Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Mrs. Agentic: Perceptions Of Women Who Sustain Their Birth Surname After Marriage, Ashley C. Lee, Rachael D. Robnett

McNair Poster Presentations

As more women earn higher education degrees every year, it is clear gender roles are becoming more egalitarian within Western society. More common than ever before, women are earning more degrees than men and are taking on different roles then what was once expected of them. With this new freedom, women have shifted from playing a supportive role within society to branching out and creating their own established identity. Not only are women maintaining a separate identity in the professional world, but they are also maintaining a separate identity in their marriages. Correlating with the increased number of women in …

“Man? Where’S A Man? Don’T Let Him Go!”: Molina’S Trans/Gender Web In Interpretation And Performance, Bella V. Smith

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Using perspectives typical of English and theatrical fields of study, this capstone project interprets Molina from Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman as a heterosexual transgender woman and then investigates why such an interpretation does not exist in performance adaptations. Although Molina has been called a transgender woman in recent criticism, there is a conflation of gender and sexuality that has been uninvestigated in this text. It has not been addressed how Molina constructs her identity or how this interpretation might be employed in performance, which this essay seeks to confront. The first half of the project …

Drawing Testimony, Coming To Writing: Ebe Cagli Seidenberg’S Le Sabbie Del Silenzio And Il Tempo Dei Dioscuri, Eveljn Ferraro

Modern Languages & Literature

This essay considers the question of how “coming to writing” describes the creative process, how mourning becomes language, and how the emptiness of silence turns into word, in relation to the life and literary work of Italian Jewish writer Ebe Cagli Seidenberg. In other words, how did Cagli’s exile to the U.S. facilitate her voice? And how did language become, for her, nothing less than a form of “country”? In examining her journey to testimonial writing, I contend that visual imagery—a combination of visual artifacts and visual memories—plays a major role in getting past the wall of silence, overcoming the …

Women's Research Institute Of Nevada Newsletter, Joanne Goodwin, Women's Research Institute Of Nevada

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

How Women’S College Student Involvement Contributes To Their Career Aspirations And Navigation For Success In Technology Startup Organizations, Heather Doshay

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between women’s (co)curricular student involvement in college and their career outcomes in technology startups. This study focused on the ways in which past student involvement shaped women’s future career aspirations and helped them navigate their present career situations to achieve success. The study extended Astin’s Student Involvement Theory by considering how student involvement impacted career outcomes.

The qualitative methodology incorporated nine semi-structured interviews with recent college graduates turned professional women in startups working in the San Francisco Bay Area. The interviews were transcribed and coded for themes and analyzed using …

Documenting The Experiences Of Gay Latinos In Higher Education Through The Use Of Testimonio, Lorenzo Fabian Garcia

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study focuses on the stories of six self-Identified Gay Latinos in a higher education. The participant’s stories are documented using Testimonio. The six men were uniquely situated to give their testimonios about their campus experiences of seeking support in that they were the narrators of the experiences. Key findings indicated a pipeline of support which began with supportive families. Multidimensional identity was well defined by the participants as understanding of being both Latino and Gay. The participants, while exploring campus spaces for support, found themselves navigating through one identity or the other resulting in a process of selective …

For Those On Glass Cliffs: The Nature Of Women In Power As Explored Through Frozen, The Abramson Effect, And "Let It Go, Raelissa Glennon-Zukoff

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper seeks to explore the link made by Deborah Spar in her recently published piece The Ambramson Effect: Tales of Women Who Topple From Power between the effects of the glass ceiling and glass cliff effects on women in the topmost positions in American businesses, organizations, and corporations and the ascension to power of Queen Elsa in the Disney motion picture Frozen. By incorporating media reports on merchandising and animation, as well as scholarly research, this paper places Spar's theory into a more accessible space. Furthermore, by referencing the lyrics to the feature power ballad from the animated film, …

(Please Don’T) Take Me To Church, Allie Begin

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Sexual inequality has been an issue of debate for centuries. Recently, the push back against this inequality has been at an all time high. Social norms are changing and groups that have previously been marginalized are beginning to find liberation and empowerment. This drastic shift in mindset would not have been possible without the strong backing of influential people. This essay analyzes the work of Irish musician Hozier in his recent song Take Me to Church. Specifically, this piece will examine his disapproval for the way religious institutions control sexuality, polarize sexual binaries, and attack homosexuality with a negative hyperfocus. …

Modernizing The Marianne: The French Feminist Movement And Its Effects On Gender Equality, Hallie Grace Haines

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Same-Sex Peer Influence On Female Undergraduate Body Image Perception, Caitlyn Buchanan

