T Vares
Biographic Data
| ID | 8932 |
|---|---|
| NAME | T Vares |
| GIVEN NAMES | T |
| FAMILY NAME | Vares |
| SIGNATURE | VARES T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Canterbury |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2050-943X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 193 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
A ‘Feminist Instruction’
While there has been considerable research attention to how girls and young women understand and respond to feminism, there has been less research on how women come to feminism and become feminists. Given the rise in popular and digital feminisms, as well as the continuing repudiation of feminism by young women, an exploration of what sparks women’s feminist becoming or journey is timely. In this article, I draw on the data from 7 focus group int…
Women’s safety work on dating apps and rape culture
Women, Sexuality and
Western thought is underpinned by hierarchical binaries or dualisms such as mind/body, culture/nature, masculine/feminine, active/passive, to name but a few. Within this framework, “woman” is associated with characteristics such as passive, responsive, and inferior. These are constructed in opposition to “man,” described as active, aggressive/predatory, and superior. The cultural investment in binarization, particularly between the two sexes, als…
When you delete Tinder it's a sign of commitment
In recent years there has been increasing academic attention to forms and practices of disconnection to social networking sites. However, there has been limited attention to non-use/departures, particularly with dating apps. In this article I draw on 27 interviews with previous and current users of dating apps to explore their practices of leaving/deleting their dating apps. For the majority of participants, leaving a dating app was due to 'succe…
Asexuals negotiate the ‘onslaught of the heteronormative’
Although theorizing and research about asexuality have increased in the past decade, there has been minimal attention given to the emotional impact that living in a hetero- and amato-normative cultural context has on those who identify as asexual. In this paper, I address this research gap through an exploration of the ‘work that emotions do’ (Sara Ahmed) in the everyday lives of asexuals. The study is based on 15 individual interviews with self-…
‘My [asexuality] is playing hell with my dating life’
While academic attention to asexuality has increased in recent years, there is still relatively little research into the relational lives of romantic identified asexuals, and less still on the gendered dimensions of these. This article aims to address these research gaps by examining the ways in which 13 self-identified romantic asexuals living in New Zealand experience and navigate dating practices/finding somebody. I employ a feminist poststruc…
‘Too many bad role models for us girls’
In recent years the ‘sexualization’ of pre-teen and younger girls has been a dominating presence in the media and popular press. Female celebrities’ hypersexual performances and styling, in particular, have been significantly implicated in claims about girls being launched into premature sexuality under the influence of their idols. Yet, despite the claims, relatively little is known about how pre-teen girls make sense of ‘sexualized’ media in re…
Preteen girls, magazines, and the negotiation of young sexual femininity
The focus on, and concern about, young girls and preteens or ‘tweens’ relates to the ‘sexualisation’ of girlhood and the notion that girls are ‘growing up too fast’ and becoming ‘too sexy too soon’. In both popular and academic accounts, ‘tween’ magazines and the increasingly ‘sexualised’ images in teen magazines have been framed as significant contributors to this process. Yet, research on the ways in which preteen girls read these magazines has…
Reading celebrities/narrating selves
Celebrities feature prominently in the media and popular cultural landscape of ‘tween’-aged girls. While there has been much speculation about the potential influence of celebrities such as Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens on ‘tween’ girls, particularly with respect to ‘growing up too fast’ and becoming ‘sexy too soon’, research with tweens is lacking. This paper draws on material from a research project that explores the ways in which some pretee…
Perfect skin', 'pretty skinny
The relationship between idealised femininity images in the media and girls' experiences of self and body has long been of interest to feminist scholars. Over recent years, this interest has organised around sexualised post-feminist media in which the female body must be worked upon towards norms of perfection, slimness and also ‘sexiness’. Approaches to researching relationships between girls' embodiment and media images within this post-feminis…
The whole playboy mansion image’
This article is located in contemporary feminist interrogations of postfeminism and postfeminist popular culture. Fashion articulates a postfeminist ideology through notions of empowerment via sexuality and consumption, and engages a postfeminist aesthetic of the ‘sexy’, desirable young woman. Recognising the potential complications of these postfeminist constructions and practices for embodied identities of girls within discourses of child innoc…
Preteen girls read 'tween' popular culture
Proliferation of the 'porn-chic' styled woman or girl in postfeminist media underpins contemporary debates about the effects of 'sexualizing' media on girls. Policy reports and popular books frame such media as a significant cause of harm, positioning girls as highly susceptible to their 'sexualizing' representations. However, what is absent from this literature and current debates are the perspectives of preteen girls themselves. In this article…
Reading the 'Sexy Oldie
