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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Inside Out: Masculinity From Delinquent Cinema To New Queer Cinema, 1983-1991, Blue Aslan Philip Profitt May 2024

Inside Out: Masculinity From Delinquent Cinema To New Queer Cinema, 1983-1991, Blue Aslan Philip Profitt

Theses and Dissertations

With the rise of multiplexes, cable television, and video rental stores, the 1980s became a golden age for youth cinema in the U.S. While many scholars have researched this decade’s youth films, much of that attention is focused on the films of John Hughes and his collaborators, whose work mostly follows affluent teenagers enjoying high school traditions. This dissertation fills gaps in youth cinema scholarship by examining the period’s delinquent films. By studying six delinquent films released between 1983 and 1991, this project looks to the understudied connection between 1980s delinquent films and 1990s New Queer Cinema. In contrast to …


Race, Gender, And Inheritance: The Experience Of Black Farmers In Mississippi, Gbenga Idowu Elufisan May 2023

Race, Gender, And Inheritance: The Experience Of Black Farmers In Mississippi, Gbenga Idowu Elufisan

Theses and Dissertations

The population of Black farmers in the U.S. has declined to 2% of farmers in the U.S. because of institutional racism, land dispossession, heir’s property, and youth’s disinterest in farming. Most works on Black farmers have focused on racism, and heirs’ property, but little is known about the influence of race, gender, and inheritance on Black farmers’ experience. To understand this, I asked: what are the contemporary challenges associated with farming among Black farmers in Mississippi? How do race, gender, and inheritance influence the experiences of Black farmers? And how do Black farmers cope with their farming challenges? Twenty farmers …


Complex Stereotypes: Stereotypes Across The Intersections Of Gender, Sexuality, Age, Race/Ethnicity, And Social Class, Nicholas Heiserman Apr 2023

Complex Stereotypes: Stereotypes Across The Intersections Of Gender, Sexuality, Age, Race/Ethnicity, And Social Class, Nicholas Heiserman

Theses and Dissertations

Research on stereotypes and their consequences often focuses on discrete categorical stereotypes in isolation from each other (e.g. gender or race categories), and rarely centers the fact that people belong to many social categories at once (e.g. gender and race categories). I address this issue using two large factorial experiment (N=1,762 and N=1,481) designed to measure two core aspects of stereotypes, warmth and competence, across the intersections of multiple social categories: Gender, Sexuality, Age, Race/Ethnicity (Chapter 3), and Social Class (Chapter 2). In Chapter 2, I develop a framework for analyzing intersectional complexity in these data, beginning with overall measures …


Trans* Streamers On Twitch.Tv: The Intersections Of Gender And Digital Labor, R. Lawson Jan 2023

Trans* Streamers On Twitch.Tv: The Intersections Of Gender And Digital Labor, R. Lawson

Theses and Dissertations

Twitch.tv is a live entertainment platform where individuals live stream events, including playing video games, playing board and tabletop games, creating art, and more. Twitch has a diverse base of streamers, but Twitch has just begun. The most common approach has focused on cisgender, heterosexual white men in the cases where it has been studied. Though these streamers should be studied in sociology, this focus leaves out the experiences of both cis women and Trans* streamers. This research proposal tries to situate the relationship of Trans* streamers with both the platform and their audience, seeing if these relationships affect their …


Perceived Sexual Intent: Power, Relationship Status, And Gender, Joseph Eric Padgett Oct 2022

Perceived Sexual Intent: Power, Relationship Status, And Gender, Joseph Eric Padgett

Theses and Dissertations

Does lacking power cause people to think potential partners are less interested in engaging with them sexually? Do men and women perceive the interests of potential sex partners differently? Does the amount of sexual intent perceived by people who are in a romantic relationship differ from that of singles? Power has been shown to impact perceptions in other contexts, and the way people rate the attractiveness of potential mates is shown to differ depending upon their own relationship status. Similarly, gender differences are a central theme in discussions of sex related perceptions, preferences, and behaviors. In this study, I utilize …


