Gender Class Research Articles

Nonbinary people living in a binary world: Minority stress in public and gendered places

Introduction Nonbinary gender identities are widely erased and invalidated in Western societies, due to binary normativity. The segregation by binary gender of public spaces and sports categories may cause unique sources of stress for nonbinary people, manifesting at a structural and interpersonal level. Utilizing the nonbinary minority stress framework this study explores how the dichotomous gender division of public restrooms, store dressing rooms, locker rooms, and sports categories is associated with distal and proximal dimensions of minority stress. Methods The study was conducted in Italy and involved 40 nonbinary individuals aged 19 to 36 years in a semi-structured interview. The research team comprised a diverse range of positionalities, including trans, nonbinary, queer, bisexual, lesbian, and cisgender heterosexual-allied researchers. Results Through reflexive thematic analysis combining deductive and inductive orientations, themes were organized in two macro-areas representing distal and proximal stressors. Distal stressors encompassed experiences of bullying, harassment, discrimination, social intrusiveness and control, non-affirmation, invalidation, and the burden of powerlessness. Proximal stressors included internalized invalidation, avoidance coping, negative expectations, disclosure negotiation, and gender dysphoria. Conclusion and discussion Findings showed that intrusiveness, control, non-affirmation, and social invalidation represent pervasive elements in the daily experiences of nonbinary individuals, contributing to the internalization of negative emotions referred to the self, including discomfort, shame, and a sense of social inadequacy. Nonbinary individuals may prioritize the comfort of others in social interactions, negotiating the disclosure of their identity to prevent others from feeling uneasy in their presence. Implications for clinical interventions, policy, and future research are discussed.

Concepts of Gender Identity, Imputation, Gender Non-Conformity and Minority stress in If I Was Your Girl

The world operates on a binary gender system that creates stereotypes, whereby anything deviating from such expectations is met with social disapproval and marginalization. Gender roles are constructed by society, mainly through family institution (socialization) and societal division of labor based on sex. Stereotyping occurs when people generalize majoritarian beliefs about sexual orientation or identity which can be confusing as terms like sex and gender may appear interchangeable but actually reflect biological vs sociological orientations respectively. Despite the existence of numerous potential combinations among genders due to these presupposed norms each individual falls into two singular categories: men/women; masculine/feminine; male/female having specific roles varying between societies according to their cultural obligations/expectations. This research paper acknowledges true validation of LGBTQ, Problems they face in society, Rights of LGBTQ, Findings in the research and Suggestions for their problems.

When unpleasantness meets feminines: a behavioural study on gender agreement and emotionality

ABSTRACT The emotional connotation of words is known to affect word and sentence processing. However, the when and how of the interaction between emotion and grammar are still up for debate. In this behavioural experiment, 35 female university students read noun phrases (NPs) composed by a determiner and a noun in their L1 (Spanish), and were asked to indicate if the NPs were grammatically correct (el masc camarero masc ) or not (*la fem tornillo masc ; i.e. a gender agreement task). The type of gender (arbitrary/natural), the emotionality (unpleasant/neutral), and the gender class (feminine/masculine) of the nouns were manipulated. We found an overall grammaticality effect, responses being faster in grammatically correct trials than in incorrect ones. However, the effects of emotionality and gender class varied depending on gender type. For arbitrary gender, the grammaticality effect was greater in feminine nouns than in masculine nouns and independent of emotionality. For natural gender, the grammaticality effect interacted with gender class and emotionality, this effect only emerging in unpleasant stimuli for feminine nouns. Our results reveal that it is possible to find emotional effects at the behavioural level in an intrinsically grammatical task. Yet, these effects depend on gender properties like the type of gender and the gender class.

