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The Continuation Of Violence: Analyzing The Retraumatization Of Incarcerated Survivors Of Domestic Violence And Evaluating The Potential Of A “Trauma-Informed” Prison Model, Eliana Kahn

Senior Independent Study Theses

The United States criminal justice system emphasizes punishment, in the form of incarceration, over the rehabilitation of individuals convicted of criminal activity. While confinement is harmful to many inmates, incarcerated women are even more vulnerable to the extent that they are disproportionately survivors of domestic violence and abuse. Given this vulnerability, the primary purpose of this study is to explore the impact of incarceration on survivors of domestic violence and abuse. I aim first to analyze the ways in which punitive institutions replicate dynamics of abuse, often retraumatizing female survivors of domestic violence. I then evaluate the policies and procedures …

“In The Beginning, It Was Little Whispers...Now, We’Re Almost A Roar”: Conceptualizing A Model For Community And Self In Lgbtq+ Health Information Practices, Vanessa Kitzie, Travis L. Wagner, Alexander N. Vera

Faculty Publications

Although LGBTQ+ populations experience significant health challenges, little research exists that investigates their health from an informational perspective. Our study addresses this gap by exploring the health information practices of LGBTQ+ communities in South Carolina, focusing on how sociocultural context shapes these practices. Thirty semi-structured interviews with South Carolina LGBTQ+ community leaders analyzed using open qualitative coding informed the development of a conceptual framework describing their information practices. Findings show that participants engaged in two broad types of practices – protective and defensive – as responses to risks and barriers experienced, which are in turn produced by social and structural …

Exploring The Relationship Between Gender, Race, And Space, And Toronto Community Housing Policy, Anita Rachel Ewan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation presents the racial-gendered lived experiences of Black women living in Toronto Community Housing (TCH; subsidized housing). This research found that Black women and their families are disproportionately faced with challenges due to barriers caused by housing policy and procedures that also affect the overall development and wellbeing of their children. It also highlights the ways in which Black women continue to thrive and survive in the face of detrimental and derelict living conditions; accomplished through community development and support initiatives, and fostering strong communities.

This is a qualitative research project that includes an art-based method. Utilizing a feminist …

Trafficking Of Women And Children In East Java, Indonesia, Sutinah Sutinah, Karen Mwende Kinuthia

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study investigated the patterns and modes of the occurrence of cases of women and child trafficking in East Java Province, Indonesia. This includes the factors that cause women to become familiar with the trade of women and children. This qualitative descriptive study was conducted in four areas of the East Java Province, known as regions, prone to have victims of trafficking. To collect the data, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 115 respondents: 40 commercial sex workers (PSK), 4 transnational/contract marriage victims, 45 beggars, 25 housemaids, 1 victim of child trade trafficking, and 10 concerned experts (researchers and activists …

Feminization Of Poverty Program (Pfk) And The Empowerment Of Women Heads-Of-Household In East Java, Indonesia, Sulikah Asmorowati, Violeta Schubert, Dian Yulie Reindrawati

Journal of International Women's Studies

Severe conditions of poverty have been found in households headed by women in East Java Province, Indonesia. In response to this, the Provincial Government of East Java initiated an innovative program called Jalin Matra (Jalan Lain Menuju Mandiri dan Sejahtera or Another Way Towards Sustenance and Welfare) in which one of the programs is Program Feminisasi Kemiskinan (PFK). This paper is based on a research that is concerned with the implementation of PFK in the regions of Trenggalek and Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia, especially in the village level. It is especially focused on the impacts of the program implementation on …

Keppel, Bobbi, Megan Mcknight, Janine Rynkowski

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Bobbi Keppel is an 87-year old bisexual activist. Her father was a civil rights activist and union organizer; in part because of this, she felt she was a born “disruptor.” As a child, Bobbi Keppel was ill and struggled with being a “sickly kid.” She later married and had two children. During her marriage, she came out as bisexual with the support of her husband. She is a contributor to the classic anthology “By Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out” (edited by Loraine Hutchins and Lani Ka'ahumanu). For many decades, Keppel has been an educator on issues of bisexual …

El Vph Y El Cáncer Cervical En El Perú: Diferencias De Accesibilidad Entre Las Mujeres De Las Zonas Rurales Y Urbanas / Hpv And Cervical Cancer In Peru: The Differences In Accessibility For Rural And Urban Women, Jemma Stratton

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

Este informe examina el estado actual del tratamiento y prevención del VPH en el Perú, y pone énfasis con problemas específicas que han contribuido al riesgo alto de cáncer cervical entre las mujeres rurales. Perú ha tomado grandes pasos en las décadas últimas para establecer programas que se dirigen al VPH y la salud de las mujeres. Sin embargo, las mujeres peruanas tienen una población más probable para contraer cáncer cervical en el mundo. Este informe compara los esfuerzos de prevención del VPH entre las poblaciones rurales y urbanas en el Perú y identificar las barreras que causando esta crisis …

