Representations Of Sexuality Research Articles

Sex and race visual representation in emergency medicine textbooks and the hidden curriculum.

In addition to formal training, informal training often occurs through a hidden curriculum. As the hidden curriculum shapes the knowledge and values held by learners, we must consider its role in implicit bias. One example is through the selection of images used in formal instruction. This study aimed to examine the representation of sex and race among images in two textbooks in emergency medicine (EM). We performed a cross-sectional study of the sex and race representation of figures in Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice 9th Edition and Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide 9th Edition. Two reviewers screened all images for inclusion, with disagreements resolved by a third reviewer. Images were excluded if they did not include visualized skin. Two reviewers independently reviewed each image and assessed the sex, race, and roles in the image. A third reviewer resolved any disagreements. A total of 959 images (Rosen's n=377; Tintinalli's n=582) met inclusion criteria. Race was estimated in 877 cases (91.3%). Of those, White individuals comprised 77.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 75.0%-80.2%). Sex was estimated in 362 cases (37.7%). Of those images, males comprised 70.2% (95% CI 65.4%-74.9%), and females comprised 29.8% (95% CI 25.1%-34.6%). There is a male sex and White race predominance in visual representation among two EM textbooks. We propose a call to action for the mindful selection of images in formal education to represent diversity, equity, and inclusion and close the gap between the formal and hidden curriculum.

Interpreting Mythorealism: Disenchanted Shijing and Spiritual Crisis in Yan Lianke’s Ballad, Hymn, Ode

“Mythorealism” is a formal literary experiment developed by Yan Lianke, whose 2008 novel Ballad, Hymn, Ode ( Feng ya song) produces a cumulative effect of absurdity that has provoked controversy over the extent to which it offers an effective social critique. In response to the scholarship based on realist readings of the novel, this article analyzes it from a “mythorealistic” perspective. It argues that the mythorealist narrative does not necessarily cancel out Yan’s social commentary but instead transfers his critical impulse to a psychological exploration of marginal intellectuals in a desymbolized society. In particular, this article is concerned with thematic interpretation and the relation between literary form and meaning in Yan’s parody of the Shijing in Ballad, Hymn, Ode. By focusing on Yan’s symbolic representation of sex and disgust, this article investigates how such imagery and motifs speak from their own space to reveal Chinese intellectuals’ spiritual crisis in an academic world pervaded with an instrumentalist ethos.

Evaluation of a media literacy education program for sexual health promotion in older adolescents implemented in Southern universities

Objective This study evaluated a media literacy education program designed for sexual health promotion, Media Aware, in southeastern universities. Participants Participants included college students from four universities in the southeastern United States (n = 457). Methods Media Aware was implemented on college campuses either in a group setting, one-on-one setting, at a student event, or online only. Media Aware contains four sections on sexual health promotion including on how media messages influence sexual health, gender stereotypes and representations of romantic relationships, sexual violence, substance use, consent, sexual risk behaviors, contraception, STIs, and partner communication. Results Results indicated significant changes in intention to visit a healthcare provider for sexual health services, intention to use condoms and other forms of birth control, and awareness of Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives after participation in Media Aware. Conclusion Future research should explore how to extend program impacts and use an experimental study design to assess between group differences.

‘Chastity? Poppycock!’: Sexuality, Censorship and the Short Story in The Bell

The middle decades of twentieth-century Irish cultural history have often been described in terms of strict social codes, religious obscurantism, sexual repression and excessive censorship that banned any representation of sexuality that threatened the stringent sexual mores in Ireland’s theocratic society. Vehement opposition to both censorship and sexual puritanism came from The Bell, Ireland’s most influential mid-century literary magazine, edited by Seán O’Faoláin and Peadar O’Donnell. Throughout its lifespan, The Bell campaigned for writing that confronted controversial subjects, and was able to regularly publish short stories that engaged with taboo topics such as same-sex desire, illegitimacy, abortion and extra-marital sex. This essay explores the various ways in which writers responded to The Bell’s calls for frank treatments of sexual matters in their short fiction, and suggests that the poetics of the modern short story – which allowed writers to camouflage their subversive content – combined with ineffective legislation for the banning of periodicals meant that short stories in Irish literary magazines were effectively the censors’ blind spot, and thus contributed to the freeing up of cultural attitudes around sexuality that gradually took place in the second half of the twentieth century.
 
 Keywords: The Bell; Irish Short Stories; Sexuality; Irish Periodicals; Censorship; Seán O’Faoláin; Peadar O’Donnell.

