Variation in parent-offspring kinship in socially monogamous systems with extra-pair reproduction and inbreeding

Peer reviewed

Direct and indirect genetic and fine-scale location effects on breeding date in song sparrows

Peer reviewed

The pandemic of conflict-related sexual violence and the political economy of gender inequality

Since the 1998 Rome Statute recognized widespread and systematic acts of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) as an act of genocide, a war crime and crime against humanity, the last decade has seen historic recognition that egregious acts of sexual violence merit international political and legal attention (UN General Assembly, 1998). Notably there are now no fewer than seven United Nations Security Council resolutions on the cross-cutting theme of Women, Peace and Security.

Sexual Violence Against Women as a Strategy to Dispossess Land in the Colombian Armed Conflict

This article reviews the evidence collected by diverse national and international organizations regarding the relationship between sexual violence against women, forced displacement, and dispossession in the context of the Colombian armed conflict. To this end, it uses the concept of “sexual violence regimes” to highlight that the endspursued by sexual violence are not always exhausted by simple consummation (that is, the act of sexual violence itself), but depending on the context, can be connected with broader strategic goals of armed actors. At the same time, this document admits the difficulty of proving this relationship with respect to judicial procedures, and thus sets out the possibility of creating a rebuttable presumption, in the framework of “unconstitutional state of affairs” created by judgment T-025 of 2004, that alleviates the burden of proof of the victims, and serves as a catalyst to promote new genderbased mechanisms of reparations.

Conflict and seduction in the public sphere

In a critical but sympathetic reading of Habermas’s work (1984, 1987a, 1987b, 2003), Luke Goode (2005) recently sought to rework his theory of deliberative democracy in an age of mediated and increasingly digital public spheres. Taking a different approach, Alan McKee (2005) challenged the culture- and class-bound strictures of Habermasian rationalism, instead pursuing a more radically pluralist account of postmodern public spheres. The editors of this special section of Media, Culture & Society invited us to discuss our differing approaches to the public sphere. Goode holds that the institutional bases of contemporary public spheres (political parties, educational institutions or public media) remain of critical importance, albeit in the context of a kaleidoscopic array of unofficial and informal micro-publics, both localized and de-territorialized. In contrast, McKee sustains a ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’ toward the official, hegemonic institutions of the public sphere since they tend to exclude and delegitimize discourses and practices that challenge their polite middle-class norms. McKee’s recent research has focused on sexual cultures, particularly among youth (McKee, 2011). Goode’s recent work has examined new social media spaces, particularly in relation to news and public debate (e.g. Goode, 2009; Goode et al., 2011). Consequently, our discussion turned to a domain which links our interests: after Goode discussed some of his recent research on (in)civility on YouTube as a new media public sphere, McKee challenged him to consider the case of pornographic websites modelled on social media sites.1 He identifies a greater degree of ‘civility’ in these pornographic sibling sites than on YouTube, requiring careful consideration of what constitutes a ‘public sphere’ in contemporary digital culture. Such sites represent an environment that shatters the opposition of public and private interest, affording public engagement on matters of the body, of intimacy, of gender politics, of pleasure and desire – said by many critics to be ruled out of court in Habermasian theory. Such environments also trouble traditional binaries between the cognitive and the affective, and between the performative and the deliberative. In what follows we explore the differences between our approaches in the form of a dialogue. As is often the case, our approaches seemed less at odds after engaging in conversation than may have initially appeared. But important differences of emphasis remain.

The Population Consequences of Sex and Conflict

Natural selection generally operates at the level of the individual, or more specifically at the level of the gene. As a result, individual selection does not always favour traits which benefit the population or species as a whole. The spread of an individual gene may even act to the detriment of the organism in which it finds. Thus selection at the level of the individual can affect processes at the level of the organism, group or even at the level of the species. As most behaviours ultimately affect births, deaths and the distribution of individuals, it seems inevitable that behavioural decisions will have an impact on population dynamics and population densities. Behavioural decisions can often involve costs through allocation of energy into behavioural strategies, such as the investment into armaments involved in fighting over resources or increased mortality due to injury or increased predation risk. Similarly, behaviour may act o to benefit the population, in terms of higher survival and increased fecundity. Examples include increased investment through parental care, choosing a mate based on the nuptial gifts they may supply and choosing territories in the face of competition. Investigating the impact of behaviour on population ecology may seem like a trivial task, but it is likely to have important consequences at different levels. For example, antagonistic behaviour may occasionally become so extreme that it increases the risk of extinction, and such extinction risk may have important implications for conservation. As a corollary, any such behaviour may also act as a macroevolutionary force, weeding out populations with traits which, whilst beneficial to the individuals in the short term, ultimately result in population extinction. In this thesis, I examine how behaviours, specifically conflict and competition over a resource and aspects of behaviour involved in sexual selection, can affect population densities, and what the implications are for the evolution and ecology of the populations in question. It is found that both behaviours related to individual conflict and mating strategies can have an effect at the level of the population, but that various factors, such as a feedback between selection and population densities or macroevolution caused by species extinctions, may act to limit the intensity of conflicts that we observe in nature.

Pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection in the least killifish, Heterandria formosa

It has been only recently realized that sexual selection does not end at copulation but that post-copulatory processes are often important in determining the fitness of individuals. In this thesis, I experimentally studied both pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection in the least killifish, Heterandria formosa. I found that this species suffers from severe inbreeding depression in male reproductive behaviour, offspring viability and offspring maturation times. Neither sex showed pre-copulatory inbreeding avoidance but when females mated with their brothers, less sperm were retrieved from their reproductive system compared to the situation when females mated with unrelated males. Whether the difference in sperm numbers is due to female or male effect could not be resolved. Based on theory, females should be more eager to avoid inbreeding than males in this species, because females invest more in their offspring than males do. Inbreeding seems to be an important part of this species biology and the severe inbreeding depression has most likely selected for the evolution of the post-copulatory inbreeding avoidance mechanism that I found. In addition, I studied the effects of polyandry on female reproductive success. When females mated with more than one male, they were more likely to get pregnant. However, I also found a cost of polyandry. The offspring of females mated to four males took longer to reach sexual maturity compared to the offspring of monandrous females. This cost may be explained by parent-offspring conflict over maternal resource allocation. In another experiment, in which within-brood relatedness was manipulated, offspring sizes decreased over time when within-brood relatedness was low. This result is partly in accordance with the kinship theory of genomic imprinting. When relatedness decreases, offspring are expected to be less co-operative and demand fewer resources from their mother, which leads to impaired development. In the last chapter of my thesis, I show that H. formosa males do not prefer large females as in other Poeciliidae species. I suggest that males view smaller females as more profitable mates because those are more likely virgin. In conclusion, I found both pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection to be important factors in determining reproductive success in H. formosa.

Sexual Violence Beyond all Reasonable Doubt

Establishing the pattern of crime is fundamental for the successful investigation ofinternational crimes (genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity). A patternof crime is the aggregate of multiple incidents that share common features related tothe victims, the perpetrators, and the modus operandi. Pattern evidence and analysishave been used successfully, mainly in the investigation of large-scale killings, destruction,and displacement; the use for sexual violence charges has been remarkablymore limited. There is a need to overcome this gap by setting proper methods of datacollection and analysis. At the level of evidence collection, under-reporting should beaddressed through victimization surveys or secondary analysis of data available fromdifferent sources. At the level of analysis, the available evidence needs to be subject toimpartial examination beyond the pre-conceptions of the conflict parties and advocacygroups, in compliance with scientific standards for quantitative, qualitative, andGIS (Geographic Information Systems)methods. Reviewing the different investigativeexperiences and jurisprudence will help to set the right methodology and contribute mostefficiently to putting an end to the impunity regarding sexual crimes.

Orientação afetivo-sexual e desenvolvimento humano: relato de pessoas sobre a infância, adolescência, relações familiares e sociais

Pós-graduação em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento e Aprendizagem - FC

Tráfico internacional e interno de pessoas para exploração sexual, como forma moderna de trabalho com redução à condição analoga a de escravo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Relative growth and morphological sexual maturity of the freshwater crab Trichodactylus fluviatilis Latreille 1828 (Decapoda, Trichodactylidae) from west central Sao Paulo State, Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Exploração sexual de menores e o papel da instituição escolar

Prostitution is an activity that generates constant conflict and controversy. The way it is practiced leads, in some specific situations, the legal framework. For the analysis of the role of school and sex education, this research aimed to: identify and analyze the views of managers and teachers living with sexual exploitation of children in two schools in the state schools of a city of the State of São Paulo and to determine whether the subject is part of school curricula in the schools surveyed and discussed how teachers. The research is part of qualitative research in education and had the strategy of data collection a questionnaire with managers and teachers of educational institutions surveyed. The data collected and analyzed showed that the school, being a place that works with multiculturalism is that, as a place where the "Sex Education" should be worked out, mainly to educate their students not to enter the world of sexual exploitation. Therefore, the school is the place for fundamental change in mentality of children and adolescents who are forced to surrender to sexual exploitation.

