Using hegemonic masculinity to explain gay male attraction to muscular and athletic men

This article reviews relevant research on male homosexual attraction. Utilizing masculinity as its theoretical frame, the authors use childhood experiences with both fathers and peers, the gay community's inculcation of heteronormative ideologies, and the gay media's adherence to masculine prototypes, to provide causal explanations for the appeal of muscular, lean, and athletic physiques. While the authors acknowledge that not all individuals within the gay community look toward muscularity and athleticism as the primary components of attractiveness, it nonetheless remains important to examine the theoretical perspectives that may explain the appeal of this specific aesthetic.     

Impact of Hysterectomies on Women's Lives:

One of the most common surgical procedures in the United States today is the hysterectomy. Although many women have experienced symptoms that can interfere significantly with day-today functioning, they may hesitate to have surgery because of concerns about trading one set of problems for another. The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate the difference in a woman's quality of life after having a hysterectomy, including the incidence of depression and the effect of social support.     

Discursive manoeuvres and hegemonic recuperations in New Zealand documentary representations of domestic violence

This article examines the production and promotion of A&;E's Rollergirls (2006), a US docu-soap featuring the Texas Roller Derby Lonestar Rollergirls (TXRD), the league that revived roller derby as a sport for female amateurs. Focusing on the representation of TXRD skaters in Rollergirls, as well as A&;E's promotional campaign for the series, this analysis is contextualized in relation to the role of female athleticism in contemporary US commercial culture. Relying on practices long used to trivialize women sports figures, Rollergirls' portrayals of TXRD skaters suggest ambivalence towards female athleticism as well as a desire to contain the gender-bent and sexually agential performances at the heart of women's roller derby. In addition to revealing the challenges television producers face in the representation of female athletes and other nonconformist women, the research offered here hopes to expand feminist television criticism beyond its conventional focus on fictional texts while also broadening feminist studies of sports media, which have centered primarily on news coverage.     

"Josh wears pink cleats": inclusive masculinity on the soccer field

In this ethnographic research of a college-based soccer team at a large liberal college in Northeast America, I document the existence of more inclusive versions of masculinity that contrast conventional understandings of male teamsport athletes. Using participant observation and 21 in-depth interviews, I show that these men demonstrate metrosexual and inclusive behaviors and attitudes. The styles of masculinity these men enact are more relaxed, liberal, and inclusive; they are well styled, well groomed, gay friendly, and they are emotionally and physically close to other men. They are far removed from the traditional orthodox sporting masculinities of previous generations. Symbolizing their difference, their gendered expressions also extend to the wearing of pink soccer boots (cleats), without homophobic judgment from teammates. I discuss the wearing of pink cleats as a symbolic sociological moment, revealing the changing nature of masculinities among this group of college-based soccer players.     

Families,Work, and the Lives of Older Women

No abstract available for this article.     

Effect of Family Planning on Women's Lives in China

I.BackgroundFertilityhasdeclinedprecipitouslyinChinaoverthepastthreedecades,sotherearegenerationsofChinesewomenalivetodaywhohavebeenaffectedverydifferentlybyfamilyplanning.China'stotalfertilityrate(TFR)fellfrommorethansixchildreninthe1950stoaroundtwo...     

Ski Hunter. Lesbian and Gay Couples: Lives,Issues, and Practice

It is said that the study of Psychopathology in the elderly ultimately led to the understanding of normal a eing. In our paper, the authors interest focused on the attitudes of ti emented patients towards dolls and tried to understand the meaning of those attitudes. In this paper, dolls were regarded as playing a role to reduce or eliminate existence anxiety. The authors pointed out the importance of understanding the way elderly dementia patients insisted on the existence of themselves in the background of attitudes which are commonly superficially regarded as childish phenomena.     

Reflections on the First Century of Colonization

Journal of Population Research -     

The Effect of HIV-Discordance on the Sexual Lives of Gay and Bisexual Men in Mexico City

Drawing upon 44 in-depth interviews with men in HIV-discordant gay couples (only one man is HIV-positive) in Mexico, I explore whether being aware of the risk of primary infection or re-infection leads to protected sex. The results have policy implications, as the findings show that a significant number of men have participated in unprotected sex. An explanation is that these men perceive unprotected sex as an expression of commitment to their relationship. On the other hand, those who reported always using protection during sex perceive that guarding each other's health provides mutual benefit and shows their commitment to their relationship.     

Efficiency and equity as goals for contemporary U.S. immigration policy

As the United States has entered its postindustrial stage of economic development, mass immigration has again become a distinguishing feature of the U.S. economy. In all of its diverse forms, immigration presently accounts for anywhere from one-quarter to one-third of the annual growth of the U.S. labor force. By the turn of the 21st century, it could conceivably comprise all of such growth.Immigration is the one aspect of population and labor force growth that public policy should be able to shape and control. Unfortunately, however, the extant public policies that govern the size and composition of the immigrant and refugee flows are largely unrelated to emerging economic considerations.The revival of mass immigration is not taking place in a vacuum. Indeed, it appears that the labor market is being radically transformed. The demand for labor is increasingly favoring those workers with skill and education. There are diminishing needs for job seekers without these human capital endowments. On the labor supply side, it is unfortunately the case that the United States already has a significant number of adults who are ill-prepared for many jobs that are being created.To assist in this effort to enhance efficiency, immigration policy should be flexible. It should be capable of responding to changing domestic economic conditions. Currently, the nation's immigration policy is dominated by political motivations that give priority to family reunification and humanitarian goals. Immigration can be a short run means to provide skilled and educated workers to fill critical worker shortages. But in the long run, equity considerations derived from the nation's multiracial and multicultural character of the labor force also come into play. It is imperative that citizen workers be prepared for the high quality jobs in the growth industries of its postindustrial economy. Immigration must not inhibit market pressures from encouraging employers to provide better opportunities for training and employment of citizens.The obverse is also true. It is essential that immigration does not provide only workers who can be employed in the declining occupations and industries. With a sizeable adult illiteracy problem already, the nation can ill-afford to increase the pool of unskilled and poorly educated workers, which increases the competition among such workers for the shrinking number of jobs available to them.     

Walk like a man: enactments and embodiments of masculinity and the potential for multiple genders

With this chapter, I explore the potential of drag king performance as a tool of deconstructing gender. I begin with a brief examination of the ways that gender is constructed as natural through the repetition of a set of norms, noting the pervasiveness of these norms and their location at the center of cultural imagination. I then turn to the idea of drag as a practice of subverting these norms through breaking their repetition. I argue that drag king performance, through its failure to approximate the "natural male," draws attention to the very constructedness of the category, and thus of all naturalized categories of gender. Using the budding Edmonton drag king scene as a case example, I discuss some of the ways that drag kings take queer theory and gender deconstruction out of the classroom and into practice. I speculate as to the effectiveness of such practices in the realm of queer theory, pointing to the ways that these performances may be read to reinforce rather than subvert gender norms. I also look at the complexities of "passing" gender performances, such as transsexual or transgendered practices, and the ways that these practices align or do not align with performances intending to fail. I propose that the emergence of these practices is in itself a beginning step toward a reevaluation of normative gender, and toward a radical reinvention of new gender possibilities.     

Family Planning and its Effects On the Lives of Women in China

China'sbirthlatehasdeclineddramaticallysincethegovernmentinstituteditsone-childpercouplepolicyin1970.Whilepopuationgrowthhasslowedandtileeconomyhasprospered,littleisknownabouthowtilewidespreadavailabilityoffamilyplanninghasaffectedindividualwomenandmeninChina.Tolearnmore,theChinaPopulationInfromationandResearchCentre(CPIRC)conductedastudyintwocountiesintheNorthAnhuiProvinceandtwocountiesintheSouthJiangsuProvince.SouthJiangsu,aspartoftheeastcoasteconomicboomarea,hasexperiencedarapiddecli…     

Photos of breastfeeding in uniform: contesting discourses of masculinity,nationalism, and the military

