“Sex,Gender, and Love on a Global Scale. A Review of: Love and Globalization: Transformations of Intimacy in the Contemporary World. edited by Mark B. Padilla,Jennifer S. Hirsch,Miguel Muñoz-Laboy,Robert E. Sember, & Richard G. Parker.”

We investigated the sexual relationships of married Chinese men and women living in Beijing and Shanghai. Within the framework of the Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction (IEMSS), we also examined factors related to sexual satisfaction. Completed questionnaires were returned by 193 men and 231 women. In general, respondents reported moderate levels of sexual and relationship satisfaction. Overall, respondents were neither erotophobic nor erotophilic and reported a frequency of affectionate and sexual behavior between “2 or 3 times a month” and “once or twice a week” and at least one sexual concern and for problem. Contrary to predictions based on the cultural message that sexual pleasure is restricted to men, the women reported significantly greater sexual satisfaction than did the men, and men and women did not differ in their reports of sexual rewards or relationship satisfaction. Further, men described their sexual relationship as more costly than did women. However, women reported more sexual concerns than did men and were also more erotophobic. Men reported more sexual concerns for their partner than women did for their partner. Strong support was found for the IEMSS, such that the more that rewards exceeded costs, relative rewards exceeded relative costs, one's levels of rewards and costs were perceived to be equal to one's partner's, and the greater the relationship satisfaction, the greater the level of sexual satisfaction. Greater sexual satisfaction was also associated with a greater frequency of affectionate and sexual behavior, fewer sexual concerns and problems, and greater relationship satisfaction. These results are discussed in the context of the impact of official repression of many forms of sexual expression in China in the past and the need for enhancement of the sexual relationships of Chinese men and women.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN JOB SATISFACTION

This article analyzes gender differences in job satisfaction among full-time workers. Why do women report equal or greater job satisfaction than men in spite of objectively inferior jobs? Analysis reveals few differences between men and women in the determinants of job satisfaction when considering job characteristics, family responsibilities, and personal expectations. Little support is found for theories that men and women: (1) focus on different aspects of work in arriving at a given level of job satisfaction; (2) differentially condition their job satisfaction according to the extent of their family responsibilities; and (3) employ different personal expectations in evaluating their jobs. Two alternative explanations for women's relatively positive job attitudes are considered. First, women may arrive at a higher level of job satisfaction than men by using different comparison groups. Second, men may be more willing to verbalize dissatisfaction with work because of different socialization. The most likely explanation is that these processes operate in conjunction to produce greater reported job satisfaction among women.     

Sexual coercion in gay male and lesbian relationships: Predictors and implications for support services

Numerous studies have documented the prevalence of forced sex in heterosexual couples. Positive effects of this research include increases in awareness about the problem among helping professionals and the public, as well as increases in support services and prevention programs. However, no research has been done on sexual coercion in gay male and lesbian relationships, and few support services exist. Therefore, this study is an investigation of the prevalence and correlates of coercive sex in gay male and lesbian relationships. Participants were 36 women and 34 men who were in gay or lesbian relationships. The results indicated that 12% of the gay men and 31% of the lesbians reported being victims of forced sex by their current or most recent partners. The higher reporting rate among women may be due to greater awareness of issues pertaining to sexual abuse, and greater likelihood of identifying various forms of coercion as force. For men, being a victim of forced sex was generally associated with being a victim of other forms of violence. For both sexes, victims of forced sex believed that it would be relatively difficult to get counseling. Implications for support services are discussed.     

Making Rape Education Meaningful for Men: The Case for Eliminating the Emphasis on Men as Perpetrators,Protectors, or Victims

Analysis of college men's responses to a fictional woman revealing a rape experience indicate that men want to know how to support women who have experienced rape, however, they feel unprepared to do so. Additionally, men reported their previous education on rape as insufficient, inappropriate, and irrelevant leading us to conclude that rape prevention strategies that focus on men as perpetrators, potential victims, and/or protectors are less than ideal for reaching men. However, based on the men's responses in the interviews and reflective writing pieces, we suggest that teaching men to be supporters or allies of raped women holds promise for making rape education relevant to the men. The paper concludes with suggestions for practitioners on how to meet current rape prevention goals while shifting the focus of the training for men and encourages further empirical testing.     

