substances. Yet, the specifics of this link—for example, how changes in biology affect directly apprehended conscious experience— are not well known. The present study was an exploratory attempt toward filling that gap by using a state-of-the-art, beeper-driven method for exploring directly apprehended conscious experience (Descriptive Experience Sampling; DES) across one of the most predictable and wellknown biological cycles: menstruation. We screened approximately 300 college women to identify those who reported clinically significant symptoms of …

Subjective Cognitive Decline Higher Among Sexual And Gender Minorities In The United States, 2015–2018, Jason D. Flatt, Ethan C. Cicero, Nickolas H. Lambrou, Whitney Wharton, Joel G. Anderson, Erin D. Bouldin, Lisa C. Mcguire, Christopher A. Taylor

Social & Behavioral Health Faculty Publications

Introduction: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) represents self-reported problems with memory, a possible early sign of dementia. Little is known about SCD among sexual and gender minority (SGM) adults who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender or gender non-binary. Methods: Data were weighted to represent population estimates from 25 states’ 2015–2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to describe SCD in adults ≥ 45 years by SGM status. Logistic regression tested associations between demographic and health conditions. Results: SCD prevalence was higher in SGM (15.7%; 95% confidence interval [CI]:13.1–18.2) than in non-SGM adults (10.5%; 95% CI:10.1–10.9; P < .0001). SGM adults with SCD were also more likely to report functional limitations due to SCD than non-SGM adults with SCD, 60.8% versus 47.8%, P =.0048. Differences in SCD by SGM status were attenuated after accounting for depression. Discussion: Higher prevalence of SCD in SGM adults highlights the importance of ensuring inclusive screenings, interventions, care services, and resources for SGM adults.

Still We Rise: A Black Feminist Qualitative Inquiry Exploring Black Women’S Experiences On Twitter, Yvonne C. Morris

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

#WOCAffirmation was a hashtag created by April Reign in October 2017 in response to how Black women do not have the same supports of solidarity from populations who are non-Black women. Serving as a counterpublic, #WOCAffirmation embodied how Black women created space to affirm and amplify each other while also highlighting the harassment and abuse they experience in form of misogynoir on Twitter. As Black women are already under-researched in academia and fields within digital humanities, this study centered Black women while also highlighting oppressive systems of power in both physical and digital spaces. Using Black feminist thought as the …

Covid-19 And Its Implications For Women In Gaming: Move Towards Regulation, Policies, And Culture Changes In The United States, Shekinah Hoffman, Itzel Alanis

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

COVID-19 exposes structural inequalities within American society which can no longer be ignored. Here, we highlight the structural inequalities women and women of color face that are glaringly apparent or exacerbated in the pandemic. Inequalities that play a role in the unemployment, insufficient workplace protection, and increased work-life demands of women and women of color in the gaming industry. Instead of returning to “normal” business post-pandemic, we urge gaming leaders to reflect on these inequities within their workplaces. We offer that guaranteed paid leave and permanent flexible work arrangements could improve the life of gaming women employees and their families.

Madres, Hijas, Y La Frontera: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Mexican Mothers And Mexican-American Daughters, Arianna Gabriela Razo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The goal of this thesis is to investigate the role Mexican mothers play in raising their children and how the border affects their abilities as mothers, looking specifically into the Mother-Daughter relationship, broken down even further into the Mexican mother versus the Mexican-American daughter. To explore this concept, I examine Sandra Cisneros, Caramelo, looking at all the mothers, but specifically into the Reyes matriarchs, and Aaron Bobrow-Strain, The Life and Death of Aida Hernandez, to show how the border has influenced Mexican mothering styles, along with juxtaposing how Mexican immigrants were treated in the 20th century to how politicization of …

Understanding The Professional Experiences Of White Jewish Women In Higher Education: An Intrinsic Case Study Analysis, Janna M. Bernstein

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The exploration of female professionals’ experiences within the realm of higher education is steadily increasing, yet researchers have yet to analyze, much less include, Jewish women. Following a qualitative intrinsic case study approach, this study assesses the lived experiences of ten white Jewish women professionals to better understand how they engage in the world of higher education differently than their non-Jewish counterparts. Using racial formation theory and intersectional analysis as theoretical frameworks, the research examined the current and historical literature on Jewish identity, the role of Jews and Jewish women in higher education, and the relevant methodological research. The study …

