Since women in the Women's Rights Movement (Feminists) tend to be educated, career- or goal-oriented, and typically middle-class it was anticipated that these aspects would be reflected in an elevation on the ego strength (Es) scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). This anticipated elevation was felt to be functionally related not only to career- or goal-oriented behavior and intelligence, but to active participation on an autonomous basis in the Women's Rights Movement as well. Because of the different activities of various Feminist organization, i.e., women's studies programs, consciousness raising, investigations of inequities to women, confrontations with establishment hierarchies, and participation in career and other self-fulfilling activities, it was hypothesized that women who are active Feminists would score significantly higher on the Es scale than a similar group of active women who are not Feminists.

Review of Sing, Whisper, Shout, Pray! : Feminist Visions For a Just World. EdgeWork Books, 2003. $39.95 ISBN 1931223076.

This research study investigates self-identified feminist social workers??? conceptualizations of spirituality, how spirituality influences their practices, and their ideas about the effects of spiritually influenced practice. There is increasing interest in exploring and considering spirituality across social work approaches, accompanied by a strong demand for empirical research and the development of knowledge in this area. The past few years in particular have witnessed an expanding social work literature that discusses the incorporation of spirituality into practice. In this thesis spirituality refers to a complex construct that can be deeply personal and/or communal, and that can encompass a sense of connection with something bigger that transcends ordinary life experience. In order to examine spirituality in the context of feminist social work practice, the goals of this study needed to be exploratory and demanded the use of a qualitative methodology. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with twenty experienced direct practice social workers. Grounded theory analysis of the interview data uncovered surprising and significant convergences amongst research participants??? beliefs, values and practices. These unexpected commonalities invited a further analysis of the data that produced a set of practice principles. These practice principles reflected the participants??? understandings of spirituality and basic values, their ideas about processes of spiritual development and beliefs about the spiritual essence of human life, and their spiritually influenced practice methods and relationships. The process of developing practice principles included further data collection through the written feedback of participants and the use of three focus groups. This second round of data collection and analysis extended and refined the practice principles. The practice principles are particularly relevant for social work because they are based in the participants??? collective practice wisdom and represent an important step towards helping to legitimize spiritual knowledge. The practice principles also have important implications for social work practice, education and research in that they can promote discussions about spirituality, guide practice, provide a base for the future development of spiritually influenced models and frameworks, and direct curriculum development.

This thesis presents a feminist genealogy of ideas concerned with male violence against women from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century. The thesis has two components: the first examines feminist, psychotherapeutic and socio-legal literature, examining how knowledge about female victims of male violence has been constituted; the second analyses memory work conducted with two groups of women exploring personal meanings about victims and violence. Each chapter describes pivotal moments in the history of women and violence showing how seemingly disparate ideas emerged to become precursors of contemporary knowledge which have given rise to a range of institutional responses to violence. Late nineteenth-century feminists created new ways of speaking about violence against women, however, their ideas were incongruent with prevailing discourses of the era. The advent of Freudian thought also brought about a new language with which to talk about violence placing the victim of violence firmly under the therapeutic gaze. During the 1930s and 1940s the founders of victimology utilised Freud's work as evidence for their proposition that female victims were often complicit in their own victimisation. In the1970s feminists challenged victim blaming ideology and redefined violence as a social and political issue. Twentieth century psychotherapeutic discourses tended to position victims of violence within discourses of psychopathology. However, more recently survivors have been defined in terms of traumatisation, constituting alternative possibilities for subjectivity following victimisation. The memory work used in this study enabled a consideration of the relationship between discourse and women's understandings of violence. Although remnants of all the discourses could be found in the women's narratives, some resonating with more authority than others, no one discourse operated deterministically to totalise subjectivity. Rather, it is evident that identities associated with survival are complex, dynamic and fluid. The legacy of the discourses described in this thesis continues to be apparent in community attitudes, institutional responses to violence and survivors' concepts of self. This thesis considers the potential implications of these discourses for women's subjectivity.

In twentieth century America, women continue the age-old struggle for recognition as whole, intelligent individuals, not just an "other," less hearty, less deserving or less capable being than man. Sarah Grimke spoke of the inequalities over 150 years ago during the abolitionist movement when she compiled her major arguments into a series of letters originally published individually in the New England Spectator, then as a volume in 1838 entitled Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman. Grimke gets to the core of the matter and dares to challenge long-standing patriarchal tradition and beliefs. Feminists have since tried to categorize her ideas into a particular philosophy, giving her credit as the first American feminist. However, the difficulty lies in labeling her from a twentieth century perspective (feminism) when her intent was to be heard as an individualshe wanted to break the barriers which categorizing creates. The strength of the Letters lies in their rhetorical soundness as an art which speaks profoundly to its audience, transcending the boundaries of time. This study focuses on the rhetorical soundness of the Letters, providing a close analysis, that reveals Sarah Grimke's rhetorical methods, and her reaffirmation of classical notions of rhetoric. The study also contextualizes the letters while answering the critical question: Why should we read the letters now, in the twentieth century when slavery is an issue long since resolved and women have been given the right to vote and have been assured of equal rights under the equal rights amendment? We must read primary texts, not secondary or interpretive texts, to experience the author's rhetoric and recapture her intentions. / Graduation date: 1992

This thesis discusses the ideological and political composition of the contemporary queer community in India. It is specifically concerned with the ways in which transgender/gender variant identities are represented within Indian queer scholarship and queer organizations in the subcontinent. At present, transgender/gender variant studies of South Asia are primarily confined to research on hijra and other trans feminine gender communities. While this research is important, this thesis seeks to expand the understanding of transgenderism/gender variance in South Asia by examining other transgender identities, including trans masculine identities, as well as analyzing Indian discourses on gender and sexuality more broadly. By examining Indian queer scholarship and the politics of contemporary queer organizations, I find that transgender/gender variant individuals face greater forms of marginalization within the contemporary queer movement in India because of the silence surrounding their gender identities. / text

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

This research study investigates self-identified feminist social workers??? conceptualizations of spirituality, how spirituality influences their practices, and their ideas about the effects of spiritually influenced practice. There is increasing interest in exploring and considering spirituality across social work approaches, accompanied by a strong demand for empirical research and the development of knowledge in this area. The past few years in particular have witnessed an expanding social work literature that discusses the incorporation of spirituality into practice. In this thesis spirituality refers to a complex construct that can be deeply personal and/or communal, and that can encompass a sense of connection with something bigger that transcends ordinary life experience. In order to examine spirituality in the context of feminist social work practice, the goals of this study needed to be exploratory and demanded the use of a qualitative methodology. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with twenty experienced direct practice social workers. Grounded theory analysis of the interview data uncovered surprising and significant convergences amongst research participants??? beliefs, values and practices. These unexpected commonalities invited a further analysis of the data that produced a set of practice principles. These practice principles reflected the participants??? understandings of spirituality and basic values, their ideas about processes of spiritual development and beliefs about the spiritual essence of human life, and their spiritually influenced practice methods and relationships. The process of developing practice principles included further data collection through the written feedback of participants and the use of three focus groups. This second round of data collection and analysis extended and refined the practice principles. The practice principles are particularly relevant for social work because they are based in the participants??? collective practice wisdom and represent an important step towards helping to legitimize spiritual knowledge. The practice principles also have important implications for social work practice, education and research in that they can promote discussions about spirituality, guide practice, provide a base for the future development of spiritually influenced models and frameworks, and direct curriculum development.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-165).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 336-337). Also available on the Internet.