National (un)Belonging: Bengali American Women on Imagining and Contesting Culture and Identity

This study examined trabecular bone mineral density (BMD) in Japanese women with and without spinal fracture, and compared the results to American women with and without fracture. The quantitative computed tomography (QCT) systems used at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and at Nagasaki University were cross-calibrated. Normative BMD was assessed with the K2HPO4 liquid phantom in 538 Americans aged 20-85 years, and with the B-MAS200 phantom in 577 Japanese aged 20-83 years. These BMD were adjusted for use with the Image Analysis solid phantom using the result of cross-calibration. The trabecular BMD in 111 postmenopausal American women (55 with fracture), and in 185 postmenopausal Japanese women (67 with fracture) were compared for investigation of the difference in BMD values relative to fracture status. The absolute BMD values in Japanese were lower than those in Americans, and the differences were greater with advancing age. The magnitude of the BMD difference was 8.6, 20.5, 38.1 mg/cm3 in women aged 20-24 years, 40-44 years, 60-64 years, respectively. In premenopausal women, BMD began to decrease at the age of 20 in Japanese, whereas the peak bone mass was maintained until the age of 35 in the American women. In immediate postmenopausal women, BMD significantly decreased in both populations. In later postmenopausal women, BMD significantly decreased with age in the Japanese women but decreased less rapidly in the American women. The aging decrease of BMD was 1.4% and 2.2% per year in the later postmenopausal American and Japanese women, respectively. The fracture threshold is considered to be lower in Japanese women. However, the BMD difference between American and Japanese women with fracture was similar to that without fracture. The Z-scores of fracture subjects versus controls were 2.9 in American and 1.8 in Japanese women. In conclusion, Japanese women were found to have a lower BMD and lower fracture threshold than American women. The significant decrease of spinal trabecular BMD in late postmenopause is potentially responsible for the higher prevalence of spinal fracture in Japanese women.

Leiomyoma May Explain Racial Differences in ART Outcome Between African American and Caucasian Women

BackgroundAfrican American (AA) women navigate the world with multiple intersecting marginalized identities. Accordingly, AA women have higher cumulative stress burden or allostatic load (AL) compared to other women. Studies suggest that AA women with a college degree or higher have lower AL than AA women with less than a high school diploma. We examined the joint effect of educational attainment and AL status with long-term risk of cancer mortality, and whether education moderated the association between AL and cancer mortality.MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis among 4,677 AA women within the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1988 to 2010 with follow-up data through December 31, 2019. We fit weighted Cox proportional hazards models to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) of cancer death between educational attainment/AL (adjusted for age, income, and smoking status).ResultsAA women with less than a high school diploma living with high AL had nearly a 3-fold increased risk (unadjusted HR: 2.98; 95%C CI: 1.24–7.15) of cancer death compared to AA college graduates living with low AL. However, after adjusting for age, this effect attenuated (age-adjusted HR: 1.11; 95% CI: 0.45–2.74). AA women with high AL had 2.3-fold increased risk of cancer death (fully adjusted HR: 2.26; 95% CI: 1.10–4.57) when compared to AA with low AL, specifically among women with high school diploma or equivalent and without history of cancer.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that high allostatic load is associated with a higher risk of cancer mortality among AA women with lower educational attainment, while no such association was observed among AA women with higher educational attainment. Thus, educational attainment plays a modifying role in the relationship between allostatic load and the risk of cancer death for AA women. Higher education can bring several benefits, including improved access to medical care and enhanced medical literacy, which in turn may help mitigate the adverse impact of AL and the heightened risk of cancer mortality among AA women.

