scholarly journals ‘Out of order’: The double burden of menstrual etiquette and the subtle exclusion of women from public space in Scotland

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 766-787
Author(s):  
Natalie Moffat ◽  
Lucy Pickering

This article examines the double burden of ‘menstrual etiquette’ and the implications for women’s inclusion in public spaces in Scotland today. Beginning from Laws’ work on ‘menstrual etiquette’, we explore how menstrual etiquette is characterised primarily by the burden of rendering menstruation invisible, both discursively and practically. However, women not only work to ensure that others remain unaware that they are menstruating; they depend on technologies, such as menstrual product dispensers and bins, to facilitate this process of rendering menstruation invisible. When these technologies are absent or poorly maintained, women experience a double burden: not only must they maintain the social invisibility of menstruation but do so without social or infrastructural support or drawing attention to this absence (for fear of breaching the discursive silence demanded of menstrual etiquette). We locate poor maintenance of facilities within the very same ‘civilising process’ that has pushed women’s bodily management to the furthest reaches of the private sphere. Socially invisible, these infrastructural supports are granted low status and poorly maintained. The pressure to maintain conceptual silence around menstruation limits women’s capacity to contest this neglect and, in turn, perpetuates their exclusion from public space. This article, then, exposes the nature and the compounding temporal and affective burden of menstrual etiquette and advocates for breaking discursive silences to facilitate much needed social change.

Author(s):  
Tamar Sharon ◽  
Bert-Jaap Koops

AbstractSocieties evolve practices that reflect social norms of appropriateness in social interaction, for example when and to what extent one should respect the boundaries of another person’s private sphere. One such practice is what the sociologist Erving Goffman called civil inattention—the social norm of showing a proper amount of indifference to others—which functions as an almost unnoticed yet highly potent privacy-preserving mechanism. These practices can be disrupted by technologies that afford new forms of intrusions. In this paper, we show how new networked technologies, such as facial recognition (FR), challenge our ability to practice civil inattention. We argue for the need to revitalise, in academic and policy debates, the role of civil inattention and related practices in regulating behaviour in public space. Our analysis highlights the relational nature of privacy and the importance of social norms in accomplishing and preserving it. While our analysis goes some way in supporting current calls to ban FR technology, we also suggest that, pending a ban and in light of the power of norms to limit what is otherwise technically possible, cultivating new practices of civil inattention may help address the challenges raised by FR and other forms of digital surveillance in public.


K@iros ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camila ARÊAS

This study develops a semiotics analysis of the « burqa affair » on French national press and observes how this public debate interrogates the problematic of the distance (physical, social and symbolical) between the secular and religious subjects in view of the question of social ties (recognition and appreciation). The analysis of the prohibitionist discourse in such debate brings into light the importance of the face in the republican conception of social ties and the primacy of the figure of transparency inside republican regime of visibility. This republican translation of the social cohesion configures a spatial problematic since it generates a semiotic process that redefines the concept of “public space” and consecrate it in the terms of 2010 law. The reconfiguration of distance that results from the mediatisation of the “burqa affair” carries, in return, some significant effects over the practical and symbolical modalities of social ties, notably the relation between oneself and the others, and raises important questionings about the meaning of contemporary public spaces and places.


Author(s):  
K. L. Khomyakova

The article deals with characteristics of urban public spaces, their role in the global transformation of the social relations system is determined. The ambiguity of assessing the impact of globalization on modern cities is due to the theoretical and methodological problems of modern sociological urbanism. There is no single approach among scientists to defining the concept of urban public space, which determines the relevance of the study of its interpretation and definition of essential properties. Public spaces are considered as a connecting element between the system and social levels of urban research, which correspond to the levels of integration identified by the modern sociologist E. Giddens. The article analyzes classical and modern approaches to the study of public space, there is reveals the course of evolution of sociological thought in relation to the formation of differentiation of types of spaces within cities. Based on the analysis of the works of modern sociologists and urbanists, such key features of public spaces as openness, socio-political neutrality, and symbolism were identified. Global processes and contradictions lead to an aggravation of the problem of the presence of the category of “Others” within public urban spaces, which are representatives of various segments of the population, with a variety of claims and interests. One of the consequences of the intensive development of digital technologies is a possible situation of “competition for the citizen” between traditional public spaces and online services. Assumptions are made about future transformations of social relations within public spaces as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 4382-4387

Conviviality is a popular concept in urban design while referring to the good qualities of public spaces. This concept is the need for current times when social life in physical public spaces is declining away largely to forces like social media and the virtual world. The human tendency to feel satisfied and happy exists in existence with others. The social media has taken away the role that established Greek agora as the first centre of public interaction which initiated the concepts of modern democracy. Where popular public spaces have big roles to perform, the small public spaces in the neighbourhood and markets perform an important role to stage the everyday local nuisance in people's life. Even If public space is satisfactory enough to take away the loneliness and boredom of everyday course of modern living a lot can be achieved. Conviviality is one such factor which helps to elevate the satisfaction of spending time with others. This paper is an attempt to understand conviviality and relate it to public open spaces from the physical planning point of view.


