Digital Commons Network^™

Social Spaces, Places, And Substance Use In Shaping Queer Identities, Alessandra Milagros Early

Dissertations

Research has suggested that queer people may be more likely than their cisgender heterosexual counterparts to use substances. Largely, these higher rates are commonly explained through frameworks of victimization or (ab)use that render substance use as a form of coping or inherently problematic. While some queer people do use substances to cope, the social spaces, places, and contexts in which use often occurs are often obscured or ignored. More recently, contemporary queer criminologists have explored queer substance use and have considered how it is intimately linked to social space, place, identity formation, and community building. This dissertation draws from queer …

Evaluating The Impact Of Math Self-Efficacy, Math Self-Concept, And Gender On Stem Enrollment And Retention In Postsecondary Education, Marcia Bingham

Theses and Dissertations

Low enrollment and high attrition of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) continues to be an issue for postsecondary institutions. Improvements in representation of women has been seen in some of the agricultural and biological sciences; however, in many of the more math intensive areas such as geosciences, engineering, mathematics/computer science, and physical sciences (GEMP), women continue to be underrepresented leading to underrepresentation in the workforce and further exacerbating gender gaps. Studies suggest the lack of representation is not due to a gap in math ability between men and women, yet underrepresentation remains predominantly within math intensive STEM …

“I Don't Know Where The Lesbians Are”: Exploring Lgbtq+ Women’S Experiences Of Place And Community, Ashley M. Green

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines LGBTQ+ women’s experiences of place and community in Central Florida. Through the use of in-depth interviews and virtual ethnography, I begin to answer the following questions: 1. To what extent does geographic location contextualize how LGBTQ+ women experience place and community?, 2. How do LGBTQ+ women within a similar geographic location utilize virtual spaces for the purpose of building community?, and 3. How are the intersections of gender, race, and sexuality significant to LGBTQ+ women’s experiences of place and community? This project provides a glimpse into the phenomenon of consuming community, which speaks to the ways in …

The Importance Of Gender-Neutral Terminology In Risk Evaluation And Mitigation Strategy Programs: A Call To Action., Colin Burnette, William Smithy, Daniel Strock, Torunn E. Sivesind, Robert Dellavalle

HPD Articles

The use of risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) programs is frequently required for prescriptions with potentially teratogenic effects, especially in the field of dermatology. Among these REMS programs, the most well-known example is isotretinoin, an oral retinoid that uses the iPLEDGE system. iPLEDGE has strict regulations and a lengthy approval process, and until recently, patients were grouped into 3 categories: male, female, or female of reproductive potential. This strict grouping has posed problems in the medical community, especially for gender-diverse individuals where their perceived gender conflates with their assigned grouping causing patient-specific distress. The distinction between gender-a multifactorial perception …

“I’M Still Suffering”: Mental Health Care Among Central African Refugee Populations In The Tampa Bay Area, C. Danee Ruszczyk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An estimated 500 Central African refugee families have been resettled in the Tampa Bay Area since 2002 (RPC, 2022). The cycles of trauma that they have endured place them in vulnerable positions regarding their mental health. Struggling to exist within underfunded social programs that are rigid in their expectations and with the current system of reactive care vs preventative care, the refugees in Tampa are put in a difficult situation of navigating their own health and wellbeing in lieu of having the full support of the United States government and their community. I will discuss how these refugees experience and …

Embodying Abortion: Approaches To Sexual And Reproductive Experiences Of The Cairene Youth., Ruth Morales Cosano

Theses and Dissertations

Whilst abortion in Egypt has been sorely neglected in academic literature, and highly criminalized by state institutions, women in Egypt have by no means ceased to perform it and, what is more, upon reasons that exceed any institutional or legal reasoning. The thesis stems from the need to give voice and continuity to the experiences of women who abort in Cairo. Given the almost complete lack of material showcasing this reality, this research project investigates the meaning-making process of abortion among Cairo's middle and upper classes. Understanding this construction requires studying abortion in its embeddedness in the material, social, and …

Woman Becoming… Gender Possibilities In Selected Speculative Short Stories Of Intan Paramaditha And Isabel Yap, Grace V.S. Chin

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

The ontological question of woman’s nature forms the focus of this essay, which develops the theory of “woman-becoming…” to examine how the hegemonic patriarchal discourses and constructs of woman and femininity are subverted and reinterpreted in two speculative short stories by transnational Southeast Asian women writers, namely Intan Paramaditha’s “Beauty and the Seventh Dwarf” (2018) and Isabel Yap’s “Good Girls” (2021). Of interest here are the gender possibilities of the female characters, which uphold women’s freedom, agency, thinking, feeling, creation, narration and expression in the making of herstory—indeed, everywoman’s potential for change and transformation, and to become more than what …

