Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

With Love, ; An Interdisciplinary And Intersectional Look At Why Creativity Is Essential, Theo Starr Gardner

Whittier Scholars Program

My Whittier Scholars Program self-designed major, Teaching Creativity, is a mixture of Art, Literature, and Education classes. My research and praxis classes have been focused on the ‘how?’s and 'why?’s of creativity, so it felt only right that my project should be a constructivist, generative project. The project I have been working on throughout my time at Whittier, and that has just fully come to fruition on April 11th, 2024, was a solo art gallery/open mic event entitled ‘With Love,’. With Love, was conceptually inspired by the research I’ve conducted on creativity and creative arts education over the past few …

Lessons In Persistence, Syble Heffernan

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

LESSONS IN PERSISTENCE is a thesis that operates within the tradition of writing about trauma and resilience, taking up themes of mental illness, class, colonialism, loss of a parent, navigating queerness in a conservative Christian context, and reckoning with gender-based violence and expectations directed toward people socialized as women. The use of ecopoetics highlights the relationship between traumas to the earth brought about by climate change, war, and worldwide suffering, and those brought upon the human body (specifically marginalized bodies) by grief, illness, abuse, and the loss of self. The collection ultimately aims to establish explicit connections between internal and …

Breaking The Rule Of Silence: Childbirth And Gendered Power In Efuru And The Joys Of Motherhood, Sunday Elliott Uguru

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines the thematic preoccupation of childbirth in the formative period of feminist discourse in African literature through a critical study of selected novels of Igbo women of southeastern Nigeria. The novels studied represent the earliest published African texts in English by women. The period under focus falls within the emerging stage of Nigerian literary tradition in its written form with a dominant presence of men. This study investigates the women novelists' perspective toward the failure of male authored works to represent women's childbirth experience. Through a critical reading of Flora Nwapa's Efuru and Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of …

“Pro-Woman, Pro-Life”: Framing Of The Anti-Abortion Movement, Olivia Rivet

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This project on the “Pro-Woman, Pro-Life" framing of the Anti-Abortion Movement uses James Paul Gee's theoretical lens on discourse analysis. My research corpus is comprised of historical, legislative, news, editorial, and film data. This project focuses on when the term "Pro-Woman" first appeared in the anti-abortion discourse and how it has been used to reinforce the Pro-Life stance. I argue that the phrase -- "Pro-Woman" -- is a discoursal strategy to appeal to women who are ideologically aligned with the Pro-Choice movement. According to the Pro-Woman, Pro-Life framework, no "feminist" would want to support a practice, such as abortion, that …

Exploring The Intersection Of Sexual Identity And Route Of Administration In Relation To Cannabis Use Among Young Adult Females, Sarah J. Ehlke, Samantha A. Fitzer, Jennifer L. Shipley, Abby L. Braitman

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background and Objective: Rates of cannabis use continue to increase with sexual minority women (SMW) reporting greater use than heterosexual women. Along with these increasing trends, the routes of administration (ROA) for cannabis are evolving. The current study examined associations between cannabis ROA and frequency of use, as well as differences across sexual identity (heterosexual vs. SMW).

Methods: Participants were 949 young adult (18–25 years old) women (29.8% SMW) who reported past month cannabis use and were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Number of cannabis use days and each ROA used (joint, pipe, blunt, bong, vape, edible, and ointment) in …

The Bloodless Period: A Transfeminine Experience, Rin Nguyen

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There is limited research exploring menstruation in transgender and gender diverse (TGD) populations, and studies have primarily examined the relationship between menstruation and gender congruence. Findings revealed menstruating TGD people experienced distress related to decreased gender congruence (Eisenberg et al., 2021), and 88% of TGD people expressed interest in menstrual suppression to manage the distress (Schwartz et al., 2022). By contrast, Lowik (2020) highlighted a transfeminine person who wished to menstruate to achieve womanhood and commented on the “bloodless period” (i.e., menstrual-like symptoms in the absence of bleeding) upon receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy. To the author’s knowledge, there is no …

Narratives Of Reproductive Control In The American Eugenics Movement, Cassandra M. Provost

Honors Theses

In this paper, I will explore the eugenics movement as a pseudo-scientific political, social, and legal phenomenon which had a devastating historical impact on America’s most vulnerable women, as well as briefly discuss its residual effects on contemporary reproductive rights conversations, through the lens of literature. Using an interdisciplinary discourse and narrative analysis approach, I identify two distinct themes within the explored narratives: (1) the importance of a government’s attempt to override a person’s autonomy by destroying the person’s ability to reproduce, and (2) the impropriety of actions based on a negative attitude toward disabled or undesirable persons. In my …

Exploring Lgbtq+ Cultural Competency And Dei In Continuing Education: A Cross-Sectional Review Of U.S. Pharmacy Legislation, Jennifer Ko, Jeremy Carlos, Yvonne Nguyen

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, or other sexual orientations or gender identities (LGBTQ+) cultural competency training is offered in pharmacy curricula to variable extents. State legislation directly dictates pharmacist training through continuing pharmacy education (CPE) requirements.

Objectives

This study aimed to identify the U.S. states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) that require CPE or training on topics related to LGBTQ+ cultural competency or topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in general. In addition, this study quantified and compared each state’s CPE hours required for each renewal period.

Methods

This cross-sectional study retrospectively …

"Girls Don't Strike Without Provocation.": African American Women, The General Strike, And The Good Samaritan Hospital School Of Nursing, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1956-1959., Francena F.L. Turner

Sociology Department Faculty Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Cigarette Smoking Behaviors And Nicotine Dependence At The Intersection Of Sexual Identity And Sex In The United States: Findings From The National Survey On Drug Use And Health, Ollie Ganz, Jonathan A. Schulz, Sarah J. Ehlke, Jessica L. King Jensen, Andrea C. Villanti

Psychology Faculty Publications

Introduction: Cigarette smoking is disproportionately high among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults. Yet, collapsing these identities into a monolith can disguise important within group disparities (e.g., lesbian/gay versus bisexual female). The purpose of this study is to report recent national prevalence estimates and trends of cigarette smoking behaviors and nicotine dependence by sexual identity and sex. Methods: Data were from the 2015–2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (n = 210,392; adults 18+), a nationally representative, repeated cross-sectional study of substance use and mental health in the U.S. We examined bivariate and multivariable associations between sexual identity and …

Support, Networks, And Relationships: Findings From A Mixed-Methods Evaluation Of A Mentorship Programme For Early Career Women Researchers In Sexual And Reproductive Health And Rights, Muhammad Asim, Peter Muriuki Gatheru, Joy J. Chebet, Mehr G. Shah, Anna Thorson, Vanessa Brizuela

Community Health Sciences

Low research output among women researchers in health research has been linked to inadequate mentorship opportunities for early career women researchers and particularly in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) field. Mentorship has been recognized as a contributor to strengthening research capacity and as beneficial for both mentors and mentees. Women researchers oftentimes experience negative impacts of organizational and structural gender inequities related to formal and informal mentoring. In 2020, the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction at WHO launched a mentorship programme for early career SRHR women researchers from low- and …

No Woman Left Behind: Women’S Lived Experiences, Purposes, And Perceptions On Female Genital Mutilation (Fgm) Of Maasai And Datoga Communities In Arusha, Tanzania, Audrey Tirrill

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Female genital mutilation (FGM) has been practiced for centuries around the world, currently FGM occurs in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Even though many counties like Tanzania has outlawed FGM and stating it is a violation of human rights, many people continue the procedure without adequate education on FGM. While believing the decline in number of FGM incidences and there is still a lack of local women perspectives and their respective lived experiences on the matter. This is particularly true in some Tanzanian rural and male dominated tribes where most women are educated with limited freedom of speech such …

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 …

The Wpath Standards Of Care: Their History And Importance In Advocating For Transgender Health, Alexander Cross

Honors College

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care publication one most-often cited in the defense of increasing attacks on transgender rights to gender-affirming healthcare, as it is the reigning body of clinical guidelines and recommendations for the medical treatment of transgender and gender-diverse populations developed for application in a global context. This paper recounts the history of the WPATH organization––formerly called the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association––and the evolution of its Standards publication. In light of historical and recent attacks on gender-affirming care, an overview of the material implications of the Standards’ changes as they pertain …

Imagining Gender Euphorias, Willow Wind

Honors College

Our society needs to talk about gender, but we aren’t very good at it. Avoiding these discussions has harmful impacts on body image and various health disparities (The Trevor Project, 2020). What if we have better and regular conversations about ways we can positively experience gender? This study’s model of negotiating gender can be used by families and educators seeking affirming exploratory learning opportunities. Insights into meanings of gender euphoria help validate diverse sets of experiences, informing a broader cultural discourse that increasingly questions gender binarism (Griffin, 2020).

