Rejecting the ‘F-word’: How ‘feminism’ and ‘feminists’ are understood in the newsroom

Feminist media scholarship in the past 30 years has focused on the representation of women in the media while an understanding of those who produce the representations has received little attention. In this article I am concerned with how some Australian journalists understand and experience the social/political movement of feminism and its advocates, feminists, as news sources and colleagues. I particularly focus on fleshing out how female journalists and those who identify as feminist discuss, negotiate, compromise and sometimes ‘survive’ a masculine newsroom culture. Moreover, I ask why it is that male and female journalists in my interviews — feminist-identified or not — resist or reject embracing or using the terms ‘feminism’ and ‘feminist’ in the context of the newsroom. A decade ago, Kay Schaffer astutely noted that feminism had become a ‘scare word’ in media discourse. I take this idea a step further by analysing more broadly how some journalists talk about ‘feminism’ and ‘feminists’.

Understanding Australian ethnic minority artists' careers

This article examines the degree to which Australian ethnic minority artists possess or do not possess the career capitals necessary to develop their artistic journey. We listened to stories of career experiences that show how artists learn to negotiate their way by developing their career paths. The study found that ethnic minority artists possess more cultural capital than economic and social capitals, thus limiting their career to attain hierarchy and power in creative institutions. Ethnic minority artists can use strategies to manage career, boosting economic, social capitals and to a lesser extent cultural capital. This article adds to the current literature on the utility of Bourdieu’s forms of capital, contextualising voices of artists to account for their experiences in managing the process of advancement which both facilitates and limits their career-related opportunities.

Fostering resilience later in life: a narrative approach involving people facing disabling circumstances, carers and members of minority groups

Over the last two decades, the concept of resilience has become the focus of a growing body of gerontological research. However, there is a dearth of qualitative research that explores how socio-economic and socio-cultural factors shape older people's resilience. This study addresses this gap and explores the concept of resilience through the lens of 25 Australians from a variety of backgrounds, investigating the resilience strategies they employed in the face of different challenging life events. A qualitative narrative methodology involving one focus group and semi-structured interviews was employed. A stratified convenience sample of 34 people aged 60 and over participated in semi-structured interviews between 2009 and 2011. The study describes the meaning participants assigned to the term resilience, and focuses on the range of resilience responses and strategies they employed, bringing to light some key commonalities and differences. The study's findings suggest that access to economic and cultural resources and the nature of the adversity older people face can shape and limit their resilience strategies. The article outlines how the concept of resilience could be incorporated into aged care practice and argues that resilience-focused interventions that potentially broaden the resilience repertoire of older people should be explored within an aged care context.

Another minority group: use of aged care day programs and community leisure services by older people with lifelong disability

Objective: This study examined the extent to which programs available to the general aged community are accessible to older people with lifelong disability. Method: Forty Victorian generic aged day activity and community leisure programs used by older people responded to a survey that sought information on the extent to which such services are used by older people with a lifelong disability. Results: More than half of these services are accessed by a small number of people with lifelong disability and overall there was a willingness to include this group in generic services. Barriers and solutions to successful generic service use were reported. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the issues for people with lifelong disability differ little from those of other minority groups. It is proposed that disability services have a role in brokering services for their older clients, and continued planning and collaboration between disability and aged services will benefit all older people.

Sexual orientation and psychological distress: the role of minority stress

 The thesis found that that personal homonegativity/binegativity and discrimination are important when considering risk for depression and anxiety in gay men, lesbian women, bisexual men and bisexual women. The thesis also highlights the important role intrapersonal resilience can have in partially protecting sexual minority groups against these stressors.