<p> This hermeneutical research presents correlations between unconscious trauma responses and resultant sexual desire and behavior. Trauma reactions include reenactment, repetition compulsion, reverse reenactment, fawning, and dissociation. Clandestine sexual practices are often conducted surreptitiously, may co-occur with sexual paraphilia, and may include: infidelity; anonymous and group sex; pornography, cybersex, and virtual reality sex; sex with dolls and robots; and prostitution, strip clubs, and sex workers. The American Psychiatric Association&rsquo;s criteria for pathology are explored along with sex-positive psychology&rsquo;s position on the role of consent in diagnosing paraphilic disorder. Clinical manifestations of sexual distress including paraphilic and physiological disorders, sexually transmitted infections, sexual addiction, and related somatic and mood disorders are considered. Theories of ego-syntonia, ego-dystonia, and sexual consent are examined. Clinical applications include psychoeducation on unconscious trauma responses, a depth psychological approach to sexual content, explication of the original <i>dynamic sexual consent </i> theory and assessment tool, and frameworks for ego-syntonic sexuality.</p><p>

<p> This thesis explored the role of sexually explicit material (SEM) on the Internet in adolescent sexuality and education. Does SEM on the Internet affect adolescent sexual attitudes, behaviors, and other facets of sexual functioning, such as fantasizing, masturbation, and sexual self-esteem? In addition, is the Internet becoming the new sex educator? The sample consisted of 492 college students (340 females, 152 males) between the ages of 18 and 23 who took an anonymous, online survey. Among the sample, 98% had seen SEM before the age of 18, first exposure typically occurring around the age of 12. The most popular reason for seeking SEM on the Internet was curiosity. It was found that with more exposure to SEM on the Internet, there was more permissive sexual attitudes, higher levels of sexual behavior, and more sexual fantasizing. In addition, masturbation was more SEM-dependent and compulsive with more exposure. Further, more exposure was related to the twelve aspects of sexuality. For instance, more exposure was related to higher sexual self- esteem, higher sexual-preoccupation, higher sexual-satisfaction, and lower sexual-fear. While males were seeing more SEM on the Internet than females, both males and females were seeing SEM on the Internet for the first time around the same age, though females had more negative feelings about it, and their sexual attitudes and behaviors were similarly affected. It was concluded that SEM on the Internet is a normative adolescent experience and that the Internet is the new sex educator, as adolescents are using it as an informational resource.</p><p>

<p> The low HIV prevalence in Maldives coupled with low HIV comprehensive knowledge presents a challenge to the consistency of the hypothesized HIV knowledge-prevention paradigm. Researchers had not explained why HIV prevalence in Maldives is low despite the low levels of HIV knowledge. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate factors beyond HIV knowledge that contribute to the low HIV prevalence among Maldivian male youth. The research questions focused on the risk-reduction factors in the nonmarital sexual behavior of young Maldivian males that contribute to protecting them from contracting HIV and the predictors of safe and unsafe nonmarital sexual behaviors among this target group. The reasoned action approach (RAA) and the theories embedded in the RRA (i.e., the integrated behavioral model, the theory of reasoned action, and the theory of planned behavior) provided the theoretical foundation for this research. A purposeful sample of 18 male university students participated in open-ended interviews. Data were coded and analyzed to identify themes and subthemes. The results indicated that the low HIV prevalence in Maldives can be attributed to long-standing social values and norms that discourage nonmarital sexual engagement; however, these social values and norms are currently fading away, putting the low HIV prevalence status of Maldives at risk. The implications for social change include providing practitioners with specific risk factors they should address to prevent the spread of HIV that would result in the loss of lives and deterioration in the quality of life among young Maldivian men.</p><p>

<p> This ethnographic study of ZEGG explores the challenges a radical intentional community faces when it rejects mainstream economic and social norms, creating a new culture governed by new norms. ZEGG, an intentional community in Germany, began as an experiment in community living in the 1970s and 1980s, under the leadership of Dieter Duhm, a German psychoanalyst. The community operated in various locations across Germany before finally buying a farm and settling more permanently in Flaming in 1992. The study is based on several months of participatory observation, carried out over the course of four years, and 42 interviews with community members and visitors. As required by the participatory research methodology, designated community members were involved in every stage of the study and their feedback was incorporated into the final version submitted for publication. To survive and thrive, ZEGG had to organize, find ways to finance its operations, and adjust its mission. The loss of its charismatic leader threatened its existence at the very beginning, but, in the long term, it allowed for more flexibility and helped the community adapt and survive for over 25 years. Presently ZEGG is a dynamic, financially stable community with over a hundred members and several thousand yearly visitors. </p><p>

