Exploring the Sky: Examinations of Women’s Empowerment through Contemporary Movements

In the post 9/11 milieu there has been a deluge of media attention towards women’s empowerment (Mehta, 2009). Yet, despite the variety of origins, one dominate narrative remains: that non-Western women are often perceived as victims to underdevelopment. Furthermore, the term empowerment carries multiple connotations. Often coterminous with liberal feminist frameworks, empowerment for subaltern women presupposes that the panacea to female empowerment is access to capital. One such example is the video game Half the Sky Movement: The Game, published by Games for Change (G4C) and based off the New York Times bestseller written by Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Invoking liberal feminist frameworks, the game’s objective suggests that the best solution to female empowerment is access to capital. The book garnered great traction in 2009 thus leading to a social movement campaign. The video game has also gained great success with over 1.3 million players worldwide (Games for Change, 2014). Yet despite their success, their narrative universalizes subaltern women while pushing for meritocracy, a concern Monhanty (2003) expressed a decade ago. Western feminism creates the illusion that all women share similar oppressions through their shared experiences as women. Yet, this is problematic as it ignores the historical contexts that position women worldwide. For example, often a singular “Third World Woman” is presented in mainstream media while positioning the West as arbiter. Calling this the “third world difference,” Monhanty explicates that Western feminism presumes that sexual oppression in the global south is due to a universal patriarchy that lacks the historically rooted themes of Western feminism. Through its homogenization of patriarchy, Western feminism colonizes the various lives of these women (p. 51). Kristoff and WuDunn’s movement focuses on giving a voice to the women who suffer from sex trafficking, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality. For example one of their stories features Srey Rath, a Cambodian woman who has been trafficked over the Cambodian border to Thailand to work in a brothel. The story is vividly written by the authors; yet, rarely gives Rath’s personal perspective. Instead, her story is written through a narrative of Kristoff’s perspective of Rath, describing her as a beautiful, vibrant woman. Only a few quotes are actually given by her. When Spivak (1988) asks, “Can the subaltern speak?” one can see how the Half the Sky movement exemplifies this phenomenon. Literature on precarity fails to draw enough on transnational feminisms. This paper aims to fill this lacuna with particular consideration to how contemporary models of women’s empowerment fail to invoke the decades of scholarship that have (re)imagined alternative, more accurate, views of subaltern women (Spivak, 1988; Mernissi, 2001; Mohanty, 2003; Parameswaran, 2008). Through surveys and deep journaling this study examines how the Half the Sky video game is interpreted by its players. It asks: How do players describe global female empowerment after playing this game? Findings suggest that women tend to see the value of feminism but know little about how Western countries aid in creating neoliberal systems of global hegemony. References Games for Change. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2014, from http://www.gamesforchange.org/ Kristof, N., & WuDunn, S. (2009). Half the sky: Turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Mehta, N. (2009). Opposing images: Third world woman and welfare queen . Women\u27s Policy Journal of Harvard, 7, 65. Mernissi, F. (2001). Size 6: The Western Women’s Harem. In Scheherazade goes west: Different cultures, different harems. New York: Washington Square Press. Mohanty, C. T. (2003). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity. Durham: Duke University Press. Parameswaran, R. (2008). The other sides of globalization: Communication, culture, and postcolonial critique. Communication, Culture & Critique, 1(1), 116-12 Spivak, G.C. 1988, Can the Subaltern Speak? From C. Nelson and L. Grossberg (eds), Marxism and the Interpretations of Culture, Macmillan Education: Basingstroke, pp. 271-31

Investigating trait attribution through gendered avatar play: An analysis of the sims 3

This study investigates whether the life-simulation videogame, The Sims 3, enables the deconstruction of the gender binary. The Sims 3 permits its players the capability to attribute similar traits to male or female avatars. In doing so, players can experiment with taboo trait attributions and potentially defy a male-female binary. A group of 82 The Sims 3 players was surveyed to determine their overall male and female Sims trait selections during gameplay. Participants were questioned on how their trait selection related to their personal identities. Results indicated that players tend to select traits that maintain a gender binary. This thesis discusses the implications as to why players continue to follow social norms even in technological environments conducive to deconstructing the gender binary

Model Checking Classes of Metric LTL Properties of Object-Oriented Real-Time Maude Specifications

This paper presents a transformational approach for model checking two important classes of metric temporal logic (MTL) properties, namely, bounded response and minimum separation, for nonhierarchical object-oriented Real-Time Maude specifications. We prove the correctness of our model checking algorithms, which terminate under reasonable non-Zeno-ness assumptions when the reachable state space is finite. These new model checking features have been integrated into Real-Time Maude, and are used to analyze a network of medical devices and a 4-way traffic intersection system.Comment: In Proceedings RTRTS 2010, arXiv:1009.398

Subcortical brain volume, regional cortical thickness, and cortical surface area across disorders: findings from the ENIGMA ADHD, ASD, and OCD Working Groups

