Diana C. Parry

Professor, Applied Health Sciences, Special Advisor to the President, Women's and Gender Issues University of Waterloo

  • Waterloo ON

Dr. Diana C. Parry research explores the roles of leisure in women’s health and wellbeing through a feminist lens.

Contact

Biography

My research explores the roles of leisure in women’s health and wellbeing through a feminist lens. It is difficult to capture an understanding of health experiences solely through the documentation of physiological causes, psychological outcomes, and technological solutions, the focus of much research to date. Everyday life events and experiences also warrant attention. Consequently, my research directs attention away from the medicalization of women’s health issues. Instead, I focus on a more a holistic approach to women’s health including their emotional and social well-being. I have studied the roles of leisure in women’s experiences of menopause/mid-life, infertility, pregnancy/midwifery and dragon boat racing for breast cancer survivors. Most recently, I have studied women’s experiences in roller derby and women’s use of digital technology to consume sexually explicit material such as pornography and erotica.
In conjunction with my research profile, I also serve as the special adviser to the President of the University of Waterloo on Women’s and Gender issues. As special advisor, I liaise with senior administration, faculty, staff, and students to advise on policy and structural level gender equity issues, and to help foster a supportive environment in which female students, staff, and faculty can maximize their career opportunities. Some accomplishments in this regard include establishing a gender and equity lecture series, the development of a refrigerator rental program for breastfeeding women on campus, facilitating a collaborative research project on gendered violence, initiating a female centric hackathon, and promoting a sense of community around gender equity through three campus-wide events: (1) Take Back the Night, (2) December 6 memorial, and (3) International Women’s Day.
Most recently in my role as special advisor, I successfully facilitated Waterloo’s involvement in the United Nations Women’s HeForShe campaign and 10x10x10 initiative. The HeForShe campaign is a global effort to engage boys and men in addressing gender equity. On May 5, HeForShe launched the IMPACT 10x10x10 framework that involves 10 Heads of State, 10 CEOs, and 10 University Presidents to advance gender equity. As the only Canadian institution selected to be part of this global initiative, Waterloo will have a special opportunity to lead our National efforts to address gender equity: https://uwaterloo.ca/heforshe/about-heforshe-impact-10x10x10

Industry Expertise

Education/Learning
Research

Areas of Expertise

Women's Leisure
Gender
Leisure Health and Well-Being
Qualitative Inquiry
Feminist Theory

Education

Brock University

B.R.L.S.

Recreation and Leisure Studies

1996

University of Waterloo

M.A.

Recreation and Leisure Studies

1998

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ph.D.

Leisure Studies

2003

Media Appearances

Motherhood and social networking sites

CTV News Kitchener  radio

2012-03-19

Discussion of the role that social networking plays in the lives of mothers.

Postpartum depression and online social networking

Talk Local Guelph  tv

2012-05-07

Discussion of the role that online social networking plays in postpartum depression.

The Abortion Debate in Canada

Talk Local Waterloo Region  tv

2013-01-29

Critical discussion on the abortion debate.

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Event Appearances

Women’s leisure as a site for resistance to gendered ideologies: The politics of leisure

Tactics of Resistance  London, ON., 2007

Gilda's Club of Greater Toronto as a therapeutic landscape for people living with cancer: The juxtaposition of built environment, social relations, and belief

The World Leisure Research Association  Quebec City, QC., 2008

Gilda’s Club as a third place in the everyday lives of people living with cancer

Twelfth Canadian Congress on Leisure Research  Montreal, QC., 2008

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Articles

“Skankalicious”: Erotic Capital in Women's Flat Track Roller Derby

Leisure Sciences

2016

Erotic capital refers to the use of sexuality for personal gain and has been theorized as a particular source of power (some) women can leverage to advance their interests (Hakim, 2011). With its overt sexuality, women's roller derby provides an ideal ...

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Fifty shades of complexity: Exploring technologically mediated leisure and women's sexuality

Journal of Leisure Research

2014

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual argument for why leisure researchers, and feminist leisure scholars in particular, should examine how a technology enhanced form of leisure, namely reading sexually explicit material, can liberate or ...

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Leisure research for social justice: A response to Henderson

Leisure Sciences

2013

Leisure research based on critical theories is an effective path to social justice for groups and communities that are marginalized or oppressed by those in power. In response to Henderson (2011), who frames our work as postpositivist, we argue critical theories are a ...

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