Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

From The Editor, Jeff Moe

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Welcome to issue 19(4) of the Journal of LGBTQ Issues in Counseling. The mission and purpose of this journal is to illuminate the lived experiences of people who are sexual, affectional, intersex, and gender-expansive diverse and how these experiences relate to counseling, counselor education, mental health, and social justice. Throughout the nearly 20-year history of the journal research on affirming care best practice, scholarship that centers the stories of LGBTGEQIAP + individuals, groups and communities, and innovative research on multiple-minority communities have all been regular features. In addition to the focus of the published scholarship, which includes over …

Premodern Masculinities In Transition Edited By Konrad Eisenbichler And Jacqueline Murray, Hilary Rhodes

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Finishing My Sentence: A Critical Autobiography Of A Black Woman Who Has Been The Principal And The Prisoner, K.C. Wilbourn Snapp

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This critical autobiography explores how my experiences as a Black woman born and raised inDetroit profoundly shaped my worldview, leadership style, and professional decisions as a school principal. Anchored in the theoretical framework of critical race feminism, this study examines the intersections of race, gender, and place, revealing how Detroit’s complex social, historical, and cultural dynamics informed my development and the paradigms that guided my thinking as both an educator and a leader. Through self-reflection and scholarly inquiry, I analyze how these lived experiences influenced my approach to problem-solving, community engagement, and the pursuit of equitable learning environments. This work …

La Parole Comme Outil De Résistance Contre Les Tabous Oppressifs Des Femmes Marocaines : Une Étude Comparative De Paroles D’Honneur Et Hshouma, Roseline Adeleke

Students' Supported Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Digital Zines As Mental And Sexual Health Communication Tools For Latina Teens: Format And Content Acceptability And Initial Findings, Jenn M. Lilly, D'Andrah Almanzar, Susan R. Pace, Dante D. Bryant

Social Service Faculty Publications

Recognizing the potential of digital zines (defined as selfpublished,

online publications combining artwork and

text) as culturally tailored health communication tools,

this article examines the acceptability and impacts of two

digital zines about mental and sexual health created by

Latina young people for Latina teens as a health communication

strategy. We conducted an anonymous online

survey completed by Latina teens who read the zines (32

for sexual health and 33 for mental health). Data analysis

aimed to explore, summarize, and interpret the collected

data using an artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced

approach. Survey participants found the zine format and

content acceptable and …

Examining Mental And Sexual Health Themes In Latina Youth Zines: A Multi-Modal Content Analysis, Jenn M. Lilly, D'Andrah Almanzar, Doreen Dorcely, Luisa Fernanda Sandoval Cortes, Ana Iris Murcia

Social Service Faculty Publications

Multiple, convergent risk factors place Latina youth at disproportionate risk for mental

and sexual health issues. Yet, their firsthand perspectives and experiential knowledge of

how to navigate mental and sexual health challenges is rarely the subject of scholarly

inquiry. This article presents a multi-modal content analysis of themes and messages

conveyed by two digital zines created by Latina young adults for Latina teens through an

arts-based research project. In this arts-based research, zines functioned as both data and

method, capturing Latina youth’s nuanced perspectives and lived experiences of mental

and sexual health. We identified six themes in their works—acknowledging and …

Female Photographers’ Practices And Markets: A Three-Part Case Study, Emma Howard

MA Theses

This thesis explores the intertwined histories of artistic legacy, cultural impact, and market reception of female photographers, who have often been decentered in art history and overshadowed by male contemporaries. While photography has historically been more inclusive to women than other art forms, women photographers have nonetheless faced marginalization in the canon of photography history and the art market. Building on efforts to reclaim and elevate the contributions of women photographers, this research integrates art historical and market analyses to provide a holistic understanding of their careers and legacies. Through detailed case studies, this thesis examines the artistic practices, biographical …

All That May Become A Man: Dynamics Of Gender And Violence In Macbeth, Lauren M. Schuster

West Chester University Master’s Theses

The text of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is rife with the language of gender crisis, with the titular character and his wife struggling against the repressive nature of patriarchal gender norms. It is this conflict between individual gender expression and societal ideals of gender that underscores the play’s central conflict, with Lady Macbeth’s rejection of typical femininity as an inciting force for the murder of King Duncan and the chaos that follows. In my reading of Macbeth, I focus on the rhetoric of material sex and gender performativity. In doing so, I examine what such rhetoric suggests about the patriarchal structures …

