Women's Studies Commons^™

Title Ix And The Responsibility Of Leadership In Collegiate Athletics, Regan J. Mccomb, Chelsea Kaunert

Honors Theses

Typically, when we hear about Title IX, we think of scholarship dollars, ratio of men’s and women’s sports, and equal funding, but in the past several years we have seen a shift in focus to sexual misconduct. Studies have repeatedly shown that sexual assault rates on college campuses are not on the decline. With one in five college students graduating a victim of sexual misconduct, we must now demand more of those we consider leadership in the university setting. Recently we have seen a trend of prominent women, including female athletes, speaking out about their experience with sexual assault. We …

Say Luv: Reimagining The Black Female Body, Jer'lisa Devezin

Art Theses and Dissertations

From hottentot venus to Cardi B, the influence of the white representation and the treatment of the black female body has shaped a culture of oppression amongst Black women, having surpassed the white community and trickled into the black community. In hip hop culture, reality television, and social media, black women are portrayed as angry and are stereotyped as ghetto and ignorant. On the music scene woman are always sexualized under the male gaze, however now that we are in the twerk era Cardi B is giving a new perspective to the representation of women in hip hop. By using …

Feminist Divide: Do We Know Where The Problem Areas Are?, Jacqueline Rieth

Student Research Symposium

This research focuses on the divide in the global feminist movement between different types of feminism. As well as how divisions in the feminist movements allow for counter movements to devalue the feminist movement. Hypothesis: The general population is unaware of the divisions of feminism. Method: An online survey was distributed to thirty (n=30) participants asking about their knowledge of the feminist movement as a whole and the divisions within feminism. Results: results showed that the majority of the participants understood the divisions of feminism and had been exposed to different types of feminism.

“Queen Of The Underworld And Mistress Of The Labyrinth;” An Exploration And Critique Of Females In The Bildungsroman, Melissa Aucompaugh

CURCE Annual Undergraduate Conference

I explore the female bildungsroman expressed as a Counter Bildungsroman, the coming of age through a singular sexual event, coupled with a “a fall” and the Contra Bildungsroman, a more complex entrance into womanhood that reconfigures the female coming of age as rebirth instead of a fall. The first chapter, The Counter Bildungsroman, exposes how the Counter Bildungsroman’s coming of age scenario portrays the problematic expression of sexuality (or lack thereof) and entrance into womanhood in the film Labyrinth and the poem “Goblin Market.” Symbols emerge as supplements for the denied sexuality: the consumption of fruit …

Making It New And Keeping It Old: Recasting Frameworks And Contexts In Georgia O’Keeffe Studies, Linda M. Grasso

Publications and Research

Three recent Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition catalogues devise new interpretative frameworks and situate O’Keeffe in new contexts that are especially relevant to American Studies scholars interested in visual culture, material culture, gender studies, reception studies, and modernism. One places O’Keeffe in the company of other white women making modernist art in the early decades of the twentieth century; another provides critical interpretations that acknowledge and reject previous views that were skewered by monolithic gender and sexual lenses; and a third moves O’Keeffe into popular culture domains such as fashion, consumerism, and interior design. Raising questions about how curators present and shape …

Foundation Of Our Former Houses, Jeanne Ciravolo

MFA Statements

An investigation of forms of visual expression, inspired by narratives of female family members and influenced by art historical representations of women and the relation of gender to power structures. The research explores themes of illness, abuse, sexuality and identity and results in mixed media and painted paper collage works on drop cloths, and stitched drawings on domestic textiles, such as mattress pads and kitchen towels. The research methodology is inquiry and process based and is supported by works by Leon Golub, Nancy Spero, Kiki Smith and Kathy Wilkes.

