“Somewhere in Advance of Nowhere”: Harmolodic Choruses for Jayne Cortez

Marital rape is a concept that many find difficult to comprehend. Until the Oregon trial of John Rideout, who was accused of rape by his wife Greta, there was little discussion of marital rape by the general public or by researchers and counselors skilled in dealing with other types of rape cases. However, the extensive media coverage given the Rideout case has raised a number of questions about this subject. For example, what actions should be defined as rape when the acts involve husband and wife? When women are forced to have sexual relations with their husbands, do they accept this as part of their marital duties or does the use of force have long-term negative consequences for the marriage? And finally, in what types of marriages does forced sex or marital rape occur? This paper attempts to answer some of these questions based upon interview data gathered from nearly 300 women.

Difficulties in making and maintaining social relationships is common among autistic people. These difficulties are thought to be due to differences in autistic social interaction and social communication that have been theorized to be the result of reduced social motivation. We argue that this theory does not account for camouflaging, a combination of strategies that are employed frequently by many autistic individuals in pursuit of obtaining social relationships; however, its utility in achieving satisfactory friendship and intimate relationships for the individual is not clear. This review synthesizes empirical evidence of camouflaging as a strategy for achieving friendships and/or intimate relationships among autistic adolescents and adults. A systematic search yielded 1421 records. Forty-nine full texts were screened, and eight qualitative studies were retained. Results reveal that camouflaging was a main strategy in pursuit of friendship, with little evidence for intimate relationships, in this sample of autistic adolescents and adults. For most, camouflaging is exhausting, often ineffective and inefficient, and ultimately a challenge to one's social authenticity. Research suggests that many autistic individuals rely on camouflaging in pursuit of friendship and intimate relationships, although this is often a nonpreferred strategy. Some autistic individuals seek to replace camouflage with alternative strategies to obtain social relationships, yet outcomes typically remain dissatisfying. This demonstrates that we need to reconsider the social motivation theory, and to better understand alternative strategies that can help autistic individuals to obtain authentic, satisfactory social relationships, and to support opportunities to achieve these desired outcomes. Why is this topic important?: Many autistic individuals feel dissatisfied with the quality and quantity of their social relationships and are, therefore, more vulnerable to loneliness and reduced well-being. This may be because autistic people communicate and interact differently to non-autistic individuals. These differences can, at times, be misinterpreted as a lack of motivation to socialize and connect with other people. But many autistic individuals are motivated to build meaningful friendships and intimate relationships and often rely on camouflaging to achieve these outcomes. Regardless of their efforts, many autistic people continue to struggle to make the social connections they desire. Therefore, the effectiveness of camouflaging on building friendships and intimate relationships needs to be better understood.What was the purpose of this review?: We set out to understand the impact that camouflaging has the friendships and intimate relationships of autistic individuals by examining the existing research.What are the results of this review?: We found that camouflaging is a common strategy used by many autistic individuals to connect with others in aim to build and maintain friendships, especially with non-autistic people. Pressure to camouflage began early in life, for many autistic participants, and continued to increase in both complexity and use across the lifespan. However, many autistic individuals remained dissatisfied with the friendships and intimate relationships gained through its use. For many, camouflaging prevented genuine social interactions, and the friendships that resulted from its use were often lacking in closeness and authenticity for the autistic individual. To reduce the reliance on camouflaging, some autistic individuals socially withdrew, or attempted to find friendship within the autistic community or in social contexts where camouflaging felt less necessary. Yet, many autistic participants remained feeling lonely, frustrated, and dissatisfied with their social relationships.What were the weaknesses of this review?: Only half of the eight studies involved an autistic researcher and author, while most studies incorporated community participation in the design of the study. We found that participants were mostly female, from countries such as the United Kingdom and United States of America, and most participants were above18 years of age. Results may be impacted by a lack of researcher and sample diversity, and minimal autistic input in study design and interpretation; thus, generalization of these findings may be limited. Camouflaging is an evolving area of research, and we recognize that there may be terminology or perspectives that were not captured by our review.What do the authors recommend and how will this help autistic adults in the future?: More research is needed to better understand autistic social interactions and to support alternative strategies to camouflaging, including environmental modifications and changes in the way non-autistic people understand and interact with autistic people. We recommend that autistic individuals' strengths and needs drive this area of research, and that supports address ways that all people can help to enhance autistic social outcomes. We anticipate that these strategies will promote more authentic social relationships, reduce reliance on camouflage, help to decrease loneliness, and improve well-being among autistic individuals.

