This thesis examines concepts of female honour circulating among the middling and poorer sorts in Elizabethan and seventeenth-century London. Utilising prescriptive advice books, secular and ecclesiastical court records, vestry minutes, ballads, diaries, pamphlets and plays, the thesis explores how ordinary women might fashion respectable identities for themselves. By negotiating some degree of autonomy within the restrictive boundaries imposed by a patriarchal society, women might earn praise and social credit from their families, friends, and neighbours. It starts from the premiss that while sexual honesty remained an essential pre-requisite for female honour, women who sought to acquire a good reputation were required to do much more than protect their virginity before marriage and remain sexually faithful to their husbands. Women as individuals were judged by their physical appearance and the clothes they wore; as members of families and households by the successful performance of their roles as mothers, housewives and mistresses; and as members of local communities by their interactions with their neighbours, both male and female. In addition female honour was linked to the skill with which women negotiated the unique physical environments of early modem London and its hinterlands, in particular the fields, streets, and alehouses of the capital. Women had to undergo constant scrutiny, and often criticism, from both male and female neighbours, but the thesis argues that contemporary codes of honour, reputation, and credit could also empower women, by bringing them respect and admiration.

This thesis is a qualitative sociological study into the phenomenon of gay Nazi fetishism in the Internet age, and its wider social and political implications. This sociological research is timely because of the proliferation of online groups targeted at those with fetishistic sexual interests as well as the increasing adoption of queer theory as a theoretical framework through which to analyse non-normative sexualities. Data was collected through examining a range of websites and groups targeted at gay men who enjoy Nazi fetishism. Drawing on interviews with 22 members of one particular gay Nazi fetish group, it is argued that the Internet provides real and important benefits for those exploring non-normative desires, compensating for a number of perceived offline dis-satisfactions as well as offering opportunities to enhance and experiment with sexual play. Nonetheless, this proliferation of non-normative sex does not mean that the world will necessary be a ‘queerer’ place. Not only do problematic hierarchies and exclusions operate on Nazi fetish websites, but its members demonstrate a firm (over)conformity to heteronormative masculinity. Moreover, the appropriation of Nazism for both sexual fantasy and sexual practice draws from and re-iterates its well-established and horrific history rather than, as some queer theorists assert, providing a means to re-signify Nazi regalia. I conclude that the subversive effects of non-normative sexuality should not be assumed but rather that research needs to pay closer attention to the gendered and sexual identities and political sensibilities of its practitioners as well as the ways through which they frame, experience and understand their embodied sexual practice.

This thesis explores online sociability practices in a discussion website for feminist activists in Central and Eastern Europe. It examines the constitution of identity, community and social action focusing on interactive, generic, technological, and discursive context of online communication. The project draws its methods from action research framework and virtual ethnography, and investigates key themes of the thesis through designing an online discussion forum and participating in its collective discussions. Its analytical strategy is informed by sociolinguistic approaches which perceive language as relational, dialogic and encompassing action. Drawing on a variety of theoretical frameworks, including Bakhtin's philosophy of language, speech act theory, contemporary approaches to genre studies, feminist theory and praxis debates, cyberfeminism and actor network theory, I analyze identity, community, and feminist action as sites of social action shaped by interactive exchanges, generic forms of communication, technology, and feminist discourse. On the one hand, I interrogate how commonsense/popular feminism constructs online feminist action and agency, and on the other how the textual/discursive/virtual context of the Internet challenges and has the potential to shift the understanding of these terms. I argue that on the new terrain of the Internet, speech and action have been reconfigured and that the modernist understanding of embodied action and self determined subjectivity that informs traditional action research as well as activist strategies has to shift. This thesis further argues that certain strands of radical feminism constitute a common rhetorical place through which the participants negotiate their identity, authority, the terms of membership and articulate action in an international and virtual speech community. It describes these 'common places' as idiomatic feminism and implies that they function as a metanarrative/ meta-political commonsense that crosses international borders. This thesis points to\vard the need to rethink questions of action and agency on the Internet and become more attuned to the rhetorical-material-discursive context of their production.

This thesis examines the shifts in political culture effected by the 'X case' (1992), when the State issued an injunction to prevent a fourteen year old pregnant and suicidal rape victim from travelling abroad for an abortion. In so doing, this thesis focuses on the connection between discourses of Irish nationhood, gender and sexuality in the fields of reproductive politics and women's citizenship. Abortion law and politics has had constitutional status in Ireland since 1983, when the right to life of 'the unborn' was officially recognised as ostensibly equal to that of women. This has situated debate on abortion access in an explicitly national framework, since political sovereignty is invested in 'the people'. Shifting articulations of nationhood and abortion are examined in three specific sites of political culture: the national press; political activist discourses; and official legislative debates. The terms of debate in the press and the Oireachtas (legislature) in particular are compared over time, from the 1983 campaign to recognize a foetal right to life, to 1992, when the legitimacy and meaning of constitutional abortion law was thrown into crisis by the X case. Two specific reversals in the terms of post-X case abortion politics are examined. Firstly the anti-abortion construction of the nation in familial terms produced popular pressure in 1992 to allow for a right to abortion in the interests of familial integrity. Secondly, the primary antagonism opposing Irish 'pro-life' traditionalism to English 'pro-abortion' modernism was reversed both by the anti-abortion lobby's key role in 'interning' X within the State, and by the popular perception that feminist advocacy of abortion access would reassert the integrity of the violated family. Significant continuities in the construction of abortion law and politics in national terms are also analyzed.

