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PubMed2001

Marginalization among the marginalized: gay men's anti-effeminacy attitudes.

Contemporary research has shown that a significant portion of gay men have traits, interests, occupations, and behaviors that are consistent with the stereotype of gay men as effeminate, androgynous, or unmasculine. A great number of gay men exhibit gender nonconformity during childhood; most, however, "defeminize" during adolescence, possibly in response to stigmatization and society's gender-role prescription. Only a relatively small percentage of gay men continue to be gender-nonconforming in their adulthood, often at a price, as they also tend to have lower psychological well-being. Although gay culture historically appreciated camp and drag, which subvert the gender-based power hierarchy and celebrate gender nonconformity, anti-effeminacy prejudice is widespread among gay men. Ironically, gender-nonconforming gay men may suffer from discrimination not only from society at large, but from other gay men, who are most likely to have experienced stigmatization and may have been effeminate earlier in their lives. Drawing from anecdotes and findings from various sources, this article suggests that beyond many gay men's erotic preference for masculinity lies contempt and hostility toward effeminacy and effeminate men on sociopolitical and personal levels. Two correlates of gay men's anti-effeminacy attitudes are proposed: (a) hegemonic masculinity ideology, or the degree to which one subscribes to the value system in which masculinity is an asset, and men and masculinity are considered superior to women and femininity; and (b) masculinity consciousness, or the saliency of masculinity in one's self-monitoring, public self-consciousness, and self-concept. These two variables are hypothesized to interact with gay men's self-perceived masculinity-femininity and their history of defeminization in predicting attitudes toward effeminacy. Research is underway to measure levels of anti-effeminacy attitudes and explore hypothesized correlates.

Gender Identity↗

PubMed2004

Racializing white drag.

While drag is primarily understood as a performance of gender, other performative categories such as race, class, and sexuality create drag meaning as well. Though other categories of identification are increasingly understood as essential elements of drag by performers of color, whiteness remains an unmarked category in the scholarship on drag performances by white queens. In this paper, I argue that drag by white queens must be understood as a performance of race as well as gender and that codes of gender excess are specifically constructed through the framework of these other axes of identity. This essay asks whether white performance by white queens necessarily reinscribes white supremacy through the performance of an unmarked white femininity, or might drag performance complicate (though not necessarily subvert) categories of race as well as gender? In this essay, I will suggest that camp drag performances, through the deployment of class as a crucial category of performative femininity, might indeed be a key site through which whiteness is denaturalized and its power challenged. Specifically, I will read on camp as a politicized mode of race, class and gender performance, focusing on the intersections of these categories of identity in the drag performance of Divine.

Drama↗

PubMed2004

MMPI-2 scores in the outcome prediction of gastric bypass surgery.

BACKGROUND: A psychological assessment is critical for morbidly obese patients seeking Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP) surgery. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) has been widely used in past psychological studies of bariatric surgery patients, but, to date, there is no published research on the more recent version of the MMPI, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI2), and its relation to RYGBP outcome. This investigation was designed to evaluate the predictive validity of the MMPI-2 with respect to outcome of RYGBP for morbid obesity. METHODS: The research involved a retrospective analysis of MMPI-2 scores of 2 groups of patients 1 year following RYGBP: 1). those who lost >or= 50% of their excess weight and 2). those who lost <50% of their excess weight. Subjects were 52 morbidly obese patients (mean age 44 years, mean BMI 56 kg/m2). The measurement of psychological variables consisted of the MMPI-2 scores of 3 validity scales, 10 clinical scales, and 3 Content Scales, and BMI. RESULTS: Those who lost <50% excess weight scored significantly higher than those who lost >50% excess weight on the F,Hysteria, Paranoia, and Health Concerns scales of the MMPI-2, and significantly lower on the Masculinity-femininity scale. Stepwise regression analysis found that a combination of the Health Concerns and Masculinity-femininity scales was the most accurate predictor model for 1-year post-surgery weight loss. CONCLUSION: A standard personality measure, the MMPI-2, appears to be associated with weight loss outcome 1 year after RYGBP. Psychological traits such as anxiety and excessive health concerns are likely to influence bariatric surgical outcome.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Incomplete testicular feminization syndrome: studies on androgen receptor(AR) function, AR gene analysis, and aromatase activities at puberty and long-term observations of clinical and hormonal features from infancy to puberty.

