Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

Leaflet: Congress Has A Record... Call Naral's Choiceline, Naral

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Leaflet encouraging calling NARAL ChoiceLine to find out how Congressional members and former Senator Bob Dole voted on reproductive Choice. No date given.

Pamphlet: Naral Believes The Choice Is Yours, Naral

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

NARAL pamphlet and membership form. No date given.

Toxic Gymnastics Culture’S Impact On The #Metoo Movement: Sexual Abuse Survivor Aly Raisman’S Trauma Fosters Fight For Change, Jessica Malinsky

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This paper explores how female gymnasts, particularly Aly Raisman, have sparked the gymnastics world’s involvement in the #MeToo movement. It briefly touches on Raisman’s beginnings with gymnastics and how she became an elite U.S. gymnast but promptly dives into her #MeToo story, focusing on her traumatic experiences with Olympic doctor Larry Nassar. Furthermore, her story brings to light how she and other survivors of sexual assault have faced credibility discounting, also known as gaslighting, for sharing their truth. By sharing parts of Aly Raisman and other survivors’ testimonies, this paper highlights not only the trauma and pain they endured while …

Conflict Between Religious Beliefs And Sexuality: An Autoethnography, Carlos E. Gerena

The Qualitative Report

Despite the shift in attitudes in religious institutions toward homosexuals in the United States, there are some religions that continue to view same-sex behavior as a deviant and damning sin. For many, religious beliefs and values provide meaning and impact personal identity. Using autoethnography, I will explicate my own experiences with religious institutions and the ongoing conflict between religious beliefs and sexuality. I will discuss messages received from the Pentecostal church, family, and Latino community, and how these messages influenced my human development and emotional well-being. I show that internalization of the principles taught by the Pentecostal Church triggered a …

Does Ethnic Identity, In-Group Preference, And Acculturation Protect Latinas With A History Of Interpersonal Trauma From Developing Symptoms Of Ptsd?, Evelyn M. Ramirez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Previous research suggests ethnic identity, a sense of belonging to a particular cultural group, may be protective against symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the role of ethnic identity, in-group preference (i.e., an individual’s preference for interactions with members of their own ethnic group) and acculturation (i.e., the level of comfort with the mainstream culture) have not been investigated as protective factors for Latinas with a history of interpersonal and sexual trauma. In this study, ethnic identity, in-group preference and acculturation were assessed via self-report on the Scale of Ethnic Experience in two samples of undergraduate Latina and non-Latina …

Does The Decriminalization Of Prostitution Reduce Rape And Sexually Transmitted Disease? A Review Of Cunningham And Shah Findings, Lily Lachapelle, Clare Schneider, Melanie Shapiro, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In 2013, research findings by Cunningham and Shah claimed that rape and sexually transmitted diseases were reduced by decriminalized prostitution in Rhode Island. The original unpublished claims have received wide media coverage which have gone unexamined. This review finds errors in their analyses. One error is the date when prostitution was decriminalized in Rhode Island. Cunningham and Shah claim that prostitution was decriminalized in 2003. Our analysis finds the date of decriminalization of prostitution was 1980. The change in the start date of decriminalization significantly alters the analysis and the findings. Another error results from Cunningham and Shah using an …

Kinship Ties Across The Lifespan In Human Communities, Jeremy Koster, Dieter Lukas, David Nolin, Eleanor Power, Alexandra Alvergne, Ruth Mace, Cody T. Ross, Karen Kramer, Russell Graves, Mark Caudell, Shane Macfarlan, Eric Schniter, Robert Quinlan, Siobhan Mattison, Adam Reynolds, Chun Yi-Sim, Eric Massengill

ESI Publications

A hypothesis for the evolution of long post-reproductive lifespans in the human lineage involves asymmetries in relatedness between young immigrant females and the older females in their new groups. In these circumstances, inter-generational reproductive conflicts between younger and older females are predicted to resolve in favor of the younger females, who realize fewer inclusive fitness benefits from ceding reproduction to others. This conceptual model anticipates that immigrants to a community initially have few kin ties to others in the group, gradually showing greater relatedness to group members as they have descendants who remain with them in the group. We examine …

Entry And Stability Of Cross-National Marriages In The United States, Igor Ryabov, Yuanting Zhang

