UMD Theses and Dissertations
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Item NEWS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE: ASSESSING THE EFFICACY OF FEMINIST INTERVENTIONS ON JOURNALISTIC PRACTICES(2024) Mulupi, Dinfin Koyonjo; Steiner, Linda; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation intervenes in news coverage of sexual violence by examining pathways to better journalistic practices from a feminist perspective. This is accomplished through a transnational multi-method approach combining qualitative data analyses and experimental surveys. The study begins by examining recommendations for better news coverage of sexual violence as articulated by feminist scholars, feminist NGOs and anti-gender violence activists. This is followed by analysis of feminist media coverage of sexual violence to determine to what extent they adhere to the best practices recommended by feminist scholars and activists. The dissertation then employs experimental surveys to test the effectiveness of feminist best practices in altering audiences’ attitudes toward victims and perpetrators. The data analyzed in this study include scientific/academic journal articles, book chapters and books grounded in feminist theories (N =42), institutional reports published by feminist NGOs and other anti-sexual violence collective groups (N =25), news and commentary of sexual violence (N = 122) published by five feminist media outlets (Jezebel, Ms., The 19th, New African Woman, and gal-dem), and surveys administered to participants in the US and South Africa (N =496). The study focuses on three feminist theories that prescribe alternatives to normative journalistic practices; advocates argue that intersectionality, feminist ethics of care, and Feminist Standpoint Epistemology (FSE) potential could reform news coverage of sexual violence and other important social issues. A fourth feminist concept, counterpublics, is used to theorize the journalism produced by feminist media outlets serving subaltern communities/audiences. This dissertation advances journalism theory and practice. The majority of extant literature has pointed at what is wrong in news accounts of sexual violence (Ndhlovu, 2020; Noetzel et al., 2023; Mulupi & Blumell, 2023, 2024). This study deviates from the norm by focusing on solutions and “highlighting steps toward improved coverage” (Cuklanz, 2022, p.322). By emphasizing on recommendations made by feminist scholarship/activism (as opposed to say everybody that has something to say about journalistic guidelines), the study crystallized a feminist vision of how to achieve better journalism on sexual violence. The best practices recommended by feminist scholars and anti-gender violence activists articulated an alternative model of journalism — a feminist, trauma-informed, decolonial, survivor-centered praxis committed to social justice goals. Furthermore, this dissertation contributes to the theory and literature on feminist counterpublics by illuminating how feminist media offer discursive arenas to challenge dominant ideologies on sexual violence and gender norms. The study also contributes to feminist theorization of journalism by demonstrating the applicability of feminist theories in the everyday journalism practiced by feminist media. Furthermore, findings of the quasi-experimental surveys administered to participants in the US and South Africa support the effectiveness of applying feminist perspectives in news coverage of sexual violence: news coverage that includes feminist best practices (e.g., survivor centered framing, diverse sources, intersectionality, use of statistics etc) may indeed help audiences believe the complaints of victim-survivors, be less likely to victim-blame, and have greater levels of empathy toward the victim. This dissertation also offers practical contributions by compiling and presenting recommendations for news coverage to journalists, copy editors and editors. Overall, this study advances knowledge and theory about journalism practice, and demonstrates practical application and effectiveness of feminist theorizing in improving journalistic practices.Item Connection in the Lives of LGBTQ+ South Asians: A Phenomenological Study(2023) Pasha, Amber Maryam; Worthington, Roger L; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Connection has been found to be an important factor for LGBTQ+ wellbeing as it pertains to the relationships between stigma, discrimination, and psychological distress, and LGBTQ+ people of color in particular are known to face intersectional minority stress at high levels. This study examined the role of connection specifically for LGBTQ+ South Asians, a population which is highly underrepresented within both LGBTQ+ and South Asian literatures. Fifteen LGBTQ+ second-generation South Asian adults, aged 19-35, were interviewed about their insights regarding connection and disconnection within their own lived experience. Interview transcripts were analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and revealed common experiential themes across the group of interviewees, which reflected three distinct forms of connection participants deemed as distinctly meaningful: i) interpersonal connections and context ii) intrapersonal connection, and iii) indirect connection. Subthemes reflected unique challenges, joys, struggles, and examples of LGBTQ+ South Asian resilience in each of these life areas. Implications of these findings are discussed for counseling professionals, higher education professionals, community organizations, and others seeking to better understand and