Marketing,media, and misogyny: interactive advertising critique in a Huffington Post forum

This paper examines 3,144 comments in a March 2012 Huffington Post forum about an online Belvedere vodka advertisement that was widely interpreted to depict sexualized violence. The study applies critical textual analysis, relating discourse to context to illuminate recurring themes and clues to the strategies and resources influencing how comments were constructed. Four major recurring themes emerge from within a wide range of topics: (1) speculations on advertising strategy; (2) contested perceptions of sexual assault; (3) links between gender politics and party politics; and (4) media literacy lessons. Cutting across themes is an apparent awareness of context, including the site’s reward system, its predominantly left-leaning politics, and the potential consequences of participant commentary being exploited by Belvedere to increase brand recognition. Comments often invoke personal or professional authority by articulating qualifications presumed relevant to the advertisement’s deconstruction. The study suggests that forum participants can be understood as members of productive communities, who construct responses structured by shared contextual constraints and/or relevant common experience. The study also suggests that online forum participation offers mixed prospects for lay critics of media misogyny in that their commentary vies for attention alongside missives calculated to be provocative.     

Does the desire to conform to peers moderate links between popularity and indirect victimization in early adolescence?

This study of 426 Canadian early adolescents (M_age = 12.52; 53% girls) investigated whether associations between popularity and indirect victimization (i.e., reputational victimization, exclusion) varied as a function of gender and the desire to conform to characteristics and competencies that are valued within the peer group (i.e., peer conformity goals). Regression analyses revealed popularity was uniquely and positively associated with reputational victimization, but was not significantly related to exclusion after accounting for the effects of meanness and likeability. The associations between popularity and indirect victimization were moderated by peer conformity goals and gender. The results indicated that popular girls with high peer conformity goals experienced more reputational victimization and exclusion than popular girls with low peer conformity goals. However, popular boys with high peer conformity goals experienced less exclusion than popular boys with low peer conformity goals. The findings suggest that peer conformity goals carry with them some risks for popular girls, but may serve a protective function for popular boys.     

The Within‐Job Motherhood Wage Penalty in Norway, 1979–1996

The motherhood wage penalty is a substantial obstacle to progress in gender equality at work. Using matched employer–employee data from Norway (1979–1996, N = 236,857 individuals, N = 1,027,462 individual‐years), a country with public policies that promote combining family and career, we investigate (a) whether the penalty arises from differential pay by employers or from the sorting of employees on occupations and establishments and (b) changes in the penalties during a period with major changes in family policies. We find that (a) the penalty to motherhood was mostly due to sorting on occupations and occupation‐establishment units (mothers and nonmothers working in the same occupation and establishment received similar pay), and (b) the wage penalties to motherhood declined substantially over the 18‐year period.     

针对家庭暴力的社会性别视角解读

社会性别作为女性主义一个重要的分析范畴,重点强调两性在资源、责任及权力分配等方面存在诸多不平等,以及由此而来的男女不平等的社会关系。从社会性别视角来看,针对妇女的家庭暴力其实质是男权文化和夫权思想所导致的男女不平等的性别关系在婚姻家庭生活中的体现。     

Caregiver Burden: A Comparison Between Elderly Women as Primary and Secondary Caregivers for Their Spouses

The overall purpose of this research was to examine the burdens of caregiving on elderly women who serve as primary and secondary caregivers for their impaired spouses. Fifty women 60 years and older identified as spousal caregivers participated in an in-person structured interview. Data were analyzed to compare primary caregivers (caregivers living with their spouses) and secondary caregivers (caregivers of institutionalized spouses) on the following factors: loneliness, depression, time constraints, perceived health status, financial status and perceived life satisfaction. Findings suggest that both groups of women are equally susceptible to the burdens inherent in caregiving. Time constraints were identified as the one major difference between caregiving groups. In addition, the results indicate that spousal caregivers, both primary and secondary, are an at-risk population and are especially vulnerable to loneliness, mild depression, financial worries and low life satisfaction.     

