Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Reconstructing The Confederate Widow: An Analysis Of The Wives Of Fallen Confederate Soldiers And Their Response To Reconstruction And The Post War Era, Christian Beasley

Campus Research Month

This study provides an analysis of how the post-civil war era and Reconstruction affected the financial, social, and political lives of the wives of fallen Confederate soldiers. Because men were the head of families and traditional breadwinners in the South, the widows of the 258,000 fallen Confederate soldiers had to reintegrate themselves into society and support their families without the assistance and comfort of a husband. Although this integration may seem straightforward, these widows struggled to overcome the economic and social difficulties laid before them, including the patriarchal traditions, mourning expectations, severe droughts, and unemployment that plagued these women. This …

Invisible Yet Free: Sapphic Relationships In Late 19th Century Europe, Penelope Van Batavia

Student Academic Conference

Sapphic relationships, described as romantic relationships between two women, were able to proliferate without the watchful eye of society in late 19th-Century Europe due to many factors, including the lack of importance European society felt women had. While not entirely able to pronounce their relationships in public, these women were often able to operate somewhat publicly in three main types of common or “accepted” sapphic relationships. These include intimate friendships, “mother-daughter” models, and hetero-passing relationships. Since historical research on sapphic relationships before the 1970s was almost non-existent (beyond the chastising of such relationships) a number of women and queer academics …

The Medical Policing Of Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Adults, Gabrielle Hawkins

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This research aims to better understand the discriminatory health care experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming adults. Conducted through a non-positivist sociological methodology, a primary objective of this research is to uplift transgender and other gender nonconforming voices through a study of lived, personal health narratives. In open-forum, semi-structured interviews, eight participants were asked questions relating to their health narratives, including questions concerning health care experiences and any encounters with discriminatory behaviors/actions by medical professionals and/or other medical affiliated personnel (i.e., receptionists, community health advisors, pharmacists, etc.). Potential questions ranged in theme (but were not limited to): gender identity, gender …

“Madam” Elizabeth: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley’S Sisyphean Attempt To Join The “Cult Of True Womanhood”, Bella Biancone

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

Nineteenth century notions of femininity and etiquette were governed by strict societal standards. “True Womanhood” was defined by four fundamental virtues– piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. However, there was another pre-requisite for joining this revered cult¬: whiteness. No matter how pious or domestic a woman of color was, she could never hope to be considered a proper lady by Victorian standards. In discerning what it meant to be a member of that “cult of True Womanhood,” Black women were used to determine the boundaries of white womanhood; a “True Woman” was to be the antithesis of the stereotypical sexual and …

Title Ix: An Analysis Of Its Effects On Collegiate Athletics, Hanna Laube

Honors Projects

Title IX has had a monumental impact on the development of women’s opportunities in sports. I conducted three interviews with women athletes who competed in college from 1967-71, 1995-99, and 2009-2014. I also analyzed some primary research on how female athletes remember Title IX and some secondary research on remembering Title IX. In the interviews I found that all the athletes were very appreciative of Title IX, but did not know much about it and therefore could not think very critically about it. In contrast, scholars were very critical of Title IX and pointed out the shortcomings in the law. …

Same-Gender Pathways To Parenthood, Sydney T. Inger

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

LGBTQ+ individuals and couples who want children negotiate systemic inequalities in the United States of America. This literature review surveys America’s confusing legal map and the gaps in its enduring scholarly theories. The paper then examines the challenges that LGBTQ+ individuals and couples confront in working through the common pathways—same-gender adoption and fostering, in vitro fertilization, and surrogacy—to become parents. Dispersing information on the pathways will be a positive step towards breaking down the inequities for those in the LGBTQ+ community who want to start a family.

