Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Re-Considering Female Sexual Desire: Internalized Representations Of Parental Relationships And Sexual Self-Concept In Women With Inhibited And Heightened Sexual Desire, Eugenia Cherkasskaya

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Psychoanalytic and sociocultural thinkers and researchers suggest that the etiology of low female sexual desire, the most prevalent sexual complaint in women, is multi-determined, implicating biological and psychological factors, including women's early relational experiences and sexual self-concept that stem from gender dynamics of a patriarchal culture. Further, recent studies indicate that highly sexual women exhibit heightened sexual desire, and high levels of sexual agency and sexual esteem. The study evaluated a model that hypothesized that sexual self-concept (sexual subjectivity, self-objectification, genital self-image) explains (i.e., mediates) the relations between internalized representations of parental relationships (attachment, separation/individuation, parental identification) and sexual …

A Feminist Inheritance? Questions Of Subjectivity And Ambivalence In Paul Mccarthy, Mike Kelley And Robert Gober, Marisa White-Hartman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Feminist art of the 1970s was groundbreaking in many regards and importantly impacted specific projects by three male artists: Paul McCarthy's performance Sailor's Meat (1975), Mike Kelley's installation Half a Man (1989) and Robert Gober's 1989 installation at the Paula Cooper Gallery. Despite the general absence of feminist artists as possible influences in the critical literature on these artists, feminist sources have been hidden in plain sight in regards to these works. These artists all take up the problematic of identity formation within the domestic sphere, which was made a legitimate area of inquiry in art by numerous feminist artists …

Mapping Italian Women's Filmmaking: Urban Space In The Cinema Of The New Millennium, Laura Di Bianco

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation lies at the intersection of Italian studies, film studies, women's studies, and urban studies. Applying gender studies and feminist theoretical perspectives, I trace a thematic map of contemporary Italian women's cinema (2000-2012) that investigates female subjectivity in urban contexts. Examining the works of the filmmakers Marina Spada, Francesca Comencini, Wilma Labate, Roberta Torre, and Alice Rohrwacher, I identify a common tendency to treat locations like characters, apply similar modalities of incorporating city-views into the narration, and recurrently construct parallels between physical journeys through cities and inner journeys of the self. As a prism through which to look at …

"Do You Live On Spruce Street Or Are You Straight?" The Boundaries Of Philadelphia's Gayborhood And The Production Of Queer Identities, Lauren Elisabeth Manley

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis is an examination of queer residential and socializing patterns in Philadelphia during the 1930s through 1950s, and discussion of the relationships between geographic space, social location, and queer identity. The production and maintenance of the neighborhood known as the Gayborhood participated in the construction of a "gay" identity that was race, class, and gender specific. This specific identity formulation was maintained and mobilized by various groups for their own sense of identity and community building. Looking at other neighborhoods that also had significant queer residential and socializing populations during this period, I interrogate concepts such as identity, community, …

The Reproductive Body: Exploring Reproduction Beyond Gender, Ilyssa Ann Silfen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Most of us have been taught over the course of our lives that biological sex, gender, and reproduction are inescapably linked and, over time, this has created the illusion that these are all naturally connected. However, these “natural” connections have been formed over time after generations of repetition. While it may seem impossible to separate biological sex, gender, and reproduction from one another, it is important to deconstruct this falsely organic system from both a gender and human rights perspective.

This thesis seeks to explore the complex relationship between society’s reproductive mandate and the reality of the various processes of …

Gendered Practices And Conceptions In Korean Drumming: On The Negotiation Of "Femininity" And "Masculinity" By Korean Female Drummers, Yoonjah Choi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Korean drumming, one of the most popular musical practices in South Korea, currently exists in a state of contradiction as drumming, historically performed by men, is increasingly practiced by women. Women drummers who enter this male-dominated realm confront the "masculinization" of the practice, which is naturalized and normalized through the field's discourse and performance. At the same time, they seek a "femininity" that may help them to survive in the field. To examine these gendered conceptions and practices, I draw on the ways in which contemporary Korean traditional drum performers, predominantly professional female drummers, conceptualize, experience, perform, reinforce, and/or resist …

When Wives Migrate And Leave Husbands Behind: A Jamaican Marriage Pattern, Elaine B. Douglas-Harrison

