“Our Revolution Has Style”: Contemporary Menstrual Product Activists “Doing Feminism” in the Third Wave

An in-depth content analysis of five web sites and eight paper zines (self-produced and distributed magazines) was conducted to uncover the inspiration, content, and unique strategies associated with text -based contemporary menstrual product activism. Menstrual product activism is loosely defined as various attempts to expose the hazards of commercial “feminine protection” to both women's bodies and the environment and the promotion of healthier, less expensive, and less resource-intensive alternatives. This activism's discourse draws on many traditions to produce its resistance to mainstream menses management. The movement, first and foremost, is the legacy of several decades of related activism, dating to the mid1970s. Contemporary menstrual product activism updates and modifies this tradition with the “do it yourself” ethic and anti-corporate philosophy of Punk culture and Third Wave feminist ideals of anti-essentialism, inclusion, humor, irony, and reappropriation. To date, this activist agenda has received little scholarly attention, yet it promises to yield meaningful insight into so called Third Wave feminist theory and practice and reveal the resilience of a woman-centered modern history of resistance.     

Moderators of the Exercise/Feeling-State Relationship: The Influence of Self-Efficacy, Baseline, and In-Task Feeling States at Moderate- and High-Intensity Exercise

The present study examined the moderating influence of self-efficacy, baseline feeling states, and in-task feeling states on exercise-related feeling-state changes at moderate- and high-intensity exercise. Physically active females ( N = 60) participated in 1 of 5 conditions: (a) attention control for 30 min, (b) exercise at 50% heart rate reserve (HRR) for 15 min, (c) exercise at 50% HRR for 30 min, (d) exercise at 85% HRR for 15 min, and (e) exercise at 85% HRR for 30 min. The Exercise-Induced Feeling Inventory (EFI; Gauvin & Rejeski, 1993) was completed pre-, during, and post-exercise, while self-efficacy was completed pre-exercise. Multilevel modeling (Bryk & Raudenbaush, 1992) revealed that pre-exercise self-efficacy and in-task tranquility moderated the change in tranquility for high-intensity exercise. Furthermore, baseline feeling states moderated the change in all 4 feeling states. It is recommended that baseline and in-task feeling states and self-efficacy be considered when examining high-intensity exercise.     

Pigeons' memory for number of events: Effects of intertrial interval and delay interval illumination

In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained at a 0-s baseline delay to discriminate sequences of light flashes (illumination of the feeder) that varied in number but not time (2f/4s and 8f/4s). During training, the intertrial interval was illuminated by the houselight for Group Light, but it was dark for Group Dark. Testing conducted with dark delay intervals produced a strong choose-small bias in both groups. All birds then received baseline training with a 5-s dark delay and were subsequently tested at shorter and longer dark delays. A choose-small bias was again observed at delays longer than the training delay, while a choose-large bias occurred at delays shorter than the training delay. Differentiating the ambient chamber illumination during the intertrial interval and the delay interval did not attenuate choose-small or choose-large effects. In Experiment 2, all birds received baseline training with a 5-s illuminated delay and were subsequently tested at shorter and longer illuminated delays. A choose-large bias was observed at delays longer than the training delay, while a choose-small bias occurred at delays shorter than the training delay. In Experiment 3, on intermittent test trials, when the duration of the second flash on small-sample trials was equal to the total flash duration on large-sample trials (i.e., 1600 ms), accuracy fell to approximately chance. These results suggest that pigeons discriminated the sequences of light flashes that varied in number but not in total duration of the sequence by relying on other temporal properties of the sequence rather than by using an event switch to count flashes.     

Prediction of overt aggression experienced by college students

We sought to predict overt aggression among college students from their intra- and interpersonal relationships self-perceptions. Respondents were 311 students (females = 69.8%; black = 65.9%, white = 16.7%; mean age = 26.38 years, SD = 9.57 years) from a large South African university. Results following multivariate inferential analysis indicated Negative, destructive interpersonal relationships; Negative, destructive self-concept; and Positive inclination towards others to predict overt aggression among the university students. By contrast, Positive interaction with self and others; and Submissiveness towards others can be used to predict overt aggression among the university students. Our hypothesis that the more constructive (higher) students’ self-concept and intrapersonal relationships, interpersonal relationships, the lower will their levels of overt aggression, physical aggression and verbal aggression become was supported. As such, the finding was that: Overt Aggression = a(Negative destructive interpersonal relationships) + b(Negative destructive self-concept) ? c(Positive inclination towards others).     

