CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Nathan, Glynna |
|---|---|
| Title | The Diary: Gendered Perceptions and Practices of University Students |
| Summary | Although the earliest diaries remaining in Europe and North America were mainly written by men, diary writing in the twentieth century and modern day has often been associated with femininity, believed to be practiced more by women, and sometimes seen as a feminist tool of women’s agency. This thesis explores to what extent diary writing continues in this gendered legacy in 2025, looking both at perceptions and the actual gendered distribution of practice at a time when identities are more complex. To what extent is diary writing not equally available to everyone in our gendered world? My study investigates the diary writing practices of university students at Central European University and Bard College Berlin to analyze for gendered imbalances in participation. This study was inspired by a similar one done in 1987 by researcher Cinthia Gannett, who concluded that men were much less interested in keeping diaries–something they considered to be feminine–compared to women. (Gannett 1987) Compared to Gannett’s work, my study also assesses how changes in gender socialization and emerging masculinities might lead to new results, and how the gendered legacy of self-reflective writing continues to effect interest in and perceptions of diary writing. The findings of my survey demonstrated that there is a lasting association with diaries as feminine, as perceived by all gender groups. Women and genderqueer students in my sample were also more likely to keep diaries than the men, based on the higher response rates and overall interest shown in diaries in the survey responses. This thesis adds to the growing literature on understanding gendered writing and gender’s impact on self-expression. |
| Supervisor | Pető, Andrea |
| Department | Undergraduate Studies BA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/nathan_glynna.pdf |
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