This thesis studies problematics of healthy partners of physically handicapped people, more precisely of people after spinal cord injury. The theoretical part is focused on the relationship satisfaction of these couples. It is structured into relationship areas which should be a potential source of conflicts and which can influence less or more the relationship satisfaction. These areas were selected on the basis of literature focusing on partner and marital couples. The empirical part was created in cooperation with organizations providing services to people after spinal injury where quantitative data were collected to measure levels of satisfaction of partners in relationship with people after spinal cord injury also levels of intimacy and commitment in these relationships. The data obtained are compared with the comparative group of respondents from the general population. Keywords: spinal cord injury, relationship satisfaction, social support, household chores, finances, leisure, sexuality, intimacy, commitment.

Detta är en studie vars syfte ämnar till att undersöka vilken roll vårdpersonal har i att ge de äldre möjligheter till sexualitet under tiden de är boende på äldreboende samt hur de arbetar med äldres sexualitet. Vår ambition är att ta reda på hur vårdpersonal bemöter och arbetar med frågor som rör de äldres sexualitet samt vilka förutsättningar det finns för intimitet på äldreboenden. För att utforska detta valde vi att genomföra semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med vårdpersonal yrkesverksamma vid ett antal olika äldreboenden i Stockholm med omnejd. Den insamlade empirin har därefter analyserats med hjälp av Pierre Bourdieus teori om fält och doxa.                       Studiens huvudresultat visar att äldres sexualitet ses som en ickefråga och att frågan därför inte aktivt arbetas med. Studien visar även att det går att lokalisera en rådande doxa på det här fältet som i sin tur påverkar vårdpersonalens bemötande. Vårdpersonal ser äldres sexualitet som privat och undviker därför gärna att prata om det. Eftersom vårdpersonal har denna syn påverkar det även vilka anpassningar det görs i den fysiska miljön för att äldre ska kunna uppleva intimitet och fysisk närhet. Slutligen visar studien att för att kunna bemöta och arbeta med frågor rörande sexualitet måste vårdpersonal ha relevant kunskap vilket vidareutbildning inom sexologi skulle kunna ge. / The purpose of this study is to investigate what role nursing staff have in providing the elderly with opportunities for sexuality while living in retirement homes and how they work issues regarding the sexuality of older people. Our ambition is to find out how nursing staff respond to and deal with issues related to elderly people's sexuality and which possibilities for intimacy there is in retirement homes. To investigate this, we chose to conduct semi-structured qualitative interviews with nursing staff at a number of different retirement homes in Stockholm and surrounding areas. The collected data has then been analyzed using Pierre Bourdieu's theory of field and doxa.                       The study's main findings show that elderly people's sexuality is seen as a non-question and therefore not a subject nursing staff actively work with. The study also shows that a prevailing doxa can be located in this field, which in turn affects the treatment given by nursing staff. Nursing staff see elderly people's sexuality as something private and therefore avoids talking about it. Because nursing staff have this view, it also influences what adjustments are made in the physical environment in order for the elderly to experience intimacy and physical proximity. Finally, the study shows that in order to respond to and work with issues related to sexuality, nursing staff must have relevant knowledge which further education in sexology could provide.

