Apple

Apple is a collection of poems that explores the connection between human relationships and the evolution of an identity. Multiple speakers investigate gender and sexuality, plentitude and poverty, atheism and Christianity in order to better understand some of the forces that affect a woman's consciousness. An awareness of perceived dualities, such as self and other, reason and faith, nature and technology, socialization and loneliness are central to this exploration. The poems employ various forms, such as ultra-talk narratives, lyrical meditations, prose poetry, epistolary poems and hypertext. The variety of structure and form in the collection mirrors the variety of approaches the speakers employ to move closer and further away from the subjects at hand. The rhetorical posture employed in each poem is directly linked to the speaker's relationship with the audience, which is an excellent example of a human relationship affecting the evolution of an identity.

The Effects of the Use of Technology In Mathematics Instruction on Student Achievement

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the use of technology on students’ mathematics achievement, particularly the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) mathematics results. Eleven schools within the Miami-Dade County Public School System participated in a pilot program on the use of Geometers Sketchpad (GSP). Three of these schools were randomly selected for this study. Each school sent a teacher to a summer in-service training program on how to use GSP to teach geometry. In each school, the GSP class and a traditional geometry class taught by the same teacher were the study participants. Students’ mathematics FCAT results were examined to determine if the GSP produced any effects. Students’ scores were compared based on assignment to the control or experimental group as well as gender and SES. SES measurements were based on whether students qualified for free lunch. The findings of the study revealed a significant difference in the FCAT mathematics scores of students who were taught geometry using GSP compared to those who used the traditional method. No significant differences existed between the FCAT mathematics scores of the students based on SES. Similarly, no significant differences existed between the FCAT scores based on gender. In conclusion, the use of technology (particularly GSP) is likely to boost students’ FCAT mathematics test scores. The findings also show that the use of GSP may be able to close known gender and SES related achievement gaps. The results of this study promote policy changes in the way geometry is taught to 10th grade students in Florida’s public schools.

De Irlanda a Iberia: notas para a tradución de Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin do inglés ao galego

La cuestión del género fue trabajada dentro de los estudios de traducción de diversas formas, incluyendo la asignación de género en la lengua meta, la traducción de lenguaje marcado de género y la traducción feminista. En este trabajo se estudia el uso o ausencia de marcas de género y de la praeterio a la hora de afrontar una traducción al gallego de la autora irlandesa Eiléan Ní Chuillanáin, feminista y nacionalista. Ambas situaciones se reflejan conscientemente en sus poemas de manera significativa. A través de ejemplos prácticos seleccionados, se reflexiona sobre la necesidad de tener en cuenta que la traslación de sus textos a una lengua que obligatoriamente establece elecciones lingüísticas entre el femenino y el masculino, debe hacerse respetando el sentido de la autora. Esto supone, para quien traduzca, compartir la perspectiva feminista y nacional de la autora familiarizándose con el marco y condicionantes de su obra poética.

Cartografias da formação continuada de professoras/es: homofobia e escola

O objetivo dessa dissertação de mestrado em Educação é questionar, analisar e compreender alguns dos modos como a política pública de formação continuada em gênero e sexualidade para professoras/es das redes públicas abordam o tema da homofobia. A homofobia, em linhas gerais, relaciona-se a atitudes de violência (física, psicológica) e atitudes de interdição, controle e vigilância de comportamentos sexuais não-heterocentrados e/ou não representados pelos padrões identitários de gênero. Assim, o presente estudo, financiado pela Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul – FAPERGS, desenvolvido em três escolas Públicas Municipais de Ensino Fundamental dos municípios de Rio Grande e São José do Norte-RS, busca, sobretudo, perceber como esse tema se desdobra nos currículos, aqueles experimentados nos cotidianos das escolas dos sujeitos dessa investigação. Para tanto, seguimos como referencial teórico as contribuições de autoras/es que propõem problematizar a educação a partir de uma corrente de pensamento crítico e da Filosofia da Diferença. Como caminho metodológico, realizamos rodas de conversa nas escolas, análise de documentos e inserção no cotidiano de uma escola. As narrativas interessantes para a pesquisa denotam que no espaço escolar a homofobia ainda é um tema sensível e está engendrada com outras problemáticas, como racismo e classismo, e muitas vezes não é percebida; as formações continuadas necessitam estar diretamente ligadas ao cotidiano escolar, contribuindo para uma (re)significação dos fazeres pedagógicos.