Individual Differences In Infants' Temperament Affect Face Processing, Jennifer L. Rennels, Andrea J. Kayl, Kirsty M. Kulhanek

Psychology Faculty Research

Infants show an advantage in processing female and familiar race faces, but the effect sizes are often small, suggesting individual differences in their discrimination abilities. This research assessed whether differences in 6–10-month-olds’ temperament (surgency and orienting) predicted how they scanned individual faces varying in race and gender during familiarization and whether and how long it took them to locate the face during a visual search task. This study also examined whether infants viewing faces posing pleasant relative to neutral expressions would facilitate their discrimination of male and unfamiliar race faces. Results showed that infants’ surgency on its own or in …

Validation Of A Brief Pornography Screen Across Multiple Samples, Shane W. Kraus, Mateusz Gola, Joshua B. Grubbs, Ewelina Kowalewska, Rani A. Hoff, Michał Lew-Starowicz, Steve Martino, Steven D. Shirk, Marc N. Potenza

Psychology Faculty Research

Background and Aims To address current gaps around screening for problematic pornography use (PPU), we initially developed and tested a six-item Brief Pornography Screen (BPS) that asked about PPU in the past six months. Methods and Participants We recruited five independent samples from the U.S. and Poland to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BPS. In Study 1, we evaluated the factor structure, reliability, and elements of validity using a sample of 224 U.S. veterans. One item from the BPS was dropped in Study 1 due to low item endorsement. In Studies 2 and 3, we further investigated the five-item …

The Development Of The Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale (Csbd-19): An Icd-11 Based Screening Measure Across Three Languages, Beáta Bőthe, Marc N. Potenza, Mark D. Griffiths, Shane W. Kraus, Verena Klein, Johannes Fuss, Zsolt Demetrovics

Psychology Faculty Research

Background Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) is included in the eleventh edition of The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an impulse-control disorder. AimsThe aim of the present work was to develop a scale (Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale–CSBD-19) that can reliably and validly assess CSBD based on ICD-11 diagnostic guidelines. Method Four independent samples of 9,325 individuals completed self-reported measures from three countries (the United States, Hungary, and Germany). The psychometric properties of the CSBD-19 were examined in terms of factor structure, reliability, measurement invariance, and theoretically relevant correlates. A potential threshold was determined to identify individuals with an …

Love In South Korea: Transformations Of Intimacy And Gender Relations In Korean Romantic Relationships, Alex Joseph Nelson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Romantic love holds a central place in South Korean imaginaries, animating television dramas and pop ballads, but has been largely overlooked in Korea's ethnographic record. Drawing on data collected through 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork, survey research, interviews, and analysis of folklore, the present study investigates how South Koreans conceptualize romantic love, how those conceptions have changed over time, and the ways they are transforming with the Korean field of gender relations.

This study documents love's entwinement with marriage in South Korea. Koreans are developing companionate ideals of marriage that shift the focus of kinship from the parent-child relationship to …

Excavating Gender: The Embodiment And (Re)Presentation Of Social Relations In Mierzanowice Communities Of The Early Bronze Age, Mark Paul Toussaint

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The construction of gender in a society is based on a discursive relationship between culture and biology. Ideological components are often translated into structural factors, which condition access to social and biological resources and exposure to risk. Cumulative differential health outcomes for groups can become embodied in ways that affect the skeleton. By conducting population-level analyses of skeletal markers of health and trauma, bioarchaeologists work backwards to attempt to reconstruct social conditions. Archaeological and mortuary context is an important part of this process.

