Sex and Gender

The female terrorist circulates within contemporary Western culture as an object of fascination and heightened concern. Gender and the Political analyses cultural constructions of the female terrorist, arguing that she operates as a limit case of both feminine and feminist agency. Drawing on an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, this book demonstrates that the development of the discourse on terrorism evolves in parallel with, and in response to, radical feminism in the US in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Situated at the borderlines between sexuality, threat and abjection, Amanda Third argues that the figure of the female terrorist compels a reexamination of the project of radical politics and the limits of modernity.

http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/gender-and-the-political-amanda-third/?K=9781137402752

"A fascinating exploration of the historical twinning of terrorism and feminism in the U.S. By redirecting our attention to these important discourses emerging in the 60's and 70s, this book provides a crucial corrective to counter post 9/11 anxieties that continually project the terrorist as somehow coming from elsewhere." - Jasbir K. Puar, Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Rutgers University, USA

"Amanda Third's Gender and the Political convincingly argues that the modern concepts of terrorism and feminism are historically and conceptually interwoven. The book does this by reading terrorism studies against the grain while simultaneously positioning the concept of terrorism as a central trope of postmodern thought. These two discourses - the former increasingly foundational to, the latter highly critical of, the modern state and social order - are placed in fruitful conversation with one another, resulting in a deeply illuminating study of the contemporary political terrain in the United States." - Mehmet Döşemeci, Assistant Professor of History, Bucknell University, USA

In this paper, I will look at the depiction of South African intersex athlete Caster Semenya as a means to understand the existing problematic essentialist and naturalistic binary paradigms of sex and gender. I will look at the social, cultural, legal and medical treatment of her as an ‘abnormal’ body, and the attempts at normalization as a form of social control. I will ultimately establish how her very existence – and refusal to conform, is evidence of the social constructionism of both sex and gender.

In the field of identity politics and cultural identity, the representation of differences plays a crucial role. The extent of the differences a society has determines the social outcomes in divergent ways. Surely, there are other variables that cause social anxiety or communal solidarity such as religious views, socio-political conditions and also gender relations. To the point of departure, the case of homosexuality, or in a general way, the boundaries of sexuality is very controversial field so as to reveal the effects of ideologies, social conditions and historical past where all of these evolved through times. In order to understand and to reach a general view, the experiences of small towns are very decisive and unavoidable parts of such studies. As a basic explanation, that is why Arlene Stein chooses to make an ethnographic study in the USA around 1990s. In this paper, I will try to make a basic analysis of ‘The Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community’s Battle Over Sex, Faith and Civil Rights’ by presenting my reading of this story and through reacting to the general points.

This paper argues that capitalist accumulation requires imperialist expansion, and that this expansion creates a “raced” surplus laboring population. The argument proceeds in seven parts: that Marx’s assertion in chapter 25 of Capital that capitalism produces an ever-increasing relative surplus population is tenable in all but the longest of time frames; that imperial expansion played an important role in the transition to capitalism, though not for the reasons traditionally given; that overinvestment rather than the increasing organic composition of capital best explains imperial expansion in the capitalist era; that the uneven development of capitalism produces at the same time an uneven development of the surplus laboring population; that race has served as a mark of membership in the surplus laboring population; that by intertwining itself with the surplus laboring population, race serves to perpetuate itself despite its contradictions; and that despite this resilience, the contradictions of race also set in process conflicts that make it possible to overcome imperialism.

Cet essai  contextualise l'autobiographie d'Adélaïde Herculine dite Alexina et devenue Abel Barbin (1838-1868) en la replaçant dans l'histoire de ce que les médecins ont appelé "les erreurs de sexe" qualifiant ainsi les personnes "hermaphrodites" présentant une discordance entre leur sexe biologique et leur sexe social au XIXe siècle.

