Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

O Brother, Where Art Thou? Understanding Culturally-Produced Limitations On Gay Male Community Formation In South Central Appalachia, Michael Brandon Brewer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines limitations presented to gay men living in south central Appalachia that are produced by Appalachian culture itself, in regard to community formation. This qualitative study intersects existing scholarship on rural sexualities, gay communities and Appalachian culture in order to gain insight into the complexities that effect men in the region. The data is synthesized through a contextual dialectics framework in order to position both the Appalachian culture in its entirety, and gay men residing in the region, as agentic actors that are simultaneously informed by and produce tensions between the two. This study explores ways in which …

The De-Feminization Of Femininity : Exploratory Content Analysis Of Gay Male Fashion Magazines., Christopher J. Vincent

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project is an exploratory content analysis that seeks to measure the ways in which gay male fashion magazine de-feminize their representations of feminine performing gay men. 125 images across five summer editions of Instinct Magazine, from 2010-2014, were randomly selected and were measured along the lines of race/ethnicity, fitness of clothing, build, touch, gaze, and body curvature. The research confirmed that gay male fashion magazines do in fact de-feminize their representations of femininity along these variables. The research also reflects pre-conceived ideas of representation along the boundaries of race. Using Michael Warners theory of Publics and Counterpublics as …

Fetishizing Southern Brutality: An Intersectional Analysis Of Animalistic Dehumanization In Interracial Pornography, Shawna Faye Felkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pornography has been a widely debated issue within the feminist movement since the sex wars of the 1970’s. The conversation has shifted to a sex radical position within the third movement, seeking to be “sex positive” in representations of pornography as a potential site of empowerment. This work, however, seeks to complicate the idea that all depictions of sex are empowering by examining the popular genre of interracial pornography through the lens of the southern tropes that are often enacted within them: the jezebel, southern belle, and black brute. By using these historical tropes with the work of Judith Butler …

Watch Me Disappear: Gendered Bodies, Pro-Anorexia, And Self-Injury In Virtual Communities, Leandra Preston-Sidler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the relationship between gendered identities, virtual communities, and material bodies, with an emphasis on eating disorders and self-injury practices. The use of the internet to represent and foster particular categories of material bodies, such as the anorexic, the fitness buff, and the self-injurer, has gained substantial visibility due in part to the proliferation of visual imagery presented through social networks. I analyze written and visual texts within specific social networks to assess their function and potential impact on individuals and larger communities. Drawing from Donna Haraway's cyborg theory, N. Kathryn Hayles' posthuman, Judith Butler's performativity, feminist poststructural …

Eating In Opposition: Strategies Of Resistance Through Food In The Lives Of Rural Andean And Appalachian Mountain Women, Veronica A. Limeberry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines ways in which rural mountain women of Andean Peru and southern Appalachia use their lived histories and food knowledge in ways that counter Cartesian epistemologies regarding national and international food systems. Using women’s fiction and cookbooks, this thesis examines how voice and narrative reclaim women’s spaces within food landscapes. Further, this thesis examines women’s non-profits and grassroots organizations to illustrate the ways in which rural mountain women expand upon their lived histories in ways that contribute to tangible solutions to poverty and hunger in rural mountainous communities. The primary objective of this thesis is to recover rural …

Transmission: Premium Television Characters Outside Of The Gender Binary, Daniel L. Ketchum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Five fictional characters have emerged on the U.S. premium-pay-cable channels that blur the traditional male-or-female gender divide. The basics of queer theory (sex, gender, orientation, and transgender) and critical/cultural studies (encoding, decoding, and reading a text) are explained as a basis for the analysis of the characters, which seeks to answer the research question: does the premium-pay-cable television format offer truly empathetic non-binary transgender characters that challenge the dominant American ideologies about gender identity and expression? If so, how? If not, why not?

Shane McCutcheon from Showtime’s lesbian melodrama The L Word (2004- 2010), Lafayette Reynolds from HBO’s supernatural drama-comedy …

Framing The Fight: Women's Use Of Rhetorical Coercion To Gain Political Empowerment From Revolutionary Participation—The Cases Of El Salvador, Guatemala, And Eritrea, Kyleanne M. Hunter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The below paper examines women’s ability to translate participation in antigovernment movement into political empowerment in the post-conflict government. I use the theory of Rhetorical Coercion to explore how the way in which women frame their participation impacts their ability to achieve increased political empowerment. I find that nationalistic frames are more successful than women’s-specific frames in women’s ability to achieve full empowerment and lasting rights. Using the cases of El Salvador, Guatemala and Eritrea I explore the inputs to a successful rhetorical strategy and the stumbling blocks to translating participation into national inclusion.