Objective Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are common neurodevelopmental disorders that frequently co-occur. We aimed to directly compare all three disorders. The ENIGMA consortium is ideally positioned to investigate structural brain alterations across these disorders. Methods Structural T1-weighted whole-brain MRI of controls (n=5,827) and patients with ADHD (n=2,271), ASD (n=1,777), and OCD (n=2,323) from 151 cohorts worldwide were analyzed using standardized processing protocols. We examined subcortical volume, cortical thickness and surface area differences within a mega-analytical framework, pooling measures extracted from each cohort. Analyses were performed separately for children, adolescents, and adults using linear mixed-effects models adjusting for age, sex and site (and ICV for subcortical and surface area measures). Results We found no shared alterations among all three disorders, while shared alterations between any two disorders did not survive multiple comparisons correction. Children with ADHD compared to those with OCD had smaller hippocampal volumes, possibly influenced by IQ. Children and adolescents with ADHD also had smaller ICV than controls and those with OCD or ASD. Adults with ASD showed thicker frontal cortices compared to adult controls and other clinical groups. No OCD-specific alterations across different age-groups and surface area alterations among all disorders in childhood and adulthood were observed. Conclusion Our findings suggest robust but subtle alterations across different age-groups among ADHD, ASD, and OCD. ADHD-specific ICV and hippocampal alterations in children and adolescents, and ASD-specific cortical thickness alterations in the frontal cortex in adults support previous work emphasizing neurodevelopmental alterations in these disorders

Simulated Social Justice? Paradoxical Discourse and Decision-Making Within Educational Video Games Designed For Social Change

Video games that aim to create social change are on the rise. Their goal is to foster empathy for social change. However, few scholars have critically examined how players make in-game decisions based on hegemonic discourses that shape their emotions. Drawing on transnational feminist and postcolonial theory, this dissertation considers how location and positionality within a postfeminist, neoliberal landscape shapes and mutes the perceived representations of characters within games aimed for social change. My primary site of inquiry looks at players of the development game: Half the Sky Movement: The Game. Central to the game’s narrative is global women’s empowerment. This study was interested in exploring the discourse of dissent and acquiescence framed around the game’s narrative. More specifically, it problematizes who is rendered (in)visible through narrative, representation, and gameplay. Drawing on the gameplay review method (Kirschner & Williams, 2014), 29 participants journaled about their experiences playing Half the Sky. Participants examined their feelings, thoughts, and decisions throughout gameplay. Then, 10 individuals participated in a follow-up interview in which they played the game Life is Strange. Formation, identification, and meaning-making process of each player’s opinions on women’s empowerment were recorded and analyzed. Comparing both games and the decisions made throughout each game, findings suggest that players drew on emotions rooted in past experiences and development imaginaries rather than creating asymmetrical reciprocity (Young, 1997, p. 49). Ultimately, I argue that this genre of games needs careful consideration of the postfeminist, neoliberal media ecology that shapes both its developers and players

An experimental model for the transplantation of fetal central nervous system cells to the injured spinal cord in rats Modelo experimental de transplante de células do sistema nervoso central fetal para lesão de medula espinal em ratos

INTRODUCTION: Traumatic spinal cord injury is one of the most disabling conditions occurring in man and thus stimulates a strong interest in its histopathological, biochemical, and functional changes, primarily as we search for preventive and therapeutic methods. PURPOSE: To develop an experimental model for transplantation of cells from the fetal rat central nervous system to the site of an injured spinal cord of an adult rat in which the transplanted cells survive and become integrated. This experimental model will facilitate investigations of factors that promote regeneration and functional recovery after spinal cord trauma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifteen adult Wistar rats underwent laminectomy, and an spinal cord lesion was made with microdissection. Fetal spinal cord tissue was then transplanted to the site of the injury. The rats were monitored over a 48-hour period, and then their vertebral column was completely removed for histological analysis. RESULTS: In 60% of transplanted rats, the fetal tissue at the injured site remained viable in the site of the lesion.<br>INTRODUÇÃO: A lesão traumática da medula espinal consiste numa das mais incapacitantes lesões que o ser humano pode sofrer e tem despertado grande interesse no conhecimento das alterações histopatológicas, bioquímicas, funcionais e principalmente na busca de métodos de prevenção e tratamento. OBJETIVO: Propor um modelo experimental de transplante de células do sistema nervoso fetal de ratos para o sítio de lesão medular de ratos adultos que permitisse sua sobrevivência e integração para possibilitar protocolos de pesquisa para identificar outros fatores de regeneração e recuperação funcional pós trauma raquimedular. MATERIAL E MÉTODOS: Utilizaram-se 15 ratos adultos que foram submetidos a laminectomia e lesão de 5mm de hemimelula realizada com auxílio de microscópio óptico. Os ratos tiveram seu sítio de lesão medular transplantado com células do sistema nervoso central de fetos de rato. Os ratos foram monitorados por 48 horas e tiveram sua coluna vertebral extraída para análise histológica. RESULTADOS: Demostrou-se que em 60% dos casos as células transplantadas permaneciam viáveis no sítio da lesão