The "environment" has often been taken as a backdrop for feminist research and theory, as a ,vetting within which issues of feminist concern are played out. This environment, however, is not a neutral setting; rather, research over the past 15 years has evidenced the assumptions about "a woman's place" as a man's wife literally built into women's worlds. Space speaks, and the stories it tells center around particular and identifiable assumptions about gender and where a woman "should" be, when, and with whom. Unmarried women are in a unique position in this environment: they are subjected not only to the economic disadvantages and social subjugation of being a woman, but also to the social and economic drawbacks of being single in a couple-oriented society and in an environment they see as not built for them. Although research exists on the sexism in the physical environment, on women's economic and social position, and on singlehood, a need exists to bridge these areas to explore how single women experience their singlehood, their womanhood, and the environment in their everyday lives and decision making. I conducted in-depth interviews with 25 single women, 23 white and 2 African-American women, about their experiences of living single. This article, based on the results of those interviews and a series of focus group discussions, examines how single women negotiate and respond to their necessary environmental decisions about housing, transportation, and leisure activities in an environment not likely to be conducive to their ways of life.IThis article is based on my M.A. thesis at the University of Tennessee (1992) and as such would not have happened without the guidance of my thesis committee: Samuel Wallace (chair), Donald Hastings, and Suzanne Kurth. For the preparation of this article, Suzanne Kurth offered her patience and invaluable criticisms to countless drafts, and Sherry Cable gave an early draft a thorough and helpful reading. I also wish to thank two anonymous Sex Roles reviewers, whose comments guided this piece into this form. Parts of this paper were presented
The cultural and legal meaning of rape has changed dramatically over the past 30 years as the feminist movement has challenged traditional constructions of sexual violence and oþered an alternative construction of the meaning of rape. The transformation of rape into a social problem has brought increased attention to the subject in both popular and academic realms. Despite the growing body of research and theory on sexual violence, little inquiry exists into women's everyday constructions of rape and the degree to which such constructions have been inýuenced by the feminist movement. This article uses a constructionist framework to examine the everyday understandings of rape held by a diverse sample of women. Data gathered through an open-ended survey instrument were analyzed to reveal both interesting similarities and signiücant diþerences in the ways women of diþerent ages, races, and personal histories deüne and interpret the phenomenon of rape. By examining these data, the extent to which the feminist reconstruction of rape has inýuenced women's everyday assumptions is examined, and the role of diþerences among women in perceptions of rape is explored. The ündings presented in this article have implications for theories of social problems, for feminist discourse, and for the application of research on rape in applied settings.
Recent contributions to social movement theory have emphasized the importance of cultural and political opportunities in shaping movement growth and development. While most ofthat work focuses on how these factors facilitate social movement efforts, we examine a case in which cultural and political factors have constrained the efforts of a social movement. Analyzing data from in-depth interviews with 55 respondents, we examine the organizing efforts of Gulf War veteran* claiming illnesses connected to environmental exposures in the Persian Gulf. Despite the claims of many veterans that exposure to hazardous conditions resulted in illness, they have been unsuccessful in legitimating Gulf War illness to the government or to the public. This article contributes to the social movement literature by analyzing ways in which both cultural and political institutions may hamper the efforts of a contemporary social movement.
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