Femininity discovered: Dreams of two women

[For reasons of space and because Ms Gerry's “Testament” was written with friends especially in mind, the original text has been abridged with the approval of Mary Nunn, executor of Ms Gerry's literary estate-Ed.]

[Peggy Gerry's life ended June 13, 1976-Ed.]     

Mind-wandering and dysphoria

Mind-wandering shares a number of important similarities with thinking in depression. This experiment examines whether mind-wandering provides a useful marker of cognition in dysphoria during a word learning task. Dysphoria was associated with more accessible mind-wandering when attempting to encode verbal items. In addition, in the dysphoric population, periods when the mind wandered led to greater decoupling from task-relevant processing as indexed by slower response times, and greater physiological arousal, as indexed by faster heart rates. In the general population, periods of mind-wandering when attempting to encode information were associated with poor retrieval and high skin conductance. Finally, the extent to which mind-wandering was associated with poor retrieval was associated with an individuals’ latency to retrieve specific autobiographical memories from outside the laboratory. These results provide strong evidence for the utility of mind-wandering as a marker for depressive thinking and suggest a number of important implications for therapy for depression.     

Career plans of men and women in gender-dominant professions

This research investigated sex differences in the career plans of 557 men and women completing graduate training in the male-dominated professions of business, law, and medicine and the female-dominated professions of education, nursing, and social work. Content analysis was performed to determine the continuity, specificity, ambition, and accomodation of family responsibilities reflected in plans for 2-, 5-, 10- and 20-year points. Chi square analyses showed clear patterns of sex differences in the feminine professions. Except for child care, the plans of women in male-dominated groups were not significantly different from those of male colleagues. The findings are discussed from the perspective of role theory.     

In Defense of Femininity: Commentary on Sandra Bartky's Femininity and Domination

According to Bartky, “To be a feminist, one has first to become one,” and to become a feminist, one has to overcome femininity. Although I agree with Bartky's critique of femininity, I argue that feminist consciousness has to involve a contradictory attitude toward femininity—not just a critique, but also an appreciation of the Utopian values it harbors.     

Sequential sampling plans for use in psychological test work

In large-scale psychological testing programs, it happens frequently that a group of items must be checked for accuracy with respect to certain characteristics. In many cases it is not feasible to check each item in the group separately, so that a decision concerning the entire group is usually reached by examining in detail only a small portion of the group. This paper proposes some sequential sampling plans for use in this type of work. A general discussion of the problem is followed by an illustrative example of the method applied to checking scores on groups of psychological test papers.The stimulus for this paper was provided by Dr. S. B. Sells.     

Factors related to marriage and career plans in unmarried women

Career and marriage plans of female unmarried undergraduates were examined and systematically related to other variables. All respondents indicated their plans for a career, marriage, and children. In addition, they completed the Personality Research Form, a standardized personality measure that assesses traits relevant to functioning in a variety of situations. Results showed that while the majority of respondents planned on having a career and family, their priority was the family. Career commitment, as measured by perceived importance of career, was a significant predictor of the woman's educational, career, and family plans. The more respondents aspired to the full-time career model, the less traditionally feminine were their personalities.Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Canada Council for its financial support through grant #410-77-0241.Formerly a psychology student and is presently studying law.     

Positive emotion can protect against source memory impairment

Despite widespread belief that memory is enhanced by emotion, evidence also suggests that emotion can impair memory. Here we test predictions inspired by object-based binding theory, which states that memory enhancement or impairment depends on the nature of the information to be retrieved. We investigated emotional memory in the context of source retrieval, using images of scenes that were negative, neutral or positive in valence. At study each scene was paired with a colour and during retrieval participants reported the source colour for recognised scenes. Critically, we isolated effects of valence by equating stimulus arousal across conditions. In Experiment 1 colour borders surrounded scenes at study: memory impairment was found for both negative and positive scenes. Experiment 2 used colours superimposed over scenes at study: valence affected source retrieval, with memory impairment for negative scenes only. These findings challenge current theories of emotional memory by showing that emotion can impair memory for both intrinsic and extrinsic source information, even when arousal is equated between emotional and neutral stimuli, and by dissociating the effects of positive and negative emotion on episodic memory retrieval.     

Farm women/farm work

The lack of documentation of women's farm work makes it difficult to assess women's contributions to farm businesses. A survey of farm women in western Canada showed that while younger women were more likely to have a farm work role, they also saw more barriers to farm work than older women. Variations in women's farm work may be a result of cohort differences in socialization for farm work, of farm cycle, or of family cycle. Incorporation of off-farm and household work into the analysis of women's contributions to the farm business is suggested as a more comprehensive method of assessing their work involvement.This research was funded by The Research Council of Alberta Farming for the Future.     

