Practice Makes Practice . . . Visible? Revealing Structures of the Artistic Field by Articulating the Evasive Properties Inherent in its Systems of Production Through Art Practice

This practice-led research project attempts to seek out and reveal the structures that frame the production of art practice, through and with art practice itself. With this premise in mind, the first phase of the study aims to use practice-led research by adopting quasi-ethnographic strategies firstly to explore the field of artistic production, and secondly in an attempt to activate, capture and contain tangible evidence that the artistic field is powered by persuasive informal discourse and practices that contribute to stringent and hierarchical rules of engagement. Entering the second phase of the project the contribution of this study is based on the proposition that as a research project it utilises the performative lecture to position art practice as a formal presentation model demonstrating that art practice in and of itself can act as an appropriate tool to articulate the findings from the practice-led research cited above. The study aims to demonstrate that art practice can be an adept conceptual, contextual mode of communicating its own particular character, to iterate and embody its own hierarchical structures and articulate, critically, by rendering visible its structures and evasive, invisible properties. Through a decisive performative approach adopted in the second phase of the project, the artworks produced seek to tease out and form a type of rebuttal towards the problem of subjectivity inherent in my position as a researcher in relation to my research enquiry, that is, the problem of how an artist can make critical artworks about the system of which he/she is a part. This teasing out process is done by attempting to attain an insightful ‘inter-subjective’ reflexivity around my research enquiry through performative practice and by adopting self-conscious strategies. These self-conscious attributes aim to acknowledge, harness and present nuances of subjectivity, coupled with and couched in a formal academic context where the performative works play out, acting as an objective frame for the work. Through a body of practice contained on the accompanying website (naomi-sex.com) and text including various theoretical references where at conceptually relevant points art practice theory and textual content intersect and interface, this project as a whole aims to present and contextualise the subject of my enquiry, its influencing factors and the outcomes of the research period

Cape Town talks about sex workers

On Monday 25 September,, as- part of the One City Festival, the Black Arts Collective hosted a debate about sex work. Natasha from SWEAT spoke about the why the government should decriminalize sex work. Khadija Magardie, a journalist from the Mail and Guardian newspaper, sent a speech talking about how sex work should be abolished by changing the law to make the clients criminals, so they can be arrested for buying sex from sex workers. Members of the public came to the debate, and talked about their feelings about sex work, and asked questions and gave comments. Generally most people were supportive of the fact that sex workers deserve human rights, even if they didn’t like the idea that people sell sex for a living. The city is starting to talk about sex work and sex workers, which is very exciting. It is a chance for SWEAT to talk about the realities of the industry, and to break down some of the stereotypes that many members of the public have about sex workers and sex work. One element that is missing from these discussions is the voices of sex workers themselves. SWEAT points out that it is very difficult for sex workers to talk publicly because of the stigmatization they suffer, and because sex work is still illegal. If you are interested in talking to the public about your experiences and opinions, please contact SWEAT and let us know, so that next time there is a chance to speak to the public we can invite you along

Cape Town talks about sex workers

On Monday 25 September,, as- part of the One City Festival, the Black Arts Collective hosted a debate about sex work. Natasha from SWEAT spoke about the why the government should decriminalize sex work. Khadija Magardie, a journalist from the Mail and Guardian newspaper, sent a speech talking about how sex work should be abolished by changing the law to make the clients criminals, so they can be arrested for buying sex from sex workers. Members of the public came to the debate, and talked about their feelings about sex work, and asked questions and gave comments. Generally most people were supportive of the fact that sex workers deserve human rights, even if they didn’t like the idea that people sell sex for a living. The city is starting to talk about sex work and sex workers, which is very exciting. It is a chance for SWEAT to talk about the realities of the industry, and to break down some of the stereotypes that many members of the public have about sex workers and sex work. One element that is missing from these discussions is the voices of sex workers themselves. SWEAT points out that it is very difficult for sex workers to talk publicly because of the stigmatization they suffer, and because sex work is still illegal. If you are interested in talking to the public about your experiences and opinions, please contact SWEAT and let us know, so that next time there is a chance to speak to the public we can invite you along

Knowledge Transfer and Teaching Public Administration: the Academy Model

Since the beginnings of Public Administration in the US and its accompanying education in other parts of the world, government and policy have become more complex. The education in Public Administration created a professional pathway to public service. The addition of education to Public Administration came out of the Progressive Movement in the United States to make knowledge in Public Administration more important in the face of corruption brought on by patronage appointments. When nonprofits became part the US public sector as elsewhere along with nonprofit healthcare, the complexity expanded enormously, requiring professionals to know more in what has become a multidisciplinary field of study. Given the diversity and complexity of the public sector and the need for Public Administration to embrace more knowledge from many disciplines, it stands to reason that an earlier start on the education portion of Public Administration or a pathway would be beneficial. A model of early Public Administration knowledge transfer is described and illustrated below. The Academy described is based on the US career pathways and high school academies as part of the school to work educational movement. The success of the combination of these two areas will also be pointed out in the academy described. Translation of lessons learned from the Acdemy to Europe and Asia are also considered

