Digital Commons Network^™

Gender-Based Perceptions Of The 2001 Anthrax Attacks: Implications For Outreach And Preparedness, Christopher Salvatore, Brian J. Gorman

Christopher Salvatore

Extensive research dealing with gender-based perceptions of fear of crime has generally found that women express greater levels of fear compared to men. Further, studies have found that women engage in more self-protective behaviors in response to fear of crime, as well as have different levels of confidence in government efficacy relative to men. The majority of these studies have focused on violent and property crime; little research has focused on gender-based perceptions of the threat of bioterrorism. Using data from a national survey conducted by ABC News / Washington Post, this study contrasted perceptions of safety and fear in …

Findings Of An Effect Of Gender, But Not Handedness, On Self-Reported Motion Sickness Propensity, Ruth E. Propper, Frederick Bonato, Leanna Ward, Kenneth Sumner

Ruth Propper

Discrepant input from vestibular and visual systems may be involved in motion sickness; individual differences in the organization of these systems may, therefore, give rise to individual differences in propensity to motion sickness. Non-right-handedness has been associated with altered cortical lateralization of vestibular function, such that non-right-handedness is associated with left hemisphere, and right-handedness with right hemisphere, lateralized, vestibular system. Interestingly, magnocellular visual processing, responsible for motion detection and ostensibly involved in motion sickness, has been shown to be decreased in non-right-handers. It is not known if the anomalous organization of the vestibular or magnocellular systems in non-right-handers might alter …

Why Girls? The Importance Of Developing Gender-Specific Health Promotion Programs For Adolescent Girls, Amanda Birnbaum, Tracy R. Nichols

Amanda Birnbaum

Adolescence is a time when many girls begin to develop unhealthy behaviors that can affect myriad short- and long-term health outcomes across their lifespan.2There is evidence that smoking, physical activity, and diet are habituated during adolescence, and some physiologic processes of adolescence, such as peak bone mass development, have direct effects on future health.3-4 Establishing healthy practices, beliefs and knowledge among adolescent girls will decrease morbidity and mortality among adult women and potentially affect the health of men and children through women’s role as healthcare agents. This paper provides a brief review of lifestyle health behaviors among women and girls …

Storm Clouds On The Horizon: Feminist Ontologies And The Problem Of Gender, Pamela L. Caughie, Emily Datskou, Rebecca Parker

Pamela Caughie

Feminist digital humanities is no longer focused primarily on recovering and preserving works by women authors. Feminist scholars are currently engaged in changing information design and data visualizations. However, as feminists seek to create new ontologies of gender, they face difficulties posed not only by current encoding standards, but by changing concepts of gender. Can ontologies ever capture the complex, multi-layered, dynamic nature of gender identities? This question is especially challenging when dealing with modernist works that represent gender and sexual identities at the very moment of their emergence as such. Our work on a digital edition and archive of …

Absolute Pitch In Naturalistic Singing: A Commentary On Olthof Et Al., Andrea R. Halpern

Andrea Halpern

The parent article looks at pitch stability in an archive of folksongs recorded over several decades. Some evidence for pitch stability was found. Here, I consider some additional aspects of the archive that could be examined, offer some extensions to relevant laboratory studies, and consider some inherent strengths and limitations of the naturalistic, archival approach.

Deconstructing The Dogma Of Domesticity: Quaker Education And Nationalism In British Mandate Palestine, Enaya Othman

Enaya Othman

"Female Athlete" Politic Title Ix And The Naturalization Of Sex Difference In Public Policy, Elizabeth Sharrow

Elizabeth Sharrow

Feminist Approaches And The South African News Media, Denise Buiten

Denise Buiten

Despite apparent feminist advancements within contemporary South Africa, gender transformation in the South African media industry has been both limited and irregular in terms of the ways in which newsroom cultures are being transformed, and the ways in which this impacts on the production of gendered media texts. Based on interviews with journalists and editors from three weekly South African newspapers, the Sunday Times, the Sunday Sun and the Mail & Guardian, this article explores the ways in which journalists articulate their understandings of gender and gender transformation within the media, and reflects on the ways in which these articulations …

