Why Do We Like Rappers Cuckolding and Having Sex With Lesbians?
Kenneth M’Bale
Mentor: Rebecca Adelman, Media and Communication Studies
In rap there is a curious trend of rappers rapping about cuckolding the listeners’ girlfriend and having sex with non-heterosexual women.This project sought to explore why these reoccuring lyrics resonate with audiences. Rap may have originated from a black community, but it is the most global genre of music. Thus, it has to be seen as a cultural force among all listeners outside of that black community. With this understanding, the project explored where the listening obsession for cuckolding and sex with non-heterosexual women originates. The project focused on the listening audience, as many rappers are performing a fantasy for the listeners, and do not live nor believe the lyrics that they write. This included performances from confirmed straight female rappers like Cardi B or Nicki Minaj, and rappers like Kendrick Lamar or Kanye West. The project explored the nature of black hypersexuality, the expectations of what a rapper must look and be like, the homophobia rampant in mainstream rap, the objectification of women, and objectification of non-normative sexuality as a whole. The project concluded that this cuckolding is a form of sexual violence from one man to another. Further, the objectification of non-heterosexual women renders them sub-human.
“The Process”
Ayodélé La Veau
Eve Muson, Theatre; Nicole Smith, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
Abstract:
As a URA scholar, I was granted an opportunity to combine my majors in Psychology and Theatre to explore Art therapy. Art therapy is defined as “an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship” The purpose of my original study was to gather qualitative data from public secondary schools and creative arts programs within Baltimore City, on the use of the creative process as a means to teach and explore social emotional learning. Due to COVID-19, this portion of my project has been postponed. I took this opportunity to focus on my “why”, and learn more about the creative process and its benefits. I created this video to illustrate the journey from an idea or vision to a final product. Everyone has a different relationship with this journey. Engaging in the creative process is one way to monitor this relationship. There are many nuances and challenges along the way, sometimes we are able to push past them with our own tools and other times, we might benefit from some guidance. Enjoy “The Process”.
This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.
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Contributions Of Maternal Mental Health, Parenting And Marital Relationship To East Asian American Children’s Adjustment
Ozair Qazi
Mentor: Dr. Charissa Cheah, Psychology
Abstract:
East Asian immigrant mothers face multiple stressors during the acculturation process and are at risk for developing depressive symptoms, which may negatively influence their parent-child relationship and, consequently, their children’s behavioral adjustment. Positive marital relationships could buffer against these negative effects on children’s adjustment. The present study examined the mediating role of East Asian immigrant mother’s parental warmth in the association between maternal depressive symptoms and children’s behavioral adjustment, and the moderating role of marital relationship quality on the association between maternal warmth and children’s behavioral adjustment. First-generation East Asian immigrant mothers (N=357) with preschool-aged children in Maryland reported their depressive symptoms, parental warmth, and marital relationship quality. Teachers reported children’s socio-emotional and behavioral outcomes. Results showed that maternal depressive symptoms were associated with less maternal warmth. In turn, lower maternal warmth was related to greater adjustment difficulties in children, but only when mothers reported lower levels of marital relationship quality. These findings suggest that positive marital relationship may provide additional resources to buffer against the negative effects of maternal depressive symptoms on children’s adjustment outcomes in school. Implications for promoting East Asian families’ mental health, positive relationship quality and children’s adjustment in the United States will be discussed.
This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.
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What is the Effect of the Writing Center as it Relates to Transfer Students and Persistence?
Michael Brisbane, Mary Gallagher1, Rose Jackson2, Ira Degawan3, Kevin Curtin3
1Macklin Center for Academic Success, USG, 2Office of the Executive Director, Universities at Shady Grove, 3Psychology, UMBC
Mentor: Diane Alonso, Psychology
University transfer students may not be as equally likely as non-transfer students to utilize student services such as the writing center due to demographic and academic characteristics. In this sense, transfer students could be seen as having less access to resources and academic support, placing them at a higher risk for attrition. Attrition (or persistence) research examines the factors and mediating roles associated with student completion or graduation rates. Two related factors of paramount importance are self-efficacy and self-regulation, defined as the feelings about one’s ability to achieve a goal, and to plan, organize, and carry out the objectives of that goal, respectively. This study explored the relationship between transfer students’ characteristics, writing center usage, and persistence. Implementing a mixed-methods approach, self-report measures were used to gauge writing self-efficacy and self-regulation levels. Additionally, qualitative methods adopting the phenomenological approach were implemented by conducting interviews with 20 students to yield themes associated with high and low writing center usage. The qualitative research expanded and elaborated on the transfer student experience with the writing center.
A Cultivation Of Rape Culture In D.C., Maryland, And Virginia Universities
Nadia BenAissa
Mentor: Kate Drabinski, Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies
The normalization of sexual violence is known in the literature as rape culture. Four year universities in the United States have historically cultivated rape culture. The public has a vested interest in knowing what is or is not being done to dismantle rape culture and prevent sexual assault on campuses, in order to hold these institutions accountable. The scope of this research was select universities within the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area. This research recognizes commonalities within the cross populated universities that cultivate rape culture and identify how inconsistent metrics have left universities unaccountable. A social constructionist and mixed methods approach was used to explore how institutional betrayal has exacerbated the problems with campus climate surveys and further distanced people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals from reporting. An archival analysis of university policies, rape culture, and Title IX was conducted, along with a statistical analysis of campus sexual assault surveys. The archival analysis suggests that despite updates to laws/policies, universities have failed to reach their more diverse populations. The data analysis suggests that the differing modes of surveying campus climates has led to statistically insignificant results that cannot affirm that new university sexual violence policies are working.
Rakaia Kenney, Fenge Ni
Mentors: Weihong Lin, Biological Sciences; Tatsuya Ogura, Biological Sciences, UMBC
Abstract:
While e-cigarette usage and associated diseases have been a hot topic for the past year, little research has been done on the adverse health effects caused to the upper respiratory system from vaping. I have been conducting an analysis of how goblet cell proliferation in the mouse nasal respiratory epithelium (RE) is affected by e-cig vapor exposure. Goblet cells are mucus secreting cells, reacting to tissue irritation through increasing their density and producing more mucus, which can block alveoli and indicate inflammation. In my experiment, mice were exposed to nicotine containing e-cig vapors for four weeks, with control mice being exposed under the same conditions but with air. The mice are euthanized, dissected, and the head is preserved, after which coronal sections are placed serially on slides. I proceed with a hematoxylin and eosin stain and take 10- or 20-X images using a light microscope. The goblet cells are manually counted, respiratory epithelia length is measured using ImageJ, and goblet cell density is calculated and compared. I have found a significant difference in goblet cell density in nicotine exposed mouse’ RE of the nose compared to control mice, indicating an inflammatory response in the nose in response to e-cigarettes.
Role Of N-myc Downstream Regulated Genes Family In Low Oxygen Adaptation
Nguyet Le
Mentor: Rachel Brewster, Biological Sciences
Oxygen deprivation decreases ATP production dramatically. In humans, the loss of ATP in organs with high metabolic rate, such as the brain and kidney, can lead to cell death. However, zebrafish embryos enter a hypometabolic state that enables them to conserve ATP and survive for up to 50 hours without oxygen. Currently, the mechanisms that promote this hypometabolic state are unknown. Our previous mass-spectrometry study revealed a significant increase of lactate concentration in zebrafish under anoxia. Lactate was previously shown to stabilize N-myc Downstream Regulated 3 (NDRG3) in hypoxic cancer cells to promote angiogenesis and cell survival. We hypothesize that lactate/NDRG signaling could also be utilized in normal cells of the zebrafish embryo to arrest ATP-demanding processes and enhance survival. To address this, I investigated the mRNA distribution and transcriptional regulation of NDRG family members. In situ hybridization revealed that NDRGs are enriched in the brain and kidney and expanded to other tissues such as the olfacoty placode and vasculature in response to anoxia. RT-qPCR revealed both up- and down-regulation of different NDRG members in response to anoxia. These studies will shed light on how NDRG family members contribute to low oxygen adaptation in normal cells of an intact organism.
This investigation was sponsored by NIH/NIGMS MARC U*STAR T3408663 National Research Service Award to UMBC.
Poems About Homes
Tiwalade Topia
Mentor: Lia Purpura, English
Colonialism of the global south, specifically the African continent, has led to economic instabilities, civil wars, and job insecurities that result in the mass emigration of African bodies to the “Lands of opportunities” in search of better living standards. From an immigrant perspective, “home” is an ambiguous concept, one that also reaches across the ocean to a native land that may not share in traditional American ideals. Yet, despite being so physically removed, immigrants manage to build a semblance of that “home” by congregating in and nurturing local ethnic communities. This research project will follow two poetic works by African immigrants in the U.S. under the theme of home and the nuances that surround it. I analyze poetic form, content, rhetoric, and context, in search of ways in which west African Immigrants view their exodus from their homeland and their struggles to adapt. I will also be begging the questions: “What are ways in which African immigrants preserve their cultural identity, in a country that heavily favors assimilation, as a way to maintain their connection to their native land?” And “In what ways does home try to hold on to the people it has lost to the west?”