Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Witches As Queer(Ed) Comrades: How Patriarchy, Sexism And Religious Fanaticism Fueled The Early Modern European Witch Hunts, Iris S. De Lis

University Honors Theses

Patriarchy, sexism, and religious fanaticism each played a complementary and compounding role in creating the conditions for the brutal campaign of violent terror, torture, and mass murder that we now refer to as the early modern European witch hunts. In this paper I explore, by way of a cross-discipline literature review through a feminist and queer theoretical lens, the ways in which those who were accused of being witches in early modern Europe were rendered queer subjects by dominant organized religion, the state and society--regardless of whether they ever actually identified as witches or practiced witchcraft. The term queer subject …

Medieval Infertility: Treatments, Cures, And Consequences, Zia Simpson

The Forum: Journal of History

Since the first civilizations emerged, reproductive ability has been one of the most prominent elements in assessing a woman’s value to society. Other characteristics such as beauty, intelligence, and wealth may have been granted comparable consequence, but those are arbitrary and improvable. Fertility is genetic, and for centuries it was beyond human control. Among the medieval European nobility, fertility held even greater power. The absence of an heir could, either directly or indirectly, bring about war, economic depression, and social disorder. Catholicism provided a refuge by allowing barren women to retain their hopes, while simultaneously enriching Rome’s coffers. Other women …

Full Issue

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

Women Behind Walls And The Subversion Of Colonial Photography, Elhoussaine Idbahsine

Dirassat

The colonial postcard was used to misrepresent the oriental women and enhance the colonial stereotypes in north Africa, women are always seen submissive and easily surrender.

Picturing the Moorish women in their harems unfolds their rebellions and collective engagement in the colonial visual discourse by oppositional look, they use the wall to show their resistance and rejection of colonialism. Powerful moments of women resistance and refuse of submission to the lens of the colonial camera.

Gendered Spaces In The Public Sphere: A Micro Study Of Bangalore’S Malls, Airport, Railways, And Educational Institutes, Cecilia Juanita, Fatema Kapadia

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study focuses on public spaces and analyses them to reveal their gendered nature. It is organized around the following public spaces: educational institutions, malls, railway stations, and the airport. Architectural designs, facilities provided, and gender-specific organization are some of the aspects of these spaces that are under study. Our study identified The discriminatory patterns in some of these places suggesting that there are long-term effects of discrimination on the human psyche, particularly when these spaces do not accommodate gender diversity. This paper highlights some of the discriminations and their effects on the LGBTQ+, gender-fluid and gender non-conforming communities. We …

From Resistance To Leadership: The Role Of The Women In Cinema Collective (Wcc) In ‘Voicing The Women’ In The Malayalam Film Industry, Jimin S. Mathew, Alna Mariya Isac

Journal of International Women's Studies

On February 17, 2017 a popular film actress in the Malayalam film industry was sexually assaulted and harassed in a running vehicle as she was returning from work. A group of women came together as a collective to support the survivor and to address some of the problems plaguing women in the film industry. The heinous crime was a blow to the conscience of the state of Kerala which is considered the most educated and well governed state with better living conditions, when compared to all the other states in India. It revealed the long silenced and unquestioned reality of …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Occupational Stress On Mental Health Of Remote Working Women It Professionals In Urban Bangalore, India, Subha B., Madhusudhanan R., Ajai Abraham Thomas

Journal of International Women's Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced various aspects of our lives and triggered many long-term consequences. The actual well-being of women IT employees is in danger due to the prolonged period of work from home as the pandemic has influenced individuals differently across the world. Physical distancing, dread, vulnerability, and a continued period of remote working has prompted an enormous number of women in the IT sector to experience challenges to emotional well-being. Work-related pressure is one of the major sources of stress in the modern working environment. Stress and unfavorable working conditions have been connected to low efficiency, truancy, and …

The Role Of Women In The Formation Of Organizational Climates In Various Workspaces In Bengaluru, India, Surjit Singha, Sivarethinamohan R.