Comparison of the Sexual Well-Being of Individuals with and Without a Herpes and/or Human Papillomavirus Infection Diagnosis

ABSTRACT. This study compared individuals with and without herpes and/or human papillomavirus (HPV) on several aspects of sexual well-being. We also investigated whether gender and relationship status moderated these relationships. Participants were 183 individuals with herpes and HPV and 299 without a diagnosis who completed measures of sexual activity, sexual concerns, and sexual cognitive–affective factors. Individuals with herpes and HPV reported being less sexually satisfied and were more likely to experience a distressing sexual problem than were those with no sexually transmitted infections. However, they reported high-quality sexual well-being overall and, contrary to prediction, reported more positive sexual well-being compared with individuals without a diagnosis on some dimensions. Outcomes were largely the same regardless of gender and relationship status. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of examining a broad range of factors related to sexuality to understand the potential impact of herpes and HPV on sexual well-being.     

Varieties of Transgender/Transsexual Lives and Their Relationship with Transphobia

The conceptualization of gender variant populations within studies have consisted of imposed labels and a diversity of individual identities that preclude any attempt at examining the variations found among gender variant populations, while at the same time creating artificial distinctions between groups that may not actually exist. Data were collected from 90 transgender/transsexual people using confidential, self-administered questionnaires. Factors like age of transition, being out to others, and participant's race and class were associated with experiences of transphobic life events. Discrimination can have profound impact on transgender/transsexual people's lives, but different factors can influence one's experience of transphobia. Further studies are needed to examine how transphobia manifests, and how gender characteristics impact people's lives.     

Socialization and Work in Japan: The Meaning of Adulthood of Men and Women in a Business Context

Abstract  The Japanese term, shakaijin, refers to becoming a social adult, and locates the transition to adulthood in leaving school/university and entering an employment relation. In this paper we explore the role of company socialization in producing social adults. Company socialization is explored through a case study of a securities company, and an additional study of a large bank. New employee training programs are a central socializing event, and bridge the transition from school/university-to-work. In this study, events prior to and subsequent to new employee training arc also shown to play key roles in company socialization. Recruitment practices socialize as well as screen job applicants. Regular personal assessments continue socialization throughout the working life cycle. Based on the analyses of socialization in recruitment, training and assessment, two aspects of company socialization in Japan are emphasized. First, company socialization involves gender socialization. Male employees are the main subjects of company socialization, and their induction to social adulthood seeks to generate commitment and social integration to company life. Social adulthood of female employees is defined in connection with future familial roles rather than commitment to work. Second, the meaning of social adulthood for men is fused with acceptance of management goals. Company socialization attempts to align individual attitudes and behaviors with company goals.     

宽带数字正交技术及性能分析

讨论了几种宽带数字基于傅里叶变换和离散滤波器的Ｈｉｌｂｅｒｔ变换以及对基带内任意带通信号特殊的正交变换技术，并利用Ｇｒａｍ－Ｓｃｈｉｎｉｄｔ正交化校准原理分析了这几种数字正交技术的性能以及Ｉ、Ｑ通过间的幅度和相位不平衡误差。计算机模拟结果表明，除了Ｈｉｌｂｅｒｔ滤波器的不平衡度较大外，其余两种数字正文技术在较宽的频率范围内都能保持很高的镜像抑制，这为实现宽带实时的数字Ｉ、Ｑ通道提供了工程保证。     

Child care social work and the role of state employees

Provision of statutory social work services to children and their families has a long and contentious history as conflicting ideas about appropriate interventions, in what is still largely characterized as the private sphere of the family, define the terrain for practice. More recently, staff in social services departments have had to meet the challenges of contemporary practice at a time of major restructuring. Implementing the National Health Service & Community Care Act 1990, and meeting the demands of Audit/Social Services Inspectors, leaves departments struggling to meet externally imposed criteria focused on particular interpretations of the nature of economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the public sector. In general staff have had to respond to competing imperatives as they offer services in ways that reflect shifting priorities, priorities that are inevitably shaped by ideological, political, economic and technological agendas as well as by professional concerns. In the process the role and task for social work is once again being redefined. This paper seeks to challenge dominant narratives, through exploration of the contemporary context for practice, and reassert the importance of social work input even as individuals' working lives change around them.