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D.Litt et.Phil. / Parents, educators, police officers, social workers, psychologists, the courts and child and youth care workers have raised important concerns about the increase of child-on-child sexual abuse among children younger than 12 years and their limited understanding of this phenomenon. New policy and legislation places the emphasis on assessment and intervention that takes account of the rights of children in conflict with the law including victims and the need for the diversion of children from the criminal justice system. The aim and objectives of the study are to explore the nature of child-on-child sexual abuse and their social and familial contexts with the view to making recommendations to inform assessment and intervention for children in conflict with the law. A descriptive and exploratory research design was employed. A mixed methods research design consisting of a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were used. A non-probability, purposive sampling method was used for both the quantitative and qualitative part of the study based on predetermined selection criteria. In the quantitative component of the study, a questionnaire was administered to 50 boys between 6 and 12 years and to their mothers who were referred to The Teddy Bear Clinic for treatment for sexual acting out behaviours. The qualitative study consisted of a detailed analysis of six case files. The information gathered from the document study was over a longer period of time and consisted of more detailed information. O’Brien and Bera’s (1986) classification of young sex offenders guided the social worker’s assessment of the respondents who were in turn classified according to the levels of risk they presented to society. The findings confirm that this phenomenon exists with the youngest perpetrators in this study being six years old (2%). The majority of the respondents (66%) were 12 years of age and were engaged in more severe or intrusive sexualised behaviour such as attempted rape and rape (48%) and less severe behaviour such as touching of genitals (16%). About 60% of the boys were in the senior primary school. Thus this age group which marks the pubescent phase of development should be considered to be a high risk group to child sexual offending.

Magíster en Psicología Clínica de Adultos / Este trabajo presenta una revisión teórica de los conceptos relacionados con la sexualidad humana y sus distintos procedimientos diagnósticos y terapéuticos. Se realiza un análisis de artículos científicos, en el contexto de las terapias sexuales desde principio del siglo XX hasta hoy en día. La complejidad de la dimensión sexual, iniciada con una visión dicotómica mente/cuerpo implicaba una terapia psicológica o médica exclusiva. Sin embargo, en el estado actual de conocimiento y la complejidad del sistema consultante, requiere de una integración de factores: biológicos, psicológicos, interpersonales y contextuales en la comprensión contemporánea de la sexualidad y el manejo de estas dificultades emergentes. Se describe un conjunto de estudios y procedimientos en el área de la terapia sexual y se presentan los principios fundacionales para el desarrollo de un modelo integrativo multidimensional (MIM), con estándares basados en la evidencia clínica, que aborde de manera eficiente los aspectos biomédicos y psicológicos en los problemas sexuales

No description available.

No description available.