The Bricks In Action : Women's Public Housing Activism In Louisville, Kentucky, 1958-1970., Aletia M. Robey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a historical examination of women's public housing activism in Louisville, Kentucky from 1958 to 1970. With the proclamation of the War on Poverty by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, poverty stricken neighborhoods were provided with federal funding to initiate community action by public housing residents. This thesis illustrates how women living in Louisville's public housing communities organized grassroots community action groups and eventually utilized federal funds from the War on Poverty to initiate social change. Louisville activists organized by means of coalition building, increased education, and coordinated protests. Grassroots organizing in Louisville led to an established …

Radical Sister : Lucy Freibert As Feminist Nun, Activist, And Educator., Jessica Whitish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sister Lucy Freibert is a Sister of Charity of Nazareth, women’s studies scholar, and a feminist activist. Most importantly to Lucy, she is an educator; she taught the first women’s studies course, “Women in Literature,” at UofL in 1973, leading the charge to bring feminist scholarship and the fight for women’s equality to the university campus. In an oral history with Lucy, I have explored how she has combined her commitments to her faith and her Church with her commitment to feminism, particularly as she navigated the two transitional storms of Vatican II and the women’s liberation movement.

Academics And Activism : A Comparative Study Of Contemporary Historical Writings On Same-Sex Sexuality And Lgbt Activists In The Middle East., Lauren Copeland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the past several years, there has been an abundance of U.S. news stories outlining the widespread oppression of queer people in the Middle East. At the same time, some international human rights organizations have focused all attention on LGBT asylum seekers, implying that the only course of action for queer people in the Middle East is to flee. However, contemporary historical writers on same-sex sexuality demonstrate that the history of same-sex desire and behavior in the Middle East is incredibly nuanced and has changed greatly over time. Additionally, LGBT activists in the Middle East work from within their communities …

The Role Of Ugandan Women In Rural Agriculture And Food Security, Karen Ann Mckenna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women engaged in small-scale rural agriculture in Iganga, Uganda for the purpose of household food security and/or income generation face a number of challenges to creating sustainable livelihoods. This analysis is presented in the form of a case study based on research conducted over the period of one year in Uganda between September 2012 and September 2013. Three conceptual orientations are used to guide the research, including sustainable livelihoods, gender and agricultural development, and food security. Pertinent economic, political, and social contexts are identified for each of these orientations. The author then identifies key challenges that women in Iganga face …

Bitches Unleashed: Women In Rio's Funk Movement, Performances Of Heterosexual Femininity, And Possibilities Of Resistance, Raquel Moreira

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rio de Janeiro's funk movement is one of Brazil's most important contemporary cultural and musical expressions. Emerged in the 1970s, Rio's funk was consolidated in the favelas during the 1980s, establishing an ambiguous and tense relationship with local government and media: at times, being legitimized as a cultural form, but also being frequently criminalized. The music is a hybrid combination of diverse Afro rhythms and a heavy bass line, and it is performed in aggressive ways, as well as with mockery and sensuality. Women in Rio's funk, the funkeiras, joined the movement in the late 1990s performing about sex, relationships, …

Gayme: The Development, Design And Testing Of An Auto-Ethnographic, Documentary Game About Quarely Wandering Urban/Suburban Spaces In Central Florida., David Moran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

GAYME is a transmedia story-telling world that I have created to conceptually explore the dynamics of queering game design through the development of varying game prototypes. The final iteration of GAYME is @deadquarewalking'. It is a documentary game and a performance art installation that documents a carless, gay/queer/quare man's journey on Halloween to get to and from one of Orlando's most well-known gay clubs - the Parliament House Resort. "The art of cruising" city streets to seek out queer/quare companionship particularly amongst gay, male culture(s) is well-documented in densely, populated cities like New York, San Francisco and London, but not …

Women, Feminism, And Aging In Appalachia, Sherry Kaye Ms.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aging has become a problem for men and women in Western societies where youth is touted and revered as a standard of success by which individual value is measured and esteemed. Older women in particular find that as they age they face discrimination in the form of ageism and social diminution. The purpose of the study is to remedy a lack of scholarship on aging in Appalachia and to establish a precedent for future studies. A liberal, feminist approach is used to analyze the results of recorded interviews and to interpret transcripts of relevant data. The results of the analysis …

"Wee Women's Work": Women And Peacebuilding In Northern Ireland, Amanda E. Donahoe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

International norms on intrastate conflicts, such as United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, call for women to participate in peace processes in countries emerging from conflict and civil strife, including those divided by identity-based conflict. However, scholars of post-war recovery in international relations and comparative politics have raised questions about the extent and effect of women’s participation in peace processes, and in politics more generally, in divided societies given underlying social, economic, and political barriers that impeded access to decisive or authoritative political decision-making. A critical question in the literature on women’s participation in post-conflict reconciliation-related dialogue and joint action …

