Reviewing literature on the histories of and the attitude studies about transgender people, the use of ‘they’ as a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun, prescriptive grammar ideology, and aversive prejudice theory provides insight into how these topics are interrelated and relevant to current issues surrounding nonbinary transgender people. This review inspired my research study. My participants (n = 722) completed an online survey in which they reported demographic variables and answered scales that measured ‘they’ attitudes in generic and queer contexts, attitudes toward trans people, and prescriptive grammar ideology. I found that the majority of participants approved of using the singular ‘they’. Regression analyses revealed that in a queer context, negative attitudes toward 'they' were best predicted by trans prejudice, while in a generic context, both valuing prescriptive grammar and anti-trans prejudice similarly predicted 'they' attitudes. This indicates that negative attitudes toward the singular 'they' are not merely an issue of taking a principled stance against "improper grammar". Additionally, both sexual orientation and gender (trans vs. cisgender) moderate the relationship between prescriptive grammar ideology and 'they' attitudes. Age, sexual orientation, and education level also influenced my pattern of results such that older participants, queer people, and more highly educated individuals were more likely to have positive attitudes toward the singular ‘they’. These findings have implications for LGBTQ+ individuals’ relationships with cisgender and heterosexual people as well as for theories of prejudice, particularly with regard to the increasingly important area of attitudes toward people with diverse gender identities.

<div> <div> <div> <p>The following study used a liberal feminist lens to address a gap in the literature on contraceptive method use and romantic relationships by examining the association between contraceptive method use and both relationship satisfaction and balance of power. Specifically, it surveyed married women between the ages of 20-49 using either oral contraceptives (OCs) or natural family planning (NFP). Relationship satisfaction was measured using the Couple Satisfaction Index (CSI-4). Balance of power in the relationship was measured using the Relationship Balance Assessment (RBA). It was hypothesized that women using NFP would report higher relationship satisfaction and greater balance of power than women using OCs. Instead, results of the multiple regression analyses indicated that women using NFP experienced significantly lower rates of balance of power in their relationship. There was no significant difference in relationship satisfaction between groups. Additionally, control variables of religious importance and number of children were found to be associated with balance of power. Controls of age and religious importance were found to be associated with relationship satisfaction. Clinical implications, strengths and limitations, and future directions for research were discussed. </p> </div> </div> </div>

Student voice could improve the effectiveness of sex education curricula, student input, however, is generally limited or totally absent in sex education development. This dissertation explores student content preferences in sex education curricula and how school officials can incorporate student feedback to ensure content is relevant, relatable, and reliable. Results also show that adolescents are in favor of receiving social media-delivered sex education from local health departments. To build an adolescent following and greater awareness about SNS accounts that disseminate sex education, participants suggested LHDs 1) inform intended audiences about products by building offline connections 2) use promotions to create awareness 3) emphasize price during giveaways, publicize free services and 4) use the right people to motivate others to follow accounts.