The gendered organisation : A positive critique

In this article we go back to basics – to the very idea of the gendered organisation. Probably all researchers on gender and diversity in the workplace have some notion, however implicit, of the gendered organisation. This applies in both empirical research and more general theoretical analysis of organisations and management. Our task here is to assist in making explicit what those assumptions may be and help us to take a critical look at how we understand and conceptualise ‘the gendered organisation’, and the assumptions that we bring with us in our own and others’ work. We organise our discussion in two main parts. First, we examine the concept of the gendered organisation, by setting out a very short history, including some of the basic assumptions about the gendered organisation and some continuing questions in studying the gendered organisation. The second main part develops a positive critique of the concept of the gendered organisation. This positive critique involves the re-evaluation of several key elements: the concept of ‘organisation’ itself; the concept of ‘gender’; the relation of gender and sexuality; the relations of gender, sexuality, violence and violation; the intersection of gender and other social divisions; as well as some more general methodological critiques. This critical engagement is a necessary part of empirical and conceptual development on gender and diversity in workplaces and organisations more generally.

Gender, sexuality, and rurality in the mining industry

Sexuality is a subject that has been, at best, marginal in the significant body of literature that has examined gender and mining in contemporary Western nations. This is despite the fact that academics have circled, if not almost bumped into the topic in closely related discussions of hegemonic masculinity and mining work, and of patriarchal familial relations and mining communities. This scholarship has documented what has been and remains women’s primary relationship to mining—that is, as a “mining wife.” How patriarchal relations are manifest in and emerge from this state of affairs has been critiqued with research on the gendered implications of housing arrangements in mining towns, the division of household labor, changing shift-work mining rosters, and the gendered consequences of strikes and mine closures (Williams 1981; Gibson 1992; Gibson-Graham 1996; Rhodes 2005; McDonald, Mayes, and Pini 2012). Despite the centrality of the heterosexual relationship—and indeed heteronormativity—to these discussions, scholars of gender and mining have had little to say on the subject of sexuality. In response to this lacuna, this chapter takes an exploratory lens to the subject of sexuality and the mining industry. We approach the task from the perspective that the mining industry is gendered as masculine. That is, definitions of mining mobilize around masculinized notions of physicality, technical competence with machinery, and strength, as well as emphasize the harshness and dirtiness of the work (Mayes and Pini 2010).

Intolerance of ambiguity, gender stereotypes, and attitudes to sexuality

The premise of this thesis is that Western thought is characterised by the need to enforce binary classification in order to structure the world. Classifications of sexuality and gender both embody this tendency, which has been largely influenced by Judeo-Christian tradition. Thus, it is argued that attitudes to sexuality, particularly homosexuality are, in part, a function of the way in which we seek to impose structure on the world. From this view, it is (partly) the ambiguity, inherent in gender and sexual variation, which evokes negative responses. The thesis presents a series of inter-linked studies examining attitudes to various aspects of human sexuality, including the human body, non-procreative sex acts (anal an oral sex) and patterns of sexuality that depart from the hetero-homo dichotomy. The findings support the view that attitudes to sexuality are significantly informed by gender-role stereotypes, with negative attitudes linked to intolerance of ambiguity. Male participants show large differences in their evaluations of male and female bodies, and of male and female sexual actors, than do female participants. Male participants also show a greater negativity to gay male sexual activity than do female participants, but males perceive lesbian sexuality similarly to heterosexuality. Male bodies are rated as being less 'permeable' than female bodies and male actors are more frequently identified as being the instigators of sexual acts. Crucial to the concept of heterosexism is the assumption that 'femininity' is considered inherently inferior to 'masculinity'. Hence, the findings provide an empirical basis for making connections between heterosexism and sexism, and therefore between the psychology of women, and gay and lesbian psychology.

Adolescent sexuality : an investigation into the relation between sexuality and self-concept /

The present study explored the connections among adolescents' sense of self, sexuality, and perceptions of risk. Such an exploration may help educators to further understand why adolescents engage in risk-taking behaviours such as unprotected sex. The study involved secondary analysis on the data collected from the Youth Lifestyle Choices - Community University Research Alliance 2000 (YLC - CURA) Youth Resilience Questionnaire (YRQ). Participants were 300 male and female students in Grades 9, 1 1 and OAC. Data analyses involved both descriptive and inferential statistics (correlational and multivariate analysis). Chi-square analyses were performed on the open-ended self-description question. Separate analyses were conducted on gender and age (grade levels). Correlational analyses revealed that adolescents with a more positive sense of self were more likely to perceive sexual involvement as a relatively high-risk behaviour. Specifically, results found that male adolescents were less likely than females to perceive sex to be risky. Results are discussed in relation to previous research in the area of selfcognitions and risk-taking sexual behaviour. Results are also discussed in terms of educational implications in that the current results may provide the beginnings of a framework for more holistic sexual education programs.

