Fun in Gender—Youth and Sexuality,Class and Generation

Is the norm of love as a prerequisite for sexual relations becoming less prominent among girls today? The article looks into the changing cultural framing of young, heterosexual, female desire during the last three generations, and how class differentiation among women was established in new ways in these processes. The analysis draws on a study of young Norwegian women over three generations (born in the 1910s and 1920s, the 1940s and early 1950s, and in 1971–72). Throughout all generations young women have been looking for the fun in gender—for the grandmothers connected to innocent infatuations, for the mothers to romantic love, while the daughters seem to be on their way to discover the fun of sex. It is argued that this quest for fun in gender has been a progressive force of social change, however often neglected both by feminists and in discourses on gender equality. The aspects that are highlighted, to different degrees in the different generations, seem to circulate around three themes: firstly, the relation between sexuality and reproduction; secondly, the relation between sexuality and love; and thirdly, the relation between sexuality and independence. The grandmothers had to navigate between being seen as nice or cheap, the mothers between cheap and prim, the daughters between liberated and exposed. In all generations, however, there is a specially designed category for young girls who have too much sex or sex under the wrong circumstances, and this category has almost inextricably been connected to working‐class girls and in this way simultaneously worked as a double threat for middle‐class girls.     

Editorial

Both at Nordic and European level, public research funding is taking new forms. In this article we identify some new trends and ask which consequences they could have for interdisciplinary research, especially for studies on gender. Based on data gathered in an on‐going EU research project on interdisciplinarity and the integration of Humanities and the Social Sciences, we discuss the Nordic situation in comparison to some European countries which are part of the project. We argue that the new trends are contradictory and ambiguous. We explore what happens to disciplinary divisions in the emerging new structures. In a tentative conclusion we suggest that the European streamlining of research funding in combination with a demand for large‐scale co‐operation are possible threats to small interdisciplinary fields like feminist research. While disciplinary boundaries on a structural level seem to dissolve, they are maintained in application and evaluation practices. Research programmes focusing on interdisciplinarity and themes within feminist research might instead be opportunities.     

Survival Strategies of Widows in Dijon during the French Revolution

When people talk about their lives, people lie sometimes, forget a little, exaggerate, become confused, and get things wrong. Yet they are revealing truths … the guiding principle for [life histories] could be that all autobiographical memory is true: it is up to the interpreter to discover in which sense, where, and for what purpose. (Passerini Passerini and Luisa. 1989. “Women's Personal Narratives: Myths, Experiences, and Emotions”. In Interpreting Women's Lives: Feminist Theory and Personal Narratives. Eds. Personal Narrative Group and Joy Webster Barbre 197Bloomington: Indiana, UP Print [Google Scholar] 197)     

Editorial

Welfare state support for the reconciliation of work and family has long been regarded as a characteristic of the Scandinavian welfare state and a trademark of its "woman-friendly" policies. Based on an examination of important Nordic childcare policy reforms of the 1990s, such as the expansion of state-sponsored childcare services, the strengthening of fathers' rights to care and the institution of cash grants for childcare, the impact of reforms on mothers and fathers as workers and carers is discussed. In conclusion, the discussion returns to the reconciliation of work and family, and asks: To what extent have reproduction policies succeeded in updating the traditional gender contract of the male breadwinner family?     

Knowing the past to understand the present - issues in the contracting for cloud based services

This article builds on our previous introductory article to cloud computing ([2009] 25 CLSR 270-274) and seeks to explain how cloud computing has evolved. We then discuss how this evolution impacts on key contractual and legal considerations and how the treatment of these considerations might differ from their treatment in traditional IT supply agreements.     

Brain Politics: Aspects of Administration in the Comparative Issue Definition of Autism-Related Policy

The construction of public problems has a lasting influence on implementation in a given policy subsystem. National and sociopolitical contexts influence issue definition differently across nations. However, the degree to which nation-specific issue definition takes place has been insufficiently explored. In recent years, the growing incidence of autism has led to a quest for causal factors. One hypothesis posits that the use of mercury in vaccines may be a culprit. This paper examines the definition of the mercury and autism issue in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Insights into the comparative elements of issue definition are suggested by the case. These insights are of particular importance to administrators, as agencies are deeply involved as objects and actors in the process of issue definition and are often responsible for implementing new and redefined policies.     

Seychelles: Democratising in the shadows of the past

This article is an assessment of the country's governance and the likelihood that the country can break free from the shadow of former President René and his one-party state. The paper examines eight key areas of democratic governance: the constitution and rule of law; the judiciary; the National Assembly; elections; civil society; the internal security forces; economic life; and the executive. Although it finds some changes for the better over the last few years, old habits remain of a politicised judiciary, a blurring of the boundaries between party and state, regime policing, partisan distribution of state benefits and a constrained National Assembly. It concludes with a discussion of the likely role of the former incumbent, given that he still retains the chair of the ruling party and shows little sign of allowing the new President to be his own man. The likelihood of further governance progress for Seychelles depends on the political courage of President Michel.     

An Overview of State Policy Problems

Concepts of federalism are briefly rmiewed with the intent of inquiring whether the states have become entrepreneurial as a result ofthe Reagan devolution. An overview of the contributions to the symposium suggests that support for a theory of cyclicality is not consistently evident in the states. Necessary resatrcesarenotalways present toallow thestates to bethe policyentrepreneurs in the United States.     

Foreign assistance and development in a small-island economy: The case of Fiji

In many works on comparative public administration and development management the arguments put forward are often presented within the framework of comparing developed and less-developed countries. However, within the latter category there are fairly substantial differences, usually categorized within the context of system of government, or degrees of per capita income. Rarely is the question of scale addressed head on. One dimension of this, for instance, is the nature and operation of public administration where the proliferation of traditional ministries, and the impartiality of the administration, become very problematic in terms of the extremely limited resources and the very personal nature of public life— especially in the microstates. In this paper the question of scale is addressed in the context of the relationship between one island state, Fiji, and its bilateral and multilateral partners. This is considered not just in terms of aid and loans, but in terms of such issues as the ‘critical mass’ of skilled professional people, and the problems of functioning in a system where the rules for such things as overheads seem to have been evolved in the context of the Third-World giants. It is shown that the scale variable is a very powerful one in both the effectiveness and efficiency of governments working in tandem with major external sources of capital assistance.