Bachelor of Science, Walsh University, 2018, Honors

From feminism to biology, psychology to history, the topic of female hysteria has become one of much interdisciplinary discussion. While there are various approaches to and views of hysteria, most medical professionals today dismiss the organic nature of the condition, often considering hysteria a “waste basket” diagnosis because it would be utilized to describe any unidentifiable condition in woman. As hysteria is a diagnosis that was popular primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it raises questions about the relevancy of the underlying causes, physical or otherwise, of this condition. Historians of medicine argue that real biological problems lie beneath this broad diagnosis, and carefully examine primary source evidence to reconstruct the diseases of women long deceased. In contrast, some feminists across multiple fields suggest that hysteria was purely social construct of the patriarchy in order to keep women in a state of submission. Other researchers argue that it is some combination of both. This research project utilizes a social sciences methodology on historical sources in an attempt to identify a quantifiable reality to the condition.

Committee: Rachel Constance Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: History; Psychology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1969, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

M.A. (Master of Arts in English), Ohio Dominican University, 2023, English

For centuries, feminine illness has been used a way to silence and subdue women. “Feminine illness” is often referred to as hysteria, melancholia, and madness. Women have been the perceived bearers of this illness, and were considered to be the weaker sex due to ancient beliefs surrounding the physical qualities of the uterus. The first record of this illness can be traced to ancient Egyptian history in 1900 BC according to various scholars and historical documents. This thesis examines two texts: “The Female Quixote, or: The Adventures of Arabella” by Charlotte Lennox, and “The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. These texts offer two differing perspectives on feminine illness in the 18th and 19th century, and mark positive changes through time surrounding this belief. Hinshaw asserts that the societal expectations the female protagonists are pressured to follow cause them to become trapped in this very society. This entrapment essentially provides the protagonists with two choices: they must either use or silence their voices in order to be free of their diagnoses. The choices they make, and the corresponding outcomes, reflect the time in which they live.

Committee: Jeremy Glazier Professor (Other); Martin Brick Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Literature

BA, Oberlin College, 2019, Art

How do you write about a feeling you do not understand? How do you organize what is purposefully messy? How can you name a ghost of something that you push into the world with your hands? In this thesis, I will explain my practice, form, and material as a way to illuminate my art, along with various readings and philosophies that I use to guide the work.

Committee: Johnny W. Coleman (Advisor) Subjects: Art History; Fine Arts

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2018, English (Arts and Sciences)

Patient narrative is often an undervalued or dismissed genre of writing in the field of literary criticism, largely because the hermeneutics of suspicion leads critics to see these texts as “misery memoirs,” as Ann Jurecic suggests. In this thesis, I argue for a new approach to reading and to criticism that moves away from the hermeneutics of suspicion and instead seeks to find conversations between patient narratives, case narratives, and popular or dominant medical and scientific texts. This shift would have readers focusing not on the ways in which an author might manipulate a story but instead on what the reader might learn from intently examining the resulting conversations. In doing so, I do not argue for a switch in the hierarchy—from doctor-patient to patient-doctor—but instead argue that both patient and case narratives have value; without both texts, we cannot have a full picture of what it is like to live with illness. Making my argument through historical examination, I prove that by examining Charlotte Perkins Gilman's patient narratives—those found in her letters, her diaries, and her autobiography as well as in “The Yellow Wallpaper”—alongside medical and scientific texts from her time, we can not only deepen and nuance current interpretations of these texts but we can also uncover motivations that may not be immediately apparent. While “The Yellow Wallpaper,” for example, has been considered as a critique of patriarchal medicine, a horror story, and a liberation text—among others—it has never been explicitly examined as a patient narrative. This focus allows us to delve deeper into the conversation created between “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Gilman's nonfiction narratives; I focus particularly on how we can see the eugenic arguments within “The Yellow Wallpaper” and how these arguments are connected to Gilman's anxieties about marriage, motherhood, and her usefulness in society. While ignoring patient narratives makes literary critics and histor (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Thomas Scanlan (Committee Chair); Mary Kate Hurley (Committee Member); Myrna Perez Sheldon (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; American Literature; American Studies; Families and Family Life; Gender; Gender Studies; Health; Health Care; Health Sciences; History; Literature; Medical Ethics; Medicine; Mental Health; Philosophy of Science; Psychology; Rhetoric; Science History; Womens Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Popular Culture

Diana Inosanto reimagines the 1980s AIDS epidemic in her film, The Sensei (2008) and implements cultural issues on rurality, sexuality, and tolerance within the overall narrative structure. Finding it important to use the works of Rick Altman, John G. Cawelti, and Fredric Jameson, I theorize how postmodernism affects film genres and their evolution through pastiche and historical events. Within this genre cycle, The Sensei fits into several other film genre types that include the queer film, AIDS film, and martial arts film. Drawing from the works of Richard Dyer, B. Ruby Rich, Kylo-Patrick Hart, and David West, I place The Sensei into each category to develop thoughts on how hybrid genres work into film creation. Analyzing the works on myths of the small town and rurality, assumptions about queer migration, and stigmatizations about AIDS, I attempt to disprove these myths and assumptions through the works of Bud W. Jerke, Judith Halberstam, Michael Kennedy, and Emily Kazyak. My overall goal is to project social awareness about queer cultural geography, issues with AIDS in rural areas, and the vitalization of anti-bullying issues that have saturated our media landscape within the last two decades using Inosanto's The Sensei as a vehicle to evoke thought.

Committee: Becca Cragin PhD (Advisor); Jeffrey Brown PhD (Committee Member); Marilyn Motz PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Film Studies; Folklore; Gender; Womens Studies