Kebaya Feminism; Political Strategies In The Works Of Indonesian Women Writers, Aquarini Priyatna

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

This article attempts to show and map the feminist agenda in the writings of Indonesian women writers. Focusing on selected prominent Indonesian women writers whose works can be categorized as articulating feminist ideas and perspectives, namely Suwarsih Djojopuspito, Nh Dini, Oka Rusmini, Ratih Kumala, and Intan Paramaditha, I demonstrate how these writers question and examine cultural attributes as a crucial part of gender construction in their works. This article only focuses on writing in prose. By investigating how these writers articulate themselves and how women are written in[to] their works, this research elaborates on women’s writing as rebellion and protest …

Balanced Negotiations: An Online Negotiation Training For Women, Kaitlyn Rose Gallagher

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Research has identified consistent differences in the processes and outcomes of negotiation between women and men (Mazei et al., 2015; Stuhlmacher & Walter, 1999), but there has been little investigation into different types of negotiation trainings specifically for women (Barkacs & Barkacs, 2017; Kulik et al., 2020). This study developed and evaluated an online evidence-based negotiation training for women. Using a pretest-posttest randomly assigned control group design, 95 early career female participants completed three short self-guided online training modules. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), with pretest scores used as a covariate to reduce error variance, found that the intervention had a …

“She Was No Taller Than Your Thumb. So She Was Called Thumbelina”: Gender, Disability, And Visual Forms In Hans Christian Andersen’S “Thumbelina” (1835), Hannah J. Helm

Journal of Gender, Ethnic, and Cross-Cultural Studies

This article explores representations of femininity and disability in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “Thumbelina” (1835) and select examples of his paper art. In this article, I argue that, on one level, the fairy tale and Andersen’s own paper cuttings uphold feminine and ableist norms. However, on another level, these literary and visual forms simultaneously work to destabilise social prejudices and challenge bodily normativity. I explore how characters and themes associated with the fairy tale and paper art can be (re)read in strength-based ways. In the story, Thumbelina experiences the world through her smallness, and key themes including accessibility, physical …

Explorations And Reflections: Gendered Experiences In Teaching And Learning, Francesca Matarese

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the history of women's access to education and the issues of gender disparity in education. I focus on single-gendered schools as I write from personal experience to describe the benefits for individuals in single-gender educational systems. I cite conflicting research on how men and women learn regarding biological, cognitive, and developmental differences. I illuminate some of the benefits of single-gendered education through research, experience, and personal communications. I write about the controversies and disparities regarding education and single-gender schools. I document research on the issues women face in education and the politics of women’s bodies and minds …

Mary Sidney’S The Tragedy Of Antony And Fadwa Tuqan’S A Mountainous Journey: Language, Gender Politics, And The Emergence Of Authorial Identities, Bilal Hamamra

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article engages with the critical lenses of new historicism and presentism, using Fadwa Tuqan’s A Mountainous Journey and the discourse of Palestinian female martyrs as contemporary intertexts to scrutinize women’s silence, speech, and authorial identity in Mary Sidney’s early modern English work The Tragedy of Antony. I contend this text enabled Sidney to construct a narrative of mourning for her brother Philip Sidney, just as Tuqan uses her writing to mourn her brother Ibrahim Tuqan. It is argued here that Sidney’s and Tuqan’s creation of their authorial identities emanated from their close relationships with their brothers. I argue that …

Gender And Disability: An Exploration Of Reflective Practice For Protection And Access Amid Complex Emergencies, Lindsey A. Mandolini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender and Disability: An Exploration of Reflective Practice for Protection and Access Amid Complex Emergencies is a qualitative research project exploring under what conditions and in what ways disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) effectively protect and provide access to women and girls with disabilities amid complex emergencies. The study upheld a participatory approach and rights-based framework, emphasizing that authentic inclusion requires centering disabled voices in research. Drawing on extant research, grey literature, and data collected from online practitioner questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, the study conducted a multi-phased reflexive thematic analysis. The research findings culminate in a composite narrative that brings to …

“Racial Heterosexual Habitus” And Management Of Racial Education Discussions Within Black Female/White Male Romantic Relationships, Marya T. Mtshali

Faculty Journal Articles

Scholars (Steinbugler 2012; Twine 2010) have examined the role that the white racial lens can play in limiting the development of racial literacy for white partners in black/white relationships, while the role of gender ideologies has gone largely unexamined. Through analyzing “racially educational” conversations between 36 members of black female/white male heterosexual couples, I introduce the concept of “racial heterosexual habitus” and its influence in managing these discussions on race. I argue that it generates limits—as well as unique opportunities—for couples during these conversations about race. My findings reveal how black female heterosexual habitus orients black women to navigate these …

The Ideal Spanish Candidate: The Effects Of Gender On The Electability Of Religious Candidates, Arabella Smith

