Gender and Racial Stereotyping in Rape Coverage

This article uses critical discourse analysis to discuss and analyse articles about rape that appeared in a South African newspaper, Grocott's Mail, between 14 October, 2008 and 29 October, 2009. Drawing on existing literature on “rape myths” in media coverage of rape, this article argues that Grocott's Mail perpetuates racial and gender stereotypes through the way in which it reports on rape. While not all of the articles included in the analysis use rape myths, most use one or more when discussing rape incidents. Specifically, Grocott's Mail tends to use rape myths that blame the victim for the rape and de-emphasise the role of the perpetrator in the rape.     

Predicting Change in Marital Satisfaction Throughout Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy

Emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT) is an empirically validated approach to couple therapy that uses attachment theory to understand the needs and emotions of romantic partners. EFT is recognized as one of the most effective approaches to couple therapy, but to guide therapists in their use of EFT, a theoretically based model to predict change is needed. This study tested such a model by recruiting 32 couples, and 14 therapists who provided approximately 21 sessions of EFT. Couples completed self‐report measures of marital satisfaction, attachment security, relationship trust, and emotional control at pre‐ and posttherapy and after each therapy session. Results of hierarchical linear modeling suggested that individuals higher on self‐report attachment anxiety and higher levels of emotional control had greater change in marital satisfaction across EFT sessions. Assessing attachment security at the start of therapy will inform therapists of the emotion regulating strategies used by couples and may help couples achieve positive outcomes from EFT.     

From “can-do” girls to insecure and angry: affective dissonances in young women’s post-recessional media

Feminist scholars have begun to unpack the ways in which neoliberalism is underpinned by particular gendered affective investments: drives for perfection, confidence, and the careful observance of feeling rules mandating a pleasing balance of resilience and approachability. In this context, we are interested in mapping the cultural production of affective dissonances with neoliberal modes of thriving. We draw attention to post-recessional television made by and about young women that articulate affective dissonances with the confident subjectivities associated with neoliberal cultural mythologies of girlpower. We suggest that within recent, largely USA, television some important questioning of such mythologies is taking place through the articulation of young women’s anger, insecurity, anxiety, and misplaced confidence. Such affective dissonances may to some extent serve to problematise myths about both the accessibility and appeal of highly individualist career-oriented lifestyles idealised in cultural mythologies of powerful “can-do” girls. Our analysis aims at two-fold consideration of: first, how giving voice to young women as “suffering actors” may open space for dissonant affective positions that connect to feminist aims of social transformation; and second, consideration of the ways in which exclusionary technologies of femininity may also operate through representations of young women’s anger, insecurity, and anxiety. Through this analysis we contribute to understanding dialectical tensions in the psychic and affective life of post-feminism and feminine subjectification in the neoliberal, post-recessional socio-cultural context.     

Religious congregations as social services providers for older adults

A large proportion of older adults are affiliated with congregations. The literature suggests that, in general, religious participation among the older adults enhances their quality of life and provides a network of social care. In this article, we explored the relevant literature on organized religion and social support for older adults. Based on a census study of congregations in Philadelphia (N = 1,393), we documented the following: (1) the number of congregations serving older adults, (2) the types of services provided, and (3) the number of beneficiaries. The study also identified the organizational factors that predict the provision of congregation-based services for older adults. The findings suggest that serving older adults is not a top priority for most congregations. Most senior programs are small and often informal. Approximately half (48%) of the congregations do not provide a formal social service. However, those congregations that are more likely to serve older adults have larger budgets, more members over 65-years-old, and a moderate political orientation. We recommend that congregations, social service providers, and older adults explore ways to maximize this underutilized resource of congregational services to meet the needs of the increasing number of older adults.     

Housing experiences of former foster youth: How do they fare in comparison to other youth?

Research indicates that foster youth tend to fare poorly in a number of domains in the transition to adulthood, and the shift to independent living may be particularly challenging. However, it is unclear whether negative housing outcomes are attributable to foster care history or if they are due to other risk factors. This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to compare housing outcomes for foster youth to a matched sample of youth who share similar risk factors and to an unmatched sample. Results indicate that foster youth struggle more in the transition to independent living in comparison to both groups, showing higher rates of homelessness, less housing stability, poorer neighborhood quality, and more reliance on public housing assistance. The paper explores how factors related to foster care and confounding risk factors that tend to have higher prevalence among foster youth may contribute to these outcomes.     

Rationales for body camera implementation and outcome measures

As police body cameras develop as a widely used mechanism to promote police transparency and accountability, researchers are tasked with measuring whether the treatment of this surveillance mechanism meets its stated goals. But the goals have not been clearly outlined and instead, the array of stated goals varies by jurisdiction, creating obstacles for policy diffusion and comparative analyses across numerous randomized controlled trials. Without clearly defined goals, there is no alignment on what success looks like. This narrative review seeks to uncover why body cameras have been implemented in police agencies and what these agencies expect to gain from their use. It details the range of rationales for the adoption of body cameras, which stakeholder parties benefit from goal attainment, and what outcome measurements researchers have and can use to measure body cameras' ability to reach those goals. Most systematic literature reviews of body camera studies simply focus on one outcome measurement. This paper provides a broad view of the body camera research involving multiple outcome variables. It maps these findings onto the stated goals to demonstrate which goals seem to be attainable and which seem to expect body cameras to be a silver bullet solution to societal problems.     

Multinational Enterprises: Leveraging a Corporate International Entrepreneurship Lens for New Insights Into Subsidiary Initiatives

Corporate entrepreneurship has long been acknowledged as critical to multinational enterprises (MNEs), with dispersed entrepreneurial efforts involving subsidiary initiatives becoming increasingly relied upon. Yet despite the global context in which MNEs operate, the conversation has not fully embraced the extent to which many of its entrepreneurial activities overlap with internationalization. In this paper, we identify a set of opportunity phenotypes for subsidiary initiatives based on their market focus as well as the knowledge and capabilities leveraged to identify and exploit the opportunity. The recursive relationship between opportunities and dynamic capabilities is then discussed, with an emphasis on building a research agenda for corporate international entrepreneurship.     

‘Doing femininity’ at work: More than just relational practice1

Workplaces constitute one of the more interesting sites where individuals ‘do gender’, while at the same time constructing their professional identities and meeting their organisation's expectations. Drawing on interactional data recorded in New Zealand professional organisations, this paper focuses in particular on how participants manage and interpret the notion of ‘femininity’ in workplace discourse. In much current usage, the concepts ‘feminine’ and ‘femininity’ typically evoke negative reactions. Our analysis suggests these notions can be reclaimed and reinterpreted positively using an approach which frames doing femininity at work as normal, unmarked, and effective workplace behaviour in many contexts. The analysis also demonstrates that multiple femininities extend beyond normative expectations, such as enacting relational practice ( Fletcher 1999 ), to embrace more contestive and parodic instantiations of femininity in workplace talk.