The purpose of this study was threefold; to examine the unique challenges faced among young breast cancer survivors’ self-concepts; to explore the identity reformulation process as they adjust to a new lifestyle after completing medical treatment; and to identify women’s creative problem solving solution used to mitigate any long-term distress and discontinuity between past, current and ideal selves. In-person semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 young breast cancer survivors (aged 32-45). The results indicated that exploring women’s narratives through the identity reformulation process created an alternative approach to the four prescribed quality of life domains used to understand survivors’ overall wellbeing. The results also identified three shared domains of social location (gender, youth and health status) that intersected in women’s identity reformulation process. These findings have implications for psychosocial oncology literature, as well as clinical practice for mental health practitioners. Limitations and recommendations for areas of future research were discussed.

The no borders movement has been an important site of anti-imperialist resistance, and as such it provides a valuable point of entry into problematizing the contradictions that constitute the relations of consciousness, praxis and ideology. By tracing the recent history of no borders activism in relation to the intensification of neoliberalism, and the prevalence of diffuse models of power, the analysis illustrates the ways in which critical praxis has been limited by the current milieu. Working from an anti-racist feminist perspective I utilize examples drawn from no borders activism to demonstrate the very real limits of informal and incidental learning in social movements. The analysis argues against the supplanting of consciousness with subjectivity as a way to avoid the problems associated with structuralist analysis. Instead, I have suggested that critical education for social action requires a dialectical engagement with the social relations that we live in, contest and transform.

Social movement activism throughout the 1960s and 1970s provided space for feminist concerns in a variety of arenas. Women's movement activism and women's scholarship in history challenged the ways in which women’s experiences had been marginalized or omitted in school history programs and curricula. Women's organizations developed and broadened networks, created and published resources, and lobbied governments and institutions. Their widespread activism spilled into a range of educational circles and influenced history teachers in altering curricula to include women in course materials. Advocating for women, on a curricular or professional development level, however, was complicated because of entrenched neo-liberal systems in place within education institutions. Although the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Toronto Board of Education demonstrated clear support for a wide range of gender equity-based initiatives, they committed to implementing a 'piecemeal' approach to curricular change. The fundamental work to include women in history curricula relied heavily on grassroots networks that allowed for women’s experiences to leak into classrooms, and were responsible for bringing women’s voices into the history curricula. This study explores the initiatives of the Toronto Board of Education from 1968-1993, with particular analysis of women’s committees, teacher/librarians in resource centers, Affirmative Action representatives, individual teachers and administrators. Within the broader public sphere, the contributions of concerned parents, activists, small independent publishers, educational reformers, political leaders and women’s history organizations lent their voices to ideas about how the inclusion of women in history curricula should take shape in Toronto schools. Ministry gender equity policies and history course guidelines provided incremental and therefore politically safe responses to educational change. The Toronto Board's "add-on" approach to including women in course examinations avoided instituting major "top-down'" curricular change, which kept the integration of women’s history within classrooms on the periphery of most course work. The substantive grassroots activism and the commitment of women’s organizations and individual teachers, however, allowed women’s history to flourish within individual classrooms in Toronto and demonstrates the ways in which "bottom-up" initiatives can be a powerful force in curricular change.

Master of Science / Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Joy Kozar / The thin female body-type perpetuated in the media has historically caused decreased body satisfaction in adolescent and young adult females (Dittmar, 2009). Previous studies have examined the impact of these images in traditional media, but few studies have examined images seen in social media. Therefore, this study examined how social media impacts the body satisfaction of adolescent and young adult females through the variables of age, time spent on social media, social comparison behaviors, and appearance-related attitudes. The study utilized a sample of females between the ages of 14 to 25. As a component of this study, age was broken into two groups, creating a younger (14-18) and older (19-25) group. This allowed the researcher to make comparisons between the two age groups in relation to the variables being studied. An online questionnaire was utilized as part of this study and distributed to college professors, high school instructors, high school and college-age students, and via social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. A total of 357 female respondents between the ages of 14 and 25 years old participated in the study. Of the 357 participants, 140 (39.2%) were in the age category of 14-18 and 217 (60.8%) were in the age category of 19-25. Results indicated that participants who accessed their social media accounts more times per day were more likely to engage in social comparison behavior to fashion models and celebrities and peers. In addition, the more participants compared themselves with fashion models and celebrities and peers, the higher their appearance-related attitudes, which lowered their body satisfaction. Age was not a significant factor in predicting time spent on social media, participation in social comparison behavior, or appearance-related attitudes. However, among the sample, younger participants were overall more satisfied with their body than older participants. It was determined that on average, participants checked their social media accounts between 5 and 15 times a day and spent three or less hours daily on social media. These findings have important implications for the fashion and cosmetics industries and AT educators. The results indicate that social media has an impact on young women’s body satisfaction.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / William J. Adams / The purpose of this study is to research cultivation effects of gender represented on MTV reality television series "The Hills" on adolescent female bloggers. Gerbner’s cultivation theory structures the background of this study. By conducting a textual analysis of various celebrity gossip blog sites from November 1-30, 2008, this study will unveil personal opinions relating to the reality of constructed gender representation and authenticity of "The Hills" as a “reality” television program. Blogs provide an ambiguous platform for individuals to immediately express opinions, judgments and attitude concerning the program; therefore, this study will be a contribution to the expanding field of convergence and “new media.” Although comments on the websites are critical of "The Hills" characters and their depiction of “reality,” the television program has a dedicated audience, calling for the reevaluation of “fandom.” Cyberspace offers an opportunity for virtual dialogue among viewers, as well as a platform to express cyberfeminist rhetoric. Women and girls are gaining new social and organizing space, claiming a new form of power and shaping media and society through particular kinds of participatory communication.