Author(s):  
Deni Setiawan ◽  
Timbul Haryono ◽  
Agus Burhan

The concept of an ideal public space does not just focus on the interests of a particular group or community, but rather focus on the space of social activities that represent each audience or spectator in that society. Arts and cultural activities are part of it; although the concept of public space is still abstract to represent every social individual. However, the presence of public space has created a mediation space for all forms of communication. Mediation space is considered as a crucial feature, not only as a promotional sphere but also as a place to exchange and communicate all forms of ideology, art, and culture. Art activities such as Jogja Fashion Week Carnival and Cosplay clothing performance in public spaces provide opportunities for communities or individuals, to make this activity as a public performance and part of public art. Public art tends to be creative, free, and sometimes not accompanied by a theoretical perspective, as other arts are. Art activities in public spaces which are part of the social and cultural activities are essentially standing on the ideology that have been set up for a particular interest. The interest is disseminated using mass media and advertisment. Audience or public art connoisseur in public spaces should be more intelligent and critical to accept all kinds of art activities and performances. Therefore the performance will have a balanced communication.AbstrakKonsep ruang publik yang ideal tidak saja berbicara kepentingan golongan atau komunitas tertentu, tetapi lebih fokus pada wadah aktivitas sosial yang mewakili setiap pendatang atau penonton. Termasuk didalamnya adalah aktivitas seni dan budaya, walaupun konsep ruang publik masih dapat dikatakan abstrak untuk mewakili setiap individu sosial. Akan tetapi dengan adanya ruang publik telah menciptakan ruang mediasi bagi segala macam bentuk komunikasi. Ruang mediasi ini dipandang penting, tidak saja dijadikan ranah promosi, lebih mendalam adalah untuk bertukar dan tempat komunikasi segala macam bentuk ideologi, kesenian, dan kebudayaan. Aktivitas seni semacam Jogja Fashion Week Carnival dan pagelaran pakaian cosplay pada ruang publik memberikan kesempatan bagi komunitas atau individu, untuk menjadikan aktivitas ini sebagai tontonan dan bagian seni publik. Seni publik ini tentu saja lebih cenderung lebih kreatif, bebas, dan terkadang tidak diiringi dengan perspektif teoretis, seperti yang dilakukan seni lainnya. Aktivitas seni pada ruang publik, merupakan bagian dari aktivitas sosial dan budaya, hakikatnya berdiri pada ideologi yang telah diatur untuk satu kepentingan, yang disebarluaskan menggunakan media massa dan iklan. Penonton atau masyarakat penikmat seni pada ruang publik, harus lebih cerdas dan kritis untuk menerima segala macam bentuk sajian aktivitas seni, sehingga sajian tersebut memiliki komunikasi yang seimbang.


The paper offers a critical reconstruction of Arendt’s concepts of revolution and public freedom. It is shown that, in spite of her self-proclaimed empiricism, Arendt’s approach to understanding politics, including the phenomenon of revolution, is normative. She insists that the main idea of all revolutions is the constitution of a political space of public freedom, and at the same time emphasizes that none of the revolutions has solved this task. Normative premises, on the basis of which Arendt judges the real historical experience, are considered: her interpretations of action, freedom and public sphere. Freedom is understood as the capacity to initiate something new, it is man’s destination and is expressed in action, which is identified with political activity. The action needs a common public space of freedom, which is free from the necessity to satisfy material needs for the maintenance of the biological life process. The distinction between public space and private sphere, which arose in the ancient polis, is a condition of the possibility of politics and freedom: politics is a realm of concern for public affairs, the private sphere is subject to the necessity to meet material needs. This distinction was destroyed in modern era with the advent of the social, when private interest occupied the public political sphere. Analysis of Arendt’s texts leads to the conclusion that she sees the essence of the revolution in the restoration of the original, ancient meaning of politics, which means the establishment of such forms of government that can ensure the political freedom of citizens, their right to participate in political debates and decision making. None of the revolutions solved this problem, because in the minds of both participants and theorists of revolution the “social question” came to the fore, that is, the problem of ensuring collective welfare, which should be solved by administrative methods of management, and not by political means. Representative democracy, established as a result of revolutions, in the end leads to a crisis of democratic legitimacy, since citizens have lost their political freedom to representative bodies. Contemporary experience proves that the condition for overcoming the crisis of democracy is the development of civil society along the lines suggested by Arendt’s concepts of public sphere and political freedom.


Rural China ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-171
Author(s):  
Zhi Gao

Chen Zhongshi’s novel, White Deer Plain, is a complex text revealing the social, political, economic, and cultural dimensions of a community in transformation in which multiple public spaces coexist and struggle to survive. As a reinterpretation of the novel, this article examines three types of public spaces: the popular, the political, and the cultural-educational, respectively. Focusing on the forms of depiction, the inner workings of the public spaces, the overlapping between different spaces and their expansion, this article aims to delineate the trajectories of the rise and fall of such public spaces and explore their entangling and association with modernity.


