What are you reading?

Reviewed Work(s): 1. Leftover women: The resurgence of gender inequality in China by Fincher, L.H. 2. Gender and media: Representing, producing, consuming by Krijnen, T. & Van Bauwel, S. 3. Feminism and the mastery of nature by Plumwood, V. 4. The Malthus factor. Poverty, politics and population in capitalist development by Ross, E.B

Well, What Are You?

Andrew Donlan set out to different places of faith in the Iowa City community. A wandering secularist himself, he dug into what it meant to be a part of various different religious groups. By visiting discussions and services along with talking to individual members of each congregation, he finished his exploration with a better understanding of why people have faith, and why they practice it where they do

You Are What You (M)eat: Explorations of Meat-eating, Masculinity and Masquerade

Food consumption is frequently linked to identity and to who we are as individuals, which I explore through the analysis of the US reality television series Man V. Food. Through close readings of various scenes, I look at representations of hegemonic masculine performance, and the sexualisation of women and meat. In light of my analysis, I argue that the show is both post-feminist and part of a wider backlash against feminist action. Man V. Food is analysed in consideration of the wider phenomena of masculine crisis and backlash against various social movements, specifically recent feminist and vegetarian/vegan movements. This article explores the intersections between the treatment of women and that of nonhuman animals in contemporary Western patriarchal society, and is particularly interested in the gendering of food, specifically meat, as a means of establishing hegemonic male dominance in contemporary Western society

You Are What You Wear: Symbolic Relationship Between Products and Identities

This article discusses the relationship between fashion products, personal identity and social identity revealing its importance in design and emotion research, and how clothing and accessories for personal use can affect, influence and assert our identity. In a sociological context definitions of identity and self-identity are discussed and related. Fashion as a phenomenon of identity exposure, influencing the development of people ́s personal style. This article proposes a descriptive framework linking products, personal identity and social identity, among the dimensions found, lays the concepts of Giddens ́s self-identity, Belk ́s Extended Self, as well as social status and fashion

Overworked. Underpaid.

I am two people right now. Split between a constant feeling of having a deep pit in your stomach from fear of not having finished something. Until that pit is anxiousness and for a second you have to take a few deep breaths because you know yourself. “Shit, I forgot to eat.” And the anxious feeling is gone because you forgot something as little as eating. My eyes are on fire. I rub them and take another sip of coffee. I heard my friends talking about how they took Adderall to finish their papers. I was desperate and so I turned and asked my friend, “Can you give me Tylenol and tell me its Adderall?” “Why? I can just give you Adderall” he responded, as if what I said didn’t make sense. His arm reached out towards me with a small pill between his fingers. For a second, I thought I may have needed it, reached out- “What am I doing?” [excerpt

You Are What You Wear: Clothing and American Authors of the Early 20th Century

Though clothes are often said to “make the man,” they are not frequently said to build a character. This thesis explores the ways in which clothing was a performative tool for those who wore it during the 1920s in America as well as for authors who wrote about this world in which they lived. This study’s theoretical framework is inspired by Judith Butler’s concept of the performative; it is also influenced by historical research into the clothing of the 1920s. Primary texts explored include F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night, Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, and Jessie Redmon Fauset’s Plum Bun: A Novel without a Moral. In each of these works, clothing is used symbolically as a way to emphasize thematic elements, but it is also used as a tool through which the author builds characters. Through careful crafting of the self’s appearance, individuals choose to either conform to the world around them or to subvert it. Furthermore, these characters use clothing to specific purposes, mirroring the utility of garments in the real world, whether one is examining contemporary society or a specific era like the Jazz Age

You are What You Eat!?: Television Cooking Shows, Consumption, and Lifestyle Practices as Adult Learning

A discussion of the public pedagogy of “celebrity chef” cooking shows, their promotion of consumer life-styles, and alternative cooking shows as sites of resistance to those lifestyles

You are What You Think: The Impacts of Body Weight Perception in Young Adolescent Women

While research suggests a multifactorial array of contributors to adolescent obesity including lack of physical activity, dietary behaviors, psychosocial factors including the perception of being overweight and body dissatisfaction have been more recently associated with unhealthy weights, unhealthy behaviors and amplified risk of obesity. At an all girl’s private college preparatory middle and high school in Los Angeles, amid a competitive and rigorous academic environment, students face additional pressure to succeed and strive for perfection. Although body weight perception can be used to identify students who are at risk for eating disorders at the middle and high school levels, the tool is underutilized in the school setting. Consequently, while health professionals including a school nurse and school psychologist are present, the school community lacks understanding of body weight perception and proactive response for students identified with eating disorders. The implementation of an eating disorder screening tool measuring for body weight perception for young women in grades 7-12, (12 to 18 years) would help further the school community’s understanding of body weight perception and help ensure that students with eating disorders seek professional help. This project would improve the school community’s understanding of eating, successfully connect at at-risk students with eating disorders to professional help and create a follow-up program for at-risk students identified by the school nurse and/or school psychologist. Weight perception could serve as a key indicator for the school nurse to screen, and support students with eating disorders