<p>The narrative of the Ecuadorian César Dávila Andrade (Cuenca, Ecuador 1918 - Caracas, Venezuela 1967) is of great importance for the literature of his country; however, it has not been studied very frequently, as critics have focused on his poetry. This has mainly shown Dávila Andrade as a poet, rather than a narrator. However, his short stories constitute a considerable body of work and must be considered for a global understanding of his work. This dissertation aims to show that the short stories have to be considered an important part of the literary work of Dávila Andrade. Furthermore, the dissertation is part of a process of a contemporary rereading of Ecuadorian canonical authors; specifically, I propose an innovative analysis, based on abjection, gender and body, of texts that have traditionally been studied from narratological and stylistic perspectives only. For this study, I selected stories from different periods in Davila Andrade's career: “Un centinela ve la vida aparecer” (1966), “El hombre que limpió su arma” (1966), “Cabeza de gallo” (1966), “La autopsia” (Revista Tomebamba 1943), “Autopsia” (1952), “Las nubes y las sombras” (1952), “Un cuerpo extraño” (1955), “El último remedio” (1955), “La batalla” (1955), “La mirada de Dios” (1949), and “Ataúd de cartón” (1952). In these short stories, abjection is a subversive category that allows the author to question the constitution and ontology of reality. Julia Kristeva’s theoretical proposal defines abjection as what reminds the individual of a state of being of undifferentiation (before and after existence), in which he/she ceases to be; the presence of the abject puts at risk the existence of the subject within a social system. Specifically, the body in different states in the Davilian narrative is the main abject element that disfigures the categories and hierarchies of symbolic systems (patriarchy and religion are some examples). The Davilian body is essentially feminine and constitutes abjection; it is presented as a border space where reality loses its contours. Similarly, the diseased body and the corpse are constant elements in the Davilian narrative, inhabitants of unstable worlds, which invade places and the characters’ psyches. In conclusion, Dávila Andrade's short stories are occupied by the abjection of bodies, which functions as a concept that allows the dismantling of imposed, closed systems, based on hierarchies, such as patriarchy and religion.</p>

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No description available.

<div>This project engages in an intersectional and interdisciplinary tracing of the emerging field of feminist game studies and the epistemologies and methodologies that exist within this field. Through such tracing, this project asks—what are feminist game studies’ epistemological goals and frameworks? What methodologies can the field draw from in order to achieve these epistemological goals? Ultimately, this project argues that feminist game studies enacts an epistemology of feminist worldbuilding—that is, an inclusive, embodied, space-claiming mode of producing knowledge—and achieves this worldbuilding through methodologies of intersectional disruption in order to perform disruptive feminist interventions into video game culture. </div><div><br></div><div>In the first chapter of this project, I make use of a methodology of narrative autoethnography to discuss my experience with online harassment as an inroad into interrogating the bodies at risk in gaming spaces in order to make a case for the need for feminist interventions to disrupt the violent structures within video game culture. The second chapter traces the ways hegemonic, patriarchal frameworks in game studies epistemologically deprivilege material, representational analyses of bodies and culture in the study of games and, instead, argues for the implementation of intersectional approaches to video game culture. The third chapter maps the intersectional feminist methodologies that can be implemented in feminist game studies in order to perform generative and disruptive interventions into video game culture and build feminist worlds. </div><div><br></div><div>In the fourth chapter, I apply some of these methodologies of disruption to the alienation of mothers in the gaming industry’s workplace culture and representations of mothers in the games Among the Sleep and Horizon Zero Dawn in order to intervene into video game culture’s prejudicial attitudes regarding labor, mothers, and women. The final chapter continues my autoethnographic work through the connection of my experiences with online harassment to previous experiences with gendered violence and trauma in order to underscore the stakes of feminist game studies praxis. In all these ways, I argue that feminist game studies builds worlds by performing interventions into video game culture through intersectional and pluralistic methodologies of disruption, for such methodologies imagine new, inclusive models of existence and futurity in video game culture.</div>

