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Interrogating social conceptualizations of childbirth and gender
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)
Digit ratio (2D:4D) predicts communion in exploratory structural equation modeling of self-narratives
Title
Digit ratio (2D:4D) predicts communion in exploratory structural equation modeling of self-narratives.
Creator
Wong, Alexander E., Vallacher, Robin R., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description
Agency and communion are fundamental dimensions underlying psychological processes. Although agency and communion are coherent dimensions, their origins, nature, stability differ across theoretical framework. Common to these frameworks are gender differences in agency and communion. The present study hypothesized that because agency and communion relate to gender, they may also relate to digit ratio. The present study is important because digit ratio may offer clues on the origins and nature...
Show moreAgency and communion are fundamental dimensions underlying psychological processes. Although agency and communion are coherent dimensions, their origins, nature, stability differ across theoretical framework. Common to these frameworks are gender differences in agency and communion. The present study hypothesized that because agency and communion relate to gender, they may also relate to digit ratio. The present study is important because digit ratio may offer clues on the origins and nature of agency and communion, and their gender differences. Agency and Communion factors were extracted from implicit linguistic measures obtained by LIWC analysis of selfnarratives. Exploratory structural equation modeling indicated communion related to digit ratio in men, and gender differences in communion. Although the results supported the distal, biological influences of communion argued by evolutionary accounts, the null finding agency was not related to digit ratio, while not directly interpretable, did not contradict socialization accounts of agency.
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Date Issued
2014
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004237
Subject Headings
Embryology, Human, Fingers -- Sex differences, Human body -- Social aspects, Psychophysiology, Self actualization (Psychology), Sex differentiation
Format
Document (PDF)
Average (arithmetic mean) of women’s bodies
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)
Creating mindfulness with sensual functional handmade ceramics
Title
Creating mindfulness with sensual functional handmade ceramics.
Creator
Schwartz, Alexandria., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Visual Arts and Art History
Abstract/Description
I create opportunities for nourishment that are physical, emotional and spiritual with my functional porcelain vessels. They reference the human body's sensual curves, dimples, and bulges, establishing the experience of eating as a metaphor for the sensual experience of human interaction. The tactility is heightened by the variety of glazes dancing around the vessels, from satiny smooth and skin-like, to wet and dripping. Handmade vessels connect the users not only more deeply to the food...
Show moreI create opportunities for nourishment that are physical, emotional and spiritual with my functional porcelain vessels. They reference the human body's sensual curves, dimples, and bulges, establishing the experience of eating as a metaphor for the sensual experience of human interaction. The tactility is heightened by the variety of glazes dancing around the vessels, from satiny smooth and skin-like, to wet and dripping. Handmade vessels connect the users not only more deeply to the food that provides them nourishment, but also connects them more deeply to one another, and to the maker of the work. The slow, deliberate work of making one-of-a-kind objects is similar to the act of carefully preparing a homemade meal, and in turn, dedicating time to the ritual of sitting down together to enjoy that meal. Whether I'm working in my studio creating vessels, or in my kitchen creating a meal, I derive the same experience of spiritual wellbeing. In these moments I am completely present and mindful.
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Date Issued
2013
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3361056
Subject Headings
Conceptual structures (Information theory), Symbolic interactionism, Body, Human, Social aspects, Resilience (Psychology), Quality of life
Format
Document (PDF)
Identification of others using biological motion
Title
Identification of others using biological motion.
Creator
Manuel, Sara., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description
The literature regarding biological motion suggests that people may accurately identify and recognize the gender of others using movement cues in the absence of typical identifiers. This study compared identification and gender judgments of traditional point-light stimuli to skeleton stimuli. Controlling for previous experience and execution of actions, the frequency and familiarity of movements was also considered. Watching action clips, participants learned to identify 4 male and 4 female...
