BA, Oberlin College, 2019, Art

Starting in ancient times and continuing for the next several centuries vaginal and penile masturbation were viewed as unnatural in the religious sense as well as unhealthy. Physicians such as Galen and Hippocrates decided that masturbation caused physical damage including spinal cord deterioration. Until the mid-20th-century there was heavy punishment for those who masturbated, these punishments ranged from clitoridectomy and circumcision to straight jackets. It was not until 1948 when Alfred Kinsey published a study titled, “Sexual Behavior In The Human Male," that feelings towards masturbating started to shift. The study found that masturbation does not cause ill health. Although this case created a large amount of backlash, it paved the way for the slow progression towards the acceptance of masturbation for males. While masturbation is more accepted today, studies still show that it is more talked about among men than women and that more men masturbate than women. Studies also show an increase in sexual pleasure during intercourse for women amongst those who masturbate. Orgasming during sex for women is not always easy but usually becomes easier through masturbation. Men have a far easier time orgasming during sex and separately, masturbation is less stigmatized for them. Therefore, I have theorized that as the stigmatization of vaginal masturbation increases, orgasms during sex decrease. In my thesis exhibition, I created a comfortable and private space where viewers could learn about vaginal masturbation. Through making two installations that provided space for multiple viewers, I also stimulated conversation.

Committee: Nanette Yannuzzi-Macias (Advisor) Subjects: Fine Arts; Gender Studies

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1980, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, College-Conservatory of Music: Music (Musicology)

Pleasure gardens first came to prominence in early eighteenth-century London as venues where visitors from diverse social strata could promenade about the walks, enjoy entertainments, and see and be seen. In an issue of his Review of the State of the British Nation dated 25 June 1709, Daniel Defoe distinguishes seven social classes in England, including a group he describes as “the middle sort . . . who live the best, and consume the most . . . and with whom the general wealth of this nation is found.” Recognizing the potential to profit from the newfound wealth of the “middle sort” (and adjacent, similarly centralized socioeconomic groups), entrepreneurs marketed new leisure activities to them, including trips to London's three chief pleasure gardens: Marybone (also spelled Marylebone), Ranelagh, and Vauxhall. Although garden refreshments were notoriously overpriced, the cost of admission was relatively modest, enabling even those from the poorer classes to attend at least occasionally. At the other end of the social spectrum, the attendance of royal family members enhanced the prestige of the gardens. Music presided over the pleasure garden experience, facilitating exchanges amongst the classes and providing unprecedented opportunities for social emulation: the process whereby the “middle sort” could imitate their social superiors, and could themselves be admired and imitated. This dissertation examines the complex function(s) of music, musicians, and performance in London's three leading pleasure gardens—focusing primarily on their eighteenth-century heyday—and the intersections of these elements with the progression of capitalism and the commercialization of leisure. Through this examination, it reveals the pleasure gardens as apt stages for the social transgression, subversion, and emulation performed by garden visitors, and provides a more nuanced understanding of the role(s) that music, musical works, and musicians played in such performances.

Committee: Stephen Meyer Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Christopher Segall Ph.D. (Committee Member); Amanda Eubanks Winkler M.A. Ph (Committee Member); Scott Linford Ph.D. (Committee Member); Angela Swift Ph.D. D (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, Design

Sexual and reproductive experiences, often unacknowledged or unspoken, exert a profound influence on various aspects of life, including relationships, careers, and the shape of our mutual futures, particularly for individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB). This research endeavors to explore the transformative potential that emerges when AFAB individuals are granted agency to speculate on the future; imagining, provoking, and dreaming into what could be. The study combined co-design and speculative design approaches to structure collaborative group sessions, during which study participants ultimately created 24 artifacts from the future related to contraception, sexual pleasure, and menstrual cycles; artifacts evidence participants' expressed perspectives on near and far futures. The study also involved focus groups to determine how to share the artifacts, considering questions like who should be invited, how should the artifacts be presented, and what is our intention in sharing? By embracing qualitative research methods, this study delves deep into the nuanced aspects of participants' dreams and fears about the future. The findings emphasize the significance of co-design and speculative design as complementary approaches in design research. They also highlight the capacity of AFAB individuals to imagine diverse and impactful futures beyond what currently exists. The conclusions drawn from this study call for further investigations into the synergistic potential of co-design and speculative design, contributing to a deeper understanding of the role of imagination in shaping future possibilities, particularly for complex, sensitive topics such as sexual and reproductive experiences.

