Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Femininity As Disability In Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar., Shae Kirkus, Monika Shehi Herr

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

Disability studies is often associated with the treatment of people with physical disabilities, which are defined as features of non-normative human bodies. However, analyzed through the lens of the classical idea of the ideal body, which was first and foremost male, femininity itself is also atypical and therefore confines women to the realm of being disabled.

Sylvia Plath’s autobiographical novel The Bell Jar shows how the feminine is a disability in and of itself. As Plath’s main character and narrator, Esther Greenwood, spirals into her own madness, her condition is only worsened by societal reactions to her declining mental health. …

The Relationship Between Self-Sexualization And Sexually Objectified Experience, Dooyoung Choi, Ha Kyung Lee

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Will women who use their sexuality as a source of power, empowering themselves through self-sexualization, experience negative consequences resulting from sexually objectifying experiences? This study explored the relationship between self-sexualization and sexually objectifying experiences, which leads to body shame, with age as a moderator. An online questionnaire was created to measure the four variables (self-empowering sexualization, general self-sexualization, sexually objectified experiences; body shame). A total of 308 female respondents participated through MTurk, and the data were analyzed with SEM. The findings showed that not all self-sexualizing women experienced a negative consequence from sexually objectified experiences; the use of self-sexualization for …

Foreword To “Gender, Science, And The ‘Natural’ World”, Laura Kalas

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

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Gender, Science, And The Natural World: Essays On Medieval Literature From The 2020 Gender And Medieval Studies Conference, Linda E. Mitchell, Daisy E. Black

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Introduction to the special issue of literature articles from the 2020 Gender and Medieval Studies Conference.

Abduction And Feminine Expression In Sir Orfeo, Ruth Worgan

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This article provides a new, queer feminist reading of Sir Orfeo, in which Dame Heurodis facilitates her abduction by the Fairy King in order to destabilize the patriarchal possession of her body. Using Luce Irigaray’s work on the exchange of women between men, I discuss Heurodis’s value as a commodity and how she extricates herself from this position. Irigaray proposes that the primeval patriarchy created an exclusive between-men discourse within society, a consequence of which is the consuming masculine gaze. I consider how the silencing of the feminine is akin to the silence of the natural world, and how …

“Let Him Walk With You”: Telling Stories About Fifteenth-Century Men, And The Women They Left Behind, Rachel E. Moss

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

In this article I use a blend of autoethnography and historical storytelling to explore the role of outdoor space in forming relationships between fifteenth-century men and their maintenance of hegemonic power. By weaving together three striking vignettes from late fifteenth-century England, constructed as creative retellings of the historical evidence, with autoethnographic notes on my own lived experience, I am able to fill in the gaps of the historical record and open up questions about the implications of what has been left out. I argue that the medieval cultural understanding of the outdoors as both spiritually and physically beneficial, as well …

Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, And Race In The Middle Ages, C. Libby

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The Matter Of Virtue: Women’S Ethical Action From Chaucer To Shakespeare, Masha Raskolnikov

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Christine De Pizan, “The God Of Love’S Letter” And “The Tale Of The Rose”, Roberta Krueger

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Disclosing For Closure: Negotiating Boundaries For Self-Expansion After Violence, Jadah M. Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The #MeToo movement has brought the narratives of survivors of sexual assault center stage. As we begin to understand the intricacies of these narratives, we must remember them in their first iteration, their initial disclosure. This study aims to understand the motivations behind the first disclosure of sexual violence. Through looking at these motivations through the lens of self-expansion theory, we can better support survivors of sexual violence in this initial process. Self-discrepancy theory was also used to understand survivors’ sense of self, and the motivations of how survivors seek refuge in their receiver. Thus, privacy management lends itself to …

A Question Of Affect: A Queer Reading Of Institutional Nondiscrimination Statements At Texas Public Universities, Sarah Dwyer

English Faculty Publications (Archived)