Greedy Spouse,Needy Parent: The Marital Dynamics of Gay,Lesbian, and Heterosexual Intergenerational Caregivers

It is well established that married heterosexual women do more intergenerational caregiving for aging parents and parents‐in‐law than married heterosexual men do. However, gay men and lesbian women's recent access to marriage presents new questions about the gendered marital dynamics of intergenerational caregiving. We use dyadic data with gay, lesbian, and heterosexual spouses to examine the marital dynamics of intergenerational caregivers. Results show that gay and lesbian spouses provided intensive time and emotional support for an intergenerational caregiver. In contrast, heterosexual women described their intergenerational caregiving as rarely supported and at times even undermined by their spouse. Dyadic data on heterosexual men corroborate women's accounts; heterosexual men rarely reported providing intergenerational caregiving, and thus heterosexual women rarely described providing spousal support. These findings provide new insight into the intermingled roles of “greedy” marriages and “needy” parents, wherein marital negotiations around caregiving vary by gender for gay, lesbian, and heterosexual marital dyads.     

Gender,added-worker effects,and the 2007–2009 recession: Looking within the household

The U.S. recession of 2007–2009 saw unemployment rates for men rise by significantly more than those for women, resulting in the downturn’s characterization as a ‘mancession’. This paper uses data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reexamine gender-related dimensions of the 2007–2009 recession. Unlike most previous work, we analyze data that connects men’s and women’s employment status to that of their spouses. A difference-in-difference framework is used to characterize how labor-market outcomes for one spouse varied according to outcomes for the other. Results show that that employment rates of women whose husbands were non-employed rose significantly in the recession, while those for people in other situations held steady or fell—consistent with the view that women took on additional bread-winning responsibilities to make up for lost income. However, probabilities of non-participation did not rise by more for men with working wives than they did for other men, casting doubt on ideas that men in this situation made weaker efforts to return to work because they could count on their wives’ paychecks to support the household.     

Men in online eating disorder recovery spaces: Gendered barriers,content moderation,and narrative experimentation

Eating disorders (EDs), once considered solely a women's health problem, have increasingly affected men. Previous research on recovery from addiction has emphasized the importance of narratives, which help provide structure and make sense of events. While narratives are often important for an individual's recovery from hardship, hegemonic narratives can be invalidating and obstacles to wellbeing. The highly gendered nature of ED recovery narratives has posed a barrier to men adopting alternative, more successful narratives, particularly in female-dominated spaces. This study examines how content moderation policies and enforcement on Tumblr, Reddit, and an ED recovery website shape men's participation in ED recovery support groups dominated by women. We find that high degrees of moderation and censorship limit men's platform participation and narrative experimentation. However, platform rules without active censorship face the same challenges. Instead, narrative experimentation and greater participation from men occur during moderate regulation because they can share their experiences while also being encouraged to find salient aspects of other, healthier narratives. We observed that men were able to break from unhelpful recovery narratives when they could masculinize the suggestions from women with more productive approaches. While past research has shown that men are particularly reliant on hegemonic masculinity when their gender is challenged, we find that phenomenon is part of a more fundamental process of reconciling ideas into one's self-concept.     

Social Support and College Student Contraceptive Use

The present study investigated the relative levels of four sources of perceived support for contraceptive use-mother, father, best same-sex friend, sexual partner-and motivation to comply with influence from those sources by young men and women who used or did not use effective contraception. Overall, best friend and coital partner were perceived as providing the most support, and the same-sex parent the least. However, among nonusers of effective contraception, best friend support exceeded partner support, which was seen as no greater than parental support. Only partner support was related to contraceptive use, and motivation to comply with partner was greater than for the other sources. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.     

Race,Gender, and Social Exchange in Young Adult Unions

Abstract

Social scientists often conceptualize romantic partner selection as an asymmetric exchange in which partners of different race or gender offer different desired qualities. For example, white women might leverage racial status into upward mobility by marrying socioeconomically advantaged minority men, or minority women might exchange beauty, sexual access, and domestic services for white men’s higher racial status and income. However, such approaches frequently assume gender and race asymmetry in preferences—for example, that men attach greater value to potential partners’ physical attractiveness than women do. These assumptions may be unwarranted, especially among contemporary young couples. In turn, assuming asymmetry in exchange can generate misleading results if partnering patterns are actually symmetric. Accordingly, we use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), including a supplementary sample of romantic partners, to reconsider recent findings with an emphasis on evaluating (a)symmetry.     

The use of mental health care,psychotropic drugs and social services by divorced people: does informal support matter?

