The purpose of this study was to examine relations between body image, eating disordered behaviors and ethnic identity. One-hundred eighteen college women, 48 Black participants and 70 White participants were sampled from two southeastern universities, one predominately Black and the other predominantly White. The college women were given measures of eating disordered behaviors and attitudes, ethnic identity and body image. Multivariate analyses revealed significant interactions between race, age, and socioeconomic status. No relations were found between ethnic identity and eating disordered behavior. Significant relationships were found between the body discrepancy scores and scores on two subscales of the eating disordered behavior measure. These results correspond to previous literature that suggests Black college women are at lesser risk for developing eating disorders than their White counterparts. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2005. / May 12, 2005. / Ethnic Identity, Eating Disorders, College Women / Includes bibliographical references. / Ronald L. Mullis, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gary Peterson, Outside Committee Member; Doris A. Abood, Committee Member; Mary W. Hicks, Committee Member; Ann K. Mullis, Committee Member.

The main objective of the thesis is to investigate the complex and, sometimes, contradictory relationship between women's activism, feminism and the deployment of feminine identities. I did so by examining the actions, strategies, and discourses of an innovative rural women's movement that emerged in Argentina in the mid nineties: the Movimiento de Mujeres Agropecuarias en Lucha (MML). This thesis looks at the changes and transformations that participation in the MML caused in MML women's lives. First, I seek to understand how, and to what extent, the participation in the movement politicized MML women's everyday lives. Secondly, I examine the effects of women's participation in the MML on the socially constructed representations of "feminine roles" and on the social relations of gender in rural Argentina. Lastly, I focus on how it would be appropriate to position the MML, a women's movement, vis-a-vis feminism. By analyzing secondary data and ten in-depth interviews with leaders of the MML, I conclude that their participation in the MML has politicized MML women's everyday lives; it has challenged and, to some extent, changed their socially constructed representations of feminine roles (as being solely those of mothers or wives) and social relations of gender (that exclude women from public policy making). While MML leaders rejected any connection with feminism, they highlighted that, by participating in the MML women understood many issues related to gender, and said that the MML is fully integrated with the Argentinian women's movement. In light of these findings I suggest that in order to be able to capture the ambiguities of the relationship between women's movements of this type, and feminism, we need to adopt an approach that recognizes the dynamic nature of this relationship.

Endometriosis places a significant social and economic burden on patients, their families and society, affecting nearly 10% of women worldwide. There remains a lack of disease awareness partly because of the stigma behind women’s menstrual pain and largely on the lack of knowledge of the disease and pathogenesis. The current treatment includes oral contraceptive pills and laparoscopic surgery which although extensively studied, lacks the research trials to represent adverse events and prevalence of post-surgical pain as well as time to recurrence of pain symptoms post-surgery. The search for the most effective long-term treatment for endometriosis continues to be a topic of promising research. There remains limited research on the true cause and the best treatment available for endometriosis long-term to keep women symptom free. New avenues of research show encouraging therapy options including OCP use after Laparoscopic surgery to prevent recurrence of dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, and chronic pelvic pain symptoms. However, the current handful of trials and research studies have limited success, proving there is an inadequate understanding of the most effective long-term therapy to ensure the best quality of life and reduction of pain recurrence. The proposed study is a randomized, double-blinded, longitudinal controlled trial with the goal to assess the long-term use of cyclic vs. continuous oral contraceptive pills after Laparoscopic surgery for treatment of endometriosis and reduction of recurrence of symptoms. The intervention will randomly assign post-laparoscopic surgery stage 3-4 endometriosis patients into 3 treatment arms composed of a continuous or cyclic birth control pill vs. a placebo pill. Follow-up will be by means of an email survey consisting of a VAS score to grade pain symptoms every 3 months for a total of 36 months. Time to recurrence of symptoms if present and overall pain symptoms including dyspareunia, dysmenorrhea, and chronic pelvic pain will be assessed and analyzed over the 36 months with the help of a trained research assistant. If successful, this study would lead to the establishment of a new standard of care for patients with endometriosis helping to keep them symptom free long-term, as well as lessen their dependence on the healthcare system overtime reducing the associated economic burden.

Menstrual health is an important aspect of women’s reproductive health that is often misunderstood and undervalued in certain rural communities. This thesis project evaluates the key determinants in various communities that have negatively affected menstrual hygiene management in adolescent girls. A thorough review of existing menstrual health interventions is completed to research reproductive outcomes. Unfortunately, sufficient research is often scarce due to the taboo nature of menstruation in rural communities and certain cultures. Thus, a project design consisting of an educational intervention is proposed in hopes of improving the understanding and attitudes toward menstrual hygiene management in adolescent girls living in rural communities where menstruation is not openly discussed. Menstrual hygiene is an important aspect that should continue to be discussed and researched thoroughly as it is a vital part of global health.

