Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Alba As Eternal Mother: Violent Spaces And The ‘Last Woman’ In Manuel De Pedrolo’S "Mecanoscrit Del Segon Origen", Pedro Nilsson-Fernàndez

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

The ambitious literary project of Catalan author Manuel de Pedrolo i Molina (1918-1990) has generally been perceived as belonging to the tradition of popular literature, a label often reinforced by the unprecedented success of his minor work Mecanoscrit del segon origen. This has clearly damaged Pedrolo’s status in the Catalan literary; as Kathryn Crameri highlights, “(w)hen authors such as Manuel de Pedrolo championed more popular genres such as crime fiction” –or science fiction as far as this study is concerned– “they had to endure criticisms of the quality of their writing” (Crameri, 2008, p. 23). This article will challenge …

"Typescript Of The Second Origin" And Current Ya Dystopian And Post-Apocalypse Fiction In English: Prefiguring The Female Hero, Isabel Santaularia

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

YA post-apocalypse and dystopian novels formulate alternative realities where traditional gender roles and conceptions of masculinity and femininity can be contested and/or re-invented. Manuel de Pedrolo’s novel Typescript of the Second Origin (1974) is a case in point since, in the aftermath of a devastating alien attack, the fate of the human species is left in the hands of a resourceful teenager, Alba. Through the application of sheer determination and common sense, Alba manages to survive apocalypse, keeps her male child companion alive long enough to be impregnated by him, and becomes the herald of a new, more equalitarian society. …

Practical Theology In An Interpretive Community: An Ethnography Of Talk, Texts And Video In A Mediated Women's Bible Study, Nancie Hudson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study of social interaction in a small religious group used ethnography of communication as a research method to collect and analyze data from 20 months of fieldwork. As a long-term participant-observer in a women-only interdenominational Bible study, I investigated the group’s patterned ways of speaking, how print and electronic learning materials influenced the practical application of Scripture to daily life, and how the contemporary format for women’s Bible study alters the traditional Bible study experience. Patterned ways of speaking in this setting included group discussions and conversational narratives about religion, motherhood and lack of time. Using affirmations of faith, …

Educating Dídac: Mankind’S New Father And The End Of Patriarchy In Manuel De Pedrolo’S "Typescript Of The Second Origin", Sara Martín

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

The post-apocalyptic novel by Catalan writer Manuel de Pedrolo, Typescript of the Second Origin (1974, English 2017) celebrates Alba as humankind’s new mother. Alba’s mission, however, clearly depends on the help of a man willing to father her children, a role for which Pedrolo made an extremely singular choice: whereas Alba is already 14 when Typescript begins, Dídac is just a 9-year-old boy. Because of the exceptional situation (the catastrophic extraterrestrial devastation of Earth), Pedrolo forces Dídac to mature very fast, to the point that he is only 12 when Alba gives birth to their baby. Additionally, Dídac’s mixed-raced genetic …

“Ya I Have A Disability, But That’S Only One Part Of Me”: Formative Experiences Of Young Women With Physical Disabilities, Victoria Peer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Amidst our ableist social world, there are people with disabilities who are living the lives they want to be living and are, so-to-speak, “doing their own thing.” This project focuses on what a few young adult women attribute as having helped them get to where they are today. There were two overarching open-ended research questions guided this project: (1) what opportunities and experiences have influenced the four women with physical and mobility disabilities in terms of getting to where they are today? And (2) how have these opportunities and experiences helped and/or challenged them along their journeys? The study analyzes …

"Mothers Like Us Think Differently": Mothers' Negotiations Of Virginity In Contemporary Turkey, Asli Aygunes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Even though virginity in Turkey is commonly defined, thus gendered, as losing the hymen, in Turkish society, discourses of virginity connect to broader discussions, such as modernity, morality, social honor/shame, religion, family values, and even medicine (vaginismus and artificial hymen surgery). Previous scholarship on women’s rights in Turkey outlines how historical approaches by Kemalist secularism were not enough to diminish oppressive social norms such as virginity and how the current conservative government and elements of traditional Turkish society perpetuate virginity as an important virtue for unmarried women. This study adds seven Turkish mothers’ interpretations of what I am calling the …

