Women's Studies Commons^™

Inappropriate Attire: Fashion, Nationality, And Shame In Quicksand And Pachinko, Minyoung Park

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article, Minyoung Park examines how fashion in Quicksand by Nella Larsen and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee functions not simply as a visual strategy for passing but as a site where the wearers’ conflicting feelings—shame, desire, and defiance—emerge and persist. Rather than evaluating the success or failure of passing, the article shifts focus to the process of dressing—selecting, maintaining, and reflecting on clothing—through which identity is negotiated and feelings are embodied. The protagonists, Helga and Sunja, often dismissed as failures, are reconsidered as figures whose attention to their inappropriate or excessive fashion reveals their emotional labor and strenuous …

The Blurry Line: Examining The Balance Between Feminism And Nationalism For Women In Early 20th Century Ireland, Seamus M. Clune

History Summer Fellows

The early 20th century in Ireland was a complex and confusing period. Between British Imperialism, The Gaelic Revival, World War I, the suffrage movement, and the Irish War of Independence, the period was fast and turbulent. Above the shifting ground, Irish women activists balanced two key political causes: feminism and Irish nationalism. Past scholarship has examined the coexistence of these two ideals. At times, one suppressed the other. At other times, they worked in tandem. This project offers a new interpretation of Irish women's political activity through a close reading of the letters and memoirs of three people: Constance Markievicz …

The Call Of Cucurrucucú, Rachel Olivia Blair

Dissertations and Theses

This is a site of geologic excavation; where charged voices like porous monoliths and forked-tongue shapeshifters call out in fragmented polyphony. What lies broken or misshapen, what can be pieced back together.

What is purity when the body that is being inherited is drowning in murky waters.

No One Listens To Melian: When Women Speak And Men Ignore Them In Middle-Earth, Sara Brown

Journal of Tolkien Research

Throughout J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, opportunities exist for male characters to participate in and learn from the wisdom and experience offered by female characters: what is remarkable is how often they fail to do so. The consequences of this failure are often considerable, ranging from a failed marriage (Aldarion and Erendis) to the loss of an entire kingdom (Melian and Thingol). However, on one occasion where a female character, Aredhel, is listened to, she is then severely punished via the narrative. The question must therefore be asked – what is Tolkien telling us about this gendered space of learning?

On Bodies In The Middle: Black Women, Sexual Violence, And Complex Imaginings Of Justice By Maya Hislop, Domale Dube

Criticism

Review of Bodies in the Middle: Black Women, Sexual Violence, and Complex Imaginings of Justice by Maya Hislop. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2024. Pp. 184. $29.99 paperback.

The Detrimental Impact Of Benevolent Sexism On Women, Lucy Jessee

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Sexism is often defined as negative attitudes toward or discrimination against a person because of their sex or gender identity. This issue is well known and frequently discussed in schools, politics, social situations, and popular culture; however, not many people understand that sexism can come in many forms. Hostile sexism, the more commonly imagined type of sexism, consists of blatantly derogatory, exclusive, or antagonistic attitudes or actions toward women. This can take many forms, such as negative stereotypes regarding women’s competence, degradation of a woman’s worth or value, violence against women, or limitation on a woman’s opportunities because of her …

A Contentious Bond: The Mother-Daughter Relationship, Amelia Hapgood

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

It is a tale as old as time: a mother and daughter, struggling to understand and outdo the other, not realizing the uniformity between them. They are duplicates, coded with the same DNA. The daughter strives to become more than her mother, and her mother watches and witnesses everything that she could have become. It is a battle for power, to be seen and verifiable. They bicker, yell, and cry, often unable to find common ground. Greta Gerwig coined this concept perfectly in her film Lady Bird, where the featured mother and daughter cannot do anything but scream at …

Shifting Mindsets: The Second Wave Of Feminism In Brian Friel’S The Freedom Of The City, Jennifer Tenner

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

In Brian Friel’s The Freedom of the City, Elizabeth Doherty (Lily) is a mother of eleven children who stumbles into the Guildhall, along with two young men, after a peaceful civil rights protest turns sour. During the hours spent in the Guildhall, Lily is subject to demeaning and oppressive comments. From the reporter Liam O’Kelly to Michael and Skinner, each of them makes quick assumptions about Lily without letting her speak, leading her to believe that she never had “an experience, an event, even a small unimportant happening been isolated, and assessed, and articulated”. However, over the course of …