Grounded in my embodied experiences as an openly-queer faculty member at a Texas public university and drawing from Sara Ahmed’s work on affect and institutional diversity, I argue that nondiscrimination statements at Texas public universities are affective objects which serve as straightening devices on the queer bodies that they affect, even as they purport to and often do protect them. The goals of my critique are twofold: 1) to support the work of those tasked with writing revisions to these policies by offering a few practical suggestions to allow for greater enforcement of the nondiscrimination practices that these policies espouse; …

Wound-Dwelling: Empowerment Through Masochistic Experiences, Nizlyn

MFA in Visual Arts Theses

The psychoanalytic concept of the Skin Ego Theory describes the skin as a passage for pain and pleasure to travel through. Remnants of external experiences as well as internal struggles affect the penetrable barrier of the somatic wrapping and leave inscriptions on the flesh. Through my work, I have been exploring the skin’s ability to protect, envelope, and inscribe meaning through my papercuts, oil paintings, and clay sculptures. I procure the marks on my body through kink and BDSM, which then influence the work. Though my bruises may fade with time, my skin becomes tougher. By recontextualizing Skin Ego Theory …

Experiences Of Women Of Color In Leadership Paths At Predominately White Institutions, Philomena Marie Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractResearch shows that the experiences of women of color in leadership paths at predominately White institutions (PWIs) have impacted their advancements and route to the presidency. However, there is limited research on the positive aspects of their leadership contributions or on the intersection of race and gender and mentoring in their leadership roles. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the experiences of women of color in leadership paths at PWIs. Black feminist thought and intersectionality were the conceptual framework used to understand those experiences. Thirteen women of color in leadership roles at PWIs in the United States …

Being The Bigger Ram: Arable Vs Pastoral Masculinities In The Towneley Mactacio Abel, Daisy E. Black

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This article addresses the construction of rural masculine identities through a study of the Towneley manuscript play Mactacio Abel (The Killing of Abel) and the relationships the play stages between human, animal, and land. It argues that the Mactacio Abel places pastoral and arable agricultural labor in competition through the play’s two brothers, and that this competition takes the form of a gendered attack on the masculinity of each. The article begins with Cain’s arable farming and how the character’s antagonistic relationship with the earth hints at his failures as laborer and as a man. It examines Cain’s …

The Isolated As The Revolutionary: How “Leftover” Men In China Challenge Heteronormativity, Ruwen Chang

Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies

In contemporary China, demographers estimate that 30 million men are single because there are simply not enough women in the Chinese population, and the 2020 Chinese census shows that there are 34.9 million more men than women. These men are called guanggun, which can be directly translated to “bare sticks/branches,” a slur that indicates a lack of marriage and sex. In this project, I demonstrate that guanggun’s singlehood marks them as the marginalized at the intersection of heteronormativity, patriarchy, globalizing capitalism, and pronatalist governmentality. In a highly heteronormative and patrilineal culture, guanggun are branded as abnormal/incomplete. However, because …

"Wearing A Mask To Each Other": Masculinity & The Public Eye In Victorian Sensation Fiction, Shannon Branfield

Theses and Dissertations--English

Sensation fiction, as a genre, offers a field to explore the ways in which ideologies of masculinity are negotiated, contested, and enforced. The Victorian man has no respite from social surveillance; the public is always watching, always evaluating the performance. As these sensation fiction novels build on each other, a portrait of male claustrophobia in response to unceasing surveillance is revealed. The pressure this constant scrutiny puts on Victorian men is immense and sensation novels derive many thrilling plot twists from the dramatic lengths men to which men must go to protect themselves from this gaze. These habits persist even …

(Dis)Possessed Black Youth: How America's Architecture Challenges Coming Of Age In Twentieth And Twenty-First Century African American Women's Literature, Margaret Frymire Kelly

Theses and Dissertations--English

This dissertation advances studies of Black childhood, particularly Black girlhood, by examining how African American women writers depict the troubled journey to adulthood in stories of segregation, immigration, and incarceration. I argue that authors of four representative literary works emphasize architectural structures as well as ancestral hauntings among which Black children grow up. Without examining the material structures, we cannot understand the strategies these haunted Black youth deploy to reach adulthood. Examining the architectural structures that the protagonists of Maud Martha (1953), Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959), Zami (1982), and Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017) grow up in and around, I demonstrate …