Emergent Masculinities : Gendered Power And Social Change In The Biafran Atlantic Age, Ndubueze L. Mbah

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

In Emergent Masculinities, Ndubueze L. Mbah argues that the Bight of Biafra region’s Atlanticization—or the interaction between regional processes and Atlantic forces such as the slave trade, colonialism, and Christianization—between 1750 and 1920 transformed gender into the primary mode of social differentiation in the region. He incorporates over 250 oral narratives of men and women across a range of social roles and professions with material culture practices, performance traditions, slave ship data, colonial records, and more to reveal how Africans channeled the socioeconomic forces of the Atlantic world through their local ideologies and practices. The gendered struggles over the means …

The Isom Report - Fall 19, Jaime Harker, Theresa Starkey

Isom Report

The official newsletter of the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies.

Radical Feminist Nuns: Spiritual Activism, Catholicism, And The Power Of (Sister)Hood, Emily Lauletta

Gender & Women’s Studies Student Scholarship

Based on the readings of authors such as Gloria Anzaldúa, AnaLouise Keating, Leela Fernandes, and others, throughout the course of this semester, I have been able to develop my own definition of spiritual activism that I believe integrates the theories and concepts that these scholars have written about with my own experiences. Having done both intensive self-study and academic research, I have come to understand that spiritual activism is the act of transforming one’s self through personal and communal reflection in order to work towards transforming the world and set it on a pathway towards equity and social justice. Based …

“Las Mamás No Son Putas”: Percepciones Y Experiencias De Embarazo Y Maternidad En Trabajadoras Sexuales En Buenos Aires / Mothers Are Not Prostitutes: Perceptions And Experiences Of Pregnancy And Motherhood Among Sex Workers In Buenos Aires, Fiona Kennedy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En Buenos Aires, la gran mayoría de las trabajadoras sexuales también son madres. Sin embargo, ha habido pocos estudios en Argentina sobre los vínculos entre el trabajo sexual y la maternidad y las experiencias de embarazo para las trabajadoras sexuales. Las trabajadoras sexuales en Buenos Aires experimentan estigmatización y violencia institucional en múltiples entornos, lo que afecta tanto el acceso a la salud como el bienestar general. Este estudio tiene como objetivo examinar cómo estas vías afectan a las trabajadoras sexuales en la maternidad y el embarazo, con el fin de encontrar áreas de intervención. La mayoría de esta investigación …

Queer Otherwise: Embodying A Queer Identity In Cape Town, Teak Emanuel Hodge

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research responds to the following question: how do LGBTQ South Africans in Cape Town come to understand and embody their queerness? Drawing on ideas of the body as a sense making agent (Meyburgh 2006) and site of socio-political contestation (Foucault 1975) this research adapts body-mapping methodologies (de Jager, Tewson, Ludlow, Boydell 2016) to excavate the ways in which LGBT South Africans negotiate their queerness. Through centering the experiences of three LGBTQ identified South African’s in conversation with the experiences of the researcher, this paper delves into how queer people make sense of and understand themselves in relation to their …

Staying Alive: Women, Ecology And Development. Vandana Shiva. North Atlantic Books, 2016 (Reprint Edition), 244 Pages. Isbn 978-1-62317-051-6, Chittaranjan Subudhi, Keyoor K

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Media Empowers Brave Girls To Be Global Activists, Gayle Kimball

Journal of International Women's Studies

A surprising way to silence young women globally, in addition to overly protective families, is by scholars of youth studies and development professionals. Ageism against youth is rarely discussed, so this article reveals this academic bias that ignores or discounts youth voices—especially young women. However, in the safe space of their bedrooms, the Internet and the cell phone enable young women to express their voices, even to organize uprisings. They can get around family restrictions and desires to protect them by speaking publicly from a private space. Some media provide empowering images for young women activists and informative networks of …

Scientific Consensus On Whether Lgbtq Parents Are More Likely (Or Not) To Have Lgbtq Children: An Analysis Of 72 Social Science Reviews Of The Literature Published Between 2001 And 2017, Walter Schumm, Duane Crawford

Journal of International Women's Studies

Until the 1950’s, it was widely assumed that homosexuality was a pathological condition. Even after leading social science organizations rejected that assumption in the early 1970’s, many believed that LGBTQ parents would not be able to parent as well as heterosexual parents. Further social science research has generally rejected the latter assumption as well. Using a complex citation network method of assessing scientific consensus, Adams and Light (2015) concluded that consensus on same-sex or LGBTQ parenting had been achieved by the late 1990’s and that the consensus formed was that children’s outcomes were no different than for children of heterosexual …

Suffering And Climate Change Narratives, Simon C. Estok

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Suffering and Climate Change Narratives" Simon C. Estok begins with a brief survey of definitional issues involved with the term “suffering” and argues that there has been a relative lack of theoretical attention to suffering in climate change narratives, whether literary or within mainstream media. Estok shows that suffering, far from being singular, is a multivalent concept that is gendered, classed, raced, and, perhaps above all, pliable. It has social functions. One of the primary reasons for the failure of climate change narratives to effect real changes, Estok argues, is that they often carry the functions of …

Contemporary Stories Of Female Development And The Outer Limits Of Maternal Sexuality In Susan Choi’S My Education And Amy Sohn’S Prospect Park West, Christa Baiada

Publications and Research

While liberal sexuality has been integrated into contemporary discursive understandings of female possibilities, barriers remain to representing mothers as sexual beings. This essay explores maternal representations in Choi’s My Education (2013) and Sohn’s Prospect Park West (2009) that challenge cultural ideals of good motherhood and invite scrutiny of normative paths and goals of female development. These 21^st-century American novels confront and even embrace active maternal sexuality but retreat at the boundary of the maternal/sexual breast to allow protagonists in contemporary alterations of female stories of development to achieve maturity through acceptance of the ideal of good motherhood .Each …

Erotic Mindfulness: A Core Educational And Therapeutic Strategy In Somatic Sexology Practices, Marie I. Thouin-Savard

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Somatic sexology modalities such as sexual surrogacy, sexological bodywork, masturbation coaching, and orgasmic meditation have shown significant potential for helping individuals transcend sexual difficulties and grow into more fulfilling erotic lives. The use of an embodied state of consciousness similar to neo-traditional forms of mindfulness meditation may be a common factor contributing to therapeutic efficacy in a variety of somatic sexology methods. Comparing the structure of three somatic sexology modalities—sexual surrogacy, masturbation coaching, and orgasmic meditation—with recent evidence supporting the efficacy of neo-traditional mindfulness practices in promoting women’s sexual wellbeing reveals that somatic sexology practitioners use embodied mindfulness as a …

Divine Kink: A Consideration Of The Evidence For Bdsm As Spiritual Ritual, Sam E. Greenberg

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper reviews the limited empirical research supporting BDSM as a spiritual ritual that enables distinct altered states of consciousness. It expands upon Sagarin, Lee, and Klement’s (2015) preliminary comparison of BDSM to extreme ritual by suggesting that BDSM bears in common with spiritual ritual elements of pain or ordeal, spiritual meaning, and transformative potential. An increasing interest in BDSM in the West is considered in light of the spiritual and ritual roles BDSM fulfills for many practitioners. The relevance of BDSM to transpersonal psychology is discussed and BDSM is considered as an area for further research in transpersonal psychology.

Meaning-Making Among Intentionally Childless Women, Christine Brooks

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper is a summary of a qualitative research project that focused upon meaningmaking processes as described by intentionally childless women. A grounded theory exploration, it involved semi-structured interviews with 30 cisgendered women aged 27–61 who chose childlessness early in life. Based on principles inherent to social constructivism and feminist theories, the subjective voices of the participants were analyzed as normative expressions of female identity. The main category that accompanied intentional childlessness was a sense of freedom. In addition, two additional thematic categories focused on ways the women view their contributions to their communities and experience belonging and a sense …

Do Prostitution Advertisements Reduce Violence Against Women? A Methodological Examination Of Cunningham, Deangelo, And Tripp Findings, Katie Feifer, Jody Raphael, Kezban Yagci Sokat

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

A recent study by Cunningham, DeAngelo, and Tripp (unpublished 2017, 2019) found that advertising prostitution online led to a lower rate of homicide of women in the United States. These findings have circulated widely in the mainstream media as proof that advertising prostitution online increases the safety of prostituted women. The study’s findings were used to argue against the 2018 passage of a federal anti-trafficking bill: Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), known collectively as FOSTA-SESTA. This new law holds websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking accountable for …

Increasing Faculty-Librarian Collaboration Through Critical Librarianship, Adrienne Gosselin, Mandi Goodsett

Michael Schwartz Library Publications

Through the lens of critical librarianship, librarians are becoming increasingly involved in social justice, civic engagement, and human rights issues. This paper examines the collaboration between a subject librarian and a faculty member in an assignment that engaged in Public Sphere Pedagogy (PSP), a teaching strategy with the goal of increasing students’ sense of civic agency and personal and social responsibility by connecting their classwork to public arenas; and project-based learning, wherein students develop a question to research and create projects that reflect their knowledge, which they share with a select audience.

