Forty-four pregnant women were examined to determine how individual differences in sex-role orientation, as assessed by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, were related to continued sexual interest, activity, and satisfaction in pregnancy. Subjects were further examined to determine the effects of sex-role identity upon third trimester anxiety levels as assessed by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, upon physical experience of pregnancy, upon emotional response to pregnancy, and upon labor and delivery records. Subjects were examined periodically in the third trimester of pregnancy to determine current levels of functioning as well as to acquire retrospective prepregnancy and first and second trimester data. As predicted, androgynous women were found to demonstrate a significantly superior level of sexual adjustment throughout the pregnancy period, F (3, 38) = 3.132, p < .037. Levels of adjustment for masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated women were also found to be in the predicted direction. Androgynous women were further found to demonstrate a unique pattern of sexual response to pregnancy. Significant effects for stage of pregnancy were also found in terms of both sexual adjustment, F (4, 152) = 28.354, p < .0001, and physical response to pregnancy, F (4, 156) = 3.825, p < .005. Hypotheses regarding sex-role orientation and emotional response to pregnancy, anxiety levels in the thirst trimester, and labor and delivery records were not supported. Although scores in these areas were in the predicted direction, differences did not reach significant levels. The hypothesis concerning sex-role effects upon physical response to pregnancy was contradicted, but not to significant levels. Results are discussed in terms of Bem's conceptualizations of sex-role identities and previous findings of studies of sexual behavior in pregnancy. Findings regarding the familial origins of the different sex-role groups are also explored.

Thesis (DPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / 218 leaves printed on single pages, preliminary pages i-xvii and numbered pages 1-200. Includes bibliography and list of tables. / Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR), using a Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Little is known about women's sexuality and even less about female adolescent sexuality. Sex researchers have neglected women, young women and specifically young women of colour and of lower socio-economic status. These gaps in sex research have to be addressed for at least two important reasons. In the first place an understanding of female adolescent sexuality will enhance our understanding of female development in general. More specifically, the prevalence of reproductive health problems like sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unplanned pregnancies among female adolescents warrant urgent attention. This study attempted to address the need for data on female sexuality by focusing on coloured female adolescents in the Stellenbosch district. This target group has been chosen because of the extent of adolescent reproductive health problems, specifically the prevalence of teenage pregnancy, in the low-income coloured community. The objective of the study was to gain an understanding of adolescent female sexuality in a specific community. This goal was reached by collecting quantitative and qualitative data about sexuality from a group of high school learners from a historically coloured community in the Stellenbosch district. Structured questionnaires were used to elicit the quantitative data. The quantitative data were analysed to determine the following (i) the range of sexual behaviours, and (ii) the prevalence of high-risk behaviours that the respondents engaged in. The quantitative results indicate that the research respondents did not represent a sexually high-risk community. Sexual intercourse was limited to a relatively small number of respondents. The sexual behaviour of these respondents, in general, did not differ meaningfully from the sexual behaviour reported in other adolescent communities. Open-ended interviews were used to generate the qualitative data. Twenty-five sexually active girls were interviewed. The grounded theory method was used to analyse the qualitative data and to explore the respondents' constructions of sexuality. Lack of sexual agency and need for connection were identified as the core categories in the interview data. The interview data indicated that the respondents had limited sexual agency and the researcher argued that mothers and boyfriends, as agents of the community, were prominent contributors to sexual disempowerment. The use of the term "coloured" is controversial. It is viewed by some as derogatory, whilst others argue the importance of a 'coloured' identity. Here and throughout the term "coloured" will be used descriptively. The researcher concluded that a new discourse of sexual agency for young women must be developed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Daar bestaan min data oor vroulike seksualiteit en selfs nog minder oor vroulike adolessente seksualiteit. In die verlede het seksnavorsers vroue, jong vroue en spesifiek gekleurde en lae sosio-ekonomiese vroue verwaarloos. Hierdie tekortkominge in seksnavorsing behoort om ten minste twee belangrike redes aangespreek te word. Eerstens sal 'n begrip van vroulike adolessente seksualiteit ons begrip van vroulike ontwikkeling in die algemeen bevorder. 'n Meer spesifieke rede is dat die die vookoms van reproduktiewe gesondheidsprobleme soos seksueel-oordraagbare siektes en onbeplande swangerskappe onder vroulike adolessente, dringende aandag vereis. Hierdie studie het gepoog om die behoefte aan data oor seksuele gedrag in verskillende Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskappe aan te spreek deur te fokus op "kleurling" vroulike adolessente in die Stellenbosch-distrik. Hierdie groep is geselekteer vanwee die omvang van adolessente reproduktiewe gesondheidsprobleme, veral die voorkoms van tienerswangerskappe, in die "kleurling" gemeenskap. Die doel van die studie was om 'n begrip te kry van adolessente vroulike seksualiteit in 'n spesifieke gemeenskap. Kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe data is versamel oor die seksualiteit van 'n groep hoerskoolleerders wat woonagtig was in 'n histories "kleurling" gemeenskap in die Stellenbosch-distrik. 'n Gestruktureerde vraelys is gebruik om die kwantitatiewe data in te win. Die kwantitatiewe data is geanaliseer om (i) die reeks van seksuele gedrag wat by die respondente voorkom en (ii) die voorkoms van hoe risiko seksuele gedrag onder die respondente te bepaal. Die kwantitatiewe resultate het aangedui dat die navorsingsrespondente nie 'n hoe risiko groep verteenwoordig nie. Seksuele gemeenskap was beperk tot 'n relatiewe klein hoeveelheid respondente. In die algemeen, het die seksuele gedrag van die respondente nie betekenisvol verskil van die seksuele gedrag wat gerapporteer is vir ander adolessente populasies nie. Oop-einde onderhoude is gebruik om die kwalitatiewe data te genereer. Onderhoude is gevoer met vyf en twintig seksueel aktiewe meisies. Die "grounded theory" metode is gebruik om die kwalitatiewe data te analiseer en die respondente se konstruksies van seksualiteit te eksploreer. Gebrek aan seksuele agentskap en behoefte aan konneksie is geidentifiseer as die kernkategoriee in die onderhoudsdata. Die onderhoudsdata het aangedui dat die respondente oor beperkte seksuele agentskap beskik. Die navorser het aangevoer dat moeders en mansvriende, as agente van die gemeenskap, 'n prominente bydrae tot gebrek aan seksuele bemagtiging maak. Die navorser het tot die konklusie gekom dat 'n nuwe diskoers van seksuele agentskap vir jong vroue ontwikkel behoort te word.

