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I examine Sojourner Truth and Janelle Monáe’s identity performances to identify some strategies and tactics Black women use to transgress externally defined myths of Black womanhood. I propose that both of these women use their identity as a liberation technology - a spiritual, emotional, physical, and/or intellectual tool constructed and/or wielded by Africana agents. They wield their identity, like an instrument, and use it to emancipate Africana people from the physical and metaphoric chains that restrict them from reproducing their cultural imperatives. I argue that both Truth and Monáe consciously fashion complex narratives of revolutionary Black womanhood as a way to disseminate their identities in ways that “destroy the societal expectations” of Black womanhood and empowers women to reclaim their ability to imagine self-defined Black womanhoods. I analyze the performance texts of Truth and Monáe using Afrofuturism, a theoretical perspective concerned with Africana agents’ speculation of their futures and the functionality of Africana agents’ technologies. Its foundational assumption is the pantechnological perspective, a theory that assumes “everything can be interpreted as a type of technology.” When examining Africana agency using an Afrofuturism perspective, the researcher should examine the devices, techniques, and processes – externally or intra-culturally generated – that have the potential to influence Africana social development. / African American Studies

This dissertation is a study of supernatural doubles in Victorian literature. It argues that these doubles expand our understanding of gender variance in the Victorian period. The texts in this dissertation privilege gender non-binarism through their depictions of materiality, gender embodiment, and temporality.

<p> While ethnohistory has been extensively employed by historical anthropologists in tracing cultural changes among various indigenous peoples at the time of European contact, it has been largely ignored by anthropologists of the ancient Near East. Traditional historians were largely concerned with historical people, places, and events, not with ethnographically describing a culture. Using two case studies, this thesis will demonstrate the value of ethnohistorical methods to areas of study where such methods have largely been ignored, namely gender and sexuality studies, religious studies, and ANE studies. The first case study examines how gender was socially constructed in the case of high class celibate nadi?tum &ldquo;nuns&rdquo; in Old Babylonian period Sippar. The second case study examines third-gender categories and non-heteronormative sexuality in Inanna's cultus. The role of etiological myths in the construction of gender and sexuality will be of particular interest in both case studies. </p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to develop a grant application for the True Palette Fund for a permanent supportive housing project for 20 homeless LGBTQQI youth in Sonoma County. This is an over-represented subgroup of the homeless youth population faced with limited support services, leaving them at risk for many negative outcomes. </p><p> Permanent supportive housing that is LGBTQQI culture specific provides the best chance for the target population to embark on a fulfilling life as contributing members of society. The grant writer is collaborating with the local agency, Social Advocates for Youth, to create a dedicated LGBTQQI program as part of the Dream Center subsidized housing. </p><p> The LGBTQQI enhanced services provided by staff and volunteers will include case management/life coaching, mentoring, independent living skills training, employment and mental health counseling, and community building activities </p>

<p> Gender Identity Counselor Competency Scale: A Validation Study The purpose of the current study was to explore the validity of the Gender Identity Counselor Competency Scale, a measure meant to examine counselor competency for working with clients identifying as trans*. A national sample of counseling students and faculty accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling &amp; Related Programs (CACREP) was obtained. The data from 187 participants were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis during the first phase of data analysis. After extraction, two items were removed from the measure and it was renamed GICCS-Revised (GICCS-R). Three factors emerged from analysis and supported the tripartite model for multicultural counseling competencies and these factors were labeled knowledge, awareness, and skills. High internal consistency was found and evidence convergent validity was observed. Some evidence for discriminant validity was found. During the second phase of data analysis, analysis of covariance was used to explore mean differences among levels of education on overall GICCS-R scores as well as the subscale scores, while controlling for social desirability. There were group differences on the overall and subscale scores, with the exception of the awareness subscale. A hierarchal multiple regression was conducted to determine whether a set of variables (social desirability, levels of education, number of workshops attended or facilitated, and number of trans*-identified clients worked with) could predict scores on the overall GICCS-R and each subscale. The variables combined explained 45.5% of the variance on overall GICCS-R scores. Social desirability was not a significant predictor of scores. First year counseling master&rsquo;s students; participants who attended or facilitated 0-4 workshops; and participants who worked with 0-1 clients were significant predictors of low overall competency scores. Levels of education and levels of experience explained a significant proportion of the variance on the knowledge and skills subscales, but not on the awareness subscale. The findings from the current study have important implications for how trans* counselor competency is measured in students and faculty. The findings also have implications for ways to improve levels competency.</p>

