Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Beyond The Binary: Queer And Trans Activism In Ontario French As Second Language (Fsl) Classrooms, Robert Grant, Elm Allister

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Drawing from data from a larger doctoral study, this “from the field” report showcases the activist and pedagogical practices of two queer and trans/nonbinary French as a second language (FSL) teachers in Ontario, Canada. Through detailed accounts from elementary and secondary FSL classrooms, we demonstrate activism through empowering (using students’ pronouns and bringing in multiple identities in pedagogical resources), disrupting (challenging assumptions about "normal" identities and families), and resisting (parents' and stakeholders' homophobic and transphobic rhetoric). Our experiences reveal that proactive, consistent integration of 2SLGBTQIA+ representation throughout the classroom discourse minimizes student resistance, particularly in elementary settings where children readily …

Pedagogies Of Heart/Break: Nurturing Trans Resistance Through Beloved Witnessing, Page Valentine Regan

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article calls for spiritual activism on behalf of trans young people. Drawing from the narratives and perspectives of a group of trans young adults of Color situated in the Southeastern United States, the author encourages pedagogies of heart/break. Such a pedagogical position requires a service-based orientation to education, rooted in beloved witnessing. Rather than affinity spaces, political action, or cerebral understanding, beloved witnessing may prove to be a more reliable condition for healing and self-actualization, especially in support of a trans of Color future in educational research, practice and places of learning.

Rural School Counselors Supporting Queer Students In The Southeastern United States, Harley Devon Locklear, Damaris Bates

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article aims to explore the storied experiences of school counselors who actively, overtly and covertly resist the oppression of queer students within rural schools throughout the Southeastern United States. Narrative Inquiry was the research methodology utilized to collect, interpret, and reconstruct these stories, culminating in the synthesization of six overarching themes capturing the factors contributing to and limiting the advocacy efforts of rural school counselors: View of Role, Counselor Self-Efficacy, Stakeholder Push-back, Services Offered, Advocacy Efforts, and Training and University Support. Implications for school counselors, counselor education program, and school administers are also discussed in relation to improving …

Engines For Activism: Gsa Advisors Sparking Student Activism For Lgbtq+ Equity, Elizabeth J. Meyer, Rebecca Grace Kaplan, Erin Kurtz

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article reports on a study on educators supporting student activism for LGBTQ+ equity in schools. The research questions we address are: What impacts do activist-educators have on the activities of the students in their GSA (Genders & Sexualities Alliance)? In what ways do activist-educators support student activism for LGBTQ+ equity? Based on in-depth interviews with seven educators in Colorado, we use grounded theory to present a conceptual model called “Engines for Activism” (EFA). We share data that explain how student and educator interactions within the space of a student club led by an educator-activist can drive advocacy and activism …

Knowledgemaking As Resistance For Queer Youth, Katie Clonan-Roy, Shereen Naser, Daylun Armstrong, Mars Bonilla-Gilgenbach, Thomas Haynes, Rae Jackson, Liz Goncy, Kimberly Anne Fuller

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

In an era of increasing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, queer youth continue to resist oppressive systems through knowledge-making and collective action. In this paper, we explore the transformative nature of liberatory knowledge making for sexual and gender diverse (SGD) youth, which can foster youth’s capacity for resistance work against systems that would otherwise harm them. The paper focuses on a program called Youth Research for Social Change (YRSC) program, where youth and adult co-conspirators engaged in participatory action research to challenge dominant narratives, develop critical consciousness, and foster a sense of community. We explore key tenets of liberatory knowledgemaking—community and solidarity, criticality, …

“You Can’T Ban That!”: Lgbtq+ Youth Of Color Speak Back To Book Bans In Utah, Sonny Partola, Leticia Alvarez Gutiérrez