The influences of family relationship variables on motivations for adolescent sexual risk-taking were investigated. Previous research has linked these variables to adolescent sexual behavior, however, the nature of these links has not been specifically examined. Family variables were operationalized as child attachment to mother, parental support of each other, parental conflict strategies, and parental monitoring. Emotional motivations were operationalized as attachment and affiliation needs. The sample consisted of 40 single females ages 18 to22 recruited from a local pregnancy care center. Predictions that parent-child relationship and parental influence would predict emotional motivations for sexual risk-taking were not supported. The variable most highly related to sexual risk-taking, though not included in the model tested, was father's destructive conflict strategies. Theoretical and methodological issues are discussed.

A research report submitted to the School of Social Science, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the Master of Arts in Demography and Population Studies, November 2017 / Introduction: Across Sub-Saharan Africa, studies have shown transactional sex, characterized by the exchange of money or gifts for sex, to be one of the major contributing factors of HIV/AIDS infection. Risky sexual behaviours such as multiple sexual partners, non-condom use and transactional sex are driving forces behind negative health outcomes of young people. Thus, the aim of the study is to determine the association between socio-economic status and transactional sex among young women in South Africa, primarily to investigate whether transactional sex is a survival strategy or not among young women in South Africa. Methods: Secondary data analysis was done from a cross-sectional study conducted in 2012 by the Third National Communication Survey. This analysis was limited to 4 586 167 (weighted) sexually active females aged 16-24 who reported engaging in transactional sex. STATA version 13 was used to analyse this data. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse data at the univariate level. The Chi-squared test was conducted to test the relationship between the outcome variable and the independent variables. The complementary log-log regression model was used to analyse the data at multivariate level to identify the association between demographic factors (age, race, marital status, type of residence and province), socio-economic characteristics (education status or training status and employment status), beliefs towards behaviour, subjective norms towards behaviour and transactional sex. Results: Transactional sex was higher among women whose age at first sex was 18-19 (6.34%) compared to women of older ages 20+ years (0.4%). African women were likely to engage more in transactional sex (3.46%), compared to women of other races (2.48%). This study has found that a relationship between women who were not in Education, Employment and Training (NEETS) and transactional sex did not exist (AOR 1.10, 95% CI: 0.62-1.96). Single women had higher odds of engaging in transactional sex compared to cohabitating women and married women (AOR 1.04, 95% CI: 0.42-2.54). Conclusion: The findings of this study have shown that although transactional sex is a common behaviour among young women in South Africa, there is no relationship between socio economic status and transactional sex. Being NEETS has no association with young women engaging in transactional sex, which means that young women were more likely to engage in transactional sexual relationships for reasons other than survival; that is reasons for having fashionable clothes, cars, expensive holidays, and airtime. However, factors such as early age at first sexual encounter, race, and beliefs about behaviour and subjective norms were associated with transactional sex. The fact that some young women believed that they would not be infected with HIV suggests that there is a need to have intervention programmes to educate young people about HIV risk factors. This study is relevant in informing health policies, planning and programme designs of sexual and reproductive health services in South Africa. Transactional sex is a sensitive issue; problems of underreporting may be expected. / XL2018

