Pornography,erotica, and attitudes toward women: The effects of repeated exposure

It is a widespread belief that pornography causes negative attitudes toward women, but tests of this belief are contradictory. A large body of research has studied the effect of violent pornography on behavior, but the effects of erotica and violence have often been confounded. Thus, the relationship between pornography and attitudes toward women was assessed in two correlational studies, and the effect of (nonviolent) erotica on attitudes towards women was tested experimentally. The dependent measure was the score on a questionnaire measuring attitudes toward women and women's issues. The questionnaire possessed high reliability; factor analysis indicated a single general factor. Participants included 184 psychology students and 20 patrons at an “adult” theater. Multiple linear regressions indicated that hours of viewing pornography was not a reliable predictor of attitudes toward women in either sample. Patrons of the adult theater, who viewed more pornography, had more favorable attitudes toward women than male or female college students. In Study 3, 75 students were randomly assigned to watch four hours of erotica or four hours of psychology films over five consecutive days. Power analysis indicated a strong test. Manipulation checks showed a difference in students’ perception of the erotic nature of the videos, but attitudes toward women were not influenced by type of video.     

“I Wouldn't Wish It on My Worst Enemy”: Western Australian Fathers’ Perspectives on Their Marital Separation Experiences

Marital separation is a complex and emotionally painful life experience, especially in instances where children are involved. This exemplar study investigated the separation experiences of fathers. Its findings suggest that many separating fathers are at an emotional disadvantage during separation, not only grieving the loss of their former marital relationship, but also their simultaneous loss of contact with their child/ren, their fathering role, and their former family routine. It is posited that separated fathers’ late start in the grieving process may put them at a psychoemotional disadvantage at the very time they are dealing with the complexities of formalizing their child contact arrangements. If future studies support this premise, then these findings will have equity implications for contact arrangement hearings.     

Race of the Future: Mixing of Colors in the United States Leading to One Race?

This article examines the impacts of the race of the future theory on the U.S. population. By and large, the theory posits that the mixing of different races—due to the process of miscegenation, especially in marriage, cohabitation, or sexual relations—will blend all races, so much so that, in the future, the end result of this mixing will be a panracial formation (i.e., one race). In this analysis, the authors attempt to determine whether the mixing of colors currently happening in the United States will lead to one race and what the race of the future in the United States will “look” like. One of the major conclusions is that, although the possibility of the existence of the race of the future has yet to be established, the degree of multiraciality in the U.S. population is rapidly growing (based on data and statistics from the U.S. Bureau of the Census).     

Paradigm wars: Some thoughts on a personal and public trajectory

It is often said that research methods are a matter of rational choice: it is the research question, or problem, which ought to dictate the method to be used. This may be true to some extent, but there are other more powerful reasons why social scientists choose the research methods they do. Underlying philosophies of social science and long-held and much cherished tenets about epistemology are prime among these. Moreover, such an interplay between epistemological position and methodological decision is enormously affected by social context. We pay attention to what other social scientists are doing, to fashions in both methodology and topic - the things it is considered proper for social scientists to study; we are affected by research funding and publishing opportunities, by the material resources available to support our work, by intraprofessional rivalries and difference, and by politics - both in its commonly understood sense and as applied to power relations between academics and those who take part in research. Apart from what we do, there is the whole issue of how others construct our work. And this is only some of what goes on. In short, it is a very complicated business.     

Applying Protest Event Analysis to Architecture and Design

This article reports on interdisciplinary research where insights into ‘design activism’ (particularly architecture, product and landscape design) were sought through the use of methods from social movement studies. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the notion of architecture and design as activism, sometimes also called social design, public interest design or design for social innovation. An increasing interest in activism on the part of designers is matched by an increasing interest from geographers and sociologists in the spatial and material aspects of social movements, political resistance and other power relations. Yet, the area where social movements and various repertoires of social and political action intersect with design has not been well explored by any of these disciplines. While the design literature tends to view design activism narrowly and often apolitically, social movement literature, in its discussions of materiality and spatiality, typically skirts the contributions of ‘design’. Exploring this disciplinary gap, this article reports on the empirical research that applies to design the method of protest event analysis from social movement studies. The research uncovers a ‘designerly’ repertoire of action—a set of tactics that designers use in acts of resistance—and allows for an initial bridging of the gap between design and social scientific approaches.     

Family Time and the Psychosocial Adjustment of Adolescent Siblings and Their Parents

This study examined the implications of family time for firstborn and secondborn adolescent offspring, mothers, and fathers in 192 dual‐earner families, defining family time as time shared by the foursome in activities across 7 days. Data were gathered in daily telephone interviews. For firstborns, higher levels of family time at Time 1 predicted less involvement in risky behavior 2 years later, controlling for Time 1 risky behavior. Longitudinal analyses predicting depressive symptoms revealed family time X parent education interactions for firstborns, fathers, and mothers, suggesting that the implications of family time depended on social class. The pattern of results suggests that family time is protective when chosen by family members but not when it represents a default use of time.     

International Perspectives on the Use of Community Treatment Orders: Implications for Mental Health Social Workers

Substantial changes to mental health law and policy have occurredthroughout the Western world during the last decade. The drifttowards control, particularly in the form of Community TreatmentOrders (CTOs), has profound implications for the role of mentalhealth social workers, yet this issue is rarely discussed inacademic literature. This paper seeks to redress this gap inknowledge by examining aspects of law, policy and practice usingthree case studies: Victoria, Australia; Ontario, Canada; andregions of the UK. The paper begins by critically reviewingselected literature on CTOs, revealing competing claims aboutefficacy and their impact upon service users¹ and practitioners.A discussion of policy and practice contexts in the three jurisdictionsis then presented and supported with a typology, to illustratecontrasts and comparisons. In their conclusions, the authorsassert that mental health social workers often have a crucialpart to play in the implementation of CTOs but that this isnot always acknowledged in law and organizational policy. Socialworkers’ roles and responsibilities need to be more explicitlyidentified in mental health law. At the same time, there shouldbe a continuing debate about how such coercive powers fit withcodes of ethics and practice standards, at national and internationallevels.     

Ethnocentrism and History Textbooks: Representation of the Irish Famine 1845-49 in history textbooks in English secondary schools

This case study examines how a topic of Irish history, the Irish Famine 1845-49, is represented over time in history textbooks used in English secondary schools and whether and to what extent ethnocentrism is inherent in this presentation. The concept of ethnocentrism is used as a framework for interpreting the presentation of the topic. A strategy of content analysis of samples of history textbooks from the 1920s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to the present is used. The conclusion drawn from the analysis is that the history of the Irish Famine is marginalised in the overall sample and that the textbooks contain examples of both direct and indirect ethnocentrism. The conclusion also highlights the importance of maintaining an intercultural approach when designing school curricula and of providing alternative accounts of history to that of the dominant culture.