Sexy Feminisms and Sexual Health: Theorizing Heterosex, Pleasure, and Constraint in Public Health Research

After outlining the "pleasure deficit" in public health research on family planning, this article applies feminist theorizations of heterosex to study contraceptive use and sexual pleasure. The author considers the limitations and potentials of theorizing heterosex variously as agential, transgressive, and/or constrained for public health research

Rachilde’s La Tour d’amour (1899): A Translated Extract

Rachilde’s La Tour d’amour tells a story of loneliness, guilt, and sexual obsession set in the perilous world of a lighthouse off the Brittany coast, creating a gripping psychological drama. Although this novel stands among Rachilde’s finest work, it remains relatively little-known and has never been translated into English. Rachilde, who was born Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (1860-1953), published the story in 1899. At this time, she was already well-known in Parisian literary circles as the author of several novels exploring non-conformist, fetishist, or obsessive sexuality, usually from the starting-point of a female protagonist. These early novels include those for which Rachilde is now best remembered, such as Monsieur Vénus (1884), in which a French noblewoman rejects her aristocratic male suitor in favour of a poor man whom she transforms into a ‘wife’, a culturally feminine figure, and La Marquise de Sade (1887), whose sadist female protagonist takes revenge on men for injustices she suffered as a child. These women, and those in many of Rachilde’s novels of the 1880s and 1890s, seek escape through unusual or cruel sexual behaviour from the identity and sexuality that society imposes on them. In this sense, La Tour d’amour is different: its protagonist is a young man, and he is drawn into a world of depravity rather than creating his own depravity in order to escape from the bonds of conventional society. This difference sets it apart and could perhaps explain why the novel is frequently omitted from accounts of Rachilde’s oeuvre, despite its quality

Pleasure, Power, and Inequality: Incorporating Sexuality Into Research on Contraceptive Use

We know surprisingly little about how contraception affects sexual enjoyment and functioning (and vice versa), particularly for women. What do people seek from sex, and how do sexual experiences shape contraceptive use? We draw on qualitative data to make 3 points. First, pleasure varies. Both women and men reported multiple aspects of enjoyment, of which physical pleasure was only one. Second, pleasure matters. Clear links exist between the forms of pleasure respondents seek and their contraceptive practices. Third, pleasure intersects with power and social inequality. Both gender and social class shape sexual preferences and contraceptive use patterns. These findings call for a reframing of behavioral models that explain why people use (or do not use) contraception

Auguste de Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, ‘Vox Populi’ (1880): A New, Annotated Translation

Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, Comte de Villiers de l’Isle-Adam (1838–1889) first published ‘Vox Populi’, the short text translated here, in the magazine L’Étoile française during December 1880. He republished it in La Comédie humaine a year later, before gathering it into the collection Contes cruels, published by Calmann Lévy in February 1883. It appears there as the third story in the collection and the editors of the Pléiade edition suggest this positioning was intended to signal the variety of forms deployed across the collection as a whole. For this work is more frequently referred to as a poem in prose, rather than a ‘conte’ or story. As well as its brevity, ‘Vox Populi’ is characterised by a set of repeating motifs and phrases. At the heart of its narrative lies the beggar’s cry: ‘Please, take pity on a poor blind man!’, which is repeated six times in the course of the text. (One biographer suggests that the story was inspired by an actual encounter with one such beggar in Paris.) But Villiers also repeats (with variations) references to the setting and Parisian crowds, as ‘Vox Populi’ surveys key political developments between 1868 and 1880. The interplay of difference and repetition at these points measures the cowardice and fickleness of the general population in Paris as they respond with fear or enthusiasm to each successive change of regime. &nbsp

Relationships between men's gender attitudes and fertility

An analysis published in a recent edition of this journal (Puur, Olah, Tazi-Preve, and Dorbritz 2008) reported that, in eight European countries, men with egalitarian gender attitudes both desired and had more children than men with more traditional gender attitudes. These unexpected findings led us to explore a similar research question with an alternate dataset--the European/World Value Surveys. But we found--without exception--a negative association between men's egalitarian attitudes and fertility, not only in the selected European countries but also in a considerable number of other developed countries. We explore possible reasons for and implications of these divergent findings