Les Représentations Féminins Dans Le Cinéma Maghrébin: L'Expérience Des Femmes Et Le Rêve Féministe Dans Les Silences Du Palais Et Viva Laldjérie, Danielle Mills

Theses and Dissertations--Modern and Classical Languages, Literature and Cultures

It is evident that in the realm of gender studies concerning the Maghreb, many scholars have studied literary texts from prominent female Maghrebi writers such as Assia Djebar and Fatima Mernissi. However, certain forms of expression have been neglected, such as film. The purpose of this work is to analyze and evaluate how cinema has portrayed the situation of women in the postcolonial Maghreb. I will be examining two examples of Maghrebi cinema which include the Tunisian film Les silences du palais by Moufida Tlatli and the Algerian film Viva Laldjérie by Nadir Moknèche. Through the examination of these two …

Gender And Remittances: Lived Experiences Of Women In Oaxaca, Mexico, Araby Smyth

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation project analyzes the ways that migration and remittances, the money that migrants send to people in their place of origin, intersect with the political and social dynamics in an Indigenous community in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region of Oaxaca, Mexico. Drawing on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork, which included semi-structured interviews and participant observation alongside historical archival investigation, this dissertation examines the following questions: What international organizations, national government, and private sector policies govern remittances? How does Indigenous collective work and communal governance shape remittance management? How do the responsibilities of family members shift with migration and how …

Part-Time Normals: Embodied Trans Geographies Of Homonationalism, Ivy Faye Monroe

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Self-understanding of one’s gender identity both emerges from, and rearticulates into, the ways one experiences and mediates their personal and social relationships with the geographic worlds they inhabit. Trans geographical literature has, to date, created compelling work on the social geographies of trans people in highly-gendered spaces. This thesis extends the existing literature to research how gender is both experienced and performed in the mundane structures of everyday life. Building from theories of cruel optimism and homonationalism, this research examines how the discursive and spatial epistemologies of gender identity inform attachments to structures of normativity. Through archival research of transvestite …

First-Person Politics: Strategies Of Latin/X American Women To Change The Neoliberal Requirements For Empowerment And Inclusion One Share, Like, Subscribe At A Time, Marlee Northcutt

Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies

This project investigates the strategies of Latin/x American women who have used their voices and influence in the media to break barriers, enter spaces that have excluded them, and advocate for changes so that young girls like them do not have to face these same limitations. Chapter One investigates politicians who, from their political power positions, interweave personal stories with their accomplishments to provide role models for these careers. Chapter Two identifies actors who combine their personal stories with activist causes to alter representation in TV and film. The YouTubers in Chapter Three bolster a rhetoric of empowerment to encourage …

The Resiliency And Thriving Of Underrepresented Agricultural Educators: A National Mixed Methods Study, Caleb Michael Hickman

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Gay men in agricultural education do not have comprehensive support within the agricultural education profession. When gay men decide to become agriculture educators, they often keep their identity private. This national mixed methods study aims to seek if gay agriculture educators are resilient and thrive in rural communities. The thriving elements of spiritual influence, personal competence, peer support, and family cohesion were surveyed and analyzed using a resiliency lens. Findings include gay male agricultural educators thriving in a heteronormative profession. Recommendations include ensuring LGBTQIA+ teachers have a voice in agricultural education.

At The Same Time African Women And Mothers Resisted: Dialectical Constructions Of Race And Gender In The Black Atlantic And Early Colonies Of The New World, Anna L. Biesecker-Mast

Joyce Durham Essay Contest in Women's and Gender Studies

We find the rough beginning of this story in the dynamic and contingent scene of the early Atlantic. I say contingent because it is these early complex transatlantic (political and cultural) encounters that fundamentally shaped and shape the trajectory of modernity. At the heart of this development of modernity are constructions of race and gender. And given the contingency of history, it must be noted that, if responses to these encounters had been different, perhaps we would be living with a different modernity—maybe one with different or less harmful notions of race and gender difference.

