Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Modernity And Transcendence: Gendered Subjectivity In Miss Lonelyhearts And A Spy In The House Of Love, Rachel Loging

Senior Theses

This thesis examines how Nathanael West’s Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) and Anaïs Nin’s A Spy in the House of Love (1954) represent gendered subjectivity under the conditions of modernity. Drawing on Ben Singer’s account of modern experience and Rita Felski’s analysis of modernity as a masculine structure organized around autonomy and production, it argues that both texts stage encounters between masculinity and femininity as sites of interpretive conflict. In Miss Lonelyhearts, masculinity remains tied to coherence, authority, and the paradigm of Christ, and repeatedly attempts to impose order through perception, relationships, and religion. These efforts ultimately collapse, exposing the futility and …

Watching The Screen, Sarah Thul

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

Inspired by the news today, hopefully it will inspire people to stand up and fight together.

Addiction And Dalits: The Impact Of India’S Caste System, Ava Jackson

Audre Lorde Prize

Across global public health and psychology, addiction is defined as a chronic condition that involves compulsive seeking and taking of a substance. In Western frameworks, addiction is often treated as an isolated condition, where the individual is blamed for their actions. In reality, addiction is rooted in biological, psychological, and social factors and is more complex than an individual level. Looking at the Global South, addiction is prominent in Dalit or “untouchable” individuals in India’s caste system, who face exclusion from all forms of society, including education, work, and social experiences. Addiction among Dalit women in India, Bangladesh, and the …

Between Peaks And Traditions: Indigenous Andean Women Mountaineers, Hybrid Identities, And Decolonial Resistance Through Sport, Ilina Arsova, Lars Dzikus

Journal of Global South Sport Studies

This paper explores the hybrid identities of Indigenous Bolivian women mountaineers, focusing on how they embrace and resist elements of both Indigenous and Western traditions through sports. Challenging dominant Western narratives of mountaineering (Rak, 2021), these women engage in climbing as an act of cultural preservation (Haynes, 2013; Rak, 2021) and gender advocacy (U.N. Women, 2021). Informed by Indigenous feminism (Caravajal, 2019; Green, 2020) and social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), the study explores the intersections of gender, culture, and mountain sports in the South American Andes. Through an interpretivist lens, this study uses narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, …

An Ethnographic Exploration Of The Lived Experiences With Gynecologic Cancers, Norma Naser Aldeen

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This thesis stays close to conversations with nine women who spoke about living with and through gynecologic cancers, from moments of finding out, through treatment, and into what follows. These encounters unfolded primarily through digitally mediated exchanges across Baalbek, Beirut, and other translocal settings shaped by distance and movement. Rather than approaching illness as a bounded biomedical event, this thesis attends to how gynecologic cancer is narrated as something that lingers—pressing into everyday life through bodily sensations, altered rhythms, and ongoing recalibrations of care, responsibility, and what remains possible.

Across these encounters, care rarely appears as a stable system …

Transwoman Motherhood: Analyzing Film Die Beautiful Within Butler’S Gender Performativity Theory, June Louie A. Flores, Mina Elfira

International Review of Humanities Studies

This study explores the representation and construction of gender identity and motherhood of transgender women within the Philippine society, focusing on Jun R. Lana’s 2016 film, Die Beautiful. Recognizing the increasing visibility of the queer community in media and social discourse, the research aims to analyze how the film reflects and challenges the binary construction of gender and societal gender norms using the theory of gender performativity by Judith Butler from her book Gender Trouble. Employing a qualitative content analysis approach, specifically the conventional method, selected scenes were examined to identify instances of gender performance and explore how …

How Can Zhu Xi’S Resources Contribute To The Feminist Progressive Project? A Reflection On The Study Of Zhu Xi’S Theory Of Kun Way-Making, Kun Wang

Comparative Philosophy

In Zhu Xi’s theory of cultivation, kun way-making (kun-dao坤道) to cultivate the virtue of kun (kun-de 坤德) goes ahead to qian way-making (qian-dao乾道), in which the virtue of qian (qian-de 乾德) is cultivated. In this theory, everyone is encouraged to cultivate kun way-making, which it happens that women represent. It is worth noting that the theory faces an issue of potential inconsistency between the “gendered” construction of qian-kun 乾坤 and the positive absence (kong-que空闕), the pivot of the cultivating process, where the renegotiation of the virtues of qian-kun is attuned to optimal …

Queer Perspectives In African Politics And Socialisation, Samuel A. Nuamah

FIRE Fund Bibliographies

The research guide provides a spectrum of department relating to the debate of queer identities. The concept of queer identity has been considered as not of African indigene but a European import. The guide provides different authors and their argument of queer presence and marginalization.

