Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Colorism Experiences Of Non-White Women Leaders In Higher Education, Aimee Haynes

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

As the population of the United States becomes more diverse the ethnic makeup of postsecondary institutions expands. Women of color (WOC) represent a growing number within the academic community earning more postsecondary degrees then men and serve as leaders in higher education throughout the county. The increased presence of WOC inacademic positions of power, such as deans, directors, supervisors, tenured faculty, presidents, etc., indicate America’s progression towards inclusivity. However, colorism, a subset of racism favoring and advantaging lighter skin complexions and disadvantaging darker skin tones, exist as a predictor of socioeconomic status, educational attainment, martial capital, occupational, and interpersonal success …

Heteronormativity In Healthcare: Neoliberalism, Bio-Politics, And Necropolitics, Grace Avila

Master's Theses

This thesis will discuss heteronormativity in healthcare. It will take a social science and theoretical approach to acknowledge LGBTQ+ health disparities, apply theoretical approaches to why these disparities exist, and offer solutions to combat health disparities experienced by sexual and gender minorities. Neoliberalism, bio-politics, and necropolitics will be the theoretical approaches utilized to understand the basis of disparities experienced by the LGBTQ+ community. Neoliberalism will include themes of capitalism and public health policies which influence discrimination in healthcare. Bio-politics will outline how the intersection of the biological body and politics can exacerbate health disparities through the power of controlling bodies. …

Information Activism: A Queer History Of Lesbian Media Technologies, Dawn Betts-Green

STEMPS Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The (Mis) Representation Of Racialized Minorities: Barbie Dolls As Social Problems In India, Namrata Ashvinbhai Bhadania

English Faculty Publications

The relation between commodities and consumers is directly related to the transactional relationship between kids and their interaction with the toys. The paper aims to critique how female representation through Barbie Dolls in popular culture shapes female identity. Production and consumption of Barbie dolls in India became a way of socializing mechanism to educate young Indian girls on the concept of beauty. A notion of beauty is attached to blue eyes, skinny waist, and fair skin giving rise to “American Exceptionalism” (Madsen, 2009, p. 14), where the model nation conceptualizes itself though national identity where perceiver compels to transform themselves …

Neither “Post-War” Nor Post-Pregnancy Paranoia: How America’S War On Drugs Continues To Perpetuate Disparate Incarceration Outcomes For Pregnant, Substance-Involved Offenders, Becca S. Zimmerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the unique interactions between pregnancy, substance involvement, and race as they relate to the War on Drugs and the hyper-incarceration of women. Using ordinary least square regression analyses and data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, I examine if (and how) pregnancy status, drug use, race, and their interactions influence two length of incarceration outcomes: sentence length and amount of time spent in jail between arrest and imprisonment. The results collectively indicate that pregnancy decreases length of incarceration outcomes for those offenders who are not substance-involved but not evenhandedly -- benefitting white …

The Role Of Islam In Establishing Women's Rights In The Muslim World, Assad Khan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This paper examines the literature surrounding women's rights in the Muslim world to determine the factors that have contributed to the oppression of women in the Muslim world and to understand the role that different interpretations of Islam can have on either restricting or improving the status of women in the Muslim world. The practices of Muslim people as a population deviate from what is prescribed by Islam in some cases, contributing to the misconception that the restrictive practices toward women in many Muslim-majority countries are founded in Islamic teachings. Factors such as individual levels of religiosity and adherence to …

A Noble Duty: Ladies’ Aid Associations In Upstate South Carolina During The Civil War, Elizabeth Aranda, Carmen Harris

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

The contributions of women during the American Civil War have been typically examined within the broader picture of a nation or state-wide mobilization of citizens during a time of war. In this paper, I seek to show the mobilization of women during the Civil War from a regionalized perspective limited to the Upcountry of South Carolina and the effect their development of aid societies had on the war as well as on their place as white women in the Confederacy. Female-run aid societies began for the purpose of gathering supplies for soldiers. Within two years they had founded hospitals and …

Barbara Powers: Witch Or Myth? The Last Case Of Witchcraft In South Carolina, Brandon Smith, Bobbie Jo Wimberly, Courtney Mcdonald

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

Was an elderly woman from the upstate of South Carolina the last to be accused of and put on trial for witchcraft in the United States? In this paper, we investigate claims from an old letter sent to the president of South Carolina College to determine whether or not Barbara Powers was truly accused of witchcraft during a criminal trial. After thoroughly investigating census data, court records, marriage records, and other historical data in the named counties and those surrounding them, we were unable to determine conclusively if the trial was real or fabricated. Despite not knowing if the case …