Psychology and violence against women

The discipline of psychology has made many contributions to the understanding of the social problem of men's violence against women during the past 15 years by reframing the problem as one of misuse of power by men who have been socialized into believing they are entitled to control the women in their lives, even by violent means. The new scientific psychology data base formed by integrating feminist gender analysis methods into more traditional psychological methodology is discussed, as are the implications of the resulting empirical data on which are based newer assessment, treatment, and forensic applications. A review of the major psychological advances in psychotherapy with women who have been sexual assaulted, exploited, and battered is presented, as well as implications for national policy. The feminist model presented is one in which science and practice concerns are carefully considered at all steps of the process. The article concludes with a discussion of the challenges involved in making the future training of psychologists more relevant to women's mental health concerns.     

Obstetricians and violence against women

I argue that the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), as an organization and through its individual members, can and should be a far greater ally in the prevention of violence against women. Specifically, I argue that we need to pay attention to obstetrical practices that inadvertently contribute to the problem of violence against women. While intimate partner violence is a complex phenomenon, I focus on the coercive control of women and adherence to oppressive gender norms. Using physician response to alcohol use during pregnancy and court-ordered medical treatment as examples, I show how some obstetrical practices mirror the attitudes of abusive men insofar as they try to coercively control women's behavior through manipulation and violence. To be greater allies in the prevention of violence against women, obstetricians should stop participating in practices that inadvertently perpetuate violence against women.     

Primary Femininity and Female Genital Anxiety

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

强化安全防范措施 确保文物绝对安全

武当山道教协会从保护世界文化遗产的角度、从保护祖国珍贵历史文化财富的角度、从保护真武道场的角度出发,强化安全防范措施,确保武当山庙观和文物的绝对安全,取得了显著的效果,受到上级有关部门的肯定。他们的主要做法是:一、提高思想认识,把安全工作当作道协最重要的工作来抓。武当山道教协会从三个方面对全体道人进行教育,提高大家对作好文物安全防火重要性的认识。一是引导大家回顾武当山历史上古建筑失火的教训,认清火灾是古建筑最大的危害。历史上,唐、宋、元、明、清都曾在武当山大兴土木,营造了规模巨大的道教建筑群,但是留下的建…     

Men and women at work: Similarities and differences in work values within occupational groupings

This paper presents national survey data regarding the work-related values of male and female labor force participants. Evidence is also presented concerning the relationship of family responsibilities to the work values of women. The empirical analysis derives in part from the recent work of Kaufman and Fetters (Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1980, 17, 251–262), the quality of work literature, and the literature on women and work. The hypotheses include expected work-value differences between men and women within occupational categories and the expected relationships between the presence of children in the home and the value attached to various aspects of work. Five job dimensions are considered: intrinsic, extrinsic, resource adequacy, convenience, and relations with co-workers. The only male-female value difference that appears to be enduring concerns the convenience aspects of work. Data indicate that the presence of children in the home, whether of preschool age, school age, or a combination of the two, tends to be negatively related to most work values of women. It is concluded that working women with children experience reduced work involvement.     

The Relationships Between Codependency and Femininity and Masculinity

Feminist writers critical of the codependency model have argued that codependency refers to an overly strong conformity to the traditional feminine role. Canonical correlation analysis using data from 192 first-year university students found a moderate association between codependency and gender-role identification. The specific nature of this association varied with different aspects of codependency. External focus (approval seeking) was associated with high scores on the negative aspects of femininity and low scores on positive aspects of masculinity. Self-sacrificing was associated with high positive femininity and low negative masculinity. Women scored higher than men on one aspect of codependency: external focus. Although the data are broadly consistent with a feminist critique of codependency, the relationship between codependency and gender-role identification appears to be more complex than previously suggested.     

A comparative study of values and attitudes of inner-city and middle-class postpartum women

This study compared postpartum women from the inner city (n = 94) and postpartum women from the urban middle class (n = 80) on values and goals for themselves and their newborn children. Terminal values of inner-city women for themselves related more to social and religious goals in contrast to the more intrapersonal and personal goals of middle-class women. Instrumental values of inner-city women for their newborn children demonstrated concern with conformity and control, whereas for the middle class there was more concern with competence. Goals for the near future of the inner-city mothers were based on a desire for jobs and education.     

Comments on Sandra Lee Bartky's Femininity and Domination

To illustrate the strength of Bartky's clarity of insight I focus on her discussion of shame found in two essays in Femininity and Domination. J argue that these essays as well as the other in the collection identify and offer a clear analysis of many issues central to feminism and call for Bartky to write a sequel which offers constructive suggestions of ways out.     

Masculinity,Femininity, and Reported Paranormal Beliefs

Previous research has found that women are more likely than men to report belief in nonmaterial paranormal phenomena (e.g., psychics). There are inconsistent findings about whether men are more likely than women to report belief in material paranormal phenomena (e.g., bigfoot/sasquatch), and no prior survey research has examined gender expression (as masculine or feminine) as it relates to paranormal beliefs. This paper asks: How do gender identity and gender expression relate to reported paranormal beliefs? It answers this question using a large sample (n = 2504) of Canadians. Femininity helps explain differences between cisgender women and men on reported beliefs about foreseeing the future and telekinesis, but less so about reported belief in ghosts. Intriguingly, reported gender atypicality is associated with reported belief in all paranormal phenomena among cisgender women and among cisgender men. The results highlight the importance of measuring gender expression for beliefs that science cannot verify.