Revisiting Demeter and Persephone Paper B - Revisiting Persephone: towards reconceptualising female subjectivity and erotics

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind Mayo ◽  
Christina Moutsou
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Desire ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Symbolic Representation ◽  
Clinical Vignette ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Female Subjectivity ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Mother And Daughter ◽  
Demeter And Persephone

In Paper B, we focus on the figure of Persephone in the myth, as the daughter, but also, as “the silent object of desire” of male imagination. We question whether Persephone’s forceful abduction is a representation of the emergence of female sexuality, as it has often been argued within psychoanalysis (Chodorow, 2012), or in fact, a symbolic representation of female subordination and objectification. We discuss a clinical vignette illustrating how a mother who is unable to face up to her own and her daughter’s vulnerability, unlike Demeter, can result in a daughter who is unable to protect herself from violation, and who cannot find her way up from the underworld so to speak. We then discuss the film, The Handmaiden, where the question of mother–daughter separation is a central theme. We argue that a strong mother–daughter bond is in fact central to the ability of women to find a healthy place for sexual desire and a close relationship in adult life, and that the nature of the mother–daughter bond is such that both mother and daughter seek out each other’s love and care throughout the lifespan.

Revisiting Demeter and Persephone Paper A - Revisiting Demeter: towards reconceptualising maternal subjectivity and erotics

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind Mayo ◽  
Christina Moutsou
Keyword(s):  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Older Woman ◽  
Maternal Subjectivity ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Perspective Drawing ◽  
Negative Comments ◽  
Mother And Daughter ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Demeter And Persephone

These conjoint papers discuss critically Nancy Chodorow’s understanding of mother–daughter separation as an important milestone in psychic development, as well as subsequent psychoanalytic work on female and maternal subjectivity through revisiting the myth of Demeter and Persephone. In Paper A, we are looking at the figure of Demeter. Our reading of Demeter in the myth questions the usual interpretations of this maternal figure particularly those from a psychoanalytic perspective, drawing the conclusion that Demeter, according to the myth, is the silent container for her child, the mother with no voice or subjectivity, or desire, she is the one who is to be left behind. Through a clinical vignette, we illustrate how in one clinical context, a mother and daughter relationship was perceived and “interpreted”, leading to the mother being seen as the problem, and cause of her daughter’s difficulties. The BBC film, The Mother, received many negative comments and even condemnation for its portrayal of a mother and grandmother as still sexually active, and wishing to be the subject of another’s desire. We suggest that the film illustrated some of our most uncomfortable and complex questions about the mother and the maternal. We conclude by looking at the film and the questions and fears it raises about female sexuality, desire, and ageing when applied to the “older” woman–mother.

Enzymuria as a Marker of Renal Injury and Disease: Studies of N-Acetyl-βglucosaminidase in the General Population and in Patients with Renal Disease

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 751-760
Author(s):  
Calvin M. Kunin ◽  
Russell W. Chesney ◽  
William A. Craig ◽  
Albert C. England ◽  
Catherine DeAngelis
Keyword(s):  
Renal Disease ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Creatinine Ratio ◽  
Creatinine Excretion ◽  
Urinary Creatinine ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Urine Specimens ◽  
Urinary Creatinine Excretion

Urinary excretion of N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) was shown to be reproducible in random urine specimens when expressed as the ratio of NAG to milligrams of urinary creatinine. The enzyme/creatinine ratio in 815 healthy people was relatively constant throughout childhood and adult life except for the first two years after birth and in individuals 56 years or greater. High ratios in the young children may be explained by low urinary creatinine excretion probably related to small body mass and reduced glomerular filtration rate at this age. The ratio was increased in adult uremic patients and children and adults with a variety of neurologic and obstructive lesions of the voiding mechanism. The presence of bacteriuria did not appear to increase the ratio. Significant enzymuria (> 2 SD above the mean for age and sex) was detected in 38 of 81 children with well-characterized renal disease. Among patients with predominantly glomerular disorders there was a close relationship between activity of the disease and enzymuria. In patients with tubulointerstitial disease enzymuria was frequent even in the absence of proteinuria. One of the highest enzyme/creatinine ratios was observed in a child with cystinosis. These studies indicate that NAG enzymuria is a sensitive indicator of activity of renal disease and may prove to be a suitable screening test for significant renal disease or injury in childhood.

