Legitimating the First Tattoo: Moral Passage through Informal Interaction

Once considered low class or dangerous symbols, tattoos began to be defined as hip, trendy, and glamorous in the 1990s. Using the increasing popularity of tattoos among nineties youth as an example of moral passage, this article examines some of the interpretive processes at work in the destigmatization of deviance. Whereas researchers have positioned political action or population shifts as the main forces influencing moral passage, this article posits a new route toward social change. It builds on participant observation data with a population of middle‐class tattooees and examines how individuals attempted to legitimate their tattoos during interactions with others. First‐time tattooees in the 1990s are seen as agents caught between multiple symbolic orders—symbolic orders that generated conflicting images of tattoos. Relying on a set of legitimation techniques, middle‐class tattooees worked to overcome the negative meanings associated with tattoos by getting body art that conformed to core mainstream norms and values. By examining the creation and use of these legitimation maneuvers, this article reveals the way in which definitions of deviance are negotiated in everyday contexts. In addition, the process of legitimation identified in this article points to one way in which everyday interactions can contribute to larger cultural shifts.     

Arctic political imaginaries: crafting technologies and inhabiting infrastructures

This paper seeks to address the relationship between acceptance of land use policies and differing understandings of place. Drawing on literature about technologies of the imagination and literature about infrastructure, it suggests that a synthesis of certain aspects of these two theoretical orientations produces a model that can be used to conceptually as well as practically explain the acceptance or rejection of policies. Technologies of the imagination here refer to phenomenon whose outcomes are not fully conditioned, and infrastructure acts as the underlying framework on which these technologies operate. This paper explores this relationship via a comparative case study: former Canadian federal government policy speeches; historical and contemporary popular portrayals of the ‘North’; and contemporary lived Inuit experiences at a Canadian mine site. The imaginings of space are very different between the two publics that are exposed to them: the Canadian southern audience and the Inuit northern audience. This paper proposes that this disparity and policy complex is best understood as a system that works on technologies and infrastructures as creating and being constituted by imagination. This framework explains how the gap between southern policies and northern priorities persists, and why it will continue to persist in the current political system.     

‘I’m a migrant,but I’m the right sort of migrant’: Hegemonic masculinity,whiteness, and intersectional privilege and (dis)advantage in migratory academic careers

Comparatively little attention has been paid to the international careers of many academics, with gender and ethnicity frequently ignored in discussions of migrant academics. Through the lenses of intersectionality, hegemonic masculinity and whiteness, this study explores experiences of migrant academics in Australia and New Zealand, understanding how gender and ethnicity intersect to shape experiences of relative privilege and disadvantage. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 academics at various stages of their careers in both Australia and New Zealand. The data reveals the complex patterns of (dis)advantage which characterize the experiences of migrant academics. While some migrant academics may experience disadvantage, for Anglo white male senior academics, considerable privilege is (re)produced through the migration experience. As such, this article suggests migratory experiences can be better understood through the intersectionality of hegemonic masculinity and whiteness to reveal how privilege is maintained.     

Provocations for Critical Disability Studies

This article posits a number of provocations for scholars and researchers engaged with Critical Disability Studies. We summarise some of the analytical twists and turns occurring over the last few years that create a number of questions and concerns. We begin by introducing Critical Disability Studies; describing it as an interdisciplinary field of scholarship building on foundational disability studies theories. Critical Disability Studies scholarship is being produced at an exponential rate and we assert that we need to take pause for thought. We lay out five provocations to encourage reflection and debate: what is the purpose of Critical Disability Studies; how inclusive is Critical Disability Studies; is disability the object or subject of studies; what matters or gets said about disability; and how can we attend to disability and ability? We conclude by making a case for a reflexive and politicised Critical Disability Studies.     

Impact of unbalanced DIF item proportions on group-specific DIF identification

Differences in type I error and power rates for majority and minority groups are investigated when differential item functioning (DIF) contamination in a test is unbalanced. Typically, type I error and power rates are aggregated across groups, however cumulative results can be misleading if subgroups are affected differently by study conditions. With unbalanced DIF contamination, type I error and power rates are reduced for groups with more DIF items favoring them, and increased for groups with less DIF contamination. Even when aggregated impacts appear small, differing subgroup impacts can result in a larger proportional bias than in the original data.     

Male‐male sexual contact in the U.S.A.: Findings from five sample surveys, 1970–1990

Estimates of the prevalence of male‐male sexual contact are derived using data from five probability surveys conducted between 1970 and 1990. Estimated minimums of 5 to 7 percent of U.S. men report some same‐gender sexual contact during adulthood. Because of the likelihood of underreporting, these estimates might be considered lower bounds on the actual prevalence of such contact. Estimates show relatively little variation across social and demographic subgroups with the major exception that higher prevalence is reported among never‐married men, particularly those 35 and older. Some lesser variations are also found by service in the military, current residence, and current religious affiliation. Fragmentary evidence from these surveys suggests that some men may have episodic male‐male contact in adulthood while other men may have a relatively consistent and exclusive pattern of same‐gender contacts. Only one‐quarter to one‐half of the U.S. men who report male‐male contacts in adulthood also report having had such contacts during the preceding 12 months. In addition, the majority of men reporting same‐gender contacts in adulthood also report some male‐female contacts. Among men reporting same‐gender contacts in the preceding 12 months, however, the majority report exclusively male sexual contacts throughout adulthood. Potential implications of these findings for HIV prevention and research are discussed.     

Self‐actualization and sexual permissiveness,satisfaction, prudishness,and drive among female undergraduates

The relationship between self‐actualization and aspects of female sexuality was examined. Ninety‐five white, single female undergraduates from a regional southeastern state university volunteered as subjects. Three questionnaires were administered: the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), Eysenck's Inventory of Attitudes to Sex, and a two‐item religiosity measure. The data were analyzed via correlation and hierarchical multiple regression analysis which employed religiosity, age, major, grade, residence (on/off campus), and the order of test presentation as covariates. The results indicated that, when the effects of the covariates were controlled, there was a significant relationship between self‐actualization and sexual permissiveness, sexual satisfaction and prudishness. Although self‐actualization and sexual libido were significantly correlated, self‐actualization did not account for a significant portion of the variance in sexual libido after the effects of the covariates were controlled. Implications for future research include using different populations to investigate the relationship between self‐actualization and sexual attitudes and behaviors, using different measures of self‐actualization to investigate its relationship to sexual attitudes and behaviors, and examining the relationship between self‐actualization and other aspects of sexuality.