Thesis (M. Ed.) -- University of Alberta, 2009. / "A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Counselling Psychology, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta." Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on September 9, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

This study has examined definitions of sex and virginity loss and the influence of gender, religiosity, middle school sex education, and the importance of virginity on those definitions. The study also tests the applicability of social exchange theory to explain how undergraduates define sex and virginity loss. Vaginal intercourse was most often considered to be sex and virginity loss, followed by anal sex and oral sex. The results indicate that women tend to consider more behaviors to be sex and virginity loss than men. Religion and middle school sex education were minimally important. Both viewing virginity as a gift and the importance of maintaining virginity until marriage were related to definitions of sex and virginity loss. Results indicate that the application of social exchange theory in predicting classification of behaviors as sex and virginity loss were mixed. With oral sex receiving the most variation as to whether or not it is sex and virginity loss and being an activity in which young people frequently participate, sex education programs should provide greater attention to oral sex and the associated health risks. / Department of Sociology

The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate pornography consumption and its relation to sexual experiences, lifestyles, health and perceptions of sexuality and pornography. One qualitative study (focus group discussions) and one prospective longitudinal quantitative study (baseline and follow-up questionnaires) are included. The core category emerging from the focus group discussions, among personnel working with adolescents, was “Conflicting messages about sexuality”. The participants’ stated that the message conveyed by pornography was contradictory to the message conveyed by national public health goals and laws. A professional approach was emphasized, and adequate methods and knowledge to improve sexuality and relationship education were requested (I). Participants at baseline in 2011 were 477 boys and 400 girls, aged 16 years. Almost all boys (96%) and 54% of the girls had watched pornography. The boys were categorized into frequent users (daily), average users (every week or a few times every month) and nonfrequent users (a few times a year, seldom or never) of pornography. A higher proportion of frequent users reported experience of sex with friends, the use of alcohol, a sedentary lifestyle, peer-relationship problems and obesity. One-third watched more pornography than they actually wanted to (II). There were few differences between pornography-consuming girls and boys regarding fantasies about sexual acts, attempted sexual acts inspired by pornography and perceptions of pornography. Predictors for being sexually experienced included: being a girl, attending a vocational high school programme, stating that boys and girls are equally interested in sex, and having a positive perception of pornography. Boys were generally more positive towards pornography than girls (III). Participants at follow-up in 2013 were 224 boys (47%) and 238 girls (60%). Being male, attending a vocational high school programme and being a frequent user of pornography at baseline predicted frequent use at follow-up. Frequent use of pornography at baseline predicted psychosomatic symptoms to a higher extent at follow-up than depressive symptoms (IV). In conclusion, pornography has become a part of everyday life for many adolescents. Frequent users of pornography were mainly boys, and there were minor differences in sexual experiences between the male consumption groups. Frequent use was associated with lifestyle problems, such as the use of alcohol and a sedentary lifestyle to a higher extent than with sexual experiences and physical symptoms. In the longitudinal analyses frequent use of pornography was more associated to psychosomatic symptoms compared with depressive symptoms. Access to pornography will presumably remain unrestrained. It is therefore important to offer adolescents arenas for discussing pornography in order to counterbalance the fictional world presented in pornography, increase awareness regarding the stereotyped gender roles in pornography and address unhealthy lifestyles and ill health among adolescents.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-151).

Depression and anxiety are among the most prevalent forms of mental illness in the U.S, affecting an estimated 18% of the population. Recent studies have shown that sexual minority women may undergo sexual experiences that affect their risk of anxiety and depression. However, prior studies of this association are sparse and have largely been conducted among sexual majorities and have yet to examine differences between vulnerable sexual orientation groups. Therefore, we evaluated the relationship between sexual experiences (i.e., sexual assertiveness, sexual self-efficacy, and outness) and anxiety and depression among young sexual minority women in a cross-sectional study (N=328) from the Young Sexual Minority Women’s Experiences with Sexual Violence study, 2017-2018. We used multivariable linear regression models to examine the relationship between sexual experiences and anxiety and depression while adjusting for important risk factors. Overall, findings indicate that sexual minority women who reported low sexual experiences reported more anxiety and depression. Bisexual/pansexual/fluid women had higher sexual assertiveness, sexual self-efficacy, anxiety, and depression scores and lower outness scores compared to lesbian women. Among both lesbian and bisexual/pansexual/fluid individuals, those who had higher sexual assertiveness scores also had lower anxiety scores Interventions aiming to improve mental health of sexual minority women should utilize the promotion of sexual experiences.

The current study investigated a model explaining sexual assault victims’ severity of trauma symptoms that incorporated multiple stigma constructs. Integrating the sexual assault literature with the stigma literature, this study sought to better understand trauma-related outcomes of sexual assault by examining three levels of stigma—cultural, social, and self. Results showed self-stigma was significantly and positively related to trauma symptom severity. Thus, results revealed that the internalized aspect of stigma served as a mechanism in the relation between sexual assault severity and increased levels of trauma symptom severity, highlighting the importance of assessing self-stigma in women reporting sexual assault experiences.