Paper: Investigating The Work Of William Styron: The Perpetuation Of The Fantastic Hegemonic Imagination, William Sikich

Womanist Ethics

William Styron's Confessions of Nat Turner depicts a fictitious characterization of the historical Nat Turner. Styron, a white southerner, assumes Turner's perspective in order to tell a speculative story about his slave rebellion of 1831. Similarly, he tells the story of a fictional holocaust survivor in his novel, Sophie's Choice. The decision to take on these perspective evinces some arrogance on Styron's part, and the way in which he executes the narrative of each novel delivers their stories with varying levels of respect to their subjects: Styron's indirect telling of Sophie's story allows Styron some freedom to speculate, while …

“Flowing Along The Wall”: Anarcha-Feminist Bioethics And Resistance In Octavia E. Butler’S Dawn 2019., Theresa Mendez

Master's Theses

Science fiction (sf) texts conversant with the temporal play between past, present, and future push readers to imagine the extremes of human and environmental existence, interaction, and potential. Simultaneously, despite the sf genre’s tendency to traffic in extremes, these texts provoke readers to consider the ways in which these imagined worlds are grounded in history as well as in the contemporary social moment. As Donna Haraway has argued, “the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion” (306). This illusory boundary must continue to be traversed in order to consider how sf literatures, particularly those which imagine …

Posthuman And Alien Breeding: The Implications Of Cybersex In Octavia Butler’S Dawn 2019., Elizabeth Rutkowski

Master's Theses

Speculative science fiction affords new ways for authors to represent social problems of the modern day in an apocalyptic manner. Authors such as Octavia Butler use science fiction to analyze social injustices revolving around race, gender, and sexuality. Throughout her novel Dawn, Butler uses the posthuman to represent minority groups in the late twentieth century. The posthuman represents those who have moved from humanity towards a new opportunity that is mixed with the potential for struggle. 1 As demonstrated through Butler’s work posthumanism blurs the lines between binaries such as male / female, straight / gay, and consensual / nonconsensual …

Why We Hear About It, And Why We Don't: Power Dynamics And Sexual Harassment Reporting In Us State Legislative Bodies, Halley Norman

Political Science Honors Projects

The rise to prominence of the #MeToo Movement in October 2017 opened the floodgates to sexual harassment and assault allegations in all fields and levels of employment, across the United States and the world. This movement has crucially revealed is that women often wait months or even years before reporting, if they report at all. Looking at US state legislative bodies, I argue that gendered power dynamics between men and women suppress allegations and promote harassment. Using interviews and data analysis, this paper identifies different factors that may delay or hinder reporting, with a specific focus on gendered power dynamics …

The Case For Contraceptives: The Legislative History Of The Aca’S Birth Control Mandate, Julia Grant

Venture: The University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper seeks to outline the legislative and judicial history of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage mandate. It begins by explaining the justifications and specifications of the provision. It then highlights the three phases of litigation that have surrounded the mandate: closely held, for-profit companies; religious nonprofit organizations; and state attorney generals. This paper provides context for the litigation by describing the opposing stances towards the mandate of the Obama and Trump Administrations and the different modifications to the provision made under each administration. In the wake of last week’s finalization of the controversial rules the Trump Administration issued, …

Feminist Activism Fair: Students In Wgs 1040 Will Be Presenting Their Activism Within The Community [Poster], University Of Northern Iowa. Women's And Gender Studies Program.

Women’s and Gender Studies Program Documents

No abstract provided.

Escape, Joslyn Fox

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

The Woman We Don’T Want To Be: The Anti-Heroine In American Women’S Modernisms, Madison Priest

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Anita Loos’ Lorelei has a baby because “a kid that looks like any rich father is as good as money in the bank.” Edith Wharton’s Undine uses hers as a pawn in divorce negotiations with the child’s father. Jessie Redmon Fauset’s Angela abandons her sister so her boyfriend won’t guess she’s black, and Nella Larsen’s Helga frustrates and alienates everyone she loves. Yet these protagonists were subject not just to gleeful mockery and sanction, but to furtive pity, uncomfortable recognition, even envy. Each age calls for its own bogeys; and the anti-heroine was, I contend, the perfect instantiation of American …

The Dangerous Women Of The Long Eighteenth Century: Exploring The Female Characters In Love In Excess, Roxana, And A Simple Story, Jillian Bailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Long Eighteenth Century was a period in which change was constant and proceeding the Restoration Era; this sense of change continued throughout the era. Charles II created an era in which women were allowed on the theatre stage, and his mistresses accompanied him to court; Charles II set the stage for the proto-feminist ideas of the eighteenth century that would manifest themselves in Eliza Haywood’s Love in Excess, Daniel Defoe’s Roxana, and Elizabeth Inchbald’s A Simple Story. These novels showcase the enlightenment of women and some of their male contemporaries and the beginning struggles of female …

Women In The Word, Hyveth Williams

Faculty Publications

"While affirming the call to proclaim the gospel alongside our brothers in ministry, this article offers tips, advice, and even instructions on how to be the best preachers God has endowed us to be at a time when the contributions of women in the world and, slowly, in the Word, are receiving increasing attention and recognition."

