In the 1990s, Susan Faludi’s Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women (1992) was arguably of signal importance in the thematization of the limits imposed by the media on the negotiation of gender identity. However, the utilization of Faludi’s various analyses, in the interest of rendering social critique, has become progressively more problematic during the first decade of the 21st century. This is because her analyses engage neither with the development of media technologies subsequent to the early 1990s, nor with the way in which such technological developments now engage audiences on a greater multiplicity of levels than before, in a manner that consequently stands to inform their subjectivity to a degree hitherto unimagined. (A good example of the latter would, of course, be the proliferation of interactive exchanges on the World Wide Web). As such, in the light of such technological developments, this treatise is orientated around an investigation of the continued relevance of Faludi’s Backlash (1992) for the negotiation of gender identity in the contemporary era. In particular, its focus falls on West’s film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), which is considered against the backdrop of the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider phenomenon, which encompasses sequels to the film, online interactive sites, graphic novels, figurines, and video games, among other products. This investigation draws on the reception theory of, on the one hand, Adorno and Horkheimer, and, on the other hand, Stuart Hall.

The major purpose of the study was to examine mood fluctuations associated with phases of the menstrual cycle. To assess the relative impact of the menstrual cycle on moods, other cycles hypothesized to influence moods also were assessed. Mood fluctuations in women and men were studied both prospectively and retrospectively to determine whether cyclic changes occur with the phases of the menstrual cycle, lunar cycle, and/or days of the week. Each participant (15 women using oral contraceptives, 12 normally cycling women, and 15 men) recorded their moods daily for 70 days (prospective data). A daily mean score was obtained for both pleasantness and arousal (each on a 9-point positive to negative scale). Mood stability/variability was recorded daily on a 4-point scale. At the end of the study, participants recalled (retrospective data) their mood over the previous 2 months for each day of the week and the phases of their menstrual cycle (women only). The focus on menstrual cycles was sucessfully camouflaged. Prospectively, there were no group differences and no menstrually-related mood fluctuations. The retrospective reports, however, indicated systematic bias. Women recalled more positive moods in the follicular phase and more negative moods in the premenstrual and menstrual phases than they had reported prospectively. All groups reported weekday mood changes — Monday lows and Friday/Saturday highs. Recollections of weekday mood fluctuations were similar to but more exaggerated than prospective reports. Prospective reports revealed no mood fluctuations over the lunar cycle. Together, these results indicate that stereotypes (both well- and ill-founded) influence recollections of mood, and are consistent with schematic processing theories. The importance for menstrual cycle research of obtaining information about positive as well as negative experiences, camouflaging the purpose of the study, collecting prospective data, and assessing results in the contexts of other cycles also is discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to examine the governing scripts in the lives of women with eating disorders via narrative analysis. Interviews were conducted with 5 women with eating disorders (EDs), whose ages ranged from 27 years to 36 years. An average of two interviews per participant took place, with each interview being recorded and transcribed. The interviews centred around early recollections (ERs) and dream reports, which were gathered in the context of their life-stories. The participants were recruited from private counselling practices, psychiatric practices, and family practices, and were considered suitable for the study if they expressed an interest in participating in the study, and their attending therapist or doctor was satisfied they fit the DSM-1V (APA, 1994) criteria for an eating disorder. Tomkins' (1979, 1987, 1991) script theory provided the theoretical underpinnings to the research, with Carlson's (1981, 1986) script-theoretic analysis as the primary methodological tool. Alexander's (1988) method of accessing scripts via principal identifiers of salience was used in conjunction with script-theoretic analysis when applicable. The ERs were examined for evidence of the nuclear scene, followed by analysis of the life-stories and dream stories for magnifications of the nuclear scene in the form of analogs and anti-analogs. The results showed the following commonalities: a) that a story of perceived loss of the parent or parental figure was at the heart of each nuclear scene, with the script threading through each woman's life as a theme of "longing for mother" or "a quest for love"; b) that the nuclear script was profoundly reactivated at the time of the development of each participant's ED; c) a family "no talk" rule about negative feelings and traumatic events; d) participants had difficult relationships with their mothers; e) a perception of home as unsafe, manifested in a recurring nightmare from childhood; f) participants responded to stress in their homes by adopting the personality of the "perfect girl" according to family values; g) body-image/self-image disturbances predated the eating disorder; and h) that traditional gender-roles and attitudes towards women were present in all the families in varying ways. More narrative research of the lives of women with EDs is needed to confirm and support these findings. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to describe female adult children's experiences when they return to the parental home to live, and to develop theory to explain the processes and consequences involved in the return to the parental home. Primary data sources included 1 1/2 hour audiotaped, semi-structured interviews with 15 female adult children who had returned to the parental home to live. Other sources of data included individual and conjoint interviews with parents and daughters from a subset of four families, and field notes about the interviews. Grounded theory methodology (Strauss & Corbin, 1990, 1998) was used. Transcribed interviews were systematically analyzed to develop a theoretical model, in which the core social and psychological process was labelled "regrouping." In response to life events and personal choices, women return to the parental home to regroup--to recuperate, reenergize, contemplate and pursue lifeplans. Their intention is to enhance personal well-being and to secure a better quality life in the future. Regrouping is embedded in the life context of female adult children's specific life-events and choices, living environments, family and social relationships, and sociocultural scripts -- all conditions that can hinder or facilitate the process. Regrouping is a cyclical rather than a linear process. Female adult children who had returned to the parental home did not experience a simple, uncomplicated linear forward movement towards attaining valued personal goals. Rather, they experienced an oscillating pattern of “faltering” and "advancing" in their efforts to realize valued goals. This experience has implications for the development of a fluctuating sense of self or self-image, the fulfilment of personal goals, the quality of the experience as positive or negative, and for family relations. The contribution of the theoretical model to the literature is the discovery that returning home in adulthood may be a strategy for managing change and transition in one's life and for attaining certain lifespan development tasks (e.g., individuating from parents, establishing a career, and attaining financial security). Implications for counselling practice, and the self-help needs of adults who have returned home to live are noted. Suggestions for facilitating returning adult children's personal development (i.e., clarifying personal goals, weighing the pros and cons of returning and remaining at the parental home, maintaining self-esteem, seeking social support) and facilitating family relations . (i.e, having realistic expectations of parents, being sensitive to mothers, negotiating privacy and boundaries, managing cross-cultural dynamics) are discussed. It is suggested that future research extend the application of the theory to men, as well as more diverse ethnic groups. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

M.Cur. / South Africa is called the Rainbow Nation with a variety of cultures and ethnic groups. The population currently is estimated at over 40 million, of whom 73% are women and children (Government Gazette, 1997:11). According to the Government Gazette ( 1997: 11) major disparities and inequalities exist between the different population groups, with reference to their socio-economic position. This inevitably led to major problems such as poverty and violence. One of these problems of violence seems to be domestic violence as stated by the South African Police Service (1998 : 10). They confirmed that the number of incidents of domestic violence in which especially women, children and the elderly are the victims, appear to be continually on the increase in South Africa. The South African Police Service (1998: 1) states that domestic violence is a serious crime against society, which can lead to repeated victimisation and repeated offending and sometimes eventually spirals into fatality. Domestic violence became a topic of interest to the researcher because of the number of women that came under her attention while working in the community services. Evaluation of the service delivery and understanding of domestic violence by community members and health care workers showed poor results with some still clinging to myths coming from cultural beliefs. According to Hague and Wilson (2000 : 157) the most common explanation for domestic violence continues to be a lack of compliance by the wife, coupled with historically long-lived ideas about the breadwinner's rightful authority. The goal of this study was to explore and describe the lived experience of abused women subjected to domestic violence and to describe guidelines for psychiatric nurse practitioners to support abused women who are subjected to domestic violence, in facilitating their mental health and optimising their ability to terminate the abusive situation. In conducting this research the framework of the Theory for Health Promotion in Nursing (Rand Afrikaans University, 2000) were used, which dealt with the internal and external world experience of the abused women. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was used specific to domestic violence for this study. In-depth, semi-structured phenomenological interviews were conducted with abused women subjected to domestic violence who met the sample criteria. To ensure trustworthiness, the researcher made use ofGuba's (DeVos, 1998: 348-350) model of trustworthiness. Data analysis was done according to Tesch's (DeVos, 1998 : 343 -352) method. The results of this study showed that abused women who are subjected to domestic violence suffer a great deal of trauma and degrading due to physical or mental abuse of a loved one. Their trauma was evident by the experience of negative psychological dynamics that contributed to the shattering of the self. The degrading of the person eventually leads to the shattering of other relations and at the end to the realisation that they are victims.

In the current study, I examined the general sociocultural model of eating disorders that suggests that sociocultural pressures leads to internalization, which in turn leads to body dissatisfaction and ultimately disordered eating. Because I am testing this model with a sample of African American women, I also am including acculturation as a variable of interest. Specifically, I hypothesized that (a) the experience of more societal pressure to be thin will be related to greater internalization, (b) higher levels of acculturation will be related to greater internalization, (c) internalization of the thin ideal will be directly and positively related to body image concern, and (d) body image concern will be associated with higher levels of disordered eating. It was determined that there is a direct, negative relationship between Level of Identification with Culture of Origin and Internalization. Perceived Pressure was directly and positively related to both Internalization and Body Image Concerns. Body Concerns and Internalization were both directly and positively related to Disordered Eating. These findings suggest that although many of the same constructs related to disordered eating in other ethnic groups are also related to disordered eating among African American women, the relationships between the factors differs across racial/ethnic groups. This information can help clinicians and researchers to better treat and understand the nature of disordered eating behavior and correlates among African American women.

