Exploring the connection between pornography and sexual violence

This article examines the relationship between sexual violence and pornography. Data about women's experiences of sexual violence and their abusers' use of pornography were collected at a rape crisis center from 100 survivors. Findings include that 28% of respondents reported that their abuser used pornography and that for 12% of the women, pornography was imitated during the abusive incident. The effects of pornography on women's experiences of sexual violence are discussed.     

Qualitative inquiry into women's menopause experiences in southeastern Iran

Menopause is defined as amenorrhea for one year. Signs and symptoms are categorized as physical and psychological changes, including depression, hot flushes and ageing. Woman's responses to menopause are governed by lifestyle factors. The purpose of this study was to determine how Iranian women experience menopause and hormone therapy. A qualitative inquiry was conducted through semistructured, in-depth interviews to explore study questions in 11 menopausal women. Participants had positive and negative menopause experiences. Negative menopause experiences are due to severity of symptoms. Menopause can be facilitated by increasing women's knowledge about this phase and ways to cope with it.     

Changes in Korean Immigrants' Gender Role and Social Status,and Their Marital Conflicts

Based on survey and ethnographic research conducted in New York, this paper shows how the discrepancy between Korean immigrant women's increased economic role and persistence of their husbands' traditional patriarchal ideology causes marital conflicts and tensions. While only a small proportion of married women participate in the labor force in South Korea, the vast majority of Korean immigrant wives work outside the home, most working long hours. Parallel to the increase in Korean women's economic role, their husbands' provider role and social status have significantly weakened with immigration. Despite Korean women's increase in their economic role, most Korean husbands have not modified a rigid form of patriarchal ideology brought from Korea because they are socially segregated from the mainstream society. A big clash between Korean women's active economic role and their husbands' traditional patriarchal attitudes causes serious marital conflicts in many Korean immigrant families. In addition, Korean partners' (particularly husbands') frustrations over their downward social mobility, the long hours spent together in the family store, and their midlife crisis are additional causes of marital conflicts. Other contemporary immigrant groups, mostly from non-European, Third World countries, seem to encounter lower, but similar marital conflicts caused by sudden changes in women's gender role.     

Structural adjustment,women, and agriculture in Cameroon

This article assesses the impact of economic structural programs on the agricultural activities of women's groups in Cameroon, and explores women's ways of coping with the reduction in individual and family income and the loss of public services. It examines the role of 25 women's groups in both rural and urban areas of Cameroon's northwest and southwest provinces in a study conducted from April to June 1999. Economic structural adjustment caused a tremendous increase in the workload of women that are farming usually in lots distant from their homes that yield poor returns. Land for food-crop cultivation has become increasingly scarce, and inputs have become substantially unaffordable. Income generated from the sale of crops is inadequate to supply the economic and social needs of the family. Moreover, the burden of their work has increased as they cope with housework, child-care, and food production, in addition to an expanded participation in paid employment. Moreover, women spend longer working hours than men, meeting both household responsibilities and their outside work. Women have devised strategies to cope with this economic crisis, but they need organizations that will support them with the important resources to be able to operate. Rural women seem to be coping better than urban women cope. In extreme cases, some women in urban areas resort to prostitution to cope with life in this crisis setting.     

Women and philanthropy in Germany

In terms of finances, the state and non-profit organisations in Germany are closely interrelated; philanthropy has until recently played only a minor role. However, with the financial crisis of the German welfare state, philanthropy and fundraising have started to play more important and more visible roles since the early 1990s. Yet most women's organisations so far have neglected to tap or to develop private funding resources to a larger extent. While traditional women's associatiations still predominantly rely upon volunteerism, autonomous women's projects are heavily dependent upon government money. There is a huge untapped potential for philanthropy in Germany in general, and for women's causes in particular, and several examples show that many women are prepared to support women's causes when they are asked to do so. To foster philanthropy by and for women in the future will mean a strengthening of civil society in Germany.     

Determinants of women's perceptions of risk in battering relationships

Two studies have recently identified battered women's perceptions as a substantial predictor of reassault by their batterers. Only a few exploratory studies examine how women make these useful perceptions. We attempted to identify determinants of battered women's perceptions of reassault and safety using the 15-month follow-up of a multisite evaluation of batterer intervention. The regression analyses indicate that the perceived likelihood of reassault increased with men who were divorced or separated, heavy drinkers, and severely abusive in the past. The strongest determinant for perceptions of safety was the perceived likelihood of reassault. Also, the women's professed reasons for their perceptions corresponded to the actual determinants. The women's perceptions appear, therefore, to be grounded in practical circumstances and correspond to establish predictors of reassault. Further research is needed to identify the additional cues, processes, or intuitions that make women's perceptions such a strong predictor of reassault.     