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For over a hundred years Jamaicans have been migrating to make the proverbial `better life' for themselves and their families. In the early 20th century husbands migrated, leaving wives behind. As economies of the United States and Canada have become more service-oriented, wives migrate leaving husbands behind. The experiences of Jamaican immigrant women are documented in Caribbean migration studies, but the marriages of Jamaican legally-married immigrant wives and their husbands left behind in Jamaica are so far unstudied. The main research question of this study is what maintains these transnational marriages over time, sometimes for decades, when spouses see each …

Queen Of The Underworld: The Biography Of Sophie Lyons (1848-1924), Barbara M. Gray

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sophie Lyons was a nineteenth-century American pickpocket, blackmailer, con-woman, and bank robber. She was raised in New York City's underworld, by Jewish immigrant parents who were criminals that trained their children to pick pockets and shoplift. "Pretty Sophie" possessed a rare combination of skill at thievery, intellect, guts and beauty and became the woman Herbert Ashbury described in Gangs of New York as, "the most notorious confidence woman America has ever produced." Newspapers around the world chronicled Sophie's exploits for more than sixty years, because her life read like a novel. Her mentor was another forgotten woman who held a …

Our Day Has Finally Come: Domestic Worker Organizing In New York City, Harmony Goldberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation tells the story of Domestic Workers United (DWU), an organization of Latina and Caribbean nannies, housecleaners and elder care providers based in New York City. I trace DWU's efforts from its campaign to win basic employment protections for domestic workers in New York State through its efforts to enforce those new rights and to raise working standards above the minimum.

The driving motivation behind this work is the search for new paradigms for worker organizing that respond to the political and economic challenges of our times. I argue that domestic workers and other low-wage workers of color are …

The Kids Are All Right Online: Teen Girls' Experiences With Self-Presentation, Impression Management & Aggression On Facebook, Alison Michelle Hill

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Online social network participation is widespread among American adolescents. Prolific creators, consumers and curators of content, they write themselves into being (boyd, 2007) on social network sites like Facebook. Drawing on Erving Goffman's study of symbolic interaction in the form of dramaturgical perspective and The Third Person Effect, this research explores how young women ages 14-17 craft their self-presentations, engage in impression management, and experience aggression and bullying on Facebook. I propose that the majority of this age cohort craft online self-presentations that are consistent with their offline selves, yet they believe that other girls their age use their profiles …

The Radical Possibilities Of Being Human: Exploring The Risk, Violence, And Rewards Of Knowing And Being Known (A Survival Guide For Liminal Feminists), Parvoneh Shirgir

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Within this liminal feminist survival guide I present a collection of personal experiences and analysis of these moments in order to elucidate how and when violence occurs. I foreground my thought process and the ideas and figures that keep me hopeful, help remind me that our world is not concrete but instead changing, shifting, and malleable. What follows is a necessarily partial (and somewhat useless, somewhat useful) survival guide for liminal feminists, those who exist on the edges of boundaries and encounter all of the possibilities and fears that come with such a position. I present not so much a …

Depressives And The Scenes Of Queer Writing, Allen Durgin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation attempts to answer the question: What exactly does a reparative reading look like? The question refers to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's provocative essay on paranoid and reparative reading practices, in which Sedgwick describes how the hermeneutics of suspicion has become central to a whole range of intellectual projects across the humanities and social sciences. Criticizing this dominant critical mode for its political blindness and unintended replication of repressive social structures, Sedgwick looks for an alternative in what she calls reparative reading . Past attempts to expand on Sedgwick's brief yet suggestive remarks regarding reparative reading have foundered due to …

"Women Have The Right To Fight!": The Contested Legacy Of Second-Wave Feminism And Anti-Rape Politics In The Trials Of Inez Garcia, 1974-1977, Megan Elizabeth Feulner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My paper takes as its central focus the trials of Inez Garcia, a woman who was charged with the murder of a man who helped rape her in Soledad, CA in 1974. Garcia's trial in 1974, in which she was convicted of second-degree murder, and her retrial in 1977, in which the ruling was reversed, is often remembered as a cause célèbre of the second-wave women's movement that united diverse activists and yielded a major feminist legal victory. However, I argue that close examination of the trial and the feminist activism around it reveals a more paradoxical legacy. First, I …

Empowered For A Better Future: An Analysis Of Women’S Empowerment Through Gulu Women’S Economic Development And Globalization (Gwed-­‐G) Organization In Gulu, Uganda, Jessica Wightman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study aims to determine the motivating factors that women in Gulu District, Uganda have for joining empowerment programs, how their perception about their own empowerment has changed over time, and the role one non-­‐ governmental organization (NGO) has played in assisting in these women’s empowerment. Data was gathered through 12 personal, semi-­‐structured interviews with the assistance of a translator when necessary. Ten of the subjects currently participate in empowerment programs through Gulu Women’s Economic Development and Globalization (GWED-­‐G), a local NGO. The two remaining subjects are staff members at GWED-­‐G and served as key informants to this study. The …

Syrian Refugee Families’ Awareness Of The Health Risks Of Child Marriage And What Organizations Offer Or Plan In Order To Raise Awareness, Rachel Fowler

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The hypothesis of the study assumes: If Syrian refugee families understood the health risks involved with child marriage and the severity of these risks, they would be less likely to choose to marry off their daughter under the age of 18. If these families had more health educational programs and had more access to these programs, these programs would influence their decision towards avoiding child marriage for their daughter(s).

According to UNICEF, one-third of registered marriages among Syrian refugees in Jordan between January and March 2014 involved girls under the age of 18. Child marriage puts girls at risk of …

Human Trafficking In Morocco: A Focus On Sub-Saharan Migrant Women, Ladarrien Gillette

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study was to report on the situation of exploited and trafficked Sub-Saharan migrant women in Morocco. With the lack of legal framework to recognize or combat human trafficking my research focuses on the broader context of trafficking as a means to exploit mostly women in regards to sexual assault. Since the crime is not explicitly defined within Moroccan penal code there are no specific organizations dealing with survivors of trafficking but there are a few that indirectly address women migrants. The irregular situation of migrants in Morocco makes their involvement with being trafficked more complicated than …

Cabelo Crespo: A Struggle For Inclusion In Brazilian Society, Ashley Hamilton

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Present-day Brazilian society presents a disproportionate number of economic, social and political challenges for Black women. The phenomenon of this structural inequality has causes that are rooted deep in the history of Brazil, and is built upon the foundation lain by slavery, resulting in the economic prosperity of the elite that was built upon the foundation of the labor provided by people of color. The effects of colonization and the profitable slave trade that ensued continue to contribute still, to the plight of people of color in general, though the focus of this project will be on the effects these …

The Presentation Of Trans In Everyday Life: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Gendered Performance, Elijah C. Nealy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The life experiences of transgender men are an understudied area in social work research. Given the negative experiences many transgender men have utilizing the medical and social service systems, greater understanding is needed about how these men negotiate their identities in an array of relational contexts. This dissertation uses autoethnography to explore how one transgender man navigates his identity as a man, father, and social work professional.

Viewed through the theoretical frame of Erving Goffman's work, and in dialogue with masculinities studies and queer theory, this study finds that trans men are continually negotiating their identities in varying relational contexts, …

Straight Record And The Paper Trail: From Depression Reporters To Foreign Correspondents, Magdalena Bogacka-Rode

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Straight Record and the Paper Trail: From Depression Reporters to Foreign Correspondents engages with Martha Gellhorn's The Face of War (1959), Virginia Cowles' Looking for Trouble (1941) and Josephine Herbst's The Starched Blue Sky of Spain and Other Memoirs (1991) as documentaries of struggle. Documentary as a mode of writing and image making reveals dissonance, contradictions and varied perspectives which undermine the official historical record. The three writers, I argue, by republishing their Spanish Civil War (SCW) journalism in book form intended to set their record straight. This was motivated by their commitment to the 1930s struggle and the need …

Compliments, Insults, And The Paradox Of Pillow Talk, Anonymous

SURGE

I haven’t been a skinny girl since I was seven years old.

At nine, I was told I wasn’t small enough to sit down and talk to the other girls. I didn’t “fit” and they wouldn’t make enough space for my body, or for my big opinions. [excerpt]

Family Affairs Newsletter 2014-10-01, Zack Paakkonen

Family Affairs newsletter (2004-2016)

FAMILY AFFAIRS was a free, twice-a-month, social activities newsletter for the GLBTQI (gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans/queer/intersex) community, sent out around the 1st and 15th of each month. It covered the State of Maine only. The list was begun and maintained for many years by Jean Vermette in Bangor, and later operated by Zack Paakkonen of Portland. Over the years it evolved from a social activities newsletter into a business directory, classified ad service, and community bulletin board.

Justice Not Long Delayed: Historical Perspective And The Twenty-First Century Fight For Gay Rights, Charles O. Boyd

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper attempts to formulate the best comprehensive strategy for achieving equal rights under the law for gays and lesbians. One of the main ways this paper attempts to formulate such a strategy is by looking at the tactics that allowed previous movements, such as abolitionism and the Civil Rights Movement, to succeed. This paper considers which of the tactics of these movements should be adopted by gay rights activists. Some tactics, such as civil disobedience, are determined to be useful for gay rights activists. Others, such as violence (which was avoided by the Civil Rights Movement but used by …

The Person I Am Becoming, Ann M. Sasala

SURGE

Death, among other things, forces us to confront our own mortality, to question how we view ourselves in relation to others, to relive memories be they fond or not so much.

Over the past month, I lost both a grandfather -a quiet, intense, intelligent man who fostered in me a love for ice-cream and old movies- and a grandmother -the first family member to tell me it was OK to be queer. Their deaths left me scattered. My life became a dorm room floor during finals: covered in a mixture of clean and dirty clothing, food remains, and long-forgotten notes. …

Same-Sex Marriage And Religion: An Inappropriate Relationship, Brittney Baker

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

The debate over same-sex marriage has been a prominent issue in our society over many years now, appearing in several ballot initiatives such as California's Proposition 8. The idea of allowing two people of the same gender to enter into the institution of marriage has brought out drastic emotions and reactions from many different groups of people. Those who engage in the debate believe strongly in their convictions; the two loudest voices tend to come from the gay community and the religious community, the former arguing in favor of same-sex marriage and the latter against it. Religious groups, predominantly from …

Religious Views As A Predictor Of Vote Choice, Erienne Plotkin

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

This is a study of the relationship between the religious beliefs of people in the United States and their voting patterns. It is also a comparison between such results and that of more traditional voting predictors such as economic status or education level of voters. In general, there has been an apparent separation of church and state. More common predictors of voting behavior that have been used in the past are traditional demographics such as education levels and economic status. Although these traditional predictors are often accurate, religious belief and churches may play a greater, if insufficiently recognized role in …

Empathy, Open-Mindedness, And Political Ideology: Conservative And Liberal Trends, Dani Cosme, Chrissy Pepino, Brandon Brown

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

This study hypothesizes that the religious variables will be superior to the predictive power of other demographic measures of the same population. This study will compare the results of religious questions to those of "To what economic class do you belong?" and "What is the highest level of education you have completed?" that are often used as reliable predictions of voting behavior.

Elite Leadership Of Opinion And The Public Polarization: The Same Sex Marriage Debate In The United States, Patricia Victorio

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

The California Supreme Court made a landmark decision with the court case In re Marriage Cases (2008), legalizing same sex marriage within the state, and overturning the California Defense of Marriage Act (Proposition 22). With a swift decision the supreme court put the controversial issue of same sex marriage back in the media spot light. Outside of California, states such as Arizona also reopened the debate of same sex marriage. The Arizona legislature put this issue up for a vote in the Fall 2008 election. The Arizona ballot measure, Proposition 102, wanted to define marriage between one man and one …

The Effects Of Proposition 8 In The Lgbt Rights Movement In Orange County, Maria Claudia Brena

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

Proposition 8 was a California ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in November of 2008. The issue of same-sex marriage is usually framed in the media as a political and cultural battle where the two opposing sides argue about the legal and cultural repercussions of the recognition of same-sex unions for same-sex relationships and society. Rather than focusing on the legal implications of the Proposition 8 campaign and its outcome, this paper addresses the campaign's effects in the LGBT Rights Movement in Orange County. During the campaign many LGBTs became politically active for the first time in their lives, but …

Family Affairs Newsletter Business Directory 2014-09-15, Zack Paakkonen

Family Affairs newsletter (2004-2016)

Family Affairs Newsletter Directory of GLBTQIA Businesses.

Family Affairs Newsletter 2014-09-15, Zack Paakkonen

Family Affairs newsletter (2004-2016)

FAMILY AFFAIRS was a free, twice-a-month, social activities newsletter for the GLBTQI (gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans/queer/intersex) community, sent out around the 1st and 15th of each month. It covered the State of Maine only. The list was begun and maintained for many years by Jean Vermette in Bangor, and later operated by Zack Paakkonen of Portland. Over the years it evolved from a social activities newsletter into a business directory, classified ad service, and community bulletin board.