Varieties of women's studies

The distinction between ‘autonomous’ Women's Studies programs and ‘integrationist’ projects as adumbrated by Bowles and Duelli Klein is a false one; in fact, this is all part of the same work. Several factors (funding sources, publicity, terminology, administrators' attitudes and the relationship of curriculum change programs to the disciplines) have made it seem as though these are different kinds of work. This paper argues that we should try to see our varied efforts as complementary and some of our differences as due to necessary strategic choices.     

Consistency in policy thinking

This study examines consistency in opinion on a variety of important state and national policy questions. The data come from a two-wave panel study of adult Floridians conducted in 1981 and 1982. Wide variations in consistency of opinion over the 1-year period are found. Salience has an important impact on consistency, with respondents who find an issue salient almost always exhibiting more consistent opinions, but salience cannot explain the variations in consistency across issues. The level of government on which the issue is focused (national or state) has no bearing on consistency. Most important, the particular nature of the issue itself, especially how central it is to the individual and how long it has occupied the political agenda (maturity), affects consistency of opinion. Centrality and maturity both contribute to issue attitude consistency and even can compensate for one another. Both highly central new issues and remote old issues can produce consistent attitudes, but deficiences in centrality seem to override issue maturity. These findings illustrate the value of looking beyond opinion distributions to the meaning of the survey response. With information on consistency and its sources, the public opinion analyst can interpret polling results intelligently, and the study of public opinion can become more objective and scientific.     

Correlates of outcome following acute glutethimide overdosage

Potential predictors of outcome following acute glutethimide overdosage were assessed in 63 patients hospitalized with this diagnosis at a large urban medical center between 1962 and 1975. Their mean age was 34 years (range, 15 to 84 years) and 62% were female. Assisted ventilation was required in 59% of cases, and 32% developed hypotension. Six patients died, including all three aged 60 years or older. Multiple regression analysis confirmed that age was the major identifiable determinant of survival, regardless of other factors. Among identifiable determinants of coma grade, glutethimide dose, glutethimide plasma concentration, and coingestion of barbiturates were the most important. An ingested dose of 10 g or more, or a plasma concentration exceeding 30 microgram/ml, was almost always associated with deep coma. However, a relatively small ingested dose or a low plasma level by no means ruled out development of serious intoxication, particularly in those patients who also ingested barbiturates. Thus elderly individuals are at high risk for fatal outcome following glutethimide overdosage and should receive priority for intensive care and monitoring. Glutethimide dose, plasma concentration, and history of coingestion of barbiturates are of value in predicting development of deep coma. These items of information should be obtained on admission whenever possible.     

Childhood Abusive and Supportive Experiences, Inter-Parental Violence, and Parental Alcohol Use: Prediction of Young Adult Depressive Symptoms and Aggression

Issues in both the children of alcoholics and child abuse literatures were addressed in an attempt to disentangle the effects on young adults of growing up in alcoholic homes versus abusive homes. Using multiple regression, retrospective reports of parental abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual) and parental support (love/support, independence, and fairness), witnessing violence between parents, and parental alcohol use were used as predictor variables for outcomes noted by both literatures. When the effects of all other predictors were statistically controlled, parental alcohol use was not significantly related to depressive symptoms or aggression. Different abusive and supportive behaviors, depending on sex of parent and sex of participant, were significant predictors of both depression and aggression. Results underscore the importance of including and controlling for inter-parental violence and for different types of child abuse (especially emotional abuse) and parental supportive behaviors in investigations of outcomes related to abusive and alcoholic families. Implications for treatment of individuals from these families are discussed.     

Battered women who kill their abusers: an examination of commonsense notions, cognitions, and judgments

It has been argued that battered women who kill their abusers represent a special class of defendants being unfairly treated in the legal system. As a result, commentators have argued for reforms to permit the judicial system to respond more fairly. Researchers have investigated the influences of these prescribed legal modifications and the possible influence of various demographic and psychological factors on legal reforms. However, social scientists have not yet asked some fundamental, psychological questions. Is the law consistent with what society believes is right and just? Is there a commonsense notion of justice in these cases? What factors constitute cognitive decision rules and influence judgments in cases of battered women who kill their abusers? This study uses a basic, psychological method to identify psychological factors that are important in judgments regarding battered women who kill and to better understand commonsense notions of justice in these cases.     

Gender disparity in criminal offenses among persons of high IQ

Criminologists have largely neglected deviance among those with high IQs. This work uses Towers's (1988) concept of conventional genius to analyze how deviant behavior varies by gender among genius offenders. Like Bisi (2002), the authors expect female patterns of deviance to be lower than that for males even within this genius sample. Their work finds that male geniuses are significantly more likely to self-report ever having committed violent felonies. Among the authors' conventional genius sample of university students, gender differences in nonviolent felonies, misdemeanor offenses, and unethical behaviors are not significantly different between the female and male respondents.     

Re-thinking feminism: Some thoughts on the limitations of ‘basics’-training

In this article, I draw on my experience as a Jew and a lesbian and as a Jewish lesbian—both outside and inside the Women's Liberation Movement—to examine the problem of feminist ‘basics’ and to assess the new ethos of ‘diversity’, which has emerged in recent years as ‘other feminists have begun to make our presence felt within feminism.