Feminist Theoretical Perspective Research Articles

Feminist expression in American country music a case study of Taylor Swift

This article employs a feminist theoretical perspective and utilizes textual analysis to examine the feminist expressions within the music of American female musician Taylor Swift. Through analyzing the lyrical content of several songs imbued with typical gender themes such as “Fearless,” “Speak Now,” “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince,” “The Man,” and “All Too Well,” this study reveals that Taylor Swift’s music explores themes of female autonomy and advocates for increased awareness of gender inequality issues. In her feminist discourse, Taylor’s songs integrate emotional nuances from personal experiences alongside critiques of societal gender oppression.Through these analyses, this study aims to uncover the expression of gender consciousness in musical compositions and elucidate the interactive relationship between musical works and feminist discourse and construction. Additionally, this research provides insights into feminist expressions within American country music through Taylor Swift’s compositions, thereby contributing significantly to the exploration of music’s influence on gender identity and women’s rights.

Hiding in the shadows: a qualitative exploration of women gamers identities and perceptions of the video gaming context

Video gaming has evolved into a complex, digital landscape where gender dynamics are increasingly scrutinised. While women now constitute a significant portion of the gaming population, they face unique challenges in a traditionally male-dominated space. Despite the growing presence of women in gaming, persistent gender inequalities continue to shape their experiences and identities within gaming cultures. This qualitative study explored how women gamers conceptualise their identities and navigate their experiences in the video gaming context, focusing on motivations, well-being, and representation. Utilising a feminist theoretical perspective and social constructionist epistemology, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 international women gamers (aged 23–43, M = 28, SD = 5.51). Findings constructed through our reflexive thematic analysis highlighted how women negotiate their identities within often hostile gaming environments, revealing both challenges and sources of resilience. Participants reported using strategies such as concealing their gender and creating private gaming communities to mitigate harassment. However, they also described gaming as a source of empowerment, offering opportunities for identity exploration and stress relief. Our research contributes to understanding gender dynamics in gaming by providing nuanced insights into women’s lived experiences, challenging simplistic narratives about their identities, preferences, and behaviours. Implications for game developers, community managers, and policymakers are discussed, offering guidance for creating more inclusive gaming environments that cater to diverse players and combat gender-based discrimination.

Extant Literature Review on Understanding of Domestic Violence against Women in Rural Sindh, Pakistan

This paper presents detailed critiques of existing literature and debate on crucial issues of domestic violence against women in Rural Sindh, Pakistan. Primarily, definitions, causes, consequences, and prevention of domestic violence, as well as sociological and feminist theoretical framework perspectives, are discussed profoundly. Discussions and analyses of past materials, meanings, nature, and scope of studies on domestic violence worldwide and in Sindh, Pakistan, backgrounds are discussed. Patriarchy, masculinity, and their relation to domestic violence are briefly elaborated. The international perspective on domestic violence, ideology and concept of patriarchy, men and masculinity connecting to the situations of marriage, gender relations, roles, legal and religious perspective in Pakistan about domestic violence in Sindh, and previously reported incidence is also reviewed. Likewise, relevant literature and its review on the topic of past studies, connecting with the present study, have also been established with relevant theories, which have overlapping effects on domestic violence. Literature review sections of papers define that there is not any single theory or reason; rather, there are multiple socio-economic, psychological, and feminist viewpoints which allow perpetrators to commit domestic violence against women in rural Sindh, Pakistan.

Applying Black Feminist Theory to Research, Practice, and Advocacy on Gendered Racism among Black Women

Although there has been an increase in intersectionality scholarship in the field of psychology, there is still a dearth of research and praxis grounded in a Black feminist theoretical perspective. The purpose of this paper is to apply a Black feminist and intersectionality lens to research, practice, and advocacy on Black women’s experiences of gendered racism. First, this paper will provide a brief herstory of Black feminist, womanist, and intersectionality theory and its relevance to the field of psychology. Next, we will highlight an example of how to apply a Black feminist and intersectionality lens to research on gendered racism among Black women. Then, we will apply Black feminism to therapy with Black women by highlighting a clinical case example. We will end by highlighting the importance of Black feminism to social justice advocacy and systems-level interventions to promote the health and well-being of Black women.

