Thomas Lovell Beddoes' female dramatic characters are, for the most part, objectified and static, but these passive women perform a crucial narrative and thematic function in the plays. Alongside the destructive activity of the male characters, they dramatize masculine-feminine unions as idealized and contrived and, thus, unstable. Desire, power and influence, as well as the constrictive aspects of physicality, all become gendered concepts in Beddoes' plays, and socially normative relationships between men and women, including heterosexual courtship and marriage, are scrutinized and found wanting. In The Brides' Tragedy, Floribel and Olivia, the eponymous brides, represent archetypes of innocence, purity, and Romantic nature. Their bridegroom, Hesperus, embodies Romantic masculinity, desiring the feminine and aspiring to androgyny, but ultimately unable to relinquish masculine power. The consequences of Hesperus' attempts to unite with the feminine other are the destruction of that other and of himself, with no hope for the spiritual union in death that the Romantic Hesperus espouses as his ultimate desire. Death's Jest-Book expands upon the theme of male-female incompatibility, presenting heterosexual relationships in the context of triangulated desire. The erotic triangles created by Melveric, Sibylla, and Wolfram and Athulf, Amala, and Adalmar are inherently unstable, because they depend upon the rivalries between the males. Once those rivalries end, with the deaths of Wolfram and Athulf, respectively, Sibylla and Amala fade into nothing, their function as conduits for male homosocial relations at an end. In effect, these failed heterosexual triangles function as a backdrop for the idealized relationship between Melveric and Wolfram, whose desire for each other is mediated through their common pursuit of Sibylla, as well as through their blood-brotherhood. Once Wolfram's physical masculinity is deferred through death, the mixing of his ashes with those of Melveric's dead wife, and reanimation, Melveric and Wolfram descend into the tomb together, united for eternity.

The effects of divorce on trust in intimate heterosexual relationships were investigated using a sample of 478 college students (156 males, 322 females). Subjects were asked to respond to scenarios and questionnaires assessing parental marital status, just world beliefs, parental conflict, and trust. Attitudes toward divorce and common problems were also assessed.

Women have recurrently faced the adaptive problem of rape over evolutionary history. Little research has investigated the potential evolved psychological mechanisms for rape avoidance that women may possess. Here I review evolutionary perspectives on rape avoidance. I follow this review with the results of two studies conducted to design a measure of women's rape avoidance, known as the Rape Avoidance Inventory (RAI). Study 1A included 99 women who self-reported acts they do or might do specifically to avoid being raped. Study 1B included 144 women who filled out a preliminary inventory of rape avoidance behaviors. I used their responses to construct the RAI. In Study 3, I develop and test a number of hypotheses derived from evolutionary psychological theory, using data derived from the sample of women in Study 1B. I conclude by discussing limitations and possible future directions for rape avoidance research. / by William F. McKibbin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

If queer is an applicable label for that which aims to subvert or counteract normativity, then Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Wife of Bath's tale, and her Prologue are each, in their own ways, queer texts. I examine the ways in which the feminine presences of Morgan le Fay and the Loathly Lady influence and challenge the heteronormative, homosocial space of Arthur and his knights. The two knights in each respective tale journey away from their heteronormative spaces, in which a complex system of homosociality and chivalric patriarchy dominate, to a queer space where each must go against his societal norms and rely on feminine agency and talismans in order for their quests to succeed - and to ensure their survival. It is this very convergence of heteronormative and queer spaces that enables Morgan's defiance of heteronormativity and dominance over those who enter her feminine, non-normative domain. / by Jessica Pitts. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 1996.

This dissertation considers gender relations and intimacy in romantic relationships within the context of economic globalization and consumer culture. The aim was to explore how the economic structure of South African society and the culture of consumption that has accompanied this structure influence the way men and women view themselves and each other, and the impact this has on the relationships they form. Social Constructionism was used as a theoretical framework and specific attention was paid to the discourses evident in the speech of participants and the effects these discourses may have had on the formation of intimate bonds. Data was collected from young middle class women aged 18-25 using focus groups and individual, semi-structured interviews and was analysed using discourse analysis to explore the ways in which ideas of identity, self-worth, status and value shape these relationships. The following discourses were identified from the data: Men and women are different, Romantic relationships as a means to social inclusion/self-esteem, Love as a risk, Love as hard work and Physical attractiveness as necessary for romantic relationships. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of an Attachment-Oriented-Psychoeducational-Group-Training on the preoccupied/insecure attachment style of university students. This study consists of two phases. In the first phase of the study, Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ), Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSS), and an Information Form were given to the 755 third year METU students. The differences among the attachment styles (RSQ and RQ) of the participants by gender and self-esteem levels (RSS) were explored by using a 2 (gender) x 2 (high-low self-esteem) factorial MANOVA. Results showed significant self-esteem differences in fearful, preoccupied and secure subscale scores in RQ and RSQ and gender differences in fearful, preoccupied and secure subscale scores of RSQ and RQ. These results indicated that students who had lower self-esteem scored significantly higher in fearful and preoccupied subscales of RSQ while students who had higher self-esteem had statistically significant higher mean scores in secure attachment subscales. No significant differences were found between the insecure/avoidant subscale scores of the high and low self-esteem group students. Results showed that females scored significiantly higher in fearful attachment style of RQ and RSQ. Male students scored significiantly higher in both preoccupied subscales of RQ and RSQ and in secure attachment subscale of RSQ. In the second phase, the Attachment-Oriented-Psychoeducational-Group-Training was implemented to the experimental group of 11 volunteered preoccupied subjects. The control group consisted of 8 preoccupied students. The control group subjects did not receive any training. Both experimental and control groups were given Relationship Scales Questionnaire and Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale at pre-test, post-test and follow up. Non-parametric statistical analyses of Wilcoxon test and Mann-Whitney U test were employed to the RSQ and RSS scores of the subjects to assess the effect of the Attachment-Oriented-Psychoeducational-Group-Training. The results showed that experimental group subjects&amp / #8217 / secure attachment subscale scores have increased from pre-test to posttest but not pre-test to follow up or posttest to follow up tests of both RSQ and RSS. A significant difference was found between pre and follow up tests scores of RSS for control group.

The loss of intimacy is a pervasive tale, felt especially poignantly when the particular story, with its plot lines of love and betrayal, soaked as they are in rage and grief, is my own. By inverting the research process, whereby I call upon friends, and strangers who become friends, to assist me in the meaning-making process, this autoethnographic account of the twenty year downward spiral of my now defunct marriage makes tangible the shared project of making sense of intimacy, love and loss. It connects the personal to the social, cultural, and (most especially) the politically gendered nature of heterosexual relationship experience. It speaks of the process that makes it possible for me to tell my story and of the ethical tensions involved in telling a story of

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 229-237).