This study explores conceptualizations and enactment of gender euphoria across demographics and …

The State Of Transgender And Kinnar Communities In Delhi: Case Studies Connecting Socioeconomic Factors To Health, Ray Craig

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The paper seeks to draw connections between socioeconomic barriers faced by the transgender (trans) community in Delhi, India and the healthcare that the community receives. It primarily discusses transgender people who are not part of the kinnar population, with as much consideration to the experiences of the kinnar community as possible, given limited access to their circles. Five transgender individuals and two cisgender individuals who have worked with trans communities participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews to understand various factors that affect trans people’s daily lives and their healthcare experiences in Delhi. Interviews were transcribed and coded, finding common themes of …

Conflicting Socio-Cultural Attitudes And Community Factors Resulting In Backstreet Abortion In Cato Manor, Kwazulu Natal, Chloe Sachs

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Abortion in South Africa is a complex topic, rife with augmenting and limiting political, social, religious, and cultural factors. In South Africa, abortion has been legal since 1996; however, abortions have been performed for centuries in the region. Although abortion is legal, many factors influence a woman’s choice and ability to terminate a pregnancy. Religious and cultural norms within morally conservative societies contribute to negative abortion sentiments and hesitation to seek formal medical abortions. This study explored multiple age groups within Cato Manor and whether the attitudes towards abortion and factors impacting the choice of where and whether to receive …

Intergenerational Change In Hiv/Aids-Related Stigma In Cato Manor, Mijin Cho

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In South Africa, the world’s epicenter of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, HIV-related stigma and stigma-enforcing stereotypes continue to serve as major health barriers to receiving adequate HIV prevention and treatment. While there continues to be a rise in research and advocacy, there is a need to study HIV stigma through a multigenerational lens that addresses the changing HIV/AIDS stigma in the post-apartheid era. Using qualitative methodology, this study aims to explore the generational differences in perceived HIV stigma between females in their 20s and above 50 years of age (as denoted by “50s+”) living in Cato Manor, South Africa. The study …

Examining The Impact Of Holistic Practices On Lgbtqia+ Wellness, Airelle Railley

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The project involved surveying the before and aftereffects of holistic healing for ten undergraduate Kentuckians who identify as LGBTQIA+. The purpose of the project was to heighten and expand the LGBTQIA+ participants experience with holistic and wellness care, by utilizing on or off campus wellness activities. Those ten participants were split into two groups of five. The control group was lightly “encouraged” to attend any health and wellness activities. The intervention group was required to attend at least one yoga session per week. Each participant was instructed to complete and submit documentation each month. Those documents included surveys and monthly …

The Influence Of Internalized Heterosexism On Life Satisfaction: Comparing Sexual Minority Women In Belgium And Turkey, Esra Ummak, Ezgi Toplu-Demirtaş, Amber L. Pope, Jeffry Moe

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

To date, the majority of research studying lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) health has been conducted in Westernized, predominantly individualistic countries. Building on minority stress theory and models of LGBTQ health, we explored how sexual orientation and nationality moderated the association between internalized heterosexism and life satisfaction for lesbian and bisexual (LB) women living in two countries (Turkey and Belgium) with contrasting social contexts. The results of two-way MANOVA, in a sample of 339 Turkish and 220 Belgian LB women, revealed main effects but no interaction effects. LB women in Belgium reported less internalized heterosexism and more life …

Revisiting The Rainbow: Culturally Responsive Updates To A Standard Clinical Resource, Angela M. Dietsch, Richard Mocarski, Debra A. Hope, Nathan Woodruff, Miechelle Mckelvey

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose

Cultural responsivity is essential for efficacious and affirming clinical relationships. This may be especially important with historically marginalized clients, such as transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people seeking behaviorally based affirming communication services. We recommend modifications to standard tools for diagnostics and training that otherwise might undermine our efforts to create an inclusive and affirming environment.

Method

Modifications to the Rainbow Passage, a standardized paragraph utilized for eliciting speech samples in clinical settings, focused on nongendered terminology and the elimination of content with religious connotations.

Results

The recommended edits to the Rainbow Passage maintain similar length, cadence, and phonetic balance …

How Cultural Believes Support And Perpetuate Relational Violence: A Delphi Study For Violence Prevention, Alisha D. Guthery

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study solicited experts in relational violence across the United States using the Delphi methodology and grounded theory. This research was conducted in two phases and designed to answer two primary questions: (1) What cultural beliefs are involved in relational violence in the United States? And (2) How are the beliefs about relational violence maintained? The findings showed agreement from the experts on the societal beliefs that hold relational violence, the specific beliefs held by the abuser, and the impacts of these beliefs on the survivor. The experts offered ideas for intervention and prevention, which are important contributions to professional …

Refining An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study Of Binge Eating Among Sexual Minority And Heterosexual Young Women: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study, Kristin E. Heron, Charlotte A. Dawson, Cassidy M. Sandoval, Lauren V. Butler, Abby L. Braitman, Alison Cerezo, Robin J. Lewis

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is used to capture daily lived experiences, states, and environments. Although EMA is commonly used in behavioral health research, there remains a dearth of literature on how researchers account for design considerations of EMA techniques when designing studies. The goal of this formative mixed methods study was to elicit feedback on EMA study procedures and materials from the target populations for a larger study about binge eating among sexual minority and heterosexual young women, in which data are collected entirely remotely.

