Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Ahead of Print.
In early 2020, when COVID-19 began to spread in the United States, many Twitter users called it the “Chinese virus,” blaming racial outgroups for the pandemic. I collected tweets containing the “Chinese virus” derivatives posted from March to August 2020 by users within the United States and created a data set with 141,290 tweets published by 50,695 users. I calculated the ratio of users who supported the racist naming of COVID-19 per county and merged Twitter data with the county-level census. Multilevel regression models show that counties with higher COVID-19 mortality or infection rates have more support for the racist naming. Second, the mortality and infection rates effects are stronger in counties with faster minority growth. Moreover, it is mainly in poor counties that minority growth enlarges the effects of infection and mortality rates. These findings relate to the theories on disease-induced xenophobia and the debate between conflict and contact theories.
Diasporic multiculturalism
Current Sociology, Ahead of Print.
Noting an overreliance on North American and European-based understandings of race and ethnicity, many sociologists have called for research in new spaces. But the same conceptual and regional limitations apply to several other studies. One example of this is multiculturalism. Scholars tend to associate multiculturalism with international migration and ethnic pluralism. As such, they typically study multiculturalism in the most ethnically diverse (and often most affluent) countries – that is, in Europe and North America. But international migration does not always result in ethnic pluralism. For example, diasporic return migration often leads to the convergence of internally diverse co-ethnic populations in ethnically homogeneous nation-states. The diasporic ‘returnees’, who were born outside of their perceived homelands, come through targeted migration policies, face various levels of discrimination, and yet contribute significantly to the economic development and cultural diversity of the countries to which they relocate. As such, this article argues that the multiculturalization of monoethnic nationhood is substantially driven by diasporic return migration. In exploring diasporic multiculturalism, the article draws from data collected in Yerevan, Armenia.
Noting an overreliance on North American and European-based understandings of race and ethnicity, many sociologists have called for research in new spaces. But the same conceptual and regional limitations apply to several other studies. One example of this is multiculturalism. Scholars tend to associate multiculturalism with international migration and ethnic pluralism. As such, they typically study multiculturalism in the most ethnically diverse (and often most affluent) countries – that is, in Europe and North America. But international migration does not always result in ethnic pluralism. For example, diasporic return migration often leads to the convergence of internally diverse co-ethnic populations in ethnically homogeneous nation-states. The diasporic ‘returnees’, who were born outside of their perceived homelands, come through targeted migration policies, face various levels of discrimination, and yet contribute significantly to the economic development and cultural diversity of the countries to which they relocate. As such, this article argues that the multiculturalization of monoethnic nationhood is substantially driven by diasporic return migration. In exploring diasporic multiculturalism, the article draws from data collected in Yerevan, Armenia.
Leather nostalgia: Constructed histories of Dutch leathermen through national discourses of tolerance and white innocence
Sexualities, Ahead of Print.
Through following sentiments of nostalgia and loss through leathermen’s personal narratives, and an analysis of 110 influential leather images, this article argues that constructed histories of the Dutch gay male leather scene reflect a nostalgia for a lost white gay masculinity that reproduces Dutch-centric conceptions of tolerance, freedom, and self. In these constructed pasts, the Dutch leather brotherhood purportedly developed as a space of exceptional acceptance, protected from encroaching straight and effeminate gay cultures in the 1970s. These memories feature a conceptualization of sexual freedom as indistinguishable from sexual expression, reflecting ideas of freedom and tolerance rooted in Dutch liberalism. Leather memorialization of sexual freedom mobilizes liberal conceptions of autonomy and self that locate freedom in expression, bound sexual pleasure to the individual, and disconnect it from sociopolitical contexts. In influential erotic images of hyperwhite men covered in black leather and dirt, the rare but exclusive appearance of people of color in racist sexual tropes reveals the racist discourse underlying imaginations of the past erotic scene. These constructed pasts continue to haunt larger fetish culture even after the closure of beloved leather bars—shaping their self-identities into the present, inflecting upon their current participation in leather culture, and creating the meaning they derive from this community.
Through following sentiments of nostalgia and loss through leathermen’s personal narratives, and an analysis of 110 influential leather images, this article argues that constructed histories of the Dutch gay male leather scene reflect a nostalgia for a lost white gay masculinity that reproduces Dutch-centric conceptions of tolerance, freedom, and self. In these constructed pasts, the Dutch leather brotherhood purportedly developed as a space of exceptional acceptance, protected from encroaching straight and effeminate gay cultures in the 1970s. These memories feature a conceptualization of sexual freedom as indistinguishable from sexual expression, reflecting ideas of freedom and tolerance rooted in Dutch liberalism. Leather memorialization of sexual freedom mobilizes liberal conceptions of autonomy and self that locate freedom in expression, bound sexual pleasure to the individual, and disconnect it from sociopolitical contexts. In influential erotic images of hyperwhite men covered in black leather and dirt, the rare but exclusive appearance of people of color in racist sexual tropes reveals the racist discourse underlying imaginations of the past erotic scene. These constructed pasts continue to haunt larger fetish culture even after the closure of beloved leather bars—shaping their self-identities into the present, inflecting upon their current participation in leather culture, and creating the meaning they derive from this community.
Decisions, practices, and experiences of disclosure by academics with invisible disabilities at German universities
.
The CRPD and the economic model of disability: undue burdens and invisible work
.
Crip Intimacy: Sockfriends, Sexuality, and ‘Cripped Things’
.
The relationality of workplace accessibility – employers’ perceptions of accessibility and the impact on recruitment of wheelchair users
.