Previous articleNext article No AccessReview EssaysThe Emerging Legal History of Women in the United States: Property, Divorce, and the ConstitutionNorma BaschNorma Basch Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Signs Volume 12, Number 1Autumn, 1986 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/494299 Views: 29Total views on this site Citations: 10Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1986 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Susan Starr Sered Beyond Recidivism and Desistance, Feminist Criminology 16, no.22 (Aug 2020): 165–190.https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085120951849Anna Arstein-Kerslake Gendered Denials: Law, Policy and Practice, (Jan 2021): 83–116.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63493-3_4Anna Arstein-Kerslake Gendered denials: Vulnerability created by barriers to legal capacity for women and disabled women, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 66 (Sep 2019): 101501.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2019.101501Laura Oren No-Fault Divorce Reform in the 1950s: The Lost History of the “Greatest Project” of the National Association of Women Lawyers, Law and History Review 36, no.0404 (Sep 2018): 847–890.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0738248018000172Michele Adams Gender Inequality in Families, (Jun 2018): 351–363.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76333-0_25Jayme S. Lemke Interjurisdictional competition and the Married Women’s Property Acts, Public Choice 166, no.3-43-4 (Mar 2016): 291–313.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-016-0323-xJohn L. Rury The Curious Status of the History of Education: A Parallel Perspective, History of Education Quarterly 46, no.0404 (Feb 2017): 571–598.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5959.2006.00032.x Barry A. Crouch The "Chords of Love": Legalizing Black Marital and Family Rights in Postwar Texas, The Journal of Negro History 79, no.44 (Nov 2017): 334–351.https://doi.org/10.2307/2717592KIM M. BLANKENSHIP BRINGING GENDER AND RACE IN:, Gender & Society 7, no.22 (Jun 2016): 204–226.https://doi.org/10.1177/089124393007002004Mary E. Odem Fallen Women and Thieving Ladies: Historical Approaches to Women and Crime in the United States, Law & Social Inquiry 17, no.0202 (Dec 2018): 351–361.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.1992.tb00616.x

Tampon Use in Adolescence: Differences among European American, African American and Latina Women in Practices, Concerns, and Barriers

The Microbiome, Intestinal Function, and Arginine Metabolism of Healthy Indian Women Are Different from Those of American and Jamaican Women

Association of Patient Race With Surgical Practice and Perioperative Morbidity After Myomectomy.

BackgroundAfrican American (AA) women navigate the world with multiple intersecting marginalized identities. Accordingly, AA women have higher cumulative stress burden or allostatic load (AL) compared to other women. AL correlates with poorer health outcomes and increased risk of cancer death. However, research indicates AA women with a college degree or higher have lower AL than AA women with less than a high school diploma. We examined whether educational attainment differences and AL status in AA women are associated with long-term risk of cancer mortality.MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis among 4,677 AA women respondents using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 1988 through 2010 with follow up data through December 31, 2019. We fit Cox proportional hazards models to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) of cancer death between educational attainment/AL (adjusted for age, sociodemographic, and health factors).ResultsAA women with less than a high school diploma living with high AL had nearly a 3-fold increased risk (unadjusted HR: 2.98; 95%C CI: 1.24–7.15) of cancer death compared to AA college graduates living with low AL. However, after adjusting for age, the increased risk of cancer death in those with less than a high school diploma and high AL attenuated (age-adjusted HR: 1.11; 95% CI: .45–2.74).ConclusionsDifferences in educational attainment and AL in AA women were not associated with increased risk of cancer mortality when adjusted for age. Previous studies have shown that increased allostatic load is associated with increased risk of cancer death. However, for African American women, higher educational attainment does not modify the risk of cancer mortality. The benefits that may come along with higher education such as increased access to medical care and better medical literacy do not change the risk of cancer mortality in AA women.

Rationale and design of Smart Walk: A randomized controlled pilot trial of a smartphone-delivered physical activity and cardiometabolic risk reduction intervention for African American women

