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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
- Creators: School of Social Transformation
- Resource Type: Text
Description
This thesis examines contemporary cinematic adaptations of the Ovidian Pygmalion story. The films Blade Runner (1981), Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Ruby Sparks (2012), and Her (2013) are analyzed. This thesis seeks to understand why this particular myth is so resonant in today's popular culture and what this relevance reveals about modern society. The roles of female subjugation, sexualization, and relationship with technology will be major areas of concern. Research includes film criticism, Ovidian scholarship, and new advances in computer technology.
ContributorsStory, Sara Katherine (Author) / Corse, Taylor (Thesis director) / Ellis, Lawrence (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This interdisciplinary thesis examines the possible relationship between the public speaking experience for women and the gender gap in political ambition. First, a historical analysis of women public speakers ranging from the 1800s to the Suffragettes to female politicians in the 1900s reveals a pattern of female public speakers in politics receiving extreme criticism for their communicative behavior. The thesis then turns to the socialization of young girls, highlighting how gameplay in children translates into gendered communicative behavior in adult women. Next, an examination of the pedagogy of public speaking showcases how the public speaking experience is different for women than it is for men, and how public speaking traditionally is taught in a masculine style. Then, through a review of the literature on the gender gap in political ambition, it is seen that not only are women severely underrepresented in political office in the United States, but women have far less political ambition than men. And a case study of the 2008 presidential primaries and elections, highlighting modern women in politics, demonstrates that the few women who are politically ambitious in the 21st century face criticism that mirrors those faced by political women decades and centuries prior. Finally, the thesis offers possible solutions to changing the experience of women as public speakers and fostering political ambition in women.
ContributorsPatton, Ashley Crystal (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Wentzel, Bonnie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This thesis examines how the physical construction of the ooloi Oankali aliens in Octavia Butler's trilogy Lilith's Brood enables the text to explore the limitations of a two-gender construct. It does so by positing the existence of other conscious organic life with a third gender outside the scope of Earth-bound organisms. The ooloi must be understood by a definition of gender that takes into consideration socially constructed and performed roles. The physical bodies of the ooloi have a "boundary-crossing" identity that is unambiguous. Their transformative and healing abilities, physical characteristics, and place in the social structure of the Oankali makes them the targets of disgust and hatred by humans who fear difference. This thesis analyzes how Butler uses the ooloi to demonstrate the possibility that humans living on a future Earth can supersede their innately destructive qualities.
ContributorsBrady, Sarah Rachel (Author) / Hattenhauer, Darryl (Thesis director) / Cook, Paul (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Sexual assault is a very serious social issue, one that has recently had a resurgence of interest within the context of college campuses. Studies have shown that the prevalence rates of woman abuse in university and college dating are alarmingly high. Historically, fraternity and sorority members have had a reputation for maintaining what has become known as "rape culture" by creating environments in which underage, binge or competitive drinking and unhealthy interactions and inequality between men and women are the norm. Research suggests this combination contributes to the number of known-assailant sexual assaults on or associated with campus life. The main objective of this project is to identify effective ways to foster an anti-sexual violence and pro-sexual wellness culture within ASU's Greek community by observing and analyzing student interactions with and opinions on these issues. This study aims to examine the attitudes of university students toward sexual assault, to learn how students navigate a culture in which sexual assault exists (the ways they respond to, seek to prevent, and learn about sexual assault). Additionally, this study examines student awareness, accessibility, effectiveness, and reach of current sexual violence prevention initiatives on ASU's campus. After conducting interviews with Greek students and performing direct observation during sexual wellness related events, the researchers of this project have determined that ASU has created an environment in which the student population is sufficiently aware of the sexual assault on campus and definitions of campus, but they are not familiar with nor do they often utilize or suggest that their friends utilize the many resources ASU and the Tempe community provide related to sexual health. Students tend to feel that sexual health programming is informative, but not personally relevant to or engaging to them. Feedback would suggest that the bystander intervention curriculum currently being developed in the ASU Fraternity and Sorority Life office would better address student need for relevant, engaging, and culturally-targeted sexual-health programming.
ContributorsHynes, Braxton Victoria (Author) / Adelman, Madelaine (Thesis director) / Vega, Sujey (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
As feminist understandings of the role that gender plays in the field of international development have evolved over time, there have been countless criticisms of organizations in the field due to their slowness in accounting for and responding to these academic contributions. Largely, these criticisms are lobbied against oversimplifications of the use of the term gender, often as interchangeable with the term girls/women, effectively excluding boys/men. In attempt to determine the extent to which boys and men have been excluded from the discourse of gender equality focused international development programs, this thesis conducts a rhetorical analysis of Plan International’s ‘Because I am a Girl’ Campaign. As an international nongovernmental organization that has made some attempt to include boys and men in its work, it serves as an important site for investigating why development organizations have not fully embraced the work done in masculinities studies and in feminist/gender studies on development. The analysis concludes that the intended audience is critical in shaping the way that an organization represents its gender-related programming.
