Discussing Racial Justice in Light of 2016: Black Lives Matter,a Trump Presidency,and the Continued Struggle for Justice

The broad fields of ethical reflection on racialization, racial justice, black liberation theology, and queer theology of color must come to terms with the year 2016, which can be framed on one side with the Black Lives Matter movement, and on the other side with a presidential election cycle in which racism and racial justice played particularly salient roles. Against this backdrop, this book discussion looks at recent literature on racial justice asking three questions. How does historical consciousness shape contemporary ethical thought on racial justice? In what ways do the intersectionalities of gender and sexuality, immigration and transnationality, class, and contemporary culture present particular challenges and new possibilities? And how do the ethical frameworks of religious traditions contribute to the development of public theology for racial justice? The conclusion considers how religious ethics concerned with racial justice does harm or contributes to religiously grounded responses to racial injustice. Reflection on these questions points to the need for ongoing engagement with the black experience—broadly construed and within the context of multiple intersections—in the United States and globally in ethical analysis. However, this in turn makes particular and critical demands on how it is that we are to both teach and read religious ethics and political theology at our institutions, as well as in the churches.     

WOMEN'S SELF-DEFINITION IN ADULTHOOD: FROM A DIFFERENT MODEL?

This article examines criticisms of existing models of adult development from both feminist and developmental psychologists. To answer these criticisms, a model of women's adult self-definition is presented that is based upon current research on women's adult experience. The model combines a dialectical approach, which considers the effects of social/historical factors, with a feminist approach, which emphasizes the importance of caring and relationships, to illustrate the critical factors affecting a woman's self-knowledge during the adult years.     

Nobody Puts Baby in the Container: The Foetal Container Model at Work in Medicine and Commercial Surrogacy

This article argues that a particular metaphysical model permeates cultural practices surrounding pregnancy: the foetal container model. Widespread uncritical reliance on this view of pregnancy has been highly detrimental to women's liberty and reproductive autonomy. In this article, I extend existing critiques of the medical treatment of pregnant women to the context of the burgeoning commercial surrogacy industry. In doing so, I aim to show that our philosophical analysis in both spheres is constrained by the presupposition that the foetus and pregnant woman are metaphysically and ethically distinct entities. By exploring the similarities and differences between the expectations placed on pregnant women in these two spheres, I show that the foetal container model is not a homogeneous understanding of pregnancy applied consistently across contexts; rather, it has been used to justify various practices and attitudes toward pregnancy and pregnant women through different moral frameworks, in the service of different overarching aims.     

A PROMISING MEASURE OF SEX BIAS: THE INCIDENTAL MEMORY TASK

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether differences in counselors' retention of information about a female and a male client in a previous study would also be obtained with a non-counselor sample. Two hundred eighteen undergraduate students participated in the present study. The findings indicated similarity between the under-graduates and counselors on measures of retention and question generation. In findings similar to those of the previous study, participants in this study retained less information under the female client conditions, p < .01, a result that indicates a possible negative valuation of female client concerns. The implication of the findings for counselor training is discussed; in particular, the findings support the utility of free-response measures for assessing sex role stereotyping.