From Patriarchal Stereotypes To Matriarchal Pleasures Of Hybridity: Representation Of A Muslim Family In Berlin, Rahime Özgün Kehya Dr

Journal of Religion & Film

Sinan Çetin’s blockbuster Berlin in Berlin (1993) is a Turkish-German co-production. In contrast to certain representational tendencies with German orientalism or Turkish occidentalism, it deconstructs the intersectional structures of migration, religion, and gender. The portrayal of religion in films about Turkish-German labour migration is a kind of cultural narcissism often projected into national cinema by denigrating the faith of the other and glorifying one’s own religion. However, perspectives at such intersections are critical and require sensitivity in filmmaking, as films can create prejudice or help build peaceful relationships around these sensitive issues. The paper employs discourse analysis in linking Derrida’s …

Digital Waves: Communicating Feminist Movements, Shauna M. Macdonald

Feminist Pedagogy

Online learning provides opportunities for pedagogical growth and innovation. When tasked with teaching an undergraduate Gender and Communication class during a virtual semester (amid the COVID-19 pandemic), I sought ways to engage students through online technologies rather than working against or despite them. The Digital Waves (DW) assignment, one that asks students to research and then create digital representations of a particular “wave” of feminism, was one of several strategies I adopted; it quickly evolved into a favorite.

Symbolic Annihilation And Stereotyping Of Native American Women In News: A Content Analysis Of Health, Safety, And Economic Status Related News, Shreyoshi Ghosh

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

This is an exploratory study on the safety, economic, and health challenges of Native American women who constitute about 1.5% of the American population. With the symbolic annihilation and stereotyping of Native American people and women of color, there was a need to study the portrayal of Native American women in news. The findings indicated there was a growth in news coverage during 2018-19 and safety, including missing and murdered, emerged as a key topic. But symbolic annihilation in health and economic status including pay gap news was significant. Health news mostly covered maternal health and deaths but excluded most …

Re-Framing Gender: An Analysis Of Journalism’S Social Media Characterization Of Female Presidential Candidates During The 2020 Presidential Election, Taylor Kiernan

Dissertations

The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without those who supported me both academically and personally throughout this process.

I would like to thank my dissertation chair and mentor, Dr. Christopher Campbell whose expertise and guidance made this research possible. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members Dr. David Davies, Dr. Cheryl Jenkins, Dr. Laura Stengrim, and Dr. Fei Xue, for their guidance and advice during the research process, as well as their expertise in the classroom which molded my abilities as a researcher during my time at The University of Southern Mississippi.

I …

When The Victim Becomes The Accused: A Critical Analysis Of Silence And Power In The Sexual Harassment Case Of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford And Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Erendira Torres

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether silence was performed as an act of submission or power in the sexual harassment case of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh in 2018. Additionally, this study was concerned with how gender role expectations were communicatively represented throughout the hearing. This qualitative case study took a Critical approach through a Feminist Poststructural lens, navigating through concepts such as: discourse, silence, and gender as a cultural construct.

“I’M Real I Thought I Told Ya”: Developing Critical Media Literacy Through U.S. Latinx Digital Media Representations, Solange T. Castellar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores how audiences engage with U.S. Latinx media representations through the practice of critical media literacy. I interrogate how media consumers construct critical media literacy through interacting with U.S. Latinx figures on digital media platforms, particularly on the social-media app, Twitter, and the user-generated video content platform, YouTube. Throughout this thesis, I argue that users on these platforms who engage with U.S. Latinx pop culture figures, like Jennifer Lopez and Belcalis Almanzar (Cardi B), read, digest, and comprehend a variety of multimedia images, texts, or videos, and that this engagement becomes an accessible form of critical media literacy, …

A Posthumanist Pragmatism: Rereading Tomboys, Aaron Martin, Spurthi Gubbala, Marissa J. Huth, Sarah M. Johnson, Amanda Romaya

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Gender has often dictated the roles and responsibilities that individuals are expected to fulfill. Societies in general still adhere to a strict gender binary system, and have largely been either intolerant of or, at minimum, uncomfortable with those who break from such a system. The tomboy figure has been the recipient of societal judgement for what has been interpreted to be a subversion of and deviance from traditional gender norms, and this has played out in a variety of ways. For instance, literary depictions of the tomboy—as the manifestations of the dominant cultural attitude—have captured both the aversion to as …

