Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

Looking At Gender Differences Through The Lens Of Sport Spectators, Lynn Ridinger, Daniel C. Funk

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

This paper explores common assumptions about the intrinsic differences between male and female consumers within a subset of leisure consumption - sport spectating. This research utilized the Sports Interest Inventory (SII) (Funk, Mahony & Ridinger, 2002) to examine differences between spectators (N = 959) attending men's and women's basketball games at a NCAA Division I institution. MANOVA results revealed nine differences for Team-Gender, seven differences for Spectator-Gender, and three interaction effects. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that three core interest factors (university pride, team interest, and vicarious achievement) explained a significant proportion of variance in commitment and attendance behavior for …

Sex Industry And Sex Workers In Nevada, Kate Hausbeck, Barbara G. Brents, Crystal Jackson

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Timeworn but true, it is undeniable that “sex sells” and perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in Las Vegas, the symbolic center of the commercial sex industry and America’s own “Sin City.” To understand the commercial sex industry in Las Vegas and the Nevada sex industry more generally, we need to understand how local patterns reflect the larger trends in the nation and the world.

Teen Sexuality And Pregnancy In Nevada, Marta Meana, Lea Thaler

Social Health of Nevada Reports

The United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the fully industrialized world. While the rates have been declining in the last 15 years, it remains a source of concern that

• 34% of teenage girls in the U.S. are becoming pregnant at least once before the age of 20.
• The teen pregnancy in the U.S. rate is ten times that of Japan, four times those of France and Germany, and nearly twice that of Great Britain.

Promoting Gender Equity Among Young Brazilian Men As An Hiv Prevention Strategy, Julie Pulerwitz, Gary Barker, Marcio Segundo, Marcos Nascimento

HIV and AIDS

There is growing evidence that social norms that promote unequal gender roles increase young men and women’s risk of HIV/STIs and partner violence. Thus, changing gender norms is increasingly recognized as an important strategy to prevent the spread of HIV infection. Few interventions to promote gender-equitable norms and behaviors among young men have been systematically implemented or evaluated, and little is known about how best to measure changes in gender norms and their effect on HIV/STI protective and risk behaviors. To address these gaps, the Horizons Program and Instituto Promundo examined the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve young men’s …

Understanding The Hiv/Sti Prevention Needs Of Men Who Have Sex With Men In Kenya, Washington Onyango-Ouma, Harriet Birungi, Scott Geibel

HIV and AIDS

Understanding the sexual behaviors of populations who are vulnerable to HIV is an important component in the battle against AIDS. Yet policymakers in developing countries, particularly in Africa, have often overlooked men who have sex with men (MSM) as a vulnerable group because of stigmatization of homosexual behavior and denial of the existence of MSM and the role they may play in HIV transmission. A growing body of literature not only documents the presence of this population in Africa but also the importance of reaching them with information and services to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In …

Deconstructing Laundry: Gendered Technologies And The Reluctant Redesign Of Household Labor, Constance L. Shehan, Amanda Moras

Sociology Faculty Publications

This paper examines the ways in which technological innovations have entered the home through the process of laundry. We take a brief look at the history of laundry technology, examining the costs of locating laundry in the private sphere and discussing alternatives. We highlight the links between laundry technology and ideologies about “women’s place.”

Female Genital Mutilation In Kenya: Evidence Links Health Workers To Fgm, Population Council, Gtz

Reproductive Health

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a traditional practice that affects women and girls in several African countries. It is practiced in a variety of ways, classified by WHO into four broad types all found in Kenya. In some communities it is associated with passage into maturity; in others, it is considered a symbol of ethnic identity, a religious obligation, or a necessary prerequisite for marriage, either through symbolizing attainment of womanhood or as a means of preserving and demonstrating virginity. FGM is considered a harmful traditional practice because it may be associated with a variety of short- and long-term health …

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 1: Project Overview, Gul Rashida, Peter C. Miller

Reproductive Health

Maternal mortality in Pakistan is believed to be quite high, at about 350–500 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Reducing maternal mortality is one of the major objectives of the Government of Pakistan. Interventions required to address maternal mortality include safe motherhood, which means a woman’s ability to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project was an operations research project designed to develop and test interventions to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in a predominantly rural district of Pakistan. The vast majority of maternal deaths are attributed to delays in …

