The main aim of the study was to investigate adolescents’ perceptions of the paternal/father figures’ involvement in their sexuality education. Other aims included to determine adolescents’ perception of paternal/father figures’ knowledge of sexuality education; aspects/topics that are discussed; and the gender differences in paternal figures’ involvement with adolescents’ sexuality education. The study sample consisted of 67 adolescents aged between 13-19 years and was chosen through purposive, non-probability sampling technique from Illinge Secondary School at Vosloorus Township, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council. A questionnaire designed by the researcher was used to collect the data for the study. The results of the present study indicated that a small number of the adolescents perceive their paternal/father figures as involved in the discussion of sexuality matters. Nevertheless a highest number of the participants in the study perceive a paternal figure as a right source of sexuality education. However, the study shows that participants perceive their paternal figures as authoritarian and having poor communication about sexuality matters. This study indicated that there is no trend in adolescents’ perceptions of their paternal figures’ adequacy and inadequacy of knowledge regarding competency/incompetence in discussing sexuality topics. The main topic that the participants indicated to be receiving paternal figures’ attention is adolescents’ pregnancy and parenting. However, there is an indication that sexual intercourse is not mentioned as the antecedent to pregnancy. A large number of adolescents in this study indicated that there is a presence of a significant gender difference in the sexuality education. An increased father forum as well as involvement of social institutions and the professional and community based work force is recommended to address the need for father/paternal figures’ involvement in the sexuality education of adolescents.

Student Number : 0002189H - MA(Clin) research report - School of Human and Community Development - Faculty of Humanities / This study explored the perceptions of loveLife counselors on how HIV and AIDS has impacted on adolescent sexuality. The study further examined whether loveLife counselors thought that HIV and AIDS had changed how adolescents expressed their sexuality. The counselors’ perceptions regarding adolescents’ use of condoms during penetrative sex, being faithful to one sexual partner or abstaining from sexual relationships were also explored. In-depth interviews were conducted with loveLife counselors to understand how they think HIV and AIDS has affected adolescents’ sexual behaviour. The sampling method utilized was the nonprobability, purposive sampling. The participants consisted of five loveLife counselors, who work with adolescents. Data was analyzed by means of thematic content analysis. The loveLife counselors’ believe that adolescents have changed their attitudes about how they express sexuality as a result of HIV and AIDS. According to the counselors, HIV and AIDS infection among adolescents have decreased. HIV and AIDS have a positive impact on how adolescents sexually conduct themselves. The counselors think that adolescents are taking serious the warnings against the dangers of HIV and AIDS. This is due to the fact that they are afraid of contracting the virus and consequently suffering from the stigma that people have attached to those who are infected with the virus. As a result of that fear, the perceptions of the counselors are that the majority of adolescents are using condoms during penetrative sex, while others are being faithful to only one sexual partner. According to the counselors in most cases female adolescents initiate condom use as a way of preventing pregnancy rather than as a protective method against contracting HIV and AIDS. Adolescents are, however, finding it very difficult to abstain from sexual relationships.

Background and Aims: In view of limitations in existing models, a study was devised to examine the impact of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) on masculine gender identity in relation to other background factors. Design and Participants: A mixed design incorporated qualitative and quantitative components. A theoretical sample of ten abused men was interviewed, five of whom identified as heterosexual and five as homosexual. Measures: Interview transcripts were subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith 1996) and a thematic coding frame developed. Modified Repertory Grids (Kelly 1955) were administered to examine participants' conceptualisation of gender categories and to elucidate patterns of identification between participants, abusers, and other key figures. A further selection of transcript data was micro-coded in order to map gender associations of specific participant responses. Results: Findings indicated that, while CSA did compromise identifications with 'masculine' values of power, agency and control, participants also reported conflicts over their reduced capacity for identification with positive 'feminine' characteristics. These included emotional expression and other interpersonal competencies. Contrary to the Masculinity Model of Adjustment (Antill and Cunningham 1980), many participants expressed ambivalence towards conventional gender roles, and had experienced attempts to conform to them as ego-dystonic. The results provided some evidence consistent with theories of Gender Shame (Mendel 1992), and supported the view that an adequate conceptualisation of the effects of CSA upon gender should incorporate interactions between abuse and other aspects of the individual's developmental and social context. Clinical Implications: The study supported the view that the framework of conventional gender and sexual categories may be of limited relevance in work with sexually abused men. It endorsed the need for clinicians to set aside some existing assumptions in the literature, and develop more sophisticated models of gender more congruent with survivors' perceptions regarding the impact of CSA upon gender and sexuality.

