Digital Commons Network^™

When A Killer Body Isn’T Enough: Cross-Gender Identification In Action-Adventure Video Games, Marc Ouellette

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

While sports games try to recreate the atmosphere of a stadium or of television broadcasts of games, role-playing and action-adventure games attempt to duplicate cinematography through animation. For Tomb Raider, the virtual reality created by the cinematic animation of the game produces an environment for male-to-female cross-gender identification, a topic that has received little critical attention. The sense of identification intended in this chapter comes from psychoanalysts Jean Laplanche and Jean-Baptiste Pontalis, who describe identification as a psychological process in which a subject assimilates an aspect, a property, a characteristic of another and transforms himself [or herself] totally or partially …

Multiple Disadvantages Of Mayan Females: The Effects Of Gender, Ethnicity, Poverty, And Residence On Education In Guatemala, Kelly Hallman, Sara Peracca, Jennifer Catino, Marta Julia Ruiz

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Although access to primary education in Guatemala has increased in recent years, particularly in rural areas, levels of educational attainment and literacy remain among the lowest in Latin America. Inequalities in school access and grade attainment linked to ethnicity, gender, poverty, and residence remain. Age trends show that Mayan females are the least likely to ever enroll, and, if they do enroll, start school the latest and drop out earliest. Innovative programs for girls that combine instruction with social interaction in safe local community spaces may increase their educational attainment and their social networks and means of social support. In …

Facts About Adolescents From The Demographic And Health Survey—Statistical Tables For Program Planning: Malawi 2000, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Population Council initiated its work on adolescents in the mid-1990s. At that time, those advocating greater attention to adolescent issues were concerned about adolescent fertility—particularly outside of marriage—and adolescent “risk-taking” behavior. As an international scientific organization with its mandate centered around the needs of developing countries, the Council sought a more nuanced and context-specific understanding of the problems confronting adolescents in the developing world. In working with colleagues inside and outside the Council, it became clear that information on adolescents, and the way data are organized, were limiting the ability to understand the diversity of their experiences or to …

Integrating Adolescent Livelihood Activities Within A Reproductive Health Programme For Urban Slum Dwellers In India, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Although a wide variety of livelihood programs for adult women exist in India, they rarely include adolescent girls. Of those that do, few employ rigorous scientific methods to evaluate program impact. This brief describes a project conducted in slum areas of Allahabad, in Uttar Pradesh. The Population Council, in collaboration with CARE-India, tested the feasibility and impact of adding four livelihoods and life-skill components to a reproductive health program for adolescent girls (both school-going and out-of-school) aged 14–19. Using a quasi-experimental pre- and post-test design that contrasted the experimental group with a comparison group of adolescents, the project investigated whether …

Formation Of Partnerships Among Young Women And Men In Pune District, Maharashtra, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Aside from their educational attainment, economic activity levels, and age at marriage, little is known about the lives of young people in India, especially the extent to which and the contexts in which they form romantic, marital, and other partnerships or the nature of these partnerships. At a time when India's youth policy and reproductive and child health programs have acknowledged the need to focus on youth, it is central that these gaps in understanding are filled. The KEM Hospital Research Centre and the Population Council conducted a study in Maharashtra in 2003–05 to obtain information on romantic and sexual …

Youth In India: Situation And Needs Study, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Youth aged 15–24 represent 20 percent of the Indian population. This cohort faces significant risks related to sexual and reproductive health (SRH), and many lack the knowledge and power to make informed SRH choices. Information on intimate partnerships among youth, female and male, married and unmarried, is sparse and evidence is practically nonexistent that identifies the factors that protect young people's ability to ensure safe SRH and their autonomy to make informed decisions. This brief describes a subnational study of young people's situation and needs that aims to fill these gaps. Six states were selected for study, representing different geographical …

Tap And Reposition Youth (Try) Program: Providing Social Support, Savings, And Microcredit Opportunities To Adolescent Girls At Risk For Hiv/Aids In Kenya, Joan Hall, Aleke Dondo, Jennefer Sebstad

