The limits of discourse: masculinity as vulnerability

For many, gender equity being fair to women and men is a zero sum game in which men should be willing to give up their privileges for the creation of a more equitable and just society. The idea that men might benefit from gender equity seems, for many, unthinkable. This was brought home a few years ago in a gender studies test, when students answering a question on what men might gain from gender equality explained instead how women would benefit. In this Perspective I reflect on the ways in which popular discourses around gender may inadvertently undermine movement towards gender and social justice. Dismissing my students' answers as the result of poor teaching or learning misses a key point: It seems to be extraordinarily difficult for most people to recognise how gender creates masculine vulnerabilities or how gender equity could benefit men. I suggest that if we are to improve women's lives through the reduction of violence, feminist teachers and activists need to think creatively about how to help men and boys understand that performances of masculinity deeply compromise their own lives

'Family comes in all forms, blood or not': disrupting dominant narratives around the patriarchal nuclear family

After nearly 25 years of democracy, lives of young South Africans are still profoundly shaped by the legacies of apartheid. This paper considers how these differences are produced, maintained and disrupted through an exploration of changing narratives developed by a small group of South African pre-service teachers, with a particular focus on the narratives developed around discourses of fatherhood generally and absent fathers in particular. We draw on interviews conducted with three students in which we discussed their digital stories and literature reviews. In this paper, we draw attention to the limitations of digital storytelling and the risks such autobiographical storytelling presents of perpetuating dominant narratives that maintain and reproduce historical inequalities. At the same time, in highlighting ways in which this risk might be confronted, the paper also aims to show the possibilities in which these dominant narratives may be challenged.IBS

Perceptions and experiences of living with coexisting type 2 diabetes and severe mental illness:a scoping review

AIMS: To map existing research-based knowledge of everyday life and illness management among people with coexisting type 2 diabetes and severe mental illness, and to identify study designs, aims, populations and themes.METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed on 16 April 2019 using Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Cinahl, the Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science to conduct a scoping review. Included studies were summarized with regard to the quantity of research, the study designs, aims, populations and themes RESULTS: From 3406 records, we included 23 studies about everyday life and illness management among people with coexisting type 2 diabetes and severe mental illness. Four studies were qualitative (observations, interviews and focus groups), and 19 were quantitative (observational and interventions) and used questionnaires. Five themes emerged in the findings: (1) diet and exercise, but not other diabetes self-care activities, are consistently compromised in the target group; (2) psychiatric exacerbation diminishes diabetes self-care; (3) social support and high self-efficacy improve diabetes self-care; (4) use of healthcare services is compromised; and (5) quality of life and well-being is poor.CONCLUSIONS: The limited research into the studied population's experiences with coexisting type 2 diabetes and severe mental illness is characterized by its heterogeneity in aims and methods and a strong focus on diabetes management and treatment. Further research focusing on the management of both conditions in everyday life is needed to improve specialized and integrated care targeting the population.</p

Beyond health:medicines, food supplements, energetics, and the commodification of self-performance in Maputo

With an increasing range of products in global and local markets, more options are available for individuals to enhance their image and their (cognitive, social and physical) performance. These ‘performance consumptions’ relate to ideals of well‐being and improvement, and are based on constructed desires, expectations and needs that go beyond the (often blurred) dichotomy of health and illness. Drawing from mixed‐methods research in Maputo, Mozambique, this paper discusses individuals’ use of medicines and other substances – pharmaceuticals, food supplements, traditional herbs, cosmetics and energy drinks – for managing different aspects of their everyday lives. Through an overview of the main consumption practices, we explore the underlying purposes and strategies of users, and the perceived legitimacy and risks involved when using a variety of products accessible through formal and informal exchange channels. From tiredness to sexual and aesthetic management, we show how the body becomes the locus of experimentation and investment to perform in accordance with socially expected roles, individual aspirations and everyday tasks. With insights from individuals’ accounts in Maputo, we aim to add to discussions on pharmaceuticalisation of body management by showing how the emergence of new performance consumptions is articulated with the reconfiguration of more ‘traditional’ consumption practices.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Assessing learning and memory in pigs

