Cultural Sanctions Research Articles

PORTRAYAL OF VIOLENCE IN PAKISTAN FEATURE FILM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ZIA ERA AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT OF BENAZIR BHUTTO

This research aims to examine the portrayal of violence in Pakistani Feature Films while developing a comparative analysis during the eras of late military dictator General Zia and former Primer Pakistan Benazir Bhutto. As, the two regimes have opposite governance mechanisms; socio-political and religious approaches, wherein cultural activities were practiced with two different lenses. Gen. Zia’s regime imposed cultural sanctions on entertainment programs including films, dramas, and newscasting in the name of enforcing the Islamic system of governance, whereas Benazir Bhutto’s regime provided freedom of expression for liberal thoughts, showbiz programs, and movies on women empowerment. However, this research hypothesis the physical, verbal, and psychological violence portrayed in feature films produced during the regime of Zia was more than the violence portrayed in movies produced during Benazir’s regime. Researchers employed a quantitative approach with content analysis as a research method. Based on the equal allocation method, 5 movies in Urdu and Punjabi languages were taken from Zia’s era, and five movies from Benazir Bhutto’s era. A coding sheet was developed with the assistance of trained coders while dividing data sets into different variables involved in physical, abusive, and psychologically oppressive acts. The study approved cultivation theory as ideas cultivated through films were gratified by the viewers. The results reveal that the time and scenes portraying violence in movies produced during Zia’s era were much higher as compared to the era of Benazir Bhutto. Results showed the steps of women’s empowerment and cultural liberation were reflected in the movies. The women felt empowered and free from any religious or cultural or social taboos involved in creative achievements. The research suggested the government should step forward and design certain definite benchmarks with the recommendations to the Censor Board to adopt and ensure violence-free movies. Keywords: Abusive Language, Comparative Study, Content Analysis, Feature Films, Physical Violence, Women Empowerment

PORTRAYAL OF VIOLENCE IN PAKISTAN FEATURE FILM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ZIA ERA AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT OF BENAZIR BHUTTO

This research aims to examine the portrayal of violence in Pakistani Feature Films while developing a comparative analysis during the eras of late military dictator General Zia and former Primer Pakistan Benazir Bhutto. As, the two regimes have opposite governance mechanisms; socio-political and religious approaches, wherein cultural activities were practiced with two different lenses. Gen. Zia’s regime imposed cultural sanctions on entertainment programs including films, dramas, and newscasting in the name of enforcing the Islamic system of governance, whereas Benazir Bhutto’s regime provided freedom of expression for liberal thoughts, showbiz programs, and movies on women empowerment. However, this research hypothesis the physical, verbal, and psychological violence portrayed in feature films produced during the regime of Zia was more than the violence portrayed in movies produced during Benazir’s regime. Researchers employed a quantitative approach with content analysis as a research method. Based on the equal allocation method, 5 movies in Urdu and Punjabi languages were taken from Zia’s era, and five movies from Benazir Bhutto’s era. A coding sheet was developed with the assistance of trained coders while dividing data sets into different variables involved in physical, abusive, and psychologically oppressive acts. The study approved cultivation theory as ideas cultivated through films were gratified by the viewers. The results reveal that the time and scenes portraying violence in movies produced during Zia’s era were much higher as compared to the era of Benazir Bhutto. Results showed the steps of women’s empowerment and cultural liberation were reflected in the movies. The women felt empowered and free from any religious or cultural or social taboos involved in creative achievements. The research suggested the government should step forward and design certain definite benchmarks with the recommendations to the Censor Board to adopt and ensure violence-free movies. Keywords: Abusive Language, Comparative Study, Content Analysis, Feature Films, Physical Violence, Women Empowerment

КУЛЬТУРА СКАСУВАННЯ: ЕТИЧНИЙ ТА ПОЛІТИЧНИЙ АСПЕКТИ (ДО ПОСТАНОВКИ ПРОБЛЕМИ У КОНТЕКСТІ РОСІЙСЬКО-УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ВІЙНИ)

