Claire Moran

What's normal? Influencing women's perceptions of normal genitalia: an experiment involving exposure to modified and nonmodified images

Examine womens perceptions of what is ‘normal’ and ‘desirable’ in female genital appearance.

Selling genital cosmetic surgery to healthy women: a multimodal discourse analysis of Australian surgical websites

The multimodal nature of web pages enables them to interweave text, images, colour and other graphical material to create discursive contexts which may be difficult to identify or challenge. Multimodal discourse analysis provides a tool for deconstructing such websites. This paper examines websites that promote the growing practice of female genital cosmetic surgery, in particular labial reduction or labiaplasty. We examine the ways in which four Australian cosmetic surgery websites normalise unnecessary surgical intervention. From our multimodal critical discourse analysis, three themes emerged – ‘pathologising the normal’, ‘normalising modification’ and ‘cosmetic surgery is easy’. All were embedded in a neoliberal discourse of individual choice, self-improvement and objectification, through text and images that medicalised normal womens bodies, normalised the use of surgery to fit a cultural ideal of beauty and stressed the rhetoric of choice, empowerment and agency, thus creating an ideological foundation and justification for cosmetic surgery.

Women's constructions of heterosexual non-romantic sex and the implications for sexual health

Qualitative interviews with 15 Australian women who engage in non-romantic sex demonstrate that women choose a variety of non-romantic sexual arrangements and activities. A discourse analysis examined the ways in which the women position themselves relative to dominant constructions of femininity and heterosexuality, themselves embedded in neoliberal, post-feminist assumptions of women’s unproblematic capacity for individual empowerment, choice and sexual freedom. Despite choosing non-normative sexual encounters, the women were frequently constrained by the gendered hetero-normative discourses of hetero monogamy and gender differences. The analysis demonstrates that the conventions of heterosex implicit in both of these discourses subordinate the legitimacy of women’s sexual agency, sexual desire and sexual entitlement. Although the women resisted these constructions with varying levels of success, we argue that they cannot be resisted outright because women have no discourse to draw upon which encapsulates an empowered female sexual agency. Thus, women who have non-romantic sex frequently internalise the discourses of hetero monogamy and gender differences, posing serious risks to their sexual health, both physically and emotionally. For women to ensure their sexual health, conventional constructions of female sexuality need to be challenged at a societal level.

On his terms: representations of sexuality in women's magazines and the implications for negotiating safe sex

Research on sexual content in womens magazines has identified dominant ideologies that promote sexual role stereotypes and privilege masculinity. We extend this analysis in a thematic analysis to examine representations of sex in two best selling Australian womens magazines and to examine how such ideologies may reduce womens abilities to negotiate safe sex. One main theme – hetero monogamy – and six subsidiary themes emerged. Being in a monogamous heterosexual relationship was presented as essential for every womans happiness, with sex as the means for achieving and maintaining this state. Five subsidiary themes, labelled gender differences, great sex, reaching orgasm, appearance and single women, reinforced the message that, for women, sex was work and required instruction. The final theme, sexual health, revealed an alarming absence of information on negotiating safe sex, apart from referring to it as an ‘awkward conversation’, whereas unprotected sex was a sign of trust and commitment. Throughout the themes, there was a lack of recognition of womens sexual desires and sexual agency. We argue that these discourses have serious implications for womens sexual health.

Australian women talk about non-romantic sex

Non-romantic sex is widespread and occurs in a wide variety of forms. We analyse semi-structured interviews in which 15 Australian women describe a range of non-romantic sexual arrangements and consider their implications for women’s ability to negotiate sexual safety. We identify four overlapping categories of non-romantic sex: one night stands, ‘the lines are blurred’, ongoing non-romantic arrangements and alternative non-romantic sex. The benefits and limitations for women of each type of non-romantic sex are considered, with a focus on their implications for physical and emotional sexual health and safety.

'Everyone wants a vagina that looks less like a vagina': Australian women's views on dissatisfaction with genital appearance.

