Où placer la ligne rouge ? La qualification du harcèlement sexuel dans les restaurants

Comme plusieurs travaux l’ont montré, les salariées sont majoritairement exposées au harcèlement sexuel et souffrent des répercussions négatives qu’il engendre ; pourtant, seule une minorité de ces femmes qualifie ces expériences vécues de « harcèlement sexuel ». Dans le cadre d’une enquête sur l’identification du harcèlement sexuel, des entretiens approfondis avec dix-huit serveuses et serveurs ont été menés dans des restaurants d’Austin, au Texas. Les personnes interrogées n’ont qualifié certaines avances sexuelles de « harcèlement sexuel » que dans quatre contextes spécifiques : (1) lorsqu’elles sont le fait d’une personne tirant profit de sa position de pouvoir pour obtenir des faveurs sexuelles personnelles ; (2) lorsque l’agression a été commise par une personne d’une race/ethnicité différente de celle de la victime — typiquement, un homme issu d’une minorité harcelant une femme blanche ; (3) lorsque l’agression a été commise par une personne d’une orientation sexuelle différente de celle de la victime — typiquement, un homosexuel harcelant un hétérosexuel ; (4) en cas d’usage de la violence ou de menace de violences. La thèse défendue par les autrices est la suivante : les normes hégémoniques de ce qui est acceptable en termes d’activité sexuelle favorisent les relations hétérosexuelles, légitiment les formes institutionnalisées d’exploitation sexuelle sur le lieu de travail, et peuvent protéger contre les accusations de harcèlement sexuel les agresseurs appartenant à la même race et ayant la même orientation sexuelle que leurs victimes.Research has shown that a majority of employed women experience sexual harassment and suffer negative repercussions because of it yet only a minority of these women label their experiences “sexual harassment.” To investigate how people identify sexual harassment, in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 waitpeople in restaurants in Austin, Texas. Most respondents worked in highly sexualized work environments. Respondents labeled sexual advances as sexual harassment only in four specific contexts: (1) when perpetrated by someone who exploited their powerful position for personal sexual gain; (2) when the perpetrator was of a different race/ethnicity than the victim — typically a minority man harassing a white woman; (3) when the perpetrator was of a different sexual orientation than the victim — typically a gay man harassing a straight man; or (4) when violence or the threat of violence was used. The authors argue that the hegemonic norms of acceptable sexual activity privilege heterosexual relationships, legitimize institutionalized forms of sexual exploitation in the workplace, and may protect assailants of the same race and sexual orientation as their victims from charges of sexual harassment

Evaluation of spleen stiffness in healthy volunteers using point shear wave elastography

Introduction and Objectives: This study aims to measure the values of spleen stiffness (SS) in healthy subjects, the inter-operator agreement in SS measurement, and to detect statistically significant correlations between SS and age, sex, weight, BMI, portal vein dynamics and splenic dimensions. Materials and methods: The study included 100 healthy volunteers who had no substantial alcohol intake (<30 g/daily for man, <20 g/daily women), were negative on hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV blood serology, and had any history of lymphoproliferative disorders. Abdominal ultrasound, liver and spleen elastography were performed on each patient to search for focal splenic lesions, bile tract or portal vein dilatation, moderate/severe liver steatosis, and to measure liver and spleen stiffness. Results: The mean value was 18.14 (+/- 3.08) kPa. In the group of men (n= 49), the mean was 17.73 (+/- 2.91) kPa, whereas in the group of women (n= 51) it was 16.72 (+/- 3.32) kPa. Statistical analyses showed no correlation between spleen stiffness and sex, age, weight, and BMI. Regarding their splenoportal axis, statistically significant differences in SS were found in the means of the two subgroups of subjects stratified by their portal flow velocity (p= 0.003) and spleen area (p < 0.001). Spearman's rank showed a weak association between SS and portal flow velocty (r= 0.271) and splenic area (r = -0.237). ICC showed excellent (0.96) inter-operator agreement and Bland-Altman plot demonstrated no systematic over/under-estimation of spleen stiffness values. Conclusions: Our results may serve as a reference point in the evaluation of SS especially in patients affected by advanced liver disease

Quality of life improving after propranolol treatment in patients with Infantile Hemangiomas

Infantile hemangiomas may affect the quality of life (QoL) of patients and their family members, as anxiety and worry may commonly occur in parents, also linked to the social adversion they experience. We underline the beneficial impact of oral propranolol therapy on QoL of patients with infantile hemangiomas (IH) and of their relatives. A specific questionnaire measuring QoL was administered to parents of IH patients at beginning and end of a treatment with oral propranolol. Different aspects were investigated: site of the lesion, age of patients at starting therapy, length of treatment, occurrence of adverse effects and persistence/recurrence of the vascular anomaly. In all cases the questionnaire revealed a significant improvement of QoL, which was independent from all analyzed factors. It showed that oral propranolol administration in these patients combines optimal clinical results with relevant improvement of QoL, especially in cases of early management. The improvement of QoL seems unrelated to site of lesion, timing and duration of therapy, occurrence of drug-related adverse effects and persistence/recurrence of disease

Verbal play on the hospital ward: solidarity or power?

This paper looks at the function of humorous interchanges in the negotiation of roles and identities on an acute geriatric ward. Humour is not often discussed as a feature of interactions between medical professionals and patients, but some authors have noted that joking interactions often characterise care-giving relationships and may be interpreted as a way of easing the face-threat of physical examinations. In many studies, Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theory of politeness is invoked, assuming that joking behaviour is one manifestation of face work, being a form of positive politeness (since it is based on shared knowledge). However, Brown and Levinson’s alternative explanation may be applicable in the hospital ward context: joking may be seen as an exploitation of politeness strategies, wherein the speaker seeks to redefine the face-threatening act through humour. A full account of the relational impact of playful talk needs to take account of both the macro context and the local, sequential unfolding of turns at talk.</p