Journal of Advanced Research in Women’s Studies

Boosting Land Ownership for Nigerian Women Through the Provision of Sustainable Prefabricated Homes

Ebelechukwu O Enwerekowe — 2024-11-14

This study examines the prospects of increasing land ownership for Nigerian women using prefabricated housing. Using theoretical data from desk research and case studies on innovative prefabrication samples, the study qualitatively investigates moribund attitudes to land ownership by women and proposes viable retention strategies for redress through the conception of prototyped prefabricated homes. The study reveals the conversion of locally available materials and low-carbon eco-friendly waste into sustainable prefabrication components potentially reduces building costs to support women’s land ownership and retention. The study seeks to expand existing prefabricated building practices in Nigeria; and raise awareness among architectural think-tanks and prefabrication providers about advances in prefabrication production for the convenience of potential women landowners. The study recommends the dissemination of findings to designers, prefabrication providers, housing policy-makers and housing study researchers who are working to make the ownership of land assets more inclusive for women.

Feminist Multimodal Analysis of the Dancing Scenes of Barbie 2023: Recontextualization as the 1960s and Female Self-Directed Individualism

Hok Yin Lau — 2024-11-14

This paper conducts a feminist multimodal analysis of the dancing scene of Barbie, a movie released in 2023, within the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, to explore effective feminist discourses recontextualized as in the 1960s with Barbie introduced to the world alongside second-wave feminism (SWF) as a critical context contributing to feminist discourses. This paper examines the audio aspect, the song Dance the Night, and the visuals i.e., relations between characters and viewers, and interaction among characters in dancing. With van Leeuwen’s Visual Representation of Social Actors, this paper leverages grounded theory to initiate inductive content coding for the multimodality. The findings are multifold. Visually, viewing Barbies with more close shots from the frontal angles at the eye level from signifies equality, focus and empowerment in self-directedness. Interaction among characters incorporates inclusiveness by Barbies’ diversity in races, body figures and conditions, etc., and their internal exclusive dancing with their own autonomous agency exercised. Kens mostly function as facilitators of Barbies’ centralization and uniqueness symbolizing SWF’s universal womanhood. The 1960s witnessed females’ anxiety against traditional norms. In the audio aspect, therefore, the lyrical discourse reinforces female independence by emphasizing “dancing the anxiety away” and “taking risks to be her own self”.

Muscle Memory: Exploring the Sociocultural Factors of Sexual Pain in People Assigned Female at Birth

Grace Beilman — 2024-11-14

According to the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology, “nearly 3 out of 4 women have pain during intercourse at some time during their lives,” which is an under-researched issue, especially when it comes to factors outside of biology (2017). This research paper focuses on examining the most common sociocultural aspects that affect sexual pain in people assigned female at birth (AFAB) between the ages of 18 and 30. A survey was completed by 144 participants, 6 of whom participated in structured interviews. My analysis shows a strong impact of sociocultural factors on experiences of pain during sex in participants. 90.28% of participants had experienced pain during sex at least once in their lives. Seven themes were identified from the data: (1) situations that cause pain, (2) pain during first intercourse, (3) normalization of pain, (4) pain is not “a big deal,” (5) shame, (6) pressure, and (7) expectation of pain during sex.

Analyzing Pain Modulation Through Analgesics and Devices in the United States: How Studies Historically Exacerbated the Gender Pain Gap

Ahana Raghavan — 2024-11-14

Pain medicine has a long history, with the Egyptians and Babylonians using bleeding and trepanning to modulate pain (Doleys). With the birth of pain medicine came the birth of inequities. In fact, in the United States, drugs may not be as effective for half of the population. This paper compiles studies conducted over 2 decades by pain medicine specialists on women's pain treatment, studying factors involved in women being treated differently for chronic/episodic pain. These studies tested different drug dosages and medical devices to highlight the lack of female data in analgesic studies, showing the impact of historic bias on female health. Findings indicate women have not been prioritized in pain studies, affecting their healthcare quality and drug efficacy in these populations. The importance of women-centric studies, clinical trials with more female data, and women in analgesic R&D is emphasized.