“‘Am I Sexy Yet?’: Contextualizing the Movement of Exotic Dance and Its Effects on Female Dancers’ Self-image and Sexual Expression” looks at exotic dancing in three contexts––a pole fitness studio, a strip club, and a college dance concert––and how the movement is experienced by the dancers in each space. It questions how the movement changes meaning for the dancers, audience, and mainstream culture based on the context and location, even with similar content. Specifically, it analyzes how the experiences of the dancers affect their self confidence, sexuality, and sexual expression. Then, it applies Audre Lorde's “Uses of the Erotic” to their experiences to show how this movement can be looked at through a different lens as deeper, more freeing, and more transgressive than it is usually thought to be.

A narrative inquiry methodology was utilized to investigate experiences of fluidity of sexuality and the broader processes of sexuality and sexual identity development. Five adult co-researchers, all members of various sexual and gender minority groups, participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews centering on their experiences of changes in sexuality over time. The stories told were presented in the research text. Only one experience of a significant and lasting shift in sexual desire during adulthood was reported, occurring in the context of a transition from a male to a female gender identity. A thematic analysis of the co-researchers’ narratives was undertaken, and 3 common and 14 important themes were identified. The co-researchers’ stories and the common and important themes were brought together to form a partial model of sexuality and sexual identity development. Implications for counselling and for further research in this area were also considered. / Counselling Psychology

Exegesis (MA--Art and Design) -- AUT University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (65 leaves : col. ill. ; 30 cm. + 2 discs) in City Campus Collection (T 700.453 WOO)

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Cornell University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Yale University, 1999. / Directors: David Der-wei Wang; Charles Laughlin. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Queensland University of Technology, 2004. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Mar. 4, 2006). Includes bibliographical references (p. 92-99) and filmography (p. 100). Also issued as a print manuscript. Print manuscript contains illustrations omitted from online version.

Thesis (M.A.)--Concordia University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-105).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1996. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-268).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-11-13Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:19:18Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 orsi_v_dr_sjrp.pdf: 1516295 bytes, checksum: 66a0389794a4f3c192ed91f3ff975817 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A língua em uso numa sociedade é produto de uma cultura e reflete o pensamento de um povo. Desse modo, as unidades léxicas, por meio dos significados atribuídos por um grupo social, determinam um olhar específico do universo e um sistema de valores. Com esse embasamento, nosso trabalho centra sua atenção num tipo de item lexical específico: as unidades lexicais que nominam os órgãos referentes às zonas erógenas, dos quais destacamos o pênis, a vulva, as nádegas, o ânus, os testículos e os seios, em língua italiana e em língua portuguesa, variante brasileira, partindo da análise do corpus coletado. Intencionamos demonstrar que para a denominação dos órgãos sexuais do corpo humano tende-se a evitar a terminologia anatômica oficial – relegada a contextos de grande formalidade – e adotar outros itens lexicais em situações informais, que possam denominar as referidas partes do corpo com conotação sexual. Muitas das lexias recolhidas não são aceitas em todos os contextos, mas entre pessoas afeiçoadas, encontra-se um emprego mais intenso e que assinala intimidade. Por essa razão usam-se inúmeros sinônimos que servem para suavizar uma determinada unidade lexical, na tentativa de mascarar preconceitos sociais historicamente construídos. Principiamos nossa pesquisa examinando os referidos itens lexicais sob a luz da teoria da metáfora conceitual – pois muitos dos itens empregados têm base metafórica e, na maioria das vezes, eufemística. O produto de nossa pesquisa é a amostragem de um dicionário onomasiológico especial bilíngue, abrangendo o mencionado tipo de unidade lexical estudado. Apresentamos, ainda, dentro dos verbetes quais são os semas (unidades mínimas de significação) presentes nas principais metáforas relativas aos mencionados órgãos. O acréscimo destes se mostra uma inovação em meio ao argumento erótico-obsceno, praticamente... / The language in use in a society is product of a culture and reflects the way a community thinks. Therefore, the lexical units, through the meanings assigned by a social group, establish a specific look of the universe and a system of values. With this basement, our work centers its attention in a specific lexical type: the lexical units that nominates the organs from the erotic zone, that are the penis, the vulva, the buttocks, the anus, the testicles and the breast, in Italian and Portuguese language, Brazilian variety, by analysing our corpus. We intend to demonstrate that for the denomination of the sexual organs of the human body it usual to avoid the official anatomical terminology – relegated to the contexts of great formality – and to adopt other lexical items during informal situations. Many of the collected items are not accepted in all the contexts, but between known people, they may designate familiarity. Thus, innumerable synonymous are used to alleviate one lexical unit, trying to mask social prejudices historically constructed. We begin our research examinating the cited lexical items under the light of the theory of the conceptual metaphor – because many of the employed items have a metaphorical and also euphemistics basis. The product of our research is a special onomasiological bilingual dictionary, enclosing part of the mentioned studied of the lexical type. We introduce also in the entries of it semes (minimal meaning unit) present in the main metaphors related to these organs. The addition of these semes reveals an innovation in the study of the erotical-obscene argument, practically unexplored by the linguists. We intend, with this research, to be able to collaborate to demystify some prejudices related to the erotical-obscene lexicon, its use and its creation and to stimulate reflections of it, whose examination of the metaphors... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)