Indigenous Australian women who perform contemporary music are acutely aware that Aboriginalist discourse has created unrealistic expectations and public perceptions of Indigenous Australian performance. The theory of Aboriginalism is critiqued and interrogated in this thesis in relation to Indigenous Australian women, performance, and race. This thesis addresses the complex and contradictory ways that Aboriginalist discourse fixes non-Indigenous expectations of Indigenous Australian performance, gender, and race by exploring how the performers themselves work within and against these Aboriginalist constructions through their music. One of the immediate effects of Aboriginalism is that it silences Indigenous Australians. In academic discourse and popular media, the voices of Indigenous women who perform contemporary music are rarely heard and often overlooked or ignored. This thesis aims to redress and understand this gender imbalance by focusing on Indigenous women and their contemporary music and illustrate how Indigenous Australian women performers are enacting new types of agency to negotiate their way through, around, and over one-dimensional Aboriginalist constructions of themselves to self-define more positive and diverse identities as Indigenous Australian women. This thesis is divided into four parts. Part One (Chapters One, Two, and Three) provides necessary background to the study. Chapter One introduces the topic and poses research questions in relation to Aboriginalism, Indigenous women, and contemporary performance. Chapter Two examines a number of themes which emerge in the existing literature relating to Indigenous Australian musicians performing contemporary music. Chapter Three locates Indigenous Australian women in this academic discourse and explores some possible reasons for the increasing number of contemporary music recordings by Indigenous Australian women since the 1990s. Part Two (Chapters Four, Five, and Six) positions this study theoretically and methodologically. Chapter Four outlines the theoretical framework that informs this project while Chapter Five discusses the methodological issues and challenges I faced throughout the research process. Chapter Six introduces the Indigenous women performers who took part in this study. This chapter uses the literary convention of a “playlet” by weaving together comments of Indigenous Australian women performers from one-on-one interviews I conducted, media excerpts about the performers, as well as my own questions and comments into a conversation which tells a story about the performers’ backgrounds, experiences, albums, and achievements. Part Three (Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine) comprises the analysis chapters and examines Aboriginalism in relation to race, gender, and performance. Each of these chapters utilise theoretical discussions of Aboriginalism, excerpts from interviews with Indigenous women performers, song texts, and media representations to examine how Indigenous women perform within and against Aboriginalism. Chapter Seven focuses on how Indigenous women performers resist Aboriginalist constructs of race through performance while Chapter Eight turns the gaze to gender and Aboriginalism to explore how the performers challenge Aboriginalist representations of Indigenous women by attempting bring Indigenous women’s experiences, history, and topics to the foreground through song. Chapter Nine examines the way in which Indigenous women performers steer their way through Aboriginalism in music performance by blurring musical boundaries and drawing on a diverse range of musical styles. Finally, Part Four (Chapter Ten) discusses the possibilities of moving beyond Aboriginalism and reflects on my own contribution to discourse concerning Indigenous women performers.

Indigenous Australian women who perform contemporary music are acutely aware that Aboriginalist discourse has created unrealistic expectations and public perceptions of Indigenous Australian performance. The theory of Aboriginalism is critiqued and interrogated in this thesis in relation to Indigenous Australian women, performance, and race. This thesis addresses the complex and contradictory ways that Aboriginalist discourse fixes non-Indigenous expectations of Indigenous Australian performance, gender, and race by exploring how the performers themselves work within and against these Aboriginalist constructions through their music. One of the immediate effects of Aboriginalism is that it silences Indigenous Australians. In academic discourse and popular media, the voices of Indigenous women who perform contemporary music are rarely heard and often overlooked or ignored. This thesis aims to redress and understand this gender imbalance by focusing on Indigenous women and their contemporary music and illustrate how Indigenous Australian women performers are enacting new types of agency to negotiate their way through, around, and over one-dimensional Aboriginalist constructions of themselves to self-define more positive and diverse identities as Indigenous Australian women. This thesis is divided into four parts. Part One (Chapters One, Two, and Three) provides necessary background to the study. Chapter One introduces the topic and poses research questions in relation to Aboriginalism, Indigenous women, and contemporary performance. Chapter Two examines a number of themes which emerge in the existing literature relating to Indigenous Australian musicians performing contemporary music. Chapter Three locates Indigenous Australian women in this academic discourse and explores some possible reasons for the increasing number of contemporary music recordings by Indigenous Australian women since the 1990s. Part Two (Chapters Four, Five, and Six) positions this study theoretically and methodologically. Chapter Four outlines the theoretical framework that informs this project while Chapter Five discusses the methodological issues and challenges I faced throughout the research process. Chapter Six introduces the Indigenous women performers who took part in this study. This chapter uses the literary convention of a “playlet” by weaving together comments of Indigenous Australian women performers from one-on-one interviews I conducted, media excerpts about the performers, as well as my own questions and comments into a conversation which tells a story about the performers’ backgrounds, experiences, albums, and achievements. Part Three (Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine) comprises the analysis chapters and examines Aboriginalism in relation to race, gender, and performance. Each of these chapters utilise theoretical discussions of Aboriginalism, excerpts from interviews with Indigenous women performers, song texts, and media representations to examine how Indigenous women perform within and against Aboriginalism. Chapter Seven focuses on how Indigenous women performers resist Aboriginalist constructs of race through performance while Chapter Eight turns the gaze to gender and Aboriginalism to explore how the performers challenge Aboriginalist representations of Indigenous women by attempting bring Indigenous women’s experiences, history, and topics to the foreground through song. Chapter Nine examines the way in which Indigenous women performers steer their way through Aboriginalism in music performance by blurring musical boundaries and drawing on a diverse range of musical styles. Finally, Part Four (Chapter Ten) discusses the possibilities of moving beyond Aboriginalism and reflects on my own contribution to discourse concerning Indigenous women performers.

