Protecting Buddhist Women from Muslim Men: “Love Jihad” and the Rise of Islamophobia in Myanmar

Buddhist protectionism in contemporary Myanmar revolves around fears of the decline of Buddhism and deracination of the amyo (group/“race”). Buddhist protectionists and Burmese nationalists have declared Islam and Muslims the greatest threat to race and religion, and Myanmar has witnessed widespread distribution of anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim content, as well as massive violence against Muslim minority communities, the Rohingya in particular. The Indian neologism “Love Jihad” has scarce reference in contemporary Burmese Buddhist discourses, but, importantly, the tropes of aggressive male Muslim sexuality and (forced) conversion through marriage (“love jihad”) have been one of the core issues in Buddhist protectionism in Myanmar. The article shows that such tropes of the threatening foreign male have strong historical legacies in Myanmar, going back to colonial Burma when Burmese concerns over Indian male immigrant workers resulted in both anti-Indian violence and anti-miscegenation laws. Importantly, however, compared to colonial Indophobia and military era xenophobic nationalism, contemporary constructions are informed by new political realities and global forces, which have changed Buddhist protectionist imaginaries of gender and sexuality in important ways. Building on Sara R. Farris’ concept of “femonationalism”, and Roger Brubaker’s concept of civilizationism, the article shows how Global Islamophobia, as well as global discourses on women’s rights and religious freedom, have informed Buddhist protectionism beyond ethnonationalism in the traditional sense.

CANINE TESTICULAR HISTOPATHOLOGY ENSUING CHEMICAL CASTRATION

Castration in domestic and companion animals plays an important role in controlling animal population, aggressive male behaviour and producing meat with a consistent quality acceptable to consumers. Surgical castration is the widely used method, but it is more expensive and painful if not well managed. This research focused on the use of 10% iodine and 1% polidocanol foam as intratesticular injections to achieve castration in three adult dogs owned by a client in Lwandeti village in Kakamega County, Kenya. Two of the dogs received 1ml of 1% polidocanol, while one dog received 1ml of 10% iodine in each of their testicles. The testicles were surgically harvested after three months for histological examination. The histological examination revealed that the seminiferous tubules of testes those received 10% Lugol’s iodine had cellular infiltration and fibrin deposition. Those that received 1% polidocanol showed moderate to severe cellular infiltration but less than the iodine group. This study has shown the potential of polidocanol and iodine as chemical methods that can be used instead of surgical castration.

The influence of operational sex ratio on reproductive success in male sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus)

Operational sex ratio (OSR) is predicted to influence the direction and intensity of sexual selection. Thus, as the relative numbers of reproductively active males vs females change, the behavioural competition among males and their differences in reproductive success are also predicted to change. While these outcomes seem intuitively obvious, there have been few experimental tests that examine these predictions. Here, we experimentally tested the relationship between OSR and reproductive behaviour in sheepshead minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus) competing in laboratory-based pools. Males and females were assigned to one of three OSRs (female-biased, equal, or male-biased). We monitored aggression, territory size, and number of eggs acquired by the most aggressive male, termed the “focal male,” in the pool. We used microsatellite analyses to determine the parentage of the eggs within the focal males’ territories. Focal males, by definition, were the most aggressive individual in their pools, but the degree of their aggressiveness and number of spawning sites they controlled were not influenced by OSR. Compared to focal males in the equal and male-biased OSRs, focal males in the female-biased OSR did receive more eggs but the OSR did not appear to influence the percentage of eggs they fathered on their own spawning sites. We speculate that a focal male’s competitive ability is more important to reproductive success than the number of other males and females present.

“These Women are Making a Statement Against Rape and yet the only Thing Y'All can Focus on is ‘Eww They're Naked’”: Exploring Rape Culture on Facebook in South Africa

Sexual assault on campuses has been identified as a pervasive public health problem. In April 2016, students across South African universities launched the #Endrapeculture campaign to express their frustration against university policies which served to perpetuate a rape culture. The use of hashtag activism during the protest served to spark online public debates and mobilize support for the protests. This article describes the public reactions to the South African #Endrapeculture protests on the Facebook social media platform. Data was collected through natural observations of comment threads on news articles and public posts on the student protests, and subjected to content analysis. The findings suggest that the #nakedprotest was successful in initiating public conversations concerning the issue of rape culture. However, the reactions towards the #nakedprotest were divided with some perpetuating a mainstream public discourse which perpetuates rape culture, and others (re)presenting a counter-public that challenged current dominant views about rape culture. Two related main themes emerged: Victim-blaming and Trivialising Rape Culture. Victim-blaming narratives emerged from the commenters and suggested that the protesters were increasing their chances of being sexually assaulted by marching topless. This discourse seems to perpetuate the notion of the aggressive male sexual desire and places the onus on women to protect themselves. Other commenters criticised the #nakedprotest method through demeaning comments which served to derail the conversation and trivialise the message behind the protest. The public reaction to the #nakedprotest demonstrated that rape culture is pervasive in society and continues to be re(produced) through discourse on social media platforms. However, social media also offers individuals the opportunity to draw from and participate in multiple counter-publics which challenge these mainstream rape culture discourses.

The Counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s

In the decade after 1965, radicals responded to the alienating features of America’s technocratic society by developing alternative cultures that emphasized authenticity, individualism, and community. The counterculture emerged from a handful of 1950s bohemian enclaves, most notably the Beat subcultures in the Bay Area and Greenwich Village. But new influences shaped an eclectic and decentralized counterculture after 1965, first in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, then in urban areas and college towns, and, by the 1970s, on communes and in myriad counter-institutions. The psychedelic drug cultures around Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey gave rise to a mystical bent in some branches of the counterculture and influenced counterculture style in countless ways: acid rock redefined popular music; tie dye, long hair, repurposed clothes, and hip argot established a new style; and sexual mores loosened. Yet the counterculture’s reactionary elements were strong. In many counterculture communities, gender roles mirrored those of mainstream society, and aggressive male sexuality inhibited feminist spins on the sexual revolution. Entrepreneurs and corporate America refashioned the counterculture aesthetic into a marketable commodity, ignoring the counterculture’s incisive critique of capitalism. Yet the counterculture became the basis of authentic “right livelihoods” for others. Meanwhile, the politics of the counterculture defy ready categorization. The popular imagination often conflates hippies with radical peace activists. But New Leftists frequently excoriated the counterculture for rejecting political engagement in favor of hedonistic escapism or libertarian individualism. Both views miss the most important political aspects of the counterculture, which centered on the embodiment of a decentralized anarchist bent, expressed in the formation of counter-institutions like underground newspapers, urban and rural communes, head shops, and food co-ops. As the counterculture faded after 1975, its legacies became apparent in the redefinition of the American family, the advent of the personal computer, an increasing ecological and culinary consciousness, and the marijuana legalization movement.

The effect of oxytocin on the level and monoamines turnover in the brain of isolated mice of highand low-aggressive lines

Objective. In the course of the study, the effect of oxytocin on the behavior and level of monoamines of the brain in aggressive male isolates of the initially low-aggressive C57Bl/6 line with similar indices of highly aggressive white outbred mice was compared. Methods. In experiments on isolated male mice of the low-aggressive C57Bl/6 line and highly aggressive white outbred mice, the effects of oxytocin on the aggressive behavior and the activity of monoaminergic systems of the left and right cerebral hemispheres was investigated. After prolonged social isolation, the male mice, who attacked in the resident-intruder test, were selected for further research. Oxytocin (5 IU/ml, 20μl) was admitrated intranasally. Control animals was treated with saline. With the HPLC-method, in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, olfactory tubercle and striatum of the left and right sides of the brain the concentrations of dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and their metabolites of dioxyphenylacetic, homovaniline and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acids were measured. Results. Among the male isolates of the C57Bl/6 line, the proportion of aggressive individuals was 56.5%, and among white outbred mice 87.5%. The investigated lines also differed in the attack latency time: aggressive C57Bl/6 mice attacked an average on the 113.1±23.5 second, while in white outbred mice the attack followed on the 35.3±14.7 second (p < 0.01). In the aggressive male isolates of the C57Bl/6 line, which received intranasally saline solution, the content of serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in the hippocampus was significantly higher on the right. In C57Bl/6, oxytocin reduced the manifestation of aggression caused by prolonged social isolation (p < 0.05), but had no absolute ability to stop this type of behavior. Under its influence, the level of dopamine in the left cortex (p = 0.054), as well as serotonin content in the right hippocampus (p < 0.05) and in the left striatum (p < 0.05) decreased. In addition, the use of oxytocin in C57Bl/6 neutralized the asymmetry of serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid levels in the hippocampus. At the same time there was an asymmetry in the content of dopamine in the cerebral cortex with the predominance of this mediator in the right hemisphere (p < 0.05). In male isolates of highly aggressive white outbred mice, the effect of oxytocin on behavior was not found. However, in these animals oxytocin caused certain changes in monoaminergic systems of the brain. Under the action of oxytocin, the inicial right-sided asymmetry of the level of dopamine metabolites in the striatum and left-sided asymmetry in the level of serotonin in the cortex disappeared. Oxytocin caused an increase in the content of 5-hydroxyacetic acid in the right striatum (p < 0.05) and norepinephrine in the left hippocampus (p < 0.05). In addition, white outbred mice under the influence of oxytocin developed asymmetry with the predominance of norepinephrine in the right olfactory tubercle (p < 0.05). Conclusions. It can be assumed that relatively weak changes in the state of serotonergic and dopaminergic systems against the background of high reactivity of the noradrenergic system are a feature of the reaction of the brain of highly aggressive animals to oxytocin. The data obtained are discussed in terms of the lateralization of neurotransmitter systems responsible for intraspecific aggression caused by prolonged social isolation. (For citation: Karpova IV, Bychkov ER, Marysheva VV, et al. The effect of oxytocin on the level and monoamines turnover in the brain of isolated mice of high- and low-aggressive lines. Reviews on Clinical Pharmacology and Drug Therapy. 2017;15(2):23-30. doi: 10.17816/RCF15223-30).