Societal Body Research Articles

Decentralized Incident Reporting: Mobilizing Urban Communities with Blockchain

This paper introduces an innovative response to the pressing challenge of rapid and effective incident detection and management in urban settings. The proposed solution is a decentralized incident reporting system (IRS) harnessing blockchain technology and decentralized data storage systems. By empowering residents to report incidents, the proposed IRS enables seamless real-time monitoring and intervention by relevant departments. Built on a blockchain foundation, the proposed solution ensures immutability, transparency, security, and auditability, enhancing data resilience and comprehensive applicability. The proposed system leverages the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) for the storage of incident proofs to manage the blockchain size effectively. Through the proposed IRS, transparency is upheld, enabling complete auditability of incident details and required interventions by citizens, societal bodies, and governmental bodies. Moreover, an incentive model is introduced to encourage active participation in incident reporting, thereby enhancing the system’s overall effectiveness and long-term sustainability. The proposed IRS integrates mobile technology to facilitate user engagement and data submission, essential for urban emergency management. Empirical validation using the Quorum–Raft blockchain demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed approach in terms of system throughput, incident reporting delay, blockchain size, and deployment cost. Specifically, the system maintains a latency of under 15 s even at high transaction rates, can handle up to 200 incidents per second, and is cost-effective, with deployment estimates for 16 organizations over five years being under 1.99 million USD. The method involves extensive testing with simulated incidents and user interactions to ensure robustness and scalability, showcasing the system’s potential for effective emergency management in urban environments.

“Angry at the Wrong Thing:” Queering Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy for Clients Experiencing Body Image and Eating Distress

ABSTRACT Unlike classic serotonergic psychedelics, whose psychoactive shifts are recognized as having therapeutic value, ketamine’s perceptual effects are often overshadowed by its rapid antidepressant properties. However, within a ketamine assisted psychotherapeutic (KAP) context, ketamine’s distinct anxiolytic and dissociative features can cocreate a safe setting for client-directed psycho-spiritual exploration, including around body image and feeding disturbances. Eating disorders affect approximately 9% of Americans, and present a significant concern for LGBTQ2SIA+ community. This paper outlines a KAP framework, for further study, that is foundationally queer and grounded in postcolonial and intersectional feminist theories. This paper introduces societal body dysphoria, as a tool for clinicians to recontextualize how unrealistic ideals, identified as a societal distortion rooted in white supremacy, are individually internalized and collectively enforced through self-policing, with the belief that adherence will yield access to power and resources. Within this framework, a case report presents an example of how KAP can facilitate the deconstruction of societal constructs and alleviate distress.

Baptist Identity in a Christian Welfare State: A Swedish Case Study

ABSTRACT The Swedish welfare state emerged during the 1950s at the same time as Swedish Baptist identity was undergoing change. Swedish Baptist identity had previously been based on the notion that the congregation was of itself a social body, but over time an ecclesiology arose which made an emotional conversion central, and thus faith became primarily an individual affair. This article argues that in the Swedish context this change was enhanced through a negotiation between the emerging welfare state and a revivalist theology. To uphold a bold Baptist identity, a contemporary Swedish Baptist ecclesiology must therefore develop a theology that both acknowledges the positive values in a welfare state and at the same time continues to argue for a radical religious freedom where the existence of various forms of alternative societal bodies is recognised by the state, particularly in the current multicultural context.

Maximal Strength Training as a Pathway to Positive Body Image: A Qualitative Exploration of the Experiences of Female Powerlifters

This study considers the potential relationship between maximal strength training and positive body image by exploring the lived experiences of female powerlifters. Semistructured interviews were conducted with eight female powerlifters from Australia, and data were analyzed thematically. The study identified five themes related to positive body image and participation in maximal strength training: (a) appreciation of the functionality of the body, (b) embodiment, (c) rejection of societal body ideals and self-objectification, (d) self-compassion and body image flexibility, and (e) being surrounded by a body-positive community. These findings are consistent with existing literature on positive body image and participation in activities that promote embodiment. There is value in further investigation of maximal strength training as an intervention to develop positive body image in women.