Uso y conocimiento tradicional de plantas medicinales en comunidades de Villa Corzo, Chiapas, México

The use and knowledge of native and naturalized medicinal plants were evaluated in four communities of Villa Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. The information was obtained through semi-structured surveys conducted with 118 people of different age and gender categories. To determine the most important plant species, indexes of value and frequency of use were generated. Seventy-nine species of 49 families were recorded, as well as their use in the treatment of various diseases according to local knowledge. The species with the highest value of use were Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f., Verbena officinalis L. (verbena), Ocimum basilicum L. (basil) and Psidium guajava L. (guava). (guava). The most important families by number of species used were, in order of importance: Asteraceae and Rutaceae with five species Lamiaceae, Fabaceae and Rosaceae with four species each.

PREVALENCE OF PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE USE AMONG SECURITY GUARDS AT TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Introduction: Drug addiction is a prevalent problem in Pakistan, and screening tools are available for diagnosis. Seeking guidance from healthcare professionals is important for appropriate treatment. Assessing addiction among security personnel is important for safety and policy formulation Aims & Objectives: This cross-sectional study aims to investigate drug addiction screening and its correlates among security guards in a tertiary care hospital. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Sheikh Zayed Medical College/Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan. Purposive convenience sampling was used to select a sample size of 184 Results: The study conducted among 184 security guards showed significant associations between gender, marital status, and age categories. A considerable proportion of guards were found to be overweight, had increased blood pressure, and substance use in the form of nicotine-related substances was found to be The study highlights the need for interventions promoting healthy lifestyles and substance use education and prevention efforts among security guards in such settings. Conclusion: This study revealed a prevalence of substance use among security guards in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan and identified the need for interventions to promote healthy lifestyles and substance use education/prevention. Seeking guidance from healthcare professionals and implementing public health initiatives to address drug addiction and promote healthy lifestyles among security personnel are crucial.

“That’s not at all what I needed” trans adults' perspectives on trans-affirming primary care and eating disorders

Transgender and gender diverse adults, referred to collectively as trans, experience eating disorders (EDs) at high rates and struggle to find primary care providers (PCPs) knowledgeable in both gender-affirming care and EDs. Most research regarding healthcare experiences of trans people with EDs focuses on specialized treatment. This qualitative study explored the experiences of trans patients with ED symptoms in trans-affirming primary care, which offers clinical support for gender affirmation in the context of interpersonally gender-affirming primary care services. Twenty-two participants were recruited via social media to participate in focus groups (n = 5). Researchers utilized thematic analysis. Participants reported gender-affirming and non-affirming experiences, experienced unwelcome comments from providers regarding bodies and gender, encountered barriers to disclosing their ED symptoms, felt transition-related medical care supported recovery but did not always resolve their ED symptoms, felt they had to self-advocate, and wanted their providers to recognize them as whole people (beyond their ED and transness) who experience joy. Importantly, despite being trans-affirming, participants critiqued trans-affirming primary care as perpetuating weight stigma and binary gender norms. Participants recommended providers receive ED training, implement universal ED screening, and explore how sociocultural norms regarding weight and gender negatively impact trans health outcomes.

On the issue of formal assimilation of anglicism nouns in the genus category of the german language system and its national variants

In the conditions of general globalisation, there is a massive consolidation of Anglicisms in all languages, including the German language with its national variants. The study of this process is topical and corresponds to modern priority scientific directions. Formal assimilation is an aspect of loaning foreign language material by a receptor language. It is this that allows foreign language material to gain a foothold in the system of the borrowing language. However, the German language we consider to be a receptor language, is not a monosystem formation due to its including of national variants. The German literary language is a potential abstract archsystem realised in three directions, sovereign systems of the German language (the German language of Germany, the Austrian and the Swiss varieties of the German literary language). The nature of the German language greatly influences the results of formal assimilation of borrowed material, since they will vary depending on the usage. Fluctuations in national variants arise both at the phonetic, lexical, grammatical, word-formation level, and can manifest themselves in relation to the processes of borrowing and Germanisation of foreign language material. This article studies and describes deviations and variations in the results of the formal assimilation of Anglicisms-nouns in the genus category, functioning in the national varieties of the German language of Austria and Switzerland in comparison with the German language of Germany. The acquisition of generic categorical meaning by borrowed units plays an important role in the German language system, since belonging to a certain grammatical gender is a mandatory and constant indicator of the part of speech “noun” and predetermines the further assimilation of the borrowed unit in the receptor language.

