How to be a Girl: Consumerism Meets Guidance in the Australian Women’s Weekly’s Teen Segments, 1952–1959

In 1952, when Australian teenagers were beginning to emerge as their own distinct social and consumer group, the Australian Women’s Weekly introduced a column specifically targeted at teens. “Youth Sums Up” was intended for both boys and girls, but by 1954 it had developed into For Teenagers, a monthly lift-out aimed predominantly at girls, which became Australia’s first version of a national teen girl magazine. In this article, I examine the ways in which the Weekly used its teen segments and lift-outs to mould teenage girls into the 1950s feminine ideal, and to sell the products that reflected the attitudes and values of the time to this new and powerful young market. I also demonstrate that while the Weekly’s teen segments promoted a traditional femininity, some of its teen girl readers publicly rejected these notions within the pages of the magazine, giving us a broader understanding of teenage girls, girl culture, and what is usually defined as a purely conservative decade.     

Amniotic fluid embolism-apropos two consecutive cases

Amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) is a sporadic, unpredictable, and usual fatal obstetric complication. The paper deals with two cases of maternal deaths because of AFE verified by medicolegal autopsy. In both the cases, several known risk factors associated with AFE, such as increased maternal age (41 and 35 years), diabetes, augmented labor, and cesarean delivery, were identified. Clinical features were typical, including sudden onset of cardiovascular and respiratory symptoms. In the patient who survived longer, both clinical and autopsy signs of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy were present, while they were absent in the case where death occurred rapidly. This paper describes briefly the particular features to look for at autopsy and stresses the importance of histology examination and staining techniques.     

未婚怀孕:意外还是计划之内?——流动青年同居者的怀孕意愿与经历研究

未婚怀孕现象在中国呈上升趋势,而且随着未婚同居的兴起,未婚怀孕越来越多地发生在同居伴侣中。本文通过分析来自35位有未婚怀孕经历(自己或伴侣)和30位正面临未婚怀孕风险的两类流动青年男女同居者的深度访谈材料,探讨了流动青年的同居怀孕意愿,以及导致或阻止他们在同居关系中怀孕的因素。研究发现,同居很大程度上增加了流动青年女性意外怀孕的风险,这种风险的增加往往是由于避孕时的疏忽大意和依赖有效程度较低的避孕方式所致,很少是因为缺乏避孕意识和知识。研究还发现,同居怀孕情况的增多部分取决于计划内怀孕的增多,同居关系特征、家庭期待和生育的年龄规范压力是影响怀孕意愿的关键因素,怀孕成为结婚准备过程中的一步,有时甚至是结婚前必要的一步。总之,在流动青年群体中,一种关于同居、怀孕和婚姻的联合决策模式正在形成,尽管这打破了组建家庭的传统顺序,但由婚姻来组织生育行为的社会规范并未被动摇。     

解读“借腹生子”中的有关法律问题

借腹生子现象的迅速发展,衍生了不少法律问题。其实,从法理的角度看,借腹合同并没有违反公序良俗原则,也不构成买卖婴儿;它恰恰是代孕母行使身体权、委托夫妇行使生育权的体现,婴儿完全可以视为委托夫妇的婚生子女。从世界立法主流看,我国法律对此不应该全面禁止,而应采取适当放开的态度,允许非商业性质的代孕存在。     

Changes in Intimate Partner Violence During Pregnancy

Women's experiences of partner violence, both before and during pregnancy, are described using a convenience sample of women recruited from prenatal clinics. Included were an index group of women who told their clinicians that they had been physically abused during pregnancy, and a comparison group of women who told their clinicians that they had not been physically abused during pregnancy (even though later more detailed assessment found that some of these comparison women had experienced such violence). The women averaged 27 years of age, with 83% being high school graduates, 26% being married, and 66% having had previous children. The Conflict Tactics Scales 2 assessed rates of partner violence victimization of the women and their male partners, including psychological aggression, physical assault, and sexual coercion. Injuries also were assessed. Results showed that comparison men were physically assaulted at significantly higher rates than were their female partners, both before and during pregnancy (even though these victimization rates were much lower than those seen among the index couples). Index women experienced higher rates of psychological aggression, physical assault, and sexual coercion than did their male partners, and these women were significantly more likely than their male partners to be injured. Pregnancy onset was associated with significant increases in the rates of psychological aggression among both the index and comparison couples. In addition, the index women experienced a significantly increased rate of sexual violence victimization during pregnancy. However, pregnancy was not associated with significant increases in the rates of physical assault or violence-related injuries among the index or comparison couples.