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Title: An Examination of Recurring Misogynistic & Intersecting Sexist/Racist Female Character Tropes in Popular Science Fiction & Superhero Films & Television Since 1996.
Creator: Ronson, Jeannette H., Caputi, Jane, Florida Atlantic University, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: The representation of lead female characters as sexually threatening or naturally deceptive, hysterical, or evil, especially non-White or non-gender conforming characters, in popular science fiction and superhero film and television productions over the past few decades is concerning in that these films promote misogynistic and intersecting racist and hetero/sexist tropes in genres that typically appeal to younger audiences. Within their historical roots as cheap print entertainment, i.e.,...
Show moreThe representation of lead female characters as sexually threatening or naturally deceptive, hysterical, or evil, especially non-White or non-gender conforming characters, in popular science fiction and superhero film and television productions over the past few decades is concerning in that these films promote misogynistic and intersecting racist and hetero/sexist tropes in genres that typically appeal to younger audiences. Within their historical roots as cheap print entertainment, i.e., pulp magazines and comic books, directed at White working-class boys and young men, these genres have historically, and unabashedly, featured scantily clad, sometimes racially stereotyped, sexually titillating temptresses such as the Dragon Lady and Catwoman that threatened the hyper-masculine hero as well as humanity. Ignored by literary and cinematic critics throughout the twentieth century as juvenile male fantasy entertainment, the science fiction and superhero genres in film and television now dominate Hollywood productions. Unfortunately, these genres in the twenty-first century still often promote damaging female tropes that suggest women as naturally defective, deceptive, power-hungry, irrational, raging monsters reminiscent of historical patriarchal myths of women. Additionally, a recent popular Netflix television series includes a character assigned female at birth (AFAB) who presents as gender non-conforming and carries attributes such as irrational rage and murderous violence that follows the historic cinematic trope of the “gleeful gay killer” as seen in Psycho (1960) and Dressed to Kill (1980). Although these themes in film and television are fantasy, they also mirror and bring to life the political and cultural anxieties of a significant number of men in our country who support the ideology of the manosphere that includes anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ+, White supremacist, and racist beliefs. This dissertation examines three popular Hollywood films and one Emmy Award winning Netflix television series from the science-fiction and superhero genres since 1996 that reveal damaging female tropes that still prevail in popular entertainment.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014313
Subject Headings: Women in motion pictures, Tropes, Misogyny, Superhero films
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Are Women Moving? Food Insecurity, Obesity, and Women’s Food-Access Strategies in Broward County Florida’s Food Deserts.
Creator: Lozano-Baugh, Arely B., Cameron, Mary, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: Food insecurity or low-access to good quality, affordable foods affects minority women and children disproportionately (Herndon, 2014; Ivers & Cullen, 2011; Lee, 2012; Wigg Dammann & Smith, 2009). Linked to the rise in nutritionrelated and other health problems afflicting these populations (e.g., malnutrition, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure among others) (Azarbad & Gonder- Frederick, 2010; Bove & Olson, 2006; Larson, Story, & Nelson, 2009), this issue has been gaining some...
Show moreFood insecurity or low-access to good quality, affordable foods affects minority women and children disproportionately (Herndon, 2014; Ivers & Cullen, 2011; Lee, 2012; Wigg Dammann & Smith, 2009). Linked to the rise in nutritionrelated and other health problems afflicting these populations (e.g., malnutrition, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure among others) (Azarbad & Gonder- Frederick, 2010; Bove & Olson, 2006; Larson, Story, & Nelson, 2009), this issue has been gaining some attention. Still, programs combating weight and “weightrelated disorders” generally focus on individualistic solutions (Orbach, Bodies 2009)—such as increasing daily exercise and vilifying certain diets. Dismissing important spatial and systematic aspects, these approaches rather perpetuate problematic socio-political, economic, medical, and ideological biases informing our understanding of poverty, health and food. This project offers and alternative perspective. Most importantly, it 1) scrutinizes sexist, classist and racist constructs across the literature on overweight, obesity, poverty, and health; 2) examines the relationship between our food system, the growth in nutrition-related diseases, and the intersections of gender, race, and class within food insecure communities; and 3) analyzes interview data looking for important and resonating themes that could guide the development of more efficient local food access strategies. As this study shows, these women’s experiences, knowledge, and strategies have the potential of, not only helping eradicate food insecurity across South Florida, but also combating a great number of the nutrition-related health problems afflicting these populations.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004724, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004724
Subject Headings: Body image, Discrimination against overweight persons, Eating disorders -- Etiology -- Social aspects, Food security, Food supply, Nutrition disorders, Obesity in women, Overweight women
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Care at Work: A Feminist Analysis of the Long-Term Care Industry in the United States.