When multilingualism is more than three: On the nature of gender transfer in L3+ acquisition

In this article we investigate transfer in the ab-initio acquisition of grammatical gender in two groups of multilingual learners. The first group knows two gender languages (German and French), which can potentially act as transfer sources; the second group knows three (German, French and Italian). Both groups had to assign gender to nouns in Franco-Provençal, a Romance language which is new to the learners, and which shares similarities with both French and Italian. Based on our data, we address the question whether there is a unique transfer source and what the respective roles of sub-lexical structural similarity, proficiency, and recency of use of the background languages are. The findings of this study reveal that learners of the first group use both French and German as transfer sources, whereas learners in the second group additionally transfer from Italian. We show that the amount of transfer increases with higher proficiency, more recent use of the source language(s), and increasing structural similarity between the source and target language. Finally, not only is the gender feature transferred but also orthographical cues.

Prevalence of Malocclusions among Schoolchildren from Southwestern Romania.

Malocclusions have a continuously increasing prevalence from one generation to another as a result of climate change, soil, atmosphere, and water pollution. All of these aspects have unfavorable consequences for the nutritional scheme. Thus, nutrition, together with other etiopathogenic factors, contributes to complex alterations in the somatic development of the entire organism and, implicitly, of the cephalic extremity. The study group included 4147 children from randomly selected schools from Vâlcea County, Romania. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of malocclusions in schoolchildren in Vâlcea County, Romania, according to the three main classes of malocclusions (according to Angle's classification), age groups (from 6 to 10 years old and from 11 to 14 years old), gender (male and female), and place of origin (rural and urban). For Angle class I malocclusions, we recorded the highest prevalence (48.78% of the total number of schoolchildren with malocclusions), followed by Angle class II malocclusions (45.85% of the total number of schoolchildren with malocclusions), and for Angle class III malocclusions we found the lowest prevalence (5.37% of the total number of schoolchildren with malocclusions). According to gender, we found the highest prevalence in the female gender (29.90% of the total number of female subjects), while in the male gender, we recorded a prevalence of 27.70% of the total number of male subjects. Regarding the place of origin, there is a higher prevalence of malocclusions in urban areas (29.16%). The study subgroup included 140 children randomly selected from the total number of subjects in the study group. They were included in a more advanced study. The aim is to find potential associations between the presence of malocclusions and various oral variables. Categorical variables were expressed as numerical values and percentages, and their association was evaluated with either the Chi-square test of association or homogeneity, or the Fisher Exact test. The acquired data were incorporated into a binomial logistic regression model to assess the likelihood of developing malocclusions in relation to the following variables: defective phonation, bruxism, frequency of teeth brushing, onychophagia, oral respiration, infantile deglutition, placing objects between the maxillaries, thumb sucking, and salivary aspects. It is also aimed at comparing the results obtained with similar ones from the specialized literature.

Convolutional Autoencoder-Based medical image compression using a novel annotated medical X-ray imaging dataset

With the ongoing development of machine learning techniques, it is now necessary to train and evaluate these algorithms to have access to high-quality medical X-ray datasets. This study unfolds on two critical axes within the realm of medical imaging. We introduce the proposed Medical X-ray Imaging Dataset (MXID), a meticulously curated resource featuring images spanning 18 body parts. It has been refined to include a classification based on body type within each gender category. This dataset addresses the limitations of existing datasets by offering comprehensive coverage, precise annotations, and optimal image quality. While numerous datasets often fall short in terms of encompassing a broad range of anatomical regions, particularly those that are designed for multi-body component analysis. Our primary contribution lies in bridging the gap in available resources, providing a foundation of developing robust machine learning algorithms in medical imaging. Moreover, we extend our investigation to the integration of the MXID dataset into the domain of medical image compression, evaluating the performance of techniques such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), K-means clustering, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Deep Convolutional Autoencoders (DCAEs), Autoencoders (AEs), and Variational Autoencoder (VAE), using two scenarios, one is for single image compression, and the other is for MXID dataset, which offer a unique perspective that enables a comprehensive assessment of these techniques across diverse anatomical regions. Our study contributes to advancing machine learning and deep learning applications in medical imaging, emphasizing the creation of a dataset and its integration into image compression.

