The Woman in the Red Dress: Gender,Space, and Reading. Minrose C. Gwin. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 2002.

An eclectic montage of literary analysis, autobiography, and reader response, taking the form of personal anecdotes and autonomous essays, The Woman in the Red Dress takes the reader on a journey in which Minrose C. Gwin analyzes both metaphoric and physical personal space. As Gwin defines it, space is "not an entity that contains something else but [is] the swirl of social relations and productions in particular locations, whether these locations be material, cultural, or even psychological" (6). The purpose of Gwin's work, as she says, perhaps too repetitively is: "to dramatize textual encounters in which narrative, space, and gender inscribe themselves on one another and their readers" (38). The title of this volume refers to the first work Gwin discusses in her introduction: Native American poet Joy Harjo's poem, "Deer Dancer," about a woman in a stained red dress who dances naked on a bar, changing not just the lives of those present, but also those who, like the narrator, merely hear the story (6-7).     

Acculturation,Gender, Depression,and Cigarette Smoking Among U.S. Hispanic Youth: The Mediating Role of Perceived Discrimination

Hispanic youth are at risk for experiencing depressive symptoms and smoking cigarettes, and risk for depressive symptoms and cigarette use increase as Hispanic youth acculturate to U.S. culture. The mechanism by which acculturation leads to symptoms of depression and cigarette smoking is not well understood. The present study examined whether perceived discrimination explained the associations of acculturation with depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking among 1,124 Hispanic youth (54% female). Youth in Southern California completed surveys in 9th–11th grade. Separate analyses by gender showed that perceived discrimination explained the relationship between acculturation and depressive symptoms for girls only. There was also evidence that discrimination explained the relationship between acculturation and cigarette smoking among girls, but the effect was only marginally significant. Acculturation was associated with depressive symptoms and smoking among girls only. Perceived discrimination predicted depressive symptoms in both genders, and discrimination was positively associated with cigarette smoking for girls but not boys. These results support the notion that, although Hispanic boys and girls experience acculturation and discrimination, their mental health and smoking behaviors are differentially affected by these experiences. Moreover, the results indicate that acculturation, gender, and discrimination are important factors to consider when addressing Hispanic youth’s mental health and substance use behaviors.