Over the last two decades our courts have become inundated with cases relating to sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual harassment has become a major problem in the workplace hence the decision by parliament and our courts to implement policies in the workplace to try and curb the problem. The effects of sexual harassment on a victims’ job and career can be profound. It has been proven that many employees simply decide to leave their jobs or to request a transfer than to endure the harassment until they are psychologically destroyed by the embarrassing situation.The Employment Equity Act explicitly in section 6 prohibits unfair discrimination in very specific terms. It states that no person may unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against an employee in an employment policy or practice on one or more of the grounds listed in section 6. Section 6(3) further states that harassment of an employee is a form of discrimination where the harassment is based on any one or more of the grounds listed in section 6 (1) which includes sexual harassment. Section 60 deals with the liability of employees for the conduct of their employees committed whilst the employees are at work, where such conduct contravenes the provisions of the EEA. If the conduct is brought to the attention of the employer he or she is obliged to take the necessary steps to eliminate the alleged conduct and to comply with the provisions of the EEA. Section 60(3) renders an employee vicariously liable for the conduct of an employee who contravenes the provisions of the EEA. An employee who cannot prove that reasonable steps were taken to ensure that the provisions of the EEA are not contravened will be held liable for the actions or their employees. An employer who can prove that reasonable steps were taken will not be held liable for the actions of the employee.The provisions of the EEA were applied in the case of Ntsabo v Real Security wherein an employee had been sexually harassed over a period of six months by a fellow employee. The employee had reported the incidents of sexual harassment to the corporation she was employed with which failed to take action against the senior employee. Instead of taking action the corporation moved her to a different work station and placed her on night shift. This gave her the impression that she was being punished for the deed of the senior employee which resulted in her resigning from the corporation and instituting a claim for constructive dismissal and damages for sexual harassment. The court found that she had been constructively dismissed and that the senior employee had contravened section 6(3) of the EEA. The court further held that the employer (corporation) was also liable for the conduct of the senior employee in contravening the Act. In terms of the doctrine of vicarious liability on the other an employer may be held vicariously liable for the actions of its employees committed during the course and scope of their employment. The test for vicarious liability is therefore whether at the time of the alleged act of sexual harassment the employee was acting within the course and scope of his employment. The doctrine came before the court in the case of Grobler v Naspers. In this case Grobler who was employed at Naspers alleged that has had been sexually harassed by her immediate supervisor Mr Samuels. Samuels acted as trainee manager for seven months. Grobler suffered a mental breakdown as a result of the harassment and contented that she was no longer fit to work. She approached the High court for relief and alleged that Naspers (employer) was vicariously liable for the actions of Mr Samuels and the damages she suffered. In Naspers the court had to decide whether Samuels was indeed responsible for Grobler’s condition and if so whether Naspers were vicariously liable for his actions. In coming to its decision various cases were cited by the court as authority that recognised underlying policy considerations of vicarious liability. This included considerations that the employer is in a better position to pay compensation than the employee and to render the employer liable, serves as a deterrent against similar conduct in the future. The court also remarked that the common law courts acknowledge that the evolution of the doctrine continues to be guided by policy. The court ruled that policy considerations justified the finding that Naspers was vicariously liable for the sexual harassment of Grobler. It held further that both Naspers and Samuels were jointly and severally liable for the compensation to be paid. The Code of Good Practice on the Handling of Sexual Harassment Cases which was published as an annexure to the Labour Relations Act was implemented in an attempt to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace, to provide appropriate procedures to deal with the problem and to prevent its occurrence and to promote and to encourage the development and implementation of policies and procedures which will assist in creating workplaces free from sexual harassment. The cases quoted above demonstrate the different approaches adopted by the courts in seeking to grant relief to victims of sexual harassment. It is clear that policies and procedures should be in place in the workplace that will ensure that employers are not held liable for the actions of their employees committed during the course and scope of employment. The same can however not be said when there are no policies and procedures in place in the workplace.

Earlier studies implicate interlocus sexual conflict as having important evolutionary consequences in Drosophila serrata but it has never been directly studied. I quantify sexual conflict and its divergence between two laboratory stocks using a full factorial manipulation of male population, female population, and level of male exposure to track longevity and fecundity of individual females. Evidence of strong sexual conflict, as well as divergence of male harm and female resistance between populations, was found. The relationship between environmental complexity and sexual conflict was then explored using a combination of behavioural observations and a factorial experiment to again track longevity and fecundity of individual females. Increased complexity was associated with decreased sexual activity and increased lifespan in females, although effects on fecundity were less clear. Overall, my studies combine to provide initial data for characterizing sexual conflict in Drosophila serrata and shed light on important considerations for its study.