Gendered Differences In The Effects Of Adverse Childhood Experiences On Adolescent Substance Use, Emley A. Holcombe Aug 2022

Gendered Differences In The Effects Of Adverse Childhood Experiences On Adolescent Substance Use, Emley A. Holcombe

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescence is a high-risk period for substance use, and the prevalence of adolescent substance use is a public health concern. Contributing factors for adolescent substance use are adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs are potentially traumatic childhood events that have negative associations with health and risk behaviors. The purpose of this study is to examine how the accumulation, timing, and duration of early ACEs (by age 5) impacts adolescent substance use. In addition, this study examines differences in these relationships by gender. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW) were used for the logistic regression analyses. The results …


Intimate Partner Violence In The Rio Grande Valley: The Role Of Culture, Tania Diaz Dec 2021

Intimate Partner Violence In The Rio Grande Valley: The Role Of Culture, Tania Diaz

Theses and Dissertations

Mexican culture along the border towns of the Rio Grande dominates views towards women and men experiencing violence in intimate relationships. However, there is a paucity of empirical studies relating to intimate partner violence in the Rio Grande Valley. This study addresses the dynamics of abusive relationship in a Hispanic community that can be influenced by cultural concepts such as familism and marianismo. The author utilized a mixed methods approach for this study that included a sample of (n = 513) surveys and (n = 13) interviews that were analyzed separately. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess …


“Before The World Gets Them”: The Impact Of Racialized Parenting On Black Mothers, Mia Brantley Oct 2021

“Before The World Gets Them”: The Impact Of Racialized Parenting On Black Mothers, Mia Brantley

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the distinct practices Black women implement to protect their children from both actualized and anticipatory experiences of racism, as well as its effects on their mothering experiences, health and well-being, as well as how they manage the emotional and mental toll of their children’s experiences. Race plays an integral role in shaping mothering practices. More specifically, motherwork examines how Black mothers ensure the physical, mental, and emotional survival of their children in the face of micro-and macro-level structures that perpetuate racism and inequality. However, much is left to explore regarding the interconnectedness between Black women’s motherwork, linked …


Warning! Explicit Material: The Effects Of Adolescent Pornography Use On Risky Sexual Behavior Over Time, Emily Jensen-Schvaneveldt Aug 2021

Warning! Explicit Material: The Effects Of Adolescent Pornography Use On Risky Sexual Behavior Over Time, Emily Jensen-Schvaneveldt

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the longitudinal effects of adolescent pornography trajectories on risky sexual behavior, as well as predictors of pornography trajectories. Data was taken from Waves V-X of the Flourishing Families Project, which included a sample of 463 families. A zero-inflated Poisson growth mixture model was run to determine class participation and growth trajectories. Findings revealed that gender and religiosity significantly predicted class participation, and class participation significantly predicted risky sexual behavior. While this study did have limitations, this study adds to the previous literature by examining adolescent pornography trajectories over an extended period of time.


“Mirrors Can Give Us Space To Imagine…” Representations Of Gender And Sexuality In Bbc’S Dracula (2020), Riana S. Slyter Aug 2021

“Mirrors Can Give Us Space To Imagine…” Representations Of Gender And Sexuality In Bbc’S Dracula (2020), Riana S. Slyter

Theses and Dissertations

What follows discusses how BBC’s Dracula uses character representations, scripted dialogue, and narrative to challenge and perpetuate the dominant ideologies of our society. Dracula exposes the tensions in the growing cultural acceptance of, but also increased resistance to, the fluidity of gender and sexuality in contemporary western culture. I contextualize representations of women and queer characters in Dracula with the broader issues of gender and sexuality in our current socio-political environment. Queer horror looks at Dracula as a text that arouses cultural anxieties concerning sexuality, while also attempting to illustrate fear within queer communities and subcultures. In many ways, the …