Thesis (M. Med.(Family Medicine))--University of Limpopo (Medunsa Campus), 2010. / Background: The control of STIs remains a priority for the WHO. Health – seeking and sexual behaviors are important elements in the control of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Aim: To assess health seeking behavior in relation to STIs amongst community members of Nkomazi East area of Mpumalanga who use Tonga hospital’s feeder clinics and comprehensive health centers. Study Design: This was a quantitative research carried out as a non-experimental, descriptive cross-sectional survey employing the use of questionnaires for data collection. Questionnaires covering social, demographic, and healthcare-seeking and sexual behaviour information were administered to 332 patients attending primary care clinics in Nkomazi East area of Mpumalanga. Results: Majority of the participants were single, literate, unemployed blacks aged between 16 – 23 years (43.7%). Participants displayed an exceptionally high STI knowledge with urethral discharge, painful micturition, vaginal discharge and lower abdominal pain the most recognised STI symptoms. All the participants (100%) sought help on perceiving that they have an STI. Preferred source of help is the public health sector with traditional healers also finding some relevance. While compliance to treatment is largely satisfactory, ongoing unsafe sexual practices with active STI seem to be common place. Conclusion: Participants displayed a high knowledge of STI symptoms and signs. Public health facilities were the preferred source of health. Health seeking seemed to be influenced by multiple factors. Financial consideration was not much of a factor while seeking help compared to accessibility to health facility and stigma or shame. Belief system, influence by family members, friends and partners were also important factors influencing health seeking behaviour

This study examined the roles of mothers and fathers in the sexuality education of their sons and daughters. Specifically, the research investigated the sexuality knowledge, attitudes and skills of parents to provide education to their pre-school (5 years of age) or year seven (12 years of age) children. Investigation of parents' active participation in the sexuality education of their children and analysis of the factors which determined their involvement was the main objective of the study. The comfort level of parents in their communication with their children and plans for further sexuality education were also considered. Predictive models of sexuality communication were empirically tested and from this a conceptual model was derived which explicates sexuality education in the home.The research involved both a qualitative and quantitative approach to the investigation of parents' contribution to the future sexual health of their children. The first phase of the study involved focus group interviews with 11 parents to discuss their issues and concerns in providing sexuality education. Thematic analysis of the focus groups and review of the literature informed development of the instrument used in the second phase of the study.Face validity of the instrument was established and 371 parents participated in phase two of the study. One hundred and ninety five (195) mothers and 176 fathers responded voluntarily to an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire on their involvement in their child's sexuality education.In the second phase of the study the instrument used included demographic data and general questions regarding sexuality education. A sexuality knowledge and attitude scale was included as well as qualitative questions concerning parents' skills in sexuality education pertaining to three relevant scenarios. Parents' teaching practices, plans for future ++ / sexuality education and a Likert scale of comfort levels was also part of the instrument.Demographic data was consistent with the general population except with respect to income and education which were both higher than expected. Most parents (95%) stated that the home should be the primary place for sexuality education. However, less than half (36%) initiated frequent discussion with their child.Results showed that generally parents had a satisfactory knowledge of sexuality (M= 2 1) but that mothers had more knowledge of sexuality than fathers. Parents' sexuality attitudes tended toward the conservative end of the continuum with fathers more liberal in their attitudes than mothers. The study revealed a small positive correlation between knowledge and attitudes which showed that parents with more knowledge had more liberal attitudes.Mothers' and fathers' skills in sexuality education varied, demonstrating some uncertainty in this aspect of parenting. Most parents (63%) were not appropriate in their response to their child's questions about 'how babies are made', and provided their child with no factual information. Although most parents (76%) had observed their child's 'genital play' the majority (75%) were unaware of their child's 'sex play' behaviours. Parents' skills in responding to their child's genital play and sex play revealed that few (less than 16%) demonstrated complete acceptance of their child's sexual behaviour. Curiously, parents stated that they were generally comfortable when presented with all situations. The findings indicate a need for community based parent education which focuses on enhancing parents' sexuality knowledge, attitudes and skills.Generally small percentages of parents talked to their children about various sexuality topics with the factual topics such as body differences, birth, reproduction and obscene words the most frequently ++ / discussed. Other topics, of a more sensitive or intimate nature, such as contraception, sexually transmissible diseases, abortion, dating, intimate relationships, masturbation, petting and wet dreams were discussed by fewer parents. Not unexpectedly, parents communicated more with their year seven child than their pre-schooler, but the ages at which topics were introduced varied widely. This suggests parents require guidelines for their role which promote early, open and unreserved communication. The timing of sexuality education is also crucial to ensure that sexuality is as integral to the individual as numeracy and literacy and is approached in the same manner.For almost all topics mothers communicated more than fathers for both the pre-school and year seven groups. In contrast to the literature, pre-school mothers communicated equally with both genders and fathers communicated more with their sons, while by year seven, both mothers and fathers communicated more with their sons than their daughters. The topics discussed with sons and daughters appeared to differ with both mothers and fathers discussing physiological and protective issues with daughters and conversing about sexual behaviours with sons. Gender was a significant factor in sexuality education and strategies to promote equality relating to both parents and children are required.Many parents severely overestimated their plans for communicating with their children about sexuality. Most parents of pre-school children planned to discuss all sexuality topics by the time their children were 12 years old, but in reality this was not evident when compared with the year seven group. Few children initiated frequent communication (37%) with their parents but when they did it was usually with their mother.For the overall sample, the communication of sexuality was predicted by parents' attitudes to teaching ++ / sexuality, their perceived preparation, the church as a source of sexual learning and their teaching skills. The predictors however, varied depending on the gender of the parent and the age group being considered and different models explained between 14% and 46% of the variance of communication.No previously published research in Australia has investigated the role of mothers and fathers as sexuality educators. This study has contributed to the increasing body of knowledge in sexuality which aims to educate children more comprehensively for sexual health in adulthood. The conceptual framework derived from the literature and the findings of the study is anticipated to be of benefit to health professionals, school teachers and sexuality educators as they work with parents to promote sexual health.