This course takes eco-feminist and critical race studies approaches to the anthropology of gender and sexuality, taking “eco-feminism” as an identity, an object of analysis, and as a methodological approach. While “Feminism” in practice need not be (though often is) gender-specific, as a political and academic practice it often carries racialized inflections towards its objects of its inquiry as well as its activism. The term, “eco”, from the Greek “oikos,” means “dwelling,” “household,” “home,” or “family”, laying the foundation for examining the roles that gender and sexuality play in changing forms of kinship, citizenship, and (environmental) politics beyond and within the concept of the human. These different meanings of the “eco” in eco-nomy and eco-logy shape scholarly analyses as well as the lived experiences for those do not feel “at home” in a white hetero-normative structure. In investigating the intersections and interconnections of gender and sexuality with race, ethnicity, and class, we will consider “eco’s” various forms and how humans come to think about the concept of  “home.”  An overarching question for this course revolves around whether, if, or when, one should separate environmental justice from social justice – and what the possibilities and limits are to fusing naturecultures (Haraway). The readings will cover classic anthropological approaches, current critical theory and philosophy, as well as less-often-read scholars whose voices often fall between the lines – or at the margins of – mainstream academic discourse. This is an attempt both to decolonize the syllabus as well as show how thoughts and bodies, as well as body politics become colonized. What does it mean to decolonize bodies through words? How can language create and maintain (earth) body politics? How has the concept of “home” – the “eco” continued to structure ideas about who and what bodies may chose to, or be let, to live? How do notions of “home” and what is “normal” gain their gendered, sexualized, racialized texture? What does it mean to “be at home in one’s own body?” When it comes to people’s choices about their bodies, it is crucial to understand how certain human and nonhuman bodies and lives matter, and how others do not.  The fundamental anthropological divisions of “nature” and “culture” frame how we think about what it means to be human as well as what it means “to be free to choose” what we do with our bodies. Authors include Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Gloria Anzaldúa, along with Andrea Smith, and Winona LaDuke. We will read these authors along with Marilyn Strathern, Donna Haraway, Gayle Rubin, Judith Butler, Friedrich Engels, and the Gender Nihilists, to name a few.

We examine workplace-level sources of gender inequality
to explore the link between organizational change and
levels of workplace gender integration over time. To do so,
we analyze the gender division of labor and key structural
aspects of U.S. private-sector work establishments, using
longitudinal data from the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission from 1975 to 2005. We fi nd that
women’s presence in managerial positions is positively
related to gender integration, as is both establishment
size and growth. Additionally, the results show that trends
toward gender integration are due to change within
workplaces rather than new, relatively integrated
workplaces entering the population over time. Our results
also provide compelling evidence that the effect of female
managers varies dramatically across organizational
contexts, with the strongest desegregating effects in
larger and growing establishments. Finally, the effect of
women’s access to organizational power structures has
sharply diminished over time.

In 1972, Syed Mustafa Siraj (1930-2012) published Māyā Mridanga, a novel which has attained an iconic status in recent years[1], with the advent of queer studies and a proliferation of queer texts in South Asia. Since its first appearance, the novel, set within an almost extinct itinerant folk theatre group, Alkaap, drew the attention of scholars working on aboriginal and folk cultures of Bengal; but, they have largely ignored Siraj’s declaration in the 1972 preface that the novel primarily deals with the cross-dressing male actors (p.5), the chhokras–jara purush tobu purush noy, nari – tobu nari o noy (Men, who are not men, but women – yet, not quite women either, p. 12). Siraj’s novel is a rare modern Bengali text to address deep philosophical questions of sexual subject formation, of essence and existence, of being and becoming.

This was a research paper for a course entitled Feminist and Multicultural Theologies. I unpack what gender complementarianism is, examine its history, and compare it to how Scripture and earlier Christian Tradition understood gender. This allows me to establish that gender complementarianism is a recent innovation in secular and Christian thinking about gender, and that it can be described as a "trajectory" from Scripture and Tradition on gender, influenced by social, ideological, and intellectual developments in secular societies. I then pursue a critique of gender complementarianism, arguing that it is an "unsatisfactory trajectory" because it has troubling implications for orthodox theology, is not borne out by empirical experience and observation, and has harmful effects on human beings and societies and on ethical development.

