Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Online Gender Discussions: Student Experiences In Discussions Of Gender Diversity, Rory Andrew Mckenzie

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examined graduate level students’ experiences of (mainly gender) diversity in the online classroom. The philosophical framework for this study came from John Rawls’ work utilizing the veil of ignorance as a strategy to create more objective determinations free from situational and circumstantial biases. Both critical pedagogy and the theory that individuals construct social and cultural meaning through communication provided the theoretical foundations for the thesis. The study analyzed experiences of the students via their contributions to the online discussion boards.. The study also utilized interviews of current and former students to discuss their experiences with diversity in their …

Reel Women: Gender Stereotypes In Film, Kayla Marie Krahn

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Horror films portray female characters as sexual, helpless victims. When horror films attempt to portray female characters as the hero, this sends a message to audiences that women can be strong and independent. An experiment was conducted to test an audience's perceptions gender stereotypes of women in the horror film, Scream. Results indicate that stereotypes present in the horror film effected the participants' perception of women as competent heroes. Female participants were also more likely to perceive women as more competent than male participants. Then, from a qualitative standpoint, five individuals were interviewed about their perceptions of characters in their …

Gender Wage Gap Matters To Women In Low-Wage Occupations: Hispanic Women Face Largest Pay Inequities, Center For Women In Politics And Public Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Much of the existing research on the gender gap in pay focuses on its impact on women who are middle- and upper-income earners in highly skilled occupations, such as medicine, law, and business. There has been less emphasis on the impact of pay inequity on low-income women working in low-wage occupations.

A Generalized Ordered Response Model, Carla Johnston, Dr. James Mcdonald

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Does happiness depend on income? What puts people at risk to become “heavy smokers?” Do gender and wage affect job promotion? The answers to these varied questions have one thing in common: they employ grouped or categorical data. Happiness is often reported on cales of 1 to 10 (Winkelmann 2005). Tobacco users and cigarette smokers are asked if they are “non-users,” “light users,” or “heavy users” (Harris and Zhao 2007). In some professions, such as the British nursing field, careers are assigned ranks from one to six Pudney and Shields 2000). Categsorization often cannot be avoided when collecting data. The …

Predictive Factors Of Gender, Attitudes Towards Sec, And Relationships On Signs Of Dating Violence In Japan, Joshua Murphy, Niwako Yamawaki

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Domestic violence is on the rise and poses serious societal and health concerns. Studies have shown that between 21% and 34% of all women in the United States will be physically assaulted by an intimate partner (Browne, 1993). Shockingly, 1 of every 5 female high school students have reported physical and/or sexual assault by her date (Silverman, Raj, Mucci, & Hathaway, 2001). Furthermore, in Japan a study done by Nakata (2007) found that 30% of female high school participants reported they had experienced unwanted sexual activity. It is important that this study occurs given the lack of investigation in adolescents’ …

Commentary “The Sexualized-Body-Inversion Hypothesis Revisited: Valid Indicator Of Sexual Objectification Or Methodological Artifact?”, Philippe Bernard, Sarah Gervais, Jill Allen, Olivier Klein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A commentary on The sexualized-body-inversion hypothesis revisited: Valid indicator of sexual objectification or methodological artifact? by Schmidt, A. F., and Kistemaker, L. M. (2015). Cognition 134, 77-84. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2014.09.003

Recent objectification research found results consistent with the sexualized body-inversion hypothesis (SBIH): People relied on analytic, “object-like” processing when recognizing sexualized female bodies and on configural processing when recognizing sexualized male bodies (Bernard et al., 2012). Specifically, Bernard et al. (2012) showed that perceivers were better at recognizing sexualized male bodies when the bodies were presented upright than upside down, whereas this pattern did not emerge for sexualized female …

Climate Change Discourse And Gendered Communication, Meagan Newsom Pierluissi

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Climate change is one of the most critical threats facing the 21st century. The effects on the planet, humankind, jobs, food supply, and other vital resources increase every year. Those communicating these details to the American public through mass media are doing so with gendered discourse. This study analyzes three speeches from predominant climate change communicators representing three different platforms: politician Al Gore, cultural figure Leonardo DiCaprio, and climate scientist James Hansen. Using discourse analysis informed by feminist standpoint theory, this study suggests that frames, words, phrases, and communication styles embedded in discussions of climate change continue to use gendered …

Anticipatory Socialization Of Pregnant Women: Learning Fetal Sex And Gendered Interactions, Medora W. Barnes

