On February 15, 2014, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was arrested for assaulting his then fiancé, Janay Palmer, at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City (Bien, 2014). Four days later, a video surfaced via TMZ, which showed Rice dragging an unconscious Palmer out of an elevator at the casino. In June, the NFL held a disciplinary hearing with Rice, and on July 24, the league suspended Rice for two games. Fast-forward a month and a half, on September 8, TMZ released another video, which showed Rice punching Palmer in the face inside the elevator at the casino back in February (Bien, 2014). That same day, the Ravens terminated their contract with Rice and released him from the team, and shortly thereafter, the NFL suspended Rice from the league indefinitely. The public outcry over the assault video generated a national conversation around intimate partner violence unlike anything seen before (Blow, 2014). Rice's assault arguably became the most publicized incident of domestic violence since O.J. Simpson, and therefore, it is important to analyze the media narratives surrounding it. As McDonald (1999) noted, media coverage of domestic abuse committed by male athletes may "offer some of the most visible cases of domestic violence available for public consumption," functioning "as significant sites where larger cultural understandings of domestic violence are constructed, contested, and struggled over" (p. 112-113). With the purpose of discovering how journalists construct particular understandings of domestic violence that (re)produce dominant ideologies, I conducted a critical discourse analysis of multiple mainstream media sources, including national newspapers, local Baltimore newspapers, online sports news, and women's magazines. Additionally, because the entire Ray Rice assault case—from his initial arrest until he appealed his suspension—occurred over a seven-month timespan, it was important to map the (re)construction of the assault over time. Thus, I isolated five important time frames for analysis, broken into one-week intervals, in order to examine the initial framing of each event. The research questions that I sought to address were as follows: 1) Do journalists give voice to domestic violence victims, or do they continue to silence the voices of victims and support the hegemonic structure of oppression? 2) Do journalists discuss the larger cultural problem of domestic violence, or do they continue to treat domestic violence as an individual issue? 3) As new information is released and different events unfold, does the narrative change, and if so, what is the instigating factor? That is, how do different objects of reference construct particular understandings of domestic violence and possibly change the narrative? In answering these research questions, I argue that, after Rice's initial arrest and through his two-game suspension, many journalists conformed to previous patriarchal narratives that have consistently blamed the victim, excused the perpetrator, and ignored the social problem of domestic violence. In doing so, journalists continued to reinforce dominant ideologies that silence the voices of victims and support the hegemonic structure of oppression. Although several critical narratives emerged after Rice's two-game suspension in July, it was not until TMZ released the second assault video in September that the narrative drastically changed. There was a clear shift in coverage after the release of the second assault video, as many journalists began critiquing tone-deaf narratives that have consistently blamed victims, excused perpetrators, and ignored the social problem of domestic abuse. With this, journalists began talking about domestic violence in a much more sensitive way than ever before. Although this discourse is crucial to changing the national conversation surrounding domestic violence, several problems still exist. First, it took a video of domestic abuse for most of these discussions to emerge. In regards to victim blaming, it appears that much of society—and certainly the NFL—does in fact need to see it to believe it. Second, even after the release of the assault video, football remained more important than domestic violence to many fans and journalists. While many fans continued to support the running back on social media and at Ravens games, many journalists focused on the game of football more than Rice's assault. Third, a majority of the critical narratives that emerged throughout the Ray Rice assault case focused on the league's (mis)handling of the assault. While these narratives are certainly important, they shift the focus away from the real issue—domestic violence. Fourth, although critical narratives surrounding domestic violence finally came to the forefront after the release of the second assault video, the number of articles that actually discussed domestic violence as a cultural problem were few and far between. Fifth, in order for these critical narratives surrounding domestic violence to emerge, Palmer's physical body had to be continually revictimized, and she was stripped of any agency she once had. Thus, although critical discussions surrounding domestic violence emerged during the Ray Rice assault case, there are still many issues surrounding gender and power that must be discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / April 12, 2017. / Includes bibliographical references. / Joshua Newman, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Arthur Raney, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Michael Giardina, University Representative; Donna Nudd, Committee Member; Brian Graves, Committee Member.

