This study is a qualitative exploration of women's experiences of abuse and communication within intimate relationships. How women remain in abusive relationship is explained by how they construct and give meaning to the relationship. Strategies for surviving and resisting the abuse, women's perceptions of the abuse; as well as how they construct communication in the relationship, are discussed. Interviews were conducted with 15 women, who volunteered to participate in this study and self-identified as being involved with a physically abusive partner. All the participants were from a particular low-income, semi-rural community in South Africa. Narrative analysis, with particular emphasis on language and discourse, was conducted on unstructured interviews regarding women's relationships with their partners. Interview topics included daily problems, the presence of drugs or alcohol, communication between partners, and their experiences and responses to violence. Women described the different types of abuse they experienced; how they made sense of it; and their attempts to prevent the abuse from occurring. Women also constructed themselves and their partners within particular gender identities and cultural frameworks. The socio-cultural context provided a filter through which women understood their experiences of abuse. Dominant male and female norms were both adopted and resisted by participants, and expressed when women spoke of their interaction and communication with their partners.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-189). / This study is a qualitative exploration of women's experiences of abuse and communication within intimate relationships. How women remain in abusive relationship is explained by how they construct and give meaning to the relationship. Strategies for surviving and resisting the abuse, women's perceptions of the abuse; as well as how they construct communication in the relationship, are discussed. Interviews were conducted with 15 women, who volunteered to participate in this study and self-identified as being involved with a physically abusive partner. All the participants were from a particular low-income, semi-rural community in South Africa. Narrative analysis, with particular emphasis on language and discourse, was conducted on unstructured interviews regarding women's relationships with their partners. Interview topics included daily problems, the presence of drugs or alcohol, communication between partners, and their experiences and responses to violence. Women described the different types of abuse they experienced; how they made sense of it; and their attempts to prevent the abuse from occurring. Women also constructed themselves and their partners within particular gender identities and cultural frameworks. The socio-cultural context provided a filter through which women understood their experiences of abuse. Dominant male and female norms were both adopted and resisted by participants, and expressed when women spoke of their interaction and communication with their partners.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) affects children and their families daily in South Africa. Non-offending caregivers play an important role in their children’s recovery following CSA but there are no interventions to assist caregivers to overcome their emotional reaction to CSA disclosure and to assist them to help children their children recover. In this study, the process of developing a structured support group programme for non-offending caregivers in South Africa is discussed and its value for caregivers assessed. The programme has been developed to fit the needs of non-offending caregivers in South Africa, using an action research approach. The study utilised a mixed-method design, with a one-group pre-test, post-test design to assess the outcome of the psychoeducational support group program. The qualitative data from the psychoeducational support group sessions were used in conjunction with the pre-and post-assessment of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS), assessing levels of emotional distress, and the Parenting Stress Index (PSI-4-SF). The support group members were recruited for the study from Teddy Bear Clinic (TBC) and (WMACA) Kidz Clinic. Non-offending caregivers were invited to take part in the psychoeducational support group programme. Over five months, 60 non-offending caregivers were recruited for the study, 13 of whom were screened for the support group intervention and eight agreed to participate in the psychoeducational support group intervention. Two support groups met for eight sessions. Following the implementation of the program, the results from the pre- and post-intervention assessment were analysed and compared, in order to statistically determine the impact of the structured support group programme. Participants’ qualitative experiences during the support group session and feedback regarding their perceived personal benefits from their involvement was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings of the research indicate that the caregivers experienced significantly less anxiety (p < 0.05), and some improvements in their depression levels (p = 0.58) as measured by the HADS. Of the seven non-offending caregivers six expressed less anxiety and five