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- All Subjects: feminism
- Creators: School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Throughout Mexico's history, women have endured systemic oppression. Beginning in colonial Mexico, gender hierarchies formed. The establishment of hierarchies, the patriarchy, and lack of independence forced women into submissive roles. After the first and second waves of feminism, dynamics between men and women changed, granting women more independence. As they gained freedom, violence escalated and by the 1980s a pattern of violence emerged. In 1993, the documentation of femicide began and rates continued to increase with little legal protection offered. The rise of social media and continued the discussion of the issue and brought to light all levels of violence.Though legislation was passed to protect women, it was not enough. Women continue to fight for their safety and bring awareness to the issue.
This thesis examines the three films of the most recent Star Wars trilogy (2015-2019) through a feminist lens, investigating the following question: is the trilogy’s leading woman, Rey, a feminist character throughout her arc? This thesis finds that while the telling of Rey’s story certainly has its feminist moments, it fails in several ways to truly abolish the patriarchal frame/attitude that was ingrained from the first two trilogies, leaving the character of Rey feeling incomplete. As the first female to be the primary protagonist in a Star Wars film, Rey’s strength and light certainly make her a positive female role model for young audiences. However, she is held back by the patriarchal society in which she exists and thus is ultimately reduced to being second-best in her own trilogy to the all-powerful older white men who came before her.
This project aimed to understand what best practices for leadership in the Information Technology sector and if it could be consolidated for a comprehensive learning plan. This learning plan was housed on a traditional LMS (Canvas) and utilized a combination of IT Management research, interviews conducted with five industry members (all boasting five or more years of work experience), and an analysis of six top institution IT Leadership programs, to create a template. For the provided questionnaires, participants were asked to consider their time in the industry and discuss work culture dynamics, distribution of power, and what pain points were felt in their daily operations. All participants also described their direct roles and seniority, ranging from self-described “middle” to ”high” level placements. Based on these interviews, much of what seems to halt productivity and employee satisfaction regularly comes from a lack of concise and regular communication and a need for more understanding regarding team members' drive or capabilities. Regarding the program evaluation, six IT Leadership programs were chosen, where five were constructed by higher education institutions and one from a certificate governing body. The top skills identified across all programs were communication and decision-making. Communication is an all-encompassing idea for collaboration and strong speaking skills, with programs 1,4,5, and 6 noting their importance. Decision-making in this context is about both work delegation and firm problem-solving. For work delegation, it was pointed out in the interviews that techs and engineers see strong leadership utilizing professional judgment as vital to a business’s performance, with all programs but program 4 similarly emphasizing the same. Given this evaluation, the leadership styles used can be identified as Delegative, Strengths-Based, and Transformative. The previously noted interviews and research resulted in a 4-week course demo, which utilized the interviews in conjunction with leadership concepts.
The primary perspective from which people are depicted in media today is shaped by the male gaze. The male gaze is comprised of patriarchal ideals and relies on the understanding that the spectator or viewer is a standard human being, which heteronormativity tells us is a man. From this perspective, the scope of visual representations of men and women in media has been molded after the hierarchized gender displays within which masculinity has primacy over femininity. By presenting a limited spectrum of behavior acceptable for men and women, the media hegemonically manipulates the social constructs of gender and gendered behavior across all levels of society.
This honors thesis applies semiotic and feminist methodologies to engage visual forms of media through art, film, and social media to challenge the social constructs of gender perpetuated and reinforced by dated stereotypes of gender and gendered behavior. First, the theoretical foundation will provide a framework for semiotic and feminist analysis of visual representations of gender in media. Then, I will present data representing the real-world impact that this social construction of gender has on adolescents in America using The State of Gender Equality for U.S. Adolescents, published by Plan International Inc. I will then bring together the explicated methodologies and evidential data alongside my own experiences as a female consumer of visual media to reveal alternative practices of looking that do not revolve around patriarchal norms, looking for a female gaze. In doing so, I hope to present recourse in the face of persistent use of sexist imagery across all levels of our culture and every medium of visual self-expression by providing tools that can be used to interrogate gendered perceptions and inform self-examination in pursuit of a feminist practice of looking.