<p> Despite the direct connection between anal sex and pleasure (Hite, 1981; Morin, 2010), the majority of academic literature on anal sex frames the topic in terms of homophobia (when referring to male-bodied people) and/or disease (Aguilar, 2017; Brody &amp; Weiss, 2011; McBride &amp; Fortenberry, 2010). While only two academic articles (Branfman &amp; Stiritz, 2012; Branfman, Stiritz, &amp; Anderson, 2017) have been published on the topic of anoreceptive heterosexual males (ARHMs), there is evidence of this type of sexuality dating back to Ancient Egypt and Greece (Bullough, 1976; Foucault, 1990b). This is indicative of the socially systemic heteronormativity and associated constructs of heterosexism, homophobia, and phallocentrism that can instill shame and stigma in those with non-conforming sexual preferences, such as ARHMs, BDSM practitioners, and BDSM-oriented ARHMs (Ayres &amp; Leudeman, 2013; Bosson, Prewitt-Freilino, &amp; Taylor, 2005; Crane &amp; Crane-Seeber, 2003; Heasley, 2005; Taormino, 2008; Yost, 2010). Therefore, this research examined levels of heteronormativity, sexual shame, and sexual pride to determine whether higher levels of heteronormativity predict higher levels of sexual shame and lower levels of sexual pride in ARHMs, and whether heteronormativity, sexual shame, and sexual pride in ARHMs differ according to BDSM status. In multivariate linear regressions and independent-samples t-tests on data from 906 ARHMs, heteronormativity did not significantly contribute to the prediction of sexual shame in ARHMs; there was not a significant difference in heteronormativity between BDSM-oriented and non-BDSM-oriented ARHMs; there was a significant difference in sexual shame between BDSM-oriented and non-BDSM-oriented ARHMs, but not in the hypothesized direction (there were higher levels of sexual shame among BDSM-oriented ARHMs); and there was not a significant difference in sexual pride between BDSM-oriented and non-BDSM-oriented ARHMs. These findings highlight the nuance in sexual orientation and expression. It remains unclear whether the constructs of masculinity and heteronormativity are expanding to accommodate what were previously considered non-conforming sexual and gender expressions, or whether these constructs continue to obfuscate and repress through a manipulation of language that reinforces privilege. These findings have implications for clinicians who work with those who have both privileged and marginalized identities and/or sexual orientations.</p><p>

This thesis compares the campaigns and debates on sexuality by the British ‘Women’s Liberation Movement’ (WLM) and the French ‘Mouvement de libération des femmes’ (MLF), in the period c.1970 – c.1983. It examines five significant topics: abortion, lesbianism, pornography, prostitution, and rape, all of which were campaigned on by feminists in each country. There has been a distinct lack of historical comparative works on the two movements, and few attempts to compare their discussions and activism on sexuality, which has resulted in a limited view of each movement, something this thesis aims to rectify. Using written grassroots sources, published primary material, and oral history interviews, it argues there were broad similarities between the two movements, but differences in the scope, shape, and progression of their campaigns as a result of national, cultural, and social factors. This study covers the period when each movement was at its height but also when it began to wane in activism, and explores how each approached sexuality in public campaigns and discussions. Examining multiple topics allows a deeper comparison of the feminist approach to sexuality, including: how they dealt with outside organisations; the significance of personal experience; and connections between class, sexuality, and the limits of ‘sexual liberation’. By providing the first historical comparative analysis of the movements’ approaches, this project shows there were many parallel ideas between the two as result of similar origins and outside influences. Yet it was national events and contexts that converted these ideas on politicising the personal into distinctive feminist activism, and a ‘global sisterhood’ manifested differently on each side of the Channel.