experiences less depression symptoms after the intervention. Parenting stress did not decrease significantly for the group as a whole, although the total stress (TS) scale score indicated that five of the seven group members experienced less parenting stress after the intervention. From the results of the study, it can be concluded that the support group had value to address the non-offending caregiver’s level of anxiety and depression, as well as to relieve parental stress for some participants. The qualitative results also showed that members learned some parenting skills on how to manage their own and their children’s emotional reaction to CSA. It was found that members who actively participated and attended all the sessions benefitted most. This intervention can fill the gap in treating non-offending caregivers following the disclosure of CSA. It can be implemented in Child abuse treatment centres to assist caregivers to help their children overcome the impact of CSA. / Dissertation (MA (Counselling Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Psychology / MA (Counselling Psychology) / Unrestricted

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Thesis advisor: Christopher J. Kelly / This dissertation aims to understand the origins, effects, and limits of commerce in the modern world, taking Montesquieu as a guide in The Spirit of the Laws. It asks: To what extent is commerce natural, and how does commerce shape or constrain our understanding of happiness? I consider the extent to which commerce changes our nature, how it effects this change, and why it might fail to effect this change universally or permanently. Finally, I give an account of the best remedies or solutions for the problems we necessarily encounter in free commercial societies. We moderns are superior to the ancients, Montesquieu claims, on account of the knowledge we have gained concerning commerce. I argue that this epistemic superiority consists in knowledge concerning the best arrangement between the two sexes: “a kind of equality between the two sexes” that attaches men for the first time to “commerce with women.” Against standard readings that put forth political liberty or moderation as Montesquieu’s standard of the good in The Spirit of the Laws, I argue that Montesquieu also points to equality between the sexes as an alternative standard of the good. To show why and how his idea of sexual equality emerges with commerce, I begin by examining the natural origins of modern commerce. Modern commerce originates in the diversity of non-human nature, or a diversity of climates; so I begin by arguing that climate, Montesquieu’s new understanding of nature, is the natural basis of modern commerce. After elaborating on this new natural philosophy, I show how commerce, amidst this nonhuman natural diversity, paradoxically results in human uniformity or homogeneity: “everywhere there is commerce, there are gentle mores.” Commerce revolutionizes our mores by appealing to human flexibility and the ease of changing manners and mores rather than laws. Commerce does not result in a political universalism but a consensus concerning the most desirable sexual mores. Equality between the sexes is introduced by nature (as an accident of the physical environment), but a moral consensus only emerges through “history”: by comparing mores across time and place we see which mores are most desirable. However, neither reason nor passion is sufficient to secure these mores. Only by unleashing the imagination can we introduce equality between the sexes and attach men to “commerce with women” not by love itself, but by the “illusions” and “accessories” of love. The nature and history of commerce show, however, the limits of this human flexibility and this new standard. After all, why does sexual inequality persist, not least in despotisms and republics? On the one hand, humans are not only flexible and imaginative but also inflexible and attached to virtue in accord with “pure mores.” On the other hand, commerce is not, in fact, necessarily accompanied by gentle mores (and the luxury and vanity that accompany these mores): in contradistinction to “commerce of luxury,” “economic commerce” depends less on the imagination than on reason. These two alternatives (the life of virtue and that of economic commerce) not only show the limits of universalizing this new morality rooted in sexual equality but also clarify the challenges of reconciling the realms of domestic and political governance, or commerce at home with commerce abroad. Nonetheless, anyone unwilling or unable to retreat from the “worldliness” of modern commerce or insufficiently lucky to be born in a commercial republic should heed Montesquieu’s advice for how best to live rationally and freely in commercial societies. Thus I turn to his solutions for how to reconcile an openness to human diversity and strangers (as commerce consists of communication among diverse peoples) with a preservation of natural differences and “strength.” By conceiving of gentleness as a political virtue and cultivating a conventional form of jealousy, we can reconcile the demands of commerce with those of the virtue of humanity properly understood. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