She is like me: a qualitative exploration of body image ideals and the young woman psychologist working with eating disorders

ABSTRACT Objective Women who are early career psychologists are likely to share a range of similarities with clients experiencing eating disorders including societal body image ideals and their own eating disorder history. While lived experience may strengthen their capacity to empathise with the client, it may also place the psychologist at risk of overidentification with the client if sufficient supports and training are not provided. This qualitative study explored the experiences of women who are early career psychologists working with eating disorders. Method Seven early career women psychologists working in Australia with clients experiencing eating disorders participated in semi-structured interviews in relation to the impact of body image ideals on their work and how they utilise supervision around this issue. Results Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of interview data revealed that several participants believed they had received inadequate training in preparing them to work with clients experiencing eating disorders. Though participants with lived experience believed their capacity for empathy was enhanced, findings indicated that similarities between clients and psychologists also created vulnerability to overidentification with the client, the triggering of their own body image issues, and experiences of shame in supervision and the workplace. Conclusions Training and supervision implications, and future research recommendations are discussed.

Enriching sociocultural perspectives on the effects of idealized body norms: Integrating shame, positive body image, and self-compassion.

Body image is an integral aspect of the psychology of the self. Idealized body images are ubiquitous in both traditional media forms (e.g., magazines, television) and social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram). The classic sociocultural model of body image (i.e., the Tripartite Influence Model) emphasizes pathways between idealized body norms, appearance comparisons, internalization of body ideals, and body dissatisfaction and its outcomes. We summarize the model and identify some issues to be addressed in future work, particularly in light of the immense popularity of social media. We review three topics that are not included in the sociocultural model but that provide a more complete picture of the influence of societal body norms on body image: (1) body shame, (2) positive body image, and (3) self-compassion. Research on the nature, assessment, and relevance of these constructs is reviewed in detail. In terms of clinical applications of these areas of research for individuals at risk of body dissatisfaction, we suggest assessing for and targeting body shame, cultivating facets of positive body image, and teaching strategies for developing self-compassion.

Looking at me, looking at you: The mediating roles of body surveillance and social comparison in the relationship between fit ideal internalisation and body dissatisfaction

Understanding the mechanisms through which internalisation of societal body standards lead to negative outcomes for women is important to inform prevention and treatment strategies targeting female body image issues and problematic eating and exercise behaviours. This study investigated the mediating roles of body surveillance and social comparison on the relationship between fit-ideal internalisation and a range of negative eating and body image related outcomes. Participants were 448 females, aged 16–25 years who completed self-report measures of fit-ideal internalisation, body surveillance, social comparison, body dissatisfaction, dieting, bulimic behaviours and compulsive exercise. Consistent with hypotheses, the results of parallel mediation analyses suggested that both body surveillance and social comparison mediated the relationship between fit-ideal internalisation and body dissatisfaction, dieting and bulimic behaviours. However, only social comparison was found to mediate the relationship between fit-ideal internalisation and compulsive exercise. The results suggest both body surveillance and social comparison are mechanisms by which fit internalisation detriments women's body image, making them potentially useful treatment targets for future research.

Shifting the Standard of Beauty: Beginning of the Body Inclusive Model.

Background: While the American standard of beauty idolizes unattainable thinness, social media exposure has been instrumental in crafting a more inclusive perception of beauty.Methods: Using several websites with public data on models, we gathered body measurements and characteristics of both plus-size and the overall top 10 paid mainstream models. We then collected social media data for these models using the social media analytics tool called Social Blade. We compared social media data between plus-size and mainstream models.Results: While plus-size models have increased BMI, the waist/hip ratio was 0.74 on average, compared to 0.71 in mainstream models. The average social media following among the top 10 plus-size models was 3.8 million compared to 38 million amongst the top 10 mainstream models (p = 0.039). There was no significant difference between the average likes per post, average comments per post, and total posts between the top mainstream models and top plus-size models (p-values 0.11, 0.12, and 0.15, respectively).Conclusion: With the changing societal body image in America, plus-size models have gained in popularity and positively impacted a body-inclusive model of beauty. However, the mainstream model still prevails as the social media powerhouse of influence.

