Community,identity, orientation: sexuality,gender and rights in ASEAN

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) escalated its community building project significantly over the last decade, culminating in the launch of a reformed and substantially integrated ASEAN Community at the end of 2015. This article considers what might follow from this newly reformed and rhetorically people-focused version of ASEAN for matters of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE). In claiming to be people-oriented and people-centred, and by developing a regional rights regime, ASEAN opens itself to standards by which it can be measured and held to account. We critically review ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together, and consider civil society's response, focusing on the critique offered by the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, the peak civil society organisation for ASEAN SOGIE matters. We focus on three themes: identity, visibility politics, and rights. We argue that while ASEAN falls short of its own rhetorical standards, these same standards support a politics which keeps rights in contestation, enabling civil society to push for accountability to international standards, and a more democratic politics.     

Perceived Dimensions of Parenting and Non-suicidal Self-injury in Young Adults

Family experiences are influential in the development of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). The current study aimed to identify specific dimensions underlying early parent–child relationships in association with NSSI. It was hypothesized that all relationship dimensions would be related with NSSI, with some dimensions being stronger predictors when accounting for shared variance. Gender differences were also assessed. Participants were grouped according to the endorsement of NSSI in the past 6 months, resulting in a Non-NSSI group (n = 1133) and a NSSI group (n = 105). Significant differences were found for the relationship dimensions between the two groups. When shared variance was accounted for, fear and alienation were the only dimensions predicting NSSI. Similar results were found for females (n = 887), while no analyses using males (n = 351) were significant. These results emphasize the need to acknowledge the role of parent–child relationships in prevention programs and intervention models for NSSI.     

A Qualitative Examination of the Self-Medicating Hypothesis Among Female Juvenile Offenders

Substance misuse among criminally delinquent youth has typically been described as a concurrent part of their participation in risky and delinquent behavior. Using Khantzian’s self-medication hypothesis, this article presents an alternative view by presenting qualitative data which suggests that substance misuse for female juvenile offenders may serve as self-medication for mental health problems stemming from early trauma, often at the hands of their families. Based on the narratives of 30 female juvenile offenders, this article examines the lived experiences of girls with childhood trauma and substance misuse, followed by arrest and incarceration. The paper concludes with recommendations for juvenile justice and child welfare practitioners.     

Sometimes Less Is More: Censorship,News Falsification,and Disapproval in 1989 East Germany

Does more media censorship imply more regime stability? We argue that censorship may cause mass disapproval for censoring regimes. In particular, we expect that censorship backfires when citizens can falsify media content through alternative sources of information. We empirically test our theoretical argument in an autocratic regime—the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Results demonstrate how exposed state censorship on the country's emigration crisis fueled outrage in the weeks before the 1989 revolution. Combining original weekly approval surveys on GDR state television and daily content data of West German news programs with a quasi-experimental research design, we show that recipients disapproved of censorship if they were able to detect misinformation through conflicting reports on Western television. Our findings have important implications for the study of censoring systems in contemporary autocracies, external democracy promotion, and campaigns aimed at undermining trust in traditional journalism.     

THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCOMMUNICATION IN THE TRAINING OF MASS COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONALS IN CONTEMPORANEITY

ABSTRACT

This article proposes a reflection on the importance of including the concept of educommunication in the training of professionals who work with the media, whether in journalism or other fields, both at undergraduate and graduate levels. It presents initiatives developed at the State University of Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil, by the journalism undergraduate degree and in the specialisation course media, Politics and Social actors, started in 2011. Concepts such as knowledge, mass communication, educommunication and public policy are foregrounded in contemporary networked societies. With that in mind, we propose an analysis of the use of technology in the communication practices of NGOs, social movements, community groups, collective organisations and social networks from the perspective of educommunication. The results show the benefits of aligning the knowledge of communication and education in the training of journalists as well as other professionals who work directly or indirectly with mass communication.     

Does the Prior Application of the Field Kit Bullet Hole Testing Kit 3 on a Suspected Bullet Hole Bias the Analysis of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry?

Forensic ballistics is the study of bullet trajectory and consists of determining gunshot residue (GSR) to identify bullet holes. Among several highly sensitive methods, atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) is employed to analyze GSR in the laboratory. However, it is sometimes necessary to identify bullet holes immediately at a crime scene. The purpose of this examination was to determine whether the use of the field test Bullet Hole Testing Kit 3 (BTK3) on a suspected bullet hole would influence the outcome of AAS‐analysis: Three commonly encountered firearms (Glock17, Tokarev, and Colt) were fired at skin, wood, and cloth. AAS‐analysis was performed with and without previous BTK3 application. The results clearly indicate that there is no significant interaction on the grounds of BTK3 use (BTK3 vs. no‐BTK3 [kit_nokit] [Pb: p = 0.1309; Sb: p = 0.9111], material*kit_nokit [Pb: p = 0.5960; Sb: p = 0.9930], distance*kit_nokit [Pb: p = 0.4014; Sb: p = 0.9184], and firearm type*kit_nokit [Pb: p = 0.9662; Sb: p = 0.9885]); hence, applying this field kit does not falsify later AAS outcomes.