By means of a historical analysis of representations, this thesis argues that an increasing sexualisation of Indigenous personalities in popular culture contributes to the reconciliation of non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australia. It considers how sexualised images and narratives of Indigenous people, as they are produced across a range of film, television, advertising, sport and pornographic texts, are connected to a broader politics of liberty and justice in the present postmodern and postcolonial context. By addressing this objective the thesis will identify and evaluate the significance of 'banal' or everyday representations of Aboriginal sexuality, which may range from advertising images of kissing, television soap episodes of weddings, sultry film romances through to more evocatively oiled-up representations of the pinup- calendar variety. This project seeks to explore how such images offer possibilities for creating informal narratives of reconciliation, and engendering understandings of Aboriginality in the media beyond predominant academic concerns for exceptional or fatalistic versions.

Kenya is one of the Sub-Saharan countries that continue to experience incidences of FGM among various ethnic communities. While FGM prevalence has reduced significantly in the last decade due to government crackdowns and the adoption of relevant anti-practice laws, several Kenyan communities continue to circumcise girls and women secretly. The current study sought to examine the role of socioeconomic factors in the continuation of FGM in Kenya. The study was guided by the tenets of structural functionalism. This theory was selected because of its efficacy in explaining how institutions such as family, economy, and education contribute to the persistence of FGM among Kenyan communities. The study utilized grounded theory as the principal methodology. Research materials in this study included scholarly sources published in credible databases. The strong association between marriageability and FGM, Islam, cultural rigidity, the fear of social stigma, the view of circumcision as a rite of passage, and the perceived safety offered by medicalization have ensured the continuation of the practice. From an economic standpoint, the depiction of FGM as a prerequisite to bride price, as well as the monetization of the practice by medical practitioners and families, have contributed significantly to its persistence.

Despite many international and local attempts to end the practice of FGM/C, this practice continues to flourish in Nigeria and thus has a negative impact on the lives of girls and women on a daily basis. Furthermore, female genital mutilation is a serious form of violence against girls, women, and children that must be abolished worldwide. This study primarily sought to understand the sociocultural factors that influence the mothers' attitudes towards the continuation of FGM/C in Nigeria. The study used the theory of planned behaviour developed by Ajzen which proposes three distinct constructs as drivers of intention. This theory was deemed to be suitable for the study since sociocultural factors that contribute to the continuation of FGM in relation to mothers’ attitudes toward the practice can be interpreted or linked to the determinants of intention. In addition, this study used secondary data analysis and relied largely on reliable secondary sources.

In dieser Studie wird untersucht, wie auf Fähigkeiten basierende soziale Erwartungen, die in weibliche Normen eingebettet sind, die Konzeptualisierung von Behinderung beeinflussen und subjektive Strategien zur Aushandlung des Behindertenstatus im Prozess des Werdens einer "behinderten Frau" formen. Ich stützte mich auf die Theorie des sozialen Konstruktivismus (Berger und Luckmann 1966) und untersuchte Erfahrungen von zwanzig körperbehinderten Frauen in Pakistan. Ziel war es, die soziokulturellen Prozesse und Praktiken zu untersuchen, die behinderten Frauen in ihrem Lebensverlauf Wissen über Geschlecht und Behinderung vermitteln. Biographien von drei blinden Frauen wurden für eine detaillierte Fallrekonstruktion ausgewählt. Die Analyse ergab, dass die Interpretation der Behinderung durch die Familie die soziale Integration behinderter Frauen und ihr Verständnis von Behinderung erheblich beeinflusst. In Familien mit einem niedrigeren sozioökonomischen Hintergrund verstärken tief verinnerlichte Weiblichkeitsnormen die soziale Ausgrenzung blinder Frauen. Umgekehrt wurde festgestellt, dass die Familien der Oberschicht aktiv an der Überwindung der Behinderungsbarrieren mitwirken, indem sie behinderten Frauen instrumentelle Unterstützung gewähren. Die Wertschätzung der Familie für die Hochschulbildung ist mit dem Wunsch verbunden, die Heiratsaussichten ihrer jungen, körperlich behinderten Tochter zu verbessern. Die behinderten Frauen sehen jedoch in der Hochschulbildung ein Mittel, um unabhängig zu werden. Da die gesellschaftliche Anerkennung als "Frau" eng mit der Fähigkeit von Frauen verbunden ist, die Erwartungen an die Geschlechterrolle zu erfüllen, beziehen sich körperlich behinderte Frauen stark auf die kulturelle Vorstellung von Weiblichkeit, um dem Behinderungsaspekt ihrer Identität zu widerstehen. Folglich stellen sie die repressiven Normen der Weiblichkeit nicht unbedingt in Frage, obwohl sie gebildete und wirtschaftlich unabhängige Frauen sind. / This study investigates how ability based social expectations embedded in feminine norms affect the conceptualisation of disability and shape subjective strategies for negotiating disabled status in the process of becoming a ‘disabled woman’. I drew on the theory of social constructivism (Berger and Luckmann 1966) and researched the biographical experiences of twenty (20) young physically disabled women, living in Pakistan. The purpose was to investigate the sociocultural processes and practices that provide disabled women with knowledge about gender and disability in their life course. Among twenty interlocutors, the biographies of three blind women were selected for detailed case-reconstruction. Analysis revealed that the family’s interpretation of their daughter’ disability significantly influences the social integration of disabled women and their understanding of disability. In families with a lower socioeconomic background, deeply internalised norms of femininity intensify the social exclusion of blind women. Conversely, the upper class families were found to be active in overcoming the disabling barriers by providing means of instrumental support to disabled women. The research demonstrated that higher education is comprehended by the interlocutors and their families as the key source of gaining social inclusion. The family’s appreciation of higher education is intertwined with their desire to enhance the marriage prospects of their young physically disabled daughter. However, disabled women perceive higher education as a means of becoming economically independent. Since social recognition as ‘woman’ is closely associated with women’s ability to fulfil gender role expectations, physically disabled women relate strongly to the cultural notion of femininity to resist the disability aspect of their identity. Consequently, they do not absolutely challenge the repressive norms of femininity despite being educated and economically independent women.

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My thesis explores why beauty became so much more important in nineteenth-century Britain, especially for marriageable young women in the upper and middle class. My argument addresses the consequences of that change in the status of beauty for plain or ugly women, how this social shift is reflected in the novel, and how authors respond to the issue of plainer women and issues of their marriageability. I look at how these authorial attitudes shifted over the century, observing that the issue of plain women and their marriageability was dramatized by nineteenth-century authors, whose efforts to heighten the audience's awareness of the plight of plainer women can be traced by contrasting novels written early in the century with novels written mid-century. I argue that beauty gained more significance for young women in nineteenth-century England because the marriage ideal shifted, a shift which especially influenced the upper and middle class. The eighteenth century brought into marriage concepts such as Rousseau's "wife-farm principle" the idea that a man chooses a significantly younger child-bride, mentoring and molding her into the woman he needs. But by the end of the century the ideal of marriage moved to the companionate ideal, which opted for an equal partnership. That ideal was based on the conception that marriage was based on personal happiness hence should be founded on compatibility and love. The companionate ideal became more influential as individuality reigned among the Romantics. The new ideal of companionate marriage limited parents' influence on their children's choice of spouse to the extent that the choice lay now largely with young men. Yet that choice was constrained because young men and women were restricted by social conventions, their social interaction limited. Thus, according to my reading of nineteenth-century authors, the companionate ideal was a charade, as young men were not able to get to know women well enough to determine whether or not they were compatible. So instead of getting to know a young woman's character and her personality, they distinguished potential brides mainly on the basis of appearance.