Establishing a sense of identity is a central task in human development. This research pursued questions about how adult, self-identified feminist women conceptualize their identity, the role of feminism in that conceptualization, and the interaction of feminism with race and sexual orientation. Forty women in five geographic regions across the United States were interviewed. The participants were faculty, administrators, classified staff, and graduate students affiliated with a university in the region. The interviews were completed during a week-long visit to each location; each interview lasted from 45 to 75 minutes. Interviews followed a semi-structured format, using a standard protocol. Questions in the interviews asked about the importance of feminism, occupation, relationships, religion, politics, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation in the women's identities. The connection of feminism to each of the other identity areas was also asked of the participants. The women in this study conceptualized identity as consisting of multiple elements, organized in one of two ways: (a) a whole with multiple parts and (b) a collection of multiple parts. The first is an integrated identity, where all elements are connected to each of the other elements, and the second is a contextual identity, where the connection of elements can depend on situational variables. The multiple identities include traditional categories of occupation, relationships, religion, politics, race, and sexual orientation, but also add other areas such as age, socioeconomic class, avocational interests, and feminism. Women identify themselves as having multiple identities. The way participants in this study view feminism as an identity is organized in four categories: a set of values, a process to make meaning, a contextual identity, and an underlying construct. The categories of feminism vary in the degree to which feminism is connected with other identity elements. Women who view feminism as a set of values speak of it as a set of beliefs or an ideology that may or may not influence other identity areas. The participants who view feminism as a process to make meaning have either an interconnected or contextual view of feminism, with the added element of seeing feminism as a way to understand, interpret, and make decisions about experiences. Feminism as a contextual identity is connected with some parts of identity but not with all elements. For those whose view of feminism is as an underlying construct, feminism is interconnected and interactive with all of the other identity elements. This study adds to the literature about feminism and feminist identity in three ways. First, it suggests that for women who identify themselves as feminists, feminism is not only an ideology but also an important element of their identity. Second, it asserts that a shared definition of feminism is not critical to determining its role in identity. Third, this study's findings challenge the Downing and Roush (1985) model of feminist identity as the principal model. The Downing and Roush model focuses on feminist consciousness rather than identity; it employs a singular, liberal definition of feminism; it ignores multiple identities and their interactions; and it hinges its highest achievement on activist participation. Each of these assumptions of the Downing and Roush model are contradicted by the findings of this research. This study adds to the previous literature about identity in two ways. First, it expands the knowledge about adult women's identity by proposing a definition that takes into account the multiple identities that women have. Second, the findings challenge the limited areas by which identity has been traditionally defined. This study challenges the notion that identity is a singular, core construct based on traditional elements. Individuals must be allowed to identify the elements that make up their own identities. The results of this study also suggest that multiple identities, including race/ethnicity and sexual orientation, are mutually influencing and interconnected rather than independent or singular. Identity is constructed of multiple elements that must be examined together to understand the individual's own definition of self. / Ph. D.

Hispanic women are the fastest growing population in the United States. Thus, it is important to explore health disparities that affect this population and better understand potential causes. Several explanations have been proposed for disparities that exist including turning to cultural alternatives rather than conventional medicine, low numbers of health insurance enrollments among Hispanics, and acculturation. However, little attention has been given to explanations that take into account the unique experiences of Hispanic women. The present study explored these experiences through investigation of endorsement of feminist attitudes (e.g., gender role adherence and beliefs that men and women should be treated equally in society) and level of acculturation. Undergraduate Hispanic women (18-24 years of age, M = 20.25, SD = 1.51) at the University of North Texas completed measures including the Multidimensional Health Questionnaire, the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II, and the Liberal Feminist Attitude and Ideology Scale. Although results indicate that acculturation was not significant in the sample, feminist endorsement was found to be positively correlated with health-esteem, health-efficacy, and internal-health locus of control. Limitations and recommended directions for future research are explored.

The idea of a feminist science has been treated as settled knowledge. Philosophers of science have, implicitly or explicitly, defined it as a science guided by feminist values. For a long time, feminist philosophers were concerned with defending its conceptual possibility (Longino, 1987), and they largely succeeded; the value-free ideal is in retreat (Holman and Wilholt, 2022). But now that they may finally unclench from their defensive posture, what comes next for their positive program to theorize feminist science? The dissertation takes up this question and attempts to clarify and advance new research questions. I ask: what follows if we take seriously the constraints under which feminist scientists must labor? Which values in science are feminist? What does it mean for science to be ‘value-laden’? Are feminist values epistemically or normatively indispensable? If not, how do we justify the importance of doing science as a feminist?

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This study used a national sample of substance abuse treatment centers to analyze predictors of drug treatment completion among a sample of black women compared to white women, white men, and black men. Data are drawn from the Treatment Episode Data Set - Discharges (TEDS-D) 2006, which is representative of treatment programs in 42 states and the District of Columbia. The sample consisted of black (n= 356,701) and whites (n=926,216). Results indicated that race, gender, and level of education (social class variable) all had statistically significant associations with drug treatment completion. That is, when compared to all the other respondents in the study, (i.e., black men, white women, and white males) black women were less likely to complete drug treatment. This study also found that blacks were underrepresented in drug treatment programs when compared to whites. This disparity is even more prevalent for black women. Overall, analyzing group differences in treatment outcomes and sociodemographic characteristics, black women appeared to be socioeconomically worse off than black men, white women, and white men. In fact, black women had significantly lower rates of employment and were almost twice as likely to report that their income source was from public assistance. Black women were less likely to be married, employed full-time, and were significantly more likely to report using cocaine or crack at the time of admission and indicate that cocaine or crack was their problem drug. Finally, when compared to other groups, black women were less educated, had lower drug treatment completion outcomes, were more likely to receive public assistance, and have lower employment rates. Again, these findings are not surprising and are consistent with a multitude of literature on drug treatment outcomes. / Ph. D.

In this paper, I argue that the performance artist Orlan uses feminist tactics of subversion in her presentation of the body as art. I enter the feminist debate over Orlan's work to indicate that the critics who consider the history of performance art produce more fecund discourse. At the same time, I encourage more discussion over the racial dimensions of Orlan's art, which I describe as de-colonizing her body's representation. / Master of Arts