Female Onanism: Condemned Pleasures, Medical Probes, and Late-Victorian Pornography

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-164
Author(s):  
Stefano Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Sexual Desire ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Female Self ◽  
Erotic Literature ◽  
Medical Discourses ◽  
Late Nineteenth

The more Victorian physicians deepened their research into female sexuality, the more a culture of lust infected the hypocritical façade of a nation strictly attached to social norms of order, formality, and bigotry. Lascivious sexual desire and carnal appetite – here embodied in female masturbation – were taboos that had to be forcibly silenced. Yet, late-Victorian pornography mocked medical discourses on female onanism, as well as fears related to female sexuality, and revealed ‘unspeakable’ secret domestic settings marred by ‘dangerous’ practices, scandalous carnality and deviant desires. Furthermore, contemptuous of literary censorship and strict morality, the plenteous erotic literature, represented here by William Lazenby's pornographic magazine The Pearl, not only dared to taunt physicians’ concerns about female ‘self-pollution’ circulating at that time, but also found a great inspiration in the huge domestic success of some innovative medical tools – specifically patented to assuage women's nerves – being produced in those years: electric vibrators. Those ‘engines’ rapidly invaded pornographic literature of the late nineteenth century and became central to a great number of erotic stories, titillating fables and poems, as clearly demonstrated by the contents of The Pearl.

Prevalence of Low Sexual Desire With Associated Distress Across the Adult Life Span: An Australian Cross-Sectional Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 1885-1895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Zheng ◽  
Rakibul M. Islam ◽  
Robin J. Bell ◽  
Marina A. Skiba ◽  
Susan R. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Sexual Desire ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Adult Life Span ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Low Sexual Desire

scholarly journals Defeasibility, Law, and Argumentation: A Critical View from an Interpretative Standpoint

Argumentation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Poggi
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Power ◽  
The Other ◽  
Legal Argumentation ◽  
Legal Interpretation ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Critical View ◽  
Legal Literature ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractThe phenomenon of defeasibility has long been a central theme in legal literature. This essay aims to shed new light on that phenomenon by clarifying some fundamental conceptual issues. First, the most widespread definition of legal defeasibility is examined and criticized. The essay shows that such a definition is poorly constructed, inaccurate and generates many problems. Indeed, the definition hides the close relationship between legal defeasibility and legal interpretation. Second, this essay argues that no new definition is needed. I will show that from an interpretative standpoint, there is nothing special about legal defeasibility. Contrary to what some authors maintain, no unique or privileged source of legal defeasibility exists, nor are there privileged arguments to justify it. Specifically, legal defeasibility refers to interpretative outcomes deriving from interpretative arguments that, on the one hand, are very different from one another, and, on the other, are often employed to justify different interpretative outcomes. In the legal field, the problems related to defeasibility have little in common with the problems that this label covers in other areas—such as logic or epistemology—and they are nothing but the well-known problems related to legal interpretation. In conclusion, this paper argues that as far as legal argumentation is concerned, the notion of legal defeasibility lacks explanatory power, and it should be abandoned.

scholarly journals Development of Sexuality in Female Children and Adolescents*

1989 ◽  
Vol 34 (9) ◽  
pp. 879-883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Whitfield
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Sexual Desire ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
The Body ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
The Past ◽  
Female Children ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
The Impact

Female sexuality (meaning sexual desire, excitement and orgasm) has been of considerable interest in psychiatry. Women's efforts to define and legitimize their own experience of their sexuality have increased in the past 25 years. However, the integration of these new views into the body of psychiatric (especially psychoanalytic) theory has not occurred very actively or successfully. Very little is known about the development of sexuality in childhood and adolescence. This paper looks at various behaviours, interests and events in women's lives that might reveal something about the development of their sexuality. The literature on female masturbation is reviewed and some sex differences highlighted. The literature on interest in babies, the wish to have babies, and menarche is explored for possible associations with sexuality. Rather than sexuality being a central organizer of experience, it seems quite possible that experience is an organizer of sexuality. Therefore, to better understand female sexuality we need to consider the impact of experiences during childhood and adolescence.

4. UNDERSTANDING VENUS: EXPLORING FEMALE DESIRE

Sexual Health ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 285
Author(s):  
P. Weerakoon
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Desire ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Functional Brain Imaging ◽  
Sexual Response ◽  
Female Desire ◽  
The Road ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Female Sexual Response

