Text in English / Although initially dismissed as superficial, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, and Patrick Marber’s Closer use the theme of marital betrayal as a trope to investigate metatheatrical and epistemological issues. This study aims to demonstrate how these three plays define and explore the concept of authenticity within the fictional as well as the actual world; how arbitrary the construction and mediation of the characters’ identities are, not only from their own perspective, but also from the audience’s; the significance of the audience’s role in these plays and how issues of authenticity, fictionality and dishonesty impact on a genre that depends on illusion. This study intends to provide a new interpretation of these three texts through an analysis drawn from postmodern and poststructuralist theories, concerning the concept of authenticity within art and language. This study finds that the fictional worlds in these plays are created through mediation, which includes everyday language as well as complex works of art. Authenticity is shown to be an elusive concept. Language is either unsuccessfully used to force authentic responses from characters, or as a shield. In Betrayal, language functions as a protective barrier, preventing the characters from knowing one another. The Real Thing suggests that although inauthenticity may be established, the inverse is not necessarily true. In Closer, the characters try in vain to access authenticity through different registers of language. Furthermore, neither the body nor the mind is shown to be the locus of authenticity in Closer. Within the postmodern context where originality is impossible, mimicry is not seen as something external and inauthentic, but as inextricably part of human existence. The audience is drawn into the fictional world of these plays as its members are able to identify with the disillusionment of the characters and their inability to form a definitive view of each other. Simultaneously, the audience is ousted from the fictional world by being reminded of the author’s presence through metatheatrical devices. These plays take advantage of the fictional status of theatre to explore issues of authenticity, positioning them in direct opposition to postdramatic and verbatim plays. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is a personal, poststructuralist study of the researcher’s mapping of the self. The researcher refers to her art practice as an action of research and at the same time, a process of reality production. The images that are created through the art making processes, feeds back into reality. The argument for the production of reality images, relies specifically on the non-representational ‘model’ of Deleuze and Guattari. The foundation of this study is based on a theoretical and practical study of the role of personal space and objects in this complex network of production. This thesis argues for the consideration of self as an ‘open’ map and to expand the fiction and idea of representation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is persoonlike, poststrukturalistiese ondersoek na die navorser se kartering van die self. Die navorser verwys veral na haar kunspraktyk as aksie van ondersoek en tergelykertyd ’n proses van werklikheidsproduksie. Die beelde wat deur die kunsmaakpraktyk/-proses geskep word, voer terug na die werklikheid. Die argument vir die produksie van werklikheidsbeelde steun veral op Deleuze en Guattari se nie-representasionele ‘model’. Teoretiese en praktiese studie van die rol van persoonlike ruimtes en objekte in hierdie komplekse produksienetwerk vorm die grondslag waaruit die studie voortspruit. In hierdie tesis word uiteindelik geargumenteer vir die beskouing van die self as ‘oop’ kaart ten einde die fiksie en idee van representasie oop te maak en uit te brei. kartering, objekte, roetes, versamelings, werklikheidsbeelde, poststrukturalisme, beelde, tekening

Globalization and English-language predominance situate English teachers as increasingly influential mediators of both language and culture. In the iconic multicultural hub of Ontario, Canada, teachers work within a causal nexus of social theories of language, the information and communication technologies revolution, and unprecedented global interdependency. Changes in English curriculum reflect these trends, from references to “global citizenship,” to stress on “intercultural communication,” “cultural sensitivity,” and Information and Communication Technology (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007). Delegated gatekeepers of both linguistic and critical literacies, and facing new questions about the purposes and priorities of their discipline, Ontario English teachers must negotiate the divide between an inherited curriculum and the impacts of sociocultural transformation on changing literacy needs. To contribute to a professional dialogue about teaching English in a multicultural society and global age, this thesis presents findings from interviews with fifteen Ontario secondary English teachers. The focal question, “How is English changing?” introduces a range of pressing issues, such as: displacing the canon, practicing intercultural communication, balancing a democratic discourse, or “common culture,” with respect for diverse values, and managing opposing views and resistance to English curriculum change. The data reveal how English teachers across levels of experience occupy contrasting positions on the curriculum change debate. In part, this can be explained in terms of epistemological orientations. The participants represent three categories: Adaptation, Applied Research / Collaborative Inquiry, and Activism, each by turn more geared toward reconceptualizing English for social diversity and global consciousness. Beyond these classifications, the teachers reflect dissonant perceptions, sometimes personal ambivalence, on the changing role of text choice, and written and oral dialogue in the English classroom. From passionate defenses of Shakespeare, to radical measures to revamp book lists for cultural relevance, to remarkable illustrations of curriculum linked with global consciousness and civic action, the responses of the English teachers delineate zones of difficulty, change, and possibility. They help, too, to catch sight of a new horizon: the English classroom as a space for “cultural conversation” (Applebee, 1994) where canon- and teacher-centred dialogue give way to intertextual (Bakhtin, 1981; Kristeva, 1980) and intercultural (R. Young, 1996) transactions.

