Because college women's drinking rates now rival men's rates, the authors interviewed college women to ascertain how gender identity affected their drinking choices. Interpretative phenomenological analysis indicated that high-risk drinkers viewed their gender identity differently than did low-risk drinkers. Counseling implications are discussed.

Thesis advisor: Stephen Pfohl / This research project looks at components of gender socialization for cisgender college students. Expanding on pre-existing research, I consider traditional agents of socialization and argue that social media should be newly considered as a primary agent of socialization. To do this, I interviewed 12 cisgender college students (aged 19-23). The traditional routes of socialization and social media were both found to be important gender socialization factors. Interestingly, social media was found to have two contradicting functions. It served to counter traditional ideas of gender through its role providing education and exposure to diverse identities. At the same time, though, participants also reported normative ideas on the types of posts that different genders were expected to publish, feeling pressure to meet these standards. As social media only continues to become more pervasive, this provides an important avenue for research on the role that it has played in a population that has been on these websites for nearly a decade. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

This study examines the role of women and gender in German and British sections of three antiwar organizations that advocated for a European polity during the 1920s and 1930s: the Pan-European Union (PEU), the New Europe Group (NEG), and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). This project relies on extensive archival research using collections located throughout Europe, the United States, and Canada, some of which were only very recently cataloged. My findings fundamentally change our understanding of interwar integration advocates, who historians previously characterized as a small group of intellectual men. An analysis of the PEU and NEG reveals that women were a significant proportion of their members and leaders. Further complicating the traditional narrative that these were “male” driven groups, this study finds they stressed the “feminine” qualities their proposed system of governance required. Integration advocates blamed the perception of crisis between the wars on the belief that the political system was man-made. Many of these individuals believed women offered new ideas and an alternative source of leadership; thus, the role of women in developing a European polity was a popular topic among important segments of unification advocates. This argument resonated with many members and national sections of WILPF, which led them to collaborate with both the NEG and PEU. Although well known for its feminist pacifist activism, Europa and the Bull is the first study to examine the ways in which WILPF contributed to movements aimed at creating a European polity. By addressing all three of these organizations, this study challenges our understanding of the interwar movement for a federal European government, as well as the social and cultural forces that motivated them. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2018. / March 2, 2018. / European Integration, Federalism, Interwar Europe, New Europe, Pan-Europe, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) / Includes bibliographical references. / Nathan Stoltzfus, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mark Souva, University Representative; Suzanne Sinke, Committee Member; Will Hanley, Committee Member; Charles Upchurch, Committee Member; Eric Kurlander, Committee Member.

My project looks at current conceptualizations of identity relating to gender and sexuality in order to understand how queer individuals enact gender as connected to their non-normative sexuality. I will use the notion of "desire" through Butler's (1990) notion of performativity as a part of iterability that reproduces an opposition between what is intended and how it is perceived. This approach creates space to problematize the status of identities that posits the conception of fluidity and dialectic as attached to notions of gendered sexualities - the understanding that sexuality interacts with gender and that these two notions are not compartmentalized. The construction of these systems of categorization allows for an assumption of the role of sexuality as connected to gender that can then be read through discursive practices and performances. This research is placed within a post-structuralist and queer theory discussion that is used to understand identity as separate from an isolated core self and is rather comprehended through a particular connection of gender, sex, desire, and performance. By entering into a queer theory and post-structuralist discussion, this project aims to highlight ways in which gender and sex are not necessarily "intelligible" - in which one's gender enactment follows their sex, which then leads them to be attracted to the "opposite" sex/gender - and by doing so I will be able to understand how non-heterosexuals understand their own sexualized gender. The categories of gender and desire are not mutually exclusive nor are they dichotomous. According to Butler (1990), the heterosexual matrix addresses the power structures associated with hegemonic modes of discourse and thought; therefore, my project embraces this approach to gender and sexuality and how these understandings create a unique performance of repetition that further constructs an identity. This study specializes in the reformulation and re-articulation of a distinct consciousness of compounded identities that are comprised of a sexualized gender involving the performative interplay of sexuality on gender for queer individuals. In addition, this project seeks to understand how queer individuals form, understand, perform, and enact their evolving gender identity as connected to their sexuality. Specifically my research asks: 1) How do queer individuals narrate the construction of their particular identities? 2) How do queer individuals enact their gender as connected to sexuality? and 3) How do queer individuals describe their identities as marginalized? In order to answer these questions I conducted 20 interviews with queer individuals in Portland, OR aged 18-35 in order to get a broad range of life experiences. The use of one-on-one interviews allowed me to get at the interpretative perspective of the participant such that they can clarify the connections and relationships they see between their own sexualized gender enactment and the world around them. This also allowed access to acquire information about the social interplay of gender, sex, and desire and how these individuals may or may not place importance on their queer identity and the processes involved.