In this dissertation, I explore retirement income using a sample of Black and White men and women over age 62 who draw Social Security. I examine three of the main sources of retirement income – Social Security, occupational pensions, and private assets – to understand gender and race variation, including the simultaneous effects of disadvantages experienced based on gender and race. I also explore a comprehensive set of explanations for gender and race variation, specifically experiences related to the paid labor force, family, and health. To guide this research, I draw on two perspectives: cumulative (dis)advantage and welfare state. First, I use the cumulative (dis)advantage perspective to explain how experiences in earlier life can contribute to – and magnify – inequalities in later life. I also draw on the welfare state literature to shed light on the ways labor force, family, and health experiences may contribute to retirement income, and how the welfare state can contribute to gender and race inequalities. Together, these perspectives shed light on gender and race differences in retirement income and possible experiences that contribute to explanations for these differences. Using the 2010 data from Version N of the RAND HRS data file, I conduct bivariate and multivariate analyses, specifically mediation analyses and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition regression analyses. My dissertation has three main findings. First, retirement income varies by gender and race, but race variation is more consistent and substantial. Second, explanations for gender and race variation in retirement income differ based on type of retirement income (e.g., occupational pension coverage), though labor force characteristics most consistently contribute to explanations. Third, explanations for race variation depend on gender and vice-versa, suggesting that experiences matter differently for White women, Black women, White men, and Black men. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2016. / June 2, 2016. / Includes bibliographical references. / Anne Barrett, Professor Directing Dissertation; Patricia Born, University Representative; John R. Reynolds, Committee Member; Koji Ueno, Committee Member.

Latin America has historically sustained political, economic, and social upheaval, creating a vacuum of patriarchal power dynamics indicative of gender violence. These dynamics are reflected in personal and political trauma narratives. The connection between trauma, language, and narrative is complex; however, psychological research demonstrates that narrative memory helps heal and process grief and trauma. The non-verbal expression of affect often manifests in physiological expressions, reflecting one's psychological and emotional status. In conjunction with affect theory and trauma theory, narratives provide additional insight to human experiences and processes when placed within their cultural context and history. In this dissertation, analysis of Pedro Páramo and "I'm your horse in the night" focuses on the role of memory and imagination in surviving circumstances of oppressive gender violence. Additionally, issues represented in The Boy Kings of Texas further the discussion of gender violence directed not only towards women and girls, but also men and boys. The themes of Camila, The Official Story and In the Time of the Butterflies offer additional perspective to trauma as they address the consequences of analyzed and expressed trauma and the necessary element of truth-telling to not only individual but collective trauma narratives. The discussion of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents address repercussions of suppressed traumatic memories within the context of buildingsroman taking into consideration both the physiological and psychological effects of gender violence. Finally, Backyard and The Secret in Their Eyes are texts that further explore the detrimental consequences of extreme gender violence, such as femicide, and the necessary element of truth-telling in trauma narratives not only for purposes of justice and grieving but as the starting point of surviving, coping, and healing from trauma both in the individual and collective sense. Analyzing the characters and themes within these texts of various genres through psychological, sociological, and historical lenses allows for a more complete understanding of how trauma narratives function as agents of change concerning trauma and shame and its relationship with gender violence in the context of Latin American cultures. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / March 7, 2017. / Gender Violence, Latin American, Narrative, Shame, Textual Analysis, Trauma / Includes bibliographical references. / Delia Poey, Professor Directing Dissertation; Robinson Herrera, University Representative; José Gomariz, Committee Member; Juan Carlos Galeano, Committee Member.

This study focuses on the period between the late twelfth century and the late fifteenth century and the changes in perception toward sexual relations and gender politics, especially those pertaining to rape. While there is much to be said about instances of sexual violence in literature of the Early Middle Ages, this project relies on the romance fictions of the high and later Middle Ages because of the genre's unique position as record and critique of chivalric society. "Sexual Assault and Masculinity in Chivalric Romance" addresses instances of sexual assault where it does not conform to the binary of woman-as-victim, man-as-perpetrator. Much has been said on women as victims of rape, and there is a growing interest in masculinity studies; what happens when a woman is a perpetrator of sexual violence, however, has yet to be addressed. This dissertation does not solely focus on women as victimizers of men or women, but rather seeks to approach rape as a form of violence with a much more complicated psycho-social and literary implications. In so doing, I hope to complicate the essentialization of gendered identity based on ideations of sexual violence, not only for modern readers of medieval literature, but also for our conceptions of gendered violence in the twenty-first century. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / March 8, 2017. / Gender, Medieval, Rape, Romance, Sexual violence / Includes bibliographical references. / David F. Johnson, Professor Directing Dissertation; Irene Padavic, University Representative; Anne Coldiron, Committee Member; Celia Daileader, Committee Member; Jamie Fumo, Committee Member.

