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The extent to which estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone influence mating behavior across the menstrual cycle is unclear. The Proactive and Responsive Mating Strategies Scales (PARMSS) were developed to separately examine two specific components of sexuality and were used here to test divergent hormonal associations. Preliminary psychometric data (N = 364 females) suggest that both scales consist of one factor and demonstrate strong psychometric properties (internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and construct and convergent validity). The PARMSS were used in a repeated-measures observational study to examine the relationships between changes in endogenous hormone levels and both proactive and responsive mating intentions with potential new short-term or long-term partners in healthy pre-menopausal participants (N = 38). At two points in their cycle, participants provided salivary hormone samples in the laboratory and reported the likelihood of engaging in proactive and responsive behaviors with men in photos and vignettes. Participants reported greater responsive than proactive intentions. Increases in estradiol and testosterone across the cycle were associated with increases in short-term mating intentions, particularly responsivity to potential short-term relationship partners. No associations were found for intentions that were proactive or that involved potential long-term partners or for progesterone. Changes in the three hormones explained changes in short-term responsive mating intentions (22% of the variance). The results suggest (a) cyclical changes in estradiol and testosterone are differentially associated with changes in responsive vs. proactive mating intentions and (b) context-dependent changes (i.e., short-term vs. long-term mating intentions and possibly relationship status). The findings require replication with larger and diverse samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I characterize an unexplored category of what I call unfinished speech acts (USA), intentionally designed by the speaker as incomplete, and intended to be finalised by the hearer. The speaker relies on the hearer’s contribution because she is willing to minimize conversational risk regarding a certain implicit content or a certain indirect speech act. I focus on three paradigm cases: insinuations, polite novel (as opposed to conventionalized) indirect speech acts, and flirting. I sketch a general characterization of USAs, and underline several important dissimilarities between USAs and standard implicatures and conventionalized indirect speech acts. In closing, I gesture at ways the notion of USA could clarify recent philosophical debates, from both a theoretical and a socially engaged point of view: my proposal elucidates how explicit and implicit contents manage to enter the conversational context and, more generally, how speech acts are successfully performed – with an obvious impact on how we conceptualize both the speaker’s and the audience’s conversational responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to examine the associations between the desire for independence, perceived level of achievement, and relationship status. Specifically, we conducted the study with a sample of 667 Greek-speaking participants (389 women, 275 men, and three participants who did not indicate their sex) who were either single or in an intimate relationship. We employed close-ended questionnaires that included instruments developed using AI. We found that men and women who desired more independence were more likely to be voluntarily single than in an intimate relationship. Additionally, a higher desire for independence was associated with more years being single, but this effect was significant only for men. Furthermore, we found that the perceived level of achievement was not significantly associated with relationship status directly; however, higher scores in this dimension were associated with fewer years spent as single for men. Moreover, a higher perceived level of achievement was associated with a decreased probability of being involuntarily single rather than in an intimate relationship and fewer years spent as single indirectly, by being associated with higher self-esteem, which was associated with higher flirting capacity. These paths were significant for both men and women. Our findings suggest that the desire for independence and perceived achievement play an important role in explaining why some people are single and others in an intimate relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of whether New Zealand should participate in AUKUS or not has emerged as a significant debate in popular political discourses in 2024. Thus far, clear pro-AUKUS and anti-AUKUS camps have developed. The pro-AUKUS camp emphasises the growing threat of China in the Indo-Pacific and New Zealand's lacking technological capabilities that have it exposed if a conflict emerges. The anti-AUKUS camp emphasises New Zealand's embedded independent foreign policy and staunch anti-nuclear stance which makes participating in AUKUS an ethically untenable option. However, neither side has considered the deeper, ontological questions on the table and how this affects New Zealand's main foreign policy concern: the Pacific. New Zealand's recent engagement with the Pacific and its experimentation with a Māori foreign policy led it to being a champion of the Blue Pacific narrative, an ontologically distinct approach that challenges the geopolitically-focussed Indo-Pacific concept. Yet, in the wake of New Zealand's flirtation with AUKUS, the