We present a thematic discourse analysis of 94 Australian women’s written comments about women’s presumed dissatisfaction with their genital appearance. Two themes emerged: ‘from natural to normal’ and ‘the difficulty of resistance’. In the first theme, participants discuss genital dissatisfaction with reference to hegemonic constructions of femininity and to postfeminist, neoliberal discourses that position the natural female body as inadequate, with beauty practices necessary to achieve acceptability. The second theme addresses the difficulty of challenging this positioning, referencing discourses that position the vagina as unpleasant and discussion of it as taboo. We consider implications of these constructions for women’s well-being.

Young Australian women explain their contraceptive choices

Abstract New developments in female contraceptives allow women increased options for preventing pregnancy, while men’s options for reversible contraception have not advanced beyond the condom. There has been little discursive exploration of how neoliberal and postfeminist discourses shape women’s accounts of choosing whether or not to use contraception. Our thematic discourse analysis of 760 free-text responses to a question about contraceptive choice considers the social and political climate that promotes the self-governed woman who freely chooses contraception. We examine the ways in which women formulated and defended their accounts of choice, focusing on the theme of free contraceptive choice that constructed women’s choices as unconstrained by material, social and political forces. We identify two discursive strategies that underpinned this theme: a woman’s body, a woman’s choice and planning parenthood, and explore the ways in which choice was understood as a gendered entitlement and how contraceptive choices were shaped (and constrained) by women’s plans for parenthood. We discuss the implications of these discursive strategies, and neoliberal and postfeminist discourses, in terms of the disallowance of any contextual, social and structural factors, including the absence of men in the ‘contraceptive economy’.

Re-positioning female heterosexuality within postfeminist and neoliberal culture

Contemporary western societies are characterised by a new sexual permissiveness, within which sexualised culture has become normalised and mainstreamed. Situated in this new social landscape, and drawing on postfeminist and neoliberal discourses and dominant constructions of heterosexuality, this article critically examines the impact of these constructions on women’s sexual health in its broadest sense, encompassing physical, mental and social well-being. I argue that dominant discourses of heterosexuality are viewed through a postfeminist and neoliberal lens that both obscures the sexist nature of contemporary culture and transforms, repackages and feeds this sexism back to women as their own choice and as a representation of empowerment; and as such, contemporary constructions of women’s sexuality and bodies are deeply problematic, and pose serious risks to women’s sexual health. To address these issues, not only do we need to develop critical media literacy skills, but we also must open up spaces for collective action and push against the existing sexist culture to allow for alternative discourses and understandings to emerge.

Selling genital cosmetic surgery to healthy women: A multimodal discourse analysis of Australian surgical websites