Creator: Tunick, Rachel, Beoku-Betts, Josephine, Lange, Bernadette, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: This research provides a feminist perspective on the lowest paid sector of the United States long-term care industry, Certified Nursing Assistants. This research adds to current feminist scholarship on the modern professional caregiving industry by focusing on the perspective of the workers. As the population of older adults requiring care is expected to increase over the coming decades, the demand for paid caregivers will increase as well. Historically, care work was an expected duty done...
Show moreThis research provides a feminist perspective on the lowest paid sector of the United States long-term care industry, Certified Nursing Assistants. This research adds to current feminist scholarship on the modern professional caregiving industry by focusing on the perspective of the workers. As the population of older adults requiring care is expected to increase over the coming decades, the demand for paid caregivers will increase as well. Historically, care work was an expected duty done freely by the women of the family, but today much of the vital intimate caring labor is relegated to paid caregivers. I examine how alternative social, political and economic frameworks can transform United States society’s attitude towards the increasingly relevant issue of caring labor. I argue that incorporating a feminist perspective will be helpful in developing a sustainable model for caring labor that acknowledges the dignity of both patients and their caregivers.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004801, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004801
Subject Headings: Nurses' aides., Medical personnel-caregiver relationships., Nursing homes--Employees--Attitudes., Feminist theory., Caring--Moral and ethical aspects., Feminism--Political aspects., Long-term care facilities--Administration., Nursing home patients--Care., Older people--Nursing home care.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Controlling the body: The nature of the cultural spectacle.
Creator: Bailey, Brooke A., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: Feminist theorists have criticized Rene Descartes' conception of oppositional dualism, finding that it falsely separates mind from body and invidiously values mind over body. This ideology generally associates marginalized groups with the body and devalues physicality as seen in the human body and the natural world. Many institutions such as the zoo, the strip club and the historic display of Non-Westerners reflect Cartesian patterns of human isolation from the physical body, from the natural...
Show moreFeminist theorists have criticized Rene Descartes' conception of oppositional dualism, finding that it falsely separates mind from body and invidiously values mind over body. This ideology generally associates marginalized groups with the body and devalues physicality as seen in the human body and the natural world. Many institutions such as the zoo, the strip club and the historic display of Non-Westerners reflect Cartesian patterns of human isolation from the physical body, from the natural world and from one another. Each of these institutions produces a cultural spectacle in which a member of a marginalized group is marked as the denigrated body. Through objectifying displays, the spectacle reinforces the dominant ideologies, fantasies and fears of a culture. Although physicality has been used to reproduce patterns of domination, it may also be examined as a potential site of resistance.
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Date Issued: 2004
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13176
Subject Headings: American Studies, Philosophy, Women's Studies
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: DECODING DEXTER: AN ANALYSIS OF AMERICA’S FAVORITE SERIAL KILLER.
Creator: Burns-Davies, Erin, Caputi, Jane, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: In an intersectional feminist analysis of Dexter in both the novels by Jeff Lindsay as well as the Showtime television series, this dissertation will explore the challenging but compelling nature of the serial killer as a pop culture icon, and address themes of gender and sexuality as well as class, ethnicity and regions as they are portrayed in the series. Dexter Morgan, on the Showtime series and in the novels, both exposes popular culture’s problematic identification with the serial killer...
Show moreIn an intersectional feminist analysis of Dexter in both the novels by Jeff Lindsay as well as the Showtime television series, this dissertation will explore the challenging but compelling nature of the serial killer as a pop culture icon, and address themes of gender and sexuality as well as class, ethnicity and regions as they are portrayed in the series. Dexter Morgan, on the Showtime series and in the novels, both exposes popular culture’s problematic identification with the serial killer and solidifies it by being a socially palatable anti-hero.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013288
Subject Headings: Dexter, Crime in popular culture, Antiheroes, Serial murderers--Drama, Serial murderers--Fiction
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Doing it for themselves: sexual subjectivity in cinematic depictions of female autoeroticism.
Creator: Tomei, Megan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: Whereas male masturbation has generally been normalized by being the butt of friendly jokes and a popular subject in romantic comedies, the predominant discourse surrounding female masturbation, both in society and the movies, is silence and stigmatization. However, female masturbation is symbolically powerful because it signifies a female sexuality that is not dependent on male presence. This thesis seeks to explore depictions of female masturbation, specifically looking at how female...
