Date of Award
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in History
Department
History
First Reader/Committee Chair
Diana Johnson
Abstract
In the past few decades, social and political discourse surrounding womanhood and who is considered a "real" woman has led to the execration of transgender women. This work will explore how recent discourse and rhetoric surrounding who is and who is not a “real woman” can be traced to nineteenth century notions of “true womanhood” that excluded women of color. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with westward expansion, settler colonialism, residential schools, slavery, and post-emancipation serving as backdrops, this work will also analyze how ideologies of womanhood have interrupted and suppressed women of color throughout Western American history. From Native American women who had their traditionally respected status as women stripped from them, Black American women who have had to fight for their humanity since “emancipation,” the weaponization and scapegoating of womanhood has passed over yet another vulnerable target with transwomen within the larger LGBT+ community.
Recommended Citation
Kelly, Ayden, "Girlhood, Interrupted: An Intersectional Feminist History of Decolonizing and Reclaiming Womanhood" (2026). Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations. 2504.
https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/2504
Included in
Black History Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Native American Studies Commons, Queer Studies Commons, United States History Commons, Women's History Commons