Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Social Identity-Based Threats To Human Security: Gender Practice In Sustainable Development And Conflict Transformation, Emma W. Buck

Capstone Collection

I seek to advocate for practitioners in conflict transformation and/or sustainable development to build awareness around the peoples who, according to the status afforded them by their identities within a social context, experience threats to their own sense of human security within situations of violent conflict and/or underdevelopment. This capstone does so by examining gender -- that is, the context-specific distinctions between men and women-- as a social context that influences an individual’s feelings of human security. The capstone then expands a practitioner’s means of addressing gender-based threats to human security in situ. I will first define and situate …

At Your Prettiest/Your Name Is, Jake Phillips

Eddie Mabry Diversity Award

This is a poem showing the progression of my feelings in relation to my gender throughout my life. I identify as both non-binary and as a genderfluid demi-boy, which means I feel my gender changes occasionally, but I usually feel male. I am a member of the trans community, specifically the non-binary portion within it, and I feel this poem accurately represents how that gender identification showed itself as I grew up, even before I realized I wasn't a girl.

The Black Frontier, Aparajita Nanda

English

As a nationalistic concept, frontier refers to America's westward expansion, which was propelled in the nineteenth century by Manifest Destiny. Culturally, frontier promises even more: the creation of communities, the development of markets and states, the merging of peoples and cultures, and the promise of survival and persistence based on values of equality and democracy. Thousands of people left their homes in the East to pursue these ideals, including large communities of African Americans. However, African Americans, like many other cultural groups who moved westward, encountered struggles when they reached the new frontier. In some cases, they faced the same …

Ordinary Women/Extraordinary Lives: Oregon Women And Their Stories Of Persistence, Grit And Grace, Shannon Moon Leonetti

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis tells the stories of five Oregon women who transcended the customary roles of their era. Active during the waning years of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, each woman made a difference in the world around them. Their stories have either not been told or just given a passing glance. These tales are important because they inform us about our society on the cusp of the twentieth century.

Hattie Crawford Redmond was the daughter of a freed slave who devoted herself to the fight for women's suffrage. Minnie Mossman Hill was the first woman …

How The Liberian Women Managed To Succeed, And Thrive, After Fourteen Years Of Civil War, Katherine Elizabeth Parker

Senior Theses

Although war, and especially civil war, is predominantly viewed in a negative light, in the case of Liberia’s successive wars in the decade, local women in Liberia benefitted a great deal upon the conclusion of the wars. While these civil wars, lasting from 1989-2003, brought about significant hardship for everyone living in Liberia, and resulted in a horribly impoverished state, the end of the conflicts did bring about some marked positive outcomes. Upon the end of the wars, Liberian women were, in a sense, given a chance to start over. Throughout the second civil war, the women were able to …

Bollywood And Hollywood: Mirrors Of Societies' Perceptions Of Women?, Roshni Jaura

Senior Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the inferior positions of women in both Bollywood and Hollywood films and the way in which these representations reflect women’s actual social positions in Indian and American societies. In order to determine films truly reflect women’s social positions in these respective societies, this paper establishes and relies on a criteria to understand what women’s social positions truly are in both societies. A criteria is also formulated by which the representation of female characters in the top five blockbusters from Bollywood and Hollywood in the years 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, and 2013 are …

More Awesome Than Infinity: Explorations Of Sea Imagery And Sexual Deviance, Kelly Lonergan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

More Awesome Than Infinity: Explorations of Sea Imagery and Sexual Deviance

Patriarchy, Empire, And Ping Pong Shows: The Political Economy Of Sex Tourism In Thailand, Kristen Kelley

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

This project provides a postcolonial feminist analysis of the prosperity and reputation of the sex tourism industry in Thailand. It examines the ways in which Western imperialism created the space for the globalization of sex work, as well as providing a postcolonial analysis of the hegemonic structures which have existed throughout Thailand's history that enable the sex tourism industry to thrive today. This project also explores how policy making and enforcement in Thailand affects the sex tourism industry, as well as the ways in which activism works to change or support these policies, and how this affects individuals who are …

Fearless Friday: Class Of 2015, Chrisitina L. Bassler

SURGE

We recognize all of the Gettysburg College graduates who will use what they learned and experienced over the past four years to fearlessly promote change, seek justice, and challenge inequality after leaving Gettysburg College. The following list contains the names of members of the class of 2015 who have been recognized by other members of the campus community as leaders for change, and we are proud to claim these fearless and inspirational students as our own. We know, however, that we do not have everyone who deserves to be recognized listed below, so feel free to continue nominating your friends, …

Family Affairs Newsletter 2015-05-15, Zack Paakkonen

Family Affairs newsletter (2004-2016)

FAMILY AFFAIRS was a free, twice-a-month, social activities newsletter for the GLBTQI (gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans/queer/intersex) community, sent out around the 1st and 15th of each month. It covered the State of Maine only. The list was begun and maintained for many years by Jean Vermette in Bangor, and later operated by Zack Paakkonen of Portland. Over the years it evolved from a social activities newsletter into a business directory, classified ad service, and community bulletin board.

