Digital Commons Network^™

Forced Dependency: The Subjugation Of Women Through Medicine In Ancient Greece And Rome, Evelyn J. Polovich

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

In the ancient Mediterranean men were in charge of every facet of life, including women’s medicine. They forced women out of the oversight of gynecology and reformed it into a method of control that they could assert in order to force women into a position of submission. This paper aims to bring the ways in which ancient medicine was influenced by cultural ideas and worked to subjugate women and allow men to gain further control over their autonomy. This research was inspired by the works of ancient physicians like Hippocrates, Soranus, and Galen, as well as contemporary sources that critique …

Default Bodies: Challenging Gendered Norms In Fighting Games Through Participatory Design, Shalom Taiwo, Laura Pruszko

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The over-sexualisation of female characters in video games peaked in the 1990s and 2000s and fighting games have been slow to move away from it. Their reliance on visual exaggeration to convey identity and fighting style makes this harder to change. With 48% of players today being women, this raises questions about how these portrayals persist. This paper examines how participatory approaches can be used to explore how women players respond to these designs through a survey, a within-subject evaluation task, and a co-design workshop. Participants recognised exaggeration as part of the genre’s identity but criticised its association with sexualisation. …

Establishment Of Age-Specific Reference Intervals For Ca 19-9 And Cea: A Retrospective Analysis Of The Saudi Population, Abrar Ashi, Shmoukh Alghuraibi

The Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Science

Introduction: Accurate interpretation of serum marker measurements is essential in clinical laboratory practice. Carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) are widely used biomarkers, yet their serum concentrations may be influenced by demographic and non-malignant factors. This study aimed to establish age- and gender-stratified reference intervals (RIs) for a Saudi population and quantify the impact of these local limits on diagnostic specificity and stewardship.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed 1,567 adult laboratory results (aged 15–100) from nationwide diagnostic centres. This study followed the CLSI EP28-A3c guidelines for the indirect estimation of reference intervals. Statistical analysis included Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney …

The Tyrannical Woman: The Collapse Of Idolized Feminine Sexuality In Blake’S Visions Of The Daughters Of Albion, Asha A. Lambson

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

One year before the publication of William Blake’s Visions of the Daughters of Albion, Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of modern Western feminism, published A Vindications of the Rights of Woman. In her influential essay, she describes the concept of the tyrannical woman: a woman who, oppressed by reductive and stereotypical views of femininity, especially within the Madonna-whore complex, turns to forms of cunning and trickery to gain power over her environment. This paper explores Oothoon’s character in Blake’s Visions and how, over the course of the poem, she becomes a tyrannical woman. Oothoon, often praised by critics of Blake as …

Is It Still Gendered? Political Discourse Among Adolescent Legislators, Kevin G. Lorentz Ii, Stephanie Zarb, Connor J.S. Sutton, Mary Herring

Journal of Political Science Studies

More women are serving in American legislatures than ever before. However, research demonstrates that even when included, women’s formal political participation in legislatures often is undergirded by gender norms and forestalled by considerable institutional barriers, especially partisanship. Given the challenges of traditional gender norms and increasing numbers of women legislators over the past twenty years, our study examines whether political discourse remains gendered in a formal environment. Using a mock legislature of adolescents, we find that women still face substantial barriers that result in their taking fewer speaking turns than their male counterparts, although when women do participate, they act …

A Pot Of Gold At The End Of The Assembly Line: Jewelry, Facture, And Alienation, Jonathon A. Zalakos

Masters Theses

A Pot of Gold at the End of the Assembly Line integrates icons of mass-manufacturing with signifiers of joyful work, stimulating a dialogue between industrial and craft labour. Visible traces of the making process left on these works conjure a spectral ‘maker’, implied by the fingerprints, toolmarks, assembly, and conspicuous decision making of an ‘other’. As we relate to these signifiers as opportunities for our own bodily action, this spectre speaks in our own voice. Possessed by this ghost, viewers are vicariously thrust into an imaginary context and made sensitive to the nature of this work — whether it validates …

The Home And The Self: On Perceptions Of Feminine Virtue, Rebecca Stevens

Masters Theses

Reflecting on my own feelings and experiences with domesticity and on the larger patterns of socialization they reveal, I use decoration and domestic objects to explore my discomfort with the stereotypes of feminine virtue that I grew up around in the American South. These specific ideas of socialized feminine virtue center around domestic service and a focus on appearance. Working primarily in porcelain with the addition of textiles, I embrace materials, styles, and methods of making that are associated with women and girls. Through hand-crafted tableware, dolls, and decorative patterns I critique gendered forms of socialization while questioning historical and …

Girls On Screens And Boys In The Streets: Afrobeats Dance, Gender, And Waithood In Lagos, Nigeria, Gali Kinkulkin, Moshe Morad, Lynn Schler

Journal of International Women's Studies

The global success of the musical genre of Afrobeats has generated substantial scholarly interest in the experiences of singers and musicians within the industry. Scholars of this genre have examined an array of topics, including cultural identity, gender disparities, socioeconomic impact, and the global music industry. However, few studies focus on the experiences of Afro dancers despite the critical role of dance in the genre’s international popularity; those that do centralise dance concentrate primarily on how women dancers navigate an industry that both empowers and objectifies women. This study departs from these earlier studies by examining the lived experiences of …

From Anxiety To Resilience: A Case Study Of Female-Identifying Middle School Students At A Math Summer Camp, Elizabeth Teixeira

Educational Studies Dissertations

Mathematics anxiety, defined as a fear that hampers engagement in mathematical tasks (Richardson & Suinn, 1972), affects nearly 50% of students (Johnston-Wilder et al., 2014) and has a disproportionate impact on female students (Devine et al., 2018; Stoet et al., 2016). Math anxiety is often treated in the research literature as a relatively stable trait. This perspective may not fully capture how anxiety manifests in specific moments of mathematical engagement or account for the role of environmental conditions that can both precipitate and mitigate anxious responses. In response to these gaps, this study investigates how mathematics anxiety manifests in …

Miss Ogilvy Does Not Find Herself: The Repression Of Queer Expression Post World War I, Kennedie Krieger

2026 Symposium

World War l was a historical period of intense societal change, and although it brought upon a lot of devastation, there were also groups of people that experienced liberation because of the war. Radclyffe Hall’s short story “Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself” is an example of the ways in which the war offered relief for queer women who had previously been expected to exist within rigid gender roles. Through an uncommon perspective, readers are able to get a sense of the ways in which gendered societal expectations shifted during the war and the positive outcomes this brought about. Although these hopeful …

From Your Pov: Using Narrative-Focused Methodology To Study Psychological Correlates Of Sexual Health Behaviors, Zoë E. Sweaney, Stephanie Afful

The Confluence

How far would you go (or not go) to protect yourself from risky sexual behaviors? Additionally, what influence does our gender identity and socialization have on these decisions? In the current series of studies, a story-driven safe-sex behavioral assessment was developed and administered to participants to assess the relationships amongst psychological indices, personal values, and sexual health. This research confirms the validity of an instrument that queries sensitive data while controlling for social desirability concerns. The applications of this research are especially pertinent to improving upon interpersonal communication, sexual health education, and women’s sexual health advocacy.

"The One Neglect": Lysol Feminine Hygiene Products And The Gendered Body, Katherine Blandford

Madison Historical Review

This paper investigates the gendered history of cleanliness and advertising through Lysol feminine hygiene advertisements in the United States from 1936-1950. Lysol, the disinfectant, was once sold as a feminine hygiene douche up until the 1960s. Lysol douches were promoted to women, specifically married women, through advertisements that focused on portraying the female body as dirty and unclean. Moreover, the advertisements promoted the idea that women who did not use Lysol to douche were solely responsible for any marital problem that arose, like cheating or divorce. These Lysol advertisements showcase a dark history of the pervasive nature of sexist rhetoric …

Early-Term Abortion Bans And Sex Selection After Dobbs V Jackson, William Jergins, Xin Liang Brown

Faculty Scholarship

Following the 2022 US Supreme Court decision Dobbs v Jackson, many states adopted early-term abortion (ETA) bans that prohibit abortions before the age of viability and often before sex determination is technologically feasible. We analyze the effect of ETA bans on the sex ratio at birth among first-generation Chinese, Korean, and Indian (CKI) immigrants using difference-in-differences and triple differences methodolo- gies. While our estimates across higher parity children sometimes indicate a decrease in the sex ratio at birth, they are also generally small and statistically insignificant, which is consistent with continued access to sex selection under ETA bans. In contrast, …

Economic Survival And Chosen Kinship: Analyzing Intersectionality’S Role In Reframing Trans Representation In Tangerine, Lydia Britton '27

Student Research

Transgender representation in mainstream media has grown in recent years. However, these portrayals are often hegemonic, clinging to a traditional worldview. Depictions of trans characters prioritize Whiteness, higher socioeconomic status, and transitions that adhere to the binary. Additionally, transgender characters often have access to gender-affirming care and are supported by their families throughout their transition (Mocarski et al., 2019). Research on the media representations of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals points out how these portrayals reinforce ideals surrounding transnormativity, or the idea that trans people’s identities and experiences must be applied to the dominant binary and medicalized framework (Bradford …

I Lost My Number, Can I Have Yours? Body Image Satisfaction With Sexually Dimorphic Traits Is Associated With Men's Dating Anxiety And Confidence, David A. Frederick, Tania A. Reynolds, Nikoline L. Smart, Justin R. Garcia, David A. Puts

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Evolutionary scientists posit that sexual selection processes caused males to develop sexually dimorphic traits to aid them during intrasexual competition and increase their likelihood of being chosen as mates. Evolutionary social sciences have extensively examined women's preferences for traits such as muscle mass and voice pitch, reasoning that these traits serve as cues of men's ability to provide direct benefits (e.g., resources) and indirect (genetic) benefits passed on to offspring. At the same time, body image researchers have extensively focused on the social causes and consequences of men's dissatisfaction with their muscularity and body fat. We connected these two research …

Gendered Socialization Of Comfort With Risk And The Selection Of A College Major, Eliza S. Staton

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigates the potential relationship between the gendered socialization of risk preferences and the selection of a college major. Women are underrepresented in many fields of study, but especially in those related to science, technology, engineering, and math (S.T.E.M). Careers in STEM fields tend to require degree paths that require difficult classes, with lower average grade points, and a high chance of failure. As of 2023, only 24% of the student body in the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas was composed of women (Uark 2023). These high-pressure, male-dominated environments have been found to lose women at …

Who Can Dance If They Want To?: Intersections Of Dance, Gender, And Political Control In Late Archaic And Early Classical Athens, Adeline P. Strickler

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This thesis investigates the evidence for women's public choruses in the polis of Athens and the wider Greek world prior to the 6th century BCE and their decline in Athens following the Kleisthenic reforms of 509/508 BCE. Emphasising analysis of visual sources through Athenian fabric vases in the Beazley archive, and supporting literary evidence, this research seeks to establish a base of evidence for a neglected area of dance and women's research in the classics. Additionally, by analyzing the significance of choral dance in polis social and political life, this research seeks potential reasons for the lack of a culture …

Women's Economic Perceptions And Political Behavior, Alyssa Shaia

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The gender pay gap in America is large and still growing, as women in 2026 still only earn $0.82 per every dollar earned by a man. This is a politically important issue because women live in a different economic reality than men and experience different economic constraints. This study aimed to determine the impact that the impact that women's economic lives have on their political participation. I answered this question by fielding an original survey of college students to explore the relationship between economic perceptions and beliefs and political behavior. This survey measured how participants defined financial security, how this …

