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Item Examining the discursive landscape of women's sexual desire and implications for sexual subjectivity : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025-10-28) Tappin, JessicaSexual desire and pleasure can be an “awkward” subject to bring up in conversation, many choosing to ignore it completely, or relegate it to the private realm. Yet, our media landscape is filled with various representation of sex that fundamentally shape the way we can think about, speak about, and enact expressions of sexual desire. A substantial corpus of feminist research suggests that discursive representations of sexual desire are highly gendered and heteronormative. These researchers have mapped cultural and social constructions of women’s sexual desire, tracing its portrayal as, for example, absent, relational, and aligned with postfeminist discourses of sexual agency. Previous scholarship has considered how these discourses are circulated within talk, and through mainstream media. A research gap remains in considering alternative feminist media, and psychological literature as sites that circulate discourses of sexual desire. The central aim of this thesis is to determine how women’s sexual desire is constructed across three sites of discourse circulation: (a) mainstream media, (b) alternative media, and (c) psychological literature, how prevalent discourses are supported, transformed, and resisted, as well as the implications for women’s sexual subjectivity and sexual agency. Foucauldian-informed discourse analysis was conducted with each set of textual data collected from those sites. Specifically, 75 advice columns or articles from mainstream media websites, 55 articles from alternative feminist publications, and 12 published articles from psychological and therapeutic journals. Key findings from these analyses indicate that (i) an essentialist biological discourse of desire is prevalent, shaping women’s sexual subjectivity in relation to men, (ii) many discourses and sexual subjectivities on offer within the texts are highly heteronormative and restrict agency outside of a narrow prescription of appropriate desire, (iii) a neoliberal incitement for women to reflect on and work on themselves in various ways underscored much of the data, and (iiii) alternative media texts provided opportunities for resistance of heterosexual norms, along with a broadening understanding of what desire is and can be for women.Item Māori women's perspectives of raising a loved one who has autism (Takiwātanga) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, Manawatū, Aotearoa New Zealand(Massey University, 2025-02-17) Hastie, Jeanette LouiseThis thesis presents research that explored the understandings, worldviews, and approaches of eight Māori māmā (mothers) with children (tamariki) or adolescents (rangatahi) who have been diagnosed with autism (takiwātanga) in Aotearoa New Zealand. An interpretivist qualitative research design was utilised that combined methods from Western methodologies and Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine theory and research. The methodology was transformative (whakaahua) in nature, as the concepts behind the Western methodological tools were transformed into the concepts of te ao Māori (the Māori worldview) through the application of Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine theory. Eight Māori māmā attended one of four small focus groups consisting of two māmā and the researcher, during which they were encouraged to create an artwork while telling their lived experience of takiwātanga through pūrākau (narratives). Over approximately four hours, the māmā were asked to describe how they navigated the New Zealand education and health systems, and their home and community, with their tamariki and rangatahi with takiwātanga. The pūrākau revealed that the māmā had brought about a transformation of their own by resisting the Western deficit-based model of autism and drawing on their cultural understanding of takiwātanga to change their negative Western-based experiences into positive Indigenous-based ones. This led to the development of a model inspired by the taiaha, a Māori weapon of war, that demonstrates how a deficit-based Western ideology about autism can be transformed into a strengths-based Indigenous ideology about takiwātanga, from both the researcher’s perspective and that of the participants. The findings also identified strong connections between the māmā and those professionals and others who supported them, whom they called “game changers”. Professionals who were not supportive were circumnavigated or dismissed as the māmā held onto their own expertise and developed their own knowledge about takiwātanga. The te ao Māori