What Makes Women Social Cynics? An Exploratory Study

Although women are comprised almost half of the human population, still their experiences as a minority within the larger social framework, affect the affective and behavioral aspects of their personality including social cynicism. Unfortunately, social cynicism had never been empirically studied from the perspective of women, especially indigenously. By applying a qualitative approach, this study explored an indigenous understanding of social cynicism in a sample of (N=20) young adult women through a focus group discussion (n=6) and open-ended questionnaires (n=14), respectively. Five central themes emerged after the thematic analysis of the transcribed data that included gender inequality and exploitation, misrepresentation and misinformation, negative beliefs and generalizations, authority and control, and lastly, safety and security concerns. The findings showed several distinctive and indigenous themes like paternal authoritarianism, religion-based misinterpretation and sense of imminent danger while a few sub-themes were consistent with the previous literature. By exploring the construct of social cynicism in women, this study had not only broadened the limits of existing research literature on this construct but its themes could be applied for indigenous theory and scale development.

Increased risk of fungal infection detection in women using menstrual cups vs. tampons

Menstrual cups are gaining in popularity worldwide as a more environmentally sustainable and affordable alternative to disposable personal hygiene products. However, there is currently a lack of scientific literature regarding their safety and potential effects on women’s health. We analysed biological, demographic, and behavioural data in a cohort of young adult women using either tampons (n = 81) or menstrual cups (n = 22). We identify an increased risk of being diagnosed with fungal infection for women using menstrual cups over tampons. We did not detect significant differences between groups in terms of vaginal microbiota composition or local cytokines expression profile. However we found that depending on the type of menstrual product they use more (cups or tampons), women fall into two different clusters in a factor analysis of mixed data, which potentially reflects differences in their local vaginal environments. These results underline the urgent need for in-depth studies to better understand the potential associations between menstrual product products and women’s health.

The Relationship of Costume Design in Film With the Interest of Young Adult Women as Fashion Product Consumers in Indonesia

This study discusses the relationship between costume design in films and the interest of the audience, especially young adult women, triggers of their interest in similar fashion products as consumers by using outfit styles from three films, The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Sex and The City: The Movie (2008) and Crazy Rich Asians (2018), which were selected through a questionnaire answered by 20 experts in the fashion field. The analysis was conducted on 258 young adult women (18-24 years old) domiciled in Indonesia through a questionnaire to find out their perceptions and preferences on outfit styles from the costume designs in those three films. Based on this analysis, it can be seen that if the audience is interested and feels that the outfit worn by the character fits them, then they will have the desire to wear fashion products that are similar to the appearance of the costume design in the film.