Putting the Blame Where It Belongs: Baby as a Turning Point for Representations of Active Female Sexuality

ABSTRACT Recent studies on female sexuality evidence the ways in which the term ‘slut’ is gendered and used primarily to police sexually active women, by men and, surprisingly, women. The commedia all’italiana Sedotta e abbandonata (Pietro Germi, 1964) and the US-based Netflix series 13 Reasons Why (Brian Yorkey, 2017–2020) depict slut shaming and show how the consequent lack of solidarity between women helps protect unbridled male sexuality. Italy’s second Netflix original series Baby (Andrea De Sica and others, 2017–2020), however, resists this tendency and ultimately holds men accountable for their exploitation of women, specifically through the reinforcement of what I term the gynosocial bond, or the bond between women. In this article, then, I argue that this emphasis on female solidarity helps normalise – rather than penalise – active female sexuality and that by so doing, Baby represents a potential turning point towards more positive depictions of female sexualities.

The "Tender Technicians" of Nielsen Norman Group Videos

Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) YouTube content predominantly features young, white-presenting, normatively attractive women. The uniform presentation of these women, combined with the unspecific, universalizing script content, compromises their expertise and is objectifying. This treatment, combined with a lack of diversity in featured employees, undercuts NN/g’s standing as an authoritative resource in the field of user experience (UX). Additionally, it contributes to a sexist representation of UX as a pink-collar field and compounds librarianship’s own pink-collar culture and whiteness problems. NN/g video content echoes a century-old manipulation of librarians as “tender technicians” (Garrison, 1972; Sloniowski, 2016), now made into clickbait using the aesthetics of YouTube beauty vloggers. 

Led Around by the Nose

Led Around by the Nose

Modernity from Elsewhere: Psychoanalysis, Ethnography, and Speculative Horizons of Self-Assertion

Modernity from Elsewhere: Psychoanalysis, Ethnography, and Speculative Horizons of Self-Assertion

Diversity in Plastic Surgery: Analysis of Representation of Sex and Ethnic Diversity in Plastic Surgery Residency Social Media Accounts.

Increasing health care diversity is critical to overcoming disparities. Plastic surgery has been working to improve diversity through various efforts, including social media movements like Diversify PRS and #ilooklikeasurgeon. Because residency programs' social media sites serve as a public symbol of the programs' values and can attract potential applicants, we sought to analyze such platforms for content highlighting sex and ethnic diversity. Integrated plastic surgery residency programs during the 2020 to 2021 academic year were found on the American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons website, and their associated social media accounts were identified. The authors reviewed each program's account for all posts published by November 8, 2021, for content promoting sex or ethnic diversity. Any hashtags related to diversity were also recorded. Nonparametric Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare percentages of total social media posts related to sex and ethnic diversity between programs (α = 0.05). Of 82 programs, 76 (92.7%) had active Instagram accounts, 29 (35.4%) had active Facebook accounts, and 29 (35.4%) had active Twitter accounts. Across all platforms, 19.0% of all posts were promoting sex diversity and 3.3% were promoting ethnic diversity. Of 4651 posts promoting sex diversity, 4067 (87.4%) highlighted women, 1017 (21.9%) featured all-women teams, 779 (16.7%) used sex diversity-related hashtags, and 300 (6.5%) included purposeful statements. Of 808 posts promoting ethnic diversity, 527 (65.2%) used ethnic diversity-related hashtags, 224 (27.7%) included purposeful statements, 199 (24.6%) mentioned ethnic background, and 36 (4.5%) used different skin-toned emojis. Programs did not vary in percentages of posts related to diversity by geographic region, ranking, accreditation length, or engagement rate. The percentage of posts promoting sex diversity was greater than that promoting ethnic diversity (P < 0.001). The most used diversity hashtag was #ilooklikeasurgeon. Despite the importance of increasing recruitment of trainees from diverse backgrounds to plastic surgery and the global reach of social media movements like #ilooklikeasurgeon, sex and ethnic diversity are still poorly promoted on residency social media accounts. Increasing such content is a simple yet powerful way to create a culture of inclusivity for all applicants.

Could Fleabag be a Parisienne? Camille Cottin’s Star Image and a New French Femininity

This article discusses Camille Cottin’s star image, considering more specifically what was at stake in her 2019 performance in Mouche, the French remake of British tragicomedy TV series Fleabag created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The framework of this remake and the transposition of Cottin in the character played by Waller-Bridge offers a discussion on the representation of female sexuality and gender through the main character of Mouche and Fleabag. It argues that the nexus of Cottin’s gendered stardom both meets and transgresses the ideals of the cinematic type of the Parisienne, which may lead to think that Cottin was the perfect fit to be the French version of Fleabag. However, as Mouche, her persona gestures toward the projection of a female subjectivity that escapes inscription into the French cultural imagination and social practices. Drawing from theories of the abject and the female grotesque as a subversive strategy to challenge gendered expectations in Fleabag, this article sheds light on how effectively this is transposed to Cottin’s version of the character. It also considers how the strategy of breaking the fourth wall, which creates a personalised connection with the character of Fleabag, mimics the personalised and intimate connection to celebrities that social media now offers. The article suggests that Cottin’s on-screen persona competes with her star image, threatening to eradicate the space of spectatorial jouissance necessary for the processes of cinematic identification and intimate connection.