Indigenous Australian women who perform contemporary music are acutely aware that Aboriginalist discourse has created unrealistic expectations and public perceptions of Indigenous Australian performance. The theory of Aboriginalism is critiqued and interrogated in this thesis in relation to Indigenous Australian women, performance, and race. This thesis addresses the complex and contradictory ways that Aboriginalist discourse fixes non-Indigenous expectations of Indigenous Australian performance, gender, and race by exploring how the performers themselves work within and against these Aboriginalist constructions through their music. One of the immediate effects of Aboriginalism is that it silences Indigenous Australians. In academic discourse and popular media, the voices of Indigenous women who perform contemporary music are rarely heard and often overlooked or ignored. This thesis aims to redress and understand this gender imbalance by focusing on Indigenous women and their contemporary music and illustrate how Indigenous Australian women performers are enacting new types of agency to negotiate their way through, around, and over one-dimensional Aboriginalist constructions of themselves to self-define more positive and diverse identities as Indigenous Australian women. This thesis is divided into four parts. Part One (Chapters One, Two, and Three) provides necessary background to the study. Chapter One introduces the topic and poses research questions in relation to Aboriginalism, Indigenous women, and contemporary performance. Chapter Two examines a number of themes which emerge in the existing literature relating to Indigenous Australian musicians performing contemporary music. Chapter Three locates Indigenous Australian women in this academic discourse and explores some possible reasons for the increasing number of contemporary music recordings by Indigenous Australian women since the 1990s. Part Two (Chapters Four, Five, and Six) positions this study theoretically and methodologically. Chapter Four outlines the theoretical framework that informs this project while Chapter Five discusses the methodological issues and challenges I faced throughout the research process. Chapter Six introduces the Indigenous women performers who took part in this study. This chapter uses the literary convention of a “playlet” by weaving together comments of Indigenous Australian women performers from one-on-one interviews I conducted, media excerpts about the performers, as well as my own questions and comments into a conversation which tells a story about the performers’ backgrounds, experiences, albums, and achievements. Part Three (Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine) comprises the analysis chapters and examines Aboriginalism in relation to race, gender, and performance. Each of these chapters utilise theoretical discussions of Aboriginalism, excerpts from interviews with Indigenous women performers, song texts, and media representations to examine how Indigenous women perform within and against Aboriginalism. Chapter Seven focuses on how Indigenous women performers resist Aboriginalist constructs of race through performance while Chapter Eight turns the gaze to gender and Aboriginalism to explore how the performers challenge Aboriginalist representations of Indigenous women by attempting bring Indigenous women’s experiences, history, and topics to the foreground through song. Chapter Nine examines the way in which Indigenous women performers steer their way through Aboriginalism in music performance by blurring musical boundaries and drawing on a diverse range of musical styles. Finally, Part Four (Chapter Ten) discusses the possibilities of moving beyond Aboriginalism and reflects on my own contribution to discourse concerning Indigenous women performers.