Orientador: Ana Paula Leivar Brancaleoni / Banca: Humberto Perinelli Neto / Banca: Rodrigo Ribeiro Paziani / Resumo: Considerando a identidade conforme um processo construído socialmente, que pode ser alterado e modificado de acordo com o contexto e as experiências vivenciadas durante a vida social dos sujeitos, buscou-se apontamentos sobre como as questões de gênero são percebidas, discutidas e constituem às ações e os comportamentos dentro do espaço escolar, tal qual o processo de construção das identidades. Percebendo a sociedade moderna um tanto quanto fragilizadora dos laços sociais, a escola se apresenta conforme um ambiente de socialização e de convívio com o diverso, mesmo que se configure de maneira desigual para os sujeitos frequentadores do lugar. Esta pesquisa objetiva analisar as compreensões de um grupo de adolescentes sobre identidade e seus processos de constituição, tanto quanto a possível participação das vivências escolares nos entendimentos trazidos acerca da mesma, enfatizando a questão do gênero. Para isso, procede-se à abordagem qualitativa, dispondo dos instrumentos de coleta de dados as observações participantes e entrevistas com alunas e alunos de uma instituição escolar de uma cidade do interior paulista, realizadas ao longo de um ano. Como aporte teórico, utilizou-se os estudos culturais e a teoria queer, visando compreender os processos de construção e desconstrução dos aspectos significantes da formação das identidades, de modo que se entendam os movimentos dos grupos no interior da unidade escolar e suas características. Em vista disso, observou-se que os... / Abstract: Considering identity as a socially built process that can be modified by the context and by one's social life experiences, this research saught indication about how gender issues are perceived and treated and how they constitute people's actions and behaviors inside the school, as well as the process of building identities. As the school realizes that modern society loosen social ties, it presents itself as an environment capable of promoting social interaction, even though it is not even to those who attend it. This research aims at analysing a group of adolescents' comprehension of identity, its constitutional process of their school social interaction on their definition of identity, emphasizing the gender issue. For that, a qualitative approach was used. Data were collected through the participants' observation and interviews made with students from an educational institution located in a city in the countryside of Sao Paulo, Brazil, throughout one year. As a theoretical support, cultural studies and the queer theory were consulted aiming for the comprehension of both constructional and deconstructional processes of significant aspects of identities formation, so that the movement of the groups of students in the school as well as their own characteristics are also understood. Taking all of this into consideration, it is noticed that the relevant aspects to understand the significant elements of this identity formation and the comprehension of how these social ... / Mestre

