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Title: Rape and Reverence: Culling the Lessons from 20th Century Ethics.
Creator: Piconi, Gabriella, Miller, Timothy, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: This thesis aims to contribute to contemporary feminist theory through the integration of several interdisciplinary texts from the last century, all of which challenge an existing, male-oriented norm of woman as ‘lesser’ in a particular field of study. The historical position of woman as ‘other’ in a negative light is a postulate that contemporary feminist studies may take too much for granted. The supposed lack of prominence of women in scripture, such as what Phyllis Trible gestures to, for...
Show moreThis thesis aims to contribute to contemporary feminist theory through the integration of several interdisciplinary texts from the last century, all of which challenge an existing, male-oriented norm of woman as ‘lesser’ in a particular field of study. The historical position of woman as ‘other’ in a negative light is a postulate that contemporary feminist studies may take too much for granted. The supposed lack of prominence of women in scripture, such as what Phyllis Trible gestures to, for example, is not erasure at all, but women present as archetypes, a mode of representation later dispersed in literature and film. The textual ‘absence’ of the feminine which has been previously understood as erasure may in fact be a clandestine interpretative tool which must be sought for, or, within a textual framework, explicated. Instead of accepting woman as a minimized ‘other’ to be merely a given in biblical and other texts, her peripheral role must be teased out in order to be fully appreciated. The critical most important to this claim include Carol Gilligan’s In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development and film theorist Molly Haskell’s From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies, the latter of which lends this thesis its title. Lastly, I will be using erasure as an interpretative method as applied to a series of case studies: to analyze the female figures in Hamlet using Carol Gilligan’s psychological development framework; to consider Haskell’s rigorous critique of American cinema alongside Woman in the Dunes, a 1964 film based on a fabulist novel, which uses erasure as its modus operandi; and to apply Phyllis Trible’s hermeneutic interpretive method to Lot’s wife. The interdisciplinary design of this thesis allows for the inclusion of scholars from a variety of inherently ethical disciplines to showcase how societal perceptions of women have informed women’s ethical decision-making and identity.
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Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014081
Subject Headings: Feminist theory, Feminism, Feminist ethics
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: Postscripts to Paradise: Wonder Woman and the complexities of feminist iconography.
Creator: Schindler, Kathleen., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: Since her creation in 1941, cultural critics have cited Wonder Woman as an emblem of femininity. In 1972, the American mainstream feminist movement--through Ms. magazine--officially accepted the character as a representation of feminism. When writers at Ms. criticized changes in the character, in which she abandoned her costume and superpowers, they neglected to consider Wonder Woman's history as American World War II propaganda. In doing so, they allowed the re-vamped 1973 version of the...
Show moreSince her creation in 1941, cultural critics have cited Wonder Woman as an emblem of femininity. In 1972, the American mainstream feminist movement--through Ms. magazine--officially accepted the character as a representation of feminism. When writers at Ms. criticized changes in the character, in which she abandoned her costume and superpowers, they neglected to consider Wonder Woman's history as American World War II propaganda. In doing so, they allowed the re-vamped 1973 version of the character, and her subsequent incarnations, to ignore the duality of her existence as both a feminist icon and a reinforcement of dominant American ideologies.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77688
Subject Headings: Feminist theory, Wonder Woman (Fictitious character), Femininity (Philosophy)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Postcolonial feminist body studies: the case of female genital practices.
Creator: Kennedy, Amanda, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: In this thesis, I argue that all bodies are material-semiotic entities, produced by both natural and cultural processes. Western anti-FGM discourse is predicated upon the belief that the body must be kept in its "natural" or "pristine" state, and that any practice which violates the body's natural "perfection" is mutilation. Implied by this discourse is the false notion that Western bodies are given and left unaltered. By drawing comparisons between Western genital practices and non-Western...
