Very Few People Say “No Whites”: Gay Men of Color and the Racial Politics of Desire

Rather than individual preferences, examination of sexual fields demonstrates that what is considered desirable by a majority of gay men follows a predictable pattern and is embedded with larger social meaning that defines which characteristics have erotic worth and which do not. While there are many diverse sexual fields, with many different potentially desirable characteristics, we argue that race is a consistent gauge of desirability that spans across diverse sexual fields within the gay community leading to widespread incidences of “sexual racism.” While the idea of sexual racism has been widely discussed in the popular press, and academic studies have also documented the racial hierarchy in the gay community, there have been fewer attempts to systematically explore how such racialized hierarchies of desire are understood by gay men of color. In this article, we attempt to address sexual racism as it is experienced by gay men of color and examine the consequences that sexual racism has on members of these groups. At the same time, we show that gay men of color of color are not simply “victims” of sexual racism but actively confront racial hierarchies of desire.     

“To Hell with Them All!”: Perceived Discrimination,Interracial Contact,and Racial Attitudes

Can experiencing interracial hostility perpetuate interracial hostility? This article considers this possibility by examining the link between interpersonal discrimination and racial attitudes. Further, I situate discrimination into one’s totality of interracial exposure by analyzing whether other forms of interracial contact (friends, neighbors, or coworkers) condition the discrimination–attitudes association. Using representative data from the Chicago Area Study, I find that black, Hispanic, and white adults express greater feelings of racial threat and ingroup closeness when they report discrimination. The conditional effects vary across race/ethnicity. Among Hispanics, friendship mitigates these attitudinal consequences. For blacks, friendship is beneficial only for those not experiencing discrimination. Among whites, discrimination’s attitudinal consequences grow more extreme with greater neighborhood contact. Overall, the results suggest that (1) racial attitudes should be added to the list of interpersonal racial discrimination consequences and (2) discrimination is often a primary form of contact contributing to the development of racial attitudes.     

Caught in a “Bad Romance”? Reconsidering the Negative Association Between Sociosexuality and Relationship Functioning

Sociosexuality refers to individual differences in interest and willingness to engage in sexual activity without an emotional connection. Unrestricted sociosexuality is associated with a greater likelihood of infidelity and with poorer relationship quality. However, previous research has failed to examine relationship-specific characteristics that may moderate these findings. Two studies of romantically involved adults examined whether relationship commitment and different relationship agreement types moderate the associations between unrestricted sociosexuality and infidelity. Study 1 (N = 300) showed that individuals in consensual monogamous (CM) relationships with extradyadic sex (EDS) experiences were more sociosexually unrestricted than individuals without such experiences. The positive association between unrestricted sociosexuality and EDS emerged only for less, but not more, committed individuals. Study 2 (N = 270) replicated these results. Furthermore, results showed that individuals in consensual nonmonogamous relationships (CNM) relationships were the most sociosexually unrestricted, but no differences emerged in relationship commitment or satisfaction, when compared to individuals in CM relationships without prior EDS. Individuals in CM relationship with prior EDS were the least committed and satisfied. The negative association between unrestricted sociosexuality and both relationship quality indicators emerged for all individuals in CM relationships, but it was nonsignificant for individuals in CNM relationships. Implications are discussed.     

Understanding the Link: “Homosexuality,” Gender Identity,and the DSM

This article reviews the historical and present notions of identity, in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity within counseling. It also discusses the link between the historical pathologizing of homosexuality and gender identity, as well as summarizes the implications of the diagnosis of gender dysphoria (GD) as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (5th ed.; DSM-5). The ethics of maintaining GD in the DSM-5 and future diagnostic manuals is discussed. Finally, a brief explanation of the role of the counselor in working with transgender individuals is given.     

“Get to Know the Unknown”: Understanding Religion and Advertising

The relationship between religion and advertising has mostly been theorized in terms of “religion in advertising” or “advertising as religion.” This article pursues two goals: First, it offers a substantial critique of previous studies of advertising and religion in order to take stock and discern future directions of research. Second, it presents the results of an empirical qualitative study of print advertisements which responds to some of the open questions of previous research. It shows that advertising partially fulfills religious functions, focusing on those to do with self-actualization and meaning making within an immanent horizon, and less so on community-related functions. Based on these results, I argue that in the study of religion and advertising, “religion” cannot be limited to specific religious traditions, but has to be understood more broadly. Also, the conventional distinction between “religion in advertising” and “advertising as religion” has to be overcome in order to understand the phenomenon.     

