Nicola Gavey

Last updated

Nicola Gavey
Born1960 (age 6263)
Alma mater University of Auckland
Scientific career
FieldsGender and sexual politics
Institutions University of Auckland
Thesis

Nicola Gavey (born 1960) is a New Zealand psychology academic. She is currently a full professor at the University of Auckland. [1]

Contents

Academic career

After a 1985 MA titled 'Depressive self-schemata and gender-schemata in women' [2] and a 1990 PhD titled 'Rape and sexual coercion within heterosexual relationships : an intersection of psychological, feminist, and postmodern inquiries' at the University of Auckland, [3] she joined the staff, rising to full professor. [1]

Much of Gavey's research focuses on the gender politics, sexuality, rape and coercion, and often features in the press. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

Selected works

Related Research Articles

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Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other social divisions such as in race, class, and sexual orientation. The ideology and movement emerged in the 1960s.

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This is an index of articles related to the issue of feminism, women's liberation, the women's movement, and women's rights.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opposition to pornography</span> Overview of opposing views to pornography

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Pro-feminism refers to support of the cause of feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of the feminist movement. The term is most often used in reference to men who actively support feminism and its efforts to bring about the political, economic, cultural, personal, and social equality of women with men. A number of pro-feminist men are involved in political activism, most often in the areas of gender equality, women's rights, and ending violence against women.

Postmodern feminism is a mix of post-structuralism, postmodernism, and French feminism. The goal of postmodern feminism is to destabilize the patriarchal norms entrenched in society that have led to gender inequality. Postmodern feminists seek to accomplish this goal through rejecting essentialism, philosophy, and universal truths in favor of embracing the differences that exist amongst women to demonstrate that not all women are the same. These ideologies are rejected by postmodern feminists because they believe if a universal truth is applied to all woman of society, it minimizes individual experience, hence they warn women to be aware of ideas displayed as the norm in society since it may stem from masculine notions of how women should be portrayed.

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Feminist sexology is an offshoot of traditional studies of sexology that focuses on the intersectionality of sex and gender in relation to the sexual lives of women. Sexology has a basis in psychoanalysis, specifically Freudian theory, which played a big role in early sexology. This reactionary field of feminist sexology seeks to be inclusive of experiences of sexuality and break down the problematic ideas that have been expressed by sexology in the past. Feminist sexology shares many principles with the overarching field of sexology; in particular, it does not try to prescribe a certain path or "normality" for women's sexuality, but only observe and note the different and varied ways in which women express their sexuality. It is a young field, but one that is growing rapidly.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human female sexuality</span> Identity, behavior and more

Human female sexuality encompasses a broad range of behaviors and processes, including female sexual identity and sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religious aspects of sexual activity. Various aspects and dimensions of female sexuality, as a part of human sexuality, have also been addressed by principles of ethics, morality, and theology. In almost any historical era and culture, the arts, including literary and visual arts, as well as popular culture, present a substantial portion of a given society's views on human sexuality, which includes both implicit (covert) and explicit (overt) aspects and manifestations of feminine sexuality and behavior.

Feminist views on pornography range from total condemnation of the medium as an inherent form of violence against women to an embracing of some forms as a medium of feminist expression. This debate reflects larger concerns surrounding feminist views on sexuality, and is closely related to those on prostitution, BDSM, and other issues. Pornography has been one of the most divisive issues in feminism, particularly in Anglophone (English-speaking) countries. This division was exemplified in the feminist sex wars of the 1980s, which pitted anti-pornography activists against pro-pornography ones.

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Feminist views on sexuality widely vary. Many feminists, particularly radical feminists, are highly critical of what they see as sexual objectification and sexual exploitation in the media and society. Radical feminists are often opposed to the sex industry, including opposition to prostitution and pornography. Other feminists define themselves as sex-positive feminists and believe that a wide variety of expressions of female sexuality can be empowering to women when they are freely chosen. Some feminists support efforts to reform the sex industry to become less sexist, such as the feminist pornography movement.

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Virginia "Ginny" Braun is a New Zealand psychology academic specialising in thematic analysis and gender studies. She is particularly known for her scholarship on the social construction of the vagina and designer vagina cosmetic surgery, body hair and heterosexuality. She is perhaps best known for her collaboration with British psychologist Victoria Clarke around thematic analysis and qualitative research methods. Together they have published numerous papers, chapters, commentaries and editorials on thematic analysis and qualitative research, and an award-winning and best selling qualitative textbook entitled Successful qualitative research. They have a thematic analysis website at The University of Auckland. More recently - with the Story Completion Research Group - they have published around the story completion method.

The orgasm gap, or pleasure gap, is a social phenomenon referring to the general disparity between heterosexual men and women in terms of sexual satisfaction—more specifically, the unequal frequency in achievement of orgasm during sexual encounters. Currently, across every demographic that has been studied, women report the lowest frequency of reaching orgasm during sexual encounters with men. Researchers speculate there are multiple factors that may contribute to the orgasm gap. Orgasm gap researcher Laurie Mintz argues that the primary reason for this form of gender inequality is due to "our cultural ignorance of the clitoris" and that it is commonplace to "mislabel women's genitals by the one part that gives men, but not women, reliable orgasms."

References

  1. 1 2 "Professor Nicola Gavey - The University of Auckland". Psych.auckland.ac.nz.
  2. Gavey, Nicola (1985). "Depressive self-schemata and gender-schemata in women (MA psychology thesis)". University of Auckland library catalogue. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  3. Gavey, Nicola (1990). Rape and sexual coercion within heterosexual relationships: an intersection of psychological, feminist, and postmodern inquiries (Doctoral thesis). ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland. hdl:2292/2602.
  4. Alanah Erikse (11 August 2018). "'Can I say she looks nice?': Gender and dating etiquette in the #metoo era". Nzherald.co.nz.
  5. "Big read: How do we teach our kids about sex and consent?". Nzherald.co.nz. 24 March 2017.
  6. "50 shades of screwed up: now sexual choking is trendy". Stuff.co.nz.
  7. "Have you ever had 'unjust sex'?". Irishtimes.com.
  8. Marvelly, Lizzie (10 June 2016). "Lizzie Marvelly: NZ is a dangerous place to be a woman". Nzherald.co.nz.
  9. Collins, Simon. "Lizzie Marvelly boycotts Paul Henry". Spy.nzherald.co.nz.
  10. "The rise of high school feminism". Stuff.co.nz.
  11. Simon Collins (22 November 2013). "Abuse victims blame themselves". Nzherald.co.nz.
  12. Kirsty Johnston (1 April 2016). "Opotiki College underage teen sex case: 'I feel like we are being used'". Nzherald.co.nz.
  13. "Pornography project given $790,000". Stuff.co.nz.
  14. "Advertising and feminism: How to sell a social movement". Stuff.co.nz.
  15. "Pornography being used for teens' sex education". Stuff.co.nz.
  16. "Kiwi cops in sex selfie video sent to junior to join in". Qt.com.au.