The Organic Beauty Industry: A Gendered Economic Review, Brianna D. Connelly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Organic beauty has grown to a $6 billion dollar industry supplying consumers with products that align with unique social consumption preferences. This thesis explores the historical economic perspective of the traditional beauty industry and the development of the organic beauty industry. Capitalism influenced the traditional beauty industry during the pursuit for profits that lead to jeopardizing customer and environmental safety. Consumers responded to this behavior by founding an organic beauty industry that not only considered social issues, but negated gendered beauty standards in the process. Organic product efficacy has emerged as an issue that must be dealt with by regulation …

The Caustic Pen Is Mightiest: A Tradition Of Female Satire In The Novels Of Jane Austen, Ivy Compton-Burnett, And Muriel Spark, Jaclyn Andrea Reed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Female satirists have long been treated by critics as anomalies within an androcentric genre because of the reticence to acknowledge women's right to express aggression through their writing. In Pride and Prejudice (1813), A House and Its Head (1935), and The Girls of Slender Means (1963), Jane Austen (1775-1817), Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884-1969), and Muriel Spark (1918-2006) all combine elements of realism and satire within the vehicle of the domestic novel to target institutions of their patriarchal societies, including marriage and family dynamics, as well as the evolving conceptions of domesticity and femininity, with a subtle feminism. These female satirists illuminate …

Les Mutilations Genitales Feminines Dans La Litterature Et Le Film Francophones, Oluwafeyisike Ajibola Odeniyi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to the U.N, no fewer than five girls undergo genital mutilation every minute. They are cut, told that it is the price to be paid for womanhood, to be accepted by the society and fully integrated into it. However, they are never told about the dangerous aspects and the fact that this act may lead to bacterial infections, may cause sterility, increases their risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases as well as developing complications during childbirth, distorting their perceptions of their sexuality. They bleed just to be called "women", because tradition stipulates it. All it does is harm women …

Gender Depiction In Preschool Books: A Comparison Between Early Care And Education Classrooms In The United States And Norway, Cathrine Aasen Floyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Preschool children's perceptions around gender identity and development can be influenced by their experiences. With many children spending a portion of their day in child care, the environmental factors of these programs are important. One aspect of the environment can impact preschool children is the books that are available to them. For over 40 years, children's literature in the United States has been studied and found to be biased in their portrayal of males and females. Males were more often found as main characters and depicted as capable leaders and thinkers. Female characters were shown as weaker, often appearing in …

Feminine Realism In Cornhill Magazine: Anne Thackeray Ritchie And Frances Parthenope Verney, Alexandra Virginia Scamahorn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the literature published by two lesser known women writers in Cornhill Magazine during the 1860s: Anne Thackeray Ritchie and Frances Parthenope Verney. By using the magazine as a context for their fiction, I examine the ways in which these writers both reflect Cornhill's brand of realism, which privileged masculine ideology, and diverge from it, inserting a feminine perspective. Because the magazine's representation of the multiple facets of its society is varied and complex, my thesis examines a particular aspect of societal representation: one that depicts mid-nineteenth-century society in transition from traditional to progressive values. Caught between …

The Immaculate Condemnation, Corey Robertson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My work is a continuously evolving self portrait formulated by a combination of past experiences and influences. The Immaculate Condemnation body of work is a cathartic reaction that confronts Catholic Sin and rebels against gender conformity. As both a confirmed Catholic and transgender woman, I speak from an authentic voice that seeks open conversation regarding these topics. I also hope to demystify the transsexual body for the non-transgendered viewer. Additionally, I use allegoric imagery to communicate my interpretation of beauty, power, horror, and sex. I combine performance, photography, sculpture, video, audio, and graphic design to execute my installations. I intentionally …

The Gastonia Novels And Ecofeminism: Rereading The Works Of Fielding Burke Grace Lumpkin And Myra Page., Amanda Leigh Aubrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Fielding Burke's Call Home the Heart, Grace Lumpkin's To Make My Bread, and Myra Page's Gathering Storm through the lens of ecofeminism, an interdisciplinary theory that contributes the necessary insight into the link between the abuse of power on personal, political, and economic levels that underlies the human oppression and environmental exploitation experienced by the novels' characters and communities. A resurrection of the Gastonia novels through the framework of ecofeminism will contribute to the scholarly discourse regarding this maturing theory as well as intensify the critical body of work concerning the Gastonia novels themselves.