2005 ◽  
Vol 68 (11) ◽  
pp. 524-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Pollard ◽  
Auldeen Alsop ◽  
Frank Kronenberg

This opinion piece describes central issues arising from discussions at a recent conference exploring the implications of global poverty for the occupational therapy profession. The connection between poverty, disability and the marginalisation that these problems produce presents an opportunity for occupational therapists to realise their potential for facilitating social change. To do so, however, entails some reconceptualising of the profession. In some areas of intervention, the struggle to obtain a clear definition for occupational therapy has both arisen from and contributed to a marginal status, linked to difficulties in developing capacity for research. The social questions around occupation suggest both challenges and opportunities for the profession.


Author(s):  
Fernanda da Silva de Andrade Moreira ◽  
Karen de Nazareth Santos Nogueira

ANALYSIS OF URBAN PUBLIC SPACE: the case of Mangal das Garças ParkANÁLISIS DEL ESPACIO PÚBLICO URBANO: el caso del Parque Mangal das GarçasOs espaços públicos urbanos têm sido objeto de estudos frequentes, pois, são nesses espaços que ocorre a produção social da cidade. Entendem-se como espaços públicos, em seu sentido físico, a praça, a rua, os parques entre outros. O presente estudo tem como objetivo central analisar o espaço do Parque Mangal das Garças, investigando os conceitos de espaços públicos e suas novas formas de exteriorização, no intuito de perceber de que maneira a população de Belém o percebe como espaço público no seu sentido mais amplo: o de instrumento para a promoção do direito à cidade. A metodologia utilizada foi a de entrevista orientada com 20 transeuntes no dia 18 de setembro de 2017 aplicada sob o suporte teórico de estudiosos da área.Palavras-chave: Urbanização; Espaços Públicos; Produção Social; Acessibilidade.ABSTRACTThe urban public spaces have been the object of frequent study, since it is in these spaces that the social production of the city occurs. They are understood as public spaces, in their physical sense, the square, the street, the parks among others. This study aims to analyze the space of Mangal das Garças Park, investigating the concepts of public spaces, and their new forms of exteriorization, in order to understand how the population of Belém perceives it as a public space in its broadest sense the instrument for the promotion of the right to the city. The methodology used was an interview with 20 passers-by on September 18, 2017 applied to the theoretical support of scholars in the area.Keywords: Urbanization; Public Spaces; Social Production; Accessibility.RESUMENLos espacios públicos urbanos han sido objeto de estudio frecuente, pues, son en esos espacios que ocurre la producción social de la ciudad. Se entiende como espacios públicos, en su sentido físico, la plaza, la calle, los parques entre otros. Este estudio tiene como objetivo central analizar el espacio del Parque Mangal das Garças, investigando los conceptos de espacios públicos, y sus nuevas formas de exteriorización, con el fin de percibir de qué manera la población de Belén lo percibe como espacio público en su sentido más amplio : el de instrumento para la promoción del derecho a la ciudad. La metodología utilizada fue la de entrevista orientada con 20 transeúntes el día 18 de septiembre de 2017 aplicada al soporte teórico de estudiosos del área.Palabras clave: Urbanización; Espacios Públicos; Producción Social; Accesibilidad.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-151
Author(s):  
M. Salim Ferwati ◽  
Ali Keyvanfar ◽  
Arezou Shafaghat ◽  
Omar Ferwati

Abstract Public spaces facilitate opportunities for social interaction and promote social life. The social-spatial complexity of public spaces can be explored through the relationship between built forms and users’ daily social activities. The contemporary needs of users have retrofitted or replaced the controversial public spaces such as streets, depriving the prime function of sustaining and facilitating social life. Thus, any factors influencing users’ social/public life impact the quality of public spaces. Also, contextualization and definition of public spaces necessitate an evaluation of their quality. The lack of a quality assessment directory (QAD) for evaluating multi-functional public spaces motivated us to address it. To achieve the aim, this research has conducted a systematic literature review applying the content analysis to explore the principles and indicators influencing and enhancing social interactions in multi-functional public space design and then performed a normalization analysis to measure the weight of each indicator. The QAD constitutes five criteria (C1 – Inclusiveness, C2 – Desirable activities, C3 – Comfort, C4 – Safety, C5 – Pleasurability), and forty-two (42) embedded sub-criteria. The research found that Inclusiveness (Wn C1 = 4.38) and Pleasurability (Wn C2 = 3.88) have received the highest weights. Also, the research found that the sub-criteria ‘Physical/visual connection or openness to adjacent spaces’ (Wn Sc.4.1 = 1.00), ‘Users of diverse ages’ and ‘Community gathering third places’ (Wn = 0.750) have received the highest weights. Using such a QAD, urban professionals can quantify the effectiveness and efficiency of public spaces’ environmental and physical qualities in promoting social interactions and sociability.


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