A female infant with partial androgen insensitivity (PAIS) was first seen at 4 months of age with slight virilization of the genitalia and externally palpable testes. Sex chromosome was 46,XY. She received left orchidectomy and exploratory laparotomy at 2 yr of age. At exploratory laparotomy, neither a uterus nor fallopian tubes were found. The right testis was preserved by fixing it at the external inguinal ring expecting spontaneous pubertal maturation. After discharge, serum levels of LH, FSH, testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2) were measured annually, and the steroid responses to hCG stimulation were examined every two yr. At the age of 10 yr, she developed breasts and a very feminine body habitus. At 12 yr, she received a clitoroplasty and right orchidectomy. The fibroblast cultures were made from the genital skin whereby androgen receptor (AR) binding was assessed by radioreceptor assay using 3H-DHT as the ligand, and thermoinstability of AR was noted despite normal maximum binding (Bmax) and dissociation constant (Kd) at 22 degrees C. But another binding experiment with 3H-Mibolerone resulted in the lack of receptor binding. AR gene analysis with direct sequencing of coding exons of the gene revealed no abnormality of the AR gene. 5 alpha-reductase activity was normal. Aromatase activity appeared to be enhanced in the genital skin fibroblast (GSF) cells as well as in the testicular tissue. The results of these studies indicated that the patient had PAIS with impaired AR functions and increased aromatase activity. After the discharge, the patient has maintained feminine phenotype, receiving estrogen therapy with mestranol 0.02 mg/day po.

Aging↗

PubMed2003

Psychic bisexuality and creativity.

This contribution is complementary to a previous publication (Ferraro, 2001), which examined the role of bisexuality in psychopathology. This second article concentrates on the relationship between psychic bisexuality and creativity. After a brief clarification regarding the relationship between psychic bisexuality and option of gender, the author takes up two meanings of the bisexuality concept, both of which are of pre-eminent significance to him. The first is psychic bisexuality as a quality of the self related to the feminine and masculine as pure elements; the second is psychic bisexuality as an expression of identification with both parents, mother and father. The author presents the thoughts of various authors who have examined the link between psychic bisexuality and creativity, based on the same foundation, and then puts forward the hypothesis that in some blocks of creativity an alteration to psychic bisexuality can be traced. This hypothesis is illustrated through two clinical cases that focus on the dynamics impeding creative capacities and illustrate how these dynamics are gradually overcome. In the first more detailed case, he presents a lack of masculine elements, while in the second, using a brief part of an analysis, he presents a predominant lack of feminine elements.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Full and empty spaces in the analytic process.

In this paper the author discusses two categories of patients which differ in terms of the impact they have in the countertransference. On the one hand, there are patients who create an empty space in the analyst's mind. The response they provoke is a kind of depressive feeling that remains after they leave. The patient may bring dreams and associations, but they do not reverberate in the analyst's mind. The experience is of dryness, a dearth of memory, which may--at times--leave the analyst with a sense of exclusion from the patient's internal world. At the other extreme, there are patients who fill the consulting room. They do that with their words, dreams and associations but also with their emotions and their actions. The experience is that the analyst is over-included in the patient's world. They have dreams that directly refer to the analyst and the analyst feels consistently involved in the patient's analysis. The pathway through which the analyst can understand both these types of patients is via the countertransference or, to put it another way, the analyst's passion. In 'Analysis terminable and interminable' Freud suggested that the bedrock of any analysis is the repudiation of femininity. The author believes this statement may be viewed as lying at the crossroads of the discussion about the limits of the theoretical and clinical psychoanalytic formulations which she refers to. In the examples presented the author relates the repudiation of femininity in its connections to the gaps implicit in psychoanalytic understanding.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

The interplay between identifications and identity in the analysis of a violent young man: issues of technique.

In this paper, the author develops the distinction between 'identification' and 'identity'. Identification is a process that takes place in the unconscious and is the stuff of phantasies. Throughout his work, Freud postulated the fluidity of identificatory processes. 'Identity' in contrast, is an attempt that each individual makes to organise these conflicting identifications in order to achieve an illusion of unity, which allows an individual to make the statement 'I am this' (and not that). The author suggests that a fundamental characteristic present in some violent patients is an attempt by an individual, potentially overwhelmed by the extreme fluidity 'between masculine and feminine identificatory processes', to repudiate their feminine, passive identification, in order to establish a 'persona', an 'identity'. A technical challenge in the analysis of these patients is for the analyst to identify the 'shifts between the identificatory processes' and interpret them to the patients. She indicates that as the analyst is progressively more able to identify the patient's internal movement between different states and identificatory processes and interpret them, the patient is himself more able to tolerate the internal fluidity between identificatory processes.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1985

Creative productivity in women analysts.

