Gender Equality

About 14% of the global burden of disease has been attributed to neuropsychiatric disorders, mostly due to the chronically disabling nature of depression and other common mental disorders, alcohol-use and substance-use disorders, and psychoses. Such estimates have drawn attention to the importance of mental disorders for public health. However, because they stress the separate contributions of mental and physical disorders

It is sometimes argued that the non-therapeutic, non-consensual alteration of children’s genitals should be discussed in two separate ethical discourses: one for girls (in which such alterations should be termed ‘female genital mutilation’ or FGM), and one for boys (in which such alterations should be termed ‘male circumcision’). In this article, I call into question the moral and empirical basis for such a distinction, and argue that all children—whether female, male, or intersex—should be free from having parts of their genitals removed unless there is a pressing medical indication.

Violence is a confounding concept. It frequently defies explanation and lacks an agreed upon definition. Yet geographers are well positioned to bring greater conceptual clarity to violence by thinking through its intersections with space. In setting the tone for this special issue on Violence and Space we highlight some of the key lines of flight that have shaped geographical thinking on violence. While there are a significant number of geographers interested in the question of violence, the field of ‘geographies of violence’ remains an emerging area of research that deserves greater attention and a more rigorous examination. By emphasizing the spatiality of violence, this special issue aims to contribute to a more sustained conversation on the violent geographies that shape our daily lives, our encounters with institutions, and the various structures that configure our social organization. This introduction is but an initial sketch of what we believe needs to be a much larger and unfolding research agenda dedicated to understanding violence from a geographical perspective.

This special issue addresses the possible connections and mutual benefits of examining together two analytic concepts – memory and periphery. These concepts receive much attention in various scholarly discussions, yet they have done so rather independently from each other. The potential applications and utilities of combining memory and periphery and the epistemic insights they provide for various disciplins are presented in the different contributions to this issue.

In this paper we argue that the use of the communicative theory of Jürgen Habermas in planning theory is problematic because it hampers an understanding of how power shapes planning. We posit an alternative approach based on the power analytics of Michel Foucault which focuses on ‘what is actually done’, as opposed to Habermas’s focus on ‘what should be done’. We discuss how the Foucauldian stance problematises planning, asking difficult questions about the treatment of legitimacy, rationality, knowledge and spatiality. We conclude that Foucault offers a type of analytic planning theory which offers better prospects than does Habermas for those interested in understanding and bringing about democratic social change through planning.

Rwanda has made enormous strides forward in improving access of boys and girls to education at all levels, and in promoting gender equality within the education system. Yet girl students continue to lag behind in educational achievement and access, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels, where girls’ enrolment, completion and achievement rates are lower. Girls are under-represented in government schools, and are instead more likely to attend more expensive and lower quality private schools and universities. Despite an enabling policy environment, a number of social and institutional barriers continue to prevent girls and young women from attending schools and universities and from performing equally to their male classmates. The
prioritization of science and technology within the educational and development policies of the country may act to further exclude female students unless additional actions are taken to promote women’s participation in these fields. Addressing gender equality in the education system, with a focus on improving girls’ educational performance and outcomes, is crucial to meeting Rwanda’s development goals and to protecting women’s human rights within the country.

This study documents the child welfare experiences of youth who are LGBTQ and their perspectives on how these experiences influenced their housing instability and homelessness. Youth detailed incidents of gender segregation, stigmatization, isolation, and institutionalization in child welfare systems that they linked to their gender expression and sexuality, which often intersected with being a youth of color. The youth described these incidents as contributing to multiple placements and shaping why they experienced homelessness.