<p> For the purposes of this thesis, I begin with an overview of theatre for social change in the introduction and then focus on the literature review as a way to introduce authors, ideas, theory and knowledge as background for the reader. This includes anecdotal accounts, reasoning for research and methodologies for carrying out research. I look at feminist theory, community-based theatre, education for liberation and decolonizing knowledge as a basis for my continuing ideas and theories. My emphasis is how to use expressive arts theatre as a way to connect people through dialogue in communities. One of the many ways is implementing curriculum through public school venues. I use theatre techniques that have been used successfully in a variety of global communities that help aide in focusing on certain issues a community is experiencing. I conducted a Women's Theatre Workshop that consisted of an intergenerational community of women whom embarked on a journey engaging in profound material exploring issues that women face. We found that this work was powerful in a variety of ways for them, some highlighting emotional abuse, oppression and double standards as well as theatre being a tool for non-traditional therapeutic use. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> praxis, theatre, education, freedom, decolonizing, feminist, theatre for social change</p>

<p>The purpose of the present study is investigating whether gender identity (masculinity and femininity) has an effect on women?s career choices (STEM or non-STEM), and their person-environment fit, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions with their choices. One-hundred eight-two female employees recruited via Amazon?s Mechanical Turk and a snowball/network sampling strategy completed an online survey. The results supported that masculine females were more represented in STEM jobs. However, feminine females were not more represented in non-STEM jobs. Furthermore, results revealed that higher person environment fit resulted with higher job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions for female employees. However, there were no significant relationship between gender identity, and person-environment fit, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. These results suggest that gender identity may affect female employees? career decisions, and their person-environment fit is important for their job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

<p> Given the increased public enthusiasm for the genres of Horror and Science Fiction, as well as the renewed and ever-evolving interest in indie horror films (propelling them into the mainstream), there is a noticeable increase of public eagerness to consume films that toy with the ideas of anxiety and the body. While many of these films seem to fit the rubric of heteronormative and mainstream Hollywood productions that occupy a neat world of perfectly defined gender identities, we can still excavate bodies that fall outside of such neat definitions. On the one hand, we are presented with a defined female or male character, thrust into a chaotic situation through which they must endure tremendous anxiety and pain and strive to survive. On the other, these bodies seem to survive and thrive despite not fitting in with the simple heteronormative worlds in which they dwell. </p><p> The purpose of this thesis is not to provide a stand-in or voice for the queer body, nor is its purpose to create an index of films that fall under the sub-genre of &lsquo;Body Horror,&rsquo; but to explore how films in this genre that seem to privilege performances of able-bodiedness and heteronormativity actually treat queerness and queer topics in very different ways. This thesis wishes to explore these bodies as they cruise through their respective dystopian technofetishistic worlds; as their bodies are infected, their figures transformed, and their psyches liberated as they attain physical, sexual or psychological release. </p><p> To facilitate both observation and maintain its central focus, this paper will be divided into three main parts. The first chapter will define key terms and phrases that are the central focus of this paper. The second chapter will explore the concept of &lsquo;Infestation,&rsquo; which will focus on the queer and disabled bodies as they are occupied, annexed, and attacked by external forces or internal strife. This chapter will consider the concept of &lsquo;Transformation&rsquo; and further examine the manner through which the &ldquo;monstrous queer&rdquo; emerges through the definition of normalcy and the anomalous. Lastly, the final chapter will revolve around the concept of &lsquo;Liberation,&rsquo; and review these observations in terms of how these performances reconcile and imagine their own respective ideas of queer futures. This final chapter will expand the narrative of queer futurity while also dwelling on notions of the inevitable &ldquo;queer dystopia&rdquo; in &lsquo;Body Horror&rsquo; films. The voices and scholarship in the fields of Queer and Disability Studies, Psychoanalysis, and Film Studies will guide this reading as it seeks out these bodies and unearths the deeply affective, psychological, and physical states of transformation they undergo.</p>