“Singing for Our Lives”: Women's Music and Democratic Politics

Although democratic theorists often employ musical metaphors to describe their politics, musical practices are seldom analyzed as forms of political communication. In this article, I explore how the music of social movements, what is called “movement music,” supplements deliberative democrats' concept of public discourse as rational argument. Invoking energies, motions, and voices beyond established identities and institutions anticipates a different, more musical democracy. I argue that the “women's music” of Holly Near, founder of Redwood Records and Redwood Cultural Work, exemplifies this transformative power of musical sound.     

Attitudes towards psychological treatment among older Australians

Reasons behind older adults' under‐utilisation of mental health services are complex. Barriers to access to mental health services for this group include service access and availability, attitudes of medical and mental health professionals, and attitudes of older people themselves. This questionnaire‐based study sought to investigate variables that may influence attitudes towards psychological help seeking among a late mid‐age–young‐old Australian sample of 159 community‐dwelling adults. The results suggest that attitudes towards seeking psychological help in this population were relatively positive. In addition, >50% of participants in the sample indicated that they had sought treatment for emotional or psychological difficulties in the past, with the greatest proportion of those who sought help noting that it was for “family problems” (56%). The findings suggest that negative attitudes to help seeking in this age group may not be as pervasive as previously assumed, and that help‐seeking behaviours may be high among those with positive attitudes towards help seeking.     

“Did You Bring the Yarmulke for the Cabbage Patch Kid?” The Idiomatic Communication of Young Lovers

The relationships of various aspects of idiomatic communication to the interpersonal sentiments of 100 romantically involved heterosexual couples were examined. After completing measures of love, liking, commitment, and closeness, the partners of each dyad were questioned about any words, phrases, or nonverbal signs they had created that had meaning unique to their relationship. The 647 idioms reported were coded for their form (i.e., verbal versus nonverbal), context of use (i.e., private idioms, which were used only when others were not present, versus public idioms, which could be used in the presence of others), and function (i.e., confrontations, expressions of affection, labels for outsiders, nicknames, requests, sexual invitations, sexual references/euphemisms, and teasing insults). For both sexes, loving, commitment, and closeness were correlated with number of reported idioms that expressed affection, initiated sexual encounters, and referred to sexual matters. The only significant relationship for liking was between females' liking scores and the frequency of idioms with sexual referents. A log-linear analysis revealed a significant association between the function of the idioms and their form; labels for outsiders, nicknames, sexual references/euphemisms, and teasing insults were almost always verbal. A significant association was also found between idiom function and context of use; labels for outsiders and teasing insults were most often used in situations involving other people, whereas sexual invitations and sexual references/euphemisms were usually used in private situations. Finally, males were the inventors of idioms much more often than females.     

Anorexia Nervosa: The Hospital's Role in Family Treatment

When an anorexia nervosa patient requires hospitalization for her ¹ 1 We will use the pronoun “her” to refer to anorexic patients since the overwhelming majority are female. Our discussion will focus mainly on younger adolescent girls who are still living with their families.
medical condition, the treatment team faces the problem of integrating the individual focus of inpatient care with the systems focus of family therapy. In this paper we propose a family-systems model of hospitalization, the aim of which is to facilitate such integration. The model draws on current theories of anorexia nervosa, as well as general concepts from psychodynamic, developmental, and family systems theories. The major hypothesis of the model is that all members of the anorexic family are developmentally arrested in the area of separation-individuation. On this assumption, we propose that the entire treatment team (including medical professionals and therapists) needs to function as “parents” to the anorexic family in much the same way that two cotherapists become parental figures in family therapy. Specifically, the team needs to provide those parenting responses that facilitate the family's individuation process.     

Male Client—Female Therapist

An understanding of the destructive effects of the traditional sex role stereotype on men is important to the female therapist who works with male clients. Males receive strong cultural training that inspires resistance to the vulnerable, emotional, feminine side of their natures and an unwillingness to seek assistance. This article examines difficulties presented by male clients who do seek therapy together with approaches to assisting in the development of a more balanced life that permits both masculinity and femininity in each person.     

Relationships Between Contraceptive Behavior and Love Attitudes,Sex Attitudes,and Self-Esteem

The current research took into account two previously developed models of effective contraceptive behavior, a model emphasizing interpersonal variables and a model emphasizing intrapersonal variables. The purpose was to identify variables related to contraception that could be addressed during contraceptive counseling and to aid persons in deciding the most effective contraceptive method within the context of an intimate relationship. The research used questionnaire responses from 350 male and female college undergraduates. Results indicated some support for aspects of both models, with modest relationships between contraceptive behavior and attitudes toward both love and sex, and self-esteem. The difficulties of developing a comprehensive model of contraceptive behavior are discussed, as are some practical implications of this research.     

housewife,Mother, Other: Needs and Helpers

Throughout the country many women with school-age children are attempting to find a means of becoming active outside the home. In this article the authors describe these women and discuss the impact of the women's movement on them. They also discuss the new agencies and the counselors that have been helping these women in their quest for liberation, and they point out the challenges that counselors have the opportunity to meet.