The Impact Of Patriarchy On Stud Lesbians, Meilin Miller

Undergraduate Research Awards

Intersectional feminism informed how literary scholar bell hooks understands and interacts with the world. As a result, feminism is deeply intertwined in all of her commentaries and sociocultural analyses. In her 2003 book We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, hooks writes about how male masculinity and blackness interact with each other in this society. Her proclivity towards feminism isn’t restrained. A majority of the book is dedicated to understanding how toxic patriarchy has victimized and empowered black men, specifically seeking to examine their relationship with black women. However, black masculinity in women is an area that hooks does …

Conquering Shame: The Growth Of Virginia Woolf’S Character In Moments Of Being, Ellie Windfeld-Hansen

Global Tides

This paper details the roles that shame, guilt, dread and humiliation play in Virginia Woolf's childhood and early adult life. It examines four key instances during these times in her life in which one or more of these feelings are present. Each of these instances also involves certain distinct family members. These experiences of Woolf's discussed in the paper and the family members with which she interacts strengthen her character and contribute to her unique perception and worldview.

Reality And Ideology: The Use Of Gender Indexing Features In Reality Tv, Steven J. Gerencser

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This article analyzes 4 episodes of the Japanese reality television program Terrace house: Aloha State for instances of gender indexing language to investigate the gap between actual speaker usage of these features and the linguistic ideology surrounding their usage as is perpetrated and perpetuated by media. Specifically, the gender indexing features which will be investigated to accomplish this are sentence final particles and first-person pronouns. Instances of these linguistic features are typically presented as features of gendered language, but as will be demonstrated, this does match their actual usage by speakers. I set out to answer three research questions, (1) …

Híbridos, Monstruos, Cíborgs Y Posthumanos: La Hibridez Como Herramienta Ciberpunk Para Retomar El Control De Los Cuerpos, Naiara Porras Rentero

Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies

Rosi Braidotti warns us in her book Lo posthumano (2013) that “when the word difference implies inferiority, the connotation can be both dangerous and harmful for those marked as the other” (12). Since Michel Foucault first began his analysis of biopolitics, there have been many thinkers who have theorized how heteropatriarchal roles demand conformity at the risk of self-alienation and loss of identity. The theatrics demanded by an externally imposed social order can tax personal autonomy and diminish the resources required for individual growth and development. Judith Butler’s performance theory uses biopolitics to underscore how gender identity and sexual orientation …

Psychological Distress And Relationship Satisfaction Among Survivors Of Sexual Violence, Alyssa Campbell

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The World Health Organization (WHO; 2002) has indicated that sexual violence is a serious public health concern, and both the WHO and the United Nations (UN) have declared that violence against women, in particular, is a profound violation of human rights (UN General Assembly, 1993; WHO, 2017). Although the systemic and negative impact of trauma on family and intimate relationships have been well documented, the empirical literature regarding the effects of adult sexual trauma on relationship satisfaction is less robust. These studies are designed to address this gap and will do so with analyses centered on an understudied population: the …

The Joy Of Listening: Three Voices In The Poetry Of Wisława Szymborska, Mimi Thompson

CMC Senior Theses

One of the greatest feats that a poet may achieve in his or her lifetime is to develop a voice so characteristic of themself, it would be impossible to confuse it with that of any other poet. Polish-speaking and non-Polish-speaking scholars alike have agreed that the voice of 1996 Nobel Laureate Wisława Szymborska is utterly distinct, despite the fact that her poems explore a wide range of topics and are told from multiple narrative perspectives, rarely featuring herself through any personal details. How, then, is it possible for hundreds of poems, each with their own narrator, to still be “heard” …

Sonic Femininity: The Ronettes' Transgressive Gender Performance, Hilarie Ashton

Publications and Research

Iconic sixties girl group the Ronettes are frequently (and justly) celebrated for anchoring the Wall of Sound and inspiring the Beatles, but in their own right, they transgressed social, gendered expectations in revolutionary ways. Framed by a notion I call the sonic feminine, a recuperative theoretical space for the revolutionarily transgressive work of female and femme artists, I argue that the Ronettes, and lead singer Ronnie Spector in particular, enacted a kind of cultural rebellion: they crafted their images to made-up heights that tease the boundaries of drag across the spaces of the stage, the recording studio, the bathroom, and …

Overture: Love—Love Is A Pink Cake, Or, Queering Chopin In Times Of Homophobia, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

Abstract:

An introduction to the three essays included in this section. The article highlights the right to know whether Chopin was gay and contextualizes this inquiry in a very long and pervasive historiographical tradition, essentially two-hundred years long, dedicated to examine Chopin sexual orientation, on the one hand, and on the other the more recent tradition of queering western classical music composers. The main point is not to demonstrate categorically that Chopin was “gay” (a relative, modern identity marker in any case) but rather to highlight the discourses that have presented him as unequivocally heterosexual.

Resumen:

Una introducción a los …

Va Ser Homosexual, Chopin?, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

A hores d’ara, el més sorprenent de tot és que l’homosexualitat de Chopin sigui notícia. Però no hi ha dubte que ho és, i molt. El darrer rebombori l’ha aflamat un documental radiofònic suís de dues hores de durada del pianista i escriptor Moritz Weber en el qual compila i escenifica fragments de cartes homoeròtiques del compositor polonès. (Vegeu, al final d’aquest escrit, algunes referències a la web).

Building The Fat Girl Table: Excavating Cultural Memory Of Queer Fat Activism In The ‘90s, Rose Gelfand

Scripps Senior Theses

When we recount the histories of social movements, there is a tendency to imagine either a steady, linear march towards progress or a slow descent from radical ideas into complacency. The feminist movement gets painted in waves, progressing from white to intersectional, while in the LGBTQ+ rights movement the contrast of the Stonewall Riots & ACT UP with late 2010s focus on gay marriage and the corporatization of Pride is understood as a watering down and betrayal of the movement’s origins. Cultural memory is a constant process of construction and revision, and of course the truth of movements’ trajectories are …

The Intersection Between Black Hair And The Environment: Hair As A Site For Environmental Justice And Sustainability, Dafina Matiku

Scripps Senior Theses

Currently, we are facing several global crises that include but are not limited to climate change, food insecurity, pollution of the body and environment, as well as racial, gender, and class inequities. This thesis seeks to understand how the natural hair movement, which strives to omit toxic chemicals while embracing textured hair, can be a tool of reconnecting to nature. As humans we are intrinsically part of ecosystems and nature, we must find our niche in it instead of occupying and destroying our environment entirely. The methodology includes compiling a small array of experiences that show the nuance of hair …

Peoples’ Experiences With Birth Doulas, Emily A. Gunderson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Birth doulas, as a non-medical resource for people going through the birthing process, have seen overall positive reception by providing a service otherwise missing from the recently medicalized birth environment (Gruber et al. 2013, Steel et al. 2015); this coincides with a time when fathers are being asked to play a more active role in their child’s birth (Coltrane 1996, Odent 2009). However, while we know a little about how mothers experience the services of a birth doula and how fathers experience birth generally, we have yet to find out how birthing people, both partnered and un-partnered, make sense of …

Funding Abortion As Facilitating It: The Complicity Argument In Religious Right Legal Efforts To Control Reproductive Choice In The United States, Natalie Rahn

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines and critiques rhetorical use of the term complicity by the Religious Right in six U.S. Supreme Court cases from 1973 to 2021 as a tactic to restrict access to reproductive care and exert control over female reproductive bodies. Comparing the language invoked by Religious Right claimants and the Supreme Court justices to my working definition of complicity reveals that use of complicity regarding reproductive care in the United States has expanded in scope over time. However, the argument fails to meet four essential criteria necessary for being considered complicit. Religious Right claimants generally base their complicity arguments …

A Bitten Apple And A Bloody Key: Feminist Revisionism At The Intersection Of The Eden Myth And The Bluebeard Tale, Jacob Ford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the feminist revisionism of the Bluebeard fairy tale through a focus on its relationship with the Eden myth. Past studies have examined the remarkable feminism of Bluebeardian literature and history, but this thesis is the first to interrogate the tale’s evolution from and alongside the Eden myth and to argue that the Bluebeard tale’s feminism is exceptional because of its ties to the Eden myth. I argue that the evolution of the intersecting revisionism of the Eden myth and the Bluebeard tale is characterized by the changing morals of the two myths—morals that, depending on the author’s …

The Manifestation Of Inner-Gender Oppression In Margaret Atwood’S The Handmaid’S Tale As Results From Intentional Patriarchal Power Structures, Aliyah Browning

Capstone Showcase

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has long been studied for its cautionary warnings about sexist ideologies that exist between men and women; seldom has it been so closely analyzed for instances of inner gender oppression. Inner-gender oppression, which this thesis seeks to define and highlight through the novel’s context, offers artificial forms of power to those in oppressed classes, enough to attract women themselves to participate in the indoctrination and policing of their own sex. This essay highlights the ways in which Atwood’s dystopian society parallels sexist beliefs held by societies past and present.

