Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Innocence Through An Intersectional Lens: An Examination Of Women And Wrongful Convictions, Briana Paige

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

According to The National Registry of Exonerations (2022), nearly 40% of all exonerations involve a no-crime wrongful conviction. While women make up less than 10% of all exonerees, nearly 73% of exonerated women were originally convicted of crimes that never happened, compared to only 38% of exonerated men. Despite their prevalence, the topic of no crime wrongful convictions is extremely understudied in the wrongful conviction literature.

Additionally, since prior research on wrongful convictions has been primarily male centered, the likelihood that a woman’s case will be accepted to be reviewed for innocence is significantly lower than men (Free and Ruesink, …

More Than Representation Heartstopper: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, Tracyann Josephine Harmer

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

This thesis is a multimodal critical discourse analysis of Netflix’s Heartstopper, written with the goal of understanding its methods of representation and queer world creation. Through analysis of the ideology of heteronormativity as it relates to masculinity, internalized homophobia, homophobia, and mental health, I expand upon the significance of queer representation for queer audiences, heterosexual audiences, and producers of queer media. Through a nuanced analysis of these themes, I display how and why Heartstopper has had enormous success and expand upon the cultural phenomena surrounding this media. Finally, this thesis places these nuanced analyses into the real-world reaction to …

Aesthetic Exclusion Within American Capitalist Culture: Lgbtq Students At Gettysburg College And The Creative Reappropriation Of Clothing To Forge Personal And Communal Identity, James M. Mikulski

Student Publications

For LGBTQ individuals whose identity expression transgresses heteronormative aesthetic values, mass production and its prioritization of a heteronormative consumer base for profit create feelings of otherness and ostracism. Previous anthropological theory on mass production and advertising recognizes the transference of meaning onto material culture through marketing and identifies the generic symbolic meaning that carbon-copy, mass-produced products hold. Theory and research surrounding colonial encounters attest to power imbalances wherein material culture is imposed on a powerless group, and marginalized individuals react through rejection or creative reappropriation of the material culture, which provides a basis for examining the power imbalance between corporations …

Ang Mapanglasong Dagta Ng Homophobia: Pagsusuri Ng Kasarian At Pagnanasa Sa "Nagmahal Ako [Ng Bakla]" Ng Dagtang Lason (The Toxic Sap Of Homophobia: An Analysis Of Kabaklaan, Masculinity, And Desire In Dagtang Lason’S "Nagmahal Ako [Ng Bakla]"), Johann Vladimir Espiritu

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

Gamit ang malapitang pagbabasa, sinusuri ng artikulong ito ang kantang “Nagmahal Ako [ng Bakla]” ng Dagtang Lason (2009) upang tunghayan ang pagkakahulugan nito sa kabaklaan. Isang seksyon ito ng higit na malawakang pag-aaral sa kabaklaan bilang karakter na nilalaman ng kantang bakla—o mga awit na nagmumula sa [personang] bakla, patungo sa [hantungang] bakla, o may pinatutungkulang [kuwento ng] bakla—nitong huling apat na dekada. Ang pagbasa/panunuri ay nakaangkla sa teoryang queer na kombinasyon ng samutsaring kritikang kapwa kanluranin at lokal, at nakatutok sa tatlong pangunahing salik: ang titik [o teksto, lyrics ng kanta], ang tinig [na kinakatawan ng literal na …

Stony Brook Souvenir And Other Translated Poems, Christian Jil R. Benitez

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

This essay preliminary elucidates on the process of translating Jaya Jacobo’s poetry from Filipino to English. It briefly recounts the unprompted beginning of this translation work, citing it as an instance of a gift; as well the author’s general translation practice in his scholarly work, as demanded by the contemporary academic culture. Recognizing that translation is an argument in and of itself, the gesture—as it is hoped to be demonstrated here in five of Jacobo’s poems, gathered here on their comparable staging of encounters with gifts that cleave time, space, and category of matters—ultimately insists on a careful attention to …

Queer And Trans Migrations: The Impacts Of Presidential Discourse, Isabella Richards