Show moreIn this thesis, I argue that all bodies are material-semiotic entities, produced by both natural and cultural processes. Western anti-FGM discourse is predicated upon the belief that the body must be kept in its "natural" or "pristine" state, and that any practice which violates the body's natural "perfection" is mutilation. Implied by this discourse is the false notion that Western bodies are given and left unaltered. By drawing comparisons between Western genital practices and non-Western genital practices, I undermine the ideology that erases the working of culture on Western bodies while highlighting the "mutilating" powers exercised on the bodies of Others. Current imperialist hegemony perpetuates the view of African women as passive victims of barbaric tradition in need of rescuing by Western liberated women. We must, instead, work toward theories that account for differences in experience and history, rather than those which posit universal understandings of patriarchy and domination.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11616
Subject Headings: Feminist theory, Postmodernism, Female circumcision, Feminism and science
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A cross cultural perspective on the issue of gender and contamination in urban legends.
Creator: Herndon, Kirstin Renee., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: In his article, "The Kentucky Fried Rat : Legends and Modem Society", Gary Alan Fine suggests that American society is a folk community in which urban legends play the role of negotiating changes in social structure and other aspects of daily life (Fine 2005). Fine's argument, however, is limiting in that it only considers urban legends within the United States and fails to encompass those from abroad. As such, this thesis expands Fine's original argument to a global scale by examining urban...
Show moreIn his article, "The Kentucky Fried Rat : Legends and Modem Society", Gary Alan Fine suggests that American society is a folk community in which urban legends play the role of negotiating changes in social structure and other aspects of daily life (Fine 2005). Fine's argument, however, is limiting in that it only considers urban legends within the United States and fails to encompass those from abroad. As such, this thesis expands Fine's original argument to a global scale by examining urban legends, crossculturally, that involve instances of women being brutalized and objects or people being contaminated. Ultimately, the thematic elements and grotesque imagery that are used in these two categories of legends are a symbolic expression of tensions surrounding the movement of women out of the home and the increased global spread of urbanism.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3335105
Subject Headings: Urban folklore, Sex role in literature, Feminist theory, Legends
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Veg-gendered: a cultural study of gendered onscreen representations of food and their implications for veganism.
Creator: Aguilera, Paulina, Scodari, Christine, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: This thesis is an exploration of popular media texts that influence veganism, with either explicit representations or implicit messages that implicate vegans. Research focuses on the question: How does the gendering of food in popular media texts implicate veganism? Theories used include a combination of cultural, film, and feminist studies, including Stuart Hall’s audience reception, Laura Mulvey's male gaze, R.W. Connell’s hegemonic masculinity, Carol Adams' feminist-vegetarian critical...
Show moreThis thesis is an exploration of popular media texts that influence veganism, with either explicit representations or implicit messages that implicate vegans. Research focuses on the question: How does the gendering of food in popular media texts implicate veganism? Theories used include a combination of cultural, film, and feminist studies, including Stuart Hall’s audience reception, Laura Mulvey's male gaze, R.W. Connell’s hegemonic masculinity, Carol Adams' feminist-vegetarian critical theory, and Rebecca Swenson's critical television studies. A print and television advertisement analysis demonstrates the gendering of food, and subject-object relationship of meat, women, and men. A film analysis of texts with vegan characters and horror film texts with implicit vegan and feminist messaging follows, thus revealing interesting trends and developments in the characterization of vegans on films, and hidden messages in the horror films studied. Lastly, an examination of competitive and instructional cooking shows ends the analysis, with interesting challenges to hegemony present in these television texts. The thesis concludes with examples of modem media feminizing veganism through food associations, the problematic imagery of women and meat as fetishized objects, along with challenges to hegemony that exist in some explicitly vegan texts.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004177, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004177
Subject Headings: Feminist theory, Mass media and culture, Veganism, Vegetarianism
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Investigating child sexual abuse: a feminist's perspective.
Creator: Herman-Davis, Lisa., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: The issue of sexual exploitation of children occurs in various forms and across socio-economic, racial, and cultural classes. Children experience abuse at the hands of authority figures who are family members, friends, and sometimes strangers. The discussions on this social issue tell the stories of children who have experienced abuse along with the processes and outcomes that arise in providing assistance to help them cope with these unwanted experiences. Discourses in the fields of...