Committee: Elizabeth B.-N. Sanders (Advisor); William Nickley (Committee Member); David Staley (Committee Member) Subjects: Design

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2022, College-Conservatory of Music: Voice

Operatic vocalists encounter a range of external expectations that threaten to inhibit their pleasure of singing. Performers are often trained to fulfill the composer's creative vision, which can compel performers to neglect and limit their own creative desires. Disconnected from their creative flow, vocalists may struggle to sustain their singing. The vocal hardships and lack of artistic fulfillment become mutually constitutive and cause strife in their relationship with singing. Concurrently, many historical opera plots include outmoded sexual politics which seem to affirm repressive gendered stereotypes about women. In most performative contexts, performers do not have the freedom to alter the libretti of standard repertoire. Given these constraints placed upon the performer, could there be methods to destabilize conventional constructions and semiotic codes in a way that would deconstruct sexist representations in opera and produce alternative meanings? Could the performer's reclamation of pleasure assist in creating new meanings and liberate their singing? The move towards valuing pleasure and embodiment in classical performance can have a positive impact on the field, extending from affective gains for performers to an increase in its social impact. In this thesis, I will be offering strategies for a feminist performance praxis of nineteenth-century operatic repertoire. In my methodology, I will construct a pleasure-oriented vocal practice and then move to devise modes of embodied resistance in performance through a feminist analysis of the sexual politics in operatic libretti. Bringing Carolyn Abbate's conception of the singer's "authorial voice" into dialogue with Audre Lorde's concept of "erotic power," I will argue that women's embodied performance practice can be a site wherein gendered power structures are renegotiated through channeling counterhegemonic forms of feminine desire.

Committee: Shelina Brown Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jeongwon Joe Ph.D. (Committee Member); Quinn Patrick Ankrum (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2022, Counseling Psychology

The (mis)application of mainstream psychological theories and methods of analysis further perpetuates oppression (specifically misogynoir) while suppressing the unique and diverse experiences of Black women. This study implemented a methodological framework rooted in Black feminist, phenomenological, and anti-oppressive theories to more holistically explore the meaning of pleasure in Black women's lives. Pleasure was defined and positioned as a restorative strategy in participants' liberation efforts, using psychopolitical well-being as a grounding construct. Results reveal personal, relational, collective, and multi-spherical pleasure practices that helped participants challenge oppressive socialization, divest energy from oppressive industries, and receive relief from suffering. Findings hold implications for social justice oriented research, intervention, and policy development intended to facilitate well-being among Black women. Further, results provide rationale for future pleasure-centered scientific inquiry needed to address the “pleasure deficit” in understandings of Black womanhood. Ultimately, this project intends to strengthen the lens through which professionals understand Black women's wellness by providing data on what makes them feel whole, alive, and free.

Committee: Suzette Speight (Committee Chair); Toni Bisconti (Committee Member); Dawn Johnson (Committee Member); John Queener (Committee Member); Mary Triece (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Black Studies; Counseling Psychology; Gender Studies; Mental Health; Occupational Health; Psychotherapy; Public Health

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Health Education

Study One Background: This study sought to validate a new sexual assertiveness scale with college students in the United States. Sexual assertiveness is associated with safer sex and sexual satisfaction. Validating the new scale among students in the US is important, as sexual behaviors vary by country. Study design: College students at a Midwest university completed an electronic survey that contained the sexual assertiveness scale questions, as well as items measuring sexual behaviors. Data analysis compared the current results to the previous study. Results: Reliability analysis shows the scale is reliable for a US college student sample. Confirmatory factor analysis did not show a good model fit; convergent validity showed some statistically significant correlations. Sexual behaviors of the sample are discussed. Discussion: The CFA results could be due to sample characteristics: the sample was older and in committed relationships, which could impact sexual assertiveness behaviors. The study should be replicated with a larger sample size that more closely resembles traditional college student characteristics. Respondents' sexual behaviors highlight the need for sexual health education. Conclusion: Sexual assertiveness is an important part of sexual health and can increase safer sex behaviors. More research should be done to understand sexual assertiveness among US college students. Health educators should incorporate sexual assertiveness skills in their sex education. Study Two Background: Sexual pleasure, sexual assertiveness, and condom negotiation are important parts of sexual health and safer sex. It is necessary to understand the relationship between these concepts in order to improve and educate about sexual health. Study design: College students at a university in the Midwest received an electronic survey with questions related to sexual behaviors, condom negotiation, and sexual assertiveness. Two existing scales on condom negotiation and sexual asser (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Liliana Rojas-Guyler Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Laura Nabors (Committee Member); Amy Bernard Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Health Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Sociology