During the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West famously interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for "Best Female Video." A year later both performers returned to the VMAs with songs that responded directly to the original incident. In the meantime, the U.S. media and record-buying public had come to interpret the original incident using the stock scripts and characters of what Linda Williams has called “U.S. racial melodrama,” the fact of which both performers seemed aware. In this way, the Swift-West “incident” had come to reflect and mimic larger racial tensions, especially between black men and white women, as they had specifically come to be understood and portrayed during the Obama presidency, which many commentators have hastily and incorrectly identified as a symptom of “post-racialism.” This essay discusses how Kanye West and Taylor Swift reflect on and revise the tropes of racial melodrama, in the latter case to reinforce what Charles Mills calls "the epistemology of ignorance" when it comes to racism in America, and in the former case to challenge it.

This op-ed considers the drastic change in mores that has taken place between the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s and what I call the Sexual Counter-Revolution of 1990s America and the Post-September 11th world. I argue that the pressure to make young people identify as straight, gay, lesbian, or trans does not serve the purposes of sexual liberation, but is instead an attempt to impose socially-constructed stereotypes that restrict rather than expand young people's ability to make difficult choices about their sexual experience. I argue that despite the sexual revolution, young people still need basic education about the biological 'facts of life' before they can make difficult decisions about their gender or sexual identity without having those decisions made for them by supposed cultural authorities.

ABSTRACT
This research, situated at the junction of feminist, trans and disability studies, examines the limits of intersectional feminist analyses and the difficulties faced in their consideration of gender identity and ability through an analysis of two types of body modification: transsexuality and transability (voluntary disability acquisition). In response to the question “what are the limits of intersectional analyses and how can they be addressed?”, three objectives are proposed: 1) participate in the critical examination of specific limits of intersectional feminist analyses in order to diversify their axes through the consideration of gender identity and ability; 2) question the conceptual assumptions and cisgenderist and (cis)ableist privileges informing negative discourses around these body modifications and highlight points of convergence among feminist, transactivist and anti-ableist movements in order to encourage dialogue and solidarities among them; 3) provide feminist, trans and disability studies with an enriched model of intersectionality capable of addressing new claims for justice from oppressed groups, such as those of transsexual and transabled individuals. The negative discourses of certain feminists and other scientists regarding these body modifications are mapped and critiqued through a methodology combining archeological, genealogical and critical discourse analysis. The reflections presented here, inspired by poststructuralist and queer approaches, explore neither the “origins” of transsexuality and transability nor their motivations; this is a study of the negative discourses about these phenomena and the normative systems from which they originate. The result is an important contribution to theoretical, normative and political fields of knowledge: the examination of two “extreme” cases of body modification reveals the bodily normativities of dominant regimes, specifically cisgenderism and (cis)ableism, that remain as unrecognized in our societies as in our social movements. 


KEYWORDS
Intersectionality; feminist theories; trans theories; queer theories; disability theories; social movements; body modifications; bodies; transsexuality; transability; voluntary amputation; BIID; disability; mutilation; pathologization; normality/abnormality; stigmatization; discourse; critical discourse analysis; norms; oppression; autonomy; bioethics.


