Field Of Gender Studies Research Articles

A Story of Becoming: Trans* Equity as Ethnodrama

Amid today’s political climate, it becomes increasingly critical to encourage and maintain trans*1 equity practices of affirmation and recognition. While providing opportunities for hope and empathy, this article situates ethnodrama within gender theory to stage the lived experience of one female-to-male (FTM) trans* high school student. Distilled from a corpus of ethnographic interviews, this performance captures the student’s school experiences, and exchanges with his parents. Given theater possesses the potential to create empathy and affect social change, this ethnodrama attempts a novel embodiment of the layered complexities of trans* inclusion to foster pedagogies of recognition and gender equity. In this way, this performative text contributes to the burgeoning and important field of gender studies in education.

POPULAR MAGAZINES, NEW LIBERAL DISCOURSE AND AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, 1890s–1914

The study of the mass circulation “popular magazine” during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era was revived during the 1990s as part of the emerging fields of gender studies, consumer studies, and the study of the new middle class. Richard Ohmann's seminal work viewed these magazines through the lens of the political economy and class relations of an emerging corporate capitalist society and explored the relationship between mass culture and the political economy of capitalism. This paper reexamines the connection between a national mass culture, the new middle class, and an emerging corporate capitalist society through the lens of post-structuralist discourse theory. Corporate capitalism is conceptualized as in part a discourse, the new liberalism, which incorporated or rearticulated populist and socialist discourses and in doing so temporarily won the consent of the capitalist class, middle classes, and segments of the working class. Through the pages of popular magazines readers were offered pieces of a new discourse that embraced corporations rather than the “free market,” women's entry into public life, and new constructions of the self. During the muckraking era, elements of socialism and populism were integrated into mainstream American culture. Overall, the essay argues that a discourse perspective on popular magazines can open up new perspectives on corporate capitalism and the new liberalism. While corporate capitalism marked the decline of the producer–republican tradition, it also marked the emergence of an American social democratic tradition, a mixture of capitalist and socialist social formations.

LABOUR MARKET INEQUALITY AND EXCLUSION AS FACTORS OF FEMINIZATION OF POVERTY IN UKRAINE

This paper examines the nature of labour market inequality and exclusion in Ukraine and how they increase women’s chances to go into poverty. Inequality and segregation based on gender exists in all spheres of the labour market and these are caused by multiple factors which sometimes interplay to the disadvantage of the female folks in Ukraine. For this paper, Interviews were conducted with some experts in the field of gender studies and labour market relations to gather expert information. Based on the interviews, it is deduced that the existent poor economic situation in the country creates hardship which affects both genders thereby making the discriminations against women unobvious. It is also gathered that the Ukrainian crisis has created steeper competition in the market with employers wanting to maximize profit by placing priority on efficiency which goes hand in glove with longer working hours and more flexible itineraries which sometimes places women at disadvantaged positions due to their maternity roles. Women’s labour are therefore priced cheaper leading to about 30% wage gap between men and women in Ukraine. Other factors such as unequal domestic obligations, traditional patriarchal culture, unpaid domestic labour, attitude towards low wages, vertical and horizontal segregation and gendered educational career path were found as causes of gender inequality in the labour market. For the full harnessing and exploitation of the Ukrainian human resource, stereotypes and gender discriminations in the economic spheres need to be dismantled to the barest minimum.

Transsexuality as Aesthetic Experience

Transsexuality as Aesthetic Experience

Gender and/in indigenous methodologies: On trouble and harmony in indigenous studies

Gender and indigeneity themselves are contested terms and fields of conflict. In this article, I bring the fields of gender studies and indigenous studies into conversation with each other. Starting from indigenous studies, I aim to let insights and perspectives from gender studies challenge and shed light on the methodology of indigenous studies. An outspoken gender perspective would contribute to, as well as challenge, the research on indigenous issues and thus, also, indigenous methodologies. I argue that gender and, following gender, also intersectional perspectives, are important in order to bring difference and disharmony to the table.

