On the troublesome relationship of feminism and terrorism: representing the female terrorist in contemporary art

This paper analyses tendencies in debates about cultural representations of terrorism to assume that artists make critical interventions, while the mass media circulates stereotypes. Some recent feminist analyses of female terrorist acts have re-instituted essentialist arguments in which violence and terrorism is described as inherently masculine, while women are by nature pacifist, so that femininity is the antithesis of militarism. More progressive analyses mostly tend to expose the circulation of stereotypes and their gender bias, in order to protest the misrepresentation of women in violence. These analyses do not construct alternative accounts. Through an analysis of two works by artists Hito Steyerl and Sharon Hayes, the paper argues that some of the moves to re-image the question of women, violence and agency have already been made in contemporary art practices. Through analysing legacies of terrorism and feminism, it becomes possible to rethink the question of agency, militancy and the nature of political art. The paper appears in an edited interdiscplinary collection arising from a conference at Universität der Bundeswehr in Munich. It relates to wider projects involving collaborations with Birkbeck and Edinburgh on representations of terrorism and on violence and contemporary art.

Women in art: the last taboo

The intention of this paper is to explore traditions and current trends in art with particular reference to the depiction of female experiences such as pregnancy, abortion, birth and motherhood. The inclusion and exclusion of such images in art history over time and across societies reflects prevailing attitudes, whilst affirming various stereotypical and gendered constructions developed and sustained within those societies. These constructions in turn relate to criteria defined by class, access to education and notions of femininity. Work by artists which feature aspects of these experiences (particularly childbirth), is considered taboo by many in a Western society which continues to render the essentially female experience as private, invisible and stigmitised and confuses the natural with the sexual. The work of undergraduate art students, inspired by the artwork of women artists who make explicit or are influenced by essentially female experiences, is discussed and attempts made to connect their work to the issues outlined.

The pre-raphaelite female muse in Julia margaret cameron’s “idylls of the king” photographs

There has been little discussion of Julia Margaret Cameron’s Idylls of the King photographs over the past decade. My goal with this paper is to bring her Idylls of the King series back into discussion and address its success and relevance in both art history and literature. Scholars Helmut Gernsheim and Marylu Hill have questioned photography as a means to capture the imaginative content of Tennyson’s Arthurian stories and they declared Cameron’s photographs a failure. I argue that her theatrical style, use of props and costumes, obvious posing of her models, and nod to Victorian tableaux vivants capture the true essence of Tennyson’s epic. Her use of the Pre-Raphaelite female muse to portray the Arthurian characters of Elaine, Guinevere, and Vivien places her photographs in direct correlation with Pre-Raphaelite painting as well as popular literature. Her depictions of Tennyson’s epic poem are highly successful and I believe she achieved her personal goal of ennobling photography to the level of High Art.

A Seated Female Nude

Aert de Gelder, attributed to; 7 19/32 in.x 8 55/64 in.; pen and brown ink with brown wash

OFFSPRING IN RESPONSE TO PARENTAL FEMALE DENSITIES IN THE FRUIT FLY PARASITOID DIACHASMIMORPHA LONGICAUDATA (HYMENOPTERA: BRACONIDAE: OPIINAE)

As part of an evaluation of the braconid parasitoid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) as a biocontrol agent of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) in Brazil, the aims in the current study were to find the best parental ratio of females to males in the rearing cages in order to get the highest female biased offspring in the parasitoid rearing process, and to verify the parasitism efficiency on C. capitata according to parental female densities. Three treatments were assessed: T1 (20 females: 20 males), T2 (60 females: 20 males) and T3 (100 females: 20 males). Ten late-third instars of C. capitata were offered daily to each female parasitoid from the 1st to the 12th d of age. The parental female productivity, fecundity, offspring sex ratio, percentage of parasitoid emergence, and daily mortality of parental females and males at different female/male densities were evaluated. The results indicated that numbers higher than 20 parental females did not affect offspring sex ratio, overall offspring production, nor the percent parasitism. Female biased offspring occurred in all three parental female/male ratios analyzed in this study, except that predominately males developed from parasitoid eggs laid in the age interval 1-2 d post emergence. Higher parasitoid female productivity and fecundity were found at the 1:1 female/male per cage density whereas lower productivity and fecundity were recorded at the 5:1 female/male ratio. Higher female/male ratio in the parental cages increased the mortality rate of females but did not influence the number of parental male deaths. The results may facilitate advancement of an optimum mass-rearing system to aid in control of C. capitata in Brazil.