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article explores how LGBTQ+ youth of color (LGBTQ+ YOC) in Utah perceive anti-LGBTQ+ book bans amid a hostile sociopolitical climate. Drawing from a critical ethnographic study at a public high school, and guided by Queer of Color Critique, we examine how censorship, heteronormativity, and White Christian nationalism shape book bans. Youth participants described such bans as mechanisms of erasure and harm that restrict access to affirming literature and reinforce marginalization, while also revealing contradictions in schools’ promotion of literacy alongside censorship. Despite these harms, participants resisted erasure—asserting visibility, belonging, and intellectual freedom. This study contributes to scholarship on censorship …

Editors’ Introduction: Loud, Proud, Rooted, And Resisting – Activism And Advocacy In Tough Times, Lee Airton, Elizabeth J. Meyer

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

After a (brief) period of time in which movements for equity and justice in K-12 schools had been winning and had seen sustained building for gender and sexual diversity (GSD) justice efforts in schools, calls for queer and trans erasure are not only back but are being instantiated in laws and policies on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, and in other contexts around the world. These efforts, however, come far too late as students are demanding livable queer and trans lives in the schools where they are legally required to spend most of their days, supported by queer and …

29th Annual Women's, Gender, And Sexuality Studies Symposium Program, 2026, Illinois State University, Women's, Gender, And Sexuality Studies Program

WGSS Student Research Symposium

Program from the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Symposium

From Viðkenning To Valarindi: The Enigma Of Goldberry And The River-Woman, Derek Simon

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

THIS IS A TWO-PART ARTICLE. IN ORDER TO READ OR DOWNLOAD THE OTHER PART, FOLLOW THE LINK AT THE END OF THIS ABSTRACT.

Building upon the previous examination of the eddic and skaldic contours of Goldberry’s River kenning names, this reading of Goldberry’s enigma focuses on the mythological referents of her kinship relations and their narrative consistency in the legendarium.  Tending to the intrinsic connection between “[t]he incarnate mind, the tongue, and the tale” (Tolkien, On Fairy Stories, 41), I contend that the poetics of kenning diction sustain if not demand a reading of the River-woman references mythologically through …

The Power Of A Woman’S Charm: Analyzing The Presence Of Onahal In Oroonoko, Kristyn Haney

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko is a story that places great emphasis on the importance of the power of beauty, but it isn’t perhaps the strongest force at work in the novel. Onahal is a minor character in the story who contrasts the idea that beauty is the only way to obtain power. As a former wife of the King, it is noted that while she once possessed beauty, she is now older and has therefore lost her beauty to the passage of time. Though her beauty is diminished, she still has her charm, which grants her power within her space. In …

The Alembic - International Literary Journal, Sara Mackinnon, Finn Heller, Sarah Debian, Kate Blackwell

English Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Diasporic Belonging Of Palestinian American Women In New England, Elizabeth Muller

Political Science Undergraduate Theses

No abstract provided.

Perceived Bias And Barriers Among Black Women In Professional Leadership, Rochelle Wilhelmina Gilbert

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black women have long contributed to leadership in academia, government, and the nonprofit sector, yet they remain significantly underrepresented in senior leadership roles in higher education. When Black women are missing from leadership, institutions lose out on talent, students lose out on representation, and society loses out on the full range of perspectives needed to solve complex problems. Grounded in Black Feminist Thought, this general qualitative study explored the experiences and perceptions of bias and barriers among Black women serving in leadership roles at the dean level and above in higher education. Data were collected through structured interviews with seven …

170 Silent Stories: Gendered Violence Beneath The American Dream, Kayla Lockwood

Graduate & Professional Student Association Research Forum

170 Silent Stories: Gendered Violence Beneath the American Dream is a presentation drawn from my MFA thesis exhibition, read the fine print, which critically examines how postwar American domestic ideals—particularly those emerging in the 1950s—were constructed through visual culture, policy, and design. The project investigates how the American Dream promised stability, prosperity, and safety while simultaneously normalizing rigid gender roles, domestic containment, and gendered violence.

