Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Also available in print.

Bibliography: leaves 406-467. / This explorative study, partially based on the psychological and developmental perspectives, evaluated female sexuality and body image during pregnancy and the postnatal period. A cross-sectional and longitudinal research design was used. Several female (n = 208) and male ( n = 84) subsamples were evaluated. Assessment included a Biographical Questionnaire, Female and Male Sexuality Scales rated on 3- and 5- point scales, and the Rorschach Inkblot Test, scored for Barrier and Penetration responses. Parametric and non-parametric statistical techniques were employed in the cross-sectional data analysis. The biographical background of the subjects was homogeneous. Predominantly all of the women were educated, had planned their pregnancies, attended prenatal classes and were informed about the process of pregnancy. Chi-square tests on the single items measuring female sexuality, from prior to conception to during pregnancy, and after childbirth, showed a significant decline in females' sexual satisfaction and in the intensity with which they experienced orgasms. Excluding the retrospective data, a significant decline was found on female sexual desire and enjoyment during pregnancy and during the postnatal period. Physiologically related reasons were commonly associated with declined sexual desire. Few pregnant or postnatal women abstained from sexual intercourse or introduced coital methods and positions unfamiliar to them. A factor analysis of the single sexuality variables revealed four factors, Sexual Responsivity, Sexual Orgasmic Ability, Multiple Orgasmic Ability and Sexual Motivation. The data subjected to a multivariate analysis of variance yielded a significant linear downward trend of Female Sexual Responsivity over the gestation period and after childbirth. The conclusion is drawn that female sexuality I specifically referring to the psychological dimension (Factor 1) was not related to a specific trimester (or stage). No significant differences were evident on the physiological dimension of female sexuality referring to Orgasmic Ability or Sexual Motivation. Female body image was assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The descriptive analysis showed that pregnant women felt overweight, and unacceptable by social standards, yet they viewed these bodily states as temporary. The projective account of body image yielded no significant differences. The conclusion was drawn that women consciously rejected their pregnant body image, but subconsciously it formed part of their identity. Expectant fathers only experienced a significant decline in sexual satisfaction and initiated less sexual activity during their wives' pregnancy. It was concluded that male sexuality was minimally affected by their partner's pregnancy. Finally, pregnancy was found to be a natural and positive event.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigated the correlation between sexual beliefs, as well as the interpersonal perception of sexual beliefs within a marriage, and the dyadic adjustment and sexual satisfaction. Participants were 38 couples, married less than 10 years. Each participant completed the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Index of Sexual Satisfaction and the Sexual Irrationality Questionnaire. Each participant was also requested to complete the latter questionnaire as he/she would expect hislher partner to complete it. A significant relationship was found between sexual satisfaction and dyadic adjustment, as well as between spouses' sexual beliefs and their perceptions of their partners' sexual beliefs. No support was found for the hypotheses that the interpersonal perception of sexual beliefs would correlate with either sexual satisfaction or marital adjustment. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studie is die verband tussen seksuele kognisies, sowel as die interpersoonlike persepsie van seksuele kognisies binne huweliksverband, en huweliksaanpassing en seksuele satisfaksie nagegaan. Deelnemers aan die ondersoek was 38 pare wat korter as 10 jaar getroud was. Hulle het elkeen die Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Index of Sexual Satisfaction en die Sexual Irrationality Questionnaire voltooi. Elke deelnemer moes laasgenoemde vraelys ook voltooi soos hy/sy verwag het sy/haar huweliksmaat dit sou voltooi. 'n Beduidende verband is tussen seksuele satisfaksie en huweliksaanpassing gevind, asook tussen egliede se eie seksuele kognisies en hulle beoordelings van hulle huweliksmaats se seksuele kognisies. Geen ondersteuning kon in die hipotese gevind word aan die interpersoonlike persepsie van seksuele kognisies met óf seksuele satisfaksie óf huweliksaanpassing verband sou hou nie.

This study brings together the works of Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) and Gratian’s Decretum, the 12th-century textbook that became foundational to the teaching of medieval canon law. Boccaccio studied canon law for six years, and the Church’s legal system deals with many of the issues that interested Boccaccio: marriage, sexuality, adultery, consent, coercion, and gendered forms of violence. Boccaccio and Gratian each showed close attention to women’s interior perspectives and a marked emphasis on the importance of consent. This dissertation illuminates the intertextual connections between Boccaccio’s works and Gratian’s Decretum, and argues that Boccaccio understand the law much better than has previously been recognized. In fact, Boccaccio’s most perceptive insights on the nature of debt, obligation, and consent derive from legal sources. The first chapter of this project introduces the figures of Boccaccio and Gratian. Boccaccio’s own works and a few surviving documents attest to his years of legal study in Naples as well as his lifelong engagement with the law, both in politics and his personal life. Little is known of Gratian’s biography, but his Decretum became a standard teaching tool in the curriculum of canon law. Boccaccio undoubtedly read the Decretum, and the following chapters show the extent to which its innovative cases and viewpoints influenced him. Chapter 2 begins with the “conjugal debt,” the idea in canon law that spouses incur a mutual sexual obligation by virtue of being married. Boccaccio expands the concept of sexual debt to include metaphorical usury and theft, drawing on medieval economic theory and offering an economic model of human relationships. Though Boccaccio’s view is transactional, it does not reduce human beings to commodities; rather, the economic system expresses relationships of trust and obligation. Chapter 3 extends the legal-economic discourse to several stories in the Decameron that deal with adulterous relationships, demonstrating that Boccaccio’s idiosyncratic application of legal theories is nevertheless solidly grounded in his reading of canon law. Chapter 4 focuses on Boccaccio’s treatment of consent in matters of marriage and legislation. Relying heavily on Gratian’s treatment of error and mistaken identity, as well as the legal principle of quod omnes tangit, Boccaccio argues for women’s right to offer informed consent to decisions that concern them. Chapter 5 continues the discussion of consent in the context of sexual violence, exploring the idea of vis (force) in Gratian’s Decretum as well as Boccaccio’s Decameron and Ninfale fiesolano. Canon law emphasizes women’s right to consent to marriage; Boccaccio extends this principle to matters of sex and violence, recuperating the power of women’s consent in an area where medieval law often faltered.

