Bad Feelings

While the importance of negativity and negative affects to queer history and theory has been the subject of much recent critical discussion, bad feelings are equally prevalent in contemporary feminist theory. The aim of this article is not to provide a summary overview of a recent negative turn in feminist theory, however, nor to identify the early twenty-first century socio-political causes of this welling up of bad feeling. Rather, its purpose is to consider the way the increasing centrality of studies of affect to feminist histories and politics allows us to reconceptualise these as ‘affective genealogies'. The article examines this by focusing on three representative texts, which it takes as representative of three key moments in the recent affective genealogy of feminism: Rosi Braidotti's Metamorphoses: Towards a Materialist Theory of Becoming (2002); Sara Ahmed's The Promise of Happiness (2010); and Lauren Berlant's Cruel Optimism (2011).     

Officers’ memory and stress in virtual lethal force scenarios: Implications for policy and training

ABSTRACT

Sworn law enforcement officers (N?=?151) were exposed to two different simulated lethal force encounters, a motorcycle-traffic-stop (MTS) and a workplace violence incident. Workplace violence incidents (WPV) consisted of two versions: an original version (WVO) and an enhanced version (WVE) with additional tactile and auditory stimuli within the simulation environment. Officers’ recognition memory (immediate and 48?h later), perceived stress, and physiological stress responses were examined. Delayed reporting led to impaired memory for event information in the MTS and perpetrator information in the WVE simulation. Moreover, perpetrator information was remembered more accurately than event information. Two physiological stress markers – alpha amylase and immunoglobulin-a – were correlated with memory for the simulated experiences; however, cortisol and interleukin-6 were not. These findings support current theory related to arousal and memory suggesting that officers should be interviewed as soon as reasonably possible after a lethal force incident. Implications for legal parameters in defining a ‘reasonable officer’ exerting lethal force are considered.