Risking safety and rights: online sex work,crimes and ‘blended safety repertoires’

It has been well established that those working in the sex industry are at various risks of violence and crime depending on where they sell sex and the environments in which they work. What sociological research has failed to address is how crime and safety have been affected by the dynamic changing nature of sex work given the dominance of the internet and digital technologies, including the development of new markets such as webcamming. This paper reports the most comprehensive findings on the internet‐based sex market in the UK demonstrating types of crimes experienced by internet‐based sex workers and the strategies of risk management that sex workers adopt, building on our article in the British Journal of Sociology in 2007. We present the concept of ‘blended safety repertoires’ to explain how sex workers, particularly independent escorts, are using a range of traditional techniques alongside digitally enabled strategies to keep themselves safe. We contribute a deeper understanding of why sex workers who work indoors rarely report crimes to the police, reflecting the dilemmas experienced. Our findings highlight how legal and policy changes which seek to ban online adult services advertising and sex work related content within online spaces would have direct impact on the safety strategies online sex workers employ and would further undermine their safety. These findings occur in a context where aspects of sex work are quasi‐criminalized through the brothel keeping legislation. We conclude that the legal and policy failure to recognize sex work as a form of employment, contributes to the stigmatization of sex work and prevents individuals working together. Current UK policy disallows a framework for employment laws and health and safety standards to regulate sex work, leaving sex workers in the shadow economy, their safety at risk in a quasi‐legal system. In light of the strong evidence that the internet makes sex work safer, we argue that decriminalisation as a rights based model of regulation is most appropriate.     

Male dominance and sexism on YouTube: results of three content analyses

This study conceptually and empirically extends a study by Wotanis and McMillan in which the authors claimed that female video producers are underrepresented on YouTube and receive much more negative (including hostile and sexist) feedback than male YouTubers. Using quantitative content analysis, this study supported the claim of female underrepresentation. Among the top 100 most subscribed YouTube channels in nine different countries (N = 900 channels), with a statistically significant proportion of only 25%, female video producers were strongly underrepresented. Additionally, a second content analysis of N = 2,400 video comments directly replicated the original study’s main quantitative results. This analysis confirmed that the popular female US comedy YouTuber Jenna Mourey (“JennaMarbles”) received much more negative (including hostile and sexist) feedback than her male counterpart Ryan Higa (“nigahiga”). However, a third content analysis of N = 6,000 video comments from five other pairs of comparable comedy YouTubers did not reveal that women’s videos generally attract a larger number of negative video comments. Possibly, women attract more negative comments only if they display their sexuality (like Jenna Mourey) or address feminist topics, but not if they conform to gender role expectations. Future research directions and practical implications are discussed.     

A synaptic common sense? McLuhan’s tactility and electronic media rhythms

In Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhen proposed that tactility would eventually become a determining factor in electronic media, leading to the formation of a new kind of “common sense.” This article investigates whether by exploring this idea we are able to arrive at an alternative theoretical framework for understanding tactility, a framework that avoids the tactile-optic distinction and the understanding of tactility as a sensation primarily innervated through the bodily part of the hand. McLuhan’s notions of “acoustic space” and “contraction” are directly related to this breakthrough. It is further argued that the resulting theoretical framework can be enriched when considered in conjunction with social analyses of rhythms and used to account for the differentiation and customization or individualization of media use in the digital age. In this way, tactility is treated as embedded within rhythmic signals and fluctuations in media, allowing us to rethink McLuhan’s “common sense” in a singularly illuminating way.     

‘Warren Buffet is my cousin’: shaping public understanding of big data biotechnology,direct-to-consumer genomics,and 23andMe on Twitter

Scholars, educators, regulators, pundits, and other observers are advocating for regulation and oversight of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genomic testing. As a result, the technology has been subject of highly visible public and regulatory controversy. In this article, we explore the nature and the shape of the sentiment of public discourse about the DTC company, 23andMe. We conduct a quantitative content analysis and qualitative framing analysis on Tweets. We find that the discourse surrounding DTC genomics and 23andMe is largely positive. We also identify a number of frames users deploy to debate, discuss, and share their experiences with DTC genomics and 23andMe. We argue that these frames create meaning around this emerging technology for its users.     

Deciphering blog users: young adults’ personalities,motivations, and perceived importance of blog features

The present study examines the cyberpsychology of blog readership as well as the digital content preferences of the Millennial generation by examining the links between college students’ personality traits, motivations to read blogs, and preferred blog features. Results indicate that personality influences motivations for reading blogs, which in turn helps predict perceived importance of blog characteristics. Notably, extraversion and neuroticism were related to reading blogs for social interaction; extraversion negatively predicted use of blogs to meet identity needs; openness was related to blog reading for entertainment purposes; and conscientiousness was positively associated with information seeking via blogs. Additionally, motivations for blog readership as explanatory mechanisms for the relationships found between personality traits and perceived importance of blog features are discussed.     