The Reinterpretation Of The Round Shaker Barn: How Patriarchal Values Changed The Doctrine, History, And Architecture Of A Religion, Caroline Johnson

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

The Shaker Round Barn in Hancock Massachusetts has long been studied for its historical significance and insight into the life and beliefs of the nearly extinct religion. Within the discipline of art history, it is one of the only Shaker buildings discussed in entry-level architecture classes, portrayed to be the physical personification of the Shaker faith. The current narrative of the Shakers has simplified not only this particular structure but the entire religion, down to a few distinguishing characteristics: their name, which came from their exuberant worshiping practices; their founder, Mother Ann Lee, being the female reincarnate of Jesus Christ; …

Sui Sin Far Vs. Dehumanization, Hannah Swenson

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

In 1882, Chinese immigrants were deemed by Congress to be a corrupting influence in America; thus the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, barring Chinese laborer immigration and the naturalization of Chinese immigrants. Their foreign cultural customs made them “unassimilable,” and their strong work ethic and acceptance of extremely low wages “rendered them an economic threat and thus targets of racial violence”. In 1889, the United States Supreme Court upheld the act, stating that Chinese immigrants were “‘a different race . . . dangerous to [America’s] peace and security’”. Subsequent laws further marginalized Chinese residents, depriving them of legal rights and …

Contradictions, Emily Orton

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

The Woman Song, Olivia Sorenson

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

The People God Made, Starly Pratt

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Thoughts On Silence, Gaps, And Saturdays, Elizabeth Webb

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Red, Elizabeth Petersen

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Peter Pan wears green. I would watch him on the static TV screen, promising him, under my breath, that I wouldn’t grow up. It was a sincere secret between Peter and me. I would be the Wendy who stayed faithful. He would come for me. But that all changed when the red appeared one day.

I'M A Tomboy, Elizabeth Boyer

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

That summer, like many other summers, my cousins went camping. I wanted to join them despite my family of homebodies. My cousins were a family of athletes, and I believed standing amidst them might prove me as tough. I said I belonged there.

Elegy Of A Student Mother: On Miscarriage, Emily Lefevre Smith

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Dear baby,

It is amazing how much a single word can change one’s life forever. For me, it was a word on a test that I read alone in the bathroom on a Friday night in October. I was kneeling on the ground, trembling and praying that, just maybe, I would get lucky this time. Deep breath, shaking hands reaching forward, eyes opening with fearful anticipation to see what fate had dictated the test would say.

The Onus Of Belonging: A Woman’S Perspective, Emily Richael

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

In the fall of 2022, the BYU philosophy department offered a new feminist theories course. After a YouTube video attacking the course received nearly eight thousand views, a professor from the Global Women’s Studies program offered to stand guard outside the door on the first day of class.

Time To Go, Sophie Graham

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

INT. ANDREW’S ENTRY WAY - EVENING

LAUREN (early twenties) puts a key and a silver, diamond-studded letter “A” necklace on the counter. As she starts to leave, ANDREW (late twenties) walks in the door with takeout. Lauren freezes. Andrew kisses her and puts the food on the counter. He stops and inspects the discarded necklace.

Front Matter

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

The Untold Story Of Amy Beach, Alissa Dorman Ruff

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Minerva Teichert Award 2024

Honorable mention

I discovered the music of Amy Beach by chance while deciding on a program for an upcoming recital. While perusing the internet for repertoire, I stumbled upon a piece of hers entitled “Dreaming” from her Four Sketches, Op. 15. I was instantly entranced! I fell in love with the Brahmsian harmonies, the lulling triplets, and the yearning melody on the spot. I was also shocked that, as a piano performance major with several semesters’ worth of music history classes, I had never heard of her before. Intrigued, I visited the library to find her …

Marimba Spiritual— Minoru Miki, Anna Judd

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Minerva Teichert Award 2025

Honorable mention

Marimba Spiritual (1984) by Minoru Miki is a staple piece of marimba literature that is highly regarded amongst marimba players all around the world. The male composer, Minoru Miki, often wrote his pieces with one person in mind: Keiko Abe. Ms. Abe is considered one of the most virtuosic marimba players and is an inspiration to not only up-and-coming female marimbists but to all young musicians pursuing marimba performance. Minoru Miki saw and respected what Keiko Abe had to offer, and wrote many pieces either dedicated to her or written for her to play. …