Structural Sexism and Preventive Health Care Use in the United States
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Ahead of Print.
Preventive health care use can reduce the risk of disease, disability, and death. Thus, it is critical to understand factors that shape preventive care use. A growing body of research identifies structural sexism as a driver of population health, but it remains unknown if structural sexism is linked to preventive care use and, if so, whether the relationship differs for women and men. Gender performance and gendered power and resource allocation perspectives lead to competing hypotheses regarding these questions. This study explores the relationship between structural sexism and preventive care in gender-stratified, multilevel models that combine data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System with state-level data (N = 425,454). We find that in states with more structural sexism, both men and women were less likely to seek preventive care. These findings support the gender performance hypothesis for men and the gendered power and resource allocation hypothesis for men and women.
Preventive health care use can reduce the risk of disease, disability, and death. Thus, it is critical to understand factors that shape preventive care use. A growing body of research identifies structural sexism as a driver of population health, but it remains unknown if structural sexism is linked to preventive care use and, if so, whether the relationship differs for women and men. Gender performance and gendered power and resource allocation perspectives lead to competing hypotheses regarding these questions. This study explores the relationship between structural sexism and preventive care in gender-stratified, multilevel models that combine data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System with state-level data (N = 425,454). We find that in states with more structural sexism, both men and women were less likely to seek preventive care. These findings support the gender performance hypothesis for men and the gendered power and resource allocation hypothesis for men and women.
Streets as experienced through the body, mind, and screen: The smartphone and the pedestrian’s engagement with an urban public space
Mobile Media &Communication, Ahead of Print.
This study investigates the influence of smartphone use on the embodied experiences of pedestrians in urban public spaces. Participants in this study engaged in leisure walks in a bustling urban environment. The study employed a multi-sensory, multi-modal data collection approach, which incorporated mobile eye tracking, screen capture, think-aloud, and participant data review. Findings revealed dynamic relationships between the urban pedestrians’ embodied experiences (“streets as experienced through the body”), digital content (“streets on the screen”), and spatial knowledge (“streets in the mind”). The study explored the “unfolding” practice between multiple versions of the surrounding environment and sheds light on the complex interplay of cognitive, experiential, and digital inputs in shaping pedestrian actions. Moreover, the study uncovers the paradoxical effects of smartphone usage and introduces both serendipity and familiarity into the pedestrian's journey through public spaces. Further, the implications of this research highlight the need for mobile media studies to embrace “messy” and “noisy” data for a more comprehensive understanding of the interconnections between minds, bodies, places, and mobilities.
This study investigates the influence of smartphone use on the embodied experiences of pedestrians in urban public spaces. Participants in this study engaged in leisure walks in a bustling urban environment. The study employed a multi-sensory, multi-modal data collection approach, which incorporated mobile eye tracking, screen capture, think-aloud, and participant data review. Findings revealed dynamic relationships between the urban pedestrians’ embodied experiences (“streets as experienced through the body”), digital content (“streets on the screen”), and spatial knowledge (“streets in the mind”). The study explored the “unfolding” practice between multiple versions of the surrounding environment and sheds light on the complex interplay of cognitive, experiential, and digital inputs in shaping pedestrian actions. Moreover, the study uncovers the paradoxical effects of smartphone usage and introduces both serendipity and familiarity into the pedestrian's journey through public spaces. Further, the implications of this research highlight the need for mobile media studies to embrace “messy” and “noisy” data for a more comprehensive understanding of the interconnections between minds, bodies, places, and mobilities.
Trans women’s status in contemporary Iran: Misrecognition and the cultural politics of aberu
Sexualities, Ahead of Print.
In this paper, I explore the socio-legal status of trans women in contemporary Iran especially as it relates to Gender Affirmation Surgery. More specifically, I try to understand how trans women embody gender by investigating gender practices and relations in family, law, and medicine. Based on my fieldwork in Iran, the findings suggest that aberu – a phenomenon specific to Iranian culture – plays a big role in shaping trans women’s lives. By bringing together feminist philosopher Nancy Fraser’s work on the politics of recognition and sociologist Raewyn Connell’s understanding of social embodiment, I discuss how the status of trans women is pervasively misrecognised and how they are denied economic participation and democratic representation in Iranian society. Adopting the method of thematic analysis, I argue that the social pressure associated with aberu, and the lack of legal protection have made trans women simultaneously invisible and yet also subject to violence. Finally, I discuss how trans women go through the process of gender embodiment by problematising misrecognition, redefining femininity, and reclaiming womanhood through everyday life challenges.
In this paper, I explore the socio-legal status of trans women in contemporary Iran especially as it relates to Gender Affirmation Surgery. More specifically, I try to understand how trans women embody gender by investigating gender practices and relations in family, law, and medicine. Based on my fieldwork in Iran, the findings suggest that aberu – a phenomenon specific to Iranian culture – plays a big role in shaping trans women’s lives. By bringing together feminist philosopher Nancy Fraser’s work on the politics of recognition and sociologist Raewyn Connell’s understanding of social embodiment, I discuss how the status of trans women is pervasively misrecognised and how they are denied economic participation and democratic representation in Iranian society. Adopting the method of thematic analysis, I argue that the social pressure associated with aberu, and the lack of legal protection have made trans women simultaneously invisible and yet also subject to violence. Finally, I discuss how trans women go through the process of gender embodiment by problematising misrecognition, redefining femininity, and reclaiming womanhood through everyday life challenges.