Immoral geographies and Soho's sex shops: exploring spaces of sexual diversity in London

London's Soho, situated in the urban heart of the city has long been understood as both a cosmopolitan and diverse space where transgression and deviance, particularly in relation to the sex industry and sexual commerce, are constitutive of this area. Drawing on three years of ethnographic fieldwork, we add to some of the existing debates on sexual spaces in Soho by documenting the changes to the social/sexual landscape of sex shops in this area, and look to geographers interested in the spatial politics of gender and sexuality to understand the importance of this particular place. Looking at two particular sex shops in Soho, we argue that the spatial practices in this very specific part of the city encourage a disruption of traditional hierarchies that often govern gender and sexed practices, and invite women, LGBTQ and kink communities to inhabit more inclusive spaces of sexual citizenship

Space, power and sexuality: transgressive and transformative possibilities at the interstices of spatial boundaries

The themed section consists of articles that explore the relationship between power and space in relation to gender and sexuality by looking at processes of transgression, subversion or expansion of normative spatial practices and narratives. Using a theoretical framework that draws out power and space within a more specific context of feminist and queer literature, the articles explore the possibility to transgress, subvert or expand norms at the interstices of spatial boundaries beyond traditional binaries and hierarchies. Collectively, the articles call for a continued theoretical and methodological focus into the importance of looking at everyday sites of struggles and resistance in the crevasses, the liminal zones of space. The transgression of spatialized norms of sexuality and gender present a transformative potential that should be recognized for its political significance but, we argue, with caution as heteronormative and heteropatriarchal norms too often remain de rigueur in a neoliberal context

Sanitising the city: exploring hegemonic gentrification in London's Soho

This article will explore the gentrification of Soho, reflecting on ethnographic research undertaken in the area over the past fifteen months, to argue that the recent social, political, and economic changes in Soho must be understood in relation to private, marketized and globalized neoliberal capitalist forces. We argue that the changes to the area result in a heavily-weighted form of gentrification that works to actively and knowingly sanitize the city, removing 'undesirable' people and venues from the area. As such, we propose to define this process as 'hegemonic gentrification', and distinguish this from other forms of gentrification in order to understand the different processes that underpin these specific changes, and more broadly, it allows us to problematize these changes as regards to the 'right to the city', and to expand current understandings in a way that allows for a more nuanced analysis of urban gentrification and its impacts within neolibreral capitalism

Illuminating Lightscapes in London: Mapping Hegemonic Gentrification and Neon Signs in Soho

The bright, glaring neon lights of Soho have long illuminated its deviant character, signposting gay bars late night drinking dens, sex shops and brothels, burlesque venues and strip clubs – all of which constitute the fabric of the night-time economy in this central London location. Indeed, we argue here that the neon lights of Soho are central to its reputation, and have an important impact on the development of its uniquely risqué character. Our ethnographic research, collected from 2015-2018 in this vibrant area of London, documents seismic shifts to the lightscape of Soho that reveal drastic socio-cultural and economic structural changes as a result of gentrification

Physical Activity and the Health of Wheelchair Users: A Systematic Review in Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, and Spinal Cord Injury

Objective To understand the benefits and harms of physical activity in people who may require a wheelchair with a focus on people with multiple sclerosis (MS), cerebral palsy (CP), and spinal cord injury (SCI). Data Sources Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health, PsycINFO, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Embase (January 2008 through November 2020). Study Selection Randomized controlled trials, nonrandomized trials, and cohort studies of observed physical activity (at least 10 sessions on 10 days) in participants with MS, CP, and SCI. Data Extraction We conducted dual data abstraction, quality assessment, and strength of evidence. Measures of physical functioning are reported individually where sufficient data exist and grouped as “function” where data are scant. Data Synthesis No studies provided evidence for prevention of cardiovascular conditions, development of diabetes, or obesity. Among 168 included studies, 44% enrolled participants with MS (38% CP, 18% SCI). Studies in MS found walking ability may be improved with treadmill training and multimodal exercises; function may be improved with treadmill, balance exercises, and motion gaming; balance is likely improved with balance exercises and may be improved with aquatic exercises, robot-assisted gait training (RAGT), motion gaming, and multimodal exercises; activities of daily living (ADL), female sexual function, and spasticity may be improved with aquatic therapy; sleep may be improved with aerobic exercises and aerobic fitness with multimodal exercises. In CP, balance may be improved with hippotherapy and motion gaming; function may be improved with cycling, treadmill, and hippotherapy. In SCI, ADL may be improved with RAGT. Conclusions Depending on population and type of exercise, physical activity was associated with improvements in walking, function, balance, depression, sleep, ADL, spasticity, female sexual function, and aerobic capacity. Few harms of physical activity were reported in studies. Future studies are needed to address evidence gaps and to confirm findings

Ensembles of Multiple Models and Architectures for Robust Brain Tumour Segmentation

Deep learning approaches such as convolutional neural nets have consistently outperformed previous methods on challenging tasks such as dense, semantic segmentation. However, the various proposed networks perform differently, with behaviour largely influenced by architectural choices and training settings. This paper explores Ensembles of Multiple Models and Architectures (EMMA) for robust performance through aggregation of predictions from a wide range of methods. The approach reduces the influence of the meta-parameters of individual models and the risk of overfitting the configuration to a particular database. EMMA can be seen as an unbiased, generic deep learning model which is shown to yield excellent performance, winning the first position in the BRATS 2017 competition among 50+ participating teams.Comment: The method won the 1st-place in the Brain Tumour Segmentation (BRATS) 2017 competition (segmentation task

Knowing your place and commanding space:de/constructions of gendered embodiment in mixed-sex karate

Feminists have long acknowledged that gendered divisions in access to spaces of leisure, and how women and men physically take up that space, reproduces gender inequality. This article will explore how karate practitioners participate in the space of mixed-sex karate practice and how such uses of space de/construct gendered embodiments and a gender hierarchy. Data presented is drawn from nine months of ethnographic emersion within three karate clubs and fifteen photo-elicitation interviews with karate participants from the three clubs. The findings of this paper suggest that whilst women often occupied spaces of expertise within the karate hall, gendered distinctions in uses of space emerged in the more subtle ways in which women and men used their voice, responded to the tacit and smelt dilemmas of sweat, and moved their bodies across physical space. This research highlights both the potential of physical leisure practice to ‘undo’ conventional gendered embodiments that particularly restrict women’s intentionality in the world (Young, 1980), and the power of spatially-attuned research to illuminate the minute ways in which unequal gender relations are naturalised, legitimised and done