abstract: Based on the Foucauldian understanding that sexuality discourse operates as a powerful instrument for the regulation of societies and individuals, this research considers how internalized gender and sexuality discourses affect young women's embodied experiences of masturbation, and more broadly their sexual subjectivity and health. Drawing on interdisciplinary feminist perspectives on gender, sexuality, health, and embodiment, I examine female sexual health within a positive rights framework. That is, I view the rights to both sexual safety and pleasure as essential components of female sexual health, and conceptualize girls and young women as potential sexual agents. By asking young women about their lived experiences of self-pleasure, this research challenges not only the historical legacy of pathologizing female desire and pleasure, but also scholars' tendency to construct female sexuality solely in a heteronormative, partnered context. Based on focus groups, interviews, journals, and questionnaires collected from 109 female college students from diverse ethnic, religious, and sexuality backgrounds in Arizona and Michigan, I employ grounded theory to analyze individual feelings and experiences in the context of larger societal discourses. My findings indicate that when girls internalize negative discourses about masturbation (e.g. as sin or secular stigma), general heteronormative sexuality discourses, and a silence around female self-pleasure, there are severe negative consequences for how they understand and experience masturbation. I argue that they engage in sexual self-surveillance that often results in emotional and physical struggles, as well as the re-inscription of hegemonic cultural discourses on female masturbation, bodies, desire, and pleasure. By illustrating how even the most private and `invisible' behavior of masturbation can become a site for regulating female sexuality, this research provides important evidence of the power of increasingly covert mechanisms to govern gendered bodies and subjectivities through self-surveillance. Alternatively, this research also highlights the potential of normalizing self-pleasure for increasing girls' and young women's capacity for resisting oppressive gender and sexuality discourses and behaviors, developing an agentic sexual subjectivity, and feeling sexually empowered. Thus, this research also has practical implications for conceptualizing sexual health for girls and young women in a way that includes the rights to sexual safety and pleasure. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Gender Studies 2014

A presença constante das imagens fotográficas, na contemporaneidade, evidencia-se em um cotidiano marcado pelo intenso uso da imagem fotográfica, levando a um olhar naturalizado e que, em princípio, não impacta a vida dos sujeitos. A partir da aliança entre o smartphone e o acesso à internet banda larga, nasce a fotografia conectada, da qual é difícil evadir, pois, em todos os momentos do cotidiano, podemos nos expor e nos comunicarmos numa fusão de fala e de imagem. Nos atuais estudos sobre comportamento informacional e práticas informacionais, falta compreensão de como os sujeitos fazem uso das imagens. Neste contexto, do ponto de vista do sujeito, cabe a questão - podemos identificar efeitos positivos ou negativos no uso de imagens fotográficas, na perspectiva da Ciência da Informação? O objetivo geral consistiu em analisar estudos sobre o uso da imagem na Ciência da Informação e, com base em critérios da Ontopsicologia, agregar valor aos estudos das práticas e comportamentos informacionais dos sujeitos frente a imagens fotográficas contemporâneas. O objeto de estudo comportou o uso dessas imagens fotográficas. A pesquisa, de abordagem qualitativa e de natureza interpretativa, baseou-se em três fases: a) identificação de distintas formas de uso das imagens fotográficas, resultando em cinco práticas de uso: I. Imagem conectada; II. Imagem híbrida e reapropriada; III. Imagem e autorretrato; IV. Imagem efêmera; V. Imagem e os valores sociais. Uma vez identificados os