Women's and Gender Studies Theses

Political discourse, defined as “the totality of all speech acts used in political discussions, as well as rules of public policy, sanctified by tradition and proven by experience” (Valerevna and Rakhmatovna 88) has a profound impact on shaping societal perspectives, policies, and cultural norms. In the United States, historical presidential rhetoric has reinforced ideals like the nuclear family, inadvertently promoting heteronormativity and white supremacy. Consequently, this has led to marginalized groups, such as queer and trans migrants, being unjustly portrayed as outsiders or threats. This research project demonstrates how presidential discourse has framed queer and trans migrants as outsiders or …

Asexuality In Science Fiction: A Study Of Non-Sexual Queer Intimacy In Short Stories By Ursula K. Le Guin, Samuel Delany, And Theodore Sturgeon, Mik Dressler

Honors College Theses

The study of asexuality is still a relatively new concept in queer studies, and the rarity of asexual literature poses questions about how media can help further develop this study. This question takes unique shape in the genre of science fiction, one deeply and intrinsically tied to queer storytelling but very often hypersexualized. This essay evaluates the asexual themes of four sci-fi short stories which predate modern vocabularies and frameworks of asexuality: “The Widget, The Wadget, and Boff” by Theodore Sturgeon, “Unchosen Love” and “Mountain Ways” by Ursula K. Le Guin, and “Aye, and Gomorrah” by Samuel Delany. Referencing queer …

Mythos And Logos: Foucauldian Subjectivities Of Virginia Woolf's Orlando, Hayley R. Cisney

Student Publications

Virginia Woolf’s Orlando: A Biography details a centuries-long battle between Orlando and the sexual structures of repressive power in England. The biographical framework of the novel implies its contribution to objective, historical fact, while the miraculous nature of Orlando’s sexual transformation directly conflicts with constituted epistemologies of being. This paper examines these contrasting forces through Michel Foucault’s post-structuralist considerations of knowledge, power, and sexuality, in addition to the incorporation of other scholarship on Woolf’s conceptions of gender. I specifically follow the timeline of Foucault’s interpretation of the repressive hypothesis as it unfolds throughout the course of Woolf’s novel. By establishing …

The Necropolis Of Lattara: An Examination Into Gender, Socioeconomic, And Ethnic Identities In A Funerary Context Following The Roman Conquest Of Mediterranean Gaul, Heather Fusco

Student Publications

This paper investigated how material goods both represented and actively created ethnic identity, gender, and socioeconomic status in a funerary context during a colonial period. Relying on evidence collected from a Roman-period necropolis from Lattara in Mediterranean France, these results were then examined alongside funerary evidence from the necropolis of the nearby Iron Age settlement of Ambrussum to compare pre-Roman and Roman funerary practices. Specifically, within the two necropolises, the grave goods, inscriptions, and biologically sexed remains were the main points of comparison. This paper also utilized the ideas and concepts from the subdivision of funerary archaeology, as well as …

Escaping From Myth: Denver’S Reclamation Of Love In Toni Morrison’S Beloved, Lainey Terfruchte

Audre Lorde Prize

No abstract provided.

The Future Is Here, Kazi Uzayr Razin

Audre Lorde Prize

This essay explores the devastating impacts that global warming currently has on women living in the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest globally, located in South Asia. Womanist ideas are employed to identify the underlying injustices within environmental policies like the Paris Agreement, which undermine the effects of climate change in the global south. Initiatives led by women in vulnerable regions are then shared to offer ideas for improvement.

Exploring The Stereotypes Of Gender And Sexuality In Ballet And Its Impact On The Dance Community, Ava Jackson

Audre Lorde Prize

Ballet has been deemed a feminine sport for hundreds of years. The famous words of choreographer George Balanchine, “Ballet is Woman,” remind us of this. While some may see classical ballet as a feminized birthplace of dance for queer men and women, the art form as a whole denies more flexible roles of masculinity. For men, the majority of roles are limited to strong princes, played by cis-gender men who fit the model of hegemonic masculinity. Dance is not exempt from oppression with intersectionality between dancers. An intersectional approach is imperative for understanding the exclusion dancers face, by challenging these …

Sinning As Empowerment: Reclaiming God As A Black, Queer Woman In Alice Walker’S The Color Purple, Bethany Abrams

Audre Lorde Prize

In this paper, the author embarks on the task of re-imagining the seven sins of Christianity in the context of Alice Walker's The Color Purple, specifically in relation to the character Shug Avery.

