No / Disabled activists and feminist thinkers both lay claim to ownership of `care'. To the disabled people's movement, care is a necessity on the road to equal rights and citizenship. To women, care relationships are premised in capitalist economic and family relationships and can be both oppressive, and, conversely, sources of personal identity claims. The two perspectives are different, and conflict. Oppositional claims are sited in practical resource giving decisions, and state resources have implications for the individuals concerned. Resource relationships between the state and individuals affect both practical help given and the location of the resourced group to the wider society. I argue that these claims are fundamentally oppositional and result in oppression. The relationship, when mediated by provision of care, inevitably becomes disempowering. Care provision is a function of a welfare state, and care policy will effectively empower one or other group. This oppressive dyad can be altered by fundamental re-assessment of disabled theorization and feminist action, carried through into state provision and reflecting feminist perspectives of ethical care.

yes / For more than a decade, resolutions from the United Nations and European Commission have highlighted women’s suffering during wars, and the unfairness of their treatment on returning to peace. Yet the injustices and hypocrisy continue. Women are reified as the peacemakers whilst being excluded from peace processes. Women’s suffering during war is held up as evidence of inhumanity by the same organisations which accept, if not promote, the marginalisation of women’s needs during peacetime. In this paper I review the processes through which these phenomena are perpetuated and outline some ways forward which could help to break these cycles.

In this study, I explore the ways in which feminist family therapists encourage exploration of, resistance to, and collusion with, oppression. I explore qualitatively the critical dialogues, both inner, and with others, that feminist family therapists employ to address oppressive systems. My research questions are: a. How do family therapists who identify as feminist describe how their feminist identities and ideas about feminism have evolved over time? b. How do feminist family therapists report stories of their own resistance to gender-based oppression? c. How do feminist family therapists report stories of their own collusion with the oppression of others? And d. How do feminist family therapists encourage clients to examine oppression and collusion of oppression of others? I use tape-recorded, one-on-one interviews with a theoretical sample of self-identified feminist participants who have demonstrated rigorous attention to feminist inquiry and practice in the field of family therapy. Consistent with a contemporary grounded theory methodology, generation of theory is based on constructivist methods, which recognize that there are multiple coexisting realities and not one objective truth (Charmaz, 2000). By way of constructivist grounded theory analysis the following four categories emerged: (a) Actions and Strategies of a Feminist Family Therapist, (b) It's a Sensibility: The Development of a Feminist Identity, (c) Recognizing Oppression and Injustice: A Quest for Liberation and (d) Resisting: Exploring Why, How, and at the Risk of Which Consequences. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how diversity discourse inscribes oppressive institutional structures (slavery, racism, and whiteness), specifically, institutional power, and offer possibilities for making sustainable change. This dissertation is an institutional critique (Porter et al. 2000) that includes Black women's experiences in diversity leadership roles at Virginia Tech, an analysis of the institution's bureaucratic structure, an analysis of diversity discourse published by Virginia Tech's Office for Inclusion and Diversity (OID), and climate surveys. By following diversity discourse, I explore how the discourse and modalities inscribe institutional power, the "outsider-within" construct of Black women, and obstructions to institutional change through discursive practices. In general, change happens at institutions but does not connote equitable, sustainable change. I argue that mapping the discursive and material construction of institutional power can reveal discursive methods/methodologies for remapping the institution toward inscribing structures of resistance. / Doctor of Philosophy / The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how diversity discourse inscribes oppressive institutional structures (slavery, racism, and whiteness), specifically, institutional power, and offer possibilities for making sustainable change. This dissertation is an institutional critique (Porter et al. 2000) that includes Black women's experiences in diversity leadership roles at Virginia Tech, an analysis of the institution's bureaucratic structure, an analysis of diversity discourse published by Virginia Tech's Office for Inclusion and Diversity (OID), and climate surveys. By following diversity discourse, I explore how the discourse and modalities inscribe institutional power, the "outsider-within" construct of Black women, and obstructions to institutional change through discursive practices. The "outsider-within" positionality is "a marginality that stimulated a distinctive Black women's perspective on a variety of themes" (Collins, 2022) from a dual existence as an outsider within oppressive white spaces. Change happens at institutions but does not demonstrate equitable and sustainable change. I argue that investigating the discursive and material construction of institutional power (following the discourse) can reveal discursive methods/methodologies for implementing acts of resistance.