Blue Pacific has been largely ignored in debates. Ultimately, the debate about AUKUS misses the big picture as it, so far, limits the focus on the true existential threat to New Zealand and the Pacific which is not China's rise but rather climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this hermeneutic phenomenological study I explored and interpreted the lived experiences of leisure of 11 African women immigrants living in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic before the availability of vaccines. Gadamer's theory of hermeneutic experience and Aristotle's leisure philosophy afforded the philosophical bedrock. In-depth, online interviews were augmented with visual methods. After the initial shock of multidimensional loss as pandemic restrictions took hold, women quickly regrouped and were both courageous and resilient. They turned to their Christian faith to sustain them, making do with online services and finding solace in worship. The family circle sustained, and the home became a hive for leisure. Creative leisures were enthusiastically engaged in, and gardening, cultivating, and harvesting were essential to well-being. Through it all, the African ethic of ubuntu permeated their way of being and uplifted them even in the presence of plague and death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text addresses Foucault's critical understanding of neoliberalism as a new contemporary governmentality strategy for the conduction of people's lives. A major aspect of Foucault's analysis of neoliberalism relies on his understanding of the neoliberal homo oeconomicus as dependent on subjectivation processes related to self-assumed values and standards oriented by the competitive economic market. Our hypothesis is that governmentality, critique and subjectivation are the core notions that shaped Foucault's understanding of neoliberalism and form the legacy of his seminal analysis. Contrary to critics who affirm that Foucault flirted or even became fascinated with neoliberalism, we argue that he offered critical tools for its understanding in a critique that is not to be confused with denunciation, however. Accordingly, we discuss Foucault's conception of critique and relate his analysis of neoliberalism to his notions of governmentality and subjectivation. Finally, we briefly point out how some contemporary critics of the neoliberal order have appropriated and developed Foucault's conceptual tools in their own understanding of it. We conclude that although Foucault did not propose a comprehensive theory of neoliberalism, he offered important critical insights for the understanding of it in our times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiencing erotic feelings towards a patient is a fairly common occurrence, not pathological per se, during phases of psychotherapy. This study aims to analyze associations between, on the one hand, the presence in therapists of romantic attraction (RA), sexual attraction (SA), or flirting behavior (FB) toward patients and, on the other hand, a series of characteristics of therapist, patient, and treatment. Between April and June 2022, 547 psychotherapists completed an online survey investigating their affective and behavioral responses toward their most recently treated patient. Compared to female therapists, males showed significantly higher prevalence of SA alone (p <.001) or in combination with RA (p <.01), FB (p <.01), or both (p <.05). Multivariate adjusted regression models showed that RA was associated with patient age ≤40 years (OR:39.49 for age 18–29; OR:28.44 for age 30–39), male sex (OR:10.40), and diagnosis of mood disorder (OR:14.08). Furthermore, RA was associated with intense countertransference feelings of tenderness towards the patient (OR:79.77) and hostility towards significant figures in their life (OR: 77.93). SA was associated with the therapist's male sex/gender (OR: 16.14), psychoanalytic orientation (OR:13.34), post-license experience ≤20 years (OR:6.12 for 1–9 years; OR:6.08 for 10–19 years). Lastly, FB was associated with the therapist's male sex/gender (OR:16.94). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When searching for a partner, people often rely on social cues to determine partners’ suitability, finding those who attract attention from others particularly appealing. While people continue to evaluate their partners beyond relationship initiation, existing research has predominantly concentrated on the effects of observing others’ choices during the stage of partner selection, neglecting to consider whether viewing others’ attention toward current partners yields similar effects or instead elicits defensive devaluation. In three experiments, we exposed Israeli participants to situations where their partners received unsolicited flirtatious advances, utilizing visualization, virtual reality, and recall techniques. Participants then rated their desire for their partner and mate retention efforts. Results indicated that attention to partners led to decreased desire for them, subsequently predicting reduced relationship investment. These findings suggest that witnessing current partners receiving attention holds a different meaning than observing potential partners in a similar situation, making salient the risk of losing the partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ulrika Carlsson has argued that it its justified to harbor non-moral resentment towards a person with whom one is unrequitedly in love. Anca Gheaus has rejected this with convincing arguments. This text explores the question of whether Gheaus' verdict changes if the person being loved has previously flirted with the loving person. For this, it is first relevant what flirting actually is and how it relates to falling in love and love. On this basis, it is argued here that in the case of flirting, the non-moral resentment of the loved person defended by Carlsson is appropriate. By flirting, he or she has contributed to the unrequited love, even if he or she cannot be held responsible for it in a moral sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a vignette methodology, this study examined reactions to same-gender versus other-gender flirtation in a sample of 445 German young adults: 320 participants with a heterosexual orientation and 125 participants with a lesbian or gay (LG) orientation. Even in LG-friendly societies as Germany, receiving advances from someone of the same gender might still evoke heterosexuals' homonegativity. Another factor that might influence heterosexuals' reactions to same-gender flirtation is the fear of being misidentified as LG (social contagion concerns). Contrary to hypothesis, results provided little evidence to classify heterosexual participants' reactions to same-gender flirters as homonegative. Firstly, heterosexual participants showed the same degree of negative affect and avoidance behavior in the same-gender flirtation condition as LG participants did in the other-gender flirtation condition. Only positive affect scores were somewhat lower for heterosexual participants in the same-gender flirtation condition compared to LG participants in the other-gender flirtation condition. Secondly, when anti-LG attitudes and social contagion concerns were considered together, only social contagion concerns contributed to explaining variance in heterosexual participants' response to same-gender flirters. Specifically, the impact of social contagion concerns on heterosexual participants' avoidance of same-gender flirters was mediated by (lacking) positive affect, but not negative affect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extremely tense Romanian-Soviet relations after April 1964 would deteriorate even more during Mikhail S. Gorbachev 's mandate. The leaders of Kremlin criticised Nicolae Ceaușescu and, at the same time, could not forgive him for his ambition and his demonstrative flirting with the West. Speaking about Nicolae Ceaușescu, Mikhail S. Gorbachev stated that after August 21, 1968, he began to distance himself from the Soviet Union and to emphasize his demand for Romania's independence and sovereignty to be respected in every way possible, so that this basic demand in itself, repeated on every occasion and even without reason, turned into a kind of incantation that brought with it doubled dividends. Nicolae Ceaușescu and socialist Romania proved to be the stumbling block in the process of reforming and restructuring the strategic glacis of the USSR, reforming socialism and trying to bestow a new perspective on an ideology that proved to be failing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores teenage girls' engagement with digital images on social media. Using new feminist materialism, we foreground digital images as an assemblage of materialities (human and more‐than‐human) filled with affective potentials that materialise in/capacities. Drawing from interviews and focus group discussions, we show how the production and sharing of selfies through posting and sexting unlocked new ‘becomings’ through expressions of heterosexual desirability and pleasure but also generated fear through sexual objectification, sexual double standards and harassment. A recognition of digital images as materially embodied through which unequal gender power relations materialise is vital to addressing online sexual risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research across the diverse field(s) of 'discourse studies' has started to explore the communicative orders and sequential practices surrounding emoji use (Skovholt, Grønning and Kankaanranta 2014; Herring and Dainas 2017; Gibson, Huang and Yu 2018; Sampietro 2019). However, researchers have not yet systematically analysed one of the demonstrable phenomena of emoji, which is their ambiguity as meaning-making devices (Miller et al. 2016; Jaeger et al. 2017). This study draws on Conversation Analysis to explore the issue of ambiguity in the use of one particular type of emoji, the wink (e.g., , 若, ). Drawing on a data corpus of text conversations in Danish and in Spanish by users of the dating app 'Tinder', the analysis explores the phenomena of ambiguity in relation to the practice of flirting. The paper highlights four possible sources of ambiguity: idiosyncratic use, semiotic references, sequential placement, and relationship to ambiguous textual actions. The paper ends with reflections on possible future areas of research in the study of emoji and communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing another person's intention to flirt and, relatedly, their sexual interest is based on the interpretation and weighting of global (e.g., clothing style) and specific (e.g., facial expression) cues. Since cue incongruency increases the risk of erroneous judgments and thus can entail undesirable outcomes for both parties involved, detection of an individual propensity for overly relying on global (sexual) rather than specific (affective) cues is of social and clinical-forensic importance. Using a purpose-designed and pre-validated stimulus set, we developed a mouse-tracking task as an indirect behavioral measure for males' overreliance on global cues (OGC) in the context of sexual flirting. In a convenience sample of heterosexual cisgender men (N = 79), experimentally induced sexual arousal was