This thesis analyzes Pamela Swynford De Beaufort and Jessica Hamby from the provocative HBO series, True Blood, in order to determine what hegemonic ideologies are reinforced through their sexual representation in the series. Through analysis based on concepts of the "vagina dentata" and "monstrous feminine," and in determining whether they fall victim to the Madonna/wore dichotomy, the question of Pam and Jessica's autonomous existence falls under scrutiny - particularly in regards to their sexuality. Feminist scholarship is vital to this research in order to examine the often fetishized and marginalized sexuality of women who dare to exhibit transgressive behaviors. This thesis concentrates on Seasons One through Four of the series, and also utilizes meta-text from the official website related to each character in order to help answer the posed research questions. / by Ashley Anderson. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Chelsea Handler is a comedian and host of the TV show Chelsea Lately. She has been successful in the late night comedy talk show genre to a degree that no woman has before. While she represents the most significant advancement for women in the genre, she also plays to patriarchal themes in order to maintain her foothold. In my thesis, I locate Handler within the history of women's stand-up comedy, analyzing her appeal via the figure of "The Unruly Woman" and other image types. I apply a mythic analysis as I look for Handler's manifestation of mythic types, including archetypal Goddess representations. I analyze her treatment of violence against women, exploring how Handler approaches these themes in ways that allow her into the "old boys club." I use textual and audience analysis to assess Handler's ability to be a transformative and empowering figure for women in comedy and beyond. / by Lauren Walleser. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Whereas male masturbation has generally been normalized by being the butt of friendly jokes and a popular subject in romantic comedies, the predominant discourse surrounding female masturbation, both in society and the movies, is silence and stigmatization. However, female masturbation is symbolically powerful because it signifies a female sexuality that is not dependent on male presence. This thesis seeks to explore depictions of female masturbation, specifically looking at how female characters who engage in autoeroticism are stigmatized, controlled or silenced. This thesis will also explore the minority of depictions that show the act as liberating in films like Pleasantville (1998) and Better than Chocolate (1999). / by Megan Tomei. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

A review of sociological literature reveals a long history of the study of gender, and an increased popularity in the application of feminist theories and ideas to sociological research. As transmitters of the discipline, introductory-level textbooks have been heavily studied over the past quarter-century to assess the accuracy with which they portray the field of sociology. In order to update the literature available on the topic, this study analyzed the current cohort of top-selling, introductory-level sociology textbooks for coverage of feminist theory and gender issues. Each of the ten textbooks was read cover-to-cover and coded for both latent and manifest data using a coding sheet. The researcher found a notable increase in the incidences of both feminist theories and gender issues within the current cohort of textbooks. The specific treatment of each topic varied widely across books, and within each book the topics were presented one-dimensionally and were ghettoized to feminized chapters. Definitions of feminist theory and feminism within the books primarily described liberal feminism and little else, and discussions of both feminist theory and gender were most heavily featured in the gender and family chapters. Generally, the gender issues present in the textbook sample were mostly to do with women, and erased non-binary experiences of gender. Additionally, an intersectional approach to discussions of gender was applied about one-third of the time. This study concludes that the current textbook cohort is still far from the ideal model, and the feminization and marginalization of these topics is likely due to the textbook production cycle and the specific phenomenon of textual isomorphism.

John Rawls's theory of justice, which he calls "justice as fairness," has proven to be most influential with regard to the course of contemporary political theory. In both of Rawls's books, A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism, his aim was to present a theoretically-compelling defense of deontological liberalism, and to present a set of principles by which to fairly order a just society. While Rawls's project has attracted a fair number of proponents over the years, it has also been a popular target for liberal and nonliberal critics alike. A recurrent theme among these criticisms has been an objection with Rawls's conception of the self as presented in A Theory of Justice. This thesis will focus on feminists' criticisms of Rawls's conception of persons. In general, feminists contend that Rawlsian liberalism suffers a structural gender bias resulting from Rawls's conception of the self. Rawls's notion of the self, feminists argue, rests on male or masculine attributes. I will demonstrate in the course of this thesis that feminists' charges fail on two accounts. First, feminists do not present an accurate reading of Rawls's conception of persons in either A Theory of Justice or Political Liberalism. Second, in reviewing feminist approaches to gendering the self (which is integral to their critique), it will be shown that feminists are unable to gender the self in a theoretically defensible manner. Thus, feminists cannot make the claim that the Rawlsian self is a male or masculine concept. It follows from these twin defects that feminist contentions fail to prove that Rawls's theory is gender biased.

