Revision of thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sussex. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-273) and index.

The aim of this diploma thesis which is called Corporate culture in chosen enterprises was to specify the deciding dimensions of corporate culture, analyze them and suggest changes in the chosen companies. The surveyed companies were Pleas, a.s. and TKZ Polná, spol. s r.o.

Pin-up images have played an important role in American culture, in both their illustrated and photographic configurations. The pin-up is viewed as a significant representational cultural artifact of idealistic and aspirational femininity and of consumerism and material wealth, especially reflective of the mid-twentieth century period in America spanning the 1930s to the 1960s. These images not only reflect great shifts in social mores and women’s social status, but also affected changes in both areas in turn. Furthermore, pin-up images internationally circulated in magazines, advertising and promotional material, contributed to the manner in which America was idealized in Europe and beyond. Crucially, they influenced how an eroticized and glamorous, yet unrealistic, example of femininity came to be generalized as a desirous model of femininity. In recent years there has been vital, though limited, scholarly research into the cultural and social impact of pin-up imagery, to which this thesis adds to. This thesis takes a genealogical approach, charting the development of popular female-centric “pin-up” imagery in America since the 1860s and up to the 1960s, and its resurgence since the 1980s onwards. In doing so this thesis aims to provide a social, political and cultural context to the emergence of a specific archetypal sexualized femininity, with the aim of challenging the tendency to dismiss sexualized imagery as “anti-feminist” or as trivial. Toward that end, I examine the complexity of intentions behind the production of “pin-up” images. In taking this revisionist approach I am better able to conclusively analyze the reasons for the resurgence and reappropriation of pin-up imagery in late-twentieth- and early-twenty-first-century popular culture, and consider what the gendered cultural implications may be.

ENGLISH SUMMARY The main objective of this thesis was to provide a complex perspective on the mutual relationship of gender and media in the age of post-modernity with a special attention to the stereotypical gender portrayal presented to us by the contemporary Czech advertising discourse. We chose to demonstrate this problematics through the methods of semiotic analysis on the analytical sample of 5 advertisements (consisting of selected TV commercials) representing various aspects of stereotypical gender images appearing in the today's Czech advertising contents. We then subjected these selected advertisements to the analytical methods in pursuit of finding the answers to the questions related to the media image of men, women and our society that the stereotypical gender depictions contained in these advertisements help to construct. Although many of these advertisements appear to be openly sexist or even misogynic on the first sight, using the mechanisms of semiotic analysis we came to a rather opposite conclusion proposing the analyzed contents are rather pro-feminine tending toward an extensive masculine critique. This result, however, is based mainly on the mechanisms of oppositional reading of the subjected texts. On the other hand, it is presumable that the "average media consumer" not having access...

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Depuis la fin du XIXe siècle, on assiste en France à un retour en force du mythe des Amazones dans les textes littéraires et les arts visuels. À chaque époque qui la voit ressurgir, la communauté de guerrières affranchies des lois des hommes suscite autant la fascination que l’effroi. Figures dissidentes qui apparaissent, entre 1870 et aujourd’hui, sous les traits de sportives, d’écuyères, de femmes de carrière (auteures, enseignantes, médecins, avocates…), de militantes féministes, de lesbiennes révolutionnaires et de guerrières futuristes, les Amazones se distinguent par la manière dont elles échappent à une vision hétéronormative du « féminin » et du « masculin ». Le réinvestissement du mythe des Amazones depuis la Belle Époque traduit un désir d’affranchissement par rapport à un système de société basé sur une pensée antagoniste entre force et faiblesse, corps et esprit, individu et communauté, masculin et féminin. Les guerrières myth(olog)iques semblent cristalliser diverses tentatives d’opposer aux lieux communs d’un féminin conventionnel des figures d’identification en rupture avec les normes et les attentes sociales. Toutefois, en perpétuelle posture de résistance aux catégories genrées, les Amazones et leurs avatars choisissent de n’endosser ni le féminin ni le masculin, optant pour une identité équivoque, se présentant comme un sujet queer dont la mission est d’exposer la pseudo-nature de la conception binaire des genres. À travers leur combat pour le décloisonnement des espaces identitaires, ces figures modernes de la résistance tentent, tant bien que mal, de constituer une communauté ouverte aux différences et de tirer un sentiment de puissance de cette union sororale. L’opposition et les difficultés rencontrées sur le chemin de la conquête, marqué par des actes sacrificiels, les obligent à réinventer leurs armes de lutte et les conduisent parfois à remettre en question l’héritage des troublantes et fascinantes guerrières de l’Antiquité. / Since the end of the 19th century, we have witnessed the strong comeback of the myth of the Amazons in French literature and visual arts. In every era that sees its resurgence, the emancipated female warriors’ community arouses as much fascination as terror. Dissident figures appearing, between 1870 and today, as athletes, horse riders, career women (authors, teachers, doctors, lawyers…), feminist activists, revolutionary lesbians, and futuristic warriors, the Amazons are distinguished by the way they fend off a heteronormative vision of femininity and masculinity. The reinvestment of the Amazonian myth since the Belle Époque translates a desire for freedom from a social system based on an antagonistic thinking of strength and weakness, body and mind, individual and community, male and female. The myth(olog)ical warriors seem to crystallize various attempts to oppose the commonplaces of conventional femininity to identification figures who break with norms and social expectations. However, in perpetual resistance to gender categorization, the Amazons and their avatars choose not to endorse either the feminine or the masculine, opting for an equivocal identity, presenting themselves as a queer subject whose mission is to expose the pseudo-nature of the binary conception of gender. Through their fight for the dissolving of identity boundaries, these resistance figures try, and sometimes fail, to build a community open to differences and to be empowered by this sororal union. The opposition and the difficulties encountered on the path of conquest, marked by sacrificial acts, force the modern Amazons to reinvent their weapons and sometimes lead them to question the legacy of the troubling and fascinating ancient female warriors.

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Sex-education in Canada has predominantly been informed by an abstinence-based content, leaving the sexual literacy of adolescents hanging in the balance. As public health statistics indicate, sexually transmitted infection, early and unwanted pregnancy, and rates of HIV/ AIDS are staggeringly high. At the center of these statistics is the young Black female, as they are disproportionately over-represented in negative public health statistics. Many factors have been theorized to be the cause; from socioeconomic factors to educational limitations, it has been historically concluded that the individual failings and class issues of Black women are the root cause of sexual decision making that causes negative health implications. However, adopting a critical perspective may lead to a different conclusion. This qualitative study sought to explore if the lack of comprehensive, racially attentive, and reflective sex-education as well as the influential societal discourse that shapes Black women and their sexuality in stereotypical lights, may have an impact on the sexual decision making of Black women. Through centering and highlighting the lived experiences, perspectives, and insights of a diverse pool of Black women, the stereotypes and scripts of Black femininity and sexuality, their root causes, and the impacts on young Black girl’s sexual decision making were captured to collaboratively redefine and reclaim Black femininity and sexuality while capturing what would be helpful to include in sex-education, specific to Black girls and women. This study’s theoretical underpinnings are Black Feminist Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Hip-Hop Feminism, which has been coined by me as “the trifecta”. A focus group with Black female-identified participants was conducted and facilitated through open-ended question and discussion based processes. Thematic analysis was adopted to explore themes, meanings and to gain a better understanding of the participant’s collective perspectives regarding sex-education and Black femininity and sexuality. The main finding of this study, based in the lived experiences and insights of the participants, were that harmful societal scripts and stereotypes about Black femininity and sexuality historically and as they are presented in popular media, coupled with inconsistent and bare sex education, has the ability to affect the sexual decision making of young Black girls in a way that feeds participation in unsafe sexual practices. This study fills gaps in literature because it contributes to the limited critical body of research that paramount the voices and insight of Black women in regards to sexual practice. This study also fills gaps by extending the conversation of Black women and sexual decision making, by suggesting tangible solutions of how the participant’s insights can be injected into larger policy and practice as well as social work research. The information supplied by the participants of this study will help social workers, policy makers, and educators create racially attentive, comprehensive, and accessible sex-education. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW) / Sex-education in Canada has predominantly been informed by an abstinence-based content, leaving the sexual literacy of adolescents hanging in the balance. As public health statistics indicate, sexually transmitted infection, early and unwanted pregnancy, and rates of HIV/ AIDS are staggeringly high. At the center of these statistics is the young Black female, as they are disproportionately over-represented in negative public health statistics. Many factors have been theorized to be the cause; from socioeconomic factors to educational limitations, it has been historically concluded that the individual failings and class issues of Black women are the root cause of sexual decision making that causes negative health implications. However, adopting a critical perspective may lead to a different conclusion. This qualitative study sought to explore if the lack of comprehensive, racially attentive, and reflective sex-education as well as the influential societal discourse that shapes Black women and their sexuality in stereotypical lights, may have an impact on the sexual decision making of Black women. Through centering and highlighting the lived experiences, perspectives, and insights of a diverse pool of Black women, the stereotypes and scripts of Black femininity and sexuality, their root causes, and the impacts on young Black girl’s sexual decision making were captured to collaboratively redefine and reclaim Black femininity and sexuality while capturing what would be helpful to include in sex-education, specific to Black girls and women. This study’s theoretical underpinnings are Black Feminist Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Hip-Hop Feminism, which has been coined by me as “the trifecta”. A focus group with Black female-identified participants was conducted and facilitated through open-ended question and discussion based processes. Thematic analysis was adopted to explore themes, meanings and to gain a better understanding of the participant’s collective perspectives regarding sex-education and Black femininity and sexuality. The main finding of this study, based in the lived experiences and insights of the participants, were that harmful societal scripts and stereotypes about Black femininity and sexuality historically and as they are presented in popular media, coupled with inconsistent and bare sex education, has the ability to affect the sexual decision making of young Black girls in a way that feeds participation in unsafe sexual practices. This study fills gaps in literature because it contributes to the limited critical body of research that paramount the voices and insight of Black women in regards to sexual practice. This study also fills gaps by extending the conversation of Black women and sexual decision making, by suggesting tangible solutions of how the participant’s insights can be injected into larger policy and practice as well as social work research. The information supplied by the participants of this study will help social workers, policy makers, and educators create racially attentive, comprehensive, and accessible sex-education.