Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Animating Gender: Conflicting Narrative And Character Design In Gravity Falls, Laine Marshall

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

This thesis analyzes the character designs from the Disney XD animated series Gravity Falls (Alex Hirsch, 2012-2016) through a third-wave feminist lens, arguing that these designs reflect an essentialized perception of gender that is in conflict with the themes of acceptance present in the series’ narrative. The series’ narrative pushes forth the idea that female characters are the moral center of the series and serve as an example to their peers, that they are self-assured and in control, and that men can push past any ignorance to care for the people around them, but this effort is undermined by the …

Determinism & Free Will: An Exploration On Gender Identity As Evidence For Compatibilism, Daniel Mangandi-Escobar

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Determinism is a philosophical concept asserting that every event and action in the universe has been determined by previous causes, which has caused considerable debate within philosophy. Two critical issues within this discussion are the implications of determinism for human agency and moral responsibility. In this work, I argue that free ill is possible, rejecting hard determinism. Specifically, I will be arguing in favor of compatibilism, which is the view that free will can exist even within a deterministic world. From this perspective, free will is not opposed to determinism. Instead, our choices and actions can still be considered free …

Rebels And Dubliners: Motherhood In Three 20th-Century Irish Texts, Sara S. Barenfeld

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This thesis explores representations of motherhood across several genres in Irish literature. In my essay, I look at two short stories from James Joyce’s Dubliners (1914): “The Boarding House” and “A Mother.” I argue the way spatiality functions in “The Boarding House” and “A Mother” reveals Mrs. Mooney’s and Mrs. Kearney’s overall ability to exercise maternal agency; it shows the extent to which their agency is circumscribed. The spaces themselves act as defining factors contributing to the mothers’ abilities to engage with power structures and ultimately fail or succeed in their endeavors. I also examine two autobiographies: The Autobiography of …

Bathsheba And Sue: Hardy's Independent Heroines, Alexandra Acosta

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In Thomas Hardy's literary landscape, the female protagonists Bathsheba Everdene and Sue Bridehead emerge as complex figures who challenge and navigate the rigid social norms of Victorian society. Through their journeys in Far from the Madding Crowd and Jude the Obscure, respectively, Hardy explores the themes of independence, conformity, and the impact of societal pressures on individual agency.

Bathsheba Everdene, in Far from the Madding Crowd, initially stands as a symbol of independence, defying the conventional gender roles expected of Victorian women. However, her trajectory reveals the nuanced ways in which societal expectations shape her choices, ultimately leading her to …

Dear Mama: An Exploration Of Trauma And Black Feminist Healing Practices Through Letter Writing, Bria Nickerson

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies M.A. Final Projects

This autoethnographic project delves into the multitude of strategies I've employed over the past decade since my mother's passing to confront and heal from my trauma. Through a series of original letters spanning from girlhood to early adulthood, I narrate my journey, delving into the depths of my emotions, thoughts, and coping mechanisms as I navigate through various traumatic experiences. Guided by Black Feminist Autoethnography as its methodology and anchored in Black Feminist Thought as its theoretical framework, this project also explores the profound impact of transgenerational trauma on the psychological well-being of Black women. From enduring slavery and racialized …

Love Vs Duty?: Resisting The Idealized Woman And Subverting The Perennial Choice For Women In Opera, Lindsay Uhrich '24

Honor Scholar Theses

This thesis serves to be an analysis of the stereotypes that women in opera tend to have as well as of common traits or outcomes that these characters experience. While there is discussion on how these traits have been harmful, the idea of opera being a method for these characters to be envoiced in a way that other genres couldn’t be able to do is explored, and is specifically focused on three case studies of women defying the destinies set upon them while still emerging triumphant. The first case mentioned is in the Baroque opera L’incoronazione di Poppea, where the …

“No One To Show Us The Way:” Assessing The Contemporary Relevance Of The Gay Male Bildungsroman, Matthew Lemas