At the center of the exhibition is 170 Silent Stories (2026), an installation composed of 170 cast-aluminum high heels, each representing a documented domestic violence case in 1950s New York. The high heel, a deeply …

Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt: Examining The Female Gothic In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein And Bram Stoker's Dracula, Delaney Harrington

Harding Undergraduate Research Conference

My paper explores the ideals of the Female Gothic subgenre present in Frankenstein and Dracula. Both are feminist works, though they go about this in unconventional ways. I analyze the characters as well as the narrative and context of these stories to prove that they espouse feminist ideals. These novels are perhaps two of the most famous in the gothic genre, and they have the potential to be mislabeled. My paper warns about the dangers of mislabeling these stories and argues for their feminist interpretations.

Women In The Workplace: Changing Pressures Of Appearance And Behavior, Riley E. Bubacz

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

Since 1870, when women were first allowed in the London workforce, there has been discrimination between men and women, even with efforts to achieve equality. Today, women are still expected to do a disproportionate amount of the household labor in addition to maintaining a full-time job while dealing with the gender pay gap and the glass ceiling. This study seeks to understand the pressures that women still face in the workforce regarding appearance and behavior, and how this may contribute to experiences of burnout. In previous studies, women have expressed fears of being assertive or not wearing makeup due to …

Flowers Of Fire Review: A Patriarchal Petri Dish, Alexa Mayerhofer

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

A Black Feminist Perspective On The Role Of Community Engaged Pedagogy In Communication Education, Katrina Marie Overby, Nickesia S. Gordon

Feminist Pedagogy

As two Black feminist communication scholars, we reflect on the importance of intersectional and culturally responsive community engaged pedagogical practices in communication education. In this paper, we articulate the ways in which integrating community engaged pedagogical practices more intentionally in our curriculum, positions communication educators to participate in and contribute to advocacy based teaching that centralizes reflexivity, dialogue, critical literacy, and alliance building. Rooted in bell hooks’ theory of engaged pedagogy, our approach advocates for educators to articulate a pedagogy of Conscientizacao and to create curricula that teach us all to transgress.

Teaching During A Pandemic: Using Digital Visual Storytelling As Chicana/X/ And Latina/X Feminist Pedagogy, Magaly Ordonez

Feminist Pedagogy

This article offers critical pedagogical insights and experiences using StoryMaps as a queer trans* Chicanx educator during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. I offer StoryMaps as an original teaching activity rooted in Chicana/x feminist epistemologies and pedagogies that prioritize the voices of marginalized communities as sources of knowledge. I propose the pedagogical uses of digital storytelling as a Chicana/x feminist tool for creative critical thinking and shift in learning spaces that go beyond traditional essay-style writing assignments. It builds from my experience teaching undergraduate courses at a predominantly white institution in the Midwest.

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire: Female Directors Subverting The Male Gaze, Josephine Ebersole

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

No abstract provided.

The Combahee River Collective’S Influence On Modern Feminism, Josephine Ebersole

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

No abstract provided.

‘“We Was Girls Together”’: Black Girlhood And Homoeroticism In Toni Morrison’S Sula, Summer A. Still

Caroliniana Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper examines Toni Morrison’s Sula through the intertwined frameworks of Black girlhood and homoeroticism, with a focus on the friendship between Sula Peace and Nel Wright. By analyzing moments of intimacy, dreams, and kinship terminology, I argue that Morrison portrays their bond as both a survival mechanism against oppressive social structures and as a site where homoerotic desire emerges. Concepts such as “fictive kin,” “chosen kin,” and “quare” are used to show how Morrison complicates traditional categories of friendship and queerness in American literature. Ultimately, the novel positions Sula and Nel’s relationship as one of enduring love that exceeds …

Are You There Judy?: A Critical Content Analysis Of Judy Blume's Representation Of Female Puberty, Audrey E. Gilbert

Undergraduate Theses

This study uses a critical content analysis methodology to examine four Judy Blume novels (Johnson et al). Using a lens of gynocriticsm (Showalter) and mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors (Bishop), power and representation of female puberty are analyzed in Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, Deenie, Forever, and Just As Long As We’re Together to understand how Judy Blume pushes the bounds of content in young adult literature through depictions of thelarche, menarche, and sexarche. Through the critical content analysis, the role of group interactions and individual experiences are shown as the conductors for power, …