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) and Body Image: a case report

BackgroundAvoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a relatively new eating disorder diagnosis, and there is need to better understand this disorder’s presentation. Diagnostic criteria for ARFID require that there are no body image distortions. People with ARFID symptoms may have body image concerns that require careful consideration and more information about the interplay of these is needed to help clinicians appropriately diagnose and manage ARFID.Case presentationThis clinical observation reports a case of ARFID in a nine-year-old with severe malnutrition who positively views her small size and values thinness. The patient reported that her own desire for thinness was influenced by social media beauty ideals and praise of thinness witnessed in social situations. Despite this, the motivation for avoidant and restrictive eating behaviors was low appetitive drive, fear of trying new foods, and fear of adverse consequences from eating.ConclusionsAlthough concerning, the patient’s body image was not of clinical significance as a motivating factor for the disordered eating behaviors. Body image dissatisfaction is common. The requirement to exclude body image distortions in the diagnostic criteria for ARFID may require consideration of the pervasiveness of societal body ideals to which young people are exposed.

Obstacles in using the E-learning strategy in teaching high school courses (Tawjihi class) from the point of view of educational supervisors in Al-Balqa governorate

This study aimed to reveal the obstacles in the use of e-learning strategies in the teaching of high secondary school courses from the point of view of educational supervisors, and its relationship to the variables years of experience and training courses (ICDL, INTEL & ICDL). The study sample consisted of (64) supervisors who work in the directorates of education in Al-Balqa governorate. To collect data, the study tool (the questionnaire) was applied electronically to all of them. The results of the study showed that the obstacles to using the e-learning strategy in teaching high school courses from the educational supervisors’ point of view came to a high degree, while at the level of the scale domains they came in succession as follows in the first order: Related to the administrative, financial and infrastructure aspect of the school environment, then the obstacles related to the educational content of the high school course, followed by the obstacles related to high school students, finally the obstacles related to high school teachers. And there were statistically significant differences in the obstacles related to the administrative, financial and infrastructure aspects of the school environment, and the differences in favor of the group of less than five years. The study recommended equipping school environments with the requirements of e-learning and providing support from various societal bodies to enhance and improve e-learning for students and teachers in government schools. 
 Keywords: Obstacles; e-learning strategy; high school class; educational supervisors.

Teachers’ challenges in preparatory classes: a socio-ecological perspective

ABSTRACT Teachers work in diverse environments in terms of pupils’ abilities, socio-economic backgrounds and demography. The growing demands of political and societal bodies increase the pressure placed on teachers. Using a socio-ecological framework, this study provides insights into teachers’ perspectives and their challenges in the field of teaching recently arrived pupils in the Finnish context. Qualitative interviews of ten participants from different parts of Finland were conducted. The data were analysed through thematic analysis. The findings suggest that teachers need more administrative and collegial support, effective educational policies, sufficient resources, and wider community attention. The results of the study can be useful for education stakeholders in mitigating the problems encountered by teachers, and in shedding light on how these levels can be accessed. The study also provides a structure that researchers can use to classify teachers’ challenges at the individual, organisational, municipal, and national levels.

The Politics of Body in Bhisham Sahni's Madhavi: Rethinking the Mythical Performance

Madhavi, a blessed body with eternal virginity, is the central character of Bhisham Sahni's play Madhavi. This paper attempts to explore her boon of eternal virginity as a patriarchal scar inscribed by the society on her womb. How do her ultimate rejection of that scar and the final journey to actual eternity become the insightful performances to respond to the societal body politics? This is the major concern of the study. In this interpretation, mainly the concepts of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler regarding the body politics and the notions of Jennifer Parker-Starbuck, Roberta Mock, and Richard Schechner concerning the body and its performance are synthesized as a theoretical framework to analyze the textual evidence and to observe the performance of the politically conditioned, condemned and trivialized body of Madhavi. Finally, the study ascertains that the perpetually subordinated body gradually comprehends the society and insightfully performs liberty against the hegemonic power bloc. In the play, the proactive proposal of Madhavi to Vishwamitra for lovemaking and her ultimate disappearance into nature in search of actual eternity can be a leading evidence of the insightful performances towards liberty.

