The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008: Tinkering at the Margins

This note suggests that, viewed from a feminist perspective, the reforms contained in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 represent a missed opportunity to re-think the appropriate model of regulation to govern fertility treatment and embryology research in the UK. It argues that reform of the legislation was driven largely by the government’s desire to avoid re-igniting controversies over the legal status of the embryo and abortion and to maintain Britain’s position at the forefront of embryo research and related biotechnologies. It also highlights the importance of media debates, which were highly selective, to the reform process, and suggests that in order to inject feminist values into the process of legislative reform, feminists need to become more media savvy. In the short term, it suggests that there is little prospect of a radical re-thinking of the appropriate ethico-legal response to the wide variety of family forms that reproductive technologies potentially enable, much less of considering our ethical obligations to the new forms of embryos that are now permitted by the 2008 Act. In the meantime, however, it argues that these issues provide productive opportunities for feminist legal theorists to address questions that have been erased or obscured in the course of the 2008 reforms.     

Community forestry,labor migration and agrarian change in a Nepali village: 1980 to 2010

This paper follows forest conditions, agricultural practices, and livelihoods in a Nepali village between 1980 and 2010. A survey was administered to all village households in 1980, 1990 and 2010; semi-structured interviews were also conducted. Tree species frequency, density and dominance were determined for eight forest patches during each survey. Over this period the population of the village remained stable; the number of children decreased, and the number of people over 50 increased. Famers keep significantly fewer livestock, and have become less dependent on farming and more engaged in commercial activities. In 1980 the number of out-migrants was so few that they were not recorded; by 2010, 29 percent of the adult male population was engaged in migration. Nepal initiated an acclaimed Community Forestry program in the early 1990s; by 2010 about half the village’s forests showed improved tree density and size. Contrary to expectations and published literature, the study found that forest conditions in half of the village’s forests were not improved; and while livelihoods appeared to be better in 2010 than in 1980, they are not more secure as they are increasingly dependent on remittance incomes and hence at the whims of the international labor market.     

Gender differences in perpetuating factors,experience and management of chronic insomnia

The higher prevalence of insomnia in women has been attributed to biological factors, which are less likely than cognitive and behavioural factors to play a role in perpetuating insomnia. Gender differences in perpetuating factors have not been extensively examined. This study compared men’s and women’s self-reports of factors that perpetuate insomnia; experience of symptoms, perceived severity and impact on daytime functioning; and use of strategies to manage insomnia. Data were collected at baseline, using reliable and valid measures, in a project that evaluated behavioural therapies for insomnia. The sample (N = 739) consisted of women (62.4%) and men (37.6%). Gender differences were found in: (1) perpetuating factors: men took more naps and held more unhelpful beliefs about insomnia, whereas women experienced higher pre-sleep arousal; (2) perception of insomnia severity: higher among women; (3) perceived impact of insomnia: higher fatigue among women; and (4) use of strategies (higher in women) to manage insomnia. Gender differences were of a small size but could be associated with women’s stress, expression of somatic symptoms, and interest in maintaining their own health to meet multiple role demands.     

Gender,General Strain Theory,Negative Emotions,and Disordered Eating

Much of the prior work on General Strain Theory (GST) has focused on how strain and negative emotions interrelate to produce criminal—especially violent—activity. Very little research has extended GST to examine other types of non-criminal, negative behavior, such as self-harming behaviors associated with disordered eating, a traditionally female-specific self-directed outcome. Using a sample of 338 young adults (54% female, 95% white), this article applies GST to disordered eating by examining how strain and negative emotions relate to this particular outcome across gender. Findings indicate that two types of strain measures predict depressive symptoms among males and females, that inequitable strainful experiences relate to disordered eating among females but not males, that depressive symptoms but not anger increase disordered eating for both males and females, and that membership in Greek organizations (sororities or fraternities) is associated with disordered eating but only for males. Implications for theory and directions for future research are highlighted.