Cultural Willingness Research Articles

Racist compared to what? the myth of white wokeness

ABSTRACT Citizens of the contemporary Unites States are faced with the cognitive dissonance of a society which claims to reject the racist, sexist, homophobic and ableist ways of our ancestors, while daily experience betrays the inaccuracy of that world view. When confronted , those in privileged positions have learned to lean on social scripts in which we compare our behaviour to some of the worst examples we can conjure up, and in so doing we position ourselves as moral compared to that person. Chronic wokeness is a symptom of the incurable human condition of wanting to be a good person. Our cultural willingness to ignore obvious evidence in favour of a story that makes us feel better about ourselves has become our legacy. We are a country floating on the intoxicating cloud of permanent denial, thriving on narratives that present us as thoughtful, self-reflexive, and progressive – in a word, woke.

‘I don’t mind watching him cum’: Heterosexual men, threesomes, and the erosion of the one-time rule of homosexuality

In this qualitative research, conducted on 30 gay-friendly, heterosexual, undergraduate men, we examine actual and hypothetical experiences of sexual threesomes, both with two women and one man (FFM), and two men and one woman (MMF). We show a cultural willingness for heterosexual men to engage in not only FFM threesomes, but also MMF threesomes. A year and a half into their university experience, seven of our participants had had at least one FFM threesome, and five of our participants had had at least one MMF threesome. We argue that this threesome experience is a component of cultural progression toward a more liberal, recreational culture of sexuality that encourages play and experimentation instead of a procreative model of sexuality. Thus, this research contributes to the growing body of literature showing that the cultural boundaries of heterosexuality are rapidly expanding for males, permitting more same-sex sexual contact without triggering the one-time-rule of homosexuality.

Pathway Based Toxicology and Fit-for-Purpose Assays.

The field of toxicity testing for non-pharmaceutical chemicals is in flux with multiple initiatives in North America and the EU to move away from animal testing to mode-of-action based in vitro assays. In this arena, there are still obstacles to overcome, such as developing appropriate cellular assays, creating pathway-based dose-response models and refining in vitro-in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) tools. Overall, it is necessary to provide assurances that these new approaches are adequately protective of human and ecological health. Another major challenge for individual scientists and regulatory agencies is developing a cultural willingness to shed old biases developed around animal tests and become more comfortable with mode-of-action based assays in human cells. At present, most initiatives focus on developing in vitro alternatives and assessing how well these alternative methods reproduce past results related to predicting organism level toxicity in intact animals. The path forward requires looking beyond benchmarking against high dose animal studies. We need to develop targeted cellular assays, new cell biology-based extrapolation models for assessing regions of safety for chemical exposures in human populations, and mode-of-action-based approaches which are constructed on an understanding of human biology. Furthermore, it is essential that assay developers have the flexibility to 'validate' against the most appropriate mode-of-action data rather than against apical endpoints in high dose animal studies. This chapter demonstrates the principles of fit-for-purpose assay development using pathway-targeted case studies. The projects include p53-mdm2-mediated DNA-repair, estrogen receptor-mediated cell proliferation and PPARα receptor-mediated liver responses.

THE RELEVANCE OF A GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK TO ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IN SOUTH AFRICA

ABSTRACT Urban environmental health policy is increasingly adopting a governance framework. However, there has been insufficient consideration of the factors which influence the interactions between civil society and government and that define governance. The aim of this paper is to make a contribution to the geography of health by exploring the application of a four dimensional governance framework to issues of environmental health. A multiple-case study was conducted in Cape Town, South Africa to explore factors influencing the governance approach. It was found that there is a political willingness at the national level to form partnerships around sanitation provision and improve environmental health. However, the institutional capacity, in particular at the local level, necessary for realising the goals of the political dimension, remains underdeveloped. Moreover, insufficient attention has been given to the cultural willingness and technical ability of community-based organisations (CBOs) and outsiders to form partnerships. In order for such partnerships to be fostered there needs to be an acknowledgement of the complexity of factors impinging on the extent to which a joint responsibility for environmental health is adopted. It is concluded that the framework of governance provides a framework to explore the complexity of the geography of the relationship between health and sanitation; especially in societies in transition where interaction between government and civil society is emerging.