Students’ perceptions of visibility in physical education

The purpose of this study is to explore students’ perceptions of visibility in physical education (PE) using a single cumulative case study approach. Data were generated from the descriptive field notes of seven participant observations ( n = 77), individual semi-structured interviews ( n = 13) and five focus group interviews ( n = 18) with ninth-grade students (ages 14–15 years) from three classes in a public lower secondary school in Norway. The findings show that students perceive visibility differently depending on the context; some students like being visible in PE, while others dread it. Perceptions change rapidly and are situation-specific, influenced by the lesson content, the way the teacher facilitates the lessons, self-perception shaped by past experiences, the presence, actions, and attitudes of fellow students, body pressure and societal body ideals. The findings actualise the relevance of the transaction model of stress and coping ( Lazarus and Folkman, 1984 ) in determining when visibility in PE is and is not perceived as stressful. Consequently, the organization of the PE environment benefits from these insights.

COVID-19 Metaphors

COVID-19 Metaphors

The Transformational Function of the Criminal Law

It is often maintained that the criminal law is supposed to intervene only when a certain social norm has become so significant within a given society to justify its protection by means of penal sanctions. The criminal law is thus thought to mirror a hierarchy of values it neither shapes nor contributes to building; rather, it is required to stand at least one step behind social change. This article challenges this view, presenting a normative account that contributes to the debate on what is permissible for the criminal law to try to achieve. It does so by defining and theoretically substantiating the “transformational function” of the criminal law. The term refers to the use of criminalization and punishment to change, rather than merely reflect, social norms, attitudes, and beliefs alongside, and combined with, non-penal policy-making tools in contested domains. Four operational conditions of legitimacy are identified and discussed. Within such operational boundaries, this article contends that the criminal law can play an important role in promoting social change—i.e., the establishment of new norms and values—as well as helping the coagulation of norms, attitudes, and beliefs not yet fully entrenched within the societal body.

Social Control in Network Communities Analytic study

Background/Objectives: To define the new concept of social control in network communities and to answer the following questions: What is the new social control? What are the methods of this new social control? and how to reach a controlled use of network communities? Methods/Statistical Analysis: The study used the analytic descriptive methodology that is based on the research and study of the new concept of social control and its main patterns from different angles and qualitatively expresses them through studying the literature review of the problem and discussing it. The study categorized the methods of new social control into two major categories: First, official methods of social control, which are set by the society to enforce a kind of purposeful control of its members through guiding rules and instructions in forms of regulatory legislations to be adhered by all society institutions and individual alike; Second, non-official methods of social control, such as individuals’ following of societal criteria and values, through the process of socialization. We used 29 references of previous studies. Findings: The study defined the new concept of social control as the collective practices and behaviors of society upon its members to educate them, organize their behaviors or control them in order for their behaviors to be consistent with the prevailing criteria through a group of various methods that lead their behaviors to meet the society expectations, such as methods aim at preserving the growth and sustainability of the society and protecting its structure. To achieve the most suitable control of any given society, different societal bodies of two directions – integrated in roles and results – emerge. The first direction stems from inside, where the individual internally desires to adhere to societal criteria and values. This direction is achieved through proper introduction of individuals to the digital environment, starting from the early childhood to the teenage and continues if the individual uses network communities. The second direction is institutional that is reflected on the set laws and written regulations by official authorities such as the Electronic Transactions Law, and the Cyber Crimes Act. Improvements/Applications: The results of this study are confined to the predetermined goals that it sought to achieve and the questions that it sought to answer. Hence, conducting more studies about social control and their different social dimensions to achieve more generalized results is needed. The researcher recommends better dissemination of laws on the use of network communities as well as more attention to the digital socialization of children and adolescents, thus contributing to the development of active and disciplined members of society in the network communities. Keywords: Digital Communities, Network Society, Social Control

Thinness and muscularity internalization: Associations with disordered eating and muscle dysmorphia in men.