A Monstrous [Un]-Becoming: Defining The Final Boy, Rhys Crumpton

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Through an exploration of horror theory, monster theory, queer theory, and disabilities studies, this thesis defines a 21st century archetype within the serial horror narrative, known as “the Final Boy.” This character is a manifestation of a queer, often neurodivergent man in peril at the hands of a monstrous society. This harmful socionormativity is narratively represented by a monster wearing the face of a man, one whom the Final Boy must subdue and overcome if he wishes to survive. The seven tenets found in this project highlight the fluctuating morality the Final Boy is forced to engage in per the …

Eros And The Sublime: Tools For Reaching Toward An Altered Ecological Consciousness, Aineka Carlson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis explores connections between the Kantian sublime and Anne Carson’s ideas regarding “eros.” Since Kant’s Critique of Judgement was published in 1790, the Kantian sublime has grown in popularity and been utilized by theorists and creative writers alike. While the Kantian sublime is often associated with nature in popular culture, there are certain egocentric and phallocentric elements of this mode of thinking that might inhibit a biocentric mindset. Through a character study of Oryx from Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake, this thesis draws relations between the subjugation of women, nature, and the ways in which the popularized …

Grieving In Doorways: A Critical Autoethnographic Exploration Of Embodied Knowledge Amid Shifting Reality And Radical Possibility, Holly Rae

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis is a critical autoethnographic exploration of embodied knowledge amid shifting reality and radical possibility. Beginning and ending with my own body, I explore how grief, as an embodied companion, offers wisdom and power in moments of profound change. Rooted in a methodology of slowness, rest, walking, and active listening, this work resists the extractive pace of modernity and instead invites building a relationship with grief and discomfort. This research is an experiment in co-creating knowledge with bodies and their intersectionality within systems that would keep us separate from knowing our embodied knowledge. As a location of research for …

True Crime Podcasts As A Scene Of Feminist Reckoning: A Comparative Analysis Of My Favorite Murder And Sistas Who Kill, Rachel C.C. Matteri

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research examines the cultural impact and ethical implications of true crime podcasts (TCPs). In recent years, TCPs have become a powerful cultural force, with White women often emerging as the primary storytellers and most visible participants in the genre. Their dominance in this space is not neutral and it carries representational weight. It explores the potential for feminist activity made possible by the auditory, self-publishing genre of podcasting. This work focuses on the buddy-comedy subgenre of TCPs. The concerns of this text are that TCPs are dominated by White feminist values and are not an intersectional feminist project. Textual …

Asian American Navigation In Higher Education: Do We Belong At Colby College?, Amanda Rose Alpert

Honors Theses

This thesis explores how Asian American students navigate their belonging at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI), specifically a case study at the higher educational institution Colby College. In understanding how Asian American students navigate the spaces around them, this thesis dives into the history of Asian immigration to the U.S., the Asian American politicized label, and the different diasporas and cultural nuances Asian Americans experience that make up the complicated, diverse, and misunderstood label. Through exploring global racializations of Asian bodies and legacies of Western imperialism and colonialism, this gives a basis of how Asian Americans understand themselves as persons living …

Prophets Instead Of Priests: Diagonal Orientations & Coming-Of-Age Queerness In Jane Eyre And Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Emily G. Flanders

Honors Theses

This project asserts that the moment in which a girl leaves the trajectory of the expected in favor of the unknown in order to pursue her discovery of self is when her coming-of-age narrative becomes queer. This is demonstrated through Jane in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Jeanette in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. Jane and Jeannette’s respective coming-of-age narratives–that is, them creating their fully embodied selves, the girl they believe and know themselves to be–happen off the expected life path in the liminal, in-between, undefined space of the queer oblique. There are moments …

“Women Who Don’T Know How To Stay Married”: The Poetic Afterlives Of The 1927 Bristol Sessions, Aubrey R. Adkins

