Digital Commons Network^™

An Autoethnographical Tapestry Of Feminist Reflection On My Journey Of A Fitness Model Physique, Stephanie A. Paplinskie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Weight training and fitness competitions are increasingly popular activities for many women seeking an aesthetically fit body. This thesis entails a critical reflection of the various factors surrounding my personal decision to partake in body sculpting, examining how these factors parallel the experience of other women in the fitness industry. Using a feminist theoretical framework and autoethnography, a history of feminist theory is incorporated to demonstrate some of the various perspectives surrounding women bodies. Two challenges for women are discussed in this paper: i) the fear of fat, and how it is connected to a woman’s initial decision to attend …

Local Media Representations Of The Colombian Women’S Peace Movement La Ruta Pacífica De Las Mujeres, Elizabeth Anna Kersjes

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to analyze how the media in Colombia covers the events and campaigns of the pacifist women’s movement La Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres. The movement was formed in 1996 to draw attention to violence against women and to call for a negotiated end to Colombia’s internal armed conflict through peaceful demonstrations. The study uses a series of semi-structured interviews with members of the movement and a content analysis of major print media stories about the movement to analyze press coverage and forms of representation. The analysis finds that large, powerful media outlets based …

In Defense Of Feminists Who Like Fashion, Margarita C. Delgado

SURGE

I’m sitting on the downtown R train one night in Manhattan, a copy of Vogue resting on my crossed legs. It is late and I am clearly unwinding peacefully as I thumb through page after glamorous page of my magazine. The train stops at Prince Street and there’s the usual flux of people in and out. Those left inside settle as the train pulls out of the station.

“Ugh. Fashion is stupid,” remarks one young man to another, both of whom are sitting diagonally from me and well within earshot. He’s watching me ignore him as I continue enjoying my …

Prof. Vibhuti Patel's Obituary For Dr. Vina Mazumdar, Professor Vibhuti Patel

Professor Vibhuti Patel

With passing away of Dr. Vina Mazumdar, our Vinadi the Indian Women’s movement has experienced an irreparable loss. Veenadee personified in her a far sighted and strong willed thinker and forceful speaker and convincing debater who had faith in ‘human goodness’. Her intellectual prowess did not make her ivory tower in her approach towards her colleagues and fellow travelers- academicians, policy makers, researchers and feminist activists. She always remained warm at heart, easy to approach, instant building of rapport, kind and accessible to ‘inarticulate’, ‘less known’ and ‘less influential’ people from remote places, civil and decent with her adversaries, magnanimous …

Claiming Citizenship: Las Vegas' Conventional Women's Organizations Establishing Citizenship Through Civic Engagement, Cynthia Cicero

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many historians of American women portray women's organized civic engagement and work to attain social, economic, and legal equality as feminism. American feminism has been expanded and applied in scholarship. The American feminists of the 1960s wanted to alter the male power structure and redefine conventional notions of womanhood. However, many middle-class women who participated in community and civic organizations valued their roles as wives, mothers, and homemakers, expressing their citizenship and community work as an extension of these roles. Their motivation in pursuing equality was to gain full citizenship status.

In this thesis, I argue that viewing women's civic …

Gay Emerging Adult Dating In College: A Feminist Grounded Theory Exploration, Kathryn Alexandra Conrad

Masters Theses

Research on intimate relationships has mushroomed as the definitions, practices, and contexts for dating change across generations. As an often overlooked population, sexual minorities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered individuals) have received increased scholarly attention within the social and family science research. Whereas this increased attention is warranted, still a lack of research exists regarding dating and romantic relationships among sexual minorities, particularly during emerging adulthood (ages 18-25). The purpose of this study was to explore the definitions, processes, and contexts for dating among a small, same-sex oriented sample of emerging adults (aged 18-25) currently enrolled in a large southeastern university …

A Historical And Analytical Study Of Feminization In The Field Of Public Relations, Taylor U. (Flumerfelt) Beatty

Selected Honors Theses

The origin of the public relations field can be traced back more than 1,000 years. The use of its basic concepts can be seen throughout history, and increased in the 19th and 20th centuries. Until the mid-1900s, the field was largely comprised of men. World War II spurred the beginning of the feminization process, which caused public relations to experience a large influx of women. The number of female practitioners has since continued to increase. Even though feminization occurred and the field is now largely female-dominated, female practitioners experience a wide variety of gender inequalities in social, professional and economic …

Exploring The Methodology Of Getting Lost With Patti Lather, Sarah Fotheringham

The Qualitative Report

In this article I review the book Getting Lost: Feminist Efforts towards a Double(d) science (Lather, 2007) from the perspective of a feminist social worker. Lather, using herself and her previous research with women as example, explores feminist methodological issues of loss of authority and loss of innocence as a means towards the creation of new forms of knowledge. This complex book, while extraordinarily difficult, provides the reader with a rare opportunity of getting lost – in the literal sense - in the postmodern poise while simultaneously opening the reader up to new ways of knowing. For feminists and social …

The F-Word, Stephanie K. Adamczak, Taylor C. Amato

SURGE

I’m thinking of a word. Can you guess it? This word is considered negative and harsh. It’s generally avoided in everyday conversations. You wouldn’t normally hear this word spoken by professors or sophisticated celebrities. It starts with an F… Do you know it?

That’s right folks! It’s “feminist”. [excerpt]

South Africa: Newsrooms In Transition, Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

South African is a beautiful country with a a diverse citizenry at the Southernmost tip of the African continent. But the nation also has a long history of racial struggle, which includes an era of racial segregation, called apartheid that ended formally in 1994 after nearly 50 years of policital oppression and protest. The country today is a land of contrasts. It has a vibrant media scene and one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, guaranteeing equality for all and freedom of the press. Women are breaking through newsroom boundaries, making up about half of the journalism workforce, …

Multidimensionality Is To Masculinities What Intersectionality Is To Feminism, Athena D. Mutua

Journal Articles

Committed to intersectionality theory in her feminist work, the scholar Juliet Williams expressed the sentiment that “multidimensionality is to masculinities theory, what intersectionality is to feminism.” She did so in the context of a debate about whether intersectionality theory might capture the complexity of men’s lives, particularly men of color’s lives, as well as does multidimensionality theory, given that the latter is based in large part on the former. This paper, briefly explores the intellectual history of multidimensionality theory, concedes that intersectionality, a powerful analytical tool that has matured and gone global, could easily be used and is in part …

Feminism, Breastfeeding, And Society, Jen Bracken-Hull

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

A dichotomy exists among feminists regarding the views and contributions of breastfeeding. Across several waves of feminism women have argued for and against breastfeeding. Until recently, breastfeeding (regarding the bearing and nurturing of children) was seen as a responsibility that prevented women from participating in public circles. This article delineates the general contributions made by women who breastfeed including biological, social, emotional, and personal factors. Changes and accommodations are required for women who choose to breastfeed to not be disadvantaged.

Buffy Vs. Dracula: Feminism And Its Fanged Foe, Amethyst Hethcoat, Leah Chole

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and artwork critiquing popular vampire culture and "strong female characters" in popular media through a feminist lens.

Pussy Pride, Andy Fab

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and art about Riot Grrrrl history and culture, written from the perspective of a self-proclaimed "gay boy."

The Feminist Hollywood, Stephanie Fasi, Guillaume Beaudoin, Shane Dicristina

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and art examining feature films thought to represent feminist values, the evolution of female Disney characters, and female musicians who challenge the patriarchal music industry.

50 Shades Of Feminism, Debbie Urimolchai, Chontelle Vargas, Ariel Jean Chaklai

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and artwork on white privilege and Westernized feminism, intersectionality, and purdah (or pardah).

I'M A Barbie Girl, In A Barbie World, Sydnee Goodman, Brenda Haug, Nicole Winkler

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and artwork examining beauty standards in advertising and fashion (including "The Disney Effect"), eating disorders, dieting, and cosmetic surgery.

W.O.C. In Da Biz, Graeme Aegerter, Ellen Butterworth, Katie Davidson

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and art addressing intersectionalities of music, gender, and race, focusing on M.I.A., Janelle Monae, and Ciara Princess Harris.

Rogue, Annie Hornung, Eva Mcavoy, Sara Knobel

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

No abstract provided.