support the wellbeing of this population.Item Modeling Wise Angers Online: Generation Z Activists and Their Digital Rhetorics of Feminist Rage(2023) Starr, Brittany Noelle Schoedel; Enoch, Jessica; English Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)“Modeling Wise Angers Online: Generation Z Activists and Their Digital Rhetorics of Feminist Rage” works at the nexus of feminist theory, digital media studies, and rhetoric to investigate how teen and young adult activists use 21st century social media technologies to challenge the sexist, racist, ageist, and ableist anger norms that disenfranchise young women in the public sphere. Each chapter theorizes what I call a “wise anger” strategy that its principal subject deploys to generate rhetorical agency for angry girl activists and change oppressive anger norms. The activists I examine are Greta Thunberg, Thandiwe Abdullah, and Shina Novalinga. While their causes range from the climate crisis to racial justice and Indigenous rights, and their primary platforms in my case studies are Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, respectively, they all make innovative, strategic use of digital affordances to reframe young women’s anger in public discourse. Examining datasets I compiled from the activists’ social media posts between 2018-2022, I use grounded theory and rhetorical analysis to identify patterns in the anger expressions in the multimodal, multilayered posts. I read the patterns through feminist and Black feminist theories of oppressive anger norms (Jaggar, Ahmed, Traister, Chemaly, Lorde, Cooper, Judd, Collins), cultural rhetorical frameworks (Powell et al.; Karetak, Tester, and Tagalik) and youth activist rhetorical frameworks (Applegarth, Hesford, Taft, Dingo). This dissertation is premised on the understanding that emotions have a biological basis, but are constructed socially, rhetorically, and culturally and thus tend to be scripted in ways that reproduce asymmetrical relations of power (Aristotle, Dixon, Fine, Gross, Harrington, Koerber). Ultimately, I develop a theory of wise anger as an angry response to injustice that is intelligent, informed, constructive, justice-oriented, hope-driven, rational, reasonable, and moral. The wise anger these youth activists model through their digital rhetorics on social media is part of a genealogy of feminist rage that envisions and enacts a more inclusive, more livable world.Item Energy equity & justice implications of climate change mitigation pathways(2023) Vallimyalil, Mel George A; Patwardhan, Anand; Hultman, Nathan E; Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Analyzing distributional effects on vulnerable sections is important for enhancing climate mitigation ambition by supporting social objectives. Discounting the impacts on the most vulnerable, prior research underestimates the skew in investments required to meet sustainable development goals. Its focus on representative households and cost optimal mitigation pathway archetypes also amplifies false narratives around societal and developmental tradeoffs of mitigation policies. This study demonstrates that bespoke pathway design can support simultaneous attainment of multiple national energy priorities. Using a consistent framework and accounting for interactions between different sectors, it evaluates a set of diverse mitigation pathways to similar climate outcomes. It examines short & long-term distributional impacts on national energy goals to identify pathways which offer synergies across multiple objectives and regions.Next, the impacts are downscaled to the household income deciles in India & the US using household survey data & future income distribution projections, to scrutinize the residential energy burden changes under different mitigation policies. The results show regressive impacts on access and affordability for most mitigation pathways, except those propelled by demand side mitigation strategies and non-CO2 emission reductions. Thereafter, it expands the conceptualization of energy poverty beyond unitary dimensions, binary classifications and income relationships. Applying an alternative framework to identify vulnerable households experiencing energy poverty in India, this study showcases the disparities across dimensions. It then envisions an intersectionality context and proffers empirical evidence of the increased likelihood of households at the overlap of multiple deprivations being entrapped in more severe forms of energy poverty and the concomitant effects on gender inequity. A key finding of this study is that mitigation pathway choice and design matters for just energy transition goals and tailored pathways addressing underlying local and global inequities provide latitude for synergies and progressive impacts. It also establishes that technology solutions alone are unable to redress pre-existing inequities and should be complemented with other support policies for the vulnerable. This study contributes to the scholarship on the need for improved representation of heterogeneity in energy-climate models and offers policy relevance – showing the importance of underlying systemic changes to achieve social & climate goals together.Item Intersectional stigma, self-efficacy, depression, and resilience: a Rasch analysis(2022) Reuben, Jacqueline; Liu, Hongjie; Turpin, Rodman; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Background: Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) are disproportionally affected by negative health outcomes associated with stigma related to both their racial and sexual minority status. Foundational to