A woman muses about buying lovely new panties; another sets out on the trip of a lifetime; a blogger offers information, support, and community to perimenopausal women; researchers uncover myths and misconceptions about migrant and refugee women's experiences of menopause; a gerontology scholar extrapolates for menopause the meanings of cultural representations of childbirth; a sociologist and intersex advocate challenges her medically constructed menopause; young women's stories inform an inquiry into the health and social repercussions of primary ovarian insufficiency--all in a collection of research papers and personal narratives that moves far beyond the idea of menopause as a mere biological marker. While biomedical and feminist researchers agree that menopause is a time of transition and border crossing, they offer diverse viewpoints about whether perimenopause and menopause signal deficiency and burden, or growth and freedom, or both. So too, contributors to this collection--influenced by factors of age, cultural background, societal context, and physical and psychological experience--vary significantly in their perspectives of this process. Research, analysis, narrative, poetry, and art intermingle to create a multi-textured montage that challenges stereotypes, probes relationships, and defies categorization. Musings on Perimenopause and Menopause: Identity, Experience, Transition, provides insight into how women think about and experience the transition to menopause in contemporary times.

A woman muses about buying lovely new panties; another sets out on the trip of a lifetime; a blogger offers information, support, and community to perimenopausal women; researchers uncover myths and misconceptions about migrant and refugee women's experiences of menopause; a gerontology scholar extrapolates for menopause the meanings of cultural representations of childbirth; a sociologist and intersex advocate challenges her medically constructed menopause; young women's stories inform an inquiry into the health and social repercussions of primary ovarian insufficiency—all in a collection of research papers and personal narratives that moves far beyond the idea of menopause as a mere biological marker. While biomedical and feminist researchers agree that menopause is a time of transition and border crossing, they offer diverse viewpoints about whether perimenopause and menopause signal deficiency and burden, or growth and freedom, or both. So too, contributors to this collection—influenced by factors of age, cultural background, societal context, and physical and psychological experience—vary significantly in their perspectives of this process. Research, analysis, narrative, poetry, and art intermingle to create a multi-textured montage that challenges stereotypes, probes relationships, and defies categorization. Musings on Perimenopause and Menopause: Identity, Experience, Transition provides insight into how women think about and experience the transition to menopause in contemporary times.

In the domain of women's health, the perimenopause to menopause transition stands out as a critical yet often misunderstood experience. Spanning several years before menopause, the perimenopause phase introduces a myriad of symptoms that impact a significant percentage of women globally. The distressing nature of these symptoms is underscored by the fact that while most subside within five years, a substantial minority endure them for up to 12 years. Comprehending and mitigating the impact of perimenopausal symptoms on women's health is an imperative challenge demanding a solution. Utilizing AI Techniques for the Perimenopause to Menopause Transition confronts the challenges faced by women during this pivotal period of change, employing cutting-edge deep learning approaches to identify, analyze, and address the associated symptoms. The book commences by elucidating the fundamental principles of perimenopause, providing readers with a robust foundation to comprehend the biological intricacies at play. Advanced machine learning techniques are then explored beyond conventional diagnostic methods, enabling a more nuanced identification and analysis of key menopausal symptoms. Statistical tools offer insights into global patterns of women's health. As methodologies are explored, the ethical landscape surrounding the collection of sensitive female health data is navigated. Addressing security and privacy concerns becomes paramount in the quest to harness AI for the betterment of women's health. Medical practitioners, healthcare providers, researchers, data scientists, and individuals experiencing perimenopause or menopause will find invaluable insights. Moreover, it holds significance for professionals in public health policies, educational institutions, and the pharmaceutical and health-tech industries.

This book explores the critical and transformative potential of arts and popular culture for constructions of religion, gender and sexuality. Doing so, it deploys and develops the notion of blasphemous art, honouring and building on the work of Anne-Marie Korte. Deliberately articulated with a question mark, Blasphemous Art? raises questions about the spaces, methods and resources available to individuals and communities at the gendered, sexual and racialized margins of society to tell their stories, claim their bodies and perform symbolic and sacred meaning, and it analyses the productive effects – both aesthetically, politically and theoretically – of such provocative work. The book focuses on a wide range of artistic and cultural expressions, featuring case studies from across Europe, South Africa, Israel and the United States. Drawing on feminist, queer and postcolonial perspectives, the book reveals the critical, constructive and imaginative potential of the creative arts (broadly defined) and popular culture in its complex and diverse representation of, and engagement with, religious life, belief, text, ritual and practice.

Erotically Queer is a practice guide for clinicians, bringing together experts in their field with pioneering topics within GSRD (Gender, Sex and Relationship Diversity). Chapters cover an array of topics rarely covered in either clinical or popular literature including lesbian sex, queer menopause, bisexuality, the sex lives of asexuals, sexuality and transgender people, treating anodyspareunia, compulsive sexual behaviours and Chemsex. It also helps practitioners reflect on their biases regarding BDSM/Kink and understand more regarding non-pathologising practices with intersex people. The book aims to help all clinicians work more effectively with the Queer population, with the most contemporary sexological knowledge. Chapter 6 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.”

Conversations on Creative Process, Methods, Research and Practice provides unique insights into the experiences of eight established creative practitioners who use their creative process in a professional and personal context. Each of them details their creative processes and how being creative has helped them to achieve a fulfilling work/life balance. Interviewees discuss how their creativity has helped them to overcome challenges or difficulties they have faced in their lives including grief, health issues, prejudice, divorce, maternity and creative blocks. This book uses original material – research and interviews – to explore the nature of the creative process from the perspective of understanding the activities, thoughts and feelings that shape an individual artist’s creative practice and how this might inform a wider collective understanding of creativity and how it can help us to live well. The book suggests that individual creative practice is a means of coming to know the self and your place in the world a little better and perhaps a little differently. This innovative book is suitable for students, scholars and practitioners using creative and arts-based research and methods in a wide range of disciplines and subjects including the social sciences, education, creative writing and communication and media studies.

Career Narratives and Academic Womanhood is a collection of essays in which life writing scholars theorize their early-career, mid-career, and late-career experiences with the documents that shape their professional lives as women: the institutional auto/biography of employment letters, curriculum vitae, tenure portfolios, promotion applications, publication and conference bios, academic website profiles, and other self-authored narratives required by institutions to compete for opportunities and resources. The essays explore the privacy laws, peer review, disciplinary standards, digital media, and other standardizing tools, practices and policies that impact women’s self-construction at pivotal junctures at which they promote themselves in the spaces of academic careers.

The Agenda for Social Justice 3: Solutions for 2024 provides accessible insights into some of the most pressing social problems and proposes public policy responses to those problems. Written by a highly respected team of authors brought together by the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), the book offers recommendations for action by elected officials, policymakers and the public regarding key issues for social justice. Chapters include discussion of social problems related to criminal justice, the economy, food insecurity, education, healthcare, housing and immigration. The book will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, advocates and students interested in public sociology, the study of social problems and the pursuit of social justice.

Written by a highly respected team of authors brought together by the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), this second volume of The Global Agenda for Social Justice provides accessible insights into some of the world’s most pressing social problems and proposes international public policy and social responses to those problems.

In the near future, a group of girls survive on their own on a reclaimed garbage dump they call home.