Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In this paper I will examine the practice of doing femininity for monetary gain. In particular, I will review literature on sex workers and drag queens, focusing on both academic literature and primary sources such as blogs written by sex workers and drag queens. It is my contention that drag queens and sex workers are excellent examples of the process of doing emphasized femininity, because both groups consciously exaggerate femininity. While biological women are under pressure to do femininity at all times, one is rarely rewarded in a direct and tangible way for such performances. I also submit that the act of doing emphasized femininity is an aggressively active act that must be achieved passively, which creates a tricky contradiction for sex workers and prostitutes.

Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: O Magazine, created and overseen by Oprah Winfrey, promotes itself to subscribers as “The Woman’s Personal Growth Guide for the New Century.” A monthly publication with a masthead dominated by women, O Magazine has a unique opportunity to create and provide a counter-hegemonic environment for it’s female subscribers. The magazine often steps up to this challenge by offering articles on education, growth, and empowerment. However, analysis of the articles and advertisements found within the magazine reveal that hegemonic forces continue to permeate cultural discourse directed at women.
This paper examines the cultural and societal norms perpetuated through dominant and seemingly feminine narratives by unlikely sources. This study uncovers a crisis of identity in which dominant narratives often do not reach the needs of women although they are within a cultural space to do so. This study seeks to further examine this crisis and the implications of counter-hegemonic feminine narratives in opening mediated space for women in popular culture.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Jean-Luc Godard has challenged the conventional use and construction of gender in film through innovative formal devices, such as the fictive documentary-style interview and scene repetition. The effect is a problematized critique of gender in film and everday life. While Godard aligns himself with Second Wave Feminist tenets, he extends his critique to cinematic representation. Based on Laura Mulvey’s concept of the erotic male gaze, this analysis reveals an alternative gaze on gender—a critical gaze—developed in Godard’s 1966 film, "Masculin-Feminin." With a critical gaze, Godard invites the viewer to arrive at their own understanding of gender politics, instead of imposing his political agenda and insights onto the audience. This makes for a more intellectual experience as compared to the psychological identification spectators experience in conventional dramas. Godard forces the audience out of a pleasurable voyeurism into an uncomfortable, if not self-aware, complicity with the film, the actors, and filmmaker. In Masculin-Feminin, Godard reveals fiction as such, deconstructs representation, and exposes the phenomenology of gender politics in everyday life.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Why are female-dominated paths (which I will call 'feminine paths') in education and occupations still chosen by a number of women, especially in a society like Japan? I argue that it is partly because a choice for 'feminine paths' is believed to produce advantageous quality (which I call 'feminine capital') in the marriage market for women. In this paper, with qualitative analysis on interview comments, I will investigate people's perception of 'feminine paths' in contrast with 'egalitarian (or male-dominated) paths', regarding their advantage in the marriage market.
The analyses in this paper suggest that 'feminine paths' in education and occupations are oftentimes perceived as more advantageous for women's marital status attainment than 'egalitarian paths' because of cultural capital and social capital they entail. However, such 'advantageous qualities for a marriage' consists of various and often contradictory elements. Especially, the qualities useful 'before' marriage (for a 'search' of husband) is different from qualities useful 'after' marriage (for a 'compatibility' with household responsibilities), and such contradiction suggests why the pursuit of the two courses of status attainment (one through marriage, and the other through occupational attainment) becomes difficult, resulting in a discontinuity in an occupational career.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper elaborates on the concept of multiple, hierarchical femininities through an empirical investigation of the beliefs and meanings to which Asian American women adhere regarding beauty and physical attractiveness. We look specifically at the ways in which a sample of second generation Korean American college women negotiate hegemonic and subordinated femininities vis a vis their assumptions, strategies, and everyday thinking about racialized gendered norms pertaining to standards regarding physical appearance and beauty. While many scholars have investigated women’s body image, beliefs and norms regarding beauty, the vast majority of this work has concerned white middle to upper class women. Few studies have focused on the experiences of racially marginalized women as they negotiate mainstream cultural standards regarding physical appearance and the perspectives of Asian American women are especially absent. These omissions continue to fuel a belief that the experiences of Asian Americans do not need to be examined because of assumptions surrounding their model minority status. Simultaneously, the absence of scholarship on this population continues to fuel conceptualizations of Asian Americans as foreigners despite their American citizenship, upbringing, and identity. Our exploration makes a significant contribution to the literature on the intersection of race, ethnicity and gender.