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The aim of this article is to examine whether and how diplomacy may be gendered, symbolically and rhetorically, using US representations of diplomacy as a case. Prior scholarship on gender and contemporary diplomacy is sparse but has shown that the symbolic figure of 'the diplomat' has come to overlap tightly with 'man' and be associated with traits often attributed to masculinity. Inspired by queer international relations methods, relying on the concept of 'figuration' and focused on US news media and biographies of diplomats from the past decade, this article uncovers and examines a palette of feminised figurations also at play in US representations of diplomacy, including the diplomat as 'the "soft" non-fighter', 'the relationship builder', 'the gossip', 'the cookie-pusher', and 'the fancy Frenchman'. These feminised figurations alternate between configuring the diplomat as a woman and -- more commonly -- a (feminised) man. The analysis complicates rather than displaces existing claims, highlighting the importance of attention to slippages and challenges to dominant masculinised subject positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written on the relationship between gender and schooling, and teaching. In particular, the focus has been on the significant dis-proportion between female and male teachers, which remarkably, inverts in relation to educational leadership positions. Arguments abound as to the social factors and hegemonies, which have created not only what is referred to as the "feminisation of teaching", but the risks associated with feminised classrooms and pedagogies, particularly, in relation to boys. Not surprisingly, therefore, an equally dominant narrative calling for the (re)masculinisation of teaching has gained increasing momentum. The basis for this argument is not limited to a seeming need for male teachers as role-models. More disturbing, is the idea that the standing of the profession - invariably measured in terms of salary - might improve if more males are encouraged to become teachers. Our interest in this article is in the patriarchal hegemonies, which give shape to constructions of teaching as "women's work" in the first place. We argue, that rather than contributing to what has been an overdue preoccupation gender-based socialisations, the concern should be on ensuring that teaching transcends framings of "feminisation" and "masculinisation" so that it serves all teachers and all learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article explores the discursive construct of globalisation through the prism of gender and its implications for and effects on the quest for an African Renaissance. It argues that since humans are gendered, so human institutions and discourses such as globalisation are permeated and informed by the discourse of gender and the hierarchies inherent in them. Since discourses on the African Renaissance are conceptualised and framed within the hegemonic discourse of globalisation, they become entangled in globalisation's gendered nature and become either complicit or subversive. The article identifies and discusses the multifaceted implications and effects of a hegemonic, masculine neoliberal globalisation discourse on the various facets of the African Renaissance, and suggests possible solutions. The purpose is then to explore the notion of the multiciplicity of discourses on both globalisation and the African Renaissance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Empirical evaluations of sexually dimorphic expression of genes on the mammalian X-chromosome are needed to understand the evolutionary forces and the gene-regulatory mechanisms controlling this chromosome. We performed a large-scale sex-bias expression analysis of genes on the X-chromosome in six different somatic tissues from mouse. Results: Our results show that the mouse X-chromosome is enriched with female-biased genes and depleted of male-biased genes. This suggests that feminisation as well as de-masculinisation of the X-chromosome has occurred in terms of gene expression in non-reproductive tissues. Several mechanisms may be responsible for the control of female-biased expression on chromosome X, and escape from X-inactivation is a main candidate. We confirmed escape in case of Tmem29 using RNA-FISH analysis. In addition, we identified novel female-biased non-coding transcripts located in the same female-biased cluster as the well-known coding X-inactivation escapee Kdm5c, likely transcribed from the transition-region between active and silenced domains. We also found that previously known escapees only partially explained the overrepresentation of female-biased X-genes, particularly for tissue-specific female-biased genes. Therefore, the gene set we have identified contains tissue-specific escapees and/or genes controlled by other sexually skewed regulatory mechanisms. Analysis of gene age showed that evolutionarily old X-genes (>100 myr, preceding the radiation of placental mammals) are more frequently female-biased