Commercial Content Moderation: Digital Laborers' Dirty Work, Sarah T. Roberts

Sarah T. Roberts

In this chapter from the forthcoming Intersectional Internet: Race, Sex, Class and Culture Online (Noble and Tynes, Eds., 2016), I introduce both the concept of commercial content moderation (CCM) work and workers, as well as the ways in which this unseen work affects how users experience the Internet of social media and user-generated content (UGC). I tie it to issues of race and gender by describing specific cases of viral videos that transgressed norms and by providing examples from my interviews with CCM workers. The interventions of CCM workers on behalf of the platforms for which they labor directly contradict …

Computational Analysis Of The Body In European Fairy Tales, Scott Weingart, Jeana Jorgensen

Jeana Jorgensen

This article explores how digital humanities research methods can be used to analyze the representations of gendered bodies in European fairy tales, a flexible and pervasive genre that has influenced Western children's education and acquisition of gender identity for centuries. By blending the theoretical and methodological concerns of folkloristics, gender studies, and large-scale scientific research, this article demonstrates the utility of cross-disciplinary collaboration in asking traditional questions of traditional materials with new methods. To facilitate this research, a hand-coded database listing every reference to a body or body part in the 233 fairy tales was created. Analysis revealed strong indications …

The Black And The White Bride: Dualism, Gender, And Bodies In European Fairy Tales, Jeana Jorgensen

Jeana Jorgensen

Fairy tales are one of the most important folklore genres in Western culture, spanning literary and oral cultures, folk and elite cultures, and print and mass media forms. As Jack Zipes observes: ‘The cultural evolution of the fairy tale is closely bound historically to all kinds of storytelling and different civilizing processes that have undergirded the formation of nation-states.’¹⁴³ Studying fairy tales thus opens a window onto European history and cultures, ideologies, and aesthetics.

A Queer Vegan Manifesto, Rasmus R. Simonsen

Rasmus R Simonsen, PhD

What does it mean for a person to declare her or his veganism to the world? How does the transition from one diet to another impact one’s sense of self? Veganism challenges the foundational character of how we “act out” our selves—not least of all in the context of sexuality and gender. In my paper, I am thus interested in the potential of veganism to disrupt the “natural” bond between gender formations and the consumption of animal products, as this relates to social and cultural genealogies. Consequently, I will explore a queer form of veganism that affirms the radical impact …

Serdar Somuncu: Turkish German Comedy As Transnational Intervention, Kathrin M. Bower

Kathrin M. Bower

A reconceptualization of Germanness, combined with a reconsideration of what constitutes “Germanness” and “Turkishness” and how they are linked, is a central theme in the programs of a younger generation of Turkish German cabaret artists and comedians. As a member of the new generation of performers, Serdar Somuncu stands out, not only for his unapologetic embrace of political theater critical of both German and Turkish social politics, but also for his assertion of a right and responsibility to engage with Germany’s past, coupled with an insistence on differentiation and balanced comparison when discussing integration. After gaining notoriety through his Mein …

Responding To Gendered Dynamics: Experiences Of Women Working Over 25 Years At One University, Ellen Broido, Kirsten R. Brown, Katie Stygles

Kirsten R. Brown, Ph.D.

A Feminist Case For Leadership, Amanda Sinclair

Amanda Sinclair

No abstract provided.