The impact of testosterone replacement therapy on glycemic control,vascular function,and components of the metabolic syndrome in obese hypogonadal men with type 2 diabetes

Objective: This study set out to assess effects of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) on parameters of metabolic syndrome and vascular function in obese hypogonadal males with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2).

Study design: Fifty-five obese hypogonadal diabetic males on oral hypoglycemic treatment were enrolled into this one-year, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study. Group T (n?=?28) was treated with testosterone undecanoate (1000?mg i.m. every 10?weeks) while group P (n?=?27) received placebo.

Methods: Anthropometrical and vascular measurements – flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and intima media thickness (IMT) – biochemical and hormonal blood sample analyses were performed at the start of the study and after one year. Derived parameters (BMI, HOMA-IR, calculated free testosterone (cFT) and bioavailable testosterone (BT)) were calculated.

Results: TRT resulted in reduction of HOMA-IR by 4.64?±?4.25 (p?p?p?=?.005).

Conclusion: TRT normalized serum testosterone levels, improved glycemic control and endothelial function while exerting no ill effects on the study population.     

The echo chamber is overstated: the moderating effect of political interest and diverse media

ABSTRACT

In a high-choice media environment, there are fears that individuals will select media and content that reinforce their existing beliefs and lead to segregation based on interest and/or partisanship. This could lead to partisan echo chambers among those who are politically interested and could contribute to a growing gap in knowledge between those who are politically interested and those who are not. However, the high-choice environment also allows individuals, including those who are politically interested, to consume a wide variety of media, which could lead them to more diverse content and perspectives. This study examines the relationship between political interest as well as media diversity and being caught in an echo chamber (measured by five different variables). Using a nationally representative survey of adult internet users in the United Kingdom (N?=?2000), we find that those who are interested in politics and those with diverse media diets tend to avoid echo chambers. This work challenges the impact of echo chambers and tempers fears of partisan segregation since only a small segment of the population are likely to find themselves in an echo chamber. We argue that single media studies and studies which use narrow definitions and measurements of being in an echo chamber are flawed because they do not test the theory in the realistic context of a multiple media environment.     

语义场理论对科技术语翻译的启示从——“水资源管理”一词的英汉互译谈起

科技术语在不同语言之间的翻译是一个复杂的语义匹配过程，如何在考虑相关术语使用现状的基础上将新产生的科技术语准确翻译为其它语言是科技工作者和术语研究者关注的重要问题。以语义场理论为分析框架，通过分析以"水资源管理"及其相关术语为代表的英汉互译，结果发现：不同科技术语在同一语义场所涵盖的语义范围将会随着相关研究深化带来的术语界定细化而发生相应的动态变化；新兴科技术语的翻译要充分考虑其所在语义场其它相关科技术语的翻译先例和使用现状所带来的影响，在翻译准确性和解读便利性之间做出适当的平衡。这是造成"水资源管理"及相关术语英汉互译处理极为复杂的重要原因之一，需要科技翻译者在工作实践中多加注意。     

Relationship management through social media influencers: Effects of followers’ awareness of paid endorsement

This study aimed to examine the effects of awareness of paid endorsements by social media influencers on followers’ cognitive persuasion knowledge (ad recognition), attitudinal persuasion knowledge (relationships with the influencer), and behavioral intentions, specifically eWOM intention and purchase intention. Employing an online survey (N = 269), this study found that awareness of paid endorsement relates to ad recognition, which is correlated with purchase and eWOM intentions. We also found that awareness of paid endorsement is correlated with influencer-follower relationship, which is associated with purchase and eWOM intentions. However, ad recognition does not affect influencer-follower relationship. Implications for public relations theory, practice, and policy are discussed.     

Security branding and digital narrations. Security issues representation on Twitter

In the contemporary multicentric world, sovereign states have to manage carefully the construction of their image, defining their role and aspirations. With the re-definition of the state centric politics, stories become relevant: communication is a form of power, and networked forms of communication are becoming progressively a way to conquer the transnational public spheres. Through strategic narratives of foreign politics, states try to set up the ‘tales’ of international affairs and foreign strategies, to suggest a world vision, a causal interpretation, determining frames that affect transnational actors’ position in the international environment. Sovereign states develop these kind of frame using tools and theories referred to the commercial branding tradition to promote and support their own policies and identity. We decided to investigate how that process is made through information diffusion on digital platforms.

In this work, it has been analyzed the content presented through Twitter posts by the Foreign Ministries accounts of four different States dissimilar for geopolitical positioning and security concerns (USA; Israel; France; Sweden), for a period of three months (9/1/2015-11/30/2015); leading to the identification of different models and characteristic patterns of self-representation.

The thematic content analysis, based on the identification of macrocategories and micro-issues, has led to the identification of different models and characteristic patterns of self-representation, determined by domestic vicissitudes, and has shown some regularities, caused by the branding vocation of autobiographical online contents.