Transgressions: Corps Féminin, Langue D’Adoption Et Légitimation Dans La Littérature Maghrébine, Souad Bouhayat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the voice of female writers from the Maghreb in the 1980s and their efforts to change the status of women of their respective countries: Assia Djebar, Leïla Sebbar and Badia Hadj Nasser. These writers exchange silence for voices in French, the language of ex-colonizer. They managed to stage in their novels strong women protagonistes who fight for their emancipation. These characters know how to overcome the obstacles of the Maghreban patriarchal society, who impose on them religious and traditional prohibitions, to find their freedom. In their fight, these women regain their feminine body in a society that …

Resistance From Within: Domestic Violence And Rape Crisis Centers That Serve Black/African American Populations, Jessica Marie Pinto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses feminist critical discourse analysis to find and understand the discourses embedded in the mission statements and program documents of three domestic violence and/or rape crisis centers that primarily serve Black/African American populations in three distinct geographic locations in the United States. Existing literature addresses the discourses present in domestic violence and sexual assault service provision, but no literature addresses the discourses present in the mission statements of domestic violence and rape crisis centers, leaving a considerable gap in the literature. This project uses frameworks of feminist understandings of Foucauldian discursive patriarchal power, intersectionality and material feminism to …

Opportunities To Mainstream Gender In Water And Wastewater Infrastructure Projects: A Case Study In Barbados, Wainella Isaacs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to the World Resources Institute, Barbados is one of seven Caribbean countries ranked as being the most water stressed territories in the world. Prevailing drought conditions for the period 2010-2016 further compromised its water security while confirming predictions of a drier regional Caribbean climate. The simultaneous failing of at least 50-year-old water infrastructure at many points in the distribution network adds to these water stress conditions, and presents a financial burden to the local water utility in the form of lost revenues, and increased energy consumption for pumping.

Climate change and its impacts are not gender-neutral, and water infrastructure …

Review Of The Bluestocking Archive, Emory Women Writers Resource Project, And Women’S Travel Writing, 1780-1840: A Bio-Bibliographical Database, Megan Peiser

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Review of The Bluestocking Archive, Emory Women Writers Resource Project, and Women's Travel Writing 1780-1840.

Review Of Sigrund Haude And Melinda S. Zook, Eds, Challenging Orthodoxies: The Social And Cultural Worlds Of Early Modern Women: Essays Presented To Hilda L. Smith, Emma Major

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This article reviews Sigrun Haude and Melinda S. Zook, eds, Challenging Orthodoxies: The Social and Cultural Worlds of Early Modern Women: Essays Presented to Hilda L. Smith.

Review Of Joellen Delucia, A Feminine Enlightenment: British Women Writers And The Philosophy Of Progress, Nicole Pohl

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Review of JoEllen DeLucia's A Feminine Enlightenment: British Women Writers and the Philosophy of Progress, 1759-1820.

Review Of Rivka Swenson, Essential Scots And The Idea Of Unionism In Anglo-Scottish Literature, 1603-1832, Rhona Brown

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Review: Rivka Swenson, Essential Scots and the Idea of Unionism in Anglo-Scottish Literature, 1603-1832

“I Know You Want It”: Teaching The Blurred Lines Of Eighteenth-Century Rape Culture, Emily J. Dowd-Arrow, Sarah R. Creel

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

“‘I Know You Want It’: Teaching the Blurred Lines of Eighteenth-Century Rape Culture” is a collaborative pedagogical article that addresses the problem of so-called “post-feminism” in the contemporary college classroom by way of a comparative approach to eighteenth-century literature. Specifically, we contextualize and compare the early and late work of Eliza Haywood with current cultural debates and events in order to demonstrate not only the relevance of Haywood and eighteenth-century writers like her, but the importance of continuing the feminist conversation. The article provides texts, readings, and discussion points for consideration, as well as links to relevant contemporary issues and …

The 1994 Rwandan Genocide: The Religion/Genocide Nexus, Sexual Violence, And The Future Of Genocide Studies, Kate E. Temoney

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

In recent genocides and other conflicts—for example, the Sudan, Burma, and now Iraq—sexual violence and religion have received increasing but modest systematic treatment in genocide studies. This essay contributes to the nascent scholarship on the religious and sexual dimensions of genocide by providing a model for investigating the intersections among religion, genocide, and sexual violence. I treat the Rwandan genocide as a case study using secondary and primary sources and proffer the reinforcing typologies of “othering,” justification, and authorization as an investigatory tool. I further nuance the influences of religion on forms of sexual violation by arguing that religion indirectly …