Masters Theses

Regardless of age, race, or socioeconomic class, women throughout western cultures are well documented for having body image related insecurities. These insecurities can be the result of pressure to look and behave a certain way from a variety of sources including media and peers. This study explored the role that same-sex peers play in undergraduate women's perception of body image. Four undergraduate women at a public, Midwestern university who lived within campus housing were interviewed. Results of the study showed that same-sex peers did not play a significant role in the women's perception of body image. The results of this …

Watch Me Disappear: Gendered Bodies, Pro-Anorexia, And Self-Injury In Virtual Communities, Leandra Preston-Sidler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the relationship between gendered identities, virtual communities, and material bodies, with an emphasis on eating disorders and self-injury practices. The use of the internet to represent and foster particular categories of material bodies, such as the anorexic, the fitness buff, and the self-injurer, has gained substantial visibility due in part to the proliferation of visual imagery presented through social networks. I analyze written and visual texts within specific social networks to assess their function and potential impact on individuals and larger communities. Drawing from Donna Haraway's cyborg theory, N. Kathryn Hayles' posthuman, Judith Butler's performativity, feminist poststructural …

Engaging Metis: Exploring An African Woman's Negotiation Of Change, Ruby Pappoe

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

African women’s emerging visibility as social and political actors has received a lot of attention in the past two decades. Scholars have explored women’s political movements and sociocultural activism from various perspectives to expose their contributions to social change. Although this scholarship has expanded to incorporate multiple voices as well as expose the contemporary strategies of resistance women engage in to overcome difficult challenges, there seems to be little research on ordinary women as they also confront their daily challenges in hope of improving their situations. This research takes up this gap by exploring a Ghanaian woman’s resistance in the …

Undergraduate Catholic Lesbians: The Intersection Of Religious And Sexual Aspects Of Identity, Christina Marie Chestna

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The following is a qualitative study designed to shed light on the experiences of undergraduate Catholic lesbians. The study focused on the unique ways in which these women negotiate the intersection of the religious and sexual aspects of their identities. Research shows that religious and sexual aspects of identity often conflict. In-depth research aimed specifically at the negotiation of religious and sexual identity dimensions is needed. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with undergraduate Catholic lesbians who had the opportunity to speak about the ways in which they negotiate the potentially conflicting religious and sexual aspects of their identities. …

"The Mirror Is Dangerous. It Sometimes Shows Her The Dark."—The Hours, Michael Cunningham, Alexandra Crafton

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Woman Sitting In Chair, Brian Hoffman

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Lisa Hansen

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Inefficiency Of United States Maternity Leave Policies, Kimberly Merkley

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

In the United States, many aspects of the workplace are incompatible with motherhood. These include lack of childcare facilities, inflexibility of workplace hours, and the large amounts of time required to attain top positions. One of the most widespread deficiencies in all industries and workplaces is maternity leave, which is neglected at both the state and federal level. Consequently, a woman is often given little or no job protection, let alone compensation or benefits, while focused on the birth and early nurturing of her child. The United States falls well behind other developed and developing countries in this area.

Dispossessing Femininity In Byatt's Possession, Jenna Miller

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

A.S. Byatt’s best-selling 1990 novel Possession follows the character of Roland Michell, an intelligent but struggling academic who has devoted his life and studies to the brilliant Victorian author, Randolph Ash. Roland joins forces with Maud bailey, an expert on a similarly talented but under-recognized Victorian author Christabel LaMotte, in order to better study the relationships between LaMotte, Ash, and Ash’s wife, Ellen. Roland’s and Maud’s literary studies develop along with their relationship, but the more the two of them learn about the relationship between Ash and Christabel, the more they discover that the truth about their Victorian counterparts is …

Hands And Feet, Jessie Hawkes Wilkey

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

I have come to understand what my gawky twelve-year-old self missed and what my skinny dipping self was only beginning to understand: A body is more than structure to tent our spirits. The body and spirit compose the soul, an entity that has its origin with God. The way I treat my body, then, is an indication of my respect for God and for myself. Understanding this, changes my concept of my modesty: it is not for other people, but revolves around a personal understanding between the Lord and ourselves. It has everything to do with who I am, understand …

Women's Values Speaking Between Their Words: Women's Correspondence In Early Nineteenth Century America, Rachel Mahrt Degn

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

In this paper I examine folklore gathered from women’s letters circa 1830 to see what they reveal about how women used correspondence to reinforce and express their values. Through some traditional expressions of folklore (categorized as customary, oral, material, and belief) women demonstrate their values: interpersonal connection and duty.