Goblin Market and the Madonna-Whore Complex

“The woman question” refers to a centuries-long debate over what role women play—or ought to play—in society. In the Victorian age, halting strides toward gender equality narrowed the question to such subjects as what skills women and men had in common, what level of education was appropriate for a woman, and how women should or should not compliment their male counterparts. Responses were wide-ranging; most Victorians favored some form of gender roles, some sought their absolute destruction, and many fell between the two camps. Among these voices, Christina Rossetti’s stood out for the strength and acumen with which she sought to right societal wrongs. Her poem “Goblin Market,” for instance, features a pair of sisters who possess agency in their own story, undercut prevailing stereotypes regarding women, and end the story with a redemptive picture of feminine solidarity

Europe has pursued a progressive agenda of tobacco control, driven by the UK, Ireland and other states in Northern Europe

Restrictions placed on the use of tobacco products have increased across European countries over recent decades. Donley Studlar assesses the different approaches taken in different states, noting that the UK, Ireland and several Nordic countries have more restrictive approaches than other parts of Europe. He also writes that the relative success of public health campaigns against tobacco use may act as a model for future campaigns against other health dangers, such as alcohol and obesity

Invariance of density correlations with charge density in polyelectrolyte solutions

We present a theory for the equilibrium structure of polyelectrolyte solutions. The main element is a simple, new optimization scheme that allows theories such as the random phase approximation (RPA) to handle the harsh repulsive forces present in such systems. Comparison is made with data from recent neutron scattering experiments of randomly charged, hydrophilic polymers in salt-free, semi-dilute solution at various charge densities. Models with varying degrees of realism are examined. The usual explanation of the invariance observed at high charge density has been counterion condensation. However, when polymer-polymer correlations are treated properly, we find that modeling polymer-counterion correlations at the level of Debye-Huckel theory is sufficient.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure