Emily Nicholls | University of York (original) (raw)

Papers by Emily Nicholls

Background: A previous study highlighted the importance of footwear to individuals' sense of thei... more Background: A previous study highlighted the importance of footwear to individuals' sense of their identity, demonstrating that shoes must 'fit' someone socially, as well as functionally. However, unhealthy shoes can have a detrimental effect on both foot health and mobility. This project utilises qualitative social science methods to enable podiatrists to understand the broader contribution of footwear to patients' sense of themselves and from this an online toolkit was developed to aid footwear education. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six podiatrists/shoe-fitters and 13 people with foot pathologies, some of whom also completed shoe diaries. These were supplemented with some follow-up interviews and photographs of participants' own shoes were taken to allow in-depth discussions. Results: Four areas related to 'fit' were identified; practicalities, personal, purpose and pressures, all of which need to be considered when discussing changes in footwear. These were incorporated into an online toolkit which was further validated by service users and practitioners in a focus group. Conclusion: This toolkit can support podiatrists in partnership with patients to identify and address possible barriers to changing footwear towards a more suitable shoe. Enabling patients to make healthier shoe choices will help contribute to improvements in their foot health and mobility.

Background: This narrative review explores the ways in which drawing on theories and methods used... more Background: This narrative review explores the ways in which drawing on theories and methods used in sociological work on footwear and identity can contribute to healthcare research with podiatrists and their patients, highlighting recent research in this field, implications for practice and potential areas for future development. Traditionally, research within Podiatry Services has tended to adopt a quantitative, positivist focus, developing separately from a growing body of sociological work exploring the importance of shoes in constructing identity and self-image. Bringing qualitative research drawing on sociological theory and methods to the clinical encounter has real potential to increase our understanding of patient values, motivations and – crucially – any barriers to adopting 'healthier' footwear that they may encounter. Such work can help practitioners to understand why patients may resist making changes to their footwear practices, and help us to devise new ways for practitioners to explore and ultimately break down individual barriers to change (including their own preconceptions as practitioners). This, in turn, may lead to long-term, sustainable changes to footwear practices and improvements in foot health for those with complex health conditions and the wider population. Conclusion: A recognition of the complex links between shoes and identity is opening up space for discussion of patient resistance to footwear changes, and paving the way for future research in this field beyond the temporary 'moment' of the clinical encounter.

Drawing on qualitative interviews with young women in the UK, this article highlights how gendere... more Drawing on qualitative interviews with young women in the UK, this article highlights how gendered and sexualised negotiations of visibility intersect and continue to be important in the ways in which young women self-regulate bodies and identities to manage risk in the Night Time Economy (NTE). Adopting visible markers of normative, heterosexual femininity on a night out can be understood as simultaneously mitigating against the risks of experiencing certain types of harassment, whilst increasing the risks of experiencing others. This article reaffirms the relevance of negotiations of visibility in shaping non-heterosexual women’s dress as a strategy for managing the risk of homophobic abuse and demonstrates some of the ways in which all young women – regardless of actual or perceived sexual identification – are required to police their bodies in order to manage the additional risks of ‘heterosexualised’ harassment in the NTE. These include threats of sexual violence and harassment primarily associated with women’s positioning as subordinated gendered subjects rather than with the policing of ‘non-normative’ sexualities, with findings suggesting that young women are more concerned with managing the risks associated with a heterosexualised male gaze rather than a homophobic gaze. ‘Everyday’ experiences of harassment are trivialised and normalised in bar and club spaces, and adopting markers of normative, heterosexual femininity was felt to increase the risks of receiving this kind of ‘unwanted attention’. Clearly, young women face challenges as they attempt to negotiate femininities, sexualities and safety and manage intersections of gender and sexuality in contemporary leisure spaces.

**Limited number of FREE e-prints here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VV3fP2TpsT3tktAFWAJ8/full

This study aims to explore contemporary expectations and stereotypes of what it means to be ‘femi... more This study aims to explore contemporary expectations and stereotypes of what it means to be ‘feminine’ in heterosexual sexual encounters, and the extent to which this places young women at risk. Drawing on their research from the late 1980s, Holland et al (2004) describe the dominant model of femininity as ‘unsafe’; putting them at risk during sexual encounters, particularly in terms of negotiating the use of risk reduction strategies (methods which seek to limit the transmission of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and the risk of unintended pregnancy). Twenty years later, I seek to explore the extent to which young women are still shaped by this concept of ‘unsafe femininity’ - derived from the later analytical work of Holland et al (2004) - and how far this affects their ability to use risk reduction strategies in sexual encounters. I will interview young heterosexual women to explore the extent to which young women relate to traditional notions of ‘unsafe femininity’, unequ...

In a supposed “post-feminist” society of gender equality, engagement with contemporary spaces suc... more In a supposed “post-feminist” society of gender equality, engagement with contemporary spaces such as the Night Time Economy (NTE) may offer young women positive opportunities to redefine femininities through leisure activities and alcohol consumption. Whilst the NTE is depicted as an increasingly “feminised” space where women’s drinking is normalised and expected, this essay will demonstrate some of the ways in which alcohol consumption remains highly gendered and women continue to be expected to buy into normative femininity through their beverage choice by looking at a specific mode of engagement with the NTE - the “girl’s night out”. Drawing on the findings of my PhD research with young women in the North-East of England, I will highlight some of the ways in which young women manage drinking practices and choices in the potentially highly gendered and (hetero)sexualised contemporary leisure spaces of the NTE when going out with female friends. With the consumption of more “girly” drinks such as wine and cocktails both normalised and positioned as a key way in which to “do” gender and femininity on the girls’ night out, I argue that women’s scope to rewrite the dominant scripts of femininities in these particular contexts is limited and constrained. However, other social occasions or drinking contexts and settings may potentially offer women more opportunities to resist, challenge or ignore gendered expectations and norms around alcohol consumption. Highlighting specific examples of resistance from the data, I will draw attention to the important role of context in shaping the ways in which women manage and negotiate their drinking choices in contemporary leisure spaces.

This PhD thesis explores young women’s understandings of what it means to be (in)appropriately fe... more This PhD thesis explores young women’s understandings of what it means to be (in)appropriately feminine, the ways in which the boundaries of femininities are negotiated through women’s embodied practices in the Night Time Economy (NTE) and the behaviours and identities that are enabled or constrained as a result.

Within the academic literature, appropriate femininity has traditionally been associated with passivity, respectability and control. Yet understandings of the meanings and scope of femininities and the implications for the lived experiences of women are more contested in contemporary research, where it is useful to imagine women as negotiating a plurality of ‘femininities’ whose importance shifts across contexts. Within a supposed ‘post-feminist’ society, some women may arguably be able to claim new feminine identities drawing on empowerment, independence and agency. However, it is important to consider how far traditional understandings of femininities may continue to impact on young women’s experiences and the extent to which women even consider being ‘feminine’ to be important.

This research contributes to an emerging field of literature exploring the ways in which women manage some of the tensions and contradictions inherent in understandings of appropriate femininities in contemporary spaces. Adding to recent work on the ways in which embodied experience shapes and constructs identities in the NTE, this research uses semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 26 young women aged 18-25 to demonstrate some of the ways in which young women define and manage the boundaries of femininities - both on a ‘girls’ nights out’ with female friends and when engaging with the NTE more widely - in the post-industrial city of Newcastle, UK. The research also examines the ways in which class, sexuality, age and ‘Geordie’ identities are implicated in such processes, impacting upon the extent to which different women can engage in traditionally non-feminine behaviour without damaging their claims to respectability.

On Wednesday 17 July, I dragged myself out of bed at some ungodly hour to slip on my sandals and ... more On Wednesday 17 July, I dragged myself out of bed at some ungodly hour to slip on my sandals and head down to Sheffield for the Dressed Bodies Symposium anddespite the early start!it was a fantastic and very rewarding day and a great opportunity to learn more about others' work on a range of diverse topics around dress and identity.

this essay explores the extent to which traditional understandings of feminine desire as silenced... more this essay explores the extent to which traditional understandings of feminine desire as silenced and taboo continue to be relevant for young women in today's 'post-feminist' society. Whilst research throughout the 1980s and 1990s depicted feminine sexuality as characterised by the silencing of female desire, the prioritisation of male desire and sexual needs, and the importance of reputation in limiting the extent to which women could express an actively desiring sexual identity, recent research has drawn on the emergence of 'new' femininities. These position women as actively desiring sexual subjects, arguing that the media and society more generally now recognise and articulate forms of active feminine desire. However, as this essay will demonstrate through an analysis of qualitative interviews with heterosexual female students at a UK university, young women may continue to be restrained in their ability to articulate an active and desiring female sexuality in a number of ways. This may have real implications in terms of the ability of young heterosexual women to both act upon their own sexual desires and negotiate safer sex with male partners.

Graduate Journal of Social Sciences, Special Edition: Gendered Subjects, 9, (3), November 2012, pp. 15-22., Nov 2012

This snapshot will offer a summary of my current research project on how the boundaries of approp... more This snapshot will offer a summary of my current research project on how the boundaries of appropriate femininities might be policed and managed through women’s everyday practices within the Night Time Economy (NTE) in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North East England. Through focus groups and semi-structured interviews with young women, my research will explore the embodied practices of alcohol consumption, presentation of the body and patterns of use of the NTE, facilitating a greater understanding of the extent to which notions of risk and respectability might continue (or otherwise) to regulate young women’s behaviour, and providing an insight into how particular classed and sexualised (in)appropriately feminine identities are conceptualised and performed.

Book Chapters by Emily Nicholls

This chapter will explore the ways in which drinking is heavily shaped by notions of classed and ... more This chapter will explore the ways in which drinking is heavily shaped by notions of classed and spatialised respectability for women within the Night-Time Economy (NTE) in North-East England. Drawing on a three year, ESRC-funded PhD in Newcastle-upon-Tyne involving in-depth interviews with young women, this chapter will argue that whilst alcohol has traditionally been conceptualised as a threat to women’s respectability, some women are able to mitigate negative associations by constructing themselves as moderate drinkers who remain in control of their consumption and bodies. Yet such subject positions may not be equally available to all, as the working-class woman continues to be ‘othered’ by female drinkers; positioned as an irresponsible ‘problem’ drinker who lacks control over her own body. However, the boundaries between the responsible and the excessive consumer are often blurred as a certain degree of drunkenness is now expected on the ‘girls’ night out’, leading young women to acknowledge ‘it could be me’. With less of a clear boundary between acceptable and unacceptable drinking, processes of othering have become highly spatialised within the city, where out-of-control drinking and behaviour are mapped onto and spatially confined within the ‘risky’ spaces of the Bigg Market. The local, working-class ‘Geordie’ woman is imagined by – typically – the middle-class student to frequent the bars and clubs here and embody these undesirable drinking practices, although the self-identified Geordies frequently resisted such readings.

Academic Posters by Emily Nicholls

Conference Presentations by Emily Nicholls

Within a so-called ‘post-feminist’ society, many current conceptualisations of femininity positio... more Within a so-called ‘post-feminist’ society, many current conceptualisations of femininity position women as able to adopt the pleasure-seeking, assertive definitions of sexuality traditionally reserved for males. The re-appropriation of the word ‘slut’ - for example through the Slutwalks - may represent a move away from traditional conceptualisations of ‘respectable’ femininity and sexuality as controlled and restrained. However, this paper will consider the ways in which these traditional conceptualisations still limit the abilities of young women to redefine femininities on a girls’ night out in Northeast England. Drawing on 26 in-depth interviews undertaken for my ESRC-funded PhD research, I will examine the ways in which processes of othering allow some young women to lay claim to respectable femininity through positioning others as ‘slutty’ in terms of dress and/or behaviour. Whilst many of the young women are beginning to question the meaning of the word ‘slut’ and to trouble or challenge the assumptions that associate hyperfeminine or ‘excessive’ ways of dressing with slutty behaviour, the pervasive power of the term continues to enable and constrain particular behaviours and identities as women seek to distance themselves from deviant, hypersexualised identities within the spaces of the Night Time Economy. Women frequently negotiate complex and shifting territory in spaces where a degree of sexualised dress and behaviour is now expected and normalised as a dimension of contemporary femininity, but it is all too easy to cross the unstable boundary and be labelled as ‘slutty’, ‘too feminine’ or ‘too much of a girl’. This paper draws on 26 recently completed semi-structured, in-depth interviews with young women from a diverse range of backgrounds in terms of class and sexuality in the post-industrial city of Newcastle, North-East England. The fieldwork was undertaken for my ESRC-funded PhD research and I am currently finalising my thesis for submission in early 2015.