M.A. / The post-apartheid period has seen growing literary interest in issues of gender and sexuality. This dissertation reads literature as a type of cultural history and engages critically with the discursive and epistemological role of fiction within a broader palimpsest of discourses, theories and nomenclatures relating to sexuality. It maps the limitations of existing epistemological hierarchies and argues for the recognition of fiction as an ephemeral and complementary archive of same-sex subjectivities. While fiction can construct and shift signifying regimes, it also engages with the complexities and nuances of individual subjectivities as well as the affective elements of narratives in interesting and important ways. Focussing particularly on K. Sello Duiker’s The Quiet Violence of Dreams (2001), Gerald Kraak’s Ice in the Lungs (2006), and Mark Behr’s Kings of the Water (2009), this dissertation examines the ways in which representations of non-heteronormative sexualities impact on post-transitional literary culture in South Africa. Transition-era texts and discourses tend to serve particular political imperatives that demand the politicisation of identities. This dissertation destabilises the existing taxonomies of sexual identities and foregrounds the fluidity of both sexual desire and individual subjectivities. Furthermore, this dissertation interrogates the signifying regimes and discursive practices with which same-sex intimacies between men are represented. In addition, it interrogates the prevailing frameworks for the study of masculinities and shows how the novels under consideration illustrate alternative ways of conceptualising gender performativity. While there are of course a multiplicity of masculinities, through a close reading of the novels I argue that the performativity of masculinities is produced by the indeterminate, though undeniable, intersections between cultural gender norms and individual agency. This dissertation’s analysis of gender representations identifies masculinities as the site for the interrogation of myriad historical and cultural discourses including those relating to the South African Defence Force, the anti-apartheid movement and post-apartheid Cape Town. Accordingly, I argue that the three post-transitional novels under consideration resist the politics of collective mobilisation and undermine ideologically-sanctioned ‘official’ histories. As both a literary and a cultural history, this dissertation engages not only with the literariness of the novels but also with how they contribute to a broader cultural history of same-sex male subjectivities in South Africa.

Pour beaucoup de Thaïlandais, les pays occidentaux représentent la richesse, le développement et la modernité. Comme les hommes et les femmes Thaïlandais, les kathoeys ou les personnes transgenres MTF (male-to-female) Thaïlandaises cherchent aussi à partir à l'étranger en espérant réussir leur vie. Cette étude anthropologique, basée sur un travail de terrain dans quatre pays européens : France, Allemagne, Pays-Bas et Suisse, tente de donner une vision globale de la migration des kathoeys et leur lutte pour une meilleure vie dans leur pays d'accueil. Cette recherche considère leur processus migratoire comme une quête de soi, une recherche d'un bien-être et de la vie dont elles rêvent, ce qui n'est pas seulement économique, mais aussi sentimental et personnel : possibilités de devenir une femme, de trouver un partenaire et d'avoir une relation de couple, possibilités de changer leur statut légal etc. Différentes formes d'échanges économiques-sexuels-affectifs entre les kathoeys et leurs partenaires Européens doivent être pris en compte comme faisant partie de leurs stratégies migratoires, ce qui peut contribuer à améliorer leur condition économique et sociale, et les aider à accomplir leur quête intime personnelle et sentimentale. / For many in Thailand, Western Countries evoke visions of wealth, development, and modernity. Like other Thai men and women, kathoeys or transgender MTF persons also strive to go abroad and to attain the life they dream of in the West. This anthropological research, based on three-years of fieldwork in four European countries: France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland, aims at giving a full account of Thai kathoeys' settlement conditions and shows how they struggle throughout their lives and in terms of their gender. This study, drawn from interviews, discussions, and observations, considers kathoeys' migration process as a search for their own well-being and lifestyle that they long for, which is concerned not only with economical necessities, but also sentimental needs i.e. the possibilities of becoming a woman, finding a partner and having a relationship, or changing their legal status etc. The analytical part of this research explores different strategies, such as the identity camouflage or the mobilization of their social transnational relations which kathoey migrants adopt to be able to live normally as women in their new social environment. The different forms of economical-sexual-emotional relationships between kathoey migrants and European men need to be understood as a part of their migration strategy which gives them a chance to improve their economic and social status as well as to achieve their quest for intimacy.

This thesis examines the aesthetic of ballets adapted for BBC Television by producer Margaret Dale, beginning with her entrance to the BBC's training program in 1955 and culminating with her commissioned work Houseparty, which aired in 1964. A historical and organizational framework is discussed regarding the BBC's cultural mission and view of arts programming, as well as general developmental milestones in programming contextualizing Dale's working conditions. Particular focus is placed upon the appropriation of Romantic narrative ballets and their significance in reinforcing an aristocratic and culturally divisive structure in the arts. Textual analyses consider issues of restaging, camera placement, and lighting, as well as television's intimacy and relationship to characterization in ballet narratives.

