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Brazen (Fall 2007), Hollins University

Brazen - Gender & Women's Studies Department Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Letter From Sarah E. Chinn, Incoming Executive Director, Sarah Chinn

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

I'm not the kind of person who procrastinates — I'd rather do something right away than worry and further feed the procrastination. But I have been putting off writing this inaugural column as the new executive director of CLAGS. The challenge, I think, has been where to begin: taking on a position that has been so magnificently filled by Paisley Currah, Alisa Solomon, Jill Dolan, and Martin Duberman is already such a challenge that contemplating actually writing about it seems even more insuperable.

Letter: Hillary Rodham Clinton; Edna Saffy, Hillary Rodham Clinton

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

A letter from Hillary Rodham Clinton requesting support from Dr. Edna L. Saffy, August 10, 2007.

A Seat At The Table? Racial/Ethnic & Gender Diversity On Corporate, Hospital, Education, Cultural & State Boards, Carol Hardy-Fanta Phd, Donna Stewartson

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

As part of its larger Diversity Initiative, the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at UMass Boston has undertaken a number of projects. The first was a public opinion survey conducted around the time of the November 2006 elections. The report, Transformation and Taking Stock: A Summary of Selected Findings from the McCormack Graduate School Diversity Survey, included a comprehensive look at race relations in the Commonwealth at a time of significant transition—demographically and politically. This report was followed by A Benchmark Report on Diversity in State and Local Government, which focused on the percentage of positions filled …

Balancing Rosie And June: A Study Of Lynchburg College Postwar Alumnae And The Impact Of The Feminine Mystique, Dinah Watson

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

In 2003, the movie Mona Lisa Smile debuted describing the frustrations that many college women may have faced in the years after World War II. Wellesley College was the elite all-female institution that openly and proudly prepared its young women with the proper rules of etiquette and correctness. Despite Wellesley’s own excellent academic reputation, its close proximity to the prestigious single-sex male college, Harvard, made it even more appealing and convenient for the Wellesley girls to find a “suitable” husband. The novice young art instructor, Katherine Watson, was unique in that she wanted to offer her students not only a …

Exporting And Negotiating Human Rights, Randall Kuhn

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In 2000, renowned Egyptian activist-sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim and 27 colleagues were tried, convicted and imprisoned by the Egyptian government on a range of politically-motivated charges. In 2003, Ibrahim was released after three years of imprisonment and torture and a concerted campaign to secure his release by concerned academics, activists, and political leaders. Two years later, physically weakened but morally indefagitable, he visited colleagues at the University of Colorado and talked about his experiences as an academic and activist.

Cultural Rage: A Severe Threat To Gay Men, Rhoda Howard-Hassmann

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Men who have sex with men have become a world cultural flashpoint. Fomenting and exploiting cultural rage at the West is a useful way for Islamists to gain electoral and other types of support, even though the motives of the Islamists may have more to do with the drive for power, regional influence, or economic benefit.

A Benchmark Report On Diversity In State And Local Government, Carol Hardy-Fanta Phd

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Pipeline to Public Service Initiative asked the McCormack Graduate School’s Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston to ascertain the racial diversity in state and local government. The project had the following three goals:

--To identify the race (and gender) of those holding top-level positions filled through gubernatorial appointments, e.g., secretaries, commissioners, directors, deputy commissioners/directors, and undersecretaries, in the Commonwealth’s executive offices and major departments.

--To compile the same information for members of the most influential boards and commissions in the Commonwealth filled through gubernatorial appointments.

--To assess the diversity of elected …

Transgender Justice, Richard M. Juang

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Proceedings from CLAGS's Trans Politics, Social Change and Justice conference will be available in January 2007 under the title Transgender Justice.

Some Thoughts On China's Sexual Revolution: Sexuality And Social Change In Contemporary China, Sun Zhongxin

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

The last two years saw several changes in the public discourse around sex and sexuality in China. So what are some of the most controversial sex-related topics to be raised in China recently?

Letter From The Executive Director: Queer Studies Goes Digital, Paisley Currah

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Google books, journals available only online, Wikipedia. With so much knowledge going digital, is print culture on its way our? While print probably won't disappear as a scholarly medium in the foreseeable future, it is important that CLAGS remain at the cutting edge not just in terms of the kinds of research we support, but in terms of how we disseminate that research. We are currently involved in several long-term projects to share digital resources with our membership and the community at large, expanding on our longstanding commitment to making print and analog materials available that are often not accessible …

Gender Identity Disorder, Jennifer Mckitrick

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

According to the DSM IV, a person with GID is a male or female that feels a strong identification with the opposite sex and experiences considerable stress because of their actual sex (Task Force on DSM-IV and American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The way GID is characterized by health professionals, patients, and lay people belies certain assumptions about gender that are strongly held, yet nevertheless questionable. The phenomena of transsexuality and sex-reassignment surgery puts into stark relief the following question: “What does it mean to be male or female?” But while the answer to that question may be informed by contemplation …

Lessons In Sex And Fascism: Dagmar Herzog's Pedagogy Workshop, Megan Jenkins

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

On December 4, 2006 Dagmar Herzog, Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center, led a lively workshop titled "What's So Sexy about Fascism? And Why is it Important to Think About it in the Classroom?" as part of the CLAGS/CSGS LGBTQ Plans Pedagogy Workshop.

Another Look At Gender In Prime-Time Television, Jan Carolyn Kircher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Television has become an important agent of socialization in society today. Social interaction on prime-time television was examined 24 years ago by members of the Sociology Department at South Dakota State University. That study was similar to this research project that investigates gender roles on prime-time television. The earlier study used a modified version of the Bales Interaction Scale to code male and female behavior to assess the extent to which prime-time television presented traditional or nontraditional gender roles. This study used research methods similar to those of the previous study to see if traditional gender roles depicted on prime-time …

Theorizing Threat: An Investigation Of Contentious Embodiment, Jennifer Musial, Emily Van Der Meulen

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

In early summer 2006, we had a phone conversation that generated interest in this topic. Emily was reminiscing about her experiences at the Washington, D.C. March for Women's Lives in April of 2004. The March, a demonstration for reproductive justice, brought out feminists and anti-abortion protestors alike. Emily remembered seeing African-American men holding signs that equated abortion to the airplane attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001. This sparked curiosity: how does abortion become equated with "terrorism"? [1] One answer to this question is that a woman who has an abortion is said to commit "body-terrorism" …

On The Limits Of Sexual Health Literacy: Insights From Ugandan Schoolgirls, Shelley Jones, Bonny Norton

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

This article makes the case that current conceptions of sexual health literacy have limited relevance to the Ugandan context because they assume that knowledge of unsafe sexual practices will lead to changes in behavior and lifestyle. Drawing on a longitudinal case study with 15 Ugandan schoolgirls in rural Uganda from August 2004 to September 2006, this study argues that despite being well-informed about the risks and responsibilities of sexual activity, poverty and sexual abuse severely constrained options for these young women. Although many believed in the value of abstaining from sexual activity until marriage, they engaged in transactional sex to …

Protecting Parent-Child Relationships: Determining Parental Rights Of Same-Sex Parents Consistently Despite Varying Recognition Of Their Relationship, Linda S. Anderson

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “The family and parental relationship appears secure as long as the members of the family stay within the borders of the states that recognize their relationship. What happens, though, when the family ventures beyond the borders of Vermont, Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut, has yet to be determined. Legislation in almost every other state has addressed whether each state will recognize the couples’ relationship,27 but no state has determined how it will treat the legal relationship between the children of these couples and their parents.28 This article will focus on the fragile legal relationship between same-sex parents and their children …

The New Face Of Queer, The New Face Of Cuny, Shawn(Ta) Smith-Cruz

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

The seventh Queer CUNY conference for LGBT students, staff, faculty, and alumni, took place at Brooklyn College on April 1, 2006. Students from all over the CUNY system of schools gathered to discuss, debate, and deconstruct what LGBT community is and what it might be.

Revisiting Queer Latinidad: A Clags Seminar Course Review, Anel Méndez Velázquez, Ileana Jiménez

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Anel: The construction of a latinà-queer "we" is very problematic. The construction of a "queer we" and a "latinà we" separately—and any attempt to add them up in a "queer-latinà we"—privileges and universalizes particular imagined identities at the expense and exclusion of specific cultural and personal practices and ways of being.

Reflections From A Former Executive Director, Jill Dolan

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

I joined CLAGS as a board member in 1994, at a transitional moment in its history. The grassroots activist project that Marty Duberman had started in his living room had been recognized as one of CUNY's Research Centers for only a short time at that point, and many people on the board struggled with what it meant to be institutionally affiliated. The board had grown from people Marty knew personally to a broader group of gay and lesbian scholars (or simply scholars working on gay and lesbian issues) recommended by others. For example, I was brought to the board by …

Letter From The Executive Director, Paisley Currah

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Heterosexuality is under attack--not by the authors of a new "I hate straights" broadsheet, not by vacationers in Provincetown, but by state judges in the US. In August, New York's highest court ruled that the New York State Constitution "does not compel recognition of marriages between members of the same-sex." Their reasoning? In part, the decision declared, because opposite-sex relationships are "often too casual," and thus result in the production of children by "accident or impulse." And so, "unstable relationships between people of the opposite sex present a greater danger that children will be born into or grow up in …

Review Of Queer Wars: The New Gay Right And Its Critics. Paul Robinson. Reviewed By Greg Mallon., Gerald P. Mallon

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Paul Robinson, Queer Wars: The New Gay Right and Its Critics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. $25.00 hardcover.

Don't Ask Don't Tell And The Uri Community, Justin Thames

Senior Honors Projects

When Bill Clinton and his staff introduced the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Bill(US Code 10) it created quite a controversy. The bill was designed to replace the then current system of asking for an individual’s sexual orientation on a military application thus making homosexuality a barrier to service in the United States Armed Forces. The bill was finally passed in 1993 and is meant to keep people in power from discriminating on the basis of homosexuality. This new law requires that no investigations be launched to identify the sexual orientation of a service member nor will hearsay be allowed to …

How Does Change Happen? Women's Rights And Development Conference, Kaushalya Perera

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

This was the question that was the central focus of the 10th International Forum of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID). The Forum was held in Bangkok, Thailand from October 27th-30th, 2005. The AWID is an international organization, founded in 1982, and hosts an international forum every three years.

New Editors For Glq: A Journal Of Lesbian And Gay Studies, Ann Cvetkovich, Annamarie Jagose

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

The publication of GLQ 12.1 in December 2005 marks the moment when we officially take over from Carolyn Dinshaw and David Halperin as the new co-editors of the journal. Although it's a transition that has been some years in the making (Annamarie first came on board as Associate Editor for Volume 9 and has been a co-editor for Volumes 10 and 11, and Ann was associate editor for Volume 11), Volume 12 represents the beginning of a genuine partnership between the two of us.

Looking At Lesbian Feminism 1970-2005: Conversations Across Generations, Polly Thistlethwaite

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

What has become of lesbian feminism? Over 100 activists, scholars, and writers convened at the CUNY Graduate Center on Friday, October 28, for intergenerational discussions about lesbian-feminism. Activists from the first 'organized' lesbian movement paired with lesbian activists who came out post-lesbian-feminism to talk about lesbian-feminism and the body, culture, sex, and movement building. Together with a moderator, participants in the four featured discussions shared convictions and experiences about class, race, transgender politics, misogyny, privilege, dating strategies, sexual styles, and liberation struggles.

Capital Campaign To Mark Clags's 15th Anniversary, Paisley Currah

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

It may seem hard to believe, but when the new year rolled in, CLAGS turned 15. In 1991, CLAGS opened as the first university-based research center for what was then called "lesbian and gay studies" in the US. It's been a heady, infectiously exciting, and sometimes contentious 15 years.

Dutty Wine: Ooman Big Up Or Dis?, Nicole Cruz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study explores the extent to which females are liberated or oppressed in dancehall in Kingston, Jamaica. Using a qualitative approach and feminist perspective, I explore dancehall culture and the ghetto communities on which it centers. Participant observation allowed me to experience the dynamics of the dancehall space. Using in-depth interviews, I assessed my observations with the opinions of dancehall fans and other community members. Ultimately, it becomes clear in this study that though heterosexual females are liberated with their freedom of sexual expression, dancehall is still has a deeply patriarchal structure. Heterosexual males dominate dancehall by oppressing heterosexual females, …

Aals As Creative Problem-Solver: Implementing Bylaw 6-4(A) To Prohibit Discrimination On The Basis Of Sexual Orientation In Legal Education, Barbara J. Cox

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Belly Dance As A Means Of Dance Therapy For Survivors Of Sexual Assault, Nadia De Leon

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.