Dissenting Voices: Recent submissions
Now showing items 1-20 of 130
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Dissenting Voices Volume 13 (Spring 2024)We raise our voices, our fists in resistance. We insist that all individuals should have the right to bodily autonomy and reproductive healthcare. Our goal is to push back against society norms around gender expectations, and we realize the deep connection between veganism and feminism. We, as feminists, advocate for the rights, mental health, and well-being of transgender individuals. We lay bare our frustration and fight through our wearied eyes and souls as we grapple for empathy and equality for all. We recognize intersectionality and use that to combat injustice. Table of Contents: Bek Orr: Note from the Editor…1; Women and Gender Studies Senior Seminar Class of 2024: Our Voices…3; Bella Markarian: Women’s Lives in the Middle East and their Relationship to the Hijab…5; Elisabeth Marryshow: When Colonization is not History: The Continued Exploitation of Palestine, Haiti, and African Nations…12; Jesse Hall: Masculinity Reimagined Through a Vegan Lens: A Manifesto…21; Josie Westmiller: The Overturn of Roe: Influencing Maternal Mortality…35; Keegan J. Beamish: Age of Empowerment: A Feminist Discourse Supporting Traditional Wives…43.
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Misrepresentation of Queer Folks in TheatreThis essay uses content analysis to explain the misrepresentation of queer folks in theatre. This topic is important because a lack of proper representation can harm young queer people. I hope readers understand the information presented and advocate for proper representation.
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The Reality of Maternal MortalityThis paper explores the racial disparities of maternal mortality, with a focus on the disparities between Black and White women. This topic is important because it is not gaining enough attention on a national scale and it highlights the fact that institutional racism is still very well prevalent in the medical world (e.g., Tuskegee syphilis study, sterilization of Puerto Rican women or the exploitation of Henrietta Lacks’ (HeLa) cells). I hope to bring knowledge on how racism and medical implicit bias can affect people’s quality of life specifically women of color.
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Stolen Sisters…Violence against Indigenous WomenThis essay investigates the violence perpetrated against Indigenous women using a social constructivist and feminist perspective. This topic is important because it is often overlooked by society and the media. The violence and assault that Native women experience is an epidemic that has been an ongoing issue that has plagued the Indigenous community. I hope readers will understand the importance that all women regardless of race or class deserve to feel safe.
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Not Woman Enough: A Trans Lesbian EpistemologyThis essay explores the concepts of epistemic oppression and gender essentialism from a transfeminist, transfeminine, lesbian lens utilizing a mixed-methods autoethnography which incorporates elements of discourse analysis and phenomenology. This topic is important because of the continued underrepresentation of trans, especially transfeminine, voices in the study of trans experiences. I hope that readers will examine their own relationship with gender essentialism.
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The Changes in Sexuality Over Time Through Life ExperiencesThis essay explores the evidence of changes in sexuality that may occur throughout time during the course of many women's lives. The multiple theories proposed in this essay include ideas addressing variation in sexual attitudes and desires as different life experiences present themselves. This essay challenges biology and the concept of nature and nurture in a way that sexuality can be a result of both, not just one or the other. By having an understanding of how sexuality can change, we can begin to acknowledge the women who are struggling with these newfound inclinations and find ways to help them continue on with their lives as desired.
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Healthcare Inferno: Exposing Medical Bias and Recounting StoriesThis essay explores medical/healthcare bias, its harms, and how it has personally impacted my health and been exacerbated by my social identities. This topic is important because healthcare bias is under-recognized and causes people to suffer and even die. My goal is to educate readers on healthcare bias and inspire healthcare professionals to work on their biases.
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Dissenting Voices Volume 12Epistemic control of gender oppresses us. We challenge biology and the concept of nature and nurture in a way that sexuality can be a result of both, not just one or the other. We argue that violence and assault against Native women is an ongoing epidemic that plagues the indigenous community. We confront the toxic misrepresentation of queer identity in theatre. We expose the detrimental impacts of healthcare bias and highlight ways healthcare bias increases Black maternal death. We come together in strength and unity to dismantle oppressive systems around us. Leana Colletti (she/her), Julie Kim (she/her), Kendra Mace (she/her), Alexis Rivera (she/her), Kylene Smith (she/her), Kay Timmons (they/them) Table of Contents: Opening Voices-- Kay Timmons: Not Woman Enough: A Trans Lesbian Epistemology..1; Kylene Smith: Stolen Sisters…Violence against Indigenous Women ..13. More Voices --Alexis Rivera: Nature and Nurture: The Changes in Sexuality Over Time Through Life Experiences.. 23; Kendra Mace: The Misrepresentation of Queer Folks in Theatre..31. Closing Voices-- Leana Colletti: Healthcare Inferno: Exposing Medical Bias and Recounting Stories..41; Julie Kim: The Reality of Maternal Mortality..53
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Breaking the Binary: Failure to Adhere to the Laws of the Traditional Gender BinaryThis essay provides a framework for conceptualizing the social construction of the traditional gender binary within a patriarchal society. The research explores the history of the singular they as well as gender nonconforming identities through a socio-historical lens and utilizes the Social Role (Eagly & Wood, 2011) and Social Identity Theories (Tajfel, 1972) to argue the importance of language and performativity in conceptualizing gender identity, gender performance, and biological sex.
