The weight of images: Affect, body image and fat in the media

The Weight of Images explores the ways in which media images can train their viewers’ bodies. Proposing a shift away from an understanding of spectatorship as being constituted by acts of the mind, this book favours a theorization of relations between bodies and images as visceral, affective engagements that shape our body image - with close attention to one particularly charged bodily characteristic in contemporary western culture: fat. The first mapping of the ways in which fat, gendered bodies are represented across a variety of media forms and genres, from reality television to Hollywood movies, from TV sitcoms to documentaries, from print magazine and news media to online pornography, The Weight of Images contends that media images of fat bodies are never only about fat; rather, they are about our relation to corporeal vulnerability overall. A ground-breaking volume, engaging with a rich variety of media and cultural texts, whilst examining the possibilities of critical auto-ethnography to unravel how body images take shape affectively between bodies and images, this book will appeal to scholars and students of sociology, media, cultural and gender studies, with interests in embodiment and affect

Does private equity ownership create long-term value for companies? : Empirical evidence from the Nordic IPOs during 2001-2018

The purpose of this study is to examine how private equity (“PE”) ownership influences underpricing and long-term performance of initial public offerings (“IPOs”) in the Nordic countries. More specifically, this study compares IPOs with different private equity ownerships and tries to find differences in the first-day returns and aftermarket performances. PE refers to funds invested in a private company by a PE investor in exchange for a stake of ownership in the company. PE investors create value to the target company e.g., by financing and developing the operations and providing extensive network in different aspects of the business. PE can be divided into three subcategories by the maturity and lifecycle of the target company. These are venture capital, growth equity, and buyout. When the target company has grown, PE investors divest their investments through exits. An initial public offering is an example of an exit strategy, in which the target company’s shares are listed on a stock exchange for the first time. The final data sample consists of 279 IPOs issued in the time period of 2001 to 2018. Out of the 279 IPOs, 215 are non-backed, 42 PE-backed, and 22 VC-backed. PE-backed IPOs refer to companies invested by growth equity and buyout funds. The long-run performance is measured with buy-and-hold abnormal returns (“BHARs”) and the drivers explaining the long-run performance are studied with four different OLS regressions. The drivers include several offer-, firm-, and ownership-specific variables. The Nordic PE Market is relatively young and has stayed as a minority in the academic literature. This study aims to contribute previous academic literature by extending the research to Nordic countries and provide insight about IPOs with different financial sponsors, the level of possible underpricing, and long-term performance. The results show that IPOs in the Nordic countries are underpriced on average and the level of underpricing differs whether the company is backed by a PE owner or not. The level of underpricing is even