In Pursuit of Development: Post-Migration Stressors among Kenyan Female Migrants in Austria

The emphasis on migration for development obscures its diverse challenges. The migration development nexus is paradoxical, problematic, and controversial. Remittances have long gained wide interest. Migrants’ subjective experiences are important in understanding overall migration outcomes. International African female migration has increased and it is underexplored. This paper investigates the psychosocial stressors of migration based on the lived experiences of Kenyan female migrants in Austria. A sample of 6 female migrants was selected. Narrative data were recorded and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings showed that migration resulted in troubled relationships within the core and extended families. The economic dependency of family members in Kenya caused conflicts in interracial marriages. Acculturation led to alienation, family separation and isolation. Achieving economic goals proved challenging due to unpredictable effects in Austria. Failed expectations driven by stereotypes about Europe resulted in disillusionment and high expenses. Routine racism and Black female body objectification affected the mental health of the participants. This article contributes to knowledge on international African migration and gender-specific issues concerning African female migrants. The results will inform policymakers, academia, future migrants and mental health providers. Further research on the effects of migration on African migrants is recommended.

Sexual Harassment Experience, Gender Harassment and Body Objectification Effect on Disordered Eating Tendencies

Various research on sexual harassment and gender harassment confirms the adverse effects on a person's physical and emotional health (Shrier, 1990), but so far, little is known about the impact of sexual harassment and gender harassment on one's body objectification and links to disordered eating behavior. Sexual harassment and gender harassment are not only based on gender stereotypes but also play an essential role in supporting gender norms in society by regulating what is seen as acceptable and unacceptable behavior, and appearance for gender. According to the theory of body objectification (Fredrickson, Roberts, 1997), both forms of gender discrimination can induce attention to one's body and appearance, which ultimately can lead to reduced satisfaction of one's body (Szymanski et al. 2011). Since body dissatisfaction is one of the leading causes of eating disorders (Brechan, Kvalem, 2015; Cruz-Sáez et al. 2018), it is important to have a better understanding of sexual harassment and gender harassment relationship with body objectification and disordered eating behavior. The study aims to assess the relationships between sexual harassment and gender harassment experiences, body-objectification, and disordered eating behavior tendencies. 181 (23 males, 158 females) aged 18-38 (M=24.12) participated in this research. Sexual Harassment Experience Questionnaire (Fitzgerald et al. 1998) was used to measure both Unwanted Sexual Attention (Cronbach α – 0,893) and Quid Pro Quo sexual harassment (Cronbach α – 0,876), and Gender Harassment experience (Cronbach α – 0,868). Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (McKinley et al. 1996) was used to measure body objectification: Body Shame (Cronbach α – 0,825) and Body Surveillance (Cronbach α – 0,804). The Eating Attitudes Test (Garner et al. 1979) was used to evaluate disordered eating behavior tendencies: Dieting (Cronbach α – 0,924), Bulimia and Food Preoccupation (Cronbach α – 0,725) and Oral Control (Cronbach α – 0,714). The results revealed significant sexual harassment and gender harassment experience differences between genders showing that women report significantly higher results of all forms of sexual harassment and gender harassment than men. Data analysis also revealed a statistically significant relationship between higher results of sexual harassment, gender harassment experience, and more pronounced disordered eating tendencies and higher body objectification. Data analysis has shown that gender harassment experience is a significant prognostic factor for higher body surveillance and body shame results, more frequent dieting.

Mass-Mediated Feminist Scholarship failure in Africa: Normalised Body-Objectification as Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Mass media culture and its role in defining, inculcating and shaping sexual orientation of a society cannot be gainsaid. In this paper, the mass-mediated western feminist scholarship failure in Africa is interrogated in the wake of Sex Robots such as ‘Samantha.’ The argument is that these sex robots function to normalise woman body objectification. The study aims to anchor on Pan African project perspective and the ontological formulation of the African woman as human-being deserving her voice concerning her experiences with patriarchal social structures. The mass media, in its romanticisation of western feminist scholarship denies African woman this voice. There are four fundamental questions central to this paper: 1) what are the epistemological foundations of western feminist scholarship in patriarchal Africa? 2) What is the political economy of western feminist scholarship in sex robotics in Africa? 3) Can sex robots fill the western-feminist-scholarship-born inorganic sexist relation in Africa? And 4) what alternative framework is fit for African woman transformation and emancipation project? The study analyses the feminist scholarship from the past, present and future to give possible solutions to challenges and failures of the strategy toward woman emancipation and transformative agenda in Africa and the developing world.

Beyond Asexualization: Narratives of Sexual Objectification of Persons with Albinism in Nigeria

Often overemphasised, in most sexuality studies, is that persons with disability, especially women, face experiences of asexualization rather than sexualisation. Similarly overemphasised is the faulty monolithic assumption that economic deprivation is the causal factor in the objectification of persons with disability. This has unintentionally created an expectation that objectifying environments are the inevitable and immutable default to economic distress. This is often not the case within the socio-cultural space of persons with albinism (PWA) in Southern Nigeria, where their presence is obvious. As a departure, this study examined the sexual objectification of PWA in Nigeria. It was discovered that at some points in the life course of PWA, most especially among the women with the development and aging of their body, objectification added to mental health risks such as withdrawal syndrome, isolation and indolence. The study concludes that cultural attitudes not only creates and threatens PWA sexed and gendered body confidence in relationships but also for them to be labelled and misconstrued as sexually inactive.

Female bodybuilders on Instagram: Negotiating an empowered femininity

Strength and femininity have in many ways been culturally constructed as two mutually exclusive phenomena. This paper considers how Instagram facilitates female body objectification and surveillance through an examination of female bodybuilders whose muscular bodies represent both resistance against and conformity to dominant cultural notions around women as fragile, weak, and subservient. We reveal how surveillance over the bodies of female bodybuilders on Instagram functions to reposition them as more (hetero)normatively feminine by encouraging them to present bodies which are ornamented, sexualized, and passive. We also reveal how female bodybuilders practise self-surveillance on Instagram by simultaneously resisting and conforming to this surveillance. In the process, these women manage to redefine femininity for themselves in ways which problematize dualistic notions around strength and femininity.