Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Seeing Battle, Knowing War: Feminist Re-Visioning In Hortensia Papadat-Bengesçu’S “The Man Whose Heart They Could See”, Jon Dietrick

Journal of International Women's Studies

As an exploration of the themes of disillusionment and the failure of language, Romanian writer Hortensia Papadat-Bengesçu’s “The Man Whose Heart They Could See” would seem to share much with better-known men’s writing on the war such as Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms or Henri Barbusse’s Le Feu: Journal d’une Escouade. But a careful reading of the text reveals some crucial differences from these works. Treating the subject of war not in terms of an easily definable “scene of battle” or “war front” but instead as a deeply entrenched cultural logic in which varied aspects of society are both …

Is Women’S Studies Dead?, Marysia Zalewski

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article considers the recurring criticisms of Women’s Studies. The desire for the demise of Women’s Studies is not new yet recent demands for its end have come from Women’s Studies scholars themselves. I review the arguments for and against the termination of the field and, although the arguments against Women’s Studies are compelling, I argue for its continuation. This paradoxical conclusion is reached by reconsidering the “for and against” debates through Wendy Brown’s use of Jacques Derrida’s “spectre” and Walter Benjamin’s “angel of history.” Thus, despite the seduction of the discourse of conventional argumentation performed through the deconstructive critique …

Introduction: Harvesting Our Strengths: Third Wave Feminism And Women’S Studies, Stacy Gillis, Rebecca Munford

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Beyond Trashiness: The Sexual Language Of 1970s Feminist Fiction, Meryl Altman

Journal of International Women's Studies

It is now commonplace to study the beginning of second wave US radical feminism as the history of a few important groups – mostly located in New York, Boston and Chicago – and the canon of a few influential polemical texts and anthologies. But how did feminism become a mass movement? To answer this question, we need to look also to popular mass-market forms that may have been less ideologically “pure” but that nonetheless carried the edge of feminist revolutionary thought into millions of homes. This article examines novels by Alix Kates Shulman, Marge Piercy and Erica Jong, all published …

Mothers Of Future Kings: The Madonna Redux Phenomenon, Colleen Denney

Journal of International Women's Studies

The visual culture that created Diana was motivated by Victorian constrictions of motherhood that enforced notions of stability and lineage. This article examines the cultural metaphors of nurturance – the “Madonna redux phenomenon” – in images of Diana, and in her predecessor Princess Alexandra. I argue that images of royal motherhood are staged affairs, constructed and performed as part of the Princesses’ main role as dutiful and loving mothers. Finally, I point up how moments of agency can be achieved within these images and how Diana, “the postfeminist princess,” embraced these moments.

Women’S Space “Inside The Haveli”: Incarceration Or Insurrection?, Daphne Grace

Journal of International Women's Studies

While the Hindu and Muslim veiled woman may respectively appear to be relics of traditional class and religious values, or as icons of the eroticised female body of colonial desire, she still appears as a powerful – and ambiguous – indicator of meaning in contemporary literature. Both Asian and Euro-American theorists have recognised the equation in imperialist through between the feminised nation and the trope of the veiled woman. Yet how far is the figure of the Indian woman invisible as well as silent? This article discusses how gendered representations of women represent the changing role of women in terms …

From Suffragist To Apologist: The Loss Of Feminist Politics In A Politically Correct Patriarchy, Ashleigh Harris

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article discusses the ways in which feminist politics have been dissolved since the 1980s, most notably in the popular cultural sphere, so as to make feminism appear anachronistic. It considers how various discourses and texts have sought to efface the political impetus of feminism through claims to political correctness. Young women are thus interpolated into a more insidious patriarchy that re-inscribes female shame, guilt, passivity and silence in both professional and personal contexts, at the same as it espouses the discourse of equal rights. Many are not only apologizing for the equal rights that been “granted” to them, but …

Global Feminisms, Transnational Political Economies, Third World Cultural Production, Winnie Woodhull

