Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

Voting, Politics, And Gender: Has America Paved The Way For A Female President?, Hannah Bower

CMC Senior Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of candidate gender on voting behavior in presidential elections in the United States. By delving into the vice presidential nominations of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and Sarah Palin in 2008, I provided the baseline for the experiences of Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns in 2016. Ultimately, I present the argument that the United States is ready for a female president, either this year or in the near future.

Analysis Of Middle Level Trade Books With Gender And Sexual Minority Content, Jena Borah

Masters Theses

Middle school is often the time students become aware of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and in many schools, perceived nonheteronormative behavior is penalized through bullying. One way schools can reduce bullying and increase successful learning environments is to include trade books that feature gender and sexual minorities. State and national standards set expectations for social and emotional learning as well as critical analysis of high quality reading materials. This research analyzed trade books from the 2013 and 2014 Rainbow Lists which were chosen by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association as …

An Intersectional Analysis Of Male Student-Athletes' Meaning-Making About Masculinity, Michelle Lisack

Masters Theses

Men's athletics is often viewed as an environment where hegemonic masculinity is perpetuated, though some believe this environment provides a safe space for men to break away from hegemonic masculinity. This study was designed to gain an understanding of how male student-athletes experience masculinity and how the context of athletics influences meaning-making about masculinity. Using a phenomenological approach, the researcher interviewed five male student-athletes and observed the practice sessions of two different teams. The participants were student-athletes of junior or senior status from the following sports: tennis, soccer, swimming, baseball, and basketball. Results showed that male student-athletes found it challenging …

The Recruitment Of Sexual Minority Students In Higher Education, Jorge El-Azar

Masters Theses

In a time when universities actively recruit diverse groups of applicants, some universities are seeing the need for a diverse student population and advancing their recruitment initiatives to recruit specific groups of students. The LGBTQ+ community has been perceived as an invisible community (Cegler, 2012) by some universities, but other higher education institutions are seeing the value of specifically recruiting students who identify as a part of this community. This study was designed to focus on the initiatives universities are implementing to effectively recruit students who identify as LGBTQ+. Using a qualitative approach, the researcher interviewed six participants who identified …

Gender Nonconforming, Transgender, And Transsexual Patient Navigation Of The American Health Care System: Locating A Primary Care Provider, Justin M. Vinneau

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the experiences of gender nonconforming (GNC), transgender, and transsexual (trans) people in the search for a primary care provider in the United States. The current body of literature on transgender health often discusses HIV rates, substance use, mental health/suicide, and few studies have studies primary care seeking behaviors; this study seeks to provide new insight into the primary care (pcp) seeking behaviors of GNC and trans people. The primary theoretical perspectives utilized in this study were West and Zimmerman’s (1987) “Doing Gender” and the Health Beliefs Mode (Ayers et al., 2007; Connor and Norman, 2005; Green and …

Speaking Through The Silence: Narratives, Interaction, And The Social Construction Of Sexual Selves, David Wayne Wahl

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research is to study the construction of sexual selves. The research entails understanding how sexual selves emerge, develop, alter, sustain, transform or deconstruct. In all cases of sexuality, sex is something we, as active agents, do. It is for this reason that I adhere, in this work and otherwise, to the tenets of symbolic interactionism as this activity involves; (1) active agents who are composed of many different categorizations of selves including sexual selves, (2) the reflexive nature between the individual and the social realm wherein sexuality, in causal terms, takes the position of a dependent …

Impact Of The 2015 Earthquake On Women In Nepal, Christina Rajbhandari

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the gendered impacts of the 2015 earthquake on women in Nepal. The purpose of this study is to identify factors contributing to vulnerability of women, and explore gender sensitivity of the relief materials provided post 2015 earthquake. Five major themes were identified that put women in vulnerable situations. These include, menstruation and pregnancy, which are unique experience of women; bathing and toilet needs, which are different than their male counterparts; care taking duties, which was found to be the primary role of women interviewed; age based vulnerabilities, which puts older women in unique conditions that affect their …

"Their Shadows Still Walk With Us": Mapping A Decolonial Cartography Of Struggle With Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa, Sandra Álvarez

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This paper maps a cartography of struggle to document the dynamic, living legacy of Menominee leader Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa and her contribution to the decolonial possibilities of transnational Indigenous feminism. I propose that mapping a cartography of struggle is a useful way for movements to consider how the past informs the present and future possibilities of resistance and decoloniality.