In recent years there has been a cultural-scientific shift in the ways in which ageing and sexuality are represented. This has been most notable in the popular media where the predominant portrayal of asexual old age is increasingly accompanied by newer images of the 'sexy oldie'. While this shift counters conventional stereotypes of the asexual and disengaged elderly, the implications for seniors of such a change have not yet been adequately res…
Women, Sexuality and
Western thought is underpinned by hierarchical binaries or dualisms, for example, mind/body, culture/nature, masculine/feminine, active/passive, to name but a few. Within this framework, “woman” is associated with terms such as passive, responsive, and inferior. These are constructed in opposition to “man,” described as active, aggressive/predatory, and superior. The cultural investment in binarization, particularly between the two sexes, also pr…
Reconceptualizing cultural narratives of mature women's sexuality in the Viagra era
Spreading the Word, but What Word is That? Viagra and Male Sexuality in Popular Culture
Viagra was released in 1998 and, as Abraham Morgentaler so aptly wrote in his book The Viagra Myth (2003), ‘the world has not been the same since’. Representations of Viagra appeared in a variety of popular cultural and media texts and participated in the ‘craze’ known as ‘Viagramania’. Drawing on, and extending the work of Meika Loe, The Rise of Viagra (2004) in the United States, we explore some of the changes in depictions of Viagra and mascul…
The Discursive Condition of Viagra
This research investigates the socio-cultural implications of Viagra as a biomedical solution to a medically defined problem. This New Zealand-based research involved interviews with 33 men, to examine how they discursively constituted meanings around masculinity, erections, and the role of Viagra. It is argued that the relationship between discourses of mechanistic functionality of erections, the primacy of the male as performer, and the partner…
Sex for life'? Men's counter-stories on 'erectile dysfunction', male sexuality and ageing
Discourse on male sexuality in mid-to-later life has exploded in recent years (Gullette 1998). Attention to this topic has been spurred by the advent of (highly profitable) sexuopharmaceutical 'solutions' to erectile changes affecting older men. 'Success' stories abound in the media and in medical literature related to the restoration of faulty erections and ailing sex lives through drugs such as Viagra (sildenafil citrate), Uprima (apomorphine) …
Viagra stories
Hard Sell, Soft Sell
Viagra (known generically as sildenafil citrate) was released in New Zealand in 1998. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements represented Viagra as a panacea for men's sexual difficulties. The Research Medicines Industry Association of New Zealand (2000) claims that the Viagra DTC campaign removed the stigma associated with erectile dysfunction. However, in this paper we analyse participants' views that the advertisements also transform cultural …
The downside of Viagra
While much is known about the efficacy and safety of sexuopharmaceuticals used by men for the treatment of erectile difficulties, there remains a dearth of knowledge on the perspectives and experiences of their sexual partners. In particular, few studies have focused on the possible detrimental effects for women of Viagra use within a heterosexual relationship. In this paper we report on a qualitative study based in New Zealand, which involved in…
Framing "Killer Women" Films
Viagra stories
Reading the 'Sexy Oldie
In recent years there has been a cultural-scientific shift in the ways in which ageing and sexuality are represented. This has been most notable in the popular media where the predominant portrayal of asexual old age is increasingly accompanied by newer images of the 'sexy oldie'. While this shift counters conventional stereotypes of the asexual and disengaged elderly, the implications for seniors of such a change have not yet been adequately res…
The whole playboy mansion image’
This article is located in contemporary feminist interrogations of postfeminism and postfeminist popular culture. Fashion articulates a postfeminist ideology through notions of empowerment via sexuality and consumption, and engages a postfeminist aesthetic of the ‘sexy’, desirable young woman. Recognising the potential complications of these postfeminist constructions and practices for embodied identities of girls within discourses of child innoc…
The downside of Viagra
While much is known about the efficacy and safety of sexuopharmaceuticals used by men for the treatment of erectile difficulties, there remains a dearth of knowledge on the perspectives and experiences of their sexual partners. In particular, few studies have focused on the possible detrimental effects for women of Viagra use within a heterosexual relationship. In this paper we report on a qualitative study based in New Zealand, which involved in…
Sex for life'? Men's counter-stories on 'erectile dysfunction', male sexuality and ageing
Discourse on male sexuality in mid-to-later life has exploded in recent years (Gullette 1998). Attention to this topic has been spurred by the advent of (highly profitable) sexuopharmaceutical 'solutions' to erectile changes affecting older men. 'Success' stories abound in the media and in medical literature related to the restoration of faulty erections and ailing sex lives through drugs such as Viagra (sildenafil citrate), Uprima (apomorphine) …
Preteen girls read 'tween' popular culture
Proliferation of the 'porn-chic' styled woman or girl in postfeminist media underpins contemporary debates about the effects of 'sexualizing' media on girls. Policy reports and popular books frame such media as a significant cause of harm, positioning girls as highly susceptible to their 'sexualizing' representations. However, what is absent from this literature and current debates are the perspectives of preteen girls themselves. In this article…
Perfect skin', 'pretty skinny
