Questioning Hegemonic Gender Norms Within Lived Experiences and Mediated Contexts

This thesis is a twofold study focusing on the empowerment of women and girls through critical and feminist qualitative research. Study one, is an autoethnographic inquiry of pivotal turning points as sites of struggle within the context of heteropatriarchy, organized as episodes of lived experiences, while growing up within a White masculine working-class familial and cultural structure. Within this autoethnography, I articulate and lean into a feminist identity to highlight the ways in which my stance is positioned in contrast and conflict to such a cultural dynamic. The turning point narratives are the data within the study that expose the ways in which culture shapes our everyday life and ultimately informs negotiations of identity. In this sense, I attend to the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and class to highlight the typical scripts of everyday gendered life. The second study (co-authored with Dr. Amy Heuman) provides a critical thematic analysis of the book Rebel Girls: Growing Up Powerful as a rich site for examining an informal sexual health education resource. We identify five emergent themes (being a Rebel Girl; changing, developing, growing bodies; negotiating emotions and feelings; navigating relationships and interpersonal interactions; and embracing difference) central to the aims of the text. We also illuminate discourses of power, consisting of both emancipatory (embracing of difference, inclusion, and empowerment) and hegemonic (heteronormativity, emphasized femininity) ideologies regarding sexual health education that undergird the text.

Embargo status: Restricted until 01/2025. To request the author grant access, click on the PDF link to the left.