About 14% of the global burden of disease has been attributed to neuropsychiatric disorders, mostly due to the chronically disabling nature of depression and other common mental disorders, alcohol-use and substance-use disorders, and psychoses. Such estimates have drawn attention to the importance of mental disorders for public health. However, because they stress the separate contributions of mental and physical disorders to disability and mortality, they might have entrenched the alienation of mental health from mainstream efforts to improve health and reduce poverty. The burden of mental disorders is likely to have been underestimated because of inadequate appreciation of the connectedness between mental illness and other health conditions. Because these interactions are protean, there can be no health without mental health. Mental disorders increase risk for communicable and non-communicable diseases, and contribute to unintentional and intentional injury. Conversely, many health conditions increase the risk for mental disorder, and comorbidity complicates help-seeking, diagnosis, and treatment, and influences prognosis. Health services are not provided equitably to people with mental disorders, and the quality of care for both mental and physical health conditions for these people could be improved. We need to develop and evaluate psychosocial interventions that can be integrated into management of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Health-care systems should be strengthened to improve delivery of mental health care, by focusing on existing programmes and activities, such as those which address the prevention and treatment of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria; gender-based violence; antenatal care; integrated management of childhood illnesses and child nutrition; and innovative management of chronic disease. An explicit mental health budget might need to be allocated for such activities. Mental health affects progress towards the achievement of several Millennium Development Goals, such as promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health, and reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS. Mental health awareness needs to be integrated into all aspects of health and social policy, health-system planning, and delivery of primary and secondary general health care.

At the same time that case studies are widely used and have produced canonical texts, it may be observed that the case study as a methodology is generally held in low regard, or is simply ignored, within the academy. For example, only 2 of the 30 top-ranked U.S. graduate programs in political science require a dedicated graduate course in case study or qualitative methods, and a full third of these programs do not even offer such a course. In contrast, all of the top 30 programs offer courses in quantitative methods and almost all of them require training in such methods, often several courses. In identifying this paradox of the case study’s wide use and low regard, Gerring rightly remarks that the case study survives in a “curious methodological limbo,” and that the reason is that the method is poorly understood. In what follows, we will try to resolve Gerring’s paradox and help case study research gain wider use and acceptance.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, transgender, intersex, queer (LGBATIQ) people, as is still often the case for many other minoritized communities, often grow up in a society without an historical context in which to project their lives. They are weaned on the notion that they have no culture and no history. This educators' guide is designed to assist educators at all grade levels to integrate materials and content into coursework related to LGBATIQ history.

The spectrum of practices termed “Female Genital Mutilation” (or FGM) by the World Health Organization is sometimes held up as a counterexample to moral relativism. Those who advance this line of thought suggest the practices are so harmful in terms of their physical and emotional consequences, as well as so problematic in terms of their sexist or oppressive implications, that they provide sufficient, rational grounds for the assertion of a universal moral claim—namely, that all forms of FGM are wrong, regardless of the cultural context. However, others point to cultural bias and moral double standards on the part of those who espouse this argument, and have begun to question the received interpretation of the relevant empirical data concerning FGM as well. In this article I assess the merits of these competing perspectives. I argue that each of them involves valid moral concerns that should be taken seriously in order to move the discussion forward. In doing so, I draw on the biomedical “enhancement” literature in order to develop a novel ethical framework for evaluating FGM (and related interventions—such as female genital “cosmetic” surgery and non-therapeutic male circumcision) that takes into account the genuine harms that are at stake in these procedures, but which does not suffer from being based on cultural or moral double standards.

Back cover text: If the new fin de siècle marks a recurrence of the real, Bent Flyvbjerg’s Rationality and Power epitomizes that development and sets new standards for social and political inquiry. The Danish town of Aalborg is to Flyvbjerg what Florence was to Machiavelli: a laboratory for understanding the real workings of power, and for grasping what they mean to our more general concerns of social and political organization. Politics, administration, and planning are examined in ways that allow  a rare, in-depth understanding. The reader witnesses, firsthand, the classic and endless drama which defines what modernity and democracy are and can be.

Esta publicación es resultado del trabajo coordinado entre la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, a través de su Unidad de Igualdad de Género, y la organización civil Women´s Link Worldwide.

Este documento hace una recopilación de criterios nacionales e internacionales y tiene como objetivo proporcionar herramientas concretas y útiles, desde el derecho internacional y comparado, para integrar el principio de igualdad de género en el trabajo que realizan las y los impartidores de justicia en México.

