Transforming the label of ‘whore’

Pragmatics ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Skapoulli
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Peer Culture ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Gender Ideologies ◽  
Teenage Girls ◽  
And Gender

This article examines how gender ideologies linked to global processes such as migration and the spread of youth popular culture pose certain challenges for teenage girls who live in patriarchal social contexts. Drawing on a corpus of ethnographic data at a multiethnic middle school in Cyprus, the article focuses on the ways in which language practices mediate this experience and the possibilities that language envelops in the process of gender identity formation in globalizing times. At the intersection of contradictory ideologies ranging from the school’s religious gender discourse, which promotes modesty and chastity, to the predominant media discourse of femininity, which highlights female sexuality, girls’ gender identity claims become fraught with moral implications. In the local peer culture, girls are placed on a fabricated and culturally widespread “virgin-whore” continuum along which different cultural groups – which are often equated with ethnic groups – are evaluated. Paradoxically, girls who embrace sexual freedom (either in practice or rhetorically) may in fact exercise agency and become empowered precisely because of early adolescents’ fascination with sexuality. These girls draw largely on the dominant discourse of femininity abundantly marketed by global media and the pop culture. They thus manage to explore alternative ideas about agency and gender in a locally rebellious manner that defies the traditionalist female roles that school and church promote.

scholarly journals Identity as Resistance: Identity Formation at the Intersection of Race, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Cerezo ◽  
Mariah Cummings ◽  
Meredith Holmes ◽  
Chelsey Williams
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Constructivist Grounded Theory ◽  
Future Research ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact

Although the concept of intersectionality has gained widespread attention in psychological research, there remains a significant gap related to the impact of intersectionality on identity formation for persons negotiating multiple minority statuses. This gap is especially pronounced among sexual and gender expansive women of Latinx and African American descent—two groups that face disparate personal and public health risks but are largely ignored in the research literature. In response to this gap, we carried out a qualitative study using constructivist grounded theory with 20 Latinx and African American sexual minority, gender expansive women to understand participants’ experiences of forming an intersectional social identity. Following an exploration of identity formation related to the specific domains of race, gender identity, and sexual orientation, we prompted participants to consider how each of the specified identity domains impacted the formation and experience of an overall intersectional identity (e.g., how racial position impacted gender identity and/or sexual identity formation). Findings revealed four major themes that were critical in identity formation: (a) family and cultural expectations, (b) freedom to explore identity, (c) the constant negotiation of insider/outsider status, and (d) identity integration as an act of resistance. Implications for future research and psychological services are discussed.

scholarly journals GENDER IDENTITY FORMATION OF INDONESIAN WOMAN EFL TEACHERS: BECAUSE WOMB-MAN DOES EXIST

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Chris Asanti
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
English Language ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Cultural Movements ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
And Gender

This study aims at investigating the gender identity formation of some Indonesian women EFL teachers as they had experiences in advancing their study abroad. The study adopted a qualitative methodology within a feminist framework. The data were generated from some women who had been teaching English in Indonesia for at least two years prior to coming to another country to further their education. Through self-completion questionnaires and focus group interviews, the participants shared their lived-experiences and their adjustments as they were exposed to different cultural movements transnationally, between Indonesia and another country. How these women EFL teachers construct their gender identity during their transnational movement and how English actually influences these processes is the focus of the study. The findings reveal how the processes of gender identity construction were formed through governmental policy and socio-cultural values in the society. The findings also show how for these women EFL teachers their professional milieu was a site of contestation for women to promote their status in the society and gender equality. Finally the study highlights that English language is viewed as a benefit to elevate women’s social status as it facilitated their socialization in professional and educational contexts when they furthered their study in another country. Drawing on the findings, further research is suggested around the issue of gender identity construction of men EFL teachers in order to get more comprehensive picture.Keywords: gender identity, women EFL teachers, English language 

Performativity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Rak
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
General Acceptance ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Foundational Work ◽  
The Impact

The concept of performativity is foundational to the study of gender, but arguably no concept within gender studies has been more misunderstood and misapplied. A journey through the development of performativity as a critical tool from its beginnings in linguistics and philosophy, to its foundational work in poststructuralism and then its general acceptance within the study of gender shows how and why the concept of performativity is at once obvious and difficult to grasp, connected as it is to ordinary life and speech and to abstract theories of identification, all at once. J. L. Austin proposed performatives as utterances that were not constative, in that they were not verifiable, famously arguing that performatives are illocutionary, because they “do” an action as they are said or written. Austin’s focus included the environment or scene of the utterance, where speakers and situation had to match the intent of the performative in order for it to work. From then on, performatives became the subject of linguistics and speech act theory, and then were important to many critical theorists, notably Shoshana Felman, Jean-François Lyotard, Jacques Derrida, and Judith Butler, all of whom developed postmodern and poststructural approaches to language and representation which saw that performatives offered an alternative route to thinking about how meaning is produced. Poststructuralists interested in the work of language and politics found performatives helpful for thinking about the impact and force of statements. Judith Butler, who in particular is associated with poststructural thinking about performatives, developed a theory of performativity which linked it to ways of doing gender. In her rethinking of performativity and gender, discourse and repetition construct a sense of what gender identity is. Performativity in Butler’s view explains how gender identity constructs subjects and then is connected (often falsely or painfully) to ideas about sex assignment, bodies and sexuality, although the constant repetition of gender norms can result in new and unexpected ways of being gendered. Performativity in Butler’s work is not performance, although it has been widely interpreted that way, because performativity does not assume that a subject pre-exists its discursive construction. The repetition and reiteration of gender norms provides a fiction of interiority and identity for subjects, although Butler leaves open the possibility of the remainder, or excess, that has political potential to make other kinds of gender identities. Performativity was hotly debated within feminist theory, queer theory, and trans theory because Butler’s version of the concept critiqued the work of agency while still insisting on the importance of politics. Eventually, the concept became central to non-essentialist approaches to identity formation.