HIV incidence rates have been on the decline globally, yet certain sub-populations have seen their incidence rates increase, bearing an extraordinary share of the HIV disease burden. In Eastern and Southern Africa, the rate of new HIV infections disproportionately affects adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) with up to three times as many young women ages 15-24 living with HIV as compared to their male peers. These statistics make AGYW a key demographic for action in order to realize an AIDS-free generation. To most effectively intervene, researchers must examine the rationale for higher infection rates among young females. Recent studies have found positive correlation between economic strengthening interventions (such as cash transfers, savings accounts, or financial literacy) and HIV sexual risk among AGYW, however, the majority of the literature to date understands these economic strengthening interventions at the household level, as a mechanism for providing insurance against economic shocks and as an incentive for keeping girls in school, a key predictor of reduced HIV. Fewer studies have sought to understand how increased resources, and power over those resources, affects the thoughts and behaviors of AGYW at the individual level. Does this enhanced agency translate into greater power in intimate relationships? Does she feel more entitled to make decisions over her own body once she has the power to meet her own basic needs? And does agency over her body inevitably translate to fewer HIV risk behaviors? This three-paper dissertation examines data collected with AGYW living in two urban areas, characterized by HIV prevalence. These areas are the sites of a multi-sectoral DREAMS program, a public-private partnership to reduce HIV incidence in ten countries within sub-Saharan Africa. Paper 1 examined the construct of financial agency through the development of a scale, finding variations in experience of financial autonomy between age cohorts with younger adolescents’ autonomy correlated to a higher likelihood of being sexually active and exposure to partner violence. Financial agency was not strongly associated with HIV risk reduction variables at any age. Paper 2 sought to understand the correlational relationships between personal financial agency, sexual relationship power (SRP), and reduced sexual HIV risk for AGYW in Zambia in order to determine if SRP may be a potential mediator between financial agency and sexual HIV risk reduction. Paper 2 found that SRP within sexual relationships did convert to HIV protective behaviors and that while financial agency did correlate with SRP for the oldest cohort, financial agency on its own was not sufficient to reduce sexual HIV risk. Paper 3 explored how AGYW in Zambia understand financial agency as a construct and how it does or does not affect their power in intimate relationships. This study demonstrated that financial independence is an aspiration of AGYW, however, that autonomy is tied up with negative community-based perceptions about what it means to be a woman earning and with control over her own income. Financial independence has promise as a mechanism for sexual HIV risk reduction, specifically the reduction of transactional sex; however, the realities of male sexual privilege may remain an obstacle to risk reduction irrespective of financial decision-making power. Women’s sexual agency was viewed as far greater in non-martial relationships as opposed to within marriage, where religious mores on headship created a power imbalance. Overall, findings from this dissertation contribute empirically to the literature on economic strengthening and HIV prevention for AGYW, providing new insights on the influence of individual financial agency. Findings suggest a nuanced relationship between financial agency and sexual HIV risk reduction, one that is not necessarily linear or positively correlated. HIV prevention programs that wish to incorporate economic strengthening into their multi-sectoral models should consider the influence of gender norms and sexual relationship power which could continue to keep AGYW in positions of vulnerability regardless of their financial autonomy.