Journal of International Women's Studies

Third wave feminism is located historically in relation to de-industrialization in the 1980s and the 1990s’ boom in information technologies and transnational finance, which exponentially increased disparities of wealth and power worldwide. Given the global context of third wave feminism’s emergence, this article argues for a consideration of the many forms and expression of feminism the world over, and of the ways they converge with and diverge from western feminisms, both politically and culturally. After briefly discussing the economically oppressive and culturally homogenizing tendencies of globalization, the article looks at the democratizing potential of today’s global media networks. I end …

The Ana Sanctuary: Women’S Pro-Anorexia Narratives In Cyberspace, Karen Dias

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article explores cyberspace as a site in which women who are struggling with anorexia can find sanctuary from the surveillance of the public sphere. Feminist geographical and sociological work on the body and critical analysis of medical and psychiatric discourses inform the analyses of the text, narratives and images presented. I locate women’s (dis)embodied cyberspace experiences in the context of the pathologization of women and within attempts to silence their voices. Through these women’s narratives, women’s engagement in the interpretation of their experiences can be observed. What women struggling with anorexia may not be able or ready to say …

Feminist Futures: Trauma, The Post-9/11 World And A Fourth Feminism?, E. Ann Kaplan

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article will engage with the possibilities of feminist futures. That there is no monolithic feminism is a good, it at times uncomfortable, fact: positions, actions and knowledge – constantly being contested, questioned, and debated – mean that feminism is alive and well, and always changing in accord with larger social, historical and political changes. However, the ways in which social and political conditions on both local and global levels are impacting on feminism must be addressed. The post-9/11 world is one in which we need to re-think what feminisms have achieved and how the various groups positioned under the …

Lost Between The Waves? The Paradoxes Of Feminist Chronology And Activism In Contemporary Poland, Agnieszka Graff

Journal of International Women's Studies

The complexities of Polish gender politics can be conceptualized as a series of paradoxes. Until recently, Polish feminists had denied the very possibility of a Polish women’s movement. This article argues that Polish feminism resists the chronology of “waves”: it uses styles and tactics characteristic of the third wave (irony, high theory, camp, cross-dressing, etc.) to achieve typically second wave aims (reproductive rights, equal pay, etc.). It then engages with a historical paradox: the phenomenon of backlash before feminism. Rejecting the political in favour of the personal was compatible with psycho-sexual dynamics already in progress – these were a defence …

Public Health Implications Of The Declining Calcium Intake In Female Adolescents From A Nigerian University, Blessing Ogochukwu Agoreyo, Ifeyinwa Flossy Obuekwe

Journal of International Women's Studies

The importance of calcium for strong bones has long been recognized. It is now also known that adequate calcium intake helps reduce high blood pressure and lessens the symptoms of premenstrual tension as well as possibly protecting against bowel cancer. Over the last several decades, researchers have learnt a great deal about how a nutritionally balanced diet during childhood and adolescence works to prevent the onset of damaging adult diseases. One long – lasting effect of nutritional imbalance during adolescence is osteoporosis, a bone-crippling disease characterized by low bone mass and an increased bone fragility. Once recognized primarily as an …

Participation Of Rural Women In Development: A Case Study Of Tsheseng, Thintwa, And Makhalaneng Villages, South Africa, M. Kongolo, O. O. Bamgose

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study investigates factors which influence limited participation in the development process by women in South Africa’s rural areas. The influence of government development policy, education and cultural values on rural women was sought and investigated in this study. The results suggest that most women in rural areas are illiterate. They lack initiatives, innovations and self-reliance attitudes. Women in rural areas are isolated, confined and marginalized through the non-interactive government policies on rural areas. These symptoms reflect a lack of structured development strategy to create needed opportunities in these areas. As a result, there is a high rate of unemployment, …

Cooking Soup To Writing Papers: A Journey Through Gender, Society And Self, Zenobia Chan

