The Contemporary Porn Debate - Perceptions of Sexual Health of Porn Actors, The 2013 HIV crisis, and Recognizing the Complexities of the Porn Industry

Between August 2012 and January 2013, four adult film performers based in California tested positive for HIV which triggered a moratorium on production, and led the state of California to mandate condom usage in the industry under the Safer Sex in the Adult Industry Act – otherwise referred to as Measure B. The goal of this research is to explore how the discourse surrounding health in the adult film industry, specifically sexual health in relation to the adult film performers during this event, is reflective of contemporary anti-pornography sentiments. These sentiments and biases ultimately lead to regulations of the industry that were not reflective of the adult film performers’ perceptions/concerns in regards to their own occupational safety and health. Therefore these contemporary debates surrounding mandating condom usage in the porn industry demonstrate a disconnect between the opinions expressed in media and in academia versus those expressed by the industry and in its own actors’ testimonies. This discourse also in turn eschews the real complexities of the pornography industry, excluding certain narratives including those of queer porn actors. Listening to these narratives and making an effort to understand these complexities surrounding the industry are important and necessary steps to properly work towards supporting the work, health, and empowerment of adult film actors

Who qualifies for citizenship: The political and legal mobilization of Muslims in France

This article aims to deconstruct the monolithic image of Muslims that is often presented in the media, politics, and academia today. Based on interview work completed in 2008 in France with Muslim activists and non-activists, as well as non-Muslim activists on diversity issues, the article explores the complex group affiliations and varying interest formation of Muslims in France. Instead of assuming that being Muslim is simply a religious affiliation that drives political interest formation, I explore the social situatedness of Muslims in France, and how that specific situation produces a multiplicity of group affiliations, all with their own spectrum of political interests, as well as resources and methods for mobilizing on those interests. The article also explores French legal consciousness – what do these Muslim activists and non-activists think of law and courts? I show that some preexisting American political science literature on French legal consciousness may have misunderstood the complex and intense relationship the French have with law

Neoliberalism and the Crisis of Legal Theory

INTRODUCTION: Patients have the right to influence the care they receive, but their wish to participate in care decision-making is unclear. AIM: This study investigates whether participation in nursing documentation influences patient participation in care decision-making, mastery, self-esteem, empowerment and depressive feelings among adult in-patients with chronic disease. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY: Adult patients (n=39) with chronic diseases were randomized. The intervention group participated in nursing documentation. Upon departure, patients filled in questionnaires about participation in care decision-making, mastery, self-esteem, empowerment and depressive feelings. RESULTS: The majority of the patients preferred a collaborative or passive role regarding care decision-making. Lack of knowledge was one reason for non-participation. Having been diagnosed more than five years previously meant stronger empowerment. CONCLUSION: It is a challenge for nurses to find strategies to assess patients' wishes regarding participation in care decision-making. Nurses must support patients' knowledge of their disease and empowerment

THE INCLUSIVE DYNAMICS OF ISLAMIC UNIVERSALISM: FROM THE VANTAGE POINT OF SAYYID QUTB\u27S CRITICAL PHILOSOPHY

This article pursues a topological reading of Milestones, one of the most influential books in the history of Islamism. Written by Muslim thinker Sayyid Qutb, the general interest in this crucial text has largely remained restricted to the fields of Islamic Studies and Security Studies. This article aims to make the case for assuming a philosophical standpoint, relocating its significance beyond the above-mentioned fields. A creative and topological reading of this text will allow the spatial complexity of Qutbs eschatological vision to be fully exposed, while also unpacking the way in which antagonistic relations have variously been articulated by this thinker. The underlying conviction is that such an examination can offer new perspectives from which to examine and develop current debates on political universalism and antagonism in the tradition of continental philosophy

The promised territories: the production of branded housing projects in contemporary Turkey

Cities in Turkey, following the neoliberal restructuring of the country, have undergone a process of transformation in the last decade at a greater pace than experienced in previous periods. Through these processes, while new territories have been constructed, previous formations have been dismantled. While some of these constructed territories are abstract (e.g. Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics [NUTS] regions), some are tangible and physically defined such as branded housing enclaves. Branded housing projects produce territories in the form of housing enclaves, which provide key services and facilities within their confines exclusively for project residents. By 2013, the number of branded housing projects located in Istanbul alone numbered 852 with the number of units provided by these projects amounting to 7.7% of the total housing stock the city (Sarıçayır 01/21/2014). This paper argues that these territories are co-produced by political society and civil society (in Gramscian terms): while political society regulates and directly contributes to the production of these territories through public actors involved in the branded housing projects, civil society contributes through the production of social consent for such developments. The article discusses the role of political society and civil society in the production of branded housing projects by focusing on the case of Emlak Konut GYO (Real Estate Partnership) projects developed in Istanbul between 2003 and 2014. Firstly, the role of political society is discussed through the roles of TOKI (Housing Development Administration of Turkey) and Emlak Konut GYO as major public actors in the development of these territories; and secondly, the role of civil society is discussed through excavating the traces of production of social consent for branded housing projects in news articles published on Emlak Konut GYO projects between 2003 and 2014. The paper concludes that branded housing projects are emerging as spatial territories in contemporary Turkey as a result of hegemonic struggle through political society and civil society

Feminist Reflections on the 'End' of the War on Terror

This article examines the range of arguments articulated to justify the use of force under the ‘War on Terror’. The three key justifications for unilateral force directed against terrorist actors, pre-emptive force, implied authorisation and the use of force to prevent terrorist actors operating from failed states, are demonstrated as analogous to domestic provocation excuses. As such, the article argues the ‘end’ of the ‘War on Terror’ has been in name only as the Obama Administration in the United States continues to develop practice in line with that of its predecessor. The analogy with domestic provocation excuses demonstrates weaknesses of contemporary US practice and of the pre-emptive force justification. Using a feminist understanding of the limitations of provocation defences and of the relationship between social, cultural, political and legal norms, the legacy of the ‘War on Terror’ is demonstrated as an assertion of a limited model of security that ignores the role militaries play in women’s insecurity and which limits women’s participation through the use of sexual stereotypes. The article concludes with a discussion of the range of feminist strategies that might be invoked to challenge the legacy of the ‘War on Terror’