Gender And Space In British Literature, 1660-1820, Karen Gevirtz

Karen Bloom Gevirtz

The Comparison Of Power And Authority Of Women In China And Minangkabau Societies, Arif Rohman

Arif Rohman

The power and authority available for women are very important in measuring the cultural system in each society contains a gender bias or not. This study will examine whether the matrifocal and matrilineal society guarantees gender equality rather than the patriarchal and patrilineal society and to what extent these societies provide power and authority to women in both domestic and public spheres. To support analysis, this article will compare two Asian societies; those are China as a representative of the patriarchal and patrilineal society and Minangkabau as a representative of the matrifocal and matrilineal society. The analysis will be focused …

Self-Determination, Subordination, And Semantics: Rhetorical And Real-World Conflicts Over The Human Rights Of Indigenous Women, Sam Grey

Sam Grey

Indigenous women have long been engaged in unambiguous advocacy for a human rights-based approach to gender injustice in their communities and nations. Indigenous nations, for their part, have repeatedly and passionately posited collective human rights as necessary for the protection of cultural distinction. These projects should be reconcilable – but this reconciliation requires the political will to critically engage with historical and contemporary colonialism, and to address the internalization of patriarchy and sexism in Indigenous societies today. With such a will in place, it becomes possible to operationalize a single Indigenous ‘self-determination’ project grounded in human rights, one that sees …

Police-Building And The Responsibility To Protect: Civil Society, Gender And Human Rights Culture In Oceania, Charles Hawksley, Nichole Georgeou

Nichole Georgeou

Forthcoming: This book examines how the United Nations and states provide assistance for the police services of developing states to help them meet their human rights obligations to their citizens, under the responsibility to protect (R2P) provisions. It examines police-capacity building ("police-building") by international donors in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea (PNG). All three states have been described as "fragile states" and "states of concern", and all have witnessed significant social tensions and violence in the past decades. The authors argue that globally police-building forms part of an attempt to make states "safe" so that they can adhere …

Are Women Really More Risk-Averse Than Men? A Re-Analysis Of The Literature Using Expanded Methods, Julie Nelson

Julie A. Nelson

While a substantial literature in economics and finance has concluded that “women are more risk averse than men,” this conclusion merits investigation. After briefly clarifying the difference between making generalizations about groups, on the one hand, and making valid inferences from samples, on the other, this essay suggests improvements to how economists communicate our research results. Supplementing findings of statistical significance with quantitative measures of both substantive difference (Cohen's d, a measure in common use in non-­‐Economics literatures) and of substantive overlap (the Index of Similarity, newly proposed here) adds important nuance to the discussion of sex differences. These measures …

Necktie Nightmare: Narrating Gender In Contemporary Japan, Vera C. Mackie

Vera Mackie

...the thing I hated most of all was the necktie.When I wore a necktie, there was just no doubt that I was a man.The image was of a salaryman! The mainstay of the house! The symbol of manhood! These are the words of Nomachi Mineko in the autobiographical account of her transition from male to female. The book (adapted from a blog) appeared in late 2006 under the title O-kama dakedo OL yattemasu (I'm Queer But I'm An Office Lady). The book's publication coincided with a range of mainstream representations of trans-gendered lives - in television dramas, documentaries, memoirs and …

The Gender Fault-Line, Ayako Kano, Vera C. Mackie

Vera Mackie

The economic, demographic and environmental shocks of recent years that have so profoundly shaped contemporary Japanese society have distinctive gendered dimensions. The economic reality has shifted, but social expectations about the roles of men and women have been slower to change. Meanwhile, the demographic crisis is placing considerable burden on families and revealing the attendant risk of the ‘care deficit’ — in the home and in the face of disaster.