Systemic lupus erythematosus and hormone replacement therapy

The indications for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in postmenopausal women is the treatment of climacteric symptoms and the prevention of osteoporosis. Women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are more likely to have a premature menopause, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. HRT can induce SLE flares and cardiovascular or venous thromboembolic events. Therefore it should not be used in women with active disease or those with antiphospholipid (aPL) antibodies. In general, it should be used only for patients without active disease, a history of thrombosis or aPL antibodies. Non-oral administration of estrogen is recommended because of its lesser effect on coagulation. With regard to the progestogen, progesterone or pregnane derivatives are preferred. Otherwise, non-estrogen-based strategies should be used.     

Crisis communication in higher education: The use of “negotiation” as a strategy to manage crisis

This case study examined the crisis response strategies of Louisiana State University after its women's head basketball coach resigned amid charges of inappropriate conduct with former basketball players. This case study draws on relationship management and negotiation as the theoretical lens to examine the efforts of the University in managing relationships and restoring its image. Data for this study was collected through opened-ended questionnaires from students, faculty, and staff at the University. The findings from this study indicate that the good reputation of the University was responsible for the positive evaluation of the crisis management. In addition, results from this study suggest that “negotiation” can play an important role in managing a crisis when the conflicting parties are not willing to participate in a dialogue.     

Like mother, (not) like daughter: The social construction of menopause and aging

In recent American history, the definition of menopause has shifted from a natural, developmental transition to an increasingly more medicalized perspective that emphasizes biological deficits of the aging female body. Using qualitative data from two generations of women, this essay explores how and why this redefinition has occurred and what effect it has had on women's attitudes toward health and aging. The physical experiences of menopause were remarkably similar across mother-daughter pairs; however, daughters (who represented a slice of the baby boom cohort) differed from their mothers in how they talked about menopause, how they defined and treated menopause, and how willingly they accepted or fought the changes associated with menopause. Major social institutions, including the media and pharmaceutical industry, have played a significant role in reshaping the cultural lens through which women experience issues of health, body, and aging. This essay emphasizes the baby boomers' desire to maintain control over their bodies and considers how this cohort of women, as a result, may experience late-life issues of body and health.     

THE CONSEQUENCES OF CARING:

Sociologists of emotion have examined the ways that workers are required to manage their emotions on the job, while studies of family emotion work reveal the effort involved in providing emotional support at home. Analyzing data collected from married or cohabiting women hospital workers, we examine the relations between women's job and family emotion work and the effects of both on women's job-related well-being. Consistent with "scarcity" views of women's emotional energy, we find that performance of family emotion work has negative consequences for women's job-related well-being. Consistent with "expansion" perspectives, however, women who perform some emotional labor on the job are more likely than other women to perform family emotion work. Our findings support a view that incorporates elements of both scarcity and expansion perspectives. We conclude that the job-related well-being of women hospital workers is less influenced by performance of emotional labor at work than it is by women's and their partners' involvement in family emotion work.     

Management of premature menopause

There has been some confusion among women and health professionals since the publication of the Women's Health Initiative and Million Women studies about the management of premature ovarian failure (POF). Both studies were undertaken in women aged 50 and over, and cannot be extrapolated to their younger counterparts, who would normally be producing their endogenous estrogen, since they have functioning ovaries. Estrogen-based replacement therapy is the main stay of treatment for women with POF and is recommended at least until the average age of natural menopause (52 years in the UK). This view is endorsed by regulatory bodies such as the Committee on Safety of Medicines (now the Commission on Human Medicines) in the UK. No evidence shows that estrogen replacement increases the risk of breast cancer to a level greater than that found in normally menstruating women, and women with POF do not need to start mammographic screening early unless other risk factors are present, such as family history.     

Education and changing reproductive behavior in Ghana

It has recently been posited by several researchers that a fertility transition is under way in Ghana. Such fertility decline would be the first instance on the west coast of Africa. Data from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey allows closer assessment of this earlier speculation. Review of the data suggests that earlier assertions of the existence of fertility transition were premature and hastily drawn from fragmented evidence. Little evidence exists to support any hypothesis of a fertility turnaround in ghana. The findings are, however, cautiously optimistic with some indication that continued increases in the proportion of women with some secondary education may yet induce a fertility transition in the country. The author notes the lack of individual motivation to reduce fertility in Ghana and questions the merit of continuing family planning programs in such an atmosphere. Measures to reach men in family planning messages and to expand the level of women's education are recommended. Success in reducing fertility in Kenya as a result of increasing women's education is noted.     