Romantic relationship factors have been linked to both physical and mental health outcomes. Previous research has lacked attention not only on associations among these constructs, but on ways by which gender attitudes and beliefs impact romantic heterosexual relationships. The Biobehavioral Family Model (BBFM) is a biopsychosocial approach to health that integrates couple/family emotional climate, biobehavioral reactivity (emotion regulation), and physical health outcomes into one comprehensive model. The present study was conducted to examine the ability of the BBFM to explain connections between couple processes and health while integrating an additional construct of gender attitudes and beliefs. The sample consisted of 595 adults (age range 18-65+ years) who have been in committed romantic relationships for at least two years. Data were collected through online surveys which asked participants about their relationship satisfaction, mental health symptoms, physical health, and attitudes and beliefs about gender in relationships. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to test measures of romantic partner emotional climate, gender attitudes and beliefs, biobehavioral reactivity, and disease activity. Structural equation modeling was used to test associations among all constructs. Results demonstrated some support for the BBFM in explaining health quality for the sample. Specifically, romantic partner emotional climate was positively associated with biobehavioral reactivity, and gender attitudes and beliefs were significantly associated with both biobehavioral reactivity and disease activity. Applying the BBFM while incorporating gender attitudes and beliefs through a feminist lens demonstrates ways by which couple processes affect the mental and physical health of these individuations. Recommendations for future research and clinical implications are discussed.

I had dreamed of being a mother for some time. These dreams were complete with expectations of how and when I would give birth, and what motherhood would look and feel like. Now that I am a mother, I realize that my projected expectations in light of my true experience provide a conflicting story. While adjusting to reality has not always been easy, the experiences in unknown territory have brought beauty, joy, sadness, pride, and love in ways I never imagined. I believe that the only way to fully grasp the intensity of the experience of motherhood is to actually live through it. In this sense, the significance of documenting the motherhood experience is to capture the emotions and the reality of being a mother. I hope to put images to the continual conversation, conflict, and emotional battle that wages inside of me. I feel driven to document this experience not only to preserve these feelings for my own sake, but also to shed light on what I see as a misperception of motherhood. My experience with motherhood as subject matter for my artwork has led me to feel a sense of judgment; that to talk about motherhood in a fine art context is almost by nature taboo. I find this strange, as certainly we all have, or have had mothers. I hope to question this perceived negativity in the discussion of this relationship. I also desire to give those who share my feelings regarding motherhood a voice; to be confident in their experience, their love for their children, and to celebrate the common, yet extraordinary role of being a mother.

Higher education has been linked to upward mobility in recent decades. Higher education has particularly served as a road to upward mobility for disadvantaged racial and gender groups. While United States colleges and universities strive to make their institutions, programs, and departments more diverse, students who are racial minorities still experience racism and those who are women still experience sexism. Colleges and universities are often considered bastions of progressive liberalism that will challenge racism and sexism; however, the seeds of American racism and sexism that were planted at the country's inception and that were sustained by the blatant subjugation of people of color and women continue to generate race and sex based oppression within present-day American society and within America's academic institutions. Therefore, residual racism and sexism are important to explore, since their presence in educational institutions serves to reify racial and gender based boundaries in achievement and well-being. To this end, research has inadequately determined the prevalence of overt and covert oppression within academic institutions. Using a sample of college students at a predominately white institution in a Midwestern college town and a diverse institution in a large urban area I will: 1) examine the prevalence of covert and overt racist and sexist experiences among college students and develop models of their occurrence by gender and race; 2) test double jeopardy and multiple jeopardy theory by finding out if women of color experience more racism and sexism than other groups; 3) examine the prevalence of racist, post- racist, sexist and post-sexist beliefs among college students and develop models of their origins by race and gender, 4) examine how environmental context impacts student's experiences and beliefs by comparing college students at a predominately white institution and at a diverse institution; and 5) conduct a path analysis in order to test the causal relationships between demographic factors (race, gender and institution type), experiences (racist and sexist victimization) and attitudes/outlook (racist, post-racist, sexist, post-sexist, campus climate and stress).

O objetivo deste estudo é analisar, frente às visões de igualdade das correntes da Teoria Feminista do Direito, qual delas melhor explica a sub-representação feminina nos Conselhos de Administração das empresas. Também busca-se descobrir, dentre os argumentos que costumam embasar as políticas legais de quotas para mulheres em Conselhos, quais deles estão em consonância com o ideal de igualdade feminista identificado. Para tanto, no primeiro capítulo do trabalho, apresentaremos as principais noções da Teoria Feminista do Direito, visando delinear a base teórica da pesquisa. No segundo, apresentaremos as mais importantes correntes feministas e a forma como estas entendem o princípio da igualdade entre os sexos. No terceiro capítulo, avaliaremos a teoria geral das ações afirmativas. No quarto, confrontaremos os ideais de igualdade feministas com o caso específico da sub-representação das mulheres nos Conselhos, buscando responder as perguntas orientadoras da tese. / In face of the equality views within the currents of Feminist Theory of Law, the objective of this study is to analyze which one best explains the female under-representation on companies Boards of Directors. We also seek to discover, from among the arguments that tend to base the legal policy of quotas for women on Boards, which of them are in line with the identified feminist equality ideal. Therefore, the first chapter of the work will present the main notions of Feminist Theory of Law, aiming to outline the theoretical basis of the research. In the second chapter, we present the most important feminist strands and how they understand the principle of gender equality. In the third chapter, we evaluate the general theory of affirmative action. In the fourth, we confront the feminist equality ideals with the specific case of under-representation of women on Boards, seeking to answer the guiding questions of this thesis.

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