Title: Examples of Abstracts
Course: SOC 210 RTZ > Section: Research Project

Empirical study:

Although ‘girl power’ has become a mainstream concept, some scholars have argued that we are in the midst of a media-generated backlash designed to undo the empowerment of girls and women. US popular culture targets young girls with anti-feminist messages, which undermine feminist inroads. To explore this issue, I conduct qualitative textual analysis of four television programs aimed at young girls. I find that much of this programming is anti-feminist.

Myers, K. (2013). Anti-feminist messages in American television programming for young girls. Journal of Gender Studies, 22(2), 192-205. doi:10.1080/09589236.2012.714074

Even while they advocate for qualitative, interpretive approaches to understanding panic disorder, sociologists and feminist geographers have taken the statistics on it at face value, conducting research with women because panic has been reported to be a gender-specific problem. We still lack a sociology that effectively considers men’s experience of panic. Accordingly, we use data from in-depth interviews, conducted with 22 Canadian women and men who self-identify as suffering from “Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia,” to explore how women and men employ panic to communicate, construct, manage and resist a particular kinds of gendered identity. We find that women and men’s understandings of their experiences with panic involve gendered feeling rules (Hochschild, 1979) that are reinforced through the medically-institutionalised claim that panic is a “woman’s problem.”

Olsted, R., & Bischoping, K. (2012). Men, masculinities and constructions of self in panic discourse. Journal of Men's Studies, 20(3), 274-286. doi:10.3149/jms.2003.274

Literature review/Meta-analysis:

This literature review of dance and sexual expression considers dance and religion, dance and sexuality as a source of power, manifestations of sexuality in Western theater art and social dance, plus ritual and non-Western social dance. Expressions of gender, sexual orientation, asexuality, ambiguity, and adult entertainment exotic dance are presented. Prominent concerns in the literature are the awareness, closeting, and denial of sexuality in dance; conflation of sexual expression and promiscuity of gender and sexuality, of nudity and sexuality, and of dancer intention and observer interpretation; and inspiration for infusing sexuality into dance. Numerous disciplines (American studies, anthropology, art history, comparative literature, criminology, cultural studies, communication, dance, drama, English, history, history of consciousness, journalism, law, performance studies, philosophy, planning, retail geography, psychology, social work, sociology, and theater arts) have explored dance and sexual expression, drawing upon the following concepts, which are not mutually exclusive: critical cultural theory, feminism, colonialism, Orientalism, postmodernism, poststructuralism, queer theory, and semiotics. Methods of inquiry include movement analysis, historical investigation, anthropological fieldwork, auto-ethnography, focus groups, surveys, and self-reflection or autobiographical narrative. Directions for future exploration are addressed.

Hanna, J. L. (2010). Dance and sexuality: Many moves. Journal of Sex Research, 47(2/3), 212-241. doi:10.1080/00224491003599744

This paper analyzes gendered social identity in Japan and the United States, countries with comparable postindustrial economic systems but distinct cultural traditions. Using national surveys (1995), we find gender differences in value orientations to be neither systematic nor consistent. They often disappeared after controlling for demographic and human-capital variables, though not so often for Japan. Other variables proved more important predictors of values than gender, although in different ways in Japan and the United States. We conclude by reassessing the use of the term gender in social research and the cultural meaning of gender relations by addressing the feminist concerns with issues of gender location.

Levey, T., & Silver, C. (2006). Gender and value orientations-What's the difference!? The case of Japan and the United States. Sociological Forum, 21(4), 659-691. doi:10.1007/s11206-006 -9038-y

Theory-oriented paper:

In this paper, I critically develop the Jain concept of non-harm as a feminist philosophical concept that calls for a change in our relation to living beings, specifically to animals. I build on the work of Josephine Donovan, Carol J. Adams, Jacques Derrida, Kelly Oliver, and Lori Gruen to argue for a change from an ethic of care and dialogue to an ethic of carefulness and non-possession. I expand these discussions by considering the Jain philosophy of non-harm (ahimsa) in relation to feminist and other theories that advocate non-eating of animals, “humane killing,” and “less harm.” Finally, I propose that a feminist appropriation of the Jain concept of non-harm helps us develop a feminist ethic of non-harm to all living beings.

