Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Private Deaths: The Impossibilities Of Home In The Modernist Novel, Ava Bindas

English Honors Projects

This project examines novels by Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, and Nella Larsen featuring female characters who contemplate or commit suicide. Relying on a composite theoretical framework that weaves together geography theories of spaces as well as gendered theories of bodies by authors like Judith Butler, Rita Felski, and Victoria Rosner, I argue women commit suicide because their modern homes fail to accommodate their gendered bodies. Focusing less on the moment of death than on the conditions that make choosing to live impossible, this project tracks how, during a moment of supposed liberation, conceptions of gender, modernity, and domestic …

A Conversation With Jamie Hoag

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 1998.

Interview keywords: Outfront, Chaplain's Office, Catholicism, religious, relationships, student involvement, government

Coming Together As One: How A Los Angeles Magazine Fostered The Lgbt Community, Gina Wiese

Undergraduate Research Awards

There is no decade that evokes such discomfort for LGBT folk than the 1950s. Those who were privileged enough to benefit during the era remember the decade fondly as the age of a tremendous economic boom and American identity transforming with the victory in both Europe and the Pacific. White heterosexual families migrated from cities to the suburbs and turned out children almost as fast as the factories were producing fridges and washing machines. But LGBT Americans were put under a sudden microscope; there was a mass culture of conformity to which those who failed to perform heteronormativity stood out …

The Formation Of The Autonomous Woman Through A Hegelian Lens: A Comparative Study Of The British Fin De Siecle "New Woman" And The Post-Mao "Amazing" Woman, Robyn L. Buro

English Department Theses

This thesis utilizes the Hegelian concept of self-consciousness development to explore the formation of the autonomous woman within the New Woman movement of the British fin de siècle and the literature of women writers in 1980s Post-Mao China. The sexual figuration of the New Woman via an unremitting male gaze as well as the absence of individual awareness due to limited reflective self-assessment lead to a misrepresentation of the female figurehead in fin de siècle Britain. Through an in-depth study of literature by Charlotte Mew, Victoria Cross, George Egerton, and Thomas Hardy, the reader can identify key points of failure …

The Stories We Tell, Abigail A. Hoekstra

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

Two or Three Things I Know for Sure tells the story of Dorothy Allison as she comes to terms with her past and strives to move beyond it, to be empowered and embodied by it. In this short memoir, Allison explores the relationship she has with her mother and how that relationship has influenced her individuality and character, whose complacency has restricted Allison. Allison breaks away from the stories she has been told to tell a new story of abuse and disembodiment in which she finds love, and in turn, embodiment; the unification of her body and spirit. Story-telling and …

Beyond Boundaries: Women, Writing And Visuality In Contemporary China, Géraldine Fiss, Li Guo

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This special issue offers explorations of women, writing, and visuality in contemporary Chinese literature and culture, following up on a previous issue titled “Nation, Gender, and Transcultural Modernism in Early Twentieth‐Century China,” which was published in Frontiers of Literary Studies in China (vol. 8, no. 1, 2014). The earlier issue addressed “the complex cultural mechanism which placed gender at the center of the nationalist discourse” in early twentieth‐century works by both male and female authors and questioned how the uncertainty of discourses on gender and nation “opens up space for creating subversive cultural imaginaries and challenging colonial discourses.” This issue …

The Aesthetics Of Hysteria In Feminine Melodrama; On Fang Fang's Water Under Time (2008), Li Guo

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Water under Time, the novel by the reputed Chinese fiction writer Fang Fang, appropriates and reconstructs the conventions of the hysteric narrative as an affective form of feminine history telling and writing. The novel, which accounts Hankou city’s past through the heroine’s life story, illustrates how feminine hysteria provides a gendered lens of reconstructed historical authenticity via the panorama of China’s early Republican period, the anti‐Japanese War, and the present new millennium. Transcending the official historical accounts, Fang Fang’s narrative features women’s innovative reconfiguration of contesting historical discourses about the city, the community, and the nation. This study of Water …

Homosociality In Michael Radford’S "The Merchant Of Venice", Eric A. Pitz

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

Mother Goddesses And Subversive Witches: Competing Narratives Of Gender Essentialism, Heteronormativity, Feminism, And Queerness In Wiccan Theology And Ritual, Carly B. Floyd

Honors Projects

Wicca has typically been viewed as an empowering alternative to institutionalized and patriarchal religions, and women especially have been drawn to this religion because of its inclusion of women as goddesses and priestesses. It is also seen as a sex-positive religion, and many LGBTQ+ people embrace Wicca due to its lack of concepts such as sin and shame, especially around sex and sexuality. This research, however, troubles the claim that Wicca is a feminist, woman-friendly, queer-friendly religion. While women are celebrated and valued, I argue that women’s positive portrayal as mothers, nurturers, emotional, and intuitive portrays women’s nature in a …

Brief Report: Young Adult Women, Sexting, And Risky Sexual Behaviors, Claire Kimberly, Amanda Williams, Devin Drawdy, Christopher Cruz