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper describes my roles as a housewife, previously, and a doctoral student, currently. It examines crossing the border from the family domain to the university domain from a gender perspective. When I was a housewife, I was stigmatised by society and without any prospects. As a doctoral student, I am considered a worthy woman and my life has been romanticized. The analogy of cooking soup represents my life as a housewife, while writing papers represents my life as a doctoral student. Describing this dramatic transition from seven years as a soup-cooking housewife, to a third-year, paper-writing, doctoral candidate, I …

In Her Husband’S Family: A Newly Wed Woman’S Expectations And Her New Family’S Attitudes In Rural Assam, India, Dilip K. Medhi

Journal of International Women's Studies

From the introduction:

Until recently, living in a joint family system was typical among Hindus and members of other religious groups in India. Living in an extended joint family was also a common practice. However, joint family groups and extended joint family living are now relatively rare, due to India’s economic and social developments over the past four decades or so. Currently, the most common family arrangement is that of the nuclear family, comprised of a father, mother and their children. In rural areas, this nuclear family unit operates within a number of more traditional expectations and arrangements, however. Within …

Historical Perspectives On Violence Against Women, Vivian C. Fox

Journal of International Women's Studies

Three great bodies of thought have influenced western society’s views and treatment of women: Judeo-Christian religious ideas, Greek philosophy and the Common Law legal code. All three traditions have, by and large, assumed patriarchy as natural – that is male domination stemming from the view of male superiority. As part of the culture perpetuated by these ideologies, violence towards women was seen as a natural expression of male dominance. This paper contains three main themes. The first establishes patriarchy as an early pattern of military societies and the subsequent emergence of the Judeo-Christian, Greek and legal cultural paradigm as ideological …

How Was It For You? The Oligarchic Structure Of International Relations And Feminist Theory, Leonard A. Stone

Journal of International Women's Studies

It is my purpose to show that radical humanist and feminist theorising have much to offer each other. Central to this article’s thesis is the oligarchic structure of international relations; that is, a small, oligarchic clique of states exercising power in its own interests to the detriment of the overwhelming majority of the world’s population. The core position and borders of radical humanist theorising are examined, along with an assessment of some of the major the theoretical divergences between radical humanist and feminist theorising. Areas for theoretical alliance are also located which indicate the necessity of an inter-disciplinary approach that …

Book Review: Men And Gender Relations, Jane E. Prather

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Men and Gender Relations by Bob Pease

Who Will Empower The Better Half? Social Dynamics In Operation, Debabrata Lahiri, Santanu Mitra

Journal of International Women's Studies

In a game theoretic framework it can be argued that a gender sensitive institution is an offshoot of certain social conditions, which in most cases need to be acted upon by some anti-establishment catalytic agent. Given the fact that among about half of the population there is a need for such an institution, the main function of a catalytic agent is to engineer a conversion of that need into an active demand. In a society characterized by gender exploitation, catalytic agent can only come exogenously. For a sub-society it is easier to come across such an exogenous catalytic agent. The …

Individual-Systemic Violence: Disabled Women’S Standpoint, Maria Barile

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article presents an insider reflection on questions of violence and women with disabilities. We explore reasons for the systemic omission of women with disabilities from mainstream research and from services addressing non-disabled women’s experiences. Several questions are postulated. Has segregation of women with disabilities from the mainstream rendered a large part of their experiences, including the experience of violence, invisible? Have misconceptions about the lives of women with disabilities contributed to exclusionary practices within the women’s movement?

This article further submits that violence against women with disabilities assumes many forms, both individual and systemic. It explores several factors, among …

Determinants Of Living Arrangements Of Lesotho’S Elderly Female Population, Chuks J. Mba

Journal of International Women's Studies

The paper addresses the demographic and socioeconomic correlates of living arrangements of women aged 60 years and over in Lesotho using the 1996 Census of Lesotho data file. Simple cross-tabular and multivariate techniques are applied to the household distribution of the census. The results show that a majority of elderly women in the country are widows, live in the rural areas, have had little education, and dwell in extended family households of which a significant proportion of them are the head. The findings further indicate that the age of the women’s surviving children, and advancing age of the elderly themselves …

Using Film To Teach Women’S Studies Courses: A Teaching Aid Recommendation, Diane Kholos Wysocki

Journal of International Women's Studies

Film review of “What a Girl Wants” (Produced by Elizabeth Massie, ©2000).