Quantitative research on sexuality suggests that sexual satisfaction is important for physical health, mental health, and relationship outcomes, but most of this research fails to capture the subjective ways that sexual satisfaction is perceived and achieved. In this study I employ in-depth qualitative interviews to explore the ways that women and men understand both “good” and “bad” sex. I employ sexual script theory as a framework to explain the ways that sexual expectations and behaviors are patterned in reference to cultural, interpersonal, and intrapsychic understandings of sex. In the first chapter I explore the role of novelty as a factor in “good” sex and the tensions that exist between the predictable and the unfamiliar. In the second chapter I delve into the role that gender plays in constructing perceptions of sexual satisfaction and the ways that the narratives of men and women converge and differ. Finally, in the third chapter I address the prevalence of sexual violence reported by the women in my sample and explain how this is a product of the gendered norms embedded in cultural-level sexual scripts. Overall, my research suggests that women and men have similar expectations for what makes sex “good,” but dominant norms surrounding sexuality disproportionately place women in subordinate roles, and therefore greater risk of violence, during sex.

Committee: Korie Edwards Dr. (Advisor); Kristi Williams Dr. (Committee Member); Steven Lopez Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; Gender Studies; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, EDU Teaching and Learning

This theoretical dissertation explores the constructs of alienation, engagement, pleasure, and jouissance as they relate to research and theory on and in classroom education, in particular in middle school language arts classrooms. The research questions ask: First, how is the construct of alienation conceptualized and made manifest in the classroom and how do these empirical findings of the condition of alienation refine the theoretical construct of alienation? Second, how is the construct of engagement conceptualized and made manifest in the classroom and how do these empirical findings of the condition of engagement refine the theoretical construct of engagement? Third, how is the construct of pleasure conceptualized and made manifest in the classroom and how do these empirical findings of the condition of pleasure refine the theoretical construct of pleasure? And fourth, how is the construct of jouissance conceptualized and made manifest in the classroom and how do these empirical findings of the condition of jouissance refine the theoretical construct of jouissance? The research questions are answered through four case studies. The dissertation takes an ethnographic perspective towards research, utilizing qualitative and ethnographic methods of data collection and analysis. Research was conducted on fifty-nine sixth and seventh-grade language arts students and five teachers across three years and four classrooms focusing broadly on student literacy practices. Over the three years of the study, eighty-two participant observations were conducted and over fifty-five hours of class time were video recorded. Data include video recordings, audio recordings, student and teacher interviews, student and teacher artifacts, and participant observation fieldnotes. Data were selected for their ability to refine extant theoretical constructs of alienation, engagement, pleasure, and jouissance and were analyzed through microethnographic discourse analysis (cf., Bloome et al., (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Bloome (Advisor) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Psychology; Educational Theory

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1992, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1985, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1973, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2014, English

This dissertation examines how social network site (SNS) platforms enhance writers' experiences of pleasure and play in the process of writing together. My primary site of study is Protagonize.com, a SNS that encourages member-generated collaborative creative writing. Correlating Bakhtin's theory of utterance, Huizinga's understanding of play, and Wittgenstein's concept of language games, I argue that Protagonize.com allows writers to engage in writing practices where authorship becomes inherently collaborative, context adapts to users' needs, and the social-dimension of language emerges.

