Katherine R. Allen

The Life Course Perspective Applied to Families Over Time

One of the enduring puzzles in the life sciences is the description and explanation of change over time. Such change is frequently called “development,” and the metaphors of growth and decline, gain and loss have often been employed to characterize change in structure or function of organisms over time. Cells, individuals, groups, and even social systems exhibit change over time. While most change is orderly, regular, and normative, some change is chaotic, irregular, and unpredicted. Growth or decline at the individual level often has antecedents or consequences at the collective group level.

The Ethic of Care: Leisure Possibilities and Constraints for Women

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to provide a review and an interpretive framework for examining the “ethic of care” (i.e., the activity of relationships) as it offers possibilities and constraints for the leisure of women. The explanatory implications of the ethic of care are useful in further understanding antecedent and intervening constraints to leisure as well as understanding the empowering possibilities of leisure for women. The paper uses a feminist framework to address the concept of an ethic of care, the ways that the ethic has been embodied in leisure behavior for women primarily within the family, the link between an ethic of care and constraints to leisure for women, and the possibilities for the value of an ethic of care in the leisure of all individuals. In describing the experiences of women, the ethic of care is not meant to further dichotomize males and females in leisure but to offer an explanation of womens leisure and to provide some ideas that require further empirical research.

Women and families : feminist reconstructions

Families--often a source of satisfaction, growth, and fulfillment for women--can also be an arena of domination, abuse, and pain. This volume uses a postmodern feminist perspective to elucidate womens myriad experiences in the family, providing an integrated analysis of critical aspects of intimate relationships, sexuality, childbearing decisions, care giving, and work within the family context. Throughout, the book focuses on the nature of the choices women must make as they attempt to meet their own needs while nurturing and sustaining their intimate and family relationships.Challenging traditional definitions of the family, WOMEN AND FAMILIES reveals the rich diversity of family relationships that women actually construct. The proliferation of new family configurations, the diversity of connections that women form with intimate partners, and the multiplicity of choices they make regarding paid work and parenting are examined. With a focus on heterosexual and lesbian family experiences, the book provides an inclusive perspective rarely found in the family studies literature. Drawing upon current research and theory, the volume creates a vision of what families might be when relationships are based on mutual respect, equality, and choice.A comprehensive introduction to postmodern feminism, WOMEN AND FAMILIES incorporates feminist thinking and research from a variety of disciplines. It provides an integrated analysis of the connections among women, their families, and the wider culture, and illuminates both the differences and the similarities among women. Action-oriented, the book stresses themes of economic autonomy, choice and equality, reproductive freedom, and education for critical awareness, and presents pragmatic recommendations for empowerment.Offering a unique perspective on the reciprocal influences between women and their families, this volume will be of interest to a wide range of professionals including family specialists, therapists, social workers, psychologists, and sociologists. Ideal as a primary text for upper division undergraduate- or graduate-level family studies, womens studies, and gender studies courses, WOMEN AND FAMILIES also serves as a supplemental text for courses in counseling, sociology, psychology, social work, and life-span development.

Women in Computer-Related Majors: A Critical Synthesis of Research and Theory From 1994 to 2005

In this article, the authors review, critique, and synthesize the emerging research literature from 1994 to 2005 on women’s enrollment and persistence in computer-related majors. A thorough examination of 44 empirical studies in scholarly journals reveals that this literature primarily relies on exploratory and descriptive analyses, individualized measures, and implicit theoretical frameworks. Findings are grouped by four themes: (a) enrollment patterns, (b) gender differences in self-confidence and performance, (c) gender differences in computer use, and (d) academic environments. An explicit gender theory of women in computing is needed to reconceptualize diverse women’s experiences and to direct future research on women’s enrollment and persistence patterns in computer fields.

ETHICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL TENSIONS IN APPLYING A POSTMODERN PERSPECTIVE TO FEMINIST RESEARCH

We examine tensions that arise in applying postmodernism to feminist research. First, we consider epistemological tensions generated in the process of deconstructing existing knowledge and constructing new knowledge that benefits women. Second, we examine six ethical issues that reflect the tensions in feminist practice as we attempt to justify the dialectic between knowledge and power. In keeping with a postmodernist perspective, we pose these six issues as questions: Is feminist postmodernism “postfeminist”? Does postmodernist language mystify feminist practice and goals? Are qualitative methods more feminist than quantitative ones? Must feminists have a liberatory purpose in their research? Is the personal too personal? Whose aims are served, feminists or their collaborators? We conclude that by adopting a postmodern feminist perspective, we can embrace the struggle between knowledge and practice rather than privilege one over the other.