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study examined the influence of women in the formation of organizational climates and their effectiveness in this competitive era. Favorable climates and working conditions enhance work quality and increase organizational cohesion that develops interpersonal bonds to accomplish workplace goals. Women have faced multiple challenges in the banking industry. To address gender disparity, women leaders created initiatives to empower women and encourage society to pay attention to gender equality. Bank Presidents and Senior Managers have the responsibility of creating an organizational culture that is safer for women to participate in; organizations should be designed with women in mind. It is …

Empirical Analysis On Knowledge, Attitudes And Practices (Kap): Puberty And Menstrual Hygiene, Jisha V. G., R. Rupashree, T. Somasundaram

Journal of International Women's Studies

Puberty and menstruation bring major physical and mental changes in a girl’s life; they mark the beginning of procreation. In many countries lackof knowledge and poor hygienic practices during menstruation lead to serious illness ranging from genital tract infections and urinary tract infections to bad odor. This study on Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) aims to understand the awareness level of menstrual health and hygiene among adolescent girls, and the study also focuses on identifying the average age of attaining menarche among early adolescent girls and the problems associated with menstruation. To meet the above objective, a sample of 187 …

A Study On Importance Of Women Participants In Higher Education: A Case Study Of Karnataka, India, Prashanth Kumar C.P., Santhosh V.

Journal of International Women's Studies

Education is a fundamental human right and it is necessary, irrespective of gender, to achieve the goal of basic education for all. There is limited representation of women in many sectors of Indian society; however, women form a higher percentage of college professors in Karnataka. Women's support of one another plays an important role in higher education and they can balance both professional and personal life. Women enter the teaching profession because of the flexibility in time, which helps them manage both professional and personal lives simultaneously. Women are working in all the sectors, i.e., education, medical, engineering, transportation, etc., …

Perceptions Of Organization Justice: An Empirical Study Of Working Women From Bangalore, Stephen Deepak

Journal of International Women's Studies

Organization Justice refers to the feelings and perceptions of fairness or unfairness that employees experience in the workplace. This perception differs significantly based on gender. Women employees experience justice far more differently than men, often facing discrimination, bias, and harassment. This study examines perceptions of organizational justice using four scales of dimensional justice including: Distributive, Procedural, Interpersonal and Informational Justice. The study indicates a differing perception among working women to the individual items of the construct. The findings show that working women find a certain degree of fairness in Distributive justice, though an unsatisfactory perception remains with respect to outcomes …

Literacy And Livelihood Of Women Migrant Construction Workers: An Analytical Study, Manjunath S., Shashi Kumar M., Minu A.

Journal of International Women's Studies

Migration is a demographic process that has been chronicled across world history. Even though various reasons have accelerated this process over the years, the dominant trend in internal migration during the 20th century has been the movement from rural to urban areas. The casual and unskilled workers who shift from one region to another, offering their services on a temporary or seasonal basis are considered migrant labourers. The 21st century has witnessed problems related to migration intensifying. Migrant labourers face hostility from local populations posing a great challenge for governments to maintain the welfare of these people. Unfavorable social, economic, …

My Motherhood, My Way: A Sociological Study Of Contemporary Employed Mothers In Kolkata, Sanjukta Bhaumik, Sudhansubala Sahu

Journal of International Women's Studies

Motherhood in India has been understood primarily by placing mothers in the domestic space. A mother is constructed as a protector and the complete caregiver of her children. But there have been significant changes in the status of Indian women recently. In the 21st century, with suitable qualifications and employment opportunities, women have the choice to be economically independent and career-driven, which has a profound impact on their roles and responsibilities as protectors and caregivers in the home. It is essential to study and document how women in this generation have started to redefine their roles and negotiate what a …

Emotional Intelligence And Subjective Well-Being Among Working Women, Rema M.K, Ritu Gupta

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study aims to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and subjective well-being among working women. 104 working women were selected from various levels of employment including higher, middle, and lower using purposive sampling method. Emotional Intelligence and Subjective Well-being scales were used to collect data. The 5 sub-scales of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, managing emotions, motivating oneself, empathy, and social skills. The Subjective Well-being scale is divided into four aspects: satisfaction with life in general and in different areas of life, satisfaction with work and job performance, satisfaction with the economic situation in the last year, and moods/emotions during …

Study On The Prevalence Of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Among Women Population Of Bangalore, India, Sangeetha Menon, Shweta Sharma, Manikandan Kathirvel

Journal of International Women's Studies

India has observed the most devastating increase in cases of diabetes today—especially Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The high prevalence of diabetes mellitus is due to rapid urbanization of the suburban regions. Diabetes mellitus continues to increase as a result of rapid cultural and social changes, such as increasing urbanization, ageing populations, dietary changes, reduced physical activity, and unhealthy behavior. Development and maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviors can be the most effective strategy in reducing complications and premature death among women living with T2DM. There is currently insufficient information available on the prevalence of T2DM and associated factors in the …