Show moreThe issue of sexual exploitation of children occurs in various forms and across socio-economic, racial, and cultural classes. Children experience abuse at the hands of authority figures who are family members, friends, and sometimes strangers. The discussions on this social issue tell the stories of children who have experienced abuse along with the processes and outcomes that arise in providing assistance to help them cope with these unwanted experiences. Discourses in the fields of psychology, social work, medical sciences, and law have in their own unique style, taken different measures to highlight and address this social problem. However,there is remarkably little discussion held on the institutional changes that are required to stop this practice of child sexual abuse and public discourse and response is not reflective of the urgency required to address the issue. I argue that to address the issue of child sexual abuse requires addressing all the elements entrenched in the institutions of patriarchy and compulsory heterosexuality that fosters and promotes the subjugation of women and children, which is a topic best addressed through feminist theory.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359297
Subject Headings: Child sexual abuse, Prevention, Sexually abused children, Feminist theory, Internet and children
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: 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: Through the North Door: The Invocation of Invitational Rhetoric in Wiccan Rituals.
Creator: Howald, Kayleigh, Mulvaney, Becky, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: Wiccan witchcraft, a contemporary religion, frequently suffers from misunderstandings; the worst of which, arguably, being that it thrives in a postfeminist society. Although it remains unclear why witches, despite their specific traditions, would not immediately embrace feminism, this study claims that whether practitioners agree or disagree, they are performing feminism. In this study, I argue that Wiccan rhetoric (both discursive and non-discursive) functions epistemically to encourage...
Show moreWiccan witchcraft, a contemporary religion, frequently suffers from misunderstandings; the worst of which, arguably, being that it thrives in a postfeminist society. Although it remains unclear why witches, despite their specific traditions, would not immediately embrace feminism, this study claims that whether practitioners agree or disagree, they are performing feminism. In this study, I argue that Wiccan rhetoric (both discursive and non-discursive) functions epistemically to encourage feminist values. The thesis analyzes three typical forms of Wiccan rhetoric using Sonja K. Foss and Cindy L. Griffin’s approach of invitational rhetoric and the values of equality, immanent value, and self-determination.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004698, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004698
Subject Headings: Feminism -- Religious aspects, Feminist theory, Goddess religion, Magic, Wicca, Witchcraft, Women and religion
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Interrogating social conceptualizations of childbirth and gender: an ecofeminist analysis.
Creator: Nall, Jeff., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This dissertation draws on feminist theory and ecofeminist philosophy to examine the connections between understandings of women and nature and the construction of pervasive conceptualizations and practices of childbirth. It also examines the relationship between conceptualizations of men and masculinity, culture and nature, and childbirth. In order to conduct such an examination, this study explores the dominant Western discourse around gender and childbirth. Specifically, the work aims to...
Show moreThis dissertation draws on feminist theory and ecofeminist philosophy to examine the connections between understandings of women and nature and the construction of pervasive conceptualizations and practices of childbirth. It also examines the relationship between conceptualizations of men and masculinity, culture and nature, and childbirth. In order to conduct such an examination, this study explores the dominant Western discourse around gender and childbirth. Specifically, the work aims to identify prominent characteristics and themes related to childbirth in both popular culture, such as Hollywood films (Knocked Up, The Backup Plan), documentaries (The Business of Being Born), birth guides, magazines, news articles, websites, and scholarly, medical and alternative healthcare discourse. This work seeks to consider how various conceptualizations of childbirth are used to legitimate, or, alternately, to undermine, patriarchal gender norms such as emphasized femininity and patriarchal (hegemonic) masculinity and, more generally, what ecofeminist philosopher Val Plumwood calls "master consciousness" (Val Plumwood 1993), a way of understanding the world that is reliant on an unjustifiably dualistic thinking and that is responsible for fostering social practices of domination. In particular, this work seeks to determine to what extent is our conceptualization of childbirth, and subsequent practice, based on potentially erroneous presumptions about the hierarchical division between the realms of culture and nature and masculinity and femininity? Perhaps most importantly, this dissertation sets out to consider the implications of alternative conceptualizations of childbirth emerging in the context of the natural birth movement. Specifically, I aim to determine whether or not these alternatives interpretations of childbirth counteract patriarchal gender categories and the culture/nature dualism.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3333055
Subject Headings: Childbirth, Cross-cultural studies, Childbirth, Social aspects, Feminist theory, Human body, Social aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Monique Wittig and the queer theory movement: Descendents and disputes.
Creator: Tang, Arthur F., Florida Atlantic University, Shaktini, Namascar
Abstract/Description: French feminist writer and theorist, Monique Wittig, theorizes from a nonessentialist, materialist lesbian position to posit categories of sex and gender as social constructions, thereby contesting what she terms the heterosexual regime. Because her social theory and literary praxis inform the thinking of leading figures associated with Queer theory, such as Judith Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Teresa de Lauretis, Wittig is often considered a precursor to the Queer theory movement. As...
Show moreFrench feminist writer and theorist, Monique Wittig, theorizes from a nonessentialist, materialist lesbian position to posit categories of sex and gender as social constructions, thereby contesting what she terms the heterosexual regime. Because her social theory and literary praxis inform the thinking of leading figures associated with Queer theory, such as Judith Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Teresa de Lauretis, Wittig is often considered a precursor to the Queer theory movement. As Queer studies gain purchase in academic curricula, it is timely to assess Wittig's historical contribution to the Queer theory movement and her future pertinence to it as a "Queer" theorist.
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Date Issued: 2005
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13219
Subject Headings: Lesbianism--Philosophy, Homosexuality--Philosophy, Lesbian feminist theory, Wittig, Monique,--1935-
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Enduring relationship with the dead: The corpse, the feminine and popular culture.
Creator: Kelly, Suzanne M., Florida Atlantic University, Caputi, Jane
Abstract/Description: Feminist theory has long criticized the hierarchical and oppositional thinking responsible for creating the basis of what counts as real knowledge. In questioning how and why the experience of enduring relationship with the dead is not imagined as real, this dissertation will draw from this theoretical tradition. This analysis involves a paradigm shift in thinking about the nature of relationship---one that posits these kinds of experiences as something other than either a psychological...
Show moreFeminist theory has long criticized the hierarchical and oppositional thinking responsible for creating the basis of what counts as real knowledge. In questioning how and why the experience of enduring relationship with the dead is not imagined as real, this dissertation will draw from this theoretical tradition. This analysis involves a paradigm shift in thinking about the nature of relationship---one that posits these kinds of experiences as something other than either a psychological remedy to our grief or the requisite belief in the survival of the self. Feminist critiques of dualistic thinking become the cornerstone of Chapter One in order to get to the roots of how knowledge of enduring relationship with the dead gets denied. This chapter addresses the splitting responsible for the othering of death, the desire to flee it, and, by association, the desire to flee the body. This flight is predicated on a bounded and distinct subject who imagines it must separate itself from the material in order to survive. Imagining the body in this manner sets limits for making visible a relationship that endures with death. Dualistic thinking, the degradation of the body and the desire to flee it will also be the focus of Chapter Two as it looks at the dominant contemporary practices around what is done with the corpse. These practices work together to deny a dead body that matters and one important for legitimizing enduring relationship with the dead. While enduring relationship is made invisible through these hegemonic discourses and practices, there are, as I mentioned at the start, experiences that say otherwise. Chapter Three will suggest that the knowledge that comes with these experiences is one sometimes accepted and explored in popular culture. Popular culture may provide the reminder, but recognizing enduring relationship also relies on the willingness to bring to the fore the role, the value and the contribution of the corpse. The conclusion will offer some examples of what I call practices of proximity that recognize the corpse as central for the living.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12216
Subject Headings: Loss (Psychology), Feminist theory, Women--Death--Social aspects, Perception (Philosophy), Philosophy of nature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: EXPANDING THE NARRATIVE: BLACK FEMALE DOCTORAL STUDENTS CREATING CULTURAL SAFE SPACES AS RESISTANCE.
