Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Philosophy's Rarified Air: On Peden's Spinoza Contra Phenomenology, Steven Swarbrick

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Exploring Social Networking Technologies As Tools For Hiv Prevention For Men Who Have Sex With Men, Jorge Ramallo, Thomas Kidder, Tashuna Albritton, Gary Blick, John Pachankis, Valen Grandeleski, Trace Kershaw

Publications and Research

Social networking technologies are influential among men who have sex with men (MSM) and may be an important strategy for HIV prevention. We conducted focus groups with HIV positive and negative participants. Almost all participants used social networking sites to meet new friends and sexual partners. The main obstacle to effective HIV prevention campaigns in social networking platforms was stigmatization based on homosexuality as well as HIV status. Persistent stigma associated with HIV status and disclosure was cited as a top reason for avoiding HIV-related conversations while meeting new partners using social technologies. Further, social networking sites have different social …

An Examination Of Some Central Debates On Sex Trafficking In Research And Public Policy In The United States, Carrie N. Baker

Study of Women, Gender, & Sexuality: Faculty Publications

Numerous heated debates about human trafficking pervade mainstream media as well as the scholarly literature. The United States’ law and order approach to human trafficking, which prioritizes criminal prosecution of traffickers, is supported by many anti-trafficking advocates. But others have articulated powerful critiques of this approach. The first part of this article provides an introduction to some of these debates, focusing on five areas: definitions of human trafficking, the scope of the problem, causes and solutions of human trafficking, the effectiveness and impact of anti-trafficking laws, and anti-trafficking dis courses. This section will discuss the role of research on trafficking …

Sowing Seeds Of Subversion: Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers' Subversive Use Of Fairy Tales And Folklore, Shandi Lynne Wagner

Wayne State University Dissertations

"Sowing Seeds of Subversion: Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers' Subversive Use of Fairy Tales and Folklore" focuses on the fictional works of nineteenth-century British women authors, analyzing their use of fairy-tale and folklore motifs to criticize social mores, in particular those surrounding domestic ideology and the institution of marriage. By situating texts within their sociocultural contexts, I explore how nineteenth-century women authors revised and adapted classic fairy tales to communicate subversive, proto-feminist social criticism to a variety of audiences. I examine fiction and poetry published in literary annuals, in fairy-tale collections, and in the more generally available collections of poetry and …

Growing Up Tween: Femininity, Masculinity, And Coming Of Age, Victoria Velding

Wayne State University Dissertations

The construction and performance of gender reveal conceptions of femininity and masculinity that are exclusive to individuals and groups of individuals. As research suggests, societal gender norms are rooted in heteronormative ideologies suggesting that heterosexuality is ideal, and therefore to appropriately perform dominant femininity and masculinity is to perform heterosexuality. In this dissertation, I expand gender and sexuality knowledge by bridging the two in a population where sexuality studies are sparse: children, and more specifically, tweens. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 tweens (10 female and 10 male) between the ages of 8 and 12 and 15 mothers of tweens. …

“Life Is A Luminous Halo”: Gender And Androgynous Time In Virginia Woolf, Ashley Whitmore

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation examines the role of representations of time in Virginia Woolf’s Jacob’s Room, Orlando: A Biography, and The Waves to illustrate the development of an androgynous time that is located between the inner subjective time of each individual, inspired by Henri Bergson’s durée, and the stunted measured time of society.

The Introduction provides an overview of my argument and critical approach, as well as illustrates the background in which Woolf was writing. The Introduction also introduces the ideas of French philosopher Bergson, whose theories on time will be instrumental in forming Woolf’s androgynous time.

The remainder of the dissertation …

Cumulative Index Of Clcweb: Comparative Literature And Culture (1999-), Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Case Study: Breastfeeding Facilitation And Initiation Within One Prison Nursery Program, Jessica Wallace

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Breastfeeding rates of incarcerated women in the U.S. are unknown. As the female prison population rises, little to no data exists on breastfeeding initiation within prison nursery programs. The purpose of this case study was to assess breastfeeding facilitation and initiation within one prison nursery program. An interview was conducted with a nursery program administrator from one of nine active prison nurseries here in the U.S. Constructs from the Social Cognitive Theory including reciprocal determination, facilitation, observational learning, and incentive motivation were assessed. Through an administrative perspective, the results provided a better understanding of prison nursery programs and shed light …

Coercing Assimilation: The Case Of Muslim Women Of Color, Sahar F. Aziz

Faculty Scholarship

Today, I have been asked to address the domestic context of civil rights issues facing Muslim women in the United States. Admittedly, examining the experiences of Muslim American women is a risky endeavor because they are such a diverse group of women ethnically, racially, socio-economically, and religiously in terms of their levels of religiosity. Hence, I acknowledge the risk of essentializing, despite my best efforts to recognize the individual agency of each Muslim woman.

This lecture is based on a larger project that examines the myriad ways Muslim women are adversely affected by their intersectional identities, and how it impacts …

The Impact Of Arranged Marital Customs On Women's Autonomy In Rural India, Tazree Kadam 15

Honor Scholar Theses

It will be argued that while modernization in India has allowed for small improvements to women's autonomy, in rural India today the little autonomy women do have is constricted through traditional norms and expectations related to the fundamental notion of love, rural economic constraints, and contemporary dowry culture. This thesis works to understand how women’s autonomy may be restricted through the fundamental notion of love, which emphasizes group cohesion over individualism, the lack of structural economic resources in rural areas, and high financial expectations in relation to dowry culture. This research will conclude by arguing that the future of women’s …

New Patriarchies: A Turbulence Of Source And Subject, Stephen Fuller

Theses and Dissertations

Experiencing a turbulence of source and subject in the variable inversions and supports of one source to another--the wreck of the U-352, Carpeaux’s Ugolino and his Sons, a movie poster for J.A. Bayona’s The Impossible, and Cassiopeia mythology--these four sources as sons, in sacrifice to and surviving by way of “daddy” documentation, are here refigured to reenact and critique the patriarchally recreational, monumental, cinematic, and mythological infrastructures supporting the sources of this work and thereby serving to critique the newer patriarchies to which these sources and their subjectifications here seek to cross consumptively dead end. Following three public …

Complexity Of Women's Liberation In The Era Of Westernization: Egyptian Islamic And Secular Feminists In Their Own Context, Assim Alkhawaja

Doctoral Dissertations

Informed by postcolonial/Islamic feminist theory, this qualitative study explores how Egyptian feminists navigate the political and social influence of the West. The following meta-questions guided this research: How do women in Egypt who self-identify as feminists define feminism? How do they use this definition in their activism? How is Westernization influencing Egyptian feminists and their participation in national and political conflicts?

Data sources were based on individual interviews. The findings indicate that although the phenomenon of Westernization in Egypt had both negative and positive influences on the Egyptian women’s liberation movement, it has caused major divisions between secular and Islamist …

Cute As A Button, Marta R. Finkelstein

Theses and Dissertations

Cute As A Button explores powerlessness, vulnerability, illness and addiction all wrapped up in tender buttons and a cute, cuddly creature. Using animation, sculpture, sound and an intimate space, I surround the viewer in a saccharine nightmare, one that references the dark underbelly of the cute and the sweet. The visual and aural elements are representative of the psychological and emotional states of powerlessness, which are overcome by the act of making and exploring a medium over which I can have complete control.

Making Homes In Limbo? A Conceptual Framework, Cathrine Brun, Anita Fábos

Sustainability and Social Justice

This article aims to conceptualize home and homemaking for people in protracted displacement.The article serves three purposes: To present an overview of the area of inquiry; to develop an analytical framework for understanding home and homemaking for forced migrants in protracted displacement; and to introduce the special issue.It explores how protracted displacement has been defined-from policy definitions to people's experiences of protractedness, including "waiting" and "the permanence of temporariness." The article identifies the ambivalence embedded in experiences and practices of homemaking in long-term displacement, demonstrating how static notions of home and displacement might be unsettled.It achieves this through examining relationships …

Protofeminist Women In Bronte’S Jane Eyre And Braddon’S Lady Audley’S Secret, Allison Wong

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Same-Sex Peer Influence On Female Undergraduate Body Image Perception, Caitlyn Buchanan

Masters Theses

Regardless of age, race, or socioeconomic class, women throughout western cultures are well documented for having body image related insecurities. These insecurities can be the result of pressure to look and behave a certain way from a variety of sources including media and peers. This study explored the role that same-sex peers play in undergraduate women's perception of body image. Four undergraduate women at a public, Midwestern university who lived within campus housing were interviewed. Results of the study showed that same-sex peers did not play a significant role in the women's perception of body image. The results of this …

