Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Social Work." Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-263).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2000. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-198). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Alliant International University, California School of Professional Psychology, San Francisco, 2007. / Includes bibliographic references (35-40) and abstract.

This dissertation explores lesbian experience, or the psychological meaning of being lesbian from the point of view of women who call themselves lesbian. The researcher suspended the binary paradigm of sex and gender, and argued that lesbians' identity development must be understood against the background of how patriarchy understands the category 'woman' through history. Towards this purpose the pOSition of women in the West, as well as contemporary images and literature about lesbians, was reviewed. On the basis of this review questions about lesbian gender construction, lesbian identity development and lesbian individuation were identified. In order to access the psychological meaning of being lesbian, or lesbian experience from the inside out, the dream-series of three lesbians constituted an empirical basis for further exploration. These dream-series were amplified with intensive face-to-face interviews, transcribed, and subjected to a hermeneutic-phenomenological inductive method. Common inter-case concerns were identified and synthesized. In dialogue with the literature reviewed, twenty-two statements of meaning about being lesbian were distilled. These revealed two possible constructions of gender for primary lesbians. In addition, primary lesbians involved in the research demonstrated remarkable flexibility with respect to their gender orientations and gender identifications, were in the process of integrating with and differentiating from different aspects of their masculine and feminine potentials, and developed and negotiated their gender identities in relationship to both their lovers and friends. The explication also revealed that participants identified with archetypal aspects of the father that their fathers' did not express, and desired archetypal aspects of the mother that their mother's did not express. Finally, in so much as the method distinguished ~ sex, sexual identity and sexual orientation from gender, gender identity, gender identification and gender orientation, it may prove useful for exploring gender in heterosexual relating.

Mainstream pornography is a widely researched phenomenon, however not many studies focus on the impact it may have on young heterosexual women. The discussion of whether an individual is “damaged by porn” usually refers to sex offenders, rapists and less aggressive sexual behavior. These discussions usually involve young and adult men and how they might be “damaged” by watching pornography and how that adapts to their own sex life. However, the discussion whether women are or could be damaged by pornography is not as widely discussed. The aim of this study is therefore to provide an understanding whether pornography creates norms and ideals that influence young heterosexual women in Sweden.  Two main theoretical frameworks are used, Gagnon & Simon’s sexual script theory and Fredrickson & Robert’s objectification theory in correlation with the concept of the male gaze to analyze the results.  The study is based on twelve interviews with young heterosexual Swedish women between the ages of 21 and 32 and their experiences and own stories. With inspiration from Robert Emerson and his colleague’s analysis model we’ve presented our results. The results and outcome provide us with three main themes: “the good-girl mentality”, “ambivalent feelings” and “norms and ideals”. The main conclusion of the empirical data is that all women in the study are shown to be influenced by the norms and ideals that pornography provides. In addition, the impact of aggression and violence was striking in the empirical data. These impacts by the norms and ideals of pornography may be consciously told by the women or interpreted by us authors.

Magister Artium - MA / Mathew Arnold's 1867 poem presents romantic love as a condition of permanence that can offer refuge from a changeable world. Sixty years later, however, Virginia Woolf observes that romance has become rare as a subject of modern poetry. Her suggestion that there is an historical explanation for this change in literary subject matter is the starting point for this study of the representation of women in the early poetry of T.S. Eliot. Whereas Woolf tentatively dates the "death" of romance to the First World War I will suggest that this change in poetic sentiment is evident in Eliot's early work, some of which predates the war. In the poems under discussion, written between the years 1910 ("Portrait of a Lady" and "The Love Song of J.