Creator: Rodgers, Iris, Traci P. Baxley, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Curriculum, Culture, and Educational Inquiry, College of Education
Abstract/Description: This narrative research study focuses on the lived experiences of Black female doctoral students navigating predominantly White colleges and universities (PWIs) and their connections within cultural safe spaces. Through the lens of Black Feminist Theory and the application of a Black Feminist-Ecological Perspective, this study investigates how Black female doctoral students are defining cultural safe spaces and how these safe spaces support their academic and personal lives. Specifically,...
Show moreThis narrative research study focuses on the lived experiences of Black female doctoral students navigating predominantly White colleges and universities (PWIs) and their connections within cultural safe spaces. Through the lens of Black Feminist Theory and the application of a Black Feminist-Ecological Perspective, this study investigates how Black female doctoral students are defining cultural safe spaces and how these safe spaces support their academic and personal lives. Specifically, this study explored the narratives of nine Black female doctoral students and how they define and locate cultural safe spaces. This study expanded on the limited existing research on Black women in doctoral programs by delving into a more nuanced look into understanding the specific dynamics of Black female cultural safe spaces and the role they play in supporting Black women pursuing doctoral degrees at PWIs. Using the Rodgers 3-R Framework, three major themes unfold from this narrative, beginning with participants’ initial experiences in their doctoral programs (recognition phase), their journey towards finding a cultural safe space after recognizing that there was a deficit in their doctoral experience (reconciliation phase), and their recounts of how they interpreted their experience after becoming a part of a cultural safe space of their own (reflection phase). Implications for future research are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014195
Subject Headings: Women, Black, Women doctoral students, Feminist theory, Women's studies, Safe spaces
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Average (arithmetic mean) of women’s bodies.
Creator: Behar, Linda, Valdes, Juana, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Visual Arts and Art History
Abstract/Description: Between 1939 and 1940 the United States Government conducted a study of the measurements of women’s bodies to establish a standardized system of garment and pattern sizes. The central theme of my research is to analyze the female figure in the context of a technology-driven global contemporary society. My thesis exhibition includes a body of work that echoes the pressures that Western Society employs by standardizing women’s appearances. The focus of the work is to confront the viewer with a...
Show moreBetween 1939 and 1940 the United States Government conducted a study of the measurements of women’s bodies to establish a standardized system of garment and pattern sizes. The central theme of my research is to analyze the female figure in the context of a technology-driven global contemporary society. My thesis exhibition includes a body of work that echoes the pressures that Western Society employs by standardizing women’s appearances. The focus of the work is to confront the viewer with a visual examination, which illustrates the preconceived notion that Western Society portrays the female body as a commodity and exports those views to different cultures and societies. This calls to question: “who makes those standards endorsed by society and why women follow them?”. From the standardized measurements conducted by the United States Government, I generated a 2-D computer model of an outline of the generic female figure. Based on the 2-D representation, I constructed a series of ten 27”x36” inkjet prints and a 3-Dimensional prototype of the figurative form. The project consist on the manufacture of 14,698 molds base on the 3- Dimensional prototype -- 10% reduction of the size of the average female.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004079
Subject Headings: Advertising -- Psychological aspects, Body image in women, Feminine beauty (Aesthetics), Feminist theory, Human body -- Social aspects, Self esteem in women
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Cinematic Portrayals of Ancient Women: Cleopatra VII, Livia Augusta, Servilia Caepionis and the Three Waves of Feminism.
Creator: Schwab, Andrea, Buller, Jeffrey, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: This project examines the modern perception of ancient women, specifically through the creative (and often anachronistic) lens of film. All three women examined, Cleopatra VII, Livia Augusta, and Servilia Caepionis, all exemplify the modern influence on interpreting historical sources, resulting in all three becoming agents of feminism in their own times. Each woman did not culminate the probable influence they had in Roman society, but they are instead reflective of the patriarchal paradigms...
