Ariane Prohaska

Wives, Husbands, and Hidden Power in Marriage:

A recurrent theme in scholarship on gender and the family is the asymmetry between husbands and wives on decision making, the division of household labor, child care, and so forth. In this article, the authors tested to see if this asymmetry can be explained, in part, by taking into account the invisible power of men. Using data from the third wave of the British Household Panel Survey, the authors tested this by assessing whether agreement between husbands and wives on stereotypical men’s and stereotypical women’s issues increased when one of the spouses heard the other’s responses before answering himself or herself. The authors’ key findings are that (a) wives were much more likely than husbands to agree with their spouses’ known answers and (b) that this remains true even in conditions where wives earn more money or are more interested in politics than their husbands.

Power and gender negotiations during interviews with men about sex and sexually degrading practices

The topic of female researchers interviewing male subjects has received previous attention, but few scholarly works focus specifically on sensitive topics such as sexual behaviors. The discrepancy suggests that even though women researchers interview men about sensitive issues, sexuality still seems out of bounds. Based on our research, we found it intellectually and emotionally challenging to interview men about sexually degrading behaviors. In the present article, we focus on the gender performances by both the interviewees and interviewers, including how the structure of the interview affects gendered interactions in interviews and the vulnerability we experienced as a result. We conclude by suggesting a few strategies that future women researchers can employ when conducting cross-gender, in-depth interviews with men about sex. We also raise questions for feminist researchers about how best to handle sexist, racist, and derogatory remarks made by interviewees.

“Knocking off a Fat Girl:” an Exploration of Hogging, Male Sexuality, and Neutralizations

ABSTRACT The mistreatment of women in the United States is part of a larger problem of cultural misogyny. Hogging is one of the many forms of mistreatment that is devalued and often overlooked. It is a practice where men seek women who are overweight or unattractive to satisfy their competitive or sexual urges. The purpose of this paper is to understand hogging through mens accounts and use of neutralization techniques. Results indicate that two-thirds of the men we interviewed and all of the accounts we analyzed used neutralization techniques to minimize negative self-conceptions and to manage stigma.

Achieving masculinity through sexual predation: the case of hogging

Hegemonic masculinity in the contemporary United States involves control, domination, competition, aggression, and the devaluing of women. Hogging, a practice whereby men seek out women they deem unattractive or fat for sexual purposes, has been largely overlooked by scholars. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to explore hogging from a sociology of masculinities perspective. Interviews and content analyses were conducted to learn about why men hog and what they are able to achieve from this behavior. These data indicate that most men who participate in this behavior are concerned with how hogging affects their relationships with their male peers. Men who hog achieve status in their peer groups by gaining sexual access to women they see as ‘easy’. Even men who do not engage in sexual activity gain from the sexual encounters of their peers, by either participating in ‘bets’ or being entertained by the stories their peers tell them about hogging. Hogging, then, is less about the encounters with women and more about homosociality.

Gender Inequality and the Family and Medical Leave Act

In this article, we use feminist theories of the state to examine why the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has had relatively little impact on increasing men’s caregiving after the birth or adoption of a child. An analysis of witness testimonies and of the language of the proposed bill at three different stages of its development revealed that as the business community became more vocal in its opposition to the bill, benefits for workers were reduced and testimonies discussing how FMLA could help alleviate gender inequality all but disappeared. We argue that making gender inequality in caregiving a focal point of discussions during the development of the bill could result in a policy that encourages men to use it and, in turn, lead to an increase in caregiving by fathers.

Help Me Get Fat! Feederism as Communal Deviance on the Internet

Feederism involves the sexual attraction to weight gain. The behavior has received negative attention from scholars, but has yet to be analyzed empirically using a sexual deviance framework. In this article, I analyze websites that discuss feederism in order to categorize the behavior into a sexual deviance typology. Results reveal that feederism is a communal behavior, but it does not fit perfectly into either the normal or pathological deviance category. Inaccurate assumptions made about this group are based on societal norms about fat, beauty, and sexuality.

Subversive scholarship or anti-intellectual identity politics? An analysis of media frames of fat studies

ABSTRACT Fat studies courses have emerged on college campuses during a time when the paradigm of the “obesity epidemic” dominates scientific and public discourses. Although scholars have assessed the media’s framing of fat and the “obesity epidemic,” research has yet to examine media frames of fat studies courses. Using data from LexisNexis and Google News, the authors analyze news media frames of fat studies. Our results indicate fat studies is nearly invisible in the media. However, fat studies is receiving some positive media coverage via articles written by fat studies scholars and activists, despite resistance from both conservatives and proponents of the “obesity epidemic” paradigm. The authors contend that fat studies scholars should continue to not only engage in fat studies pedagogy and communicate their research findings, but also implore journalists to conduct neutrality in reporting and the public to critically evaluate media sources.

Gender Effects Across Place: A Multilevel Investigation of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Region in Sentencing

Previous empirical research has indicated that women receive less punitive sentencing outcomes, compared to their male counterparts, while controlling for legally relevant case characteristics. This advantage persists at the federal level, despite the implementation of sentencing guidelines. However, drawing from the “intersectionalities” literature, it does not appear as though all women are equal beneficiaries of this courtroom leniency. Specifically, women of color are less inclined to receive sentencing benefits in response to the differential stereotyping of this demographic. Furthermore, due to differing sociohistorical contexts and gender ideologies, the influence of gender on sentencing outcomes will likely vary across place. This study contributes to the existing sentencing literature by examining whether, and to what extent, gender leniency is moderated by race/ethnicity and geographic region. Using data from the 2015 Monitoring of Federal Criminal Sentences, this study finds that women receive shorter sentence lengths than men. However, contrary to expectation, women of color receive shorter sentences than White women. Additionally, women who are adjudicated in the southern and border districts receive significantly longer sentences. These findings demonstrate the importance of contextualizing and disaggregating female criminal justice outcomes as well as the need to limit research and discourse that imply a singular shared experience among all women.

Examining the Relationship Between Media Consumption, Fear of Crime, and Support for Controversial Criminal Justice Policies Using a Nationally Representative Sample

According to cultivation theory, higher levels of crime-based media consumption result in an increased fear of crime. This study extends cultivation theory’s basic assertion by (a) creating a robust measure of media consumption based on three different factors and 38 original questions, (b) examining the direct and indirect effects of media consumption and fear of crime on support of criminal justice policies, and (c) using a nationwide sample. Using a sample of 1,311 participants, a combination of principal components analysis and structural equation modeling was used to examine these relationships. The results support the usefulness of a four-factor measure of media consumption in relationship to fear of crime. Results also reveal that fear of crime amplifies the effect of media consumption in creating support for three-strikes, death penalty, stand your ground, and open carry laws.

Theorizing fat oppression: Intersectional approaches and methodological innovations

ABSTRACT The oppression of fat people is built into institutions, pervades the cultural landscape, and affects the relationships and perceptions of people of size. In this introduction to the special issue on fat oppression, we examine the concept of oppression and its place in fat studies before reviewing the extant literature on fat oppression. We also discuss how the articles chosen for this issue contribute to the existing theoretical and empirical understanding of fat oppression. We conclude by encouraging scholarship that utilizes diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to studying the oppression of fat people.