Show moreThe literature regarding biological motion suggests that people may accurately identify and recognize the gender of others using movement cues in the absence of typical identifiers. This study compared identification and gender judgments of traditional point-light stimuli to skeleton stimuli. Controlling for previous experience and execution of actions, the frequency and familiarity of movements was also considered. Watching action clips, participants learned to identify 4 male and 4 female actors. Participants then identified the corresponding point-light or skeleton displays. Although results indicate higher than chance performance, no difference was observed between stimuli conditions. Analyses did show better gender recognition for common as well as previously viewed actions. This suggests that visual experience influences extraction and application of biological motion. Thus insufficient practice in relying on movement cues for identification could explain the significant yet poor performance in biological motion point-light research.
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Date Issued
2012
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355623
Subject Headings
Pattern recognition systems, Visual perception, Human body, Social aspects, Biometric identification, Psychophysiology
Format
Document (PDF)
Bodies from the Darkside: Paradoxes of Female Anatomy in the Rena issance
Title
Bodies from the Darkside: Paradoxes of Female Anatomy in the Rena issance.
Creator
Thompson, Lana., Brown, Susan Love, Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description
The body in anthropo logy represents more than a phys ical endpoint of human evolution. It is both the template for cultural imprint, and a symbol that communicates cultural information. ln the context of the Renaissance as an ethnographic e ntity, th e status of women is examined through two kinds of images: anatomic and fine art. Although the Renaissance is generally heralded as a boundary between medieval superstition and humanism, with its improvement in the quality of life, few scholars...
Show moreThe body in anthropo logy represents more than a phys ical endpoint of human evolution. It is both the template for cultural imprint, and a symbol that communicates cultural information. ln the context of the Renaissance as an ethnographic e ntity, th e status of women is examined through two kinds of images: anatomic and fine art. Although the Renaissance is generally heralded as a boundary between medieval superstition and humanism, with its improvement in the quality of life, few scholars have examined if that change applied to women. Using Kelly-Gadol's thesis that women did not have a renaissance in the Renaissance, this thesis wiII show their restricted status through the lens of anthropology of the body. Witch persecutions, sumptuary laws and curious metal appurtenances to restrict the body support this view. Kuhn's paradigm theory and Turner's work on IIminality are relevant with regard to unequal male-female status. When normal science is presented with new information that is anomalous, a period of denial ensues. Thus, the domain of authority was challenged by observation and created conflict along with discovery. The most drastic of these raged between female sexuality versus reproduction.
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Date Issued
1999
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000970
Subject Headings
Physical anthropology, Women--History--Renaissance, 1450-1600, Body, Human--Social aspects, Anatomy, Artistic
Format
Document (PDF)
Re-thinking green: ecofeminist pedagogy and the archetype of the witch in young adult literature
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)
dangers behind technological progress
Title
The dangers behind technological progress: posthuman control in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.
Creator
Sedore, Monica., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash depicts a world in which the more freedom the characters believe they have, the more control is actually being exerted upon them. I argue that Snow Crash parallels the world in which we are beginning to find ourselves today. In the modern world, we have the convenience of the Internet, which gives us the belief that we have a great deal of control over our environment. However, my argument stems from the idea that the freedom the characters believe that...
Show moreNeal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash depicts a world in which the more freedom the characters believe they have, the more control is actually being exerted upon them. I argue that Snow Crash parallels the world in which we are beginning to find ourselves today. In the modern world, we have the convenience of the Internet, which gives us the belief that we have a great deal of control over our environment. However, my argument stems from the idea that the freedom the characters believe that they are afforded in such a universe is actually another level of control being exercised upon them. I argue that our world is mimicked by the world of Snow Crash in a way that shows how truly little freedom we are given in our posthuman society.
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Date Issued
2012
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355880
Subject Headings
Criticism and interpretation, Human body in popular culture, Biotechology, Social aspects, Virtual reality, Psychological aspects, Virtual reality in literature
Format
Document (PDF)