Multiple Predictors of Korean Elderly Men's Leisure Participation

This study examines the leisure constraints experienced by elderly men and investigates how leisure constraints affect their level of participation in leisure activities. A convenience sampling of the independent elderly, sixty or older, residing in Seoul and the province of Kyenggi in Korea comprised the study sample. Of the total 275 participants, 164 were male. The study employed hierarchical multiple regression analysis including demographic, health status, financial status, and leisure constraint factors impacting participation in leisure activities. The findings of the study highlight the importance of interpersonal constraints of elderly men in leisure participation. The elderly men reported significantly higher levels of interpersonal constraints than the elderly women. Financial status factors, such as leisure allowance and employment status, were confirmed to be more influential predictors in determining the elderly men's leisure participation. Practice implications include considering interpersonal constraints or financial status to enhance elderly men's leisure life.     

Getting onboard: women, access and serious leisure

This paper explores women’s experiences of accessing serious leisure. It responds to a perceived tendency in contemporary feminist theories of leisure to celebrate women’s ability to weave potentially empowering identities from discursive resources in leisure spaces and experiences. While this work creates much needed theoretical space for the exploration of women’s agency and self determination within leisure, there is little critical attention given to how women may first negotiate the complexity of their gendered lives to gain access to these sites and experiences. By drawing on the accounts of forty women involved in the Sea Cadet Corps, a form of serious leisure, this paper argues that accessing leisure is still an important aspect of women’s leisure experiences. Women cited here engage in active and conscious practices and performances to both justify their access to leisure and to enable their disengagement from demands associated with normative femininity. This paper concludes that to sideline questions of access serves to conceptually dislocate leisure from the wider patterns of women’s everyday lives and limits our understanding of how women perceive, use and give meaning to their serious leisure participation.     

Mobilizing Gender to Promote Peace: The Case of Machsom Watch

The binary model that presents women as peaceful and men as warfaring is a common conception of war and peace. Despite increasing levels of gender equality in most spheres of public life and decreasing gender segregation in institutions in many parts of the world, the associational link of men to war and women to peace remains widespread. Focusing on the Israeli women??s peace organization, Machsom Watch, this article uses a content analysis of interactions between Machsom Watch activists, soldiers and Palestinians to examine how gendered political opportunity structures affect and are affected by interactions between individuals, organizations and institutions. The paper highlights the contradiction between Machsom Watch??s form as a women-only organization and their framing and report language, which is non-gender specific. I argue that this contradiction emerges from their strategic negotiation of the gendered political opportunity structure as well as their culturally bounded experiences of gendered interactions and embodied gender norms. More generally, I argue that by understanding political opportunity structures as being bound by cultural norms that create distinct sets of opportunities and constraints for different groups of people, scholars can better understand the particular manifestation of social movement action and thereby more fully account for human agency in social and political structures. Additionally, this paper encourages social movement scholars to understand social movement framing as both a product of political opportunities and constraints as well as an influence in the formation of the political opportunity structure.     

Precarious leisure: (re)imagining youth,transitions and temporality

ABSTRACT

The precarity of young people’s transitions to work has been a longstanding focus in youth studies. As Furlong and others have demonstrated, processes of social, political and economic restructuring have led to a pronounced instability for young people entering the labour market. While the notion of labour market precarity has gained attention, the ‘contamination’ of precarity into other spheres of life such as leisure has been less developed. This article seeks to extend these debates through interrogation of the concept of ‘leisure precarity’. Drawing on a qualitative study of youth leisure in Glasgow, it argues that temporal anxieties have reframed young people’s experiences and understandings of leisure such that young people have come to fear ‘empty’ or unproductive time. The pressures of juggling work and study, or looking for work, meant that most participants in our research had limited time free for leisure, and temporal rhythms became fragmented between past, present and future. The paper argues that these multiple and contradictory leisure dispositions reveal new forms of individualisation and uncertainty, as well as traditional patterns of inequality, thereby bringing youth transitions into dialogue with the study of precarity in the twenty-first century.     