The tripartite influence model of body image identifies internalization of societal body ideals as a risk factor for developing body dissatisfaction, and subsequent disordered eating behavior. In men, internalization of two dimensions of body image ideals, thinness and muscularity, is associated with body dissatisfaction and eating concerns. However, it is unknown how thinness and muscularity internalization interact in predicting muscle dysmorphia and disordered eating in men. Data were collected online from 180 undergraduate men, with ages ranging from 18 to 33 years (19.6, SD = 2.6). Regression models were used to test the interactive effects of thinness and muscularity internalization on (a) muscle dysmorphia symptoms and (b) disordered eating. Subsequent simple slope analyses probed effects at the mean, and ±1 standard deviation of thinness internalization. Muscularity and thinness internalization were independently positively related to muscle dysmorphia symptoms and disordered eating. Additionally, a significant interaction revealed that muscularity internalization was increasingly related to muscle dysmorphia symptoms as thinness internalization decreased. Men who internalized the muscular ideal had higher levels of muscle dysmorphia when they did not highly internalize the thin ideal. However, greater internalization of both the muscularity and thin ideal independently may be most relevant in the development of disordered eating in men. Future research is needed to explore variability in experiences of muscle dysmorphia compared with disordered eating in males.

Body Weight Stigma in Physical Activity Settings

Given societal body ideals praising thinness and muscularity, physical activity spaces can bedifficult to navigate for those in larger bodies. Thus, stigma serves as a strong barrier to participation. Inthis study, the authors explore ways that body stigma affects larger individuals’ participation in physicalactivity. This authors employed qualitative, semi-structured interviews (N = 9), regarding personal experi-ences of body weight stigma. Results suggest that body stigma is common and that various discriminatoryexperiences led participants away from participating. Given the prevalence of prejudicial behaviors, whichexclude larger individuals, the authors argue for more inclusive physical activity spaces and practices.

Everyday lived Islam: religiosities and identities of Muslim women in the Republic of Macedonia

In the Republic of Macedonia, most Muslim women belong to the Albanian minority. Particularly due to the current fractured nature of the Macedonian societal body and the diverse historical developments that have led to this, the importance of ethnic identities is emphasised and religious identities, especially Orthodox Christian and Muslim identities, fortify them. Everyday lived religion, its active enacting, and the values Islam represents can be important to Muslim women in the Republic of Macedonia and manifest themselves, for instance, in the human relationships within Muslim communities. Everyday lived Islam may also be an important factor when women’s roles in the larger societal context are examined. The 19 Albanian women whom I interviewed during the period 2008–2009 described in a relatively detailed manner their everyday lived Islam and religiosities, how these affected their lives and how these were localised in everyday situations. This also gave an insight into the way the Muslim women negotiated their identities in different contexts. In this article I examine, drawing on the concepts of everyday lived religion, religiosity, and identity, how Islamic values and traditions could be localised through women’s narratives in relationships within the Muslim communities, between men and women, between different Muslim communities, and in the wider societal context.

A 6-year follow-up of children assessed for suspected autism spectrum disorder: parents' experiences of society's support.

BackgroundEarly support and interventions are suggested to be important for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental problems and their families. Parents are described to have a burdensome life situation where the child’s problems have a great impact on the family’s well-being.AimTo obtain increased knowledge of parents’ experiences of support and interventions 6 years after their child was assessed for ASD.Methods and proceduresA semi-structured questionnaire was sent to all parents (n=101) whose preschool children (<4 years of age) had been assessed for ASD about 6 years prior in Gothenburg, Sweden. The open-ended questions were analyzed thematically using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach.Outcomes and resultsParents of 56 children answered 30 questions about their experiences concerning support from society after the neuropsychiatric assessment. From the eight open-ended questions, three themes were identified: parental responsibility, resources and competence among actors in society, and inequality. The parents experienced that they had to take responsibility for meeting the needs of and securing support for their child. They found that the support given was unequal, uncoordinated, and with great variations between both geographical areas and professionals. Parents’ own resources were described as impacting the possibility to secure adequate interventions, resulting in unequal treatment of families depending on socioeconomic status. Several parents also expressed experiencing a lack of individualization of services and interventions. All children had received some kind of action from society, but not to the degree they had wished for when the children got their ASD diagnosis.Conclusion and implicationsThe essence of parents’ comments was the experience of authorities and societal actors trying to push the responsibility onto someone else. The study indicates a need for continuous longitudinal support for children identified with neurodevelopmental problems before the age of 3 years. This requires collaboration and coordination between different societal bodies.