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief was commissioned by the Population Council to complement its two previous publications on the TRY project. The two previous publications contain data and information essential for understanding the project and its results, although they do not analyze the microfinance component in depth. In contrast, this brief was written by microfinance practitioners for a microfinance audience. In 1998, the Population Council and K-Rep (a Kenyan microfinance institution) developed a microfinance approach to address livelihood-strategy constraints for adolescent girls at risk for HIV/AIDS in an urban slum in Kenya. The initiative was named the Tap and Reposition Youth (TRY) program, …

Measuring Women's Work: A Methodological Exploration, Ray Langsten, Rania Salem

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In this working paper, the authors contrast two approaches to the measurement of women’s work applied to the same population of ever-married women. These women were interviewed on two occasions—first during the 2003 Interim Egypt DHS, and again during the Slow Fertility Transition (SFT) survey conducted in 2004. The DHS uses a standard keyword question to measure work, while the SFT employs an activities list question format. The authors argue that the widely used keyword approaches to measuring women’s work underestimate the level of female labor force activity. They demonstrate that the activities list approach captures a wider range of …

Investing When It Counts: Generating The Evidence Base For Policies And Programmes For Very Young Adolescents—Guide And Tool Kit, Erica Chong, Kelly Hallman, Martha Brady

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

No abstract provided.

Tap And Reposition Youth (Try): Providing Social Support, Savings, And Microcredit Opportunities For Young Women In Areas With High Hiv Prevalence, Annabel Erulkar, Judith Bruce, Erica Chong, Aleke Dondo, Jennefer Sebstad, James K. Matheka, Arjmand Banu Khan, Anne Gathuku

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Nairobi, Kenya is home to one of the largest slum populations in sub-Saharan Africa. Adolescents living in these slums, especially girls, are cut off from the potentially protective environments of school and family and lack safe economic opportunities. Unemployment is a major concern for adolescent girls, and desperate circumstances force them to survive however they can: 21 percent of sexually active girls aged 15–19 report exchanging sex for money or gifts. This heightened vulnerability is reflected in rates of HIV infection. In response to these circumstances, the Population Council and microfinance institution K-Rep Development Agency collaborated on the implementation of …

Tuko Pamoja: Adolescent Reproductive Health And Life Skills Curriculum, Path, Population Council

Reproductive Health

As they move through adolescence, young people begin to have different kinds of relationships with their peers, family members, and adults; good communication and other skills can help ensure that these relationships are satisfying and mutually respectful. Young people need to learn to manage new feelings about sexuality to make responsible decisions about their health, reproduction, and parenthood. This manual, the second edition of the Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Curriculum, is for teachers; community, religious, and youth group leaders; health care professionals; and anyone working with young people. The curriculum is designed to delay sexual debut and promote sexual and …

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 2: The Interventions, Abdul Wajid, Zakir Hussain Shah, Ashfa Hashmi, Zeba Tasneem, Lubna Shireen

Reproductive Health

The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project, an operations research project designed to develop and test interventions to reduce maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality and morbidity in predominantly rural districts of Pakistan, was a three-year project (2003 to 2006) funded by the European Union. The study area was in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan; the control area was in the district of Layyah. The project focused on three areas to accomplish its goals: empowering women to seek appropriate and timely general, maternal, and newborn care; supporting methods that encourage men to play a positive and active role …

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 3: Changes In Knowledge And Behavior Of Women And Families, Muhammad Shafique Arif, Peter C. Miller, Nayyer Munir, Irfan Masood

Reproductive Health

The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project was conceived as an operations research project designed to test the effectiveness of two different strategies for improving maternal and neonatal health in Pakistan. To evaluate the results of this test, several types of evaluative research were conducted, including qualitative studies of various types, health systems assessments, evaluations of specific components, and household surveys. The household surveys are the subject of this report, which is Report 3 (Changes in knowledge and behavior of women and families) in a series of six. The surveys are two types: a large-scale, before-after household survey …

