This study investigated the ways in which students attending American evangelical colleges form their heterosexually intimate relationships as well as how they craft gendered and religious performances along the way. Data was generated at two evangelical universities in the southern region of the United States over the 2011-2012 academic year using a combination of qualitative methods, including focus groups, individual interviews, participant observation, artifact analysis, and archival research. Findings suggest students employ a three-phase process, which begins within their peer networks, advances via social media to an intermediate phase, where students assess compatibility in a number of areas, and then potentially progresses into a committed, and oftentimes serious, dating relationship. This process is inherently patriarchal and encourages diffidence as well as shrewdness in many respects related to women’s demeanor, communication, and sexuality. Both women and men utilize a number of gendered and religious strategies to successfully navigate the dating scene amidst the backdrop of an evangelical milieu. Various aspects of campus culture, which influence students’ relational, gendered, and religious practices, are also explored, including the lack of casual dating, modesty expectations, purity imperatives, and an emphasis on (heterosexual) relationships. The implications of which create a high stakes environment surrounding both cross-sex friendships and romantic relationships where sexuality is sidelined and authenticity can be hard to find.

Background: Research showed that older people's sexual health is not addressed adequately in the health sector. It is a subject that is very limited or non-existent during basic training for nursing students. Older peoples sexually health has improved and hence there will be an even more important area for the nurse, who is responsible for the patient's health. Existing prejudices about sexuality of elderly people means that more knowledge is needed. Aim: The aim was to describe: 1. elderly person's experience of their sexual health and the health care receptions. 2. health care workers' attitudes towards older patients' sexual health. Method: A literature overview. Four qualitative and six quantitative studies between the years 2000- 2015 were analyzed. Results: Three main themes were identified; older people's experiences, that showed that older patients are healthier and more sexually active than before. The second main theme; health care workers experience of older people's sexual health showed that the patient's greatest obstacles to exercising their sexuality is the lack of private spaces. The nurse usually had a negative attitude to the elderly persons' sexual health, which could be due to nurses' ignorance and that sexuality is a sensitive subject. The third theme showed factors which affect sexual health in elderly. Conclusion: More information is needed about the elderly person's sexual health for patients and more training in nursing. Many older suppress their sexuality because of different standards and taboos in society, which may lead to unnecessary suffering.

Discourses about pornography have grown since the diffusion of print communication and the first erotic representations. In the 80s, the so-called sex wars involved intense debates about pornography s liberating or objectifying nature, while in the 90s, the emergence of porn studies offered a more balanced and contextualized analysis of pornography, highlighting the need for researchers to also focus on the audience s understanding of the experience. Although the majority of research in this field has focused on adults, much of the concern relates to children. To date, however, most of the research relating to children has focused on effects and on potential harm. Audience researchers in Cultural Studies have examined how children understand representations of sex, love and romance, but only in relation to mainstream media. Yet when it comes to pornography in particular, the discussion is to a great extent based on adults assumptions about what is potentially harmful for children. My aim is to approach children s use and interpretation of sexual content in the media through an audience reception approach. In a sense, this brackets off the question of possible risk or harm, in favour of focusing on the nature of the experience itself. My research is based on interviews conducted with young adults (18-22 years old) thinking retrospectively about their experiences with sexual content in childhood and early teenage life. Despite the number of disadvantages this approach may have, this thesis aims to focus on how participants themselves report and account for their actual experiences. Using a basic thematic coding, I consider the self-reported nature and context of young people s experiences. Next, I focus on the discourses used to interpret and contextualize their experiences. Finally, through a narrative approach I examine their constructions of identities in talking about sexuality. In these ways, this thesis wishes to offer new insights into the topic through an audience reception approach that until now has been largely missing from the academic agenda.

This semi-structured interview study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of Filipino pre-service teachers’ perceptions of sexuality education. It also aimed to study how the pre-service teachers’ perceptions related to international recommendations on sexuality education and the theoretical perspectives of gender and power and Freiran theory that these draw on. Main findings included that the pre-service teachers critically reflected on own experiences of sexuality education and did not intend to repeat the education they received to future students. Furthermore, they expressed problem-focused perceptions of sexuality education content but positive approaches to the subject in general, and were hopeful of positive sexual health outcomes in the Philippines. Objections from the Catholic Church and parents to future students were perceived as the biggest challenges to the implementation of sexuality education. More information to, and collaboration with, parents regarding sexuality education were suggested as means to face resistance in the Philippine society. The pre-service teachers’ perceptions agreed with international recommendations on sexuality education to some extent, but results showed contradicting opinions regarding gender equality and sexual diversity. This point to a conclusion that the pre-service teachers need extended and improved teacher training on sexuality education, that develop their knowledge and allow them to critically reflect on norms in their society.

Background: Sexuality, defined as love, intimacy and sex, is a part of patients’ overall health and concerns the quality of life. Patients have needs and wishes to discuss how the treatment and diagnosis might affect their sexual functioning as a number of medical conditions also can lead to sexual difficulties. Research has shown that nurses do not meet the patients’ need to discuss sexual matters. Aim: To describe nurses’ approach towards discussing sexuality with patients. Method: A literature review described by Friberg (2012) was conducted. The result of three qualitative and eight quantitative studies was summarized and then organized into groups depending on the similarities and differences. Results: The results outlined in four themes; The talk not taking place, Hindering factors, Promoting factors and Organizational factors. Nurses were knowledgeable in regards to how treatment and diagnosis affected patient sexuality. Even though they recognized the importance of sexuality for patients and felt responsible, nurses did avoid conversation about sexuality. Hindering factors stated by the nurses were lack of competency, considering sexuality as a private and taboo subject and feeling uncomfortable talking about sexual issues. Factors promoting conversation about sexuality were amongst others work experience and education. The organization may affect whether the nurses bring up the subject or not. Discussion: Despite that the society today is more open towards sexuality, the taboo of sexuality remains a fact in health care. A trusting and caring relationship between nurse and patient described by among others Travelbee could open up a permissive atmosphere, overcome taboos and facilitate discussions on sensitive issue. Models of sexual communication such as the PLISSIT-model could be used.

As gerontology has shifted from emphasizing the problems of aging to exploring how older adults can thrive, researchers have increased their attention on new issues including sexuality and aging. A sometimes explicit, but often implicit assumption in this research, is that sex is good for you—that it is an integral part of a full and healthy life or successful aging. Although successful aging is one of the most commonly cited theories in social gerontology (Alley et al. 2010), it has not gone without criticism (Martinson and Berridge 2014). Using an unrefined successful aging framework for sex research has the potential to promote aging and sexuality in narrow ways and privilege certain groups over others. This research examines the relationship between sexual activity and health from a feminist gerontological perspective. In particular, I explore differences in what counts as sex and how gender and social location influence the relationship between health and sexual activity. Using a nationally representative sample of community dwelling older adults (3005) from the first wave of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, I find that older adults engage in a wide variety of sexual activity which differs by social location (e.g. gender, race, and class). Furthermore, gender differences in sexual behavior are not merely due to a lack of access to healthy partners for women. Much of the gender gap in sexual behavior can be explained by disparities in sexual interest and desire. In addition, using more inclusive definitions of sex, partnered sexual behavior is associated with health even after accounting for demographics and relationship factors. In conclusion, existing models of aging and sexuality, relying on successful aging or a correlation between continued sexual activity and health, may limit our understanding of the experiences of women and sexual minorities. A feminist gerontological approach provides a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between health and continued sexual activity.

The thesis focuses on Shelley Jackson’s Half Life: a Novel with efforts directed towards a literary interpretation considering relevant issues within the context of gender and feminist theory. The argument rests upon four basic units: the theoretical framework at the outset, the question of the body next, thirdly an investigation of sexuality, and finally a consideration of identity. In Jackson’s Half Life: a Novel the non-dualist thinking underlies a deliberate play of dualism. To go beyond the binary, Jackson captures the tension and confusion revealed from the body, sexuality and identity; and therefore this thesis aims to conduct a dynamic discussion on these gender issues to encounter and reconsider the entrenched binary-defined social, cultural and gender norms.