The increase in new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections among heterosexual couples in Africa may reverse the gains made by HIV prevention programs. HIV screening among such couples remains low and understudied.This qualitative study focused on the motivations for HIV screening among heterosexual couples. The primary research goal was to examine the lived experiences of heterosexual couples who were screened for HIV and received their results in Nakuru-Kenya. The health belief model (HBM) served as the theoretical framework and as a basis for the secondary questions which sought to explore the participants' perceptions on HIV based on the constructs of the HBM. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposively selected sample of 14 heterosexual couples. Data were collected through face-to-face audio-recorded interviews, which were coded and analyzed using Moustakas's phenomenological data analysis method. Six major themes emerged from the clustered responses of the participants. Couples recognized that they may be susceptible to HIV infection because HIV is transmitted primarily through sexual contact. Some couples perceived HIV as a severe, life-threatening condition in their lives; others perceived HIV as chronic disease that could be managed through treatment and good health care. The fear of negative consequences was cited as a barrier to couples' willingness to receive HIV counselling and testing. Couples perceived HIV testing as having multiple benefits, including freedom from worries and as a motivation to plan their lives. Health messages and partner dialogue were major cues that encouraged couples to undergo HIV testing. Testimonials from other couples who had been tested and chose to talk about their experiences contributed to a strong feeling of self-efficacy. These study findings may help to improve HIV prevention interventions for heterosexual couples.

Adolescents' perceptions and behaviors about romantic heterosexual relationships and sexual intercourse were compared among adolescents living with adoptive, bio logical, and stepparent s. Data come from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). In 1995, over 20,000 adolescents living throughout the United States completed a 90-minute in-home interview that asked numerous questions about romantic relationships and sex ual behaviors. Add Health used a multi-stage cluster design to collect a random sample representative of adolescents attending U.S. schools. Results showed that several demographic characteristics (gender, age, race/ethnicity, parent's education, and number of parents in the household) were associated with adolescents' perceptions and behaviors regarding romantic relationships and sexual intercourse. Descriptive mean comparisons not controlling for any demographic characteristics showed more similarities than differences between adopted and nonadopted adolescents' heterosexual relationship formation and sexual behaviors. A second set of descriptive mean comparisons, controlling for the influences of gender and number of parents in the home, showed more differences than similarities between adopted and nonadopted adolescents living in single-parent families. Adopted females reported many more experiences of rape and/or incest than non adopted females living in two-parent and single-parent families. Multivariate regression analyses controlling for five demographic characteristics found more similarities than differences between adopted and nonadopted adolescents. Most J ifferences that were f0und were small in magnitude. Adopted males reported more ictealism when asked to describe their ideal romantic relationships and more sexual activity when asked to describe their actual romantic relationships than nonadopted males. Adopted females were nearly three-and-a-half times more likely than biological females, and nearly two-and-a-halftimes more likely than stepfamily females to report forced sexual intercourse. Adopted females also reported more negative perceptions about the consequences associated with sexual intercourse than nonadopted females. Findings about mediating concepts theorized to be the link between adopted adolescents' experiences and resultant outcomes were inconclusive. Findings overall showed that adopted and nonadopted adolescents' heterosexual relationship format ion and sexual behaviors were more similar than different. Differences that were found were most frequent among single-parent families and most substantial between adopted and nonadopted females' reports of forced sexual intercourse.

Objectives: High prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (BV) has been reported in lesbians but most studies were based in sexually transmitted infection clinic settings; therefore, we wished to determine the prevalence and risk factors of BV in lesbians and heterosexual women in a community setting in the UK. Methods: A cross-sectional study recruiting lesbian women volunteers from community groups, events, clubs and bars. Heterosexual women were recruited from a community family planning clinic. They self-swabbed to create a vaginal smear, which was Gram-stained and categorised as BV, intermediate or normal flora. They completed a questionnaire about age, ethnic group, smoking, genital hygiene practices and sexual history. Results: Of 189 heterosexuals and 171 lesbians recruited, 354 had gradeable flora. BV was identified in 43 (25.7%) lesbians and 27 (14.4%) heterosexuals (adjusted OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.25 to 4.82; p¿=¿0.009). Concordance of vaginal flora within lesbian partnerships was significantly greater than expected (27/31 (87%) couples, ¿¿=¿0.63; p<0.001). Smoking significantly increased the risk of BV regardless of sexuality (adjusted OR 2.65; p¿=¿0.001) and showed substantial concordance in lesbian partnerships but less than for concordance of flora. Conclusions: Women who identified as lesbians have a 2.5-fold increased likelihood of BV compared with heterosexual women. The prevalence is slightly lower than clinic-based studies and as volunteers were recruited in community settings, this figure may be more representative of lesbians who attend gay venues. Higher concordance of vaginal flora within lesbian partnerships may support the hypothesis of a sexually transmissible factor or reflect common risk factors such as smoking.

No description available.