As mudanças sociais das últimas décadas têm gerado profundas alterações na forma de se estabelecer vínculos afetivos, dando origem a múltiplas configurações familiares. Entre estas novas famílias, destacam-se as relações de conjugalidade e de parentalidade entre casais homossexuais, tema central desta pesquisa. Nosso foco de análise foi o modo como estão sendo vivenciadas as conjugalidades e as parentalidades entre mulheres lésbicas. A amostra se constituiu de sete mulheres que mantém uma relação amorosa com outras mulheres e nestas relações, compartilham os cuidados com um ou dois filhos. Procuramos compreender o universo afetivo destas mulheres a partir de suas narrativas. Todas elas residiam, na ocasião da entrevista, na Região Metropolitana do Recife, pertenciam à camada sociocultural média e se encontravam na faixa etária entre 30 e 46 anos. Os indicadores sociais levados em consideração para definir a camada social foram: grau de instrução, profissão, local de convivência e renda mensal. Embora não tenha sido pré-requisito para a nossa investigação, todas elas vivenciaram uma ou duas conjugalidades heterossexuais anteriores. Estas relações lhes possibilitaram o acesso aos filhos. Seis delas são mães biológicas e uma é mãe adotiva. A entrevista teve início com uma questão disparadora, a saber: Como está a sua conjugalidade no momento e como é compartilhar esta relação com o(s) filho(s)?. As narrativas foram submetidas a uma Análise de Conteúdo. Foram identificados três principais núcleos de sentido: a condição homossexual; a conjugalidade entre as mulheres e o exercício da parentalidade neste casal. A condição homossexual mostrou que a homossexualidade destas mulheres nunca foi algo fixo. Ela surgiu com o tempo, a partir de desejos condutores de uma prática sexual calcada na afetividade e na possibilidade de novas descobertas frente ao exercício da sexualidade. A conjugalidade é vivenciada como uma experiência prazerosa, apesar dos desafios enfrentados junto ao processo transitório de um relacionamento heterossexual para um homossexual. Todas as participantes apostam nestas novas relações, pois encontram nos seus acordos relacionais, as possibilidades afetivas de uma conjugalidade igualitária. Assim, a relação de parentalidade surge para complementar uma dinâmica familiar baseada na possibilidade do casal compartilhar junto aos vínculos afetivos, as responsabilidades necessárias à criação dos filhos / Social changes in the last decades have been generating profound alterations in the way how affective relationships are established, originating multiple family configurations. Among these new families, we highlight the conjugality and parenthood relations in homosexual couples, which are the central thematic of this research. We focused our analysis on how lesbian women are living conjugality and parenthood. Our sample was constituted by seven women, who maintain a love relationship with other women and, in these relations, share the caring with one or two children. We aimed to understand the affective universe of these women through their narratives. By the time of the interview, all of them were residents in Recife Metropolitan Region and had middle class social status, with ages varying from 30 to 46 years old. To classify social status the following social indicators were used: formal education level, profession, residence location and monthly income. Although it was not a prerequisite for our investigation, all of them had experienced one or two previous heterosexual conjugalities. Those relationships made possible the access to children. Six of them are biological mothers and one of them is an adoptive one. The interview began with a starter question, which was: how is your conjugality at the moment and how is it to share this relationship with your kid(s)? The narratives were submitted to Content Analysis. Three units of meaning were identified: the homosexual condition, conjugality between women and parenthood in the couple. The homosexual condition showed that those womens homosexuality was never something permanent. It appeared with time, through the desire of a sexual practice based on affectivity and on the possibility of new findings regarding the exercise of sexuality. Conjugality is lived as a pleasant experience, despite the challenges faced in the transition from a heterosexual to a homosexual relationship. All of the participants trust on these new relations, as they find in their relationship contracts the affective possibilities of a equalitarian parenthood. Therefore, the parenthood relation supplements a family dynamics based on the couples possibility to share affective bonds and the necessary responsibilities of raising the children

This thesis proposes that female physicality informs the psyche and thus in turn, art-making. My argument will be shown to be apposite and informative to the discussion of the work of Paula Rego, Jenny Saville and Cindy Sherman. Furthermore such an understanding is helpful to a reading of my practice. In examining issues of identity, which contribute to the formulation of a distinctly female psyche, I will base my critique on the philosophical positions of Sartre, de Beauvoir and Paglia.

No description available.

No description available.

The goal of this work was to integrate multiple levels of analysis in an attempt to clarify our understanding of a wealth of data examining sexual and emotional intimacy. The current work presented an empirical attempt to reconcile the notion of biologically constrained behavior with a perspective emphasizing evolved psychological mechanisms.