Master of Arts / Department of Communications / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / This thesis examines the production of identity within post web 2.0 virtual communities. Second Life, the community which this study focuses on, is a growing home of educational institutions. To better understand the process of constructing identity and community in the hyper-mediated future, this thesis grapples with the complicated process of creating oneself through analyzing the avatar as self and the home as community. Identity appears to continue to be both a liberating and constraining force, and creating oneself is not as simple as buying a new skin. Through a self-reflexive post-colonial virtual ethnographic exploration of the thesis writers experiences in the virtual world, light will be shed on the ways that identity is being shaped in relation to race and gender.

This study is an investigation of embodiment. It is informed by the experiences and understandings of health, healing, violence and oppression among 15 young South Asian women living in Toronto, Canada. Their articulation of the importance of, and difficulties associated with, health and healing in contexts of social inequity contribute to understandings of embodiment as co-constituted by sentient and social experience. In my reading of their contributions, embodied learning – that is, an ongoing attunement to sentient-social embodiment – is a counter hegemonic healing strategy that they use. Their experiences and insights support the increasingly accepted claim that social inequity is a primary determinant of health that disproportionately disadvantages subordinated people. Furthermore, participants affirm that recovery and resistance to violence and oppression and its consequences must address sentient-social components of embodiment simultaneously. In this study, Yoga teachings provide a framework and practice to investigate embodiment and embodied learning. Following 12 Yoga workshops addressing health, healing, violence and oppression, I conducted individual interviews with 15 workshop participants, 3 Yoga teachers and 2 counsellor / social workers. Participants discuss Yoga as a resource for addressing mental, physical, emotional and spiritual consequences of violence and oppression. They resist New Age interpretations of Yoga in terms of individualism and cultural appropriation; they also challenge both New Age and Western biomedicine for a lack of attention to the consequences of social inequity for health and healing. This study considers embodied learning as an important healing resource and form of resistance to violence and oppression. Scholarship addressing embodiment in sociology, health research, anti-racism, feminism, anti-colonialism, decolonization and Indigenous knowledges are drawn upon to contextualize the interviews. This study offers insights relevant to health promotion and adult education discourse and policy through a careful consideration of the embodied strategies used by the participants in their nuanced negotiations of social inequity and pursuits of health and healing.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services - Marriage and Family Therapy / Joyce Baptist / There has been a decline in marriage rates in the U.S., with Black persons showing the lowest numbers in relation to other racial groups. Unlike previous generations where marriage was associated with a sense of familism, today marriage is associated with individual growth and the creation of a fulfilling relationship. To better understand how single Black women manage the tension between individuality and togetherness, a phenomenological study was conducted to explore the lived experience of singlehood of six Black women. Findings support Knudson-Martin‟s (1996) reframed concept of differentiation and previous studies pertaining to family and community values' influence on perspectives about gendered roles in marriage. Gendered power imbalance appears to be a main contributor to ambivalence about marriage although marriage remained to be valued and desired. Findings can prevent helping professionals from imposing our socialized worldview that values intact families, marriage, and gendered power equity on single Black clients. Clinical and research implications are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychological Sciences / Donald A. Saucier / An overview discusses rape in terms of two systems of social power: oppression and resistance. Components of these systems—i.e., individuals’ rape-related attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and behaviors, and outcomes—are compared in the literatures on “rape victims” and “rape survivors” (Hockett & Saucier, under review), suggesting that different results and conclusions are associated with different labels applied to the same group (i.e., women who have been raped). Three studies assessed differences in individuals’ rape-related perceptions (Study 1), intergroup helping intentions (Study 2), and interpersonal helping intentions (Study 3) for “rape victims,” “rape survivors,” and “women who have been raped.” Extending feminist and social psychological theories of social power, results generally supported my hypotheses that such labels would produce different perceptions and helping intentions. The discussion addresses implications for theory, limitations, and directions for future research.

During this time of increased attention toward the representation of women in media, simply applauding including female characters often leaves out the analysis of what purpose they serve within their narratives. The anxiety over women’s fertility in Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017), Children of Men (Cuaron, 2006), and The Handmaid’s Tale (Bruce Miller, 2017) expresses a crisis in contemporary culture over changing gender roles. Even though these three texts use the antagonists to seek to control over women’s bodies, the narratives themselves still employ infertility as a threat for women. What does the reappearance of mass infertility in our dystopian media tell us about how we value and depict women? These audio-visual texts, set in disturbing futures, attempt to intervene discursively in these political conversations. Their narratives appear critical of hegemony on their surface, but lurking beneath is a return to gender essentialism that defines women through their ability to reproduce.