Survey Results of the New Health Care Worker Study: Implications of Changing Employment Patterns

This report examines the effects of contemporary employment arrangements on the quality of nursing work life, and the implications of these employment arrangements for individual nurses, the hospitals, and also for the organization. First we look at nurse work status (full-time, part-time or casual job), contract status (permanent or temporary), and employment preference as factors affecting commitment to the hospital and profession, job satisfaction, retention in the organization, and absenteeism from work. Second, we examine stress, burnout, and physical occupational health problems (in particular, musculoskeletal disorders), as affecting nurse and hospital outcomes. This project investigated how the quality of nursing worklife and career choices differ for nurses in full-time, part-time and casual employment, and whether nurses who have the employment arrangements they prefer enjoy a standard of worklife that encourages retention. We collected data for the study from 1,396 nurses employed at three large teaching hospitals in Southern Ontario (Hamilton Health Sciences, Kingston General Hospital, and St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto) using the New Health Care Worker Questionnaire. Results indicate that although a substantial majority of the nurses were employed in the type of job that they preferred, problems of stress, burnout and physical health problems were reported. Further, these problems affected the nurses' job satisfaction, commitment, and propensity to leave the hospitals.health care workers, employment status, nurses, job satisfaction, commitment, stress, burnout, physical health problems, MSD, propensity to leave

Survey Results of the New Health Care Worker Study: Implications of Changing Employment Patterns

This report examines the effects of contemporary employment arrangements on the quality of nursing work life, and the implications of these employment arrangements for individual nurses, the hospitals, and also for the organization. First we look at nurse work status (full-time, part-time or casual job), contract status (permanent or temporary), and employment preference as factors affecting commitment to the hospital and profession, job satisfaction, retention in the organization, and absenteeism from work. Second, we examine stress, burnout, and physical occupational health problems (in particular, musculoskeletal disorders), as affecting nurse and hospital outcomes. This project investigated how the quality of nursing worklife and career choices differ for nurses in full-time, part-time and casual employment, and whether nurses who have the employment arrangements they prefer enjoy a standard of worklife that encourages retention. We collected data for the study from 1,396 nurses employed at three large teaching hospitals in Southern Ontario (Hamilton Health Sciences, Kingston General Hospital, and St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto) using the New Health Care Worker Questionnaire. Results indicate that although a substantial majority of the nurses were employed in the type of job that they preferred, problems of stress, burnout and physical health problems were reported. Further, these problems affected the nurses' job satisfaction, commitment, and propensity to leave the hospitals.health care workers, employment status, nurses, job satisfaction, commitment, stress, burnout, physical health problems, MSD, propensity to leave

Retention Strategies for the Current Nursing Workforce

Retaining a robust nursing workforce is essential to care delivery. As the generation gap in the nursing field widens, retention strategies that align with the current nursing workforce must be considered. Rapid turnover is a looming concern as baby boomers retire and millennials become the leading generation in the nursing workforce. Nurse leaders must identify and deploy strategies that will provide a meaningful work environment to retain nurses in this majority group. The purpose of this project was to address the gap in practice of rising turnover, low nurse engagement, and reliance on premium labor to deliver care. The sources of evidence from 5 hospitals included RN engagement survey results, RN turnover data, premium labor usage trends, and themes from stay interviews. The context, input, process, and product model was used for program evaluation in the four dimensions. Findings of the retrospective review were RN engagement over the 3-year period decreased but returned to prepandemic levels, RN turnover especially in millennials continued to increase, and the requirement for use of premium labor escalated. The stay interviews generated themes such as team, leadership, learning, work environment, and advancement opportunities. An increased focus on these themes is recommended to reduce turnover and improve engagement. Findings may be used to ensure an adequate, engaged nursing workforce for the future of health care to achieve equitable, quality health outcomes and consumer access to care. The stability of the nursing workforce is essential to promote safe nursing practice