Methods: Sexual minority (n=12) and heterosexual (n=9) women ages 18–30 who binge ate took …

How Racial Trauma Manifests In Black Women From Direct And Indirect Encounters With Police Brutality, Ashley Turner

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This phenomenological study explored Black women’s lived experiences with racial trauma stemming from direct and indirect encounters with police brutality. A total of nine participants living in Washington state participated in this study. They identified as Black, ciswomen, fluent in English, and at least 21-years-old. In-depth, semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted to explore participants’ experiences with police. Transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The results consisted of the following five themes: (a) forms of police encounters, (b) influence of identity, (c) perceived reason for police brutality, (d) emotions stemming from police brutality, and (e) tactics to survive police interactions. …

The Effects Of Gender-Based Violence On Maternal And Neonatal Health Among Women Of Reproductive Age Seeking Services At The Gender-Based Violence Recovery Center At Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching And Referral Hospital, Mana Tezuka

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study is to provide recent data analysis on the patients that come in to seek services at the Gender-Based Violence Recovery Center at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital. The demographic features that will be analyzed include age, gender, pregnancy status, and follow-up trends. There will be an in-depth case study that will look at the perspective of a patient that experienced forms of gender-based violence during and after her pregnancy and the perspective of the counsellor assigned to this patient’s case. There will also be an analysis on an interview conducted with the nurse-in-charge …

Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Students Experiencing Homelessness And Substance Use In The School Context: A Statewide Study, Hadass Moore, Kris De Pedro

Education Faculty Articles and Research

PURPOSE

This study explored differences between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)-housed and homeless students regarding substance use patterns on and off school grounds and the unique contribution of homelessness to substance use in school.

METHODS

Data were from the 2013-2015 California Healthy Kids Survey, a statewide survey of school protective factors and risk behaviors. A representative sample of 9th- and 11th-grade students (N = 20,337) was used. Comparisons between housed (n = 19,456) and homeless (doubled up: n = 715; acute homeless: n = 166) LGB students were conducted. We used chi-square tests to compare rates of lifetime, past-30-day, and …

La Política Cultural Del Aborto: Las Percepciones Y El Manejo Del Aborto En Arica, Chile, Eva Strelitz-Block

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Chile has a long history of restricting access to legal abortion. Until 2017, when the government passed the law N° 21.030 decriminalizing abortion on three grounds, abortion was completely illegal. However, despite this movement towards decriminalization, legal abortion access is still very limited and highly restricted. In this criminalized, highly stigmatized environment, self-managed abortion has emerged as a way to transform the landscape of abortion. This qualitative, exploratory study seeks to explore perceptions of abortion and practices of abortion management both within and outside of the official healthcare system among women and people with the capacity to become pregnant and …

Evaluating The Validity Of Restrictions On Blood Donation Eligibility For Men Who Have Sex With Men (Msm) In The United States, France, And Switzerland, Swathi Gorantla

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For the first time in a decade, the number of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnoses is higher for heterosexual people compared to gay and bisexual men (Florêncio, 2022). Additionally, in the United States, the American Red Cross has declared a national blood crisis due to the nationwide shortage of donated blood. During this crisis, charged with the new information on HIV diagnosis rates, many advocates for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community question why discriminatory policy surrounding gay and bisexual men donating still exist around the world. These policies are changing worldwide – several European countries have …

Flippin' Medicine: Reflection And Action In Medical Education, Alison Lawrence

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

Historically, medicine has centered around a single model: that of the white, cisgender, heterosexual, abled, middle-class male body. While it is well known that patients of diverse identities often present differently, medical education continues to use this dominant, normative model as the standard for all patients while ignoring marginalized groups in their descriptions. "Flippin' Medicine" reflects on the prevalence of normative models in medicine, as well as the ways in which these models slip past the notice of providers with privileged identities. The author then describes the process behind creating a resource, titled Flipped Medicine: A Guide to Deconstructing the …

Trends In Scientific Output On The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender (Lgbt) Community Research: A Bibliometric Analysis Of The Literature, David An, Kavita Batra

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Introduction: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) represent a diverse group with special needs due to the unusual developmental experiences and social inequalities. This paper aims to explore and outline a future research direction in LGBT issues through tracing our historical understanding of this population from an aspect of scientific research. Methods: LGBT-related peer-reviewed documents were retrieved from the PubMed database and the study period was set from the inception to 2021. Python-based methods were then performed to analyze the publication metadata and extract the most prominent research topics based on the abstract contents. Key points covered in the study …