Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Library wanting Figure 11 which is missing from manuscript. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-120). Also available on the Internet.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-09, Section: B, page: 5346. Adviser: Christine M. Markham. Includes bibliographical references.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed Mar. 3, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-127).

Theoretical and epidemiological studies indicate that women with a history of child sexual abuse (CSA) experience more sexual problems during adulthood compared to non-abused women. Despite the abundance of research conducted on prevalence and incidence of sexual difficulties associated with a history of CSA, very little is known on the psychophysiological sexual response of CSA survivors. A study was conducted to examine whether women with and without a history of CSA differed in their physiological and subjective sexual responses when exposed to erotic videos. A second study was conducted to explore potential predictors of the physiological and subjective sexual responses of women with a history of CSA. Overall, the physiological sexual arousal of CSA survivors was not significantly weaker than the response of women with no history of CSA. However, when controlling for levels of sexual distress and sexual function those CSA survivors with higher levels of sexual distress showed lower physiological sexual arousal compared to CSA survivors with less sexual distress. In agreement with prior studies, for women with no history of CSA the relationship between levels of distress and physiological sexual arousal was not significant. Similarly, levels of subjective sexual arousal reported in the laboratory were associated with sexual distress in CSA survivors but not in women with no history of CSA. Women who reported more re-experiencing symptoms and more negative affect before the erotic video showed a significantly lower increase in subjective sexual arousal in the presence of an increase in physiological sexual arousal. Cortisol levels measured before and after exposure to the erotic video indicated that higher dissociation experienced during the sexual interaction with a partner is associated with a cortisol secretion during exposure to sexual stimuli. This finding suggests a potentially learned stress response to erotic stimuli which may negatively affect the physiological sexual arousal for a subgroup of CSA survivors. Findings from the two studies suggest that the psychophysiological assessment of the sexual response of CSA survivors captures some important aspects of the sexual difficulties experienced by these women. A number of potential predictors of the physiological and the subjective sexual responses of CSA survivors were identified. Future studies will need to examine whether interventions that target these predictors can help CSA survivors to increase their physiological and subjective sexual arousal to sexual cues and whether this provides some relief to their sexual distress.

No description available.

There are substantial differences between the sexual arousal patterns of men and women. Men’s genital and subjective sexual arousal are category-specific; different sexual stimuli elicit different degrees of arousal. Women’s subjective sexual arousal is also categoryspecific, but their genital arousal is category-nonspecific; different sexual stimuli produce similar arousal. Men also exhibit a high concordance or correlation between their genital and subjective arousal, whereas women exhibit much lower sexual concordance. I conducted five studies with 219 participants to further explore these sex differences and test different explanations for their occurrence. The results confirm the existence and stability of sex differences in arousal patterns, provide support for a functional explanation of the sex difference in genital category-specificity, provide mixed support for an informationprocessing model of sexual arousal in relation to sexual concordance, and provide no support for the notion that sexual concordance is another manifestation of sex differences in interoception. / xvi, 212 leaves ; 29 cm

No description available.

Teenagers have the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases of any age group. Factors responsible for this include sexual experimentation which often follows Initiation of intercourse and adolescents reluctance to use contraceptives. Teenagers are typically reluctant to consider the possibility that a potential sex partner may have a sexually transmitted disease and often lack the communication skills necessary to discuss this possibility, placing them at even greater risk of contracting one. A large percentage of teenagers are engaging in risky sexual practices. Teenagers cite lack of sexual education from more reliable sources like their parents and schools. They receive most of their sexual information from their peers and the massive mass media. The information received from these sources is usually sensational and misleading. Parents keep the children ignorant because they are of the opinion that less sexual knowledge will be more protecting. They fear that if they inform their children about sex they will go out and experiment. Therefore parents are not talking to their children about sex because most cultures and mostly in the Black community it is taboo to talk to children about sexual issues or matters. Therefore because of lack of sexual education teenagers are at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, abortion, prostitution and sexual abuse. Sexual education should start at an early age most preferably at nursery school level. If children are given factual information about sex they will know how to handle their sexuality. They will not be pressurised to indulge in pre-marital sex by their peers. Therefore, information should be provided by parents and schools as most teenagers prefer to receive their sex information from a more reliable source. / M.A. (SW) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2004

Sexual excess is one of an increasing list of ‘excessive’ behaviours which have in recent times been pathologised by the psycho-medical establishment, increasing regulation and control of spheres previously accepted as ‘normal.’ This study analyses the genealogy of the events, institutions, organisations and individuals in post-World War II United States of America to the present which made it possible to think scientifically and nosologically about ‘excessive’ male sexual behaviour as ‘sexual addiction.’ / The grass-roots twelve-step ideologies of Alcoholics Anonymous in the mid-1970s gave birth to twelve-step programs for ‘sex addicts’ predicated on admitting powerlessness over sex and lust rather than over alcohol as the key to recovery as the first step. The publication of Patrick Carnes’ Out of the Shadows: Understanding and Treating Sexual Addiction in 1983 created the academic concept and discourse of sex addiction, which in turn paved the way for widespread scientific debate and investigation of the concept. The AIDS phenomenon offered a platform for many groups to highlight their own causes amid the chaos of illness and death. The sex addiction movement was one such group which made use of the hysteria by pathologising homosexuality and the gay lifestyle as symptomatic of ‘sexual addiction.’ This forged an inexorable conceptual nexus between sexual addiction and AIDS and death motifs, thereby legitimising the concept of sexual addiction as a harmful and often fatal disorder. / Analysis of psycho-medical and public discourse on the sex lives of two American presidents, John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton, in two different eras revealed changing understandings of male sexual excess. Journalistic mores, socio-cultural values and psycho-medical ideologies (or the lack thereof) played a great role in pathologising Clinton’s behaviour while leaving Kennedy’s, at the time of his presidency but not so in the decades following it, unscathed. / This study has far-reaching implications because sex is an issue affecting and involving people from all walks of life, irrespective of gender, race, colour, creed or religion. Analyses demonstrated how the sexual addiction movement’s assault on traditional conceptions of masculinity predicated on promiscuity as a rite of passage or envied and admired behaviour has precipitated a convergence of the genders in respect of prescriptive sexual behaviour. The pendulum of power is subtly shifting from males embracing notions of sexual liberation and sexual self-determination to mental health professionals whose new diagnostic labels pathologise and stigmatise.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2007 / Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Social Work. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-69).