It is widely recognised in sociological debates around gender and femininity that only certain ma... more It is widely recognised in sociological debates around gender and femininity that only certain manifestations of femininity are deemed appropriate, with the construction of successful feminine identities achieved in part through the projection of negative values onto the bodies of others. Through processes of ‘othering’, working-class women have long been labelled as excessive, immoral, vulgar and hyper-sexualised, in contrast to the respectable, middle-class self.
However, this may be changing as the contemporary boundaries of femininity and sexuality shift, particularly in spaces such as the Night Time Economy, where a certain degree of sexualisation may be expected and the ‘rules’ of appropriate dress and behaviour may be different to other everyday situations.
This paper engages with these key debates and presents emerging findings from my ongoing ESRC-funded PhD research on the ways in which the boundaries of (in)appropriate femininity are shaped and managed through everyday, embodied practices on a ‘girls’ night out’ in North-East England.
Drawing on 26 recently completed, in-depth interviews with young women in Newcastle, this paper provides insights into the ongoing construction of particular classed (in)appropriately feminine identities. For example, cheap, hyper-sexualised dress, excessive drunkenness and ‘manly’ drink choices, frequenting undesirable venues and vulgar or unladylike behaviour - such as fighting - are all associated with spoilt, working-class feminine identities. Participants frequently distance themselves from these so-called ‘chaavers’ or ‘slags’ through drawing on notions of disgust and taste; however there is also evidence of local resistance to this demonisation through some participants’ self-identification as proud, working-class Geordie women.

Women’s alcohol consumption has been popularly portrayed as a threat to safety, health and – ulti... more Women’s alcohol consumption has been popularly portrayed as a threat to safety, health and – ultimately – femininity (Day et al., 2004, Meyer, 2010, Haydock, 2009), with prior research on the embodied drinking practices of young women suggesting they are ‘likely to show self-policing and self-restraint in terms of intoxication in order to stay within the boundaries of traditional femininity' (Measham, 2002:358). However, this is challenged by alternative conceptualisations that see alcohol consumption as a key component of female socialising and the negotiation of pleasure, fun, relationships and group identity (Sheehan and Ridge, 2001:357).
Within the context of these contradictory understandings of contemporary drinking, this paper will present my PhD findings around embodied, everyday drinking practices and the ways in which these shape the boundaries of (in)appropriate femininity on a night out in the North-East. Findings suggest that young women negotiate a fine line where some alcohol consumption is required in order to loosen inhibitions, increase confidence and position them as fun, sociable and ‘up for a laugh’. However, this must be balanced with the risks of excessive consumption and drinking the ‘wrong’ type of drink, which continue to position women as unfeminine, unattractive and out of control. Factors such as age, class and sexuality further complicate the ways in which the boundaries of (in)appropriate femininity are maintained and negotiated.

 Provide an outline of the theoretical grounding to my project

Teaching Documents by Emily Nicholls

**Limited number of FREE e-prints here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VV3fP2TpsT3tktAFWAJ8/full

Graduate Journal of Social Sciences, Special Edition: Gendered Subjects, 9, (3), November 2012, pp. 15-22., Nov 2012

 Provide an outline of the theoretical grounding to my project