Sociology

Although doctors still frequently call out “It’s a girl!” when a baby girl is born, the majority of mothers now use ultrasound to find out the sex months earlier. This study examines how women who learn the sex of their fetus before birth are engaging in gendered verbal interactions throughout pregnancy. These include types of conversations, usage of gendered pronouns, and calling the unborn baby by a given name. These changes in behaviors by pregnant woman once fetal sex is known can be seen as a form of anticipatory socialization, as they begin to practice the behaviors and values associated …

The Moderating Role Of Parental Warmth On The Relation Between Verbal Punishment And Child Problem Behaviors For Same-Sex And Cross-Sex Parent-Child Groups, Maria Roberta L. Anonas, Liane Peña Alampay

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

This study investigates the relation between parental verbal punishment and externalizing and internalizing behavior problems in Filipino children, and the moderating role of parental warmth in this relation, for same-sex (mothers-girls; fathers-boys) and cross-sex parent-child groups (mothers-boys; fathers-girls). Measures used were the Rohner Parental Acceptance-Rejection and Control Scale (PARQ/Control), the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBC), and a discipline measure (DI) constructed for the study. Participants were 117 mothers and 98 fathers of 61 boys and 59 girls who responded to a discipline interview, the Parental Acceptance-Rejection and Control scale (PARQ/Control) and the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist via oral interviews. Hierarchical …

The Relationship Between Religiousness And Bullying Among Parochial High School Students In The Southeast, Matthew Adam Willis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Bullying and peer abuses are persistent problems in the educational community. Many studies have been undertaken that focus on the aftermath of bullying or prevention of abuse, but few have focused on social variables and their relationship to bullying and peer abuses. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is any relationship between an individual's self-reported levels of religiousness and their perspectives on bullying. The study used a correlational design. This design analyzed students who have taken the Olweus bullying scale and a religious commitment survey. The surveys were analyzed using the Stepwise regression model. Understanding the …

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 …

The Relationship Between Gender And Perceived Stress Levels In College Students, Meghan Gilbert

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

Previous research on stress in adults demonstrates that stress, even perceived stress, can take a toll on an individual’s health. Research also indicates that the severity of stress in college students has been rapidly increasing, which indicates a need for more investigation in this area. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference between the stress levels of male and female college students and, if so, whether there is another factor involved that can account for this difference. The participants consisted of students attending Brigham Young University who were also active members of The Church …

The Gendered Image : An Art And Literature Based Curriculum For High School Audiences, Emily Erwin-Mcguire

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This curriculum uses images, artwork, literature and media to facilitate conversations to build knowledge and understanding about feminism and self-identity. It is designed to be used by educators of high school students in school, museum or after school settings.

Institutionalized Racism And The Death Penalty, Ashleigh Ellis

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Overtime, support for capital punishment has evolved. Compared to previous decades, support has changed amongst different variables such as: age, race, gender, and political perspective; therefore, today, these variables have changed the amount of support for it. For example, as of today, 6 states have repealed the death penalty with New Jersey being the first in 2007 to do so in 40 years. As memories of Jim Crow and the Civil Rights era have faded due to generational replacement, American society today still has this racial gap, however it is due to this racial resentment or symbolic resentment that the …

Names Are Words: A Study Of Age, Gender, Class And Race, Alexandria Michelle Baker

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Just over 4 million babies are born in the United States each year, and as many people know each baby eventually gets a name. In an extension of research demonstrating both Symbolic Interaction Theory and the Coordinated Management of Meaning, through the use of semantics and pragmatics, the present study examined what names communicate about age, race, gender and class. Using data obtained from the first group of participants in Survey 1(i.e. names of each individual and their demographics), Survey 2 participants, a random sampling of Americans, were asked to look at 14 names and determine what those names communicated. …

Gendered Legislation: Effects Of Percentages Of Females In Legislatures On Policy, Elizabeth Gribbins

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Does the amount of women in the legislature have an effect on the type of legislation passed? Wide variation exists in gender parity across countries; however, whether or not the amount of women in legislatures has an effect on the type of policy that is proposed and/or passed by the government is largely overlooked. In this analysis, I analyze the percentage of women in the legislature and six measures of women’s rights in 139 countries. I have found that there exists a small positive statistical relationship between the percentage of women in the lower legislature and the more legislation passed …

