Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

'Odd Secrets Of The Line': Emily Dickinson And The Uses Of Folk, Wendy Tronrud

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Emily Dickinson and her poetry have famously been used as a defining example of American lyric poetry. The traditional scholarly perspective maintains that the lyric poem and its speaker exist in isolation and at a remove from social and political contexts. Recent scholarship on American poetry of the long nineteenth century, however, has taken a more historical and cultural turn, reconsidering how poetic and vernacular forms and genres circulated both privately and publicly. “Odd Secrets of the Line”: Emily Dickinson and the Uses of Folk joins this conversation by theorizing how Dickinson’s poetry, written during the 1859-1865 period, registers the …

In Search Of Trojan Horses: The United Nations Culture War, Patricia Ackerman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the expanding influence of the religious Right at the UN, building on extant scholarship on the role of the culture war at the UN. This scholarship has tracked the increasing presence of the religious Right following the Beijing World Conference on Women and the Cairo Conference of Population and Development. Since that time, there has been a systematic and strategic movement against LGBT human rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights. The religious Right influence UN discourse, documents, and global policy in favor of their agenda. This conflict manifests in a frenzied media and policy battle …

“I’M Real I Thought I Told Ya”: Developing Critical Media Literacy Through U.S. Latinx Digital Media Representations, Solange T. Castellar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores how audiences engage with U.S. Latinx media representations through the practice of critical media literacy. I interrogate how media consumers construct critical media literacy through interacting with U.S. Latinx figures on digital media platforms, particularly on the social-media app, Twitter, and the user-generated video content platform, YouTube. Throughout this thesis, I argue that users on these platforms who engage with U.S. Latinx pop culture figures, like Jennifer Lopez and Belcalis Almanzar (Cardi B), read, digest, and comprehend a variety of multimedia images, texts, or videos, and that this engagement becomes an accessible form of critical media literacy, …

Transgender In College: Engaging Marginalized Collegiate Students, Lo Ferguson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In an educational structure not built for marginalized students how can inequality be counteracted within the system itself? Specifically, what are the best practices to engage and empower transgender students within student involvement and leadership on college campuses, specifically through engagement within the Office of Student Life? This thesis theorizes that practices that are inclusive and respectful to transgender students creates climates that engage and retain them. It will establish an understanding of the basics of what being transgender means, discrimination that impacts this community, and reviewing the transgender collegiate experience. These cumulative aspects of the transgender experience will prove …

Desexualizing Queer Identities: Methods To Validating Non-Sexual Romantic Attraction And Relationships, Unnati Patel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is an increase in the negative views of queer and LGBT+ people in America, and I argue that it is, in part, due to the sexualized connotations of, and sexual association with, queer and LGBT+ identities. Innocuous acts by queer or LGBT+ people, such as being an out school teacher or holding hands in a public space, is enough for non-LGBT+ people to become uncomfortable to varying degrees and, sometimes, even cause verbal abuse or violence. When we look at queer or LGBT+ representation through the possibility of queerness, and by reading representations of queer and LGBT+ romantic attraction …

Interrupting Intergenerational Silences Between Indo-Caribbean Women And Gender Non-Conforming People Through Participatory Oral History And Digital Archiving, Arita Balaram

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study used participatory oral history and digital archiving to explore two interrelated questions: How do the stories that Indo-Caribbean women and gender non-conforming (GNC) people tell challenge dominant narratives of resistance to historical oppression which represent women and passive and non-confrontational, and fail to represent GNC people at all? How might oral history and digital archiving be used to work against the historical erasure of women and GNC people? In the first phase of the study, twelve Indo-Caribbean women and GNC people across generations participated in an oral history workshop where they were trained in oral history methods, co-created …

Fuitina: Love, Sex, And Rape In Modern Italy, 1945–Present, Antonella Vitale

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The term fuitina in Sicilian dialect is a word used to describe a form of abduction, and is a variation of the more formal Italian term fuga, meaning a flight or escape. Fuitina, was essentially a sanctioned bride theft. Often, after the abduction of a woman, the abductor would seek a reparatory or rehabilitating marriage that would restore the woman’s “honor” and absolve the man of bride theft. Until 1981, the Italian legal system supported the practice of fuitina and rarely prosecuted men who kidnapped and raped women under the guise of this tradition. The practice of fuitina and …