RÉSUMÉ
Cette recherche se situe à la jonction des études féministes, trans et sur la production du handicap. Elle s’intéresse aux limites des analyses féministes intersectionnelles et leurs difficultés à considérer certains axes identitaires, telles l’identité de genre et les capacités, à travers l’analyse de deux cas de figure de modifications corporelles, soit la transsexualité et la transcapacité (transformation visant à acquérir un handicap). Cette thèse s’articule autour de la question suivante : quels sont les angles morts des analyses intersectionnelles et comment pouvons-nous y remédier? Pour répondre à cette question, cette thèse propose trois objectifs : 1) Participer aux questionnements critiques entourant certaines limites des analyses féministes intersectionnelles pour en diversifier les axes à partir de l’identité de genre et des capacités; 2) Remettre en question les présupposés conceptuels et les privilèges cisgenristes et (cis)capacitistes qui sous-tendent les discours négatifs entourant ces modifications corporelles et mettre en valeur les points de convergence entre les mouvements féministes, transactivistes et anticapacitistes pour instaurer des dialogues et des solidarités entre eux; 3) Fournir un modèle enrichi de l’intersectionnalité pouvant être déployé en études féministes, trans et sur la production du (trans)handicap, apte à répondre aux nouvelles revendications de justice de groupes opprimés, comme celles des personnes transsexuelles et transcapacitaires. À l’aide d’une méthodologie alliant l’analyse critique de discours, l’analyse archéologique et généalogique, les discours négatifs de certaines féministes et d’autres scientifiques sur ces transformations corporelles sont cartographiés et critiqués. Les réflexions présentées ici, s’inscrivant dans une approche poststructuraliste et queer, ne proposent pas une recherche des « origines » et des motivations de la transsexualité et de la transcapacité, mais plutôt une étude des discours négatifs vis-à-vis ces phénomènes et des systèmes normatifs qui sous-tendent ces discours. C’est sous cet angle que cette recherche constitue un apport important aux champs des savoirs, tant sur le plan théorique, normatif que politique : en se penchant sur deux cas de figure « extrêmes », elle met en lumière les normativités corporelles des régimes dominants, notamment cisgenriste et (cis)capacitiste, occultées tant dans nos sociétés que dans nos mouvements sociaux.


MOTS CLÉS
Intersectionnalité; théories féministes; théories trans; théories queers; théories sur le handicap; mouvements sociaux; modifications corporelles; corps; transsexualité; transcapacité; amputations volontaires; BIID; handicap; mutilations; pathologisation; normalité/anormalité; stigmatisation; discours; analyses critiques de discours; normes; oppressions; autonomie; bioéthique.

Research and critical studies into men and masculinity has originated as one of the most emerging areas of sociological investigation. More books and articles have been published on this study area alone as well as the introduction of two specialized journals and the creation of several websites all providing different explanations of their understanding of men and masculinity at the millennium age. Masculinity is an area of sociology that has, since the mid-1950s, drawn on many theories, including structural functionalism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, critical structuralism, and more recently, post-structuralism and theories of the post-modern (Whitehead & Barrett, 2001). Within popular culture, the media have also come across the perceived 'crisis of masculinity' in Western cultures – newspapers, documentaries and talk shows have increasingly pondered the changing meaning of manhood in our modern age (Alsop et al, 2002). The purpose of this writing is to understand men and masculinity in the modern world putting into consideration the sociology of masculinity, the social construction of masculinity, the crisis within masculinity as well as a fair contrast with masculinity and feminism.

First published in 1988, this volume redefined the anthropological study of menstrual customs. Examining cultures as diverse as long-house dwellers in North Borneo, African farmers, Welsh housewives, and postindustrial American workers, it challenged the previously widespread image of a universal "menstrual taboo" as well as the common assumption of universal female subordination that underlay it. Offering feminist perspectives on comparative gender politics and symbolism, the book has interested students and scholars in anthropology, women's studies, religion, and comparative health systems. Originally listed as a “Notable” book in Choice, it later won the first Most Enduring Edited Collection Prize, awarded by the Council for the Anthropology of Reproduction (a unit of the American Anthropological Association.). The book continues to be taught regularly around the world.

Kant on sex gives most philosophers the following associations: a lifelong celibate philosopher; a natural teleological view of sexuality; a strange incorporation of this natural teleological account within his freedom-based moral theory; and a stark ethical condemnation of most sexual activity. Although this paper provides an interpretation of Kant’s view on sexuality, it neither defends nor offers an apology for everything Kant says about sexuality. Rather, it aims to show that a reconsidered Kant-based account can utilize his many worthwhile insights and that by making Kant’s account of sexuality more consistent with his own basic philosophical commitments, the result is a compelling approach to the complex and complicated phenomena of sexual love, sexual identity, and sexual orientation.

Open access link here:
https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/fpq/article/view/3116

Given the prominence of Muslim veils—in particular the hijab and full-face veil—in public discourse concerning the place of Muslims in Western society, we examined their impact on non-Muslims’ responses at both explicit and implicit levels. Results revealed that responses were more negative toward any veil compared with no veil, and more negative toward the full-face veil relative to the hijab: for emotions felt toward veiled women (Study 1), for non-affective attitudinal responses (Study 2), and for implicit negative attitudes revealed through response latency measures (Studies 3a and 3b). Finally, we manipulated the perceived reasons for wearing a veil, finding that exposure to positive reasons for wearing a veil led to better predicted and imagined contact (Study 4). Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Catalina de Erauso was a Spanish nun—turned soldier—who lived in 17th century Spain. Dressed as a man for almost two decades, she travelled to the Colonies to test her luck in the army, where she made the grade of ensign. In 1624 she wrote her memoirs. Unfortunately, the original manuscript was lost and the text which has survived is a copy, probably penned by an amanuensis. In 1996, an English translation of her memoirs was published. In my paper I will argue that the translation of the Stepto’s translation reflects a cultural bias and shows little effort at researching the nun's deeds and words. I will also examine gender attitudes in the Renaissance, and later periods, and the role of the Church in curtailing women from attaining intellectual maturity. To back my claims, I use Catalina's original text and contrast it with subsequent editions. I hope to prove that the English translation veers more towards sensationalism than to a deep and abiding respect for the nun’s misfortunes.
Keywords: Gender; translating issues; transvestite; Basque; anachronisms

Male Psychology Conference 2015
University College London 26th &27th June
http://www.malepsychology.org.uk/index.html

The theory of hegemonic masculinity has gained a lot of traction as an explanation for a number of male behaviours, including  higher rates of suicide, absence of health promoting behaviour, reluctance to seek medical attention and so on. In order  to throw into relief the situation of men in Western culture, gender relations will be explored in peasant foraging and hunter gatherer societies.

Gender & Pop Culture provides a foundation for the study of gender, pop culture and media. This comprehensive, interdisciplinary text provides text-book style introductory and concluding chapters written by the editors, seven original contributor chapters on key topics and written in a variety of writing styles, discussion questions, additional resources and more. Coverage includes:
•Foundations for studying gender & pop culture (history, theory, methods, key concepts)
•Contributor chapters on media and children, advertising, music, television, film, sports, and technology
•Ideas for activism and putting this book to use beyond the classroom
•Pedagogical Features
•Suggestions for further readings on topics covered and international studies of gender and pop culture
Gender & Pop Culture was designed with students in mind, to promote reflection and lively discussion. With features found in both textbooks and anthologies, this sleek book can serve as primary or supplemental reading in undergraduate courses across the disciplines that deal with gender, pop culture or media studies.

This paper outlines a theory explaining why the provider role is important to boys in the development of their masculine identity. The family is a primary site for identity formation, and boys appear to be more badly affected by growing up in non-intact families than girls. Female identity is more marked by biological transitions (e.g. pregnancy), and gives mothers a more central role within the family than fathers. Thus the male role within the family – the provider role-needs to be socially and culturally constructed. Where the father is absent and the role is devalued, transition from boyhood to manhood is made difficult, and masculinity may be problematized as 'hegemonic', 'toxic', and 'hyper'. Solutions from traditional cultures are discussed.

It is sometimes argued that the non-therapeutic, non-consensual alteration of children’s genitals should be discussed in two separate ethical discourses: one for girls (in which such alterations should be termed ‘female genital mutilation’ or FGM), and one for boys (in which such alterations should be termed ‘male circumcision’). In this article, I call into question the moral and empirical basis for such a distinction, and argue that all children—whether female, male, or intersex—should be free from having parts of their genitals removed unless there is a pressing medical indication.

Theorizing a sociology of emotion that links micro-level resources to macro-level forces, this article extends previous work on emotional capital in relation to emotional experiences and management. Emerging from Bourdieu's theory of social practice, emotional capital is a form of cultural capital that includes the emotion-specific, trans-situational resources that individuals activate and embody in distinct fields. Contrary to prior conceptualizations, I argue that emotional capital is neither wholly gender-neutral nor exclusively feminine. Men may lay claim to emotional capital as a valued resource within particular fields. The concept of emotional capital should be seen as distinct from emotion management and felt emotional experience and distinctions between primary and secondary sources of capital clarify the simultaneously durable and evolving nature of capital and the habitus. To illustrate these conceptual refinements, I use interview and diary data from male nurses. Men bring primary emotional capital, developed during primary socialization, to the nursing profession while also developing secondary capital through occupational socialization centered on empathy and compassion. The construct of emotional capital is refined as a structured yet dynamic resource developed through primary and secondary socialization and activated and embodied in everyday emotion practice.

This paper identifies the technological and commercial foundations of the new category of online applications commonly described as Web 2.0 or Social Media. It examines the relevance of Web 2.0 for Marketing Strategy and for Direct Marketing in particular. The issue is not a clear-cut one: while several observers saw in Web 2.0 a new stage in the evolution of the internet, others simply rejected it as a new High-Tech hype while there is still no generally accepted definition and demarcation of the term. Paradoxically, even without an accepted definition and despite lack of extensive research, the corporate world seems to embrace the Web 2.0 concept: high-profile mergers and acquisitions have already taken place or are under way while corporations are rushing to integrate various forms of social media into their marketing planning. The experience so far, based to a large degree on anecdotal evidence, is that Web 2.0 has a substantial effect on consumer behaviour and has contributed to an unprecedented customer empowerment. The consequences are far reaching, affecting not only the area of technology development but also the domains of business strategy and marketing. From the academic but also the practical point of view, attention must be placed on the demarcation and evaluation of the new technologies and trends so that the real value of Web 2.0 as a component of the modern marketing can be determined.

MARTIN, Fran. “Japanese homoerotic manga in Taiwan: Same-sex love and utopian imagination,” in Women’s Manga in Asia and Beyond: Uniting Different Cultures and Identities, edited by Fusami Ogi, Rebecca Suter, Kazumi Nagaike and John A. Lent. Palgrave MacMillan, Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels series (2019): 5-23.

The optimum parameters of multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMD) for suppressing the dynamic response of a base-excited structure in a specific mode is investigated. The base excitation is modelled as a stationary white noise random process. The stationary response of the structure with MTMD is analyzed for the optimum parameters of the MTMD system. The criterion selected for optimality is the minimization of the root mean square (r.m.s.) displacement of the main structure. The parameters of MTMD that are optimized include the damping ratio, the tuning frequency ratio and the frequency bandwidth of the MTMD system. The optimum parameters of the MTMD system and corresponding effectiveness are obtained for different damping ratios of the main structure and mass ratios of the MTMD system. In addition, the effectiveness of an optimally designed MTMD system is compared with that of an optimum single tuned mass damper. It is shown that the optimally designed MTMD system is more effective for ...