Committee: Kimberly Emmons (Advisor); T. Kenneth Fountain (Committee Member); Sarah Gridley (Committee Member); William Deal (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Web Studies

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Arts and Sciences : Philosophy

This is a dissertation on motivation and what in the brain is responsible for it. In this dissertation, I argue that the mechanisms of motivational states are a specific sort of process in the brain: a model-driven reinforcement learning process. Motivational states, through instrumental action, enable us to deactivate them. Thus, motivation's mechanism is self-terminating. Motivational states direct thought and behavior. I pick out neural mechanisms of motivated thought by elaborating a theory of internal models developed by Rick Grush. Evidence from neuroscience suggests that motivation's directional capacity is dependent on reinforcement learning mechanisms in the brain that control phasic dopamine. I therefore attempt to show that mechanisms of reinforcement learning control internal models. Motivation also energizes behavior. In part, this function depends on motivation mechanisms taking control of sensorimotor systems. It would appear that tonic dopamine, whose production may depend on phasic dopamine, regulates our performance drive. But complete understanding of how motivation mechanisms can take control of sensorimotor (and cognitive resources), an explanation of how motivation mechanisms get turned on, compete, and coordinate with each other must be given. I argue that the turning on and off of motivation depends on internal time-keeping mechanisms, and that motivational states compete through motivation mechanisms' mutual-inhibition. Colloquially, we describe motivation with terms like desire and intention. In this dissertation, I show that theories of desire and intention can be unified with a theory of motivation mechanisms. Following Timothy Schroeder, I argue that reinforcement mechanisms in the brain are mechanisms of desire. Following Elisabeth Pacherie, I argue that the content of intentions depends on model-driven control. I conclude with a theory of pleasure, where I argue that the hedonic content of pleasant and unpleasant experiences depends on (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. John Bickle (Advisor) Subjects: Philosophy

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2011, Philosophy

In this paper, I explore the role of pleasure in the ethical system of Stoicism, a school of philosophy from the Hellenistic period. It is my aim to argue that despite the Stoic's austere ideals, there is a valid role for physical and emotional pleasures in the pursuit of virtue.

Committee: D. Scott Carson PhD (Advisor); James Petrik PhD (Committee Member); Steve Hays PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Classical Studies; Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, Human Ecology: Fashion and Retail Studies

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the effect of multichannel retailers' inter-channel integration practices on consumer's affective responses as well as behavioral responses. Based on a combination of the Stimulus Organism Response model and the Behavioral Perspective Model, this study presents a framework that offers an understanding of associations among consumer situation stimuli (utilitarian and informational reinforcements, and behavior setting scope), affective responses (pleasure, arousal, and dominance), and behavioral response (approach and avoidance). This research employed a 2 x 2 x 2 between subjects factorial design: utilitarian reinforcement (high vs. low) x informational reinforcement (high vs. low) x behavior setting scope (open vs. closed). The eight consumer situations represented all possible combinations of utilitarian reinforcement (high vs. low), informational reinforcement (high vs. low), and behavior setting scope (open vs. closed). Each subject responded to a single multichannel shopping scenario which was one of the eight manipulated consumer situations. The findings of the study revealed : (i) a difference in the effect of high and low levels of utilitarian reinforcement on pleasure; (ii) a difference in the effect of open and closed levels of behavior setting scope on dominance; (iii) a difference in approach behavioral response for high and low levels of utilitarian reinforcements, and open and closed behavioral setting scope; (iv) a difference in avoidance behavioral response for high and low levels of utilitarian reinforcements, and open and closed behavior setting scope; (v) a significant positive influence of pleasure on approach; (vi) a significant positive influence of dominance on approach; and (vii) a significant negative influence of pleasure on avoidance. This study will contribute to the literature on multichannel retailing by empirically testing consumer situations of the Behavioral Perspective Model in mult (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Leslie Stoel PhD, MBA (Advisor); Jay Kandampully PhD (Committee Member); Caezilia Loibl PhD, CFP (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Behaviorial Sciences; Textile Research

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2010, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