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Despite considerable improvements in women’s social and material conditions, progress has stagnated since the 1990s. Women remain disadvantaged compared to men across a range of domains, including political representation, division of labor, and workplace hiring and promotion. Although scholars have studied attitudes toward women more generally, understanding men’s attitudes toward women is especially important for advancing gender equality since men are often in positions of power with the resources and influence necessary to effect large-scale change. Previous research has measured demographic correlates of men’s gender attitudes, but scholars have yet to examine how gender attitudes are dynamic across contexts, shaped not only by the social characteristics of actors themselves but also by the context in which—and the women about whom—men express these attitudes. This dissertation draws on theories of status processes and social identity to examine how and under what conditions men support equality with women. Employing three complementary studies, this research takes an innovative, mixed-methods approach that combines in-depth interviews with experimental design. Specifically, it examines how men’s gender attitudes are shaped by 1) their audience 2) the target of their attitudes, i.e., the women in question and 3) men’s own life experiences. Together, these studies contribute a deeper understanding of the processes underlying men’s support for gender equality, suggesting actionable paths forward for addressing persistent gender inequities. Chapter 1 develops a synthesis of scholarship on gender attitudes and inequality with research on group processes and intergroup relations. I argue that relational, group-level theories of status, social identity, and symbolic boundaries can enrich our understanding of the persistence of gender inequality. In Chapter 2, I argue that expressing support for gender equality earns men social rewards. Results from an original survey experiment reveal that men who espouse egalitarian attitudes toward women are attributed greater status, considerateness, and authenticity. These findings provide the first causal evidence of the measurable social and symbolic rewards that men accrue by espousing egalitarian gender ideals. They also demonstrate a novel and paradoxical mechanism of status enhancement—egalitarian attitudes earn men status over other men at the same time that these men repudiate the legitimacy of their group advantage over women. Chapter 3 examines what impediments to addressing gender equality men anticipate. Drawing on 49 in-depth interviews, I find that men’s conversion of gender-egalitarian attitudes into actions that address gender inequality in daily life is contingent on perceived risks (social and material) and barriers (interpersonal and structural). The findings reveal how individual, relational, and institutional mechanisms impact men’s support for gender equality. Chapter 4 shifts the focus to the target of men’s gender attitudes, i.e., women. I employ an original experimental design to test how men’s levels of support for gender equality depend on the race and class identities of the women who stand to benefit. Results reveal previously obscured heterogeneity that helps explain persistent gender inequality despite men’s seemingly widespread support for egalitarian gender attitudes. Chapter 5 concludes with a discussion of implications and potential directions for future research.

The transgender community in India, commonly known as hijras, consists of people who were born as males but address themselves as females. They have been considered as the third gender in India for millennia and have had specific religious and sociocultural values and roles, but are forced to live in shadows in this day and age. Isolation of this community is also reflected in the way transgender characters are represented in Indian entertainment media. The study analyses two transgender themed films semiotically and the audience reception of those representations by 20 members of the transgender community. Semiotics is a helpful tool to understand the ways signs communicate ideas to viewers. This study applies syntagmatic and paradigmatic analyses to understand how images are used to represent and relay information to the audience. Reception theory along with double colonization has been incorporated in this study to analyse the ways in which the transgender community interprets the representations in entertainment media.

Sexual minorities, or those who do not identify as straight, face stigmatizing experiences which can lead to disparities in physical and mental health, as well as social and economic resources. Additionally, transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) persons, or those whose sex assigned at birth is not fully aligned with their gender identity, experience similar disparities related to stigma and lack of resources. The current study aimed to examine quality of life and drug use between TGNC and cisgender (or non-TGNC) individuals who all identify as sexual minorities to explore how being TGNC may further widen gaps in quality of life beyond sexual orientation. We examined four components of quality of life – physical, psychological, social, and environmental. Additionally, we examined frequency of use of various drugs as a component of quality of life and risk behavior. Within a sample of 213 sexual minorities, 63 (29.6%) identified as TGNC. Independent samples t-test were run to examine differences in quality of life Page 180 2017 Appalachian Student Research Forum and drug use between TGNC and cisgender participants. TGNC participants reported significantly lower physical quality of life (M=13.35, SD=2.97) than cisgender participants (M=14.99, SD=2.59), t(211)=-4.05, p<.001; lower psychological quality of life (M=11.24, SD=3.18) than cisgender participants (M=12.62, SD=2.99), t(211)=-3.04, p=.003; and lower environmental quality of life (M=15.41, SD=2.78) than cisgender participants (M=16.83, SD=2.94), t(211)=-3.25, p=.001. Additionally, TGNC participants reported higher use of sleep medications (M=0.87, SD=2.01) than cisgender participants (M=0.39, SD=1.29), t(210)=2.06, p=0.040; higher use of opioids (M=0.30, SD=0.98) than cisgender participants (M=0.05, SD=0.38), t(210)=2.66, p=.008; and higher use of barbiturates (M=0.03, SD=0.18) than cisgender participants (M=0.00, SD=0.00),t(211)=2.21, p=.028. These findings indicate that experiences related to gender identity may explain additional disparities in quality of life above and beyond those related to sexual orientation, and that future research should examine multiple identity characteristics when attempting to explain health disparities.