Mignon R. Moore Lipstick or Timberlands? Meanings of Gender Presentation in Black Lesbian Communities C onsider the ways in which the following women explain gender pre- sentation in one black lesbian community: Asa Bambir (age 34, executive assistant): 1 In New York I saw more of this butch-femme thing and I was a little floored by it, a little shocked, like why do people have to play these roles? . . . But at the same time I looked at it in awe because there was a part of my childhood when I really liked wearing boyish clothes, but I never did. . . . So, I was very intrigued by it, and I think over the years I’ve just been allowing that to surface. I really do like wearing boyish clothes. Were you drawn to women who were more feminine looking or less feminine looking? I was definitely drawn to women who were feminine looking, very feminine looking. Lynn Witherspoon (age 33, corporate attorney): When I first started to come out . . . it was interesting because I had this type that I was attracted to, and yet when I was going out I was always attracting the more butch looking women. And I was like, “Oh, I’m carrying this purse,” and all of these other things, you know, all these things you do in the straight community. So I had to change the way I dressed, and I stopped carrying a purse, and I was able to find women who I was more attracted to, to go out with. When I first came out I was wearing makeup; I stopped wearing makeup. Data collection was supported by the Woodrow Wilson Junior Faculty Career Enhance- ment Fellowship, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, and the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University. The Russell Sage Foundation generously supported the writing of this manuscript. I thank Karolyn Tyson, Elaine Harley, Laurie Essig, two anonymous reviewers, and the current and former editors of Signs for their helpful comments. Pseudonyms are used to protect respondents’ anonymity. Following Kath Weston’s (2004) model, I assign surnames to this study’s participants to convey a sense of respect and adult status not always afforded sexual or racial minority group members. [Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 2006, vol. 32, no. 1] ᭧ 2006 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0097-9740/2006/3201-0009$10.00

The purpose of this study was to extend research on the influence of the social identity and intimacy of relationship on interethnic communication in the United States to Australia and England. Data from Australia and England were used to test the generalizability of Gudykunst and Hammer's (1988) findings in the United States. They found that intimacy of the relationship affected uncertainty reduction processes in interethnic relationships. Further, their data indicated that social identity affected uncertainty reduction processes when the partner is perceived to be typical of his or her ethnic group, but not when he or she is perceived as atypical. Results for Australia and England revealed that intimacy of relationship has a significant positive effect on uncertainty reduction processes across cultures. With respect to social identity, the findings for England were consistent with the United States data, but results for Australia were not.