Today Ukraine is struggling with the war on its own territory. Russian invasion has provoked many discussions in the cultural sphere. In the end of February 2022 Ukraine's Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko called the world to impose cultural sanctions on the Russian Federation. It means to cancel Russian culture. Cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive. Cancel culture is generally discussed as being performed on social media in the form of group shaming. What ethical issues this phenomenon implicates? What does it mean for Ukraine? Cancel culture is a complicated phenomenon in the modern world. We can begin our analysis of the contemporary problem of the culture of cancellation in ethics and politics by analyzing the classic works of Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and Michael Oakeshott. Oleksandr Klekovkin, a Ukrainian theater expert, actively promotes the idea of abolishing Russian culture in Ukraine. American lawyer Alan Dershowitz sees a negative aspect of the cancel culture phenomenon. So far, a clear understanding of this phenomenon has not been developed academically. The purpose of the article is an attempt to analyze the phenomenon of "cancellation culture" in ethical and political aspects, actualized in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the context of the cancellation of Russian culture in Ukraine. If in a certain society, even under the conditions of a democratic political regime, the idea of at least a hypothetical possibility of solving all problems prevails, it will stop at nothing to achieve such an ideal state. This is the lesson we should have learned after two world wars. However, in practice, in many modern societies, there are again attempts to instill value monism, which manifests itself as "cancel culture". By legitimizing "cancel culture" as a modern trend, political systems significantly limit discursiveness and pluralism within society. After all, it becomes too uncomfortable to express an opinion that contradicts the generally accepted one. This threatens career, social status, and sometimes even safety.

Wojna kulturowa między Rosją a Ukrainą. Sposób na osłabienie rosyjskiego kulturowego imperializmu

CULTURAL WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE: A WAY TO WEAKEN RUSSIAN CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
 The imperial plans of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine at the end of February 2022 passed to the next stage and took the form of a full-scale war, which covers not only the military, political, economic, but also cultural spheres. The author of this article, starting from this assumption, presents an analysis of the war between Russia and Ukraine from the cultural and anthropological perspective. He refers to the so-called the phenomenon of the “small-Russian nature” of the Ukrainian nation, which, starting from the times of the Russian Empire, influenced the perception of Ukrainians as being secondary to Russians. This situation didn’t change even after Ukraine regained its independence in 1991. Only the events on the Maidan in Kiev, the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbas caused a change in cultural vectors. Ukraine began to forge its own national cultural identity, completely breaking away from what was Russian. The full-scale war, unleashed at the end of February, significantly sharpened this rhetoric, additionally underpinned by the policy of cultural sanctions applied by the West. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present the Russian-Ukrainian cultural war, the consequence of which is the process of shaping an independent Ukrainian cultural awareness.

Women's Agency as Reason for Life Threats Among the Pashtuns in Pakistan: Narratives of Women Fleeing Honor Killing and Masculine Domination.

This article uses the narratives of survivors of honor killing to show that women's agency is the reason for life threats because it undermines masculine domination. The findings show that life threats are made against women engaging in behaviors not aligned to cultural norms as perceived by male members of their family, to escape shame and gossip, and it is a manifestation of men losing control over women. These survivors of honor-based violence have undermined masculine domination by acting in unanticipated ways and by fleeing to a shelter home in the face of overwhelming cultural sanctions and structural inequalities.

Cultural sanctions and ontological (in)security: operationalisation in the context of mega-events

Cultural boycotts of mega-events often receive high media profile, but their effectiveness remains questioned. This effectiveness is influenced by their ability to generate ontological insecurity within the target state. However, measuring the impact of such threats is challenging in light of the evasive nature of the concept of ontological insecurity. Hence, we advance a new way to operationalise the impact of both hosting and boycotting mega-events on ontological security (OS), using quantitative indicators on the societal level, thus allowing for a more systematic cross-national exploration of the dynamics of OS. We also contribute to the research on cultural sanctions and the politics of mega-events, by offering an empirical assessment of their actual impact on society’s sense of OS. Finally, the paper points to the importance of de-constructing the concept of ‘national’ ontological (in)security and to the possibility that different segments in society may be more or less vulnerable to such threats. Using data from a national-wide survey among Jewish-Israelis in the context of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Israel, we found a positive association between its hosting and OS, a perception of threat to OS to some extent following calls to boycott the event, and differences in these perceptions among various social groups.