Sexual ethics is about the norms we should have when it comes to sex. It concerns how we should behave towards each other in terms of sexual acts. Within the field of sexual ethics, consent has acquired a central role in determining what is permissible and impermissible in sexual actions. This primarily focuses on whether consent can prevent sexual violation. Another focus is on whether individuals have a satisfying sexual life, a value that can be described as sexual flourishing. What has been missing in previous research is the emphasis on the relationship between consent and sexual flourishing. This is precisely the focus that this essay aims to explore - the connection between consent and sexual flourishing. In this essay, I will present arguments showing that consent and sexual flourishing do not harmonize well, and that consent can negatively impact sexual flourishing. The arguments are that consent creates an asymmetry between the sexual parties, based on two factors: that consent requires a strict structure that is lacking and that a person can relinquish their rights during the sexual act. I will then present two modifications of consent and examine whether they can avoid criticism and contribute to positive sexual flourishing. The conclusion is that due to consent requiring a specific structure tailored to agreements about objects, it is not suited for intimate situations involving bodily rights without further adjustments. / Sexuell etik handlar om vilka normer vi ska ha när det gäller sexuella relationer och sexakter och därmed hur vi ska agera mot varandra när det kommer till sexuella handlingar. Inom området för sexuell etik har samtycke fått en central roll för att avgöra tillåtna och otillåtna sexakter, inslag och handlingar. Diskussionen runt samtycke fokuserar ofta på om samtycke kan förhindra sexuella överträdelser. Ett annat fokus inom sexuell etik är om individerna har ett tillfredställande sexuellt liv. Ett värde som ska fånga detta är sexuellt blomstrande. Det som har saknats i tidigare forskning är fokuseringen på relationen mellan samtycke och personers sexuella blomstrande. Syftet med denna uppsats är att utforska vilka konsekvenser samtycke kan ha för sexuellt blomstrande. I denna uppsats kommer jag att argumentera för att samtycke kan påverka sexuellt blomstrande negativt. Argumenten är att samtycke skapar en asymmetri mellan de inblandade parterna baserat på två faktorer: att samtycke kräver en specificerad struktur som saknas under sexakter och att personer ger upp rättigheten till sexuellt självbestämmande under sexakten efter ett samtycke. Konsekvensen är att på grund av att samtycke utgår från en specifik struktur som inte är anpassad till överenskommelser om kroppar och intima situationer så måste modifikationer av samtycke utredas. Min slutsats är utan ytterligare modifikationer och förbättringar är samtycke inte lämplig för intima situationer.

Sexual consent is something that is receiving more widespread attention in the face of the #MeToo movement. However, sexual consent as the gold standard of sex is misguided and emphasized to the extent that all other relevant areas of consideration in terms of sex are all but eliminated. In this thesis, I begin by focusing on the flaws of sexual consent. I argue sexual consent is flawed in theory as it conforms to the masculinist tradition of philosophy, it oversimplifies sex, and it attempts to be objective in the face of sex. Further, there is a misguided attempt to fit sex into one-size-fits-all normative ethical approaches. I then argue that any sexual education surrounding consent is ineffective and overruled by the pervasive and poor representations of sex in mainstream media and mainstream pornography. I will then resolve these flaws by arguing for more emphasis placed upon non-mainstream theories of sex, namely theories put forward by Ann Cahill and Quill Kukla. I will then argue for the consent-forward approach to be replaced by a care-forward approach, following care ethics and Joan Tronto’s four qualities of care. Finally, I will argue for an improvement of sexual education and sexual normalization, by fixing sexual education and improving representations of sex in mainstream pornography and mainstream media. In doing so, I will formulate an approach to sex that is more conducive to good sex than the consent-forward model. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / The question of sexual consent has received a lot of attention as of late, with many expressing confusions surrounding the term. This confusion varies from questions about obtaining consent in an acceptable way to complaints about the seemingly ambiguous nature of the term. Recently, consent has been deemed the gold standard for participation in morally acceptable sex. I will argue that sexual consent is not as useful a tool as it is given credit for since it fails to consider morally relevant relationships, it oversimplifies and attempts to be objective, it is not properly learned or taught, and it focuses on a normative approach to consent—where sexual consent aims to be applicable to all scenarios, no matter the differences in said scenarios. I will argue throughout this thesis that sexual interactions should be more than merely permissible and rather should fall under the definition of good sex.

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