Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Female Anti-Heroes In Contemporary Literature, Film, And Television, Sara A. Amato

Masters Theses

The anti-hero character has steadily become more popular in contemporary literature, film, and television. Part of this popularity is due to the character's appeal to the audience. This character type often commits acts that challenge the regulations of society. These acts, however, can become wish fulfillment for some audience members, making the acts of the character a vicarious experience as well as making the character more relatable because of the character's flawed nature.

This study will trace some of the evolution of the female anti-hero by discussing an ancestral character of the female anti-hero—Hester Prynne the protagonist of Nathanial Hawthorne's …

Queer Stories Of Coming Out In The 21st Century, Bradley Wolfe

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Queer Stories of Coming Out in the 21st Century was written by Bradley Wolfe for his Communication Studies master’s capstone project. The research was conducted at Minnesota State University, Mankato during the 2015-2016 school year. The research problem was to analyze the relevance of the Cass Model of queer identity development in a cultural environment which has shifted greatly since its origination. 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand what aspects of the model still held true and if other models better describe the identity development process for queer individuals. The research found the Cass Model was not correlating with …

Communicating Social Support: Understanding Complexities Of Breastfeeding Communication Among African American Mothers, Nicole Rachael Peritore

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Breast milk is the best choice for meeting the nutritional needs for an infant whenever possible. Despite the knowledge that this nutritional choice is the best choice for an infant, data demonstrates that there is a sharp decline in the rates of breastfeeding mothers. Among African Americans, breastfeeding rates are significantly lower than the national averages. Despite many of the applications of social support in communication research, there is a gap in knowledge on the social support systems in the context of breastfeeding, especially for African Americans. With the social ecological model as a framework, social support theory provides understanding …

Sticking To The Script: Sexual Scripts In The Slasher Sub-Genre, Jennifer L. Clay

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The “slasher” sub-genre has been immensely popular, even spawning television shows that invoke the familiar slasher conventions. This sub-genre has simultaneously become vilified by media researchers over the years. The slasher has received particular criticism for allegedly reinforcing regressive attitudes regarding female sexuality. This study applies sexual script theory to better understand the messages about sex found throughout the sub-genre. This study utilizes content analysis to study the more recent iterations of the slasher sub-genre including the re-make, the modern slasher film and the slasher television show. This analysis uncovered that the slasher sub-genre has evolved over time. While slasher …

Extending Invitations, Becoming Messmates, Alison M. Reynolds, Brent C. Talbot

Sunderman Conservatory of Music Faculty Publications

As music educators we can model proactive advocacy among community members to prevent individuals' reactive violence in response to intolerance for differences. We can offer music-learning tables as safe spaces in which community members openly and collaboratively learn to know each other as individuals with diverse identities and interests. As messmates around the table, we can identify ways that researching, questioning, and being musical together can eradicate fears and the damaging effects of homophobia.

Beasts, Brides, And Brutality: The Intersection Of Animalism And Gender In European Fairy Tales, Rachel Matson

English Honors Papers

This thesis, a comparative study of published fairy tale collections across three nations and three centuries, argues that fairy tales were, in their time, highly charged ideological interventions in period debates about gender, class, and nation. In this thesis I recover not just the historical context of each collection but also the circumstances of production for their print publication. The variables that form the basis of this comparison include: whether stories in a given volume were collected from informants or invented by a single author; the level of attachment of the collector to nationalist movements; and the layers of editorial …

Ua1c11/78 Rebelettes Photograph Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs removed from Rebellette scrapbooks.

Matilde Ros Leaves The Jungle, Susana Beatriz Camacho Vivar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

When Matilde defies her mother and abandons her privileged life in a South American capital to fight for environmental justice in the Amazon jungle, she never imagines her journey will bring her right back to where she started. As she insists on freeing herself, four other women around her do the same, defining their freedom when class, gender and race may still get to tell them who they are.

Uncoverings: The Research Papers Of The American Quilt Study Group, Volume 37 (2016), Lynne Zacek Bassett, Diana Bell-Kite, Jonathan Gregory, Colleen Hall-Patton, Peggy Hazard, Sandy Staebell, Susan Stanley

Uncoverings Journal

Foreword by Lynne Zacek Bassett

Migrant Quilts of Southern Arizona by Peggy Hazard

Funeral Ribbon Quilts by Diana Bell-Kite

Why Ernest Haight Made Quilts by Jonathan Gregory

The Godey Quilt by Sandy Staebell

Protofeminist Thought in Mid-Twentieth Century Magazine Articles by Colleen Hall-Patton

Mary Catherine Lamb: Lady of Perpetual Garage Sales by Susan Stanley

Contributors

Index

Healing The Social Body After Assisted Reproduction, Cvetana Cindy Golusin

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation is concerned with the lived experiences of ten women after having children with In Vitro Fertilization. I examine the reshaped subjectivities that emerge within the women’s everyday life experiences to deepen understandings of human agency by exploring the intersection of assisted reproductive technologies, cultural ideologies, and social interactions as components in the transformation of the women’s identity. The experience of in vitro fertilization offered a fertile place in which to examine the roles that social and interpretive practices play in constituting the subjective experience in recasting a women’s identity. The study design consisted of informant interviews and case …

Sexing While A Survivor: Black Queer Desire, Je-Shawna C. Wholley

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The vast sexual exploitation of Black queer women is under addressed by therapeutic and family counseling experts alike. Scholarship on the subject shows that a history of sexual trauma can have direct negative implications on women’s sexuality and ability to access sexual pleasure. However, therapeutic and family counseling interventions lack an intersectional analysis that directly address the unique experiences of Black women – and even further, Black queer women, who are survivors. In this research study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Black queer, lesbian, bisexual and same-gender-loving survivors of sexual assault to assess how they located agency, empowerment, and pleasure …

Space, Place, Gender, And Sexuality : Situational Gender In Four Coffee Houses, Kimberly Tauches

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this dissertation, I explore the notion of situational gender in four coffee houses. Drawing on recent theoretical contributions by Barrie Thorne (1993) and Jacob Hale (1997) I determine the ways in which gender changes salience, as well as how gender shifts for individuals in these specific social settings. The crux of my research question focuses on determining the fluidity of gender in everyday life by highlighting the importance of situation while still maintaining a deep understanding of how gender operates as a major social structure. I draw on recent theoretical notions in gender performance, queer theory, and postmodern theory …

Who Feels Included At Work? : Intersectionality And Perceptions Of Diversity And Inclusion In The Workplace, Courtney J. Dallaird

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There is a difference between diversity and inclusion in the workforce. More specifically, there is a difference in the understanding and experience that the U.S. cultural meaning of these words creates when interpreted and applied in a workplace setting. Understanding this difference is essential to the work businesses do in actualizing human capital as well as in creating and interpreting methods of providing access, recognizing diversity, and now, increasingly, moving towards a rhetoric of inclusion in the workplace (Roberson, 2006). This research looks at the existing body of knowledge around historical disenfranchisement and the evolution of diversity and inclusion research …

Grassroots Activists And Movements Against Female Genital Mutilation And Cutting Bridged With Political Alliances : Agency Power And The Potential To Bring About Change, Aisha Kearney

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this thesis I highlight grassroots activists and social movements/mobilization against FGM/C throughout some of the regions where it's concentrated, and consider the political alliances that have aided these activists and their movements towards declines in the prevalence of the practice. I consider the recent outlawing of the practice in the Gambia (last year) which was strongly motivated by grassroots activists originally from the Gambia and the transnational political alliances they were able to form. I examine activists and movements in Senegal, paying particular attention to the approach of NGO TOSTAN. I also highlight long standing histories of grassroots activism …

Application Of Cotter And Colleagues' Glass Ceiling Test To Examine Salary Disparity In Field Of Social Work, Kris Foote

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract

Identifying The Limits Of Sexual Liberation As A Feminist Value, Nichole Hungerford

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis explores feminist responses to the sexual revolution and the extent to which sexual liberation, from the perspective of heterosexual relations, has served women’s interests as an oppressed social group under patriarchy. In particular, this thesis examines the divide between libertarian and radical feminists’ interpretation of sexual liberation, considering both the radical feminist criticisms of the sexist nature of heterosexual sex and the libertarian feminist view of free sexuality as a revolutionary act that ameliorates the condition of women. This thesis offers a middle ground approach to sexual liberation as a feminist value by suggesting two conditions on heterosexual …

"Porque Tienen Mucho Derecho" : Parteras, Biomedical Training And The Vernacularization Of Human Rights In Chiapas, Mounia El Kotni

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This doctoral research stems from thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Mexican State of Chiapas. Chiapas is one of the regions with the highest maternal mortality rates in the country. To comply with international development goals to lower maternal mortality rates, indigenous midwives are trained in detecting risk factors in pregnancy and birth, while women are encouraged to give birth in hospitals. This dissertation sheds light on the impact of such policies on poor women's access to reproductive health care and Mayan midwives' practices. Over the course of my research, I utilized the methodology of participant-observation and conducted in-depth …

Parental Aspirations Among Young Gay Men, Daniel Farr

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Today’s young gay men are experiencing life choice options in manners greater than any prior generation of gay men, particularly when considering family building. These men are coming out at earlier ages and facing a socio-political world of increased legal rights and opportunities, among which is the opportunity to parent outside of a heterosexual past. Informed by interviews with 51 gay men, aged 18-35, this research explores the personal views of today’s young gay men about parenting. While past research has primarily focused upon the views of gay men who were already parenting, thus recalling past aspirations, this project focuses …

Development And Initial Validation Of The Sources Of Self-Efficacy Information Scales For Working With Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Clients, Snehal Moroth Kumar

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A new self-report measure, the Sources of Self-Efficacy Information Scales for Working

The Key To Peace Is Ours : Women's Peacebuilding In Twenty-First Century Colombia, Katherine S. Paarlberg-Kvam

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT