Search results

Since April 26, 2005, women in same-sex relationships in Aotearoa/New Zealand have been able to enter into civil unions. This article reflects on the Civil Union Bill as a means of recognizing the diversity of lesbian families and relationships. There has been little critical exploration of the bill in Aotearoa/New Zealand; however, the development of such scholarship here and internationally is necessary. Such reflection is relevant to the social work profession because it widely claims to recognize and be inclusive of diverse forms of families and relationships.

Boys' Love (BL) is a global by-and-for women genre of youth culture focused on male-on-male sexuality and romance. Incest relationships are not uncommon in BL yet there is no research on what kinds are of most interest to the audience, and with which sub-demographics, and none offer an intercultural comparison. We address this lacuna analyzing data from the largest BL audience survey to date in both Anglophone (N = 1715) and Sinophone (N = 1922) regions. CATPCA reveals a strikingly similar component structure across the two cultures with a preference hierarchy descending from non-blood relationships, blood intergenerational, then brothers. For both regions, it is the avid fans who tend to consume incest material while, for the Sinophone, it is the less socially empowered who appear most engaged: women, the other-gendered, and the nonheterosexual. Moreover, Sinophone fans are more concerned about legal issues than are Anglophone. Other subtle cultural differences suggest Sinophone BL fans focus on family rules and roles and the Anglophone on the intimacy of brotherly bonds. As young women have increasing opportunity to create and consume sexuality explicit material geared to their particular tastes and needs, our study provides important information to inform debates about the forms, functions, and legislative context around pornography.

Our aim is to compare comprehensive data on the engaged demographics of female-oriented male-male erotica in Anglophone regions and that of the greater China area. Our study constitutes the largest such data set in each region (Anglophone N = 1707; Chinese N = 1498). Data were analysed from our online Boys' Love (BL) fandom survey: one version in English and an almost identical version in Chinese. We confirm that the engaged Anglophone demographic includes more men, people with a wider range of sexual orientations, lower proportion of heterosexual identification, and a wider and older age range. We provide greater detail than ever before and demonstrate engagement with BL by young straight men and questioning of sexual identity by female fans, at least in the Anglophone West. Finally, we provide novel evidence that a broad demographic of young people in the greater China area is familiar with BL as a casual interest in contrast to Anglophone regions where it is more of an intense and niche pass-time. We offer important insights into a global erotic entertainment by-and-for women which is influencing the mainstream but under increasing legislative scrutiny.

AbstractOur aim is to compare comprehensive data on the engaged demographics of female-oriented male-male erotica in Anglophone regions and that of the greater China area. Our study constitutes the largest such data set in each region (Anglophone N = 1707; Chinese N = 1498). Data were analysed from our online Boys' Love (BL) fandom survey: one version in English and an almost identical version in Chinese. We confirm that the engaged Anglophone demographic includes more men, people with a wider range of sexual orientations, lower proportion of heterosexual identification, and a wider and older age range. We provide greater detail than ever before and demonstrate engagement with BL by young straight men and questioning of sexual identity by female fans, at least in the Anglophone West. Finally, we provide novel evidence that a broad demographic of young people in the greater China area is familiar with BL as a casual interest in contrast to Anglophone regions where it is more of an intense and niche pass-time. We offer important insights into a global erotic entertainment by-and-for women which is influencing the mainstream but under increasing legislative scrutiny.

AbstractDespite the increasing resources being allocated from marketing budgets to sponsorship, effective evaluation is relatively rare, and sponsorship evaluation methods are often proprietary in nature. This paper reports on a research project designed to develop a process model for evaluating sponsorships. An initial version was conceived from agency theory, the evaluation literature, and sponsorship writings. This draft was then assessed by sponsorship experts during a series of 14 in‐depth interviews. Based on these analyses, a final version of the process model was proposed. The revised version was then adopted to evaluate—as a demonstrative example—a specific sponsorship. Results of this case and recommendations for future research and practice in sponsorship evaluation are presented. Copyright © 2011 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The fading affect bias (FAB) is a phenomenon of autobiographical memory whereby negative emotions associated with event memories fade in intensity over time more than positive emotions. Social disclosure enhances the FAB and listener responsiveness during social disclosure is an important facet, however, little is known about the nature of listener verbal responses that facilitate an enhanced FAB. In this study, we used discourse analysis to explore listener verbal responses and conversational patterns associated with an enhanced FAB after social disclosure: backchanneling, in which the listener shows they are paying attention to the story underway; displays of understanding whereby the listener shows awareness of the speaker's emotional state; and positive facilitation, characterized by mutual development of positive interpretations of both pleasant and unpleasant experiences. We suggest that such listener responses are similar to those described in the verbal person-centered framework, and the emotional benefits of social disclosure are in part collaboratively created by conversationalists.

Organizations of all types increasingly recognize the importance of sponsorship as a source of revenue and as a means to achieve their objectives. This trend is driving the broader adoption of sponsorship, which has resulted in its use to pursue objectives other than those related to promotion, including those related to behavior change and, thus, social marketing. Concurrently, sponsors and sponsees are demanding the development of legitimate, reliable, and meaningful methods for the evaluation of sponsorship as investment in the area increases. For organizations whose objectives include behavior change and, thus seek to market behaviors (i.e., social marketers) this results in a need to be able to evaluate the social marketing elements of their sponsorships, distinct from other objectives that may be sought. The current research conceptualizes social marketing in sponsorship and then develops hypothetical examples for each resulting scenario to demonstrate how social marketing elements in sponsorship should be evaluated.

Quarterlife crisis' describes difficulties experienced by young people in their transition to adulthood. Little is known about how this crisis manifests in different cultural contexts or the impact of educational background. Using photo-elicitation and timeline interviews, we explore the lived experience of 'quarterlife crisis' among 22-30 year olds from England (n=16) and Assam, India (n=8), each group including people with and people without a university-level education. Data were analysed with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. We report the key theme of 'forced adulthood', consisting of the traumatising experience of having to assume adult roles and responsibilities before one feels capable of so doing. We explore how cultural and educational factors shape this experience though: feeling rushed to financial self-sufficiency; having to train oneself to be an adult; and having to be the 'man of the house'. In conclusion, we demonstrate that, even though there is some consistency around the traumatising effect of too early an assumption of adult responsibility, culture and educational background can change the contours of this experience and its meaning.

This was a retrospective cohort study. Algorithms were developed to identify a cohort of people who were trans and gender diverse (PTGD) among provincial-level administrative health databases (physician, hospital, emergency department, and pharmacy) from April 1, 2012 to September 30, 2020. Then, healthcare usage was compared between the identified cohort and the general population. There were 6466 unique individuals identified in the cohort, out of a total population of 1.2 million Saskatchewan residents (~0.5%). They had a mean age of 42.5 (SD 17.7) years. 1946 (30.1%) had a female sex marker and 4560 (69.9%) had a male sex marker, which may not indicate their lived gender. The cohort had increased healthcare usage 2 years prior to their index date, compared to the general population, which continued to rise to 1 year past their index date across physician, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations. The results for drugs were mixed. The percentage of PTGD identified in Saskatchewan was comparable to other studies. Healthcare utilization among the cohort was higher than the general population. Further research could use external data sources to validate and improve the cohort identification methods. The large majority of individuals with a male sex marker deserves further investigation.