Eye of the Beholder? Sociocultural Factors in the Body Image and Sexual Well-Being of Heterosexual Women

ABSTRACT. Participants (124 heterosexual women) completed measures of thin-ideal internalization, discrepancy between perceptions of actual and ideal figure (DISC_SELF), perceptions of the discrepancy between estimates of partner's view of actual and ideal female figure (DISC_PART), body image, and sexual well-being. We found support for the proposed perception-of-partner pathway in that greater DISC_PART was associated with poorer body image, which in turn was associated with poorer sexual well-being. However, we found little support for a link between thin-ideal internalization or DISC_SELF and sexual well-being. The results suggest that heterosexual women's beliefs about how their partners view them are important to their sexual well-being.     

Validity and reliability of the Italian Gambling Functional Assessment–Revised

Problem gambling is a growing phenomenon in Italy, and there is increasing interest in studying the reasons for gambling in the Italian community. The Gambling Functional Assessment–Revised (GFA-R) was developed to assess two contingencies maintaining gambling behaviour: positive reinforcement and escape. The study hypothesized that the GFA-R could be translated and adopted in the Italian context. The main purpose of this study was to test the factor structure of the Italian version of the GFA-R by means of confirmatory factor analysis, its internal consistency and validity, in a sample of 667 Italian-speaking adults, recruited at universities, banks, of?ces, industries, markets, public parks and shops in five regions: Piemonte, Veneto, Lazio, Calabria and Puglia. The study found that the scale was internally consistent, and results showed that the original two-factor model fitted the data well. It also found moderate correlations between the GFA-R-I and both SOGS scores and GRCS scores. These results will allow Italian psychologists, educators and policymakers to identify specific contingencies maintaining gambling behaviour (positive reinforcement vs. escape) in the Italian community, detecting people more at risk of developing disordered gambling, with significant improvements in terms of prevention and clinical intervention.     

An Examination of the Reliability of the “What If” Situations Test: A Brief Report

ABSTRACT

One of the primary barriers to evaluating child sexual abuse prevention programs is the limited availability of measurement tools with demonstrated psychometric properties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the internal and test-retest reliability of the “What If” Situations Test (WIST) to determine its utility as an evaluation tool for young children. The WIST contains six scales designed to assess children's abilities to recognize, resist, and report inappropriate touching. The WIST was administered to 406 preschoolers involved in five previous studies. Internal and test-retest reliabilities of the six scales met research standards, supporting the internal consistency and temporal stability of the WIST. Advantages and limitations of the measure are presented and validation issues are then discussed.     

‘Women of the Wild Geese’: Irish Women,Exile and Identity in Spain, 1750–1775

This study focuses upon the experiences of first and second generation Irish female migrants in Spain during the mid-eighteenth century. Recent scholarship has sought to place Irish migrants in Europe within a broad context of assimilation. The experience of Irish communities in Spain appears to have been particularly positive, with the Irish as a group being awarded equal citizenship at the beginning of the seventeenth century. However, the gendered experience of Irish assimilation into Spanish society has received limited scholarly attention. This essay analyses the experiences of two groups of Irish women living in Spain: women who lived in religious communities and the female members of one of the most elite families to have migrated from Ireland. The lives of the daughters of Ignatius White reveal the ways in which Irish women worked their way into spheres of power and influence, including the Spanish court. The networks and activities of these women show a crystallisation of the ambitions of many Irish from the first and second generation to be born in Spain. The relationship between these women, their kinship groups and their networks of power and influence offers a positive and successful example of Irish female migrant experience.     

Reading “Rights of Desire” and “Rights of Opacity” in J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace

This article argues that the novel Disgrace points toward a politics of illegiblity and opacity that aligns more readily with anti-identitarian queer theory instead of rights- and recognition-based human rights discourses. Through an extended consideration of the relation between national allegory, history, and legibility, I argue that the novel sustains two interpretations of the category of lesbian—first, the national allegorical reading that erases her rights of lesbian desire in the transmission of racialized and sexual historical debts and second, Lucy's refusal of legibility as a lesbian in the national narrative and legal structures.     