Compreendendo a dinâmica familiar de adolescentes expostos a violência sexual intrafamiliar

Violence in adolescence, specifically sexual violence, is a topic of great relevance. Not only in Brazil but the world has witnessed the increase of sexual violence, becoming the most prevalent morbid occurrence in adolescence. Draws attention to the phenomenon of sexual violence against children and adolescents not only the fact that most of the victims are assaulted in their own home environment, but also the type of relationship between victim and aggressor. Thus, based on systemic approach, this study aimed to compose eend family dynamics of adolescent victims of sexual intra-familial. Participants were seven teenagers and their parents, users and beneficiaries of services offered by CREAS - Reference Center for Specialized Social Assistance in a municipality of Mato Grosso do Sul. The instruments used were the Test of Drawing in Colour of the Family (FCDT) and a questionnaire about the pictures taken and family interactions. The results indicated the difficulty in differentiating family roles, especially regarding the differentiation of the mother and daughter, a fact that seemed to be the motivator for the impoverishment of individuation in groups. Also noted the presence of conflict between the familiar figures probably originated from this abusive situation. In this context, the studied families showed communication difficulties between family members, hindering the integration between them, as well as the existence of an authoritarian leadership and strict rules performed by the father figure. These results may support preventive and therapeutic actions to situations of sexual violence against children and adolescents. Thus, it is suggested that psychological counseling for the study participants and other stakeholders with a view to reducing damage and recovery of quality of life for all family members, as well as the need for further studies in the area in question.

Human Preferences for Symmetry: Subjective Experience, Cognitive Conflict and Cortical Brain Activity

This study examines the links between human perceptions, cognitive biases and neural processing of symmetrical stimuli. While preferences for symmetry have largely been examined in the context of disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism spectrum disorders, we examine various these phenomena in non-clinical subjects and suggest that such preferences are distributed throughout the typical population as part of our cognitive and neural architecture. In Experiment 1, 82 young adults reported on the frequency of their obsessive-compulsive spectrum behaviors. Subjects also performed an emotional Stroop or variant of an Implicit Association Task (the OC-CIT) developed to assess cognitive biases for symmetry. Data not only reveal that subjects evidence a cognitive conflict when asked to match images of positive affect with asymmetrical stimuli, and disgust with symmetry, but also that their slowed reaction times when asked to do so were predicted by reports of OC behavior, particularly checking behavior. In Experiment 2, 26 participants were administered an oddball Event-Related Potential task specifically designed to assess sensitivity to symmetry as well as the OC-CIT. These data revealed that reaction times on the OC-CIT were strongly predicted by frontal electrode sites indicating faster processing of an asymmetrical stimulus (unparallel lines) relative to a symmetrical stimulus (parallel lines). The results point to an overall cognitive bias linking disgust with asymmetry and suggest that such cognitive biases are reflected in neural responses to symmetrical/asymmetrical stimuli.

Negative genetic correlation for adult fitness between sexes reveals ontogenetic conflict in Drosophila

Because of their distinctive roles in reproduction, females and males are selected toward different optimal phenotypes. Ontogenetic conflict between the sexes arises when homologous traits are selected in different directions. The evolution of sexual dimorphism by sex-limited gene expression alleviates this problem. However, because the majority of genes are not sex-limited, the potential for substantial conflict may remain. Here we assess the degree of ontogenetic conflict in the fruit-fly, Drosophila melanogaster, by cloning 40 haploid genomes and measuring their Darwinian fitness in both sexes. The intersexual genetic correlations for juvenile viability, adult reproductive success, and total fitness were used to gauge potential conflict during development. First, as juveniles, where the fitness objectives of the two sexes appear to be similar, survival was strongly positively correlated across sexes. Second, after adult maturation, where gender roles diverge, a significant negative correlation for reproductive success was found. Finally, because of counterbalancing correlations in the juvenile and adult components, no intersexual correlation for total fitness was found. Highly significant genotype-by-gender interaction variance was measured for both adult and total fitness. These results demonstrate strong intersexual discord during development because of the expression of sexually antagonistic variation.