Library: Womens Studies

Most feminists agree that successful prostitution reform requires that prostitutes be respected by their clients, peers, and the community. Although respect is not the only criterion necessary for acceptable reform, many feminists believe that the absence of stigma would be a sufficiently fundamental improvement to merit the reconsideration of policies that severely restrict prostitution. The aim of this study is to show that certain online prostitution venues contribute to acceptable prostitution reform by fostering trust and respect between the participants. My hypothesis is that when commer...

Disrupting Fraternity Culture explores how young men and women perform male and female roles to "fit in" during the college or young adult years. It is arguable that many young men "perform" the role of the hegemonic male to fit in among peers, and that performing the hegemonic male is to perform acts of violence against women. This project actively examines university organizations and institutions, such as fraternities and sororities, which can encourage anti-female attitudes. All of the narratives used in this study were given willingly and given primarily by peers. The names of the individ...

Barriers which hinder career advancement of women are complex and varied. They have become top agenda items for most corporations and the gov-ernment. The "glass ceiling" is a term that symbolizes a variety of barriers that prevent qualified individuals from advancing higher in their organization. Although many women hold management positions, few have made the breakthrough to top-level positions. To determine what conditions are required for women to attain top executive positions, an ethnographic study was conducted at a hospital. The study was limited to four women who held executive p...

Research indicates that although women have progressed in their representation in management positions in corporate organizations, they are still subject to gender inequality (Cohen & Huffman, 2003; Gazso, 2004; Karlin, England, & Richardson, 2002). For African American women, they are further subjected to race and class inequalities. The proposed research is intended to examine the unique personal and professional views and experiences of 10 African American women managers and leaders working in White, male-dominant cultures. It will further determine if these African American women working i...

This causal-comparative study explores the acculturation and its affects on the psychodynamics of first generation Arab-American Muslim women born and raised in the United States. Torn between the Old World customs of their parents and modern American traditions, first generation Arab-American Muslim women face a major identity challenge in trying to balance their two worlds. Developmental psychologist E.H. Erikson (1970) proposed a theory of psychosocial development based on six basic concepts: stages of development, developmental task, psychosocial crisis, the central process for reso...

Weeping Widows and Warrior Women will consider the plays of Shakespeare's first tetralogy, which includes 1, 2, 3 Henry VI and Richard III, through a feminist critical perspective. It will assess the female characters of these plays through their speech and actions rather than giving credence to external evaluations of them, whether from other characters or a perceived stance of the playwright. The goal throughout is to divorce previously seldom-studied characters from oppressive patriarchal interpretations of their actions in order to bring them in line with a feminist understanding of fully ...