Este artículo busca analizar el proceso que orientó la selección y los procedimientos de una revisión extensa de la literatura científica sobre el tema de la violencia motivada por discriminaciones, entre las cuales aquellas basadas en la orientación sexual e/o identidad de género. Se eligieron a artículos académicos publicados en dos bases de datos disponibles en línea: SciELO y BVS-PSI. Se analizaron 98 trabajos. Se observó que, a pesar de la controversia en torno al término “homofobia”, este fue el descriptor más eficaz. La mayor parte de los trabajos fueron publicados en la región Sur de Brasil, aunque muchos de estos fueron producidos en las regiones Norte y Nordeste. Los trabajos se concentran en las áreas de ciencias humanas y sociales, con escasa discusión del tema en la psicología clínica. Sin embargo, en los ámbitos donde las psicologías dialogan con otras áreas del saber, bajo una perspectiva multidisciplinaria, o aún en el de la Psicología Social, el tema ha sido discutido. La diseminación de ese debate en el ámbito de esta disciplina se justifica también cuando observamos ciertas prácticas que usan el saber-poder de la psicología y, consecuentemente, la práctica de psicólogas y psicólogos como herramientas en disputas políticas en el campo de los derechos sexuales en los últimos años. Palabras clave: Violencia; Género; Sexualidad; Homofobia; Psicología social.

The global LGBTTTIQA+ movement's historical struggle against the criminalization, pathologizing and discrimination of their identities has had a significant impact on different nation states, to the degree of civil rights such as same-sex marriage and adoption being obtained. However, these are processes that cannot be standardized across our complex global multiculturalism.

By Oscar Gonzalez Gómez for Debates Indígenas.

One interesting aspect of the literary representations of epidemics is that diseases are regularly gendered and, as indicated by feminist literary critics, more often than not, imagined as traditionally female or even personified as women. Boeckel, for example, shows in  Images of Plague and Pestilence how the iconography of the plague slowly changes from the representation of a skeleton to that of “an old woman in rags with the breasts showing”. Byrne, on the other hand, demonstrates how tuberculosis is considered in literature an inherently female disease and, on the rare occasions when it affects men, these are depicted as womanly and sexually deviant. While Shuttleton (2012) argues that the marks of smallpox in texts from the 18th century are interpreted as a sign of bravery and militaristic virility in men, while a destroyer of beauty and a motivator for reclusion in women.
In this paper, we reflect on the gendering of epidemic diseases in the 19th-century literature. We will focus on three of the major epidemics at the time: tuberculosis, syphilis and cholera.  By relying on the studies of different critics and employing different critical tools from comparative literature and cultural history, we discuss how these diseases are represented, why they are represented in this way and how this representation influences the subsequent literary imagination.

Traditional leadership often coexists with modern political institutions; yet, we know little about how traditional and state authority cues—or those from male or female sources—affect public opinion. Using an original survey experiment of 1,381 Malawians embedded in the 2016 Local Governance Performance Index (LGPI), we randomly assign respondents into one of four treatment groups or a control group to hear messages about a child marriage reform from a female or male traditional authority (TA) or parliamentarian. In the sample as a whole, the female TA is as effective as the control (i.e., no endorsement), while other messengers elicit lower support (i.e., backfire effects). Endorsements produce heterogeneous effects across respondent sex and patrilineal/matrilineal customs, suggesting the need for tailored programs. Our paper adds an intersectional approach to the governance literature and offers a theoretical framework capable of explaining the impact of state and traditional end...

This essay analyzes the origin of sexuality and its relationship with the institution. The issue is addressed from the perspective of psychoanalysis (Freud, Lacan), anthropology (Claude Lévi-Strauss) and philosophy (Foucault, Butler, Zupančič, Žižek). From the analysis of sexual difference as “real/impossible” a perspective comes to light: sex it is not a symbolic construct and not even an extra-symbolic reference, but what marks the irreducible (contradiction) limit of the symbolic order.