Enjoying The Golden Screen Of Asian American Representation In A Colorblind Era: Neoliberalism, Narrative, And Negotiation, Jered Mabaquiao

English Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation contributes to Asian American studies, Cinema and Media Studies, and Critical Theory by interrogating how contemporary Asian American representation is shaped by the intertwined pressures of racial politics, neoliberal market demands, and psychic life. Working across race studies, media studies, psychoanalysis, and phenomenological questions of ontology and being, the project argues that Asian American film and television cannot only be understood  through the language of popular culture representation, narrative progress, media visibility, or political inclusion. Instead, I combine such angles to examine how popular culture media participates in the contradictory production of Asian American subjectivity as culturally present …

The Voices Of Women Politicians: Media Representation And Its Influence On Identity, Gender Bias, And Self-Presentation, Ariana J. Hernandez

Communication Theses

This study examines how women in politics view and respond to media representation, shifting the focus from analyzing content to understanding the personal experiences and strategic choices of the politicians themselves. Through semi-structured interviews with 15 women in political roles, the research looks at the mental and emotional effort needed to navigate a media landscape shaped by gender.

The findings highlight a significant gap between how these women see themselves and how the media portrays them. They often feel that professional credibility must be built over time rather than being granted automatically. Participants pointed out common gendered portrayals, such as …

About Witch Hunt: Feminist And Political Agency In Contemporary Art, Rana Sumerler

MA Theses

The Witch Hunt exhibition conjures a powerful dialogue between history, identity, and empowerment, bringing together sixteen international artists to channel the spirit of the witch. This show traces a vast genealogy of women—from the 15th century witch hunts to Californian artistic legacies of the 1970s, to the exhibitions opening in 2021, and into present day. The participating artists emerge as symbols of resistance through their creations which transform domesticity, sexuality, and labor into sites of inquiry all while grappling with the intersectional concerns of womanhood.  In a moment marked by political upheaval, the exhibition is particularly resonant in its exploration …

What To Do With An Improper Woman: Gender Roles And Their Repercussions In Great Expectations, Abby Shaver

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Representation Of Indigenous Spiritualities In The Ontario Grade 11 World Religions Curriculum: A Discourse And Textual Analysis, Katelin A. Chavez

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Teacher Education For Religious Diversity In British Columbia: Policy Recommendations For Sikh And Chinese Mahayana Buddhist Inclusion, Ashton Kemper

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Embarrassment As A Signal: Feminist Affects And The Commodification Of Love, Bianca L. Schmitt

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Jenna Abdel-Kader, Hannah Desjardine

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Editors' Note, Jenna Abdel-Kader, Hannah Desjardine

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Slay Her: The Rhetoric Of Violation In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Lea N. Wright

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research draws on feminist theory and monster theory to perform a close rhetorical analysis of incidents in the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Buffy) where female characters are violated physically, psychologically, and/or sexually. Buffy is one of the most-analyzed television shows of all time, with a particular emphasis on the show’s engagement with feminism; however, the issue of violation has received little scholarly investigation despite multiple instances of it within the show. Through examining the rhetorical elements (such as dialogue, camerawork, body language, and character response) that surround incidents of violation, this research reveals that Buffy …

Modernism’S Wild Child: The Interplay Of Modernist And Children’S Literature, Rachel Riffel

All Master's Theses

Within literary criticism, American and British modernism are often characterized by the disillusioned writers and creators who established an elitist literary community during the early 20^th century. This period is also distinguished by the Harlem Renaissance highlighting Black art, culture, and writing. Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot, Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps are well-known for contributing core texts to modernism and the Harlem Renaissance that expressed existential themes and developed experimental techniques. What many readers don’t know, however, is that these authors and many other contemporaries wrote stories and poetry for children. In this thesis, I explore the children’s …

“No Soy Una Santa Pero Estoy Blessed”: El Álbum Lux, La Lingüística, Y Rosalía Como Una Santa Moderna, Abigail H. Gustafson

