Matching Items (10)
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- All Subjects: Gender
- All Subjects: feminism
- Creators: Ingram-Waters, Mary
Description
This thesis looks at how feminist biography is used as a part of mainstream feminism in the United States. In particular, I look at how Sheryl Sandberg and Anne-Marie Slaughter share their experiences in the workplace in an effort to illuminate the struggles they have faced as women and to justify the changes they see necessary for the success of women. They base their argument for these changes on their own social assumptions about women in the private sphere and women at work. Their feminist biography may serve to help a small set of individuals, but overall the solutions they provide are applicable to only a limited demographic of women. The ultimate goal for both Sandberg and Slaughter is to achieve equality, although they base their call for change on a normative understanding of the world. In the end, I look at how a broader view of feminism that takes into account the intersection of race, class, gender, and politics can enrich popular forms of feminism in the U.S.
ContributorsSteffens, Jane Melissa (Author) / Popova, Laura (Thesis director) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2015-05
DescriptionKidSmith is an application to teach children about gendered marketing. The app has two components, a game and a database of activities featuring neutral found objects from the home or in nature.
ContributorsPeate, Lyric Laurel (Author) / Sanft, Al (Thesis director) / Heywood, William (Committee member) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Revenge porn is the accepted term used to describe the distribution of explicit photos online with the intent to incite embarrassment or shame. Perpetrators are typically ex-lovers seeking revenge on a former partner. This harassment has become widespread alongside increased access to online networks and "sexting" culture. Early studies indicate revenge porn reflects a larger cultural attitude of "slut shaming", the tendency to shame women for behaving in a sexual manner outside the boundaries of traditional female sexuality. Focus groups were organized to discuss views regarding revenge porn, Internet privacy, and legislature.
ContributorsEikren, Emilee Irene (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Christopher, Scott (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This thesis explores the effect that social media has on political mobilization. Going over the arguments that social media is a an effective tool for political mobilization, and the arguments that social media is not an effective tool for political mobilization. Analyzing different mobilization movements it is shown that social media is an effective tool for political mobilization.
ContributorsBaden, Thomas (Author) / Voorhees, Matthew (Thesis director) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This thesis seeks to understand how the film Legally Blonde has portrayed the interaction between femininity and women. Specifically, this paper will consider how feminism—defined through the context of the era and Legally Blonde—has empowered women to enter male-dominated professional workspaces—specifically in consideration of the legal profession. The feminism presented in Legally Blonde can be characterized through Elle Wood’s simultaneous displays of intelligence and focus on typical feminine interests: such as marriage, cosmetics, and the like (Marsh, 2005; Lucia, 2005; Hoffman-Longtin & Feldner, 2016). The “third-wave” feminist era surrounding Legally Blonde promotes the duality of women in expressing femininity and holding agentic capability (Dole, 2008). This thesis uses the film’s definition of feminism to consider the changes in women entering the legal profession, the identity of women who connect to the film, and the media’s responses and portrayal of the film. Legally Blonde defines feminism by presenting women as both intelligent and typically feminine—challenging the typical gender role of women in society with her expression of capability and seriousness. While the film elucidates a definition of feminism based on femininity and female agency, some women may not fit into this definition based on the lack of consideration of intersectionality in the film. While the film underlines a changing shift in acceptance of women’s expression of femininity, the film’s message may not apply to all women. Yet, Elle Woods remains a role model for many women to attend law school and her impact is emphasized in popular culture even today.
ContributorsBoucher, Nicole S (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Szeli, Eva (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Playable female characters in video games have become increasingly more acceptable in the mind of the average gamer. Video games like the Mass Effect series allow gamers to choose to play as either male or female. Despite the industry's data showing that the male character is more likely to be played, vocal fans of the game will often argue that the female character is more desirable depending on the experience that the player is wanting. It is this inconsistency between the gaming industry's data on gender choice and the fans that go against this data that leads to the present research. This research explores why men play female characters in video games. Previous literature found that avatar choices matter to gamers, both for how they are viewed and how they experience the game. This literature suggests that gamers make character decisions based on the desired gaming experience. Data for the current study consists of comments from five Reddit posts and from supplementary surveys completed by volunteers from Reddit. Four main categories that encompassed the numerous results are identified: in-game advantages, player-character interactions, exploration of new experiences and/or identities, and novelty. Each category also features a number of subcategories that were identified first and then combined to make the final four categories. The results found supported previous literature as well as expanded the literature to offer more insight behind why male gamers choose to play as female characters. This choice is ultimately reliant upon varied factors on which they base their choices for the desired gaming experience.
ContributorsBunch, Sarah Elizabeth (Author) / Mack, Robert (Thesis director) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
A study and fanzine of fandom culture, as it pertains to Korean pop (also known as K-pop music), focusing primarily on fan interactions between idols (celebrities) and fans via online messaging platforms (such as Universe and Bubble) and how it shapes parasocial relationships, which lead to positives of connection and communication intimacy and negatives of safety and monetary concerns.
ContributorsMunson, Olivia (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Dombrowski, Rosemarie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Comm (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
This thesis examines the representation of female Korean pop stars in music videos, specifically looking into how these music videos serve as a medium for communicating gender ideals. I examine K-Pop's damaging presentations of women and the multilayered ways that such representations shape the “ideal” woman, societal expectations, societal treatment, and its consequences. South Korea, as a country of total media saturation and high technological advancement, leaves individuals surrounded with various ways to “learn” gender and properly enact it in their daily life. This builds and reinforces gender constructs on systemic and personal levels. K-Pop is unique in its strict organizational structure and emphasis on conformity, and both of those aspects lend to an even more intense and streamlined depiction of what a South Korean woman is meant to be. The music video is an ideal cultural artifact to examine due to the overlapping audio and visual elements, including lyrics, choreography, makeup, and outfits.
ContributorsCorreia, Madison (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Carrasco, Clare (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
By analyzing The Witcher and Game of Thrones fandoms, this research examines whether cosplayers adhere to social media or canon expectations of gender, sexuality, and violence. The study focuses on six canon female characters and how cosplayers emulate them on TikTok and Instagram. Along with a quantitative analysis, ten cosplayers were interviewed regarding their experiences with the fandom, source material, and cosplaying. The prediction was that cosplayers might conform to the standards of social media and the expectations of the social material; however, the findings implicate that fantrepreneurs mostly exclude sexualization and violence in their content, which suggests that cosplay continues to be used for transformative purposes.
ContributorsSears, Madison (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / McGibbney, Michelle (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
Scholarly work, industry profile analyses, and sports entertainment, similarly posit the normative fantasy football fan as an uber fan, defined largely by the vast amount of time spent per week consuming sports media content. The average fantasy football participant is also defined as a white, middle-class, married man in his late 20s (FTSA.org). However, by drawing on qualitative interview data of 48 fantasy football participants, we argue that this typical profile of a fantasy football participant as an uber fan is limiting in a masculinist way precisely because it reifies a gendered category of fan as normal, making anything outside of that category deviant. Close analysis of the experiences of thirteen of the 48 fantasy football players, all of whom identify as women, indicate an alternative, cohesive fantasy football participant profile that is centered on being competitive while also being efficient with one's time and resources. Additionally, we find that these women fantasy fans actively reject the notion of the uber fan as the only way to be a normal fantasy football fan because they want to play and win on their own terms.
ContributorsItmam, Arif (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Southergill, Keith (Committee member) / Lashley, Mark (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05