Snitch Switch: Does Gender Affect The Credibility Of Jailhouse Informants?, Claire Katherine Yontz

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The testimony of jailhouse informants (JIs)—individuals who claim to have gained knowledge about a crime while incarcerated with a defendant—is considered a leading cause of wrongful convictions. The present study examined how the gender of the JI affects participants’ rating of the informant’s credibility by adapting a trial summary from Wetmore et al., 2014. In the trial summary, a male defendant, whose wife recently filed for divorce, returns home fro the bar one night to find the dead bodies of his wife and her alleged new romantic partner. Included in the trial summary, is the testimony of the defendant, numerous …

Exploring The Significance Of Hyper-Feminine Fashion Within Gen Z, Riley D. Frymark

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines the rise of hyper-feminine fashion within Gen Z and the role that social media plays in shaping trends. Through a social media content analysis, this study explores how hyper-feminine fashion and aesthetics gained popularity and how it is perceived by Gen Z women. The findings suggest that Gen Z associates hyper-feminine fashion with empowerment, agency, and a sense of nostalgia redefining and challenging traditional expectations of femininity. These findings informed a fashion design developed to reflect key themes and design elements identified in the content analysis such as a pink color palette, lace, bows, and ruffles. Overall, …

An Experimental Study On Gendered Leadership Effects In Neighborhood Climate Protests, Farzana Fahmee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leaders are at the frontline as they determine the attitude that audiences have towards social movements and the level of attention they are willing to give to those movements. This paper investigates the influence of a neighborhood environmental protest leader’s gender on perceived leadership and democratic participation. The study relies on self-categorization theory, social identity theory, and the concept of issue-fit to assert the possibility of women gaining from the cultural connection between environmental care and femininity, while also experiencing backlash due to the masculine coding of leadership. A post-test online experiment involving 189 university students was conducted in which …

An Investigation Of The Roles Aging, Gender And Age-Related Hearing Loss Play In Emotional Prosody Recognition, Giavanna Yowell

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Emotional prosody recognition is crucial for social interactions but is influenced by aging, gender, and age-related hearing loss (Lambrecht et al., 2012; Oerlemans et al., 2014; Palermo et al., 2013). No past studies have looked at all of these factors collectively. To address this shortcoming, the current study explored the relationships between aging, hearing loss and gender differences in emotional prosody recognition. The ability to recognize emotions through facial expressions was also included as a comparative measure. One hundred fifteen individuals (42 men and 73 women), ages 50 and older (M = 60.39, SD = 8.12), completed a hearing handicap …

Gender-Neutral Insurance Reform In The United States: Actuarial Challenges In Pricing And Reserving, Matthew O'Connor

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper examines whether gender remains an appropriate rating variable in the U.S. insurance industry. Gender has historically been used across several lines of insurance because it has demonstrated predictive value in areas such as mortality, claim frequency, and health utilization. However, the continued use of gender creates challenges as insurance systems attempt to accommodate individuals who do not fall within traditional male/female binary classifications.

The paper first reviews the current state of gender use in U.S. insurance, including examples from auto, health, life, and annuity markets. It then considers equity and ethical concerns, particularly the tension between actuarial fairness …

Where Were Women?: Women In The United States Intelligence Organizations From The Office Of Strategic Services To The Central Intelligence Agency, Madison Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

United States intelligence historians have largely neglected the importance of women’s intelligence labor as well as the centralized intelligence organizations that existed from World War II to the early years of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – including the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), Strategic Service Unit (SSU), and Central Intelligence Group (CIG). While assumptions about women in intelligence work during this period are usually drawn from stereotypical portrayals in popular media, such as books and movies, this thesis utilized statistical data and other agency sources to build a broader understanding of women’s actual labor.

