"How did I get this lucky?" : issues of power, intimacy and sexuality in the construction of young women's identities within their heterosexual relationships
- Authors: McEwen, Caryn
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984 -- Criticism and interpretation Heterosexuality Heterosexual women Women -- Sexual behavior Feminism -- Political aspects Sex role -- Political aspects Feminist psychology Sex (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2861 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007595
- Description: This thesis seeks to explore how young, educated and seemingly liberated women construct their identities and make sense of their futures around their heterosexual relationships. Using the experiences of eight women participants engaged in long-term heterosexual relationships, combined with relevant secondary literature, issues of sexuality, identity, power and intimacy are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the implications of their identity construction and how they 'perform' their roles as women in society. How their sexual stories reflect their positioning in society is premised by the phrase, 'the personal is political' . Through analysis of the participants' experiences mixed with theoretical arguments, this thesis finds that young women are apparently sexually, economically and intellectually liberated but locked into discourses that provide highly unequal, limiting, disempowering and oppressive understandings of masculinity, femininity and sexuality. They live and experience a reality which is far from liberated.
- Full Text:
- Authors: McEwen, Caryn
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984 -- Criticism and interpretation Heterosexuality Heterosexual women Women -- Sexual behavior Feminism -- Political aspects Sex role -- Political aspects Feminist psychology Sex (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2861 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007595
- Description: This thesis seeks to explore how young, educated and seemingly liberated women construct their identities and make sense of their futures around their heterosexual relationships. Using the experiences of eight women participants engaged in long-term heterosexual relationships, combined with relevant secondary literature, issues of sexuality, identity, power and intimacy are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the implications of their identity construction and how they 'perform' their roles as women in society. How their sexual stories reflect their positioning in society is premised by the phrase, 'the personal is political' . Through analysis of the participants' experiences mixed with theoretical arguments, this thesis finds that young women are apparently sexually, economically and intellectually liberated but locked into discourses that provide highly unequal, limiting, disempowering and oppressive understandings of masculinity, femininity and sexuality. They live and experience a reality which is far from liberated.
- Full Text:
Mapping Grahamstown's security governance network : prospects and problems for democratic policing
- Brereton, Catherine Margaret
- Authors: Brereton, Catherine Margaret
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Democracy -- South Africa , Police -- South Africa , Police administration -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Police-community relations -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Crime prevention -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Police patrol -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Private security services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2851 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006323 , Democracy -- South Africa , Police -- South Africa , Police administration -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Police-community relations -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Crime prevention -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Police patrol -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Private security services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: The security of its citizens is often regarded as the democratic state's primary raison d'etre. However, with increasing crime and perceptions of insecurity among citizens, along with actual and perceived state policing inadequacies, citizens around the world have sought to make alternative arrangements for their security. The explosion of private alternatives to state policing has resulted in the need for the replacement of former static definitions of policing by more fluid understandings of what policing entails. Policing is no longer an activity undertaken exclusively by the 'state police.' Policing needs to be understood within a framework which recognises the existence of a variety of state, commercial, community groups and individuals which exist within loose and sometimes informal, sometimes formal, networks to provide for the security of citizens. Preceding the country's transition to democracy in 1994 'state' policing in South Africa was aimed at monitoring and suppressing the black population and as a result it conducted itself in a largely militaristic way. When the government of national unity assumed power in 1994 it was indisputable that the South African Police had to undergo major reform if it was to play an effective, co-operative and accountable role in a democratic South Africa. While state policing has unquestionably undergone enormous changes since the advent of democracy in 1994, so too has non-state policing. It is widely accepted that the dividing line between state and non-state policing in South Africa is increasingly blurred. Policing, by its very nature, holds the potential to threaten democracy. Consequently it is important that policing is democratically controlled. According to the Law Commission of Canada four values and principles - justice, equality, accountability, and efficiency - should support policing in a democracy. This thesis is a case study of policing in Grahamstown, a small city in South Africa's Eastern Cape province. It will be shown that the policing problem that currently plagues Grahamstown, and by extension South Africa, is not simply the result of a shortage of providers but rather a problem of co-coordinating and monitoring security governance to ensure that the city does not further develop into a society where the wealthy have greater access to security than the poor.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Brereton, Catherine Margaret
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Democracy -- South Africa , Police -- South Africa , Police administration -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Police-community relations -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Crime prevention -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Police patrol -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Private security services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2851 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006323 , Democracy -- South Africa , Police -- South Africa , Police administration -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Police-community relations -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Crime prevention -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Police patrol -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Private security services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: The security of its citizens is often regarded as the democratic state's primary raison d'etre. However, with increasing crime and perceptions of insecurity among citizens, along with actual and perceived state policing inadequacies, citizens around the world have sought to make alternative arrangements for their security. The explosion of private alternatives to state policing has resulted in the need for the replacement of former static definitions of policing by more fluid understandings of what policing entails. Policing is no longer an activity undertaken exclusively by the 'state police.' Policing needs to be understood within a framework which recognises the existence of a variety of state, commercial, community groups and individuals which exist within loose and sometimes informal, sometimes formal, networks to provide for the security of citizens. Preceding the country's transition to democracy in 1994 'state' policing in South Africa was aimed at monitoring and suppressing the black population and as a result it conducted itself in a largely militaristic way. When the government of national unity assumed power in 1994 it was indisputable that the South African Police had to undergo major reform if it was to play an effective, co-operative and accountable role in a democratic South Africa. While state policing has unquestionably undergone enormous changes since the advent of democracy in 1994, so too has non-state policing. It is widely accepted that the dividing line between state and non-state policing in South Africa is increasingly blurred. Policing, by its very nature, holds the potential to threaten democracy. Consequently it is important that policing is democratically controlled. According to the Law Commission of Canada four values and principles - justice, equality, accountability, and efficiency - should support policing in a democracy. This thesis is a case study of policing in Grahamstown, a small city in South Africa's Eastern Cape province. It will be shown that the policing problem that currently plagues Grahamstown, and by extension South Africa, is not simply the result of a shortage of providers but rather a problem of co-coordinating and monitoring security governance to ensure that the city does not further develop into a society where the wealthy have greater access to security than the poor.
- Full Text:
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