Sociology Faculty Publications

As more and more people move across borders, marriage is becoming an increasingly global affair. Yet cross-national marriage (CNM) migration has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. The present study examines the characteristics and marital stability of unions between U.S. nationals and their foreign-born (FB) spouses residing in the United States. Two data sources were used in the analysis—the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Our results indicated that, after controlling for race/ethnicity, socioeconomic background and marital history, marriages between U.S. nationals and their FB spouses who entered the United States as …

Shying Away From Sex: Examining Fear Of Negative Evaluation And Body Esteem As Mediators In The Associations Between Shyness And Sexuality, Carlie Grace Palmer

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have examined how shyness influences broad aspects of relationships (i.e., quality, satisfaction); however, little is known about how shyness impacts sexuality, specifically, within committed relationships. This study examined associations between shyness and sexual frequency and sexual satisfaction within committed young adult relationships. Potential explanations for these associations (i.e., fear of negative evaluation and body esteem, consecutively) were also examined. Participants included 3,670 individuals (61.6% female) ages 30-35 from the United States who were in committed dating or marital relationships. Results revealed that shyness was negatively associated with sexual frequency and satisfaction among men and women. In addition, fear of …

The #Metoo Movement And Its’ Impact In Pakistan, Noor Usman Rafi

MSJ Capstone Projects

The MeToo movement, albeit a social media tool, has practically worked in favor of women empowerment. All the women speaking out against Harvey Weinstein and big Hollywood producers stepping down had a tremendous moral impact on the movement. This gave it so much force and impetus that it translated into a similar trend in India and Pakistan.

Women empowerment and sexual harassment are being discussed regularly in news media in Pakistan. Because of the ripple effect of the hashtag MeToo, victims and sufferers who spoke up have been vital enough to spark this debate. The taboo and silence of ‘being …

Bound By Silence: Psychological Effects Of The Traditional Oath Ceremony Used In The Sex Trafficking Of Nigerian Women And Girls, Jennifer Millett-Barrett

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Nigerian women and children have been trafficked to Italy over the last 30 years for commercial sexual exploitation with an alarming increase in the past three years. The Central Mediterranean Route that runs from West African countries to Italy is rife with organized crime gangs that have created a highly successful trafficking operation. As part of the recruitment process, the Nigerian mafia and its operatives exploit victims by subjecting them to a traditional religious juju oath ceremony, which is an extremely effective control mechanism to silence victims and trap them in debt bondage. This study explores the psychological effects of …

Exploring Gender Roles And Gender Equality Within The Evangelical Church, Christopher Bishop

Education (PhD) Dissertations

This research aims to facilitate better understanding of perceptions of gender roles and gender equality among members of the Evangelical Church and to determine whether these perceptions differ by gender. The evangelical community’s ideologies and values have come to shape social and political dialogues within the United States. A key component of the faith is understanding the role each member plays within his or her family unit and community at large. The evangelical faith’s organizational structure and ideologies are informed by a patriarchal model that’s placed women at internal and structural odds, based on research exploring evangelically informed organizations. However, …

“Flowing Along The Wall”: Anarcha-Feminist Bioethics And Resistance In Octavia E. Butler’S Dawn 2019., Theresa Mendez

Master's Theses

Science fiction (sf) texts conversant with the temporal play between past, present, and future push readers to imagine the extremes of human and environmental existence, interaction, and potential. Simultaneously, despite the sf genre’s tendency to traffic in extremes, these texts provoke readers to consider the ways in which these imagined worlds are grounded in history as well as in the contemporary social moment. As Donna Haraway has argued, “the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion” (306). This illusory boundary must continue to be traversed in order to consider how sf literatures, particularly those which imagine …

Female Genital Mutilation In The United States: Estimating The Number Of Girls At Risk, Phyllis Chesler

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Female genital mutilation (FGM) destroys the capacity of women to experience sexual pleasure. It causes serious medical complications such as bleeding, painful urination, cysts, dangerous and recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, the growth of scar tissue that make marital intercourse a nightmare and that turns childbirth into an experience of danger and torture. Due to immigration, FGM now poses a potential health crisis in the West, both in Europe and in the United States. To estimate how many girls who live in the West are at risk, one can measure the prevalence of FGM in the non-Western countries where …