A “shift in attitude”? Institutional change and sexual and gender-based crimes at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

ABSTRACT

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has been slow to address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) crimes perpetrated during the Democratic Kampuchea regime. However, there appears to have been a tentative “shift in attitude” at the ECCC toward the investigation and prosecution of these crimes. This article draws on feminist institutionalist theories, first to explain the ECCC’s initial failure to prioritize SGBV and then to explain how and why this may have changed. The article suggests that such change has not arisen from the ECCC’s formal rules. Instead, various actors working with and around these “old rules” have drawn on these provisions, civil society initiatives and international and national gender norms to modify “informal” practices concerning the prosecution of SGBV at the ECCC. Sensitivity to SGBV is particularly important in hybrid, or internationalized, international criminal structures, which may be hindered by prohibitive practices emerging from both the international and national components of the institution.     

Reshaping tradition? Women negotiating the boundaries of tradition and modernity in Hong Kong and British families

In debates on social change and personal life, modernity has generally been conceptualized in opposition to tradition, though some have pointed to the persistence of traditional values and practices within modern family relations. In this paper we seek to extend these debates beyond their largely Eurocentric context. Drawing on a comparative qualitative study of women and social change in Britain and Hong Kong, we argue for an understanding of the traditional and the modern that takes account of the ways in which tradition is reshaped in the context of modernity. The accounts of young adult women and their mothers in Hong Kong and Britain reveal varied interpretations of family obligations and practices in relation to normative ideals of family life in each context. We consider how configurations of family life deemed ‘modern’ are inflected by the differing traditions and histories of Hong Kong and British society and argue that these differences are not only cultural, but also attributable to the material conditions under which family relationships are forged and negotiated.     

“Whosoever Looketh on a Person to Lust After Them”: Religiosity,the Use of Mainstream and Nonmainstream Sexually Explicit Material,and Sexual Satisfaction in Heterosexual Men and Women

While previous research has generally found that religiosity is associated with negative attitudes toward sexually explicit material (SEM) and a lower frequency of SEM use, no studies have examined the relationship between SEM type and religiosity. In addition, it is unknown how the interrelations between religiosity and type and frequency of SEM use influence the relationship between SEM use and sexual satisfaction. Here, associations among a multi-item religiosity scale (consisting of measures of self-reported faith in God, religious services attendance, and the religiosity of the respondent’s social network), SEM use, type of preferred SEM, and sexual satisfaction were explored using a large online sample of Croatian adults (N = 2,580). In both men and women, religiosity was associated with less frequent SEM use and more SEM-negative attitudes. Guilty feelings following SEM use and SEM-negative attitudes fully mediated the association between religiosity and SEM use among women and partially mediated the relationship for men. Religiosity was also negatively correlated with women’s nonmainstream SEM use. For women, religiosity significantly moderated the association between SEM use and sexual satisfaction, as well as the relationship between nonmainstream SEM use and sexual satisfaction. In line with the erotic plasticity theory, the findings suggest that religiosity affects SEM use and related sexual satisfaction more substantially among women than men.     

Women at the Change of Life——Comparisons of Menopausal Symptoms of Women in Urban and Rural Areas

IT is very important to talk about women's life quality when they approach the age of menopause. The results of a research investigation on the Mental and Health Condition of Rural/Urban Women at Menopause and the Common Mental and Health Problems of Women at Menopause and its Treatment in Nanjing, reveal that the incidence of     

What Gets Covered? An Examination of Media Coverage of the Environmental Movement in Canada

This article analyzes press releases from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Greenpeace (GP) to assess how their tactics and frames affect the amount of coverage they receive in The Globe and Mail and National Post from 2000 to 2010. While it is clear that some tactics are more likely to garner media coverage, the full range of tactics and frames are not effective for all groups. For example, calling to the public to engage in a social issue leads to increased media coverage for GP but not WWF. And, using research does not affect media coverage for WWF, but decreases coverage for GP. This study demonstrates that the effect of tactical choices on media coverage is contingent on the identity of the group using them.     

Leadership in Voluntary Associations: The Case of the “International Association of Women”

Three models of leadership in voluntary associations have been proposed in the literature: democratic leadership, oligarchy, and leadership by default. Through an intensive case study of leadership structure, differences in the attitudes of members and leaders at three hierarchical levels, and differences between the attitudes and behaviors of aspirants and nonaspirants to leadership in a women's service association, this article examines the degree of fit between these models and a specific organization. Data is drawn from questionnaires, annual reports, and interviews. The results fail to conform to any of the existing models, suggesting instead a fourth model, leadership for self-development—in which leaders are motivated primarily by a desire to develop administrative and interpersonal skills.     