The relationship between idealised femininity images in the media and girls' experiences of self and body has long been of interest to feminist scholars. Over recent years, this interest has organised around sexualised post-feminist media in which the female body must be worked upon towards norms of perfection, slimness and also ‘sexiness’. Approaches to researching relationships between girls' embodiment and media images within this post-feminis…
Reconceptualizing cultural narratives of mature women's sexuality in the Viagra era
Hard Sell, Soft Sell
Viagra (known generically as sildenafil citrate) was released in New Zealand in 1998. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements represented Viagra as a panacea for men's sexual difficulties. The Research Medicines Industry Association of New Zealand (2000) claims that the Viagra DTC campaign removed the stigma associated with erectile dysfunction. However, in this paper we analyse participants' views that the advertisements also transform cultural …
Reading celebrities/narrating selves
Celebrities feature prominently in the media and popular cultural landscape of ‘tween’-aged girls. While there has been much speculation about the potential influence of celebrities such as Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens on ‘tween’ girls, particularly with respect to ‘growing up too fast’ and becoming ‘sexy too soon’, research with tweens is lacking. This paper draws on material from a research project that explores the ways in which some pretee…
Preteen girls, magazines, and the negotiation of young sexual femininity
The focus on, and concern about, young girls and preteens or ‘tweens’ relates to the ‘sexualisation’ of girlhood and the notion that girls are ‘growing up too fast’ and becoming ‘too sexy too soon’. In both popular and academic accounts, ‘tween’ magazines and the increasingly ‘sexualised’ images in teen magazines have been framed as significant contributors to this process. Yet, research on the ways in which preteen girls read these magazines has…
Framing "Killer Women" Films
Women’s safety work on dating apps and rape culture
When you delete Tinder it's a sign of commitment
In recent years there has been increasing academic attention to forms and practices of disconnection to social networking sites. However, there has been limited attention to non-use/departures, particularly with dating apps. In this article I draw on 27 interviews with previous and current users of dating apps to explore their practices of leaving/deleting their dating apps. For the majority of participants, leaving a dating app was due to 'succe…
Framing "Killer Women" Films
Hard Sell, Soft Sell
Viagra (known generically as sildenafil citrate) was released in New Zealand in 1998. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements represented Viagra as a panacea for men's sexual difficulties. The Research Medicines Industry Association of New Zealand (2000) claims that the Viagra DTC campaign removed the stigma associated with erectile dysfunction. However, in this paper we analyse participants' views that the advertisements also transform cultural …
The downside of Viagra
While much is known about the efficacy and safety of sexuopharmaceuticals used by men for the treatment of erectile difficulties, there remains a dearth of knowledge on the perspectives and experiences of their sexual partners. In particular, few studies have focused on the possible detrimental effects for women of Viagra use within a heterosexual relationship. In this paper we report on a qualitative study based in New Zealand, which involved in…
Viagra stories
Spreading the Word, but What Word is That? Viagra and Male Sexuality in Popular Culture
Viagra was released in 1998 and, as Abraham Morgentaler so aptly wrote in his book The Viagra Myth (2003), ‘the world has not been the same since’. Representations of Viagra appeared in a variety of popular cultural and media texts and participated in the ‘craze’ known as ‘Viagramania’. Drawing on, and extending the work of Meika Loe, The Rise of Viagra (2004) in the United States, we explore some of the changes in depictions of Viagra and mascul…
The Discursive Condition of Viagra
This research investigates the socio-cultural implications of Viagra as a biomedical solution to a medically defined problem. This New Zealand-based research involved interviews with 33 men, to examine how they discursively constituted meanings around masculinity, erections, and the role of Viagra. It is argued that the relationship between discourses of mechanistic functionality of erections, the primacy of the male as performer, and the partner…
Sex for life'? Men's counter-stories on 'erectile dysfunction', male sexuality and ageing
Discourse on male sexuality in mid-to-later life has exploded in recent years (Gullette 1998). Attention to this topic has been spurred by the advent of (highly profitable) sexuopharmaceutical 'solutions' to erectile changes affecting older men. 'Success' stories abound in the media and in medical literature related to the restoration of faulty erections and ailing sex lives through drugs such as Viagra (sildenafil citrate), Uprima (apomorphine) …
Women, Sexuality and
Western thought is underpinned by hierarchical binaries or dualisms, for example, mind/body, culture/nature, masculine/feminine, active/passive, to name but a few. Within this framework, “woman” is associated with terms such as passive, responsive, and inferior. These are constructed in opposition to “man,” described as active, aggressive/predatory, and superior. The cultural investment in binarization, particularly between the two sexes, also pr…
Reconceptualizing cultural narratives of mature women's sexuality in the Viagra era
Reading the 'Sexy Oldie
In recent years there has been a cultural-scientific shift in the ways in which ageing and sexuality are represented. This has been most notable in the popular media where the predominant portrayal of asexual old age is increasingly accompanied by newer images of the 'sexy oldie'. While this shift counters conventional stereotypes of the asexual and disengaged elderly, the implications for seniors of such a change have not yet been adequately res…