Reviewed by: Patriots, Prostitutes, and Spies: Women and the Mexican-American War by John M. Belohlavek Mark Bernhardt (bio) Patriots, Prostitutes, and Spies: Women and the Mexican-American War. By John M. Belohlavek. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017. Pp. 320. $45.00 cloth; $45.00 ebook) John M. Belohlavek sets out to examine how American and Mexican women served their families and countries during the Mexican-American War and responded to the military conflict. He rightly asserts that there is a growing body of scholarship on women's lives during the American Revolutionary and Civil War eras, but women's experiences during the Mexican-American War remain understudied and his objective is to bring "the lives of those who lived in anonymity together with those of the few celebrities" in one volume (p. 18). Alongside the stories of well-known women from the period, such as Susan Magoffin and Jane Storm Cazneau, he also includes those of midwestern mothers fearing for their sons' safety on the frontlines, New Mexico wives trying to keep family businesses operating, and [End Page 534] American and Mexican women who travelled with the armies. The book is divided into eight themed chapters, which provide a diverse range of perspectives. The first discusses American women's opinions of the war. Chapter two describes how Mexican women interacted with Americans and aided the Mexican army. In chapter three, Belohlavek details the experiences of American women who traveled through northern Mexico. Chapter four tells about American women living and working in Mexico, providing services to the American army or having taken jobs in Mexican factories before the war. What female newspaper reporters and editors wrote about the war is the subject of chapter five. Chapter six examines the views American soldiers had of the Mexican women they encountered. Belohlavek analyzes American war-themed literature written by women or about women in chapter seven. He follows this with a similar analysis of poetry and songs produced both in the United States and Mexico in the final chapter. Belohlavek located an impressive array of sources through his research, including diaries, letters, newspaper articles, memoirs, songs, poems, serials, and novels to document how the war impacted women's lives on both sides of the border and the opinions some women expressed about it. However, though he makes the effort to include Mexican women's voices, Mexican women are more often viewed through the eyes of American men, and overall the book provides much more information about American women's views and experiences. There are some minor problems. The author delves into a number of topics that are irrelevant to the book's subject matter. For example, in the introduction he states that "by briefly exploring the political, economic, and social nature of the two countries, we can obtain a clearer picture of how they [Mexico and the United States] came to clash and determine whether a realistic alternative presented itself" (p. 3). Considering that Belohlavek provides only a short summary of the scholarship on the causes of the war and its inevitability with no new insights of his own or explanation of the connection to his [End Page 535] research, it seems unnecessary to address this issue at all. Similarly, while his brief discussion of the quality of Mexican army bands is interesting, he does not demonstrate how this information meaningfully contributes to his study. Such asides at times disrupt the flow of the narrative. There is also a notable contradiction to one of the chapter's arguments. Belohlavek states that most women endorsed the war with Mexico (p. 21). However, he also accepts Peggy Cashion's well-researched findings that indicate most women opposed the war while still supporting the well-being and safety of American soldiers (p. 42). Overall, the book provides much needed research on an understudied topic. There is room for a lot more work in this field, especially concerning the experiences of Mexican women, but Belohlavek's contribution here helps serve as a solid foundation for future studies. Mark Bernhardt MARK BERNHARDT teaches history at Jackson State University. He is the author of several articles about the press coverage of the Mexican-American War. Copyright...

Indian Women of Childbearing Age Do Not Metabolically Conserve Arginine as Do American and Jamaican Women ,

During World War II, that lovely, patriotic stepped up to bat, entering workforce so her boyfriend, Charlie, could take it for team by going to war. Once she saw her MVP rounding third, Rosie happily slid into her warm, safe home, gratified by a job well done. However, contrary to popular belief, Rosie was no mere hitter. Throughout 1940s American woman was capable of being more than a temporary hire. She was a professional musician, a war correspondent, and a member of United States Congress as well as a professional baseball player. The All-American Girls' Baseball League (AAGBL) began as wartime entertainment; however, it would last nine years after World War II with its effects still reverberating today. The image of Rosie Riveter must be recognized for what it was--propaganda to fill labor shortages during war. Rosie Riveter did not reflect experiences of every American woman. For example, African American and working-class women never had luxury of being temporary hires. The female wartime labor boom empowered American woman by expanding public acceptance of her presence in traditionally male dominated occupations, such as professional baseball. However, idea of pinch hitter enabled scholars to normalize idea that women's wartime accomplishments were temporary. (1) Some scholars of earlier feminist literature have gone as far as to say that women received little, if any, long-term benefits from their accomplishments in wartime America. For feminist scholar Elaine Tyler May, Americans believed wholeheartedly that men should rule roost. (2) Regardless of cultural norms many wartime and postwar women worked and played outside of their traditional gender roles, achieving success in professional fields of occupation. By autumn 1942 many minor baseball leagues had closed down due to lack of wartime manpower. By 1943 only eleven leagues were operating, a thirty-one-team drop-off from two seasons earlier. It appeared that by 1944, Major League baseball might have to close its own ballpark gates. (3) Diamond stars, such as Joe DiMaggio, were putting on military uniforms. Even if government did not shut down professional baseball, team owners became concerned that player quality would suffer and fans would lose interest. (4) In late 1942 Philip K. Wrigley, owner of Chicago Cubs, tapped Ken Sells, assistant to general manager of club, to head up a task force to brainstorm on issue. After exploring several options committee recommended a professional league with female players. Softball was as popular as baseball at time. (5) However, it cannot be ignored that was a game dominated by women and that women were one of few sectors of American population, aside from children, disabled, and elderly, who were guaranteed exemption from draft. Sells's commission led to founding of AAGBL in 1943; however, league began its auspicious history as All-American Girls' Softball League (AAGSL). (6) And a girls' league it would be, as all of players ranged in age from their teens to their twenties. (7) However, a few were married and held professional careers as well as being mothers. It should be noted that these players took no offense at moniker girl. Today, in a post-NOW (National Organization for Women) era, these women still refer to themselves and their former teammates as the girls. A professional organized athletic league had never been successfully attempted with women to this point, so Wrigley called on support and expertise of fellow Major League Baseball executives. Ken Sells was named president of league. (8) Wrigley also called on Cubs attorney Paul V. Harper and Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey to become league's first trustees. When league was officially announced, Wrigley claimed that it was time for softball to take its proper place among American girls and women as one of country's major sports. …