Designing A Human-Centric Rigid Body Armor For Female Police Officers: The Implications Of Fit On Performance And Gender Inclusivity, Sarah West

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The lack of availability of female plates for police officers is an issue that has not been analyzed. Female anthropometry is uniformly different from male anthropometry. Currently available hard plates are flat. These plates may decrease coverage while increasing feelings of poor fit, discomfort, and poor mobility for both male and female officers. The plates designed for males offer the possibility of female officers experiencing feelings of gender exclusion. This research project explored the current perceptions of male and female police officers in Arkansas across the dimensions of fit, comfort, and mobility in the context of hard plate body armor. …

The Political Leadership Of Women Of Color In Massachusetts: Uneven Progress Amid Historic Advances, Center For Women In Politics And Public Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, William Monroe Trotter Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Institute For Asian American Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Institute For New England Native American Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Since the 2015 release of Profiles in Leadership: Women of Color Elected to Office in Massachusetts which documented the electoral leadership of 94 women of color who had ever served in office in Massachusetts, at least 34 women of color have been elected to office, reflecting a 36% increase in the past four years.

Black Feminism: Switching The Script On Traditional Feminist Narratives, Monee Reis

Senior Honors Projects

MONEE REIS (Gender and Women’s Studies, Africana Studies) Black Feminism: Switching the Script on Traditional Feminist Narratives

Sponsor: Kathleen McIntyre (Gender and Women’s Studies, Honors Program)

I developed a 300-level undergraduate course aimed at exploring the history of Black feminism. This idea came to me after reading Audre Lorde’s 1984 article “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference.” Lorde detailed the various ways Black women’s contributions to feminism are underrepresented in the overarching historical narrative. Lorde’s 1980s activism and feminist scholarship ultimately influenced legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw to coin the term intersectionality in 1989. Intersectionality, the multiple ways that …

Emerging Adults’ Identities, Attitudes, And Orientations Concerning Consensual Non-Monogamy, Amber Kory Stephens

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study considered the connection among aspects of emerging adults’ identities and their relational and sociosexual orientations as well as their attitudes toward consensual nonmonogamy (CNM). Results indicated significant relationships among individuals’ collective and social identity aspects, as dictated in the AIQ-IV, and how emerging adults label their relational orientations (e.g., strictly monogamous, monogamish, open, and polyamorous). Additionally, findings demonstrated that the salience/importance of social categories, roles, and reputations in one's identity influences how they choose to label their relational orientation, their attitudes toward non-monogamy, and their orientation toward uncommitted sex (sociosexual orientation). Discussion, implications and future directions follow.

Trace., Kcj Szwedzinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trace utilizes autoethnography to investigate aspects of Judaism to discover how one decides what to embrace, embody, or deny from inherited legacies. Autoethnography attempts to combine quantitative and qualitative data in order to systematically analyze and describe personal experience. The artist acting as Ba’alei Kushiah, or question bearer, uses Talmudic philosophy as a methodology and approach to art making. This research is self-referential; using Jewish thought to ask questions about Judaism. Judaism, often existing in an in between place with outward characteristics that reflect regional influences, facilitates a dialogue about whether there are relative or absolute delineations within and between …

Stuff They Don't Tell You About Your Whisker Biscuit, Rose Overbey

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

Pots And Pans, Joslyn Fox

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

From Victim To Volunteer: A Life Course Perspective And The Transition To Adulthood For Individuals Who Have Sold Sex, Julianne M. Siegfriedt

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Under the United States definition of sex trafficking, one is considered a sex trafficking victim if she or he sells sex under 18 years old. Once someone turns 18, in order to claim trafficking status force, fraud, or coercion must be proven or that person falls under the illegal status of sex worker (VTVPA 2000). If one can go from being a victim of a crime to a perpetrator of a crime by having a birthday, what does the transition to adulthood and turning 18 look like for those who sell or exchange sex or are at risk of selling …