Silencing the virus? Government communication and MMR vaccination campaigns – the Australian case

In this paper I analyse a series of Australian MMR (measles-mumpsrubella) vaccination campaigns and policies from the last decade. Using the Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory (ATN), I locate human and non-human mediators – including the virus and vaccine – in the complex pro-vaccination alliance led by government campaigners. I identify the vaccine hesitant parents – a large group that ‘sits on the fence’ between the ‘vaccine confident’ and ‘vaccine refusing’ parents – as the main target of pro-vaccination campaigns. PR literature on pro-vaccination campaigns has applied ATN to the independence of the media as network agents. This paper contributes with the problematisation of several more actors such as the health workers, medical experts and the vaccine hesitant parents themselves. Even when they are keen members of a pro-vaccination network, they cannot be taken for granted. This is where understanding of stigma, silence and voice helps. To align their group interests and discourses, government should know how to communicate strategically – including how to communicate indirectly, avoiding stigma and keeping certain internal affinities and communicative distances intact. In conclusion, I make suggestions about strategic communication in pro-vaccination campaigns. Communication of statistical risks and side effects should be central. It is a winning strategy because it establishes a more credible balance between individual rights and collective obligations in achieving herd immunity. And mandating vaccination cannot replace communication. Research shows that legislating compulsory vaccination may have short-term and relatively small effects. They are almost negligible in the long run. Mandate may trigger compliance, but it also causes anger and mistrust. Mandating vaccine has negative side effects. It punishes with economic and cultural sanctions the socially disadvantaged, who are not active refusers. It also has the opposite effect on vaccine hesitant parents. It does not weaken but rather strengthens their resistance to the vaccine and pushes them to the lager of antivaxxers.

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2016-2030 in Nigeria through Female Enrolment into Electrical/Electronics Engineering Trade in Technical Colleges of Adamawa State

Purpose: This study investigated female enrolment into electrical/electronics engineering trade in technical colleges of Adamawa State in order to suggest ways of augmenting it for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2016-2030.
 Approach/ Methodology/ Design: Two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The sample of the study comprised of 38 teachers and 140 parents. A 50-item Female Enrolment in Electrical/Electronics Engineering Trade (FEEET) Questionnaire was developed by the researchers and used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated by three experts from the Department of Electrical Technology Education, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa State. Reliability co-efficient of 0.81 was obtained for the instrument using Cronbach’s Alpha reliability method. Mean statistic was used to answer the two research questions while z-test statistics was used to test the two hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.
 Findings: The findings of the study revealed that inadequate knowledge on female participation in electrical/electronics engineering trade, hazards involved in working with electricity, and poor gender policy implementation among others were factors affecting female enrolment into the programme. Establishment of electrical/electronics engineering trade skill acquisition centres for females and provision of starter packs for female graduates of electrical/electronics engineering trade among others were strategies identified for improving female enrolment into the programme. 
 Practical Implication: The study has practical implications for achieving sustainable development goals in Nigeria. A sustainable financing scheme for the female trainees of electrical/electronics engineering trade should be established in order to boost their interests in the programme.
 Originality/Value: The study identified that inadequate knowledge on female participation in electrical/electronics engineering trade, hazards involved in working with electricity, societal perception about electricity, cultural sanctions on women, early marriages, and poor gender policy implementation are the main factors that affect female enrolment in technical colleges in Nigeria.