Preteen girls read 'tween' popular culture
Proliferation of the 'porn-chic' styled woman or girl in postfeminist media underpins contemporary debates about the effects of 'sexualizing' media on girls. Policy reports and popular books frame such media as a significant cause of harm, positioning girls as highly susceptible to their 'sexualizing' representations. However, what is absent from this literature and current debates are the perspectives of preteen girls themselves. In this article…
The whole playboy mansion image’
This article is located in contemporary feminist interrogations of postfeminism and postfeminist popular culture. Fashion articulates a postfeminist ideology through notions of empowerment via sexuality and consumption, and engages a postfeminist aesthetic of the ‘sexy’, desirable young woman. Recognising the potential complications of these postfeminist constructions and practices for embodied identities of girls within discourses of child innoc…
‘Too many bad role models for us girls’
In recent years the ‘sexualization’ of pre-teen and younger girls has been a dominating presence in the media and popular press. Female celebrities’ hypersexual performances and styling, in particular, have been significantly implicated in claims about girls being launched into premature sexuality under the influence of their idols. Yet, despite the claims, relatively little is known about how pre-teen girls make sense of ‘sexualized’ media in re…
Preteen girls, magazines, and the negotiation of young sexual femininity
The focus on, and concern about, young girls and preteens or ‘tweens’ relates to the ‘sexualisation’ of girlhood and the notion that girls are ‘growing up too fast’ and becoming ‘too sexy too soon’. In both popular and academic accounts, ‘tween’ magazines and the increasingly ‘sexualised’ images in teen magazines have been framed as significant contributors to this process. Yet, research on the ways in which preteen girls read these magazines has…
Reading celebrities/narrating selves
Celebrities feature prominently in the media and popular cultural landscape of ‘tween’-aged girls. While there has been much speculation about the potential influence of celebrities such as Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens on ‘tween’ girls, particularly with respect to ‘growing up too fast’ and becoming ‘sexy too soon’, research with tweens is lacking. This paper draws on material from a research project that explores the ways in which some pretee…
Perfect skin', 'pretty skinny
The relationship between idealised femininity images in the media and girls' experiences of self and body has long been of interest to feminist scholars. Over recent years, this interest has organised around sexualised post-feminist media in which the female body must be worked upon towards norms of perfection, slimness and also ‘sexiness’. Approaches to researching relationships between girls' embodiment and media images within this post-feminis…
‘My [asexuality] is playing hell with my dating life’
While academic attention to asexuality has increased in recent years, there is still relatively little research into the relational lives of romantic identified asexuals, and less still on the gendered dimensions of these. This article aims to address these research gaps by examining the ways in which 13 self-identified romantic asexuals living in New Zealand experience and navigate dating practices/finding somebody. I employ a feminist poststruc…
Asexuals negotiate the ‘onslaught of the heteronormative’
Although theorizing and research about asexuality have increased in the past decade, there has been minimal attention given to the emotional impact that living in a hetero- and amato-normative cultural context has on those who identify as asexual. In this paper, I address this research gap through an exploration of the ‘work that emotions do’ (Sara Ahmed) in the everyday lives of asexuals. The study is based on 15 individual interviews with self-…
Women, Sexuality and
Western thought is underpinned by hierarchical binaries or dualisms such as mind/body, culture/nature, masculine/feminine, active/passive, to name but a few. Within this framework, “woman” is associated with characteristics such as passive, responsive, and inferior. These are constructed in opposition to “man,” described as active, aggressive/predatory, and superior. The cultural investment in binarization, particularly between the two sexes, als…
When you delete Tinder it's a sign of commitment
In recent years there has been increasing academic attention to forms and practices of disconnection to social networking sites. However, there has been limited attention to non-use/departures, particularly with dating apps. In this article I draw on 27 interviews with previous and current users of dating apps to explore their practices of leaving/deleting their dating apps. For the majority of participants, leaving a dating app was due to 'succe…
Women’s safety work on dating apps and rape culture
A ‘Feminist Instruction’
While there has been considerable research attention to how girls and young women understand and respond to feminism, there has been less research on how women come to feminism and become feminists. Given the rise in popular and digital feminisms, as well as the continuing repudiation of feminism by young women, an exploration of what sparks women’s feminist becoming or journey is timely. In this article, I draw on the data from 7 focus group int…
Sociology (21 works) · Gender Studies (17 works) · Psychology (17 works) · Human sexuality (13 works) · Gender, Feminism, and Media (12 works) · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology (11 works) · Political science (9 works) · Media studies (8 works) · Popular culture (7 works) · Social Psychology (7 works)