Feminisms And Cross-Ideological Feminist Social Research: Standpoint, Situatedness And Positionality – Developing Cross-Ideological Feminist Research, Myfanwy Franks

Journal of International Women's Studies

When we consider the different cultural spaces in which feminist social researchers might be carrying out empirical research the nature of ‘feminist social research’ becomes difficult to define. The issue becomes even more complex when we consider the multiple standpoints, contexts and positionalities of different kinds of feminists from diverse backgrounds, both secular and religious. There cannot be a blanket universal agreement between feminists from different ideological positions regarding appropriate subjects and methodologies for research. Nevertheless, the writer concludes that through a pragmatic feminist approach, exemplified by working in a situated way with the materials that are available, we can …

The Trademark Of A Trend Setter: An Interview With Czech Feminist Writer And Environmentalist Eva Hauserová, Madelaine Hron, Eva Hauserová

Journal of International Women's Studies

I had long known of Eva Hauserová – major Czech feminist writer and founding figure of the Gender Studies Center in Prague. I met her personally for the first time at party she gave in Prague in spring 2001, certainly one of the most delightful get-togethers I enjoyed while I was there: it was a “kiddie” party, and we (a number of well-known writers and scholars) were to dress up like kids, eat snacks and play children’s games. I was immediately enchanted by Eva’s wit, her artistic and literary talent, as well as her lucid understanding of Czech politics and …

The Secrets Of Self-Starvation, Zenobia C. Y. Chan, Joyce L. C. Ma

Journal of International Women's Studies

This is a single case study for which a life history approach was adopted. The informant, a patient suffering from anorexia nervosa (AN), was specifically selected because of her particular circumstances. Three themes emerged from her narrative that accounted for self-starvation: saving money, reserving food and competing for slenderness. The paper explores these themes and closes by emphasizing the necessity of understanding the sensitive and untold story of a patient’s self-starvation in her cultural-familial context.

Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes, And Behavior Of Adolescent Girls In Suburban Districts Of Tehran About Dysmenorrhea And Menstrual Hygiene, Mohammad Poureslami, Farzaneh Osati-Ashtiani

Journal of International Women's Studies

The aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and health-taking behavior of female students ages 15-18 years old in regard to dysmenorrhea and menstrual hygiene in suburban districts of Tehran, the capital of Iran. The study applied a descriptive, cross-sectional method, in which 250 students were selected at random, using a cluster random sampling method. The data was collected by applying a 44-item questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was checked by the Chronbach-Alpha method, showing a correlation of 90 percent. Seventy-seven percent of the subjects claimed that they had enough knowledge about dysmenorrhea, from …

Maternal Instinct, Tara Pearson

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

The Black Power Movement In Trinidad: An Exploration Of Gender And Cultural Changes And The Development Of A Feminist Consciousness, Victoria Pasley

Journal of International Women's Studies

In February 1970 the Black Power movement in Trinidad exploded as thousands of young people took to the streets in massive demonstrations that rocked the island. The government responded by arresting activists and ultimately declaring a state of emergency. At the same time a group of young army officers, sympathetic to the Black Power movement, mutinied. Prime Minister Eric Williams and the People’s National Movement (PNM) government emerged from the uprising, severely shaken but still with a firm grip on powers. Women played an active role in the demonstrations and within the activist groups that were a part of the …

Returns To Native Lands, Reclaiming The Other’S Language: Kincaid And Danticat, Gerise Herndon

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Mental Health Of Indian Women – A Feminist Agenda, G. Asha

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Mental Health of Indian Women – a Feminist Agenda by Bhargavi V. Davar