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 4: Knowledge And Behaviour Of Service Providers, Zakir Hussain Shah, Saima Pervaiz

Reproductive Health

The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project was an operations research project designed to develop and test interventions to reduce maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality and morbidity in predominantly rural districts of Pakistan. The study area was in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan; the control area was in the district of Layyah. The project focused on three areas: empowering women to seek appropriate and timely general, maternal, and newborn care; supporting methods that encourage men to play a positive and active role in decision-making and seeking care for their families in matters relating to maternal and newborn …

Reproductive Health Update Trainings For Health Workers In North Eastern Province, Garissa, Kenya Ministry Of Health, Population Council

Reproductive Health

The Somali community living in Kenya has practiced the severest form of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), infibulation, for centuries. To understand the context within which the practice takes place, and how its complications are managed, FRONTIERS undertook a diagnostic study in North Eastern Province and in the Eastleigh area of Nairobi. The study found that the health system is ill equipped to serve women who have been cut, and particularly infibulated women who are pregnant and delivering, stemming from an overall weakness in the availability and quality of maternal and neonatal heath services. Specific recommendations could strengthen these services so …

Strategies For Encouraging The Abandonment Of Female Genital Cutting In West Africa: Experiences From Senegal, Burkina Faso, And Mali, Nafissatou J. Diop, Ian Askew

Reproductive Health

This article explores efforts to encourage abandonment of female genital cutting (FGC) in Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali. The strategy of encouraging traditional practitioners to stop performing FGC is not effective as community-level support for the practice remains high. Training health staff significantly improved healthcare providers' levels of knowledge about FGC and its complications. Consequently, it was recommended that such training be incorporated into preservice medical training. The use of community-based strategies like the Village Education Program (VEP) showed the most promise, as their multifaceted approach addresses knowledge, attitudes, actions, and communal support in an integrated manner. The way forward …

Technical Assistance To Organizations In Guinea Seeking To Reduce Female Genital Cutting, Nafissatou J. Diop

Reproductive Health

This reports details the technical assistance the Population Council’s FRONTIERS program provided to WHO’s Africa Bureau to implement a project addressing medicalization of female genital cutting (FGC), and to support Tostan in replicating its program in Guinea. Technical assistance had several aims: to improve the effectiveness of strategies to abandon FGC in Guinea, to assist WHO in developing and implementing a project to reduce FGC medicalization by health providers, to build the capacity of Guinean organizations to appropriately monitor and evaluate their FGC-related activities, and to enable the Comité de Lutte contre les Pratiques Traditionnelles portant Atteinte aux Femmes (CPTAFE) …

Analyse De L'Evolution De La Pratique De L'Excision Au Burkina Faso: L'Environment Institutionel, Politique Et Programmatique De La Lutte Contre La Pratique De L'Excision, Nafissatou J. Diop, Zakari Congo, Aina Ouedraogo, Alphosine Sawadogo, Lydia Saloucou, Ida Tamini

Reproductive Health

La présente analyse du projet Frontiers du Population Council fait un tour historique des événements majeurs de la lutte contre la pratique de l’excision au Burkina Faso avant d’aborder les conventions internationales auxquelles le pays a adhéré ainsi que les textes nationaux adoptés en ce qui concerne les droits de l’homme, spécifiquement le droit des femmes et des enfants. Elle analyse également l’application de la loi à travers l’évolution des cas de condamnation depuis l’adoption de la loi. Enfin, elle s’intéressera à quelques programmes d’intervention mis en place en identifiant les acquis et les limites. Ce travail fait partie d’une …

Writings: Handwritten Notes Related To “A Bold New Revolution: Jacksonville Before Consolidation”, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Various handwritten pages pertaining to “A Bold New Revolution: Jacksonville before Consolidation” program which occurred in 2006.

Design In A Human Context, Lindsay Duffy-Smyth

Whittier Scholars Program

This project is a paper split into two sections, the first providing an in-depth look at what domestic abuse entails, how it happens, why it happens and its implications. The second half is taking the knowledge of abuse and creating a design proposal for an abused women’s shelter.