Show moreWhereas male masturbation has generally been normalized by being the butt of friendly jokes and a popular subject in romantic comedies, the predominant discourse surrounding female masturbation, both in society and the movies, is silence and stigmatization. However, female masturbation is symbolically powerful because it signifies a female sexuality that is not dependent on male presence. This thesis seeks to explore depictions of female masturbation, specifically looking at how female characters who engage in autoeroticism are stigmatized, controlled or silenced. This thesis will also explore the minority of depictions that show the act as liberating in films like Pleasantville (1998) and Better than Chocolate (1999).
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359163
Subject Headings: Female masturbation, Women, Sexual behavior, Feminist theory, Women in motion pictures, Sex customs
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Fattitude The Movie: Theory and Praxis of Creating a Documentary that Examines Fat Representation and Fat Social Justice.
Creator: Averill, Lindsey, Caputi, Jane, Hagood, Taylor, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: This dissertation explores the making of and research for the film, Fattitude, a social justice based documentary that looks to awaken viewers to the reality of weight bias in media representation. This dissertation reviews the filmmaking process and then engages with the nature of stereotypes about fat bodies. Deeply tied to feminist and fat studies theory, the work here seeks to categorize and shape the understanding of weight bias in the media by linking fat tropes to clearly understood...
Show moreThis dissertation explores the making of and research for the film, Fattitude, a social justice based documentary that looks to awaken viewers to the reality of weight bias in media representation. This dissertation reviews the filmmaking process and then engages with the nature of stereotypes about fat bodies. Deeply tied to feminist and fat studies theory, the work here seeks to categorize and shape the understanding of weight bias in the media by linking fat tropes to clearly understood images of oppression, for example the monstrous, the fool, they hypersexual and the asexual. The work also seeks to present theory on the nature of creating media representations of fatness that are not oppressive – making note of current media created by grassroots movements for body acceptance and fat positivity.
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Date Issued: 2017
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004900, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004900
Subject Headings: Fattitude., Body image--Social aspects., Discrimination against overweight persons., Feminine beauty (Aesthetics), Obesity., Body image in women., Self-esteem in women., Physical-appearance-based bias.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Feminist Phenomenologies of Illness.
Creator: O’Connell, Emily, Morse, Nicole, Florida Atlantic University, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: The experiences of those with difficult to diagnose conditions, chronic illnesses, and disability lack intelligibility in an able-bodied world. Much of this originates in the disjuncture between first- and third- person experience as accounted for between patients and their doctors, caregivers, and the greater public. Utilizing the insights of feminist philosophy and disability studies, I will explore how these marginalized identities face consequences in the real world for their embodiment....
Show moreThe experiences of those with difficult to diagnose conditions, chronic illnesses, and disability lack intelligibility in an able-bodied world. Much of this originates in the disjuncture between first- and third- person experience as accounted for between patients and their doctors, caregivers, and the greater public. Utilizing the insights of feminist philosophy and disability studies, I will explore how these marginalized identities face consequences in the real world for their embodiment. I propose that the best methodology to examine the experiences of chronically ill, hard to diagnose, and disabled individuals’ experiences is through the phenomenological perspective. Through utilizing case studies, I will demonstrate the importance of first- to third- person encounters in medicine and receiving adequate treatment. By examining such experiences, as well as my own, through such a perspective, I argue we can work towards creating a more equitable world for the chronically ill, hard to diagnose, and disabled.
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Date Issued: 2020
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013614
Subject Headings: Feminist philosophy, Feminist theory, Disability studies
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Gender, disability, and literature in the Global South: Nepali writers Jhamak Ghimire and Bishnu Kumari Waiwa (Parijat).
Creator: Acharya, Tulasi., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: This thesis explores gender, disability and literature in the Global South through an examination of the writings of two physically disabled contemporary women writers from Nepal, BIshnu Kumari Waiwa and Jhamak Ghimire. I show how these renowned contemporary writers challenge stigmas of the disabled body by deconstructiong the "ideology of ability" through their poetry, fiction, and autobiographical narratives. Religious and cultural values disable women's autonomy in general, and create even...
Show moreThis thesis explores gender, disability and literature in the Global South through an examination of the writings of two physically disabled contemporary women writers from Nepal, BIshnu Kumari Waiwa and Jhamak Ghimire. I show how these renowned contemporary writers challenge stigmas of the disabled body by deconstructiong the "ideology of ability" through their poetry, fiction, and autobiographical narratives. Religious and cultural values disable women's autonomy in general, and create even greater disadvantages for women who are physically disabled. Challenging these cultural stigmas, Waiwa and Ghimire celebrate sexuality and disability as sources of creativity, agency, and identity in narratives that deconstruct cultural or social models of sexuality, motherhood, and beauty. In this thesis feminist disability and feminist theory guide an analysis of Waiwa and Ghimire's writing to advance our understanding of gender, culture, disability and literature in the Global South.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356903
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Prejudices in literature, Discrimination against people with disabilities, Stigma (Social psychology), Women in literature, Social conditions
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Identity, power, and ritual "rape play" in the S/M community.
