Communication Commons^™

The Student-Teacher Romance Film Genre: Hollywood's Historical Representation Of Abuse Of Power, Darby Gilliland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite vast literature analyzing films that depict romantic and sexual relationships between young students and their teachers, scholarship has yet to explicitly call this category of films and television a genre. The purpose of the present thesis is to define the student-teacher romance film genre and identify patterns that make it up as a means of illuminating the genre’s exploration of abuse of power in the classroom. I use a historical-generic methodology and gaze theory as a framework to conduct this analysis. I identify three distinct eras of the genre and analyze films from each time period. The first era …

Exploring Public Speaking: Edition 4.2, Barbara Tucker, Kristin Barton, Amy Burger, Jerry Drye, Cathy Hunsicker, Amy Mendes, Matthew Lehew

Communication Open Textbooks

This Open Textbook for Public Speaking was first created under a Round Three ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. Since then, the book has undergone three new editions. View the project on Manifold.

Authors' Description:

Edition 4.2: Additional accessibility modifications and more current content updates.

3rd Edition:

Exploring Public Speaking: The Free College Public Speaking Textbook began as the brainchild of Dr. Kris Barton, Chair of the Department of Communication at Dalton State College. It also was made possible through a generous Textbook Transformation Grant in 2015 from Affordable Learning Georgia, a highly successful program of the University System of Georgia. Dr. …

Intercultural Communication, Shannon Ahrndt

Open Educational Resources Collection

Intercultural Communication examines culture as a variable in interpersonal and collective communication. It explores the opportunities and problems arising from similarities and differences in communication patterns, processes, and codes among various cultural groups. It explores cultural universals, social categorization, stereotyping and discrimination, with a focus on topics including race, ethnicity, social class, religion, gender and sexuality as they relate to communication.

Minor revisions made January 2024, uploaded 7/26/2024.

Minor revisions made October 2026, uploaded 10/12/2026.

Why Don't I Look Like Her? The Impact Of Social Media On Female Body Image, Kendyl M. Klein

CMC Senior Theses

The purpose of this paper is to understand and criticize the role of social media in the development and/or encouragement of eating disorders, disordered eating, and body dissatisfaction in college-aged women. College women are exceptionally vulnerable to the impact that social media can have on their body image as they develop an outlook on their bodies and accept the developmental changes that occurred during puberty. This paper provides evidence that there is a relationship between the recent surge in disordered eating and high consumption of social media. I examine the ways in which traditional advertising has portrayed women throughout history, …

Serving C*Nt: An Intersectional Historical Look At The Reclamation Of A Taboo Word, Dominique Godinez

Scripps Senior Theses

While the word cunt has been part of reclamation projects for over fifty years in the United States, particularly in the last year (2023) on social media platforms, the revalued word has gained popularity. With increased usage of a slur historically used against women, we’re left to wonder if reclamation is appropriate and who is participating in these processes. This thesis explores the trailblazers who began cunt’s reclamation –– Queer Ballroom performers and women-artists –– contextualizes its usage through widely understood reclamation principles, and offers considerations for cunt-curious folks. In a society that has othered and marginalized women and Queer …

History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Often Rhymes: Comparing The Messaging Of Adolf Hitler And Donald Trump, Elaina Varney

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

With the growing divide between the left and right, many on the left have raised alarms that Donald Trump is a fascist. My research paper compares Donald Trump’s messaging to Adolf Hitler’s messaging to find any similarities between the two in order to determine if Trumpism is a precursor to fascism. This study begins by looking at previous scholars’ research into whether or not Trumpism is a precursor to fascism and then I proceed to draw on primary sources such as speeches, Mein Kampf, and Trump’s TruthSocial posts, particularly those related to immigration and minorities, attacks on and suppression …

Digital Addiction: A Conceptual Overview, Amarjit Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Singh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Digital addiction referred to an impulse control disorder that involves the obsessive use of digital devices, digital technologies, and digital platforms, i.e. internet, video game, online platforms, mobile devices, digital gadgets, and social network platform. It is an emerging domain of Cyberpsychology (Singh, Amarjit Kumar and Pawan Kumar Singh; 2019), which explore a problematic usage of digital media, device, and platforms by being obsessive and excessive. This article analyses, reviewed the current research, and established a conceptual overview on the digital addiction. The research literature on digital addiction has proliferated. However, we tried to categories the digital addiction, according …

Hiding Behind Nakedness On The Nude Beach, Lelia Rosalind Green

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper draws upon a series of experiences between 1980-85, when I identified as a naturist during my summer holidays in Europe, and in a visit to Wreck Beach in Vancouver (where I felt very much at home). At the time, I was aware that nude beaches were much less threatening to me as a large woman than are conventional 'textile' beaches. This paper draws upon those experiences to theorise why this might be the case, and why I have been absent from beach culture for much of the past decade.

Social Media Influencers' Impact On Consumer Purchasing Decisions, Kennedi O. Kutz, Kiara Espinal, Erin Flynn, Julia Cheney

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

The study entails how social media usage and parasocial relationships with social media influencers impact the audience’s purchases as a consumer. The survey covers a wide range of questions discussing the different social media platforms, how often they engage on them, and how often they click and engage with advertisements and influencers. It also covered questions that collected the participants' demographics to better understand which groups are more likely to be influenced by advertisements and influencers. We have found that younger audiences are more likely to have their consumer purchases influenced by social media advertisements and influencers than older audiences. …

Political Polarization, Misinformation, And Media Literacy, Ira Bruce Gaultney, Todd Sherron, Carrie Boden

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Today’s college students grew up with digital news media and social media readily available on their smartphones. As a result, students are likely to use their smartphones to access the news through social media where partisan misinformation is easily spread. Efforts to combat the spread of misinformation on social media are being explored on several fronts, including media literacy programs. While media literacy is not a cure-all for the problems posed by misinformation, it is helpful for instructors to understand how adept U.S. college students are at assessing the credibility of the news on their phones and the influence political …