An Examination Of How The Media Portrayed Professional Female Athletes During The 2023 Women's World Cup In The Match-Up Between Spain And The United States, Brianna R. Breazier

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

This project is an examination of how the media portrayed professional female athletes during the 2023 Woen's World Cup in the match-up between Spain and the United States. This project consists of a literature review of the history of both countries, an overview of feminist theory, and past studies that show current patterns of biases or stereotypical behavior in today’s mainstream media. This project also consists of a cross-examination and comparison between Spain and the United States, specifically examining the timeline of events between the two. The purpose of this study is to compare the media trends of professional female …

A Performative Model For Conducting Critical Race Analysis: Josephine Baker, Modern Dance, And Utilizing Narrative To Transform Legal Doctrine, Patrick C. Brayer

Faculty Works

This article proposes a performative model for analyzing the relationship between race and law by integrating narrative, modern dance, and performance as interpretive tools. Focusing on Josephine Baker’s activism and her 1952 return to St. Louis, the paper demonstrates how storytelling and artistic expression can expand legal scholarship and transform understandings of racial injustice. By bridging legal studies with performance, African American history, and cultural analysis, the work illustrates how embodied expression provides new pathways for confronting structural racism, transgenerational trauma, and the pursuit of social justice.

The Bloodless Period: A Transfeminine Experience, Rin Nguyen

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There is limited research exploring menstruation in transgender and gender diverse (TGD) populations, and studies have primarily examined the relationship between menstruation and gender congruence. Findings revealed menstruating TGD people experienced distress related to decreased gender congruence (Eisenberg et al., 2021), and 88% of TGD people expressed interest in menstrual suppression to manage the distress (Schwartz et al., 2022). By contrast, Lowik (2020) highlighted a transfeminine person who wished to menstruate to achieve womanhood and commented on the “bloodless period” (i.e., menstrual-like symptoms in the absence of bleeding) upon receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy. To the author’s knowledge, there is no …

Las Aztecas: Gender, Nationalism, And Sport In Mexico And The World In The Early 1970s, Madelina Marie Homberger Cordia

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

In 1970, a Mexican women’s national fútbol (soccer) team participated in the first-ever women’s World Cup, held in Italy. Organized by private business interests, Mexico competed as the sole representative from outside of Europe. The Mexican media and State officials, such as Mexico City regent Alfonso Corona del Rosal, used this opportunity to frame the team’s travel abroad as defending not only the honor of the Mexican nation, but the entire Western Hemisphere against more developed and wealthier European teams. The following year, in 1971, Mexico hosted the second women’s World Cup and, in the same way that the State …

"It's Profound To Be Understood": Negotiations Of Household Labor In Trans Families, Eliza Thor

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The gendered division of household labor has long been of interest to family scholars. For heterosexual couples, labor is often unequally divided, with women normatively taking on more labor than their partners. This inequality is often justified through time availability, resource dependency, and gender ideology. However, less studied is the division of household labor in relationships in which at least one partner is transgender or gender diverse (TGD). Drawing on the framework of “doing gender,” I explore how performing labor that aligns with traditional gender expectations affirms the gender identities of TGD individuals, making the division of labor in the …

Perceptions Of College Campus Climate Among Queer Female Sexual Assault Survivors, Elyxcus J. Anaya

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

One-fifth of women in the United States report at least one lifetime experience of rape (Black et al., 2011; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014; Smith et al., 2018). Sexual assault (SA)is a common experience among cisgender women college students, with 20% reporting experiencing a rape during their time in college (Cullen et al., 2000). Universities generally have resources designed to help survivors of SA, though research suggests many of these resources are underutilized by survivors. The current study was guided by social constructivism and used a transcendental phenomenology approach to explore six queer, female participants’ decision-making processes about …

Examining The Role Of Access To Capital, Social Capital Networks, And Education In Supporting Black Founders And Investors In Technology-Based Entrepreneurship, Akosua Acheamponmaa

