Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Medieval Infertility: Treatments, Cures, And Consequences, Zia Simpson

The Forum: Journal of History

Since the first civilizations emerged, reproductive ability has been one of the most prominent elements in assessing a woman’s value to society. Other characteristics such as beauty, intelligence, and wealth may have been granted comparable consequence, but those are arbitrary and improvable. Fertility is genetic, and for centuries it was beyond human control. Among the medieval European nobility, fertility held even greater power. The absence of an heir could, either directly or indirectly, bring about war, economic depression, and social disorder. Catholicism provided a refuge by allowing barren women to retain their hopes, while simultaneously enriching Rome’s coffers. Other women …

Full Issue

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

The Ill-Treatment Of Their Countrywoman: Liberated African Women, Violence, And Power In Tortola, 1807–1834, Arianna Browne

Master's Theses

In 1807, Parliament passed an Act to abolish the slave trade, leading to the Royal Navy’s campaign of policing international waters and seizing ships suspected of illegal trading. As the Royal Navy captured slave ships as prizes of war and condemned enslaved Africans to Vice-Admiralty courts, formerly enslaved Africans became “captured negroes” or “liberated Africans,” making the subjects in the British colonies. This work, which takes a microhistorical approach to investigate the everyday experiences of liberated Africans in Tortola during the early nineteenth century, focuses on the violent conditions of liberated African women, demonstrating that abolition consisted of violent contradictions …

Review Of Lisa Kemmerer's Sister Species: Women, Animals, And Social Justice, Marine Lercier

Between the Species

What do we have in common with animals, and what do these women have in common? We are Sister Species, if not sisters at all. Lisa Kemmerer invites us to realize that we are more alike than different and to become aware of what our animal brothers and especially sisters experience: the suffering they endure because of our absurd inconsistencies and oppositions - even within the animal rights movement, often unbeknownst to us. The goal: more effective discourse and action, educating us to the other in the face of a norm imposed by a power, a discourse of normalization …

Reimagining The Women’S College: A Critical Analysis Of Historically Women’S College Transgender Admission Policies, Emily M. Lauletta

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Historically women’s colleges, particularly those which are predominantly white, have a long and complicated history with their relationship to both feminism, equity, and transgender justice. Using a trans liberation framework, I have critically analyzed the trans student admission policies from four historically women’s colleges. Those institutions are: Bryn Mawr College, Hollins University, Mount Holyoke College and Smith College. My analysis includes how these policies both perpetuate, and reinforce harmful gender and sex binaries. Additionally, my research explores how these policies work to create an environment that ultimately does not best serve trans, nor cisgendered students. By calling on scholarship by …

Editorial: Sprinkle And The Untimely, Steven Ruszczycky

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Editorial: Dismantling The Ivory Tower Through Feminist And Queer Intervention, Esme Lipton

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

The Boy In The Mirror: A Tale Of Radical Queer Muslim Liberation, Shariq I. Farooqi, Khansa Noor

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This photo-series & its connected narrative captures the ornate reality of identifying as a Queer Muslim of color. The photos were beautifully curated by a photographer and dear friend of mine, Khansa Noor. The images are meant to visually conceptualize how queerness can manifest outwardly in one's bodily expressions and demeanor. The guilt, shame, and relief that I described in the narrative translates intimately in my brown skin and my movements. Both pieces merge to illustrate the layers of queer Muslim survival in concealing one's queerness while simultaneously remaining unequivocally bold in queer spaces.

“Beychella:” Beyoncé’S Homecoming To A Futuristic Queer Utopian, Jolie V. Brownell

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella performance and 2019 Homecoming film set the stage for a radical Black queer reimagining. Yet, how can Beyoncé—who is straight—be located within a queer critique? In this paper, I argue that through a radical and political expansion of queer, the creative deployment of dis/identification, and the unapologetic expression of the erotic, Beyoncé performs an embodiment of queer of color critique. These creative gestures within “Beychella” invite viewers into a queer futuristic utopian and provide new creative modes to politically inhabit, resist, and reimagine interlocking systems of oppression.

Keywords: Beyoncé, queer, dis/identification, erotic, QoCC, …

The Medicalisation Of Gender Nonconformity Through Language: A Keywords Analysis, Angelo Cosma Galluzzo

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Language is an important part of the way gender nonconformity is legislated and medicalised. In 2012, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) changed the nomenclature of the ‘gender identity disorder’ (GID) to ‘gender dysphoria in the ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to reduce the social stigma attached to transgender identities. While the recognition of gender nonconformity by the medical authorities has led to some beneficial consequences, scholars have shown that the language of pathology has narrowed the definitions of gender nonconformity and has created social stigma. I use the web pages of five major health providers of English-speaking …

Poems By Noor Smadi, Noor Smadi

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

To have grown up with limited to relatively zero representation in pop culture was a challenge. I felt invalid and invisible in my struggle. I had voices in my head telling me that I’m the other of the other of the other but no one to relate my experience to. However, I still found power, solidarity, and strength in all things intersectional. The joys and tears that we share because we all are familiar with the pain is what pushed me to write and share my story. I found my savior to be Audre Lorde who stood strong and proud …

Queering Kitchens: Dismantling Violence And Reimagining Livable Spaces, Asher Warg

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper addresses the ways in which the kitchen has historically existed as a site of violence and worked to actively exclude marginalized people. Working with Judith Butler’s definition of queer and José Muñoz’s concept of queer futurity, the concept of queering the kitchen is discussed as a method for creating accessible, equitable, and inclusive kitchens.

Editorial: Liberation, Not Assimilation, Caroline Roberts

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Kyoto University Students’ Perceptions Towards Sexual And Gender Minorities, Mingfang Xu, Pasindu Herath

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

LGBTQ movements have attracted attention to the rights of sexual and gender minorities across many parts of the world in recent years. Japan holds a middle-of-the-road stance by neither criminalizing nor legalizing same sex sexual acts. However, various sources describe incessant discrimination faced by LGBTQ people in Japan. It is evident that sexual and gender minorities experience hardships in numerous spheres such as employment, accommodation, family life, and education. Discrimination in educational institutions has, in extreme cases, even resulted in the loss of lives. Therefore, LGBTQ-friendliness has drawn a significant amount of attention in Japanese universities. While research about LGBTQ …

Editorial: Undergraduate Knowledge Production As Transformative Pattern Making, Katie Ettl

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Editorial: Revisiting Our Work, Elizabeth Adan

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

(Re)Memberance In Practice: Making Famous, Transforming The Legacies Of Ill-Fame, Fionna Fahey

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Recent legislation has increased scrutiny and vulnerability to sex worker communities. Sex work has been a highly contested issue in academia and politics, despite its long history. By centering works of thinkers from historically marginalized communities, this research will act intentionally in solidarity with sex workers most vulnerable to harm. Theorizers in Black and Indigenous Feminisms, Queer theory and Trans studies have crafted methodologies to (re)cover and (re)member histories lost to colonial structures of violence. This project centers the epistemologies of these communities in order to account for the variety of intersecting identities held by sex workers. Archival (re)search, oral …

Doe Re Mi: The Unsung Reality Of ‘Doe’ Nomenclature, Mercedes De Los Santos

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This two-person spoken word piece was written and performed at the University of California, Santa Barbara during the UCSB Womxn’s Ensemble Theatre Troupe’s 2020 production of One Night Stand: A Collection of Feminist Bedtime Stories (a non-profit production of feminist theatre). It is dedicated to Chanel Miller, and all of our fellow survivors everywhere--yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

The Danger Of Current Rwandan Gender Politics, Amani Briggs

Women's, Gender and Queer Studies

This critical analysis will investigate whether Rwanda’s glorified representation of women in government positions truly serves the women in their society or rather the agenda of the men in power. Rwanda is frequently hailed as the prime example for African feminism due to their 2008 parliamentary elections. The 2013 Rwandan Parliamentary elections ushered in a record -breaking sixty-four percent of seats for women candidates, making Rwanda the top country for women in politics. In comparison, women make up a global average of 23.8 percent of parliament members as of June 2018 (W.E. Forum, 2017). Their representation of women in government …

Sedentary Flesh: Nineteenth-Century French Orientalists And Bodies Of The Female Other, Amelia Aitchison

The Forum: Journal of History

As visual texts of subjectivity and ideology, paintings are uniquely useful tools for historical analysis. Peaking in popularity in nineteenth-century Europe, the enduring erotic mystification of the Turkish seraglio manifested frequently in the form of paintings. At this time, French academicism and realism rose in status internationally and, bolstered by the esteem of the Paris Salon and the competitiveness generated by the advent of photography, so too did elaborately (and misleadingly) detailed depictions of the Orient. This paper concerns the inherent politics of French depictions of Turkish odalisques, focusing on the orientalist discourse generated by the quasi-realistic style of nineteenth-century …

A Screenplay For Bystander Intervention For Sexual Harassment Scenarios For College Students, Shanti Herzog