Student stories of resilience after campus sexual assault

Undergraduate students who experience campus sexual assault (CSA) are faced with a wide array of potentially detrimental mental health and educational outcomes that may significantly impact their sense of wellbeing. Many researchers have focused on documenting these consequences of CSA, but there is a dearth of research on students’ post-assault experiences. Specifically, there is a lack of scholarship exploring students’ lived experiences of navigating their post-assault lives in their campus environment through the lens of resilience. The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of resilience among undergraduate students who have experienced CSA, through a qualitative phenomenological inquiry. This study used critical conceptual understandings of resilience, including socio-ecological and intersectional feminist theoretical perspectives and social work discourses of resilience, to further complicate how the phenomenon is often described in scholarship. The findings revealed four key themes of the phenomenon to include resilience within the context of agency, coping, connection, and hope. Recommendations and implications across social work research, policy, and practice are presented, specifically those identified by the participants as recommendations for change in addressing CSA and supporting student experiences of resilience.

Feminist Critique of Ghana’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Policies

Women’s entrepreneurship is an important medium for poverty reduction, economic growth and development. Nonetheless, it faces critical challenges that limit it from realizing its full potential. Feminist theories bring to the fore the diverse conundrums of women’s entrepreneurship and how to address them. This paper aimed to examine Ghana’s women’s entrepreneurship policies from feminist theoretical perspectives to determine how the policies address gendered barriers and support women’s entrepreneurship efforts. Premised on the transformative research paradigm, the paper involves content analysis of 14 purposively-sampled Ghana’s public policy documents. Consistent with policy expectations of the feminist theories, it was found that there are policies that seek to address gendered discourses, promote change of social structures in support of women’s venturing and enhance women entrepreneurs’ access to resources. Nonetheless, there are still areas that need further attention in all the three theoretical perspectives, particularly in pursuit of change in social structures and gender equality in access to resources. Although the policies justifiably tilt more towards the informal sector, inadequate attention to women operating in the formal sector could serve as a disincentive to the growth and development of their ventures and a deterrent to the graduation of more informal enterprises into the formal economy.

Creating Our Own Spaces: Disruptive Approaches to Educational Leadership Research

Our work seeks to reflexively make visible the blurring of binary markers at the intersection of our research, sexuality, gender, and professional socialization as a necessary disruption to liberate our intersectional possibilities in the making. We argue the queering of educational leadership is met by the intimate and layered experiences of identity dismemberment operating to tarnish, devalue, and displace the wealth of intersectional knowledge. The ultimate goal is to subjugate the researcher; to trace a stencil of a binary identity whereby the image of the non-binary cannot be conjured as contributors to epistemology, theory, methodology, pedagogy, leadership, or practice. We utilize testimonios to interrogate how these lines were drawn from the everyday of academic life to blur the binary; to conjure the queer in every nook and cranny of experiences until the reification of whiteness, patriarchy, and sexuality is made a mess from which prescribed lines can no longer be drawn. We assert the toll of securing this “way” positioned us in a binary, more often than not, to research about queerness without any overlap in the praxis of queerness in the relationships, institutions, and teaching that guard the landscape of “being” in Educational Leadership. In doing so, we position the (re)membering of our identities at the intersection of Queer and Chicana Feminist theoretical perspectives to theorize a third space to heal and build a leadership practice in our image.

Factors that contribute to the mental health of Black youth.

Background:Black people are a growing population in Canada, but limited data are available on the factors that contribute to the mental health of Black youth in Canada. We sought to explore the factors that contribute to the mental health of Black youth in Alberta, Canada.Methods:Using a youth-led participatory action research approach and an intersectional feminist theoretical perspective, we collected data from a diverse sample of Black youth (aged 16–30 yr) in Alberta. We conducted individual interviews and conversation cafés with Black youth.Results:We completed 30 individual interviews and 4 conversation cafés with a total of 99 Black youth. Participants identified the dominant factors contributing to mental health problems as racial discrimination, the intergenerational gap in families, microaggression and stigma, academic expectations, financial stress, lack of identity, previous traumatic events and religion. They also identified factors that contributed positively to mental health, including a sense of accomplishment, openness about mental health, positive relationships, sense of community and spirituality.Interpretation:Black youth in Alberta reported that anti-Black racism and intergenerational tensions are major factors that contribute to their mental health, which suggests a need to address anti-Black racism and ensure more equitable approaches for Black youth in Alberta.

Cyberstalking practices: asymmetrical power relationships at the University of Dar es Salaam

ABSTRACT Cyberstalking, especially among university students, has become a critical social concern. While a growing body of research associates cyberstalking with abuse of technology, psychological instability and the perceived porosity of the legal systems, power inequality has not been foregrounded as a major driver. With a focus on establishing power relationships between victims and perpetrators, the study explored structural and social environments surrounding female students at the University of Dar es Salaam. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected with an online survey questionnaire distributed to 424 female students. Together with the questionnaire, deeper insights for the qualitative information were obtained from online interviews held with 30 female students and 15 key informants as well as from online Focused Group Discussion held with another cluster of 30 female students who had experiences of cybertalking. Interpreted from a feminist theoretical perspective and ‘gender digital divide’ stances, the results indicate multiple forms of unequal power relations surrounding third-world women internet users in universities. The study recommends strategies against gender inequality to be extended to cyberspace, while women’s empowerment in online spaces should be spearheaded in gender equality discourse.

Resilience and Resistance in the Campus Sexual Assault Literature

Many researchers have focused on documenting the consequences of campus sexual assault (CSA), but there is a dearth of research on students’ post-assault lived experiences. Specifically, there is a lack of scholarship exploring how student victim-survivors of CSA may view, understand, resist, or experience resilience as they navigate post-assault life on campus. The purpose of this paper is to explore the question, “How is resilience described and defined in the literature of CSA?” To respond to this question, I explore other related but distinct concepts that appear in the literature around resilience, including posttraumatic growth, meaning-making, and recovery. Although the focus is on CSA literature, I include scholarship broadly related to trauma, given the limited research specific to resilience and CSA. As a social work scholar and practitioner, I also introduce the significance of this topic within the social work field. Finally, I briefly introduce two theoretical perspectives that have informed and guided the conceptualization of this paper, including socio-ecological and intersectional feminist theoretical perspectives. This conceptual paper was a result of preparation for a qualitative inquiry using phenomenology that aimed to explore the phenomenon of resilience among undergraduate students who had experienced CSA. Suggestions for future work are included.

Understanding ‘fat shaming’ in a neoliberal era: Performativity, healthism and the UK’s ‘obesity epidemic’

This article explores how ‘fat shaming’ as a practice that encourages open disdain for those living in larger bodies operates as a moralising tool to regulate and manage those who are viewed as ‘bad citizens’. It begins by outlining the problematic use of fat shaming language that is often used as a tool to promote ‘healthy’ lifestyle choices by those who view it as not only an acceptable way of communicating the health risks associated with obesity, but also a productive way of motivating people with overweight and obesity to lose weight. I then go on to discuss how shame as it relates to body image and excess weight is culturally produced through both objective conceptualisations of deviance and subjective judgements about the moral character of those who are living with excess weight. Adopting a feminist theoretical perspective, this article further considers the reciprocal nature of fat shaming by calling attention to how shame as a felt emotion is dependent on understandings of oneself in relation to others, as well as the relationships that one forms with others. In this way, I argue that shame in general, and fat shaming in particular, is performative to the extent that it exists as a relational construct that is iteratively produced through the language and actions that give it meaning.

Is the Mzungu phenomenon a help or hinderance?

The deprivation, adversity, and lack of protection for children on the streets of urban Uganda are well known; as is the reality that most of their support is facilitated by Western Missionary operated, non-government organisations (NGOs). However, their approach is problematised as ineffective, oppressive, and colonial. Yet there is a dearth of research from the children’s perspectives, capturing the meaning of such actors’ interventions within their lifeworld’s, and no such literature within the Ugandan context. Therefore, this case study focuses on the ‘Mzungu Phenomenon’, a theme unearthed from critical hermeneutic analyses of the life stories of 30 former street children within an orphanage in Kampala, Uganda. The Mzungu phenomenon refers to the meaning and influence of the Western Missionaries and volunteers that feature within the children’s experiences, captured within their narratives. Underpinned by Ricœur’s narrative philosophy, this study illuminates and problematises the way in which Western NGO actors feature within the children’s lifeworld’s, and the wider ramifications from postcolonial, and postcolonial feminist theoretical perspectives. This includes the perpetuation of colonial legacies, ideologies, and praxis, that contribute to disempowerment for children, their families, and their communities, and the dual oppression of women. Therefore, this piece argues that despite a need to enhance child protection measures in Uganda, the current approaches that do not align with national and international rights-based policies must be further critically examined, challenged, and reformed, to ensure the wellbeing of the children.

Narrative and gender as mutually constituted meaning-making systems

AbstractBoth gender and narrative are foundational to the ways in which humans engage in meaning-making. Arguing from evolutionary, psychological and feminist theoretical perspectives, we posit that narratives and gender are culturally mediated mutually constituted meaning-making systems: Narratives are defined through gender and gender is defined through narrative. To contextualise this argument, we define ‘narrative’ and ‘gender’ and review the extant literature on how gender is expressed in culturally mediated master narratives and how narratives are performed differently by women and men. Our core argument is that the very act of narrating is a gendered activity that constructs, represents and narrates gender as a primary category of human existence, and these fundamentally gendered ways of narrating then construct, define and reify gendered ways of being in the world.

Gendered power relations in women-to-men interviews on controversial sexual behavior

ABSTRACT This article explores gendered power relations in studies of stigmatized sexual behavior, through a poststructuralist feminist theoretical perspective. Interviews conducted by a female interviewer with twenty men who pay for sex were analyzed using the interpretive constructivist method. We applied the concept defended subjects to suggest that the subjects – both interviewer and interviewees – defended themselves against three major threats that characterized the gendered power relations in the interviews: the threat of forced intimacy, the threat of deviancy, and the threat of objectification. We then propose a new heuristic concept – defensive interactions – to discuss these interview dynamics as they relate to three key aspects of gendered power relations in qualitative interviews: the establishment of intimacy, identity management, and objectification.

COVID-19: Threat and Vulnerability Among Latina Immigrants

As has been documented in public health data, infections and deaths from COVID-19 have been inequitably distributed in the United States, producing adverse health outcomes among vulnerable populations including Latina immigrants. Using a critical feminist theoretical perspective, this discussion examines the mechanisms informing these outcomes including lack of access to health insurance and health care and work in low-waged jobs with high potential exposure to the virus. In addition, we examine related risks to this population, including domestic violence during stay-at-home orders. We argue that social workers can join forces with immigrant-led organizations to support advocacy to reverse government policies that limit immigrants’ access to health care as well as ensuring that Latina women workers earn adequate wages for essential jobs.

Reflexiones en torno a la propiedad del cuerpo en clave feminista

In this paper, I examine a number of feminist theoretical contributions on the notion of “property in the body”, analyzing both critical versions and alternative proposals highlighting the need to retrieve this concept from the liberal paradigm. Firstly, I focus on conceptions of property in the body that different authors elaborate from a feminist theoretical perspective. Secondly, I explore the meanings that this concept acquires at a political level, being present in many of the claims and debates of the feminist movement, such as the right to abortion or the freedom to exercise sexwork. The hypothesis that guides this article is that feminist theory resignifies this concept, identifying its limitations and formulating new approaches. Nevertheless, when emplaced in political arenas, this notion has direct implications on women’s bodies by being framed within hegemonic neoliberal paradigms, whose property lexicon is often coupled with commercial logics. Consequently, feminist vindications on the self-control of women’s bodies faces the burdens of conceiving the body as of a private property and absolute right to be unlimited used in any activity, even lucrative, neglecting the contextual subordinations these activities unfold. In this manner, feminist demands addressing the self-appropriation of women’s bodies are commonly aligned with theoretical and political understandings of the neo-liberal paradigm.

Feminist Theoretical Perspective: Intersectionality and Covid-19

<p align="justify"><em>The author argues for using a new theoretical foundation and criticizes Gender Mainstreaming perspective in issues related to gender. The author proposes an intersectionality approach that can critically see the problem of Covid-19 and its implications to not only gender relations (men and women) but also race, ethnicity, class, LGBTQIA, and other minority groups. The author emphasizes the concept of critical praxis, which uses both critical questions and activism for total social change.</em><em></em></p>

The discord between discourse and data in engendering resilience building for sustainability

This paper explores how gender is considered in the resilience discourse, and the extent to which there is an evidence base to support the targeting of women in resilience programmes. The paper provides an overview of the approaches adopted in the fields of gender and development and gender and environment, and the critiques of these approaches. Mainstream approaches to engendering policy and practice are charged with being essentialist and instrumentalist, drawing on women's ‘natural’ attributes and altruism, placing women at the service of the policy agenda, rather than served by it. Despite these critiques it highlights how these approaches have been borrowed by ‘newer’ policy arenas such as disasters, and within this, resilience building. An analysis of the gendered language in resilience highlights a contradictory discourse, presenting women as vulnerable and as agents for change, and an explicit instrumentalism. The paper notes that in the disaster resilience discourse much of the focus actually remains on vulnerability, problematising this and how vulnerability/resilience are defined and measured generally, and in gender terms. The pseudo-scientific constructions of ‘objective’ knowledge at the base of much policy are critiqued from a feminist theoretical and practical perspective. It concludes that there is no reliable evidence base on which to base any policy moves to ‘engender’ resilience. As such the focus on women in resilience must be based on gendered assumptions and/or other policy aims, and as such the inclusion of women in resilience building is more about efficiency than about equality.

Inquiring into Notions of Educational Improvement by Teaching Where We Think: Philosophical Meditations as a Practice of Teacher Education

Background This paper is part of the special issue “Reimagining Research and Practice at the Crossroads of Philosophy, Teaching, and Teacher Education.” Early childhood initiatives have joined a nexus of educational reforms characterized by increased accountability and a focus on measurement as a marker of student and teacher learning, with early education being framed as an economic good necessary for competing in the global marketplace. Underlying the recent push for early childhood education is what we see as a “discourse of improvement”—depictions of school change that prioritize achievement as reflected in assessment scores, data collection on teacher effectiveness, and high-stakes evaluation. These characteristics, we argue, foster increasingly inequitable educational contexts and obscure the particularities of what it means to be a child in the world. Purpose We use the practice of philosophical meditation, as articulated in Pierre Hadot's examination of philosophy as a way of life, to inquire into the logics of educational improvement as instantiated in particular contexts, and for cultivating cross-disciplinary partnerships committed to fostering children's flourishing. We link this meditational focus with feminist and de-colonial theoretical perspectives to make visible the role of power in the characterization of children's learning as related to norms of development, minoritized identities, and hierarchies of knowledge. Research Design: In this collaborative inquiry, we compose a series of meditations on our experiences with the logics of improvement inspired by 12 months of systematic conversation. Our data sources include correspondence between the two authors, written reflections on specific practices in teacher education each author engages with, and a set of literary, philosophical, and teacher education texts. Conclusions/Recommendations Our meditations illuminate the value of collective inquiry about what constitutes improvement in schools. We raise questions about how the measurement of learning is entwined in historical and present-day relations of power and idealized formulations of the universal “child” or “teacher” and argue that we must work together to reimagine the framings that inform our work. Ultimately and most directly, these meditations can support dynamic attempts to cultivate meaningful and more equitable educational experiences for teachers and students. Philosophical meditations at the crossroads of philosophy, teaching, and teacher education thus extend beyond critique toward imagining and enacting a better world in our classrooms, even though (and especially when) this path is not clear.

Re-thinking feminism and democratic politics: the potential of online networks for social change and gender equality in Brazil

This article provides a critical summary of feminist theoretical perspectives on the potential of online communications for women’s rights, further sketching abrief case study of contemporary Brazilian feminism and the mobilization around women’s rights, particularly in the year 2015. This is done through a discussion of the discursive online practices of websites like Blogueiras Feministas and the NGO Think Olga, part of a wider project (Matos, 2017). Questions asked include how the media can better contribute to assist in gender development, and how online platforms can make a difference. I argue that despite constraints and setbacks, the seeds of a wider transformative influence in the offline world are slowly being planted in a highly fragmented, heterogeneous and erratic blogosphere.