usos, propomos: b) a identificação de funcionalidades (positivas ou negativas) no uso das imagens fotográficas. Após essas duas fases, com auxílio da Ontopsicologia, entendemos que o uso de imagens fotográficas e a funcionalidade desses usos devem estar associados à percepção visceral (organísmica) e desenvolvemos: c) um experimento. Neste, utilizamos 09 imagens fotográficas, analisadas por 20 adolescentes, em que objetivamos compreender o uso da percepção visceral com atenção voltada às variações emotivas. Ao analisarmos o uso da imagem fotográfica, concluímos que não podemos enfatizar apenas quais usos os sujeitos fazem da imagem, mas, sim, observar também o que a imagem ocasiona aos sujeitos, sugerindo, nesta pesquisa, portanto, que é a imagem que dá a funcionalidade (positiva ou negativa), e não o uso, isto é, a funcionalidade ou não funcionalidade, antes de tudo, dá-se pela imagem. Para conhecermos a funcionalidade, substancialmente, adicionamos o critério organísmico (visceral) ao critério lógico-racional. Por fim, é importante ainda salientar que o uso da imagem fotográfica conectada traz a característica do uso interativo, isto é, o sujeito se crê ativo na interação por meio das imagens fotográficas, mas é passivo diante da ação dos complexos. / The constant presence of photographic images nowadays is seen in a routine marked by an intense use of photographic images, accounting for a naturalized view upon images and giving the impression that they do not cause any impact on subjects. Since the alliance between the smartphone and broadband internet access, the connected photography comes to be, from which it is difficult to escape because at any moment in our daily life, we may expose ourselves and communicate with each other in a fusion between speech and image. In contemporary researches about information behaviour and information practices, such studies lack the comprehension of how subjects make use of images. In this context, from the subject\'s point of view, a question arises: can we identify the positive or negative effects in the use of photographic images according to Information Science? The main objective consisted in analyzing studies about the use of image in Science Information and according to the criteria of Ontopsychology, aggregating value to the studies about information behavior and information practices of subjects before contemporary photographic images. This research is of qualitative approach and of interpretative nature, focusing in three stages: a) identification of distinct ways of photographic image use, resulting in five practices of image use: I. Connected image; II. Hybrid reappropriated image; III. Image and selfie; IV. Ephemeral image; V. Image and social values. Once the uses were identified, carried out the b) identification of functionalities (positive and negative) in the use of photographic images. After these two stages, with the support of Ontopsychology, it was identified that the uses of photographic images and their functionalities must be associated with visceral perception (organismic perception) and developed c) an experiment. In this experiment, we used 09 photographic images were analyzed by 20 adolescents in which the aim was to comprehend the use of visceral perception with a focus on emotive variations. In analyzing the use of photographic image, rather it was concluded that one cannot emphasize only what uses such subjects make use but as well as to observe what the image causes in the subject hence suggesting, in this research, that it is the image that provides the functionality (positive or negative) and not the use itself, that is, the functionality or the non-functionality comes to be through the image. In order to know substantially the functionality, one must add the organismic (visceral) criterium to the logical and rational criterium. Lastly, it is important to highlight that the use of connected photographic image brings the characteristic of interactive use; the subject sees himself in the interaction through photographic images but becomes passive before the action of complexes.