understanding stigma is the ability to correctly measure this latent construct. The Rasch model is a probabilistic model for analyzing categorical data that was developed to improve the measurement of latent traits. This study, grounded in intersectional minority stress theory, reviewed the application of Rasch analysis in the HIV/AIDS literature (Aim 1) and used the Rasch model to calibrate person measures to assess the interrelationships among internalized stigma, resilience, self-efficacy, and psychologic well-being among BMSM (Aims 2 and 3). Methods: For Aim 1, we conducted a systematic review of the literature following PRISMA guidelines. Aims 2 and 3 used data from a cross-sectional online survey of 151 HIV-negative BMSM in 2020. For Aim 2, we conducted Rasch analysis to assess the psychometric properties of the internalized racism (IR), internalized homophobia (IH), self-efficacy, and resilience scales. For Aim 3, we used linear regression and path analysis of the Rasch-calibrated person measures to examine the mediating and modifying effects of self-efficacy and resilience on the relationship between intersectional stigma and depressive symptoms. Results: For Aim 1, after screening 183 articles, 45 articles were included in the analysis. Strengths and weaknesses of using the Rasch approach were summarized. For Aim 2, the final IR scale had a person reliability and separation of 0.91 and 3.13, respectively, and an item reliability and separation of 0.94 and 4.01, respectively. The final IH scale had a person reliability and separation of 0.88 and 2.72, respectively, and an item reliability and separation of 0.79 and 1.95, respectively. For Aim 3, IR (β=0.296, 95% CI [0.133, 0.458]) and IH (β=0.414, 95% CI [0.204,0.623]) were independently and positively associated with depression in multivariable models controlling for age, income, and relationship status. Resilience and self-efficacy modified the relationship between IH and depression (βIHxRES=-0.034, 95% CI [-0.060, -0.008] and βIHxSE=-.056, 95% CI [-0.113, 0.00], respectively), but there was no evidence of effect modification by resilience or self-efficacy on the association between IR and depression. Public health implications: Our findings suggest that interventions targeting multiply marginalized groups such as BMSM that address co-occurring forms of stigma and foster positive self-evaluation and coping skills may reduce the negative consequences of internalized stigma on mental health outcomes.Item Exploring Psychosocial and Structural Syndemic Effects as Predictors for HIV-Related Outcomes among Black Women(2022) Watson, Lakeshia; Dyer, Typhanye; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Black women continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV with marked disparities in HIV incidence, prevalence, and care outcomes. There is a critical need to explore the role of psychosocial and structural factors and the negative impact of these factors on HIV-related outcomes, including HIV risk behaviors, HIV medication adherence, and healthcare utilization. This research uses the syndemic theory to measure the effects of both psychosocial and structural syndemics on HIV-related outcomes among Black women. Syndemic theory is a theoretical framework, which posits there are multiple, overlapping factors that form a cumulative and synergistic effect on HIV disease burden. The substance abuse, violence and AIDS (SAVA) syndemic, clustering effects of substance use, intimate partner abuse, and HIV/AIDS, have been applied in studies exploring HIV outcomes among women; however, the SAVA syndemic framework does not include additional psychosocial and structural factors such as food insecurity, housing instability, incarceration, post -traumatic stress disorder, and depression to better understand the syndemic profiles of Black women. Using study data from the HIV Prevention Trials Network 061 Women’s Seroincidence study and the Women’s Interagency HIV Study, we tested whether a cumulative syndemic of psychosocial and structural factors contributed to sexual risk behaviors and HIV care outcomes. The studies will assess three parameterizations of syndemic factors: cumulative syndemic index, syndemic group indices reflecting the level of influence (psychosocial, participant-level, and neighborhood), and number of syndemic groups (0, 1, 2, or 3). We also tested whether HIV status modified the relationships between a cumulative syndemic of psychosocial and structural factors and sexual risk behaviors. In study 1, a higher syndemic score was significantly associated with increased prevalence of unknown HIV status of last male sex partner (aPR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.04-1.10), engaging in exchange sex (aPR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.14-1.20), and having multiple sex partners (aPR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.06-1.09) among a sample of 1,347 Black women. In study 2, generalized linear mixed models found that being in two syndemic groups was associated with increased odds of reporting unknown HIV status of last male sex partners (aOR=3.04, 95% CI: 1.24-7.44) and having multiple sex partners (aOR=4.29, 95% CI: 1.81-10.18) among 1,364 Black women living with and without HIV across twelve follow-up visits. We also found that being in all three syndemic groups was associated with increased odds of reporting inconsistent condom use (aOR= 2.15, 95% CI: 1.28-3.61), unknown HIV status of last male sex partners (aOR=5.26, 95% CI: 1.94-14.25), and having multiple sex partners (aOR=7.47, 95% CI: 2.85-19.58). Among a