Body Matters In Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, C. Jason Smith

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

The virtual body is already here. Though not as “seamless” as the virtual body envisioned in cyberpunk literature and made popular in films like The Lawnmower Man (1992), hundreds of thousands of people in over 114 countries (“Visitor Center”) daily log into massively multiplayer online role-playing games like Everquest, Ultima Online, Anarchy Online, and Earth and Beyond. These massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs or MMOs for short) [1] combine the extensive rule systems of traditional role-playing games (or RPGs) such as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons with computer graphic technology and online chat. In these computer …

An Exploratory Study Of Constructions Of Masculinity, Sexuality And Hiv/Aids In Namibia, Southern Africa, Jill Brown, James Sorrell, Marcela Raffaelli

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The goal of the current study was to explore notions of masculinity and their linkages to HIV/AIDS among Owambo men and women in Namibia, where an estimated one-fifth of 15–49 year-olds have acquired HIV. Thirteen open-ended interviews and three focus groups were conducted with 50 male and female participants aged 19–50 in rural and urban Namibia. Qualitative analysis revealed six central themes: the evolving meanings of masculinity, power dynamics between men and women, women as active agents, the tension between formal and informal education and HIV transmission, alcohol and masculinity, and the blending of masculinity and explanations of HIV and …

Correspondence: To Dr. Edna Saffy From James L. “Skip” Rutherford Iii, Chairman Of The William J. Clinton Foundation, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

A letter to Dr. Saffy offering a gold-plated keepsake for a donation of $35 or more as a remembrance of the first year anniversary of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, October 24, 2005.

Invitation: 40th Anniversary Of Planned Parenthood Of Northeast Florida, Planned Parenthood Of Northeast Florida

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Invitation to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Planned Parenthood of Northeast Florida at the University of North Florida University Center, honoring Julie Buckingham. Date: October 24. 2005

Notes From Tiaw Conference (Handwritten) October 20, 2005, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Notes written at The International Alliance for Women conference.

Program: Tiaw Global Partnership Forum 2005.

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

The International Alliance for Women. Celebrating 25 Years of Women Making a World of Difference in Business, Philanthropy and Politics October 19-21, 2005

Trans Politics, Social Change, And Justice, Richard M. Juang

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

On May 6 and 7, 2005, Trans Politics, Social Change, and Justice brought over four hundred trans people and allies into a single building. A feeling of electricity was everywhere. Not because this was the first trans conference — it was not. Nor was it the largest. What participants felt came from the fact that the real lives of trans people were being addressed by trans people. For a time, the ground had shifted; the complex webs of institutions and politics that surround the lives of people everywhere were being addressed primarily from the perspective of transgender peoples and their …

Queer Studies In Asia, Paisley Currah

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

How does research about diverse sexualities and genders circulate through Asia? How do linguistic barriers affect the flow of local and regionally produced knowledges? Who calls the shots, defines the agenda, decides who gets published? How can we create more venues for South-South dialogues?

Documenting Queer Community Histories: Whose History Is It?, Jessica Stern, Nicholas Ray

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

What does it mean to be a member of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) community? When did LGBTQ community history begin? Where do queer communities differ? How do we broach these questions to document communities' experiences? And significantly, why is it important to document the histories of those who are defined as LGBTQ?

On Brian Attebery’S Decoding Gender In Science Fiction, C. Jason Smith

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

The premise of Decoding Gender in Science Fiction is, as Brian Attebery states in the first chapter, that “Science fiction is a useful tool for investigating habits of thought, including conceptions of gender. Gender, in turn, offers an interesting glimpse into some of the unacknowledged messages that permeate science fiction” (1). What we have in Decoding Gender in Science Fiction is the most comprehensive analysis of gender tropes in Science Fiction from its origins in Gothic literature to today. Attebery states in his introduction that he was surprised to find there was no historical study of the development …