Nawal El Saadawi: Attaining Catharsis Through Trauma Narration In Woman At Point Zero, Chitra Susan Thampy

Journal of International Women's Studies

Nawal El Saadawi is a prolific writer who has received both praise and criticism for her focus on women's victimization and exploitation in patriarchal Muslim cultures. Her works are living testaments to her crusade against repression, inequality, and injustice meted out by the patriarchy. Amidst her efforts to bring about change in the status of women in Egypt she faced a lot of criticism, particularly during Anwar Sadat's rule when she established The Arab Women's Solidarity Association which was later banned in 1991. Feminism is a controversial and challenging subject to address in the Islamic world partly owing to it …

Start-Ups By Women In Bengaluru, Nimble O J, Dr. Uma C Swadimath

Journal of International Women's Studies

This is a new era for emerging businesses across the globe. Advancements in the technology field and its applications have resulted in new businesses that bring new challenges. Innovations are also responsible for developing new business models by formulating new different strategies, expanding business base etc. One of the new business models are the formation of start-ups. Start-ups emerge from innovative ideas, encouragement from government policies, opportunities for self-employment, etc. Start-ups can be opened in any of the economic sectors (Aldrich, 1990). In India, Bengaluru is considered the start-up capital. Women's empowerment is one of the important economic objectives of …

Brain Fog Among Perimenopausal Women: A Comparative Study, S. Shrividya, Molly Joy

Journal of International Women's Studies

Menarche is the beginning of a girl's ability to ovulate and reproduce. Visible menopause symptoms are absent with little hormonal changes during pre-menopause. Perimenopause is the transitional period which is a slow process from normal to no menstrual periods at all, which often takes up to 10 years. In menopause, ovarian development of estrogen decreases significantly, and this results in painful effects such as hot flashes, nausea, exhaustion, etc. Another common symptom is brain fog: a mostly temporary state of diminished mental capacity marked by an inability to concentrate or to think or reason. The study intends to analyze brain …

A Template For The Future: Resonant Leadership In The Song Of Deborah, Lyola Thomas

Journal of International Women's Studies

While leadership seems to come naturally for many great leaders, leadership is also a skill that can be learned. Some leaders gradually grow into successful leadership positions but, for others, leadership is a challenge that they suddenly find themselves rising to meet. In the heroic poem, The Song of Deborah, we come face to face with Deborah--a woman who suddenly becomes a leader--and she leads her community to victory and social transformation. This paper delves into her character and her leadership role within her patriarchal cultural history and attempts to investigate and understand if leadership skills are personality specific or …

Introduction, Sangeetha Menon, Rema Mk, Jisha Vg

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Ua3/10/4 Naming & Symbols Task Force Report & Recommendations, Wku President's Office - Caboni

WKU Administration Documents

Report of the Naming & Symbols Task Force concerning four major areas:

• Solicit input and perspectives from a broad range of constituencies and stakeholders that will guide us as we examine the origins of the names and symbols used on campus.
• Audit the names used on buildings and other campus symbols to determine which may be connected to exclusion, segregation, racism or slavery.
• Create a set of guiding principles and a range of options for how we should address any issues raised.
• Provide to University leadership a set of recommendations.

The Association Of Algerian Muslim Ulama And Women, Djamila Hanafi

Dirassat

The Algerian women’s situation has witnessed, over decades, great transformations and improvements in many fields; such as education, economy and politics. However women remain in the eyes of the Algerian society as a sex of a secondary position. This wrongheaded view is strongly rooted into the Algerian mind, and undoubtedly the inherited traditions and customs are its essential source. I would like to argue in this essay that this traditional background has been deeply-rooted into people's minds many decades ago by the Association of Algerian Muslim "Ulama", the most distinctive and prominent school in Algeria's intellectual landscape. In fact, it …

Color And Descriptors To See A Deeper Meaning In "Passing", Dani Szafran

Anthós

A small glimpse into the novel “Passing” by Nella Larsen. A fictional story of Irene Redfield, a black woman living in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, and her unraveling life brought on by a chance meeting of an old friend. This is a look at the latent lesbian feelings as shown by the use of descriptive words to paint a picture of a desire that was forbidden during those times.