Diversity within Lesbian and Gay Families: Challenges and Implications for Family Theory and Research:

This paper describes and discusses diversity among lesbian and gay families along central dimensions of social stratification: gender, sexual orientation, generation, age, race and ethnicity. We examine implications of this diversity for traditional family theories, identify and discuss sexist and heterosexist assumptions of dominant family theories and suggest the usefulness of an integrative approach that combines insights from positivist and post-positivist theories. We conclude by proposing research questions, directions and methods to guide future empirical work, facilitate theory development and enrich our understanding of diverse family forms.

Reconstructing Masculinity and Sexuality

This paper attempts to synthesize general issues pertaining to masculinity and male sexuality using essentialist and postmodern theoretical ideologies. According to essentialist ideologies, the construction of male gender requires ones molding into a masculine role, which presupposes autonomy, competition, and aggressiveness, and the suppression of the innate human needs for connectedness, intimacy, and self-disclosure, which have been traditionally devalued as feminine traits. Alternatively, postmodern ideologies call for the deconstruction of essentialist notions of male sexuality and the reconstruction of a more balanced androgynous ideology drawing from the historical, social, and cultural determinants of sexuality and cherishing both masculine and feminine traits. The historical, social, and cultural perspective may be viewed as an overarching umbrella encompassing economic and power issues, an arena where the inequality wars are being waged, primarily those of gender, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, race, and social stratification. The reconstruction process is attained by helping one re-narrate his/her lifelong sexual narrative.

Single women/family ties : life histories of older women

Introduction Working Class Single Women in Historical Perspective The Research Process Growing Up in Working Class Families Pathways in Young Adulthood Remaining Single and Becoming Married The Middle Years Taking Care of Families Growing Old as Single Women The Family Careers of Lifelong Single Women In Context

The Role of Masturbation in Healthy Sexual Development: Perceptions of Young Adults

Despite efforts to identify masturbation as a strategy to improve sexual health, promote relational intimacy, and reduce unwanted pregnancy, STIs, and HIV transmission, masturbation as a context for healthy sexual development has been met with silence or trepidation in the scientific and educational communities. Relegated to the realm of commercial media, rather than rational discourse in families, schools, and the general public, young people receive mixed messages about this non-reproductive sexual behavior. In order to explore how young adults have learned about masturbation and currently perceive masturbation, we conducted a grounded theory study of 72 college students (56 females; 16 males) enrolled in a human sexuality class. Findings revealed that a young adult’s perceptions of and feelings toward masturbation were the result of a developmental process that included: (1) learning about the act of masturbation and how to do it, (2) learning and internalizing the social contradiction of stigma and taboo surrounding this pleasurable act, and (3) coming to terms with this tension between stigma and pleasure. Although nearly all participants learned about masturbation through the media and peers (not parents or teachers), gender was salient in coming to terms with the contradiction of stigma and pleasure. Most of the women reported either still struggling with the contradiction or accepting it as normal. Most of the men recognized the beneficial aspects for healthy sexual development that result from masturbation. Both male and female participants identified differential sexual scripts as contributing to the double standard.

Grandchildren's Perceptions of Caring for Grandparents

Despite the fact that caregiving related issues are well researched in the field of family gerontology, the developmental experiences of grandchildren caregivers and the meanings of their caregiving experiences have not been explored. Influenced by the lifespan perspective and a constructionism lens, interviews were conducted with 17 grandchildren (ages 21 to 29 years old) who were currently providing care for a grandparent. Grandchildren cargivers reported that filial obligation and preparing for the future were how they made sense of their role. Grandchildren experienced benefits and costs from their caregiving role and developed coping mechanisms that allowed them to be successful caregivers. Professionals should include grandchildren in established caregiver support programs to recognize the generational needs of grandchildren caregivers in their 20s.