Cemeteries of the Mierzanowice Culture (MC) in southern Poland (2300-1600 BCE) offer a unique opportunity to study …

Shattering The Glass: Will Gen Z Bring Us Closer To Gender Equality In Us Hospitality Leadership?, Denise Holly Ramirez Molintas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The continued underrepresentation of women in senior leadership positions has impaired the hospitality industry’s capacity to achieve the fifth UN Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality. Although the industry has initiated programs to establish gender parity, the innate gendering through traditional leadership prototypes and gender-role stratification requires investigation. Scholars have noted the limited focus on gender-aware issues in hospitality research. Further, as gender is a socialized construct, historical shifts in gender ideologies have enabled changes in gendering at the individual, interactional, and institutional dimensions of society. Grounded in gender as a social structure theory and role congruity theory, this dissertation …

Exploration Of The Intersection Of Social Identities Of Female Leaders In Postsecondary Education: A Phenomenological Approach, Sara Shaw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of female leaders currently in leadership roles in postsecondary education. This hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted to explore intersecting identities and how the identities affected female leaders’ leadership experiences and decision-making processes. Through the theoretical framework of intersectionality, I explored the relationships among females, leadership, career decision-making, and other categorical social identities. Data gathered from semi-structured one-on-one interviews and demographic surveys with 11 female postsecondary leaders sought to understand how gender and selected social identities affect career decision-making of women in postsecondary leadership positions. The researcher identified seven themes: …

A Coward's Mother Does Not Weep: The Crisis Of Masculinity In Armenian Society, Nerses Kopalyan

Political Science Faculty Research

An Armenian man, by his very disposition, must be courageous, a tough guy, bound by honor, a prolific philanderer, an obedient son, a domineering father, a strict husband, and an altruistic friend. He is, in essence, a myth, constructed by his culture, extolled by its values, and in the end, he is doomed to fail. Why? Because he is a walking paradox. In fact, this paradox is superimposed upon him - the stature of Armenian masculinity [1] would have it no other way. He is Atlas, carrying the burden of everyone and everything around him. He is his father’s hope, …

Healthcare Access And Utilization By Transgender Populations: A United States Transgender Survey Study, Axenya Kachen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Transgender communities in the United States are highly marginalized and have been systematically and infrastructurally ignored due to the widespread fundamental belief that gender exists as a binary classification. The dichotomous theoretical framework of sex and gender prevented public recognition of this community as a population of interest for public health research and targeted intervention. Sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations have fought for basic human rights, including access to affordable healthcare. The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) was founded in 2003 to advocate for the advancement of equality for transgender people. In 2015, the NCTE conducted the United …

Sexual Dimorphism In Homo Erectus Inferred From 1.5 Ma Footprints Near Ileret, Kenya, Brian Villmoare, Kevin G. Hatala, William Jungers

Anthropology Faculty Research

Sexual dimorphism can be one of the most important indicators of social behavior in fossil species, but the effects of time averaging, geographic variation, and differential preservation can complicate attempts to determine this measure from preserved skeletal anatomy. Here we present an alternative, using footprints from near Ileret, Kenya, to assess the sexual dimorphism of presumptive African Homo erectus at 1.5 Ma. Footprint sites have several unique advantages not typically available to fossils: a single surface can sample a population over a very brief time (in this case likely not more than a single day), and the data are geographically …

Queering Utopia: Act Up And The Disruption Of Heteronormativity, Nicholas Lepp

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The existing literature on queer utopianism tends to analyze static aesthetic artifacts as opposed to diachronic social movements designed to create material policy changes. This opens room for various criticisms of queer utopianism regarding it being too wishful and devolving into political and social forms of queer dystopia. In order to remedy this concern, this thesis seeks to investigate how queer utopic thought can be used to create long-lasting change. To answer this question, this thesis is broadly divided into two sections—one theoretical and one practical. My theoretical section delves into an analysis of the after-effects of queer utopic cuts …

Emerging Adults’ Identities, Attitudes, And Orientations Concerning Consensual Non-Monogamy, Amber Kory Stephens

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study considered the connection among aspects of emerging adults’ identities and their relational and sociosexual orientations as well as their attitudes toward consensual nonmonogamy (CNM). Results indicated significant relationships among individuals’ collective and social identity aspects, as dictated in the AIQ-IV, and how emerging adults label their relational orientations (e.g., strictly monogamous, monogamish, open, and polyamorous). Additionally, findings demonstrated that the salience/importance of social categories, roles, and reputations in one's identity influences how they choose to label their relational orientation, their attitudes toward non-monogamy, and their orientation toward uncommitted sex (sociosexual orientation). Discussion, implications and future directions follow.