English (MA) Theses

The gay male bildungsroman can trace its origins to E.M. Forster’s posthumously published Maurice (1971) and Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story (1982), among other examples. While nested under the umbrella category of the queer bildungsroman (and, more broadly, the bildungsroman), the gay male iteration particularly explores integrational challenges related to the extant tensions between hegemonic masculinity and the male protagonist’s sexuality and gender identity. The subgenre—often conflated with the “coming out novel”—has faced a range of criticism in its roughly half-century existence. Scholars have accused it of banality, often relying on a limited range of well-trodden tropes; lacking diversity, …

The Calling Of Governess, Karissa Maust

All Theses

The governess is a widely discussed figure in literary criticism. However, the motivations that cause literary characters to engage in the profession of governess are not often talked about. This thesis discusses the three primary motivations that inspired women to become governesses—survival, duty, and calling. It begins with a historical discussion of the governess, then illustrates women’s reasons for engaging in this occupation, using literary figures from Emma, Villette, and Jane Eyre to do so. The thesis then ends with a discussion of the modern American teacher—how she differs from the governess but also shares the lack of …

Cloaked Trannies On The Silver Screen: "Evolutionary Derangement" And Cronenberg's Approach To Shaping A Critical Mindset Towards Trans Bodies, John David Hunter

All Theses

This thesis engages David Cronenberg’s 2022 film, Crimes of the Future, analyzing the text through the lens of Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensten) as a transgender allegory. Through this, the project investigates the way in which Cronenberg’s text visually creates a Deleuzian language of the body, which is the body of becoming. This queer analysis of the film does so by utilizing the perspective of the trans body, through the character of Tenser, which more clearly illustrates the human body as one which is in a continual process of evolution. Following in the footsteps of scholars such as Susan …

The Controlled Narrative Of “Jane Roe:” Norma Mccorvey’S Life Beyond The 1973 Trial, Eleanor G. Strickland

Honors College Theses

Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade, 1973, wrote two memoirs twenty years after the Supreme Court trial that surrounded her third pregnancy. These memoirs (I Am Roe, 1994, and Won by Love, 1997), along with the recent documentary AKA Jane Roe (2020), provide an insight into McCorvey’s life and how she was used by politicians and civilians during and after the influential trial. McCorvey lived a complicated life and was constantly being pulled in different directions spiritually, politically, and personally. This thesis shows how McCorvey attempted to re-write the narrative of her life using …

Killdeer, Elizabeth Muscari

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project investigates, through poetry, how women and nature intersect. Formal decisions depict themes of inheritance and the body through couplets, tercets, quatrains, contrapuntal, sonnets, among other free-verse forms.

Reaping What We Sow: The Implications And Outcomes Of Mississippi House Bill 1125, The “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (Reap)” Act, Kerigan Brewer

Honors Theses

Mississippi House Bill 1125 (MS HB1125), also known as the “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act,” was signed into law by Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves in early 2023 (REAP Act, 2023). It is one of multiple policies passed into law that limit the rights of transgender people. This thesis aims to clarify the history of the trans community, dispel myths around gender-affirming health care and the trans identity, and discuss the current state of anti-trans laws and transgender rights. Using a policy analysis framework by DiNitto (2011), MS HB1125 is analyzed on points like its social and economic costs, the …

Religious Extremism And Female Autonomy: How Dystopian Literature Reflects Contemporary Issues, Jessica Briscoe

Honors Theses

This thesis analyzes two texts: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and When She Woke by Hillary Jordan. These two texts examine dystopian worlds in which the lines are blurred, or completely eradicated, between church and state. Christian fundamentalism and/or evangelicalism becomes intertwined with Christian extremism which results in a detrimental society for many minority groups. The purpose of this thesis is to specifically explore the ways women are mistreated in these societies.