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Sex-Based Discrimination in the Workplace: A Closer LookWorkplace discrimination is common in businesses all over the United States. It is crucial to understand different components of discrimination, like bullying, the wage gap, and verbal invalidation which I discuss in this essay. I also offer a possible solution to workplace discrimination and detail the gender wage gap across time.
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Menstruation and Restrooms: The Gender Nonconforming Community's OppressorsThis essay focuses on the struggles of menstruation and public bathrooms for gender nonconforming communities. This topic is important because the barriers faced by gender nonconforming communities are frequently ignored and create a harmful environment. I argue the importance of menstrual product accessibility because it is important for those who menstruate to have the necessary products available in all public spaces. I also argue for bathroom equality because everyone deserves a bathroom they feel comfortable and safe in. I hope to raise awareness about the importance of bathroom equality and convince readers of how beneficial it truly is for those who identify as gender nonconforming to be heard.
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LGBTQIA+ Experiences in Nursing Home SettingsThis essay looks at the experiences of queer individuals and their treatment in healthcare settings; specifically, in nursing homes. The essay focuses on the treatment of queer workers in nursing homes based on a personal account and the treatment of queer individuals living in nursing homes based on research and stories.
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An Impasse of Belonging: An Exploration of How Language Impacts IdentityThis essay seeks to identify how the use of language inherently impacts identity. Through the use of historical and influential texts, the essay draws attention to how language as an entity over time has evolved and adapted to continuously perpetuate inequalities. In this essay specifically, the inequalities that are discussed at length are lived and experienced by bisexual women.
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Dissenting Voices Volume 11Table of Contents. Opening Voices: Meghan Martin An Impasse of Belonging: An Exploration of How Gender Impacts Identity. More Voices: Brandon Eldredge: LGBTQIA+ Experiences in Nursing Home Settings. Samantha Holmes: Menstruation and Restrooms: The Gender Nonconforming Community's Oppressors. Beth Heberger: Sex-based Discrimination in the Workplace: A Closer Look. Closing Voices. Riley Johnson: Breaking the Binary: Failure to Adhere to the Laws of the Traditional Gender Binary.
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Intersecting Identities: Middle Eastern Women in Dual CulturesDual cultures are an experience known only to people who live in two cultures. I was inspired by my poetry and the experiences that I and my family went through as women as well as the stories of Middle Eastern women I read. They lived in dual cultures and experienced violence in their homelands alongside wars and sexism from both cultures they lived in. In the Western culture, they also experienced racism. I, as an Iraqi, tend to turn to poetry to express the variety of injustices I observed, and my people tend to do that. We are well known for our poetry that speaks about our experiences.
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Disability Representations in High School English CurriculumThis essay explores the common misconceptions of disability, why disability representation is important, and provides an example of disability studies application through the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003).
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When I Realized I was the Gay Best Friend: Queer Media Representation and the “Coming Out” ProcessThis essay examines queer representation in widespread media and its impact during the coming out process. I examine three coming out stories in popular media and use my own story to shine a light on the challenges of coming out as LGBTQIA+. I hope readers who are struggling with coming out can use these examples to voice their LGBTQIA+ stories.
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Is Our Medical Community Failing Women? The PTSD Epidemic among Women in the United StatesPTSD has become fairly recognized within the United States Medical Community. Experts have begun to expand PTSD research beyond the confines of PTSD due to war and have begun looking at PTSD in the civilian populations. Due to this advancement in research, we now know that certain identities, like gender, can put someone at a higher risk for developing PTSD. In this essay I argue that even though we are aware that gender, and more specifically being a woman, can increase someone’s chances of developing PTSD, we still see women being misdiagnosed and mistreated by medical professionals. I examine this perspective through an analysis of current PTSD literature regarding women and compare it to my own experience as a young woman who sought out PTSD diagnosis and treatment.
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Looking into the Prevalence of Substance Abuse among the LGBTQIA+ PopulationIn this essay, I explore the prevalence of and reasons for substance abuse among the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, & Asexual, or LGBTQIA+ community and ways to lessen the stigma and provide for more adequate treatment opportunities.
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STOP: The Sexualization of Women & GirlsThis essay argues that the current mainstream Western beauty ideal in the United States both fetishizes the prepubescent female body and infantilizes the adult female body. This intersection works together to create impossible standards for women and girls and ultimately can perpetuate sexual violence against women and girls.
