Browsing by Subject "Feminism"
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Item A critical analysis of contemporary Latinx feminisms on Twitter: an intersectional approach.(2023-01-01) Morte, Maria; Mu–oz, Thania; Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communication; Intercultural CommunicationLatinx women face a particular intersectionality of oppression based on gender, ethnicity, and sexual identity. The current capitalist system considers women an oppressed group, and Latinxs experience racial and ethnic discrimination daily. In addition, Latinx culture is male-dominated. Meanwhile, the 21st century has seen a resurgence of the feminist movement, characterized by the adoption of an intersectional framework and the reliance on social networks. To explore how contemporary Latinx feminists address this intersectionality of oppression, this study conducts a Social-Media Critical Discourse Analyst of Latinx feminisms on Twitter, applying a Latinx feminist perspective. It is concluded Latinx feminisms have harnessed the intersectional and digital propellants of the contemporary movement without absorbing neoliberal values and commodifying tendencies. Likewise, their discourses focus on challenging their invisibility by prioritizing the counter-hegemonic narrative of critiquing established power and the strategy of empowering representational power.Item Bodies and Binaries in "Black Swan"(2016) Jones, Hannah; Walker, Elsie; EnglishThe horror film, like other genres, has its characteristic conventions—a strong female protagonist, a sort of “monster,” gory spectacles, emphasis on sound, and the prominence of sex or sexuality, to name a few. However, genres are also constantly evolving and taking on new subject matter, and this is evident in the 2010 film Black Swan. Black Swan tells the story of Nina, a professional ballerina who has just landed the role of the Swan Queen in her dance company’s version of Swan Lake. Nina perfectly embodies the purity of the White Swan, but she struggles to portray the seductive nature of the Black Swan. The film unfolds Nina’s transformation from the white swan to the black swan while also highlighting the extreme binaries symbolized by the role: vulnerability versus strength and virgin versus whore. Black Swan manipulates, and at times refutes, the conventions of the horror genre in order to critique these binaries within a social context. Thus, through its focus on the vulnerable-strong binary of the female body as well as the virgin-whore binary of female sexuality, Black Swan establishes itself as a feminist horror. In the following analysis, I will concentrate mostly on Nina’s final two dances to show how the film encourages a feminist reading.Item THE FEMALE FACTOR: THE IMPACT OF GERMAN WOMEN ON AMERICAN POLICY DURING THE OCCUPATION OF GERMANY, 1945-1949(2020-04-20) Ford, Tiffiny; Campion, Corey; Hood College Arts and Humanities; Hood College HumanitiesThe Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) administered the area of Germany and the sector of Berlin controlled by the U.S. from 1945-1949. The military government, under the direction of General Lucius Clay, was tasked with the “denazification” and “democratization” of the German people. Occupation troops were expected to carry out the American military policies without establishing relationships with those they were occupying. As a result, each soldier was given a copy of A Pocket Guide to Germany, which stressed the policy of non-fraternization with the German people. However, the non-fraternization policy, along with other economic and cultural policies, proved difficult for the soldiers to follow. Instead of the highly masculinized and militarized German society American occupation troops expected to encounter, they were instead met with a physically and emotionally destroyed German population comprised of mainly of women and children. Thus, American military propaganda did not accurately depict nor prepare the soldiers for the realities of post war Germany. Therefore, my thesis will focus on the impact of German women on American Policy during the Allied Occupation of Germany from 1945-1949. I will address the changes to cultural, political, and economic policies implemented by OMGUS that were indicative of an overwhelmingly female population in Germany. I will analyze the change in American policies from punitive to rehabilitative, as German women were initially viewed by Americans as the “enemy” but were eventually viewed as viable consumers who represented the future of democracy and the acceptance of American values in West Germany.Item Feminist Art: Steps Towards an Egalitarian Society(2018) Krupinski, Elyse; ArtArt is a powerful form of media because of the way visual stimulus can create a visceral reaction. Art is used to inspire activism; protest art can be seen in multiple political and social movements. A movement in particular which showcases a great number of artists using visual media to promote social change and equality is the feminist movement of the 1970s. Feminist art from the 1970s is particularly notable and inspiring because the Women's Liberation Movement emerged during this time, which was the one of the first times in the Western world that enough women spoke out about equality for it to broach the male dominated sphere and the media; their concerns could no longer be dismissed outright. Artists such as Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro utilized a creative process to make pieces that commented on and invented conversation about social issues and change. Some artists became activists and advocates for greater representation of women. Women activists and feminist artists alike demanded that they too be represented in national museums as capable artists, and they created their own exhibition spaces and galleries to show the world their art was just as aesthetically pleasing and emotionally moving.Item From Feminized to Feminist: Using Social Justice Solutions to Promote Librarianship(2019) Hobbs, Olivia; EnglishLibrarianship has existed in America throughout most of its history. Near the end of the nineteenth century, women began to enter the field and quickly shifted the profession to be female-dominated. Due to the prevalent sexism of America during this time, the profession was undervalued and classified as feminized. Many attempts have been made to earn librarianship the respect it deserves, but none have addressed the underlying issues of sexism. For librarianship to become recognized as a true profession, librarians must work to raise awareness about these issues and use their work within libraries to combat them. By doing so, the profession would become a feminist one. As a feminist profession librarianship would work to change