Le corps fait l'objet de nombreuses manipulations sociales sous forme de rituels ou d'opérations chirurgicales qui visent à le modeler selon un modèle idéal du corps, défini, entre autres, d'après des normes de genre androcentrées. La médecine héritière des Lumières souhaite réparer les corps mutilés, différents, indifférenciés, ambigus, afin qu'ils entrent dans la catégorie de l'acceptable, du complet, du défini, voire du beau et du monosexué. De ce point de vue, la finalité des techniques médicales comme la nymphoplastie ou la clitoridoplastie-et également celles relatives à l'intersexuation et la transsexualité comme le montrera le deuxième volume de ce numéro-ne se distingue pas de celle des rituels d'excision et de circoncision qui visent également à trancher dans le vif de la chair pour sexuer les corps. Le terme même de sexe en latin vient de secare, couper, comme si la coupure qu'elle soit physique à travers les opérations ritualo-chirurgicales de sexuation, ou catégorielle au niveau du langage, à travers la binarité des genres 1 , présupposait une indifférenciation originelle qui menace l'ordre social en tant qu'elle apparaît comme bisexuée. Car, si le genre apparaît à beaucoup comme relatif et le sexe absolu, celui-ci peut revêtir également une certaine plasticité, ainsi qu'en témoigne les rituels d'excision, de circoncision, et d'infibulation, mais aussi les interventions chirurgicales comme l'hyménoplastie, la 1 Corinne Fortier, « Inscribing Trans and Intersex People in the Dominant Binary Categories of Gender », in Value,

Sex work has enjoyed a wealth of sociological interest over the last three decades. However, sexual pleasure experienced by women sex workers with their clients has been largely missing from the conversation. This article seeks to redress this gap by looking at the qualitative narratives of nine women who were working in sex work in Victoria, Australia in 2009. By viewing these narratives through Foucault's power/ knowledge/discourse nexus, together with his later work on ethics of care of the self, it posits that sex worker women draw on and resist various discourses around intimacy, performance, and pleasure in regards to their sex work and their personal lives. With this interplay in mind, the analysis supports the third feminist perspective that sex work is a complex space where dominant and subjugated discourses mingle to produce myriad experiences traversing the exploitation/empowerment binary represented by the feminist sex wars.

“Revisiting The History of Sexuality: Foucault’s Legacy after 40 Years”
Special Issue of Cultural History 5, no. 2 (October 2016).
Cultural History is a peer-reviewed journal published by Edinburgh University Press.

Guest Editor: Howard Chiang

The year 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, Volume 1. One of the most important legacies of this book has been the analytical elucidation of sexuality as a product of history. Foucault’s study has shaped scholarly debates about power, medical science, sexual identity, political life, authorship, the practice of history, and many other topics. Cultural History invites submissions of concise research articles and opinion essays that reflect on Foucault’s text, drawing on either personal research and teaching experiences or pivotal encounters with the text in various scholarly contexts in the 40 years since its publication.

This special issue will place a particular emphasis on the influence of Foucault’s work in the fields of the history of sexuality and feminist and queer studies. As Foucault’s work has been critiqued from sophisticated postcolonial perspectives, contributions by scholars whose area of specialization falls outside of Europe and the United States are therefore especially welcome. Equally, this special issue provides scholars of Western culture with a forum to revisit old debates, cast new light on familiar sources, or raise refreshing methodological questions for the historical study of gender and sexuality.

Procedures for submission of articles: At this time we are requesting abstracts that are no longer than 350 words; these are due by October 15, 2014 and should be submitted electronically as an e-mail attachment to the guest editor Howard Chiang (H.H.Chiang@warwick.ac.uk ), with “Cultural History Issue 5.2 Submission” in the subject line. By October 31, 2014, authors will be notified whether they are invited to submit a full version of their essay to undergo the peer review process. The due date for completed drafts of essays is March 1, 2015. An invitation to submit a full article does not guarantee publication; publication depends on the peer review process and the overall shape the journal issue will take.

For preliminary e-mail inquiries, please contact the guest editor at H.H.Chiang@warwick.ac.uk and include “Cultural History Issue 5.2” in the subject line.

Abstract Deadline: October 15, 2014

Final Manuscript Deadline: March 1, 2015

Article submissions should follow the journal’s in-house submission guidelines (http://www.euppublishing.com/page/cult/submissions) with the exception that the maximum article length is 6,000 words (instead of the usual 9,000 words).