Scripps Senior Theses

Esta tesis analiza el álbum LUX (2025) de Rosalía como un proyecto artístico que fusiona la espiritualidad, la lingüística y la identidad femenina en un contexto contemporáneo y globalizado. A través de referencias a figuras religiosas femeninas como Anandamayi Ma, Santa Rosa de Lima y Rabia Basri, Rosalía reinterpreta el concepto tradicional de la santidad y propone una visión moderna de la feminidad. Este análisis se apoya en la teoría de la performatividad de género de Judith Butler, argumentando que la identidad femenina en LUX se construye de manera fluida, múltiple y no limitada por categorías culturales o religiosas rígidas. …

Lake As Body: Ecofeminism And Animacy At The Great Salt Lake, Shae Barber

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water shapes cultural, social, and ecological systems. Yet, dominant economic, political, and academic frameworks often treat water as a backdrop or passive resource, ignoring it as an active participant in meaning-making and relationship-building. Viewing water as “nonliving” obscures how it participates in and co-creates relationships, limiting understanding about impacts of and responses to climate change and environmental degradation.

This thesis takes a mixed-methods and participatory approach including semi-structured interview, photovoice, and participatory mapping to examine relational practices between environmental advocates and the Great Salt Lake, a desiccating saline lake in Utah, U.S. As the lake continues to decline, dominant Western …

Living The American Dystopia: Parallels Between Louise Erdrich's Future Home Of The Living God, Leni Zumas's Red Clocks, And Us Abortion Legislation, Erin R. Walden

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis highlights the parallels between contemporary U.S. culture and legislation (particularly after the overturning of Roe v. Wade) and two pieces of feminist speculative fiction: Louise Erdrich’s novel Future Home of the Living God and Leni Zumas’s Red Clocks. Through a rhetorical analysis of political and cultural discourse, legislation, and the two novels, utilizing the frameworks of theorists such as Catharine MacKinnon, Michel Foucault, and Stacy Alaimo, I investigate the similarities in legislation, culture, rhetoric, and atmospheres of reproductive dystopian fiction and our current political environment after the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health …

Repairing Estranged Death: Care, Politics And Ecology In The Us Funeral Industry, Cecilia Catherine Rodriguez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The industrialization of death practices in the US has separated humanity from natural cycles while centering white settler colonial norms that marginalize other cultural ways of caring for the dead. Through necropolitics, the contemporary death industry embodies capitalist values of commodification and a monopolization of care, separating death from community and its ecological cycles. Black and Indigenous feminist knowledges understand death as not a discrete event but instead as an ongoing process that shapes our relationships with both the human and more-than-human worlds. Engaging with feminist political ecologies, I extend a conversation about care and repair to contemporary death practices …

Nonbinary Gender Performance And Self-Identification In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Lillian R. Durr

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein, a text informed by a rich Romantic era philosophical tradition, has produced an expansive contemporary body of transgender studies scholarship. Building on transgender literary studies of Frankenstein, my thesis analyzes the difference between the monster’s internalized self-perceived identity and their externally performed and perceived identity. I interpret the difference between the monster’s internal and external identity as an analogy through which to understand contemporary nonbinary experiences. The “performance” of gender that Judith Butler describes is a limited expression of an internal, inescapable, ontological experience of self-identification. The monster’s own social experience illustrates the …

Women In Music: Experiences Of Women Oboists In Us Symphony Orchestras, Brianna Corgel

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The evolution of women in American music has been a gradual and ongoing process. Historically, women were largely excluded from public musical life and did not achieve widespread acceptance as professional musicians until the 20^th century, largely due to prevailing cultural and societal expectations. In the 19^th century, women typically performed in domestic settings for small gatherings of family and friends. Female instrumentalists were generally limited to the piano and a few string instruments, while wind instruments—such as the oboe—were discouraged because they were considered unladylike or visually unappealing when played. The 20^th century saw the emergence …

Inclusive Psychology Pedagogy Is Linked To Increased Belonging And Reduced Prejudice Toward Consensually Non-Monogamous Relationships, Rose Bern, Rachel Dinero, Kate Linenbach, Amy Moors

