Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Inclusion in the Military: A Qualitative Look at Military Culture a Decade after the Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

In 2010, the very controversial Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy was repealed, allowing lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) members to serve openly in the military without fear of legal persecution. Now that a decade has passed, this research seeks to find whether LGB service members feel safe and comfortable serving openly in the military ranks; whether some groups—perhaps those in more protected or privileged positions—feel more safe, whereas others feel less safe; and whether LGB military members are pressured to adhere to homonormativity to be accepted in the military.I conducted a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews to answer these research questions. I used snowball sampling to find and interview 20 cisgender lesbian, gay, and bisexual service members who served either both during DADT’s implementation and after its repeal, or only after DADT’s repeal. The research revealed that, while most LGB military members feel comfortable being gay and out now in a post-DADT military, some do not. Further, the militarization of hegemonically masculine ideals privileges certain LGB military members (i.e., lesbians, those in non-operational support units, those who are homonormatively performative) and disadvantages others (i.e., gay men in the Marine Corps and in special operations), allowing some populations to feel safer being gay and out in the military than others. Finally, LGB military members reproduce militarized masculinity by adhering to homonormativity through the performance of invisible labor in the form of emotional work

“FearNot!” : a computer-based anti-bullying-programme designed to foster peer intervention

Bullying is widespread in European schools, despite multiple intervention strategies having been proposed over the years. The present study investigates the effects of a novel virtual learning strategy (“FearNot!”) to tackle bullying in both UK and German samples. The approach is intended primarily for victims to increase their coping skills and further to heighten empathy and defence of victims by non-involved bystanders. This paper focuses on the defender role. Applying quantitative as well as qualitative methodology, the present study found that “FearNot!” helped non-involved children to become defenders in the German sub-sample while it had no such effect in the UK sub-sample. German “New Defenders” (children who are initially uninvolved but are nominated as defenders by their peers after the intervention period) were found to be significantly more popular at baseline, and to show more cognitive empathy (Theory of Mind) for the virtual victims as compared to permanently non-involved pupils. Moreover, gender interacts with becoming a defender in its effects on affective empathy, with emotional contagion being particularly associated with New Defender status among girls. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research on anti-bullying intervention strategies and cultural differences in bullying prevalence rates and intervention outcomes

NA62 electronics barracks access 2017

Access to the cavern was required during a break in the 2017 data taking. Pictures from 18-07-17, focusing on the electronics barracks and some safety equipment