Desde a virada para a prática nos Estudos Organizacionais, as diferentes vertentes das teorias da prática têm dado importante contribuição no sentido de desconstruir o predomínio da visão funcionalista sobre o fenômeno organizacional. Apesar disso, o tema de como a reprodução das práticas contribui para a produção da ordem social tem sido negligenciado pelos estudos baseados na prática nesse campo. Tal postura tem impedido a consecução de pesquisas que busquem compreender como as práticas são socialmente sustentadas, que interesses as orientam, quem se beneficia de sua permanência ou de sua interrupção, e assim por diante. Desse modo, reforça-se, em certa medida, a dificuldade de entendimento dos processos de permanência e mudança organizacional para além da razão instrumental e capitula-se diante do imperativo funcionalista que continua a privilegiar, tanto na teoria quanto na prática administrativa, a lógica do proveito material governado pela eficiência produtiva como o motivo primordial da existência e da permanência das organizações. Com base em tal percepção, proponho como objetivo desta tese repensar a questão da intencionalidade dos agentes organizacionais a partir de uma perspectiva prática e histórica, cultural e incorporada. Para realizá-lo, parto de um estudo etnográfico feito durante o ano de 2011, em uma fábrica de doces na cidade de Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul. Neste campo, foi possível vivenciar as dinâmicas de permanência e mudança da prática de uma doceria que é reconhecida localmente como “tradicional” pelo tempo de enraizamento na cultura. A observação participante aconteceu de modo direcionado para a compreensão dos processos de transmissão do saber-fazer doceiro, através da minha própria experiência de incorporação desse conhecimento prático, do contato instrutivo com a mestre doceira que comandava as atividades da fábrica e com as funcionárias e funcionários que lá trabalhavam na época da pesquisa. Assim, considero ter sido possível compreender de que maneira os referidos processos obedecem a uma lógica incorporada, alheia à lógica racional, e como os movimentos de mudança e permanência, endógenos ou exteriores a essas práticas, exercem impacto sobre a organização que se estrutura ao seu redor. / Since the practice turn in Organizational Studies, different strands of theories of practice have made important contributions in order to deconstruct the dominance of the functionalist view of the organizational phenomenon. Nevertheless, the issue of how the reproduction of practices contributes to the production of social order has been neglected by practice-based studies in this field. This attitude has prevented the acomplishment of researches that attempt to understand how the practices are socially sustained, what interests guide them, who benefits from their maintenance or from their interruption, and so forth. Thus, it reinforces in a certain extent, the difficulty on understanding the processes of organizational change and permanence beyond instrumental reason, and it gives in afterward the functionalist imperative that continues to privilege, both in management theory and practice, the logic of material gain governed by the productive efficiency as the primary reason of existence and continuity of organizations. Based on this perception, I propose as the objective of this thesis to rethink the intentionality of the organizational agents from a practical and historical, cultural and embodied perspective. Based on an ethnographic study made during 2011 in a candy factory in the city of Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, it was possible to experience the dynamics of permanence and change of the practice of a kind of confectionery which is recognized locally as "traditional" odd to the time of rooting in culture. The participant observation was directed to understanding the processes of transmission of the confectioner know-how, through my own experience of incorporating this knowledge, through instructional contact with the master confectioner who commanded the activities of the factory and through the contact with the employees who worked there at the time of the research. Thus, I found how these processes follow an embodied logic, oblivious to rational logic, and how the movements of change and permanence, endogenous or external to these practices, impact the organization that its structures around them.

Almost since the birth of electronic music, composers have been fascinated by the prospect of integrating the human voice with its expressiveness and complexity into electronic musical works. This thesis addresses how performing with responsive technologies in mixed works, i.e. works that combine an acoustic sound source with a digital one, is experienced by participating singers, adopting an approach of seamlessness, of zero – or invisible – interface, between singer and computer technology. It demonstrates how the practice of composing and the practice of singing both are embodied activities, where the many-layered situation in all its complexity is of great importance for a deepened understanding. The overall perspective put forward in this thesis is that of music as a sounding body to resonate with, where the resonance, a process of embodying, of feeling and emotion, guides the decision-making. The core of the investigation is the lived experiences through the process of composing and performing three musical works. One result emerging from this process is the suggested method of calibration, according to which a bodily rooted attention forms a kind of joint attention towards the work in the making. Experiences from these three musical works arrive in the formulation of an over-arching framework entailing a view of musical composition as a process of construction – and embodied mental simulation – of situations, whose dynamics unfold to engage musicians and audience through shifting fields of affordances, based on a shared landscape of affordances.

