Fat Women’s Experiences in Therapy: “You Can’t See Beyond…Unless I Share It with You”

Abstract

This article reports the results of a qualitative exploration of fat women’s experiences with weight-related microaggressions in psychotherapy. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 women about their weight-related experiences as therapy clients and asked for their advice to therapists who work with fat women. We used a general inductive approach to code the data into themes and found that common microaggressions included therapists who overly focused on weight, therapists who appeared to be less interested in clients because of their weight, and dissatisfaction with waiting room seating options. Participants advised therapists to allow their clients to initiate conversations about weight. Results suggest the need for increased awareness of: (a) how clients’ weight may impact therapists’ attitudes and choice of interventions and (b) how weight might influence fat clients’ in-session presentations.     

Lived religion meets secular life: the dynamics of framing and the subjunctive power of ritual

ABSTRACT

In spite of the variety of often welcome everyday enchantments and empowerment that lived religion may bring to an individual in his/her personal life, it may become problematic in a person’s social life due to provoking tensions with significant others who hold different worldviews. This controversy necessitates the adoption of tactics and practices for adjustment and regulation, should that individual wish to enhance the benefits of religious enchantment and, simultaneously, maintain his/her position in the shared social lifeworld. This article argues that ritual theory, particularly in combining the notions of ritual framing and the subjunctive mode of ritual, offers a promising approach to researching this dynamic. The ritual studies approach helps shed light on the sometimes quite subtle ways in which moving in and out of the ritual frame makes it possible to regulate the often delicate balance of enchantment and disenchantment. This article examines the case study of women engaging in angel spirituality in Finland and the way they are able to navigate different ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ worlds. It argues that the dynamic combination of ritual framing and the subjunctive mode of ritual works as important possibility work in everyday life in a society which is uneasy about very strong expressions of lived religion.     

Assisting Older Women in Combatting Ageist Stereotypes and Improving Attitudes Toward Aging

Ageism is a pervasive force in society that poses a significant threat to the well-being of older women. This article integrates theory, research and practice in an examination of ageism as it relates to therapy with older women. The authors review common stereotypes of older women, and discuss the pervasiveness of these stereotypes using a terror management explanatory framework. Particular attention is also paid to the effects of ageist stereotypes on older women, with especial emphasis on stereotype threat and self-stereotyping concepts. The authors argue that geriatric rehabilitation settings may enhance vulnerability to these negative effects. Finally, strategies for older women to combat ageist stereotypes and develop positive attitudes toward aging are discussed. Implications for therapeutic practice to help older women maintain a satisfying quality of life, despite these stereotypes, are presented throughout the article. The authors recommend interventions embedded in feminist theory, positive psychology, and humanistic and cognitive–behavioral therapies.     

Jewish women in intercommunal political movements in colonial Morocco

ABSTRACT

The goal of this paper is to study Jewish participation in intercommunal – Muslim, Jewish, Christian – Moroccan women’s organizations that promoted national Moroccan socio-political aims, and to analyze their origins, effects, demise and memory. The paper focuses on a unique organization - Union des Femmes marocaines (Union of Moroccan Women) – which, for almost ten years during the colonial period, had carried out intercommunal work for shared Moroccan causes. The study reveals that during the period that intercommunal women’s associations operated (1943–1952), they were first French-oriented and dealt with issues considered, from a gendered perspective, to be within women’s domain (i.e. helping the poor and needy, doing charity, fighting for women’s education), but from 1947, they “Moroccanized” and worked towards general political Moroccan aims. The paper refers to a relatively unknown chapter in Moroccan history, and opens a new perspective of the Moroccan identity of Jews before their massive emigration from the country.     

A little bird told me…: Consequences of holding an implicit association between women and birds

Past research has shown that humans possess implicit associations that, when activated, affect subsequent behavior. In three studies, we demonstrated a novel implicit association held by some men: an association between women and birds. Additionally, we demonstrated three consequences of possessing and activating a Women–Birds association. For those who strongly associated women and birds, activating the association caused an increase in dehumanization of women, perceptions of female incompetence, and sexist hiring decisions. Perceptions of female incompetence mediated the effect of Women–Birds implicit association activation on sexist hiring decisions. These findings provide insight into a potential cause of bias toward women that should be accounted for when attempting to reduce discrimination toward women and speak to the need for careful consideration when making analogies linking social groups to animals or objects.     

SELF-MAKING IN EXILE: MORAL EMPLACEMENT BY SYRIAN REFUGEE WOMEN IN JORDAN

This article brings an anthropology of ethics to bear on a case of forced migration and displacement among Syrian refugee women in Jordan. The case reveals how projects of Islamic self-making in displacement become “emplacement” processes within the new state-mediated context. Syrian women in Jordan engage in Islamic self-making as part of their wider emplacement practices in two primary ways: first, operating more publicly in the material world through Islamically-inspired actions and rituals than in Syria. Second, utilizing narratives of Islamic histories to establish dignity in conditions of precarity in exile. Using two focus groups in urban Jordan and participant observation in two religion classes in a Syrian refugee camp, this article focuses on these practices of Islamic self-making that serve an important role in the projects of moral emplacement for Syrian women in the Jordanian context.     

A Woman'S Voice As Her Life Changes

Our innate capacity for voice is with us from the beginnings of life. The concept of voice is a complex issue rooted in the core of the self. Once we become aware of ourselves, we realize our capacity for self-expression. Self-expression is part of the cooperative network of communication between the self and others as we share emotions, thoughts, and ideas. Voice facilitates a connection between the world of one individual and the world of another. The purpose of this article was to explore and discover the processes, influences, attitudes and beliefs that affect a woman's ability to define her menopausal voice. A woman's voice expresses her knowledge, set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices in the form of language. Voice becomes a manifestation of the essence of self, and when listened to, breaks the silence of non-existence. A menopausal woman's voice is the voice that expresses the entirety of her existence at that particular stage in life. Post-menopausal women were asked to define their menopausal voices. They were interviewed in depth and their information was collected through semi-structured interviews. This approach used a qualitative methodology with a focus on meaning of their voices rather than measurement. The format was narrative research using life stories and thematic analysis. As a result, five themes: The Voice of Wisdom, The Voice of Aging, The Voice of relationship, The Voice of Spirit, and the Voice of Knowledge emerged after analyzing the women's stories. Each theme represents the complexities that influenced the participants’ competence to ascribe meaning to their voices. This article identifies the meanings that menopausal women associated with the concept of voice and how it changed during menopause.     

Response to Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth's review of Else Marie Wiberg Pedersen (ed.), The Alternative Luther: Lutheran Theology from the Subaltern

This is a response to Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth's review of Else Marie Wiberg Pedersen (ed.), The Alternative Luther: Lutheran Theology from the Subaltern. Dragseth delivers a prudent and insightful review of the book. I agree with Dragseht's points, thus I will here make no more than a few deepening points in addition to those.