Women of all backgrounds have contributed to the environmental history of the United States, but most of the environmental historical scholarship places such women alongside men and by doing so clouds their involvement as well as their achievements. This discussion introduces readers to pieces of environmental history that engage gender as a framework, while also acknowledging that there is not an individual women’s environmental experience by covering specific yet contrasting geographical spaces. The American West and the New York Adirondacks offer diverse perspectives and experiences of pioneering women who interacted with the environment, including Diné women, park rangers, Adirondack guides and residents, nature lovers, conservationists, and more. This research unearths the stories and experiences of these women, creating a more balanced and fuller image of the ways in which humans interacted with nature, while shining a light on the undervalued narratives of the frequently uplifting and consistently complex history of American women in relation to the environment.

BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) can assume various forms of abusive behavior. All individuals regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds can experience partner-related abuse; however, women are disproportionately affected. The negative health outcomes associated with IPV are multi-influential and extend far beyond physical manifestations. Consequently, partner inflicted brain injuries (BIs) and the harmful outcomes are often overlooked and understudied. OBJECTIVE: To gain a greater understanding about brain-injury related experiences of women who experienced physical IPV METHODS: A qualitative interview was conducted with women participants who had previously participated in a research study conducted within the Valera Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital. RESULTS: As the studies are in the early stages, we await the results. CONCLUSIONS: A comprehensive approach and collective effort is needed to understand the sequelae of IPV-BIs and lived experiences of the women sustaining the abuse.

This research explores the current directions of the U.S. Women's Movement and the beliefs encompassed by 21st century feminism through a study of participant rally signs displayed at the 2020 Women's March on Washington. Currently, there is much ambiguity surrounding the values for which feminism stands and further contestation about whether a U.S. Women's Movement exists at all. This study examines public feminist activism in an established social rally to extrapolate goals of the present women's agenda and underlying manifestations of feminist philosophy. Through analysis of personal messages and examination of feminist directions, further implications concerning rational dialogue and understanding amid international diversification can be drawn, extending beyond academia for practical application and a move towards social equity.

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<p> Since the women&rsquo;s liberation movement in the 1970s, the number of women in the American workforce has increased dramatically; however, the percentage of women in the C-Suite&mdash;those who reach the status of chief officer&mdash;remains below 10 percent nationally (Soares et al., 2013). This disparity, sometimes called the &ldquo;glass ceiling,&rdquo; remains, even though many companies have adopted important initiatives to promote women&rsquo;s advancement. Although research has identified a complex set of factors involved in women&rsquo;s achievement of the highest levels of success in contemporary corporate settings, including measurable achievements, such as education, experience, and technical proficiency and intangibles, such as emotional intelligence, leadership styles, and communication skill, a significance difference in women&rsquo;s ability to break through the glass ceiling has still not been made. </p><p> Aimed at bridging that gap, this qualitative study gathers, through personal interviews, the experiences and perspectives of seventeen individuals, both men and women, of different races, cultures, and backgrounds, all of whom have reached the level of chief officer. Respondents were queried about their perception of the factors necessary to reach the C-Suite, as well as any factors required especially for women to arrive at that destination. The data gathered in the interviews included the subjects&rsquo; experiences from the process of their own advancement to the C-Suite and their observations of others&rsquo; experiences. The data were coded and analyzed according to recurring themes and patterns in the interviewees&rsquo; answers. The results point to a complex, nuanced, dynamic set of factors in the life of an otherwise qualified individual. Namely, four (4) such factors play a primary role in propelling aspiring women into the C-Suite: 1) executive traits; 2) preparation; 3) networking; and 4) engaging organizational culture. The findings offer an empowering promise that women can not only identify and gain the tools they need to accomplish their C-Suite goals, but also actively pursue and cultivate these assets in a way that offers success in both life and career. </p>

<p> Current scholarship in food studies generally, and literary food studies in particular, has overlooked important assumptions about the act of eating and its implications for subjectivity, embodiment, and agency. The field has taken up the idea of &ldquo;eating&rdquo; as a natural and universal physical process, immune to discourse. I argue that in so doing, the field has missed important opportunities to examine how our beliefs about what eating is and why are discursively informed. And, further, I argue that the discourses of eating play a role in regulating subjectivity, the material body, and its access to agency. Chapter 1 explores two well-known texts within literary food studies, <i>The Edible Woman</i> and <i>Like Water for Chocolate,</i> and is critical of aspects of each text that have been thus far neglected in the food studies critical conversation. By examining these overlooked pieces, I discuss how the eating discourses in both texts inform the characters&rsquo; subjectivities, their embodiment, and their agency within the novels. Chapter 2 examines two texts infrequently discussed in literary food studies, <i>My Year of Meats</i> and <i>Xenogenesis, </i> in order to illustrate the limits of the field&rsquo;s scholarship so far and to explore how a discursive analysis of eating can provide new insight into how the subject, the body, and its agency can be conceptualized. Chapter 3 looks to contemporary cookery texts for clues about how we talk about eating outside a strictly academic purview and ways that a discursive analysis of the genre can demonstrate how eating shapes our everyday perceptions of subjectivity, embodiment, and agency.</p>