Joan Rivers: Comedy And Identity On The Road To Fashion Police, Melanie Gaw Aug 2021

Joan Rivers: Comedy And Identity On The Road To Fashion Police, Melanie Gaw

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes how Joan Rivers’ comedy content and style changed during the first 30 years of her career and how these changes impacted Rivers’ presentation of her identity as a Jewish female comedian. This project focuses on Joan Rivers’ career in two sections: her early career with its reliance on a self-deprecatory style of humor spanning roughly from her first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1965 to the early 1980s, and a transitional period in her career that saw a shift toward a celebrity gossip style of humor during the 1980s. I perform textual analyses of some of …


Cross-National Analysis Of Mothers' Occupational Status In Germany And The United States: Before And After Germany's Work-Family Policy Changes, Paige N. Park Jul 2021

Cross-National Analysis Of Mothers' Occupational Status In Germany And The United States: Before And After Germany's Work-Family Policy Changes, Paige N. Park

Theses and Dissertations

In many OECD countries, women are underrepresented in the highest status, highest paying positions and overrepresented in the lowest status, lowest paying positions. One potential reason for this inequity is the "motherhood penalty," where women with children face more roadblocks in hiring and promotions. This research investigates occupational segregation among mothers and fathers and analyzes whether gender gaps in occupational status are more extreme for immigrant populations. Using data from the Luxembourg Cross-National Data Center, I compare changes in gender occupational segregation from 2000 to 2016 in Germany and the United States among immigrant and native-born parents. Multinomial logistic regression …


Men, Women And Witchcraft: The Feminist Reclamation Of The Witch In The Modern Horror Film, Brian Joseph Hadsell Aug 2020

Men, Women And Witchcraft: The Feminist Reclamation Of The Witch In The Modern Horror Film, Brian Joseph Hadsell

Theses and Dissertations

The witch as a figure possesses a powerful and enduring legacy in Euro-American culture; she is both a victim of patriarchal persecution and the natural enemy of a deeply-gendered society. Recent horror films that employ the witch, however, have generally done so in the form of reclaimed feminist icon: a violently retributive figure avenging the wrongs done to women both past and present. The purpose of this research is to provide insight about our acutely gendered society and culture in the times during and preceding the #MeToo movement through a semiological analysis of three recent horror films that center on …


Gender Dynamics In Charreria Mexicana, Karen Melissa Flores Tavizon May 2020

Gender Dynamics In Charreria Mexicana, Karen Melissa Flores Tavizon

Theses and Dissertations

This research and analysis about the experiences of women in charrería show the pervasive negotiation of needs that they engage as practicing in an Escaramuza Charra. Inside this study, it is introduced the term Sisterhood Paradox, used to describe the struggle that represents the Escaramuza’s constant collective performance, in comparison to charros, but that paradoxically serves a tool of resistance of charra women inside this patriarchal institution. In this piece of work, it is also argued that women in charrería, in many cases, are not aware of the subordinate position they occupy and in an unconscious way function as agents …


Come And Get Your Capital, Sis: The Use Of Twitter To Compensate For Gendered And Racialized Job Networks Among Creatives, Sasha A. Pierre- Louis Jan 2020

Come And Get Your Capital, Sis: The Use Of Twitter To Compensate For Gendered And Racialized Job Networks Among Creatives, Sasha A. Pierre- Louis

Theses and Dissertations

Due to racialized and gendered exclusion and discrimination, Black and women jobseekers do not have the same access to social ties in the labor market as white men. A number of Black Twitter users, particularly Black women, have cultivated networks on Twitter and elsewhere as explicit alternatives to this old boys’ network. This study aimed to understand how workers in creative industries—which tend to be more reliant on referrals—use Twitter to expand their social networks and gain access to job opportunities, and how their use of Twitter differed by race and gender. Four hashtags were queried through the Twitter application …


An Intersectional Analysis Of The Role Race And Gender Play In Welfare Recipients’ And Case Manager Experiences, Stephanie Baran Dec 2019