What Child Is This?: Closely Reading Collectivity and Queer Childrearing in Lackawanna Blues and Noah’s Arc Vincent Stephens (bio) Collectivity is a deeply embedded strategy in African American culture that has historically functioned as a response to challenging social and economic conditions. From the mid- to late twentieth century and beyond, African American “families of choice”—intimate associations of biological and nonblood relatives cohabiting and sharing household responsibilities—have been a primary mode of collectivity that has challenged the hegemony of the heterosexual nuclear family. The nuclear structure’s preeminence as an exemplar of U. S. affiliative ideals belies the postwar economic and racial biases that limited its material accessibility, engineered the failure of such structures to foster stability and health, and obscures the functionality of other household models. Renewed critical attention to the alternative modes of kinship African Americans have cultivated is essential to understanding how diverse households provide emotional and material sustenance. “What Child is This” examines two cultural depictions of African American “families of choice” in order to challenge two modes of white sexual normativity. First, my reading of the “othermothering” and “exchange relationships” represented in the autobiographical telefilm Lackawanna Blues challenges white heteronormative logic that black conformity to the nuclear family will resolve racialized economic and social gaps. Second, my reading of same-sex couple parenting in the series Noah’s Arc is a rejoinder to “queer negativity,” a white homonormative strain of queer theory opposed to various forms of sociality but lacking critical attention to the historically subversive role of alternative kinship structures for African Americans. Both readings address the devotion of nonbiological adults to child figures within these families and elucidate the enduring utility of extended family households as unique nexuses of care for African American adults and children. Conceptualizing Collectivity Cornel West’s provocative statement on the value of “black culture” warrants close critical scrutiny for its encapsulation of collectivity’s symbolic utility for African Americans: The genius of our black foremothers and forefathers was to create powerful buffers to ward off the nihilistic threat, to equip black folk with cultural armor to beat back the demons of hopelessness, meaninglessness, and lovelessness. These buffers consisted of cultural structures of meaning and feeling that created and sustained communities; this armor constituted ways of life and struggle that embodied values of service and sacrifice, love and care, discipline and excellence. In other words, traditions for black surviving and thriving under usually adverse New World conditions were major barriers against the nihilistic threat. (40) [End Page 235] This excerpt’s ideological essence could be interpreted either as a nationalist statement rife with essentialist presumptions or as a benign statement of cultural pride. I read it as an acknowledgement of the psychological and behavioral toll of white supremacy, racism and class subordination. West places African American “counterpublic” formations, generated by African Americans for their sustenance as integral to “African American identity” and acknowledges the “linked fate” of blacks, tied to a shared national experience. Significantly, the quotation does not imply that all blacks have or have had an interchangeable experience; there is room for variance. The compelling subtext of his statement is that black racial pride is not benign or ornamental but the embodiment of the specificity and urgency of institution-building among African Americans. The import of his statement here is significant, since the social gaps and the resultant psychological nihilism he addresses in the larger article remain integral to African American life. Communal values, particularly “service and sacrifice, love and care,” are important because African Americans have generated traditions worth acknowledging as a heritage. Understanding community in terms of the intimate relations formed through erotic relationships, friendships and living arrangements localizes and grounds community. The United States is arguably transitioning from traditional to modern and postmodern intimacies, and a hallmark of this transition is a social recognition of the pluralized ways people form and sustain intimate relations (Plummer 8–9). This transition raises important questions about the ways certain intimate relations are socially valued over others. The heterosexual nuclear family comprised of a man and woman who divide gender roles and reproduce has been the central social ideal of intimate relationships since the post...

The linkages between intimate relationships and superior physical and mental health are well documented. Contemporary scholars explore under what conditions, for which outcomes, for whom, and through which pathways marriage and other intimate partnerships affect health. The chapter summarizes conceptual frameworks for understanding marriage and health, and contemporary empirical studies yielding four main discoveries: Relationship status is powerfully linked to health in cross-sectional studies, yet weaker associations are found in longitudinal studies that account for social selection; the protective effects of romantic partnerships vary based on characteristics of the union; the marriage–health nexus varies based on gender, race, and age; and (d) integrative science approaches have advanced understanding of the pathways linking social relationships to health. The review draws on population-based longitudinal studies, notably the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Implications of contemporary research on marriage and health for policy and practice are highlighted.

Assessment of Women for Partner Abuse

The aim of this paper is to describe the academic discussion on gender symmetry, emphasizing the responses of feminist researchers to the questions raised by reports of women's violence against men in intimate relationships. The article serves as an introduction to an academic debate that has been lively in the United States and, to some extent, in Great Britain, but hitherto not in the Nordic countries. The author argues that the discussion on gender symmetry shows that the domestic violence field is ready for multi-faceted analyses of gender and violence that make it evident that all violence is gendered.

The Segregated Schooling of Blacks in the Southern United States and South Africa

Dans cet article, l'auteur se propose d'analyser les similitudes dans l'education des Afro-americains et sud-africains noirs durant les periodes de segregation et d'Apartheid. La nature de l'oppression en milieu scolaire permet de lier les approches des Etats-Unis et de l'Afrique du Sud en matiere d'education pour les populations visees ainsi que l'usage par les communautes noires, dans ces deux contextes, de l'education comme ascenseur social, permettant de depasser les limites imposees par la segregation. Il est a noter egalement les strategies identiques, dans ces deux environnements, mises en place par les parents, les chefs d'etablissements et les enseignants pour encourager les eleves a depasser le contexte de l'oppression...