Female Rage, Revenge, And Catharsis: The "Good For Her" Genre Defined In Promising Young Woman (2020), Tara Heimberger

English MA Theses

By analyzing relevant cultural contexts to the popularity of the “Good for Her” genre, such as the “#MeToo” movement, the Trump presidency, and the resurgence of conservatism in the United States, the development of the “Good for Her” genre and its impact can be made clear. Given the genre’s development through social discourse on social media, it has become a universal and collaborative representation of liberation from oppressive experiences under a patriarchal society. The lead women in these films give those who experience patriarchal oppression a reprieve and an opportunity for catharsis they would not typically get in a male-led, …

The Pussy As Prey: Discourses Of Predation And Human Sexual Violence, Paige Skaff

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

The pussy is the central focus of this thesis: the pussy as prey, the pussy as the cis-gendered vulva-owning female, the pussy as the effeminate male. The pussy is a source of vulnerability and a catalyst for sexual and gender violence. The term pussy alone aligns the human figure to the nonhuman animal world in euphemistic language. Because an anthropocentric culture accords less respect to the nonhuman animal than to the human animal, the pussy is dehumanized – that is to say, an object without ethical standing that exists to serve the more powerful subject - and therefore, violence against …

The Geopolitics Of The North African Response To The Coronavirus Pandemic: Opportunities And Challenges, Muhamad S. Olimat

Journal of International Women's Studies

The sudden outbreak of the Coronavirus in January 2020 took the world by surprise. Initial state-response was mired by confusion, uncertainty, apprehension, and near demoralization. However, several countries around the world, including some Middle Eastern and North Africa countries (MENA) took the challenge seriously in the early stages and set an example to be emulated globally. The objective of this article is to examine the response of the North African countries to the pandemic, examine the opportunities and the challenges facing the region, and add up the lessons learned in order to be better prepared for impending crises facing the …

Public Health Policy On The Covid-19 Pandemic And Its Impact On The Behavior Patterns Of Families, Fakir Al Gharaibeh, Laura Gibson

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study examined the public health measures adopted by the Jordanian government that contributed to stemming the spread of the pandemic and the impact of these measures on the behavior patterns of families. Content analysis was used with 117 news briefs, and interviews were conducted with 20 families identified through snowball sampling. Ecological systems theory and a public health model are used to frame our understanding of the results. We found themes from interviews that included a shift to online education, use of social media, changes in consumer behavior, and social initiatives.

Pandemic Recalibrates Rules Of Engagement For Gulf Expatriates, Narayanappa Janardhan

Journal of International Women's Studies

Unlike migration in many parts of the world, foreign workers in the Gulf region were subject to the ‘Conditional Migrant Integration Model’ to avoid granting of certain rights that would alter the prevalent socio-economic-political fabric. This ensured that expatriates remain in a state of “permanent impermanence”. However, amid a combination of factors—transition from oil to post-oil economy, economic slowdown, and intra-regional economic competition—Covid-19 has served as a disruptor of the rules of engagement between the regional governments and the expatriate population, including women. Recognizing the benefits of retaining talented and wealthy expatriates, some of the Gulf countries have rolled out …

Equity, International Cooperation, And Global Public Health: Use Of The Common But Differentiated Responsibilities Principle In The Fight Against Covid-19, Maïa-Oumeïma Hamrouni, Eric Canal Forgues Alter

Journal of International Women's Studies

During pandemics, in which harm is universal, states find themselves under an obligation to cooperate within a global solidarity framework. However, because they do not have the same set of capabilities, their obligations should be differentiated and based on equity and distributive justice. As an effective tool of States’ foreign policy, health diplomacy is being used by developing countries according to different priorities and interests. After a few months of relative calm, COVID-19 still poses a major challenge for African and Middle Eastern economies and societies where the vaccination rates are low across the board with healthcare systems in poor …

Covid Diplomacy In The Era Of Pandemic Response: The Case Of United Arab Emirates, Osman Antwi-Boateng

Journal of International Women's Studies

As the world grapples with the appropriate response against the COVID-19 pandemic with mixed results, a new opportunity for soft power influence in the form of COVID diplomacy has emerged. Countries such as the UAE that have embraced soft power as a foreign policy tool and have done relatively better in combating the pandemic have seized the initiative to provide bilateral and multilateral support in the form of COVID-19 related aid to struggling countries and international agencies, dubbed COVID-diplomacy. The UAE can engage in COVID diplomacy due to the following internal attractions: a long commitment to humanitarianism, a resilient economy, …