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The present study explored associations between sexually explicit text messaging (sexting), social media use, and engagement in risky sexual behaviors among young adult women to determine whether online sexting and social media activity was associated with real-world sexual behaviors. Participants completed a self-administered anonymous, online survey that included 66 questions assessing demographic information, use of technology, sexting activity, and sexual behaviors. A greater proportion of participants reported sexting than in previous studies and results indicate sexting is used to maintain intimate relationships online. Results also suggest that, for young women, social media and sexting facilitate alternative intimate communication, without physical …

The Relationship Between Promoting Self-Efficacy And Informed Decision-Making In Pregnant Nulliparous Women And Method Of Delivery, Crystal Hunter

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

This presentation will cover the relationship between the concepts of decreased self-efficacy in pregnant women’s abilities to deliver their babies vaginally, fear of the pain and duration of labor process, and the acceptance of medical intervention without sufficient intrapartum education surrounding delivery methods. These interrelated variables impede the concept of informed choice. The current state of the problem surrounds women with low self-efficacy who are predicted to have negative childbirth experiences such as, consenting to an astronomically high rate of cesarean sections. The focus for nursing is that low-risk, healthy women who elect cesarean sections without the knowledge that permanent …

Using “Evil” To Combat “Evil”: The Regulation Of Prostitution In Renaissance Florence, Lilah F. Abrams

Young Historians Conference

In accordance with the general opinions towards women at the time, the establishment of the Office of Decency (known as the Onestá) in Florence, Italy during the Renaissance served to dehumanize the women participating in the profession. While many argue that the Florentine Onestá was established to preserve the city’s image, the ultimate intention of the ordinances was to use women as tools to regulate male behavior. Drawing on the remaining ordinances established by the Onestá as primary source material, this paper identifies the utilization of prostitutes to restrict the defiling of “virtuous” women by men through regulations on attire …

Take Back The Night: Rally, March, Speak Out [Poster], University Of Northern Iowa. Women's And Gender Studies Program.

Women’s and Gender Studies Program Documents

No abstract provided.

Wendy's Story In J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Jessica Hedrick

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Although known today as simply Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie’s classic children’s novel was originally titled Peter and Wendy. This paper explores the famous children’s story from Wendy Darling’s perspective, taking particular interest in the narrator’s contradictory stance on Wendy her agency in the original novelized text. Peter Pan may be the most well known of Barrie’s characters, but the novel’s story is Wendy’s. The relationship between a mother and her children forms the crux of the novel; without Wendy, without her relationship with her own mother and her desire to play grown-up, there is no story. Peter Pan …

Separation Of Church And State: Stratified Access To Reproductive Healthcare In The United States, Brenna Helm

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Reproductive rights continue to be a political issue in the United States, with arguments emanating from various angles - including religious and feminist ideologies. The contentious tone of the recent presidential election did nothing to quell the debate. Recently, attempts to create policy limiting access to contraceptives and comprehensive sex education, are important aspects of reproductive health, but the controversy predominantly lies with access to abortion.

The purpose of this study is to understand if there is a relationship between elected office holders’ political party affiliation and the presence or absence of both Planned Parenthood clinics and so-called crisis pregnancy …

The Harmful Traditional Practice Of Breast Ironing In Cameroon, Africa., Rachel Pearsell

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

This article will examine the harmful traditional practice of breast ironing, a common occurrence in Cameroon. Breast ironing affects approximately one in every four adolescent girls in Cameroon and is typically performed by the mother of the child who will heat common household items such as pestles or grinding stones and massage the breast tissue, hoping to flatten the breast or reverse the growth. This practice causes irreversible physical and psychological trauma to young girls and is performed in hopes to deter men from making sexual advances onto young girls. This article also examines legislation around the practice, both locally …

Reactions To Sexism And Sexual Objectification, Olivia Rivera

Undergraduate Research Conference

Men and women have different attitudes about sexism (Phys.org Staff, 2015). Men are more likely than women to be indifferent about sexist situations.

However, most studies have not examined attitudes that college students have about sexist situations, jokes, and advertisements.

Therefore the aim of the current study is to examine gender differences and perceptions of sexism/sexual objectification in college students.

Card: Thank You Note From President Bill Clinton, William Jefferson Clinton

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Note: To Edna Saffy, your support and friendship during my first term have meant much to me and our administration. Thank you. Bill Clinton.

Certificate Of Subject Of Biographical Record In "Who's Who In The South And Southwest", Marquis Who's Who Publication Board

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

The Marquis Who’s Who Publication Board Certifies the Edna. L. Saffy is a subject of biographical record in Who’s Who in the South and Southwest Eighteenth Edition 1982/1983 inclusion in which is limited to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their own fields of endeavor and who have, thereby, contributed significantly to the betterment of contemporary society.

"Revealing Reality": Four Asian Filmmakers Visualize The Transnational Imaginary, Stephen Edward Spence

American Studies ETDs

This dissertation posits that four Asian filmmakers engage in “revealing reality” in unique but interconnected ways that employ innovative narrative and cinematic/visual techniques, including a direct address to the senses and an augmenting of their vision with fantasy or surrealism. My study argues that Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan), Jia Zhangke (China), Tsai Ming-liang (Taiwan), and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) mobilize this visual and narrative strategy to participate in debates about globalization and to comment on the state of their respective nations, the concept of the nation, and the transnational. The films of each artist are examined in detail; I investigate their stylistic …