An Intersectional Analysis Of The Role Race And Gender Play In Welfare Recipients’ And Case Manager Experiences, Stephanie Baran

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of food insecurity in Milwaukee and how people receiving benefit assistance understand themselves, others and how they thought others understand them. This frame was duplicated for social workers and poverty organizations in the Milwaukee area. Using a series of theoretical viewpoints, the study utilizes racial theories, as well as, symbolic violence and annihilation to discuss how various aspects of recipients, social workers and poverty organizations interact within the theoretical margins. Taking place over one and a half years and including 350 observation hours at a local food pantry, the study found that respondents feel …


Cw Is Open To All: Post-Difference Representation And Hegemonic Time-Travel Narratives In Dc's Legends Of Tomorrow, Claire Elizabeth Hackett Aug 2019

Cw Is Open To All: Post-Difference Representation And Hegemonic Time-Travel Narratives In Dc's Legends Of Tomorrow, Claire Elizabeth Hackett

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis examines how a post-difference perspective, where diversity is shallowly embraced, can influence the characters and narratives of a television show, with DC’s Legends of Tomorrow as the prime example. Legends is a great example of this because it is an ensemble show that features characters who are from different races, religions, sexualities, ages, genders and historical time periods. A post-difference lens myopically pushes the narrative that everyone in society is equal, and the discrimination faced by marginalized communities is no longer relevant. This perspective is problematic because it reinforces how whiteness is the norm in society, and the …


Marriage Maintenance, Miscategorization, And New Manifestations: How People Are Reinforcing And Disrupting Gender And Sexual Inequalities In Married Life, Daniel John Bartholomay Aug 2019

Marriage Maintenance, Miscategorization, And New Manifestations: How People Are Reinforcing And Disrupting Gender And Sexual Inequalities In Married Life, Daniel John Bartholomay

Theses and Dissertations

This research positions marriage as an institution that has historically served to privilege men, masculinity and heterosexuality. Overall, this project is intended to advance our understanding of gender and sexual inequalities in the realms of marriage and family by examining the lived experiences of married people. It draws on data from 41 in-depth interviews conducted with married people living in Wisconsin, many of whom identify as part of the LGBT+ community. Using qualitative social science methods, this research speaks to unanswered questions regarding the capacity of a more gender-fluid society to reshape key social institutions (like marriage) in ways that …


Conformity Among College Students: The Effect Of Gender On Sexually Violent Beliefs, Hanna Christine Klecka May 2019

Conformity Among College Students: The Effect Of Gender On Sexually Violent Beliefs, Hanna Christine Klecka

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual violence continues to be a global issue that yields startling statistics of victimhood among collegiate populations. This study explores relationships between gender, social influence, conformity, and gender role orientation, in addition to the impact these factors have on perceptions of sexual violence. Undergraduate students (N = 210) evaluated a vignette detailing a case of possible sexual assault after reading about decisions indicating victim blaming made by previous groups of students. The results showed one’s predisposition to conform and endorse traditional gender roles predicted the likelihood to victim blame and endorse rape myths. Additionally, results revealed that the gender of …


Partisans And Soldiers: Themes Of Gender And The Commemoration Of Jewish Resistance In The Soviet Union During World War Ii, Taylor Marie Dews May 2019

Partisans And Soldiers: Themes Of Gender And The Commemoration Of Jewish Resistance In The Soviet Union During World War Ii, Taylor Marie Dews

Theses and Dissertations

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, thousands of Red Army soldiers, peasants, and Jewish men, women, and children escaped imprisonment and certain death by fleeing into the vast forests of Belorussia. Using oral histories, archival websites, and survivor testimony, this thesis explores the Soviet partisan units and the Jewish partisan units and family camps that were organized in the forests and raises questions including: How do the experiences of Jewish women in the partisans compare with Jewish women who fought in the Red Army? How are the Jewish partisans remembered around the world today? What postwar …