In my dissertation, I argue that historians of Africa have overlooked the intersection between nationalism and sexuality, despite the fact that these two themes are related. In addition, instead of focusing on the now stale paradigm which emphasizes the importance of race and class in the discourse of sexuality, I offer a revisionist idea that stresses the importance of age. Hence, I contend that the contrast between underage and adult sexuality largely informed the pattern of reformist condemnation of casual sex work in colonial Lagos. A clash between tradition (crudely defined as African traditional customs, values and ethos) and modernity (the so-called ideals of “modernization” and “civilization” imported by the British colonialists) was inevitable as the reformists vied to establish favorable legislation and combated laws that threatened their belief system and practices. What is more, debates around prostitution went beyond casual sex work to involve more complex matters such as the protection of soldiers, marriage, and cultural nationalism; the place and role of women and children in African society; and African or colonialist conception of morality/immorality. Because of the complex nature of the politics of sex in colonial Nigeria, it was effectively impossible to reach common ground on dealing with the alleged medical and social nuisance caused by prostitutes. Indeed, while the ostensible subject of the popular debate was “prostitution,” the issues contested concurred with cultural nationalism and the protection of individual and group interests. Prostitution became a camouflage for negotiating issues that threatened the social, political, and sexual ideologies and orientation of a wide range of people—Africans and Europeans alike. / text

This ethnographic dissertation research project examines HIV prevention programs in Warsaw, Poland to explore the concurrent processes of democratization and privatization as Poland begins European Union accession. As inherently political public health interventions, HIV prevention programs provoke discussions of risk and responsibility, and visions of the moral social order. Therefore, they can be used to understand the ways in which politically and socially marginalized populations invoke claims to citizenship status through attention to health issues. From an epidemiological perspective, HIV/AIDS arrived in Poland relatively late (1985) and never reached the anticipated epidemic levels. In the 1980s, drawing attention to the potential threat of AIDS served as a forum through which the perceived failures of the socialist government could be publicly addressed. In the 1990s calls for improved access to AIDS information suggested that to be democratic meant to have open and easy access to scientific information, and debate surrounding the establishment of AIDS care facilities suggested that to be European was to be tolerant. However, issues of information and tolerance were problematic in reference to homosexuality. Prior to the advent of AIDS in Poland, socialist gender and sexual ideologies converged with Catholic notions of proper morality to marginalize and pathologize homosexuality. Nascent gay organizations saw the potential of HIV prevention as a way to justify the value of such organizations for the greater good of society. The possibility of controlling and participating in the task of HIV prevention presented an alternative to statesponsored surveillance under the guise of HIV prevention and encouraged public dialogue about the issues gays face in their daily lives. Whereas the national HIV prevention agenda focuses on risks as equally distributed across Polish society, a central component of the HIV prevention programs within Polish gay rights and drug abuse prevention organizations is harm reduction. As practiced by Polish gay organizations, a harm reduction philosophy draws attention to heterogeneity within gays and challenges the construction of them as a coherent risk group. These programs deemphasize sexuality in favor of a wider constellation of factors that contribute to finding oneself in situations that can lead to risky behavior.

Christopher Isherwood’s 1938 autobiographical novel Lions and Shadows is often read in light of its subtitle as the story of “an education in the ‘twenties.” Yet Isherwood’s early work is more than a simple interwar bildungsroman. Lions and Shadows is a narratively complicated account of a privileged, queer youth in interwar England and an exposition of the effects of the Great War on an entire generation. The autobiographical novel provides veiled descriptions of the queer cultures of Cambridge and London in the 1920s, and records the early artistic development of several members of what has come to be called “The Auden Generation,” including Edward Upward, W.H. Auden, and Stephen Spender. In this project, I explore how and why Christopher Isherwood obscures his sexuality in Lions and Shadows, looking in particular at his friendships with Edward Upward and W.H. Auden and at the fictional work that the former friendship produced, The Mortmere Stories. Chapter 1 provides background information on homosexuality in England during Isherwood’s lifetime, focusing on how class and privilege affect the experience and expression of homosexuality. Chapter 2 analyzes the obsession with the Great War that pervades Lions and Shadows, concentrating on how the Great War affected ideas of masculinity and male sexuality. Finally, Chapter 3 explores the relationship between Isherwood’s social and sexual discomfort and the production and content of The Mortmere Stories, which tend to poke fun at sexual foibles and the proclivities of the upper classes. / text