Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Depictions Of Beauty On Cosmopolitan Magazine: Content Analysis Of Covers (1959-2014), Azalee Maslow

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The media, especially advertisers, have long used beautiful women as an ideal image for attracting viewers and selling products. American women have been portrayed as, ideally, thin Caucasians with blonde hair and blue eyes. Research has found that women compare themselves to the beautiful women in advertising and in turn have negative feelings towards their own appearance. This thesis’ goal is to find whether the ideal American woman has changed through a content analysis of the women on the covers of Cosmopolitan magazine over the past 55 years, 1959 through 2014. This content analysis will focus on how the covers …

Who Is Ophelia? An Examination Of The Objectification And Subjectivity Of Shakespeare's Ophelia, Tynelle Ann Olivas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

William Shakespeare's Ophelia, from his tragedy play Hamlet, has predominately been perceived and depicted as an objectified female with very little purpose other than to support Hamlet's role as protagonist. I explore the ways in which Ophelia was objectified by her brother, father, and Hamlet. I also analyze how Ophelia not only exhibits subjectivity, that is the ability to think, act, and speak for herself, but plays the part of Shakespearean fool. In her interactions with Hamlet specifically, Ophelia addresses Hamlet first, raises questions of the prince, and conducts herself in a way that is not always in keeping with …

Compass Rose, Rosemary Herman Powers

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis explores the orientational power of language through a collection of poetry grounded in themes of place, landscape, and desire. Language organizes the raw material of existence into the humanizing possibilities of experience and connection. It interrogates, examines, exalts, orders and reorders continually. Much like a physical landscape, it is constantly shifting under various pressures, which operate at variable speeds. By working and reworking themes and images, these poems explore the twin processes of erosion and deposition.

The materials found in these poems are largely drawn from my own memory, perception, loss, and desire. I mean to use language …

Marketing Of Gender Stereotypes Through Animated Films: A Thematic Analysis Of The Disney Princess Franchise, Tiffany Jade Pelton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The thesis focuses on animated films of the Disney Princess franchise, a brand with the Disney Corporation that contains 11 fictional female characters both princesses and heroines, and the marketing of gender roles and stereotypes specifically in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella (1950), The Princess and the Frog (2009), and Tangled (2010). These dated storylines, which often focused on domestic traits that were socially acceptable in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, in current society do not always reflect the interests of contemporary youth. Through a thematic analysis, this thesis examines from its inception to present day what …

Women Wooing Men, Aisha Elizabeth Ratanapool

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Although many early modern English plays portray women courting men, I contend that there are significant resonances between the methods of Rosalind, the female protagonist from a Shakespearean comedy, and those of the Duchess, from a Websterian tragedy. Rosalind and the Duchess woo, propose to, and arrange the marriage ceremony between them and their love interests. The witty dialogue which permeates the wooing scenes helps establish a strong mental connection between Rosalind and Orlando and the Duchess and Antonio. I examine the motives behind wooing and comparatively analyze the strategies of these female characters. Through this analysis, I present Rosalind …

Examining The Role Of Supportive Others In Substance Abuse Treatment And Child Welfare, Jessica Marie Urgelles

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Child neglect is a prevalent problem and often co-occurs with parental substance abuse. Mothers are most often the perpetrators of child neglect. The currently available treatment programs appear to be failing to meet the needs of these mothers. Most mothers are not completing treatment, putting them at risk of losing custody of their children. The literature suggests that women may have different risk factors associated with their substance use, as compared to men. Social networks appear to play a particularly important role in the maintenance of women’s substance abuse problems. The role of social networks may be distinct for different …

Beyond The Dialectics And Polemics: Canadian Catholic Schools Addressing Lgbt Youth Issues, Renato M. Liboro, Robb Travers, Alex St. John

Psychology Faculty Research

In 2012, Canadian media coverage on Bill 13—an Ontario legislative proposal to require all publicly funded schools to support Gay-Straight Alliances as a means of addressing issues concerning bullied lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students—instigated a divisive exchange among representatives of the Ontario Catholic school sector. Beyond these dialectics and polemics, a proactive mix of advocates from schools in the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) of Ontario took steady steps to address the circumstances of their LGBT students. This study included semi-structured interviews with ten stakeholders from the WCDSB to determine if strategies and programs deemed successful for …

Use Of Craigslist.Org To Hook Up: Age Differences In Sex Requests, Hiv Disclosure And Negotiated Safety Among Men-Seeking-Men, Kristen Clements-Nolle, Aliya Buttar, Lindsey Dermid-Gray, Tyler Peterson, Andrea Esp

