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I am a poet. As an undergraduate, I explored the other genres of writing—I wrote short stories, attempted a novel-length piece, and crafted essays. While I found plays interesting, I could not write one satisfactorily. But poetry fit like an extension of myself. I could fuse my voice and my ideas in stanzas and images, and I found myself weighing words and sounds as I constructed the lines. It was only natural that I pursue mastery in poetry when I returned for my Masters of Fine Arts. The material presented in this document is the culmination of two years of specialized study in how to craft poetry. In those two years, I have maintained the idea that this collection be relatable, feminist, and emotionally powerful. While the poetry has certainly evolved over that two-year span, the ideas kept each piece connected to my envisioned whole. The poems revolve around different obsessions I harbored while writing. I meditate on various relationships, personal experiences, and striking images and feelings I felt deserved attention. Of course, this collection is intensely personal, but I believe that it is through the personal that we can reach the general, which is what makes these poems accessible. I also used this manuscript as a device for exploration and play. Some poems follow strict formal guidelines, and others meander to their destination. Some are short and concise, others long and nebulous. But each is refined and given exceptional thought. I believe that readers will clearly see how much study was necessary to write these poems; it is through reading the works of the great poets before me that I was able to come to them. My influences show, not only in allusions, but in the choices I’ve made and the structure of the poems themselves. I submit this manuscript as the culmination of my work, in partial fulfilment of a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing.

In this thesis I argue that contrary to popular perceptions and stereotypes of familismo in Mexican families, there exists a femicidal mentality the permeates Mexican culture and places women at risk of physical violence and at times even death. This thesis examines femicide through the genocidal mentality framework found in Carol Rittner, et al’s book Genocide in Rwanda: Complicity of the Churches. It explores the root causes of femicide, the influence of different contexts and locations, and the use of machismo, familismo, and caballerismo as a vehicle towards a femicidal mentality in order to suggest opportunities for prevention.

Current understandings of feminism do not seek to dissuade men from feminism as a movement; moreover, men's inclusion in the feminist movement is seen as paramount to achieving equality and dismantling all forms of hegemonic power. Past research has shown that identification with a social movement is a strong predictor for participation in social change, more so than belonging to a disadvantaged social category. Despite this, there is nascent literature on how men define, identify as, and practice feminism. This study draws from a thematic analysis of three focus groups of self-identified males to investigate their self-identification as feminist. Using social identity theory, the analysis reveals the varied and nuanced ways participants define and understand feminism. The analysis further reveals how men construct their role in feminism and feel they can participate in the feminist movement. Participants expressed feeling excluded from feminism, despite noting that current articulations of feminism aim to include men. Additionally, participants expressed they could enact a feminist practice without identifying as a feminist. Overall, these findings illuminate some of the ways men possibly identify with the feminist movement and negotiate identifying as a feminist. This study illustrates that men's relationship to feminism is influenced not only by their own identities, but also by the perception of others. This study also raises the question of how well social identity theory captures the effect of perceived acceptance by prototypical group members.

Historically, in academic literature—sociological and otherwise—surrounding the daily lives of LGBT+ people, people who reject binary gender are very marginally represented. In this study, I specifically seek to understand the way my participants articulate their sense of their gender identities through the stories they tell of their experiences. This study attempts to answer the following questions: What are the stories of gender identity construction for people who reject binary gender? How do they understand the ways they are held accountable to binary gender in the day-to-day? How do they perceive and make meaning of gender in their lives? Through ten in-depth interviews with participants accessed through online groups and snowball sampling, this project reinforces gender surveillance and accountability theories such as West and Zimmerman's. Although participants largely identified the root of their feelings about gender as within their selves, the stories they told about their experiences of gender revealed that interactions with others were important and thus have a large effect on their lives. This indicates that these interactions with others where participants are held accountable to binary gender do have an impact on the ways they construct their gender and selves but because this has been such a consistent part of their lives, participants perceive this as innate to their selves and private feelings.

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This thesis investigates the ways in which Ernest Hemingway explores the complex, fractured gender dynamics after they are severely impacted by post World War I anomie. Tracing the evolution of his erotic triangles, I note the manner in which Hemingway's work becomes progressively more transgressive. This thesis specifically examines "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," The Sun Also Rises, and The Garden of Eden.

In this paper I mapped the connections between historical discussions of deviant motherhood and how it provides context for MTV’s 16 and Pregnant. The connections I’ve made with media and government shows that they both are informed by the same ideologies that define young, single, mothers on welfare, and mothers who use crack as deviant. Since a deviant perspective informs government policies and media representations, consequently women are depicted as the source of deviancy degrading society with their “immoral” and “deviant” behavior. By revealing and analyzing these connections I have shown that the legacy of the Moynihan Report is still present in how teen mothers are represented on 16 and Pregnant.

Women have been involved in the writing, illustrating, and production of comic books at almost every step of the genre’s development. The years between the late 1960s and the late 1990s were tumultuous for the comic book industry. At the societal level, these years were saturated with changes that challenged normative ideas of sex roles and gender. The goal of this study is two-fold: it documents the specific contributions to the comic book industry made by the women interviewed, and it addresses research questions that focus on gender, change, and comic books. This project asks: What was the role and status of women in the comic book industry between the early 1970s and late 1990s? By utilizing moderately scheduled, in-depth interviews with women working in the comic book industry during this period, this study explores their experiences and treatment while working in an insular, male-dominated field.