Inheritances Of Injustice/Transference Of Freedom: An Intimate Project On Black Women's Intergenerational Relationships And The Consequences Of The Punishment System, Whitney Richards-Calathes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project centers the multi-generational familial relationships between system-impacted Black women, mapping and uncovering the ways in which incarceration and practices of punishment impact, shape, hurt, and displace Black femme lineages. Through a qualitative lens and a specific focus on the current social and political landscape of Los Angeles, this dissertation examines the ways Black women are impacted by carceral ideology; from punitive definitions of Black womanhood, to the surveillance on Black femme familial intimacy and the rupture of Black women’s sense of home and place. Understandings of mass incarceration are frequently male-centered and most analyses of Black women’s system …

Contextualizing Gender Inequality In Division Of Household Labor And Family Life: A Cross-National Perspective, Hyojung Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation aims to provide contextual understanding of the persistence of gender inequality at home from a comparative perspective. Although the equality between men and women has been considered desirable and mostly achieved in the domain of paid labor in most industrial societies, unpaid labor in the domestic sphere is one of the most obstinate realms of gender inequality. Previous comparative research on housework provides valuable insights into the mechanism underlying the gender division of household labor and has revealed that both micro- and macro-level gender equalities play a key role in explaining the gender division of household labor. Building …

“Oh Lord, Save Us From Such Monsters:” Maternal Impression And Monstrous Births In The Eighteenth-Century Netherlands, Sara Hollar

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This historical survey focuses on the memoirs of Catharina Schrader, a Frisian midwife in the eighteenth century, as a lens into beliefs about maternal impression and monstrous births during the early modern period. The then popular theory of maternal impression, where pregnant women could impact their gestating fetus’s appearance or characteristics through their behavior, thoughts, and feelings, was used to explain many instances of monstrous births. Monstrosity, now understood as congenital defects or disabilities, was seen as a result and marker of pregnant women’s moral failings. Using examples of monstrous births from Schrader’s memoirs, I analyze the threat of maternal …

Reaching And Supporting Trafficked Women In Austria And Germany: A Call For Training On Attachment And Trust-Building, Silke Gahleitner, Katharina Gerlich, Roschan Heiler, Heidemarie Hinterwallner, Edith Huber, Mascha Körner, Josef Pfaffenlehner, Yvette Völschow

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Many victims of trafficking in women are not reached by the available support services despite numerous measures that have been put in place on both the national and international levels. This deficiency is due to the inadequacy of the support systems, which do not meet the needs of the women concerned. A bilateral Austro-German research project entitled “Prävention und Intervention bei Menschenhandel zum Zweck sexueller Ausbeutung (PRIMSA) [“Prevention and intervention in the trafficking of human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation”] was set up with the aim of developing ideas for a multidisciplinary prevention and intervention scheme. This article …

"I Assumed Chicago Would Be In The Forefront": Comments On The Movement To End Prostitution With Survivor-Leader Brenda Myers-Powell, Jody Raphael

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

For many years in the 2000’s, researcher Jody Raphael, teamed with prostitution-survivor Brenda Myers-Powell, undertook a myriad of speaking engagements in the Chicago metropolitan area, intended to raise awareness of the violence and coercion in the sex trade industry. Ten years ago, they were asked to make a video of their presentation. Recently, Dignity editors came across the video and asked for an update on the conversation. This piece is the result.

"Sometimes You Have To Be The Leader": A Minnesota Oral History On Fighting Sexual Exploitation, Trudee Able-Peterson

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Prostitution survivor Trudee Able-Peterson used oral histories to research and document the efforts of women and men to respond to the sexual exploitation of women and children in Minnesota. Her findings illustrate the leadership needed to overcome centuries of commercial sexual exploitation to obtain a beginning societal response. Respondents indicated the importance of their interaction with pioneer leaders in other locales. Their comments also illustrate the many issues and challenges still facing the community.

