Can men talk about problems with weight? The therapeutic implications of a discourse analytic study

This paper discusses the implications for counsellors of a discourse analytic study examining men's talk about body weight. It is argued that research in the area of problems with body has neglected the growing pressures on men to manage body as a feature of self. This research perpetuates the dominant discursive construction of men's relationship to body as unproblematic — a construction that may present many barriers to men in seeking help for any distress encountered. An analysis of men's talk is discussed in terms of the expectation that body is not problematic and the observable downplaying of any concerns acknowledged. The accountability of body as a site of regulation also emerges within the extracts presented. It is argued that this property within the accounts resonates with work highlighting the growing pressures on men to exercise control over body. The contradictions between the two discourses identified are discussed in terms of their therapeutic implications. It is postulated that male distress emerging from the growing pressures to maintain body weight may be neglected within primary care and therapeutic domains if discourses formulating such difficulties as not relevant to men remain dominant.     

When Subjectivism Matters

Abstract: In this article I consider when the question of whether entities exist subjectively (only in the minds of subjects) or objectively (in themselves, independently of the minds of subjects) is important, both theoretically and practically. I argue that when it comes to the metaphysics underlying three types of moral questions, broadly conceived, the subjectivity question does not matter practically, although it is widely thought to matter. Subjectivism does not matter in these moral questions in the same way(s) it matters in some nonmoral metaphysical issues. The moral questions I consider are the meaning of life, normative ethics, and the free‐will problem. The nonmoral issues I address are the existence of God, the traditional mind/body problem, and personal identity. I explain the difference by noting that certain metaphysical issues on the fact side of the fact/value distinction impinge on persons' lives more prominently than do the metaphysics behind the three moral questions.     

Laterality effects in the spinning dancer illusion: The viewing‐from‐above bias is only part of the story

The ‘silhouette illusion’, representing the silhouette of a female dancer pirouetting about her vertical axis, is a bistable stimulus created by Japanese web designer Nobuyuki Kayahara. Although the dancer can be perceived as spinning either clockwise or counterclockwise, the clockwise rotation is usually preferred. Troje and McAdam (i‐Perception, 2010, 1, 143) showed that this clockwise bias can be attributed to the tendency to assume a viewpoint from above rather than from below, given that the dancer is portrayed from a vantage point that is not perpendicular to the axis of rotation. Here, we tested whether another possible factor contributing to the observers’ interpretation of this bistable stimulus might be the tendency to perceive movements of the right rather than the left foot. We confirmed both the viewing‐from‐above bias and our hypothesis. The bias to perceive movements of the right leg might be a generalization to lower limbs of a perceptual frequency effect already observed for upper limbs. Such a perceptual and attentional bias towards the right hand/foot could account for the greater ability to predict the outcome of sport actions when observing right‐ rather than left‐limbed movements, and thus the left‐handers' and left‐footers' advantage observed in a variety of interactive sports.     

The American Girl: Playing with the Wrong Dollie?

This essay explores the American Girl Just Like You doll through a variety of feminist lenses. It was inspired by my experiences chaperoning my friend Grace (aged eleven) to the American Girl Store in New York City, and returning to the store to shop for my own doll. I returned to the store because I was not sure why I was so extremely disturbed by this doll. The doll is not emaciated, not overtly sexy, and marketed along with outfits that supposedly send girls the message that they can achieve their goals. She comes in a variety of skin, eye, and hair colors, and the line is therefore marketed as racially and ethnically sensitive. I argue that although the Just Like You line appears to be empowering and racially sensitive on a superficial level, an in‐depth feminist analysis indicates that it is not. In fact, the Just Like You line is highly problematic from a feminist perspective.     

The hijab as a protective factor for body image and disordered eating: a replication in French Muslim women

We examined differences in body image and disordered eating between Muslim women who do and do not wear the hijab in France, a nation marked by religious-based sartorial censorship. In an online survey, 450 French Muslim women completed measures of hijab use, weight discrepancy, disordered eating, body image-related constructs, religiosity, perceived support from Allah, and perceived discrimination. Controlling for religiosity and support from Allah, women who wore the hijab reported significantly lower weight discrepancy, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, social physique anxiety, internalisation of the thin and muscular ideals, and pressure to attain ideals from peers and the media, though they also reported significantly higher perceived discrimination than those who did not wear the hijab. Further analyses showed that use of the hijab was significantly associated with weight discrepancy and disordered eating. Our results suggest that use of the hijab may offer a protective element for French Muslim women.     

Sex differences in trauma symptoms,body image and intensity of pain in a Polish sample of patients suffering from chronic pain

The main goal of the current study was to investigate sex differences in the relationship between the level of trauma symptoms appearing in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and intensity of pain in a sample of 300 Polish patients suffering from chronic pain, specifically rheumatoid arthritis and lower back pain. We also focused on participants’ body image with body esteem as a mediator. To assess the intensity of pain among participants, we used the Numerical Rating Scale. The level of trauma symptoms was assessed with the PTSD Factorial Version Inventory. To measure body image among participants, we used the Body Esteem Scale. The results of our study suggest that trauma symptoms and body image dimensions were significant predictors of pain intensity among men suffering from chronic pain. Moreover, trauma symptoms and age were significant predictors of pain intensity among women suffering from chronic pain. Finally, we demonstrated that sex differentiates the reaction to chronic pain.     

The “Jewish Knight” of Slobodka honor culture and the image of the body in an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish context

Scholarship on Ultra-Orthodox Jewish thought has traditionally assumed that the views of these communities derive from a struggle against the Jewish Enlightenment and Zionism, as well as against any values they identify as “modern.” This article challenges that assumption. Beginning with an examination of Ultra-Orthodox sources that present an image of the religious leader as the “ideal Jew,” the author then focuses on sources concerning the founder of the Slobodka Yeshiva in Lithuania. This rabbi intended his students to internalize “modern” norms found in the European honor culture of his time, while translating them into the language of Jewish Ultra-Orthodoxy. The author chooses to present his argument by tracing the image of the body in the Slobodka method, since it is precisely through the nexus of the body that Ultra-Orthodox Judaism was segregated from general European society and culture.     

SHINTO RESEARCH AND THE HUMANITIES IN JAPAN

Three approaches to scholarship are “scholarship as a way,” which aims at perfection of character; “scholarship as a method,” which clearly limits objects and methods in order to achieve precise perception and new knowledge; and “scholarship as an expression,” which takes various approaches to questions and inquiry. The “humanities” participate deeply and broadly in all three of these approaches. In relation to this view of the humanities, Japanese Shinto is a field of study that yields rich results. As a religion of awe, shrine groves, community, arts, and entertainment, it offers a research field that joins together the study of human beings, nature, society, and expression. Though we elucidate the characteristics of Shinto and its differences with Buddhism, we also draw attention to the seven dimensions of “place, way, beauty, festival, technique, poetry, and ecological wisdom,” and then finally take up “research on techniques of body and mind transformation” as a comprehensive and creative development in the “humanities.”