Women Empowerment to Build Entrepreneurship

Problems in the implementation of women empowerment activities organized by government or community institutions indicate that the number of women is large enough, yet can not be utilized all the potential for development purposes because women can not enjoy life better because of the shackles of cultural sanctions. the theoretical studies developed related to building women through entrepreneurship program is one of the reasons to empower women to be able to create entrepreneurship opportunities. This study was conducted using research and development methods with data collection techniques; literature study, observation, interview, documentation, questionnaire and test. The data are analyzed descriptively, qualitatively and quantitatively. Implementation of activities in Neglasari Village Tasikmalaya. The findings show that the implementation of entrepreneurial activities as an effort to empower women can improve the level of better family economy. The results of this activity can be concluded that the model of empowerment of entrepreneurship women is very effective to improve self-reliance.

Addressing sexual health among women who use substances in the marginal urban communities of Latin America: an ethnographic analysis and pilot survey

Abstract Background In marginal urban communities in Latin America, female substance users are at high risk of HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and unintended pregnancies, which result, in part, from community violence and cultural sanctions against women who use substances. We did formative research and pilot work to develop what may be the first integrated sexual health intervention for Latin American female substance users. We specifically aimed to adapt a multilevel HIV prevention programme for crack users to the circumstances of female substance users in marginal urban communities of San Salvador, El Salvador. We hypothesised that contexts that stigmatise female sex and substance use and condone violence hinder female substance users' service use and make them more dependent on men and vulnerable to sexual coercion. Methods From Nov 1, 2015, to Dec 31, 2016, we conducted ethnographic observations and mapped organisations that served women in a large marginal community. We also undertook focus groups and a pilot survey to identify female substance users' perceptions of services and experiences of stigma. Finally, we implemented plan, study, and act circles to adapt and pilot test peer-counselling sessions with networks of female substance users, which addressed the interpersonal context of female substance users' sexual health with partners and providers. Findings We did not find any services directed to female substance users, and organisations targeting women were unaware of the problem. In focus groups (n=18), women reported fear of being judged for using drugs, especially when pregnant or caring for children. Women reported avoiding services or hiding their substance use from providers and receiving verbal aggression from health-care staff. In surveys (n=38), 24 (64%) female substance users who would not request HIV testing would accept it from a friend and nearly all felt more comfortable with integrated HIV/STI and pregnancy prevention than with standalone services. Women in the counselling sessions (n=16) reported more equitable gender norms and safer sex motivations, and greater self-efficacy to prevent sexual coercion than women in a control group (n=18). Interpretation Interventions to address female substance users' sexual health in these communities should (a) raise awareness of gender norms and associated stigmas; (b) train health-care staff to identify female substance use and address female substance users' sexual health; (c) provide peer-referrals of female substance users to integrated services; and (d) empower female substance users' networks to decrease their vulnerability to coercion and to develop skills to communicate with providers. Funding US National Institute of Mental Health 5P30MH052776-22 and P30MH052776-23.

Prevalence and Psychosocial Consequences of Rape in Jos, North–Central Nigeria

Background : Rape is common throughout the world. It is often under-reported by victims and their families for fear of social stigma and cultural sanctions. Several studies have revealed that majority of rape victims are females, with males being the most perpetrators. Objectives : The study was aimed at determining the prevalence of rape and to examine the psychological and social consequences as well as responses to rape by the victim, the family and society. Methods and Materials : The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study of 284 respondents from 4 communities in Jos, Plateau State Capital, Nigeria. A semi-structured socio-demographic questionnaire was used to collect participants’ socio-demographic data while a questionnaire on rape designed by the authors was used to enquire about rape and other associated factors. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) questionnaire was used to determine the psychological consequences of rape. Results : The result revealed a rape prevalence of 31.0% (28.2% in females and 2.8% among males). Rape was statistically associated with young victims (P<0.001). Majority (59.1%) of the victims were raped before 16 years of age. Rape by neighbors/family friends accounted for 50% of all cases involving female victims while that by strangers was 15%. A large proportion (63,6%) of the victims were raped once, 13.6% were raped more than thrice. All female victims were raped through the vagina (81.2% with penis and 18.8% by fingering). The male victims were raped with penis through anal orifice. Only 9.2% were gang raped. About two-thirds of the victims did not report to anyone, but, 36.4% did so. As high as 49.8% of the respondents believed there was no justification for anyone to rape another person just as others cited seductive dressing, substance abuse, and moral decadence as factors that contribute to the offence. Negative psychological and social consequences such as depression, anxiety, post –traumatic stress disorder, social isolation, loss of trust etc were found to be associated with rape. Conclusion : The study showed that rape is a serious problem in our community and therefore urgent measures must be put in place to deal with its increasing prevalence and consequences.

