Medusa: Sexuality,Power, Mastery,and Some Psychoanalytic Observations

The imaginative narratives that myths provide have a significant place in mental life. Myths continue to be handed down from one generation to the next because they resonate with our unconscious hopes, desires, fantasies, and fears. This paper discusses the Medusa myth. The discourse deals with the cultural context of its time, which implicates the political, social, and especially the gender differences that existed in classical Greece. This myth had an emotional impact on men and women but undoubtedly each group responded in their own particular way. The emphasis in this paper is on the possible effect of this myth on the sexes in ancient times and especially the meanings it may have had for women then and now. Although destructive rage and vengefulness is part of the story, in addition, I focus on the importance of sexuality, power, mastery, and freedom that the myth may offer to oppressed women.     

Finding the Homosexual in Women’s Rights

In recent years, organizations on the American Christian Right (CR) have become established actors at the United Nations, working to limit international agreement on developments seen as ‘anti-family’, such as women’s rights, population policy and abortion. At the same time, the Vatican has established itself as a strong voice opposing international law and policy on women’s rights. For both actors, women’s rights represent a direct challenge to the ‘natural family’ and hence a particular world vision premised on a sexual division of labour. While women’s rights is a central preoccupation for both actors, ‘homosexuality’ and the prospect of lesbian and gay rights and ‘gay marriage’ is also a recurrent theme, intricately connected to women’s rights. This article explores the relationship between women’s rights and homosexuality as drawn by these two actors. It asks why, in an international arena that offers little concrete recognition of, or protection for, lesbian and gay identities both the CR and Vatican are concerned about a presumed homosexual agenda. It also explores what role the debate about women’s rights plays in facilitating this ‘homosexual agenda’. In addressing these questions, this article seeks to explore, and raise further questions about international women’s rights as a language for international discussion about social relations.     

The Rationale Behind Texting,Videoconferencing, and Mobile Phones in Couple Relationships

Abstract

Smartphones and digital media are omnipresent in day-to-day life. There are positive and negative consequences to technology usage in established relationships; we also know that there are several theories outlining why people use technology generally. What is less clear, however, is how these two entities intersect. The purpose of this article is to determine the how different mechanisms related to technology—namely, texting, video calling, and e-mail—are used in established romantic relationships. Using a hermeneutics qualitative methodology and interviewing 17 individuals, we uncovered the rationale for why individuals decide on using particular methods of communication to engage with their romantic partner. We discovered unique reasons for texting as compared to video conferences, phone calls, and e-mail usage in established romantic relationships. Implications and future research are discussed.     

The Past,Present, and Future of Career Counseling in Taiwan

The development of career counseling in Taiwan during the last 40 years suggests priorities for future development. Although many of the basic constructs of career counseling are used in Taiwan, cultural differences are also apparent. At the earliest stage of career development in Taiwan (1960–1980), career guidance was managed through vocational centers and government agencies. The focus was almost exclusively on school‐aged youth seeking employment. At the middle stage (1980–1990), the terms for career counseling were being translated into Chinese, and trained Career Counselors were returning from study abroad. The emphasis was primarily on educational systems. At the present stage (1990‐present), career counseling was provided to adults outside the school setting and corporations were organizing their own career counseling services. The future presents many conflicts between Western and Asian values, traditional or modern demands, and self or family interests. Technological advances in testing and information sciences provide opportunities and problems for career counselors.     

Perceptions of variation and change in German and Swedish address1

German and Swedish speakers diverge in contemporary address practice. The Swedish T form has become unmarked, with V limited to very specific situations. Apart from some specific T or V contexts, German now has coexistent systems, one with T, the other with V as the unmarked form, with different speakers or networks preferring one or the other. In an ongoing project, focus groups and participant observation in Austria, (eastern and western) Germany and Sweden and with Swedish speakers in Finland have identified factors and contexts determining degree of social distance and hence address choice. First name use is more marked than T use in Swedish but the two are closely linked in German. National variation is more substantial in Swedish than in German. In both languages there is some reversal of liberalization and distaste for imposition of the address form.     

Environmental Globalization,Organizational Form,and Expected Benefits from Protected Areas in Central America*

Abstract Environmental globalization has led to the implementation of conservation efforts like the creation of protected areas that often promote the interests of core countries in poorer regions. The creation of protected areas in poor areas frequently creates tensions between human needs like food and shelter and environmental conservation. Support for such conservation efforts partially depends on expectations of benefits by those impacted. This article considers the effects of different organizational models on local expectations of benefits to be derived from protected areas. Our analysis indicates that individuals are more likely to expect that benefits of the park go to other communities or the nation as a whole than to expect direct benefits for themselves. Forms of park organization also impact these expectations. Individuals exposed to the zoned park, as opposed to a conventional, strictly protected park, were more likely to expect benefits from the park regardless of the beneficiary considered. In addition, for those exposed to the zoned park, location of residence is related to expectation that individuals will benefit themselves. However, our interviews with park residents also indicate that the expectations of individual benefits are rarely met, creating potential dissatisfaction and sometimes animosity toward the park administration.