Generative AI and the future of higher education: a threat to academic integrity or reformation? Evidence from multicultural perspectives

In recent years, higher education (HE) globally has witnessed extensive adoption of technology, particularly in teaching and research. The emergence of generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) further accelerates this trend. However, the increasing sophistication of GenAI tools has raised concerns about their potential to automate teaching and research processes. Despite widespread research on GenAI in various fields, there is a lack of multicultural perspectives on its impact and concerns in HE. This study addresses this gap by examining the usage, benefits, and concerns of GenAI in higher education from a multicultural standpoint. We employed an online survey that collected responses from 1217 participants across 76 countries, encompassing a broad range of gender categories, academic disciplines, geographical locations, and cultural orientations. Our findings revealed a high level of awareness and familiarity with GenAI tools among respondents. A significant portion had prior experience and expressed the intention to continue using these tools, primarily for information retrieval and text paraphrasing. The study emphasizes the importance of GenAI integration in higher education, highlighting both its potential benefits and concerns. Notably, there is a strong correlation between cultural dimensions and respondents’ views on the benefits and concerns related to GenAI, including its potential as academic dishonesty and the need for ethical guidelines. We, therefore, argued that responsible use of GenAI tools can enhance learning processes, but addressing concerns may require robust policies that are responsive to cultural expectations. We discussed the findings and offered recommendations for researchers, educators, and policymakers, aiming to promote the ethical and effective integration of GenAI tools in higher education.

Gendered trait prioritization and motivations for crop varietal choice among smallholder farmers: The case of sweetpotato in Uganda

To improve productivity, several improved high-yielding sweetpotato varieties have been developed and released by breeders. However, most farmers still grow low-yielding landraces known also as farmers’ varieties. Farmers choose varieties to grow based on their preference for the attributes (traits) embodied in those varieties. Past studies have examined drivers of trait preference using neoclassical economic theory. This study departs from previous ones by applying principles from economic psychology to assess preference for, and prioritization, of sweetpotato traits among male and female sweetpotato farmers. Data used was data collected using focus group discussions and laddering, an in-depth personal interview process, and analysed using descriptive and means-end chain analyses. The study identifies mental constructs associated with farmers’ trait preference and prioritization, namely: the characteristics farmers mentally associate with the prioritized traits, the benefits those traits confer, and the life goals (i.e. values) they enable farmers to attain. Focus group discussions revealed that, among agronomic traits, high root yield is the most preferred/prioritized trait across gender categories and was followed by stress tolerance and underground root storage longevity. The most preferred quality traits across gender groups are root size and mealiness. Women, however, prioritized early maturity over men. The means-end-chain analysis identified several mental constructs farmers mentally associated with trait prioritization. They are increased sales, more income, food security, savings, and investment. These benefits are linked to various life goals (values) farmers aspire for namely, respect, security, achievement, and happiness. These findings imply that farmers’ choice of sweetpotato varieties to grow is driven by the agronomic and quality traits the varieties embody. The findings further imply that psychosocial factors underpin trait preference and prioritization by farmers.