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in (mini) pigs (Sus scrofa) as species for cognitive research. A major reason for this is their physiological and anatomical similarity with humans. For example, pigs possess a well-developed, large brain. Assessment of the learning and memory functions of pigs is not only relevant to human research but also to animal welfare, given the nature of current farming practices and the demands they make on animal health and behavior. In this article, we review studies of pig cognition, focusing on the underlying processes and mechanisms, with a view to identifying. Our goal is to aid the selection of appropriate cognitive tasks for research into pig cognition. To this end, we formulated several basic criteria for pig cognition tests and then applied these criteria and knowledge about pig-specific sensorimotor abilities and behavior to evaluate the merits, drawbacks, and limitations of the different types of tests used to date. While behavioral studies using (mini) pigs have shown that this species can perform learning and memory tasks, and much has been learned about pig cognition, results have not been replicated or proven replicable because of the lack of validated, translational behavioral paradigms that are specially suited to tap specific aspects of pig cognition. We identified several promising types of tasks for use in studies of pig cognition, such as versatile spatial free-choice type tasks that allow the simultaneous measurement of several behavioral domains. The use of appropriate tasks will facilitate the collection of reliable and valid data on pig cognition

"Eat and you will be eaten": a qualitative study exploring costs and benefits of age-disparate sexual relationships in Tanzania and Uganda: implications for girls' sexual and reproductive health interventions

BACKGROUND: Age-disparate sex is associated with increased HIV risk among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa. However, little has been done to understand the dynamics of such relationships from the perspectives of either AGYW or older men, and the communities in which these relationships are embedded. This article explores the motivations and perceived benefits of such relationships for AGYW and older men, plus the social and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) consequences. METHODS: This study held 37 participatory focus group discussions and 87 in-depth interviews with young people aged 14-24 and adult community members aged 25-49 in rural and urban Tanzania and Uganda. Participants were sampled using purposive and snowball techniques. Thematic analysis was conducted with the aid of NVIVO 10 software. RESULTS: Motivations, perceived benefits and costs for AGYW centred around four main themes: financial motivations, emotional support, meeting social expectations and reflections on sexual health. Specifically, AGYW noted that older partners gave gifts/money of higher value compared with younger men. Men's perceived benefits and costs revolved around the need to satisfy their sexual desire, the perception that AGYW were capable of engaging in new and creative sexual styles and their desire for prestige among male peers. Both AGYW and men recognised the social and SRH consequences as: risk of violence, social stigma, risk of unplanned pregnancy and risk of sexually transmitted infections including HIV. CONCLUSION: Interventions need to acknowledge the perceived benefits of age-disparate sexual relationships for AGYW and older men and engage them in critical reflection on the medium- to longer-term consequences versus the shorter-term satisfaction of needs, desires and aspirations, as a way to navigate the constrained opportunities they face given existing structural limitations. Interventions should also tackle the structural constraints AGYW face by helping them access resources, become empowered and challenge the expectation of having to depend financially on men. Interventions with men should unpack the assumption that men are naturally hypersexual. The role of peers for both girls and men should be acknowledged, and a shift from individual targeted interventions to changing norms at the community level should be considered

A framework for understanding shared substrates of airway protection

Deficits of airway protection can have deleterious effects to health and quality of life. Effective airway protection requires a continuum of behaviors including swallowing and cough. Swallowing prevents material from entering the airway and coughing ejects endogenous material from the airway. There is significant overlap between the control mechanisms for swallowing and cough. In this review we will present the existing literature to support a novel framework for understanding shared substrates of airway protection. This framework was originally adapted from Eccles' model of cough28 (2009) by Hegland, et al.42 (2012). It will serve to provide a basis from which to develop future studies and test specific hypotheses that advance our field and ultimately improve outcomes for people with airway protective deficits