Summary: The healthcare environments of the future are developing at a rapidpace, which is a built-in change for us visitors. Today's waiting rooms are often open rooms and can be a problem for users' privacy.This study intends to investigate how zoning can affect the visitor's sense of a safe and secure waiting room environment. The underlying interest in the study is about the research of environmental psychology, which shows that the design of the room can affect the users' perception of privacy and personal space. The visions of this study is that the work will become an aid to future waiting room plans where the aid is in the form of a spatial concept with focus on zoning and its colors. Research question: • Can a zoned waiting room affect the visitor's feeling of a safe and calm waiting environment? • What environmental psychological principles can affect the feeling in the different zones in the waiting room environment? • How can the zoning be shaped in color and form to give the visitor a sense of safety and calm? Purpose: The purpose of the report is to investigate how the waiting room environment in hospitals can be designed with a focus on the user's need for privacy and intimacy and how this can increase the feeling of security. The purpose is also to develop a concept for health care in Region Sörmland that will contain vital and decisive factors in spatial design that are important in a waiting room and which the local development unit can relate to for future renovations of waiting rooms. The waiting room should break the traditional waiting rooms and contribute to a sense of security and integrity. Methodology: Several different methods have been used to obtain the most credible result possible. The study has a qualitative approach where primary data is collected with the help of interviews and surveys. Conclusion: The respondents in the study generally felt that an open waiting room with chairs along a wall felt more insecure than a waiting room with separating walls with different types of seating. Because there were different seating options, the patient could control his or her desire to sit more or less securely and the control could affect safety. The design of the different zones through color and light also affected the room's feel in different ways. Strong colors felt stressful while more saturated, dull colors felt calm and safe. A stripped-down environment with few colors and impressions felt sterile and insecure. The method result resulted in a design proposal where different types of seating possibilities and other selectable activities were divided into zones in the room with the colors that according to results from method and theory create security. / Sammanfattning: Framtidens vårdmiljöer utvecklasi snabb takt, vilket innebär förändringar för oss besökare. Dagens väntrum är ofta öppna rum och kan vara ett problem för användarnas integritet. Denna studie har för avsikt att undersöka hur zonindelning med kan påverka besökarens känsla av en trygg och säker väntrumsmiljö. Det bakomliggande intresset för studien handlar om miljöpsykologins forskning som visar att rumsutformningen kan påverka användarens upplevelse av avskildhet och integritet. Visionen är att arbetet ska bli ett hjälpmedel för kommande väntrumsplaner där hjälpmedletär i form av ett rumsligt konceptmed fokus på zonindelning och dess färger. Frågeställning: •Kan ett zonindelat väntrum påverka besökarens känsla av en trygg väntrumsmiljö? •Vilka miljöpsykologiska principer kan påverka känslan i de olika zonerna i väntrumsmiljö? •Hur kan zonindelningen gestaltas i färg och form för att besökaren ska få en känsla av trygghet? Syfte: Syftet med rapporten är att undersöka hur väntrumsmiljönpå sjukhus kan gestaltas med fokus på användarens behov av avskildhet och intimitet och hur detta kan öka känslan av trygghet. Syftet är också att ta fram ett koncept för sjukvården i Region Sörmland som ska innehålla vitala och avgörande faktorer inom rumslig gestaltning som är av betydelse i ett väntrum och som lokalutvecklingsenheten kan förhålla sig till inför framtida renoveringar av väntrum. Väntrummet ska bryta mot de traditionella väntrummen och bidra till en känsla av trygghetoch integritet. Metod: Flera olika metoder har använtsför att får ett sågenomgripanderesultatsom möjligt. Studien har en kvalitativ ansatsdär primärdata samlats in med hjälp av intervjuer och enkäter. Resultat: Det respondenterna i studien upplevde generellt var att ett öppet väntrum med stolar längs en vägg känns mer otryggt än ett väntrum med avskiljande väggar med olika sorters sittmöjligheter. Genom att det fanns olika sittmöjligheter kunde patienten själv kontrollera sin vilja till att sitta mer eller mindre avskilt och kontrollen kan påverkar tryggheten. De olika zonernas gestaltning genom färg och ljus påverkade också rummets känsla på olika sätt. Starka färger kändes stressande medans mer mättande, dova färger kändes lugna och trygga. En avskalad miljö med få färger och intryckkändes steril och otrygg. Metodresultatet resulterade i ett designförslag där olika sorters sittmöjligheter och andra valbara aktiviteter delades in i zoner i rummet med de färger som enligt resultat från metod och teori skapar trygghet