This discourse analysis examined posts in online comment boards about two different photographs of military mothers breastfeeding in uniform to unpack the Discourses that underlie criticism of nursing servicewomen. News coverage in 2012 of a photo of two air-force mothers breastfeeding negatively characterized it as controversial. The news framing in 2015 of a similar picture of 10 army mothers was more positive, presenting it as progressive. This analysis investigated whether the audience responses to the visuals evolved along with the media narrative, and it examined which Discourses were deployed by commenters to critique the military mothers. Discourses of Good Motherhood, the Good Worker, and Sexuality were all found to fuel distain for breastfeeding in public, while Discourses of Military Masculinity, Masculine Nationalism, and Women’s Progress Undermines the Military were aimed specifically at breastfeeding servicewomen.     

A Maternal Heart: Angelina Jolie,choices of maternity,and hegemonic femininity in People magazine

In the last decade practices of celebrity transnational adoption have garnered a significant amount of media attention. Through an analysis of transnational adoption as a site of morality where ideals of femininity are enacted and embodied, this paper brings together celebrity studies, theories of maternity, and literature on adoption in pursuit of studying hegemonic femininity as a social phenomenon spread by media discourses. Focusing on Angelina Jolie as an epistemic individual, this paper draws on concepts of female moral authority, global motherhood, and successful femininity to explore the ways transnational adoption adheres to norms of femininity and norms of racial hierarchy in an era of autonomy and choice. In a critical discourse analysis of articles covering Jolie’s transnational adoptions from People magazine, narratives of choice, individualism, and mobility emerge. Such narratives contribute to Jolie's hegemonic position as a globe-trotting, mobile figure of successful femininity made possible by her position in gendered, raced, and classed hierarchies. Jolie's presence in the mediascape continues to signal boundaries of femininity through choices enabled and constrained by historical ideals of motherhood, global dynamics of transnational adoption, and expectations of female moral authority.     

Private Lives in Public Places: Loneliness of the Homeless

At the dawn of the 21st century, both loneliness and homelessness are more pervasive than we would possibly like to admit. In this study, the experience of loneliness of the homeless was compared to that of the general population. Two hundred and sixty six homeless and 595 men and women from the general population answered a 30 item yes/no questionnaire. The experience of loneliness is composed of the following five factors: emotional distress, social inadequacy and alienation, growth and discovery, interpersonal isolation, and self-alienation. The present results indicated that the experience of loneliness for the homeless is significantly different than that of the general population. Gender main effects were explored and discussed.     

Creating Retirement Paths: Examples from the Lives of Women

Through in-depth interviews with 40 retired women diverse in age, marital status, ethnicity, income, and occupational background, we explored how women experience retirement. Following our analysis, we identified five retirement pathways: family-focused, service-focused, recreation-focused, employment-focused, and disenchanted retirements. These pathways represent dominant activities and interests at the time the women were interviewed and challenge the cultural portrayal of retirement as an unvarying life stage. The participants' narratives provide a glimpse into the pathways retired women create by revealing the complexity of later life and the changing nature of retirement.     

农民市民化—对旧问题的新探讨

农民是我国最大的社会群体,也是对社会发展产生深远影响的阶层.农民市民化是农民实现自身身份、社会角色和职业方面转变的过程,关系到我国社会主义现代化以及社会结构变迁的过程.本文拟在全面解读农民和市民的含义的基础上,借鉴国内外已有的理论研究,分析现行政策壁垒和制度障碍,为撂索解决我国城镇化进程中的农民市民化问题提出可行性建议.     

Reflections on the demographic conditions needed to establish a U.S. stationary population growth

Abstract It is assumed that in the long run U.S. population growth will have to cease, as otherwise life will become physically impossible. Various hypothetical possibilities of achieving such a type of development are investigated. Alternatives of reproduction rate trends are considered in terms of alternatives of interactions of assumed age-specific fertility and mortality trends and these are computed and evaluated. The various computations then indicate the nature of childbearing attitudes and behaviour, which the 'average population' would have to adopt in order to achieve the desired stationary population growth after a certain period of time. On the other hand the results presented in the paper also indicate that a certain population growth (of the order of 30-50%) and change in age structure is inevitable in the coming 5-10 decades given the initial childbearing behaviour.