How College Men Understand Unwanted Sex with Women

Recent studies have shown that heterosexual college men report unwanted sex at higher rates than one might expect. And yet, college men’s perceptions of unwanted sex with women have been studied infrequently. This study examines how men understand unwanted sex with women and the impact of these experiences. Thirty-nine men, aged 18–25, were interviewed using open-ended questions related to their unwanted sexual experiences. Our findings demonstrate how men frequently minimize unwanted sex by framing it as either funny, unimportant, or something that happens to women. However, we find evidence that men's attempts at minimization are not always successful and that some experiences are indeed upsetting and/or hurtful. Rather than treating all men as a homogeneous category, our analysis details the circumstances associated with more or less troubling experiences. We find that there are particular circumstances (e.g. incapacitation), as well as personal characteristics (e.g. virgin), that position men to be more distressed by unwanted sex. This heterogeneity of men’s experiences explains some, but not all, differences in effects. Our analysis reveals that in experiences described as mild to severe, men talk about unwanted sex in highly contradictory ways. We argue that these contradictions are evidence of broader cognitive and emotional work done by men to convince themselves that unwanted sex does not matter to them. Our findings raise the possibility that when men use hegemonic notions of masculinity to understand their unwanted experiences, these interpretations serve to minimize the emotional damage that men might otherwise report.     

Life Course,Gender, and Participation in Voluntary Organizations in Italy

This article investigates the gender differences in participation in voluntary organizations across the life course in Italy. It shows that three forms of engagement in voluntary organizations—donating money, attending meetings, and doing unpaid work—may depend on some stages of the life course—leaving the parental home, forming a union, and becoming a parent—as it is plausible that they may change personal resources and pose constraints or provide opportunities for involvement. Using the household survey “ISTAT Multipurpose Survey—Aspects of daily life”, the article finds that while leaving the parental home is positively associated with both men’s and women’s involvement, forming a union, and being a parent is detrimental for women’s involvement and not for men’s. This pattern indicates that gender roles may constrain more women’s than men’s probability of participation in voluntary organizations.     

Men and infertility: Insights from the sociology of gender

This review explores the framing of men and infertility in recent interdisciplinary social science research. I illustrate how men's diverse institutional roles surrounding medicalized experiences of infertility are critical for understanding inequality in reproduction. Situating research on men and infertility in the theoretical framework of gender as social structure shows how men's secondary position in reproduction can be seen across institutional roles, which include men as patients, men as partners, men as sperm donors, and men as doctors. Men's experiences with reproductive medicine often reinforce men's marginal position in reproductive medicine through institutionalized arrangements; yet, men are intimately and structurally involved in reproductive decisions. I argue that bringing gender to the center of research on infertility could make clear the many structural ways women and women's bodies are controlled, regulated, and treated by reproductive medicine.     

Gendered Identities in the Work of Overseas Tour Reps

Gender construction within the tourism and leisure industry is under‐researched. In this article, we draw on empirical research on overseas tour reps to consider the ways in which men and women working alongside each other in the same feminized role ‘do gender’. In particular we explore how these workers deal with the particular dilemmas of the sexualization of women at work and the men reps’ potential threat to their heterosexuality, in a role where the boundaries between work and play are ambiguous. We argue that reps reveal masculinities and femininities that comply with traditional expectations. Young men reps are portrayed in ‘laddish’ terms in relation to their engagement with alcohol and sexual relationships with guests. Women reps emphasize their role as providers of emotional labour and taking control of guests’ perceptions and report refraining from sexual relationships with guests. Even within the same work role in this case study, men and women appear to construct different work identities.     

Young people’s leisure patterns: testing social age,social gender,and linguistic capital hypotheses

We analysed young people’s leisure activities in order to identify their leisure habitus, discover how they combined activities into leisure patterns, and examine how leisure patterns were socially structured. We argue that the effects of age, gender, and language on how young people’s leisure patterns are structured are mediated by social class. We found that leisure practices could be classified in terms of three habitus: the frequent leisure habitus, the cultural activity habitus, and the social vs. entertainment habitus. The different combinations of these three leisure habitus by young people resulted in four patterns which we refer to as social, omnivorous, entertainment, and religious leisure patterns. The association of leisure patterns with indicators of social position suggests that, as predicted by our theoretical framework, age, gender, and language effects are diminished once we take into account the mediating role of social class. Young people’s leisure practices are therefore socially differentiated, with young immigrants forming a vulnerable group that should be the particular focus of youth leisure policies.     

Time Is of the Essence: An Analytic Autoethnography of Family,Work, and Serious Leisure

While leisure is often represented in public discourse as a realm of freedom and self‐actualization, for most adults the pursuit of serious leisure activities involves negotiating familial and professional constraints. Based on the author's autoethnographic experiences with sport skydiving, this article examines the familial and professional constraints that he has experienced, as well as the challenges to recreational skydivers posed by current trends in the sport. The author describes various only partly successful strategies he has used to manage the tensions between his skydiving pursuits, work, and family. Proposing his analysis as an example of “analytic autoethnography” the author concludes by considering the implications of his research for better understanding serious leisure pursuits more generally, as well as for answering the personal question, should I continue to jump out of planes?     