Cross-linguistic effects in grammatical gender assignment and predictive processing in L1 Greek, L1 Russian, and L1 Turkish speakers of Norwegian as a second language

The present study examines grammatical gender knowledge in offline production (gender marking on indefinite articles) and online gender processing (visual world paradigm) in adult second language (L2) learners of Norwegian with three different first languages (L1s): Greek, Russian, and Turkish. In particular, it investigates the role of the following factors: (1) presence vs. absence of grammatical gender in L1 (Norwegian, Greek and Russian have gender, whereas Turkish does not), (2) lexical gender congruency, (3) structural similarity between L1 and L2 in the realization of gender, and (4) proficiency in L2. In offline production, no difference was found between the three L2 groups: they all overused the default gender (masculine). However, L1 effects were observed in the eye-tracking task, where the high-proficiency L1 Greek and L1 Russian speakers showed earlier and more prominent signs of predictive gender processing compared to the high-proficiency L1 Turkish speakers. There were no effects of lexical gender congruency or structural similarity. This suggests that, when it comes to predictive gender processing, what matters is proficiency and the presence vs. absence of grammatical gender in the L1. We interpret the findings in the context of current approaches to predictive processing emphasizing the role of cue reliability and utility.

THE PLACE OF NON-SYNTACTIC GRAMMATICAL MEANINGS IN F. FORTUNATOV’S THEORY ON THE GRAMMATICAL FORMS OF WORDS AND A. POTEBNYA’S THEORY ON THE INNER FORM OF THE WORD

The article attempts to establish a connection between the linguistic theories of F.F. Fortunatov and A.A. Potebnya. It is known that in nouns that name people and animals important to humans, the grammatical meanings of gender indicate their biological sex. As for the nouns that name inanimate objects, as well as some other animals, their grammatical meanings of gender for quite a long time were estimated by linguists as relics of an ancient form of thinking incomprehensible to modern people. However, if we consider the grammatical meanings of gender as a component of the inner form of the word, it becomes clear that when creating words, the meanings of the masculine gender were used to indicate the presence of such properties in objects that are inherent in male beings, such as their relatively greater activity, larger size, greater strength and greater independence. In turn, feminine grammatical meanings reflected the absence of these properties. The article emphasizes the similarity between the grammatical meanings of gender of nouns and the inner forms of words in their traditional lexicological understanding: (1) in different languages, the names of the same objects can have different grammatical gender meanings, (2) at the time of the appearance of a word, its inner form indicate the connection between the word and its lexical meaning, but over time inner forms can be obscured or lost, (3) like the traditional inner forms, the grammatical meanings of gender can either represent one of the components of the lexical meaning of the word, or may be part of its connotations.

Effects of grammatical gender on gender inferences: Evidence from French hybrid nouns

Abstract A growing body of research shows that readers and listeners are biased by the grammatical gender of a noun when making inferences about the gender of its referent. This result is central in debates about gender-fair language but has mostly been established using masculine generics. This paper presents two preregistered studies on French that aim to replicate this result but using a lesser-studied type of noun: generic hybrid nouns. These nouns can refer to both male and female individuals but are either masculine or feminine, depending on the noun (e.g. un talent ‘a talent’ and une vedette ‘a star’). The availability of both genders for hybrid nouns allows for a more comprehensive test of the effect of grammatical gender than permitted by masculine generics. Overall, the paper replicates the role of grammatical biases in gender inferences, with masculine hybrid nouns being judged as more likely to refer to male individuals as compared to feminine hybrid nouns. However the results did not reveal a symmetric bias for feminine nouns, which were interpreted as gender-neutral. But this latter result should be interpreted with caution as it could be due to uncontrolled effects of gender stereotypes coming from the specific stimuli used in the study.

Gender Tapestry: gender classification as color assignation

AbstractGender Tapestry is a multi-stage interactive AI art project, challenging traditional gender classification systems. This project diverges from binary approaches by recognizing the individuality of the gender experience and expression. This paper draws parallels to the ways color perception differs amongst people and how gender is also experienced in different ways due to lived experiences. Gender Tapestry uses a multi-label classification system, with predictions extending across six gender categories, with a custom RGB color generated based on the outcomes. Participants receive binary images of their face in their personalized colors and styles, while their uploaded photos contribute to a live Generative Adversarial Network training process. This work was created in response to the very binary representations of gender in AI and the lack of representation for genders outside of the binary. The culmination is an evolving mosaic artwork, incorporating all users' custom colors, illustrating gender as a fluid construct. The mosaic gains in complexity as more images are added and more colors enter the mix, creating a community artwork on gender as a 3D color spectrum. This work contributes to the discourse on diversity and inclusion in AI, emphasizing the fluidity of gender and fostering unconventional artistic representations.