concepts of whakawhanaungatanga (relationship building), manaakitanga (showing respect, generosity and care for others) and tuakana-teina (the relationship between an older [tuakana] person and a younger [teina] person) were woven throughout the pūrākau, which the māmā drew on to strengthen their mana wahine (power as women) and mātauranga wahine (female knowledge). The thesis concludes that cultural competence for registered professionals in education and health should include formal assessments of their knowledge of te ao Māori concepts such as manaakitanga, whakawhanaungatanga, and tuakana-teina in relation to takiwātanga.Item Editorial: Women in science: volcanology 2022(Frontiers Media S.A., 2024-10-17) Moune S; Jenkins S; Stewart C; Schmidt A; Moune S; Jenkins S; Stewart C; Schmidt AItem On the battlefield : exploring gendered experiences of being Infantry in the New Zealand Army : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Defence and Security Studies at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Massey University, 2024-09-25) Brosnan, AmyPrompted by the question ‘why aren’t there more women in combat trades?’, this research reaches beyond this to ask about the broader gendered context of the Infantry. Bringing in the experiences of both men and women, this thesis contributes a more nuanced understanding of the gendered issues at play by identifying what factors enable or inhibit success. As such, this thesis seeks to address a gap in knowledge that currently exists with respect to the experiences of men and women working together within a hypermasculine gender integrated combat-focused unit. It does so through the conduct of a qualitative study of soldiers enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (RNZIR) of the New Zealand Army (NZ Army). As this thesis will reveal, the production of ‘war-fighters’ is not an accidental or inevitable process. Infantry soldiers are socialised into certain ways of thinking and doing, and it is the performance of institutionalised habits, traditions and behaviours that makes an individual Infantry. The production of a war fighter is, therefore, a purposeful process of creating a particular type of Infantry soldier that is deemed to be most effective on the battlefield. What also becomes apparent in the course of this research, however, is that ‘success’ within Infantry is a complex concept; one which is underpinned by a specific gender performance, and which requires negotiation of a number of factors that extend beyond the professional realms of the ‘actual job’. Notwithstanding the need to produce ‘war-fighters’ this thesis argues that the way in which Infantry soldiers are produced within the NZ Army perpetuates a very specific masculine gendered ideology within the RNZIR. This ideology is based on both assumptions and understandings (and also misunderstandings) of gender, coupled with a battlefield narrative that inhibits the possibility of contesting the ‘status quo’. This thesis will illustrate that while some of the participants thrive within this context, others do not. Indeed, the gendered ideology which supports ‘the way things are done around here’ inhibits the participation (and retention) of many men and women, including men and women who exhibit the same qualities and attributes that are claimed to be necessary for Infantry success on the modern, or future, battlefield.Item (Re)mapping women’s cosmology : transformative potentia of women’s stories : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Whanganui-a-tara/Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand(Massey University, 2023-06-30) Wass, TheaBinary difference is deeply rooted within the heart of European philosophy and underpins contemporary understandings of sexual difference. Forces of power relations circulate to uphold binary categories of gender that conflates man with the universal, upholding a single model of male subjectivity and inscribing meaning onto the bodies of women. In this research, I have engaged with a narrative approach to map a cosmology of ten women’s stories, connecting women’s bodies and experiences to the flow of forces that shape their lives through a complex assemblage of cultural practices. Thinking with Rosie Braidotti I have endeavoured to sketch a cartography of the multiple embedded, embodied and affective social positions constituted by forces operational in, and immanent to the production and circulation of knowledge about sexual difference. Relational ethics in feminist standpoint inquiry enabled me to attend to relational processes which contributed to the co-articulation of these stories, and to open out towards the multiple possibilities available outside established hierarchical categories of gendered subjectivities. Through this process, light is cast on the material conditions in which forces come to inscribe and inhabit women’s bodies as flows of power capable of both “entrapment (potestas) and as empowerment (potentia)” (Braidotti, 2019). This research resists phallogocentric notions of the universal by re-orienting towards the affirmative potential of women’s bodies made available through interconnectedness and ethical transformation in processes of becoming. By paying attention to the situated and affirmatively encompassing differences within and between women, bodies can be understood as a site of resistance and transformation.Item Does parity matter in women’s risk of dementia? A COSMIC collaboration cohort study(BMC, 2020-08-05) Bae JB; Lipnicki DM; Han JW; Sachdev PS; Kim TH; Kwak KP; Kim BJ; Kim SG; Kim JL; Moon SW; Park JH; Ryu S-H; Youn JC; Lee DY; Lee DW; Lee SB; Lee JJ; Jhoo JH; Llibre-Rodriguez JJ; Llibre-Guerra JJ; Valhuerdi-Cepero AJ; Ritchie K; Ancelin M-L; Carriere I; Skoog I; Najar J; Sterner TR; Scarmeas N; Yannakoulia M; Dardiotis E; Meguro K; Kasai M; Nakamura K; Riedel-Heller S; Roehr S; Pabst A; van Boxtel M; Köhler S; Ding D; Zhao Q; Liang X; Scazufca M; Lobo A; De-la-Cámara C; Lobo E; Kim KW; for Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC)Background Dementia shows sex difference in its epidemiology. Childbirth, a distinctive experience of women, is associated with the risk for various diseases. However, its association with the risk of dementia in women has rarely been studied. Methods We harmonized and pooled baseline data from 11 population-based cohorts from 11 countries over 3 continents, including 14,792 women aged 60 years or older. We investigated the association between parity and the risk of dementia using logistic regression models that adjusted for age, educational level, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cohort, with additional analyses by region and dementia subtype. Results Across all cohorts, grand multiparous (5 or more childbirths) women had a 47% greater risk of dementia than primiparous (1 childbirth) women (odds ratio [OR] = 1.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.10–1.94), while nulliparous (no childbirth) women and women with 2 to 4 childbirths showed a comparable dementia risk to primiparous women. However, there were differences associated with region and dementia subtype. Compared to women with 1 to 4 childbirths, grand multiparous women showed a higher risk of dementia in Europe (OR = 2.99, 95% CI = 1.38–6.47) and Latin America (OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.04–2.12), while nulliparous women showed a higher dementia risk in Asia (OR = 2.15, 95% CI = 1.33–3.47). Grand multiparity was associated with 6.9-fold higher risk of vascular dementia in Europe (OR = 6.86, 95% CI = 1.81–26.08), whereas nulliparity was associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer disease (OR = 1.91, 95% CI 1.07–3.39) and non-Alzheimer non-vascular dementia (OR = 3.47, 95% CI = 1.44–8.35) in Asia. Conclusion Parity is associated with women’s risk of dementia, though this is not uniform across regions and dementia subtypes.Item Engaging with the private sector for development : a critical analysis of attempts to partner with business for women's economic empowerment in Vietnam : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa New Zealand(Massey University, 2023) Nguyen, Lan Phuong ThiDevelopment agencies have increasingly recognised the private sector as playing an important role in the progress toward achieving sustainable development. While scholars contest the private sector’s role in development, development agencies and NGOs continue collaborating with the private sector to deliver social results for the poor. There have been numerous studies on the role of large companies, mostly multinational corporations, in development. However, limited literature sheds light on the engagement of donors with micro and small enterprises in development as well as their impacts on women’s economic empowerment. This research aims to fill this gap by critically investigating donor-private sector partnerships implemented under an Australian aid programme in which micro and small enterprises are engaged to economically empower ethnic minority women in Vietnam. My findings suggest that micro and small businesses are important development partners in creating economic opportunities for low-income women. Locally- and socially-embedded businesses can achieve success and sustainability through their ability to engage with ethnic minority women. They also have the potential to create economic, social, and cultural impacts. They can be inclusive, with some small businesses reaching poor ethnic minority women regardless of production scales, and they can help women improve their incomes by supporting women to cultivate and sell unique, traditional, and cultural products. However, these private sector partners face challenges that constrain their partnership with development agencies and limit the objective of empowering ethnic minority women. My research findings challenge the instrumentalist notion of women’s economic empowerment, which donors commonly deploy in partnerships with a business by focusing solely on providing training and access to productive resources for market integration. It confirms that this instrumentalist approach is insufficient to genuinely empower women. Instead, my research recommends a holistic donor-private sector partnership framework for women’s empowerment to plug the gaps and transform the prevailing women’s economic empowerment approach. This proposed framework includes two elements which emerged from the research findings: relational and collective empowerment. Relational empowerment emphasises the importance of the relational aspects of empowerment and how changes in power relations in the surrounding environment affect women's empowerment. Collective empowerment reflects the need for collective action to influence changes in social norms and rules to recognise and improve women’s positions within households and the broader community. The proposed framework also involves civil society organisations, non-government organisations, and local governments as important partners in addressing unequal structures and barriers to women and enabling transformative outcomes for women. These research findings will support development agencies to better engage with the private sector to enable ethnic minority women’s empowerment.Item Drivers of obesity : associations of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and diet on metabolic health and the gut microbiota : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nutritional Science at Massey University, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand(Massey University, 2023) Slater, JoanneBackground: Regular physical activity (PA) and limited time spent sedentary are important for almost all aspects of health, including prevention and treatment of obesity. Aim: To describe the PA and sedentary behaviour (SB) of healthy, lean and obese, Pacific and NZE women, aged 18-45 years; and to explore the associations of PA and SB with diet, BF%, biomarkers of metabolic health, and gut microbiota composition. Methods: Pacific (n = 142) or NZE (n = 162) women aged 18–45 years with a self- reported body mass index of either 18.5–25.0 kg/m2 or ≥30.0 kg/m2 were recruited. Whole body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to subsequently stratify participants as either low (<35%) or high (≥35%) BF%. Eight-day accelerometery assessed PA and SB levels. Meeting the PA guidelines was defined as accumulation of ≥ 30 minutes of moderate or greater intensity activity on ≥ 5 days per week OR 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) per week. Dietary intake was assessed using a 5-day food record. Fasting blood was analysed for biomarkers of metabolic health, and whole body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to estimate body composition. Bulk DNA was extracted from faecal samples and the metagenomic sequences associated with the microbiota were analysed using MetaPhlAN and QIIME2 software. Adjusted multivariate regression models were conducted to explore the associations between PA, SB and diet, body composition and biomarkers of metabolic health, and between PA, SB and gut microbiota composition. Results: Less than half Pacific women were meeting the PA guidelines (high-BF%; 39% and low-BF%; 47%) versus 81% of low-BF% and 65% of high-BF% NZE women. Low-BF% Pacific women were more sedentary than all other women (p<0.05): Pacific low- 10.4 and high-BF% 9.93 and NZE low- 9.69 and high-BF% 9.96 hours/day. Every additional 10-minutes spent in MVPA was associated with 0.9% lower total and trunk fat and 0.7% lower gynoid fat in all women (p<0.05). Among Pacific women; every 100 cpm increase in total PA was associated with 6% lower fasting plasma insulin. Every 10-minute increase in MVPA was associated with 8% lower fasting plasma insulin in both ethnic groups (p<0.05). Among NZE women, every one-hour increase in sedentary time was associated with 0.8% higher gynoid fat (p<0.05), and longer weighted median sedentary bout length was associated with higher BF% (gynoid fat 0.3%, total body 0.4%, trunk 0.4%, android 0.4% and visceral fat 0.4% (p<0.05)) and 14% higher C-reactive protein (CRP) (p<0.05). No associations between SB and body composition or metabolic markers were found among Pacific women. There was no significant difference in average total energy intake between Pacific and NZE women or BF% groups. No women were consuming more than the carbohydrate AMDR (>65% total energy). Pacific women’s mean daily starch intake was significantly higher than NZE women (g/day, and % total energy intake). Only the NZE low-BF% groups mean fibre intake was above the recommended daily intake of ≥25g/day. All the women that were in the lowest quartile of fibre intake, and particularly the NZE women, had a lower odds of meeting the PA guidelines (OR 0.72 (p=0.008) and OR 0.66 (p=0.021) respectively) compared to women in the top three quartiles of fibre intake. All the women that were in the lowest quartile of polyunsaturated fat intake, especially Pacific women had a lower odds of meeting the PA guidelines compared women in the top three quartiles (0.76, p=0.027 and OR 0.67, p=0.030 respectively). Among NZE women, every one SD increase in total PA (197 cpm/day) was associated with 36.3% higher relative abundance of Erysipelotrichaceae (p=0.031) and 37.9% lower relative abundance of Verrucomicrobiaceae (p=0.029). Every one SD increase in SB (1.45 hours/day) was associated with a 28% lower relative abundance of Erysipelotrichaceae (p=0.030). Every one SD increase in NZE women’s total PA was associated with 23.1% higher Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio (p=0.031), whereas among Pacific women, every 1 SD increase in MVPA was associated with 22.8% lower (p=0.034) Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio. Conclusion: Increased time spent in PA of all intensities and breaking-up prolonged SB was associated with healthier body composition and lower metabolic disease risk in Pacific and NZE women. Compared to NZE, the impact of increased total PA on fasting insulin may be greater in Pacific women and inflammation may be a pathway through which SB impacts cardiovascular risk, especially for NZE women. Although higher total PA and lower SB was associated with some aspects of the gut microbiota composition, more needs to be known about the mechanisms driving associations between PA SB and the gut microbiota to enable these findings to be interpreted.Item The impact of chronotype on obesity-related outcomes : diet, behaviour and metabolic health : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nutritional Sciences at Massey University Auckland, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023) van der Merwe, CarlienBackground: Describing the effect of the diet on obesity risk as simply excessive energy intake, does not factor in the patterning (spacing, skipping and timing), or format (food combinations and nutrient content) of meals consumed or the specific eating behaviours that contribute to weight gain. In addition to this, chronotype, may also play a role in the complex aetiology of obesity. Being a very late (=evening type, ET) or early chronotype (=morning type, MT) not only determine preferred sleep- and wake-times but may also influence mealtimes, nutritional composition of meals and eating behaviour. This may impact the circadian timing system and in the long-term, result in weight gain, obesity, and poor metabolic function. Aims: To explore the diet in-depth (eating patterns and eating behaviours) as it relates to different chronotypes and metabolic health markers of New Zealand (NZ) European and Pacific women with different body fat profiles and varied metabolic disease risk factors. Methods: This research formed part of the PRedictors linking Obesity and gut Microbiome (PROMIsE) cross-sectional study that was conducted at the Massey University in Auckland, NZ. Healthy women, between the ages of 18 and 45 years were recruited based on healthy BMI (18.5 -24.9 kg/m²) and obese BMI (≥30 kg/m²) within NZ European (n = 162) and Pacific (n = 142) ethnic groups. Chronotype, was assessed using the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire. Fasting venous blood samples were collected to assess metabolic biomarkers (hormones, lipid profile and glucose homeostasis). Anthropometrical measurements included, body mass index (BMI), and whole-body total fat percentage (BF%), android-and gynoid- fat mass were assessed using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Five-day food records were used to assess dietary intake. The Three Factor Eating Questionnaire and the Eating Attitude Test -26 was used to assess eating behaviour and - attitudes. Results: Half of participants were intermediate type (IT; n = 155, 54%) followed by ET (n = 97, 34%) and MT (n = 35, 12%), with most Pacific women being ET (n = 83, 86%) and most NZ Europeans being IT (n = 115, 65%). Due to low sample size, the MT and IT were combined as MT-IT, for some analyses. The MT-IT women had lower BMI, BF% and android to gynoid fat percentage (AG) ratio, lower concentrations of triglycerides, insulin, leptin, LDL-cholesterol, HbA1c and higher HDL-cholesterol and ghrelin in comparison with ET. Total daily energy and macronutrient intakes were similar across the chronotype groups. Women classified as MT-IT vs ET had higher intakes of energy, protein, carbohydrate, and fat in the morning (by 10:00). Conversely at night (after 20:00) the ET had a higher energy, protein, carbohydrate, and fat intake. The ET in the high BF% as well as high AG ratio group predicted lower energy, protein and carbohydrate intakes in the morning, and predicted higher energy, carbohydrate and fat intake at night compared with MT-IT. Women with an earlier chronotype (MT-IT) followed dietary patterns that consisted of high micronutrients, protein, fat and fibre, namely, the Healthy food pattern, Animal Products food pattern and the High Protein-Fat-Fibre nutrient pattern. The ET women followed the High Carbohydrate nutrient pattern high in poor quality carbohydrates. Eating behaviour was associated with chronotype. The ET had higher scores for unfavourable eating behaviours such as lower restraint scores (conscious restriction of food intake to control body weight), while having higher hunger scores in comparison with the MT-IT. In the high BMI group, ET predicted lower restraint, rigid control, but higher perceived hunger, internal locus for hunger, habitual disinhibition (loss of control of food intake) and bulimia & food preoccupation, compared with MT-IT. Conclusion: This PhD thesis found that ET when compared to MT were more likely to have a higher body composition and an unhealthy metabolic biomarker profile. This chronotype-body composition relationship may be linked to the ET’s irregular eating patterns and unhealthy eating behaviours that may contribute to the circadian misalignment. Although the chronotype groups had similar nutrient intakes, clear differences were noticeable regarding the types and combinations of foods consumed together as well as the distribution of food intake throughout the 24-hour day. The ET distributed their nutrient intake towards the night, the circadian phase of the day that is metabolically more suited to fasting in comparison with the MT-IT that had a higher nutrient intake during the morning, the feeding phase of the day. This PhD thesis showed that consuming a higher amount of nutrients in the morning and during the early part of the day, seemed to be protective against developing obesity. These findings give further insight into the differences in eating patterns and eating behaviours between non-obese and obese individuals, placing an individual’s chronotype at the center.Item Incidence of Match Injuries in an Amateur Women’s Rugby Union Team in New Zealand over Two Consecutive Seasons(Kosmos Publishers, 28/08/2020) King D; Hume PA; Clark TN; Foskett A; Barnes MBackground: Rugby Union is played in over 200 countries with over 8.5 million registered players worldwide. Despite increased popularity of the game for women, there is relatively little evidence for incidence, causes or severity of injuries that occur during match participation. Purpose: To determine whether amateur women’s rugby union teams in New Zealand need injury prevention support, by providing evidence as to the incidence, causes and severity of injuries that occur during match participation. Study design: Descriptive epidemiological observational study. Methods: Epidemiology analysis to describe the incidence of match injuries in an amateur women’s rugby union team in New Zealand, over two consecutive seasons. Injury burden was calculated for all injuries by: injury region, reported as frequency of injuries by region; number of days lost; and mean number of days lost, with standard deviation. Results: Over the study, 138 injuries were recorded resulting in an injury incidence of 247.0 per 1,000 match-hrs. A total of 57 resulted in a time-loss injury incidence of 102.0 per 1,000 match-hrs. The hooker recorded a significantly lower mean (4.1 ±2.8 days) injury burden than the blind-side flanker (t(6)=-2.8; p=0.0314), center (t(6)=-2.8; p=0.0313) and fullback (t(6)=-2.7; p=0.0351) for total injuries. Discussion: The principal findings of this study were: (1) total injury incidence was 247.0 per 1,000 match-hrs; (2) time-lost from rugby due to injuries was 102.0 per 1,000 match-hrs; (3) the lower limb sustained the highest injury incidence with the knee having the greatest proportion of these injuries; (4) the tackle recorded the highest injury rate, and being tackled was associated with a notably higher injury incidence than any other match event; (5) sprains and strains recorded the highest injury incidence; and (6) the lower limb body region recorded the most days lost and had the highest mean days lost per injury.