This thesis explores the moral and sexual anxieties produced by the transportation of male convicts to the penal colonies of Australia. My aims are twofold. First, this study argues that male sexuality lay at the heart of penal and colonial political discourse. The moral anxieties this both reflected and produced directly informed the penal administration of the convict population. This was implicit in the ways that convict bodies were ordered, surveilled, disciplined and accommodated. In this analysis the sexual and behavioural management of male prisoners is considered to be a fundamental dynamic within contemporary perceptions of criminal reformation. Second, this thesis examines the ways that these moral concerns permeated the wider colonial society. Free British settlers took their cultural cargo with them to the colonies. In the context of the penal colonies, they also had to negotiate the specific cultural and social implications of transportation. The moral concerns of colonial society were often played out around the politics of imperial transportation. This is examined through a consideration of the cultural meanings of colonial discourse and the many tensions that lay beneath it. During the slow transition from penal colony to respectable free society, colonists utilised and manipulated their moral and cultural anxieties in a number of political ways. This thesis argues that the moral and sexual anxieties of colonial society were both real and imagined. They informed a variety of discourses that linked the colonial periphery with the metropolitan centre in a relationship that was reciprocal but also antagonistic.

This dissertation explores the transatlantic shaping of the early twentieth century sex reform movement as a pivotal moment in the history of affect. I focus on a set of influential white middle class British and American radical intellectuals who emphasized emotions, instincts, and energies as transformative forces that could politically, socially, and materially alter the world. Crucially, this dissertation shifts historical attention on this period as a watershed in sexual practices toward the lens of a politics of love that informed sex reformers' construction of discourses and practices. I argue that sex reformers' politics of love amounted to the emergence of new registers of organizing bodies along the lines of gender, race, class, and sexuality by differentiating these bodies in terms of what I call their affective potential to achieve love. By examining the sex reform movement through this lens of a politics of love, I highlight the multiple ways that sex reformers radicalized the domain of intimacy as an arena of intense concern in matters of both social and political organization as well as ontological questions of spiritually and ecologically relating to the world. Each of this dissertation's chapters aims to take the reader on a journey thorugh the multiple worlds that took shape as sex reformers looked to develop scientific, spiritual, social, political, and economic strategies to engineer relationships defined by love. This journey spatially and temporally situates sex refomers' bodies as affective compasses that moved through and constructed historically specific worlds out of Darwinian maps of cities and nations, bohemian living arrangements, 'modern' schools and playgrounds, Edenic gardens, plant breeding and animal sex research laboratories, and imagined eugenic utopias of future species and races.

