‘Whether you are gay or straight, I don’t like to see effeminate dancing’: effeminophobia in performance-level ballroom dance

This article discusses recent responses to performances of same-sex male ballroom dancing in order to consider the subtle difference which can exist between homophobia and effeminophobia. Given that the world of performance-level ballroom dancing is a gay-friendly environment, in which many participants are openly gay identified, this article will argue that a discourse of effeminophobia, rather than homophobia, underpins the world of performance-level ballroom dance. Performance-level ballroom dance is often read as camp not only because it represents exaggerated gender roles but because its official technique requires that the male dancer synthesise codes of masculinity and femininity in his dancing. What protects the gender-dissident male ballroom dancer from being read as effeminate is that he is paired with a female body performing excessive femininity. Without the foil of the hyper-feminine female partner, the same-sex couple draws attention to the fact that the male ballroom dancer is not dancing as a man but in accordance with ballroom’s queer construction of masculinity. Given that performance-level dance has struggled for so many years to be viewed as masculine sport, practitioners may, quite understandably, be anxious about any representation which suggests that ballroom dance may be an effeminate activity

The RSPO–LGR4/5–ZNRF3/RNF43 module controls liver zonation and size

LGR4/5 receptors and their cognate RSPO ligands potentiate Wnt/β-catenin signalling and promote proliferation and tissue homeostasis in epithelial stem cell compartments. In the liver, metabolic zonation requires a Wnt/β-catenin signalling gradient, but the instructive mechanism controlling its spatiotemporal regulation is not known. We have now identified the RSPO-LGR4/5-ZNRF3/RNF43 module as a master regulator of Wnt/β-catenin-mediated metabolic liver zonation. Liver-specific LGR4/5 loss of function (LOF) or RSPO blockade disrupted hepatic Wnt/β-catenin signalling and zonation. Conversely, pathway activation in ZNRF3/RNF43 LOF mice or with recombinant RSPO1 protein expanded the hepatic Wnt/β-catenin signalling gradient in a reversible and LGR4/5-dependent manner. Recombinant RSPO1 protein increased liver size and improved liver regeneration, whereas LGR4/5 LOF caused the opposite effects, resulting in hypoplastic livers. Furthermore, we show that LGR4(+) hepatocytes throughout the lobule contribute to liver homeostasis without zonal dominance. Taken together, our results indicate that the RSPO-LGR4/5-ZNRF3/RNF43 module controls metabolic liver zonation and is a hepatic growth/size rheostat during development, homeostasis and regeneration

Gay men’s identity work and the social construction of discrimination

Although the lives of gay men in the post-closet generation are easier in many ways, everyday discrimination still exists in the forms of heterosexism and microaggressions. These forms of discrimination are difficult and risky to talk about, partly because they are often ambiguous, and also because these conversations can disrupt the status quo. In this paper, we explore how the idea of ‘discrimination’ is more complex than it might first appear, and how the boundaries between ‘discrimination’ and ‘not discrimination’ are socially constructed. We conducted qualitative interviews with 15 undergraduate students who self-identified as gay men, and used dialogical analysis to explore their identity work. Participants constructed discrimination/not discrimination in different ways as they shifted between different I− positions: I− as authentic individual, I− as what I am not (not camp and not a victim), and I− as powerful. Our analysis indicates the extent to which ‘discrimination’ is socially constructed (rather than an objective reality), and suggests means by which practitioners and advocates can support clients in talking about discrimination

Liver biopsy derived induced pluripotent stem cells provide unlimited supply for the generation of hepatocyte-like cells

Background & aimsHepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have emerged as a promising cell culture model to study metabolism, biotransformation, viral infections and inherited liver diseases. iPSCs provide an unlimited supply for the generation of HLCs, but incomplete HLC differentiation remains a major challenge. iPSC may carry-on a tissue of origin dependent expression memory influencing iPSC differentiation into different cell types. Whether liver derived iPSCs (Li-iPSCs) would allow the generation of more fully differentiated HLCs is not known.MethodsIn the current study, we used primary liver cells (PLCs) expanded from liver needle biopsies and reprogrammed them into Li-iPSCs using a non-integrative Sendai virus-based system. Li-iPSCs were differentiated into HLCs using established differentiation protocols. The HLC phenotype was characterized at the protein, functional and transcriptional level. RNA sequencing data were generated from the originating liver biopsies, the Li-iPSCs, fibroblast derived iPSCs, and differentiated HLCs, and used to characterize and compare their transcriptome profiles.ResultsLi-iPSCs indeed retain a liver specific transcriptional footprint. Li-iPSCs can be propagated to provide an unlimited supply of cells for differentiation into Li-HLCs. Similar to HLCs derived from fibroblasts, Li-HLCs could not be fully differentiated into hepatocytes. Relative to the originating liver, Li-HLCs showed lower expression of liver specific transcription factors and increased expression of genes involved in the differentiation of other tissues.ConclusionsPLCs and Li-iPSCs obtained from small pieces of human needle liver biopsies constitute a novel unlimited source for the production of HLCs. Despite the preservation of a liver specific gene expression footprint in Li-iPSCs, the generation of fully differentiated hepatocytes cannot be achieved with the current differentiation protocols

“Some university lecturers wear gay pride t-shirts. Get over it!”: Denials of homophobia and the reproduction of heteronormativity in responses to a gay-themed t-shirt

© 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This article explores an incident involving a gay pride T-shirt, printed with the slogan “Some people are gay. Get over it!,” that I wore during a university lecture, and students’ predominantly negative responses to it. I use the lens of modern prejudice research, particularly discursive psychological approaches to modern prejudice, to interpret the students’ responses to a qualitative survey about their views on the T-shirt. They related strong feelings of upset and anger, particularly because I had—in their view—implicitly accused them of being homophobic. They passionately refused this supposed accusation on the grounds that “everything’s equal now” and “gay people are no different from us.” I argue that the ideological themes of cultural heterosexism and compulsory heterosexuality provide a productive framework for making sense of the students’ responses, as they sanction a rational neoliberal subject who is both non-homophobic and inculcated into heteronormativity