Doing Gender: Cars And Culture In The United States, Adrian L. Zavala

Communication Senior Capstones

This qualitative research study aims to define and describe gender stereotypes and car culture. It will also explain how these stereotypes influence car culture and vice versa. This paper aims to explain how the mass media uses car culture in the United States and imposes gender stereotypes. The mass media I will be discussing includes but is not limited to commercials and magazine adverts. This paper asserts that by portraying what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman, car companies build car culture and use pre-existing constructs of gender for marketing it. According …

Does This Grant Them Agency? An Analysis Of The Female Athlete As Portrayed In Espn's Body Issue, Aubri Mckoy

Senior Independent Study Theses

Since 2009, one of the world’s largest and most circulated sports mediums, ESPN, has been publishing an annual nude magazine. Formerly known as ESPN’s Body Issue, this magazine seeks to highlight aesthetics of the athletic form, as well as the power of testimony told through the inhabited bodies of the magazine’s featured athletes. Over the years, the magazine has featured many identities, including the representation of varying races, genders, body types, physical abilities, and sports. This study particularly examines the representation of a Black woman athlete, Tori Bowie, as featured in the magazine’s tenth edition. Furthermore, this study focuses on …

The Pink And Blue Problem: Altercasting In Gendered Advertising, Abigail Benn

Capstone Showcase

When you meet a baby for the first time, and you don’t know its sex, if its wearing pink clothes, most people will automatically assume it’s a girl; or if they’re wearing blue clothes, it’s automatically a boy. The pink and blue problem is the enforcing of gender stereotypes through color, associated roles, and imagery. The root of this problem is that many people are unaware of the difference between “sex” and “gender”, and that they can be mutually exclusive. Your sex is the body you’re born with, and all the parts that come with it, while your gender is …

The Cultivation Theory And Reality Television: An Old Theory With A Modern Twist, Jeffrey Weiss

Capstone Showcase

George Gerbner, a Hungarian-born professor of communication, founded the cultivation theory, one of the most popular and regarded theories in the communications world. Developed in the mid 20th century, the theory focus on the long-term effects of television on people. Longer exposure to signs, images and people on television cultivates their perception of reality in the real world. The television became a household staple during this time. Families often spent time together watching programming together, however, it played out different effects for each person. Television's constant visual and auditory stimulation on a person made it easier to cultivate certain messages, …

Constructing Lumbersexuality: Marketing An Emergent Masculine Taste Regime, Mark A. Rademacher, Casey R. Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This article examines the online retailer Huckberry.com as a singular, centralized authority responsible for marketing “lumbersexuality” as an emergent, gender-normative taste regime. As an evolution of the devalued hipster marketplace myth, analysis reveals Huckberry promotes an adaptable taste regime to its young, educated, urban, White male clientele that unites goods, meanings, and practices across multiple fields of consumption that reconnect indie consumption and taste with a fantasy of “authentic” masculinity. We argue that Huckberry offers men semiotic resources that merge the urban with the outdoors in a way that enables the enactment of a fraught though seemingly durable masculine identity …

"Mystery Meat" And "Bulldyke": Disciplining Gender And Silencing Women Sports Reporters On Reddit, Kayla J. Peterson

Masters Theses

Most of the sports industry is a male dominated space where women are very rarely accepted. We see men in the field, whether they work or play, defend the space and tell women reporters to “stay in their lane.” This study focuses on an online news-sharing site, reddit, and examines how sports fans take it upon themselves to defend sports as a male space. Reporters, such as Sarah Spain, Jemele Hill, and Doris Burke, are subjected to hundreds of comments that silence them and discipline them based on their gender. This study emphasizes the need for gender equality in what …

Identity Negotiation, Saudi Women, And The Impact Of The 2011 Royal Decree: An Investigation Of The Cultural, Religious, And Societal Shifts Among Women In The Saudi Arabian Public Sphere, Maha Alshoaibi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historically, Saudi Arabian culture has been deeply rooted in tradition, religious customs, family-oriented structures, and gender derived expectations for men and women alike. Saudi Arabian culture emphasizes a patriarchal family structure where men financially provide for their family whereas women are expected to manage internal household duties such as raising children, upholding household affairs, and working within a limited scope of employment. The concept of Saudi Arabian women integrating into the public workforce has been a source of contention and debate for the last several hundred years. Due to recent changes in political and economic events, a royal decree issued …