Veinte años de pensar el género

The author presents the conceptual theoretical learning obtained through 20years’ work in the field of gender studies on the basis of a review of the evolution of this term and experience in two areas: empirical research and the coordination of a gender studies center, which involved theoretical, ethical and political issues. The starting point of this reflexive exercise is a review of what the term “gender” means or is intended to mean, and then to explain what it has become today; its usefulness, abuses, explanatory potential, limits and perverse effects. It concludes by putting forward a number of theoretical questions that open up new lines of reflection in the field of work.

"Masculinities" in Sami studies

Sami masculinities must be understood as plural. This is the starting point for this article. There is little research done on gender and/in Sami society, especially concerning men and masculinity. The article deals with Sami masculinities as a field of research, and has two main goals. Firstly, the main trends in relevant research on gender in Sápmi in general and on Sami men in particular are presented and discussed. Secondly, a number of challenges related to doing research on Sami masculinities are explored. The theoretical perspectives are mainly drawn from the fields of gender studies and indigenous studies. The article will hopefully serve as a platform and a starting point for further research on Sami masculinities.

Instigating social change: Translating feminism in the Arab world and India

The most common accusation levelled at those working in gender studies in the Arab world is tied to the fact that they are commonly viewed as dealing with a “Western” concept; corrupting the cultural and traditional value system of the Arabo-Islamic heritage of the region. Linguistic resistance to this field is an obvious impediment to its progression, with a range of dissatisfactory and often conflicted terminology meant to distance the language from the very concept of feminism:Nassawiyar Unthawiya, both alien-sounding and cumbersome. Engaging in the act of translation in a linguistic and cultural vacuum means that the translator becomes an active agent in developing and shaping concepts associated with Feminism, while simultaneously conveying the social and moral values that are associated with the quest for female empowerment in the West. This same burden of shaping concepts and creating them while actively engaging in the act of translation was faced by Indian translators of feminism and those working in the field of gender studies beforehand. This paper will attempt to look at the experience of the importance of translation in the field of gender studies in the developing world and the similar hurdles and triumphs that were experienced by those working in the field in India and in the Arab Middle East.

In Connection: Feminist Epistemology for the Twenty-first Century

The paper offers a historical outline of the main positions and protagonists of feminist epistemology as a specific field in philosophy at the end of the twentieth century, in the context of a feminist critique of knowledge in academia in general as part of international feminist movements. The main question discussed is whether there is a specific feminist concept of philosophical and scientific knowledge. If so, what is its innovative aspect? What are the philosophical problems in arguing for feminist knowledge? Is there a specific insight or methodological approach? A further question is what role, if any, feminist epistemology plays in the interdisciplinary field of Gender Studies. The discussion will centre on how feminist epistemology relates to non-scientific practices. In particular, the role of the concept of objectivity in feminist epistemology will be elaborated. This will illuminate the connection between the feminist knowledge project with other emancipatory projects and outline how feminist constructivism might play a prominent role in this context in the twenty-first century.

Social Innovation and Gender Equality: Bridging Two Solitudes

Social innovation is not new, but it is increasingly seen as an important method for solving some of the world’s most pressing social and economic problems. Despite awareness about its importance, research in the field of social innovation is scarce, and there are competing definitions and understandings of the concept. In addition, despite the value of embracing gender equality for social and economic progress, there is very little research that attempts to connect the field of social innovation with the fields of gender studies, women’s studies, feminist research, or men and masculinity studies. This article reviews the literature on social innovation to examine the relationship between gender equality and social innovation, and it applies a gender-informed lens to the concept of social innovation. In doing so, it aims to develop the foundations for future research at the intersection of social innovation and gender equality. Our review of the literature on social innovation suggests that it is not just women and girls who are under-represented in the field of social innovation, but also certain groups of men and boys, transgender and other gender-nonconforming individuals. Therefore, gender analysis will help us advance social innovation by challenging our assumptions and preconceptions about women, men, femininities, and masculinities. In order for social innovation to achieve its full potential and to benefit all persons, gender equality must be integrated into every aspect of the field.