A pilot study of female analyst creative productivity finds that women authors are well represented in numbers in two leading analytic journals, The Journal of The American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, for 1980-81. However, women analyst members of the journals' parent organizations are very poorly represented compared with male analyst members. This has led to an exploration of factors affecting female analyst productivity, encompassing a broad sweep from the sociological to the personal, dynamic level. Differential opportunities for women analysts may be inherent in the educational processes. There is evidence for an "accumulation of disadvantage" for women in the field of psychiatry, as well as the impression of gender bias and feelings of stigmatization in psychoanalysis. The question of whether academic research career paths for women are adequately encouraged is raised. Mentorship patterns are also discussed. Whether gender bias affects journal publications and the nature of psychoanalytic thinking is questioned. Women's lessened productivity is sometimes ascribed to practical aspects of feminine role. This myth is debunked for women in science, where married women with children are equally productive. The author suggests that women analysts, however, may be a select group and may be more subject to role conformity pressures. Feminine role conflicts and their effects are discussed. Dynamic issues related to creative productivity are explored in two major areas. The author suggests that female preoedipal object relations may play a part in females devaluing of their own creative efforts in a competitive arena. The oedipal situation is also discussed, especially with regard to very high-achieving women. It is suggested that though competition with the maternal-nurturant rival may be worked through, often there is incomplete resolution of the surpassing and separation from the protective, loving, but dominant oedipal father, thus limiting true professional autonomy.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed2001

Phallic narcissism, anal sadism, and oral discord: the case of Yukio Mishima, Part I.

Thus far I have explored Mishima's traumatic childhood and the experiences leading him toward misogyny, phallic narcissism, and the drive to murder his own weakness and sexual vulnerability. Mishima suffered the extraordinary trauma of being separated from his parents and sequestered to the sickroom of a psychotic grandmother for the first twelve years of his life. Intense rage over abandonment and impingement engendered a disgust for femininity and the need to escape feminine messiness through homosexual pursuits. Mishima's entrenched feelings of shame and weakness gave rise to phallic narcissistic tendencies, as he idealized powerful men and eventually strove to become a powerful and beautiful male. In pursuing this erotic masculine image Mishima continued to fantasize about murdering his weak and shameful self-image, and commingled this sadistic impulse with fantasies of sexual merger with murdered love objects. Finally Mishima was the murderer erotically eradicating his sexual vulnerability as both subject and object. His suicide was a repetition of this erotic sadistic fantasy. In a further article I will continue the discussion by examining Mishima's fantasies of murdering beautiful and abandoning love objects. I will also address the complex nature of his ritual suicide as fantasy of rebirth, sexual merger, the murder of toxic introjects, and escape from death, decay, and regression to helpless infancy.

Drive↗

PubMed1978

Sex roles and drinking among adolescent girls.

Attitudes toward traditional feminine ideals did not distinguish adolescent girls who drink from those who do not drink. However, among White, Black and Spanish-American girls who drink, rejection of traditional femininity was associated with drinking more, more symptomatically, and with more problem consequences.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1987

Intoxication and self-orientations during alcohol use: an empirical assessment of the relationship and of its determinants among employed men and women.

Analysis of data from a survey of employed adults in Detroit indicates that frequency of intoxication is associated with a masculine self-orientation among men and a feminine self-orientation among women during alcohol use. The study calls attention to the importance of fathers' drinking, life events, social class relations and a generalized alienation from self, work and society for understanding frequency of intoxication and masculine and feminine orientations during alcohol use. A path analysis suggests that the men and women who become intoxicated may regain a sense of self and relationships to others that they do not have in sober everyday life. Implications for future research on heavy drinking and self-orientations during alcohol use are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Sex-role orientation and self-esteem in alcoholic and nonalcoholic women.

Theory and research on alcoholism suggest that psychological masculinity and femininity and self-esteem are related to drinking problems in women. In a sample of 60 alcoholic and 60 nonalcoholic women, hypotheses derived from contemporary sex-role theory were contrasted with predictions from a copying styles perspective. Support was found only for the sex-role theory hypotheses. The two groups differed in levels of masculinity, femininity and self-esteem. These differences were reflected in the clustering of the low self-esteem, alcoholic women in the undifferentiated sex-role orientation category. The high self-esteem, nonalcoholic women were predominantly androgynous and masculine sex-typed. Psychological masculinity was the major factor distinguishing alcoholic from non-alcoholic women, as well as a better predictor of self-esteem than alcoholism.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The perspective of the female archetype in nursing].

The present study proposes a new approach to the feminine origins of nursing, utilizing an archetypical framework, analysing the features of this profession which has changed very little along its history. The article advocates that nursing characteristics are the result of a collective unconscious, that is, a primitive model of innate ideas. The perspective adopted for a feminine archetype in this investigation are related to the historical and social basis of nursing, as well as, with its pre-defined objective which is caring. Utilizing their own professional experience throughout the years, the authors identity that the essence of the nursing profession is caring and that this act, which involves protecting, promoting and preserving the human being, is basically associated to women. Based on these reflections, the authors advocate the idea nurses have an individual conscience that is influenced by a collective unconscious which is inherited.