Creator: Halena, Megan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: Rape play is a type of consensual, ritualistic domination and submission, developed and enacted in a sado-masochistic (S/M) sex culture, which involves the appearance of force. There are two feminist theories that can be employed in a feminist analysis of rape play: dominance/radical feminism and libertarian/"sex positive" feminism. Libertarian/"sex positive" feminism holds that S/M, including rape play, is potentially compatible with feminism because the power dynamic between a dominant/...
Show moreRape play is a type of consensual, ritualistic domination and submission, developed and enacted in a sado-masochistic (S/M) sex culture, which involves the appearance of force. There are two feminist theories that can be employed in a feminist analysis of rape play: dominance/radical feminism and libertarian/"sex positive" feminism. Libertarian/"sex positive" feminism holds that S/M, including rape play, is potentially compatible with feminism because the power dynamic between a dominant/"rapist" and submissive/"victim" does not draw on either practitioners' actual social identity and the power it possesses or lacks. Dominance/radical feminism argues that gender, which is socially constructed, can best be understood as a form of sexualized domination and submission, so social identity could not be dissociated from power in S/M. My reading of guidebooks and narratives about rape play suggests that the dominance/radical feminist position is more accurate in the case of rape play, though not necessarily all of S/M culture.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3183128
Subject Headings: Sadomasochism, Sexual dominance and submission, Sex role, Dominance (Psychology), Identity (Psychology), Feminist theory
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Imperialism and the 1999 Women's World Cup: representations of the United States and Nigerian national teams in the U.S.
Creator: Canning, Michele., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: This research examines the U.S. media during the 1999 Women's World Cup from a feminist postcolonial standpoint. This research adds to current feminist scholarship on women and sports by de-centering the global North in its discourse. It reveals the bias of the media through the representation of the United States National Team as a universal "woman" athlete and the standard for international women's soccer. It further argues that, as a result, the Nigerian National Team was cast in...
Show moreThis research examines the U.S. media during the 1999 Women's World Cup from a feminist postcolonial standpoint. This research adds to current feminist scholarship on women and sports by de-centering the global North in its discourse. It reveals the bias of the media through the representation of the United States National Team as a universal "woman" athlete and the standard for international women's soccer. It further argues that, as a result, the Nigerian National Team was cast in simplistic stereotypes of race, class, ethnicity, and nation, which were often also appropriated and commodified. I emphasize that the Nigerian National Team resisted this construction and fought to secure their position in the global soccer landscape. I conclude that these biased representations, which did not fairly depict or value the contributions of diverse competing teams, were primarily employed to promote and sell the event to a predominantly white middle-class American audience.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/192982
Subject Headings: Women soccer players, Soccer for women, Imperialism, Psychological aspects, Nationalism and sports, Mass media and sports
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Majors Enrolled By Level (Annual Headcount) Women's Studies, 2009-2010.
Creator: Florida Atlantic University, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University.
Date Issued: 2009-2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007665
Subject Headings: Florida Atlantic University -- History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Majors Enrolled By Level (Annual Headcount) Women's Studies, 2010-2011.
Creator: Florida Atlantic University, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University.
Date Issued: 2010-2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007666
Subject Headings: Florida Atlantic University -- History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Majors Enrolled By Level (Annual Headcount) Women's Studies, 2012-2013.
Creator: Florida Atlantic University, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University.
Date Issued: 2012-2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007667
Subject Headings: Florida Atlantic University -- History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Majors Enrolled By Level (Annual Headcount) Women's Studies, 2013-2014.
Creator: Florida Atlantic University, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University.
Date Issued: 2013-2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007668
Subject Headings: Florida Atlantic University -- History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Majors Enrolled By Level (Annual Headcount) Women's Studies, 2014-2015.
Creator: Florida Atlantic University, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University.
Date Issued: 2014-2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007669
Subject Headings: Florida Atlantic University -- History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Majors Enrolled By Level (Annual Headcount) Women's Studies, 2015-2016.
Creator: Florida Atlantic University, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University.
Date Issued: 2015-2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007670
Subject Headings: Florida Atlantic University -- History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Majors Enrolled By Level (Annual Headcount) Women's Studies, 2016-2017.
Creator: Florida Atlantic University, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University.