Perhaps one of the most embodied of human experiences, sexuality can be greatly affected by the way in which women perceive their body. Historically, scholars have dedicated their attention to negative facets of body image and how it is associated with poorer female sexual health, while mostly overlooking the positive aspects of this relationship. Similarly, although ageing is a key factor to consider when examining body image and sexual health, only a dearth of studies has attempted to describe the experiences of non-university aged women. To fill these gaps, this research program was designed to investigate the associations between positive and negative aspects of body image and explore how each contributes to sexual health in age-varied samples of adult women. Two survey studies were carried out. A total of 215 heterosexual women, aged 18 to 88, participated in the first study. Despite a high statistical overlap between body appreciation (i.e., positive body image) and body dissatisfaction (i.e., negative body image), the former was found to be a greater contributing factor to indicators of sexual health. Specifically, body appreciation was related to improved sexual function, lower sexuality-related distress, and higher sexual satisfaction, even when controlling for body mass index. Although many changes occur to the body as women get older, body appreciation was unrelated to age in this sample. Nevertheless, it was shown to moderate the negative association between age and sexual satisfaction, such that older women with high appreciation for their body reported being significantly more sexually satisfied than those with low body appreciation. While the first study explored the body image and sexual health experiences of adult women in general, the second article focused on the mechanisms through which one is related to the other in midlife and older women specifically. A total of 193 heterosexual women, aged 50 to 83, completed an online survey. Support was provided for the use of objectification theory (Frederickson & Roberts, 1997), a well-established theoretical framework in body image research, in explaining sexual health in midlife and older women. Body self-consciousness during sex partially explained the relationship between body shame, appearance anxiety, and sexual function, distress, and satisfaction. High body appreciation mitigated the detrimental effect of self-objectification constructs (i.e., body surveillance, appearance anxiety) and body self-consciousness during sex on midlife and older women's sexual health. Overall, based on the results of this dissertation, body appreciation appears to serve as a protective factor for improved sexual health. Similar to sexual satisfaction and sexual distress, positive and negative aspects of body image are related, but nonetheless distinct, concepts that should not be used interchangeably. Furthermore, midlife and older women's body image and sexual experiences differ from that of their younger counterparts; systematic generalisation of findings from one group to the other is thus unwarranted. Consideration for these various distinctions is not only required for increased understanding of the complex links between body image and sexuality across adulthood, but also relevant to guide prevention efforts at a sociocultural level and clinical interventions at the individual level.

The role of brain dopamine (DA) systems in the control of anticipatory and consummatory aspects of the sexual behavior of male rats was examined in the present experiments. Experiment I explored the statistical relationship among anticipatory and consummatory measures of male sexual behavior using multiple correlations and factor analysis. Level changing, a measure of anticipatory behavioral excitement, was not related statistically to any of the consummatory measures of copulation, whereas several consummatory measures were correlated. The factor analysis revealed the existence of five factors: copulatory rate, initiation, hit rate, mount count, and anticipation; given tentative names based on the measures that loaded most heavily onto each factor. These results established that anticipatory and consummatory measures of male sexual behavior are unrelated statistically. Experiment II examined the dose-response effects of several DA receptor antagonists on anticipatory and consummatory measures of male sexual behavior. Systemic administration of the typical neuroleptics haloperidol and pimozide, and the Dl-selective antagonist SCH 23390, significantly reduced the number of level changes, increased the intromission latencies, and decreased the number of intromissions and the total number of ejaculations. The atypical neuroleptic clozapine and the D2-selective antagonist sulpiride reduced the number of level changes and significantly increased the intromission latencies, but did not affect the number of intromissions or ejaculations. In almost every case, the doses required to reduce level changing were lower than those required to increase the intromission latencies, indicating that the measure of anticipatory sexual behavior was more sensitive to disruption by DA antagonists than were consummatory measures of sexual behavior. The antiemetic agent metoclopramide decreased the number of intromissions but did not affect other anticipatory or consummatory measures of sexual behavior significantly. High doses of haloperidol, pimozide, or clozapine delayed or abolished level changing and the initiation of copulation. These results indicated that anticipatory and consummatory measures of male sexual behavior are affected differentially by DA antagonists. Experiment III provided the first evidence that haloperidol affects anticipatory and consummatory measures of male sexual behavior selectively in different brain DA terminals. Bilateral infusions of haloperidol to the nucleus accumbens reduced level changing without affecting the initiation of copulation or other consummatory measures. Bilateral infusions of haloperidol to the striatum increased the total number of ejaculations but did not affect other consummatory or anticipatory measures. Unilateral infusions of haloperidol to the medial preoptic area (MPOA) produced nearly all of the effects of systemic administration, including reduced number of level changes, increased intromission latencies, and decreased number of intromissions and ejaculations. These results indicated that DA in the nucleus accumbens and striatum are involved in the display of anticipatory sexual behavior and copulatory rate, respectively, whereas DA in the MPOA is involved in anticipatory sexual behavior, the initiation of copulation, and copulatory rate. In Experiment IV, in vivo voltammetry revealed a differential pattern of DA efflux in the nucleus accumbens and striatum, and catecholamine efflux in the MPOA, during anticipatory and consummatory phases of sexual behavior in male rats. Increased DA efflux in the nucleus accumbens and increased catecholamine efflux in the MPOA were associated with the presentation of a receptive female behind a screen and with the initiation of copulation. Efflux in both regions decreased following ejaculation but increased prior to each reinitiation of copulation. DA efflux in the striatum increased nonspecifically during copulation. Use of in vivo microdialysis confirmed the general pattern of DA efflux in the nucleus accumbens and striatum observed with voltammetry. These results were interpreted as supporting a role of DA terminals in the nucleus accumbens and MPOA, but not the striatum, in the display of anticipatory sexual behavior and in the initiation of copulation. In particular, the increased release of DA in the MPOA was viewed as sensitizing hypothalamic mechanisms involved in the control of penile erection whereas the increased release of DA in the nucleus accumbens was viewed as sensitizing motor programs necessary for the execution of anticipatory sexual responses and the initiation of mounting. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