Tears of stone and clay: the affect of mourning images in middle-period China

AbstractRepresentations of intense emotions are rare in the Chinese visual tradition in comparison with their counterpart in literary convention. While the reasons for this deserve an in-depth interdisciplinary study, such general reservation contrastingly highlights a distinct visual phenomenon that emerged and flourished during the middle period (9th-14th centuries). This time period witnessed a growing number of visual representations of grieving figures in funerary and religious (mainly Buddhist) contexts. By articulating various representational modes of mourning images, this essay discusses a significant development in the emotional lives of middle-period Chinese. Occupying seemingly disparate ritual spaces (the Buddhist pagoda crypt and the tomb) the images of sorrowful mourners conspicuously emerged as an appealing motif for adorning the burial spaces of their deceased. These two sites of intense affect reveal that era's desire for placing the virtual mourner in the space designed for the dead as a visual agency conveying the emotive surrounding the death of the beloved, be they local monks or family members, who often lacked literary means to express their feelings. Recognizing this affective mode helps us to better understand the complex interplay between the emotions, the social and cultural sanctions in expressing them, and the visual codes created thereof, in post-medieval China.

Making and unmaking ethnicities in the Rwandan context: implication for gender-based violence, health, and wellbeing of women

ObjectivesTo examine ethnicity and gender violence in Rwanda from cultural and historical perspectives and explore the encounters between cultural beliefs and practices and the new gender equality policy and programs and the implications of the particular encounters to the health of women.DesignThe study is a qualitative drawing from the growing range of interactive approaches and methods within an ethnographic framework of the research design. Twenty individual interviews, six focus group discussions and two ‘community mobilization’ dialogs were conducted.ResultsViolence has continued and there is a conflict between cultural tradition, the de-ethnicization, and gender equality policies. Some of the gender violence preventive programs are influenced by the ethos of the traditional norms, and therefore unwittingly perpetuate gender-based violence.ConclusionsIn spite of the progress that Rwanda has made in political empowerment of women, it still seems a long way before real gender equality is achieved. It seems that women's empowerment is not only just an opportunity for political participation but also this is important. It is also about the capacity to make effective choices and to translate them into desired actions and outcomes, unfettered by cultural sanctions. Universalised, top-down gender policy programs have not furnished all women with the necessary capacity to make decisions that affect their traditionally all important reproductive functions; to challenge the embedded gender imbalance; and to strive for a holistic wellbeing of their families, where they play a central role. Indeed, some of the policies could have negative implications to the health of women, in particular, with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS.

