Employing qualitative methods and drawing from an intersectional framework which focuses on the multiple identities we all embody, this dissertation focuses on oppressions and resistance strategies employed by women of color in Xbox live, an online gaming community. Ethnographic observations and narrative interviewing reveal that women of color, as deviants within the space, face intersecting oppressions in gaming as in life outside the gaming world. They are linguistically profiled within the space based off of how they sound. They have responded with various strategies to combat the discrimination they experience. Some segregate themselves from the larger gaming population and many refuse to purchase games that depict women in a hyper-sexualized manner or that present people of color stereotypically. For others, the solution is to "sit-in" on games and disrupt game flow by 'player-killing' or engage in other 'griefing' activities. I analyze this behavior in the context of Black feminist consciousness and resistance and uncover that these methods are similar to women who employ resistance strategies for survival within the real world.

In this anthology, I will delve into two spheres of my personal and professional life: how my gender has inhibited my authority in the workplace, and how my gender has impacted the assumptions others make of my aptitude and worth. In each entry, I explore the intersection of poetry and literary criticism regarding internalized gendered assumptions. My headnote offers questions to consider upon reading each poem, and I have taken techniques and examples from Mary Oliver’s handbook on writing poetry, to then offer my own poem in response. Finally, I then analyze relevant scholarship to the gender-based issue I am referencing, alongside a personal explanation of how this issue materializes in my poems.

The Women’s National Basketball Association was founded 27 years ago. Since its inception, the WNBA has played the same game as the NBA with only slightly different rules: a slightly smaller basketball, shorter quarters, and a slightly closer three-point line. However, it has not seen the growth and support the NBA received 25 years into its founding. Studies have proven that the WNBA, and women's basketball in general, is undersold and undervalued. Not only this, but a growing body of research has shown that women in sport receive far more harassment than male athletes do. The studies all trace these discrepancies back to deep-rooted patriarchal and misogynistic ideas baked into society, and often seen most explicitly in sport. However, the patriarchy and misogyny that women basketball players receive is varied due to the complex intersection of gender, race, and sexuality. Therefore, previous studies on women’s basketball have examined only one or a few ways that players are hurt or hindered by patriarchy and misogyny. Patriarchy is a system of social structures and practices, in which men govern, oppress, and exploit women. Misogyny is defined as hatred towards women. This paper instead synthesizes previous studies, research, and experiences by women’s basketball players to give an overview of the complex web of prejudice and sexism women basketball players face. For instance, this paper pulls from a study on football fandom in the United Kingdom as well the Kaplan Hecker and Fink Gender Equity Review in order to highlight how abundant misogynistic tropes are across all sports. However, this paper will not give a detailed and comprehensive view into every aspect of this web. Instead, it will provide a general overview of how societal norms, rooted in patriarchy and misogyny, influence people’s views and treatment of women in sport. Specifically, the paper will pull from previous studies and articles to detail how women basketball player’s media coverage, salaries, physical health, mental well-being, race, sexuality, and participation in sports are all interconnected and harmed by oppressive gender norms that are reinforced by society. The sweeping effect has been to stifle and stymy the potential growth and embrace of women's sports.