Children, childhood and the contemporary media

This chapter investigates and critiques the idea of the sexualization of children in the contemporary media with a focus on recent events in Australia. It begins by commenting about aspects of Corporate Paedophilia: Sexualisation of children in Australia (Rush & La Nauze, 2006a) and then investigates relevant literature about consuming bodies to provide a frame for discussing consumer culture, children and childhood. Following this, the sexualization of children in the contemporary media is explored from the perspective of moral panics and the discourses of neoliberal tolerance and intolerance. The chapter concludes that although the idea of children being sexualized in contemporary media is contested, there can be no simple explanations and that a multiplicity of factors need to be taken into account that exist outside of media discourses.

A sexualização do crime no Brasil: um estudo sobre criminalidade feminina no contexto de relações amorosas (1890-1940)

O objetivo desta tese é investigar a forma como crimes femininos em contexto de relações amorosas eram pensados entre 1890 a 1940 no Rio de Janeiro. Para tanto, foram pesquisados processos criminais abertos para apurar delitos femininos contra companheiros amorosos ou contra rivais. Além destes documentos, foi investigada a produção científica sobre crime feminino, realizada por psiquiatras, neurologistas, médico-legistas e juristas, profissionais que publicavam em revistas vinculadas aos campos jurídico e médico-legal. Esse percurso foi feito a fim de apreender como, nas produções eruditas, profissionais ligados aos campos jurídico e médico-legal conectavam o debate sobre crime e sobre o feminino. Através da pesquisa documental chegou-se a conclusão que esses criminologistas sexualizavam os crimes, procurando construir suportes científicos capazes de atestar a hipótese de que homens e mulheres, por serem diferentes, produziriam delitos distintos. Por meio das pesquisas em processos criminais, foi apreendido que o universo jurídico, no período pesquisado, tendia a absolver os crimes femininos em contextos de relações amorosas, considerando-os modalidades de delitos pouco danosos à sociedade.

De Jocaste à Lolita : Œdipe et l'hypersexualisation des jeunes filles au cinéma

Pour respecter les droits d’auteur, la version électronique de cette thèse a été dépouillée de ses documents visuels et audio-visuels. La version intégrale de la thèse a été déposée au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Auto-reflexividad, erografía y leitmotivs liminales en la producción narrativa de Mayra Santos-Febres (1995-2009)

La recherche, construction et révision de l’identité nationale ont très longtemps constitué les éléments propulseurs de la production littéraire et intellectuelle de Porto Rico. Pourtant vers le milieu des années 90, un nouveau consensus émerge entre les écrivains qui revendiquent massivement la fin de la littérature en tant que lieu d’où forger la conscience nationale et refuse le leadership intellectuel qui avait jusqu’alors définit le travail littéraire. Les auteurs qui commencent à se manifester à ce moment se désintéressent du nationalisme comme thème littéraire. Le militantisme politique et la volonté de confrontation, modes représentationnels caractéristiques de la génération antérieure, disparaissent pour laisser place à une écriture exploratoire, centrée sur ses propres procédés, et apparemment apolitique. Une telle perte d’ancrages nationaux et territoriaux est significative de la conscience exacerbée que possèdent ces écrivains de la complexité des dynamiques culturelles qui régissent le monde postmoderne et globalisé, ainsi que de la « valeur » et de la position « marginale » qu’on leur attribue dans l’écologie mass-médiatique culturelle actuelle. La production narrative de Mayra Santos-Febres est paradigmatique de ces changements. J’aborde dans son écriture une série de dispositifs métalittéraires, autoréflexifs, « érographiques », et historiographiques qui, bien qu’ils résistent à une catégorisation homogène, démontrent un même intérêt pour des phénomènes interstitiels. En me basant sur les concepts de liminalité, principalement depuis la perspective de Victor Turner et d’écriture auto-réflexive (Patricia Waugh, Linda Hutcheon), j’analyse le positionnement liminal qu’assume Santos-Febres dans la structure culturelle globalisée actuelle, et la façon dont sa prise de position, également liminale, c’est-à-dire, sa prise de parole et son engagement se traduisent par un rapprochement narcissique à l’exercice littéraire autant dans les formes qu’elle crée qu’au niveau sémantique, narratif et discursif. Le premier chapitre analyse les contes « Dilcia M. » et « Acto de Fe » (Pez de vidrio) comme témoignages de l’érosion du patriotisme et militantisme antérieur; « La escritora» (Pez de vidrio) qui marque pour l’auteure un passage vers une esthétique centrée sus ses propres procédés créatifs; et le roman Cualquier miércoles soy tuya qui dramatise le positionnement assumé par les écrivains dans la chaine culturelle globalisée actuelle. Le second chapitre aborde la configuration des corps, espaces urbains et de l’écriture dans El cuerpo correcto qui, à travers une exubérance sexuelle/textuelle, projette des variantes réactualisées de la traditionnelle dichotomie corps/écriture. Le troisième chapitre se penche sur la configuration du travesti dans Sirena Selena vestida de pena. J’y propose de voir le travestisme, le boléro et l’écriture comme un triple exercice métalittéraire. Le dernier chapitre aborde le procédé de re-signification littéraire des images sédimentées de subordination et d’infériorité de sujet « noir ». Nuestra Señora de la Noche se penche sur la re-signification de l’hyper-sexualisation et « exotisation » qui a cimenté la construction de « l’immoralité » de la femme noire. Fe en disfraz aborde le sadomasochisme comme espace de re-signification des schèmes de domination et soumission inscrits dans l’histoire esclavagiste de Porto Rico et du trauma qui origine, et subsiste, d’une telle hiérarchie.

Music video and gendered pleasures in the lives of young women and men

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the cultural and social significance of music video in the lives of a group of young women and men. In so doing the thesis pays particular attention to issues of gender and pleasure. This research examines the interaction of a group of young people with music video in relation to four areas of research. Firstly, the importance of music video in terms of social interaction and the pleasure this entails is explored. Secondly the thesis looks at the ways in which gender is seen by the young people in this study to be established by music video performers. Thirdly, how gender becomes inscribed on the body is explored, and fourthly I examine the process of sexualization of the body. Theoretically this thesis draws upon feminist theory, poststructuralist theory, music video scholarship and educational theories. This eclectic approach has been necessary as this research speaks simultaneously to several distinct areas of scholarship: education, cultural studies and feminism. My research with a young audience of music video took place within a secondary school. Over two semesters I conducted research with two separate classes of Media Studies students who were aged fifteen and sixteen. A total of 49 students were interviewed, however I chose mainly to work with a small group of eleven students - five girls and six boys. The school where I conducted this research is located in a working class suburb of a provincial and industrial Australian city . The young people's social positioning in terms of class and ethnicity has been considered in some depth in relation to the construction of the gendered subject. Methodologically the thesis is skewed towards the audience, and also towards dealing with what is normally unspoken in the research process. For example, much academic research does not include the author of the research as an integral part of that research. In this thesis I include myself in a number of ways: historically, personally and as a feminist. This thesis places a high priority on ethics and the effects of research on those who participate in the research process. The thesis uses a number of research methods: structured interviews, informal conversations, memory-work and written responses to music videos. Generally the research methods used in this thesis have been developed reflexively; that is, they have developed directly in relation to the participants’ reactions, responses, suggestions, interests and comments. The research seeks to demonstrate the place of music video in the lives of the young people who participated in the study. I look at how the young people in this study connect music video to other cultural forms and social interactions. In this way the intertextuality of music video is demonstrated. The research looks at how young viewers 'read' the gender of music video performers, and how this affects their own gendering. The social and cultural meanings which are attached to certain parts of the body are also examined. Theorizing the body in terms of its social meanings is a significant part of this thesis. The research argues that young people often experience music video as pleasurable, and that music video can provide young people with access to powerful speaking positions. This is demonstrated through transcripts of our conversations and interviews, and also through the young people's written comments. However, these powerful speaking positions invariably invoke dominant discourses (homophobia and racism, for example). Thus the disruptive potential of music video is called into question. These dominant discourses are gendered in nature. Pleasure in the text (music video) and cultural inscriptions of gender on the body then, are realized differently for the girls and for the boys in this study. My research into music video, gender and young people has implications for research methodology generally, and for music video scholarship specifically. Music video scholarship to date has rarely focussed upon the audience of this cultural form. My research has certain implications for the ways in which research is currently conducted with young people in relation to popular culture generally, and music video specifically, and gendered subjectivity.

Negotiating masculinities via the moral problematization of sport

Researchers have raised concerns about the construction of dangerous/problematic masculinities within sporting fratriarchies1. Yet little is known about how male sport enthusiasts—critical of hypermasculine performances—negotiate their involvement in sport. Our aim was to examine how males negotiated sporting tensions and how these negotiations shaped their (masculine) selves. We drew on Foucault (1992) to analyze how interviewees problematized their respective sport culture in relation to the sexualization of females, public drunkenness and excessive training demands. Results illustrated how the interviewees produced selves, via the moral problematization of sport, that rejected the values or moral codes of hypermasculinity in attempts to create ethical masculinities. We suggest that a proliferation of techniques of self that resist hypermasculine forms of subjection could be one form of ethical response to the documented problems surrounding masculinities and sport.

Dolly girls : tweenies as artefacts of consumption

The apparent sexualization and exploitation of young girls by the consumer media is a much debated topic in the advanced liberal democracies. This paper will develop the argument that the ‘consumer-media culture’ has established itself as one of the most powerful influences in processes of self-formation for young people, and that a tweenie self can be understood as an artefact of consumption. We will identify and analyse the resources that the consumer media provides to tweenies - girls aged between 9 and 14 - as they seek to fashion a sense of self. The paper presents an analysis of the resources presented to this population of young girls/women by an Australian ‘appearance’ magazine, Dolly. We will argue that these identity resources are limited in scope, are dominated by images of young, slim and attractive females, and position the tweenie self as an artefact of consumption.

Erotic capital, popular pedagogy, and healthy adolescent female sexuality

The sexualization of the female body in contemporary media has created considerable anxiety about its impact on girls. Much of the resulting research focuses on the influence of visual media on body image and the flow-on effects for girls' health. Rather less attention is paid to the pedagogical role of popular romance fiction in teaching girls about their sexuality. Given the pronounced increase in eroticized fiction for girls over the past decade, this is a significant oversight. This article applies Hakim's (2010) concept of erotic capital to two chick lit novels for girls. The elements of erotic capital—assets additional to economic, cultural and social capital—are used to explore the lessons these novels teach about girl sexual subjectivities and sociality in a sexualized culture.

Sexualidade e envelhecimento na percepção de pessoas idosas

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

As tessituras do movimento: dança, tribalismo e imaginário no cotidiano de um grupo de alunos de uma escola pública de Araraquara

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Television violence and young adults in Brazil: a content analysis of the popular telenovella, Malhação = Violência na televisão brasileira e jovens : uma análise de conteúdo da telenovela popular, Malahção

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Desejos, brasilidades e segredos: o negócio do sexo na relação entre clientela espanhola e travestis brasileiras

The gender ethinicization and the nationality sexualization are aspects that have been discussed in the relationship between Spanish clients and Brazilian transvestites in the brisk sex business in Spain. Sometimes, in these sexual relationships, which are also business relationships, erotic aspects are associated with exoticism that is not related only to nationality or race, but also to new sexual experiences that are more exciting than those considered conventional practices. Hence, the connection between Brazil and the transgender body, made by some Spanish clients, makes sense only when considering the dense sexual grammar involved in those relationships. These signs were structured based on continual colonial attributions, which have been given fresh meaning by the new migration flow resulting from the broad spread of images and insertion of Brazil into the sexual tourism route. Aiming at fully discussing this proposal, this research is based on the queer theory and on other studies in the literature that focus on the poststructuralist and post-colonial sex market. These tools were used to analyze the data gathered in an ethnographic study carried out in São Paulo, Madrid, and Barcelona, as well as data collected from Spanish websites about sexual interest in transvestites

Sex as a source of power? Backlash against self-sexualizing women

Although women are thought to possess sexual power, they risk social and economic penalties (i.e., backlash; Rudman, 1998) when they self-sexualize (i.e., assert their power; Cahoon & Edmonds, 1989; Glick, Larsen, Johnson, & Branstiter, 2005). Why? Drawing on the status incongruity hypothesis (SIH), which predicts backlash against powerful women because they challenge the gender hierarchy, we expected prejudice against self-sexualizing women to be explained by a dominance penalty rather than a communality deficit (Rudman, Moss-Racusin, Phelan, & Nauts, 2012). Two experiments supported this hypothesis, and Experiment 3 further showed that the dominance penalty was explained by ascribing power motives to self-sexualized women. These findings extend the SIH’s utility to the domain of self-sexualization and illuminate the scope of people’s discomfort with female power. Implications for the advancement of gender equality are discussed.