A Study Of Domestic Violence And Patriarchal Ideologies In Popular Men’S Magazines, Annika M. Wilcox

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This study examines the prevalence and nature of the portrayals of domestic violence in popular men’s magazines. The sample consists of 20 articles drawn from five popular men’s magazines. The small size of the available sample exemplifies that articles discussing domestic violence continue to be relatively uncommon. Through the qualitative method of continuous comparative analysis, this study identifies four common perspectives that are exhibited within articles on domestic violence: gender symmetry, feminist, GS-Neutral, and F-Neutral. The most common perspective, gender symmetry, was exhibited by 45% (9 of 20) of the articles, and is characterized by an ignorance of the context …

The Evolution Of Disney Princesses And Their Effect On Body Image, Gender Roles, And The Portrayal Of Love, Rachael Michelle Johnson

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

The media plays an essential role in determining people’s schemas of the real world, assumptions about cultural ideals, and perceptions surrounding body image, gender roles, and the idealization of love (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2008; Herbozo, Tantleff-Dunn, Gokee-Larose, & Thompson, 2004). Children in particular are vulnerable to these messages due to their high consumption of media and their cognitive development (Agarwal & Dhanasekaran, 2012; Herbozo et al., 2004). Disney is one the most powerful aspects in children’s media and their princess phenomenon plays an essential role in perpetuating stereotypes by having their heroines embody submissiveness, being young and thin, and attracting …

Implicit Association Of Gender And Politics, Bryonna Bowen, Jessica Preece

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The gender gap in participation, capability, and interest in politics has been widely researched. However, in this project we examined whether or not people implicitly identify men more strongly than women with politics. Furthermore, I was interested to determine to what extent everyday media exposure, particularly focusing on a specific gender, could influence an individual’s implicit biases. Mock newspaper articles, with either male or female political subjects, were used to further determine the effect of media content on people’s gender biases. While self-reported prejudices may be inconsistent and untrustworthy, I used the implicit association test (IAT) to assess the patterns …

The Weight Of Gender, Bintou Marong

Senior Honors Projects

Abstract

Gender ideologies form the basis of how we view men and women as masculine and feminine. Through more traditional gender ideologies, men are generally taught to act and look as “manly” as possible while females are to look and remain as “womanly” as possible. So as long as one does not perform gender in ways that disrupt or blur the lines of these ideologies, conflict does not arise. But for women who deviate from the status quo and develop moderate to extreme muscularity, their gender and perceived femininity is often questioned and conflict often arises in their lives. Comments …

Gender Differentiation In Paid And Unpaid Work During The Transition To Parenthood, Medora W. Barnes

Sociology

The transition to parenthood may be especially difficult because relationships need to be largely reorganized to meet demanding new challenges. For scholars interested in gender inequality, the transition to parenthood is a critical time in which gender differentiation is generated by both economic and cultural forces. Although newly married childless couples tend to share both paid and unpaid labor rather equally, when men and women become parents, their patterns become increasingly differentiated by gender. Cultural beliefs that emphasize mothers as the primary parent and fathers as secondary reinforce unequal patterns in housework and childcare. Time availability models, bargaining perspectives, and …

Looking Back At The Media's Future: A Mixed Method Analysis Of Race And Gender Bias During The 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary Season, Tim Vance

Dissertations

Political knowledge has been defined as the individual’s ability to recall candidate names, personal characteristics, and qualifications. Furthermore, it is the ability to identify election issues, current campaign developments, and recognize connections between candidates and issue positions (C. Atkin & Heald, 1976). I posit that political knowledge has become much more…and much less.

I have introduced, in this paper, a number of sources for political learning: ads, newspapers, YouTube, and television news. All hold some interest for investigation as political knowledge sources, but methodology cannot be standardized across all sources. As such, the focus of the qualitative part of this …

Siren Song: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Gender And Intimate Partner Violence In Gotham City Sirens, Katlin Schmidt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project investigates comic book discourse. Specifically, I investigate how comic narratives provide readers with an interpretation for how they should discern and assess “appropriate” behaviors for women. The artifact of analysis included in this project is DC Comics Gotham City Sirens (2009). This text features popular female superheroes, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. Because comic books utilize both textual and visual means to disseminate a message, this project evaluates the visual rhetoric of these characters within the narrative. Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm is used to provide an understanding to how these visual means contribute to the meanings assigned …