Female↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Diametral tensile strength of composite resins submitted to different activation techniques.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the diametral tensile strength (DTS) of composite resins submitted to different curing techniques. Four composite resins were tested in this study: Targis (Ivoclar), Solidex (Shofu), Charisma (Heraeus-Kulzer) and Filtek Z250 (3M Espe). Sixty-four cylindrical specimens were prepared and divided into eight groups according to each polymerization technique (n = 8). The indirect composite resins (Targis and Solidex) were polymerized with their respective curing systems (Targis Power and EDG-lux); Charisma and Filtek Z250 were light-cured with conventional polymerization (halogen light) and additionally, with post-curing systems. Specimens were stored in artificial saliva at 37 degrees C for one week. DTS tests were performed in a Universal Testing Machine (0.5 mm/min). The data were statistically analyzed by ANOVA and Duncan tests. The results were (MPa): Z250/EDG-lux: 69.04 feminine; Z250/Targis Power: 68.57 feminine; Z250/conventional polymerization: 60.75b; Charisma/Targis Power: 52.34c; Charisma/conventional polymerization: 49.17c; Charisma/EDG-lux: 47.98c; Solidex: 36.62d; Targis: 32.86d. The results reveal that the post-cured Z250 composite resin showed the highest DTS means. Charisma composite presented no significant differences when activation techniques were compared. Direct composite resins presented higher DTS values than indirect resins.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1983

A comparison of sex role and related personality traits in young, middle-aged, and older women.

Self-descriptions on sex role characteristics and related personality traits including achievement and affiliation were compared in four age groups of women: eighteen to twenty-two, twenty-nine to thirty-nine, forty to fifty-five, and sixty to seventy-five year-olds. In general, the two younger groups emerged as least like the traditional feminine sex role stereotype. In comparison to the older women, they were more willing to ascribe masculine sex role characteristics to themselves and rated themselves as less responsible, self-controlled, and affiliative. Conversely, the women over sixty and homemakers in their forties and fifties adhered most strongly to the conventional feminine traits. These differences are explained in terms of the recent changes in societal attitudes toward sex roles. There is also some evidence that significant life roles are related to self-descriptions on these personality dimensions.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1986

Successful career women at midlife: crises and transitions.

Recent theories and studies have gradually clarified some of the psychological processes of middle age. Most interesting are the contributions that maintain different developmental processes for women and men. Three of the major theories in the area seem to converge in proposing a process of gradual cross-sex transition in adulthood, the result of which may be a more integrated or androgynous personality structure in the second half of life. A different model of adult development, centered on midlife crisis, was proposed by Levinson et al. as a universal stage in men's life cycle. Similar theory and research about women are not as conclusive. The present study investigated in depth the life history of twenty-five American career women at midlife. Such women sociologically combine feminine and masculine roles and may be considered as a test case for the theories. The transitions experienced by these women during their lifetimes were categorized into "masculine" or "feminine" types. It was found that they were distributed about equally between the two types of transitions, thus excluding a simple biological approach. Acute midlife crisis was reported by only about a third of the sample. It is proposed that the double role protects these women from acute crisis.

Achievement↗

PubMed1990

Self-perceptions of life-span gender-role development.

This article discusses two studies in which participants reported on self-perceptions of life-span gender-role variability based upon their expected or past performance in normative age-related developmental tasks. In Study 1, students rated themselves on the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) at the present time and in two prospective tasks (parenthood and retirement). In Study 2, retired adults completed the PAQ at the present time and in two retrospective tasks (work-entry and parenthood). Both studies showed that participants perceived their masculine and feminine gender-role attributes as varying significantly as a result of the function of the three rating contexts, and both masculinity and femininity were perceived to increase from the chronologically earliest of these tasks to the latest.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Impressions of people with gender-ambiguous male or female first names.

Undergraduates (12 men, 12 women) read a scenario in which they formed an impression of nine people who had left their first name on an answering machine. Participants rated the extent to which seven characteristics (Ethical, Caring, Popular, Cheerful, Successful, Masculine, Feminine) applied to people whose first names were gender-ambiguous (e.g., Chris), male (e.g., Ken) or female (e.g., Pam). People with gender-ambiguous names were rated less Ethical than those with female names, and people with gender-ambiguous names and male names were rated less Caring, less Cheerful, and less Feminine than those with female names. These results are consistent with the idea that there is a bias towards assuming that a person of unspecified sex is a male.

Adult↗