Graduation Year
2014
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Degree Granting Department
Womens Studies
Major Professor
Diane Price-Herndl, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Kim Golombisky, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Sara Green, Ph.D.
Keywords
alopecia areata, bald women, disability, femininity, feminism, monilethrix
Abstract
A general goal to my study was to promote an inclusive approach to baldness by sharing and centering women's experiences with baldness from skin and hair conditions, such as autoimmune alopecia areata conditions and monilethrix. Specifically, a main goal of my study was to her-storicize the lived experiences of women who are bald from skin and hair conditions by examining medical and cultural discourses surrounding these conditions, femininity, and female baldness. Additionally, my study considers strategies of accommodation and resistance that bald women perform in a given context, space, or time. For instance, I consider the ways participants manage their conditions and baldness within certain contexts. To achieve these goals, I interviewed four women who are bald from alopecia areata, alopecia totalis, alopecia universalis, and monilethrix by using an interactive approach to the interviews. Once the interviews were completed, I used interpretative phenomenological analysis to extract themes across the four interviews. Based on the analysis, I organized the findings into two overarching themes that include (a) navigating the feminine ideal and (b) negotiating the assumptions of illness and female baldness. In these themes, I discuss how participants' experiences demonstrate the significance of accommodating and/or resisting hegemonic notions of femininity and illness.
Scholar Commons Citation
Holmes, Kasie, "Her-Storicizing Baldness: Situating Women's Experiences with Baldness from Skin and Hair Disorders" (2014). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/5241