Female soccer in the Beijing olympic games

Gender relations put men and women in different areas of the hierarchy, for instance in the case of soccer. This work analyzed the news articles from the Beijing 2008 section of the Newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo to identify the space attributed to news articles about female and male soccer, and to qualitatively evaluate what is said to its readers. The result shows that the percentage of words addressing women was higher compared to other surveys and the area for pictures was similar for both genders, however this only happened on account of the influence of the event. The news allowed for an analysis of women in soccer: the entities that perpetuate the hierarchical difference between the genders when they don`t support them; the raising of issues regarding aesthetics which explains why these athletes are not erotized by the media as is the case in other modalities; as soccer is considered to be a male area the media demanded better results from the men.

Genetic polymorphism in an inflammasome component, cervical mycoplasma detection and female infertility in women undergoing in vitro fertilization

The inflammasome is an inducible cytoplasmic structure that is responsible for production and release of biologically active interleukin-1 (IL-1). A polymorphism in the inflammasome component NALP3 has been associated with decreased IL-1 levels and increased occurrence of vaginal Candida infection. We hypothesized that this polymorphism-induced variation would influence susceptibility to infertility. DNA was obtained from 243 women who were undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and tested for a length polymorphism in intron 2 of the gene coding for NALP3 (gene symbol CIAS1). At the conclusion of testing the findings were analyzed in relation to clinical parameters and IVF outcome. The frequency of the 12 unit repeat allele, associated with maximal inflammasome activity, was 62.3% in cases of female infertility vs. 75.6% in cases where only the male partner had a detectable fertility problem (p = 0.0095). Conversely, the frequency of the 7 unit repeat allele was 28.9% in those with a female fertility problem, 17.0% in women with infertile males and 18.4% in idiopathic infertility (p = 0.0124). Among the women who were cervical culture-positive for mycoplasma the frequency of the 7 unit repeat was 53.7% as opposed to 19.5% in those negative for this infection (p < 0.0001). We conclude that the CIAS1 7 unit repeat polymorphism increases the likelihood of mycoplasma infection-associated female infertility. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of temperature on development of Schistosoma mansoni female cercariae in Biomphalaria glabrata

In these experiments the ratio of male to female S. mansoni larvae in D. glabrata from Belo Horizonte and Ribeirão das Neves Minas Gerais, Brazil, either reared in laboratoty or collected in the field, varied from 1:1 to 1:1.3 or 1.4:1. Cercariae of LE strain of Schistosoma mansoni, shed by 39 snails maintained at 25±0.5ºC were used to infect mice on a weekly basis. Subsequent perfusion resulted in 76.6% male and 23.4% female worms. The cercariac produced by 32 infected snails maintained at 27+0.5°C were inoculated into mice and produced 43.4% male and 56.6% female worms (p<0.05). Cercariae eliminated by snails collected in Barreiro and Ressaca, Belo Horizonte, during hot months, produced 45.7 to 47.7% male and 52.3 to 54.3% female worms. A lower number of cercariae shed by snails collected in Gorduras, Belo Horizonte, at 20+3.0°C, produced 51.6% male and 48.4% female worms. Thus, in this region the infection of vertebrate hosts with S. mansoni cercariae would be more severe in the summer due to the higher level of parasites and the number of eggs.

Randomized controlled trial comparing highly purified (HP-hCG) and recombinant hCG (r-hCG) for triggering ovulation in ART.

BACKGROUND: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing highly purified human Choriogonadotrophin (HP-hCG) and recombinant hCG (r-hCG) both administered subcutaneously for triggering ovulation in controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). METHODS: Multi-centre (n = 4), prospective, controlled, randomized, non-inferiority, parallel group, investigator blind design, including 147 patients. The trial was registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov, using the identifier: NCT00335569. The primary endpoint is the number of oocytes retrieved, while the secondary endpoints include embryo implantation, pregnancy and delivery rates as well as safety parameters. RESULTS: The number of retrieved oocytes was not inferior when HP-hCG was used as compared to r-hCG: the mean number was 13.3 (6.8) in HP-hCG and 12.5 (5.8) in the r-hCG group (p = 0.49) with a 95% CI (-1.34, 2.77). Regarding the secondary outcomes, there were also no differences in fertilization rate at 57.3% (467/815) vs. 61.3% (482/787) (p = 0.11), the number of embryos available for transfer and cryopreservation (2PN stage) and implantation, pregnancy and delivery rates. Furthermore, there were no differences in the number and type of adverse events reported. HP-hCG was therefore not inferior to r-hCG. CONCLUSIONS: HP-hCG and r-hCG are equally efficient and safe for triggering ovulation in ART and, both being administered subcutaneously, equally practical and well tolerated by patients.