No description available.

Anecdotal observations among clinicians and laypersons suggest that some men who have been sexually abused by men as children experience more homosexual sexual attraction and engage in more homosexual sexual behavior than men who have not been sexually abused. These men often report feeling “confused” about their sexuality. Some men also report believing that there is a relationship between their homosexual feelings and behaviors and their sexual abuse as children. Moreover, research in the area of sexual abuse reveals that disproportionately more men with sexual abuse histories identify as gay and bisexual than men with non-sexual abuse histories, especially when the perpetrator of the abuse was male. However, very few studies have specifically explored the relationship between sexual orientation and sexual abuse. The proposed study will examine the relationship between sexual orientation in men and their reports of childhood sexual abuse by males. Additionally, the proposed study will distinguish between those individuals that have interpreted their childhood sexual experiences as negative (or abusive) and those who have not. Past research in this topic has categorized participants as “abused” based on a set of predetermined benchmarks (e.g., age differential, specific acts performed, etc.,) while not including the individual’s subjective account/interpretation of the experience. This research will consider how the distinction between intergenerational sexual contact that is experienced as abusive and intergenerational sexual contact that is not experienced as abusive relates to sexual orientation and sexual identity. / text

Esta pesquisa analisa as obras Tropic of Cancer (1961) e Tropic of Capricorn (1961) do escritor norte-americano Henry Miller sob o viés autobiográfico com o intuito de averiguar, nas narrativas, como o autor constrói a masculinidade de seu narrador por meio de suas experiências sexuais. Percebe-se que o autor, por meio de seu personagem protagonista autobiográfico se comporta, às vezes, dentro dos parâmetros de uma masculinidade hegemônica diante do ato sexual ou nas conversas sobre mulheres com seus interlocutores masculinos, já que é fruto de uma sociedade patriarcal. Por outro lado, o autor-narrador também se mostra a favor de atitudes liberais femininas com relação à sexualidade, pois sua identidade e seus valores são revistos e reavaliados ao longo do processo narrativo. Além disso, há outros aspectos observados nas narrativas de Miller que respaldam a identidade em construção de seu narrador e as transformações de sua escrita cuja estética rompe com as regras do academicismo norte-americano do período entre-guerras. O narrador, por meio de um espírito livre, tece críticas de forma audaciosa e nada sutil diante dos fatos da vida, envolvendo as sociedades descritas nas obras - a norte-americana e a francesa -, comparando-as a ponto de denegrir a primeira e exaltar a segunda. São analisadas também as longas reflexões sobre sexo, amor, liberdade, casamento, raça, etnia, vida e morte por meio de comentários, descrições e devaneios com um estilo próprio que transita entre o irônico, o humorístico, o surreal e o metafórico. / This research analyzes the works Tropic of Cancer (1961) amd Tropic of Capricorn (1961) by the American author Henry Miller under the autobiographical perspective. The aim is to investigate in both narratives how the author constructs his narrator\'s masculine identity through his sexual experiences. What we can realize is that the author, as an autobiographical protagonist, sometimes behaves himself within the hegemonic masculinity parameters in relation to the sexual intercourse or in conversations about women with his male partners since he comes from a patriarchal background. On the other hand, the author-narrator is also in favor of liberal attitudes concerning sexuality since his identity and his values are revised and reorganized all through the narrative process. Besides, we also look at other aspects in the narratives which support the narrator\'s identity construction and the author\'s way of writing whose aesthetics breaks the rules of the North-American academicism of the interwar period. The narrator, through his free soul, audaciously criticizes the facts of life involving the two societies described in the book - the American and the French comparing them by denigrating the first and praising the second. In the narratives we also analyse the long reflexcions about sex, love, freedom, marriage, race, ethnics, life, death through commentaries, descriptions and daydreams alternating them by using irony, humor and a lot of metaphors.

The high prevalence of sexual violence warrants continued research into its prevention. Understanding consensual sexual experiences holds promise for sexual violence prevention; however, sexual consent is a surprisingly understudied phenomenon. Existing research focuses on the tactics used to coerce consent and the ways in which college students initiate and indicate consent. Research that begins to articulate a theory of consent may help engineer situations antithetical to sexually violent experiences. This study is a first step toward that objective. This paper presents findings from an exploratory research study on college students’ conceptualizations of sexual consent. The purpose of this study was twofold: To investigate how college students define consent and to understand how context influences the consent process. To explore these research questions, quantitative and qualitative data were collected using Q methodology. Exploratory factor analysis revealed two groups of college students who conceptualize consent differently. One group focuses on the importance of consent to rape prevention, the other to healthy sexuality promotion. Qualitative interview data suggest contextual variables such as definition of consent and relationship type influence consent to a lesser extent than alcohol use, personal sexual experience, discrepant levels of sexual experience between partners, and feelings for a potential sexual partner. Results support replacing the current model of consent, in which consent is a contractual obligation between sexual partners, with one of sexual communication, where consent is woven into a broader conversation about healthy sexuality. The strengths and limitations of doing so are discussed and directions for future intervention research are presented.