total of 969 Black women living with HIV in study 3, a higher cumulative syndemic score and a higher neighborhood-level structural syndemic group score was associated with increased odds of reporting sub-optimal HIV medication adherence (aOR=1.04, 95% CI: 1.01-1.06 and 1.08, respectively). Black women in all three syndemic groups had increased odds of reporting sub-optimal HIV medication adherence (OR=2.88, 95% CI: 1.32-6.29) and missed HIV appointments (OR=3.39, 95% CI: 1.06-10.92). Results from these studies highlight the evidence of psychosocial and structural syndemic effects on multiple HIV risk and care outcomes among Black women.Item Identity Conflict Among Religious Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals: The Role of Coping Strategies on Psychological Distress(2021) Yeung, Jeffrey Garrick; Lent, Robert W; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Sexual minority people experience more negative physical and mental health compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people who also identify as religious and spiritual may experience additional negative health outcomes especially in the case that their religious and spiritual values, beliefs, and practices come into conflict with their sexual minority identity. Applying minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003) and the integrative psychological mediation model (Hatzenbuehler, 2009), the present study takes an intersectionality approach (Crenshaw,1989) that examines the relationship between LGB and religious identity conflict and psychological distress and whether religious coping and discrimination-based (i.e., internalization and detachment) coping strategies meditate this link. Participants consisted of 469 religious LGB Christian adults in the United States who took an online survey. Results from a parallel multiple mediator analysis (Hayes, 2018) revealed that religious LGB identity conflict was indirectly related to more psychological distress via internalization coping, detachment coping, and negative religious coping. Unexpectedly, positive religious coping was not significantly related to the study variables, nor did it mediate the identity conflict and psychological distress link. Findings provide evidence for integration and application of intersectionality, minority stress, and psychological mediation theories to examine intersectional identity conflict between one’s LGB and religious identity, identity-specific coping meditators, and psychological distress. A discussion of the study results, limitations, and implications for future research and practice follows.Item Intersectional Stereotyping in Political Campaigns(2019) Hicks, Heather Mary; Banks, Antoine J.; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Political scientists have debated whether gender stereotypes influence support for women candidates. Similarly, scholars have examined how racism among whites affects evaluations of minority candidates. Yet, rarely have political scientists considered how racism and gender bias intersect when a female minority candidate runs for office. In this dissertation, I propose a theory of intersectional stereotyping, which argues that evaluations of black women candidates are influenced by unique stereotypes based on the intersection of race and gender. Specifically, I argue that stereotypes associating black women with agentic traits (such as assertiveness, dominance, and anger) put black women at a disadvantage when they run for elected office. I hypothesize that members of racial or gender out-groups will penalize black women candidates when they receive campaign information consistent with these agentic stereotypes. On the other hand, I expect that black women will reward an agentic black female candidate because these traits suggest that the candidate is willing and able to stand up for the interests of black women. I test these expectations using a content analysis and two national survey experiments (one using a sample of whites and the other using a sample of blacks). In my content analysis of the 2018 Democratic primary for governor of Georgia, I find that Stacey Abrams, the black female candidate, was more likely to be described with agentic traits, especially negative agentic traits, in newspaper coverage than Stacey Evans, her white female opponent. My experimental data demonstrates that this media coverage of agentic traits puts black women at a disadvantage among white voters. White voters are more likely to penalize a black female candidate for acting in an assertive manner than identical white female and black male candidates. However, I find no penalty or reward for the assertive black female candidate among black voters. This research underscores the importance of studying the influence of race and gender in politics simultaneously. We cannot fully understand the effects of race and gender on support for minority women candidates by studying these concepts in isolation from one another.Item “What Are We?” A Narrative Study of the “Trickiness” of Identity for Asian American College Students(2018) Kim, Yoolee Choe; Park, Julie J.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Asian Americans are a significant and growing population in U.S. higher education, yet their positionality within the U.S. racial landscape has often been unclear. Acknowledged as neither Black nor White, Asian Americans have occupied an often marginalized yet nonetheless racialized position, which has disguised much of their lived experience as racial beings. This study sought to understand how Asian American college students see themselves as racial beings by exploring the role and salience of race and its intersections with other social identities. Using intersectionality as a theoretical framework, this narrative inquiry study was guided by the following research questions: (a) how do Asian American college students describe and make meaning of their racial identity; (b) in what ways, if any, do their other social identities, such as gender, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, religion, ability status, socioeconomic class, and immigrant generation status, interact with the way Asian American college students describe and make meaning of their racial identity; and (c) how do Asian American college students experience the intersections of their multiple social identities? Following in-depth interviews with four Asian American college students representing a range of identity backgrounds, individual narratives were written for each participant, telling the story of how they came to make meaning of their racial identity, other salient identities, and their intersections. A metanarrative was then generated based on the commonalities of participants’ stories. Through these narratives, the lived experiences of Asian Americans as racial beings were centered. For these four participants, identifying as Asian American was a conscious choice whose meaning was created through reflection on experiences with race, often in conjunction with intersecting identities. Systems of power, oppression, and privilege acted upon those intersections and indelibly shaped the way participants made meaning of their identities, as illuminated by intersectional analysis. The study’s findings indicate paths for future research on Asian American identity development, particularly using critical theoretical perspectives that foreground the influence of systems of power and oppression. The findings also suggest implications for supporting Asian American students and for developing and integrating intersectional approaches in order to create more socially just and inclusive institutions.Item Resisting Reproductive Regulation in Early Twentieth Century American Women's Fiction(2017) DePriest, Elizabeth Ann; Mallios, Peter L; English Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Resisting Reproductive Regulation contributes to a growing body of criticism about how women participated in early twentieth century debates about reproduction in the United States. While the mainstream American birth control movement led to the legalization of contraception, it gained popular support by prioritizing the desires of married white women who were able-bodied, born in the United States, and members of the middle and upper classes. Because birth control advocates embraced eugenics and condemned abortion, their campaigns resulted in greater reproductive regulation for many women deemed “unfit” for reproduction by eugenicists, including unmarried, poor, non-white, immigrant, and disabled women. Resisting Reproductive Regulation examines the fiction written by American women during this period that challenges this limited agenda. These writers insist that women should be able to control the reproductive potential of their own bodies, regardless of their circumstances or forms of embodiment, and they examine the negative consequences that reproductive regulation enacts in American women’s lives. As a result, their texts depict women’s reproductive struggles in ways that anticipate late twentieth and early twenty-first century intersectional campaigns for reproductive justice. Though Mary Hunter Austin, Josephine Herbst, and Katherine Anne Porter each enjoyed relative privilege as white, American-born, and generally able-bodied women, each experienced reproductive difficulties in her own life. Each subsequently challenged mainstream birth control advocacy from this period in her fiction by grappling with those difficulties and examining the conditions that caused them. In so doing, these writers expose the prejudices encoded in the arguments upon which early twentieth century American eugenicists and birth control advocates relied. Resisting Reproductive Regulation argues that their fiction reveals inextricable relationships between the reproductive regulations American women faced and American prejudices about (dis)ability, sexuality, class, race, and/or country of origin. By addressing these connections, these writers explore the ways that reproductive regulations secure and perpetuate existing patriarchal, nationalist, white supremacist, heteronormative, capitalistic, and ableist systems of power. By advocating for women to be able to control the reproductive potential of their own bodies, these writers also attempt to interrupt the reproduction of these systems of power. Further, American women writing about contraception, abortion, and reproduction in the early decades of the twentieth century knew their depictions of these topics were subject to censorship, suppression, and marginalization. This dissertation argues that these writers resisted this form of reproductive regulation as well, developing innovative narrative and aesthetic techniques in order to communicate with readers about reproductive issues. While some of their concerns and experiences were successfully suppressed and marginalized during their lives, Austin, Herbst, and Porter each preserved illuminating materials in their personal archives. This dissertation recovers many of those materials, which provide new context within which to examine their published fiction and to recognize their literary and feminist contributions.