Öz: Bu çalışma kadına yönelik şiddet eylemlerinin kültürel ve tarihsel arka planını temele alan uygulamalı bir
çözümlemeden meydana gelmektedir. Şiddet, ataerkil iktidar ilişkilerinin inşa ettiği bir eylem olarak dikkate
alınmaktadır. Şiddet eylemlerinde kadının ataerkil kültür yapısında, şiddeti yeniden üreten işlevi üzerinde durulmaktadır.
Kadının aile içerisinde sosyal ilişlileri düzenlemesi, toplumsal cinsiyet rollerini koruması ve sürdürmesi
bu sürecin temel dayanak noktasını oluşturmaktadır. Kadının tarihsel bağlamda sosyal konumu, hak ve özgürlüklerinin
gelişim sürecinin ele alınışı yapılan çalışmanın alt yapısını güçlendirmektedir. Çalışmanın uygulama kısmı
şiddet mağduru 10 kadınla yapılan nitel görüşmelerden oluşmaktadır.Nitel görüşmelerde şiddet eylemlerinin
ortaya çıkışı, şiddet biçimleri, aile ve evlilik yapıları sorgulanmaktadır. Görüşmelerden elde edilen veriler, içerik
analizi yapılarak çözümlenmektedir. Şiddetin cinsiyet rolleri aracılığı ile öğrenilmiş, benimsenmiş bir davranış olduğu
gözlenmektedir. Aile yapısı, evlilik ilişkileri aile içi ilişkiler dikkate alınarak şiddetin öğrenilen, aktarılan yönü
incelenmektedir. Çalışmanın amacı kadının ataerkil ilişkiler içerisinde şiddetin yeniden üretilmesindeki etkisini
yapılan görüşmelerden beslenerek Albert Bandura’nın(1971)“Sosyal Öğrenme Teorisi”bağlamında ele almaktır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Ataerkil Kültür, Toplumsal Cinsiyet, Kadın Hakları, Kadına Yönelik Şiddet, Sosyal Öğrenme
Teorisi

Taken together, the works of Jurgen Habermas and Michel Foucault highlight an essential tension in modernity. This is the tension between the normative and the real, between what should be done and what is actually done. Understanding this tension is crucial to understanding modern democracy, what it is and what it could be. It has been argued that an effective way of making democracy stronger is to strengthen civil society. This article contains a comparative analysis of the central ideas of Habermas and Foucault as they pertain to the question of democracy and civil society. More specifically, the discourse ethics of Habermas is contrasted with the power analytics and ethics of Foucault evaluating their usefulness for those interested in understanding, and bringing about, democratic social change.

"Written in an engaging and accessible manner by one of the leading scholars in his field, Environment and Social Theory, completed revised and updated with two new chapters, is an indispensable guide to the way in which the environment and social theory relate to one another.

This popular text outlines the complex interlinking of the environment, nature and social theory from ancient and pre-modern thinking to contemporary social theorizing. John Barry:


examines the ways major religions such as Judaeo-Christianity have and continue to conceptualize the environment

analyzes the way the non-human environment features in Western thinking from Marx and Darwin, to Freud and Horkheimer

explores the relationship between gender and the environment, postmodernism and risk society schools of thought, and the contemporary ideology of orthodox economic thinking in social theorising about the environment.
How humans value, use and think about the environment, is an increasingly central and important aspect of recent social theory. It has become clear that the present generation is faced with a series of unique environmental dilemmas, largely unprecedented in human history.

With summary points, illustrative examples, glossary and further reading sections this invaluable resource will benefit anyone with an interest in environmentalism, politics, sociology, geography, development studies and environmental and ecological economics.

"

"ABSTRACT:
    This study assumes the subject's pursuit of meaning is generally incapacitating and should be suspended. It aims to demonstrate how such a suspension is theoretically accomplished by utilizing Lacan's formulae of sexuation integrated with his work in discourse theory and topology.
    Part I places this study into context by examining scholarship from the established fields of hermeneutics, phenomenology, (post)structuralism, aesthetic theory and psychoanalysis in order to extract out their respective theory of meaning. These theories reveal that an historical struggle with meaning has been underway since the Reformation and reaches near crisis proportions in the 20th century. On the one hand this crisis is mollified by the rise of Heideggerian-Gadamerian hermeneutical phenomenology which questions traditional epistemological approaches to the text using a new ontological conceptualization of meaning and a conscious rejection of methodology. On the other hand this crisis is exacerbated when the ubiquitous nature of meaning is itself challenged by (post)structuralism's discovery of the signifier which inscribes a limit to meaning, and by the domains of sense and nonsense newly opened up by aesthetic theory. These historical developments culminate in the field of psychoanalysis which most consequentially delimits a cause of meaning said to be closely linked to the core of subjectivity.
    Part II extends these findings by rigorously constructing out of the Lacanian sexuated formulae a decidedly non-hermeneutical phenomenological approach useful in demonstrating the sexual nature of meaning. Explicated in their static state by way of an account of their original derivation from the Aristotelian logical square, it is argued that these four formulae are relevant to basic concerns of textual theory inclusive of the hermeneutical circle of meaning. These formulae are then set into motion by integrating them with Lacan's four discourses to demonstrate the breakdown of meaning. Finally, the cuts and sutures of two-dimensional space that is topology as set down in L'étourdit are performed to confirm how the very field of meaning is ultimately suspended from a nonsensical singular point known in Lacanian psychoanalysis as objet a. The contention is that by occupying this point the subject frees himself from the debilitating grip of meaning."