Black Women’S Wellbeing: The Intersections Of Race, Immigrant Status, And Mental Health Among African Diasporan Women In Houston, Texas, Sianneh Vesslee

African American and Africana Studies Summer Fellows

My central research question is: how has white supremacy impacted African Diaspora women’s mental health, access to mental healthcare, and identities as mental health patients in the United States as discernible in advertisements and state policies for psychological wellness? More specifically, I will investigate whether and/or how white supremacy shapes the ways in which advertising and state policies for mental healthcare address the particular needs of black women who immigrate to Houston, Texas from Lagos, Nigeria and Coahuila, Mexico. I choose those geographies because Houston is a U.S. city with one of the highest populations of black immigrants from Nigeria …

Having A Known, Trusted Support Person During Labour And Birth: Perceptions Of Indonesian (Javanese) Women, Their Support Persons And Midwives, Natalia

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Childbirth is a life changing experience for women, yet most women feel anxious with regard to this event. Research has shown that support from family or friends can help to reduce anxiety intrapartum, however, the standard procedure at most maternity centres in Indonesia is to not allow any person in the birthing room except midwives.

This study investigated the impact of the presence of a support person on the anxiety of women giving birth in Surabaya, Indonesia. The originality of this study is in trying to understand the whole picture about support during labour and childbirth by listening to women, …

Perspectives Of Teachers And Social Workers On Sexual Exploitation Of Adolescent Students In Tanzania, Budeba Petro Mlyakado

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Sexual exploitation of children and adolescents is a global concern. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of empirical studies in Tanzania that systematically examine stakeholders’ views on this phenomenon. Using qualitative data from eight focus group discussions (FGDs), this study explores perspectives of teachers and social workers on sexual exploitation of adolescent students. The respondents of this study were conveniently selected from six secondary schools and two social welfare departments in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza regions of Tanzania. The study intended to generate insights for relevant policy and practices towards mitigating the plights of sexual exploitation. Results indicate that teachers …

Feminism And Faith: How Women Find Empowerment In The Roman Catholic Church, Amanda Schar

Celebration of Learning

This project examines the relationship between feminism and Catholicism, focusing on whether or not women feel empowered by the Roman Catholic Church. Female members of the Augustana community were surveyed and asked to share their own experiences with their Catholic faith.

Themes discussed include the decision to stay in the Church versus the decision to leave, the importance of Catholicism as a cultural identity, and the multitude of ways women have found to empower themselves within the existing Church structure.

A Model For Developing Interdisciplinary Research Theoretical Frameworks, A. S. Cohenmiller, Elizabeth Pate

The Qualitative Report

Embedded in interdisciplinary research, just as in disciplinary research, are statements of purpose, theoretical frameworks, research questions, reviews of literature, methodology, findings, recommendations, and more However, one of the least understood aspects of interdisciplinary research is the interdisciplinary research (IDR) theoretical framework. This article is intended to serve as a platform for dialogue within and across disciplines about interdisciplinary research and interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks. In addition, it provides a model for developing an IDR theoretical framework through an illustrative example of how an IDR theoretical framework was created and used within a dissertation study. We conclude the article noting critical …

Educational Reinforcements Of And Challenges To Gender Norms In Urban Sri Lanka, Ruvani Fonseka

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Background:
In 2013, over half of surveyed Sri Lankan men and women expressed gender-inequitable attitudes equating masculinity with violence, and femininity with obedience to men. Gender-inequitable attitudes have been shown to be linked to gender-based violence (GBV) in multiple contexts.
The goal of this research was to identify points of intervention at which programmes and policies could cultivate gender-equitable attitudes among youth in Sri Lanka, with a goal of reducing GBV in adulthood.
Methods:
Over 9 months, the lead author interviewed 18 young adults (ages 18-30) in urban Sri Lanka to understand how their experiences influenced their gender identity, as …

Dmt And “The Man Box:” Provoking Change And Encouraging Authentic Living, An Arts-Based Project, Steven Reynolds

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the mind-body experience through an arts-based research approach to examine, and redefine the emotional capacity and usefulness of males through societal determinants that limits and hinders men from living their authentic selves. Through the lens of a metaphoric “Man Box” 112 men participated in a workshop recreating their personal narratives of socialization through, style of dress, coping mechanisms, belief systems and who they should be as men through society's standards. In the “Man Box,” male bonding, and emotional feelings are discouraged, while the objectification of women, material property and physical/emotional strength are encouraged. This research investigates the …

Queering Music Therapy: Literature Review Of Queer Music Therapy And Music Therapy Education, Eva M. Steward

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This capstone thesis presents current research on the queer (LGBTQ+) community and music therapy. Research on the education of music therapists in working with queer identified clients and patients as well as the current theories and recommendations when providing affirming music therapy for queer clients and patients is discussed. Queer theory is defined and its relationship to psychotherapy, expressive arts therapies, and music therapy is explored. This research shows that even though there is a current push for music therapists to create an affirming and therapeutic environment with queer clients and patients, there is a lack of research, education, and …