Show moreThis project examines the modern perception of ancient women, specifically through the creative (and often anachronistic) lens of film. All three women examined, Cleopatra VII, Livia Augusta, and Servilia Caepionis, all exemplify the modern influence on interpreting historical sources, resulting in all three becoming agents of feminism in their own times. Each woman did not culminate the probable influence they had in Roman society, but they are instead reflective of the patriarchal paradigms understood by 20th and 21st century audiences. The burgeoning feminist ideologies of the 20th century would influence the depictions of each character in an anachronistic fashion, distorting the actual control such figures had in history. While Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra capitalized on youth and sexuality as tools of powers, Siân Phillips’ Livia emphasized age and experience to advance in patriarchal Rome. Servilia, however, was an older matron who had both the experience and the sexuality to control those around her. Whileeach figure approached it in very distinct methods, their common goal of changing Roman politics was reflective of the continued (and relatively unchanged) perception of ancient Roman women: as intelligent, yet dangerous, figures that served to derail patriarchal Roman politics.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004780, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004780
Subject Headings: Feminist theory., Feminism and motion pictures., Third-wave feminism., Women--Rome--Historiography., Mistresses--Rome--Historiography.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Finding a Room of One’s Own: Veronica Franco and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Creator: De Tollis, Marianna, Gamboa Tusquets, Yolanda, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: During the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, both in the Old and the New World, the patriarchal social structure had created a set of fixed gender rules based on gender roles to control female sexuality, female voices, and their social freedom because it was considered a threat to male superiority. The Venetian Veronica Franco and the Mexican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz are two extraordinary women from different places and a hundred years apart who, with their elaborated writing and body...
Show moreDuring the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, both in the Old and the New World, the patriarchal social structure had created a set of fixed gender rules based on gender roles to control female sexuality, female voices, and their social freedom because it was considered a threat to male superiority. The Venetian Veronica Franco and the Mexican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz are two extraordinary women from different places and a hundred years apart who, with their elaborated writing and body-related techniques, escape the gender patriarchal constrains and give voice to their new authorial persona in a female liminal environment. Veronica Franco and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz represent the two facets of the same coin that symbolizes the phallocentric patriarchal structure in which these two women happened to live, struggle, and write. These women were pushed to the margins of society, confined in convents, brothels/patrician houses, or the streets, to silence their personae and reinforce their inferiority and, at times, inexistence. There are no works that focus on the comparison between the well-known Mexican nun and the forgotten Venetian courtesan. Therefore, this dissertation aims to analyze the writings of Veronica Franco and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz through the lens of feminist theory (Cixous, Irigaray etc.) and the concept of the body as an instrument of subversion and female liberation. In their respective time and marginal places of confinement (the patrician house and the convent), both women were able to create a liminal space that allowed them to go beyond the rigidity of gender binaries and explore different venues of freedom. In this liminal space both Veronica Franco and Sor Juana stopped “performing” the fixed gender roles imposed by the patriarchal social order and created new female creatures at the margins of patriarchal society; a new type of woman who could, through her body and writing, destabilize the patriarchal gender identities and go from a passive silence object to an active writing subject.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013198
Subject Headings: Franco, Veronica, 1546-1591--Criticism and interpretation, Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz, 1651-1695, Feminist theory, Sex role, Persona
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Towards a feminist funny: exploring myth, power and postfeminism in the work of Chelsea Handler.
Creator: Walleser, Lauren., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: Chelsea Handler is a comedian and host of the TV show Chelsea Lately. She has been successful in the late night comedy talk show genre to a degree that no woman has before. While she represents the most significant advancement for women in the genre, she also plays to patriarchal themes in order to maintain her foothold. In my thesis, I locate Handler within the history of women's stand-up comedy, analyzing her appeal via the figure of "The Unruly Woman" and other image types. I apply a...
