Same-sex marriage and the recent proliferation of marriage-like arrangements, along with continuing struggles for and against these, are often seen as representing a critical moment in the history of marriage as an institution (Oerton, 2008). While this can be viewed in negative, positive and ambivalent ways, it cannot be understood in isolation from longer-term and […]
День: 10.09.2015
From ‘progressive texts’ to ‘postmodern ambivalence’
The influence of feminist campaigning for equal citizenship rights in the 1970s brought concerns over sexual equality on to the cultural policy agenda. The concept of sex role stereotyping is now widely used to criticize media representations and provides impetus to calls for more ‘positive’ images of women, especially in television advertising. Content analysis of […]
DISCONNECTING FROM LOVE TO EARN LOVE: THE MALE TRAGEDY
Self-esteem and masculinity In Sparta, boys were moved into barracks at the age of seven.31 They would be forced to play “games" like "steal the cheese from the altar.” To get the cheese, they had to run through a gauntlet and endure flogging so fierce that some died shortly afterward from concussions and blood gushing […]
CONCLUSION: BECAUSE SILENCE IS COSTLY
A hegemonic construction of blackness that excludes black gays and lesbians from the realm of black existence continues to plague black politics and identity. This narrow conceptualization of racial identity and politics persists in spite of the numerous—and even violent— ways in which blackness and gay and lesbian statuses interact. Despite the prevailing, narrow model […]
Current Frameworks
This chapter tests the major frameworks for the social analysis of gender that have emerged from the history just discussed. The focus is on the general logic of different kinds of theories rather than on particular applications or particular concepts. I take this rather formal approach as it seems the best way to get a […]
Are women nature’s civilizing balance?
It is often said that women are a civilizing balance to the innately warlike male. By taking care of the killing for women it could be said that men civilized women. When survival was the issue, men killing to protea what women bore was the male form of nurturance.30 It was men’s contribution to the […]
Ethnic Differences in Average Longevity
People in different ethnic groups do not have the same average longevity at birth. For example, African Americans’ average longevity at birth is roughly 6.5 years lower for men and about 5 years lower for women than it is for European Americans (National Center for Health Statistics, 2008a). Why do such large differences exist? The […]
Genetic and Environmental Factors in Average Longevity
Let’s return to Susie, who wonders whether she can expect to live a long life. What influences how long we will live on average? Our average longevity is influenced most by genetic, environmental, ethnic, and gender factors. Clearly, these factors interact; being from an ethnic minority group or being poor, for example, often means that […]
How long does it take male violence to change?
I low long does it take a firmly embedded male killer mentality to change? The Vikings (the head-through-groin choppers) are coasidered as ruthless as any. But after the Vikings conquered England, Englishwomen found the men who killed with axes attractive, soon wedding bells were ringing. Within two generations, instead of razing villages, they were raising […]
Why did men create empires?
Empires are often considered the quintessential example of men’s desire for power and conquest. It is ironic that we blame men for creating empires while we all live in the empires men create. But why did men create empires? Empires were to countries what insurance policies are to individuals: a source of security. For example, […]