What women talk about. Sexuality issues of chemically dependent women

1. In group discussions on sexuality, the topics discussed most often by recovering chemically dependent women were incest and sexual child abuse; rape; sex while sober; values regarding sex; battering; women's health concerns; and coping strategies. 2. Addressing sexuality in an unstructured format allows the women time to deal with these issues as they are able, since strong emotions are evoked. 3. The group leader needs to be knowledgeable about sexuality and be comfortable with explicit sexual and abuse talk.     

A double-edged sword: challenging women's oppression within Muslim society in northern Nigeria

This paper reports the consequences experienced by Islam women attempting to reform gender relations among Muslim societies in northern Nigeria. The article also examines the problems encountered and its relation to the ideas, plans, and programs of gender and development (GAD) programs. In Muslim communities, few men or women disagree with the content of the GAD program aimed at addressing women's practical needs and interests, or the reform of gender relations. However, many question the GAD program on principle, viewing them as illegitimate because they are "Western" in nature. In line with this, many Muslim activists may have been branded as Western agents, funded by foreign powers to undermine Islam. As a result of this attitude, fund sources show mistrust to organizations which have religious affiliation, which further affects the aim of the organizations which is to address Muslim women's needs. Furthermore, the GAD program, which focuses solely on women's issues, only created an impression that only women are vulnerable to Western influences. The program also suggests suspicion on the issue of gender and development which hardened their stand against interventions to promote women's interests and needs. Finally, the difficult and fragile relationship between Islamic women's organization and international donor organizations, which are predominantly from Western societies with a Christian heritage, perpetuates the marginalization of Muslim women activists in the transformation of their society and religion.     

The Relationship Context: Its Effects on Low-Income Women's Desire for a Baby

Little is known about the influence of relationship characteristics on a woman's desire for a baby with her partner. This study addresses that gap, using data from a study of 1,114 low-income women in the southeast who were in a relationship. Controlling for sociodemographic factors, women who were in more established relationships, who had not had a previous child with their partner, or who had higher expectations of their partner were generally more likely to want a baby with him. In investigating women's childbearing desires, it is important to consider not only individual characteristics but also women's relationship characteristics.     

Jobs for Mothers: Married Women's Labor Force Reentry and Part-Time,Temporary Employment in Japan

This paper explains the increase in middle-aged women reentering the labor force in Japan and their concentration in part-time or temporary employment. Existing explanations attribute women's concentration in part-time employment too narrowly to supply or demand factors. In Japan, both the labor supply of middle-aged women and the demand for part-time workers have increased, but these conditions channel middle-aged women into part-time or temporary employment only when systematic barriers obstruct their access to full-time jobs. Because it plays an important role in women's employment decisions, the rigidity of standard, full-time employment needs greater attention in studies of nonstandard, atypical types of work.     

Women and work in rural Taiwan: building a contextual model linking employment and health

This paper is based on ethnographic research in a rural Taiwanese village in which married women with children are a major source of labor for local industry. Responsibility for job and home exposes these women to repeated stressors that can increase their susceptibility to illness. Existing explanatory models linking employment and women's health, however, do not explain adequately the women's response to their wage labor and the consequences of the social aspects of their work on their health. This paper describes women's work and its meaning, and discusses the way in which micro phenomena such as meanings and health states are linked to macro phenomena such as national political-economic processes and the world capitalist system.     

At Midlife, Intentionally Childfree Women and Their Experiences of Regret

Based on the author’s exploratory qualitative study of the experiences at midlife of 15 intentionally childfree married or partnered women, this paper focuses on one finding and related themes. A constructivist grounded theory methodology guided data collection in many areas of midlife, including regret, menopause, and relationships. The data suggested that for most in the study, menopause, perimenopause, and reaching midlife did not awaken feelings of regret over their decision to live childfree. The author discusses implications for clinical work with childfree women at midlife.     

Epilepsy in older women

Women suffering from epilepsy require special attention throughout their life. In this review, management of epilepsy during the periods of perimenopause, menopause and late maturity is discussed. The effect of epilepsy on age at menopause, changes in seizure frequency during perimenopause and menopause, and the risks of hormone replacement therapy are also presented. Altered antiepileptic drug pharmacokinetics with increasing age and the management of this vulnerable population is also discussed.