POLICE REFORM IN DIVIDED TIMES

The diminishing rates of marriage and proliferation of individuals who are unmarried in the United States have greatly altered the makeup of heterosexual intimate pair bonding in the general population. For Blacks in the United States, these circumstances are more profound. Over the past decades, the precipitous decline in Black marriages and the salient upsurge of never married Blacks have stimulated much theoretical focus but few empirical research studies on Black adults' heterosexual coupling unions have been undertaken (Camp, 2002; Dixon, 2009; Pinderhughes, 2002; Tucker, 2003). In order to fill the empirical gaps regarding heterosexual coupling unions among Blacks, this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study explored the experiences of 26 never married Black men and women (ages 25-35) in their attempts to cultivate and maintain intimate romantic relationships. Through in-depth, open-ended individual interview approach, this phenomenological study, guided with the theoretical frameworks of Africana Womanism (Hudson-Weems, 2008) and Symbolic Interactionism (Charon, 2007), sought to capture and understand how participants described and interpreted their intimate romantic coupling experiences and relationships. The findings illustrated that the overwhelming majority of the participants desired to be married or be involved in a long-term secure and intimate romantic relationship. The majority of the participants felt that the initial stage of cultivating romantic relationships began with strong unspoken connection and passion because of their common Black racial identity, background and culture. Furthermore, participants expressed that their racial location and history in society also contributed to the difficulties that they experienced in maintaining an intimate romantic relationship. Participants contextualized their experiences of cultivating and maintaining intimate romantic relationships within social-historical context of the imposition of whiteness, the residual effects of slavery around skin color and emotional alienation between Black men and women; socio-cultural context of the rarity of long-term, positive quality Black marriages and relationships as well as internalized racial stereotypes; and socio-structural context of gender imbalance in educational, income and career achievements. The findings illustrated that as a result of pairing within these socio-historical, socio-cultural and socio-structural contexts, never married heterosexual Black men and women appeared to be coupling within a shame-based racial context. Participants, therefore, described their experienced coupling processes to be difficult and labor intensive. Given these revealing findings, implications for future research, clinical training and practice, and social policy are provided.

When an individual seeking an abortion cannot obtain one, carrying that pregnancy to term may affect both her relationship with the man involved in the pregnancy and her prospects for new intimate relationships. We aimed to assess the impact of receiving versus being denied a wanted abortion on women's intimate relationships, up to 5 years after seeking an abortion in the United States. Using mixed-effects regression models, we compared relationship outcomes among women who presented for abortion care just under facilities' gestational age limits ("Near-limit abortion patients," n=452) with those who presented just over, were denied an abortion ("Turnaways," n=146) at 30 US facilities. At 1 week post-abortion seeking, the predicted probability of being in a relationship with the man involved in the pregnancy was 58%, gradually declining to 27% at 5 years with no significant differences between those who received and those who were denied an abortion. However, from 2 to 5 years post-abortion seeking, participants who were denied an abortion had double the odds (aOR=2.01, 95% CI: 1.09-3.69) of being in a poor intimate relationship, with a predicted probability of being in a poor relationship of 14% among those denied an abortion compared with 9% among those who received one (p < 0.05). Carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term does not increase the chance of being in an intimate relationship with the man involved in the pregnancy but may have negative implications for the quality of future relationships up to 5 years post-abortion seeking.

BackgroundIn patients with schizophrenia, antipsychotic medications, including second-generation antipsychotics, may cause many side-effects (SE) often leading to treatment discontinuation, and possible relapse as a consequence. The impact of treatments on patient-centered outcomes such as health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is less well understood. Even less well understood is the impact of side effects on patient-centered outcomes such as daily functioning and HRQOL. Therefore, the study’s primary goal was to gain a deeper understanding of the impacts of SEs of second generation antipsychotics on patients’ day to day functioning.MethodsA cross-sectional, web-based, patient-reported survey was fielded in the United States between July and November 2017. The final survey included patient socio-demographics, a quality of life measure (Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire Short Form, Q-LES-Q-SF), questions on treatment satisfaction, SEs experienced (Glasgow Antipsychotic Side-Effect Scale, GASS), and questions about the impact of SEs on functioning and emotions. Patients were recruited through patient advocacy and support groups, and medical research panels. Patient inclusion criteria: Self-reported schizophrenia diagnosis; 18 to 65 years old; stable for at least one month at time of screening; prescribed a second-generation antipsychotic medication for 1–12 months; the final sample consisted of those individuals who reported experiencing one or more side-effects based on the GASS.ResultsThe total sample (n=180) had a mean age of 35 (range 18–61) years old, of which 58.3% were females. Approximately a quarter (27.8%) of the sample had a college degree or higher; 69.4% identified as White, followed by 16.7% Black/ African American, and 6.1% Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islanders. Most prevalent SEs reported on the GASS were ‘difficulty sleeping’ (81.1%), ‘feeling sleepy during the day’ (77.2%), ‘dry mouth’ (70.6%), and ‘feeling restless (60.6%). The SEs most commonly reported as distressing, for those patients experiencing that SE, were difficulty passing urine (23.3%), and feeling drugged/like a zombie (19.4%). The minimum impact from SEs on daily functioning was 53.2 on a 0–100 Visual Analogue Scale (higher number reflects more negative impact on daily functioning; 0=no impact and 100=very highly impacted). Across the SEs further probed about, the most severe impact was on one’s ‘ability to get or do a job’; specifically, for the SEs ‘shaky hands or arms’ the mean impact was 76.1, followed by 69.8 for restlessness. ‘Problems enjoying sex’ had the greatest effect on one’s ‘intimate relationships’ (mean 74.8), and feeling drugged/like a zombie had the greatest effect on one’s ‘ability to concentrate’ (mean 70.2).DiscussionThe study indicates the importance of incorporating the patient with schizophrenia’s perspective when assessing SE experiences and impact on functioning due to second generation antipsychotic agents. Findings suggest that both activating SEs (restlessness) and sedating SEs (feeling drugged and sleepiness) have pronounced undesirable impact on daily patient functioning.

