<p> An ever increasing number of school districts realize the potential for online classes to allow students equal access to a high quality education. This study used quantitative methods to contribute to the body of literature pertaining to K-12 online learning and also the gender gap in mathematics, science, and English/language arts education. Research for this study focused on the extent to which the gender gap in mathematics, science, and English/language arts performance is the result of differences in the level of teacher-student interaction through analyzing students' final course grades from a school district's 6^th-12^th grade traditional courses and online courses where there is no teacher-student interaction. Student achievement was further analyzed by controlling for prior achievement, socio-economic status (S.E.S.) and ethnicity. This study intends to contribute to the body of research on the gender gap and the benefits of online education at the K-12 level.</p>

<p> This dissertation examines the way gender is created and articulated in selected stories from Peyo's <i>bandes dessin&eacute;es</i> [comics], <i> Les Schtroumpfs</i> [<i>The Smurfs</i>]. I pay special attention to his story, "La Schtroumpfette" ["The Smurfette"]. I use an interdisciplinary approach from theorists in the fields of gender and transgender studies: Judith Butler, Susan Stryker, Suzanne J. Kessler and Wendy McKenna, and Julia Serano; and comics studies: Scott McCloud, Thierry Groensteen, Will Eisner and Rodolphe T&ouml;pffer.</p><p> Judith Butler's theory of performativity informs my argument that certain panels from "La Schtroumpfette" function as performatives. They reiterate feminine types and give the illusion of a norm, which in turn hides the fact that their "truth" lies only on its reiteration through time and not on original gender types. Along with Butler's theory, I use Kessler and McKenna's study on gender attribution, Thierry Groensteen's theory that a comics' meaning can by analyzed through the structuration on its pages (<i>arthrologie </i>), and Scott McCloud's idea that the more abstract a comics character, the more a wider range of readers will be said to identify with such a character. </p><p> Using these theories, along with those of Serano, Eisner, T&ouml;pffer and others, I read Peyo's Smurf characters as androgynous before the publication of his story, "La Schtroumpfette." Then, I read "La Schtroumpfette" as a metaphor for transgender and transsexual identities. The first half of Peyo's comics story deals with the first Schtroumpfette, Gargamel's creation, and her problems in the Smurf village. Her primary problem sees her misidentified as a Smurf with long hair and a dress and not a feminine Smurf. I read this as evidence of a transgender identity whereby she expresses herself in the feminine but looks like a Smurf. The second half of his story deals with the second Schtroumpfette, the version of le Grand Schtroumpf [Papa Smurf], and the problems due to her feminine beauty. This beauty is attained through esthetic surgery, a detail that leads me to interpret her as transsexual.</p>

<p> To say that the masculinities are woven into the fabric of a pre-existing culture is not enough. One must go further and explore how culture itself is constituted by, or more precisely, constituted through the masculinities. As William Doty notes in his <i>Myths of Masculinity</i> (1993), culture not only produces but also is produced by stories. Ancient legends and sagas, like myths, are, to a large degree, perpetuated by the modern male dancer and athlete. However, as contemporary iterations of the masculinities, male athletes and dancers have evolved beyond the scope of myths and into new cultural forms. Their emergent story threads through this dissertation. </p><p> The masculinities represent a diverse array of possibilities and pluralities. What, then, holds them together as a coherent cultural force? This dissertation is, in large part, devoted to answering that question by way of a perspicuous inquiry conducted into a) the binarisms of gender, such as hetero-normativity and homophobia, b) the existential and archetypal nature of being, c) Cartesian mind-body dualities, and d) paradigms and practices of male athletes and dancers themselves. </p><p> In his <i>The Structure of Scientific Revolutions</i> (1962), Thomas Kuhn used "paradigm" to explain historical shifts in the practice of the hard sciences. Subsequently, Michel Foucault, in <i>The Order of Things</i> (1966), appropriated the word in a hermeneutical analysis of the human sciences. It is his unique exegesis of the history of knowledge that is used to track the historical arc of the masculinities. </p><p> This dissertation ultimately moves beyond the perspectives of Kuhn and Foucault to the work of feminist Judith Butler. In <i>Bodies That Matter </i> (1993), Butler maintains that one's gender is a cultural construct and that the process of gendering, though performative, is largely unconscious. If gender and sex are mere social constructs, where does that leave the nascent <i> logos</i> of an athlete or dancer's body? A counter-argument is made that in order to be coherent, the masculinities must possess, at minimum, a mindful body in addition to an embodied mind. </p><p> Keywords: Masculinities; Dancer; Athlete; Body; Discipline; Gender; Hero; Archetype; <i>Dasein.</i></p>

