Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

The Downstream Effect Of Gender Bias On Academic Performance And Career Aspirations Amongst Female Students In Stem Via Gender-Professional Identity Integration (G-Pii), Chi-Ying Cheng, Shuna Shiann Khoo, Shih-Fen Cheng, Yeow Leong Lee, Vandana Ramachandra Rao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Background Gender imbalance in STEM, characterized by a significant underrepresentation of women, remains a significant challenge. Although gender bias is a well-known contributor to women’s attrition from STEM, the psychological mechanisms linking gender bias to departure are less well understood. Our research investigates early antecedents of attrition and the psychological processes that precede leaving the STEM pathway in tertiary education. Drawing upon identity integration research, we propose that perceived gender bias exerts undermines female STEM students’ academic performance and career aspirations by reducing their Gender-Professional Identity Integration (G-PII), a construct that captures individual differences in the perceived compatibility between a …

Lost On The Moon: A Classroom Activity For Bringing Group Processes To Life, Christin L. Munsch, Allison Lena, Kay Sassan

Feminist Pedagogy

This teaching activity reviews key concepts in group processes and introduces students to Expectation States Theory (EST) and Status Characteristics Theory (SCT), two micro-sociological frameworks that explain how inequality of opportunity emerges in task-oriented small groups with consequences for unequal outcomes. The activity is built around a team-building exercise “Lost on the Moon” in which participants rank 15 survival items individually and then in small groups. We adapt this exercise by taking field notes on group interactions and drawing on these notes to facilitate a discussion in which students critically reflect on their interactions with one another. We close the …

"Two Different Histories": Lgbtq Educator Identity In An Era Of Policy Precarity In Further Education, Liberty Heath-Tavener

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

In Zadie Smith’s debut novel White Teeth (2000) she writes: ‘every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.’ (p. 532) Although this notion related to the struggles of global majority people in Britain after decolonisation, I liken it to the concept of identity for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer (LGBTQ) educators within further education, where their internal thoughts, feelings and reality are often in conflict with external norms, ideals and policies, all of which are geared towards heteronormativity and cisnormativity. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) argue that metaphors transcend rhetorical devices and are an essential …

Urasawa’S Monster And The Aesthetics Of Uncertainty, Simon Lindblom

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This essay examines the anime Monster (Urasawa, 2001) through the lens of Aesthetic action (Klinger, 2024) and ethical praxis. Set in a nostalgically rendered pre-accelerationist Europe, the anime cultivates an atmosphere of uncertainty that prompts viewers to engage in complex moral issues. By exploring the anime's aesthetic strategies, this analysis reveals how Monster functions as a political device, exposing the dark undercurrents of historical trauma and the systemic exclusion of marginalised groups. The essay argues that Monster's deliberate cultivation of indeterminacy, particularly through its morally ambiguous characters and unresolved dilemmas, embodies a Determinate Performance of Indeterminacy (Klinger, 2024). This …

Harassment Risks, Reporting Decisions And Institutional Responses During Hospitality Internships In Ghana, Ebenezer Junior Afful, Yaa Akubia

ICHRIE Research Reports

Hospitality internships can expose students to sexual harassment while leaving them uncertain whether reporting will bring protection or further risk. This study examined exposure, reporting decisions and perceived institutional response among hospitality students in Ghana. It combined a survey of 277 students from three technical universities with follow-up interviews involving 13 participants. Among valid responses, 27.0% reported personally experiencing harassment, while 30.4% reported witnessing it during placement. Only 43.2% of personal incidents and 38.3% of witnessed incidents were reported. Interviews showed that silence was shaped by normalised conduct, customer-service expectations, supervisory power, fear of consequences, unclear reporting routes, and distrust …

Showing Students Their Power: Demonstrating How Status Is Afforded In Interactions, Christianne Corbett

Feminist Pedagogy

The Showing Students their Power original teaching activity conveys to students in a visceral, embodied – and therefore hopefully memorable - way the concept of status, how it is afforded by others, and how quickly and accurately individuals perceive the status with which others view them. Students are informed that characteristics like gender, race, class, sexual orientation are status characteristics and that people who are viewed as lower status tend to be treated less respectfully. By identifying the existence of status, how it is conveyed from person to person, and the power we all have to influence other people, students …