This study compares the mental health care, psychotropic drugs and social service use of divorced people (re-partnered or single) with that of married people. This paper questions whether the availability of informal support facilitates or substitutes for formal care seeking. Data from the Divorce in Flanders survey of 2009–2010 are used. Logistic regression analyses are performed separately for women (N = 3450) and men (N = 3020). Greater use of mental health care, psychotropic drugs and social services by single divorced men is explained by their higher need for care, while divorced women (especially single divorced) more frequently contact a general practitioner (GP), a psychiatrist, or a psychologist, regardless of their mental health, socio-economic background and informal support. Women who have support from non-family members are more inclined to use social services and to contact a GP, while support from family members is only positively related to GP consultations. With regard to men, informal support from non-family members positively influences each type of formal care seeking. Our results suggest that non-family members (and only among women, family members as well) can provide help and advice about seeking professional mental health care and social services, but they do not have an influence on psychotropic drug use.     

Well-Being Among Spanish Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual and Heterosexual Adults: Disclosure of Sexual Orientation to Family and Friends

Relevance of disclosure of minority sexual orientation on subjective (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB) was analyzed. Participants were 236 men and 238 women self-identified as lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) or heterosexual. No differences in SWB were found between heterosexuals and LGBs. Heterosexual women showed greater environmental mastery than bisexual men and greater purpose in life than lesbian and bisexual women. Outcomes showed greater well-being among LGBs who disclosed their minority sexual orientation to parents later in life. Disclosing minority sexual orientation to parents was related with greater PWB. Further research that takes a differential approach to improve well-being for LGBs is needed.     

When Women are Right: THE INFLUENCE OF GENDER,WORK AND VALUES ON EUROPEAN FAR-RIGHT PARTY SUPPORT

Far-right political party support in Western Europe has been examined primarily in terms of the men who constitute the majority of party membership. However, few have examined why women are less likely than men to be drawn to these movements. This article attempts to bridge the quantitative–qualitative divide and assess what brings women to support the far right. Looking at five European countries using the 1999–2002 World Values Survey, results indicate that men have a slightly higher propensity to vote for the far right. This gender gap cannot be explained by value differences, but is partially a result of differences in men's and women's occupational location. Thus, this article provides some support to Mayer's contention that women's support of the far right is largely to do with their being less likely than men to be employed in blue-collar work.     

Competition, Race, and the Measurement of Female Labor Activity

Not all groups compete equally in the labor market. Here, we focus on women's competition with men for jobs. This competition assumes that women's employment is affected by men's, and vice versa. We use two statistics—female labor force participation and share—to uncover this competition. 1990 U.S. census data on 281 metropolitan statistical areas were analyzed using weighted least squares regression. Supply-side explanations of female labor activity (education, children, household headship, and government assistance) receive more support than demand-side explanations (poverty, industrial mix, and region). Evidence of competition along gender and race lines is found. Men's employment is buttressed in metropolitan areas by higher wages, less poverty, and more women with children. Welfare benefits (AFDC) and deindustrialization lower black women's employment, while only white women benefit from advanced education and a "feminized" occupational structure. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.     

Body Dissatisfaction: Commitment,Support, and Trust in Romantic Relationships

Research investigating dimensions of relationship quality has suggested that aspects of relationship quality (e.g., commitment, support, trust) are related to lower levels of body dissatisfaction in women. However no studies have examined the effect of all three measures of relationship quality on body dissatisfaction simultaneously. Trust and support correlated with body dissatisfaction in men and women. Additionally, the results showed that lack of support is a predictor of body dissatisfaction in men and lack of trust is a predictor in women; relationship commitment did not appear to relate to body dissatisfaction.     

JOB INSECURITY,STRESS AND GENDER

This study examined the complex relationships between gender, job insecurity and job-related stress. Previous findings have suggested that men experience greater job insecurity than women, and are more vulnerable to job-related stress. The current study tested the hypothesis that the gender ideology of employees moderates the effect of gender on job insecurity and stress. Data were obtained by questionnaires from a sample of 203 married employees. The results showed that traditional men experience greater job insecurity than traditional women. However, as hypothesized, egalitarian men and women exhibited similar degrees of job insecurity. Furthermore, job insecurity in traditional men and in egalitarian men and women was related to loss of control stress, financial stress and stress expressions at home, whereas traditional women were relatively protected from job-related stress. These findings illuminate the important moderating role played by gender ideology in the relationships between gender, job insecurity and stress.     

Occupational Stress,Burnout and Job Status in Female Academics

The study investigated perceived occupational stress in a sample of 582 academic staff members working in institutions of higher education in the UK. Data was collected using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach and Jackson 1986), The Job Diagnostic Survey (Hackman and Oldham 1974) and the Faculty Stress Index (Gmelch et al. 1986). The results indicate that women academics perceive the structure and content of their jobs similarly to men. However, women generally experience higher overall levels of stress in their jobs and results indicate that they may cope better with the demands placed upon them than their male counterparts. There is some evidence of the presence of a ‘glass ceiling’ in the institutions studied, with women holding more junior positions, and remaining in them longer, than men. A difference in effect size was found between those women who do achieve senior positions and men in similar posts. Higher grades predict greater job strain for women but not for men. The results from this study suggest fruitful avenues for future research.     