Aristarkhova, I. (2012). Thou shall not harm all living beings: Feminism, Jainism, and animals. Hypatia, 27(3), 636-650. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2012.01281.x

Little research has been done on anti-feminism, whether from the perspective of the sociology of social movements or even of women’s studies. Yet, a particular form of anti-feminism has been at work for a number of years, more specifically, masculinism. Its discourse claims that men are in crisis because of the feminization of society and it mobilizes primarily around issues pertaining to the interests of fathers and spouses (divorce laws, alimony, child custody, violence). This article examines two alternative explanations of the masculinist phenomenon: (1) men have real problems, and masculinists scapegoat women and feminists instead of targeting the true causes of their problems, such as the transformation of the labor market; (2) masculinism is openly opposed to feminism and is thus the result of countermovement dynamics. While referring to other contexts (UK, the USA, etc.), our paper takes the situation in Québec (Canada) as a case study. The feminist movement and masculinism are dynamic there and stand in sharp opposition to each other. The essay applies the theory of countermovements in order to better understand the oppositional relationship between these two political forces and demonstrates ultimately that masculinism effects on feminists are at times paradoxical.

Blais, M., & Dupuis-Déri, F. (2012). Masculinism and the antifeminist countermovement. Social Movement Studies, 11(1), 21-39. doi:10.1080/14742837.2012.640532

Objectification is a notion central to contemporary feminist theory. It has famously been associated with the work of anti-pornography feminists Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, and more recently with the work of Martha Nussbaum. However, objectification is a notion that has not yet been adequately defined. It has been used rather vaguely to refer to a broad range of cases involving, in some way or another, the treatment of a person (usually a woman) as an object. My purpose in this paper is to offer a plausible understanding of objectification. I do that by focusing on the work of four prominent thinkers: Immanuel Kant, and contemporary feminists Catharine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin and Martha Nussbaum. Through drawing on these thinkers’ conceptions of objectification, I am finally led to a more complete and coherent understanding of this notion.

Papadaki, L. (2010). What is objectification? Journal of Moral Philosophy, 7(1), 16-36. doi:10.1163/174046809X12544019606067

In this article, the gender and development paradigm is critically reviewed and an alternative framework of research –identities of women– is proposed. This article contends that the gender and development paradigm is primarily guided by the tenets of Western feminisms and economic development. The article also highlights other limitations of the paradigm, including its preoccupation with male–female inequalities, macro generalisations and symbolic representation of women and a limited inclusion of local contexts. The identities of women framework proposes to address the limitations of the gender and development paradigm by studying women’s conception of their environment and women’s understanding of their relationship with these environments. The identities of women framework is informed by poststructuralist critique of feminism, cultural anthropology and a socio-psychological approach to identity.

Singh, S. (2007). Deconstructing ‘gender and development’ for ‘identities of women’. International Journal of Social Welfare, 16(2), 100-109. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2397.2006.00454.x

Case Study:

Many studies have shown that female managers have to work harder than men to gain recognition, and that this often leads top female managers away from the leadership style characterized by soft skills and emotional understanding. Instead, another characterization can be seen; that of tough gendered machines fighting their way to the top — cyborgs. This article uses Haraway’s metaphor of the cyborg to explore the way in which a top female manger tries to fight for gender equality by employing masculine strategies with a female body. However, contrary to the usual argument that women become masculinized leaders, the article argues for a reading in which female leadership becomes both excessively masculine and excessively feminine, challenging simplified readings of gendered leadership. In the case-study, this leads to a situation where high-performance behaviour from a top female leader in effect ends up reinforcing gender inequality.

Muhr, S. L. (2011). Caught in the gendered machine: On the masculine and feminine in cyborg leadership. Gender, Work & Organization, 18(3), 337-357. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0432.2010.00529.x