The female sexual response is highly variable and multifaceted and is a result of interplay of physiological, psychological and interpersonal factors. The advent of technology and non-invasive functional brain imaging has provided a map of the regions of the brain involved in sexual arousal and the neurochemistry that underlies the process. However, this increase in the understanding of the biological basis of female sexuality has only reinforced the role of interpersonal and cultural factor in the sexual response, specially the genesis of sexual desire. An acceptance of this by professionals, has led to the consensus for a more holistic biopsychosocial approach for the management of female sexual concerns. The presentation will discuss the current research on the neural and hormonal basis for female desire and explore the role of sexual desire as a motivator and a force for sexual activity in the context of the prevailing models of the female sexual response. There is a need for the recognition of the place and value of sexual desire in the female sexual response and an appreciation that whereas there is a biological 'drive', this is tempered by the motivational aspect (individual and relationship psychology) and the cultural and moral overlay of values and attitudes. This will in turn provide the milieu for understanding normal and dysfunctional sexual desire and assist us on the road to discovering a best practice model for the diagnosis and management of 'female desire disorders'.

scholarly journals Aspects of the marital relationship that characterize secure and insecure attachment in men and women

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Crístofer Batista da COSTA ◽  
Clarisse Pereira MOSMANN
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Marital Conflict ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Dyadic Adjustment ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Heterosexual Relationships ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive ◽  
South Of Brazil

Abstract The internalized attachment in childhood has consequences in the adult life, specifically in the marital life, which demands greater closeness, intimacy and interdependence. In this sense, it was analyzed whether the communication, marital adjustment, frequency, intensity and conflict resolution variables discriminate individuals with secure and insecure attachment in heterosexual relationships. It is a quantitative, descriptive and explanatory study. Data from 485 participants were collected in the south of Brazil through the following measures: Experience in Close Relationship, Marital Conflict Scale, Conflict Resolution Behavior Questionnaire, Communication Questionnaire and Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The results of the discriminant analysis indicated that the variables tested characterize secure or insecure attachment. Therefore, the type of attachment is a relevant resource in the assessment of individual and marital functioning. Psychotherapy interventions are discussed considering the relational bias of the attachment theory and the results observed in the scientific literature.

scholarly journals KONSTRUKSI SEKSUALITAS PEREMPUAN DALAM KEINDAHAN DAN KESEDIHAN KARYA YASUNARI KAWABATA

sarasvati ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Agung Pranoto ◽  
Rini Damayanti
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Sexual Desire ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Female Sexual Desire ◽  
Sexual Desires ◽  
The Subject

This research examines the construction of female sexuality in the novel the beauty and sorrow of the works of Yasunari Kawabata. This research is qualitative research that does study of novel the beauty and sorrow of the works of Yasunari Kawabrata. The method used is the deskiptif method that is collecting data, clarification of data, manipulate data, and interpret the data in accordance with the theory that was used at the time the research was conducted. In the novel the beauty and sorrow of the works of Yasunari Kawabata, reflecting the construction of female sexuality. The construction of female sexuality that, first, the novel represents the female body through the figures. The representation of the female body in the text of the novel disegmentasikan by displaying the marker women sexy. Second, the representation of female sexual desire in the novel beauty and Sadness is presented through the desire character Otoko and Keiko to transmit sexual desires with her partner. Third, representations of female sexuality in the relation of beauty and sadness, by Yasunari Kawabata was still predominantly on the male as the subject.

scholarly journals Using Sexual Selection Theories to Examine Contextual Variation in Heterosexual Women’s Orientation Toward High Heels

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 849-860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Watkins ◽  
Amanda Leitch
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Sexual Desire ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Contextual Variation ◽  
High Heels ◽  
Costly Signals

Abstract High heels are symbols of female sexuality and are “costly signals” if the risks of wearing them are offset by improving women’s attractiveness to men. From a functionalist perspective, the costs versus benefits of wearing heels may vary according to personal and contextual factors, such as her effectiveness at competing for mates, or at times when such motives are stronger. Here, we examined potential differences between women (self-rated attractiveness, dyadic versus solitary sexual desire, women’s age, competitive attitudes toward other women) and contextual variation (priming mating and competitive motives) in their responses to high heels. Study 1 (N = 79) and Study 2 (N = 273) revealed that self-rated attractiveness was positively related to orientation toward heeled shoes. When examining responses to two very attractive shoes (one higher heel, one lower heel) in Study 2, dyadic sexual desire, but not solitary sexual desire or intrasexual competitiveness, predicted their inclination to buy the higher-heeled shoe. In Study 3 (N = 142), young women chose high heels when primed with free choice of a designer shoe (95% CI [53.02 mm, 67.37 mm]) and preferred a heel 22 mm (0.87”) higher than older women (Study 4, N = 247). Contrary to predictions, priming mating or competitive motives did not alter women’s preference toward a higher heel (Studies 3 and 4). Our studies suggest that attractive women augment their physical appeal via heels. High heels may be a subtle indicator of dyadic sexual desire, and preferences for heels are stronger at times in the lifespan when mating competition is relatively intense.

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