shown to increase the probability of OGC as a function of task difficulty (i.e., congruent or incongruent combinations of global and specific cues displayed by a potential female flirting partner). While error rate and reaction time proved to be indicators of OGC, the spatial measures maximum deviation and area under the curve provided less consistent results. In addition, error rate suggested sex drive and sexual objectification to act as moderators of the relationship between sexual arousal and OGC. Exploratory analysis further revealed a theoretically meaningful pattern of correlations between mouse-tracking measures and self-report measures of problematic (e.g., disinhibited, exploitative) sexuality. Implications of the results are discussed and a framework for differentiating potential causes of OGC (i.e., misperception, lack of self-control, and egocentric hedonism) is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the expansion of social media and the multiple possibilities for communication they offer, flirting is increasingly developing online. The aim of this article is to analyze how the adolescent population uses Instagram to initiate and develop courtship. For this, the results of 14 focus groups held in Secondary Education Institutes in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), in which a total of 114 students between the ages of 12 and 17 participated, are analyzed. The results show that the online courtship game has its own rules and strategies. The most common Instagram strategies are: "best friends," the use of songs, and direct appeal for audience response. The results show that social interactions continue to be influenced by regulated and stereotyped social patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide-ranging career interview with Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To. The interview canvasses To's early career and filmic influences, the founding of his production company, Milkyway Image, his flirtation with Hollywood, his taste in acting and his adjustment to new film technologies. In addition, To recounts the making of key films in his oeuvre, reveals his views on the current state of Hong Kong cinema and ruminates on the prospects of a second Election sequel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has undergone substantial evolution, leading to emergence of new FLiRT variants characterized by specific spike mutations—F to L at position 456 and R to T at position 346—enhancing their transmissibility and immune evasion capabilities. Particularly, KP.2 shows a significant increase in cases in the USA, indicating a potential shift in the pandemic landscape due to its greater ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity and its higher effective reproduction number compared to JN.1. This evolving scenario underscores the need for continuous monitoring and adaptive response strategies to address the challenges posed by these new variants. This abstract examines the emergence of FLiRT variants KP.2 and KP1.1, descendants of the Omicron JN.1 variant, as they draw global attention amidst the ongoing coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Michel Houellebecq's flirtation with the far-Right has grown more explicit, critics have had difficulty reconciling his politics with his novels. Specifically, his peculiar variety of decadent anti-humanism mixes oddly with his nostalgic French populism. In this article I attempt to address the seeming contradictions in his political positions and argue that Houellebecq should be taken seriously as an author within a specifically French tradition. Exploring his last four novels, I approach the question of Houellebecq's politics as it relates to his ambivalent relationship to France. Within these works I note his use of lieux de mémoire—that is, places where his heroes journey to 'try on' various solutions. Michel Houellebecq has repeatedly taken us to locales which had been rich with French memory and identity, but which now appear unreachable, and has used these tableaux to ponder French decline. Throughout, I argue that his work has become, increasingly, a meditation on loss and the inaccessibility of national identity, and that, within a specifically French context, Houellebecq borrows not just from Charles Maurras and French reaction, but from an overdetermined discourse inherited from the 1930s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Morocco, the possibility of flirting in the public space is evident in many ways. However, heterosexual seduction practices in Morocco are not to be taken for granted in a country where bodies, especially women’s bodies, are subject to strong political and social control. Our article intends to break with the dominant discourses and ethnocentric visions, in Morocco as in France, which consider sexualities in Morocco only through the prism of religion and women’s passivity. This article deals specifically with issues of power and bodies in the public space : what is possible and what is not. Our analysis focuses on unmarried Moroccan heterosexual couples. It is drawn from exploratory surveys (non-participant observations in selected locations during several consecutive days and 15 semi-structured interviews with Moroccan couples) conducted in April 2016 in Rabat, the country’s administrative capital. According to the results of our qualitative survey, the ways of flirting before marriage, potentially reprehensible in the eyes of society, are quite homogeneous. The article shows that young women and men innovate in terms of strategies for living out their expressions of intimacy through what we have called “geographical bubble”. These bubbles, identified beforehand, constitute places that both protect them from indiscreet and reproachful eyes and allow for intimacy. Couples, and especially women, pay crucial attention to the choice of locations for their romantic encounters : they want to avoid being seen, while remaining safe to flirt. The article is organized in two parts. The first presents the restrictive legal and moral framework of sexuality in Morocco, while highlighting a recent dynamic of social and sexual transition. This transition is eminently linked to the publicization of issues of individual and sexual freedom, the emergence of which has made it possible to debate the sexuality of Moroccan men and women, helping to normalize it and make it legitimate whether it is expressed within or outside of marriage. The second part of the paper focuses more specifically on two locations of the survey. The Printemps café, a “geographical bubble” in the heart of downtown Rabat, offers a private space open to the public where young couples are very present, much more so than elsewhere in the city, and allows flirting. The cornices and beaches are also places where young couples can meet, away from prying eyes, as shown in the photographs that illustrate the article. The couples behave like “teams”, as Erving Goffman (1973) formulates it, operating jointly a strict control of their gestures, representations, body distances and finally of the glances coming from outside. Complicity within the couple therefore, but also between couples in the same place. These precautions underlie the existence of these “geographical bubbles” and of flirting within them, at a distance from the control of the authorities : the intimate and individual experiences are thus also revealed to be a group practice and conceived with regard to the group. The “geographical bubbles” thus make it possible to preserve the respectability of young women (especially) within families and to avoid the mechanisms of exclusion and marginalization. In the end, they are evidence of territorialized practices that contribute, even if modestly, to questioning dominant heteronormative behaviors. The couples met during the survey, by their mere presence in the public space, participate in the deconstruction of institutional gender behaviors and thus in a localized process of gender mixing.

This article argues that college-educated women play a crucial part in successful resistance against genocide because they are more likely to forge secure interregional networks and, consequently, better able to shelter victims of mass-persecution than their male peers. We develop our argument through a study of Jewish rescue networks in the Netherlands during the Holocaust. College-educated women were especially valuable during rescue efforts due to their ability to operate as defiant conformists. These women – a small minority who were anything but traditional – could more fully exploit their biographical availability and university networks by concealing interregional resistance work through the strategic performance of traditional feminine roles. Statistical analyses of geocoded rescue networks reveal that rescue networks involving college-educated women were more successful because they funneled Jews across the country without getting exposed. More in-depth exploration of distinct networks identifies three dramaturgical strategies that college-educated women deployed to facilitate clandestine and geographically expansive rescue work: 1) strategic coquetry; 2) strategic self-devaluation; 3) strategic motherhood and wedlock. Taken together, our findings suggest we should focus on how gender and other forms of social status interact to produce the relational and dramaturgical underpinnings of civilian agency in times of emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyse how young people's perceptions of sexual harassment and unwelcome flirting from customers in the hospitality industry are affected by the customer's age. Sixty-nine young women and men training for occupations in the hospitality industry were interviewed. The young people were 18–20 years old. The results show that the customer's age was crucial for how the participants perceived unwelcome sexual interest and advances. If the person who offends was a child, the behaviour could be described as harmless, innocent and thus not as sexual harassment. Unwelcome flirting by a young man towards a young woman of the same age could be perceived as sexual harassment, but at the same time it is in line with the heteronormative ideal and could be understood. When the customer was older, that is, a middle-aged man, the young people's descriptions of the occurrence were particularly negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Men, versus women, face more doubts about their heterosexuality based on a single same-gender sexual experience, a phenomenon known as the precarious sexuality effect. This phenomenon has thus far only been examined with sexually explicit same-gender acts (e.g., kissing, oral sex). Here, we conducted secondary data analyses of five large datasets of US adults (total N = 9770) to examine the replicability and robustness of the precarious sexuality effect across a range of same-gender acts varying in sexual explicitness. Using cross-classified hierarchical linear modeling, we replicated the precarious sexuality effect across all samples and demonstrated—in preregistered exploratory and confirmatory tests—that this effect was moderated by sexual explicitness. Consistent with our predictions, same-gender acts that were merely flirtatious (e.g., blowing a kiss) elicited stronger precarious