Nevada Journal of Public Health

Data from 984 “men-seeking-men” Craigslist.org postings in five cities were analyzed to assess differences in sexual requests, HIV status disclosure, and negotiated safety between young (18-24 years) and older (25 years and older) men who have sex with men (MSM). Young MSM were less likely than older MSM to post their HIV status or the preferred status of a partner (p=0.04), disclose and/or request a partner who was disease and drug free (p=.01), and request use of a condom in their posting (p=0.01). Interventions aimed at changing the culture and content of postings on Craigslist.org by encouraging HIV status disclosure …

Mrs. Agentic: Perceptions Of Women Who Sustain Their Birth Surname After Marriage, Ashley C. Lee, Rachael D. Robnett

McNair Poster Presentations

As more women earn higher education degrees every year, it is clear gender roles are becoming more egalitarian within Western society. More common than ever before, women are earning more degrees than men and are taking on different roles then what was once expected of them. With this new freedom, women have shifted from playing a supportive role within society to branching out and creating their own established identity. Not only are women maintaining a separate identity in the professional world, but they are also maintaining a separate identity in their marriages. Correlating with the increased number of women in …

“Man? Where’S A Man? Don’T Let Him Go!”: Molina’S Trans/Gender Web In Interpretation And Performance, Bella V. Smith

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Using perspectives typical of English and theatrical fields of study, this capstone project interprets Molina from Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman as a heterosexual transgender woman and then investigates why such an interpretation does not exist in performance adaptations. Although Molina has been called a transgender woman in recent criticism, there is a conflation of gender and sexuality that has been uninvestigated in this text. It has not been addressed how Molina constructs her identity or how this interpretation might be employed in performance, which this essay seeks to confront. The first half of the project …

Women's Research Institute Of Nevada Newsletter, Joanne Goodwin, Women's Research Institute Of Nevada

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

An Exclusionary Revolution: Marginalization And Representation Of Trans Women In Print Media (1969 – 1979), Emylia N. Terry

Honors College Theses

Stonewall, the act most associated with sparking gay liberation in 1969, was preceded by several events of queer insurrection. These events, which often featured trans people of color playing central roles, are not widely known. Similarly, Stonewall itself has been mythologized in order to be palatable within mainstream society, effectively whitewashing its history. This research utilized archival investigation and discourse analysis, as well as the concepts of symbolic annihilation and trans-misogyny, in order to examine certain publications’ representations of trans women from 1969 – 1979. I found that mainstream publications such as the Chicago Daily Tribune and the Los Angeles …

Long May She Reign: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Gender Expectations In Disney’S Tangled And Disney/Pixar’S Brave, Caitlin J. Saladino

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

This project addresses messages about gender expectations in Disney princess narratives. The two films included in my project are Tangled (2010) and Brave (2012), which feature the most recently inducted princesses to the marketed Disney Princess line (Rapunzel and Merida, respectively). Using genre as an organizing principle, I argue that Rapunzel and Merida are different from the past Disney princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine, etc.) because their narratives reflect new ideas about gender expectations in modern society. The central tension appearing in both films is the opposition between the image of woman as traditional, domestic, and dependent and woman …

Acceptability Of Sexting In Same-Sex Relationships, Carly Shadid, Katherine M. Hertlein, Sarah M. Steelman

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

For individuals who identify as part of the LGB community, the Internet can be seen as a tool to take control of their lives, may promote self-esteem, and foster a sense of belonging. The purpose of the study was to learn about sexting practices on college campuses. It builds on the existing body of knowledge by attending specifically to sexting rather than the previous literature about engagement in sexual behavior online (see, for example, Daneback, Cooper, & Månsson, 2005). Findings indicated that sexting is viewed as more acceptable in same sex relationships as compared to heterosexual relationships.