'Once Famous In An Odd Way': Curiosity And Queerness In Late 19th-Century American Male Impersonation, S.C. Lucier

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis depicts the emergence of one particular iteration of the popular female actor within 19^th century performance, the male impersonator, and identifies the ways in which this theatrical expression was related to and affected by similar amusements of the period. Public amusements of this period include a diversity of experiential entertainment that was primarily geared toward working and lower-middle class males. Included in these types of illegitimate theater is the variety hall. Male impersonators were the height of theatrical fashion not only in New York City, which is the focused landscape of this paper, but this type of …

Cracks In The Bathroom Stall: A Discourse Analysis On Transgender Bathroom Usage At Garden Spot High School, Kirsten D. Corneilson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In recent years, high schools across the country have seen the concern around transgender students using gendered facilities, such as bathrooms and locker rooms, come to the forefront. Often, dissenters raise worries of privacy and of “catering to a minority,” no matter what decision is reached. At Garden Spot High School in New Holland, Pennsylvania, the site of this research, one such concern has led to a district-wide decision to eliminate gendered facilities and move to single-use facilities, in the name of preserving student privacy. Through the examination of historical precedent and discourse analysis, this paper examines how transgender surveillance …

Graduate School Awareness For First-Generation Latinas: Cracking The Glass Ceiling - A Validation Study, Deborah D. Grijalva

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

At this time, the Latinx population is the fastest-growing population in the United States. Latinas account for one in five women in the United States, and by 2060 Latinas will likely make up one-third of the nation’s females. Education is the foundation for both personal and economic well-being, especially as the job market continues to demand higher levels of educational attainment. The Latinx population continues to make up a large portion of the workforce. Latinas’ attendance and admission rates at the graduate level are low. Studies have found that Latinas have obtained the lowest percentage of graduate degrees compared to …

Depressed & Dis-Eased: Storytelling, Melancholia And The Rhetorical Affordances Of Affect, Carlee Franklin

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Because racial oppression is often internalized, this thesis examines literature written by POC about protagonists of color struggling with depression. The pieces are Gwendolyn Brooks’ Maud Martha, Haruki Murakami’s “Tony Takitani,” and Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Using literary concepts informed by Black feminist theory, decolonial theory, and affect studies, as well as rhetorical frameworks of silence and listening, this thesis attempts to better understand how the relationship between depression and racial oppression work to color the life expectancy and perspectives of depressed people of color

Black Girls Matter: The Impact Of Historical Representation On Contemporary Education, Carolyn Strong

Dissertations

A long history of misogynoir and negative stereotypes about Black
girls and women can be found throughout the literature and popular
culture of the United States. These stereotypes inform the lived
experience of Black girls and women, and in particular interfere with
African American girls’ ability to thrive in a school environment. An
autoethnographic research approach shows that various strategies, in
particular, Black girl-centric spaces, have proven to be helpful in
supporting Black girls who have to negotiate varying degrees of
hostility in general environments. These could be applied more broadly
to improve Black girls’ mental, psychological, physical, and
educational …

Sartorial Subversion: Eliza Haywood’S Fantomina And The Literary Tradition Of Women’S Community, Ruth Garcia

Publications and Research

This article locates Fantomina in a literary tradition that proposes all-female communities, such as convents and monasteries, as liberating and empowering spaces. I argue that the novella implies a virtual community rather than an actual one, as the heroine collectively embodies many different women, all of distinct social ranks: the heroine is both one woman and a variety of women brought together under the auspices of a single body, much the way discrete individuals together compose a community. Then, too, Beauplaisir, the object of the heroine’s desire, treats all the personae the same, no matter their social station. This emphasis …

The Development Of The Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale (Csbd-19): An Icd-11 Based Screening Measure Across Three Languages, Beáta Bőthe, Marc N. Potenza, Mark D. Griffiths, Shane W. Kraus, Verena Klein, Johannes Fuss, Zsolt Demetrovics