In 2012, the politician Todd Akin caused a firestorm by suggesting, in the context of an argument about the moral permissibility of abortion, that some forms of rape were “legitimate” (i.e., carried out with great force or violence). This seemed to imply that other forms of rape must be “illegitimate” (i.e., carried out with less force or violence). In response, several commentators emphasized that rape is a “heinous crime” and that there are “no varying degrees of rape.” While the intention of these commentators was clear, I argue that they may—inadvertently—have played into the very stereotype of rape (implicitly) endorsed by Akin. Such a response, I claim, actually obscures a range of sexual harms, including some that may not rise to the level of being a crime. I also offer some thoughts on the moral psychology behind anti-abortion arguments of the kind advanced by Akin.

Home and work are two different worlds for working women and are often in conflict. Married working women are faced with problems in performing different roles, such as being a wife, a mother, a housekeeper, and an employee. The major problem a married woman faces  is the tension or conflict arising from her  multiple roles. The study aimed  to determine: 1) how the  working wives (the participants) roles  were described in terms of their basic orientations towards gender role in the family;  2) how pregnancy, parenthood, success in their career  affect their relationship with their  husbands;  3)who, between them and their  husbands,  do most of the  housework and child care;  4) how  working wives dual role affect  their  life;  and 5)  measures to be adopted to help working wives  solve  dual  role conflict. Thus,  this study focused only on the dual role  conflict that arises between the wife and the husband.

“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”
- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Despite having a fairly long and enlarged provisions including a host of other laws enacted by the government, the empirical reality tells a quite different story that women’s conditions and human rights situation remains gloomy and marginal. The concept of rights and human rights of women as such particularly in the realm of economic and social rights, has been markedly absent from the Indian Government’s activities and approaches to gender equality (Subramanian, 1995). Thus, women are still subdued in our society, they are still not economically emancipated. Not only developing countries even in developed countries the women are facing similar hurdles in achieving equal status to that of men (Engineer, 1992: 32-33), be it politics, administration, civil service, trade, industries, women are extremely inadequately represented.
Thus this study aims to understand the meaning of empowerment and find the relationship between women empowerment and their livelihood engagement. To be more specific does economic empowerment means overall empowerment or is there need to have a holistic view to study empowerment.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced a set of provisional guidelines concerning male circumcision, in which they suggest that the benefits of the surgery outweigh the risks. In this brief comment, I highlight a few of the key scientific and ethical issues worth considering in interpreting the CDC recommendations.

Istilah emansipasi bukanlah hal yang baru di telinga masyarakat. Meskipun istilah tersebut sudah tidak lagi asing, namun bukan berarti pengimplementasian dari kalimat emansipasi telah berjalan dengan baik dalam lingkungan masyarakat terutama di Indonesia, yang mayoritas menganut system budaya Patriarki. Setiap manusia diahirkan dengan hak yang sama, baik laki – laki maupun perempuan, maka dari itu seharusnya mereka memiliki akses yang sama baik dalam memperoleh pekerjaan, pendidikan, mengambil keputusan, bergabung dalam politik dan sebagainya. Namun sangat disayangkan, kenyataan yang ada ternyata malah pembangunan masyarakat berbasis keadilan gender masih jauh dari kata adil itu sendiri. Meskipun dalam proses pembangunan perempuan dapat berpartisipasi secara aktif, tetapi dalam prateknya masih banyak hambatan yang dijumpai.

