Thesis (M.F.A.)--East Tennessee State University, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57). Also available full text via Internet at the East Tennessee State University, Dept. of Art and Design web site as a .pdf file requiring Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Texas, May, 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 292-304). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNR11613

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore product attachment among men and women in conjugal associations and to design a series of household objects to encourage product attachment. A preliminary study based on the interview responses of 16 married individuals was used to identify themes and to develop the instrument employed in the main study. The main study sample consisted of eight married couples and the qualitative methodology involved the thematic content analysis of their responses to a questionnaire and in-depth interviews. The findings supported product attachment theory, and masculinity and femininity was reflected by the objects that the participants perceived to be the most valuable. Men tended to prefer objects with a functional value serving a consumer experience, particularly those that they could interact with and/or express the masculine desire to be independent and take an active role. Women were more variable in their preferences, but most became attached to objects with shared, affective and/or affiliative value. The values which made an object special were found, in general, not to be common to both husband and wife; however, those objects with a shared value, reflecting episodic memories concerning their marriage, were highlighted. These findings led to the construction of a tentative explanatory model to expand product attachment theory in the context of married couples. Underpinned by this model, action is recommended to promote the design and segmented marketing of products in order to create an emotional bond for one or both conjugal partners. Designs are proposed for a series of household objects to encourage the progressive development of episodic memories among married couples. Some prospective designs of products specifically targeted to promote shared value among the married couple segment of the market, including furniture and decorative items for the home are described. Further research is recommended to expand product attachment theory to take into consideration the design of objects for the married couples market.

Research has shown that collegiate female athletes are oftentimes faced with negotiating meanings of their femininity and their athleticism. Athleticism has traditionally been equated with masculinity, and to be a collegiate athlete requires certain levels of skill, experience, and athletic ability. Therefore, female collegiate athletes are conflicted with managing their identities in order to avoid accusations of their sexuality, which often results in being labeled as deviant. A primary indicator of athleticism is muscularity, which is also considered a masculine trait. In order to stay within gender boundaries, female athletes may go above and beyond to emphasize their femininity, or they may hold back on performance and training to avoid a muscular physique. An area of collegiate athletics that has become increasingly important is the strength and conditioning coach and weight room. These coaches are responsible for training athletes in power and speed development to enhance sport performance and prevent injury. Research has shown, however, that the weight room and activity of lifting weights has not been deemed socially appropriate for women. The purpose of this study was to understand first, how do Division-I female athletes negotiate their femininity and muscularity within the strength and conditioning environment? Second, is there a difference in femininity and muscularity negotiations and management between underclassmen female collegiate athletes and upperclassmen female collegiate athletes? Finally, what aspects of the weight room influence the negotiations of femininity and muscularity among female collegiate athletes? To gain a rich understanding of how female athletes negotiate their femininity with muscularity in the strength and conditioning environment, a qualitative methodology was used. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 14 athletes, from 7 different sports, at a Midwestern Division-I university. Using a critical feminist interactionist theoretical framework, this study found that female collegiate athletes negotiate their meanings of muscularity and femininity in the strength and conditioning environment. Athletes viewed it necessary to place boundaries on their muscularity in regards to size, preferring the `toned' physique. All athletes acknowledged a positive impact on their sport performance, yet some athletes admitted to holding back during strength and conditioning sessions. Others believed that the weight lifting program was not threatening to their muscularity, but explained they would hold back if it did have a `bulking' effect. Finally, some athletes performed additional cardiovascular training to reduce body size. Additional findings suggest that the weight room environment is influential for the female athletes. The public weight room was described as a gendered space that was intimidating. In contrast, the collegiate weight room was a place that was welcoming to the female athletes. The strength and conditioning coach played an important role to the environment and the female athletes. Concluding results show that inconsistent with previous research, there were no consistent findings in attitude or behavior differences between underclassmen and upperclassmen athletes.

When critics consider utopian literature, they often claim that the utopian imagination is limited in its ability to provide practical instruction for societal reform. In Archaeologies of the Future, Fredric Jameson extends this critique by arguing that the utopian imagination only exists “to demonstrate and to dramatize our incapacity to imagine the future” (288-289). By returning to an early twentieth century utopian novel, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland (1915), we can put pressure on Jameson’s ideas about the ultimate function of the utopian imagination. By analyzing the education system in Herland, we are able to see how Gilman integrated the contemporary educational philosophy of John Dewey and methods of Maria Montessori to provide an intellectual and institutional foundation for her utopian education system. Therefore, Gilman provides a set of ‘instructions’ to suggest how we might reform current methods of education to fit within her utopian vision. Gilman’s Herland allows us to see how a highly imaginative utopian text can promote social change to build a ‘better’ future.

This paper explores the manner in which campus culture during the middle of the twentieth century idealized the image of the campus sweetheart, which had become common within higher education during the period, to project characteristics and beliefs that adhered to a restrictive feminine standard. By analyzing newspapers and yearbooks produced at multiple Midwest universities during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, the paper demonstrates how the image of the sweetheart promoted an unrealistic feminine standard pertaining to beauty and monogamy to young women entering higher education during the period. In addition, the paper illustrates the detrimental effect of the sweetheart image for women's educational experiences through an analysis of Sylvia Plath's journals from her time at Smith College.