Empowering adolescent girls in developing countries: The potential role of education

This article proposes a conceptual framework for how education can promote adolescent girls’ empowerment and, by mapping the field, highlights promising examples of empowering education programs. We conclude by identifying both research and programmatic opportunities for the future that will harness the expertise of a range of specialists from the interdisciplinary fields of gender studies and adolescent development in collaboration with experts from the fields of education, health, and labor.

Los fines de un idioma o la "diferencia sexual"

En "Los fines de un idioma o la 'diferencia sexual'", se analizan los diferentes usos y significados de la noción de “diferencia sexual” en los mundos francófono y anglófono. La "diferencia sexual" fue elevada al estatus de cuasiconcepto por el psicoanálisis y se convirtió subsecuentemente en uno de los términos clave al reflexionar sobre sexo y género. Al examinar la pluralización de sus usos y la inflexión de sus significados en la teoría de género y la teoría queer en Estados Unidos, la autora resalta su transformación-queer" y reflexiona sobre el cuestionamiento queer contemporáneo del pensamiento feminista. A través del análisis de las interminables diferenciaciones del significado de "diferencia sexual", la autora busca resaltar la heterogeneidad conceptual ?desde su perspectiva, tan irreductible como productiva? del campo teórico de los estudios de género. Se trata asimismo de una forma de interrogar los modos de constitución del eje teórico franco-anglo-americano, que ha dominado el pensamiento feminista en el siglo XX.

Estudo dos modos de produção de justiça da Lei Maria da Penha em Santa Catarina

Esse artigo objetiva descrever as práticas da justiça criminal construídas a partir da Lei 11.340/2006, Lei Maria da Penha, por juízes e juízas encarregados/as da aplicação deste dispositivo legal em uma Vara Criminal e Juizado de Violência contra a Mulher, em Santa Catarina. Trata-se de um estudo de inspiração etnográfica, que utilizou como fonte de pesquisa entrevistas com operadoras/os do direito e diários de campo, construídos a partir de observação de audiências e análise documental de processos penais. A pesquisa mostrou que as práticas rotineiras das/os operadoras/es do direito, no tratamento jurídico de casos tipificados como de "violência doméstica e familiar contra a mulher", estavam orientadas pelos "estilos" pessoais de cada magistrado/a ao conduzir as audiências de ratificação, caracterizando formas de comunicação e interação de acordo com valores morais, marcados por diferentes concepções de gênero, família e justiça. A observação das práticas de equacionamento e julgamento evidenciou que os modos de produção de justiça estavam aliados à dimensão moral, de certa forma velada nos discursos dos/as operadores/as do direito, ao fazerem uso dos códigos legais. As posições políticas dessas/es profissionais, acerca do processo de criminalização da "violência doméstica e familiar contra a mulher", resultaram, muitas vezes, em práticas contrárias às expectativas dos movimentos feministas com a criação da Lei Maria da Penha, mostrando a importância do debate sobre a judicialização das relações sociais no campo dos estudos de gênero

Back to the Future? History, Material Culture and New Materialism

The study of history currently witnesses two markedly different material turns. Some historians are using material artefacts as alternatives to textual sources. Others draw on ‘new materialism’, a new tradition in thought that originated in the field of gender studies. Both groups are trying to move beyond the cultural turn, which has dominated the study of history since the 1980s. However, the first group merely extends the programme of the cultural turn into new domains without rejecting its methods or epistemological foundations. The latter group, on the other hand, provides a new cultural theory. This article demonstrates that the ‘new’ in new materialism is not so much an increased engagement with the material world, but rather a new conceptualization of developing theory and reading texts, which cuts through established dichotomies between matter and meaning or culture and the social. In doing so, a new materialist history can solve some of the problems associated with the cultural turn and the turn to material artefacts.

Back to the Future?