Marriage, Melanin, and American Racialism

Marriage, Melanin, and American Racialism Heidi Ardizzone (bio) Adele Logan Alexander. Parallel Worlds: The Remarkable Gibbs-Hunts and the Enduring (In)significance of Melanin. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010. 375 pp. Photographs, notes, bibliography, and index. $29.95. Fay Botham. Almighty God Created the Races: Christianity, Interracial Marriage, and American Law. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2009. 288 pp. Notes, bibliography, and index. $36.95. Peggy Pascoe. What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 416 pp. Photographs, maps, notes, and index. $34.95. The development of the multidisciplinary field of Mixed Race Studies over the last few decades has focused new attention on patterns of cross-racial unions and the experiences of people of mixed ancestry in the U.S. and elsewhere. Historians bring to this endeavor a rich understanding of the long history of racial mixing, documenting the tremendous variety of contexts for consensual and nonconsensual interracial sex, the diversity of cultural attitudes and policies towards such relationships, and the resulting spectrums of identity and social standing available to the children, families, and communities that resulted from these unions. While pundits and intellectuals debate the significance of the emergence of multiracial families and identities in the U.S., historians can attest that there is little new here. As George Sanchez has put it from the vantage point of Latino and Latin American history, “Welcome to the Americas!”1 The American past is full of examples of cross-cultural unions, people and communities of mixed ancestry, and marked shifts in racial and ethnic categories in response to demographic, economic, and political changes. So, too, new U.S. scholarship is providing rich contributions to ongoing debates of the meaning of race, racial identity, and racial mixing in the twentieth century and beyond. The three scholars considered here span this latest surge in U.S. historical studies of racial mixing and mixedness. Adele Logan Alexander is a pioneer in the field. Parallel Worlds: The Remarkable Gibbs-Hunts and the Enduring (In) [End Page 282] significance of Melanin joins her previous books2 in focusing on communities and families of mixed—primarily black and white—ancestry. In her latest offering, Alexander rescues to historical memory the fascinating political careers of Ida Gibbs (1862–1957) and William Henry Hunt (1863?–1951), whose activist and diplomatic work, respectively, brought them into close, if sometimes ambivalent, connection with African American and Pan-African communities in the late nineteenth through the early twentieth century. Like Alexander’s earlier works, Parallel Worlds spans multiple methodologies, this time offering a rich entre into an international world of shifting racial identities and political loyalties. Faye Botham’s Almighty God Created the Races: Christianity, Interracial Marriage, and American Law, on the other hand, is her first academic book, reworking a religious studies dissertation. Botham identifies a large and significant gap in historians’ collective approach to interracial marriage and its accompanying concerns with racial identity and categorization; social constructions of gender, race, and sexuality; and civil rights. Her work models a new direction of inquiry into the role of religious ideology and influence on what Peggy Pascoe calls miscegenation law, particularly the distinctive Catholic doctrine on marriage as a sacrament. In turn, Pascoe’s research for her recent publication spans this new age of historical scholarship. Begun in the early 1990s with a few pieces published as articles, the long-awaited and much celebrated What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America is a multilayered cultural, social, and legal history of post–Civil War legal prohibitions against interracial marriages and the enduring significance of the laws. The books by Botham and Pascoe share an interest in legal and cultural sanctions against interracial marriage, but each author comes to the subject from vastly different training and experience. (Pascoe was a member of Botham’s dissertation committee, and that difference in academic maturity is evident in their works as well.) Botham’s analysis of the impact of American Catholic and Protestant theology on race and interracial marriage is strongest in her treatment of the Perez v. Lippold case (better known as Perez v. Sharp), which ultimately...

Using rapid assessment and response to operationalise physical activity strategic health communication campaigns in Tonga

The aim of the present study was to identify stakeholder and program beneficiary needs and wants in relation to a netball communication strategy in Tonga. In addition, the study aimed to more clearly identify audience segments for targeting of communication campaigns and to identify any barriers or benefits to engaging in the physical activity program. A rapid assessment and response (RAR) methodology was used. The elicitation research encompassed qualitative fieldwork approaches, including semistructured interviews with key informants and focus group discussions with program beneficiaries. Desk research of secondary data sources supported in-field findings. A number of potential barriers to behavioural compliance existed, including cultural factors, gender discrimination, socioeconomic factors, stigmatising attitudes, the threat of domestic violence, infrastructure and training issues. Factors contributing to participation in physical activity included the fun and social aspects of the sport, incentives (including career opportunities, highlighting the health benefits of the activity and the provision of religious and cultural sanctions by local leaders towards the increased physical activity of women. The consultative approach of RAR provided a more in-depth understanding of the need for greater levels of physical activity and opportunities for engagement by all stakeholders. The approach facilitated opportunities for the proposed health behaviours to be realised through the communication strategy. Essential insights for the strategy design were identified from key informants, as well as ensuring future engagement of these stakeholders into the strategy. So what? The expanded use of RAR to inform the design of social marketing interventions is a practical approach to data collection for non-communicable diseases and other health issues in developing countries. The approach allows for the rapid mobilisation of scarce resources for the implementation of more strategic, targeted communication campaigns to support behavioural changes.