Transgender individuals experience daily discrimination, harrasment and are overrepresented in statistics such as poor mental health and suicide rates. This study aims to analyse how transgender individuals write about their identity and identityconstruction in relation to their enviroment. It also set out to find patterns in the experiences of transgender people to analyse them using Erving Goffmans dramaturgy and Judith Butlers concept of gender as performative. To achieve this narrative content analysis was used to analyse fifteen short biographical stories written by transgendered individuals about themselves. The purpose of this was to recognize patterns in the experiences and interactions they choose to put forth when talking about themselves. In creating a better understanding of transgender identity this study hopes to be a path in bettering the care and treatment of transgender people who seek aid from socialworkers. The results brought forward 4 main themes which were titled “defining yourself”, “Questioning of the identity”, “solidarity and support in one's identity” and “identity as a standard breaker”. Defining yourself means that the transgendered individuals saw identity as what you consider yourself to be and that the common experience was that the environments expectations did not match with their gender identity. The results were very unanimous except that the binary transpeople and nonbinary transpeople wrote a differently of how they felt other people reacted to their identity. The theme of questioning of the identity consideres the direct diskrimination, harrasment and questioning the transgender indivudals wrote about wich where reocurring in multiple peoples experiences. These experiences included being expected to conform to norms, being misgendered or insulted and difficulties in getting gender affirming care and diagnosis for gender dysphoria. Solidarity and support in one's identity refers to a recurring theme of people writing about how they felt solidarity and acceptance in groups which did not question their identity. Many wrote that they only felt accepted in exclusively transgender groups. Another aspect of this was that many attributed good health, acceptance of self and courage to come out, to the availability of information about being transgender and transgender support groups. The last theme was less unanimous with a minority expressing feelings of pride and solidarity with them being a standard breaker or deviant. Few even considered it a big part of their identity.

This dissertation analyzes cookery books and domestic manuals published in Chile and Argentina in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when both countries were transformed by the wave of industrialization. These best-selling cookbooks put domesticity on a public display and were, for the first time in Latin American history, published by women. I argue that, along with the feminization of the genre, between the 1890s and 1950s, a rhetorical turn took place: from “Cooking” to “Culinary Art.” Considering this shift as a pivot of the modernization of women’s work, I explore cookbooks as part of a broader cultural context that includes teaching, performances, interviews, and women’s interventions in the media industry and public sphere. In opposition to second-wave feminist constructions of domesticity, these cookery manuals do not propose a liberation of women from the kitchen, but an emancipation of the concept of kitchen itself. I examine how these best-selling books went beyond industry mandates and gender subjection and functioned, in fact, as tools of political, social, and cultural change. In so doing, I consider both the space of the kitchen and the genre of cookery books as complex technological artifacts that reshaped both the culture of modernity as the role of women within larger processes of industrialization and economic development. My dissertation takes up the challenge of comparative work; geographically, interdisciplinarily, and methodologically. This comparative perspective serves as an intellectual platform for discussing the interaction between different fields: feminist theory, the history of technology, food studies, labor history, and literary and cultural studies.

This thesis concerns the female gender identity generally known as the tomboy – a non-marginal gender identity. As a result of the non-marginality and complexity of this gender identity research on the subject is sparse. Moreover, previous research has not shown a limitation of tomboyism to homosexuality. This study aims to explore the specific socialization route in which such gender identity formation is acquired and to make clear, its main stages, determining factors and key agents as well as the social-psychological and emotional experiences of tomboys. An evaluation of the consequences of this particular type of socialization, in relation to these women’s work and family lives has also been made. The empirical material was collected through the qualitative method of deep interviews. An interdisciplinary theoretical framework including theories from sociology, gender studies and social psychology have been used in the analysis of the empirical material. The specific socialization route of the respondents was found to consist of five distinct stages. The different stages are characterized by: a separation from femininity, identification with and adapting masculine behaviors and attitudes, resisting gender norms and/or mainstream culture, being sanctioned and integration of masculinity and femininity. The primary key agents were found to be the parents and other role models that were either male or performed an unconventional femininity. The consequences of taking this particular socialization route was the formation of a female gender identity that cannot be categorized as traditionally feminine or masculine, according to the heterosexual matrix (Butler 1993) nor can it be understood as a cross-gender or queer gender identity. Moreover, the tomboy identity formation is found to cause ruptures in the heterosexual matrix as proposed by Renold and Ringrose (2008). It is concluded that further research on the heterosexual gender identity of the tomboy is needed in order to fully understand both the particularities of it and its impact on the heterosexual matrix.