Effect of air velocity and relative humidity on passengers’ thermal comfort in naturally ventilated railway coach in hot-dry indian climate

In India, railways still continue to be the most prominent means of transport, especially non-air conditioned railway that carries around 3.5 billion people every year. Thermal comfort in these non-air-conditioned trains is predominantly influenced by windows and fans. The present study orients around the effect of fan air as well as naturally ventilated air on thermal comfort of passengers. The study is part of a field survey followed by an experimental investigation that was carried out in non-air-conditioned railway coaches during summer afternoon, with more than 1500 subjects of different gender and age category. The study significantly contributes in defining an elevated acceptable range of comfort air velocity inside a moving stock. The mean threshold air velocity where passengers responded a neutral PCV (passengers' comfort vote) is found to be 2 m/s which is much higher than conventional standards for enclosed static buildings and premises. The clear dominance of behavioral adaptation has been noticed in expression of thermal comfort by the passengers. This strengthens the idea of adopting some alternative method to deal with thermal discomfort of non–air-conditioned railway passengers. Here a novel term as ‘zone of independence’ (ZoI) has been defined at which the effect of air velocity becomes independent on passengers' comfort vote. This ZoI can significantly be utilized while optimization of thermal comfort in an ICF railway coach.

Gender, Grammatical Gender, Language

The article deals with the question of whether or not there is a feminine language, how we can define it and to what extent it is the result of gender or gender differences. Some specific names and theories are considered, and their functioning is also applied to the language of medicine.

Sex, Gender, and Devotional Desire: Refiguring Bodily Identities in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Discourse

Many of the debates among theorists of the body in feminist and gender studies center on the gendered body and its relation to the sexed body, with the validity of the sex/gender distinction itself a topic of contention. On the one hand, feminist advocates of social constructionism tend to distinguish between sex and gender, in which sex (male or female) is identified with the biological body as a “natural” datum and gender (masculine or feminine) is a second-order sociocultural construction that is superimposed as an ideological superstructure on this “natural” base. On the other hand, feminist advocates of sexual difference such as Judith Butler call into question the sex/gender distinction and insist that the sexed body, like gender, is socially constructed. This article brings these contemporary feminist interlocutors into conversation with sixteenth-century Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava authorities who developed a distinctive discourse of embodiment in which they frame the categories of sex and gender in relation to devotional desire in their ontological theories of bodily identities. The Gauḍīya discourse of embodiment explodes notions of the relationship between embodiment, personhood, materiality, and gender on both the human and divine planes and challenges prevailing body theories by positing bodies beyond matter, personhood beyond matter, and gender beyond sex.

Herrarne and damerna. The variation in the plural definite noun declension in Sweden and Finland in the 19th century

In the 19th century, definiteness in the plural could be marked with two different articles, -na and -ne, but the norms regulating the variation were not universally agreed upon. In this study, I investigate how 19th-century Swedish grammars approach the variation in suffixes and how the prescriptive norms match the language used in Swedish-language newspapers from the same era, with special attention given to the differences between the varieties of Swedish spoken in Sweden and Finland. For this purpose, two historical newspaper corpora were consulted, comprised of newspapers published during the 19th century in Sweden and Finland, respectively. The findings show that from the middle of the 19th century, the grammars are generally split into two practices, with one attributing the use of the articles to the declension of the noun, while the other, mainly associated with the historical-comparative school, attributing it to the grammatical gender of the noun. In addition, grammars written in Finland stress the semantic gender of animate nouns. This difference is also reflected in the corpora: while both varieties are influenced by both the gender and the declension, the declension is the most important factor in the Swedish corpora, whereas semantic gender is the main factor in the Finnish corpora.