Is it Possible to Develop and Sustain Non-Traditional Placements? An Evaluation of the Development of Practice Learning Opportunities in Partnership with the Police and Probation Services in the West Midlands

This paper will look at new practice learning opportunities developed between the University of Birmingham and the West Midlands Police and Probation Services. The project was designed to expand placements in the West Midlands, to address in particular the short fall of final year placements and to offer students interested in the area of criminal justice and protection of vulnerable people the chance to have a different type of practice experience.

This paper aims to share the learning gained through an evaluation of the first year of this partnership (2009–2010). The paper will provide an overview of the scheme, outline the process of evaluation and will consider the learning gained from the police and probation schemes separately. The paper will draw on feedback gained through discussions in focus groups and questionnaires completed by work base supervisors, specialist social work practice assessors, practice tutors and students in each setting. The strengths and weaknesses of both schemes will be considered as will lessons for improving and building on the project for future years. The paper will also address questions about the relevance of working with non-traditional agencies particularly in light of the new statutory definition relating to final year social work placements.     

A Review of: “Adolescent Sexuality: A Historical Handbook and Guide” edited by Carolyn Cocca

Two well‐cited studies (Fisher, 1980; Schwartz, 1973) have suggested that people with negative emotional orientations toward sexuality (i.e., “erotophobia” or “sex guilt”) have difficulty learning contraceptive information. However, a recent laboratory study (Goldfarb, Gerrard, Gibbons, &; Plante, 1988) has raised doubts about this conclusion by demonstrating that erotophobic women can learn contraceptive information if they are exposed to it. The current study was designed to further clarify the relationship between emotional orientation toward sex and ability to learn sexually relevant material. Specifically, it compared pretest and post‐test knowledge of contraception and AIDS in erotophobic and erotophilic students in a university class on human reproduction. While the results indicated that male erotophobics initially knew less, there were no knowledge differences between males and females or erotophobics and erotophilics at the end of the course. Thus, these results support the conclusion that erotophobics are capable of learning sexual material if they are exposed to it. The implications of these results for educational strategies for decreasing unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are discussed.     

“Right to the City” and the Structure of Civic Organizational Fields: Evidence from Cape Town

This article proposes a network analytic approach to the role of frames in shaping the structure of civic organizational fields. Adopting a perspective from the global South, it looks at the impact of the expression “Right to the city” (RTC) over alliance building among civil society actors, exploring patterns of collaborative ties among 129 civil society organizations active in Cape Town from 2012 to 2014. The article addresses two broad questions: What is the relation between RTC and other frames that are also frequently invoked to describe urban struggles and issues? Does the RTC frame affect the structure of urban civic organizational fields in significant ways? Data suggest that while RTC plays a significant role in local civil society, it is neither the only interpretative frame that Capetonian civic organizations draw upon to characterize their activity, nor the more salient. “Urban conservation,” especially tied to nature conservation and environmental issues, actually shapes the structure of local organizational fields in a sharper manner. This is, however, a potentially more divisive frame, rooted as it is in the apartheid legacy that still shapes urban dynamics in the city.     

“It's Really a Roller Coaster”: Experience of Parenting Children with Developmental Disabilities

The aim of this research was to explore the experience of parenting a child diagnosed with a developmental disability. The in-depth interviews were semistructured and open-ended, covering topics such as positive and negative experiences and time demand in raising a child with a developmental disability, their effects on family relationship and on physical and mental health of the parents, and the strategies for managing the negative experiences. Overall, the participants indicated that parenting a child with a developmental disability is both challenging and rewarding, depending on the circumstances facing parents in a particular day. The findings are interpreted in five thematic structures: (1) negotiating joys and sorrows, (2) physical and mental exhaustion, (3) negotiating with family matters, (4) social stigma, and (5) hope in the midst of despair, each of which comprised several subthemes/categories. The discussion includes implications of the findings.     

A Literature Review and Development of a Theoretical Model for Understanding Commitment Experienced by Volunteers Over the Life of a Project

Employee commitment to an organisation is accepted as an important concept in organisation psychology. Yet commitment to a project on which an employee might be working is largely unknown. Additional complications arise when the project makes use of volunteers who donate their time for reasons other than pecuniary reward. The relationships between volunteers, organisations and projects represent a gap in the field of organisational commitment knowledge. This paper identifies from literature the values that inform and influence volunteer commitment levels. Known antecedents of commitment are developed to present a model which encapsulates the variables that should be recognised as influencing volunteer commitment levels within a project context. The paper proposes a conceptual model of volunteer commitment to a project using three categories of commitment: emotional, purposeful and contextual, and concludes that the next phase of the study will test this model and develop a tool that will enable the measurement of volunteer commitment in a project context.     

Understanding public support for punitive criminal sanctions: Psychological and sociological views of the “outlier” phenomenon

The present study compares the ability of selected psychological and sociological factors to predict the level of punitive criminal sanction supported by a community's residents. Personality characteristics, particularly those developed in the pioneering work of Adorno on authoritarianism, represented psychological influences; sociological views on punitive sanctions were drawn from the Durkheimian tradition of social condemnation, in which group norms are established by the general level of consensus about the perceived threat of a particular criminal act, or crime seriousness. Little support was found for the link between authoritarianism and specific sanctioning endorsements. The sociological concept of normative outliers, on the other hand, proved to be the much more useful construct.     

“It All Depends on the Guy and the Girl”: A Qualitative Study of Youth Experiences with Statutory Victimization Relationships

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine youths’ perceptions of statutory victimization relationships and youths’ experience interacting with professionals. In-person qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 youths identified as statutory rape victims by two child advocacy centers. Using grounded theory, interviews were coded thematically using constant comparison analysis. The discussion of the relationship dynamics suggested a great deal of variation. Some youths described the relationships in exploitive terms. However, more typically, the interviewed youth described the relationship as reciprocal, even some time after it had ended. The professional intervention often resulted in feelings of helplessness for the youth. The results suggest creative and flexible protocols are needed for handling these cases that recognize adolescents’ developing autonomy.     

Exploring the Meanings of the “Heartfelt” Gesture: A Nonverbal Signal of Heartfelt Emotion and Empathy

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior - We conducted two studies to explore the potential meanings associated with the “heartfelt” gesture, which involves placing one’s hand with a flat...     

Working with the “smart” machine: computerization and the discourse of anthropomorphism in organizations ∗

Computers are routinely anthropomorphized in contemporary societies. Yet, few studies seriously examine the personification of computers at the workplace. This paper focuses on the discourse of anthropomorphism and work computerization. Based on the findings of an ethnographic study that looked at the computerization of administrative processes in a Health Maintenance Organization, the paper demonstrates how the discourse of anthropomorphism simultaneously reflects attitudes towards the computer, and structures relationships with the technology in the workplace. Three themes emerged within the discourse of anthropomorphism in the organization. They were (1) the intelligent & cerebral computer, (2) the human computer, and (3) the computer as superior life form. These themes also performed certain ideological functions by glamorizing the computer and thereby legitimizing it in the organization. At the same time, employees discursively resisted the ideology of the ‘smart’ machine by interpreting it in ways that were contrary to managerial expectations. Overall, the paper presents a complex picture of human-machine relationships revolving around the personification of computers at the workplace.     

A Review of: “Handbook of the Evolution of Human Sexuality. Edited by Michael Kauth.”

This study explores the role of the hostess club culture in the creation and maintenance of masculinity in Taiwan. The article focuses on flower drinking (the consumption of alcohol in bars, often integrated with prostitution), which is a common practice in Taiwan. Data were obtained from 58 in-depth interviews with men from a variety of occupations and social backgrounds (mean age = 38.50, SD = 11.00) and 73 questionnaires administered to soldiers (mean age = 21.00, SD = 1.10). Findings indicated that demonstration of skill at flower drinking and facility with the related social etiquette are important channels for male bonding that were central to the mid- to upper-class participants' professional development. Flower drinking also provided a method of discriminating men from other men through their choices of why and where to go and how to behave while there. Specific ways that Taiwanese masculinity differs from Western and from Japanese masculinity, and support for the continuing relevance of the traditional Confucian ideal of masculinity, wen-wu, are discussed.