Risk-taking behaviours in adolescent boys and girls : sexuality and dietary health

This study examined adolescents' reported sexual and dietary health-risk behaviours and perceptions. Specifically, this study analyzed the data of 600 students (300 male~ 300 female) in grades 9, I 1, and OAC (mean, standard deviation). The mean age of the students in the sample is 16 with a standard deviation of 1.6. The study was a secondary analysis ofthe first-year data of a 3-year longitudinal study conducted by Youth Lifestyle Choices-Community University Research Alliance (YLC-CURA) on adolescents. To explore sexuality and dietary health, this study purposefully selected sections of the survey that represented sex and dieting behaviours of adolescents. Separate gender and age data analyses revealed different patterns among the variables. Specifically., findings revealed that adolescents who engaged in recent sexual activities were more likely to have a relatively more positive body image perception and were relatively more likely to engage in disordered eating. Across both genders and 3 age levels, adolescents reported that despite their unhealthy dietary habits they felt that dieting was not a high-risk behaviour. Results were discussed in terms of educational implication for sexual health programs.

Sexuality and the ‘Relations of Ruling’: Using Institutional Ethnography to Research Lesbian and Gay Foster Care and Adoption.

This article makes use of institutional ethnography to research foster care and adoption by lesbians and gay men, drawing on the work of the feminist sociologist Dorothy E. Smith in order to demonstrate the investigation of social work institutional categories and the ‘relations of ruling’. Through an analysis of the ways in which ‘gender’ and the idea of the ‘gender role model’ is used within the assessment of gay and lesbian foster carers and adopters, the author shows how these categories are produced and used to police relationship forms and to identify ‘deviant instances’.

Equal employment opportunity and diversity management : can either live up to the promise of achieving gender equity?

This paper examines the extent to which women movement into management positions. Like many other countries, this progress in Australia is slow. The paper includes discussion of the theoretical explanations for this and the extent to which these are borne out in Australia. We are aware this group represents only a minority of Australian women workers, and there are many other groups of women workers for whom constraints to women’s access to senior management may not be the most pressing issue. We have, however, chosen to focus on women in management in this paper, as while there was considerable research and public policy attention directed towards this group in the 1980s and early 1990s, over the past decade there seems to have been a reluctance to continue to address this group, despite the numerical evidence that women continue to be disproportionately represented in senior management positions. We believe it’s timely to refocus on women in management.

Of tails and Tempests : Feminine sexuality and Shakespearean children's texts

This paper reads a range of nineteenth-century texts for children that retell either Shakespeare's The Tempest or mermaid narratives, considering the models of feminine subjectivity and sexuality that they construct. It then moves on to two key contemporary texts — Disney's film adaptation of The Little Mermaid (Clements and Musker 1989) and Penni Russon's Undine (2004) — that combine the Shakespearean heroine with the mermaid, and reads them against the nineteenth-century models. Ultimately, the essay determines that, while these texts seem to perform a progressive appropriation of the two traditions, they actually combine the most conservative aspects of both The Tempest and mermaid stories to produce authoritative (and dangerously persuasive) ideals of passive feminine sexuality that confine girls within patriarchally-dictated familial positions. The new figure for adolescent female subjectivity, the mermaid-Miranda, becomes in turn a model of identification and aspiration for the implied juvenile consumer.

Duggaibah, or 'place of whiteness' : Australian feminist and race

Our society operates in such a way as to put whiteness at the center of everything, including individual consciousness--so much so that we seldom question the centrality of white- ness, and most people, on hearing 'race', hear 'black'. That is, whiteness is treated as the norm, against which all differences are measured. 1 Race shapes white women's lives. In the same way that both men's and women's lives are shaped by their gender, and that both heterosexual and lesbian women's experiences in the world are marked by their sexuality, white people and people of color live racially structured lives. In other words, any system of differentiation shapes those on whom it bestows privi- lege as well as those it oppresses. White people are 'raced' just as men are 'gendered'. 2

'Homophobia' in the university classroom : law and justice students' conceptualizations of queer identity

Heteronormative discourses provide the most common lens through which sexuality is understood within university curricula. This means that sexuality is discussed in terms of categories of identity, with heterosexuality accorded primacy and all ‘others’ indeed ‘othered.’ This paper reports on research carried out by the authors in a core first year university justice class, in which students of law and/or justice were required to engage with, discuss, and reflect on discourses on sexuality. It uses a poststructural framework to identify how students understand non-heterosexualities and how they personally relate to queer identities, in the sense that it asks questions about gender and sexual identity, and the discourses surrounding them. It was found that strongly negative attitudes to non-heterosexualities are quite resistant to challenge, and that some students express being confronted with queerness as a deep-seated fear of being drawn into otherness against their will. The result was that, while many students were able to unpack their attitudes towards queerness and engage in critical reflection and re-evaluation of their attitudes, students with strongly negative views towards non-heterosexualities conversely refused to engage at all, typically perceiving even the engagement itself as a threat to their core heterosexual identity. However, the authors caution against relying on the idea that students are simply “homophobic” to explain this reluctance, as this term does not necessarily account for the complexity of the discourses that inform students’ reactions in this context. This “homophobia” may simply be related to a way of performing gender and sexual identity as opposed to overt discrimination and fear.