In the period 1950-1979, there were significant changes in legislation relating to women’s issues, specifically employment, marital and guardianship and abortion rights. This thesis explores the impact of Conservative female MPs on these changes as well as the changing roles of women within the party. In addition there is a discussion of the relationships between Conservative women and their colleagues which provides insights into the changes in gender roles which were occurring at this time. Following the introduction the next four chapters focus on the women themselves and the changes in the above mentioned women’s issues during the mid-twentieth century and the impact Conservative women MPs had on them. The changing Conservative attitudes are considered in the context of the wider changes in women’s roles in society in the period. Chapter six explores the relationship between women and men of the Conservative Parliamentary Party, as well as men’s impact on the selected women’s issues. These relationships were crucial to enhancing women’s roles within the party, as it is widely recognised that women would not have been able to attain high positions or affect the issues as they did without help from male colleagues. Finally, the female Labour MPs in the alteration of women’s issues is discussed in Chapter seven. Labour women’s relationships both with their party and with Conservative women are also examined. This thesis concludes by linking Conservative female MPs’ impact upon women’s issues, their relationships both within and outside of their party, and the effect these had on the ability of women to fully participate in Parliament. In bringing these together, it will be shown that the impact Conservative female MPs had on the various pieces of legislation was of importance and that these women’s hard work allowed them to gain more recognition within the party and society.

The inter-sibling relationships of children and young people with autism have generally been overlooked in the literature. Whilst research has increasingly focused on this topic, relatively little is known about the constructions, perceptions and coping responses of typical siblings of children and young people with autism. A child with autism in the family presents a unique challenge and little is known about how this impacts on typical siblings. Typical siblings of children and young people with autism are proposed to be at increased risk for adjustment difficulties, as a result of interactions between complex genetic and environmental variables. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with twelve adolescent typical siblings to explore their constructions, perceptions and coping responses. The data was analysed using thematic analysis and nine broad themes emerged: (1) knowledge and understanding of autism; (2) perceptions; (3) the quality of the inter-sibling relationship; (4) the impact of their brothers’ condition; (5) coping strategies; (6) perceptions of others; (7) support; (8) the future; and (9) acceptance and ambivalence. These themes were developed into models and the findings present initial evidence which accounts for some variability in typical siblings’ constructions, perceptions and coping responses. Such factors have important implications for individual adjustment, inter-sibling relationships, intra-familial relationships and global family functioning. These findings may be used to inform future large scale research designs, with a view to developing comprehensive assessment and support services for typical siblings of children and young people with autism. The Educational Psychologist (EP) will be integral in identifying typical siblings who may be at risk for adjustment difficulties. The EP is also well placed to develop interventions and support services for typical siblings of children and young people with autism. Therefore, this research is direct relevance to the EP, as well as those working with children and young people with autism and their families.

People, especially women, are delaying having children until later ages. The average age of first birth in the UK is now 29.5, an increase of six years over the past four decades. This may be problematic not only due to the fact that fertility declines with age (with a marked decrease after age 35) but also due to the fact that older age is associated with more complications during pregnancy and delivery to both mother and baby. Previous research has shown that although people have awareness of fertility risks and issues in general they often underestimate the risks and may not apply them to themselves. The aim of the present thesis is to examine reasons why people may be delaying childbearing, whether they know about the risks associated with reduced fertility and how we can better educate people about these risks.

This thesis examines four plays by Shakespeare to illustrate the theme of men's downfall as caused by the women they love. One play from each type of relationship was chosen: Coriolanus for mothers who exert disastrous influence on their sons; King Lear for daughters responsible for their fathers' downfall; Cymbeline for the injurious effect of a wife on her husband, and is significant because the moral dissolution comes through her great virtue rather than through her character faults; and Troilus and Cressida for lovers who are not bound either by blood or legal ties.

Heterosexual romance and marriage are institutionalized ideals in our society, set forth, in part, through the portrayal of stereotyped gender roles in fairy tales, such as Cinderella, and by the mainstream media. This thesis explores the cultural messages aimed at women, which impose the necessity of altering oneself to achieve marriage, and offers feminist viewpoints. Using the form of the personal essay, I discuss the ideals of Cinderella, Prince Charming, marriage, and Happily Ever After as unrealistic, though still prevalent, given the popularity of books like The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right, and Princess Diana as Cinderella icon. Essays on my own experience of marriage and divorce supplement the cultural issues, juxtaposing the personal and political toward a new paradigm for relationships.

In 2008 Ciudad Juarez erupted in a violent drug war. The Sinaloa Cartel and Juarez Cartel were in a battle for the lucrative drug route used to smuggle drugs into the United States, while President Felipe Calderon was waging his own war against all the drug cartels. During the height of the violence women journalists emerged on the front lines to tell the stories of Juarez. They risked their lives and dared to tell a story that others refused to. This mixed-method study examines frames used most often in the coverage of the drug war in Ciudad Juarez from 2008-2010. It examines The New York Times, the El Paso Times, and El Norte and also examines articles by the sex of the reporter. It also used in-depth interviews of both Mexican and American woman journalists who covered the drug war in Juarez to examine which themes developed about the reporter’s experiences in covering the drug war.