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, a report from the Kauffman Index of Startup Activity shows that 540,000 Americans launch businesses each month (Fairlie et al., 2017). However, the number of women-owned and minority-owned businesses in the United States (U.S.) is disproportionately less than the proportion of women and minorities in the U.S. Although women slightly outnumber men in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019), new women-owned businesses represent only 39.4% of all U.S. businesses, while new male-owned businesses represent 60.51% (Fairlie et al., 2017). While Blacks or African Americans comprise approximately 13.4% of the U.S. population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019), only 9.24% …

Hozier, Tiktok, And Sapphic Rhetoric, Sophia Marie Kovalcik

English Theses & Dissertations

Through the process of social circulation and critical imagination, Sappho’s poetry, which maintains rhetoric that women, nature, and love are related to ritual and feminine divinity, intersects with queer digital rhetoric. Via discussion of feminist spirituality rhetoric, Marie Cartier’s lesbian theology, and rhetorical and literary analysis of Sappho’s lyrical fragments, I explore her Ancient Greek mythological, cultural aesthetics. I then connect sapphic rhetoric to two contemporary artifacts that represent or influence contemporary feminist, digital, and queer identities: the lyrics of the Irish musician Andrew Hozier-Byrne, known as Hozier and TikTok comment sections surrounding Hozier’s music and concert clips.

Una Exploración Sobre La Alimentación Saludable. Percepciones De Mujeres Adultas Entre 31 Y 45 Años Según Su Nivel De Ingresos En La Ciudad Autónoma De Buenos Aires En 2024 / An Exploration Of Healthy Eating. Perceptions Of Adult Women Between 31 And 45 Years Old According To Their Income Level In The Autonomous City Of Buenos Aires In 2024, Anabelle Flaharty

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En los últimos años, Argentina ha identificado los hábitos alimentarios como un área crítica que necesita análisis e intervención. Dado que la desnutrición es una de las principales causas de enfermedades no transmisibles (ENTs), organizaciones mundiales de salud han afirmado que practicar una “alimentación saludable” es una solución práctica a este problema. Entre la población argentina, la alimentación poco saludable ha provocado una epidemia de obesidad, sobrepeso y ENTs. Se sabe que hoy el 31,7 % de las mujeres argentinas adultas y el 30,2 % de los hombres argentinos adultos tienen sobrepeso. Además, la diabetes tiene una prevalencia del 10,5% …

Topological Spaces Of Embodied Becoming: Queens, Queerness And (Infra)Structural Subterfuge In Singapore, Orlando Woods

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper considers the political potential that emerges when theorizations of the body-as-infrastructure are brought into conversation with theorizations of topological space. It argues that the infrastructural body provides an interface through which structural norms can be destabilized, and the interrelationships between the state, society, and self can be reimagined. These ideas are illustrated through an empirical exploration of drag queens in Singapore. Singapore is a socially conservative Asian city-state in which heteronormative values are passed down by the state, reproduced through the family, and then used to structure societal under- standings of gender and sexuality. By interpreting Singapore’s hegemonic …

Navigating Intersectional Identities: Mental Health Challenges And Accessibility To Mental Health Care Among Sub-Saharan Migrant Women In Morocco, Soraya Babahaji

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since the beginning of the 21st century, as Morocco transitions from solely being a transit point to Europe to becoming a destination country for Sub-Saharan migrants, policies have been implemented to improve migrant integration. Morocco launched the National Strategy on Immigration and Asylum in 2015 which strives to ensure accessibility to essential services for migrants, such as education, healthcare, and integration into the workforce. In addition, through the 2013 New Migration Policy framework, King Mohammed VI aims to “include avenues for regularization” to help migrants integrate into Moroccan society.