Non-erotic thoughts: content and relation to sexual functioning and sexual satisfaction

We examined the possible range of content of non-erotic thoughts experienced during typical sexual activities with a partner. Undergraduate men (n = 47) and women (n = 50) were administered a measure of non-erotic thought content, frequency, and anxiety, along with measures of sexual attitude, satisfaction, and functioning. Men were more likely to report performance-related thoughts, and women were more likely to report thoughts about body image. However, men and women were equally likely to report thoughts about the external consequences of the activity (e.g., pregnancy, being caught) and the emotional consequences of the activity (e.g., morality, implications of the activity for the relationship). Women reported that their thoughts occurred more frequently and caused more anxiety. Greater thought frequency and greater anxiety over thoughts were associated with poorer sexual functioning for both men and women. For women, greater frequency of and anxiety evoked by thoughts was associated with lower sexual satisfaction. These data provide modest support for cognitive-behavioral models of sexual dysfunction and indicate the importance of both examining a broad range of non-erotic thought content and taking gender into account when applying these models to understanding and treating sexual difficulties.     

Using social media-based drama therapy and family counselling to treat symptoms of postpartum depression among women

This study examines the impact of social media-based drama therapy and family counselling in reducing symptoms of postpartum depression (PPD) in women aged 18–34. The researchers used a quasi-experimental design and randomly assigned the participants (n = 303) to the control, drama therapy, and family counselling groups. The key findings of the study are as follows. First, at baseline, women not only showed more symptoms of PPD than their male counterparts, but men also reached the PPD threshold of 12/13. Second, the difference between women and men regarding their PPD scores achieved statistical significance (p = 0.004). However, during the post-intervention assessment, men who received drama therapy intervention reported a significant drop in their PPD below the threshold of 12/13. Only women whose spouses received family counselling on spousal support reported a significant drop in their PPD. However, those whose partners did not receive family counselling on spousal support still reported PPD scores within the threshold. In both instances, women in the control group still had high PPD scores. Finally, during the 6-month follow-up assessment, even men in the control group did not have significant symptoms of PPD as their scores dropped below the threshold. On the contrary, women in the control group still had high PPD, indicating that PPD lasted more in women than in men. Also, women whose husbands received family counselling on spousal support reported PPD scores below the threshold. However, women whose husbands did not receive spousal counselling still had PPD scores at the threshold, even though their scores marginally dropped.     

The Perception and Parameters of Intentional Voice Manipulation

Evidence suggests that people can manipulate their vocal intonations to convey a host of emotional, trait, and situational images. We asked 40 participants (20 men and 20 women) to intentionally manipulate the sound of their voices in order to portray four traits: attractiveness, confidence, dominance, and intelligence to compare these samples to their normal speech. We then asked independent raters of the same- and opposite-sex to assess the degree to which each voice sample projected the given trait. Women’s manipulated voices were judged as sounding more attractive than their normal voices, but this was not the case for men. In contrast, men’s manipulated voices were rated by women as sounding more confident than their normal speech, but this did not hold true for women’s voices. Further, women were able to manipulate their voices to sound just as dominant as the men’s manipulated voices, and both sexes were able to modify their voices to sound more intelligent than their normal voice. We also assessed all voice samples objectively using spectrogram analyses and several vocal patterns emerged for each trait; among them we found that when trying to sound sexy/attractive, both sexes slowed their speech and women lowered their pitch and had greater vocal hoarseness. Both sexes raised their pitch and spoke louder to sound dominant and women had less vocal hoarseness. These findings are discussed using an evolutionary perspective and implicate voice modification as an important, deliberate aspect of communication, especially in the realm of mate selection and competition.     

Average cost per person victimized by an intimate partner of the opposite gender: a comparison of men and women

Differences in prevalence, injury, and utilization of services between female and male victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) have been noted. However, there are no studies indicating approximate costs of men's IPV victimization. This study explored gender differences in service utilization for physical IPV injuries and average cost per person victimized by an intimate partner of the opposite gender. Significantly more women than men reported physical IPV victimization and related injuries. A greater proportion of women than men reported seeking mental health services and reported more visits on average in response to physical IPV victimization. Women were more likely than men to report using emergency department, inpatient hospital, and physician services, and were more likely than men to take time off from work and from childcare or household duties because of their injuries. The total average per person cost for women experiencing at least one physical IPV victimization was more than twice the average per person cost for men.