Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-119). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR46005

Thesis (M.S.) in Food Science and Human Nutrition--University of Maine, 2002. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-34).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

The current study was designed to examine preschool girls' physical and verbal assertion in the presence of varying numbers of boys. Two girls from each of 12 classes were asked to play in three play groups: One that contained six girls (all girls playgroup), one that contained four girls and two boys (majority girls playgroup), and one that contained two girls and four boys (minority girls playgroup). The frequency of episodes of physical and verbal assertion were analyzed across the three playgroups. Unexpectedly, there was no significant difference in the frequency of physical and verbal assertion between the three playgroups. The results did not support the hypothesis; however, there was a strong positive relation between the two most sociable boys' levels of physical assertion and the two target girls' level of physical assertion in all three playgroups. Results are discussed in terms of the need for a more complex model of understanding boys' influence on girls.

This study examines the discursive construction of girls' sexuality in the teen magazine, Dolly. It uses Dolly to illustrate the ambiguity surrounding girls' sexuality in the media which render it simultaneously problematic and a source of entertainment. This focus was inspired by recent publicity surrounding teen sexual practices in New Zealand, where various media and governmental debates have rendered teen, and in particular girls' sexuality a 'sex crisis' (The New Zealand Listener: 14-20 May 2005) with which New Zealand is faced. The study uses a multi-modal approach, combining ethnographic research and textual analysis. The former consists of a questionnaire with one hundred and nineteen respondents from two socio-demographically different secondary schools and supports previous research that demonstrates the important role of magazines in the lives of young women. The latter involves an examination of fifteen issues of Dolly and suggests that the identities of the reader, subject and author are discursively constructed through the prevalent discourses in the magazine. The often contradictory discourses upon which this study focuses are confession, victimisation, epidemic, medicine, desire and girl power. The identities constructed are equally contradictory and include a naïve, knowledgeable, deviant or normal but always heterosexually desiring and desirable reader. In general, the study provides an insight into the ambiguity surrounding girls' sexuality in popular culture, and into the potential implications of this on girls' sexual, personal and social development and identity.

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The educational needs of adolescent girls have never really been met by schools leading to a variety of social, emotional and aspirational problems for girls and women alike. In this speculative inquiry I have explored the work of care ethicists, imaginative educators, critical theorists and groups outside of schools to develop a new framework for educating girls based upon the needs that I have identified as critical and unmet for far too many girls. I have surmised that girls’ needs for belonging, identity, competency and caring spirit could be better met and could lead to voice, agency and freedom for girls if schools were to implement the ideas contained in my critical framework.

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