Psychology Faculty Research

Background Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) is included in the eleventh edition of The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an impulse-control disorder. AimsThe aim of the present work was to develop a scale (Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale–CSBD-19) that can reliably and validly assess CSBD based on ICD-11 diagnostic guidelines. Method Four independent samples of 9,325 individuals completed self-reported measures from three countries (the United States, Hungary, and Germany). The psychometric properties of the CSBD-19 were examined in terms of factor structure, reliability, measurement invariance, and theoretically relevant correlates. A potential threshold was determined to identify individuals with an …

Validation Of A Brief Pornography Screen Across Multiple Samples, Shane W. Kraus, Mateusz Gola, Joshua B. Grubbs, Ewelina Kowalewska, Rani A. Hoff, Michał Lew-Starowicz, Steve Martino, Steven D. Shirk, Marc N. Potenza

Psychology Faculty Research

Background and Aims To address current gaps around screening for problematic pornography use (PPU), we initially developed and tested a six-item Brief Pornography Screen (BPS) that asked about PPU in the past six months. Methods and Participants We recruited five independent samples from the U.S. and Poland to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BPS. In Study 1, we evaluated the factor structure, reliability, and elements of validity using a sample of 224 U.S. veterans. One item from the BPS was dropped in Study 1 due to low item endorsement. In Studies 2 and 3, we further investigated the five-item …

Status Of Women In Nevada: K-12 Education Snapshot, Aika Dietz, Ana Rosas, Brenda Cruz Gomez, Caryll Batt Dziedziak, Jean Munson

Research Briefs

There has been a sudden increase in Nevada K-12 student population since 2003 ballooning student-teaching ratio and straining the educational system.

Status Of Women In Nevada: Higher Education Snapshot, Aika Dietz, Ana Rosas, Caryll Batt Dziedziak, Jean Munson

Research Briefs

Students may leave school due to a different educational environment, work and school adjustments without support from family and friends, a lack of financial planning and academic struggles.

Status Of Women In Nevada: Health Snapshot (Part 1), Ana Rosas, Aika Dietz, Caryll Batt Dziedziak, Jean Munson

Research Briefs

A breakthrough for women's health and racial health inequity is the passing of Public Health Service Act section 492B and National Institute of Health (NIH) Revitalization Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-43) and the implementation by NIH to support full or partially funded clinical research by establishing guidelines to include sex and race of the participant in these studies.

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

Newsletters

Interim Director's Message: As an institute, WRIN's activities always increase during the spring months. It is during this time that we accept our incoming NEW Leadership Class and prepare for their June training. Early this March, just as we accepted the final students for our upcoming 2020 Class, Governor Sisolak ordered severe activity restrictions in response to COVID-19.

And Ain’T I A Man: An Examination Of Violence Against African-American Men By Caucasian Men In The United States, Bryan L. Greene

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Various scholars, particularly feminist scholars of color, have examined the experiences of women in the realm of violence perpetrated by men, particularly Caucasian/white men against women of color. Critical Race Theory has proven beneficial to discussing violence perpetrated by Caucasian men in the United States against various communities of color broadly. Using these two premises, this thesis seeks to bring into the conversation the subjugation of men of color by white men. By looking at classical theories concerning the dualities that people of color encounter and struggle with along with womanist theories of feminism, this thesis seeks to spark a …

Bloodied Hearts And Bawdy Planets: Greco-Roman Astrology And The Regenerative Force Of The Feminine In Shakespeare’S The Winter’S Tale, Christina E. Farella

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis offers a new reading of William Shakespeare’s late play The Winter’s Tale (1623), positing that in order to understand this complex and eccentric work, we must read it with a complex and eccentric eye. In The Winter’s Tale, planets strike without warning, pulling at hearts, wombs, and blood, impacting the health and emotional experience of characters in the play. This work is renowned for its inconsistent formal structure; the first half is a tragedy set in winter, but abruptly shifts to a comedy set in spring/summer in its latter half. What’s more, is that planets, luminaries, and …