Sexual and gender identity work on social media

How do sexual and gender minorities use social media to express themselves and construct their identities? We discuss findings drawn from focus groups conducted with 17 sexual and gender minority social media users who shared their experiences of online harms. They include people with gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer, asexual, non-binary, pansexual, poly, and kink (LGBTQ+) identities. We find that sexual and gender minorities face several challenges online, but that social media platforms provide important spaces for them to feel understood and accepted. We use Goffman's work to explore how sexual and gender minorities engage in ‘front region’ performances online as part of their identity work. We then turn to Hochschild's concepts of ‘feeling rules’ and ‘framing rules’ to argue that presentations of self, or front region performances, must include the role of feelings and how they are socially influenced to be understood.     

Wanting to Be Seen: Young People’s Experiences of Performative Making Out

People engage in sexual behavior for many reasons, some of which require an audience (e.g., arousing onlookers, making someone jealous). In this study, we investigated the prevalence, motivations, and outcomes of young people’s experiences with performative making out—making out with someone and wanting others to see. Of the 155 female and 194 male college students who completed the online questionnaire, 32% of the women and 37% of the men reported having done this, often before entering college. Significantly more women than men reported same-sex performative experiences. We used thematic analysis to identify themes in the qualitative data. Participants’ motivations included enhancing their image, causing jealousy or envy, demonstrating a relationship, sexually arousing men, and participating in fun and games. Men reported that their reputations were enhanced more often than damaged; women reported the opposite pattern. These results provide insights into the functions of sexual behavior as a means of communication and highlight gender differences consistent with problematic cultural belief systems such as “slut shaming,” victim blaming, and sexual double standards.     

Not necessarily a place: How mobile transnational online workers (digital nomads) construct and experience ‘home’

This article adds to current research on mobile transnational online workers (digital nomads) who travel the world in search of a holistic lifestyle that balances work and leisure. Using Kannisto's (2014) and D'Andrea's (2007) work on ‘global nomads’ as a theoretical lens and Nowicka's (2007) research on mobile professionals as a guide, I discuss the multiple meanings of ‘home’ for digital nomads who stayed in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2019. I will show that people feel at home when travelling with a loved one or by surrounding themselves with objects of emotional value. Furthermore, digital nomads create a feeling of being at home by connecting with their family via social media and video calling apps, while at the same time keeping them at a comfortable distance. Finally, some digital nomads envision an idealized ‘home base’ that is defined by social relations and not necessarily by the geography or amenities of a place.     

Media Exposure or Pressure? The Mediating Role of Nonmediated Norms in Young Adults’ Body Esteem

This study explores how media use, sociocultural, and individual differences factors influence college students’ body esteem. Two hundred seventy-four college students participated in this online survey. Women reported lower body esteem than men. The influence of sociocultural pressure on body esteem was slightly more pronounced among men compared to women. Magazine reading and TV viewing had little bearing on body esteem. Sociocultural pressure was the most influential factor that contributed to both men and women’s low body esteem. Specifically, the most salient predictor of low body esteem for both men and women was influence from family and friends. Not only did peer and family pressure have a direct impact, they also mediated the impact of media pressure on body esteem. This study offers a prime location in which to integrate studies of media influence and interpersonal communication. Limitations and directions for future research are also outlined.     

Social media,empathy and interpersonal skills: social work students’ reflections in the digital era

ABSTRACT

This paper examines second-year social work students’ (n = 19) reflections on empathy as part of an interpersonal skills course at a regional university in Australia. Students were asked to consider their personal, online and classroom experiences, before responding to a reflective learning prompt: ‘Online communication is killing connection: (the Facebook Like symbol) does not equal empathy’. Qualitative analysis of their responses identified tensions between students’ engagement with social media and their developing understandings of empathy. Students reported an ease and confidence in the use of social media, but were also aware of the risks associated with perceived anonymity, shifting boundaries and an absence of audial and verbal cues in establishing context and quality of communication. Their reflections also suggested that the range of stimulus material used in the interpersonal skills course—including podcasts—had increased their social media awareness and their desire to improve their online interpersonal skills. The implications for professional and pedagogical objectives, as well as curriculum design are discussed.     