My Body, Their Choice: Childbearing Attitudes And Practices In Jamkhed, Maharashtra, Sienna Sewell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Understanding the beliefs and practices of women and their families during pregnancy and childbirth is fundamental to the creation of successful public health interventions that target maternal and infant mortality. This study explores the childbearing practices of women in rural Jamkhed, as well as the social and economic factors that influence family planning, reproductive health-seeking, and delivery. Interviews and quantitative surveys were conducted with women in villages that have partnered with the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP) to examine how and why women access prenatal care during pregnancy. The influence of CRHP’s “Jamkhed Model” on healthcare access is considered in …

Multiple And Intersecting Experiences Of Women In Prostitution: Improving Access To Helping Services, Kathryn Hodges, Sarah Burch

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

When women involved in prostitution experience multiple and intersecting needs, they may face barriers in accessing help and support. These barriers can include geographical location and opening hours of agencies, limited childcare support, and a lack of female-only provision. As a result, women are frequently disadvantaged, and their personal safety put at risk, as they become increasingly vulnerable to exploitation, particularly if they do not have access to secure accommodation. This research project seeks to understand the choices and decisions women make when they engage with helping services. The findings report on an in-depth qualitative study with 11 women involved …

'It Feels Like We're Together As A Team': Communal Orientations To Marriage Among Gay Men And Lesbians, Aaron Hoy

Sociology Department Publications

Scholars have observed that gay men and lesbians are more likely than heterosexual men and women to hold individualistic orientations to nonmarital relationships. However, it is unclear whether they approach marriage in the same way. Drawing on interviews with currently married gay men and lesbians, this presentation shows that many actually hold communal orientations to marriage, especially in the ways they describe their mutual interdependence, the division of household labor, and their couple-level decision-making practices.

Painting Intimacy: Art-Based Research Of Intimacy, Michal Lev

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This art-based research explores whether — and, if so, how — the process of painting, together with witnessing and reflection on the process and imagery, further an understanding of intimacy. The research also examines the conditions that favor intimacy, the obstacles to intimacy, and the particular features of artistic media, processes and reflection, through the editing of video footage, that can further the intimate experience. The participants in the study were five adults (including the researcher) between the ages of thirty and eighty who were familiar with the creation of visual art. Among them were three women and two men …

"Baby Factories": Exploitation Of Women In Southern Nigeria, Jacinta Chiamaka Nwaka, Akachi Odoemene

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Despite the writings of feminist thinkers and efforts of other advocates of feminism to change the dominant narratives on women, exploitation of women is a fact that has remained endemic in various parts of the world, and particularly in Africa. Nigeria is one of those countries in Africa where women are largely exposed to varying degrees of exploitation. This paper examines the development and proliferation of baby-selling centers in southern Nigeria and its impacts on and implication for women in Nigeria. It demonstrates how an attempt to give protection to unwed pregnant girls has metamorphosed into “baby harvesting” and selling …

Filling The Sex Trade Swamp: Robert Kraft And His Predecessors, Janice G. Raymond

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Betrayed Partners And Men With Poisoned Souls: Interview With A Former Sex Buyer In Germany, Ingeborg Kraus

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Pornography Induced Erectile Dysfunction Among Young Men, Hamdija Begovic

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This paper explores the phenomenon of pornography induced erectile dysfunction (PIED), meaning sexual potency problems in men due to Internet pornography consumption. Empirical data from men who suffer from this condition have been collected. A combination of topical life history method (with qualitative asynchronous online narrative interviews) and personal online diaries has been employed. The data have been analyzed using theoretical interpretative analysis (according to McLuhan’s media theory), based on analytic induction. The empirical investigation indicates that there is a correlation between pornography consumption and erectile dysfunction that suggests causation. The findings are based on 11 interviews along with two …

Caesarean Birth In A Social Context: A Content Analysis Of Childbirth Narratives, Marissa Cobuzio

Honors Program Theses

Childbirth is a shared life experience among a majority of women and is both biological and social in nature. This paper explores the stories women hearing about birth by looking at the language, themes, messages which surround the public discussions of C-section. Using sociological theories of child birth and historical context, this paper answers the question: What are the language, themes, messages used in popular media, such as parenting magazines and “mommy blogs” and how do they characterize caesarean births for women? To answer this questions, a content analysis of two parent blogs was conducted to identify the themes and …

Delivering Results In Girls' Education: How To Evaluate What Works, What Doesn't, And What We Don't Know, Stephanie Psaki

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Girls around the world face daunting challenges when it comes to enrolling in primary school, completing secondary school, and gaining the basic knowledge and skills they need to be empowered, healthy, and productive adults. Many governments and organizations have risen to meet that challenge through policies and programs designed to remove common barriers to girls’ education. But as the number of actors in this space grows, and resources to address these challenges remain scarce, it is essential to ensure that investments are targeted toward the most effective policies and programs. This brief lays out the basics of program evaluation. The …