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Students enrolled in an elective psychology course entitled Relationship Science, which emphasized inclusive curricula focused on relationship diversity, completed pre- and postcourse assessments of attitudes toward consensually nonmonogamous (CNM) relationships, relationship skills (e.g., constructive communication), and classroom belonging. Given the established literature on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+-inclusive pedagogy, attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ individuals were also measured. Comparisons of pre- and postcourse assessments revealed significant reductions in stigma toward individuals engaged in CNM, alongside increased acceptance of CNM relationships more broadly. Students also reported increases in relationship skills and classroom belonging over the course of the …

Resistance And Innovation: The Cultural Work Of Popular Romance Novels, Chelsee M. Niebergall

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Popular romance fiction is the highest-grossing genre in contemporary publishing, yet it remains one of the least examined in academic scholarship. As this thesis argues, while texts of this genre have been marginalized and stigmatized for their perceived lack of literary sophistication, they prove to be some of the most radical in terms of cultural impact. Their dismissal is not incidental but symptomatic of the very systems of oppression the romance novels work to disrupt. This thesis will examine these radical texts and uncover the cultural work they perform on their readers by using an analytical framework newly developed here, …

“Maria! Balbon Mo, Ahitin Mo!”: Ang Karanasan Ng Mga Pilipina Sa Pagtanggal Ng Buhok Sa Katawan Bilang Isang Beauty Standard, Zakiya Clarisse Y. Carabuena, Julianne Krystoff B. De Leon, Rebecca W. Dionisio, Alliah Kristy A. Sato, Deborrah S. Anastacio

Sinaya: A Philippine Journal for Senior High School Teachers and Students

Ang pagtanggal ng buhok sa katawan ng mga kababaihan ay naging isang pamantayan ng kagandahan na may malalim na ugnayan sa mga impluwensyang panlipunan at pangkulturang aspeto. Ang layunin ng pag-aaral na ito ay tuklasin kung bakit at paano nagpapatanggal ng buhok sa katawan ang mga kababaihan sa Pilipinas, pati na rin ang impluwensya ng mga pamantayang ito sa kanilang desisyon at karanasan. Gumamit ang pananaliksik na ito ng kwalitatibong metodolohiya, partikular na ang purposive sampling, upang makapanayam ang pitong (7) kababaihan na nasa edad 18-25 at mayroon nang karanasan sa pagtanggal ng buhok sa katawan. Ang mga panayam …

A Visual Analysis Of Sogie-Themed Children’S Storybooks From Mulat Sulat, Audrey Leigh T. De Leon, Cassandra Louise A. Ma, Jennifer Shan E. Ou, Belle Beatriex' M. Alemania

Sinaya: A Philippine Journal for Senior High School Teachers and Students

Children’s storybooks play a crucial role in the significance of sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression (SOGIE) and the realities of gender-based representation. Although previous literature has analyzed books through textual analysis, there remains a gap in the visual analysis of SOGIE-themed Filipino children’s books. Therefore, this study focuses on the visual representation of characters in five storybooks published under the Mulat Sulat project in 2018. This research employed the first three levels of Rodriguez and Dimitrova’s (2011) visual framing framework to analyze how illustrations are depicted through various visual elements. Additionally, this study utilized Bisht’s (2020) coding template to …

Banyuhay Ng Makabayang Bakla: Ang Naratibo At Pagkakakilanlan Ng Mga Aktibistang Lgbtq+ Sa Metro Manila, Areeya Christine P. Bueno, Kaela Marie G. De Gorio, Precious Aerielle V. Ebardo, Raven Lukas L. Vergara, Belle Beatriex' M. Alemania

Dalumat: Multikultural at Multidisiplinaryong E-Journal sa Araling Filipino

Ang salitang banyuhay o “bagong anyo ng buhay” ay isang metapora na sumasalamin sa pag-usbong ng pagkakakilanlan ng mga aktibistang LGBTQ+. Ginamit ang disenyong narrative case study upang masiyasat ang (1) pagbabago sa pagkakakilanlan bago at pagkatapos sumali sa mga pagkilos, (2) mga salik na nag-udyok na kilalanin ang sarili bilang ganap na aktibista, at (3) pagkakakilanlan batay sa mga kategorya ng Social Identity Theory–Self-Categorization Theory (SIT-SCT). Bilang unang hakbang, pinasagutan ng mga mananaliksik ang pre-interview questionnaire upang makakalap ng inisyal na impormasyon sa mga kalahok. Sumunod dito, isinagawa ang semi-structured interview sa anim na kalahok mula sa iba't ibang …