Thesis (M.A.I.S.)--Oregon State University, 2011. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-135). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (doctoral)--La Salle University, 2005. / ProQuest dissertations and theses ; AAT 3227735. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-76)

The process of individualization is increasingly permeating all levels of Chinese society. This research attempts to highlight some aspects on how Chinese individualization is emerging in marriage and the family through the prism of China’s emerging “asexual marriage” – a consensual partnership that has no sex or a limited amount of sex. Collecting qualitative data in different ways, this study first examines the less obvious and less studied effects of China’s sexual revolution as part of the individualization process brought to the asexual individuals on a specific matchmaking website WX920. One can see that these individuals undergo great suffering and are under pressure to find a partner in light of the sexual imperative in the couple relationship. My study also focuses on the idealized view of asexual marriage currently promoted by the rhetoric of affection. What is particularly striking is that the same ideal is perceived as equally worthy of a relationship in a proforma marriage with a homosexually inclined person, when one cannot meet an asexual partner. In addition, this study suggests the reintegration of individuals into a new type of collectivity – the family, which is primarily structured as a unit of emotional importance to the individual’s marital decision. Nevertheless, the other side of family connection constitutes a crucial dilemma for some non-conformist individuals, who are confronted with a dual demand for satisfying personal aspirations and family expectations. Drawing on the concept of “negotiated familism”, this study reveals how these individuals are by no means passive recipients and they actively engage in negotiation about their ideal of personal life through a marriage in form only. Finally, I will engage a discussion on individualizing trends by exploring asexual people’s reorganization of conventional norms of marriage and other expectations such as reproduction is given.

While traditional beliefs and some research show that men have been more likely than women to initiate sexual activity, recent research indicates that traditional patterns of sexual initiation may be changing especially for married couples. Also, patterns of initiation seem to be related to sexual satisfaction. Specifically, women who always take the initiative and those who never do are the least satisfied with their sex lives. Conversely, those wives who initiate sex half the time are very happy with their sex lives. Since it appears that initiation of sexual activity is related to satisfaction with sex, information regarding why a partner does or does not initiate sex would be useful to a marriage and/or sex therapist. It was expected, on the basis of previous research and theorizing, that the tendency to initiate marital sex would be related to the following: a wife's own approach/avoidance orientation to sex and the approach/avoidance orientation to sex of her husband as measured by Byrne's Sexual Opinion Survey (SOS), attitudes towards sex roles of oneself and one's spouse as measured by the Attitude Towards Women Scale (ATWS), and experiences with pre-adolescent and adolescent genital selfstimulation. Patterns of correlation were analyzed to determine relationships between the following independent variables: husbands' and wives' approach/avoidance orientation towards sex, attitudes towards sex roles, and pre-adolescent and adolescent genital self-stimulation, and the following dependent variables: the number of times the wives take the initiative sexually, the number of times the husbands take the initiative sexually, and the resulting percentage that each takes the initiative sexually, as measured on a monthly basis. Husbands and wives gave relatively similar estimates of how often the husband initiated sex and how often it was mutually initiated. Both husbands and wives reported that the husband was more likely to initiate sex than the wife; however, wives reported significantly higher frequencies of wife initiated sex than their husbands did for wife initiated sex. Husbands were found to be more erotophilic on the Sexual Opinion Survey than wives. Also, wives tended to be more profeminist than their husbands as measured by the Attitude Toward Women Scale. Couples in which the husband experienced frequent pre-adolescent and adolescent masturbatory experience engaged in sexual activity more frequently. Initiation by the husband was negatively correlated with the wife's adolescent masturbatory experience. Gender differences in the masturbation score were apparent with husbands having more experience with genital self-stimulation. The wife's Attitude Towards Women Score was negatively correlated with the couple's total amount of sex. It appears that the traditional pattern of husband's initiating more frequently still holds. It also appears that households of a more profeminist bent are engaging in less marital sex.

Print version of the author's thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Communication, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-71). Original thesis available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.