The study of history currently witnesses two markedly different material turns. Some historians are using material artefacts as alternatives to textual sources. Others draw on ‘new materialism’, a new tradition in thought that originated in the field of gender studies. Both groups are trying to move beyond the cultural turn, which has dominated the study of history since the 1980s. However, the first group merely extends the programme of the cultural turn into new domains without rejecting its methods or epistemological foundations. The latter group, on the other hand, provides a new cultural theory. This article demonstrates that the ‘new’ in new materialism is not so much an increased engagement with the material world, but rather a new conceptualization of developing theory and reading texts, which cuts through established dichotomies between matter and meaning or culture and the social. In doing so, a new materialist history can solve some of the problems associated with the cultural turn and the turn to material artefacts.

A Man is Crying: The Progression of Heterosexual Trouble in Gómez de Avellaneda’s Dos Mugeres

This analysis of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda’s second novel, Dos Mugeres, articulates two contributions in the fields of gender studies and Spanish Romanticism. Avellaneda’s feminist critique of masculine domination in Dos Mugeres focuses on the concept of heterosexual trouble, through which the norm of the heterosexual couple proves to be dysfunctional and problematic as far as gender and sexual standards are concerned. The concept of heterosexual trouble enables us to consider the ambivalent situation of the male heterosexual lover caught between the social privilege of masculinity and the mandate to reinvent love requested by his female lover. The originality of Dos Mugeres within Spanish Romanticism relies in part on the reception of four texts from French Romanticism: Paul et Virginie, Delphine, Corinne ou l’Italie, and Lélia. It is this unique reworking of four canonical texts in relation to a critique of heterosexual love that gives Dos Mugeres a special signature within Spanish Romanticism.

Strong and hard women: an ethnography of female bodybuilding

Females with large muscles evoke strong reactions from men and women, often involving disgust, discomfort, anger and threat. The controversial nature of female bodybuilding has caused a significant rupture on feminist ground. Whilst proponents claim that female bodybuilding is a way of empowering and liberating women, others see it as a form of corporeal entrapment. This book investigates the controversy. Do women who pump iron resist physical restrictions of imposed femininity, or are they engaged in an ultimately oppressive quest for 'perfect bodies'? In an original two year ethnographic study based in the South of England, Tanya Bunsell immersed herself into the world of female bodybuilders. By mapping these extraordinary women's lives, the research illuminates the pivotal spaces and essential lived experiences that make up the female bodybuilder. Whilst the women appear to be embarking on an 'empowering' radical body project for themselves, the consequences of their activity remains culturally ambivalent. This research exposes the 'Janus-faced' nature of female bodybuilding, exploring the ways in which the women negotiate, accommodate and resist pressures to engage in more orthodox and feminine activities and appearances. This book will be of interest to academics and students in the fields of gender studies, the sociology of sport, the body and research methodology.

Soviet Women on the Frontline in the Second World War by Roger D. Markwick, Euridice Charon Cardona (review)

Reviewed by: Soviet Women on the Frontline in the Second World War by Roger D. Markwick, Euridice Charon Cardona Tetyana Dzyadevych (bio) Roger D. MarkwickandEuridice Charon Cardona, Soviet Women on the Frontline in the Second World War(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). xxiv, 305 pp. Index. ISBN: 978-0-230-57952-1. This factually rich and superbly researched work is an important contribution to the field of the social history of World War II. The authors present a broad panorama of experiences related to the participation of Soviet women in combat during the war. Major strengths of this work are its analysis of Soviet state policy toward women and its insightful account of their private experiences. It is almost impossible to talk about the book of Roger D. Markwick and Euridice Charon Cardona without mentioning Anna Krylova’s recent contribution to the scholarship on Soviet women and war. 1 The two books have very similar titles, deal with the same themes, and sometimes with the same sources. Krylova was the first to show that the Soviet progressive gender policy of the 1930s created a new generation of Soviet women who were educated in paramilitary schools. This prepared them for participation in combat on equal footing with men. [End Page 441] Krylova shows that Soviet women saw no internal conflict between being a woman and being a soldier. Krylova’s investigation is based on interviews, published diaries, and memoirs of Soviet female veterans. She reconstructs the discourse that these women advanced (or interiorized) to articulate their physical, mental, and intellectual readiness to serve in the Soviet army. This generation of Soviet women, just like men, saw it as their duty to be soldiers and fight on the battlefield. Krylova also points out that in the postwar period the Soviet state tended to exclude women veterans from the dominant narrative of World War II. Krylova’s Soviet Women was in many ways a pioneering study, but it had some important weaknesses, starting with its unclear definition of “Soviet women.” To present their discursive and living reality, Krylova uses sources published during the Soviet era, but she never addressees the issue of state censorship. Krylova’s heroines are mostly educated girls from the urban areas of the European part of Russia, who received their degrees mostly in Moscow and Leningrad, which does not reflect the realities of women’s emancipation in the USSR. It seems that Krylova does not consider women from Soviet Uzbekistan or Azerbaijan as Soviet women. How many of them took part in the war and in what capacities? Did cultural and regional differences matter? While claiming that women joined the army under the influence of progressive Soviet educational policy, Krylova deemphasizes other factors such as patriotism, despair, or a desire to avenge the deaths of those close to them. Krylova also fails to consider women in the partisan forces. Had she included women-partisans as combatants, the geographical and political framework of her study would have been broader. This move would probably require a broader definition of a “Soviet woman.” After all, in almost every Nazi-occupied country in East Central Europe, and especially in the Balkans, partisan movements tended to include women, and these women, as well as men, had no exposure to Soviet education and background. How were they different from “Soviet women”-partisans? Thus, the strongest part of Krylova’s work is her reconstruction of the process of construction and exteriorization of the official Soviet discourse on women in combat. She also contributes to the field of gender studies by showing that femininity and combat are not mutually exclusive. Markwick and Cardona follow in Krylova’s steps not only in terms of publishing their Soviet Women on the Frontline soon after Krylova’s Soviet Women in Combat , but also in terms [End Page 442] of sharing Krylova’s approach to defining Soviet women. Markwick and Cardona do not question their identity – it is a given, and they disregard the complex heterogeneous multiethnic nature of the USSR where different subjects may have demonstrated different approaches to women’s emancipation. Like Krylova, Markwick and Cardona take for granted the existence of the cohort of young, educated, and emancipated...

As temáticas gênero e sexualidades nas reuniões da ANPEd de 2000 a 2006

Este trabalho aborda resultados de um estado da arte sobre educação, gênero e sexualidades no âmbito da ANPEd (Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Educação). Para tanto, primeiramente apresenta as características do estudo e do recorte trazido à discussão. Em seguida, com base no campo teórico dos estudos de gênero e de revisão de estados da arte brasileiros sobre gênero e educação, comenta as formas pelas quais os conceitos de gênero e de sexualidade foram usados para selecionar os textos examinados. Por fim, destaca alguns dos achados, começando pelo período anterior ao ano 2000 (antes da publicação on-line dos textos na página da associação) e abordando de forma mais específica o período 2000-2006: tema com uma produção ainda pequena, mas consistente e com crescimento perceptível com o avanço do tempo; inserido em poucos Grupos de Trabalho da ANPEd; de autoria majoritariamente feminina; centralizado em algumas instituições das regiões Sul e Sudeste do país e em determinados grupos de pesquisa cadastrados no Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).

Sexualidad, moral y cuentas falsas. Usos políticos de la edad de la primera relación sexual en Chile

This article makes a methodological and political discussion on the measurement of the age of first intercourse in national surveys, analyzes the use of the statistical instruments, discusses certain theses and interpretations, and uses of the research performed by researchers in the field of gender studies and by catholic academic institutions. It shows that part of the background research presents statistical errors in the measurement, which leads to erroneous conclusions. Nevertheless, it is used. It claims that this is a technical, academic and political issue in a context where surveys have become in contemporary societies in basis of policy making, in instruments of public debate, or as reference in institutional reflexivity.