The Role Of Emirati Women In Confronting Social Media Misconceptions On The Covid Vaccine, Muhammed Musa, Ahmed Mansoori

Journal of International Women's Studies

As disagreements rage about the source of the Covid-19 virus, one universal consensus has been established. It is that humanity’s surest guarantee to curbing and mitigating the deadly pandemic is the discovery and wide administration of a vaccine to prevent infection, serious illnesses, and hospitalizations etc. As different countries grapple to roll out the covid vaccine, the world is confronted by another virus that could prove to undermine efforts at curbing Covid-19. Vaccine misinformation is playing into the hands of anti-vaccine groups who are taking advantage of social media platforms that are easily accessible and devoid of editorial gatekeeping to …

Navigating Covid-19: Female Ph.D. Students Coping With Family, Academic, And Job Duties, Aizhan Shomotova, Tatiana Karabchuk

Journal of International Women's Studies

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, many governments introduced lockdown measures in which people were expected to work and study from their homes. Schools, daycares, and extracurricular programs were temporarily closed. All students from primary to the post-graduate level were transferred to online learning. This shift added a tremendous burden and additional workload for parents who were supposed to combine their own work and supervision of the online studies of their children from home. Recent research confirmed that women took more responsibilities for household chores and care of children during the pandemic. We conducted a study on female doctoral students …

The Role Of Emirati Women During The Covid-19 Pandemic And The Challenges, Suaad Zayed Al-Oraimi

Journal of International Women's Studies

Using a qualitative methodology of personal interviews and participant observation, this research investigates the role of Emirati women in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent impact/challenges. Research participants included female Emirati health care workers and educationists. We observed Emirati families to help better understand the challenges women went through during the pandemic. Contrary to existing narratives about the invisibility, docility, marginalization, victimhood, and dependency of Arab women, this research reveals that Emirati women were able to exercise agency in the fight against the pandemic due to the following factors: longstanding government empowerment of women, a sense of …

Covid-19 And The (In) Visibility Of Gender In Media: Explorations From A Jordanian Perspective, Amani Al-Serhan, Reem Q. Al Fayez, Safa Shweihat

Journal of International Women's Studies

Jordanian women have made significant contributions, and they continue to break down barriers, as the number of women in universities exceeds the number of men, and their numbers have increased in administrative positions, parliament, and the judiciary (World Economic forum 2018). However, despite their notable progress in various sectors, Jordanian media still fail to shed light on these contributions. This marginalization was particularly evident in Jordan's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, where media coverage focused mainly on male officials, branding them "True men in times of crisis" and failing to shed light on women's significant role in the frontlines of …

The Greater Middle East Covid-19 Crisis Management: Challenges And Opportunities, Muhamad S. Olimat

Journal of International Women's Studies

The outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis in early 2020 took the whole world by surprise. The world witnessed its horrific spread in Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Brazil in utter disbelief and helplessness. The Greater Middle East (GME) region too faced the pandemic-induced misfortune in no small measure. Governments and non-governmental organizations scrambled to articulate a response equivalent to the challenges. While the crisis clearly posed an unprecedented set of challenges in human history, it did provide some opportunities as well. If nothing else, the crisis brought home the importance of pandemic-preparedness, biosecurity, health security, food …

Introduction: Women And Family Life During The Covid 19 Crisis In The Middle East Countries: Challenges And Responses, Muhamad Olimat, Osman Antwi-Boateng, Narayanappa Janardhan

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Thematic Use Of Non-Conformity In "Changing My Major" (Ft. Gay Panic), Yazmeen Mayes

Symposium of Student Scholars

CW: Presentation includes references to sex and suicide.

This presentation is an in-depth score analysis of “Changing My Major” from the musical Fun Home by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, which is based on Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical memoir by the same name. The musical examines the similarities and differences between Alison and her father as she attempts to contruct a future without a queer elder to model it. This presentation demonstrates the collaborative, tight structure of thematic messaging in musical theatre. Overall, ““Changing My Major” personifies the show at large and celebrates the process of questioning as its own epic, …