The Rhetoric Of Gay Christians: Matthew Vines And Reverend Nancy Wilson As Exemplars, Josu Miller

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

In the United States, there is a perception that the gay rights debate situates Christians against gay rights advocates. According to this perception, Christians oppose gay rights, because the Bible condemns homosexuality as a sin, and those who support gay rights do so using purely secular arguments. This perception of the gay rights debate is flawed and overly simplistic, because simply not all Christians oppose gay rights. In fact, there are multiple interpretations of biblical texts that support homosexuality and have caused a gay rights debate within the church that is as complex and intricate as gay rights debate outside …

The Success Of Gay–Straight Alliances In Waterloo Region, Ontario: A Confluence Of Political And Social Factors, Alex St. John, Robb Travers, Lauren Munro, Renato M. Liboro, Margaret Schneider, Carrie L. Greig

Psychology Faculty Research

This article outlines how gay–straight alliances (GSAs) work to connect youth with community resources, and outlines the political and social context of GSAs in Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Fifteen individuals (youth, teachers, and a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer [LGBTQ] youth service provider) participated in interviews about the role of GSAs in creating supportive school environments for LGBTQ youth and their allies. Analyses of the interview data found that, apart from providing direct support to LGBTQ students, GSAs in Waterloo Region decrease isolation by connecting youth with other LGBTQ community members, events, and resources. This article discusses how the …

Community-Level Interventions For Reconciling Conflicting Religious And Sexual Domains In Identity Incongruity, Renato M. Liboro

Psychology Faculty Research

Two of the most unstable domains involved in identity formation, the religious and sexual domains, come into conflict when vulnerable populations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community experience oppression from the indoctrination of religious beliefs that persecute their sexual orientation. This conflict, aptly termed identity incongruity in this article’s discourse, results in a schism that adversely affects these vulnerable populations. This paper investigates the roles of religion, spirituality and available institutional solutions to propose customized, culturally adapted, contextually based and collaborative community-level interventions that would facilitate the reconciliation of the conflicting identity domains.

Understanding Racial Hiv/Sti Disparities In Black And White Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Multilevel Approach, Patrick S. Sullivan, John Peterson, Eli S. Rosenberg, Colleen F. Kelley, Hannah Cooper, Adam Vaughan, Laura F. Salazar, Paula M. Frew, Gina Wingood, Ralph Diclemente, Carlos Del Rio, Mark Mulligan, Travis H. Sanchez

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Background The reasons for black/white disparities in HIV epidemics among men who have sex with men have puzzled researchers for decades. Understanding reasons for these disparities requires looking beyond individual-level behavioral risk to a more comprehensive framework. Methods and Findings

Misusing Freud: Psychoanalysis And The Rise Of Homosexual Conversion Therapy, Jonathan Barrett

Psi Sigma Siren

Current ideas of conversion therapy often focus on extremist religious groups that wish to cleanse the world of what they view as an immoral abomination, homosexuality. However, conversion therapy started out as mostly scientific curiosity. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic research on human sexuality helped set the standards on psychosexual study in the twentieth century. Unfortunately, his views on homosexuality became distorted in the 1950s when psychoanalysts and psychiatrists used his methods of therapy but ignored his conclusions on homosexuality and sexual nature itself. Such distortions led to the destruction of many lives within the homosexual community.

Reparative therapy on homosexuals exploded …

Marriage And Citizenship In The United States, Shanella Gardner

Psi Sigma Siren

Most countries associate being a citizen with having certain legal rights and being born in that country, although this has not always been the case, especially in the United States. When writing the U. S. Constitution, the founding fathers were thinking of white, male landowners to be given the legal rights as citizens. This would leave the remaining population of women, African Americans and other people of color to fight to be recognized as citizens. The Naturalization Act of 1790 was the first legislative act that defined who could be citizens in the United States. It allowed citizenship for immigrants …

Male-Female Wage-Gap: A Comparison Of Different Employment Classes, Richard V. Foster, Jeffrey Waddoups, Heather Lynn Lusty, Thomas Mike Carroll

McNair Poster Presentations

This study is being conducted and presented in two parts. The first part, this report, is a statistical examination of the male-female wage gap. By evaluating the average (mean) differences between men and women within the workplace, pay differential trends can be ascertained and examined to support the need for additional study. The second stage, to be conducted Fall 2014 at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, will use regression analysis to differentiate between explained and unexplained portions of said pay-gap to better understand how the remaining gap is related to discrimination. The data analyzed will establish baselines for both …

Women's Research Institute Of Nevada Newsletter, Joanne Goodwin, Women's Research Institute Of Nevada

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Claiming Citizenship: Las Vegas' Conventional Women's Organizations Establishing Citizenship Through Civic Engagement, Cynthia Cicero

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many historians of American women portray women's organized civic engagement and work to attain social, economic, and legal equality as feminism. American feminism has been expanded and applied in scholarship. The American feminists of the 1960s wanted to alter the male power structure and redefine conventional notions of womanhood. However, many middle-class women who participated in community and civic organizations valued their roles as wives, mothers, and homemakers, expressing their citizenship and community work as an extension of these roles. Their motivation in pursuing equality was to gain full citizenship status.