Este artículo traza una cartografía de las luchas que llevó a cabo la líder Menominee Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa con el fin de documentar su legado dinámico y vivo y su contribución a las posibilidades decoloniales del feminismo indígena transnacional. Propongo la …

Changing Medical Education: Early Efforts To Integrate Women's Health Into Education And Training, Mary Katherine Rojek

Dissertations

This is an historical study about the development of women’s health curricula in medical education across the U.S. between 1983 and 2004, a period of a great deal of innovation. At that time, some physicians, medical educators, policy makers, and government officials became aware that most U.S. medical school curricula did not address women’s health in a comprehensive manner and did not attend to many problems that were the primary causes of mortality and morbidity in women. In addition, medical research and medical education were based on a normative male model. Studies of medical education indicate that medical schools are …

An Investigation Into Improving Men's Access To Health Services, Kieran Geary

Theses

This thesis sets out to examine the area of men’s health and to recommend strategies for mainstream health services to get more men interested in their health. In Ireland, men die, on average, approximately five years younger than women and have higher death rates than women for most of the leading causes of death (Richardson and Carroll, 2008). As Wilkins (2009) points out, identifying the problems with men’s health is not the ultimate challenge, nor is advocating for change at a political or policy level, rather it is identifying what works with men and translating that into workable strategies capable …

Effective Combat Leadership: How Do Individual, Social, And Organizational Factors In The U.S. Army Reserve Cultivate Effective Women's Leadership In Dangerous Contexts?, Diana Drita Ellerman

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This research centered on the experiences of a dozen women who served in U.S. Army Reserve leadership positions. Although they served in dangerous contexts the Army had an exclusionary policy at the time that formally excluded the women from direct combat. The impetus for the research was Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's announcement in January 2013 that the U.S. military would be eliminating the exclusionary policy. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into what individual, social, and organizational factors support women's effective leadership in dangerous contexts. The research utilized narrative inquiry in order to bring forth the …

An Exploration Of The Experience Of Female Same-Sex Marriage, Melissa Rose Mulick

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In June 2015 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage. While same-sex marriage had previously been legalized in individual states, this ruling effectively increased the population of women legally married to other women. A review of research historically conducted on female same-sex relationships indicated that they were often fraught with heteronormative assumptions and biases, leaving the conclusions questionable at best. This dissertation used Amedeo Giorgi’s (2009) qualitative methodology of Descriptive Phenomenology in order to explore the essence of the experience of female same-sex marriage. Ten cisgender women who were legally married …

Cruising The Borderlands: Queer Latinx Creating Space In Lowrider Culture, Elisia I. Campos

Senior Independent Study Theses

This ethnographic and interview-based study explores how queer Latinx lowriders create community through art, such as The Q Sides, an exhibition of photographs by Vero Majano, Kari Orvik, and DJ Brown Amy. Both lowrider culture and the queer Latinx community are marginalized communities that are often silenced, ignored, and not included in historical preservation or well documented. Lowrider culture and the queer Latinx community have largely been explored separately, such as ethnographer Ben Chappell and interdisciplinary scholar Michael Hames-García. My Senior Independent Study project examines the unique intersection of the queer Latinx experience in lowrider culture in the context of …

Experiences Of Victimization And Health Care Access Among Non-Metropolitan Lgbtq+ Individuals, Ashley-Ann Marcotte

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals report substantial rates of violence, discrimination, and negative life events due to homophobia and transphobia and these experiences impact access to health care services and programs (Bauer et al, 2009; Grant, Mottet, Tanis, Harrison, & Keisling, 2010) These experiences result in LGBTQ+ communities needing services, programs, and social supports to provide safer spaces. Although it is well recognized that health care services are not a major determinant of health outcomes and yet use more than 60% of health spending (Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2014; Muzyka, Hodgson, & Prada, 2012). As such, …

The Effects Of Control Threat On Women's Acceptance Of Benevolent Sexism And Traditional Gender Roles, Zheng Li

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

System Justification Theory (SJT; Jost & Banaji, 1994) predicts that people tend to accept and endorse the current socioeconomic and political arrangement when they feel threatened. Based on SJT, women should support traditional gender roles and benevolent sexism when they feel threatened because these system-justifying beliefs can mitigate anxiety and distress elicited by existential threats. In the current study, female participants’ responses to a control threat were measured by an author-generated scale on attitudes toward traditional gender roles for women and Benevolent Sexism Scale (Glick & Fiske, 1996). In a community sample (but not in a student sample), participants whose …

Pregnancy, Birth, And Mothering Behind Bars: A Case Study Of One Woman's Journey Through The Ontario Criminal Justice And Jail Systems, Sarah Fiander

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As more people come under the direct or indirect control of the carceral nation state, it is important to analyze those systems and bodies that contribute to its construction and conservation. Moreover, it is necessary to assess the ability of these social institutions to meet the needs of the individuals under their supervision, as well as to establish a standard of care to which operators of jails, prisons, and other carceral facilities may be held accountable. Criminalized women represent an acutely marginalized segment of the prison population whose distinct gendered needs have been habitually overlooked. The present study aims to …

“Doing Time Long After The Crime: How A Prison Sentence Today Is Only The Beginning Of A Felon’S Life-Long Sentence As A Pariah To Society”, Mary C. Pollock

Undergraduate Research Posters

This research seeks to explore the various difficulties in convicted felons’ life after their transition back into society. The research examines how an ex-convict’s finances, interpersonal relationships with friends, family, and romantic partners, lifetime opportunities, mental health, physical health, and living conditions are affected by the offender’s status as such an offender, as well as to consider ways in which these difficulties can be alleviated for future ex-offenders upon reassimilation into society after a prison sentence. Though indeed a broad topic, this particular brand of research seeks to highlight the exaggerated perception of the ex-con as a permanently damned member …

‘Tell Your Own Story’: Manhood, Masculinity And Racial Socialization Among Black Fathers And Their Sons, Quaylan Allen

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines how black fathers and sons in the U.S. conceptualize manhood and masculinity and the racial socializing practices of black men. Drawing upon data from an ethnography on Black male schooling, this paper uses the interviews with fathers and sons to explore how race and gender intersect in how Black males make meaning of their gendered performances. Common notions of manhood are articulated including independence, responsibility and providership. However, race and gender intersect in particular ways for black men. The fathers engaged in particular racial socializing practices preparing their sons for encounters with racism. Both fathers and sons …

Gender And Attitudes About Mental Health Help Seeking: Results From National Data, Douglas Wendt, Kevin Shafer

Faculty Publications

Men often express less emotion than women do, are hesitant to express weakness, and seek professional help much less frequently than do their female counterparts. The lack of help seeking is common across characteristics such as age, race, ethnicity, and nationality. Authors used data from the 2006 General Social Surveys mental health module to suggest that the gender gap in help seeking may be rooted in attitudes regarding help-seeking behaviors generally. Using structural equation modeling, we linked vignette type (depression and schizophrenia) to the endorsement of help seeking from informal and formal sources. Men showed similar support for informal help …

The Centrality Of Participant Voice In Illuminating The Gender Regime In Education Research Using A Human Capabilities Analysis, Catherine Vanner

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

The human capabilities approach distinguishes between capabilities (a person’s ability to choose what she wants to do/be) and functionings (actually doing/being what she wants). When used to analyze gender equality in education, it draws attention to the nature of education and the extent to which it is equally empowering for girls and boys. This research synthesis examines the use of the human capabilities approach as an analytical framework for gender and education research. The approach’s emphasis on participant voice as a means of articulating what is valued in education highlights contradictions and similarities within a given community and attends to …