higher during hot issue markets. The long-run performance is also affected by the different PE owners. Previous academic literature suggests that PE-backed IPOs perform better than VC- and non-backed IPOs. In this study, the evidence is not unanimous as the results are in line with the previous academic literature in value-weighted terms but not in equal-weighted terms. Therefore, according to this study, it cannot be concluded whether a company having a PE owner in their operations creates long-term value compared to a company not having a PE owner in their operations.Tutkielman tarkoitus on tutkia, miten pääomasijoittajien omistajuus vaikuttaa yritysten pörssilistautumisen jälkeiseen alihinnoitteluun ja pitkän aikavälin suoriutuvuuteen. Tutkielman tarkoitus on tarkemmin verrata eri tyyppisten pääomasijoittajien omistajuuden vaikutusta listautumisten alihinnoitteluun ja suoriutuvuuteen. Private equity tarkoittaa pääomasijoittajan varoja, jotka ovat sijoitettu yksityiseen yritykseen ja, josta pääomasijoittaja saa vastineeksi osan yrityksen omistajuudesta. Pääomasijoittajat luovat arvoa portfolioyritykselle esimerkiksi rahoittamalla ja kehittämällä heidän toimintaansa ja tarjoamalla relevantteja kontakteja. Pääomasijoitusmarkkina voidaan jakaa kolmeen kategoriaan, jotka ovat venture capital, kasvu ja buyout. Kun portfolioyritys on kehittynyt tarpeeksi, pääomasijoittajat irtautuvat yrityksestä valitsemallaan irtautumisstrategialla. Pörssilistautuminen on yksi esimerkki irtautumisstrategiasta, jossa portfolioyrityksen osakkeilla aloitetaan käydä julkisesti kauppaa ensimmäistä kertaa. Tutkielman otos koostuu 279 pörssilistautuneesta yrityksestä vuosien 2001 ja 2018 aikana. Otoksesta 215 yrityksellä ei ole pääomasijoittajaa, 42 on taustalla myöhemmän vaiheen sijoittaja (”PE") ja 22 taustalla on aikaisemman vaiheen sijoittaja (”VC”). Tässä tutkielmassa PE-sijoittajiin käsitetään kasvu- ja buyout-rahastot ja VC-sijoittajiin aikaisen vaiheen sijoittajat. Pitkän aikavälin suoriutuvuus mitataan ”BHAR”illa, joka mittaa yrityksen epänormaalia tuottoa, ja siihen vaikuttavia muuttujia tutkitaan neljällä eri OLS-regressiolla. Muuttujat koostuvat listautumiseen ja omistajarakenteeseen liittyvistä muuttujista sekä yrityskohtaisista tekijöistä. Pohjoismainen pääomasijoitusmarkkina on suhteellisen nuori ja on siten tutkittu vain vähän akateemisessa kirjallisuudessa. Tämä tutkielma pyrkii kontribuoimaan aiempaan kirjallisuuteen laajentamalla tutkimuksen Pohjoismaihin ja tarjoamaan tietoa pörssilistautumista eri pääomasijoittaja taustoilla, mahdollisesta alihinnoittelusta ja yrityksen pitkän aikavälin suoriutumisesta. Tulokset näyttävät, että pörssilistautumiset Pohjoismaissa ovat keskimäärin alihinnoiteltuja ja, että alihinnoittelun taso riippuu siitä, onko yrityksellä ollut taustalla pääomasijoittaja. Alihinnoittelun taso on myös korkeampi, kun listautumisia tapahtuu keskimääräistä enemmän markkinoilla. Pääomasijoitusomisteisuus vaikuttaa myös yrityksen pitkän aikavälin suoriutumiseen. Aiemman akateemisen kirjallisuuden mukaan PE omisteiset yritykset pärjäävät pörssissä paremmin pitkällä aika välillä kuin VC omisteiset tai ilman pääomasijoittajaa olevat yritykset. Tässä tutkielmassa tulokset eivät ole yksimieliset. Tästä syystä ei voida tehdä johtopäätöstä siitä vaikuttaako pääomasijoittajien omistajuus yrityksen pitkän aikavälin suoriutuvuuteen positiivisesti verrattuna yritykseen, jolla ei ole pääomasijoittajaa toiminnassaan