This thesis demonstrates that women …

"Am I A Man Or A Muppet": A Rhetorical Analysis Of Generative Ai’S Representation Of Gender, Jessica Boaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how generative artificial intelligence constructs and performs gender roles through a rhetorical analysis of the fully AI-generated podcast Fairytale Forensics. Drawing on theories of constitutive rhetoric, stereotyping, and McLuhan’s approach to the medium, this thesis investigates how AI-generated hosts interpret classic fairy tales while simultaneously reproducing and negotiating gender norms through the lens of prosopopoeia, metonymy and synecdoche. These performances rely on normative gender stereotypes that align with broader societal expectations, thereby potentially reinforcing existing cultural assumptions about masculinity and femininity. Ultimately, it demonstrates that AI-generated discourse does not merely reflect human biases but actively participates in …

Mind The Gap: Exploring Sociocultural And Educational Factors Contributing To The Gender-Based Achievement Gap In Early Elementary Ela, William Matthew Mcgee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the sociocultural and educational factors contributing to the gender-based achievement gap in early elementary English Language Arts (ELA). While research has examined the gender-based achievement gap related to female-identifying students in STEM disciplines, there is less emphasis on the underperformance of male-identifying students in ELA. Earlier research often emphasized biological explanations rather than the influence of environment and instructional practices. This study was guided by the Expectancy-Value Theory and Social Role Theory to better understand how home environments, gender norms, instructional practices, and student perception of literacy influence student engagement and performance in Kindergarten through third grade. …

Reporting On The Glass Runway: The Agenda-Setting And Framing Used In Fashion Media’S Coverage Of Gender Imbalances In The Luxury Fashion Industry, Natalie Murphy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to analyze the agenda-setting and framing techniques used in coverage of the lack of women in creative director positions in the luxury fashion industry, considering the different levels of contracts and proximity each publication has to hiring gatekeepers. Using a multi-method study of content analysis and interviews with fashion media professionals, this study explores questions of how often these articles are published and whether independent and advertorial publications use different framing strategies when reporting on fashion industry accountability. Twenty-five editorial articles from seven different publications were included in the content analysis portion of the …

The Impact Of Representation In Sex Education On Gender And Sexual Minority Youth, Piper A. Ellison

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The purpose of this capstone project is to examine the representation of gender and sexual minority youth in sexual education. Given that, not all representation is good representation, this senior capstone examines the effects of both a lack of representation and misrepresentation. Through a literature review, administrator interviews, and college student surveys, the findings showed that there is often little to no practical representation of gender and sexual minority students in sexual education. Further findings show that when there is representation, it is often either at the superficial level, acknowledging that the identities exist, but not providing detailed health information, …

How Speaker Gender Shapes Audience Perceptions Of Credibility: Responses To Humor, Reed Wilson

Honors Theses

This study aims to answer the question of whether the speaker’s gender, the participant’s gender, or the interaction between the two has an effect on the audience’s opinions of the message and the credibility of the speaker. Public speaking has been and continues to be a tool used by politicians, both on the campaign trail and as they seek to advance their agendas in the public sphere. Politicians use humor to relate to their audience and enhance their likeability and credibility. Google VEO 3’s generative text-to-video AI capabilities were used to create two videos of political speakers, one male and …

From Awareness To Action: Exploring The Behavioral Gap In Green Computing Among Surveyed University Students In Tanzania, Victor G. Wilson

Business Management Review

As digital technologies become increasingly embedded in higher education, promoting environmentally responsible computing practices has become an important sustainability and management concern. This study applies the Norm Activation Model (NAM) to examine green computing behavior among university students in Tanzania. Drawing on responses from 868 students across science, education, and business programs, the study investigates how Awareness of Consequences, Ascription of Responsibility, and Personal Norms influence green computing behaviors. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to assess both the explanatory power of the NAM variables and the selective moderating roles of gender and academic program. Findings reveal that both awareness and …