Moreover, this thesis explains how America’s puritanical Christian roots have led to modern-day ideals of America as a “New Jerusalem”. America, like the dystopian societies, has intertwined …

Cross-Pollination: Building A Co-Taught Course To Examine Art And Sex Through The Lens Of Botany, Christopher T. Martine, Diamanda A. Zizis, Anna K. Kell

Faculty Journal Articles

Driven by overlapping interests in plants, art, and diversity in sex expression, Anna Kell (Department of Art and Art History) and Chris Martine (Department of Biology) developed a course that integrates the perspectives of a visual artist and a botanist. Art & Sex Through the Lens of Botany seeks to impart the importance of making connections across disciplines and the value of visual literacy across academic lines. The course introduces foundational concepts in each field and encourages students to integrate and explore these different systems of knowledge and their intersections. In addition to developing fluencies related to both general botany …

Breaking The Rule Of Silence: Childbirth And Gendered Power In Efuru And The Joys Of Motherhood, Sunday Elliott Uguru

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines the thematic preoccupation of childbirth in the formative period of feminist discourse in African literature through a critical study of selected novels of Igbo women of southeastern Nigeria. The novels studied represent the earliest published African texts in English by women. The period under focus falls within the emerging stage of Nigerian literary tradition in its written form with a dominant presence of men. This study investigates the women novelists' perspective toward the failure of male authored works to represent women's childbirth experience. Through a critical reading of Flora Nwapa's Efuru and Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of …

Lessons In Persistence, Syble Heffernan

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

LESSONS IN PERSISTENCE is a thesis that operates within the tradition of writing about trauma and resilience, taking up themes of mental illness, class, colonialism, loss of a parent, navigating queerness in a conservative Christian context, and reckoning with gender-based violence and expectations directed toward people socialized as women. The use of ecopoetics highlights the relationship between traumas to the earth brought about by climate change, war, and worldwide suffering, and those brought upon the human body (specifically marginalized bodies) by grief, illness, abuse, and the loss of self. The collection ultimately aims to establish explicit connections between internal and …

Coalitional Response(Ability) In Rhetoric And Composition, Zoe Nicole Mcdonald

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation considers the literacy practices of progressive coalitions as a provocative way to examine central responsibilities of rhetorical scholars, college writing instructors, and writing program administrators. Through attention to case studies, this dissertation suggests opportunities to consider social differences as crucial assets for political advocacy, scholarly knowledge production, and teaching strategies.

Advisor: Stacey Waite

The Relationship Between Sex Education And Women’S Sexual Liberation And Exploration: A Phenomenological Study, Jessica Ann Boyles

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Sex education in schools is a pivotal yet contentious aspect of adolescent development, with enduring impacts on individuals' sexual exploration and liberation. However, the types of sex education offered have varied over time, often disseminating misinformation, and reinforcing traditional gender norms. Particularly for women, sex education can perpetuate harmful stereotypes, limit sexual agency, and contribute to disparities in sexual and reproductive health. This qualitative study aims to address the gap of intersecting sex education and sexual identity by examining the relationship between women's sexual liberation and exploration in adulthood and the sex education they received. Drawing from a phenomenological approach, …

The Sexual Trauma Of The Female Body: Violence Against Women In Contemporary Spanish And Latin American Cultures, Lara Armenteros Garrido

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation focuses on the idea that women’s bodies have a sexual stigma attached to them as a consequence of different forms of heteropatriarcal violence inflicted on them. From violence in public spaces, such as street harassment or the sexual exploitation of women, to the intimacy of the relationship, like intimate partner violence or the orgasm gap, it becomes increasingly difficult for women to escape violence. Through the analysis of films, documentaries, narratives, and the testimonies of women from Spain and Latin America, I argue there is still a lack of adequate sexual and emotional knowledge to help complete agency …

The Role Of Family And Peer Social Support Against Bullying Involvement Among Sexual Minority Latine Young Adults, Guadalupe Gutierrez

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Bullying is a significant risk factor for healthy youth development and functioning. Research on bullying has provided evidence that bullying involvement is linked to negative mental health outcomes for young adults; however, researchers have yet to fully explore the relationship between the different bullying statuses (victims, perpetrators, bully-victims) and internalized problems (anxiety and depression), and whether peer/friend and family support serves as a protective factor. In addition, a significant amount of research on bullying has been conducted in Europe and the United States but it remains limited in Latin American countries. The current research demonstrates that bullying is a significant …