Understanding Visibility Of Queer Bodies Through Discursive And Materialist Schools Of Thought, Evelyn Birnbaum

Anthós

Queer bodies have had a constant and consistent struggle to be seen as valid in capitalist societies and often find themselves teetering between invisibility and hypervisibility. This essay works to analyze Rosemary Hennessy and Judith Butler’s contributions in the 1990’s to the discourse on queer (in)visibility as well as address present-day viewpoints on the issue. Hennessy’s Marxist materialist perspective that points to capitalism as the reason for invisible queer bodies is compared and contrasted with Butler’s discursive perspective which emphasizes the semantics of human language that defines our bodies. Both schools of thought are found to be critical and necessary …

Popular Feminism(S) Reconsidered: Popular, Racialized, And Decolonial Subjectivities In Contention, Janet M. Conway, Nathalie Lebon

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications

This issue is concerned with the salience of “popular feminism” as an analytic category for naming the myriad contemporary forms of gendered awareness and agency appearing among Latin America’s poor, working-class and racialized communities. Although we have an analytic agenda, our underlying concern here is with the politics of feminism—the construction of intersectional feminist praxes of gender, race, and economic justice and their relation to other projects for social justice. Our focus on popular feminism addresses the relationship between the subaltern subjectivities of marginalized women, their relation to feminist political agency, and the relation of both to mixed-gender efforts for …

Queer: A 25 Year History, A Blooming Identity, Greer Klepacki

University Honors Theses

The term "queer" has a long and complex history that has been previously undocumented in academic works. This thesis will work to unravel and uncover the complexity behind the term itself while also establishing its place in a historical timeline. In doing so, this thesis will illustrate the importance that queer identity has in the LGBTQIA+ community, along with academic, social, and theoretical frameworks. Furthermore, it will showcase the unique opportunity that the term queer has to allow its audience to engage with and understand a more critical and dynamic approach to the past, present, and future of the communities …

"The Caucasian Persuasion Here In The 'Dale": Othering, White Normality, And Post-Racialism In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Isaiah Lee

University Honors Theses

This thesis engages the construction of race within the television landscape of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to investigate how well-meaning, progressive media either reinvents or repudiates racial stereotype. This paper also examines the figure of the Other, as it is evoked in horror, and utilizes Hazel Carby's conception of the fantasized black subject to analyze the setting and characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with an eye towards the inherent assumptions the show makes about race. Ultimately, I argue that Buffy's representation of race assumes a white normality, flattening its non-white characters under the guise of inherent difference, even …

How To Escape 130 Years Of Being Unnatural, Incompetent, And Unviable: American Women Presidential Candidates Take To Social Media, Izabella Becherer

University Honors Theses

For 130 years, American media coverage on women in presidential races remains unchanged despite the drastic difference in women's rights. While male candidates receive commentary on their policy, women often fall into discussions about their hair, their hemline, or their husband. Three core narratives about women then stem from their media characterization: unnatural, incompetent, and unviable. Unnatural, in that women, by nature, are not meant to be in political office. Incompetent, implying women are not smart enough for political office. Unviable, arguing that America is not ready to elect a female or females are "unelectable". The key to escaping this …

Situating Hiv/Aids Humanitarian Film In The National Cinema Culture Of Mozambique: Historical, Contemporary And Feminist Perspectives, Sebastián Andrés Suárez Hode

University Honors Theses

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Mozambique has enabled a new wave of humanitarian cinema to develop as it seeks to educate and empower a population that has been adversely affected by the epidemic. Colonial-era patriarchal systems that persist have resulted in Mozambican women being disproportionately impacted by the virus, and humanitarian projects in turn use film as a vehicle for the exploration of Mozambican women’s subjectivities. Thus, these films have made for an especially feminist reconditioning of Mozambican national cinema culture. This essay will explore HIV/AIDS humanitarian cinema’s place within the larger discourse of Mozambican national cinema and will demonstrate how …

Fostering Connectedness Amidst Crisis: Lgbtq Communities In 2020, Daniel Leister-Gray

University Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate LGBTQ communities’ responses to the global and national crises that took place in 2020. To accomplish this, the thesis ties together and summarizes relevant multidisciplinary constructs, and highlights specific examples of the actions taken by LGBTQ communities in 2020. The secondary goal was to tell an anecdote providing ecological validity for relevant empirical data. The thesis is informed by LGBTQ psychology, medical sociology, LGBTQ history, modern events, neuroendocrinology, and neuroscience. The paper concludes that LGBTQ communities used activism, internet, and music to embody resilience and solidarity during 2020. The paper aims to …