Hbo Series Girls And Insecure’S Depiction Of Race And Gender, Kimberley Peterson

Honors College Theses

In this research study the identification and representation of race and gender were looked at in the primetime HBO television series Insecure and Girls. The characters that were analyzed in two episodes were the young black women of Insecure and in two episodes the young white women in Girls. The method for this study was conducted using content analysis to identify the following variables focusing on identity, racial stereotypes and names used to address one another. Additionally, variables to identify gender included emotional approaches to situations, stereotypes and gender role expectations. The comprehensive findings revealed through similarities and differences …

A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Higher Education Leaders As Portrayed In The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Colette Anderson Chelf

Dissertations

Leadership represents an abstraction of human thought. While functionalist theories propose leader-centric models, contemporary leadership theories embrace a postmodern paradigm acknowledging ontological and epistemological assumptions of qualitative study. This ideology suggests a multi-dimensional model of leadership that reflects the complexity and fluidity of leadership in practice. Emergent theories explore the social construction of leadership, rather than an individual leader’s traits or behaviors. Our collective understanding of leadership is manifest in the (re)creation of leadership as exemplified in social discourse such as newspaper reporting.

The purpose of the study is to reveal socially accepted archetypes assigned to higher education leaders, as …

Women, Convergent Film Criticism, And The Cinephilia Of Feminist Interruptions, Rachel L. Thibault

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the ways in which female film critics practice film criticism in the convergent age. In original research drawn from ethnographic interviews with eight female film critics and bloggers as well as textual, historical, and reception analyses of criticism, this dissertation argues that women who write film criticism in the convergent era are not only writing from a space of marginalization based on the patriarchal dominance of the film industry, but also face a series of obstacles through gendered and discursive conflicts that are unique to writing online and which do not exert the same impact on male …

In His Image: A Content Analysis Of Evangelical Youth Books For Their Representation Of Gender Roles And Ideals, Taryn Renee Vis

Honors Projects

This content analysis discusses the results of the analysis of twelve major Evangelical books for young adults and their representation of gender roles and gender ideals. The background of the Evangelical church’s handling of gender, particularly in relation to media beginning in the 1970s is established and discussed at length in order to situate this analysis amongst previous discussion of Evangelical gender roles. This analysis found that each of the books discussed four main themes of gender roles and relations: biological essentialism, complementarianism, counter-cultural branding of gender, and sexual purity (especially for young women).

Happiest People Alive: An Analysis Of Class And Gender In The Trinidad Carnival, Asha L. St. Bernard

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Many of the marketing strategies inherent to the modern version of the Trinidad Carnival include texts that represent Trinidadians as young, fit, bikini-wearing, party enthusiasts. In these advertisements, Trinidadians are often characterized as carefree and welcoming to anyone participating in the much-anticipated annual festival. However, dominant narratives highlight certain groups and cultural aspects of the island while frequently masking several inequalities. They cleverly conceal other narratives and therefore marginalize groups and individuals from the very festival that is understood by many as a national symbol. Through informal participant-observation, and an analysis of some of the main promotional material, in particular …

Critical Media Literacy And Gender: Teaching Middle School Students About Gender Stereotypes And Occupations, Laurel Puchner, Linda Markowitz, Mark Hedley

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study examined the effectiveness of the implementation of a small-scale critical media literacy curriculum unit focused on gender stereotypes, especially as they pertain to occupations. The research question was whether students exposed to the critical media literacy (CML) curriculum were more likely than students not exposed to believe: that women experience discrimination in the workplace; that the media constructs stereotypical messages about women and men, especially regarding occupations; and that the media influences people’s thinking. Participants were students in 5 seventh grade classes, who were exposed to a 4-workshop curriculum, and students in 5 eighth grades classes, who were …

A Good Girl, A Graduate, A Gynecologist, And A Gladiator: A Qualitative Analysis Of Representations Of Women In Four Television Shows, Laura M. Figueroa

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Gender Mainstreaming In Journalism Education, Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

In a time of swift technological changes in the news media, much of journalism education is focused on preparing students for careers in a new media landscape instead of focusing on gender or other diversity issues. For example, Pavlik (2013, p.213) argued in a recent article that a curriculum that ‘emphasized innovation and digital media entrepreneurship is one of the keys to a robust professional future for the field and students seeking a media career’. Even so, Pavlik (2013, p.217) recognised that most programmes in media education are holding on to an outdated professional model of journalism and mass communication, …