Undergraduate Honors Theses

While the existing literature illustrates that voters living in Western countries are likely to elect female candidates and less likely to elect minority non-Christian candidates, literature has not yet addressed how the intersectionality of gender and religion affect voter preference. In this paper, I investigate how a candidate’s gender and religion interact to affect their likelihood of being elected. I use vignettes in a conjoint survey experiment of Spanish voters to show voter preference across two intersecting identities: gender and religion. I find that female Muslim candidates are significantly more electable than male Muslim candidates. This contributes to the body …

Chaos In Congress: Masculinity And Violence In The Congressional Struggle Over Kansas, Ian L. Baumer

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

According to Joanne Freeman's recent book on congressional violence, in the years between 1830 and 1860, members of Congress engaged in 'manly' violence against one another more than seventy times. However, no issue caused more violent personal disputes in the legislature than slavery. In particular, the debate over the legal status of slavery in the Kansas Territory caused a panoply of incidents in Congress, including near-duel between John C. Breckinridge and Francis Cutting in 1854, Preston Brooks' caning of Charles Sumner in 1856, and a brawl in the House of Representatives in 1858. This article examines how these lawmakers' views …

Teaching Strategies In The National Security Affairs Program: Sexual Assault And Sexual Harassment, Dr. Mary Raum

Women, Peace, and Security

Most curricula relative to Congress and its interface with the Department of Defense relate to the topics of war, weapons, conflict and budgets. An important subtopic of national security studies are Congressional interventions into the Defense Department related to soft policies which are more nearly categorized as micro sociological issues due to their touching people within the massive security bureaucracy at the individual and personal level.  Early congressional interventions among this categorization include concerns about suicide, benefits, health and well-being or the 1940s GI Bill which encouraged personal growth through educational and training benefits in order to decrease a reduction …

Definition And Characteristic Features Of A ‘Cultural Flashpoint’: A Case Study Of Exploring Masculinities, A Controversial Gender And Education Programme In Ireland, Joan Hanafin, Paul Conway, Cormac O Beaglaoich, Jack Hanafin

Articles

The concept ‘cultural flashpoint’ (CF) has not been fully defined or described. The authors test this concept through the prism of a controversial gender-focused Irish school programme, Exploring Masculinities (EM). Adopting an instrumental case study methodology, they use media content analysis to develop a temporal trajectory of the CF, describe its shape, explicit and implied contentious themes, and its process. They identify characteristic features of a cultural flashpoint: (i) a focal issue, event and/or object; (ii) conflict; (iii) bounded time period; (iv) the involvement of exo- and multi-sectoral individuals and groups; (v) randomness, opaqueness and conflation among its expressions; and …

Digital Waves: Communicating Feminist Movements, Shauna M. Macdonald

Feminist Pedagogy

Online learning provides opportunities for pedagogical growth and innovation. When tasked with teaching an undergraduate Gender and Communication class during a virtual semester (amid the COVID-19 pandemic), I sought ways to engage students through online technologies rather than working against or despite them. The Digital Waves (DW) assignment, one that asks students to research and then create digital representations of a particular “wave” of feminism, was one of several strategies I adopted; it quickly evolved into a favorite.

The Role Of Rural And Urban Geography And Gender In Community Stigma Around Mental Illness, Shawnda Schroeder, Chih Ming Tan, Brian Urlacher, Thomasine Heitkamp

Indigenous Health Faculty Publications

Empirical evidence describes the negative outcomes people with mental health disorders experience due to societal stigma. The aim of this study was to examine the role of gender and rural/urban living in perceptions about mental illness. Participants completed the Day’s Mental Illness Stigma Scale, a nationally validated instrument for measuring stigma. Directors of Chambers of Commerce in North Dakota distributed the electronic survey to their members. Additionally, distribution occurred through use of social media and other snowball sampling approaches. Analysis of data gathered from 749 participants occurred through examination of the difference in perceptions based on geography and gender. The …

Associations Between Tiktok Use, Mental Health, And Body Image Among College Students, Alexz Carpenter

Honors Theses

Background. Social media use continues to increase globally, and there is a large field of research examining the relationships between social media use with anxiety, depression, and body image. College-aged students are particularly vulnerable to these associations because they are at a unique developmental point of their life. College-aged students also use social media more frequently than almost any other age group, which may put them at increased risk for negative mental health and body image outcomes related to their social media use. TikTok is a relatively new social media app that has exponentially risen in popularity, especially among younger …

Gender Disparities Present Within The Legal Profession, Olivia M. Sanders

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the problem of gender disparities present within the legal profession in order to discover their causes and ways to mitigate them. Currently, there are a variety of gender disparities in the legal profession. Women are paid less than their male counterparts, are exposed to sexual harassment and violence more often, and receive fewer leadership opportunities, to name just a few of these disparities. While these disparities are documented in larger firms, little data exists on the extent of such issues in smaller firms, especially in the southeastern United States. Accordingly, I interviewed eight individuals with their juris …

Post-Racism As Ideology: Character Construction And Placement, & Narrative Structure In Dear White People, Mphatso Kaufulu

Dissertations

My project looks at post-racism as ideology. Through my chosen text – the Netflix streamed television series called Dear White People – I examine the ways in which post-racism is persists through representational abstractions which reformulate race as largely sets of interpersonal and intercultural, person-to-person social problems rather that a more general condition rooted in institutional or structural social, political and economic arrangements which organize society and produce its cultural dispensation.

To do this, I applied some of Stuart Hall’s ideas – on identity, ideology and commodification – and Bonilla-Silva – specifically in the area of obfuscations or abstractions of …

Searching For Nonbinary And Trans Inclusion: A Call To Action For Leadership Studies, Jody Condit Fagan, Ari Emilia Short

Libraries

Academic studies of leadership have historically taken a binary view of gender. A literature review was conducted to search for any scholarly work inclusive of trans and nonbinary identities. Across three academic databases and five leadership journals, only 11 such sources were found. These results were reviewed to explore themes across their findings as well as suggestions for future research. The analysis of the 11 sources’ findings and recommendations offer guidance for expanding conceptions of gender in leadership; for enhancing leadership education; and for developing a more complete research agenda for gender and leadership studies. Suggestions are also offered for …

Skin Echoes, Andreia Santana

Theses and Dissertations

Santana’s explores the intersection of biology and identity, incorporating living matter and performative gestures into installations to reflect on social constructs of history and gender. By observing water and its qualities of defying Western dichotomies, Skin Echoes focuses on the material interchanges across bodies and the wider material world.

“It Takes A Village”: The Implications For Gender Roles On Appalachian Family Dynamics, Taryn Jayde Rollins

Undergraduate Theses

When we hear the word “Appalachian”, many will look towards the countless examples of negative stereotypes displayed in the media. From Hillbilly Elegy to hyperbolized stories of blue people in the mountains, Appalachians have been perpetuated as backward, dirty, incestual, and stupid. Through incessant dehumanization by the media, Appalachian communities have been ignored and even blamed for their disparities. However, there are historical and social implications factors that stemmed from the major shift in the economic makeup that has led to Appalachian poverty and in turn, shaped the culture and values of the region. In addition, due to geographic isolation, …

Redefining Anger For Sexual And Gender Minorities Using Art As A Visual Voice, Kirsten Ranheim

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Art therapy is an increasingly popular approach for addressing trauma and anger in clinical settings. This literature review explores the connections between art therapy, trauma, gender, and anger, drawing on a range of studies and theoretical perspectives. Background is provided on the history of anger within the context of societal institutions, interpersonal power dynamics, psychiatric nosology, and social justice movements. The review concludes that art therapy is ideally suited as a trauma-informed approach to addressing anger in the therapeutic setting. This is due to the unique opportunities that art making provides for helping individuals express and process their emotions nonverbally, …

Navigating Political Discussions Online: The Role Safe Spaces Play In Women's Political Participation On Twitter, Ayla Oden

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study analyzes how women navigate political discussions online. Social media breeds high-conflict spaces where threats and incivility are more likely to persist. To avoid ad hominem attacks or harassment from online, male users, women may be more likely to use “safe spaces” online, including stereotypically feminine conversations regarding “women’s issues.” The purpose of this study is to analyze how women discuss politics online and whether there are differences in the issues discussed by men and women on Twitter. Using three studies, I examined these differences and their relationship to the threats women face online and their political behavior offline. …

Field Notes Of An Rpcv: Reflecting On Development And Adolescence, Marissa Kelly

Sustainability and Social Justice

They say the Peace Corps is the toughest job you’ll ever love. In July of 2017, I began my service as a Peace Corps Youth Development Volunteer in Costa Rica. Nearly six years later, as I prepare to graduate with my master’s degree in International Development at Clark University, I reflect upon those Peace Corps years of service and the many lessons learned while living in community, implementing youth projects, and, specifically, working with adolescent girls. My interest in studying international development and, particularly, deepening my knowledge of gender and development is directly connected to the Peace Corps. Therefore, …

Culture In Computing: The Importance Of Developing Gender-Inclusive Software, Creighton France

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The field of computing as we know it today exists because of the contributions of numerous female mathematicians, computer scientists, and programmers. While working with hardware was viewed as “a man’s job” during the mid-20th century, computing and programming was viewed as a noble and high-paying field for women to occupy. However, as time has progressed, the U.S. has seen a decrease in the number of women pursuing computer science. The idea that computing is a masculine discipline is common in the U.S. today for reasons such as male-centered marketing of electronics and gadgets, an inaccurate representation of what it …