2004 CAROLYN SHERIF AWARD ADDRESS: HEART DISEASE AND GENDER INEQUITY

Individual patient records from the National Hospital Discharge Survey for 1988 and 1998 comprising approximately 10 million cases were the basis for a binary logistic regression model to predict coronary artery bypass graft. Patterns in 1988 and in 1998 indicated a dramatic and pernicious gender discrepancy in medical decisions involving bypass surgery. Overall, men were twice as likely to have bypass as were women with comparable medical profiles. This result was particularly evident for women in their 40s and 50s, when angina was a primary diagnosis, and in the presence of any comorbid condition (e.g., diabetes or hypertension). Failure to pursue proactive case management of women with heart disease costs women's lives.     

MENOPAUSE RESEARCH AND THE DOMINANCE OF THE BIOMEDICAL MODEL 1984–1994

Popular images and stereotypes of women in the menopausal age range are overwhelmingly negative. Because these stereotypes are likely both to influence and to be influenced by published scholarship, it is particularly important to examine conventional knowledge as it has been represented in science-based journals. In an effort to examine the extent and nature of the accepted knowledge base regarding menopause, a survey of both medical and psychological journal articles was conducted for the years 1984–1994. Publication trends revealed a predominance of articles based on a biomedical paradigm and the virtual absence of articles presenting alternative perspectives on midlife. Ten serious methodological problems common to this literature are delineated, including such fundamental errors as failure to acquire baseline data, lack of control groups, vague operational definitions, and blatantly pejorative language. We also discuss conceptual flaws implicit in the predominant paradigm, including the messages that women are different, sicker, and weaker than a normal, male, ideal. Finally, we consider the implications of these social constructions for the political, social, and psychological status of women.     

Procreation,Adoption and the Contours of Obligation

The goal of this article is to evaluate the defensibility of wide‐spread beliefs concerning the moral value of procreating. Very many of us are ‘pro‐natal’ — that is, we have a positive moral view of making more people — but pro‐natalism is under serious threat. In particular, I argue that combining several arguments in procreative ethics generates a powerful case for the Anti‐Natal Pro‐Adoption View (ANPA), or the view that we are obligated not to procreate, but instead to satisfy any parenting desires through adoption. Although this article ultimately serves as a defence against ANPA, it does so in a very limited way: while it is false that we are obligated to adopt‐rather‐than‐procreate, I contend, this does not mean that we are off the moral hook altogether. Failing in our obligations is only one way to fail morality. Our procreative acts may yet be bad, dishonourable, selfish, and open to multiple other criticisms. And indeed, I'm afraid many of them are.     

Darkness on the Edge of Town: Visual Criminology and the “Black Sites” of the Rural

“Black” has long been employed to inspire or communicate horror, isolation and dread. Employed the state and capital, from the CIA and municipal police departments to corporations, the “black site” is a geography that conceals the knowledge of its own existence and boundaries. “Rurality” is a spatial concept characterized by the unknown and the blurred edges of its own temporal and material existence. Taking the common rural prison and Contained Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) as examples of rural “black sites”, we contend that efforts to render them visible can be enhanced by the lessons of paranormal/spirit photography.     

Female Body Image as a Function of Themes in Rap Music Videos: A Content Analysis

A content analysis of rap music videos taken from the end of year countdowns aired on U.S. cable outlets (i.e. BET, MTV, and VH1) was undertaken. The analysis examined the body images of 258 female characters (87.6% Black, 5.8% White, 6.6% other) as a function of the thematic content in the videos (e.g., violence, sex). It was found that, overall, “thin” females were overrepresented in the videos. More interestingly, the body sizes of the female characters varied by three of the four video themes. When the music videos were high in sex, or high in materialism, women were more likely to have smaller body sizes. In contrast, when the videos were high in political awareness, women were more likely to have larger body sizes.     

Raphael Meldola and the Nineteenth-Century Neo-Darwinians

Raphael Meldola (1849–1915), an industrial chemist and keen naturalist, under the influence of Darwin, brought new German studies on evolution by natural selection that appeared in the 1870s to the attention of the British scientific community. Meldola’s special interest was in mimicry among butterflies; through this he became a prominent neo-Darwinian. His wide-ranging achievements in science led to appointments as president of important professional scientific societies, and of a local club of like-minded amateurs, particularly field naturalists. This is an account of Meldola’s early scientific connections and studies related to entomology and natural selection, his contributions to the study of mimicry, and his promotion in the mid-1890s of a more theory driven approach among entomologists.