Technology in Black Feminist World K. Melchor Quick Hall (bio) Sometimes I imagine a world where African Americans in the United States are truly free, a place where we are not tracked into remedial academic courses or redlined within districts with inferior schools and environmental hazards. It is a place where our behavior is not criminalized, our intimate relations are not perverted, and our bodies are not targeted for imprisonment and disposal. In such a world, instead of an amplification of patriarchal norms in African American community, people of all genders work to build a world free of oppression. In this world—I call it Black Feminist World1—we are free to learn, to explore, and to innovate. Further, we develop and code our own community's technologies. Mark Dery asks, "Can a community whose past has been deliberately rubbed out, and whose energies have subsequently been consumed by the search for legible traces of its history, imagine possible futures? Furthermore, isn't the unreal estate of the future already owned by the technocrats, futurologists, streamliners, and set designers—white to a man—who have engineered our collective fantasies?"2 In this essay I imagine an alternative reality, one that has not been co-opted or controlled by the dominant class, a future that embodies "the possibilities of a new focus on black humanity," as called for in Martine Syms's Mundane Afrofuturist Manifesto.3 As a computer scientist, I have thought extensively about the ways in which technology would be different in Black Feminist World (BFW). In this autobiographical and futurist essay that reflects on the past to imagine a radically different future, I give examples of technologies that might be developed in BFW. I began imagining such technologies during my own study of computer science at a predominantly white university in Philadelphia. Rooting in reflections about a culturally insensitive database course and an isolating computer science educational experience, I imagine community-centric devices and spoken culture technologies rooted in the African American experience. These innovations have the potential to revolutionize human-computer interaction [End Page 243] and the digital future of the United States. The stakes are high, as more and more of our daily lives and interactions are coded by men who mostly live apart from Black and Latinx consumers.4 As Adam J. Banks wrote, "There is so much at stake in the connections between technologies and people's lived experiences, and the ways those experiences inform social, cultural, political, and economic struggle."5 Anyone who was raised in an African American community in the US (and many who have visited these communities) will recognize the folkloric traditions that root these prospective innovations in community life.6 For those who have not visited African American communities, in the following sections I share a glimpse into the potential of African American technological innovation. last things first When I was studying computer science in graduate school I took a database design course. During the course I attempted to initiate a discussion about why we would create only one field for the last name, when most Latin Americans carry the last names of both parents. It would have been quite easy, technically speaking, to add an optional second last name field that could be left blank for those individuals with only one last name.7 My attempt to initiate a discussion about the cultural assumptions of our database design were not seen as relevant to computer science. I was told that we should work with the specifications we received without questioning the cultural exclusivity of such specifications; that work, I was told, was beyond the scope of computer science. I am reminded of that silencing every time I have to decide which one of my middle initials to use on a form or application. Dominant cultural practice shaped my naming even before my birth. I have two "middle names" because I was raised in a country that did not make space for me to have multiple last names. In fact, my "middle names" are the last names of my mother and maternal grandmother.8 My experience mirrors that of other Black people who embrace technology but find pervasive...