sexuality (i.e., target gender) effects than same-gender acts that were explicitly sexual (e.g., oral sex), presumably because the former acts are more ambiguous and thereby allow more room for interpretation. Further, we found no consistent evidence that the precarious sexuality effect was moderated by perceiver characteristics including gender, sexual orientation, age, race, gender role beliefs, religiosity, or political orientation. Discussion considers possible explanations for the precarious sexuality effect and identifies important avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research tagged with (The Other Satire in Women's Poetry in the Abbasid Era), as the Abbasid Era is one of the richest literary eras that witnessed prosperity in the literary arena in both poetry and prose, and in light of this prosperity and development, women had an active contribution to literary life in general and poetry in particular. The woman excelled in saying poetry with different purposes, such as flirting, lamentation, praise, satire and others. As for the other in all its forms, it formed a prominent presence in Arab poetry in general and women’s poetry in the Abbasid era in particular, and despite the fact that (the other) was studied by a number of poets, it was not studied by the poetic woman, and thus we sought to see the manifestations of this matter in women’s poetry It is hoped that we will add a new special experience that contributes to revealing the impact of the emigrant other in the poetry of the Abbasid Arab woman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses two lost twin-screen films by Warren Sonbert, titled "Connection" and "Ted and Jessica." These films were influenced by Andy Warhol's "The Chelsea Girls" and were likely disassembled by Sonbert to incorporate shots into his later films. "Connection" explores unconnected experiences and the search for self, while "Ted and Jessica" celebrates the joy of a couple engaged to be married. The twin-screen structure allowed Sonbert to explore simultaneity across distinct physical spaces. The article also mentions contemporaneous reviews of the films and their use of pop-rock music. [Extracted from the article]

The scholarship on flirting as a persuasive tactic in the workplace indicates that flirting can have negative consequences for task groups. The goal of this study was to extend the investigation of instrumental flirting by operationalizing this form of flirting as charm and by examining the consequences of charm in decision-making groups for the individual group members. In the current study, participants (60 women, 60 men) made decisions in four-person, mixed sex groups. The results of the study demonstrate that the use of charm was negatively associated with perceptions of group member task competence. Differences in perceptions of charm were also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ken Plummer's career embraced a range of interests, and disparate interventions but is marked by a remarkable consistency, rooted in a profound humanistic understanding of the social world. This is most fully expressed in his most recent publication, Critical Humanism, but is a leitmotif throughout his writings since the early 1970s. Whilst many of his contemporaries engaged in wild flirtations with every intellectual fashion from anti-humanism to post-humanisms, and whatever lies between, over the past half-century, Plummer has remained faithful to his early moral and theoretical interests whilst being sharply alert to every nuance and subtlety of contemporary debate. He is one of the most knowledgeable of sociologists, a fluent theorist but also a passionate and committed teacher who strives to communicate as widely as possible. And throughout his life and work, over many years, you can still trace the impact of a critical moment, his engagement with gay liberation from 1970 which profoundly shaped his trajectory as a scholar and engaged intellectual. This essay focuses on a number of key themes, Sexual Stigma, Sexual Stories, Intimate Citizenship, and Critical Humanism that together offer a story of Ken Plummer's engagement with his overarching theme: what it is to be human. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a specific type of supportive, make-believe, playful humour called here flirting humour, which serves to create a positioning of symmetry and intimacy, while posing a mitigated threat to the face of the addresser and addressee. We focus on two sub-categories of this humour prevalent in online readers’ comments to Facebook posts published by the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the March 2020 electoral campaign: (1) humorous confessions of lust and love by women, even marriage proposals; (2) humorous gestures of camaraderie, mostly by men, including informal social invitations and friendly requests for favours – all directed to Netanyahu. We suggest that this humour reflects characteristics identified with the Israeli Sabra individuals (e.g., directness, openness, easy-goingness, mischievousness) and the Israeli society (camaraderie, informality). Furthermore, we argue that flirting humour, which is particularly dominant among Netanyahu’s supporters, is associated with his dual self-positioning: while the symmetrical and intimate scenarios his supporters humorously create reflect Netanyahu’s positioning as “one of the guys”, the humorous framing reflects awareness of his hierarchical superiority, and acceptance of his self-positioning as a great leader. Thus, flirting humour contributes both to the solidification of Netanyahu’s supporters, and the reinforcing of his position among them.