Variations of the same? A sectoral analysis of the gender pay gap in Germany and Austria

Germany and Austria are two countries with a comparably and persistently high gender pay gap. Further, both countries are classified as conservative welfare states where the male breadwinner model has been only partly modernized and strong corporatist structures shape working conditions. At the same time, welfare policy and provision are not only based on but also shape gender‐related norms, beliefs and assumptions that are virulent for job valuation and collective bargaining. Against this background the article analyses similarities and differences regarding the gender pay gap in Germany and Austria. While both countries show significant similarities regarding the causes for the gender pay gap, there are some differences regarding legislation and further policies with which the gender pay gap could be reduced. Arguing that the institutional framework strongly influences income opportunities for women and men, the article provides a sectoral analysis of the financial and insurance sector and the human health sector in both countries. Using qualitative data from a recent research project, it is argued that in the classification of a sector as ‘female’, the sectoral income level combined with different wage‐setting mechanisms have a crucial impact on wage inequalities between women and men.     

Rising Rates of Cohabitation and the Odds of Repartnering: Does the Gap Between Men and Women Disappear?

Men are more likely to repartner than women. This pattern might reflect gender disparities in barriers to repartnering. When rates of cohabitation increase, the gender disparity might shrink, as cohabitation is a less institutionalized form of coresidential partnership and therefore has lower entry barriers in comparison to marriage. Using event-history models applied to Czech data from the Generations and Gender Survey, we show that the odds of repartnering were indeed higher among men than among women in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. No significant change in the gender effect, however, was found. Similarly, the analysis revealed no change in the effect of gender on the odds of entering cohabitation rather than marriage.     

Negotiating freedom: Women of colour and the transition to free labour in Cuba, 1870–1886

This article argues that women of colour were central to the process of the legal transition to free labour in Cuba. Through an examination of legal appeals for freedom – which were often facilitated by new opportunities created by transition legislation – it shows that women were motivated by factors such as their families and frequently by their position as urban domestic servants. They could also make use of gendered understandings of slavery and freedom, which were socially prevalent although not legally enshrined. The paper argues that a focus on women and gender may have important implications for our understanding of Cuba's transition to free labour and of some of the constructions of citizenship and nationhood with which it was entwined.     

Increasingly Strange Bedfellows? An Examination of the Inclusion of Disability Issues in University- and Agency-based Social Work Education in a Welsh Context

Previous research has indicated relative reluctance among student social workers to plan future careers working with people with physical impairments. This continuing longitudinal study followed one cohort of undergraduate social work students from induction, to investigate and contribute to the development of effective curriculum strategies in preparing students for contemporary generic social work practice in relation to disability issues. A mixed methodology approach utilising questionnaires and focus groups was used to track the development of social work student perceptions of their preparedness for working with disabled people at different points in their education.

Preliminary results revealed that while personal experience is a strong determinant of future interest in working within a particular service area, the use of case studies designed and delivered in conjunction with service users, carers and current practitioners appeared to be a particularly positive method of encouraging students to reflect upon real-life challenges within a safe environment. Results also suggest that interweaving features of a curriculum infusion model with a distinct module approach may moderate the gap that is perceived by students as remaining stubbornly prevalent between university- and agency-based learning.     

The Definition and Treatment of Bulimarexia in College Women — A Pilot Study

Abstract

In this study of college women we defined “bulimarexia” as a cyclical eating disorder characterized by bingeing/purging behaviors and abnormally low self-esteem. Binge-ing was the presenting symptom rather than starvation, as is the case with primary anorexia-nervosa. A new experiential-behavioral approach adapted to a feminist perspective was utilized. Improvements in the experimental group on Body Cathexis scores and on a number of personality dimensions from Cattell's 16 PF questionnaire were found. Binge-ing behavior was eliminated or attenuated in 10 of 12 cases. However, follow-up testing revealed a tendency to drift back to pretest levels attitudinally, indicating that this syndrome is extremely persistent. Results underline the importance of socio-cultural factors in female role-definition and reinforce the view of bulimarexia as related to the struggle to achieve a “perfect” stereotyped female image in which women surrender most of their self-defining power to others.