Journalism

This project was developed to describe the drafting of a screenplay for an interactive, virtual reality sexual harassment training module for students of the California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. The research began with the examination of the prevalent and persisting issue of sexual harassment within college campus communities, and how to present college students with the tools to intervene as bystanders, thus encouraging them to intervene when encountering sexual harassment scenarios. The resulting screenplay was written to provide college students at Cal Poly with strategies to identify and take action when encountering sexual harassment, especially in small group gatherings …

Explorando Lo No-Binario: Un Proyecto Sobre El Lenguaje Inlcusivo, Los Pronombres De Género, Y El Género No-Binario En Español, Elijah Michael Sobrien

World Languages and Cultures

En este proyecto, he traducido un sitio web de Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, sobre el uso de los pronombres de género. Además de la traducción, he explicado la razón por la cual es importante traducir este documento y proporcionar acceso a la información a diversas comunidades. La meta de este proyecto es promover el uso del lenguaje inclusivo entre todas personas. La traducción es importante porque para usar lenguaje inclusivo, una persona tiene que educarse sobre los pronombres de género y esforzarse por cambiar su modo de hablar. Este documento puede servir como recurso para personas que quieren aprender …

Fighting For Equality In The Workforce, Madison Taylor Dewing

Communication Studies

Inequality, discrimination, and sexual harassment has been occurring ever since individuals stepped into the workforce. All individuals are affected by these issues but in this paper, I mainly focus on women. I discuss the psychological effects these issues have on individuals, and then introduce my method and concepts. Throughout this paper, I use feminist criticism to take a closer look as to how women are portrayed in the two films, Bombshell, and 9 to 5, which are decades apart, and see how women have been treated in the workforce versus men. I then use identification to discover how these films …

Darkness In The Parlor: Prostitution And Narratives Of Urban Exploration In London’S West End, Aiden Evans

The Forum: Journal of History

Prostitution in London’s West End came to constitute a multidimensional transgression for middle-class observers during the late-Victorian period, contesting traditional distinctions between West and East, middle-class and working-class, and public and private life. First, through the use of Late Victorian urban exploration narratives, I will show that urban explorers applied a rigid conceptual framework to identify the working-class prostitutes occupying London’s affluent West-End. Rooted in class-based hierarchies, these systems of identification presumed that working-class prostitutes were categorically distinct, visible, and undisguisable in London’s West End. Moreover, I argue that this conceptual framework reveals the authors’ binary understandings of prostitutes’ public …

Expanding Our Work, Elizabeth Adan

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Editorial Note, Sprinkle Vol. 12 Editorial Team

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

A Sprinkling Of Gratitude: An Introduction To Volume 12, Katie Ettl, Gage Greenspan

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Sexual Citizenship, Incest, And The State: "The Unseen Of The Crime", Kelsey Zazanis

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper analyzes the colonial state’s role in manufacturing sexual violence. Deconstructing parallels between sexual violence in state detention centers and incestuous abuse of children, this paper examines theories of normativity, sexual citizenship, U.S. nationalism, and Marxist interpretations of the family unit. In identifying all citizenship as sexual citizenship—and identifying queer as all those who are denied sexual citizenship—I suggest that liberation from the state is crucial to queer liberation and the amelioration of sexual violence.

Not All Your Neighbors Are Free: Community Building With Incarcerated Folks In San Luis Obispo, Gianna Bissa

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

The American criminal justice system is rooted in white supremacist ideology that is predicated on the murder, displacement, exploitation, and marginalization of people of color. Scholars and activists recognize the American prison system as a modern form of slavery. Only three miles away from Cal Poly’s campus, the California Men’s Colony State Prison (CMC) operates as one of thirty-four state prisons in California. Nearly 4,000 men, trans women, and nonbinary people are being held at the CMC. Not only can mass incarceration be identified as one of the most dreadful state projects that violates human freedom, but also non-incarcerated community …

Say Their Names: Black Feminist Thought And The Power Elite, Francisco Gaspar

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This article investigates the critical affinities between contemporary sociological theory and Black feminist thought. It specifically aims to assert the significance of Kimberlé Crenshaw’s “Say Her Name” report through the lens of C. Wright Mills, who uses the concept of the power elite to describe political, economic, and militaristic affairs. By providing a comparative analysis of this theoretical framework, I intend to convey how misogynoir and other oppressive ideologies have informed the dissemination of social justice work and knowledge production. Throughout this article, I reference several Black feminist scholars’ works in conversation with Crenshaw’s report. Additionally, I offer comparisons to …