Toward a Contextual Pedagogy of Pain. Trigger Warnings and the Value of Sometimes Feeling Really, Really Bad

The debate about trigger warnings has spread all over the Internet and in academic contexts, especially in the United States during the last few years. In short, trigger warnings try to give a heads-up to viewers and readers about media content depicting e.g., violence, self-harming behavior or other potentially disturbing content so that they know to either avoid it or knowingly take the risk of getting ”triggered” into posttraumatic stress, anxiety or not feeling safe. Typically, before an online clip or an article, one might include a text such as: ”Trigger warning for sexual violence/suicide/racist hate speech/transphobia/eating disorders/ fat shaming,” or anything else that can cause distress to someone with traumatic experiences. On one hand, trigger warnings have been seen as protection for vulnerable groups, a needed attempt to try to provide a safe space for those living with trauma or societal stigma (e.g., Dalton 2014; Johnston 2014; ”Make Me a Sammich” 2014; Häggdahl and Eriksson 2015)

Re-imagining a Queer Indigenous Past: Affective Archives and Minor Gestures in the Sámi Documentary Sparrooabbán

This article examines the possibilities for re-imagining a queer indigenous past in Sparrooabbán (Me and My Little Sister, Suvi West, 2016)—the first feature-length documentary film that discusses non-heterosexuality in Sámi communities. We explore how the film queers the gákti, the traditional Sámi dress; how it uses elements other than verbal expression to mark queer traces in Sápmi; and how spirituality and faith create a (dis)connection to a Two-Spirit past and present. We argue that the documentary produces a series of minor transformative gestures to create a queer Sámi archive of affect when there is no conventional archival knowledge of gender and sexual diversity pre–settler colonialism

Show yourself’: Indigenous ethics, Sámi cosmologies and decolonial queer pedagogies of Frozen 2

In this article, we examine the immensely popular animated Disney film Frozen 2 (2019) through its potential as decolonial queer pedagogy. Drawing on Indigenous educational studies, queer and feminist Indigenous theories, and research on affect and trauma, we ask how the film popularizes Sámi nature-based cosmologies, addresses and attempts to repair the cross-generational transmission of settler colonial trauma, and presents a complex view of gender and human and non-human relations. Unlike in its predecessor Frozen (2013), in Frozen 2 Disney involved Sámi consultants in the production process, and the film was dubbed in North Sámi language. We interrogate Frozen 2's production process as well as its narrative and aesthetics, proposing that it allows its viewers – children and adults, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike – to engage with and learn about Indigenous ethics, Sámi cosmologies, and more-than-human understandings of gender and sexuality in respectful and easily approachable ways

What else can a crush become: working with arts-methods to address sexual harassment in pre-teen romantic relationship cultures

This article focuses on a study in which feminist new materialist and arts-based methodologies were employed to explore how three girls address their experiences of sexual harassment as part of ‘crushes’ with boys in fourth and fifth grade. The study stems from longitudinal research on how Finnish children from pre-school to pre-teen years are caught up in entanglements of power in the formation of romantic relationship cultures. Such entanglements often escape articulation and are therefore difficult to study using more traditional research methods. During the arts-based process, the girls began to negotiate consent and self-determination in new ways through collecting, crafting, and making a booklet and a YouTube video. Conceptualising the changes as minor gestures [Manning, Erin. 2016. The Minor Gesture. Durham, NC: Duke University Press] that gradually transform girls’ somatic archives [Paasonen, Susanna. 2013. “Grains of Resonance: Affect, Pornography and Visual Sensation.” Somatechnics 3 (2): 351–368. doi:10.3366/soma.2013.0102], we argue that arts-methods can empower children to relate differently to each other, refuse harassment and assert their desires

Technical Note: Continuity of MIPAS-ENVISAT ozone data quality from full- to reduced-spectral-resolution operation mode

International audienceMIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) is operating on the ENVIronmental SATellite (ENVISAT) since March 2002. After two years of nearly continuous limb scanning measurements, at the end of March 2004, the instrument was stopped due to problems with the mirror drive of the interferometer. Operations with reduced maximum path difference, corresponding to both a reduced-spectral-resolution and a shorter measurement time, were resumed on January 2005. In order to exploit the reduction in measurement time, the measurement scenario was changed adopting a finer vertical limb scanning. The change of spectral resolution and of measurement scenario entailed an update of the data processing strategy. The aim of this paper is the assessment of the differences in the quality of the MIPAS ozone data acquired before and after the stop of the operations. Two sets of MIPAS ozone profiles acquired in 2003?2004 (full-resolution measurements) and in 2005?2006 (reduced-resolution measurements) are compared with collocated ozone profiles obtained by GOMOS (Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars), itself also onboard ENVISAT. The continuity of the GOMOS data quality allows to assess a possible discontinuity of the MIPAS performances. The relative bias and precision of MIPAS ozone profiles with respect to the GOMOS ones have been compared for the measurements acquired before and after the stop of the MIPAS operations. The results of the comparison show that, in general, the quality of the MIPAS ozone profiles retrieved from reduced-resolution measurements is comparable or better than that obtained from the full-resolution dataset. The only significant change in MIPAS performances is observed at pressures around 2 hPa, where the relative bias of the instruments increases by a factor of 2 from the 2003?2004 to 2005?2006 measurements