Text in English / Although initially dismissed as superficial, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, and Patrick Marber’s Closer use the theme of marital betrayal as a trope to investigate metatheatrical and epistemological issues. This study aims to demonstrate how these three plays define and explore the concept of authenticity within the fictional as well as the actual world; how arbitrary the construction and mediation of the characters’ identities are, not only from their own perspective, but also from the audience’s; the significance of the audience’s role in these plays and how issues of authenticity, fictionality and dishonesty impact on a genre that depends on illusion. This study intends to provide a new interpretation of these three texts through an analysis drawn from postmodern and poststructuralist theories, concerning the concept of authenticity within art and language. This study finds that the fictional worlds in these plays are created through mediation, which includes everyday language as well as complex works of art. Authenticity is shown to be an elusive concept. Language is either unsuccessfully used to force authentic responses from characters, or as a shield. In Betrayal, language functions as a protective barrier, preventing the characters from knowing one another. The Real Thing suggests that although inauthenticity may be established, the inverse is not necessarily true. In Closer, the characters try in vain to access authenticity through different registers of language. Furthermore, neither the body nor the mind is shown to be the locus of authenticity in Closer. Within the postmodern context where originality is impossible, mimicry is not seen as something external and inauthentic, but as inextricably part of human existence. The audience is drawn into the fictional world of these plays as its members are able to identify with the disillusionment of the characters and their inability to form a definitive view of each other. Simultaneously, the audience is ousted from the fictional world by being reminded of the author’s presence through metatheatrical devices. These plays take advantage of the fictional status of theatre to explore issues of authenticity, positioning them in direct opposition to postdramatic and verbatim plays. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

Contemporary Italian philosopher, Gianni Vattimo (1991), has described ‘the end of history’ as a motif of our times. While neo-liberal conservatives such as Francis Fukuyama (1992) celebrated triumphantly, and perhaps rather prematurely after the fall of the Berlin Wall, ‘the end of history’ in the ‘inevitable’ global acceptance of the ideologies of free market capitalism and liberal democracy, methodological postmodernists (including Barthes, Derrida, Baudrillard, Lyotard, and Foucault), mobilised ‘the end of history’ throughout the later half of the twentieth century as a symbol of a crisis of confidence in the discourse of modernity, and its realist epistemologies. This loss of faith in the adequacy of representation has been seen by many positivist and empiricist historians as a threat to the discipline of history, with its desire to recover and reconstruct ����the truth���� of the past. It is argued by defenders of ‘traditional’ history (from Appleby, Hunt, & Jacob, 1994; R. J. Evans, 1997; Marwick, 2001; and Windschuttle, 1996; to Zagorin, 1999), and some postmodernists (most notably, Jenkins, 1999), that if we accept postmodern social theory, historical research and writing will become untenable. This study re-examines the nature of the alleged ‘threat’ to history posed by postmodernism, and explores the implications of postmodern social theory for History as curriculum. Situated within a broadly-conceived critical-reconceptualist trend in curriculum inquiry, and deploying a form of historically and philosophically oriented ‘deconstructive hermeneutics’, the study explores past attempts to mount, and future possibilities for, a curricular response to the problem of historical representation. The analysis begins with an investigation of ‘end of history’ discourse in contemporary theory. It then proceeds through a critical exploration of the social meliorist changes to, and cultural politics surrounding, the History curriculum in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, from the Bicentennial to the Millennium (1988-2000), a period that marked curriculum as a site of contestation in a series of highly public ‘history wars’ over representations of the nation’s past (Macintyre & Clark, 2003). It concludes with a discussion of the missed opportunities for ‘critical practice’ within the NSW History curriculum. Synthesising insights into the ‘nature of history’ derived from contemporary academic debate, it is argued that what has remained uncontested in the struggle for ‘critical histories’ during the period under study, are the representational practices of history itself. The study closes with an assessment of the (im)possibility of History curriculum after ‘the end of history’. I argue that if History curriculum is to be a critical/transformative enterprise, then it must attend to the problem of historical representation. / PhD Doctorate

公共行政在治理過程（process of governance）中應該居於何種地位與扮演什麼角色？其是否完全與政治無關，而且不負任何社會公義之價值議題的倡導責任？它應該如同市場取向的行政學者所言——追求小政府（minimal government），還是應該竭盡所能地回應社會的需求？公共行政人員應該著重專業技術，還是倫理思考？一九八○年代初期，六位美國維吉尼亞多元理工學院暨州立大學（Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University）的學者，有感於當時的行政學術之發展似乎無法釐清前述的課題，而新公共行政（New Public Administration）的主張並未能在實務上發揮作用，又鑑於當時一股貶責官僚（bureaucracy bashing）之風盛行。是以，他（她）們撰寫了一篇名為〈公共行政與治理過程：轉變政治對話〉（Public Administration and the Governance Process: Shifting the Political Dialogue）的文章。因為維吉尼亞州立大學的所在地名為黑堡，故該文亦被學者簡稱為黑堡宣言（Blacksburg Manifesto）。黑堡宣言試圖針對前述課題，提出一些規範性的主張，俾以解決當代公共行政所遭遇的學術與實務的雙重困境。該宣言認為重建公共行政在治理過程中的正當性，乃是化解危機的核心。 本論文研究的範圍不限於黑堡宣言一文，而是該宣言首席撰寫者Gary L. Wamsley所稱之黑堡觀點（Blacksburg Perspective）。所謂黑堡觀點，乃是以黑堡宣言為主軸，所發展出來的一系列的論述（discourse）。換言之，就是在黑堡宣言提出重建公共行政（refounding public administration）之主張後，陸續衍生的一些相關研究以及其中所提出的觀念。本論文希望探究：黑堡觀點針對上述課題所提供的論述為何？進而藉由認識論（epistemology）的分析，瞭解它立於何種哲學基礎之上，俾以達成所宣稱的境界？同時，也希望能夠檢視黑堡觀點本身的限制所在，提供後續相關研究的思考線索。最後，作者更嘗試提出一些補充性的見解，希望能在學術上有所貢獻。 基於上述的研究動機和目的，本論文的各章的鋪陳內容如下： 第一章緒論，說明本論文的研究動機與目的、基本概念界定、研究主題以及方法； 第二章黑堡觀點的內涵，將探討黑堡觀點在美國行政學術中的定位及其思想淵源，並還原黑堡宣言一文的重要主張，進而以黑堡觀點反思傳統的行政理論和新公共管理； 第三章黑堡觀點的認識論之分析，則分別探討其所蘊含的結構主義與後結構主義之色彩，進而提出前述兩種思維是否能夠共存的見解； 第四章民主行政的實踐，則是根據第二、三章的論述為基礎，進一步耙梳黑堡觀點之下的民主行政之內涵，包括公共行政參與治理的正當性、公共利益、公共對話、公民意識、公共行政人員等課題； 第五章結論，以前述的民主行政之實踐意涵，歸納黑堡點的特色及其在公共行政理念上的影響，並指出其理論的內在弔詭。然後，對照我國行政實務，試舉例說明黑堡觀點的啟發。最後，指出本論文的研究限制以及作者對後續研究的建議。 本論文的特色在於，超越相關的研究，針對黑堡觀點的認識論進行分析，此實為一種開創性的研究。抑有進者，作者認為本論文應能夠產生如后的貢獻： 第一，提供不同於時下流行之管理途徑的觀點，刺激學界思索其它的研究途徑； 第二，為後續有興趣於此一途徑的研究者，奠定初步的基礎，至少本論文在理論耙梳和認識論的分析方面，應該有所助益； 第三，作者提出對於黑堡觀點之內在弔詭的反省，以及從實務的角度思考黑堡觀點的實踐意涵，希望能夠做為後續研究的線索和方向。 第一章 緒 論••••••••••••••••••••••••1 第一節 研究動機•••••••••••••••••1 第二節 研究目的•••••••••••••••••3 第三節 基本概念的界定••••••••••••••4 第四節 研究主題與方法••••••••••••••16 第二章 黑堡觀點的內涵••••••••••••••••••23 第一節 黑堡觀點的興起及其與新公共行政的關係•••25 第二節 黑堡宣言的主張••••••••••••••44 第三節 以黑堡觀點反思傳統的行政理論•••••••61 第四節 以黑堡觀點反思新公共管理•••••••••83 第三章 黑堡觀點的認識論之分析••••••••••••117 第一節 黑堡觀點的結構主義色彩••••••••••118 第二節 黑堡觀點的後結構主義傾向•••••••••151 第三節 結構主義與後結構主義的共容性之探討••••187 第四章 黑堡觀點之民主行政的實踐••••••••••••197 第一節 公共行政參與治理的正當性•••••••••198 第二節 公共利益•••••••••••••••••218 第三節 公共對話•••••••••••••••••251 第四節 公民意識•••••••••••••••••275 第五節 公共行政人員•••••••••••••••293 第五章 結 論•••••••••••••••••••••••317 第一節 黑堡觀點的特色及其影響••••••••••317 第二節 黑堡觀點的內在弔詭與限制•••••••••326 第三節 黑堡觀點對我國行政實務的啟發•••••••334 第四節 本論文的研究限制與對後續研究的建議••••355 參考資料••••••••••••••••••••••••••361 / This thesis concerned about the legitimacy of public administration in the process of governance. Since administrative management and behavioralism rise the efficiency became the subject matter in public administration. However, Blacksburg Manifesto reminds us the public administration can not be equal with management and efficiency are not public administration's only value. So, the author of this thesis is interested in Blacksburg Perspective's refounding public administration. This study includes Blacksburg Perspective's discourse about public administration and these discourses' epistemology. Firstly, the author summarizes Blacksburg Manifesto and induces characters of the Manifesto. Secondly, he criticizes traditional public management and new public management bases on the Blacksburg Perspective. Thirdly, to analyze the epistemology of Blacksburg Perspective includes structuralism and poststructuralism. Fourthly, this study introduces the implications of democratic public administration of Blacksburg Perspective. Fifthly, the author bases on Blacksburg Perspective rethink administrative practice in his country. Finally, to examine theoretical paradoxes of Blacksburg Perspective. The Author hopes this study is helpful for students are interested in this relative field about democratic public administration and by this thesis we can think about how to refound the legitimacy of public administration in process of governance.

In this thesis I explore the social construction of sexuality and sexual dysfunction. Interviews were undertaken with 20 sex therapists practising in Aotearoa/New Zealand in order to elicit accounts of contemporary sex therapy practice in the local context. Using a feminist poststructuralist lens, I explicate and critically examine the dominant discourses informing the construction of sex therapy, and heterosexual sexual relations, and what these discourses enable and constrain. I draw attention to some of the assumptions embedded in the construction of the sexual dysfunctions in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR, APA, 2000), and in accounts of sex therapy practice, examining the ways in which these are based on taken-for-granted norms of (hetero)sexuality and highlighting the differently enabled gendered sexual subjectivities they (re)produce. Although there are nine sexual dysfunctions identified in the DSM-IV-TR, all of which I briefly outline in Chapter Four, I restrict my focus in the analytical chapters to the conceptualisation and treatment of vaginismus, orgasm difficulties in women, discrepancies in desire and, relatedly, the gendering of desire through powerful sociocultural discourses and representations. I pay particular attention to the implications of these for heterosexual women’s sexuality. I also explore some of the generic concepts that dominate the construction of therapy at a broader level than that of sex therapy alone, arguing that while these offer some useful ways of framing therapy they also constrain therapy practice in important ways. Through a critical review of the sex therapy literature and accounts of practice from those interviewed, I contend that contemporary sex therapy tends to reify dominant cultural and sexological norms rather than challenge them. My analyses show that the dominant discourses informing constructions of sex therapy and heterosexual sexual relations produce particular types of sex as normal whilst marginalizing sexual acts or practices that fall outside of such restrictive parameters. In particular, I argue that the genital-coital-orgasm construct that is hegemonic within sex therapy restricts possibilities for alternative erotic pleasures and possibilities amongst heterosexuals whilst contributing to the invisibilization of sexual identities other than heterosexual. Accounts of sex therapy practice that were able to contest such framings are also highlighted. Because these came from sex therapists drawing on radical feminist or feminist poststructuralist discourses, I suggest that these discourses offer important possibilities for a deconstructive (sex) therapy practice that is able to challenge an often inequitable sexual status quo. Attention is also drawn to the significant constraints which act to restrict clients’ choices and possibilities for sex therapists to practise in more critically questioning ways. I conclude this thesis with an ‘invitation to reflection’ where I briefly discuss some deconstructive approaches that I have found useful for developing ongoing reflexive analysis of my own taken-for-granted assumptions in the area of sexuality, and for aiding my thinking about therapeutic practices that support my political and theoretical commitments and that attend to some of the issues outlined in this thesis. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

Globalization and English-language predominance situate English teachers as increasingly influential mediators of both language and culture. In the iconic multicultural hub of Ontario, Canada, teachers work within a causal nexus of social theories of language, the information and communication technologies revolution, and unprecedented global interdependency. Changes in English curriculum reflect these trends, from references to “global citizenship,” to stress on “intercultural communication,” “cultural sensitivity,” and Information and Communication Technology (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007). Delegated gatekeepers of both linguistic and critical literacies, and facing new questions about the purposes and priorities of their discipline, Ontario English teachers must negotiate the divide between an inherited curriculum and the impacts of sociocultural transformation on changing literacy needs. To contribute to a professional dialogue about teaching English in a multicultural society and global age, this thesis presents findings from interviews with fifteen Ontario secondary English teachers. The focal question, “How is English changing?” introduces a range of pressing issues, such as: displacing the canon, practicing intercultural communication, balancing a democratic discourse, or “common culture,” with respect for diverse values, and managing opposing views and resistance to English curriculum change. The data reveal how English teachers across levels of experience occupy contrasting positions on the curriculum change debate. In part, this can be explained in terms of epistemological orientations. The participants represent three categories: Adaptation, Applied Research / Collaborative Inquiry, and Activism, each by turn more geared toward reconceptualizing English for social diversity and global consciousness. Beyond these classifications, the teachers reflect dissonant perceptions, sometimes personal ambivalence, on the changing role of text choice, and written and oral dialogue in the English classroom. From passionate defenses of Shakespeare, to radical measures to revamp book lists for cultural relevance, to remarkable illustrations of curriculum linked with global consciousness and civic action, the responses of the English teachers delineate zones of difficulty, change, and possibility. They help, too, to catch sight of a new horizon: the English classroom as a space for “cultural conversation” (Applebee, 1994) where canon- and teacher-centred dialogue give way to intertextual (Bakhtin, 1981; Kristeva, 1980) and intercultural (R. Young, 1996) transactions.

In this thesis I explore the social construction of sexuality and sexual dysfunction. Interviews were undertaken with 20 sex therapists practising in Aotearoa/New Zealand in order to elicit accounts of contemporary sex therapy practice in the local context. Using a feminist poststructuralist lens, I explicate and critically examine the dominant discourses informing the construction of sex therapy, and heterosexual sexual relations, and what these discourses enable and constrain. I draw attention to some of the assumptions embedded in the construction of the sexual dysfunctions in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR, APA, 2000), and in accounts of sex therapy practice, examining the ways in which these are based on taken-for-granted norms of (hetero)sexuality and highlighting the differently enabled gendered sexual subjectivities they (re)produce. Although there are nine sexual dysfunctions identified in the DSM-IV-TR, all of which I briefly outline in Chapter Four, I restrict my focus in the analytical chapters to the conceptualisation and treatment of vaginismus, orgasm difficulties in women, discrepancies in desire and, relatedly, the gendering of desire through powerful sociocultural discourses and representations. I pay particular attention to the implications of these for heterosexual women’s sexuality. I also explore some of the generic concepts that dominate the construction of therapy at a broader level than that of sex therapy alone, arguing that while these offer some useful ways of framing therapy they also constrain therapy practice in important ways. Through a critical review of the sex therapy literature and accounts of practice from those interviewed, I contend that contemporary sex therapy tends to reify dominant cultural and sexological norms rather than challenge them. My analyses show that the dominant discourses informing constructions of sex therapy and heterosexual sexual relations produce particular types of sex as normal whilst marginalizing sexual acts or practices that fall outside of such restrictive parameters. In particular, I argue that the genital-coital-orgasm construct that is hegemonic within sex therapy restricts possibilities for alternative erotic pleasures and possibilities amongst heterosexuals whilst contributing to the invisibilization of sexual identities other than heterosexual. Accounts of sex therapy practice that were able to contest such framings are also highlighted. Because these came from sex therapists drawing on radical feminist or feminist poststructuralist discourses, I suggest that these discourses offer important possibilities for a deconstructive (sex) therapy practice that is able to challenge an often inequitable sexual status quo. Attention is also drawn to the significant constraints which act to restrict clients’ choices and possibilities for sex therapists to practise in more critically questioning ways. I conclude this thesis with an ‘invitation to reflection’ where I briefly discuss some deconstructive approaches that I have found useful for developing ongoing reflexive analysis of my own taken-for-granted assumptions in the area of sexuality, and for aiding my thinking about therapeutic practices that support my political and theoretical commitments and that attend to some of the issues outlined in this thesis. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

In this thesis I explore the social construction of sexuality and sexual dysfunction. Interviews were undertaken with 20 sex therapists practising in Aotearoa/New Zealand in order to elicit accounts of contemporary sex therapy practice in the local context. Using a feminist poststructuralist lens, I explicate and critically examine the dominant discourses informing the construction of sex therapy, and heterosexual sexual relations, and what these discourses enable and constrain. I draw attention to some of the assumptions embedded in the construction of the sexual dysfunctions in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR, APA, 2000), and in accounts of sex therapy practice, examining the ways in which these are based on taken-for-granted norms of (hetero)sexuality and highlighting the differently enabled gendered sexual subjectivities they (re)produce. Although there are nine sexual dysfunctions identified in the DSM-IV-TR, all of which I briefly outline in Chapter Four, I restrict my focus in the analytical chapters to the conceptualisation and treatment of vaginismus, orgasm difficulties in women, discrepancies in desire and, relatedly, the gendering of desire through powerful sociocultural discourses and representations. I pay particular attention to the implications of these for heterosexual women’s sexuality. I also explore some of the generic concepts that dominate the construction of therapy at a broader level than that of sex therapy alone, arguing that while these offer some useful ways of framing therapy they also constrain therapy practice in important ways. Through a critical review of the sex therapy literature and accounts of practice from those interviewed, I contend that contemporary sex therapy tends to reify dominant cultural and sexological norms rather than challenge them. My analyses show that the dominant discourses informing constructions of sex therapy and heterosexual sexual relations produce particular types of sex as normal whilst marginalizing sexual acts or practices that fall outside of such restrictive parameters. In particular, I argue that the genital-coital-orgasm construct that is hegemonic within sex therapy restricts possibilities for alternative erotic pleasures and possibilities amongst heterosexuals whilst contributing to the invisibilization of sexual identities other than heterosexual. Accounts of sex therapy practice that were able to contest such framings are also highlighted. Because these came from sex therapists drawing on radical feminist or feminist poststructuralist discourses, I suggest that these discourses offer important possibilities for a deconstructive (sex) therapy practice that is able to challenge an often inequitable sexual status quo. Attention is also drawn to the significant constraints which act to restrict clients’ choices and possibilities for sex therapists to practise in more critically questioning ways. I conclude this thesis with an ‘invitation to reflection’ where I briefly discuss some deconstructive approaches that I have found useful for developing ongoing reflexive analysis of my own taken-for-granted assumptions in the area of sexuality, and for aiding my thinking about therapeutic practices that support my political and theoretical commitments and that attend to some of the issues outlined in this thesis. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.