Major Decisions: Religious Women And Their Perceptions Of Women In Stem Majors, Mandy Lou Pershing Apr 2019

Major Decisions: Religious Women And Their Perceptions Of Women In Stem Majors, Mandy Lou Pershing

Theses and Dissertations

Women still lack representation in many Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields, particularly those with high earning potential. Past studies on women who study STEM have failed to acknowledge the impact of religious values on choice of major among women. Using data collected at a religiously-affiliated university in 2013, this study explores how 24 religious women made decisions about majoring in STEM fields. The results from this sample closely follow the literature review, while also adding many new layers to understanding how religious women make decisions about STEM. Themes identified using this approach are useful for designing future studies …


A Content-Analytic Meta-Analysis Of Gender Stereotyping In Screen Media, Lee Whitney Essig Apr 2018

A Content-Analytic Meta-Analysis Of Gender Stereotyping In Screen Media, Lee Whitney Essig

Theses and Dissertations

Thousands of studies have investigated the gendered portrayals in various forms of media. Researchers believe that considering gendered media content is important, as gender stereotypes have been found to influence development, often with adverse outcomes. Although a vast body of research on gender stereotypes has accumulated, little effort has been made to synthesize this literature. The purpose of this paper is to collect and analyze the results of content-analytic studies of gender portrayals across several forms of media including television, television commercials, movies, video games, music videos, and various forms of print media into a comprehensive paper on gender stereotypes …


A Content-Analytic Meta-Analysis Of Gender Stereotyping In Screen Media, Lee Whitney Essig Apr 2018

A Content-Analytic Meta-Analysis Of Gender Stereotyping In Screen Media, Lee Whitney Essig

Theses and Dissertations

Thousands of studies have investigated the gendered portrayals in various forms of media. Researchers believe that considering gendered media content is important, as gender stereotypes have been found to influence development, often with adverse outcomes. Although a vast body of research on gender stereotypes has accumulated, little effort has been made to synthesize this literature. The purpose of this paper is to collect and analyze the results of content-analytic studies of gender portrayals across several forms of media including television, television commercials, movies, video games, music videos, and various forms of print media into a comprehensive paper on gender stereotypes …


"Don't Be Such A Girl, I'M Only Joking!" Post-Alternative Comedy, British Panel Shows, And Masculine Spaces, Lindsay Anne Weber Aug 2017

"Don't Be Such A Girl, I'M Only Joking!" Post-Alternative Comedy, British Panel Shows, And Masculine Spaces, Lindsay Anne Weber

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the gender disparity in British panel shows. In February 2014 the BBC’s Director of Television enforced a quota stating panel shows needed to include one woman per episode. This quota did not fully address the ways in which the gender imbalance was created. This thesis argues that the gender imbalance stems from post-feminist sensibilities and masculine-centric trends in British comedy and culture. This work demonstrates this through a discourse analysis of the opinions expressed about panel shows by the British popular press and media personalities from 2002 to 2017. The discourse analysis exposes patterns where British producers …


Which Activities Count? Gender And Socioeconomic Differences In The Conceptualization Of Physical Activity: The Role Of Leisure, Housework And Dependent Care, And Paid Work, Rachel N. Cusatis Jun 2017

Which Activities Count? Gender And Socioeconomic Differences In The Conceptualization Of Physical Activity: The Role Of Leisure, Housework And Dependent Care, And Paid Work, Rachel N. Cusatis

Theses and Dissertations

Survey research on the overall health and physical activity of the United States has relied on self-reports from questions that ask about leisure-only activity. Leisure activity patterns are known to be plagued by social forces that inhibit access and opportunity for women, compared to men, and for lower-socioeconomic individuals, compared to higher-socioeconomic individuals, making the further unpacking of leisure and other time use patterns imperative. To address this, the objective of this dissertation is to assess the different pathways individuals take to engage in health-benefiting physical activity and investigate the reliability and validity of physical activity survey questions as they …