You’Ve Got Junk Mail: Prevalence Of And Factors Related To Sending And Receiving Unsolicited Nudes, Aimee Adam, Brittany Sizemore, Todd Manson

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Unsolicited nudes are common, but most of the research in this area has focused on the motivations of men sending such images and the reactions of women who receive them. In this online study, we attempted to investigate the prevalence of sending and receiving unsolicited sexual images in a broader population, and variables related to this behavior. In our sample of 357 participants, we found few people (less than 20%) acknowledged ever having sent such images, and no difference in whether people had ever sent unsolicited nudes based on gender identity. However, we found that most people (almost 68%) had …

Learning By Doing To Teach Research Skills In Econometrics, Christie Byun

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

This paper examines a revision in an introductory econometrics course at an undergraduate liberal arts college. The instructors have incorporated extensive use of data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series from the Current Population Survey (IPUMS-CPS), with applied examples that demonstrate econometric theory. The key element is a short empirical paper assignment in which all students work on a common research question, but with different data sets. The paper assignment includes a series of scaffolding assignments using IPUMS-CPS data. This approach has several benefits, including ease of implementation into any course that has an empirical paper component, significantly streamlined …

Why Publish With Mssj?

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Mission And Editorial Policy

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Editorial History

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Statement From The Indiana Academy Of The Social Sciences And Board Of Directors

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Editor-In-Chief's Note, Surekha K. Rao

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Volume 29, Issue 1 Full Contents

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Reviewers And Referees

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Call For Papers

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Lgbtq+ Identity Among Young Adults With Autism, Meg Hoffer-Collins, Mixalis Poulakis, Lauri Hyers

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Our qualitative study examined the sexual orientation and gender identity experiences of LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority identities) identified young adults on the autism spectrum. In one-on-one semi-structured qualitative interviews with thirteen participants (ages 18-33), we explored three questions: (1) How do young adults with ASD characterize their LGBTQ+ identity; (2) How have they navigated the disclosure of their LGBTQ+ identity and coming out to others; and (3) How has their LGBTQ+ identity impacted their relationships. Qualitative coding of interviews revealed that most participants began considering their LGBTQ+ identity before adulthood and settled …

George C. Roberts Award Recipients

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

The Survival Of Sugar In Post-Emancipation British Guiana: East Indian Indentured Immigration And The Cheapening Of Labor, Wazir Mohamed

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

This Paper revisits the post-emancipation changes in the labor market of British Guiana. British Guiana, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji, and several other locations were spaces where East Indian Indentured Immigrants from Idia became pivotal in the economy.[1] In the decade after emancipation (1838-1848), the rise of global free trade in sugar spurred by the equalization of duties in sugar factored in the search for a cheaper and the importation of a more pliable labor force to keep the wheels of sugar turning in British Guiana. With this background in mind this paper focuses on indentured immigration of East …

Submission Guidelines

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Marital Status And Wellbeing Of Females In Egypt: Informing The Discourse And Exploring A New Framework, Hoda Rashad, Mohamed Hassan, Amr El Sayed, Rania Elsebaie

Faculty Books

Egypt is experiencing important changes in marriage formation and dissolution amid broader social, economic, and gender transformations. This study examines these changes by analyzing the recent patterns and social distribution of delayed and non-occurrence of marriage and divorce, their association with women’s empowerment, and their implications for women’s subjective wellbeing. Drawing on nationally representative quantitative data alongside exploratory qualitative evidence, the study also develops and investigates a “Conscious Decision Model” to examine how resources, agency, aspirations, and prevailing gender relations may shape women’s marital decisions and wellbeing. The analysis responds to public narratives that frequently attribute delayed marriage and divorce …

Eating Disorders & Meat Consumption: A Meta-Analytic Review, Urska Dobersek, Laurel Standiford-Reyes, Tyler Robinson, Alex Antony Edwin, Sarah Siebers