Berhane Hewan ('Light For Eve'): A Program To Support Married And Unmarried Adolescent Girls In Rural Amhara Region, Ethiopia, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Berhane Hewan (meaning “Light for Eve” in Amharic) is a program in rural Amhara region designed to assist unmarried girls by imparting the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to avoid child marriage as well as give support to adolescent girls who are already married. With support from UNFPA, DFID, and the Turner Foundation, the program is implemented by the Ministry of Youth and Sport and the Regional Youth Bureaus, with technical assistance from the Population Council. The program promotes functional literacy, life skills, livelihoods skills, and reproductive health education. In developing the project, the Regional Youth Bureau staff felt …

Fewer And Better-Educated Children: Expanded Choices In Schooling And Fertility In Rural Pakistan, Zeba Sathar, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Minhaj Ul Haque, Mumraiz Khan, Monica J. Grant

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This report presents the results of a longitudinal study of changing educational opportunities in rural Punjab and N.W.F.P. from 1997 to 2004. The purpose of the study was to answer two major research questions: what were the effects of changes in schooling opportunities in the community over the past six years on enrollment and attainment, and what were the effects on family planning and fertility behavior? This study builds on an earlier study undertaken in 1997. As noted in this report, the study is innovative in several ways: (1) it is longitudinal; (2) it combines consideration of three dimensions of …

'She Knew Only When The Garland Was Put Around Her Neck': Findings From An Exploratory Study On Early Marriage In Rajasthan, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In India, despite several policy and program efforts, early marriage persists with considerable variation between and within states. Unraveling the complex drivers of early marriage in particular contexts requires careful site-specific diagnostic research. Whether and how these downward pressures on age at marriage are ameliorated by India's national and state efforts to foster later marriage is not well understood. As noted in this brief, research is required at the community level to understand the extent of actual implementation of various policies and programs intended to prevent early marriage and the extent to which such efforts have found acceptability among parents …

Meeting The Health And Social Needs Of Married Girls In India: The First Time Parents Project's Implementation And Reach, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

India has one of the largest populations of married adolescent girls in the world. Despite the high prevalence of early marriage and the distinct and predictable risks these girls and young women face, little is known about the lives of married young women, and little has been done to support them. In response, the Population Council, in partnership with Child in Need Institute and Deepak Charitable Trust, initiated the First-Time Parents project. This project developed and tested an integrated package of health and social interventions that would improve married young women's reproductive and sexual health knowledge and practices, and expand …

Spending, Saving And Borrowing: Perceptions And Experiences Of Girls In Gujarat, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Microfinance and savings programs that offer user-friendly and flexible savings schemes for women are increasingly being implemented in India, but such programs have been limited to adults. Although a number of programs have been implemented that aim to empower adolescent girls and young women, these have largely focused on enhancing life skills and awareness. The potential among young females to enhance control over resources through savings and use of other financial products in formal and informal banking institutions has rarely been addressed, either in research or through programs. As stated in this brief, the Council and the Self Employed Women's …

Marriage And Motherhood: An Exploratory Study Of The Social And Reproductive Health Status Of Married Young Women In Gujarat And West Bengal, F. Ram, Ranjana Sinha, S.K. Mohanty, Arup Das, Aruna Lakhani, Nicole Haberland, K.G. Santhya

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In India, sexual activity and childbearing among young women take place overwhelmingly within the context of marriage. Despite the high prevalence of early marriage, little is known about the lives of married young women, and few interventions have focused on supporting this group. In response, the Population Council, in partnership with Child In Need Institute in Kolkata (West Bengal) and Deepak Charitable Trust in Vadodara (Gujarat), initiated the First-Time Parents project aimed at developing and testing an integrated package of health and social interventions that would improve married young women’s reproductive and sexual health knowledge and practices, and expand their …

Formation Of Partnerships Among Young Women And Men In Pune District, Maharashtra, Mallika Alexander, Laila Garda, Savita Kanade, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Bela Ganatra

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Young people in India face traditional age- and sex-stratified norms that espouse gender double standards. Premarital partnerships are taboo and anecdotal evidence suggests that in many settings in India, the hint of a romantic relationship or even social interaction between young girls and boys is sufficient to damage a family's reputation and/or result in accelerated arranged marriage, particularly for the girl. While there is a prevailing perception at the community level that in these circumstances, premarital partnerships are rare, there is a small body of literature that suggests that such partnerships are indeed formed and sexual relations experienced, among, typically, …