Gender, Personality, And Self Esteem As Predictors Of Social Media Presentation, Heng Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an age when people make and maintain relationships in online environments, creating and sustaining impressions online becomes equally important. For a better understanding of social networking sites usage, the present study examines the influence of gender, personality, and selfesteem on social media presentation. The goal of this study is to investigate individuals‘ expressions through social media in order to determine if they reflect the author‘s gender, personality, and levels of self-esteem. Quantitative analysis was used in this study through survey and SPSS content analysis. The researcher found that neuroticism was related to selfpresentation, and agreeableness is related to Facebook …

Stand Strong, Stand Proud: Alternative And Pariah Femininities In San Diego's Punk Rock Community, Steve Moog

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since its inception nearly 40 years ago, punk rock has often been understood as a Social space for rebellion and resistance to dominant cultural norms. As such, punk rock culture becomes fertile ground for explorations of subversive constructions of genders. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the San Diego punk rock community, this thesis unpacks the construction, embodiment and enactment of alternative and pariah forms of femininities and examines their impact on gender dynamics within the scene. Ultimately, this thesis argues that (1) the San Diego punk rock community is a space where alternative and pariah femininities can be embodied …

Unrealistic Weeds Of Love And Romance: The Korean Drama And The "Flower Boy" Genre, Colby Y. Miyose

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The concept of love has intrigued many social critics, and has led them to accuse media of perpetuating unrealistic notions of romance that are unattainable for a healthy and satisfying relationship. Unrealistic expectations of love and romance are a primary cause of relationship dissatisfaction among real couples. It is imperative to critically analyze media sources in order to gain knowledge of how to counter unhealthy notions of romance. Korean dramas (K-dramas) typically present a scenario in which strong mutual love and desire between two people come into conflict with existing sociocultural values. The kkonminam (Flower Boy) genre in particular, caters …

Gender, Employment Status, And Unpaid Household Labor: A Test Of The Time Availability Perspective On Housework, Child Care, And Emotion Work Before, During, And After The 2007 U.S. Economic Recession, Allison Sahl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Using the American Time Use Survey (2003-2011), I examine gender differences in time spent performing housework, child care, and emotion work before, during, and after the 2007 U.S. economic recession. This study draws on three primary theoretical perspectives; time availability theory, gender socialization theories, and relative resources theory, to explain differences in unpaid household labor tasks. I examine these differences across three time periods to explain the recessionary impact on the division of household labor. With a sample of 22,507 respondents, I employ ordinary least squares regression models to predict the total number of minutes per day that respondents spend …

Online Mormon Self-Presentation: Content Analysis Of Mormon.Org And Ldssingles.Com Profiles, Megan Marie Fereday

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to examine online Mormon self-presentation, specifically in the context of Mormon.org and LDSSingles.com (LDSSO). To examine the different styles of self-presentation used in Mormon.org and LDSSO profiles, this study drew upon self-presentation theory (Goffman, 1959; Jones, 1990; Jones & Pittman, 1982) and analyzed profiles according to Dominick's (1990) definitions of Jones and Pittman's (1982) five self-presentation strategies. In addition, this study examined the relationship between a profile poster's sex and the self-presentation strategies exhibited in his or her Mormon.org or LDSSO profile. Content analysis of 100 (50 male and 50 female) Mormon.org and 100 (50 male and …

"It's Kind Of Apples And Oranges": Gay College Males' Conceptions Of Gender Transgression As Poverty, Daniel Tillapaugh, Z Nicolazzo

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

This paper explores the ways in which gay males in college make meaning of gender variance and transgressions from the gender binary as a form of poverty. Using epistemological bricolage, the researchers analyzed data from 17 self-identified gay cisgender males attending three colleges in Southern California. Participants represented an array of racial backgrounds and were between 20 and 23 years old. The researchers posit that three key elements influence these gay males’ meaning making: (1) gender coding and policing, (2) hyperawareness of gender transgressions, and (3) reifying hegemonic masculinity.

Students Talk About Gender And Race Within The Classroom, Amanda Lucock

Media and Communication Studies Honors Papers

This study attempts to gain a better understanding of students’ experiences and perceptions of conversations about gender and race in the classroom. Specifically, this study focuses on issues and concerns that arise in the course of talking about gender and race. There were over 20 hours of classes observed, eight one-on-one in-depth interviews, and over three hours of recorded classroom conversations. Through my analysis, I found that students used several devices, including storytelling and attacking, to speak about these taboo issues within the classroom.