In Canada, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men. The incidence continues to rise. Although there is a growing empirical literature on the prostate cancer experience of men who live and work in urban areas, little is known about the experience of men who live and work in rural settings where access to treatment and support may present unique challenges. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the experiences of men diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer who live and work (farm) in rural Saskatchewan. Using a Naturalistic Inquiry approach and methods of Grounded Theory Analysis, six participants were recruited through a physicians office, advertisements, and cancer support groups, and interviewed. The interview data were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed. Data analysis revealed five common themes: farming and rural life, physical and emotional concerns, sexuality, masculinity, thoughtfulness and reflection, helping others and being helped. There was no evidence of rural isolation or concern with travelling to the cities for treatment. Depression and anxiety were not reported as major concerns. Participants explained that while continuing to farm helped them cope, fatigue reduced their ability to farm and increasingly they relied on help from family and neighbours. Participants experienced a sense of urinary urgency and/or incontinence following treatment and managed their daily activities to lesson the impact. All were impotent following treatment. They coped with loss of sexual function through a renewed life perspective or use of medication to restore sexual function. Traditional masculine behaviours can be a barrier to health screening for men with prostate cancer. Participants used their prostate cancer experience to engage in activities of new learning, new meaning, and new perspectives and to educate and support other men with prostate cancer. This study highlights the need for further research on the health experiences of farmers and other rural men, and to uncover the variety of masculine and behavioural responses with respect to mens health issues. Although the range of health issues may be similar from one man to another, it is important for health care providers to understand individual differences.

In Canada, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men. The incidence continues to rise. Although there is a growing empirical literature on the prostate cancer experience of men who live and work in urban areas, little is known about the experience of men who live and work in rural settings where access to treatment and support may present unique challenges. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the experiences of men diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer who live and work (farm) in rural Saskatchewan. Using a Naturalistic Inquiry approach and methods of Grounded Theory Analysis, six participants were recruited through a physicians office, advertisements, and cancer support groups, and interviewed. The interview data were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed. Data analysis revealed five common themes: farming and rural life, physical and emotional concerns, sexuality, masculinity, thoughtfulness and reflection, helping others and being helped. There was no evidence of rural isolation or concern with travelling to the cities for treatment. Depression and anxiety were not reported as major concerns. Participants explained that while continuing to farm helped them cope, fatigue reduced their ability to farm and increasingly they relied on help from family and neighbours. Participants experienced a sense of urinary urgency and/or incontinence following treatment and managed their daily activities to lesson the impact. All were impotent following treatment. They coped with loss of sexual function through a renewed life perspective or use of medication to restore sexual function. Traditional masculine behaviours can be a barrier to health screening for men with prostate cancer. Participants used their prostate cancer experience to engage in activities of new learning, new meaning, and new perspectives and to educate and support other men with prostate cancer. This study highlights the need for further research on the health experiences of farmers and other rural men, and to uncover the variety of masculine and behavioural responses with respect to mens health issues. Although the range of health issues may be similar from one man to another, it is important for health care providers to understand individual differences.

Individuals who use the Internet can obtain uncensored information about nearly any subject with ease. The unlimited access and the perceived freedom make the Internet an extremely popular media form. The purpose of this research is to examine the differences in how the types of sites individuals visit affect their gendered views. I specifically examined (1) individuals who go to gender-issue sites are less likely to support traditional, female gender-roles and (2) individuals who go to political sites are more likely to support traditional female, gender-roles. This study, using special questions pertaining to gender-roles within the household and visiting gender and political websites from the 2002 General Social Survey, examines the question as to whether the Internet has an effect on people's gendered views. The relationship among the dependent variable and the independent variables, control variables, and mediating variables were examined in both a bivariate and a multivariate context. First, to test my hypotheses I examined the bivariate correlations between the dependent variables and other variables. Next, I examined the relationships in the multivariate context using a regression model. This analysis creates a model with three separate steps, with the first step being an examination of the relationship between the dependent variable and the control variables. The second step examined the relationship between the dependent variable, control variables, and the independent variables. The final step in the forward step regression model examined the relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variables and the effects the control and mediating variables had on the relationship. The only significant finding of the current study is that of sex, age, and income, with sex having a more significant effect than either of the other two variables. Females tended to have a more traditional view of female gender-roles. It does not appear that visiting gender-issues or political sites affects a person's traditional female gender-role. This finding indicates that females tend to toe the gender line much more strongly than do males in that they were more likely to do the traditionally female household tasks and not do traditionally males tasks. Male respondents, however, reported that they engaged in both traditionally male and traditionally female household jobs.