Show moreChelsea Handler is a comedian and host of the TV show Chelsea Lately. She has been successful in the late night comedy talk show genre to a degree that no woman has before. While she represents the most significant advancement for women in the genre, she also plays to patriarchal themes in order to maintain her foothold. In my thesis, I locate Handler within the history of women's stand-up comedy, analyzing her appeal via the figure of "The Unruly Woman" and other image types. I apply a mythic analysis as I look for Handler's manifestation of mythic types, including archetypal Goddess representations. I analyze her treatment of violence against women, exploring how Handler approaches these themes in ways that allow her into the "old boys club." I use textual and audience analysis to assess Handler's ability to be a transformative and empowering figure for women in comedy and beyond.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3322513
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Women in popular culture, Feminist theory, Performance art, Social aspects, Mass media and women
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: " Is it my fault my fangs come out when I'm turned on?": a feminist analysis of Pam and Jessica's vampire sexuality in the HBO television series True Blood.
Creator: Anderson, Ashley., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: This thesis analyzes Pamela Swynford De Beaufort and Jessica Hamby from the provocative HBO series, True Blood, in order to determine what hegemonic ideologies are reinforced through their sexual representation in the series. Through analysis based on concepts of the "vagina dentata" and "monstrous feminine," and in determining whether they fall victim to the Madonna/wore dichotomy, the question of Pam and Jessica's autonomous existence falls under scrutiny - particularly in regards to their...
Show moreThis thesis analyzes Pamela Swynford De Beaufort and Jessica Hamby from the provocative HBO series, True Blood, in order to determine what hegemonic ideologies are reinforced through their sexual representation in the series. Through analysis based on concepts of the "vagina dentata" and "monstrous feminine," and in determining whether they fall victim to the Madonna/wore dichotomy, the question of Pam and Jessica's autonomous existence falls under scrutiny - particularly in regards to their sexuality. Feminist scholarship is vital to this research in order to examine the often fetishized and marginalized sexuality of women who dare to exhibit transgressive behaviors. This thesis concentrates on Seasons One through Four of the series, and also utilizes meta-text from the official website related to each character in order to help answer the posed research questions.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356897
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Women in popular culture, Vampires on television, Lesbianism on television, Feminist theory, Philosophy in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Re-thinking green: ecofeminist pedagogy and the archetype of the witch in young adult literature.
Creator: Barton, Jessica Gray, Hinshaw, Wendy, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This project examines the presence and significance of ecofeminism and pedagogy within contemporary Young Adult literatures, particularly girls’ ecofantasy literatures. Specifically, I examine the role and representations of the female body in nature and any real or perceived connections between them. To accomplish this, I bring the theories of several feminist, ecofeminist, and environmental studies scholars together with my primary texts, Green Angel and Green Witch by Alice Hoffman, to...
Show moreThis project examines the presence and significance of ecofeminism and pedagogy within contemporary Young Adult literatures, particularly girls’ ecofantasy literatures. Specifically, I examine the role and representations of the female body in nature and any real or perceived connections between them. To accomplish this, I bring the theories of several feminist, ecofeminist, and environmental studies scholars together with my primary texts, Green Angel and Green Witch by Alice Hoffman, to examine the depiction of the female body in nature through interconnectedness and reciprocity between human and non-human nature, green transformations, and the archetype of the witch.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA0004004
Subject Headings: Ecofeminism in literature, Feminist theory, Nature in literature, Hoffman, Alice -- Green witch -- Criticism and interpretation, Hoffman, Alice -- Green angel -- Criticism and interpretation, Human body -- Social aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

FAU Theses and Dissertations (25)	+ -
Honors Student Theses (5)	+ -

Feminist theory (26)	+ -
Criticism and interpretation (4)	+ -
Mass media and culture (4)	+ -
Social aspects (4)	+ -
Reality television programs (3)	+ -

Sex role (3)	+ -
Women in popular culture (3)	+ -
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Human body -- Social aspects (2)	+ -
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Snapped (Television program). (1)	+ -
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Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (25)	+ -
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