RINGL + PIT: (UN)FIGURING THE NEW WOMAN

The photography of Ellen Auerbach and Grete Stern of the studio ringl + pit consistently shirks established formulae of advertising. The emphases on traditional gender roles and an exaggerated femininity in conventional Weimar advertisements reaffirm heterosexual male desire, and attempt to combat the development of the modern female ‘type’ into the independent and androgynous männliche Frau, or masculine woman. The disparity between media-constructed Weimar-era femininity and the actual ways in which Germans at this time understood their own selves as women and individuals is evidenced by Auerbach and Stern’s advertisements, which challenge such objectifying and sexualizing imagery by suggestive figures in the absence of real bodies, formed from the very goods being sold.This article examines how ringl + pit’s advertisements for artificial silk and other new commercially-available goods use substitution techniques to suggest a desire to create one’s own self, while acknowledging the power of the commodity in identity formation. Stern and Auerbach’s photographs work as a reflection of their own understanding of the power of the commodity whose uncanny beauty is revealed through intense focus and surprising reconfigurations. Their intense focus on materiality and their revisioning of such materials suggest connotations beyond the material being photographed. Ringl + pit’s advertisements become semi-blank receptacles that allow numerous modern women, and even non-binary and queer individuals, to see themselves represented as possible consumers for such products, and thus be in control their own identities and images.

Streptococcus agalactiae and genital ulcers in a heterosexual male

Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae) is a microorganism that asymptomatically colonizes the female genital and gastrointestinal tracts of humans. It produces infections in extreme ages of life and in pregnant women. The case of an adult male is presented, with frequent heterosexual intercourse with different partners. He consulted for itching and burning in the penis' glans. His partner had marked vaginal dryness as a result of early ovarian failure. The patient had ulcerative, non-painful, erythematous lesions with raised edges and little yellow-green discharge. No Donovan bodies were found in the discharge smear and the culture was positive for S. agalactiae. His asymptomatic partner had negative microbiological tests. Both with negative serologies for Chlamydia, HIV and syphilis. No information was obtained from other sexual contacts. It cannot be ascertained that it was a venereal event, it is more likely that the injuries are related to repeated coital trauma.

Syphilitic Balanitis of Follmann, A Rare Case Report

Syphilitic balanitis of Follmann is a rare presentation of primary syphilis. It can occur before or after the appearance of primary chancre and some time without any associated primary chancre. We are reporting a case of syphilitic balanitis of Follmann, in a 23 years old heterosexual male, who presented with balanitis associated with single indurated lesion over coronal sulcus and few superficial ulcers over prepuce.

Acoustic and Perceptual Characteristics of Mandarin Speech in Gay and Heterosexual Male Speakers

This study investigated acoustic and perceptual characteristics of Mandarin speech produced by gay and heterosexual male speakers. Acoustic analysis of monosyllabic words showed significant differences between the two groups in voice fundamental frequency (F0), F1 of low vowel, and duration of aspiration/frication in consonants. The acoustic patterns on F0, formants, and center of gravity as well as spectral skewness of /s/ differed from those reported for Western languages like American English, which could be interpreted from a sociopsychological point of view based on different acceptability of gay identity in the two societies. The results of a perceptual experiment revealed significant but weak correlations between the acoustic parameters and the score of perceived gayness, which was significantly higher on gay speech than on heterosexual male speech. Although the observed F0 and F1 patterns in Mandarin gay speech were opposite to the stereotype of gayness, gay identity can still be identified to some extent from speech due to the existence of other acoustic cues such as a longer fricative duration, which is not a stereotype of gayness but has been consistently observed in Mandarin and Western languages.

Men’s Free Will

“Men’s Free Will” examines how differently sex therapy unfolds when a heterosexual male presents with the problem of low sexual desire—how heterosexual men are often treated more respectfully, more attentively, and more generously than heterosexual women. This chapter shows that for sex therapists, a man’s position in his marital orbit need not adapt to his wife’s needs. She must adapt to his. Through examination of contemporary case studies, the chapter examines how heterosexual men with low sexual desire not only present as more sexually intransigent than heterosexual women, but that their intransigence is more likely to be accepted by their spouse and therapist.

Una memoria sexuada del cosmos: El marco heteropatriarcal de la cámara telescópica de Patricio Guzmán en Nostalgia de la luz (2010)

In this article, I draw on Sara Ahmed’s theorization of “queer phenomenology” to examine the re-orientation of memory discourses in Patricio Guzman’s Nostalgia de la luz (2010). In Nostalgia, the camera produces a metaleptic effect by meticulously framing, in a similar manner to that of a telescope, the background of the official historical narrative: the memory of the natural world. Guzmán’s metaleptic camera teaches us an interconnected “memory of the cosmos.” Yet this re-orientation of memory discourses is articulated from a family home that serves as a gendered orienting device. Following queer phenomenology, I trace the ways in which the documentary’s innovative treatment of memory is hindered by the heteropatriarchal orientation of the family home. I argue that, in Nostalgia, the memory of the heterosexual male subject is the one that is transmitted vertically within the heteropatriarchal family. In doing so, the documentary reproduces the familial and linear tropes that have dominated discourses of intergenerational memory transmission. Queer phenomenology warns us that Guzman’s call to “vivir en el frágil tiempo presente” is not merely a question of having or lacking memory. Memory is a matter of following, and returning, specific lines of orientation, at the expense of others.

Blame Attributions Against Heterosexual Male Victims of Sexual Coercion: Effects of Gender, Social Influence, and Perceptions of Distress

If heterosexual male victims had been more active in the #MeToo movement, how might they have been judged? Although the #MeToo movement has been regarded as an historic milestone for women who were victimized by men in positions of power, participation in the movement by male victims has been noticeably absent. Research indicates that victims may avoid disclosure if they anticipate negative social reactions, and male victims may attract greater levels of victim blaming than female victims, particularly if their perpetrator was female. The current study investigated attributions of victim blame against a fictional heterosexual male in a between-subjects vignette design. Perpetrator gender and their social influence were manipulated in a sample of 208 college students. Results did not support the hypothesized main effects of perpetrator gender or social influence. Greater blame attributions were made against victims of a male perpetrator compared to one of an unspecified gender. Male participants attributed greater blame than females, and the relationship between shame proneness and blame was moderated by participant gender, males experiencing higher levels of shame engaged in less victim blame. Blame increased when participants believed the court case to be more distressing than the victimizing act. Results support the male rape myth framework, which posits that beliefs about a male victim’s experience of his own violation, particularly whether he experienced distress or pleasure, are related to gendered norms of masculinity, which include normative traits of toughness, dominance, and high sexual performance. Implications on the role of gender as a barrier to disclosure by male victims are discussed.