Nothin' But A Good Time: Hair Metal, Conservatism, And The End Of The Cold War In The 1980s, Chelsea Anne Watts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation offers a cultural history of the 1980s through an examination of one of the decade’s most memorable cultural forms – hair metal. The notion that hair metal musicians, and subsequently their fans, wanted “nothin’ but a good time,” shaped popular perceptions of the genre as shallow, hedonistic, and apolitical. Set against the backdrop of Reagan’s election and the rise of conservatism throughout the decade, hair metal’s transgressive nature embodied in the performers’ apparent obsession with partying and their absolute refusal to adopt the traditional values and trappings of “yuppies” or middle-class Americans, certainly appeared to be a strong …

Perspectives Of Women In Orthopaedic Surgery On Leadership Development, Ann C. Joyce

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past 50 years, the demographics of medical school graduates in the United States has changed dramatically with the number of women (47%) almost equaling the number of men in 2014 (AAMC, 2014). However, the Association of American Medical Colleges (2014) reports that orthopaedic surgery has the lowest proportion of female residents, instructors, assistants, associate, and full professors of all the sub-specialties and little has changed in the past several decades.

Due to the healthcare reform and the changing needs of our society, it is importance to recruit, retain, and promote women into leadership positions. The purpose of this …

Contextual Factors And The Syndemic Of Alcohol Use And Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Men Who Have Sex With Men, Humberto López Castillo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the early 1990s with the AIDS pandemic, there has been an increasing interest on the importance of risky sexual behaviors, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM). An important antecedent for these behaviors is alcohol use. Studies consistently show an increased frequency of both alcohol use and risky sexual behaviors in MSM populations. However, to date, there has not been a precise estimate of the effect size in these diverse populations and a consistent way to measure it. More so, the importance of context is often cited as a source of variability, but is rarely measured in …

Rupturing The World Of Elite Athletics: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Suspension Of The 2011 Iaaf Regulations On Hyperandrogenism, Ella Browning

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2011 the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) published the Regulations on Hyperandrogenism, a health policy banning female athletes from track and field competition if their natural levels of testosterone were found to be higher than those of most female athletes. In 2014, Dutee Chand, a sprinter from India, was banned from competition based on these regulations. She appealed her ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and as a result the 2011 IAAF Hyperandrogenism Regulations were suspended for two years. The issues at stake in the suspension of these regulations are, at their core, rhetorical issues …

Media Representations Of Abortion Politics In Florida: Feminist Geographic Analysis Of Newspaper Articles, 2011-2013, Jennifer Iceton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Feminist geographers argue that gendered bodies and power are deeply entwined (McDowell 1992; Rose 1993). However, few geographers have investigated how gender and power interact in relation to the politics of abortion access. This thesis seeks to fill this gap by conducting a feminist content analysis of six newspapers from Florida’s three largest metropolitan areas to determine how articles featuring abortion are framed. Analysis of the dataset concludes that the politicization of the abortion debate results in the erasure of women from the conversation, the identification of a pregnant women trope which homogenizes all women into one category, and Planned …

Review Of Amy Culley, British Women’S Life Writing, 1760-1840, Elizabeth Zold

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Review Of Sarah Raff, Jane Austen's Erotic Advice, Danielle Spratt

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

A book review of Sarah Raff's Jane Austen's Erotic Advice.

Review Of Dale Townshend And Angela Wright, Eds., Ann Radcliffe, Romanticism And The Gothic, Ellen Malenas Ledoux

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Chasing Eliza: Shifting And Static Women In Elizabeth Craven's The Miniature Picture, Heather A. Ladd

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Georgian actress and author Mary Robinson famously wore a miniature portrait of her royal lover, the Prince of Wales, whom she captivated in the Shakespearean breaches role of Perdita. Intriguingly, Robinson’s final stage appearance was as the cross-dressing heroine of The Miniature Picture (1781), a three-act comedy penned by writer and socialite Lady Elizabeth Craven, later Baroness Craven and Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach. The play’s action, initiated by the threat of exposure, is driven by Eliza Camply, who aims to retrieve her miniature from the man who left her. Craven, like the actress playing her enterprising protagonist Eliza Camply, was no …