Maternal Perceptions Of Agency In Intergenerational Transmission Of Spanish: The Case Of Latinos In The U.S. Midwest, Isabel Velázquez

Spanish Language and Literature

This article examines the ways in which a group of first-generation Latino immigrants to the U.S. Midwest conceptualized their role in their children’s bilingual development. Respondents were asked to identify the individuals or institutions on which their children’s language and academic development depended, as well as household practices perceived as conducive to Spanish maintenance, and perceived obstacles to their children’s use of Spanish in the domains of home, school, and community. Discussion centers on maternal perceptions of agency because of the centrality of the mother in intergenerational minority language transmission. It is argued here that immigrant mothers’ perceptions of agency …

Doing Laundry, Megan Getter

Megan Getter

Using Goffman’s theory on the presentational self, my study explores everyday performances in a laundromat. I take a critical interpretative approach to understand the performances of gender and class in the laundromat. I conducted ethnographic observations as a full member and include autoethnographic observations to enrich the findings. The laundromat is a unique space where gender and class are neutralized people are performing a private chore in a public space. This study fills a gap in public space and ethnographic literature devoid of laundromats.

Once Upon A Midnight Stalker: A Content Analysis Of Stalking In Films, Amy Sides Schultz, Julia Moore, Brian H. Spitzberg

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Media portrayals of crime have been linked to biased information processing and beliefs about society and personal risks of victimization. Much of this research has either focused on relatively holistic analyses of media consumption, or on the analysis of elements of only a few types of crime (e.g., murder, rape, assault). Research to date has overlooked how media portray stalking in interpersonal relationships. This study content analyzed 51 mainstream movies with prominent stalking themes to compare and contrast such depictions with the actual scientific data about stalking. By considering victim variables, stalker variables, relational variables, stalking behavior variables, victim response …

"Having It His Way: The Construction Of Masculinity In Fast Food Tv Advertising", Carrie Freeman, Debra Merskin

Carrie P Freeman

No abstract provided.

Model Citizen: Exploring The Portrayal Of Unconventional Models On Television Shows In Relation To Women's Self Image, Nicole Jenelle James

All Capstone Projects

According to the renowned Mayo Clinic, having a low self-image can lead people to suffer harmful: physical, emotional, and behavioral consequences. Much of women’s selfimage is reliant on comparing themselves to the media’s perception of beauty. In an effort to bolster American women’s self-esteem, a workshop is proposed to explore the relation between portrayal of unconventional models on television shows and women’s/viewer’s self-image.

Hands On Hips, Smiles On Lips! Gender, Race, And The Performance Of Spirit In Cheerleading, Laura Grindstaff, Emily West

Emily E. West

Cheerleading has long been synonymous with “spirit” because of its traditional sideline role in supporting school sports programs. In recent decades, however, cheerleading has become more athletic and competitive - even a sport in its own right. This paper is an ethnographic exploration of the emotional dimensions of cheerleading in light of these changes. We argue that spirit is a regulating but also flexible concept that is deployed in order to manage and uphold ideologies of emotion, and that these ideologies are central to how cheerleading reproduces racialized gender difference. On the one hand, the performance guidelines for spirit stabilize …

Feminist Criticism: The Importance Of Sharing The Native Female Journey, Michelle Newfield

Communication Studies

The female Native American perspective is grossly neglected in mainstream media. Sadly, stereotypical images romanticize Native American women in a light that disallows them to be taken seriously in a modernized world. The fact is that the majority of women with American Indian ancestry do not live on reservations; they make up a considerable part of the general population.

There is an unfortunate “invisibility of Native women in comparison to men,” and “Native women are often represented by popular culture within the Plains Indian context, the generic Indian. Omnipresent is the ‘squaw’ who is portrayed as servant, concubine, beast of …

Doing Gender Difference Through Greeting Cards: The Construction Of A Communication Gap In Marketing And Everyday Practice., Emily West

Emily E. West

Greeting card communication reflects the highly gendered division of both emotional and domestic labor in American culture. It’s generally thought that American men do not take as much responsibility for sending greeting cards as women, or display competence in this mode of communication, and both survey data and field work with greeting card consumers confirm this overall pattern. For many women, greeting card communication is part of a feminized habitus that includes kinship work as well as routine provisioning for the household. For men, taking an interest in greeting cards can seem like discrediting behavior for heterosexual masculinity, and so …