<p> This thesis explores the literary manifestation of patriarchal embodiment in several multicultural novels: Ama Ata Aidoo's <i>Changes: A Love Story, </i> Fadia Faqir's <i>Pillars of Salt,</i> and Jeanette Winterson's <i> Written on the Body.</i> Using theories of embodiment, gender, and power, I analyze how the female body is cast as a surface onto which gendered power structures can be inscribed, as well as the ways in which the body subverts cultural gender norms. The novels exemplify the relationship among literature, culture, and consciousness and offer visions of feminism outside of a Western paradigm. [Trigger Warning: This thesis features instances of sexual violence that may be triggering to some readers.]</p>

<p> This study examined the phenomenon of doctoral student motherhood/mothering in academia in a unique way by utilizing (1) an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, (2) examining the experiences of doctoral students who have become mothers for the first time, and (3) by integrating visual data collection into a phenomenological study. Participants included four doctoral student mothers from across colleges at one university. Three interviews were conducted with each participant and included visual data collection during each interview (e.g., drawing created by the participant). Additional data sources included a demographic/background questionnaire and archival data.</p><p> Through phenomenological analysis of the data sources, three invariant themes (<i>Gendered Experience, Strategic Experience, Sense of Belonging </i>) and seven sub-themes (<i>Realizations, Pregnancy Relationships, Childcare, Multiple Identities, Flexibility, Pushing Through, Informal Policies, and Expectations</i>) were identified. For the doctoral student mothers in this study, doctoral student motherhood/mothering in academia was experienced in multiple ways. Distilled, the essence of doctoral student motherhood/mothering in academia is a gendered experience that is strategic and embedded with a varied sense of belonging. Implications of this study speak to the need to continue examining internal practices and policies to support female doctoral students and promoting recruitment, retention, and equity throughout academia. Recommendations for individuals and departments/institutions are provided, as well as, a suggested research agenda for future studies on motherhood in academia.</p>

<p> The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the lived experience of the participants in a workshop entitled: "The Father Hunger Workshop: The Union of the Son of Promise with the Father of Achievement." This psychoeducational workshop was designed by psychologist Donald Kilhefner to assist gay men in their late 20s through 30s, who feel that they are having difficulty maturing into adulthood. The research question for this study was "What is the lived experience of participating in the Father Hunger Workshop?" This question issues from a phenomenological orientation, which focuses on the lived experience of the participant. Interviews were conducted, and the 4 most descriptive of these were transcribed and then analyzed using Giorgi's (2009) descriptive phenomenology. </p><p> The following themes, among others, were identified and then expanded upon in relation to relevant literature: The participants enjoyed the opportunity to get to know gay men in a different context; they felt a sense of safety in the group that helped them to participate more fully; they found open communication in a group setting to be new and challenging; being held accountable by the group was experienced as both difficult and supportive; they gained insight through their reactions to other group members; they felt resistance, at times, to attending sessions; they appreciated the chance to work with a gay elder; they gained new meaning and purpose with regard to their gay identity; and they came to experience compassion and forgiveness for their fathers. </p><p> Findings from this in-depth exploration of the dynamics of a psychoeducational gay men's workshop may help other researchers and clinicians in conceptualizing and implementing the curative or helpful aspects of group work with gay men. This study offers information relevant to the specific needs of gay men at a developmental crossroads in their lives and offers members of both the gay community and mainstream society an understanding of the specific challenges faced by gay men who are struggling with the process of maturation. </p>

