Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 8).

M.A. / The aim of this study was to make an attempt to differentiate between certain etiological factors which could contribute to lesbian behaviour. Because of the fact that only a relatively small amount of research bas been done on female homosexuality, it was considered to be an important subject for further study. Because of the small amount of research on female homosexuality it is often found that generalizations are made about female homosexuality on the basis of findings on male homosexuality. This is an additional motivation for research on female homosexuality as a seperate entity. Initially, the general developement of sexuality in the female was examined without emphasizing hetero- or homosexuality. The importance of this approach was that important deductions could be made with regard to etiological factors. Secondly, attention was given to the theoretical approaches to female homosexuality, on the basis of previous research, as well as theoretical speculations. The approaches which were examined, were the psychoanalytical model, the biological model and the social model. Thirdly, the personality traits of the lesbian were considered in particular. This section was based on previous research relevant to this theme, for example specific factors like aggression, depression, sexual identity, social adaptation and feelings of dependency were considered. Although there was no agreement in the studies, it appeared that there were no obvious differences between lesbian and heterosexual women. The experimental section of this study contains the analysis of biographical data, which was obtained by means of a biographical questionnaire, and the analysis of data collected by means of administration of the Rorschach technique. The biographical data were collected to elicit etiological factors while the Rorschach aimed at finding personality characteristics typically encountered in lesbianism.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.(Department of Sociology))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-108).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Literary and Cultural Studies / Master / Master of Arts

The present thesis is about shifting narrations of desire, changing stories of family, sexuality, and the self uttered by same-sex desiring women in contemporary Greece. It is chronologically situated from the end of the I 970s —when a feminist and lesbian discourse, mainly Western imported, emerged in Greece- up to the present, and is primarily based in Athens, the capital city, and Eressos, a summer resort on the island of Lesvos. Narrations of desire should be examined in relation to the specific socio-cultural contexts in which they appear, since they are largely depending on the specificities of each society and shaped by local cultures. In Greece this context is formed by the significance of family, kinship and the importance of motherhood, and the influence of Western imported discourses on lesbianism and same-sex sexualities. From the end of the lOs onwards, a lesbian movement began to emerge in Greece, groups were formed, articles were published, bars were opened and Eressos was established as an international lesbian meeting place. Yet, same-sex desiring women's participation in the so-called 'lesbian scene' is relatively small and they are reluctant to adopt the term 'lesbian' for their self-identification. The reason is that, although recent global and economic forces enabled the diffusion of global identities and the transformation of intimacy beyond the homo/hetero divide, the way such changes are accepted, negated and negotiated in each society is intrinsically related to traditional and more dominant stories on gender and sexuality. In Greece such stories are imbued with the imperatives of marriage and procreation. Therefore new narrations of desire and stories of the self are being uttered, but they do not claim for a lesbian identity nor do they claim for a gender deconstniction, according to the Western example. What they are about is the claim for the recognition of an autonomous desire, a desire which is independent of men or the acquisition of children, the right to be one's self and to be recognized as a whole person. Due to the importance of family and kinship ties these stories are told not in public but in the privacy of homes and usually when parents are absent. But even if daughters feel 'brave' enough to speak about their lives, desires and hopes, there are parents, -especially mothers acting as guardians of domestic order-, who refuse to listen, with the outcome that silence enhances itself as the primary means for sustaining family relations.

A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the Degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology) Johannesburg 1993 / This dissertation explores the relationships between fusion (operationalised as a very high level of intimacy), levels of sexual desire and the frequency of sexual activity in lesbian relationships of duration longer than one year. The viability and appropriateness of the research method is also assessed, as this is an under-researched area. Fusion is theoretically and clinically posited to be associated to be associated with low levels of desire and sexual activity for lesbian couples.The questionnaire used consists of the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships Inventory, demographic questions and measures of the frequency of sexual activity and levels of sexual desire. This last had to be discarded as invalid. Participants were found via friendship networks and the media, and questionnaires were distributed and returned postally. The sample of thirty-six women covers a broad range of ages'but is predominantly English-speaking and skewed towards higher education and salary levels. Spearman correlation coefficients were. calculated for the variables. The frequency of sexual activity does not' correlate significantly with any form of intimacy, including sexual intimacy. Sexual activity does decline in frequency with an increase in the age of the participants and their partners and with an increase in the duration of the relationship, a finding in accordance with overseas research.

Research findings on marriage as a heterosexual institution were reviewed and research was carried out to determine if certain of them were applicable to lesbian “marriage” as well. Marriage was defined as a relationship in which two people have lived together with strong emotional and sexual involvement for a year or more. Subjects were volunteers from among women age 22 or older, who were childless, and who were involved in the women's movement, as well as their friends, lovers and husbands. There were 14 lesbian couples, 14 lesbians who has never been married and 6 lesbians who had been married but weren’t currently and who were involved in a sexual relationship at the time of the study. Subjects were asked to fill out various forms, including (not all subjects completed all the forms) a questionnaire of background information; Interpersonal Checklists on actual-self, ideal-self, lover or spouse, how they think their spouse (or lover) sees them, how they think their spouse (or lover) sees herself (himself); a Security-Insecurity Inventory; a Marital-Roles Inventory; and a Socioemotional Valuation Index. Results indicated that for this population of lesbians and heterosexuals: Homogeneous trait matching occurs among lesbians so that a mate is chosen who is perceived as resembling the self (p≤.005). The evidence did not support the theory of ideal-self-fulfillment, proposed by Karp, Jackson and Lester, for lesbians; Married lesbians do not score higher in insecurity on a Security-Insecurity test than never-married lesbians, the average score for this sample being almost exactly the same (single lesbians scoring higher). There is insufficient evidence to conclude that heterosexually married women score higher in insecurity than married lesbians though results were in the expected direction (p≤.15); Marital satisfaction is higher among lesbians than among women involved in a heterosexual marriage (p≤. 05); There is insufficient evidence to conclude that spouses in lesbian marriage make more nearly equal amounts of adjustment than do spouses in heterosexual marriage, though results were in the expected direction (p≤. 1). Although none of the hypotheses concerning interpersonal perception and marital satisfaction were supported by the evidence it was tentatively concluded from looking at the pattern of the results that lesbian marriages are not split into roles so that one partner is assigned the instrumental, task-oriented roles and the other the expressive, integrative roles.

An individual’s identity is thought to accommodate and reflect his or her changing drives, abilities, beliefs, roles and obligations in an ever-changing environment, and a social or group identity is perceived as a contextually-bound aspect of this. When identity is stigmatised, expressions of identity are constrained by stigma management mechanisms, including group narratives. This study analyses the identity narratives of 64 lesbians as told to another lesbian, in particular referential, structural, interactional and functional aspects as well as a set of quantitative measures. While these lesbians experienced common life events, their narratives comprised a reflection of developmental tasks in one or more of 5 aspects of lesbian identity: lesbian sexual identity, transition to lesbian identity, stigma management, lesbian relationships and lesbian community involvement. The narratives were constrained by group interpretations: common “Lesbian Scripts’ and ‘Thematic Lines’ were identified which were correlated with identity factors. The inclusion of particular scripts and thematic lines in a lesbian’s narrative was associated with her level of identification as a lesbian, her level of commitment to her identity, her attitude to stigma and/or lesbianism, her age, and the number of years she has spent identifying as lesbian. The study concludes that the function of lesbian narrative includes demonstration of group membership, location within the group, demonstration of worthiness and morality, identity repair, and identity affirmation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)