than younger genes. Conclusion: Altogether, our results have implications for understanding both gene regulation and gene evolution of mammalian X-chromosomes, and suggest that the final result in terms of the X-gene composition (masculinisation versus feminisation) is a compromise between different evolutionary forces acting on reproductive and somatic tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Disorders of sexual development (DSD) include three main groups of patients: (1) The virilised 46,XX DSD essentially represented by congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) ; (2) The undervirilised 46,XY DSD essentially represented by hypospadias; and (3) the chromosomic jigsaws essentially represented by mixed gonadal dysgenesis. It is in this last group that gender assignment remains a difficult decision involving various indicators, which can be split into four categories: (1) the inside sex (i.e., genes, hormones and target tissues); (2) the outside sex (i.e., anatomy of genitalia including size of the genital tubercle, mullerian cavity and potential adult height of the patient); (3) the functional sex (i.e., potential sexuality and fertility); and (4) and the social sex (i.e., the cultural medium in which the child is brought up). The challenge is to outline the future individual identity of the child in the postnatal period using these indicators. Current evolutions of surgical techniques of ‘feminisation’ and ‘masculinisation’ are described as well as their outcomes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The ability of anthropogenic chemicals to cause reproductive disorders has been the focus of toxicologists for many years. Whilst the focus of endocrine disrupting chemicals has mainly been associated with vertebrate groups, there have been continued calls for more research on the invertebrates. Surprisingly, within the Crustacea, many studies have focussed on female or growth/moulting related endpoints despite many of the vertebrate studies highlighting male related effects such as abnormal male reproductive development. Furthermore, a large number of the invertebrate studies have focussed on vertebrate estrogens or their mimics. Considering the biology of the crustacean endocrine systems, this paper shall argue that unlike the vertebrates, it is a lot more difficult to feminise a crustacean than it is to de-masculinise one. Consequently, crustacean toxicologists, by following the tact of vertebrate biologists, may have been trying to address the right questions, but in the wrong way. Studies have shown that intersexuality in crustaceans may arise through the masculinisation of heterogametic (WZ) females or the de-masculinisation of males through aberrations in male androgenic gland activity. It is recommended that the focus be put on understanding the mechanisms of sex determination in Crustacea, and the expression of male secondary sexual characteristics at the molecular, biochemical and physiological level are fully explored so that appropriate assessments can be made as to whether sexual endocrine disruption is occurring in this ecologically important group. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study investigated whether gonadal sex differentiation of zebrafish (Danio rerio) is susceptible to compounds that interfere with cytochrome P450 aromatase (P450arom). Treatment of zebrafish during the period of gonadal differentiation with either the non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor fadrozole or 17α-methyltestosterone (MT) changed gonad morphological differentiation and altered the pattern of P450arom gene (CYP19) expression. Application of fadrozole (500 μg/g of food) between days 35 and 71 post-fertilisation (pf) resulted in 100% masculinisation, i.e. the gonads of all individuals examined (n=40) showed testicular morphology. At the same time, fadrozole treatment suppressed gonadal CYP19A (gonad-derived CYP19 gene) mRNA expression, as assessed by means of semi-quantitative RT-PCR. After termination of fadrozole treatment at day 71 pf and subsequent rearing of zebrafish under control conditions until 161 days pf, the gonads of all individuals still displayed testicular morphology. Gonadal CYP19A expression, however, showed a dimorphic pattern, with 14 out of 22 individuals having low CYP19A mRNA levels similar to those found in testes of control fish, while eight fish showed high, ovary-like levels of gonadal CYP19A mRNA. MT treatment (10 μg/l) during the period of gonadal differentiation (days 35 to 71 pf) resulted in phenological feminisation, i.e., all fish examined (n=28) showed an ovarian gonadal morphology. While gonadal CYP19A expression was suppressed compared to control fish, cerebral CYP19B (brain-derived CYP19 gene) mRNA expression was increased in 71-day-old MT-treated fish. The results from this study provide evidence that exogenous compounds interfering with the P450arom system are able to disrupt, even persistently, gonadal sex differentiation of the protogynic zebrafish. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]