Harriet Hosmer: Femininity And Stone, Savannah V. Parrish

Undergraduate Theses

Harriet Hosmer was an American woman sculptor who studied in Rome, Italy, from 1853 to 1900. Hosmer led her own cohort of women artists and inspired other artists in Rome. Hosmer’s sculptures and the controversies surrounding them exemplify her experiences as a career woman of her time. Hosmer made sculptures of women who defied the will of men, both mythical and historical. Hosmer’s sculptures show how she felt restricted in the world, particularly in the field of sculpture as a woman and how like the figures of her sculptures she found freedom in stone, where she could tell the stories …

The International And Comparative Aspects Of United States V. Skrmetti: The Detrimental Rise Of Anti-Trans Sentiment In The United States, Julia Parrey

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

In recent years, anti-trans sentiment has significantly increased in the United States. This Article examines the legal advocacy by the LGBTQ+ community that laid key legal groundwork for basic protections through landmark US Supreme Court decisions like Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges and analyzes how recent judicial and legislative actions signal a dangerous reversal of that progress.

The central analysis focuses on the consequences of United States v. Skrmetti, where the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors by applying rational-basis review, concluding that the law classified based on age or medical diagnosis, rather …

Crowdsourcing Literary Recovery Using Iterative Search Techniques, Jean Lee Cole

Feminist Pedagogy

The Literary Recovery assignment teaches students how to develop keyword search search techniques to locate literary works and authors in online databases and text repositories. Using the assignment in a collaborative course project provides the benefit of crowdsourcing recovery efforts for prolific authors or groups of authors.

Out In The Arena: Examining The Lgbtq+ Experience In Ihsa, Katharine C. Didier

Honors College Theses

This study investigated factors influencing Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) LGBTQ+ riders’ perceptions of inclusion, safety, and belonging, with the hypothesis that teams with diversity and inclusion policies would be perceived as more accepting. An online survey was developed to gather information from self-identified LGBTQ+ IHSA students. Questions covered demographics, team environment, and perceived inclusivity within their equestrian programs. Question types included multiple choice, Likert-type, short answer, and open-ended. IHSA coaches were asked to share the survey link with team members. Students were able to respond anonymously. The survey was open for 8 weeks. Reminders were sent out at 3 …

Res Historica, Volume 5, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta, Lindsay Rae Smith Privette Phd

Res Historica

The 2026 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, Julia Ackerman, Callyn Wright, Logan Davis, and John Hinton. Cover art by Mary Beth Lee.

Subaltern Women, State Neglect, And Climate Precarity: Rethinking Forest Landscape Governance In Indonesia, Titiek Kartika Hendrastiti, Siti Kusujiarti

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

This article examines the social positioning and struggles of subaltern women in East Java, Indonesia, within the intersecting conditions of state neglect and climate precarity in Forest Landscape Governance (FLG). Drawing on field research conducted between 2022 and 2023, it employs Postcolonial Feminist Political Ecology (PFPE) and Postcolonial Feminist Participatory Action Research (PFPAR) to analyze how governance regimes simultaneously depend upon yet marginalize women’s ecological labor. Based on field conversations, storytelling, focus group discussions, participatory drawing, and community dialogues in Banyuwangi and Trenggalek, the study shows that subaltern women remain largely invisible within formal governance frameworks, despite their central role …

Beyond The Badge: How Internal Culture Contradicts External Service In Urban Police Departments, Rowan Bari Eiselman

Educational Studies Student Papers and Posters

This ethnographic study examines how gendered workplace culture and mental health culture shape officer retention in two urban police departments: the Orange Police Department and the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th District. Through ride-alongs, observations, and informal interviews with nine current and retired officers (four female, five male) across various ranks conducted between March and April 2026, this research reveals a troubling contradiction: departments tasked with serving diverse communities struggle to support diversity within their own ranks. Female officers navigate professional isolation, prolonged competence-proving expectations, and implicit career-versus-motherhood choices, with experiences varying significantly between the more supportive Orange PD and …