Femininity, Mental Weakness, and Difference: Male Students Account for Anorexia Nervosa in Men

The purpose of this study was to examine how men account for the diagnosis in men of anorexia nervosa (AN), a condition commonly associated with women. Male students participated in focus group discussions of topics related to AN. Discussions were tape-recorded with participants' consent, transcribed, and then analyzed using discourse analysis. The participants spontaneously constructed AN as a female-specific condition. When asked to account for AN in men, they distanced AN from hegemonic masculinities in ways that sustained both dominant masculine identities and gender-specific constructions of AN. These findings show how issues of health and gender are interlinked in everyday understandings of AN. Future researchers might usefully consider how the construction of gender-specific illness implicates wider notions of both feminine and masculine gender identities.     

Effect of intermittent exercise on multiple-choice reaction times of soccer players

The influence of intermittent exercise on a choice-response time task was investigated. Two groups of 8 male soccer players (M age = 20.9, SD = 2.0) participated. They spent 4.4 (SD = 1.3) weekly hours on soccer training and had been playing soccer for 13 (SD = 3.3) years. Multiple-choice reaction speed and response accuracy were measured four times. Between measurements, one group performed 8-min. blocks of intermittent exercise on a bicycle ergometer and one group rested. Analysis showed that reaction speed and response accuracy were not significantly different between the two groups. Furthermore, there were significant faster reaction times and a larger number of correct reactions through Block 2 in both the exercise and control group (p < .05), probably a result of learning processes and familiarization with the task procedures. Further research towards the specific influence of mode of exercise, intensity, work-rest ratio and duration of intermittent exercise, and the sensitivity of reaction time tasks will be necessary to clarify the relationship between intermittent exercise and cognitive performance.     

Feared identity and obsessive-compulsive disorder

We tested predictions from cognitive-behavioural theory that people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) regard their intrusions as revealing unacceptable aspects of their character. We compared an OCD sample with anxious controls (AC) and non-anxious controls (NAC) on a measure of the extent to which intrusions led to negative inferences about the self, assessed the discrepancy between their actual and feared self, and recorded the traits making up the feared self. The OCD sample did not differ from AC on self-discrepancies, but did differ from both control groups on the measure of negative inferences about the self. In addition, the feared self of the OCD sample was significantly more likely to consist of bad and immoral traits.     

Attractiveness of own-race, other-race, and mixed-race faces

Averaged face composites, which represent the central tendency of a familiar population of faces, are attractive. If this prototypicality contributes to their appeal, then averaged composites should be more attractive when their component faces come from a familiar, own-race population than when they come from a less familiar, other-race population. We compared the attractiveness of own-race composites, other-race composites, and mixed-race composites (where the component faces were from both races). In experiment 1, Caucasian participants rated own-race composites as more attractive than other-race composites, but only for male faces. However, mixed-race (Caucasian/Japanese) composites were significantly more attractive than own-race composites, particularly for the opposite sex. In experiment 2, Caucasian and Japanese participants living in Australia and Japan, respectively, selected the most attractive face from a continuum with exaggerated Caucasian characteristics at one end and exaggerated Japanese characteristics at the other, with intervening images including a Caucasian averaged composite, a mixed-race averaged composite, and a Japanese averaged composite. The most attractive face was, again, a mixed-race composite, for both Caucasian and Japanese participants. In experiment 3, Caucasian participants rated individual Eurasian faces as significantly more attractive than either Caucasian or Asian faces. Similar results were obtained with composites. Eurasian faces and composites were also rated as healthier than Caucasian or Asian faces and composites, respectively. These results suggest that signs of health may be more important than prototypicality in making average faces attractive.