Honors Theses

This project begins from the understanding that song lyrics can have lasting impacts on the poetic work that proceeds from them, and can and should, therefore, be read as literature. In the cultural context of Southern Appalachia, a historically underserved and academically underrepresented region, this understanding is intertwined with Audre Lorde’s idea that “For women...[poetry] is a vital necessity of our existence.” The women of Southern Appalachia, denied access to particular modes of expression as a result of external circumstances such as poverty and sexism, need poetry, according to Lorde, to take “tangible action” in their lives. What came before …

In Praise Of Dust, Hasler Gomez-Perez

Theses and Dissertations

A desire path is a physical manifestation of where a system has failed, but also where it has been refused, where a new path has been made. The wake exists in the post, it is not a singular, untethered event, but a subtle double entendre that lives in the post-death, but also in the pre-life—not a liminal limbo, but a superposition of dying and waking.

This collection was assembled and composed over the course of two years as I navigated my practice, myself, and others. Present here are my thoughts, my experiences, and in many ways my beliefs. IN PRAISE …

Strange World, Brooklin Grantz

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis work explores the intersections of masculine and feminine labors as they relate to the structure of domestic space. I utilize materials and processes akin to craft, construction and architecture, and domicile upkeep, noting what is shared between gendered and polarized fields while exploring uses of the grid in various instances as a structure to adhere to and antagonize: a binary. Highlighting the queerness and fluidity of materials and the similarities between seemingly disparate processes, I relate to the objects I make and alter through my own gender fluidity. I do not see masculinity or femininity as autonomous: the …

You Go, I Will Wait, Rasim Bayramov

Theses and Dissertations

On the other side of the coast, a hand is waiting. On the other side of the shore, someone is waiting for you to come. This space between you and them is an asymptote. The more you wait, the colder the pan is to the hand. But the salt of the sea will cover and warm your hand. There’s much to play with while you wait. The destination is only a promise, a figure disillusioned. Waiting spaces are enchantingly altering

in their premise. A bureaucratic fantasy with no avail and no ending. Systematically accumulated levels of power and control lies …

The Tender Flesh: Dwelling In Soft Wounds And Visceral Bodies, Madelyn Irene Turner-Havens

Theses and Dissertations

Within my painting process, I explore bodily interiority and exteriority in relation to the surface of painting, evoking a discomforting sense of corporeal (dis)embodiment, where haunted flesh becomes palpable. Indexing conversations with the body into the painting is a way to understand my body and create an experience of what happens when language fails to capture the complexity of sensation. Painting becomes a mediation with the canvas, a constant discovery of what can give shape to the intangible: how it feels when my skin folds into itself, bodily urges, and the soft texture of fatty tissue.

I let the parts …

An Ecofeminist Approach To Climate Risks, Angela Hefti

Michigan Journal of International Law

Climate change poses significant risks to the human right to life. However, international adjudicators have either neglected to examine right to life claims in the context of climate risks or dismissed them as prospective and speculative. International human rights bodies have long applied the standard of imminence to determine whether a threat to the right to life exists and the extent to which it constitutes a violation. In climate change cases, this standard has hardened, requiring a tight temporal connection between climate risks and a violation of the right to life. This article argues that failing to recognize the impact …

In Harmony: The Environmental Lives Of Marianne North, Beatrix Farrand, And Mary Hunter Austin, Willa Frank

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis explores the lives and careers of botanical painter Marianne North, landscape architect Beatrix Farrand, and literary nature writer Mary Hunter Austin to examine the interplay of femininity and the representation of nature in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. All three figures had an approach to environmental representation which was based in field work, knowing a place truly, and a sense of harmony between subject and context of the produced work. This method did not occur because they were women or because it was an inherent feature of their assigned sex. Rather, their socialization in the Anglo-American …

Seeing Her, Wanting Her: Postfeminist Desire And Its Contradictions In Zendaya’S Magazine Covers, Sophia Shelley

International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities

This article examines Zendaya’s modelling evolution as a case study to explore how a postfeminist critique and psychoanalysis can illuminate the contradictory nature of women’s advertising. My analysis compares Zendaya’s covers in Seventeen (2012) and Essence (2020), emphasizing the stark differences in aesthetics, where Seventeen conforms to ideals of (white) femininity, and in opposition, Essence centres around Black femininity and desire. By situating Zendaya as both a gendered and racialized ‘other,’ the intricate dynamics of femininity, race, and age in media portrayals are made visible. I argue that Zendaya’s image is sold through postfeminist ideals of empowerment, choice, and sexuality …

