Kia Ora, and welcome to the pages of the Gender & Critical Psychology Group at The University of Auckland

From 2007, the journal Feminism & Psychology, co-edited by Nicola Gavey and Virginia Braun, is published out of the Gender & Critical Psychology Group (CGPG) at The University of Auckland.
The aim of the CGPG is to encourage and support research in critical psychologies, feminist psychology, and gender and cultural theory/studies, among staff and students. The GCPG consists primarily of psychology staff and their graduate students, who meet approximately weekly during semester time to  discuss theory, data and practice. We also host visitors at occasional meetings, and organise wider departmental seminars and group presentations from visiting academics. For information, or if you'd like to visit and present your work, please contact Nicola Gavey, who is currently co-ordinating the group.


Gender & Critical Psychology Group Members

Dr Virginia Braun (Senior Lecturer, Psychology)
Research interests My research interests lie in women's health, sexuality, the body, and popular culture. I am engaged in a number of different projects at present: the social context of STI transmission, female genital cosmetic surgery, and ideas of sex in long-term relationships. Previous research has been on 'the vagina', cervical cancer (prevention policy), and safer heterosex. I am the co-editor of the journal Feminism & Psychology.

Dr Nicola Gavey (Associate Professor, Psychology)
Research interests My research is broadly concerned with two converging sets of interests.  One is in the inter-relationships between gender, power, and sexuality, with particular interest in equity and social justice. The other concerns questions about the inter-relationships between discourse (culture) and subjectivity (psychology) in producing different possibilities for embodied human experience. Current and recent projects include:  ‘Rape narratives’ (an analysis of contemporary understandings of the impact of rape and an exploration of women’s accounts of the place of rape in their lives), Rape and sexual coercion among men who have sex with men (with John Fenaughty and Ginny Braun), The sociocultural implications of Viagra (with Annie Potts, Victoria Grace and Tiina Vares, University of Canterbury), Gender, power, and child custody (with Vivienne Elizabeth, Sociology and Julia Tolmie, Law), and SSRI antidepressants in sociocultural context (with Rachel Liebert). I am the co-editor of the journal Feminism & Psychology.

Dr Melanie Beres (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Research interests My research interests are in the areas of sexuality, sexual violence and women's health.  Stemming from my work coordinating an anti-sexual violence program, I am particularly interested in how couples negotiate their sexual experiences and communicate their desires with their partner(s).  Through my doctoral work I explored negotiation of heterosexual casual among young adults.  For my postdoctoral work I am interested in how popular images of sex, like those found in women's and men's magazines, on television and in popular movies, are interpreted by people viewing those images.  I am conducting focus groups with university students to discuss how they interpret these images.  In addition I am interviewing couples about how they negotiate their sexual activity.

Jeff Adams (Doctoral Student)
Research Interests My research interests include men's health, masculinities, alcohol and drug use. My ongoing PhD study explores issues around gay men's health. This research is investigating gay men's constructions of health, healthiness, and health promoting and demoting behaviours and activities, and considers the ways these are related to gay masculinities, identities, and cultural practices. The research has consisted of analysis of policy documents concerning gay men's health, interviews with key informants, and focus groups with gay men. I also work part-time at the Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SHORE), Massey University, where I am involved in public health research and programme evaluation.

Sue Cowie (Senior Tutor; Doctoral Student)
Research Interests are around women's experiences of major life transitions and the struggles between careers, relationships and raising children New Zealand today. In this context, I am also interested in women's experiences of depression, and my PhD research is focused on the experience of second time pregnancy and then early motherhood when women have previously experienced depression following the birth of their first child

Maia Eremin (Doctoral Student)
Research Interests My research interests lie in the area of critical psychology and its intersection with discourse and subjectivity, mental health, and the social construction of psychopathology and psychological disorders. My ongoing doctoral thesis critically explores how autism and the impact of autism on the family are constructed in the narratives of mothers and fathers of children with autism. The study will seek to theorise the implications of these constructions for the parents dealing with the effects of the child’s autism on the family life, and gender differences present in the constructions. It will also explore how the existing expert discourses of autism shape parents’ experiences, including the choice of treatment for the child, and how parents draw on these discourses to construct their parenting identities and practices.

Panteá (Pani) Farvid (Doctoral Student)
Research Interests Broadly speaking, these include heterosex, sexuality, gender and power. I’m also interested in the representations of sex/sexuality within medial/popular culture, and issues surrounding sexual health and sexual health promotion. My Masters research looked at young heterosexual women's experiences of casual sex, within a feminist social constructionist theoretical framework. For my PhD, I am conducting a broader project exploring contemporary heterosexualities and heterosex that occurs in different contexts (e.g., from committed relationships to ‘one-off’ sexual experiences) with a particular interest in the critical analysis of ‘casual sex’. For this project I am interviewing heterosexual men andwomen about their ideas and experiences related to sex, with the aim of delving deeper into the discursive constructions of practices associated with heterosex in different contexts. I’m also interested in accounts of desire, pleasure, the sorts of practices that are associated with heterosex, and the broader implications these may have for gender/power relations and heterosexual identities. If you think you might be interested in taking part in this project, see the details on our Research Activities page.