Unsafe abortion: regulation of the social body even beyond time and space

This paper offers an analysis of women's performance of unsafe abortion in rural Ghana despite significant cultural sanctions that forbid the practice. Findings demonstrate how women in the study balance sanctions inherent in traditional belief structures against their own immediate physical and social best interests. In rural Ghana, a woman's body is not always her own to do with as she would wish. It is also a social body, which is embedded in multiple sets of relationships and subject to social regulation. Traditional authority over a woman's body belongs not only to the community elders in the immediate physical environment of the village but also extends beyond time and space to immaterial ancestral persons who watch over the actions and behaviours of those on earth. Authority resides also with Mawu, the Ewe God, who is offended by the practice of abortion. Data from this study reveal that the performance of unsafe abortion in this Ewe community is a desperate act in which the women must not only risk their physical lives, but must also step outside the boundaries of ideological cultural conformity to traditional values and carry the risk of their actions even into life after death.

On Cultural Sanctions for Shaping Our Children's Genitalia

On Cultural Sanctions for Shaping Our Children's Genitalia

The cultural theory and model of suicide

A growing body of research has demonstrated important variations in the prevalence, nature, and correlates of suicide across ethnic and sexual minority groups. Despite these developments, existing clinical and research approaches to suicide assessment and prevention have not incorporated cultural variations in any systematic way. In addition, theoretical models of suicide have been largely devoid of cultural influence. The current report presents a comprehensive analysis of literature describing the relationship between cultural factors and suicide in three major ethnic groups (African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos) and LGBTQ11“LGBTQ” populations are also referred to as “sexual minorities.” LGBTQ is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender or transsexual individuals, and people questioning their sexual orientation. sexual minority groups. We utilized an inductive approach to synthesize this variegated body of research into four factors that account for 95% of existing culturally specific risk data: cultural sanctions, idioms of distress, minority stress, and social discord. These four cultural factors are then integrated into a theoretical framework: the Cultural Model of Suicide. Three theoretical principles emerge: (1) culture affects the types of stressors that lead to suicide; (2) cultural meanings associated with stressors and suicide affect the development of suicidal tendencies, one's threshold of tolerance for psychological pain, and subsequent suicidal acts; and (3) culture affects how suicidal thoughts, intent, plans, and attempts are expressed. The Cultural Model of Suicide provides an empirically guided cohesive approach that can inform culturally competent suicide assessment and prevention efforts in future research and clinical practice. Including both ethnic and sexual minorities in our investigations ensures advancement along a multiple identities perspective.

Marital status and smoking in Korea: The influence of gender and age

Few studies have examined the influence of marriage on health-related behavior in Asian populations. The present study examined the effect of marital status on smoking in Korea. Data from two rounds of a nationally representative survey (1999 and 2003) were analyzed (57,246 women and 52,769 men). Marital status-specific prevalence ratios for smoking were estimated using log binomial regression after adjusting for age, survey year, occupation and education level. Smoking prevalence declined with age for men, but rose for women. Smoking rates were higher for unmarried men and women compared to their married counterparts. However, the gap in smoking rates between unmarried and married women (especially younger women <45 years) was much greater than the gap between unmarried and married men. The study found that marital status had a stronger protective influence on smoking in women than men, which contrasts with the gender pattern reported previously in western studies. The findings suggest the influence of a culture which discourages married women from smoking, and “liberates” divorced women from cultural sanctions against smoking in marriage.

Individual differences in smoking: gender and nicotine addiction.

Understanding individual differences in smoking behavior and nicotine dependence can increase knowledge of smoking dynamics and aid in the development of treatment regimens. Nicotine dependence among smokers is variable, and in some cases, fails to develop even after years of smoking. This variation can influence treatment outcome and presents a challenge to treatment developers. Gender differences are evident sometimes in smoking prevalence, in smoking cessation, and smoking rate. Gender, however, may be a superficial indicator; reasons for smoking, individual reactions to nicotine, and cultural sanctions and role definitions may be more influential. Analyses of individual differences should focus on identifying the underlying processes that control smoking behavior.