Watch Me Disappear: Gendered Bodies, Pro-Anorexia, And Self-Injury In Virtual Communities, Leandra Preston-Sidler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the relationship between gendered identities, virtual communities, and material bodies, with an emphasis on eating disorders and self-injury practices. The use of the internet to represent and foster particular categories of material bodies, such as the anorexic, the fitness buff, and the self-injurer, has gained substantial visibility due in part to the proliferation of visual imagery presented through social networks. I analyze written and visual texts within specific social networks to assess their function and potential impact on individuals and larger communities. Drawing from Donna Haraway's cyborg theory, N. Kathryn Hayles' posthuman, Judith Butler's performativity, feminist poststructural …

Engaging Metis: Exploring An African Woman's Negotiation Of Change, Ruby Pappoe

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

African women’s emerging visibility as social and political actors has received a lot of attention in the past two decades. Scholars have explored women’s political movements and sociocultural activism from various perspectives to expose their contributions to social change. Although this scholarship has expanded to incorporate multiple voices as well as expose the contemporary strategies of resistance women engage in to overcome difficult challenges, there seems to be little research on ordinary women as they also confront their daily challenges in hope of improving their situations. This research takes up this gap by exploring a Ghanaian woman’s resistance in the …

"The Mirror Is Dangerous. It Sometimes Shows Her The Dark."—The Hours, Michael Cunningham, Alexandra Crafton

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Woman Sitting In Chair, Brian Hoffman

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Lisa Hansen

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Inefficiency Of United States Maternity Leave Policies, Kimberly Merkley

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

In the United States, many aspects of the workplace are incompatible with motherhood. These include lack of childcare facilities, inflexibility of workplace hours, and the large amounts of time required to attain top positions. One of the most widespread deficiencies in all industries and workplaces is maternity leave, which is neglected at both the state and federal level. Consequently, a woman is often given little or no job protection, let alone compensation or benefits, while focused on the birth and early nurturing of her child. The United States falls well behind other developed and developing countries in this area.

Dispossessing Femininity In Byatt's Possession, Jenna Miller

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

A.S. Byatt’s best-selling 1990 novel Possession follows the character of Roland Michell, an intelligent but struggling academic who has devoted his life and studies to the brilliant Victorian author, Randolph Ash. Roland joins forces with Maud bailey, an expert on a similarly talented but under-recognized Victorian author Christabel LaMotte, in order to better study the relationships between LaMotte, Ash, and Ash’s wife, Ellen. Roland’s and Maud’s literary studies develop along with their relationship, but the more the two of them learn about the relationship between Ash and Christabel, the more they discover that the truth about their Victorian counterparts is …

Hands And Feet, Jessie Hawkes Wilkey

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

I have come to understand what my gawky twelve-year-old self missed and what my skinny dipping self was only beginning to understand: A body is more than structure to tent our spirits. The body and spirit compose the soul, an entity that has its origin with God. The way I treat my body, then, is an indication of my respect for God and for myself. Understanding this, changes my concept of my modesty: it is not for other people, but revolves around a personal understanding between the Lord and ourselves. It has everything to do with who I am, understand …

Women's Values Speaking Between Their Words: Women's Correspondence In Early Nineteenth Century America, Rachel Mahrt Degn

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

In this paper I examine folklore gathered from women’s letters circa 1830 to see what they reveal about how women used correspondence to reinforce and express their values. Through some traditional expressions of folklore (categorized as customary, oral, material, and belief) women demonstrate their values: interpersonal connection and duty.

Front Matter, Awe Editors

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Grace, Danielle Chelom Leavitt

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

I was two years old when Rwanda’s genocide commenced. The assassination of Rwanda’s president, Juvenal Habyarimana, kicked off the 100-day killing spree that led to nearly one million Rwandan deaths. It was a hot topic then, nearly twenty years ago, when the horror of a modern-day holocaust and outrage of international indifference were fresh. The genocide tore through Rwanda a world and lifetime away from me. What is left now is the aftermath of the genocide and all its living witnesses. I stepped into Rwanda the summer after my freshman year of college. I would write about Rwanda’s post-genocide women.

Seventeen, Katie Wade-Neser

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Two Women Working At Quarry, Brian Hoffman

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Woman Selling Plantain Chips, Brian Hoffman

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.