View Item 
        •   Utrecht University Student Theses Repository Home
        • UU Theses Repository
        • Theses
        • View Item
        •   Utrecht University Student Theses Repository Home
        • UU Theses Repository
        • Theses
        • View Item
        JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

        Browse

        All of UU Student Theses RepositoryBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

        ORGASM IS GENDERED: a feminist exploration into the (hetero) sexual lives of young women

        Thumbnail
        View/Open
        Orgasm is gendered_Lorenza Mazzoni_FINAL VERSION PDF.pdf (1.381Mb)
        Publication date
        2011
        Author
        Mazzoni, L.
        Metadata
        Show full item record
        Summary
        Italian society is still facing an enormous “orgasm gap” in (hetero) sexual relations: according to a very recent survey (Barbagli and co., 2010) only a minority of women reach an orgasm in every sexual intercourse, in contrast with the vast majority of men; this is true even in the younger generations. I take the lack of orgasm as a starting point for studying how sexual behaviours are still under the reign of patriarchy, imposing male standards that privilege male pleasure at the expense of female. My research therefore aims to analyze from a feminist perspective the agency of young women in reaching an orgasm during a (hetero) sexual relation. Through the use of a “feminist objectivity” and a qualitative methodology I have conducted eight semi-structured in-depth interviews with young women in Bologna, Italy. In particular I have identified a series of widespread social discourse that prevent women from choosing orgasm, while causing them to live their sexuality with high doses of insecurity and inhibition. The lack of sexual knowledge, the taboo of women masturbation, the myth of the vaginal orgasm and the greater recognition of the sexual needs of men contribute to the gendering of orgasm and impede women to live their sexuality freely and satisfactorily.
        URI
        https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/9005
        Collections
        • Theses
        Utrecht university logo