A presente pesquisa objetiva trabalhar as considerações psicanalíticas sobre o feminino, depreendidas da obra de Freud, Lacan e comentadores, por meio da mística. Lacan, em O seminário, livro 20, Mais, ainda, concedeu à mística o estatuto de verdade sobre o feminino e, desse modo, apresentou um caminho a ser percorrido a fim de melhor se poder meio-dizer sobre o que é da ordem do inefável. Para tanto, a pesquisa orienta-se sobre alguns eixos temáticos: 1) apresentar o que é propriamente o feminino para a psicanálise, dissociando-o do sexo biológico e afirmando-o como uma posição subjetiva que pode ser visitada tanto por homens quanto por mulheres. Para sustentar tal afirmativa recorre-se à experiência de Francisco de Assis, homem e grande místico; 2) conceituar o gozo, extraído da noção freudiana de pulsão de morte e abordar algumas possíveis modalidades de gozo, principalmente o gozo feminino que Lacan relacionou com o gozo dos místicos; 3) diferenciar o gozo místico do delírio místico psicótico, apresentando alguns pontos específicos que auxiliam a distinguir a posição mística da psicose. Com isso, objetiva-se desfazer possíveis confusões que levam, muitas vezes, o místico a ser tratado e considerado um doente mental. Aproveita-se, ainda, a riqueza da biografia de Francisco de Assis para abordar as noções do sentimento oceânico e do despertar, intentando apontar para a verdade que sustenta e orienta a vida do místico: um mais além. / Supported by Freuds and Lacans theories and some of their commentators, the present research aims at working on the psychoanalytical considerations on the feminine and its relation to the mystic jouissance (enjoyment). Lacan, in The Seminar, Book XX: Encore (1972-1973), stated that the mystic experience stands for the truth as regards the feminine. By doing so, he showed us a way to be paved so as to get as near as possible to what is considered to be ineffable. We intend to support our points by presenting the theories on the feminine according to psychoanalysis. By doing so, we not only discard the idea related to the biological sex but we also state that the feminine is an affirmative subjective position which can be visited by both men and women and that is why we turn to the experience of San Francisco de Assis, a great mystic man. We not only work on the concept of jouissance extracted from Freudians notion of death drive but we also work on the concepts which deal with the feminine jouissance once Lacan related it to the one mystic people experience. It is important to differ the mystic jouissance from the psychotic mystic delirium and to do so we must highlight some specific points which will enable us to distinguish one position from the other. We finally intend to clear up some of the mistaken ideas with regard to the mystic people once most of such ideas lead to the prejudiced notion that the mystic person is mentally sick. Once San Fancisco de Assis biography is very rich, we also mean to bring up the notion regarding the oceanic feeling and the one related to the awakening, as we intend to point out that the truth that supports and guides a mystic persons life is something that is placed far beyond .

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-10T14:24:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-07-03. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-12-10T14:30:52Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000851870_20170724.pdf: 157646 bytes, checksum: fefb86b388549573557fda945fd76f8b (MD5) Bitstreams deleted on 2017-07-24T11:34:15Z: 000851870_20170724.pdf,. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2017-07-24T11:35:19Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000851870.pdf: 1115813 bytes, checksum: 6739cf6a848bd838586795d32f58e04e (MD5) / Este trabalho pretende compreender as transformações do tema feminilidade na obra de Melanie Klein e com isso traçar um percurso histórico e epistemológico sobre o significado desta temática para o pensamento desta autora. De modo específico, também, objetivamos discutir e problematizar como a noção da feminilidade pode oferecer uma maneira inovadora na forma de ler e compreender o texto kleiniano. Além disso, acreditamos que esse tema permitira pensar outras trilhas subjetivas na contemporaneidade, o que repercutiria, posteriormente, na forma de compreender a Psicanálise deslocada do eixo fálico. Isso porque, desde o início dessa pesquisa nos pautamos na ideia de que haveria, como é defendida por alguns autores contemporâneos da Psicanálise e que já havia sido refletido por Freud ao final de sua obra, a possibilidade de compreender modos de subjetivação fora do registro fálico, ou seja, anteriores à estrutura tradicional do complexo de Édipo e herança de nossa cultura Ocidental. Feminilidade, então, seria esse modo de subjetivação em um tempo psíquico muito primitivo da criança com sua mãe, o que permitiria articulações subjetivas diferenciadas / This work intends to understand the theme of femininity changes in the work of Melanie Klein and then trace a historical and epistemological route on the significance of this issue to the thought of this author. Specifically, we also aim to discuss and question how the notion of femininity can offer an innovative way in order to read and understand the Kleinian text. Despite that, we believe that this issue will allow other subjective tracks to come up in contemporary times, what repercussions later in the way of understanding psychoanalysis displaced the phallic trait. In other words, since the beginning of this research we were based on the idea that there would be, as is advocated by some contemporary authors of psychoanalysis and that had been reflected by Freud at the end of his work, the ability to understand modes of subjectivity out of phallic trait i.e. prior to the traditional structure of the Oedipus complex and heritage of our Western culture. Femininity, so it would be this subjectivity so in a very primitive psychic time of the child with his mother, which would allow different subjective joints

Advertising is increasingly, and has become one of the most powerful forms of global communication. It is one of the most influential tools in spreading ideas about gender, ethnicity and sexuality that create perceptions. Advertising has becoming increasingly global due to the globalization of the Western society and culture. This creates a need for intersectional awareness in advertising in order to avoid communicating inequalities. This bachelor thesis examines and analyze how femininities are articulated in advertising that exists within the contemporary context of popular feminism. Specifically, it offers an analysis of how postfeminism as a contemporary formation of feminism informs these advertising campaigns. The study examines two visual commercials, one from Adidas Originals and one from H&M. A multimodal semiotic analysis was used to analyze the empirical material in order to find out its meanings. The result indicates that the two advertising campaigns from H&M and Adidas Originals presents various and diverse forms of femininities by showcasing women with different looks, bodies and ethnicities. H&M’s commercial showcase women who are seen as empowered, confident and who acts out in different environments. Adidas Originals rather puts emphasis on showcasing women and men who speaks about issues concerning gender, body image and ethnicity. Both campaigns, it is argued, articulate and negotiate a discourse of postfeminism.