The novel Someplace Else scrutinizes spaces begging for examination—places of asphyxiation, of undiscussed power structures and violence—that do nothing to prepare those living within them to be their examiners. Through the lens of Lumi—a small-town Wisconsin adolescent on the verge of womanhood—the novel examines how childhood innocence is exemplified and threatened by the homes in which females are raised and raising themselves. Someplace Else serves as Lumi's avenue for figuring out how to put to words what exactly it is she is coming to understand, including her relationship with her hometown, how this space has affected her mother and sister, and how this space has affected these women's relationships with one another; through story, Lumi is deciphering ways to speak, to talk about her world and perhaps find a way out. / Master of Fine Arts

Born in 1926, Frances "Sissy" Tarlton Farenthold began her exploration of politics at a young age. In 1942, Farenthold graduated from Hockaday School for Girls. In 1945, she graduated from Vassar College, and in 1949, she graduated from the University of Texas School of Law. Farenthold was a practicing lawyer, participated in the Corpus Christi Human Relations Commission from 1964 to 1969, and directed Nueces County Legal Aid from 1965 to 1967. In 1969, she began her first term in the Texas House of Representatives. During her second term in the House (1971-1972), Farenthold became a leader in the fight against government corruption. In 1972, she ran in the Democratic primary for Texas governor, and forced a close run-off vote with Dolph Briscoe. Soon afterwards in 1972, she was nominated as a Democratic vice-presidential candidate at the Democratic convention, in addition to her nomination as the chairperson of the National Women's Political Caucus. Farenthold ran in the Democratic primary for governor again in 1974, but lost decisively. From 1976 until 1980, she was the first woman president of Wells College, before coming back to Texas and opening a law practice. For the next three decades, Farenthold practiced law, taught at the University of Houston, and furthered her activism for the environment, as well as women's, minority's, gay and lesbian, and immigrant's rights. She currently lives in Houston and continues working towards these goals.

In this thesis, I analyze responses to the 1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule (DGCDAR), the policy that until January 24, 2013 formally barred women from serving in combat. Specifically, I use feminist theories of embodiment, equality, and difference to interpret how interlocutors represent female service members in the "Letters" section of the Marine Corps Gazette and interviews I collected from members of the military community. I find that the most common arguments against women in combat locate gender difference in the physically sexed body, centering primarily on female nature, sexuality, and strength. Throughout this project, I demonstrate how these arguments are persuasive because the discourse understands equality as sameness to a male norm. This equality as sameness paradigm perpetuates gender-based barriers to parity by expecting women to function just like men. Ultimately, I argue for a more inclusive conception of equality that acknowledges difference. / Master of Arts

This study examines secular mommy bloggers, a group of women who blog about the difficulties of being a nonbeliever parent in a predominantly religious society. In this study, I explore the rhetorical dimensions of four separate blogs by investigating how each mother builds identity within her personal blog and how her sense of identity enables her to construct individual ethos. Furthermore, I illustrate how the individual ethos of each blogger contributes to a group ethos representing the entire secular parenting community. Ultimately, I show how these mothers rhetorically set themselves apart from other nonbeliever/secular groups. / Master of Arts

This study intends to evaluate the extent to which gender inequality permeates representation in the media. By drawing on the literature of feminist phenomenology I define subjectivity as the tendency of characters to interact with the world around them rather than merely have that world act upon them. I use the themes of sexual spectacle, motivation, and violence and protection to evaluate the gender differences among superbeing characters from the DC and Marvel franchises. Through the use of a qualitative content analysis this study has shown that the dichotomous gender hierarchy actively subordinates female superbeing characters through their diminished subjectivity. A character's ability to act upon the world through act-break motivations, direct capacity for violence, and the protection of others defines them as subjects. Conversely, a character's inability to do those actions as well as their instances of sexual spectacle and unmotivated sexual displays in costuming and gender performance relegates them to the role of object. The subjectivity score is used to more clearly show a definitive ranking of these characters. Female superbeing characters often hold negative scores. This means that their total deductions from categories that diminish their subjectivity, such as instances of sexual spectacle or revealing costumes, outweigh any points they earn from categories that award them more subjectivity, such as protection/rescuing others. The male characters hold double or triple the scores of their female counterparts, which perfectly highlights the gendered division of the attributes that inform subjectivity. By allowing superbeing characters to transcend gender dichotomy and engage with the full human spectrum of emotion and wellbeing, we could celebrate people as fully human and disrupt the gender normativity that maintains inequality. / Master of Science / Marvel and DC Comics are two of the most popular comic book companies in the US. They are responsible or the creation of well-known characters such as Superman and Iron Man. Within the last few decades the comics because popular film franchises. Both companies release several films every year from their respective cinematic universes. These are highly grossing movies and popular enough to have character costumes produced for purchase. Popular cultural phenomenon such as these film franchises provides an opportunity to study social topics such as gender inequality and heteronormativity. This study focuses on the on-screen depictions of these superbeing characters in order to establish a connection between gender and subjectivity in these super-human bodies. Subjectivity, defined by Iris Marion Young’s conceptualization of a feminist phenomenology uses the themes of motivated action, violence and protection, and sexual spectacle to determine if there is a gendered difference in the ways these characters are able to be super and how that impacts their overall subjectivity level. The data supports the theory that male superbeing character are allowed to be full subjects who are able to act upon the world while female superbeing characters are still relegated to the sphere of objectification.

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