Corporeal Archives Of Hiv/Aids: The Performance Of Relation, Jaime Shearn Coan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Corporeal Archives of HIV/AIDS: The Performance of Relation, explores how choreographers and theater artists in the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City used time and space to involve their audiences experientially in the project of grieving and rebuilding in the midst of the temporal chaos of mass death and illness (crisis time). Refusing to portray HIV/AIDS as a discrete or singular phenomenon, these artists revealed how it intersected with every aspect of life, including artistic practice, thereby delinking their bodies from a singular association with pathology and death. Undertaking extensive archival research on the work …

Revisioning Popular Narratives Of Trans Lives, 1952–1976, Melina A. Moore

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation calls for a reconsideration of popular narratives and visual media created by or written about trans people in the United States prior to Stonewall. Grounded in research conducted at the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria, the ONE Archives at the University of Southern California, the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota, and the Transgender Collection at Yale University, “Revisioning” argues that the texts that trans readers collected, exchanged within communities, and engaged with in their own writing and scrapbooking are essential to the historicization of trans identity at midcentury. By extending …

Fighting For Equality In The Workforce, Madison Taylor Dewing

Communication Studies

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

The Greenville Investigation: Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women And Boarding School Runaways, Kate Mook

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Indian boarding schools were created by the United States government in the nineteenth century in order to “civilize” and assimilate American Indians. In this research, I utilize public information regarding the missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) crisis in the United States as well as primary documents from a report by Special Agent Lafayette Dorrington of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Dorrington investigated the case of five American Indian girls who ran away from the Greenville Indian Industrial School in 1916.

I will refer to the documents as “The Greenville Investigation” instead of Dorrington’s title- “The Greenville Desertion” - …

Consent Around The Globe: Sexual Violence Prevention Programming That Responds To The Needs Of International Students, Michael Blackman

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

International students are a growing presence on college campuses across the United States. However, despite their increased numbers on college campuses, they have been overlooked in analyses regarding subgroups and sexual violence prevention. This qualitative, phenomenological study sought to describe the lived experiences of East Asian international students as they travel to the United States and learn about sexual violence. Interviews were conducted with eight East Asian international students studying at a public university in the Midwest. Themes emerged from the interview data describing the lived experiences of these students. These themes were (1) navigating a more open society without …

Artistic Gaze Of Two Papuan Choreographers: Visual Perspectives Rooted In The Oral Traditions Of The Kamoro And Asmat Tribe, Madia Patra Ismar, Rahayu Pratiwi

International Review of Humanities Studies

This article is based on the artistic practice of two Papuan choreographers trained in the Jakarta Institute of the Arts Dance Study Program. Both based their choreographies on their traditional roots which were presented as site specific performances in their respective villages. The choice of visuals and dramatic bodily expressions created by them, though a new dance design, was based on their deeply ingrained roots as indigenous Papuans. The roots called upon to be re-interpreted as choreography were based on the oral traditions they grew up with as part of their identity. The focus in this article is on the …

From Protecting To Performing Privacy, Garfield Benjamin

The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique

Privacy is increasingly important in an age of facial recognition technologies, mass data collection, and algorithmic decision-making. Yet it persists as a contested term, a behavioural paradox, and often fails users in practice. This article critiques current methods of thinking privacy in protectionist terms, building on Deleuze's conception of the society of control, through its problematic relation to freedom, property and power. Instead, a new mode of understanding privacy in terms of performativity is provided, drawing on Butler and Sedgwick as well as Cohen and Nissenbaum. This new form of privacy is based on identity, consent and collective action, a …

Reclaiming Lilith As A Strong Female Role Model, Kendra Levine

Senior Theses

We live in an increasingly patriarchal society, and in order for women to not only survive in our society, but thrive, they need strong female role models. Now the question is, how do we find strong female role models? The field of Religious Studies can be used to uncover said female role models by way of examining mythology and ancient texts. Perhaps one of the most unexpected role models to come out of this examination is Lilith. She is unexpected because her story is often told in a deeply negative way, and her portrayal in both mythology and rabbinical …

Book Review: Camouflage: The Hidden Lives Of Autistic Women By Sarah Bargiela, Sara M. Acevedo

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

No abstract provided.