Café Culture is an ethnographic snapshot, taken in 2008, tracing the effects of globalisation from the perspective of young middle class urbanites in post-liberalisation Pune, India. It captures what was happening that sets this young generation apart – the first to grow up in post-liberalisation India – as a group in historical time, in relation to other life worlds in India, to 'Western' versions and as a rounded life world in itself. In 1991 India conclusively opened its economy to the global market economy. My ethnography shows that trends following economic liberalisation in unprecedented ways spurred changes that were already underway. It facilitated not only the emergence of a commodified leisure culture in the form of cafés, targeted at and appropriated by the young urban middle class, but also the creation of new fashions, more living space, national and international employment, mobility and economic independence. These tangible changes went hand in hand with transformations in practices and moral aesthetic standards. The young generation was challenging their parents' and wider society's values in order to negotiate who they wanted and felt they ought to be in their rapidly changing world. In their friendships, café culture activities, fashion choices, education and love lives they increasingly valued, encouraged and expected equality, freedom and the expression of individuality. However, the different chapters highlight that these trends were measured and limited by class- and generation-based practices and moral aesthetic standards which amended rather than negated older patriarchal arrangements predicated on the ideal of joint family life. The young café culture crowd was negotiating to follow their hearts, while preserving strong family bonds and inter-generational dependencies. They were thus modifying what it meant to be middle class Indians in our contemporary world of flow of people, capital, ideas, images, information and goods.

En conception de produits, l’étape de conception dite architecturale doit aboutir à une solution décrivant les caractéristiques du produit, telles que les dimensions ou le choix de composants. Parmi les nombreuses solutions potentielles, il est nécessaire d’effectuer un choix et de pouvoir le justifier de manière rigoureuse. Ce choix doit en outre intégrer l’éventuelle présence d’une solution de référence, pouvant par exemple être issue de projets antérieurs, ou d’études préliminaires.Dans ce but, nos travaux présentent une méthode d’aide à la décision en vue de sélectionner une solution de conception ; nous la nommons méthode OIA (Observation-Interprétation-Agrégation). Cette méthode emploie deux types de modèle, l’un pour formaliser le comportement objectif du produit (Observation), l’autre pour les préférences subjectives du concepteur (Interprétation). Dans ces préférences, nous incluons le comportement attendu du produit, la satisfaction du concepteur ainsi que les compromis intrinsèquement réalisés lors du processus de conception. Ces compromis sont réalisés au travers de stratégies de conception et de logiques de pondérations (Agrégation). La méthode OIA est employée une première fois pour qualifier les solutions de conception en termes de performance. Cette méthode est ensuite appliquée une seconde fois afin de qualifier la solution par rapport à la solution de référence, en termes de confiance accordée par le concepteur. Nous introduisons la notion d’arc-élasticité en conception comme un indicateur de compromis entre performance et confiance pour une solution de conception.Plusieurs algorithmes stochastiques d’optimisation sont comparés comme méthodes de recherche de solutions candidates pertinentes. Nous les détaillons, les comparons et proposons une méthode de sélection multicritère afin d’identifier l’algorithme le plus pertinent.Notre travail est appliqué au dimensionnement d’une jonction rivetée dans un contexte aéronautique industriel. / In product design, the design phase called "embodiment design" results to define solutions describing main product characteristics, such as dimensions or standard components. Among numerous candidate solutions, it is necessary to select and to rigorously justify the selection. This choice must often take into account preexisting reference solutions, coming from previous projects or preliminary studies.In this context, our works propose a decision support method aiming to select a design solution; it is called OIA method (Observation-Interpretation-Aggregation). This approach uses two types of model, the first one concerns the objective behavior of the product (Observation), the second one concerns the designer's subjective preferences (Interpretation). In these preference several indicators are introduced: expected product behaviors, designer's satisfactions and usual compromises realized through design activity. These compromises are achieved through design strategies and weighting approaches (Aggregation). The OIA method is first used to qualify design solutions though the performance indicator. This method is then used to qualify design solutions related to the reference one, through the confidence indicator. The arc-elasticity is finally introduced as a compromise indicator between performance and confidence.Several stochastic optimization algorithms are compared to compute optimal solutions. Theses algorithms are investigated and compared using three criteria, and a multicriteria selection method is proposed to identify the most suitable one.This work is applied to the dimensioning of a riveted junction in an industrial context.