<p> Anxiety disorders are the most prominent mental disorder in the United States, and women are 60% more likely than men to have an anxiety disorder. One hypothesis for this sex difference is faster fear generalization rates in females. In previous studies using male subjects, context change disrupted a fear response at a short, but not long retention interval. An incidental observation suggested that females would show a different temporal pattern of fear generalization. In Experiment 1, male and intact female rats displayed disrupted fear responses in a novel context at 1 day. Males displayed context discrimination at all intervals, whereas females exhibited generalization by 5 days. In Experiment 2, ovariectomized females were given an empty capsule or a capsule containing 17&beta;-estradiol to determine the role of estrogens in fear generalization. Female rats with no hormone replacement displayed context discrimination at 5 days, whereas those receiving estradiol generalized their fear response to a novel context. These results demonstrate that fear generalization for contextual cues occurs faster in female rats and that this effect is mediated, in part, by estrogens. Understanding the sex differences in fear generalization is likely to be critical to developing effective treatments for anxiety disorders.</p>

<p> Trans men have been the subject of many empirical studies in recent years that focus primarily on their engagement with masculinity within interaction. By highlighting the experiences of trans men, researchers argue that the persistent and often invisible experiences of gender inequality, specifically those of cisgender women, are made more visible. While scholars studying trans men in these scenarios categorize these interactions under the general heading of doing gender, I argue that these studies highlight experiences of doing cisgender, defined in this paper as individuals' accomplishment of gender within interaction according to cisnormative standards. However, the generalized moniker of doing gender is complicit in the marginalization of trans individuals' experiences of gender because it marks the dominant gender identification, cis, as the unnamed norm and eclipses trans-specific experiences of gender. While understanding how trans people do cisgender is an important contribution to the literature, I argue that doing cisgender is one component of trans people's experience of doing gender. My primary contention in this paper is that trans people also do transgender; that is, they are held accountable to transnormative standards that police and enforce the medical/legal/social access to trans as an identity category. To illustrate the differences between doing cisgender and doing transgender, I conduct a qualitative content analysis of nine documentary films featuring trans men, highlighting instances in the films of trans men doing cisgender and doing transgender.</p>

<p> The occurrence of resiliency in the human experience has been the focus of extensive research in the last decade. Using hermeneutic methodology, this theoretical study explores text-based data of three resiliency traits, attachment theory, and a comparison of avoidant attachment behaviors. Patterns of abilities form and protective factors arise as the resilient person overcomes traumatic situations. Three specific factors&mdash;cognitive abilities, emotional regulation, and spirituality&mdash;are explored as they correlate with resiliency. A depth psychological approach values the meaning held beneath resiliency traits, which are viewed symbolically through the myth of Eros and Psyche, in particular with regard to the ways in which Psyche&rsquo;s resilient traits help her overcome adversity and how they may no longer serve her after the trials have passed. The development of self-reliance as a result of trauma may contribute to loneliness and traits of avoidant attachment.</p>

<p> This study investigated middle and late adolescents&rsquo; judgments of and reasoning about an incident of homophobic harassment in four conditions, where the genders of the victim and perpetrator were varied (N = 104). Participants were asked whether they thought the victim in their scenario was upset, as well as whether or not the perpetrator had a negative intention. Social cognitive domain theory served as the framework for coding adolescents&rsquo; reasoning. In addition, adolescents&rsquo; endorsement of gender stereotypes was measured. As expected, having had a male victim, as opposed to a female victim, was related to lesser odds of believing the harassment was completely wrong among tenth graders, and lesser odds of believing the victim was upset. Participants in tenth grade were also more likely to use conventional reasoning in justifying their judgments about harassment than those in twelfth grade. Participants in the male victim/ perpetrator condition were less likely to believe the perpetrator had a negative intention than those in the female victim/ perpetrator condition. Contrary to expectations, endorsement of gender stereotypes was unrelated to the use of conventional reasoning. The effects of endorsement of gender stereotypes and use of moral reasoning in relation to judgments of harassment were significant among participants in the male victim condition, but non-significant among participants in the female victim condition.</p>