This thesis engages with the feminist argument that women need to create a culture of the female and rediscover female genealogy. The misogynistic, theological and philosophical narratives on Woman are deconstructed. Using the metaphor of divining as a tool for searching for a source the author seeks to discover the source of Woman, one not bound by male definition and control. In removing the stigma of Woman as 'misbegotten male' and cause of 'original sin' Woman's sexuality and spirituality are recognised. Female sex is acknowledged and the difference reframed so that male sex no longer holds the dominant position. Woman becomes Divine, and it is a divinity that signifies her earthly interactions in her spiritual, social and personal life. After the divining a female genealogy is created and the divine is drawn out in woman. The writing and analyses of Virginia Woolf and Luce Irigaray are drawn on to establish the basis of the research methodology. Creativity, myths, story, poetry, fiction and feminist analysis are used to find the woman hidden in traditional patriarchal rendering of history. This thesis is both a historical and autobiographical research taken within the context of the author's cultural influences. It is a transdisciplinary research within a set framework, concentrating on women's sexual and spiritual specificity. Greek and Celtic history, Wicca, Christianity and Buddhism are included, with an inclusive but not in-depth analysis of these traditions. The underlying theme of this thesis is women's disconnection from each other. In the author's personal story it concerns her mother, sister and herself. In the collective story it is about women's loss of their female genealogy and connection to their women's history. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. / As with most non-traditional PhD dissertations, this work comprises two parts: a professional creative component, in this case of literary journalism; and an exegetical research component. Part one, Speaking Secrets, is a non-fiction manuscript which explores voicelessness and the media. It focuses on sexuality secrets and explores what happens when these secrets become public property. Each chapter is written in a literary journalistic style. The genre is used here to intimately explore stories which have – for various reasons – fallen below the radar of mainstream journalism, despite some prior media exposure. The manuscript sets out to re-tell the subjects’ stories, and in that re-telling, determines to give each a voice. Taken together, these stories – written in the literary journalism genre, in accord with the subjects – amount to a form of advocacy journalism. As such, the manuscript also considers what motivates each subject to speak, and the costs associated with telling their secrets. Part two of this dissertation, The Literary Journalist and Degrees of Detachment – an ethical investigation, investigates the complexities of the relationship between the writer and the subject. It also does so in the context of the literary journalism genre, examining the role and influence of the narrator in the telling of a subject’s story. Further, it considers the various methods of maintaining differing degrees of detachment within the writer/subject relationship and against other factors such as ethical journalistic practice and the journalist’s role in upholding notions such as public interest and the public’s right to know. Within this investigation of ethical imperatives, the notion of ‘objectivity’ as it pertains to literary journalism, is examined. This dissertation argues that aiming for accuracy, balance and fairness, in the name of public interest and the public’s right to know, is a credo all journalists should aspire to. To position these terms within the umbrella meaning of the word ‘objectivity’ must not be regarded as antithetical to journalism practice, but something worth practising and teaching. This dissertation argues that rigid adherence to the literal meaning of the word ‘objectivity’ is the downfall of the practice. It is argued that there must be a loosening of the semantics surrounding the debate. The dissertation considers three texts/case studies to demonstrate the spectrum of degrees of detachment writers can maintain. Each text clearly falls at differing points along this spectrum, as do the stories in the manuscript Speaking Secrets. Empathy of the journalist plays a crucial role in the collecting and telling of these stories. Empathy as a notion is almost regarded as anathema to the journalistic industry. This dissertation argues, and exhibits through the execution of the text Speaking Secrets, that empathy is an effective and valid tool of the trade. Indeed, in some instances, it makes for better, more thorough and honest journalism.

Victimization and family rejection of sexual orientation are two particularly salient stressors facing lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) young people. While initial research has established a link between these sexuality-related stressors and LGB youth mental health outcomes, the factors that underlie this relationship remain unclear. The current study examined the role of negative LGB identity in mediating the relationship between sexuality related stress (i.e., victimization, family rejection) and youth outcomes (i.e., internalizing problems, public outness, substance use, and cigarette smoking). Participants included 81 LGB young people (ages 14 to 25) recruited through college groups, youth organizations, study advertisements, and friend referrals. Path analyses revealed that victimization and family rejection experiences were related to youth internalizing problems via negative LGB identity. Similar results were found for a model predicting public outness. However, stressors and health risk behaviors were not related through negative LGB identity, although some direct relationships between stressors, substance use, and smoking emerged. Limitations and implications of the present study are discussed.

This essay will discuss Ernest Hemingway's Islands in the Stream, posthumously published 1970, focusing in particular on the importance of the protagonist's fluid gender identity and interest in queer sexuality. Central to my discussion is queer theorist Judith Butler's view of gender as something performed and contextual and her objection to the binary of man and woman. I will argue that the issues of gender identity and queer forms of sexuality are ever-present throughout the novel, and that in the protagonist Thomas Hudson, Hemingway presents a different hero in comparison to the hardboiled macho-man he has been claimed to glorify in his work. My thesis is that the protagonist's denial of his ambiguous gender identity and his interest in queer sexualitey are the underlying causes for the development of the plot. The novel will be discussed in relation to the thesis in chronological order: first, it examines the protagonist's detachment and separation from his sons; second, his difficulties to sustain any longer relationships with women, and third, why he never dares to trust the people who say they love him.