ContributorsMcHugh, Megan Leigh (Author) / Gillis, Georganne (Thesis director) / Switzer, Heather (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Friendship between males have grown stronger throughout the last 20 years thanks to the production of buddy and bromance films. These movies have started to separate themselves from labels like gay and straight. Feelings are no longer foreign and inaccessible to men, and this has led them to a greater understanding of themselves. Man is currently on the road that woman has been on for many years, that being of close knit friendships that resemble homosexual relationships; and even though this mimicry (or rather appropriation) has come at a much later time, man is now closer than ever to the tipping point for a new masculinity. Through philosophy, sociology, gender studies, social theory, psychoanalysis, and pop culture (specifically film and television) this paper reveals what bromance has already done and could potentially do for man and eventually for humanity.
ContributorsAvelar, Matthew (Contributor) / Fahs, Breanne (Thesis director) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Video game culture, permeated for decades by blatant sexism and discrimination, is a toxic community for many individuals. Though its humble beginnings and early games did not overtly focus on the male gaze or demographic, troubled advertising, representations, and the lack of diversity within video game companies has formed the gaming culture into an increasingly hostile and unwelcoming place– especially for women. Those who identify as women or females are often harassed, heckled, and threatened with both verbal and physical violence. Game content and marketing continues to view women as objects of sexuality and violence rather than strong protagonists. Companies have brainwashed society to embrace their commonly held belief that men and boys are the only demographics that play and enjoy games, though this is empirically proven false. The aim of this project is to examine these offenses against women within the video game community– first by exploring video game history and how it fell into its toxic present state as well as the formation of the “gamer” identity and its ramifications for women. I then recount contemporary stories and issues of harassment against women within the community. The project also includes a short student survey that was sent out to gather more data on college-aged women and their gaming habits, which yielded important data supporting previous evidence citing specific gaming communities that struggle the most with these issues. The thesis is concluded by a look into the culture of game development and its hypermasculine nature as well as justification for why companies should care about the plight of women for both ethical and fiscal reasons.
ContributorsGulbransen, Alexis C. (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
DescriptionTwo gender-neutral products developed and sold by IKEA were studied in order to learn about the development of such items, as well as what makes gender-neutral products appealing to consumers.
ContributorsDaryanani, Sapna Sonu (Author) / Gray, Nancy (Thesis director) / Lisjak, Monika (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Fifty years after the beginning of the modern feminist movement, there is still much to criticize when looking at female representations in all types of media through a feminist lens. With the enormous popularity of the superhero genre in so many media \u2014 comic books, films, television, comic-cons \u2014 now is the time to ask: how much has the depiction of female superheroes changed? Due to the huge amount of superhero media, there is a wide range of depictions of female characters. Will new audiences be presented with empowering female protagonists or simply new variations on the same basic character types? This thesis will explore that question by, first, presenting an historical overview of superheroes in their various media. It then turns to the history of female superheroes, comparing them to their male counterparts to trace the ways in which they were presented as characters in their own right, or as merely appendages to the male characters. Some female superheroes represented a new type of female protagonist: powerful, independent, and committed to fighting justice. In others, the female superheroes were simply retreads of already existing perceptions and expectations of women. They were less powerful than their male counterparts, dependent and clingy, and fighters of injustice only because it made them better girlfriends, wives, or prospective wives. The thesis also looks at the visual depictions of women, who never seem to have fully broken away from the oldest dichotomy in Western culture: the virgin or whore. Female superheroes have, for the most part, been drawn as either demure, modest, girlish figures, or as highly sexualized, sometimes borderline pornographic, figures. After completing this historical overview, the thesis turns to an examination of what many have hailed as the most progressive contemporary depiction of the female superheroine: the recent television series Jessica Jones. For many fans, the character breaks important ground in the superhero genre. Jessica is a realistic, multi-dimensional character who channels strength by overcoming her PTSD and defeating her former abuser. She is not dependent on male characters, and her interactions with others show that she is a self-sufficient, compassionate person who can both control her own sexuality as well as pick up a minivan. While the character herself is not overtly feminist, her characteristics, interactions with others, and the story itself have feminist overtones. Jessica Jones shows us that it is possible to have a multi-dimensional, lead female protagonist in a superhero show.
ContributorsSwartz, Alex Cole (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Kolomyjec, Wanda (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This study aims to critically analyze how the undergraduate computing world has become highly androcentric in the past decades. This thesis seeks to take a post-structuralist stance to improving the gender disparity that deconstructs many of the logics that emphasize gender differences in computational thinking. Ethnographic, qualitative data will be used and coalesced with critical feminist theory to create a robust solution to closing the gender gap in the undergraduate computing world.
ContributorsRahman, Risa Fayeza (Author) / Navabi, Farideh (Thesis director) / Scott, Kimberly (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05