Understanding how these conceptualizations came …

Theories In The Flesh: Latina Feminist Philosophy Approaches To Identity, Sofia Garcia

Joyce Durham Essay Contest in Women's and Gender Studies

The idea of identity is thoroughly debated by a plethora of philosophers, and it is also a subject that non-scholars question and battle within themselves as well. For those in marginalized communities, whether they are Hispanic, African American, LGBTQ, identity is extremely complex and comes with extreme political, socio-economic, and physiological implications as well. In our current climate these identity questions play out in discussions over critical race theory, immigration policies like DACA, and so many other grave issues. Latinx philosophers take conversations about identity seriously and ask questions such as what is Latina identity really? Is Latina mestiza identity …

Important Aspects To Women’S Re-Integration: Positive Influences On Women’S Reentry Experience After Being Released From Prison, Sarah A. Benson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Researchers can analyze statistics of recidivism rates and decipher that they are at an alarming rate—specifically regarding women convicts. The population of women in prison has drastically increased, and with that, so have their recidivism rates. Analyzing statistical data of incarceration and recidivism can show us the numbers, but what is the reason? Why do some women struggle to stay out of prison? I argued that one reason is because women who are released from prison are severely underprepared to reintegrate back into society and, are therefore, set up for failure. Previous studies suggest that reentry programs, education programs, relationships …

“By Following Them, I Was Able To Identify Things I Shared With Them” : Conceptualizing How Social Media Use Influences Genderqueer Identity Development, Margeaux Gaiani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Among young genderqueer people, social media can be used as a tool for gender exploration, building support systems, and identity validation. However, literature on how these processes are linked together over time to curate a holistic sense of identity is limited. Using a grounded theory framework, this study seeks to construct a model explaining how gender identity development is linearly influenced by social media use among young genderqueer (transgender, non-binary, genderfluid, etc.) individuals. 20 indepth interviews were conducted with genderqueer participants ranging in age from 18- 26 years old. Participants were recruited through personal contact, referrals, and social media posts. …

Gendered Negotiation Of Space: A Study On Gender And Mobility Among Transgender Persons In Pakistan, Sana Illahe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transgender persons, known as khwaja sira in Pakistan, have historically been marginalized and excluded from various spatial domains, as they do not fit the societal norms of binary gender. They are subject to gender discipline by the Pakistani society to coerce them into conforming to the social norms. This research study uses in-depth interviews and applies grounded theory in conjunction with Michel Foucault’s concept of discipline to explore how khwaja sira are subject to societal discipline in Pakistan. The discipline ranges from tacit to overt forms, including verbal and sexual harassment. Khwaja sira are disciplined within their families, in formal …

Choreographing The Line: Exploring The Art/Obscenity Paradox Of Feminine Sexuality Within The Context Of Recreational Pole Dance, Cameron Boucher-Khan

Scripps Senior Theses

This project seeks to explore the relationships between pole dance and pole fitness, art and obscenity and respectability as it relates to work, class, and social systems. It analyzes the way female sexuality is accepted or rejected within society and explores the boundaries between the two through the staging of pole and contemporary dance. The dichotomy between art and obscenity is explored in the relationship between stripper pole dance, and the fast-growing pole fitness community. Within this relationship, strippers are demonized as obscene, while pole fitness dancers' labor is viewed as artistic, despite the sexuality present in both. The difference …

A Gamer Girl's Account On Interacting With Feminism In Video Games, Nicole M. Dowell

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

No abstract provided.

What Do We Long For? Reflections On Feminist Movements For Social Justice, Aman Agah, Emerson Barrett, Libia Marqueza Castro, Val Chang, Patti Duncan, Adrianna Nicolay

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

In this collective essay, we contemplate tipping points including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis, and gendered and racialized forms of state violence through our reflections on shifting meanings of and movements for social justice, shaped by our own lived experiences. Inspired by the writings of feminist scholars and activists including Grace Lee Boggs, adrienne maree brown, Dean Spade, bell hooks, and others, we grapple with the meanings of social justice in contemporary contexts.