Contemporary anthropological research looks at the heterogeneous composition of the Vietnamese minority in the Czech Republic and observes different ways of integration of the various generations of Vietnamese migrants (Martínková, 2008). Contrary to the 1st generation, the children are intensely confronted by Czech culture and society, which leads to different negotiating strategies. This contributes to cultural dualism, especially in the case of children forming identities which differentiate them from their parents (Kušniráková Tran Vu, Plačková, 2013; Vasiljev, 1999). The acculturation gap between children and parents can lead to a transgenerational conflict (Janská, Průšvicová, Čermák, 2011). Gender relationships and roles within the family are the key aspect of contemporary changes (George, 2005, Erel, 2009). Through the perspective and analytical category of gender this ethnographic research studies how Vietnamese mothers and their daughters negotiate mutual transgenerational relationships. The research focuses on the narrative understanding of maternal practices of bringing up children that are used by Vietnamese mothers to control the agency of their daughters, their gender roles, sexuality and morality, while also looking at how they attempt to build a sense of belonging. It turns out...

Les romans graphiques contemporains abordent des thématiques intimistes telles que l’autobiographie et le récit de la vie quotidienne. Ils se confrontent aux problématiques de représentation de l’indicible, de l’intériorité qui résiste à la monstration directe face auxquelles ils doivent inventer des modalités de dévoilement qui ne risquent pas de dénaturer l’intime. Pour ce faire, les artistes ont fréquemment recours à des procédés propres à d’autres médias, ou à des références à ceux-ci, qui créent une brèche dans la narration et la figuration, et permettent de laisser entrevoir l’intime. Le théâtre, la photographie, le carnet de voyage et de croquis, la danse et le cinéma font fréquemment irruption au détour d’une case et vont même jusqu’à modifier en profondeur la forme des roman graphiques. Il s’agira, à travers un corpus d’une quarantaine d’œuvres espagnoles contemporaines, intimistes et intermédiales, d’analyser les modalités de représentation de l’intime, de redéfinir ses enjeux au XXIème siècle, et de démontrer que les références intermédiales permettent de réarticuler le texte et l’image dans le roman graphique pour le suggérer. La Critique des dispositifs et l’approche intermédiale constituent des outils pertinents pour examiner les différents niveaux d’imbrication entre les différents médias, et leurs incidences sur la figuration de l’intime. La porosité intermédiale du roman graphique interroge également son statut médiatique et sa place dans le panorama éditorial et culturel contemporain. Ses rapports avec la bande dessinée et le roman s’avèrent en effet ambigus, puisqu’ils oscillent entre rapprochement et différenciation, tantôt affirmant, tantôt remettant en question l’indépendance médiatique du roman graphique. Il s’agira donc de déterminer, au terme de ce travail, si ce dernier s’est établi en tant que série culturelle séparée de la bande dessinée, ou s’il s’inscrit encore dans une phase d’émergence. / Contemporary graphic novels address intimate themes such as autobiography and everyday life. They try to represent the unspeakable, the interiority that resists direct figuration, and they have to create modalities of disclosure that do not imply the distortion of intimacy. To do so, graphic novel artists often resort to strategies used by other media. They can also refer to them in order to cause a breach in the narrative and the figuration through which the reader can catch a glimpse of intimacy. Theater, photography, sketches or travelbooks, dance or cinema often break into the panel. They can even deeply modify the form of graphic novels. Analysing nearly forty intimate and intermedial contemporary Spanish graphic novels, this thesis studies the modalities of representation of intimacy. Moreover, it aims at defining its challenges in the 21st century. It also shows that intermedial references allow the artist to articulate the text and the image in a different way to suggest intimacy. Apparatus and intermediality theories turn out to be relevant tools to examine interconnection levels between different media, as well as their impact on the figuration of intimacy. The intermedial porosity of the graphic novel also questions its media status and its position in the contemporary editorial and cultural context. Its relations with the comic and the novel are ambiguous, since they oscillate between distancing and approaching. Moreover, on the one hand, they corroborate the mediatic independence of the graphic novel, while, on the other hand, they invalidate it. This thesis aims at finding out if the contemporary Spanish graphic novel is already established as a cultural series differentiated from the comic, or if it is still in an emerging stage. / Las novelas gráficas contemporáneas tratan temáticas intimistas, por ejemplo la autobiografía o el relato del día a día. Plantean cómo representar lo indecible, la interioridad que resiste a la figuración directa, y tienen que inventar modalidades de desvelamiento que no impliquen la desvirtuación de lo íntimo. Entonces, los artistas recurren con frecuencia a estrategias propias de otros medios, o se refieren a ellos para crear brechas en la narración y en la imagen a través de las cuáles lo íntimo se deja entrever. El teatro, la fotografía, el libro de bocetos y de viaje, la danza o el cine irrumpen a menudo en las viñetas, y hasta pueden modificar en profundidad la forma de las novelas gráficas. Este trabajo observa, en unas cuarenta obras españolas contemporáneas, intimistas e intermédiales, las modalidades de representación de lo íntimo, y define sus retos en el siglo XXI. Demuestra también que las referencias intermediales permiten articular de una manera distinta el texto y la imagen en la novela gráfica para sugerirlo. La Crítica de los dispositivos y las teorías intermediales resultan ser herramientas pertinentes para examinar los niveles de interconexión entre los distintos medios, y sus incidencias en la figuración de lo íntimo. La porosidad intermedial de la novela gráfica también pone en tela de juicio su estatuto mediático y su ubicación en el panorama editorial y cultural contemporáneo. Sus relaciones con el cómic y la novela son ambiguas, puesto que oscilan entre distanciamiento y acercamiento, y que, por un lado, corroboran la independencia mediática de la novela gráfica, y, por otro lado, la invalidan. Esta tesis intenta averiguar si la novela gráfica española contemporánea ya está asentada como serie cultural diferenciada del cómic, o si sigue involucrada en una fase de emergencia.

Sexual satisfaction is a major component of human behavior. Individuals in relationships have specific demands for sexual satisfaction. Relationships and societal trends may impact the standards for sexual performance. The effects of performance can result in negative transitions in relationships. Therefore, Individuals may also consider outside variables in addition to relationship status, length of relationships, sexual orientation, gender-role, and religiousness. This poster presentation will be based on a literature review. The review reveals positive effects of religiousness on sexual satisfaction for those married more than ten years. In comparison with social behaviors, gender-roles are not influenced by traditional or non-traditional beliefs. When social norms and sexual orientation are paired in correlation with satisfaction in relationships, gay men and lesbians rate higher than heterosexuals in the area of sexual satisfaction. When long-term and short-term relationships are measured based on sexual satisfaction, results indicate long-term relationships are successful due to active communication and no sexual dysfunctions.

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