Background: Many psycho-oncology studies use posttraumatic growth (PTG) measures designed for general trauma experiences, and as such they may not take into account life changes associated with a health-related context. Method: Study 1, a thematic analysis of written narratives (N = 209), emphasised cancer survivors’ newfound compassion. Study 2, with 504 prostate cancer survivors, measured the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory including five additional items derived from Study 1 to represent increased compassion. Findings: A Principal Components Analysis revealed a six-component structure after deleting eight items. Components related to compassion, new possibilities, relating to others, personal strength, appreciation of life, and spiritual change. Compassion accounted for 48.9% of variance, with the overall model accounting for 79.9% of variance. Strong factorability, internal consistency, and convergent validity were demonstrated. Discussion: The salience of newfound compassion after cancer was demonstrated. This research has important implications for accurately assessing the post-diagnosis trajectory of adjustment after cancer.Special Issue: Abstracts supplement: “Well-being, quality of life and caregiving” : 27th Conference of the European health psychology society, Bordeaux, France, 16th – 20th July 2013Background: Self-affirmation (i.e., focusing on a valued aspect of the self-concept) can promote health behaviour change. This study aimed to see if self-affirmation increased physical activity (PA) regardless of threat level presented in health messages. Methods: Sixty-eight participants were randomly allocated to condition in a 2 (self-affirmation, no affirmation) x 2 (high threat, low threat) between-participants design. Participants completed the Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire at baseline and one week later to assess PA. Findings: A two-way ANCOVA with affirmation condition and threat level as predictor variables, controlling for baseline PA, was performed on follow up PA. Baseline PA was a significant predictor (F(1,63) = 399.63, p<0.001) and the main effect of affirmation condition approached significance (F(1,63) = 3.55, p=0.06). There were no other significant effects. Discussion: This study provides further evidence that self-affirmation can increase PA, but found no interaction between self-affirmation and threat level presented in health messages.Background: Contemporary alcohol research suggests that implicit attitudes are important predictors of drinking behaviour and there is growing interest surrounding factors influencing them. Research suggests that evaluative conditioning (EC) influences implicit attitudes and at a population level the most obvious and prolific use of EC is advertising. Methods: Participants (n= 51, mean age= 22.43) completed alcohol- and chocolate-related Implicit Association Tests (IAT) before viewing an advertisement for either chocolate or beer. Participants then completed post-test IATs before being provided with chocolate and beer products and asked to consume as much as they wanted. Findings: Viewing a beer advertisement produced a significant positive shift in alcohol-related implicit attitudes from pre- to post-test. No other significant effects on implicit attitudes or behaviour were found. Discussion: Alcohol advertisements are effective in changing alcohol-related implicit attitudes; however the influence on behaviour requires further investigation. Implications for the manipulation of alcohol-related implicit attitudes are discussed.Background: Recent research has highlighted the importance of automatic processes in predicting impulsive health risk behaviour. This has led to the creation of health behaviour models such as the Prototype Willingness Model (PWM) which take into account dual processes when predicting health behaviour. The current research argues that individuals are more likely to engage in impulsive drinking behaviour on a weekend as opposed to a weekday as there are fewer constraints placed upon drinking behaviour. Methods: Participants (n= 61, mean age= 22) completed an alcohol Implicit Association Test as well as a questionnaire assessing variables on the PWM and drinking behaviour. Findings: More positive alcohol-related automatic cognitions were significantly related to increased levels of both frequency and quantity of self-reported weekend drinking behaviour but were not significantly related to weekday drinking behaviour. Discussion: Automatic processes successfully predicted drinking behaviour when there were fewer constraints placed upon individuals.Background: The Prototype Willingness Model (PWM) suggests that there are two separate antecedents to behaviour: intention and willingness. Whereas intention is suggested to be rational and deliberative, willingness is more automatic and impulsive. The current study used a cross-cultural sample in order to examine the differing predictive power of the PWM for drinking behaviour. Methods: A sample of 193 individuals from Australia (n=108) and Singapore (n=85) completed a questionnaire measuring alcohol consumption and variables on the PWM. Findings: Willingness to drink significantly predicted alcohol consumption in Singaporeans. Both willingness and intention to drink significantly predicted frequency of alcohol consumption Discussion: The antecedents of the PWM differentially predict alcohol consumption in culturally different samples. Implications for health interventions aimed to reduce drinking across cultures are discussed.Background. Parenting has been associated with child weight status. This study aims to evaluate the effects on parenting skills and BMI-SDS of the BBOFT+ overweight prevention program, compared to care-as-usual (CAU). Method. In a cluster-randomized trial, 2500 parents participated. Parent-reported weight and length were used. Parenting was measured with subscales control and reinforcement of the parenting strategies for eating and activity scale (PEAS) and the warmth subscale from the Child Rearing Questionnaire. Results. The first univariate analyses show that at age 15 months, no statistically significant differences in BMI- SDS, parental control, reinforcement or warmth were found between the BBOFT+ and the CAU group. Further cluster analyses need to be conducted. Results from age 36 months will be presented during the conference, which will include all subscales of the PEAS and an assessment of parenting styles. Conclusion. The intervention does not seem to have an effect on BMI-SDS or parenting.Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. 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