A CAMERA WITH A VIEW JenniCAM, visual representation, and cyborg subjectivity

Hailed as the originator of the digital camera 'homecam' phenomenon, Jennifer Ringley has garnered national media attention for her website, JenniCAM (Ringley 1998c), which offers viewers a constant window into the bedroom of a young woman through internet technology. Using the JenniCAM website as my primary text, I examine how Jenni integrates flesh and machine in the formation and display of a cyborg subjectivity, a hybridized identity (re)presented through the new technology of the digital camera. Towards that end I use feminist film theory to demonstrate how the construction and display of the female body-via the medium of digital camera-transforms our readings of gendered bodies as sites of knowledge production and pleasure. I assert that JenniCAM, a cyborg subject created through the integration of the electronic image and the internet, exposes more than just flesh. JenniCAM reveals cultural tensions surrounding epistemological conceptions of vision, gender, and identity and raises questions for future conversations regarding the role of technology in the representation and construction of gendered subjects.     

Baricco,A.: Omero,Iliade

RJB Review of Journals and Books

Baricco, A.: Omero, Iliade     

A SOCIOLOGICAL, OFFENDER-BASED, STUDY OF RAPE

This study contributes to the etiological research on rape by expanding the range of predictor variables and by including comparable violent offender and non-offender populations. The study is based on interview data from 38 convicted rapists, 59 convicted nonsexually violent offenders, and 65 non-offenders matched on age, race, and neighborhood of residence during adolescence. Discriminant analysis is employed with these three populations and four sets of discriminating variables: (1) demographic and family background variables, (2) affective experiences, (3) school and dating experiences, and (4) legal and offense-related experiences. The results show that, in general, we are better able to discriminate between offenders and non-offenders than between rapists and other violent offenders. However, affective experiences, in particular a history of sexual abuse, clearly predict sexually violent behavior. The results are discussed in light of existing rape research and the more general predictive research on antisocial behavior.     

A Contractual,Working Separation

This paper presents a contract and the rationale for its use with couples who recognize that their marriage is on the edge of divorce. In order to obtain individual perspective as to the future of their union, and their expectations about marriage and divorce in general, the couple can choose to live separately under controlled and structured conditions. The counselor plays an active part as mediator and facilitator, The author has had two years of experience with this type of contract. It has been successful in reconaliation of couples to a new concept of marriage and in achieving personal growth.     

A Reply to Theodori,Luloff, Brennan,and Bridger

Theodori et al. (2016) take issue with our presentation of the interactional field theory of community, asserting that, according to interactional field theory, (1) community does not equate with community field; (2) community does not emerge out of the community‐oriented actions of individuals; as well as making various other charges. In our reply, we refute their points, and demonstrate how Theodori et al., themselves, often provide the best evidence against their own arguments.     

A Study of Adopted Children,Their Environment,and Development: A Systematic Review

The study explores the developmental consequences for children who have been adopted. The comparison group is comprised of their non-adopted siblings or children in foster homes or group care. A search in scientific databases resulted in more than 3,300 hits about adoption. Among these, 56 fulfilled the selection criteria from 17 studies across more than 2,000 adoptees and controls. Adopted children scored higher on IQ, school-performance, and lack of behavioral problems than their non-adopted siblings or peers who stayed behind in orphanages or foster homes. The results from OECD countries were similar to those from studies in Chile, Lebanon, and India.     

Symbols,anxiety, and ritual: A functional interpretation

This article deals with the relationship between symbols and ritual. The thesis is advanced that the human capacity for symbol production creates disruptive problems as well as adaptive advantages and that ritual serves as one major mechanism for controlling these disruptive aspects. Symbolic awareness greatly expands an organism's psychological field, and it is argued here that this expansion in turn generates problems of information organization, extended awareness of threat and amplification of appetitive drives. These extensions of consciousness are potentially disruptive and anxiety producing to the individual and may threaten group coherence as well. We maintain that by structuring symbolic expression, ritual behavior serves the important function of delimiting the proliferative tendencies inherent in symbol production and thereby helps to control this disruptive potential.     

DISINFLATION,INEQUALITY, AND WELFARE IN A TANK MODEL

We investigate the redistributive and welfare effects of disinflation in a two-agent New Keynesian model characterized by limited asset market participation and wealth inequality. We highlight two key mechanisms driving our long-run results: (1) the cash in advance constraint on firms working capital; (2) dividends endogeneity. These two channels point in opposite directions. Lower inflation softens the cash in advance constraint and, by raising labor demand, lowers inequality. But disinflation also raises dividends and this increases inequality. The disinflation is always welfare-improving for asset holders. We obtain ambiguous results for non-asset holders, who suffer substantial consumption losses during the transition. (JEL E31, E5, D3, D6)