Women’s Experiences of Pornography: A Systematic Review of Research Using Qualitative Methods

Given the proliferation of pornography in personal, relational, and social realms, it is vital to understand women’s experiences of this accessible, stimulating, and versatile sexual material. We therefore conducted the first systematic review of research using qualitative methods published in English in peer-reviewed journals. Our search of five databases yielded 22 eligible articles. Thematic analysis of results revealed four broad themes: women encountering pornography, pornography and the self, pornography in the context of relationships, and making sense of pornography. Discussion of themes and subthemes included reflections on women’s explanations of intentional and unintentional encounters with pornography, conflicted perceptions of themselves in relation to female pornography actors, diverse perceived effects of pornography on intimate relationships, and tensions between women’s arousal to pornography and their values. It was evident that women’s experiences of pornography are complex and nuanced, often paradoxical, varying among and within individuals. Our synthesis of results and assessment of limitations suggest (a) that researchers need to define what they mean by pornography and specify any content used in their research and (b) that understanding would be enriched by research that is culturally contextualized and acknowledges public discourses about pornography.     

The first lady of social media: The visual rhetoric of Michelle Obama’s Twitter images

While American first ladies have long used media to craft their image, Michelle Obama is the first contemporary first lady to use social media to promote her public persona. We use the lens of symbolic convergence theory to explore the fantasy themes incumbent in images shared through Michelle Obama’s Twitter account. Since first ladies have long been perceived as representing the American “everywoman,” understanding the fantasies built into the social media image of the first lady extends knowledge about the perception of American women more broadly. Our findings indicate that Michelle Obama’s Twitter images are strategic in that they reflect the visual themes that the media traditionally use in their coverage of first ladies. Specifically, Michelle Obama’s social media messaging portrays her as an activist mother—who espouses noncontroversial causes such as education and children’s health—and a nonpartisan figure with deep familial ties.     

Experiencing parenthood,care and spaces of hospitality

Drawing on research conducted in Australia and the United Kingdom, this paper explores how parenting and care provision is entangled with, and thus produced through, consumption in hospitality venues. We examine how the socio‐material practices of hospitality provision shape the enactment of parenting, alongside the way child‐parent/consumer‐provider interactions impact upon experiences of hospitality spaces. We argue that venues provide contexts for care provision, acting as spaces of sociality, informing children's socialization and offering temporary relief from the work of parenting. However, the data also highlight various practices of exclusion and multiple forms of emotional and physical labour required from care‐providers. The data illustrate children's ability to exercise power and the ways in which parents’/carers’ experiences of hospitality spaces are shaped by their enactment of discourses of ‘good parenting’. Finally, we consider parents’/carers’ coping behaviours as they manage social and psychological risks associated with consumption in such public spaces of leisure.     

What Would You Sacrifice? Access to Top Management and the Work–life Balance

This article is based on a current research, combining quantitative (human resources figures and statistics) and qualitative data (60 interviews with career managers, top managers and high potential talents, both men and women), conducted in a major French utility company on the subject of diversity and more specifically on the issue of women's access to top management positions. The main purpose of this research is to understand the difficulties women may encounter in the course of their occupational career linked to organizational aspects, including the ‘glass ceiling’ processes, informal norms related to management positions (such as time and mobility constraints) and social and cultural representations attached to leadership. The other perspective of this research focuses on the different strategies women and men build either to conform to the organizational norms or bypass them. The issue of work–life balance are therefore addressed both from a corporate/organizational standpoint and an individual and family perspective.     

The Race and Class Privilege of Motherhood: TheNew York Times Presentations of Pregnant Drug‐Using Women1

Prior research has examined race and class bias embedded in media presentations of pregnant drug users; however, this past research is limited in identifying biases because it focuses on single substances—primarily crack cocaine. I build on this work by conducting a comparative analysis of more than 15 years worth of New York Times articles on three drugs (crack cocaine, alcohol, and tobacco) used during pregnancy. These three drugs have varying levels of deleterious effects on fetal development and infant health, as well as varying levels of use by poor and minority women. Because of this variation, I am able to assess whether media coverage of pregnant drug‐using women is proportional to the documented adverse consequences of specific drugs or, rather, whether media coverage is higher and more negative for poor and minority pregnant women regardless of the degree of adverse health consequences associated with the specific drug used. Through this analysis, I demonstrate that the prevalence and framing of news stories about pregnant drug‐using women has little to do with protecting the health of children. Rather, concern for children is a rhetorical tool used to define poor and minority women as bad mothers and blame them for contemporary changes in families.