Por: Stella Maris Martínez
Esta publicación aspira a brindar herramientas jurídicas que permitan identificar y ofrecer distintas estrategias legales para realizar una mejor defensa de los derechos de las mujeres que son víctimas de violencia de género. Con este aporte, se espera cumplir con algunos de los compromisos asumidos por el Estado al adherir a la Convención Interamericana para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia contra la Mujer (Convención de Belém do Pará) y al sancionar la Ley 26.485, de protección integral para prevenir, sancionar y erradicar la violencia contra las mujeres en los ámbitos en que desarrollen sus relaciones
interpersonales. Para asegurar un adecuado servicio de justicia a las víctimas de violencia de género, el Estado se obligó, entre otras cosas, a difundir el derecho de las mujeres a una vida libre de violencia; fomentar la educación y capacitación de
integrantes del sistema de administración de justicia; brindar patrocinio jurídico especializado; y promover la integración transversal del género.
La necesidad de una publicación como ésta se origina a partir de reconocer que el derecho no siempre recepta cabalmente las necesidades jurídicas específicas de las mujeres, lo que se manifiesta tanto en interpretaciones y prácticas jurídicas que carecen de una mirada de género, como en la falta de conocimiento, difusión e implementación de herramientas legales que pueden ser útiles para brindar una mejor protección a mujeres que sufrieron hechos de violencia.
En realidad, esta característica del derecho no hace más que reflejar los valores y percepciones imperantes en determinados momentos históricos, que se basan en una asignación diferenciada a varones y mujeres de ciertos roles, funciones o comportamientos. Ese tipo de asignación diferenciada no depende de una “realidad biológica”, sino de una construcción social y cultural que, sobre la base de la diferencia sexual, determina lo que es propio de varones y mujeres, genera
cierto tipo de relaciones y defi ne las oportunidades de desarrollo de las personas.
El derecho no ha sido ni es ajeno a la construcción de este tipo de relaciones sociales. Se ha señalado que, en cuanto discurso, otorga sentido a las conductas de las personas y las convierte en sujetos, al tiempo que opera como el legitimador clave del poder. Este sesgo del derecho no siempre es manifiesto ya que, en general, mantiene la apariencia de ser neutral a las diferencias de género, clase, nacionalidad, entre otros.
A modo de ejemplo, en materia de violencia contra las mujeres se han elevado numerosas críticas en las últimas décadas contra la teoría de la separación de las esferas pública y privada. Se ha denunciado que esta teoría, aunque neutral en su formulación, impidió que el Estado intervenga para poner fin a la legitimación del ejercicio de ciertas formas de violencia que afectan principalmente a mujeres, niñas y niños. Ahora bien, admitir que el discurso jurídico ha legitimado las relaciones de
poder existentes no implica negar el rol transformador que éste puede cumplir.
Al contrario, esta idea reconoce la potencialidad del derecho para deconstruir las categorías jurídicas y las normas existentes, develando las implicancias escondidas, y para formular y aplicar normas que expresen de modo más genuino los valores, intereses, objetivos y modalidades de acción involucrados en cada caso. Siguiendo con el ejemplo, con el objeto de combatir las prácticas estatales que consideraban a la violencia en las relaciones interpersonales como un conflicto privado en el que no correspondía intervenir, se han adoptado regímenes jurídicos específicos en los que se reconoce que la violencia contra las mujeres constituye una violación de sus derechos humanos y que los Estados deben adoptar medidas decididas para garantizar su vigencia, tanto en la esfera pública
como en la privada. El derecho de las mujeres a una vida libre de violencia está consagrado, en el ámbito regional, en la Convención Interamericana para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia contra la Mujer (Convención de Belém do Pará) y, en el ámbito local, en la Ley 26.485, de protección integral para prevenir, sancionar y erradicar la violencia contra las mujeres en los ámbitos en que desarrollen sus relaciones interpersonales. Tanto la Convención de Belém do Pará como la