Claims of inadequate health care and safety afforded to transgender inmates have become the subject of litigation. This article reviews 129 unsolicited letters from transgender inmates writing from 24 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to identify their concerns. Among the letters reviewed were reports from 10 inmates who had filed lawsuits naming departments of correction (DOCs) as defendants, claiming inadequate access to transgender health care. Five of these lawsuits have gone to trial. In all of those cases, the defendant settled the matter or was found liable as of the time of this report. Claims of inadequate care for transgendered patients that have sufficient merit to be fully litigated in U.S. courts appear likely to produce verdicts in favor of plaintiff inmates. The information gleaned from reviewing letters from transgendered inmates may alert staffs of DOCs to concerns worth addressing proactively to avoid the costs associated with transgender-related lawsuits.

This study describes the largest population of veterans referred for a gender identity disorder (GID) evaluation. Most were self-referred, others were referred by their commanding officer. A search of the English language literature revealed no similar studies on veterans other than a pilot project by the second author. Methods: Retrospective descriptive data were obtained from chart reviews of 70 U.S. veterans who were evaluated by the second author for gender disturbances over a 20-year period (1987 to 2007). The modal veteran with gender identity disturbance was a natal male (91%) identifying as female, >40 years old, Caucasian, employed, with more than 12 years of education. Fifty-seven percent were parents with a history of sexual involvement with opposite sex individuals. Histories of autogynephilia were not elicited in vets interviewed since 1997. Classic "flight into hypermasculinity" was described by a majority of the natal male vets as a retrospective understanding of why they joined the military. Psychiatric comorbidities (43%) included post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, schizophrenia (N = 1), substance use disorders (17%), dissociative identity disorder (N = 1), and personality disorders (11%). Ninety-three percent met criteria for diagnosis of GID or GID not otherwise specified; suicidal ideation was reported by 61% with one or more suicide attempts by 11% of 56 responding; and 4% reported genital self-harm. Although 11% expressed active thoughts of surgical self-treatment, most expressed a desire for physician-performed sex reassignment surgery (SRS). Cross-dressing behaviors were common, and currently reported arousal with cross-dressing was reported by 13%, 63% of whom were not diagnosed with GID. Conclusion: Veterans often reported that they joined the military in an attempt to purge their transgender feelings, believing the military environment would "make men" of them. Most were discharged before completing a 20-year career. More than half received health care at veterans affairs medical centers, often due to medical or psychiatric disabilities incurred during service. Comorbid Axis I diagnoses were common, as were suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Sleep problems are robust suicide risk correlates. According to the interpersonal theory of suicide, thwarted belongingness (TB) and perceived burdensomeness (PB) may explain the link between sleep problems and suicide risk. This study examined these relationships among 331 community-dwelling adults identifying as sexual and/or gender minorities. Self-report measures of sleep problems, TB, PB, suicide risk, and anxiety were completed. Bootstrap mediation analyses were conducted to test TB and PB as interacting, individual, and parallel explanatory factors linking sleep problems and suicide risk. Sleep problems were associated with greater TB, PB, and suicide risk. TB and PB, in parallel and individually, accounted for the relationship between sleep problems and suicide risk, beyond age and anxiety. In contrast to the interpersonal theory, the indirect effect of PB was stronger at lower levels of TB and the indirect effect of TB was stronger at lower levels of PB. Exploratory analyses indicated significant differences between sexual minorities, gender minorities, and individuals identifying as both sexual and gender minorities: the indirect effect of sleep problems on suicide risk through PB was descriptively strongest among sexual minorities, and the indirect effect through TB was descriptively stronger among gender minorities and individuals identifying with both minority groups. Findings suggest that intervening upon TB and PB may thwart the trajectory from sleep problems to suicide risk among sexual and gender minorities. Further work is needed to determine whether suicide risk pathways differ across minority groups.