Problematic pornography use across countries, genders, and sexual orientations: Insights from the International Sex Survey and comparison of different assessment tools

© 2024 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/Background and aims: Problematic pornography use (PPU) is a common manifestation of the newly introduced Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder diagnosis in the 11th edition of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. Although cultural, gender‐ and sexual orientation‐related differences in sexual behaviors are well documented, there is a relative absence of data on PPU outside Western countries and among women as well as gender‐ and sexually‐diverse individuals. We addressed these gaps by (a) validating the long and short versions of the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale (PPCS and PPCS‐6, respectively) and the Brief Pornography Screen (BPS) and (b) measuring PPU risk across diverse populations. Methods: Using data from the pre‐registered International Sex Survey [n = 82 243; mean age (Mage) = 32.4 years, standard deviation = 12.5], a study across 42 countries from five continents, we evaluated the psychometric properties (i.e. factor structure, measurement invariance, and reliability) of the PPCS, PPCS‐6, and BPS and examined their associations with relevant correlates (e.g. treatment‐seeking). We also compared PPU risk among diverse groups (e.g. three genders). Results: The PPCS, PPCS‐6, and BPS demonstrated excellent psychometric properties [for example, comparative fit index = 0.985, Tucker–Lewis Index = 0.981, root mean square error of approximation = 0.060 (90% confidence interval = 0.059–0.060)] in the confirmatory factor analysis, with all PPCS’ inter‐factor correlations positive and strong (rs = 0.72–0.96). A total of 3.2% of participants were at risk of experiencing PPU (PPU+) based on the PPCS, with significant country‐ and gender‐based differences (e.g. men reported the highest levels of PPU). No sexual orientation‐based differences were observed. Only 4–10% of individuals in the PPU+ group had ever sought treatment for PPU, while an additional 21–37% wanted to, but did not do so for specific reasons (e.g. unaffordability). Conclusions: This study validated three measures to assess the severity of problematic pornography use across languages, countries, genders, and sexual orientations in 26 languages: the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale (PPCS, and PPCS‐6, respectively), and the Brief Pornography Screen (BPS). The problematic pornography use risk is estimated to be 3.2–16.6% of the population of 42 countries, and varies among different groups (e.g. genders) and based on the measure used.Peer reviewe

Cardiovascular disease in transgendered people: A review of the literature and discussion of risk.

This review examines the impact of gender affirming hormone therapy used in the transgendered and non-binary populations on cardiovascular outcomes and surrogate markers of cardiovascular health. Current evidence suggests that hormonal therapy for transgendered women decreases or is neutral regarding myocardial infarction risk. There is an increased incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE), but newer studies suggest that the risk is significantly lower than previously described. For transgendered men, there appears to be an adverse effect on lipid parameters but this does not translate into an increased risk of cardiovascular disease above that of general male population. In all transgendered people, risk factor interventions such as smoking cessation, weight management and treatment of co-morbid conditions are important in optimising cardiovascular health. The effect of gender affirming hormonal therapy in transgendered people is difficult to interpret due to the variety of hormone regimens used, the relative brevity of the periods of observation and the influence of confounding factors such as the historical use of less physiological, oestrogens such as conjugated equine oestrogen and ethinylestradiol which are more pro-thrombotic than the 17β oestradiol that is used in modern practice

Consideration of sex and gender in Alzheimer's disease and related disorders from a global perspective

Sex or gender differences in the risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) differ by world region, suggesting that there are potentially modifiable risk factors for intervention. However, few epidemiological or clinical ADRD studies examine sex differences; even fewer evaluate gender in the context of ADRD risk. The goals of this perspective are to: (1) provide definitions of gender, biologic sex, and sexual orientation. and the limitations of examining these as binary variables; (2) provide an overview of what is known with regard to sex and gender differences in the risk, prevention, and diagnosis of ADRD; and (3) discuss these sex and gender differences from a global, worldwide perspective. Identifying drivers of sex and gender differences in ADRD throughout the world is a first step in developing interventions unique to each geographical and sociocultural area to reduce these inequities and to ultimately reduce global ADRD risk. HIGHLIGHTS: The burden of dementia is unevenly distributed geographically and by sex and gender. Scientific advances in genetics and biomarkers challenge beliefs that sex is binary. Discrimination against women and sex and gender minority (SGM) populations contributes to cognitive decline. Sociocultural factors lead to gender inequities in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) worldwide