“Abused, Neglected,—Unhonoured,—Unrewarded”: The Economics Of Authorial Labor In The Writings Of Mary Robinson, Jennifer L. Airey

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This essay examines one of the central preoccupations of Mary Robinson’s authorial career, a concern with the poor financial treatment of authors. Writers, Robinson suggests, are demeaned by predatory publishers, heartless or anti-intellectual aristocratic patrons, and a disinterested, distractible reading public, none of whom care to compensate the author for the labors of her pen. In a culture that neither recognizes nor rewards female intellect, women authors are particularly vulnerable, but Robinson’s criticisms transcend the problems caused by gender alone; male authors, too, could fall into penury when their labor was insufficiently valued. Rejecting the Romantic ethos of the solitary …

When Maps Ignore The Territory: An Examination Of Gendered Language In Cancer Patient Literature, Joanna Bartell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer patients report having a high need for cancer information. Several studies show that the majority of patients surveyed report preferring information from the American Cancer Society (ACS). Ranging up to 129 pages, the ACS’ Detailed Guides (DG) are widely distributed throughout the United States, and offer patients an authoritative guide to help patients navigate the difficult terrain of the cancer journey. This dissertation examines the ACS’ cervical, endometrial, ovarian, penile, prostate, testicular, and vaginal cancer guides. Through a rhetorical analysis of the 7 guides, it was shown that the ACS DGs in question foster gendered narratives that strictly limit …

Our Counter-Life Herstories: The Experiences Of African American Women Faculty In U.S. Computing Education, Shetay Nicole Ashford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this life history qualitative study was to explore the Counter-Life Herstories of African American women faculty in U.S. Computing Education. Counter-Life Herstories are derived from Counterstories, life histories, and herstories as powerful social justice tools to uncover hidden truths about marginalized groups’ experiences. Through the collection of timelines, counter-life story interviews, and reflective journal writings, I co-constructed and interpreted the Counter-Life Herstories of five participants using an integrative conceptual framework that included critical race theory and Black feminist thought as interpretive frameworks, and Afrocentric feminist epistemology to govern my knowledge validation process. As an emerging African American …

"The Afro That Ate Kentucky": Appalachian Racial Formation, Lived Experience, And Intersectional Feminist Interventions, Sandra Louise Carpenter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines selections of Appalachian women’s personal narrative as well as Affrilachian Poetry written by Kentuckians Bianca Spriggs and Nikki Finney. This project’s goal lies in resisting oppression and erasure of Appalachian culture’s heterogeneity. Contrary to constructions of Appalachians as lazy, complacent, and white, many Appalachians organize communities of resistance from within the region itself. Challenging these representations, I argue that Appalachian feminists as well as Affrilachian poets create countercultures that disrupt monolithic, colonialist, and unquestioned constructions of Appalachia.

Tough Guy, Sensitive Vas: Analyzing Masculinity, Male Contraceptives & The Sexual Division Of Labor, Kaeleen Kosmo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A Marxist feminist standpoint positions patriarchy and capitalism as mutually beneficial, thus interestingly situating the new market of male contraceptives (MCs). This project takes an in-depth look at the opinions of 15 young men regarding the use of MCs by examining how Western, heterosexual masculinity informs their attitudes and discusses how a new economic market of MCs may affect current social ideologies about of the sexual division of labor. Because notions of masculinity are essential in perpetuating such ideologies, understanding masculinity as it relates to a new market for MCs is imperative. During a series of focus groups men described …

“Even Five Years Ago This Would Have Been Impossible:” Health Care Providers’ Perspectives On Trans* Health Care, Richard S. Henry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Trans* studies and issues have recently increased in coverage by the media and popular press. With recent changes in the DSM-5 (APA, 2000; APA 2013) and insurance law (HHS, 2014), trans* healthcare has been under increasing scrutiny. While a small number of studies (Bradford, Reisener, Honnold, & Xavier, 2013; Grant et al., 2011; Rounds, McGrath, & Walsh, 2013; Tanner et al., 2014) have documented discrimination and lack of cultural competencies from the perspective of trans* patients, little research exists that examines the training, support, and decision-making processes of medical professionals who treat trans* patients (Snelgrove et al., 2012, p. 2). …