Jade le Grice (Doctoral Student)
Research Interests Broadly speaking, I am interested in critical approaches to clinical psychology, with respect to power dimensions imbued in gender, culture, and sexuality. In my doctoral research I hope to critically analyse psychological understandings of 'gender identity' problems where restrictive categories of gender do not afford scope for transgendered people, and position them as 'disordered.'

Bernadette Guerin (Doctoral Student)
Research Interests Critical approaches to the relationships between gender, power, and sexuality form the basis of my research interests. My doctoral research focuses on sex therapy practices, examining how the discourses of therapy, and of heterosex, enable and constrain respectful, critical sex therapy practice. I have undertaken interviews with sex therapists about their practices when dealing with the so-called sexual dysfunctions to see if any of the emerging feminist critiques of sexology, therapy, sex therapy, and the discourses of heterosex, as outlined in the academic literature, have filtered down into the everyday practices of sex therapy. My research includes a critical analysis of the ways in which the sociocultural context of sex therapy informs the discourses used by the participants and myself throughout the study. I am also interested in exploring ways in which sex therapy might enable alternative understandings of the meaning and practices of sex and/or pleasure; ones that are more empowering for women than current practices allow.

Victoria Inch (Doctoral Student)
Research Interests I am currently engaged in doctoral research on the various discourses of gender and sexuality that inform young people's understandings of heterosexual relationships, including how these are incorporated into and addressed by current sexuality education practices. My broader research interests lie in critical approaches to issues of gender and sexuality and, in particular, how they relate to the social construction of young people's sexuality. My current and previous employments in a variety of youth education and development roles keep up my enthusiasm for researching the well-being of young people.

Gareth Terry (Doctoral Student)
Research Interests My research focus is around the discursive formation of hegemonic masculinity in Aotearoa/New Zealand, especially as it pertains to understanding the intersection of masculinity and (hetero)sexuality. I have a particular interest in men’s performances of masculinity and heterosexuality as part of their overall identities. For my Honours I researched the place of sex for heterosexual men in long term relationships. For my MA I looked at (so called) 'celibacy' as a form of disruption to cultural discourses that sex is an imperative for men. For my PhD I want to explore the meaning of vasectomy in New Zealand. Of interest to this most recent research project is how a man’s choice to take “reproductive responsibility” for a couple is made and how it interacts with other important aspects of masculine identity.

FORMER MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES
Louisa Allen (Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education) – sexuality education, masculinities, sexuality, the body
Yasmin Aschebrock (Former Doctoral Student) – conceptualising delusions and hallucinations
Maree Burns (Former Doctoral Student; EDEN) – critical approaches to subjectivity and practice in the area of weight, body image and body management
Dr Vivienne Elizabeth (Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology) – gender, identities and power relationships within personal relationships, including domestic violence
Kim Jewel Elliott (Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Doctoral Student) - young people, hauora, wairua, education, and sexuality
John Fenaughty (Former Doctoral Student, NETSAFE) – sexual coercion among gay/bisexual men
Krasimira Kirova (Former Honours Student) – sexual coercion among gay/bisexual men
Rachel Liebert (Former Masters Student) – SSRI antidepressants in sociocultural context
Dr Timothy McCreanor (SHORE, Massey University) – 'race talk' and biculturalism, alcohol, youth
Dr Ray Nairn (Applied Behavioural Science) – media discourse on mental health
Debbie Payne (Senior Lecturer, Health Studies, AUT) – pregnancy, maternal age
Denise Ritchie (Former Honours Student, Stop Demand Foundation) – prostitution law
Leena St Martin (Clinical Psychologist, Gynaecology Services, National Women's Hospital and Private Practice) – feminist theory and heterosexual practices
David Semp (Former Doctoral Student) – mental health services and/for men who have sex with men
Kaisa Wilson (Former Masters Student) – women and sports

Gender & Critical Psychology Group Research Activities

Gender & Critical Psychology Group – Relevant Taught Courses

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
PSYCH 208 (S1, C): Producing Psychological Knowledge – introduction to all aspects of research
PSYCH 306 (S2, C): Research Methods in Psychology – lectures on qualitative research
PSYCH 311 (S1, C): Advanced Social Psychology – module on critical social psychology
Psych 319 (S2, C) Psychology and Gender – core course, critical psychology of gender


POSTGRADUATE COURSES
PSYCH 743 (S2, C): Critical Qualitative Research – core course
PSYCH 755 (S2, C): Gender, Power, & Sexuality – core course

Resources

Updated: August 10, 2009