Book Of Abstracts Of The Wmu International Conference 2025 : Advancing The Blue Economy Through Gender Equality, World Maritime University, Momoko Kitada, Francis Neat, Renis Auma Ojwala

Conference Papers

The 2025 World Maritime Theme by the International Maritime Organization, “Our Ocean, Our Obligation and Our Responsibility,” underscores the global need for an inclusive and sustainable approach to ocean health and maritime economic activity. In alignment with this, the World Maritime University organized the 2025 International Conference on Achieving the Blue Economy Through Gender Equality, highlighting the critical role of gender equality in advancing a sustainable blue economy. A call for case studies yielded 102 abstracts from 206 authors across 46 countries, representing diverse maritime sectors such as shipping, fisheries, and ocean sciences. The abstracts were reviewed by both internal …

Editors’ Introduction: 25th Anniversary Issue Of The Jiws, Diana J. Fox, Kimberly Chabot Davis, Priyanka Tripathi, Catherine Ndinda

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Public Policies For Gender Equality On The Construction Of Women’S Autonomy In Northwestern Mexico, María F. Higuera Cota, Teresita Del Niño Jesús Carrillo Montoya

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study analyzes the influence of public policies for gender equality and how these formal support networks contribute to the construction of women’s autonomy in northwestern Mexico. It highlights the interrelation between women’s economic independence, decision-making ability, and physical autonomy. This study is also part of a broader investigation into formal support networks related to gender equality and women’s autonomy currently being conducted in the region. Adopting a qualitative methodology, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with directors of key governmental institutions in Mexico—SEMujeres in Sinaloa, INMujerBC in Baja California, and ISMujeres in Sonora—which serve as core agencies within these networks. …

Migration And Work: An Intersectional Perspective On Women Workers In Brick Kilns In The Sivasagar District Of Assam, India, Kashmiri Saikia, Sikha Das

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper is based on fieldwork regarding brick kiln workers in the Sivasagar district of Assam, located in Northeast India. Apart from family migration, women migrate alone to these brick kilns in search of work opportunities. Despite progress, evidence suggests that many women who work in brick kilns are not afforded workplace rights and are underrepresented, unregistered, and paid lesser wages compared to men workers. Many kilns are unregulated and remain outside the purview of workplace laws. Through interviews and conversations with women workers, this paper aims to understand and analyse the dynamics of gender, migration, and work in the …

Homophobic And Transphobic Bullying: Impacts On The Mental And Physical Health Of Queer Black Adolescents In Kacen Callender’S Young Adult Fiction, Uthra Devi R.K., C. Jothi, S. Rema Devi

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper examines how homophobic bullying profoundly impacts the mental and physical health of Black queer children, with a particular focus on the rising suicide rate within this marginalized community. Analysing the representation of homophobic and transphobic bullying in Kacen Callender’s young adult fiction, this study explores the devastating impact of both verbal and nonverbal forms of abuse, including rejection, intimidation, and social isolation. These negative experiences contribute to long-term emotional distress, leading to an increased vulnerability to anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Meyer’s minority stress theory is used to examine how systematic ignorance and rejection of queerness render Black …

A New Melian Dialogue: Feminist Thinkers On Security Problems Of The 21st Century, Heather Rellihan, Michael Coffey

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay critically engages with two important works on feminist foreign policy— Kristina Lunz’s The Future of Foreign Policy is Feminist and Cynthia Enloe’s Twelve Feminist Lessons of War—both of which offer useful insights for the evolving field of critical security studies. The authors of this essay have divergent backgrounds—a professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies and a defense scholar—which reflect a central tension in feminist foreign policy between feminist principles and the paradigms and exigencies of defense policy makers. Through a constructed conversation between its authors, this essay engages the arguments of Lunz and Enloe to ask …

Book Review: Feminist Afterlives Of The Witch: Popular Culture, Memory, Activism, Subhasis Pal

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Locker Room Talk: A Woman’S Struggle To Get Inside, Sneha V. John, Thahiya Afzal

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.