Maternal Criticism: Reading Two Middle Eastern Women Writers As Nonviolent Peace Activism, Charlyn Marie Ingwerson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation advocates for reading the literatures of two Middle Eastern women writers through a Maternal Critical lens that recognizes the demands of universal vulnerability in characters who resist violence, and responds in Maternal communities of Readers that connect readers to characters, readers to writers, and readers to other readers, carrying the struggle for equity forward. My unfolding argument, centered on Maternal Critical activity in the novels of Palestinian writer Sahar Khalifeh and Israeli writer Ronit Matalon, demonstrates how literature by these Middle Eastern women is part of a narrative context of women’s peacemaking and resistance to violence, a part …

Painting The Leaky Pipeline Pink: Girl Branded Media And The Promotion Of Stem, Juniper Patel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a critical feminist analysis of girl branded media depictions of girls in STEM. Through close textual analysis of three case studies—Disney Fairies films, Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures, and My Little Pony: Equestria Girls media—I found that such STEM promotion tends to emphasize traditional gender roles and neoliberal market values. Disney Fairies films promote traditional gender roles via portrayals of play STEM, white hegemony, and western beauty standards. Additionally, these films promote the neoliberal ideal of industrialization as consequence free. Dreamhouse Adventures depicts STEM in relation to traditional gender norms such as caretaking, heteronormativity, and girl culture. Furthermore, this …

Vile Transgressor Of The Womb : Prosecution And Persecution For Concealment In Puritan Massachusetts., Jennifer White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the crime of concealment in Puritan Massachusetts. The 1624 Jacobean statute, which specifically identified concealing as both the crime and the evidence, provided the basis for prosecuting women who concealed the death of an infant. This dissertation focuses on an analysis that connects the act of concealment to a larger discussion of a woman’s association with secrecy and hiding that led to labeling her postpartum, criminal body as a threat to the colony. The act of concealment was evidence of a woman’s ability to control her own reproduction and her unwillingness to acknowledge her calling in Puritan …

Beyond Suffrage: Intermarriage, Land, And Meanings Of Citizenship And Marital Naturalization/Expatriation In The United States, Shiori Yamamoto

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation investigates how the laws of marital naturalization/expatriation, namely the Citizenship Act of 1855, the Expatriation Act of 1907, and the Cable Act of 1922 and its amendments throughout the 1930s, impacted the lives of women who married foreigners, especially in the American West, and demonstrates how women directly and indirectly challenged the practice of marital naturalization/expatriation. Those laws demanded women who married foreigners take the nationality of their husbands depending on the race of women and their husbands, making married women’s citizenship dependent on that of their husbands. Particularly under the Expatriation Act of 1907, all American women …

Trans Stories, Trans Voices: How The Internet Empowers Transgender Creators To Have Agency In Trans Fiction, Pepper J. Heifner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Although many advocates believe that the increased representation of transgender people in mainstream fiction will lead to more understanding for the transgender community, many transgender scholars (Page, Richards) are critical of representation that is created without any involvement of actual transgender people. Some fear that the more radical perspectives of trans lives are being erased and replaced with a homogenous idea of the kinds of trans people who are “acceptable” (cárdenas). To avoid this homogeneity, it is important to allow for a multiplicity of trans perspectives and empower transgender people to have agency over their own narratives.

The goal of …

Demonic Pedagogy And The Teaching Saint: Voice, Body, And Place In Cynewulf's Juliana, Christina M. Heckman

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

In Cynewulf’s Old English poem Juliana, the saint frames her encounters with her adversaries as pedagogical confrontations, refusing the lessons they attempt to “teach” her and ultimately adopting the identity of a teacher herself. These confrontations depend on three key tropes in the poem: Juliana’s voice, as a material manifestation of language deployed by the saint; her body, both as living body and as relic; and place, especially the place of the saint’s martyrdom and/or burial. Viewed through theories of material feminism, these tropes reveal diverse forms of agency in the poem, as both human and non-human agents make …