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This study investigated the effects of personality characteristics on emergent leadership in small group settings. Two instruments were used to assess personality factors: The BASIS-A and the California Personality Inventory (CPI). A sociometric tool was developed to elicit leader ranking of female group members. The BASIS-A, was used to test for Taking Charge and Wanting Recognition lifestyles in women who emerged as leaders. The CPI was used to assess female emergent leaders for Dominance and Leadership Potential. The two instruments and a sociometric form were distributed to 115 female graduate counselor-in-training students the last week of their group counseling experience. This survey resulted in 55 respondents (N=55) from eleven discussion groups. It was expected that women who had the highest averaged leader rank would demonstrate higher test scores in Dominance, Leadership Potential, Taking Charge, and Wanting Recognition than women who received a lower averaged leader rank. It was also thought that these four test factors would be highly related. If so, a case would be made to use the BASIS-A as an emergent leader assessment tool because it is consistently based in one psychological theory. No significant effect was found between the highest leader rank and three of the test measures: Dominance, Leadership Potential, and Taking Charge. Using four one-way ANOVAs, a significant effect was found between highest leader rank and Wanting Recognition. This demonstrated that individuals high in interpersonal caution, empathy, and with a need to succeed emerged as leaders. Possible explanations for this finding were discussed. Significant relationships were found using the Pearson-r correlation statistic between three of the four test variables. From the CPI, the Dominance and Leadership Potential scales were highly correlated to the BASIS-A Taking Charge life-style. The BASIS-A Wanting Recognition lifestyle was not related to either Dominance or Leadership Potential. Unexpectedly, a significant relationship was found in this population between Wanting Recognition and Taking Charge. Perhaps due to the limited inter-correlational analysis and small sample, these research results did not support using the BASIS-A as a sole emergent leader assessment. More research is needed before such a case can be made.

In this study, it was proposed that the extent to which an individual accepts the collection of attitudes, mannerisms, and abilities the culture endorses as being feminine or masculine (which we are referring to as sex-role orientation) is related to the appearance of inhibiting fears of social rejection and uneasiness about one’s femininity (which we refer to as the need or motive to avoid success). We further hypothesized that women interested in achievement, being less strongly sex-typed, would feel deviant and exposed as women and would be likely to place a premium on the maintenance of other feminine attributes. Ever since Freud’s time, the suppression of aggression has been identified as the very essence of femininity. This pinpointing of aggression as a particularly differentiating quality between male and female has been maintained by some to the present. We proposed that this particularly feminine quality (which we refer to as fear of aggression) would appear more strongly in masculinely-oriented women. Horner proposed in her original study that the motive to Avoid Success is a psychological barrier to achievement in women. When aroused, the motive to avoid success is a most effective suppressant of performance in a competitive situation (especially if the competitor is masculine). This finding raised the suspicion in our minds that it might be the aggressive qualities inherent in competition that makes it seem especially incompatible with femininity. The aggressiveness of competition, of course, resides in the implicit set to defeat another person, to overpower an adversary, and to gain the psychological advantage. In order to obtain a high grade or graduate with distinction or secure the best job, you must defeat a peer. We hypothesized finally, that not only would fear of aggression and Motive to Avoid Success (M-S) each be related to sex-role orientation, but that these two inhibitors would be positively correlated with each other. Our Ss were 173 white college women from introductory psychology classes at Portland state University. To test our hypotheses that inhibition of aggression and Motive to Avoid Success would each be related to an individual's sex-role orientation, we used the following measures: The Gough femininity-masculinity scale and Franck Drawing Completion test to assess manifest and latent levels of M-F respectively; Horner's thematic cues to elicit Motive to Avoid Success; and a tachistoscopically-presented series of visual stimuli to assess the Ss tendency to inhibit aggression. Results indicated that fear of aggression is related to sex-role orientation in the expected direction, i.e., more masculinely-oriented women appear more likely to suppress aggression. The M-S was also related to a particular constellation of sex-role orientations but not the expected set. Unlike the fear of aggression, high M-S was related primarily to those individuals who held masculine orientations at the manifest level only. Considering that both M-S and fear of aggression were related to masculine orientations in women, it was puzzling that these two measures were negatively correlated.