This paper addresses how intersecting factors of identity can lead to …

¿Fiesta O Protesta? La Marcha Del Orgullo En La Ciudad De Buenos Aires En Los Inicios De La Era De Milei Party Or Protest? / The City Of Buenos Aires Pride March In The Beginnings Of The Milei Era, Ella Mcdaniel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este proyecto investiga el estado actual de la Marcha del Orgullo de Buenos Aires en el contexto del nuevo presidente libertario de la ultraderecha, Javier Milei. Se explora la eficacia de la Marcha en poder alcanzar su potencial político a través de la revisión de la historia del movimiento LGBTTI argentino. Además, se realizaron cinco entrevistas semi-estructuradas tanto con organizadores de la Marcha como con participantes para entender los objetivos y métodos del evento desde la perspectiva de lxs involucradxs. Usando principalmente las teorías de interseccionalidad y homonacionalismo, con una base en la teoría de la Estructura de las Oportunidades …

Conceptualizando La Movilidad Y Movimiento De Mujeres Indígenas Embarazadas En Búsqueda De Servicios Médicos Bajo Una Perspectiva Migratoria, Nazareth Castro

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El traslado de mujeres indígenas embarazadas en Oaxaca hacia la ciudad de Oaxaca de Juárez debido a la falta de centros de salud en sus localidades se ha convertido en una realidad arraigada, impulsada en gran medida por el impacto del flujo migratorio por razones económicas durante finales del siglo XX. Sin embargo, este proceso de migración plantea una serie de complejidades para las mujeres, quienes enfrentan experiencias negativas debido a sus múltiples identidades que resultan en una exclusión social tanto dentro como fuera de sus comunidades de origen. Esta dinámica puede entenderse desde una perspectiva feminista multicéntrado, que las …

Género Y Resiliencia En La Amazonía Peruana: Las Experiencias Y Respuestas De Agricultoras Indígenas Ante El Cambio Climático, Zoe Klausner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El cambio climático antropogénico está redefiniendo rápidamente las relaciones humano-ambientales, especialmente en la Amazonía peruana, donde más de 66 comunidades indígenas enfrentan mayores sequías y temperaturas, afectando profundamente sus medios de vida. Crucialmente, desde la visión ecofeminista central a esta investigación se subraya que las mujeres indígenas experimentan los impactos del cambio climático más severamente y son a menudo los líderes en el fomento de la resiliencia ambiental. Esta investigación explora cómo las agricultoras indígenas de la Amazonía peruana viven el cambio climático y sus estrategias de adaptación y resiliencia. El trabajo de campo se realizó en la comunidad Ese'Eja …

Queerness In Oaxaca: Perceptions Of The Lgbt+ Community, Sylvana Widman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines how young Oaxacans perceive the state of LGBT+ acceptance in Oaxaca. In particular, this study surveys a general university student population, in comparison to the perceptions of a focus group of LGBT+ identifying young people. Focus group data was collected through a survey combined with a thirty-minute interview with four participants, while university data was collected through a survey distributed to 31 students at the Language School of Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca. Results from both groups found that participants’ perceived their peers as more accepting than their family or Oaxacan society at large. A significant …

Do Bisexuals Thrive In The Corridor? Liminal Identity, Communication, And Well-Being, Katie Kassler

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

In this dissertation I aim to test direct and moderating associations between bisexual liminal identity, social identity complexity, micro-aggressions and micro-affirmations, and well-being. In Chapter One, I offer my theoretical definition of and position bisexuality as a liminal identity. Next in this chapter, I (a) hypothesize a direct association between bisexual liminal identity and well-being, (b) posit competing hypotheses related to social identity complexity as a positive cognitive appraisal moderator (i.e., social cure perspective) and negative cognitive appraisal moderator (i.e., uncertainty identity perspective) of the main effect, and finally (c) posit hypotheses related to individual- and group-aimed micro-aggressions and micro-affirmations …

Or To Be Eaten Alive, Christopher Williams

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

“or to be eaten alive'' is a multimedia exhibition in which I merge my own coming of age story with a mythological ecology. In this work I reclaim my queer identity by communing with my past selves in a fantasy world created through the lens of Queer Ecology and Queer Eco-Futurism. The visuals in this exhibition obscure reality. They are abstractions of the landscapes I occupy—particularly the Tallgrass prairie and Ozark ecoregions. Through a speculative, fantasy world the exhibition introduces moments of adoration, death, fracturing, growth, joy, and failure. I form, draw, color and arrange the work embracing mistakes and …