PurposeAmerican and Lebanese women may feel they have different needs and therefore have different wants. This distinction brings to the fore the importance of an integrative analysis of forced and voluntary (push-pull) factors that influence entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to compare Lebanese and American women to determine their push-pull drive for entrepreneurship. Background: women entrepreneurship is developing in various cultural settings internationally as well as domestically. This research paper attempts to address the inference of autonomy, creativity, and non-conformity in comparing American and Lebanese women entrepreneurs with respect to the push-pull framework of entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachAn interpretive analysis of 102 extensive in-depth interviews with women entrepreneurs from the USA and Lebanon allows the exploration of the relevance and salience of the proposed push-pull gender related entrepreneurship framework. Contrasting American and Lebanese women responses explains why the number and rate of women entrepreneurs is greater in the USA than in the Arab world, and attempts to answer why American women are more entrepreneurial and how the environment impacts them.FindingsEmerging patterns of female business entrepreneurship in this analysis demonstrate that forced push entrepreneurship is more prevalent among women from a developing economy such as Lebanon than in industrially advanced USA. By contrast voluntary pull entrepreneurship claims more global validity as discovered in the US business culture. Entrepreneurial dimensions analyzed include autonomy, creativity, and non-conformity.Originality/valueThe dynamic interplay of micro, meso, and macro levels of the integrated framework of gender entrepreneurship is taken into further depth by exploring the gender autonomy debate, and highlighting creativity and non-conformity within the push-pull framework of entrepreneurship. This research contributes to reach scopes of practice and research. At the practice level the results show that the economic need is more than the self-satisfaction need to the initiation of new start-up business enterprises for Lebanese women compared to American women. This research sheds a new light on the balancing act of women entrepreneurs between tradition and modernity, between Oriental and Western cultures, and between Americans and Lebanese Arabs.

This study evaluated racial differences in bone size and volumetric density at the spine and hip in pre- and postmenopausal Chinese American and White women. Compared with White women, Chinese American women have greater cortical volumetric bone density (vBMD) at the hip, congruent with the results at the peripheral skeleton. Chinese American women have lower rates of fracture than White women despite lower areal bone density. At the forearm and tibia, however, Chinese American women have higher cortical vBMD as well as greater trabecular and cortical thickness, but smaller bone area as measured by high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) compared with White women. Since HR-pQCT data are obtained at peripheral sites, it is unclear whether these differences are relevant to the clinically important lumbar spine and hip. This study assesses racial differences in bone size and vBMD at the spine and hip in Chinese American and White women. QCT of the spine and hip was measured to assess racial differences in bone size, structure, and vBMD in pre- (n = 83) and postmenopausal (n = 50) Chinese American and White women. Data were adjusted for weight, height, physical activity, total calcium intake, parathyroid hormone, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. Among premenopausal women, lumbar spine trabecular vBMD was 5.8% greater in Chinese American versus White women (p = 0.01). At the hip, cortical vBMD was 3% greater at the femoral neck (p = 0.05) and 3.6% greater at the total hip (p = 0.01) in premenopausal Chinese American compared with White women. Among postmenopausal women, there was no difference in lumbar spine trabecular vBMD. Cortical vBMD was 4% greater at the total hip (p = 0.02) and tended to be greater at the femoral neck (p = 0.058) in Chinese American versus White women. Consistent with earlier findings in the peripheral skeleton, cortical vBMD is greater at the hip in Chinese American versus White women.

This research addresses the following 2 questions. What is the effect of childhood and adult economic status on midlife obesity in Mexican American women? How do these economic patterns in Mexican American women compare with patterns seen in White women and in African American women? Data were drawn from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youths 1979-2002 waves. The sample consisted of 422 Mexican Americans, 2,090 Whites, and 1,195 African Americans. The economic indicator used for childhood economic status was parent education; for adult economic status, the participant's own education and adult per capita income were used. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were estimated for the relationship between midlife obesity and economic indicator, stratified by race/ethnic group. There was an increased risk for midlife obesity with disadvantaged economic status measured during childhood and at midlife in Mexican American women. The economic effects on midlife obesity in Mexican American women were similar to those found for White, but not African American women. Few economic influences on obesity at midlife were found for African American women. Strategies that broadly improve the economic conditions of Mexican American women may be one important way to address the obesity epidemic in this population.