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

In this meta-analytic review, we examined the current evidence on eating disorders in relation to meat consumption and meat abstention. We systematically searched six online databases in December 2025 for primary research on eating disorder-related variables in meat consumers and meat abstainers. Fifty-one studies with 55,984 participants (n_{meat consumers} = 44,282, n_{meat abstainers} = 9,751) met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The outcomes were eating disorders and orthorexia nervosa. Meat consumption was associated with lower eating disorder (g = 0.20, 95% CI [0.08, 0.32], p = .001) and orthorexia nervosa symptomology (g = 0.47, 95% CI [0.33, …

Women's Empowerment And Transformations In Marriage Formation And Dissolution: From Social Anxiety To Evidence-Based And More Responsive Policies, Hoda Rashad, Mohamed Hassan

Faculty Journal Articles

The central premise of this policy brief is that effective family policy in Egypt cannot be built on public perceptions, ideological assumptions or isolated demographic indicators. It must instead be grounded in robust evidence and a comprehensive understanding of the changing mechanisms through which women form, sustain and dissolve marital unions.

The study provides evidence-based findings that are inconsistent with the crisis and anxiety mode dominating the public discourse. The findings neither dismiss the public concerns nor support their dominant framing. Delays in marriage, the growing visibility of never married and divorced women, and the increasing occurrence of divorce represent …

Humanity, Ai, And The Pedagogy Of Vince Gilligan’S Pluribus, J. Scarlett Kingsley

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This review discusses the tv show Pluribus as a contemporary television narrative that functions as an allegory for artificial intelligence and its implications for human meaning-making. Centering on Carol Sturka, one of thirteen individuals immune to a alien global virus that merges humanity into a cooperative “Hive Mind”, the series explores tensions between autonomy and collective well-being in a “peaceful apocalypse.” The analysis argues that the Hive Mind reflects key concerns surrounding AI, including the production of knowledge without understanding, personalization without discernment, and efficiency that bypasses the struggle through which meaning is formed. Drawing on John Searle’s distinction between …

Archives As Activism: Using Cuny Archives To Examine And Analyze Social Change, Marci Littlefield

Open Educational Resources

Archives as Activism uses CUNY archival materials to help students examine the relationship between activism, social issues and social change. Students will analyze primary sources such as flyers, newsletters, photographs, student newspapers, and institutional documents and connect them to contemporary social issues. CUNY’s history of activism around, race, gender, educational access, women’s organizing and institutional power provides students with an opportunity to investigate questions about power, collective action, intersectionality and social change.

La Santa Muerte And The Characteristic Damage Of Canonization, Ellen Webber

Journal of Global Catholicism

Devotion to La Santa Muerte, a Mexican folk saint who personifies Death, has

been condemned by the Catholic Church for its affiliation with Mexican drug

cartels. This article challenges mainstream interpretations of La Santa Muerte

devotion using the theological framework of characteristic damage, as defined

by Lauren Winner and Paul J. Griffiths. This framework understands liturgy

as celebrated by sinners in a damaged world, and therefore necessarily damaged

itself. As much as liturgy and Christian practice form us for good, they also per-

petuate damage. I argue that the sins present in La Santa Muerte veneration are

an expression of …

Editor's Introduction, Brent H. Otto S.J.

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Analyzing Cultural Alignment In Rwandan Sexual And Reproductive Health Education, Amit Gerstein

Journal of Critical Global Issues

Rwandan education cannot be understood outside the context of colonization. This study investigates the cultural alignment of Rwandan sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education. Using existing literature on indigenous sexuality and reflective practice from teaching in a Rwandan secondary school, this paper analyzes three SRH curricula to examine the extent to which they incorporate local knowledge versus Western scripts. The analysis focuses on four key areas: the definition of sex, contraception, consent, and female anatomy.

The findings reveal significant disconnects, where Western narratives regarding sex and sexuality appear to overwrite or displace indigenous sexual knowledge and practice. This study concludes …

Book Review: The History And Politics Of Star Wars: Death Stars And Democracy, Petra Hendrickson

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Book Review: The History and Politics of Star Wars: Death Stars and Democracy