Growing up in the culture of slenderness: Girls'' experiences of body dissatisfaction

This paper reports two group-interviews of young women aged 8 and 13 years. These young women were dissatisfied with their bodies and described ideal figures that matched the slim adult ideal. The younger girls were not dieting but were involved in helping their parents to diet. Adolescents had avoided “fattening” foods and would be concerned if they put on half a stone in weight. Eating (particularly sweet food) was used as a means of comfort and to relieve boredom by young women in both age groups. Results are similar to those of Nickie Charles and Marion Kerr (1986) who interviewed adult women. It is concluded that children as young as 8 years give accounts of body dissatisfaction that are similar to those of adult women, and that suggest acceptance of the slim adult ideal. Implications are discussed in relation to cultural influences on young women that encourage objectification and criticism of the body.     

Towards understanding Botswana and South Africa’s ambivalence to liberal democracy

ABSTRACT

Despite their recognised democratic successes, Botswana and South Africa have had ambivalent experiences with liberal democracy. It is contended that they fall somewhere in-between what scholars refer to as electoral and liberal democracies; dominant party systems within Carothers’ ‘gray zone’. Two explanations are offered. The first relates to the underlying political culture of the ruling elite: the liberal democratic values of the founders and early elites of both the African National Congress (ANC) and the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) were never fully embedded; instead, their political cultures were influenced by traditions and ideologies with illiberal values. The second explanation focuses on a key feature of a liberal democracy – restraining of power, namely through encouraging an autonomous civil society and limiting executive access to the state. It is argued that for fear of losing their dominant positions, the ANC and the BDP resist restraints on their access to state power.     

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Resident Mothers and the Moral Dilemmas they Face During Custody Disputes

Recent scholarship has critiqued the tendency for separated mothers in custody disputes to be defined as hostile and alienating. Through the presentation of three case studies, drawn from an interview-based study with 21 women, we show how such pejorative constructions only arise when the conflicting gendered moral accountabilities of contemporary motherhood are overlooked. We found that mothers tend to believe that contact with non-resident fathers is generally in a child’s best interests. However, as a result of balancing complex moral obligations for the care of their children, they may raise questions about particular kinds of arrangements for contact with particular fathers. We argue, therefore, that family law practice will lead to better outcomes for children when professionals listen to the history of, and reasons for, mothers’ positions. To enable family law professionals to undertake this task, we offer an alternative interpretive framework for making sense of women’s stories. Should family law professionals make use of this framework, it is likely that they will understand that the positions mothers adopt are often the outcome of the difficult moral dilemmas they encounter in caring for their children, and that the reductive rubric of the ‘hostile mother’ needs to be treated with scepticism.     

Differences in suggestibility between 5–6 and 10–11 year olds: The relationship with self confidence

Abstract

Differences in suggestibility and recall between 5–6 and 10–11 year olds were investigated. It was hypothesized that younger children would be more suggestible than older children and that differences in self confidence between older and younger children would influence these differences. It was also predicted that older children would recall more information than younger children, and that this age difference would be less strongly influenced by self confidence. Forty-one 5 and 6 and fifty-six 10 and 11 year olds were interviewed about a video they had witnessed. Several factual and misleading questions were asked, and the percentage of correct answers to the factual questions (to measure recall) and the percentage of incorrect answer to the misleading questions (to measure suggestibility) were calculated. The level of self confidence of the children was measured with six items of the Behavioural Academic Self Esteem Scale (BASE), reflecting self confidence. The outcomes supported the hypotheses: Younger children were more suggestible than older children and this difference disappeared when controlled for self confidence. Older children gave mere information about the event than younger children, and these age differences were, to much less extent, influenced by their self confidence.     

Still better together? Purpose and power in intergovernmental councils in the UK

ABSTRACT

Intergovernmental relations in the United Kingdom were intended to be predominantly informal, but a machinery of intergovernmental councils (IGCs) developed alongside informal relations. This article examines the development, purpose and dynamics of the UK’s IGCs, with a particular focus on the multilateral Joint Ministerial Committee and the bilateral Joint Exchequer Committees. These IGCs remain weakly institutionalized and multilateral forums, in particular, are regarded by the devolved governments as providing limited opportunities for exercising influence. By contrast, bilateral IGCs have enabled devolved governments to utilize a range of non-constitutional resources to exert influence, irrespective of their relative constitutional weakness. The Brexit referendum generated an intensification of multilateral IGCs while exposing their weaknesses as forums for the exercise of shared rule. The purpose and dynamics within IGCs are shaped by the asymmetrical distribution of power, continued constitutional hierarchy, party competition and competing nationalist projects.     

Seeking Justice and Redress for Victim-Survivors of Image-Based Sexual Abuse

Feminist Legal Studies - Despite apparent political concern and action—often fuelled by high-profile cases and campaigns—legislative and institutional responses to image-based sexual...     

Towards a Comparative Theory of the Contractual Construction of Personal Work Relations in Europe

This article seeks to build upon the earlier article ‘Fromthe Contract of Employment to the Personal Work Nexus’(2006) 35 ILJ 1, and further to substantiate the theoreticalbasis for our work on the European comparative law of personalwork contracts. Two associated but distinct hypotheses are presented;the first one concerns ‘institutions’ and exploresthe ways in which the contract of employment has become andbeen a central institution of European labour or employmentlaw systems, but an institution differently constructed anddisplaying normative diversity as between those different systems.The second hypothesis postulates a contrast in juridical methodologyas between English common-law-based systems and continentalEuropean civil-law-based systems, the former being characterisedby a ‘regulated self-designed contracts’ approach,and the latter by a ‘standardised contract typology’approach. In conclusion, these two hypotheses are integratedinto a composite tentative comparative theory, which, we argue,can usefully be related to the theoretical discourse about the‘varieties of capitalism’ in Europe.     

Politics and the Public in Rawls' Political Liberalism

This paper is a critical discussion of a number of related themes in John Rawls' Political Liberalism. First, it considers whether Rawls' recent statement of his position proceeds from an adequate methodology for political theory. In particular, it questions whether Rawls has succeeded in accommodating both universalist, analytic and particularist, interpretive aspects of the political theoretical enterprise. Second, it engages in critical analysis of the conceptions of the political and the public which lie at the core of Rawls' theory. In this part of the paper, an important though not exclusive focus will be certain questions raised by Susan Moller Okin and other feminist critics of Rawls about the internal consistency of his conception of justice. It is argued that Political Liberalism neither addresses these questions explicitly nor, contrary to Okin's view, provides implicit conceptual tools which could allow a sympathetic interpreter of Rawls to do so. The direction of the argument will suggest certain preconditions for the development of a more substantively and methodologically adequate approach to political theory.