The Brace Center for Gender Studies has annually funded and appointed four students to research various topics of choice relating to intersectionality and gender equity. This year’s Brace Fellows, Alice He ’25, Maddie Redmond ’25, Emily Skoutas ’25, and Elliot Weir ’26, were tasked with composing a research paper and are currently in preparation to present each of their works.
Alice He ’25 (she/her) | “The Ban on Babies: How the One-Child Policy Transformed Gender Norms in China”
“My project was on the One-Child Policy in China and how it impacted women’s lives. This project was a pursuit of my personal interest. Two summers ago, my family went back to China to visit relatives. I noticed that whenever my sister and I would go shopping in malls, a lot of the saleswomen or salespeople would look at us and ask, ‘Oh, are you guys best friends? What grades are you in?’ Me and my sister would have to tell them that we’re actually sisters. My sister and I look relatively alike, so the fact that every single person thought that we were friends and not siblings was a result of the One-Child Policy. That piqued my interest in this topic… I talked a little bit about how [the One-Child Policy] shifted gender norms and impacted rural and urban women differently, how it was enforced in different areas, as well as the resulting changes in fertility and sex ratios between girls and boys that were born. Many families went to pretty severe lengths to ensure that their kid was a boy, [and] there were resulting changes in the demographics of China because of that preference… What I want people to take away from my research is that policies like this had a drastic impact on people’s lives [and] lasting social consequences and economic consequences… It’s important to look at history through a lens of both critique and how we can apply what lessons we’ve learned in history to the problems that are plaguing our society today.”
Maddie Redmond ’25 (she/her) | “From Roxanne to Nicki: Uncovering Feminism, Empowerment, and Identity in Female Rap Music”
“My project was about feminism and Black female hip hop, so I looked at a lot of [female] rappers from the early ’80s and ’90s [such as] MC Lyte, Queen Latifa, Lauryn Hill, and looked at many that are popular now like Megan Thee Stallion, GloRilla, Cardi B, etc. I looked at what things in their music promote feminism and equality, especially when it comes to Black women… My biggest takeaway was how, especially in pop culture and as a society, [we] view Black female hip hop artists and Black women in the public sphere. One of the biggest controversies surrounding Black women in hip hop right now is the vulgarity, how they’re super sexual, and how there’s not much talent hidden behind their lyrics… What I talk about in my paper is that this sexual vulgarity is actually needed to progress this feminist conversation that a lot of Black women have not been able to do because we have been restricted from sexual expression and freedom because of slavery, oppression, and segregation in American history. Actually [vulgarity] is more liberating than it is degrading of the sexuality of Black women. That’s one of the main things, but [I] also tried to help the community understand that all forms of art, especially by underrepresented or minority communities, are very important because these voices haven’t been able to be amplified in history as they can be now.”
Emily Skoutas ’25 (she/her) | “Mad Men and the Fanatical Femme Fatale: Gendered Representations of Mental Illness in Noir Films”
“I [was] given this really big privilege, being able to do research over the summer and have the support from Andover teachers, so I hope that I can help educate people on my topic… [My project] is an intersection between psychiatry, feminism, and cinema. I picked five films, watched them, and analyzed them… specifically, how they portrayed mental illness… Three films depicted mental illness in women, and two depicted mental illness in men. I observed what caricatures, stereotypes, stigmas were being used. I found a lot of interesting things. There’s definitely a difference between how men and women are portrayed with mental illness, and it’s really dangerous because of the stigma surrounding mental health and the current media, and I don’t want them to be put off by the stereotypes… I want people to feel more comfortable reaching out for help, but I also want people to feel more comfortable criticizing the media that they consume because there are so many lies and misinformation being spread around all of the time. It’s important that we take everything with a grain of salt and analytical lenses to observe what we’re reading and what we’re watching so that we don’t fall into traps or believe stereotypes.”
Over the summer, through BRACE, I worked on a presentation that linked the fields of psychiatry, feminist studies, and cinematography. I focused on five noir films (from the 1950s) and analyzed the way they depicted mental illness in conjunction with gender. Three of the films I picked examined mental illness in women and two films highlighted psychiatric symptoms in men. I found significant correlations between female and male mental health representations, with the directors leaning heavily into gendered stereotypes throughout their storytelling. I think it is important that we examine mental health in the media due to its profound impact on self-esteem and understanding. In other words, mental health representations in the media can help or hinder people from accessing treatment and getting accurate diagnoses. Noir films seem irrelevant due to when they were made, but they actually help us unpack a post-war world filled with increasing mental health policies and mental health patients. It’s important to examine our media critically so that we can avoid falling into stereotypes and misinformation. People are far more complex than characters on a screen, and so is mental illness.
Elliot Weir ’26 (he/him) | “Two-Spirit People in Native American Communities: Pre-Contact, Colonization, and Decolonization”
“My first responsibility was getting my paper done over the summer, which took a good amount of research and writing time. Going forward, my presentation will be open to the community in November. My project was about people in Native American communities that were called two-spirit people, who were essentially transgender people. Their understanding of gender was completely different from that of our society today in America. These are people who were usually born one gender and would then take on the traditional gender roles of the people of the opposite gender… The most important thing for people to know is that the people I wrote about and have historical accounts of are still here today. They still need places in their community, and they still exist. [An] important thing in general is education about these people: just the fact of knowing they exist. It’s not something a lot of people know about… Any work I can do to spread information about this I would probably take part in if I had the opportunity in the future.”
Editor’s Note: Alice He is a Managing Editor for The Phillipian.
