Empowering Youth through Comprehensive Sex Eduation: The Imperative for Sexual Health and Gender Equality in Lebanese Schools

Sex education in schools is of paramount importance as it equips students(age 8-21) with the needed tools to become better citizens. Previous studieshave shown that CSE programs promote a better quality of life as theyadvocate for gender equality and promote sexual and reproductive health(Comprehensive Sexuality Education, n.d.). Lebanon, however, lacks acomprehensive program. The lack of such a program contributes to aknowledge disparity and perpetuates the social taboo surrounding sextopics, hindering the promotion of gender equality, sexual & reproductivehealth, and overall well-being among young individuals

Academic reflections between Polynesian tattooing and reflective practice

In Polynesian culture stories which may be generations old are told via tattoo art: the Tahitian word ‘tatu’ or ‘ta-tu’ means to strike something and links directly to the ancient art of tattooing to preserve an ancestral lineage and/or record a particular event or story that has been handed down from generation to generation via the same method (Villequette, 1998). Some scholars such as Gell (1993), and Schrader (2000) and Jones (2000) in Schildkrout (2004), write of tattoos being associated with “subsidiary selves, spirits, ancestors, rulers and victims” that are resident within the tattooed individual, while some write of ethnographic work being inscribed on bodies (Sparkes, 2000, p. 21 and Schildkrout, 2004, p. 322). Auto-ethnographic study (the study of ourselves) is a relatively new field and is often associated with qualitative analysis; as such it has stimulated the author to introduce the term ‘internal’ reflection. I believe that this may describe a ‘personal’ or ‘internal’ reflection that is transmitted to the outside world in the form of a tattoo. Drawing on the work of Sparkes, an auto-ethnography is a narrative of self, although this research offers tattoos as a viable alternative to narrative and suggests that auto-ethnographic tattoos are not only commonplace but that they can also be very real transcripts of the narrative equivalent. Further, this research shows that different cultures reflect in different ways and that the tattoo is a popular and essential method of ethnographic captur

The Gifts We Keep on Giving: Documenting and Destigmatizing the Regifting Taboo

Five studies investigate whether the practice of "regifting"-a social taboo-is as offensive to givers as regifters assume. Participants who imagined regifting thought that the original givers would be more offended than givers reported feeling, to such an extent that receivers viewed regifting as similar in offensiveness to throwing gifts away (whereas givers clearly preferred the former). This asymmetry in emotional reactions to regifting was driven by an asymmetry in beliefs about entitlement. Givers believed that the act of gift giving passed "title" to the gift on to receivers-such that receivers were free to decide what to do with the gift; in contrast, receivers believed that givers retained some "say" in how their gifts were used. Finally, an intervention designed to destigmatize regifting by introducing a different normative standard (i.e., National Regifting Day) corrected the asymmetry in beliefs about entitlement and increased regifting

Interview Shocks and Shockwaves

This article uses a postmodern lens to examine shocks, cognitive emotional reactions of the interviewer to the unexpected, and shows how shocks and shockwaves, responses to shocks, are related to the process of Othering. The concepts master narrative, coherence, Othering, positionality, and nonunitary subjectivity are used to present the analysis. Using excerpts from research interviews as illustrations, the article describes three types of shocks - those based on a violation of a social taboo, those deriving from professional role reversal, and those that are based on stereotypes. In addition, it explains three types of responses to shock - avoidance, circular strategies, and acceptance and moving on. The article shows how interviewees resist being Othered and, in an attempt to negotiate a more equitable interview situation, administer shocks. Interviewer expectations of master narratives and the process of Othering prevent interviewers from hearing complex, multifaceted, and atypical stories

Towards Ethical Artificial Intelligence in Universities: ChatGPT, Culture, and Mental Health Stigmas in Asian Higher Education Post COVID-19

Mental health can be interpreted as a social taboo in Asia, ensuring that students with mental health stigmas (SWMHS) face complex educational journeys that impact their wellbeing. This article provides a conceptual interdisciplinary commentary that illustrates how in Asian higher education (HE) settings, the psychosocial phenomena of face culture, a sociolinguistic blend of high-context power relations, sense-making, and cultural capital, defines human-to-human (HTH) dialogue. It suggests that human-to-computer-interaction (HCI) through artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as ChatGPT, could improve university wellbeing strategies in Asia. The article situates AI discussion into the sociolinguistic features of face culture in Thailand and China through an ethnographic postmodernist lens. The article concludes with a modest conceptual model, considering cultural dimensions and student wellbeing in universities, alongside the ethical implications of using AI to improve mental health in post COVID-19 Asian HE

Unveiling the unspoken in life story interviews

Basé sur une enquête ethnographique dans la congrégation luthérienne germanophone à Belfast, cet article explore comment les membres de cette communauté ont connu l’entretien autobiographique. Malgré un besoin permanent de soutien émotionnel pour les victimes des conflits passés, l’utilisation de la méthode de recherche autobiographique dans les sociétés post-conflit n’a pas été suffisamment prise en compte dans la littérature sur le sensible travail de terrain ethnographique. Dans cet article, je cherche à comprendre le rôle de l’entretien autobiographique pendant mon travail sur le terrain en Irlande du Nord. L’étude de cette communauté religieuse a mis en lumière un tabou social dans le cercle luthérien. Le passé intimidant de la congrégation de Belfast a été à peine mentionné dans les réunions suivant le service de l’Eglise. Des moments de silence se produisaient fréquemment pendant les séances d’entretien lorsque des questions portaient sur la vie de la congrégation dans le passé. Comme l’entretien autobiographique était basé sur des questions ouvertes, le risque de bouleverser des interrogés traumatisés pouvait être atténué par une conduite sensible de la séance d’entretien, c’est-à-dire en donnant la possibilité aux interrogés d’interrompre l’enregistrement à n’importe quel moment. De plus, l’étude qualitative a dévoilé que la méthode autobiographique initiait la narration et le travail biographique, qui est largement considéré comme une première étape cruciale vers la guérison des personnes traumatisées.Based on an ethnographic investigation into the German-speaking Lutheran congregation in Belfast, this paper explores how members of this community experienced the life story interview. Despite an ongoing need for emotional support for victims of past conflicts, the use of the autobiographical research method in post-conflict societies has not been sufficiently addressed in the literature on sensitive ethnographic fieldwork. In this paper, I seek to understand the role of the life story interview during my fieldwork in Northern Ireland. The study of the faith-based community brought to light a social taboo in the Lutheran circle. The daunting past of the Belfast congregation was barely mentioned in the get-togethers following the church service. Moments of silence frequently occurred during the interview sessions when questions about the past congregational life were raised. Since the life story interview was based on an open-ended questioning style, the risk of upsetting traumatised interviewees could be mitigated by a sensitive conduct of the interview session, i.e. giving interviewees the opportunity to interrupt the recording at any time. Furthermore, the qualitative study unveiled that the autobiographical method initiated storytelling and biographical work, which are widely considered crucial first steps towards the healing of traumatised persons