In the past, urfi marriage was used to describe all social and religious marriages in Egyptian society. However, when Egypt imposed the requirement for marriage registration, in 1931, it created a rupture between the established culture and modern laws, rendering the traditional definition of urfi marriage obsolete. Since the late twentieth century, urfi marriage has been re-imagined as a viable alternative to legal marriage by those who find the modern marriage tradition socially or financially unviable. This study seeks to understand the complexities in reconstructing and redefining urfi marriage and ponders whether this contemporary social practice-in one or more variations-will one day become fully accepted in Egyptian society. In order to accomplish this, I draw on Berger and Luckmanns classical work on the social construction of reality to shed light on how various popular discourses—film, blogs, legal discourse, television and others—interrogate the category of urfi, contest its definition as deviant, and seek to unpack the on-going social negotiation surrounding its multiple and conflicting meanings in order to understand why it has re-emerged and gained legitimacy among many segments of society. Like my research into the treatment of urfi and related topics as obliquely presented through the artistic medium of film, field research of online resources also allowed me to gain a broader understanding of the perceptions, meanings, and ideas associated with marriage as well as of the current practices of urfi marriage, often considered a taboo topic, by varied segments of Egyptian society. Because marriage is such a powerful icon for coming of age in Egypt, in the end, this debate on what forms of urfi marriage will emerge as acceptable will have far reaching repercussions on other complex, intertwined issues such as individual freedom, adulthood, familial and societal duties, individual choice in marriage, hereditary rights, ethics of medical science, morality, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sabra Webber PhD (Advisor); Morgan Liu PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Families and Family Life; Gender; History; Law; Mass Media; Middle Eastern History; Personal Relationships; Religion; Sociology; Theology; Womens Studies

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2009, Art

I make paintings that appeal to the mind and stick to the eye. Thepaintings use text that has been borrowed from popular culture, advertising, and film as their subject. My most recent body of work functions as a footbridge between looking at and being seen, painting and life. The footbridge is not derived from any one set of architectural blueprints, but rather generates its form from within. At times the bridge is formless, an evaporating cloud, or bottomless black. The act of painting transforms the text; image and form merge into presence. The subject is no longer simply borrowed text, but somehow the viewers, the artist, the materials, are absorbed like oil into cloth and seduced into subjects. The junction where painting touches without moving its location in space is the junction that I find most remarkable; furthermore, it is the place in time from which my marks and remarks are generated.

Committee: Pheoris West (Advisor); Alison Crocetta (Committee Member); Laura Lisbon (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Art History; Fine Arts

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Art Education

My dissertation, situated in a Foucauldian framework, begins with a view of visual culture as a discourse where knowledge, pleasure, and power of images intersect. This dissertation first argues that a depthless visual field is discursively formed in and through Japanese culture, which constitutes recurring themes and particularities of Japanese anime. Features of postmodernism, described by Jameson and Baudrillard, are significantly embodied in anime images. By examining three anime works, Cat Soup (2001), The Grave of Fireflies (1988), and Neon Genesis Evangelion (1996), my dissertation argues that anime demonstrates postmodern “depthlessness,” which questions former understandings of “representation." Second, my dissertation investigates how anime images generate a specific kind of pleasure, and how this pleasure offers anime otaku a chance to develop not an escape from ideological constructions, but new ways of creative production in the practitioners' own favor. By examining two anime works, Fooly Cooly (2005) and Revolutionary Girl Utena (1999-2001), I argue that anime images deliberately deploy (1) void signifiers, (2) bodily senses, (3) liminal conditions, and (4) taboos and prohibitive themes to generate visual pleasures that may function as resistance to regulatory power. Further, the pleasure of viewing anime empowers anime otaku to go beyond mere image consumption, to actively and constantly change, manipulate, and subvert anime images through practices. Anime otaku's pleasurable practices demonstrate de-assurance of their supposed identity and engender an imperceptible but playful politics that strays from the social orders in which they reside. The fundamental argument of my dissertation is that anime itself is a site of viewers' education about anime, and that anime as an alternative discourse empowers viewers, youth and adolescents in particular, to participate in creative practices that may generate an imperceptible politics in their own favor. Usin (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennifer Eisenhauer (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Art

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2011, Communication Studies

Digital media and Web 2.0 media properties have democratized the authorship of mass culture. At the same time sophisticated marketing strategies have harnessed the creative energy of users to contribute to tasks such as brand building. Through a critical analysis of user generated advertising, this thesis argues that users serve both a cultural and economic function. While users are empowered to create media and engage in social networks, their participation is also harnessed as the basis of the value of commercial web properties. Amateur web videos are analyzed in which users adopt the identity of the Burger King mascot. It is argued that the users' performances serve their own cultural interests in manipulating mass images but also serve commercial interests in social branding. Future studies should further examine the socialization of users into participatory cultures and the blending of individuals and brands in digital identities.

Committee: David Sholle PhD (Committee Chair); Kathleen German PhD (Committee Member); Shira Chess PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Mass Communications