Ley 26.485 contienen numerosas disposiciones orientadas a prevenir actos de violencia originados en razones de género, a investigar ese tipo de denuncias con el fin de esclarecer lo ocurrido, a sancionar al responsable, y a brindar asistencia integral a las víctimas. Ambos cuerpos normativos contienen definiciones de lo que se entiende por violencia contra las mujeres. En el caso de la Ley 26.485, la definición incluye no sólo hechos de violencia directa, sino también situaciones que pongan a las mujeres en desventaja con respecto a los varones,
a lo que denomina violencia indirecta. Asimismo, se enuncian distintos tipos y modalidades que adquiere la violencia de género. La ley también incorpora una serie de derechos y garantías mínimos, que son de aplicación a todo tipo de procesos, sin diferencia de fueros y sin discriminar si la mujer se encuentra involucrada como víctima o como imputada.
Además de la adopción de un tratado específi co, como la Convención de Belém do Pará, el derecho internacional de los derechos humanos ha demostrado su preocupación por la persistencia de la discriminación y la violencia de género por medio de la creación de relatorías especiales, la elaboración de
observaciones generales, informes especiales, ecomendaciones a los países, entre otras iniciativas. En el ámbito Interamericano, los órganos de aplicación de la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos se han pronunciado en numerosos casos en los que se denunciaban hechos de violencia contra las mujeres, y han fijado importantes estándares acerca del deber estatal de actuar con la debida diligencia para prevenir, investigar y sancionar tales actos. En la
sentencia recaída en el caso Penal Castro Castro, la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (Corte IDH) ha dado un paso significativo en el análisis de este tipo de casos, pues ha abandonado un parámetro “formal de igualdad y no discriminación, presuntamente neutral pero profundamente masculino”, para dar lugar a otro que reconoce las diferencias de género. A partir de entonces, tanto la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos como la Corte IDH han comenzado a exigir a los Estados que incluyan la perspectiva de
género en el tratamiento de los casos de violencia contra mujeres, para que constituyan una respuesta adecuada a las características del fenómeno que se pretende atender. Pese a la especificidad e importancia de estas normas y estándares internacionales, no todas las y los operadores jurídicos están familiarizados con ellos, y aún son subutilizados en la práctica judicial. Por ello, se espera que los artículos de esta publicación sean útiles para contrarrestar aquellas prácticas jurídicas que no consideran la dimensión de género, y la falta de conocimiento de las normas, principios y estándares que deben regir los casos de violencia contra las mujeres. A partir de una concepción amplia de lo que constituye violencia de género,
como la que se sostiene en el ámbito internacional y local, los temas incluidos en esta obra tratan sobre situaciones muy variadas. Los primeros dos capítulos dan a conocer los aspectos más relevantes de las normas y estándares sobre violencia contra las mujeres en el ámbito internacional y en el ámbito local, respectivamente.
Los capítulos restantes apuntan a visibilizar el impacto diferenciado que producen ciertas prácticas en varones y mujeres, y a deconstruir conceptos de la dogmática jurídica que soslayan las necesidades específicas de las mujeres, para dar lugar a interpretaciones legales género sensitivas. Como el colectivo de las mujeres no es un grupo homogéneo, se mantuvo una especial preocupación por incluir en los estudios otras variables relevantes que hacen que ciertas experiencias tengan un impacto diferenciado sobre algunos sectores en particular. Así, la mayoría de los trabajos incluidos repara en la
pobreza como condición categórica para dar cuenta de la situación de violencia que atraviesan algunas mujeres, o de los prejuicios de clase presentes en el servicio de justicia; algunos de los estudios diferencian las distintas implicancias que tienen los temas que abordan en mujeres adultas o en niñas y adolescentes; o analizan en particular las situaciones de las mujeres extranjeras. A partir de este tipo de análisis, se propone brindar herramientas concretas que faciliten la
incorporación de la dimensión de género en las estrategias de defensa y en el tratamiento de los casos judiciales sobre violencia contra las mujeres, enfoque que debe atender también a otras variables relevantes como la edad, clase social
o nacionalidad, entre otras.