Date Issued: 2016-2017
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007671
Subject Headings: Florida Atlantic University -- History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: One yard shy of empowerment: cinematic portrayals of female athletes.
Creator: Lieberman, Vividiana., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: Sports are a primary zone of masculinity and sports films are a popular genre. One is hard pressed to find many leading female roles as athletes in male-dominated sports storylines. The cinematic portrayal of women athletes represents social attitudes and values and whether or not the women's movement has been able to influence representations and, concomitantly, social understandings of women and athleticism. My discussion of films featuring female athletes begins with National Velvet (1944)...
Show moreSports are a primary zone of masculinity and sports films are a popular genre. One is hard pressed to find many leading female roles as athletes in male-dominated sports storylines. The cinematic portrayal of women athletes represents social attitudes and values and whether or not the women's movement has been able to influence representations and, concomitantly, social understandings of women and athleticism. My discussion of films featuring female athletes begins with National Velvet (1944) and ends with Whip It (2008). By examining select sports films centered on all female teams, co-ed teams and individual female athletes, I show how their storylines and resolutions do or do not capitulate to patriarchal ideology. I find a general capitulation, with some concessions to women's equality. I conclude with a call for a degendering of sports and a redefinition of strength, competitiveness and aggression as human, not masculine.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342205
Subject Headings: Women athletes, Feminism and sports, Competition (Psychology), Minorities in motion pictures, Sex discrimination against women
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: PSYCHEDELIC FUTURES: A PSYCHEDELIC FEMINIST AUTOETHNOGRAPHY OF WESTERN PSYCHEDELIC THERAPY.
Creator: Barnett, Cassidy, Morse, Nicole, Florida Atlantic University, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: From a critical feminist perspective, this thesis analyzes the claims currently being made in mainstream Western research and media about the therapeutic potentials of psychedelics. By utilizing autoethnography, an autobiographical methodology that synthesizes personal experience with scholarship, I analyze my own experience with legal psychedelic therapy in the West to reveal the systemic sociocultural barriers that complicate the rhetoric touting psychedelic therapy’s potentials for healing...
Show moreFrom a critical feminist perspective, this thesis analyzes the claims currently being made in mainstream Western research and media about the therapeutic potentials of psychedelics. By utilizing autoethnography, an autobiographical methodology that synthesizes personal experience with scholarship, I analyze my own experience with legal psychedelic therapy in the West to reveal the systemic sociocultural barriers that complicate the rhetoric touting psychedelic therapy’s potentials for healing. After introducing the “psychedelic renaissance” and the psychedelic feminist rationale behind this thesis, I share a narrative of my ketamine IV therapy experience as recalled from memory, detailing my need for the therapy and aspects of the therapy experience that are of interest in Western psychedelic research. I then move into an analysis of my experience, utilizing my narrative as a literary text that serves as my object of analysis. I address the social structures that contributed to my need for the therapy; compare my therapy experience to Western psychedelic therapy research and feminist therapy models; and make suggestions for the possible psychedelic futures in Western culture. I conclude by emphasizing the importance of tending to the sociocultural causes of poor mental health in tandem with psychedelic decriminalization and legalization efforts, reminding the reader that although psychedelics do have healing potential, psychedelic medicalization is not the only route to healing in the West.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014285
Subject Headings: Psychedelic drugs, Ketamine--therapeutic use, Autoethnography
Format: Document (PDF)

FAU Theses and Dissertations (18)	+ -
FAU College Collections (7)	+ -

Florida Atlantic University -- History (7)	+ -
Feminist theory (4)	+ -
Criticism and interpretation (2)	+ -
Women in motion pictures (2)	+ -
American Studies (1)	+ -

Antiheroes (1)	+ -
Autoethnography (1)	+ -
Body image (1)	+ -
Body image in women. (1)	+ -
Body image--Social aspects. (1)	+ -
Caring--Moral and ethical aspects. (1)	+ -
Competition (Psychology) (1)	+ -
Crime in popular culture (1)	+ -
Dexter (1)	+ -
Disability studies (1)	+ -
Discrimination against overweight persons (1)	+ -
Discrimination against overweight persons. (1)	+ -
Discrimination against people with disabilities (1)	+ -
Dominance (Psychology) (1)	+ -
Eating disorders -- Etiology -- Social aspects (1)	+ -
Evangelicalism (1)	+ -
Fattitude. (1)	+ -
Female masturbation (1)	+ -
Feminine beauty (Aesthetics) (1)	+ -
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Feminism and sports (1)	+ -
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Feminist theory. (1)	+ -
Food security (1)	+ -

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Nigeria (1)	+ -

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