Art Imitates Life: The Representation (Or Lack Thereof) Of Black Women In Video Games, Bug Gadson

Capstone Showcase

The key focus of this essay is to compare the representation of black women in media, primarily in television and film, to the representation of black female characters in video games. Using black feminist theory, this essay illustrates the treatment of black female characters in gaming. The particular and deliberate methods of writing black female characters in video games are used to highlight white video game characters and their narratives, instead of giving life and dimension to the black female characters themselves. The hostile and unsafe environments in gaming spaces are cultivated through upholding these harmful stereotypes of black women, …

Girls Can’T Like Star Wars: An Analysis Of Feminism Within Fandoms, Julia Neff

Capstone Showcase

Finding the intersection between feminist theory and fandom theory, this paper analysis how women are regarded within a fandom community by their peers and how they are dismissed in a societal context. This paper specifically compares what is "accepted" by society about young women being a fan of a boy band versus an adult man as a fan of a sports team.

#Aminext: The Link Between European Colonization And Gender-Based Violence In Contemporary South Africa, Jenna Meredith Pagel

Capstone Showcase

Alarmingly, the female murder rate in South Africa is five times the global average (BBC News 2019). According to data from 2017 and 2018, a woman is murdered every four hours in South Africa (Wilkinson 2019). More than 30 women were killed by their spouses in August 2019, and at least 137 sexual offenses are committed per day in South Africa (Francke 2019).

For this thesis, and in order to understand why South Africa has some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world, I consult a number of scholars who conclude that the overall issue of …

Out And Proud: The Significance Of Jojo Siwa’S Coming Out And Why Queer Representation In Children’S Media Is Important, Savannah Munholland

Capstone Showcase

Queer representation in the media is slowly improving but children's media still severely lacks diversity, especially LGBTQ+ representation. This paper explores JoJo Siwa, a popular children's influencer and entertainer, and how her coming out will effect the integration of queer representation into children's media.

A Feminine Gothic Revival: The Haunting Of Shirley Jackson And Toni Morrison, Mallory Danley

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

In the realm of Gothic literature, the main characters typically involve a helpless woman in the clutches of her male assailant. Critics have long established that the traditional Gothic genre is considered a male-dominated discipline fixated on ideas of power, control, and submission. This essay argues that Shirley Jackson and Toni Morrison separate from this trope and invent the haunted heroine, a leading lady so haunted by the past, relationships, and emotions that through unique character development, insidious use of dread, and malicious paranormal occurrences create a nouveau dichotomy within Gothic literature. This essay is a close reading of two …

Archives Of “Sexual Deviance”: Recovering The Queer Prisoner, Vic Overdorf

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

Queer federal prisoners are a population often inaccessible to queer memory due to the strong institutional barriers that separate these individuals from life outside of prison walls. This paper asks: how can we employ feminist methodologies in the recovery of queer voices from federal prison archives? By documenting perceived deviance and perversions, carceral institutions in the 1930s-1950s built a case to justify their use of discursive and physical violence against queer bodies. This paper argues that carceral archives serve as norming mechanisms, creating barriers between normal and abnormal, heterosexual and homosexual. To counter this norming, Ann Laura Stoler (2002) provides …

Categorizing Queer Identities: An Analysis Of Archival Practices Using The Concept Of Boundary Objects, Pauline Junginger, Marian Dörk

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

In this paper, we present a field study that examines the development, application and maintenance of classification systems and controlled vocabularies in three archives documenting lesbian, trans* and queer-feminist histories. Queer archives face the challenge of documenting identities that are inherently characterized by embracing fluidity and ambiguity. Thus, queer identities are diametrically opposed to archival procedures of unambiguous classification. At the same time, queer activism relies partly on coherent identity categories in order to be able to act politically. We examine the pragmatic solutions that queer archives establish when dealing with tensions between those requirements. Our goal is to contribute …