Examining The Processes Of Social Construction On Decision-Making In Domestic Violence Probation Review Hearings, Danielle M. Romain May 2017

Examining The Processes Of Social Construction On Decision-Making In Domestic Violence Probation Review Hearings, Danielle M. Romain

Theses and Dissertations

In domestic violence courts, judges and other court actors are often trained on one particular model of understanding domestic violence: the Duluth model of violence as power and control. There are, however, different theories and discourses about the causes and nature of domestic violence. Further, specialized domestic violence courts, which have become more prevalent since the 1990s, employ a problem-solving approach to domestic violence, focusing on offender accountability, rehabilitation, and victim safety. Whether these courts reduce violence and increase safety is less clear. Further, limited research exists on how offenders are processed through these courts, including post-sentencing decision-making. Given the …


Queer Literary Criticism And The Biographical Fallacy, Shawna Lipton May 2016

Queer Literary Criticism And The Biographical Fallacy, Shawna Lipton

Theses and Dissertations

“Queer Literary Criticism and the Biographical Fallacy” engages with three fields of inquiry within literary studies: queer literary criticism, modernist studies, and author theory. By looking at the critical reception of four iconic queer modernist authors – Oscar Wilde, Henry James, Radclyffe Hall, and Virginia Woolf– this dissertation reinvestigates the relation between criticism and the figure of the author. Queer criticism-- despite its fundamental critique of identity—relies on the identity of the author when it blurs the distinction between the literary text and the author’s biography. Ultimately this work provides a deeper understanding of the queer relation to the modernist …


Hooking Up, Sexual Attitudes, And Parental Repartnering Choices: Variations At The Intersection Of Race And Gender, Nathaniel Aaron Stoddard Jun 2015

Hooking Up, Sexual Attitudes, And Parental Repartnering Choices: Variations At The Intersection Of Race And Gender, Nathaniel Aaron Stoddard

Theses and Dissertations

Using a subsample of emerging adults from the Stepfamily Experiences Project (n = 989), we examine how parents' repartnering choices (nonmarital and premarital cohabitation) influence their emerging adult children's commitment-related relationship attitudes (attitudes about sex in committed relationships) and behaviors (hooking up). We further examine these processes at the intersection of race and gender. In this way, we expand the current emerging adult literature by exploring two understudied populations: emerging adults who grew up in stepfamilies, and emerging adults from diverse racial backgrounds. We divided our sample by race (black, Latino, American Indian, white, and multiracial) and gender, resulting in …


Sardanapalus And Gender: Examining Gender In The Works Of Byron And Delacroix, Stacey Schmiesing May 2015

Sardanapalus And Gender: Examining Gender In The Works Of Byron And Delacroix, Stacey Schmiesing

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the gender standards as portrayed in Lord Byron's play Sardanapalus (1824) and Eugène Delacroix's painting Death of Sardanapalus (1828). These Romantic artists were part of a movement that changed gender rules forever. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought about a culture that was more visual than ever and symbols of gender identity were everywhere. Rules of masculinity evolved from valuing raw power to including middle class virtues like moderation. Women continued to be objects of male desire but also began to represent the nation and its history. To explore the specific gender relationships within Byron's play and …


Racial And Gender Differences In College Completion Among Minority Students: A Social Network Approach, Daneka Natlay Souberbielle Mar 2015

Racial And Gender Differences In College Completion Among Minority Students: A Social Network Approach, Daneka Natlay Souberbielle

Theses and Dissertations

College enrollment has improved among Black and Latino students during the last several decades due partly to the influence of formal and informal mentors and increasing parental support of higher education. However, college completion for these underrepresented minority groups continues to lag behind graduation rates for White students. This research sought to examine whether pre-college relationships influence college completion. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Freshmen, this study tested the direct and indirect effects of social capital from pre-college networks, including parental capital and mentor capital, race and gender on college completion utilizing logistic regression. The results indicated …