Pageant: Manufactured Beauty, Caitlin Penny

Graduate School of Art Theses

Pageant: Manufactured Beauty explores why the female body is abject and how that body is mitigated through sexually objectifying images. This paper discusses how the female body has been objectified in order to “correct” the elements of the body that are considered abject, through an exploration of psychological studies, philosophy and analysis of contemporary art and popular culture.

The effects of these images on the women who view them is often a desire to conform their own bodies to the images in order to gain social acceptance. Clothing and the decoration of the body, it is argued, are the methods …

Fame Gone Wild (2015: An Era Of Self-Invention), Stephanie E. Kang

Graduate School of Art Theses

Entertainment has become one of the fueling fires of society. In today’s world of nonstop broadcasting and streaming, many begrudgingly trudge through their 9 to 5’s only to live for their few post-work hours of leisure, which have been reserved for this week’s latest items on the viewing queue. Netflix and Hulu have become the opium of the masses. Consequently, this obsession with constant entertainment has now morphed into a shared yearning for the people that are watched and followed religiously through the screen – the celebrities. In this cultural moment, the concept of fame has become a vital element …

Divas, Buffalo Gay Men's Chorus

Programs

Good evening, and welcome to the BGMC Spring concert "Divas!" Tonight the BGMC will perform the music of many beloved Divas who have made significant impact and contributions to the LGBTQ community through their music.

Erichtho’S Mouth: Persuasive Speaking, Sexuality And Magic, Lauren E. Devoe

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Since classical times, the witch has remained an eerie, powerful and foreboding figure in literature and drama. Often beautiful and alluring, like Circe, and just as often terrifying and aged, like Shakespeare’s Wyrd Sisters, the witch lives ever just outside the margins of polite society. In John Marston’s Sophonisba, or The Wonder of Women the witch’s ability to persuade through the use of language is Marston’s commentary on the power of poetry, theater and women’s speech in early modern Britain. Erichtho is the ultimate example of a terrifying woman who uses linguistic persuasion to change the course of nations. Throughout …

Here I Am And Here I’M Not: Queer Women’S Use Of Temporary Urban Spaces In Post-Katrina New Orleans, Vigdís María Hermannsdóttir

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis builds on previous work on the relationship between queer identities and urban space. Drawing from an analysis of two recurring New Orleans-based queer women’s events, I examine how lesbians and queer women not only use but also actively produce social spaces of their own through participation in events organized specifically for lesbians and queer women. Using qualitative methods, I examine the ephemeral and transient quality of lesbian and queer women’s social spaces in post-Katrina New Orleans and the processes through which such spaces come into being. I argue that lesbian and queer women’s production of ephemeral social spaces …

Discreet Feminism: Neil Gaiman’S Subversion Of The Patriarchal Society In American Gods, Christopher P. Thompson

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Neil Gaiman’s use of a hyper-masculine American culture in American Gods sheds light upon the multiple issues surrounding a misogynistic society in which women are treated as sexual objects and punished for their independence as sexual beings. Gaiman’s efforts at highlighting these issues are discreet and hidden under layers of patriarchal expectations, but through the use of his protagonist, Shadow, Gaiman is able to provide an alternative to the society he represents. While he successfully illustrates this more “ideal” society, his endeavors fall short and are almost imperceptible throughout his novel. Gaiman’s work in American Gods, while lacking in its …

The Effectiveness Of Warning Labels And Subvertising On Reducing The Harmful Effects Of Media Exposure, Yasmin Akbari, Gaganjyot Sandhu, Terri Scott, David Frederick

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Women are routinely exposed to highly sexualized images of women whose bodies have been airbrushed into literally impossible standards of beauty, which can contribute to body dissatisfaction. Women who are more dissatisfied with their bodies report greater depression, social anxiety, and disordered eating patterns. This experiment examines the effectiveness of two approaches to reduce the negative effects of media exposure on body dissatisfaction: warning labels and subvertising. Some body image activists groups have proposed legislation that would require photoshopped images to include a warning label that the image has been artificially manipulated. Subvertising takes this a step farther, where activists …

"I'M Rich Bitch:" Black Class Performance And The New Nouveau Riche, Nykia Hannah

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

With its multitude of sub-genres, larger than life personalities, and fifteen minutes of fame offerings, reality television has quickly changed the face and economics of television culture. This research examines the disruption of traditional roles of race and class in reality television. Interdisciplinary in content and methodology, this study uses Real Housewives of Atlanta to identify the ways in which various representations of blackness challenge hegemonic understandings of what it means to be black in the United States. Focusing on the fluidity of identity, "I'm Rich Bitch" highlights the role that popular culture plays in redetermining populist perceptions of blackness.

Representation Of The Mother’S Body As A Narrative Conduit For Wartime Themes In Saga, Bess Pallares

Student Research Symposium

“Representation of the Mother’s Body as a Narrative Conduit for Wartime Themes in Saga” examines how both diagetic and extradiagetic art creates a visual syuzhet to convey themes of interdependence and transgenerational memory in the comic book series Saga. My method of research was a narrative analysis of volumes 1-4 of Saga, particularly focusing on the artistic representation of two mothers’ bodies within the narrative and on covers of the books, as related to the themes and story. As a result, I found in the artistic syuzhet that the representation of two characters’ bodies as they interact …

Leading Women: Henry James And Feminism In The Portrait Of A Lady, The Bostonians And The Golden Bowl, Emily Boockoff

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.