the society it exists in from the inside. To become a feminist profession would not require librarians to change the work they are already doing or to take on new tasks, they simply need to be more vocal about the social justice aspects of their daily work. This paper will explore the history of librarianship, how it became feminized, and explore various social justice solutions that librarians can use.Item Gender And Jane Crow: Black Feminist Theory In The Lives Of Lillie Carroll Jackson And Lillian Lottier(2015) Bryant, Shanell; Ham, Debra Newman; History and Geography; Master of ArtsLillie Carroll Jackson and Lillian Lottier were social and political activist in Baltimore, Maryland whose contributions have been ignored in the narrative of the movement for equality. Lillie Jackson was the long standing president of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP and Lillian Lottier was a tireless community activist. They are both reflective of grassroots organizing such as fundraising and voter registration drives as well as central figures in Baltimore's political arena. The inclusion of their lives to the historical record expands the understanding of the African American freedom struggle in the United States as a protracted process. It also adds support to the idea that women were key figures in the struggle for social change and justice. Furthermore, since women's contributions cannot be accurately analyzed without discourse on gender relations, this research offers a gendered analysis in relation to civil rights activities. Utilizing a Black feminist framework this paper also reflects the complexity of their position as middle class African American women.Item Images from a historical interstice – Herbert Marcuse and the cyborg`s new sensibility(2015) Pisani, MariliaIn this paper I will develop some implications about the concept of obscenity from Marcuse, to thinking over some political paradoxes that permeate our contemporary lives. To this, I assume a question: what has been considered obscene in these, the first two decades of the twenty-first century?Item Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl, Passing, And The Street: Women Diverging From The Norm(2011) Chenier, Felicia Antoinette; Carter, Linda M.; English and Languages; Master of ArtsThe purpose of this study is to examine the representation of African-American women across three literary periods by exploring three seminal texts written by African-American women: Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), Nella Larsen's Passing (1929), and Ann Petry's The Street (1946). In studying the depiction of women in these texts, the writer employs feminist theories, particularly those of Simone de Beauvoir and [B]ell [H]ooks. The three texts embody feminist ideals in their focus on the struggle of women in a male-dominated society. An examination of the images of African-American women across literary periods reveals the woman's quest for physical freedom, social identity, and economic advancement. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an insightful, candid depiction of Jacobs' experience that facilitates reader's understanding of the female slave's psychological reconfiguration as she tries to exist in a hostile world. Allowing for multiple interpretations, Larsen's Passing offers two distinct images of black womanhood in early twentieth century America: women confined by social standards and women defying social standards. The novel reveals that image controls social status, which conversely imprisons women by fettering them to socially acceptable roles and behaviors. Passing posits that when women find a means to avoid (or shatter) established gender and cultural roles, the outcome is oftentimes disastrous. The text also exemplifies women attempting to solidify a place within American society while managing complex choices pertaining to social acceptability and public image. The Street is a commentary on the existence and struggles of African-American women in a patriarchal society that teaches women that their value is based on their ability to negotiate sexual desirability as a means to determine the level of success they are able to reach. In all three texts women have to step away from their moral compass to survive, yet the outcome is not always favorableItem Ink, Mirrors, and Capes: How Comic Books Mirrored Societal Events in American Culture from 1954 to 1990(2017-01-01) Mueller, Chelsea René; Oyen, Meredith; History; Historical Studies"Ink, Mirrors, and Capes: How Comic Books Mirrored Societal Events in American Culture from 1954 to 1990" follows the history of feminism within American comic books. Comic books have been reliant on social events and norms to remain relevant to readers; however, writers, artists, and editors have influenced young readers' perceptions of gender. The comics examined in this theses includes those produced and released by well-known comic book companies Marvel Comics and DC Comics as well as independent and small comic book companies. Feminism influenced the comic book industry by shaping plots and characters, as well as influencing female geek culture. Comic book writers and artists in turn also influenced American culture.Item The marginalization of lesbian-feminism at Towson State College during the 1970s(2020-12) Arroyo, Emma; Koot, Christian J.; Towson Seminar[From paper]: As a college traditionally dominated by women in the heart of metropolitan Baltimore, Towson’s college campus (then called TSC, or Towson State College) was not only a living site for the women's liberation movement; it also bore witness to the gay liberation movement’s revitalization, which took place after the Stonewall Riots reinvigorated the cause across the U.S. Naturally, these two movements were bound to interact. At Towson in the 1970s, lesbians were marginalized such to the extent that they were virtually absent from the mainstream women’s liberation movement on-campus. They were pushed to the periphery of the movement due to “lavender menace” anxiety that was circulating in liberal feminist circles at the time, and their isolation out of these spaces was only further exacerbated by the uphill battle being fought by all gay students for their visibility and rightful spot in TSC’s community.Item “Spheres of Influence: The Intersections of Feminism and Transnationalism in Betty Millard’s Woman Against Myth.”(State University of New York Press, 2012) Keohane, JenniferItem Teething: Poems and Essays(2023-05-05) Brazfield, Carolena; Kunz, Edgar; Professional and Creative Writing Department at Goucher College; Bachelor's DegreeTeething, a collection of poems an essays, examines and explores the space between girlhood and womanhood, and the intrinsic violence that exists in that space.