Unnecessary bleeding,unnecessary suffering: normalcy and necessity of menstruation in promoting NovaSure®

NovaSure® is an endometrial ablation procedure that destroys the inner lining of uterus to stop heavy bleeding. It is performed mostly on women entering menopause who are experiencing irregular and heavy bleeding. In this article, this biotechnology, promoted for women approaching the end of their reproductive life, is analyzed. The analysis is informed by a feminist science studies and medical anthropology background. The discourse of ‘normal’ menstruation and representations of menstruation in the promotional materials for NovaSure® are explored through a textual analysis of the NovaSure® website and patient brochure. The themes in the materials analyzed include the idea of getting back to life, ‘normal’ bleeding, and having a choice among different medical procedures and interventions. The possibility of getting rid of embarrassment that accompanies heavy bleeding is also emphasized. It will be argued that NovaSure® contributes to the redefinition of what is ‘natural’ and ‘necessary’ by combining the ‘unnecessary period’ idea of pills such as Seasonale®, which is aimed toward women in their reproductive years, with the ‘unnecessary suffering’ idea related to menopausal complaints. While advertising the procedure, NovaSure® promotional materials co-construct the ideal user for the technology and reproduce the taboos and embarrassment that accompany menstruation.     

The dreaded body: disgust and the production of “appropriate” femininity

While some literature has explored women’s feelings about social identities like fatness, race, disability, queerness, and aging, little research has examined, from an intersectional perspective, how women construct a dreaded or viscerally disgusting body and how this produces “appropriate” femininity. This paper utilized thematic analysis of qualitative data from a community sample of 20 US women (mean age = 34, SD = 13.35) to illuminate how women imagined a body they dreaded. Responses indicated that defective femininity, having “freak” body parts, fear of excessiveness, loathing a particular person’s body, and language of smelliness and disgust all appeared, weaving together women’s fears about fatness, dark skin, and becoming old or disabled. Implications incorporating visceral disgust to examinations of body image, and the intersectional foundations of women’s dreaded selves, were discussed. Further, imagining “Other” bodies may produce especially vivid narratives around social biases and internalized oppression.     

On being the ‘gender person’ in an academic department: constructions,configurations and implications

The term ‘gender person’ in an academic department is a colloquial expression which refers to someone who researches and/or teaches about gender, but whose primary affiliation is not to a gender studies department or centre. This role has particularly been discussed in relation to international development organisations, but has been neglected in relation to higher education institutions. The article reapplies Lucy Ferguson’s ‘gender person’ framework to academics working as ‘gender people’ in the conditions of contemporary academia. Three cases of different manifestations of the ‘gender person’ role are explored in detail and analysed for the ways in which occupying the ‘gender person’ role impacts upon academic careers and gender knowledge. The article contributes an elaborated concept of the ‘gender person’ in academia and provides empirical evidence of being the ‘gender person’. The article particularly shows that relying on a ‘gender person’ as a form of gender mainstreaming renders both gender academics and academic departments vulnerable in different ways.     

Feminism and the Gender Recognition Act 2004

This paper argues, first, that the legal construction of transsexualism is a matter of interest, not only to members of the trans community, but to all students of gender, including feminists. The paper then proceeds to explain and analyse, using feminist perspectives, key aspects of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 in the light of the recent caselaw concerning the rights of trans persons. The 2004 Act, it is argued, is a conservative move, which attempts to deny the threat transsexualism poses to the binary system of gender, by instigating a system to formally ‘recognise’ only men and or women. However, the way in which the Act constructs the public/private divide and the mind/body relation carries potential for legal recognition of subject positions which may in a variety of ways be ‘beyond’ the binary system that is currently orthodox. The paper can as such be read as a case study in the legal (re)construction of gender, the gender/sex relation, and the widespread tendency to construct gender conservatively.     

Catherine Breillat's Romance and Anatomy of Hell: Subjectivity and the Gendering of Sexuality

French filmmaker Catherine Breillat has consistently challenged viewers to consider the ways women negotiate sexual freedom in light of numerous forces of repression. This essay considers how Breillat's depiction of women's sexuality in Romance and Anatomy of Hell simultaneously evokes abjection and empowerment. Specifically, we consider Breillat's contrast between her female protagonists and male protagonists, her treatment of women and their bodies as infused with desire yet struggling towards sexual subjectivity, and the avenues available to women to define themselves outside of hegemonic masculinity. We argue that Breillat's provocative portrayals provoke consideration of the problems inherent in hegemonic female sexuality while also offering hopeful alternatives to sexual expression, sexual freedom, and changing definitions of power and pleasure.     

影响女性生育二孩意愿的因素预测及女性权益保护—— 基于马尔科夫链模型

在全面放开二孩的政策背景下,女性的生育意愿受到越来越多的关注,影响女性生育二孩意愿的因素和女性权益的保护问题,已经成为社会关注的热点。本文通过发放问卷收集数据,应用马尔科夫模型分析预测影响生育意愿的因素和选择影响生育意愿因素之间的转移概率。通过概率推测出女性身体健康为影响生育意愿的最重要因素,其次为经济因素,与以往研究相比,经济因素不再是面对生育问题时考虑的最重要因素,新时代的生育观点已经发生改变,身体健康状况和女性的权益保护备受关注。根据模型的分析结果提出:女性权益适度保护;加强顶层设计,完善二胎配套措施;大力推动诚信服务业的发展,营造环境友好型工作氛围等相关政策建议。     

婴幼儿入托对女性劳动收入的影响研究 ——基于成都市 8 个区(市、县)的调查数据

随着我国人口生育政策的调整,育龄女性面临着劳动供给和家庭照料之间的矛盾,而子女入托 作为缓解家庭照护压力方式之一,越来越受社会的重视。本研究基于成都市 8 个区(市、县)的调查数据,分 析了 0—3 岁婴幼儿入托对女性劳动收入的影响机制。研究发现:相对于未入托的样本,子女入托可以使女性劳 动收入显著提高;在非流动人口的家庭、高学历家庭、父辈健康的样本中,婴幼儿入托对女性劳动收入的促进 作用更明显;婴幼儿入托通过影响劳动参与和照护时间来影响女性劳动收入。研究建议,应加大对托育服务市 场的扶持力度,完善家庭托育支持政策,精准对接家庭托育需求,以提升女性的劳动收入。