Shanghai Dancers: Gender, Coloniality And The Modern Girl, Vera C. Mackie

Vera Mackie

In 1924, the artist Yamamura K6ka (1885-1942) produced a colour woodcut depicting the dance hall of the New Carlton Hotel in Shanghai. In this print, two women are seated at a round table. One has bobbed hair; the other wears a red hat. Both wear western dress, but the embroidered jacket draped on one of the chairs suggests the fashion for Chinoiserie. Two cocktail glasses on the table contain red cherries. Several couples dance in the background of the picture, the women all with similar bobbed hair. The male dancing partners are barely visible and the women are seen from …

State Of The Urban Youth, India 2012, Professor Vibhuti Patel

Professor Vibhuti Patel

State of the Urban Youth India 2012: Employment, Livelihoods, Skills Executive Summary Every third person in urban India is a youth. In less than a decade from now, India, with a median age of 29 years will be the youngest nation in the world. India’s demographic transformation is creating an opportunity for the demographic burden of the past to be converted to a dividend for the future. For this to happen the country needs to adopt a three-pronged policy that will address the issues of employment, livelihoods and the skill status of youth. The State of the Urban Youth India …

Men's Collective Struggles For Gender Justice: The Case Of Antiviolence Activism, Michael Flood

Michael G Flood

No abstract provided.

Gender Differences In Wheelchair Marathon Performances - Oita Wheelchair Marathon From 1983 To 2011, Romuald Lepers, Paul J. Stapley, Beat Knechtle

Dr Paul J Stapley

Background: The purpose of the study was (1) to examine the changes in participation and performance of males and females at the Oita International Wheelchair Marathon in Oita, Japan, between 1983 and 2011, and (2) to analyze the gender difference in the age of peak wheelchair marathon performance. Methods: Age and time performance data for all wheelchair athletes completing the Oita International Wheelchair Marathon from 1983 to 2011 were analyzed. Results: Mean annual number of finishers was 123 ± 43 for males and 6 ± 3 for females (5.0% ± 2.0% of all finishers), respectively. Mean age of overall finishers …

Differences In Gender And Performance In Off-Road Triathlon, Romuald Lepers, Paul Stapley

Dr Paul J Stapley

The aims of this study were: (1) to examine performance trends and compare elite male and female athletes at the off-road triathlon (1.5-km swim, 30-km mountain biking, and 11-km trail running) world championships since its inception in 1996, and (2) to compare gender-related differences between off-road triathlon and conventional road-based triathlon. Linear regression analyses and ANOVA were used to examine performance trends and differences between the sexes. Elite male performance times stabilized over the 2005-2009 period, whereas elite female performance times continued to improve, especially for the run leg. Differences in performance times between the sexes were less marked in …

Not-So-Strong Evidence For Gender Differences In Risk, Julie Nelson

Julie A. Nelson

In their article "Strong Evidence for Gender Differences in Risk Taking," Gary Charness and Uri Gneezy (2012) review a number of experimental studies regarding investments in risky assets, and claim that these yield strong evidence that females are more risk averse than males. This study replicates and extends their article, demonstrating that its methods are highly problematic. While the methods used would be appropriate for categorical, individual-­‐level differences, the data reviewed are not consistent with such a model. Instead, modest differences (at most) exist only at aggregate levels, such as group means. The evidence in favor of gender difference is …

Fearing Fear: Gender And Economic Discourse, Julie Nelson

Julie A. Nelson

Economic discourse—or the lack of it—about fear is gendered on at least three fronts. First, while masculine-­‐associated notions of reason and mind have historically been prioritized in mainstream economics, fear—along with other emotions and embodiment—has tended to be culturally associated with femininity. Research on cognitive "gender schema," then, may at least partly explain the near absence of discussions of fear within economic research. Second, in the rare cases where fear is discussed in the contemporary economics literature, there is a tendency to (overly-­‐)strongly associate it with women. Finally, historians and philosophers of science have suggested that the failure to consider …

Does Education Empower The Indonesian Women?, Arif Rohman

Arif Rohman

The second feminist wave in the 1960s has influenced feminists to increase their campaign against patriarchy in almost all areas. This campaign aims to achieve equal legal, political and social rights for women. In this context, they view education as a vehicle to empower women in societies. Using Javanese culture as an example, this article will examine whether education has much impact on it, and to identify factors which prevent education from empowering women in Indonesia. From the analysis, it has shown that educated women still faced many obstacles to participate in economical, political and social aspects.