scholarly journals Strategic Transformation: Cultural and Gender Identity Negotiation in First-Generation Vietnamese Youth

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 853-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Stritikus ◽  
Diem Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
School Site ◽  
The Social ◽  
Full Picture ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Strategic Transformation

This article explores the various ways in which recent Vietnamese immigrant students form cultural and gender identities as they transition to U.S. schooling. Using data from a 2-year qualitative study that tracked the social and academic adjustment processes of recent Vietnamese immigrant youth, this article examines the tensions that students struggle with as they bring their own values and practices into the school site. The findings suggest that gender functions as a complex social category for recent immigrants that shifts across social contexts. The authors argue that accounting for a full picture of gender identity more accurately captures the manner in which recent immigrant students adapt to U.S. schooling.

A Qualitative Study of Gender-Based Pathways to Problem Drinking in Dublin, Ireland

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-170
Author(s):  
Joanne Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Problem Drinking ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Gender Ideologies ◽  
Problematic Drinking ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Using Data

AbstractObjective: High rates of alcohol-related harm have been reported in the European Union, including Ireland, for more than 20 years. This article's goal is to contextualise such rates by examining gender-based pathways to alcohol use disorders from the perspective of those self-identifying as in recovery using data collected midway through this 20-year trend.Methods: Sixteen informants (nine men and seven women) were interviewed between 1998 and 1999 in Dublin, Ireland. Using qualitative methods, informants were asked to reflect upon their experiences of problem drinking and recovery.Results: Drinking expectancies, pub-based socialising, social anxiety and perceived social expectations to drink were cited as common pathways to problem drinking by informants, highlighting contradictions in drinking practices and the symbolic functions of alcohol. Drinking contexts identified by informants were public pub-based drinking for men and home-based drinking for women. Primary barriers to problem acceptance centered on pub-based socialising norms and gender-based shame. Benefits of support group membership included establishing new social networks and learning alternative ways to cope with negative emotions.Conclusion: Consideration of drinking expectancies, the social contexts in which problematic drinking occurs, gender ideologies, the cultural meanings of drinking behaviours, and attention to feelings of isolation or loneliness experienced by those exhibiting problematic consumption behaviours might further understandings of potentially harmful drinking, especially in periods of economic uncertainty.

scholarly journals Research Gender Features of Formation of Student Life Scenarios

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
Vadym Zavatskyi ◽  
Ihor Zhyharenko
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Student Life ◽  
Individual Life ◽  
Professional Self ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Life Path ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Life Script ◽  
The Impact

The article provides an analysis of the impact on gender identity formation of student life scenarios. It is shown that socio-economic and political changes are factors which change perceptions of themselves and the general picture of the world youth, and is a catalyst for the process of finding one’s own life script or harmonious way of life. The authors established that the individual life path or script must meet the abilities and capabilities of the young man and also be a means of self-realization in life. The paper stated that under current conditions the process of personal and professional self-education related to a number of difficulties, that is why the problem of forming life script personality in adolescence is becoming increasingly important. Based on the scientific approaches the problem of forming life scenarios identity and gender identity problem. We characterize the sample studied, which was caused by the objectives and purpose of the study. The article provided a description of methods by which we conducted the diagnosis of gender identity influence on the formation of individual life scenarios in adolescence. We used the results of correlation analysis

Effects of Gender, Parental Role, and Time on Infant- and Adult-Directed Read and Spontaneous Speech

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 4001-4014
Author(s):  
Melanie Weirich ◽  
Adrian Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Parental Involvement ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
First Year ◽  
Space Size ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Phonetic Features ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Description Task

Purpose The study sets out to investigate inter- and intraspeaker variation in German infant-directed speech (IDS) and considers the potential impact that the factors gender, parental involvement, and speech material (read vs. spontaneous speech) may have. In addition, we analyze data from 3 time points prior to and after the birth of the child to examine potential changes in the features of IDS and, particularly also, of adult-directed speech (ADS). Here, the gender identity of a speaker is considered as an additional factor. Method IDS and ADS data from 34 participants (15 mothers, 19 fathers) is gathered by means of a reading and a picture description task. For IDS, 2 recordings were made when the baby was approximately 6 and 9 months old, respectively. For ADS, an additional recording was made before the baby was born. Phonetic analyses comprise mean fundamental frequency (f0), variation in f0, the 1st 2 formants measured in /i: ɛ a u:/, and the vowel space size. Moreover, social and behavioral data were gathered regarding parental involvement and gender identity. Results German IDS is characterized by an increase in mean f0, a larger variation in f0, vowel- and formant-specific differences, and a larger acoustic vowel space. No effect of gender or parental involvement was found. Also, the phonetic features of IDS were found in both spontaneous and read speech. Regarding ADS, changes in vowel space size in some of the fathers and in mean f0 in mothers were found. Conclusion Phonetic features of German IDS are robust with respect to the factors gender, parental involvement, speech material (read vs. spontaneous speech), and time. Some phonetic features of ADS changed within the child's first year depending on gender and parental involvement/gender identity. Thus, further research on IDS needs to address also potential changes in ADS.

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