It is well established that the neurotransmitter serotonin participates in the control of sexual behaviour in the male rat. Recently, it has been found that serotonergic activity may either inhibit or facilitate sexual behaviour, depending on the subtypes of serotonin receptors involved. However, the participation of 5-HT2 receptors in the control of male rat copulation has received little experimental attention, and the published data are equivocal. In Experiments 1-4, it was established that the 5- HT2/1C agonist DCI inhibits sexual behaviour in male rats; this inhibition is effectively reversed by the antagonists ritanserin, pirenperone, and ketanserin. Comparison of these effects , with reference to the binding profiles of each drug, provided strong evidence that 5-HT2/1C receptors mediate an inhibitory influence on sexual behaviour in male rats. In addition, a tentative claim may be made that the effects of these drugs may be more attributable to 5-HT2 activity than 5-UT1C activity. ‘Wet dog shake’ behaviour in rats is known to be 5-HT2- dependent. Experiments 5—7 evaluated the novel proposition that the incidence of spontaneous wet dog shaking (WDS) by male rats in mating tests may provide a behavioural assay of concurrent 5—HT2 activity. WDS was found to be associated with copulatory inhibition in noncopulating males, compared to normal copulators, and this relationship was specific to mating situations. Activating 5-HT2/1C receptors with DOl simultaneously induced WDS and inhibited copulation. Thus, the incidence of spontaneous WDS in untreated males may reflect the function of a 5—HT2—mediated neural mechanism that tonically inhibits copulation in male rats. In Experiment 8, DOl microinjection in the nucleus raphe obscurus/inferior olivary complex also induced WDS and inhibited copulation. This suggests that the hypothesized 5- flT2-dependent inhibitory mechanism is vested in the ventromedial brainstem. Recent anatomical findings support this suggestion: cells in this region have bifurcating axons, projecting collaterally to both the medial preoptic area (implicated in sexual behaviour) and to the ventral cervical spinal cord (implicated in WDS). Overall, the results of the eight experiments provide strong evidence that 5-HT2 receptors mediate some of the inhibitory effects of serotonin on male rat sexual behaviour. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate