Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons^™

The Effects Of Commercialization On The Perception Of Hip Hop Culture And Black Culture In Mainstream Culture In The United States, Chris A. Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is examines how the perception of a sub-culture can be altered by a dominant culture. Specifically this project addresses the effects resulting from the assimilation of Hip Hop Culture by mainstream culture in the United States, and its subsequent use as a marketing tool. Because Hip Hop Culture originated in Black Culture, the perception of Black Culture as reflected by hip hop music is also discussed. All of these themes are addressed creatively through a narrative script project.

Blackness As A Weapon: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The 2009 Henry Louis Gates Arrest In National Mainstream Media, Ashley Ann Jones

Theses Digitization Project

This study analyzed the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and USA Today's contributions to portraying the 2009 Henry L. Gates arrest. This study is interested in finding out how nationally circulated mainstream dailies and weeklies framed the indident and Gates' image within their news coverage. This study also seeks to find out how the media constructed race. Most importantly, this study seeks to uncover racial stereotypes as they relate to race and social status.

Through My Mother's Eyes: The Lifelong Journey Of Raising Children With And Without Disabilities, Lucie P. Lawrence

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through the use of narrative, this study sought to document the life-altering journey of 32 mothers raising children at various stages of development and with a variety of disabilities. The main questions guiding this research study consider the lived experiences of mothers raising children with and without disabilities; what these mothers reveal about the journey with their children; how these mothers define motherhood; and how their definition of motherhood differs for each of their children. To address the research questions and capture the narratives of participants, a two-pronged qualitative methodology was applied, using diaries compiled by participants and in-depth interviews …

Perceptions Of Masculinity And Career Specific Gender Stereotypes, Brian A. Golden

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Career gender bias is the tendency for men or women to resist work in careers that tend to be dominated by individuals of a specific gender (nursing, public relations, elementary education, child-care, police, fire, manufacturing). This study posits that current university students exhibit career gender bias and classify certain Bureau of Labor Statistics job classifications as male, female or unisex occupations. Furthermore, with use of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (Bem, 1974) scale, this study attempted to understand if masculinity, femininity, or androgyny gender identity influences college students’ perceptions of career gender stereotypes and ultimately their view about the growing or …

Blood-Speak: Ward Churchill And The Racialization Of American Indian Identity, Casey R. Kelly

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

After publishing a controversial essay on 9/11, Professor Ward Churchill's scholarship and personal identity were subjected to a hostile public investigation. Evidence that Churchill had invented his American Indian identity created vehemence among many professors and tribal leaders who dismissed Churchill because he was not a “real Indian.” This essay examines the discourses of racial authenticity employed to distance Churchill from tribal communities and American Indian scholarship. Responses to Churchill's academic and ethnic self-identification have retrenched a racialized definition of tribal identity defined by a narrow concept of blood. Employing what I term blood-speak, Churchill's opponents harness a biological concept …

This Is Not A Love Story: A Semiotic Discourse Analysis Of Romantic Comedies, Stephanie Lynn Gomez

Theses Digitization Project

This study is an examination of the ideologies present in the highest-grossing romantic comedy from each year in the past decade. Because romantic comedies feature prominent romantic relationships, repeated exposure to romantic comedies may influence audiences' perceptions of what romantic relationships should be like. People who are exposed to media content depicting romantic relationships may rely on those portrayals when they are either considering beginning a new romantic relationship, or evaluating a current romantic relationship.

Re-Examining “In A Different Voice” For The New Millennium, Brittany Morris

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Carol Gilligan’s In a Different Voice (1982) first presented the concept of different moral reasoning as key to understanding how men and women seem to arrive at different conclusions in similar situations. Contrasting her work with the influential model of Kohlberg, Gilligan argues that women’s concept of moral decision-making is inherently relational, rather than reflecting the acceptance of abstract justice deemed to be the highest level of decision-making by Kohlberg. Here, I explain this contrasting perspective, and then examine modern integration of Gilligan’s perceptions as seen through print and broadcast media.

Homemaker To Seductress: A Content Analysis Of Gender Stereotypes In Online Embedded Advertisements, Danica L. Stith

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Countless studies have documented and analyzed the presence of gender stereotypes in print and television advertisements, but very few have been performed on online advertisements. While the World Wide Web is no longer an exciting new domain for us, researchers are only beginning to analyze the vast number of gender stereotypes that are presented to viewers on a daily basis. The proliferation of gender stereotypes (specifically female stereotypes) is obvious in print advertisements and television advertisements, but do they also abound in online advertisements? In my research, I performed a content analysis of online embedded advertisements, specifically in three types …

Male Vs. Female Emotional Expression In Text Messaging, Stephanie Gruner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study focused on gender differences in emotional expression in text messaging. It sought to discover whether men or women use more emotionally expressive tools and words in texts and whether the gender of the person receiving the message affects a person’s emotional expression when creating text messages. Fifty female and fifty male college students completed a two-part study in which they created text messages displaying particular emotions according to given scenarios. The participants were instructed to create each message as if they were texting a member of the same sex, and then a member of the opposite sex. A …

Play Education Video Games On Their Terms, Wendi M. Kappers

Publications

It is imperative when utilizing educational video games in K-12 classrooms that student preferences with regard to game play, purpose, and design be considered in order to maximize game play efficiency for learning. As Web 2.0 content infiltrates our educational medium, student customization is key. This manuscript intends to share customization requests gleaned during an 18-week experimental study examining educational video game effects upon 7th graders enrolled in Mathematics and Mathematics 2 courses.

Coparental Communication, Relational Satisfaction, And Mental Health In Stepfamilies, Paul Schrodt, Dawn O. Braithwaite

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study tested a series of actor–partner interdependence models of coparental communication, relational satisfaction, and mental health in stepfamilies. Participants included 127 couples (N = 254). Results revealed 2 actor-oriented models whereby parents’ and stepparents’ coparental communication quality positively predicted their own (but not their partners’) satisfaction and mental health. A final model revealed that parents’ relational satisfaction mediated the effect of coparental communication on their own mental health. A similar pattern emerged for stepparents, although coparental communication continued to have a direct, positive effect on stepparents’ mental health. Importantly, parents’ coparental communication produced an inverse partner effect on stepparents’ …

Ex-Spouses’ Relational Satisfaction As A Function Of Coparental Communication In Stepfamilies, Paul Schrodt, Aimee E. Miller, Dawn O. Braithwaite

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study tested a series of actor-partner interdependence models of coparental communication and relational satisfaction among ex-spouses living in stepfamilies. Participants included 41 ex-spousal dyads (N = 82). Results revealed two actor-oriented models whereby ex-spouses’ supportive and antagonistic coparental communication predicted their own (but not their ex-spouse’s) relational satisfaction. A second set of models revealed that nonresidential parents’ supportive and antagonistic coparental communication with the residential stepparent predicted their own satisfaction with their ex-spouses, as well as their ex-spouse’s satisfaction with them (i.e., a partner effect). Importantly, the findings demonstrate the interdependence of coparenting relationships in stepfamilies, as supportive coparental …

Labor Pains In The Academy, Lisa M. Tillmann Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This piece offers autoethnographic reflections on crossroads to which many academics come: whether to seek (or postpone or avoid) parenthood and when. The author deeply explores the personal (her own trajectories from daughter and sister to potential mother and from graduate student to full professor) in order to reflect on structural constraints associated with graduate education, the academic job market, and institutional policies and politics.

Staff, Faculty, And Student Alliance (A Subcommittee Of The Uri Equity Council) For Lgbtiqq Issues 2010 Flyer, Joseph A. Santiago

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

This post contains the Staff, Faculty, and Student Alliance (a subcommittee of the URI Equity Council) for LGBTIQQ Issues 2010 flyer.

November Uri Community Diversity Project 2010, Joseph A. Santiago, Riley Davis, Richard V. Travisano

November Diversity Project

November is National Novel Writing Month. For the first time at the University of Rhode Island November was a month for the URI community to share their stories, poems, art, and photos with the world. The Writing to Model Diversity project intends to connect individuals across cultural boundaries and borders by sharing the stories and experiences that challenge our everyday experiences and the dreams of the future. Built on the efforts of the World Voice series, URI presents a book that shares the stories and culture of the students, faculty, staff, and community members who embrace the idea of becoming …

November Uri Community Diversity Project 2010, Joseph A. Santiago Mr, Riley Davis Ms, Richard V. Travisano Mr

November Diversity Project

November is National Novel Writing Month. For the first time at the University of Rhode Island November was a month for the URI community to share their stories, poems, art, and photos with the world. The Writing to Model Diversity project intends to connect individuals across cultural boundaries and borders by sharing the stories and experiences that challenge our everyday experiences and the dreams of the future. Built on the efforts of the World Voice series, URI presents a book that shares the stories and culture of the students, faculty, staff, and community members who embrace the idea of becoming …

"Natural Male Enhancement": A Semiological Approach To Enzyte's Marketing Scheme, Michelle (Shelley) Mckendree

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Women As Subject And Audience In World War Ii Venereal Disease Posters, Kyra Whitton

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

Internationally, venereal disease first became a major health concern during World War I. Venereal diseases were some of the most common infections and led to more hospitalizations among soldiers than wounds or battle-related illness. The Selective Service discovered that almost fifteen percent of those who were eligible for the draft were already infected with a venereal disease, sparking an intense anti-venereal disease campaign across America. Red-light districts were shut down, and American cities sought new laws that would criminalize prostitution to protect young men from contracting a venereal infection.

Though venereal disease rates were still high during World War II, …

The Post-Nuclear Family And The Depoliticization Of Unplanned Pregnancy In Knocked Up, Juno, And Waitress, Kristen Hoerl, Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This essay explores three films from 2007, Knocked Up, Juno, and Waitress, which foreground young women’s unplanned pregnancies. These movies depoliticize women’s reproduction and motherhood through narratives that rearticulate the meaning of choice. Bypassing the subject of abortion, the women’s decisions revolve around their choice of heterosexual partners and investment in romantic relationships. Although they question the viability of the nuclear family for single pregnant women, these films represent new iterations of post-feminism that ultimately restore conservative ideas that valorize pregnancy and motherhood as women’s imperatives. We conclude by addressing how these movies present a distorted and …

Understanding Gender Differences In Media Perceptions: A Comparison Of 2d Versus 3d Media, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, David Dewester, Brenda Eschenbrenner

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We examine gender differences in 2D versus 3D media perceptions. Using the Hunter-Gatherer Theory of Spatial Gender Differences and Jung’s Theory of Psychological Types, we hypothesize differences in men’s and women’s perceptions of skill, challenge, telepresence, and satisfaction with online experiences in 2D versus 3D media interaction. The findings suggest that even though women perceive lower skill levels and greater challenges in using 2D and 3D media than men, women’s sense of telepresence is higher than men in both 2D and 3D media. Women are also more satisfied with their interaction in 2D and 3D media than men.