Diversity in Romance Novels: Race, Sexuality, Neurodivergence, Disability, and Fat Representation

Diversity in Romance Novels: Race, Sexuality, Neurodivergence, Disability, and Fat Representation

Made for Funny Business: Negotiating Age and Sexuality in British Sitcoms.

Though films and television series, portraying later life with its perks and pitfalls have proliferated throughout the past decade, explicit depictions of later life sexuality have been an ever-present absence in visual representations. Yet, it is television, TV series in particular, which enables more diverse framings of later life sexuality, as they reproduce, legitimize, transform and deconstruct stereotypical notions of age, gender, and sexuality through their serial format and unique use of laughter and humor. As such, some sitcoms featuring sexually active, rebellious, and sexually adventurous older adults have been widely regarded as stomping grounds for affirmative notions of aging and sexuality. Often paired with badly and mischievously behaving leads, they show that portrayals of later life sexuality need not necessarily be bogged down by a pervasive asexual/hypersexual divide but may rather offer "possibilities of destabilization" that run counter to cultural taboos regarding age and sexuality. Based on 2 British sitcoms (Waiting for God [1990-1994], and Vicious [2013-2016]), this article examines the practices and mechanisms sitcoms employ in order to enable or contain representations of later life sexuality, by, for instance couching transgressive portrayals of sexually active older adults in comedic terms or by "containing" older adults in rigid, heteronormative structures. Particular attention will be paid to the intersections of class, gender, and age and how far these intersections help to render later life sexuality, above all, respectable and palatable.

Representations of Sexuality among Persons with Intellectual Disability, as Perceived by Professionals in Specialized Institutions: A Systematic Review.

The objective of this systematic review is to make an inventory of the representations of the professionals of specialized institutions on the sexuality of persons with intellectual disabilities. The scientific studies were identified according to the PRISMA protocol using 18 databases, with keywords on sexuality and parenthood. Studies were reviewed through a methodological assessment and then a thematic analysis. Twenty-four studies were reviewed and three themes were identified: professionals’ representations of gender, sexuality, and consent; professionals’ perceptions of their role in supporting people’s sexual lives; and the ways in which professionals construct representations of people’s sexual lives. This corpus highlights deep paradoxes in the representations of professionals concerning the socio-affective needs and sexuality of people with intellectual disabilities, creating what we could define as a “system of incompatibility” and leading to difficulties in positioning. Support is still too random and subject to control logics in the name of protecting users, who are perceived as vulnerable. Training and new ways of teamwork appear to be central to supporting the evolution of the representations and practices of professionals. Future research anchored in practices and involving users as well as professionals is necessary to better understand the paradoxical aspects of professionals’ representations and to draw alternative ways of constructing these representations.

Teachers’ representations of genders and sexualities in primary school: the power of curriculum and an institutional ideological code

Texts such as curriculum and policy documents work in complex ways to coordinate teachers’ work and approaches to diverse genders and sexualities. Although it might be assumed that official, mandated curricula determine teachers’ curriculum choices, little is known about the extent of textual influences on how teachers represent genders and sexualities in primary schooling. This institutional ethnographic study investigated how the Australian national curriculum coordinated teachers’ curriculum decisions in one Australian primary school. Drawing on the work of Dorothy E. Smith, we found that teachers and school leaders use multiple institutional texts to guide curriculum choices. Although diverse genders and sexualities are visible in the Australian Curriculum (minimally so), we found curriculum and related policy texts were shaped by an ideological code that conceals diverse sexualities and genders. We argue that dominant hetero-cis-normative practices embedded in chains of texts remain powerful, shaping representations of genders and sexualities in primary schooling.

History from the top shelf: the cultural politics of sex in post-war Britain

ABSTRACT The 1970s saw representations of sex become ever more visible in Britain. This special issue is designed to stimulate further research into how shifts in cultural politics, media and society facilitated and responded to cultural depictions of sex and sexuality. To this end, our short introduction surveys some of the literature and offers a glimpse of what might be stacked along History's top shelf.

