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The Role of the U.S. in South Korean Democratization: A Contemporary Analysis
No full textThe United States has faced significant criticism on its role in South Korea’s democratization due to its involvement with both democratic movements and authoritarian regimes. What was the official role that the U.S. played in South Korean democratization, and what are the perceptions of this policy today? This paper explores the role of the U.S. in different periods of South Korea\u27s democratization, including modernization and student/social movements as case studies. It analyzes a range of academic journals and books to assess the merit of different perspectives on U.S. involvement. Furthermore, the paper applies primary sources, such as newspapers and news clips from the 1960s to 1980s to trace Korean media reactions to U.S. foreign policy, and different collections from archival research and fieldwork in Korea. The results show that before the 1960s, the U.S. was determined to stop authoritarian regimes by working with democratic movements. After 1960, both the role of the U.S. and the perception of U.S. foreign policy by Koreans shifted when the U.S. actively worked with authoritarian regimes to prevent communism from spreading and opposed Korean democratic movements. During the Cold War, U.S. foreign policy focused on containment and safeguarding countries from communist expansion. In the post-Cold War period, South Korea’s democratization has been called into question regarding whether democratic transition has been truly successful
Mock Juror Perceptions of Intimate Partner Rape Victims: The Effects of Mental Illness and Emotional Expression
No full textIntimate partner rape (IPR), defined as non-consensual sexual intercourse between domestic partners, has a high prevalence rate especially among women with mental illness, yet it is highly under-convicted. This is often due to a lack of evidence in rape cases resulting in jurors relying on extralegal factors, such as a victim’s mental illness or emotional expression, in their decision making. Jurors may provide lower pro-victim judgments (e.g., guilty verdicts, victim credibility) when a victim has a mental illness, whereas jurors often expect a victim to express emotions, which can increase pro-victim judgments. The present study examined mock juror perceptions of IPR when the victim has a mental illness and expresses emotion during trial. Participants recruited via Prolific (N = 214) were randomly assigned to read one of six conditions in a mock trial summary of IPR in which we manipulated victim mental illness (no mental illness, borderline personality disorder [BPD], or depression) and emotional expression (crying or not crying). Participants then completed a questionnaire in which they provided a verdict, reason for verdict, and victim ratings (e.g., blame). Results indicated that when the victim had BPD compared to no mental illness, participants rendered significantly fewer guilty verdicts. There was also an indirect effect on verdict via victim credibility with the BPD victim having lowered credibility compared to a depressed victim which led to a decrease in guilty verdicts. Participants perceived the victim with BPD as less credible and blamed her more than a depressed victim. Victim emotion interacted with mental illness and participant gender. Male participants had significantly higher rates of victim blame for a victim with BPD who cried versus a victim with BPD who did not cry. Overall, women were more likely to render guilty verdicts, less likely to blame the victim, and more likely to view the victim as credible than men. Findings provide insight into how extralegal factors influence juror perceptions and contribute to low prosecution rates of IPR
The Impact of APOE Genotype on Neuropsychological Functioning in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease
No full textThe presence of the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 (epsilon 4) allele is the primary genetic risk factor for developing sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and has recently been identified as a risk factor for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). While previous research has repeatedly indicated the significance of APOEε4 in AD susceptibility, studies investigating the impact of APOEε4 on neuropsychological performance in AD and MCI have yielded contradictory results. Our study examined how the presence of APOEε4 impacts performance in individuals with MCI and AD on neuropsychological assessments evaluating memory, language, attention, executive, and visuospatial skills. Using archival data collected by the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), we assessed the impact of APOEε4 on cognitive functioning with a sample of 819 age-matched participants: 229 normal control, 397 MCI, and 193 probable AD. Groups were further split by APOE genotype, into APOEε4 carriers and noncarriers. Cognition was evaluated through 7 neuropsychological tests. Results revealed significant differences between noncarriers and carriers in the AD group on delayed recall and recognition measures within the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, with carriers performing significantly worse than noncarriers. Significant differences were also present in the MCI group, with carriers performing significantly worse on Clock Drawing, Clock Copy, Category Fluency, Digit Span Forward, and immediate recall, learning, delayed recall, and recognition measures within the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. No significant differences were noted in the NC group. Our results support previous literature in that the presence of APOEε4 impacts a variety of cognitive performance measures in both MCI and AD. The differences noted between APOEε4 carriers and noncarriers may have clinical utility for diagnosing and treating MCI and AD
The Lasting Scars of Sex Trafficking: An Exploration of the Long-Term Psychological and Physical Effects of Trafficking
Full text linkThis article explores the long-term physical and psychological effects of sex trafficking on survivors. Using a qualitative research approach based on the feminization of poverty and life course theories, and through a lengthy interview with an activist and survivor, the study demonstrates the long-term effects of sex trafficking on physical health, mental health, and access to healthcare. The main takeaways call attention to PTSD and other major mental health issues, chronic health conditions, and financial barriers that survivors have while trying to access healthcare. The study emphasizes the necessity of improved healthcare procedures, the significance of trauma-informed care, and the need to change policies to guarantee survivor-centered support. Furthermore, this research urges a more empathetic, justice-focused, and holistic approach to trafficking survivors\u27 healing and reintegration
Undoing Gender Performativities in Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero
Full text linkPhysician, psychiatrist, and Marxist activist for women’s rights, Nawal El Saadawi (1931-2021) published fiction and non-fiction exposing how a capitalistic, phallocratic social order keeps Egyptian women in thrall to men through violent suppression. Women are exploited by men, who see women as weak and prey on these presumed docile subordinates in a display of masculinity. Deciphering the effects of this gendered performativity through the lens of Judith Butler, El Saadawi’s novel Woman at Point Zero (1977/2015a), or Ferdaous, une Voix en Enfer (El Saadawi, 1977/2007) in French, provides a narrative whose significance is amplified by Butlerian theory. The protagonist, whose voice is filtered through the agency of an amanuensis, struggles to perform and define womanhood or femininity, only to claim liberation by murdering an antagonist and assuming a stoic posture vis-à-vis her death by hanging. In other words, repeated attempts to undo gender in El Saadawi’s hierarchical society fail. Nonetheless, as Firdaus rebels against the rules of feminine behavior, she dismantles the common assumption that female genital mutilation (FGM), imposed as a tool of patriarchal power, inevitably results in disability. Clitoridectomy certainly leads to a recurring sense of dislocation and haunting loss, yet Firdaus flouts victimhood and remains mutinous despite discrimination, rape, marital abuse, and physical violence. Breaking with gender norms, she refuses abjection through her own initiative by deploying her body as a weapon, enticing her prey, and performing the “feminine evil” projected on all women since Eve by a usurped patriarchal power
Film Review: A Feminist Critique of the Representation of Women in 21st-Century Bollywood Sports Biopics
Full text linkThis review critically analyses the portrayal of women in Bollywood sports biopics using a feminist perspective, with reference to three influential 21st-century films: Mary Kom (2014), Saina (2021), and Shabaash Mithu (2022). While these movies ostensibly celebrate women’s sporting achievements, a close reading discloses the durability of patriarchal currents in the narrative, visual composition, and character construction. Using feminist theories like Laura Mulvey’s “male gaze,” Judith Butler’s “gender performativity,” and bell hooks’s intersectionality, this work contends that these films simultaneously empower and limit their heroines. Exploring how femininity, family, and national pride are performed in these films, this review examines the intersection of agency and conformity in movie representations of women athletes
Championing Faculty Scholarship and Community: Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Summer Institute 2025
No full textFor one week in August, participants from academic departments across campus come together at the WAC Summer Institute to advance their own projects in a collegial environment of exchange, community, and mutual accountability. For eighteen years, WAC has played this vital role in supporting BSU faculty in their scholarly and creative endeavors. Small working groups facilitated by a WAC Coordinator commit to alternating focused periods of writing with peer review and discussion, with the aim of significantly advancing projects towards publication
Bridgewater Magazine
No full textTHE EDUCATION ISSUE: Reaching Higher Through degree and non-degree programs, BSU supports learners of all ages and from all backgrounds, like middle-schooler Zhyra Lopes who is creating a clay model of a brain.
INSIDE: Educational Outreach Programs I A More Inclusive Honors Program I New Home for College of Education and Health Sciences I The Quantum Futurehttps://vc.bridgew.edu/br_mag/1088/thumbnail.jp
Motherhood, Infertility, and Femininity in Fadia Faqir’s Pillars of Salt
Full text linkIn the patriarchal tradition of the Arab world, women are often treated as commodities, and their autonomy and choices are disregarded. Family honour is tied to women’s virginity, leading to strict control over their desires and sexuality (Khan 3). Moreover, women are confined to roles as biological and cultural procreators, reinforcing a narrow understanding of femininity (Chouiten and Khireddine 40) and tightly weaving womanhood with motherhood. This essay examines Fadia Faqir’s novel Pillars of Salt (1996) by using a feminist framework, particularly Adrienne Rich’s theory of motherhood. The narrative reveals the brutal realities faced by Arab women, particularly those incapable of bearing children. This paper examines how gender, infertility, and involuntary childlessness intersect to compound the profound suffering experienced by women in a patriarchal society. Set against the backdrop of 1920s Trans-Jordan under the British mandate, Pillars of Salt vividly portrays the tragic fate of Arab women trapped within the confines of traditional patriarchal communities in Jordan. Narrated through the perspectives of Bedouin Maha, Urban Um Saad, and the male wanderer and storyteller Sami Al-Adjnabi, the novel describes the lives of two Arab women, Maha and Um Saad. Maha, initially grappling with infertility, and Haniyyeh (alias Um Saad), a mother of eight sons, both end up in a mental hospital in Fuhais after resisting violent patriarchal forces. Their stories mirror the silent struggles of millions of Arab women who are stifled and denied their rights by social and religious indoctrination wielded by patriarchal hegemony and repressive powers. Faqir’s narrative is a powerful lens through which one can examine the complex interplay of gender, motherhood, and societal oppression in the Arab world
Fetal Personhood and Access to Reproductive Rights: Power and Precarity in Post-Roe America
Full text linkThis paper delves into the concept of “fetal personhood” and dissects how lawmakers systematically deploy rhetorical agency in policy to draw demarcating lines between demographic groups in post-Roe America. After abortion was legalized in 1973, the number of women opting for abortion rose significantly. Even after legalization, however, underrepresented and marginalized women struggled to access safe and high-quality healthcare, and many of them risked self-induced abortions. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, women with financial affluence can still travel to states where abortion is not banned to access their reproductive rights; however, women with low income may not be able to do so. Employing rhetorical textual analysis, I have scrutinized the pivotal legal cases and government acts: Roe v. Wade (1973), Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey (1992), the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (2003), Gonzales v. Carhart (2007), and Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). By closely examining the rhetoric of these court decisions and policies, I have uncovered the deliberate framing of “fetal personhood” as a key determinant in the ongoing discourse surrounding women’s reproductive rights. Besides interpreting the legal documents, I consulted a diverse range of scholarly articles written between 1970 and 2023. This review substantiates my argument that irrespective of one’s stance on the anti-abortion or pro-choice spectrum, the overarching theme remains constant: the history of women’s reproductive rights in the United States reveals the power of dominant groups and the precarity of the oppressed