This paper deals with the fact that from the 18th century to modern day, our clothes have been designed based on the gender assumptions. The first chapter provides a starting point for understanding why clothes are gendered by encapsulating the history of dress. The second chapter starts with definitions with regard to gender and sex. By analyzing a book, two papers and other sources for this part, I have come to the conclusion that gender is a social construct hence gendered clothing is also an imposition of societies. Gendered clothing creates sexual division and this affects people who does not fit in those two categories. The rest of the paper defines and gives examples of unisex and androgynous style. It suggests reshaping the fashion industry by ignoring the gender lines.

What are the effects of circumcision  on sexual function and experience? And what does sex—in the sense related to gender—have to do with the ethics of circumcision? Jacobs and Arora (2015) give short shrift to the first of these questions; and they do not seem to have considered the second. In this commentary, I explore the relationship between sex (in both senses) and infant male circumcision, and draw some conclusions about the ongoing debate regarding this controversial practice.

The ever-changing trends in the world brought by the growing ideas and modernization indeed limited the faculty of conservatism. Various actions and styles that were behind the bars before were apparently free and accepted in the society. However, there are still cases
where conservatism prevails causing conflicts between the traditionalists and progressive individuals. An exemplar to this is the issue of homosexuality.

For the longest years, the issue of gay rights has been subjected to a number of heated debates. Such issue had not only touched the social, religious, and cultural aspects, for it also crossed the boundaries of politics. Currently, the LGBTQ, an initialism that stands for lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning community, shares the plight for greater social acceptance and their struggle to practice their constitutional rights as humans too. Included in these rights is their right to marriage.Same-sex marriage sparked a long controversy leading to the dividing views of citizensand involved institutions, fervent debates within the social and cultural norms, and the question of being a political issue were prevalent. However, despite these various contentions against same-sex marriage, there were 21 recorded states where gay marriage is legal nationwide. These countries are Netherlands (2000), Belgium (2003), Canada (2005), Spain (2005), South Africa
(2006), Norway (2009), Sweden (2009), Argentina (2010), Iceland (2010), Portugal (2010), Denmark (2012), Brazil (2013), England and Wales (2013), France (2013), New Zealand (2013), Uruguay (2013), Luxembourg (2014), Scotland (2014), Finland (signed 2015, effective 2017), Ireland (2015) (Time, 2015). Thus, the issue of same-sex marriage paved the way for debates and researches in several states.

As such, this paper attempts to study the possibility of same-sex marriage in the case of one Asian country, particularly the Philippines. The rationale behind this preference originates from the 21 recorded countries where same-sex marriage is legal. And of these 21
countries, none of these is from Asia. The subject matter of this study aims to provide the contrasting views of the involved institutions, particularly the state actors, church, and agents of political socialization in the issue of same-sex marriage. The existence of these varying oppositions relates to the significance of the study. The significance of this study is to determine the influences of state, the church, and
other possible agents of political socialization to the legalization of same-sex marriage in case of the Philippines.

In 2004, a young Seattle girl with significant disabilities known only by the pseudonym Ashley X, underwent a series of medical procedures without her consent. At the request of her parents, Ashley received a mastectomy, a hysterectomy and hormonal treatment, designed to arrest her development in a childlike state. In the eyes of her doctors, her family, and their lawyers, it was urgent that Ashley's body be aligned with her purported cognitive age. The temporal and ethical arguments used to justify her 'Treatment' turned Ashley's body into a site of international debate over disability and human rights, consent and medical science, eugenics and human engineering. Yet the similarities and differences between Ashley's non-consensual pubertal arrest versus that actively sought by trans youth are rarely mentioned. This paper uses the clinical and media discourses at work in both the 'Ashley Treatment' and the treatment sought by trans youth to think through this moment in which some bodies are treated to greater forms of autonomy while other bodies have none. I argue that the discourses used to secure transition for some trans youth ought to be weighed against the implications for others, in particular for trans youth with disabilities. While the availability of puberty suppression for trans youth can be narrated as a sign that things are getting better, the literatures of queer temporality and critical disability studies help to consider that it may also augur something else—a widening gap between those invested with the ability to stop time versus those who are stopped in time.

Presented on Friday, January 25, 2019, during the Sixth Theological Inter-denominational Symposium of the Schol of Theology and Religion, University of the Southern Caribbean, in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
This presentation examines the current trend in evangelical Christianity (including Seventh-day Adventists) to understand the Trinity in hierarchical terms of authority and submission and will analyze these claims biblically, logically, historically, and theologically.

This research aimed to explore children’s play in relation to gender stereotypes and beliefs and practices of educators in preschool settings.  A feminist poststructuralist approach framed the design of the research and data was collected in two settings through predetermined categories of play during periods of spontaneous free play. The question asked in this research was, do early childhood educators’ perceptions of gender influence children’s play? Findings suggest that there were differences between these two settings and these differences are explained through individual beliefs and practices of the educators.