In this thesis, I argue that viewing women's civic …

Sex Worker Rights Organizing As Social Movement Unionism: Responding To The Criminalization Of Work, Crystal A. Jackson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In a post-industrial, de-regulated economy, worker organizing is changing shape and function. While much research has focused on the decline of U.S. union organizing and the difficulty of organizing today's workers, a growing body of research on social movement unionism interrogates how "un-organizable" and "non-traditional" workers like day laborers and domestic workers are organizing. Yet sex worker activism in the U.S. is little studied, which is interesting given sex workers unique position as criminalized and contingent workers. Based on a two year ethnographic study from 2010 to 2012 of a national sex worker rights organization, the Desiree Alliance (DA), I …

Our Turn: Working Women In The Las Vegas Valley, 1940-1980, Irene B. Scholl Rostine

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis describes three types of working women in Las Vegas, NV who performed non traditional women's work and who, through their ingenuity and hard work rose to the top of their fields. The first group of women were the little known women war workers at Basic Magnesium Inc who produced magnesium that was so importanat to the war effort. The second group of women worked in a corporate structure and, hired in entry level positions, were able to break the glass ceiling and rise to positions of managenemt. The third group of women were Realtors in Las Vegas who …

Gender, Emotional Labour, & Interactive Body Work: Negotiating Flesh And Fantasy In Sex Workers’ Labor Practices, Barbara G. Brents, Crystal A. Jackson

Sociology Faculty Research

Body/Sex/Work focuses on the intimate, embodied and sexualised labour that occurs within body work and sex work. Bringing together an internationally renowned group of academics, it explores, empirically and theoretically, labour processes, workplace relations, regulation and resistance in some of the many work sites that make up the body work and sex work sectors. The book makes a key contribution to research recognising the embodiment of labour and the body, reframing the key questions in critical studies of work and employment.

Key Benefits:

• The first book that draws together the sub-disciplines of body work and sex work

• Written …

Where In The World Are The Women Of Time? Women And The "Person Of The Year" Covers For Time Magazine, Krystle Lynne Anttonelli

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Through a content analysis of Time magazine's "Person of the Year" issue, formerly titled "Man of the Year," this thesis examines how the news magazine has reevaluated and revised the once gender suggestive title to a more inclusive title in correlation to the portrayal of women featured on the covers from both past and present. This thesis also provides background on the feminist theory in order to put into perspective the professional and intellectual growth of women throughout the decades. The supporting literature contextualizes the findings with reference to other mainstream magazines and the portrayal of women versus men featured …

Identity And Intersectionality For Big City Mayors: A Phenomenological Analysis Of Black Women, Constance J. Brooks

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The role of a mayor is integral within local governance. Their leadership and influence directly effectuates outcomes for the cities over which they preside. For big city mayors, their impact extends beyond local government and into the national policy arena. The way an individual demonstrates the role of mayor can be influenced by his/her perception of their own identity. However, within the realm of academic research dedicated to mayoral leadership and African Americans in politics, Black female mayors have largely been ignored. In particular, there are no known attempts at investigating the intersection of race and gender in understanding Black …

"Carefull" Ethos: The Construction Of Ethos In Dorothy Leigh's The Mothers Blessing, Julia D. Combs

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As one of the most popular conduct manuals in the early seventeenth century, Dorothy Leigh's The Mothers Blessing is often categorized as private, domestic literature. In this dissertation, I examine the strategies Leigh employed to create ethos, and I argue that her strategic depiction of herself as a "fearefull, faithfull, carefull" mother helped her authorize herself as a public figure. Specifically, I investigate the strategies Leigh employed to create a persuasive ethos within the genre of the conduct manual. Through mother-based ethos strategies, Leigh presented herself deliberately, augmenting her authority as Mother and positioning her work within a male-dominated print …

A Phenomenological Study On The Leadership Development Of African American Women Executives In Academia And Business, Deanna Rachelle Davis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the intersectionality of race and gender for African American women through their lived experiences of how they developed into leaders. This research study was designed to determine how the intersection of race and gender identities contributed to the elements of leadership development as perceived by eight African American female executives in academia and business. The researcher sought to explore strategies future leaders might utilize to address leadership development and career ascendency for African American females who aspire to leadership roles. A phenomenological research method was most appropriate for this research …