The Implications Of Changing Educational And Family Circumstances For Children's Grade Progression In Rural Pakistan: 1997-2004, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Cem Mete, Monica J. Grant

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This Population Council working paper assesses the effects of primary school characteristics, household characteristics, and recent household economic and demographic shocks on school dropout rates during the first eight grades in rural Punjab and North West Frontier Province, Pakistan. While grade retention has improved over the past six years, dropout rates for girls remain fairly high, particularly at the end of primary school (grade five). The results of this study show clearly the complementary nature of supply and demand factors in determining grade progression in rural Pakistan, particularly for girls. The results suggest that substantial improvement in the schooling environment …

Providing New Opportunities To Adolescent Girls In Socially Conservative Settings: The Ishraq Program In Rural Upper Egypt, Martha Brady, Ragui Assaad, Barbara L. Ibrahim, Abeer Salem, Rania Salem, Nadia Zibani

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Out-of-school girls are among the most disadvantaged adolescents in rural Upper Egypt. Compared with girls attending school, they are more likely to be engaged in poorly paid farm work, more likely to be married early, and at greater risk for early childbearing and poor pregnancy outcomes. To respond to their situation, through the partnership of Caritas, the Center for Development and Population Activities, the Population Council, and Save the Children, the Ishraq program was designed: a holistic intervention to address the unmet needs of out-of-school adolescent girls. The pilot phase of Ishraq was launched in four rural villages of one …

In Our Own Hands: Swaa-Ghana Champions The Female Condom, Kathleen Cravero, Michelle Skaer, Victoria Ebin, Martha Brady

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This issue of Quality/Calidad/Qualité describes the vital role played by the Ghana branch of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA) in introducing the female condom, the only female-controlled method for protection from HIV. By addressing issues of gender inequity and communication within relationships, SWAA used the female condom to empower women to regain control of their bodies. Also in this issue are profiles of three other approaches to programming for the female condom from Brazil, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Tap And Reposition Youth (Try): Prestar Apoio Social E Oportunidades De Microcrédito E De Poupanças A Mulheres Jovens Em Áreas Com Uma Prevalência De Vih Elevada, Annabel Erulkar, Judith Bruce, Erica Chong, Aleke Dondo, Jennefer Sebstad, James K. Matheka, Arjmand Banu Khan, Anne Gathuku

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Nairobi, no Quénia, acolhe uma dos maiores populações de bairros pobres na África subsariana. Os adolescentes que vivem nesses bairros, especialmente as jovens, stão privadas dos ambientes potencialmente seguros das suas escolas e famílias e não têm oportunidades económicas seguras. O desemprego é uma enorme preocupação para as jovens adolescentes e as circunstâncias desesperantes obriga-as a sobreviver conforme podem: 21% das jovens sexualmente activas entre os 15–19 anos de idade admitiram que têm relações sexuais em troca de dinheiro ou ofertas. Essa vulnerabilidade acrescida reflecte-se nas taxas da infecção pelo VIH. Em resposta a essas circunstâncias, o Population Council e …

Biruh Tesfa ('Bright Future'): A Program For Poor, Urban Girls At Risk Of Exploitation And Abuse In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Low-income and slum areas in urban sub-Saharan Africa attract large numbers of rural-urban migrants in search of work and educational opportunities. Many are adolescents from poor rural areas, who risk the hazards of life in the slums in hopes of carving out a better life. These girls arrive knowing little about life in dense urban centers, often with little or no education, and no family members or friends to turn to. Many new arrivals are initially absorbed into domestic work; some eventually drift into sex work either for lack of choice or in pursuit of better pay and fewer working …

Invertir Cuando Hacerlo Cuenta: Generando La Evidencia Base Para Politicas Y Programas Para Adolescentes Muy Jóvenes—Guía Y Juego De Herramientas, Erica Chong, Kelly Hallman, Martha Brady

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

No abstract provided.

Geeks At Play: Doing Masculinity In An Online Gaming Site, Natasha Chen Christensen

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This paper uses data taken from chat logs within a first person shooter game, Quake Online, in order to explore the performance of gender online. Previous research has shown how physicality is given a position of importance in institutions where masculinity is developed and reproduced such as sports and war; cyberspace offers the opportunity of divorcing the performance of masculinity from the body. Researchers of gender in cyberspace are divided into two perspectives about the effect of the absence of a physical body on the performance of gender: One camp believes that without the constraints of the body, gender in …

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 …