Department of Psychology

Gender and Critical Psychology Group

The Department of Psychology is involved in numerous research groups including the gender and critical psychology group.

Kia Ora and welcome to The Gender and Critical Psychology Group (GCPG) at The University of Auckland. Our aim is to encourage and support research in critical psychologies, feminist psychology and gender and cultural studies.

The GCPG consists primarily of psychology staff and their graduate students, who meet approximately once a week during semester to discuss theory, data and practice of critical psychology. We also host visitors at regular conferences/symposia, and organise wider departmental seminars by visiting academics.

The editorial office for the Sage journal Feminism & Psychology, which is edited by Nicola Gavey and Virginia Braun, is based within the GCPG.

Feminism & Psychology journal website

A number undergraduate and postgraduate courses related to our field are available within the Department.

Undergraduate Courses

PSYCH 208: Producing Psychological Knowledge – good methodological background
PSYCH 306: Research Methods in Psychology – module on qualitative methods
PSYCH 311: Advanced Social Psychology – module on critical social psychology
PSYCH 319: Psychology and Gender – whole course focused on this approach and area

Postgraduate Courses

PSYCH 743: Critical Qualitative Research
PSYCH 755: Gender, Power, and Sexuality

For more information, or if you would like to visit and present your work please contact us via the details below.

Current Coordinator of the GCPG
Nicola Gavey
Email: n.gavey@auckland.ac.nz

Gender and Critical Psychology Group members

Dr Virginia Braun: Senior Lecturer

Research interests
In my research, I am interested in examining the relationship between the social, the scientific and the individual, in relation to bodies, sexuality and health. My research examines the influence of culture and society on individual choices, thoughts, feelings and behaviours, as well as on broader issues like public health policy and practice. My research is specifically influenced by feminist, social constructionist, and discursive theory and practice, and tends to employ qualitative methodologies. I am engaged in three main projects related to (women's) health, sexuality, the body, and popular culture: These projects are ‘the social contexts of STI transmission’, ‘female genital cosmetic surgery’, and ‘sexuality in higher education’. Previous research has been on ‘sexual coercion among gay and bisexual men’ (with John Fenaughty and Nicola Gavey), ‘sex in long-term relationships’, 'the vagina', cervical cancer (prevention policy), and safer heterosex. Details of all current and previous projects, and publications from them, can be found on my staff profile.

In addition, I am interested in questions of research, and am working with Dr Victoria Clarke (University of the West of England, UK) on the area of ‘thematic analysis’, and writing a book on qualitative research (for Sage).

Dr Nicola Gavey: Associate Professor

Research interests
I have wide-ranging interests within a critical psychology of gender. The central focus of my research has been on understanding and challenging the ways in which normative cultural values and practices support rape and sexual coercion. One strand of my current research involves a critical analysis of contemporary understandings of the impact of rape, and theorizing the implications of a trauma lens for a wider logic of sexual violence prevention. Also related to sexual violence prevention and a broader ethic of equality in sexuality, she is interested in examining gendered norms of identity, embodiment, and practice. This includes an interest in physical feminism and the possibilities for transgressive femininities in relation to sport, for instance; as well as the gendered norms and values reiterated within so-called ‘sexualised’ ideals and further promoted within industrialized sex (pornography, prostitution, and so on) and ironically normalized and contained within the rhetoric of neoliberalism and postfeminism. Other key interests include violence against women, biomedicalization, and activism.

Sue Cowie: Senior Tutor; Doctoral Student

Research interests
My research interests are around women's experiences of major life transitions and the struggles between careers, relationships and raising children in New Zealand today. In this context, I am also interested in women's experiences of depression, recovery and re-experience. I am currently completing PhD research in this area and interviewed 22 women who had previously experienced postnatal depression prior to and after the birth of their second child.

Gareth Terry: Post-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 masculinities, (hetero)sexuality and men's health. Research projects I have been involved in have included: the place of sex for heterosexual men in long term relationships; (so called) 'celibacy' as a potential form of disruption to the notion that sex is an imperative for men; and the discourses that surround and support unwanted sex among men who have sex with men. For my PhD I explored the meaning of vasectomy in New Zealand and how a man’s choice to take 'reproductive responsibility' for a couple was made by a number of men. I theorised this choice in relation to other important aspects of masculine identity and a 'contraceptive economy' that exists within heterosexual relationships.

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 Farvid: Doctoral Student (PhD submitted)

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. My Masters research looked at young heterosexual women's experiences of casual sex, within a feminist social constructionist theoretical framework. For my PhD, I conducted 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 and in-depth analysis of ‘casual sex’. My doctoral thesis explored casual sex from multiple trajectories, examining its historical emergence, its scientific construction, the representations of casual sex in sociocultural context (on the internet and in self-help books), and the construction of casual sex in the personal narratives of heterosexual men and women (aged 18-46). I’m currently working on publications from my doctorate as well as some other research projects. One of these projects is a collaboration with Barry Reay (from History) on the historical emergence of casual sex (1900-1960) and the other is with Sue Jackson (from Victoria University) on a Marsden project examining ‘tween’ girls’ everyday experiences of sexualised media. Other research interests of mine include the intersection of Islam, gender and power, as well as the debated tensions between/within Islam and feminism(s). In 2011 I plan to visit Iran to carry out some observational/ethnographic research exploring gender, sexuality and power relations between men and women within that country.

Jade le Grice: Doctoral Student

Research interests
I am interested in Kaupapa Maori and critical approaches to psychology that elucidate and transform power dimensions that maintain the subordination of those in marginalised positions within gender, culture, and sexuality.

Research Kaupapa: He pēpi, he taonga: Māori perspectives on fertility, reproduction, and pregnancy. In my doctoral research I hope to explore Maori perspectives on fertility, reproduction and pregnancy, which tend to be absent from academic and media accounts in this area. Through individual interviews with Maori wahine and tane, and Maori key stakeholders in this area, I hope to outline the various ways societal and whanau influences on, and cultural and personal values manifest in, participants experiences. I hope to stimulate further korero around Māori experiences and tikanga related to fertility and reproduction. From my participant’s korero I also hope to make recommendations to health services and policy to better serve Māori who have children.

Alex Li: Masters student

Research interests
My Master’s thesis aims to explore the meanings of a range of genital practices that women engage in such as waxing, designer vagina and sex from a feminist psychology framework. The project has a focus on queer women (i.e., lesbian, bisexual-identified women, or non-heterosexual women) and is inclusive of heterosexual-identified female participants for the purpose of a wide coverage of opinions and thoughts on related topics. My other research interests include a range of feminist issues such as domestic violence, heteronormativity and LGBT research.

Gemma Tricklebank: Honours Student

Research interests
For my Honours project I am looking at lay perceptions and ideas about pubic hair and pubic hair removal. I am interested in the apparent cultural shift which has seen both men and women increasingly engaging in pubic hair removal. I am also interested to see if and how strongly these perceptions are gendered. In addition, I am training in Clinical Psychology. As I plan to work with Māori in the future, I am also interested in critical qualitative research involving Māori, and our health and well-being.

Ela Przybylo: Visiting Student from the University of Alberta

Research interests
My Masters project pertains to the identity category of asexuality. Examining asexuality from the perspective of feminist and queer theories, I am interested in considering in what ways and to what extent asexuality disrupts the core beliefs we hold, culturally, about sexuality and gendered sexual practices.

Gender and Critical Psychology Group resources

Gender and Critical Psychology sites