This …

Transforming Atypical Challenges Into Innovative Solutions: A Gendered Analysis Of The Un Interagency Rehabilitation Program In Nepal, Sarabeth Harrelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nearly five years after signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended ten years of civil war in Nepal, key issues are still unresolved and political progress on implementation has been slow at its best. While every disarmament demobilization and reintegration (DDR) operation is unique, Nepal's DDR process has included atypical conditions such as no government support, continued military command over program participants, an unusually long time spent in cantonments prior to discharge, and the absence of an adequate pre-planning phase. This analysis is presented in the form of a case study and examines the United Nations Interagency Rehabilitation Program …

The Intricacies Of M.F.K. Fisher: Discovering A Kaleidoscopic Hybridity, Elizabeth Lee Sleeper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to analyze M.F.K. Fisher's socio-historic role and the components of her texts as a means to interrogate the categorization of her writing, to identify her authorial voice, and to see how it all contributes to and proves that Fisher is a `kaleidoscopic' hybrid writer. I utilize theoretical positions such as New Historicism, Feminism, Genre Theory, and Everyday Theory to help me identify and explain the hybrid tendencies of Fisher's writing. It is not a comprehensive study of her texts in light of these theories, but rather, it is a broad overview in order to demonstrate alternative readings …

Performing An Embodied Feminist Aesthetics: A Critical Performance Ethnography Of The Equestrian Sport Culture, Dawn Marie D. Mcintosh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While this research appears to be about horses and riding, it is really a project about the conditions of White women, White femininity, and feminist futurities. Driven by my investment in imagining possibilities of dismantling Whiteness and heteropatriarchy, this research begins to mark the dominant performances of White femininity and those fleeting moments of disruption by White women. My intentions for this project were to stage performances of feminist futurities that imagine feminist aesthetics as relational probabilities towards feminist alliances.

The research was drawn from a six month critical performance ethnography of a local Hunter/Jumper barn. This critical performance ethnography …

Love Through A Wide-Angle Lens: A Mythic Narrative And Feminist Critique Of The Reality Competition Dating Show More To Love, Amy Leann Zsohar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is on the rise in the United States and reality television has also risen to the charge of representing fatness. More to Love was the first reality competition dating show to afford fat women a chance at reality show love. The purpose of the study was to look at how fat women are portrayed on reality competition dating shows. The purpose of this study is to understand how the mythic narrative of love through a feminist lens informed by LeBesco, Bordo, Hill Collins, and hooks are in conversation with each other in More to Love. This study found that …

Caring Work: Opening A Space Of Possibility For Exploring Transnational Feminist Solidarity Between Privileged And Marginalized Women, Beverly Romero Natividad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neoliberalism, through its emphasis on personal responsibility and individual freedom in accelerating economic development globally, has only pushed women further into the margin of society. Structural adjustment programs (SAPs), which impose state budget cuts on healthcare and welfare programs, particularly have kept poor women and women of color in poverty and generally, have exploited women's labor. However, in this age of neoliberalism, women's solidarity becomes more significant. Because neoliberalism is founded on individualism, its downfall rests on alliance-building. Against this backdrop, I explore the possibility of fostering transnational feminist solidarity between privileged and marginalized women engaged in formal caring work. …

The French Chef And The Cold War: Julia Child And The Mask Of Contained Domesticity, Hillary Ann Hamblen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most scholarly studies and even general personal reflections about Julia Child portray her as a figure that changed the face of cooking, cookbooks, and cooking television for audiences of the late twentieth and twenty first centuries. While this is true, many of these studies and reflections do not acknowledge Child's ability to change mainstream ideas by conforming to some of them. While Child radicalized perceptions toward food and those who cook, she also represented a domestic woman and a wife. While Child's politics were indeed liberal, for the most part, her lifestyle was actually quite moderate. This project is an …

Well I'Ll Be: Positive Images Of Southern Women As Response To Feminism From 1980-2000, Jennifer Holman Gunter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the role images of southern women play in understanding the feminist movement from 1980 to 2000. By closely analyzing several media forms, from television to self-help books, it becomes apparent that the function of the southern woman is often to either soften the blow of feminism or push the agenda of patriarchy. I look thoroughly at movies and television of the 1980s as well as books and societal groups of the 1990s. The time period involved in this study encompasses the backlash to the second wave of feminism through the emergence of the third wave. The data …

Women's Participation In Transitional Justice Mechanisms: Comparing Transitional Processes In Timor Leste And Sierra Leone, Holly L. Guthrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women tend to suffer a disproportionate amount of sexual and reproductive violence during periods of conflict, though they generally participate at a lower rate than men in transitional justice processes. Because participation is discussed in procedural justice literature as being crucial to securing feelings of justice and dignity within victims of violence, the lack of women’s participation in transitional process indicates that justice outcomes could suffer without equitable participation of women. In light of this issue, this study uses a comparative case study analysis method to investigate women’s involvement in the transitional justice processes in Timor Leste and Sierra Leone …