READING LOKI (2021): FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM, RESISTANCE TO AUTOCRATIC IDEOLOGY, AND QUEER REPRESENTATION IN THE SERIES

The present research paper undertakes a detailed analysis of the central themes of the television series Loki (2021), a continuation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) on the small screen. The first and last episode of the show are especially significant for their grappling with the age-old uncertainty over Free Will and Determinism. The revelation of the autocratic nature of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) (controlled by the secretive Time Keepers who in turn are revealed to have been created by the elusive He Who Remains) and its involvement in the dissemination of a particular ideology and propaganda provides the narrative an opportunity to explore the theme of resistance to autocratic rule (represented in the character of Sylvie) and the ideology and propaganda spread by autocratic rulers and/or institutions (the former represented by the Time Keepers and He Who Remains whereas the latter by the Time Variance Authority [TVA]). However, with the series itself calling into question the (alleged) benefits of Free Will and assuming a pessimistic, if not critical, stance over post-revolutionary conditions has led to the show being interpreted by some as conservative in nature or in favour of maintaining status-quo. Through the characters of C – 20 and Sylvie respectively the series also directs our attention to the likely fate awaiting those who (after being enlightened) start questioning the official ideology or rise up in opposition to it. Finally, the paper attempts to situate the Queering of Loki, the series’ titular character, which constitutes a small but significant step towards including sexualities other than the dominant heterosexual within the MCU, in the wider context of the history of the representation of diverse sexualities in the MUC and critical reactions to it.

Representation of Race and Sex in Sleep Surgery Studies.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a highly prevalent disorder with many treatment modalities, including surgical intervention. While OSA is known to be more prevalent in males and Black Americans, the representation of race and sex in sleep surgery studies is unknown. The aim of this systematic review is to assess the race and sex demographics represented in sleep surgery studies relative to known OSA demographics. PubMed, MEDLINE, and OVID databases. A systematic review was conducted to identify studies published between 2016 and 2020 that investigated sleep outcomes following nonnasal surgical intervention for OSA in adults. Pooled racial, ethnic, and sex data of the enrolled subjects in selected studies were analyzed. The 148 included studies comprised 13,078 patients. Of the 137 studies that reported sex, 84.0% of participants were male, exceeding the population prevalence of OSA in males, which is estimated at 66%. Only 13 studies reported racial/ethnic demographic data. Of these, 87.8% of patients were White. Out of 30 studies of primarily American patients, only 4 reported race demographic data, with an average of 82.8% White participants. There is a racial/ethnic and sex inclusion bias among sleep surgery studies. Future studies should better document the demographics of enrolled participants as well as recruit participants who better represent the demographics of adults with OSA in the general population.

Processual Aesthetics and Feminist Trouble

Within the landscape of current feminist comics production in the Nordic region, Rikke Villadsen is a comics artist notable for works that challenge gendered sexual norms through genre play and visual pastiche. This article explores how Villadsen’s style of comics-making draws on processual aesthetics, a term offered and explored in conversation with Villadsen’s comics and queer theory. Villadsen’s work brings central tenets of second-wave feminist thought into the contemporary context of feminist body politics, resulting in tensions on and beyond the pages of her comics. The article discusses the ways Villadsen’s comics enact feminist trouble through representations of transgressive sexuality, gender roles, and the materiality of the comics as physical objects.

‘The moment is poorly chosen’: Proust, Same-Sex Sexuality and Nationalism

This article attempts to think historically about the relationship between nationalism and same-sex sexuality in Proust's novel and in readers’ responses to the novel from the time of its publication to the present. The article uses a column written on the first part of Sodome et Gomorrhe by nationalist literary critic and author Binet-Valmer in 1921 in order to illuminate some of the sexual and political contexts of Proust's representation of same-sex sexuality. It then turns to two twenty-first-century uses of Proust by right-wing thinkers to theorize a particularly French, anti-communitarian, anti-politically correct form of homosexuality. Ultimately, these examples demonstrate that there is no one relationship between same-sex sexuality and nationalism or the national community; rather, same-sex sexuality often serves as a convenient tool for defining the national community and its outsiders, in a wide variety of ways that move beyond a simple equivalency between outlaw and gay.

‘A Healthy Sex Life’: Love, Marriage and Sexual Knowledge in Franco’s Spain (1960–1975)

Summary This article aims to explore changes in the marital sex advice that was available in Spain during the last decade of the Franco Regime (1939–75). It pays particular attention to the representation of female sexuality, which was shaped by fluctuating ideas on the relationship between sexual pleasure, love and contraception. The study looks at a variety of sources and ponders the relationships between different types of discourses: male- and female-defined; religious and medical; popular and intellectual; expert and lay. These include marriage manuals, intellectual essays and women’s magazines. These sources suggest that paying attention to the means by which sexual knowledge is conveyed, to the context in which it is disseminated, and to the subtle changes in the agents with the authority to communicate it gives us insight into how sexual knowledge is distributed, received and redefined.