This thesis examines the issues of body, embodiment and indentity in relation to the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. The duality between speech and embodiment is explored in depth, both in the story of the novel and in the author's narrative style. Furthermore, the issue of power in relation to the society as well as towards one's own identity is discussed.

This thesis examines the practice of an Argentine Tango dance community in the East Midlands, England. It is an ethnographic study whose objectives are to investigate this instance of a local transcultural dance practice in order to learn about participants’ motivations; their experience of and identification with Argentine Tango; and the meanings produced in the process of their participation. As a social dancer, teacher and insider researcher, I employ embodiment as a key methodological strategy in order to engage with and share the experience of dancing with participants; to gain sensory understanding and bodily knowledge of the practice; and in the process to gain access to further avenues of meaning-making amongst participants. The study considers questions arising directly from my teaching role to do with the transmission and reproduction of the dance, authenticity, the production of meaning, the construction and performance of identity and the imaginative construction of post-modern cultural practices. The nature of space and place is considered, as is Turner’s distinction between liminoid and liminal activity with regard to ritual and communitas in relation to Argentine Tango. Alongside participant discussions, I explore various perspectives on the cosmopolitan appropriation and exoticisation of Argentine Tango; the diffusion, re-territorialisation and globalisation of Argentine Tango since the late 1980s. Data was produced using ethnographic tools, including video recording, shared reviewing and feedback from participants. The thesis analyses findings to show how participants project narratives of the imagination into their dancing, thereby providing frameworks of meaning which crucially underpin and sustain this practice. These imagined narratives are compared to journeys, both literal and of the imagination, enabling the creative construction of new identities, the exploration of self in relation to others and an escape from everyday life in postmodernity.

No description available.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Historical ethnographic and early psychoanalytic epistemologies on 'fetishism' focus primarily on the fetish 'object', whereby the subject of 'fetish practices' was identified, pathologised and/or socioculturally invalidated primarily on the basis of affiliation with a taboo object. Such uncritical reliance on dualist, oppositional thinking and divisive, psychopathologising tendencies attenuates subjectivities and agency, and is inconsistent with contemporary postcolonial and queer scholarship. Contemporary discourses around (gay male sexual) 'fetishism', lodged in the definitions and diagnostic criteria of sexual 'fetishism' in the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases, efface the subjectivities of sexual subjects who incorporate material objects into their sexual scripts. I argue that these classifications should be completely revised, since more appropriate subject-oriented epistemologies on sexuality incorporating material objects should acknowledge the constitution of the subject as phenomenologically taking place through intersections between materiality and discourse. This implies that no separate psychopathology of 'fetishism' can exist, since subjects, material objects and discourse cannot be effectively separated from each other.In contradistinction, a subject-oriented approach should, I suggest, be adopted, oriented around the (non-essentialist) constitution and lived experiences of sexual subjects, rather than on human or inanimate objects of sexual attention. This approach focuses on the necessary role of the human(sexual) body, which is neither entirely discursively nor materially constructed, but rather is engaged in a complex interaction with subjectivities, discourse and the phenomenal world. The(non-unitary) 'self' is him/herself subject, object and part of a cultural environment, experientially delineated through 'embodiment', with the phenomenological paradigm allowing for validation of sexual expression from an inclusive perspective, to develop complex cartographies of subjectivities.Based on this foundation, the thesis argues that the embodied sexual experience of the 'gay male fetishist' subject therefore serves to link him, objects and environments dialectically. Rather than being the 'object' of supervening drives, he is a valid agent, exploring his subjectivity and orienting himself in relation to his environment through his embodied experience. 'Sexual fetish' practices therefore function as connecting (rather than divisive) forces in human relations with the world. At the same time, consensual, non-harmful 'gay male fetish' sexualities are potentially selftransformative and socially transformative practices, called on as resources for recognising personal value.