Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Psy. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.(Clinical Psychology))-University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Digital activism is an increasingly popular field in academia. However, scarce attention has been paid to the process of cultural and political mediation that have shaped different examples of the contents of digital activism as well as the character of actors who collectively utilize this instrument and also personally respond to the specific context in which digital activism emerges and evolves. This study investigates the #MeToo movement in the context of China as a concrete example of digital activism in a manner that ascribes attention to both digital technologies and activist practices. With regard to the practices of social movement, this study aims to capture the discursive processes that enable different actors to be recognized and make sense of themselves in public in the #MeToo movement in China. From the digital perspective, this study attempts to identify the characteristics of activists who participated in China's #MeToo movement. This study combined content analysis and discourse analysis with social network analysis to analyze the process and discourses on the #Metoo movement in China and examined the characteristics of actors who contributed to the promotion of the #MeToo movement on a networked public space. Following the three-stage model of social drama, five themes were identified in the narrative form of China's version of the #MeToo movement. This study also found that advocates and opponents of the #MeToo movement achieved their narrative agencies through the intersection of gender, sexuality, class, and culture in the Chinese sociocultural context. Finally, this study revealed that the expressive repertoires manifested in the reposting network of China's #MeToo and testified that homophily could exist between pairs of Weibo users along with similar attributes including gender, location, and engagement

Coach-athlete sexual relationships (CASR) and sexual harassment and abuse (SHA) in sport can profoundly impact athletes’ welfare and performance. Yet, it is often ignored due to sensitivity, secrecy, and lack of knowledge. There is no previous research on SHA in sport in Sweden, and legal, consensual, same-sex CASR is under-researched. The overall purpose of this doctoral thesis is to examine CASR in competitive sport in Sweden. More specifically: a) athletes’ experiences of CASR; b) prevalence of SHA in coach-athlete relationships; c) conceptual and theoretical issues to broaden the understanding of CASR and SHA, will be examined. Survey methodology is employed in Article I to explore the prevalence of SHA, coach-athlete relationship factors, and association between relationship factors and SHA. A random sample of current and former male and female Swedish athletes (n=477) aged 25 participated. Article II outlines critical issues of CASR, and theories and conceptualisations of romantic love, sexual consent, and female athlete sexual agency is further developed in the thesis research summary. Drawing on interviews with five female elite athletes aged 23-30, experiences of CASR are analysed in-depth using discourse analyses in Article III and narrative case study design in Article IV. Results show that athletes’ experiences of CASR are positively and negatively diverse but potentially problematic because boundary ambiguity, secrecy, and isolation are common. Social and ethical dilemmas may also occur because CASR intersect contrasting discourses regarding elite sport, coach–athlete relationships, and romantic love. Moreover, CASR integrate professional and private contexts in which equality and power deviate. The research illustrates empirically and theoretically how female elite athletes exercise agency and recognise consensual, mutually desired CASR where romantic love is priority. However, sexual consent can be ambivalent rather than a mutually exclusive yes/no dualism. Socially, consent is a process of negotiation informed by contextual factors, sexual agency, and social structure. In addition, 5.5% prevalence of SHA perpetrated by male coaches is reported, distributed throughout the sampled athletes’ gender, age, sport performance levels, and individual/team sports in the sample. In conclusion, this thesis expands knowledge of athletes’ experiences of love, sexual consent, and abuse in CASR. Previous evidence of SHA in sport is confirmed to include sport in Sweden. Implications for sport and sport sciences are offered.