What You Need To Know About Sex, Lauren Gardner, Paula Pearl, Jessie Roth, Cristina Smith

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and artwork examining messages about sex and contraception in the media, intimate partner violence, sexuality and gender in popular music, and sexuality.

Women In Media, Lindsay Taylor, Hadley Dion, Shelley Dehekker

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

No abstract provided.

The Handbook Of Self-Loathing, Haley Bresnahan, Kristen Pagnan, Katie Dumas

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and artwork on body image and dieting (including "fat phobia").

Potpourri, Jasmin Sanchez, Jessica Swaney

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings, artwork, and activities addressing rape culture and victim blaming, a feminist perspective of crocheting, gendered titles for women professionals, reclaiming language (particularly the word bitch), and the music of Claire Boucher (a.k.a. Grimes). Original zine contents include a CD and crocheted "FemPower" bookmark.

The Beauty Mark, Annie Bruington, Connor O'Brien, Jackie Topete

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and art critiquing television programming, sexual harassment experienced on campus, and racism experienced by a Mexican-American woman.

Wonder Woman Complex, Camellia Khalvati, Sarah Dawson, Kathleen Doll

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and artwork deconstructing the institution of marriage, beauty standards, motherhood, and work ("the glorification of busy").

The Va-Jay-Jay Revolution

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

Writings and art about beauty standards, the portrayal of lesbians on television, a critique of the word bitch, organized religion as a violation of women's rights, harassment in public spaces, and the representation of women in various countries as observed by studying abroad.

Intersectionality: Mapping The Movements Of A Theory, Devon Carbado, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, Vicki M. Mays, Barbara Tomlinson

Faculty Scholarship

Very few theories have generated the kind of interdisciplinary and global engagement that marks the intellectual history of intersectionality. Yet, there has been very little effort to reflect upon precisely how intersectionality has moved across time, disciplines, issues, and geographic and national boundaries. Our failure to attend to intersectionality’s movement has limited our ability to see the theory in places in which it is already doing work and to imagine other places to which the theory might be taken. Addressing these questions, this special issue reflects upon the genesis of intersectionality, engages some of the debates about its scope and …

Gotcha: What Social Activists Can Learn From Pranksters, Janet M. Bing

English Faculty Publications

It is unfortunate that, even today, feminist messages too often go unheard and feminist issues are too often dismissed by mainstream audiences, partly because feminists continue to be stereotyped as angry and humorless. Yet some social activists use pranks to draw attention to important issues because humor is one strategic way to send messages about sexism to those who may discount ideas presented in a more direct manner. Although there have been relatively few successful feminist pranksters, humor is increasingly being used to convey women's issues in a growing number of feminist blogs and videos. This essay explores pranking and …

We Came! We Stripped! We Conquered! The Sextremist Feminists Of Femen In Ukrainian Historical Context And Contemporary Controversy, Jayeon Kim

Honors Theses

In 2008, Anna Hutsol, an economist by training, founded feminist organization FEMEN (Megginson 2011). Comprised mostly of university-educated women, FEMEN has received international media coverage, encountered controversy, and received death threats for their topless protests. For their activism, French magazine Madame Figaro ranked one of the founding members Inna Schevchenko on the 13^th position in their list of Women of the Year (Madame Figaro 2012). They have delivered lectures on their movement at international forums and universities. FEMEN now has chapters in Brazil, Tunisia, France and Germany. FEMEN activists attribute their visibility to “sextremism,” their tactic of using the …

Minority Women In Stem: A Valuable Resource In The Global Economy, Ezella Mcpherson, Diane R. Fuselier-Thompson

Journal of the International Association for the Study of the Global Achievement Gap

While there is an expected demographic shift of the ethnic minority population in the United States to become the majority population by 2020, few minority women successfully attain baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) fields. To address this gap, this article employs critical race feminism and narrative analysis methods to examine minority women’s challenges while pursuing undergraduate STEM degrees. Findings suggest that limited access to the field, isolation and alienation, and affordability create barriers that result in many minority women leaving STEM majors. Implications for practice include targeted institutional efforts to increase recruitment and retention efforts towards …