Purpose: Scholars have acknowledged gender-role ideology as a central factor in flirting style. This study aims to exam the combined effect of flirting type and flirter's sex on positive and adverse customer reactions. Design/methodology/approach: In Study 1, participants (N = 555) were divided into four scenario conditions in a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design: server sex (male vs female) and flirting type (authentic vs fake). Study 1 scenarios explored positive customer outcomes (i.e. loyalty and tip size). Study 2 applied the same research design, presenting participants (N = 404) scenarios relating to negative outcomes (i.e. anger and sense of threat). Findings: The findings revealed that the flirter's sex significantly moderated the relationship between flirting type and customers' (the targets') reactions. Originality/value: This research offers three primary contributions. First, it elaborates on the dynamics of flirting in service settings (i.e. face-to-face interactions between the service provider and customer). Second, as the effects of flirting on its targets have been reported as equivocal (perceived as pleasing and flattering or, in contrast, annoying, deceptive and misleading), this study explores its positive and negative customer-related outcomes. Third, the study seeks to better understand the impact of a flirting service employee's sex on customers' outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was based on devising a reading of the poetic meanings of Al-Nabigha Al- Dhubyani. The aim of the study was to elicit the influence of the Arab environment on the similarity of meanings in the poetry of Al-Nabigha Al-Nabigha. The researcher's method adopted the descriptive analytical method in studying Al-Nabigha's poetry. The research was classified into two sections. The first section included standing on the ruins and the flirtation. The second section included a description of the moving nature, including animals and birds. The study resulted in that the Al-Nabigha had a transcendent humanistic view, in which he was close to the view of modern education experts in the necessity of raising generations with a good upbringing, nurturing and preserving them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a specific type of supportive, make-believe, playful humour called here flirting humour, which serves to create a positioning of symmetry and intimacy, while posing a mitigated threat to the face of the addresser and addressee. We focus on two sub-categories of this humour prevalent in online readers' comments to Facebook posts published by the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the March 2020 electoral campaign: (1) humorous confessions of lust and love by women, even marriage proposals; (2) humorous gestures of camaraderie, mostly by men, including informal social invitations and friendly requests for favours - all directed to Netanyahu. We suggest that this humour reflects characteristics identified with the Israeli Sabra individuals (e.g., directness, openness, easy-goingness, mischievousness) and the Israeli society (camaraderie, informality). Furthermore, we argue that flirting humour, which is particularly dominant among Netanyahu's supporters, is associated with his dual self-positioning: while the symmetrical and intimate scenarios his supporters humorously create reflect Netanyahu's positioning as "one of the guys", the humorous framing reflects awareness of his hierarchical superiority, and acceptance of his selfpositioning as a great leader. Thus, flirting humour contributes both to the solidification of Netanyahu's supporters, and the reinforcing of his position among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new changes in the journalistic field provided the expansion of the journalists' authorial productions from the productions in books, as was the case of the journalists Zuenir Ventura and Teresa Urban who made the events of 1968, in Brazil, a platform to reconcile, in the narrative, elements such as memory and testimony. In her books – she in an articulation between comics and collage; he in a report, with the flirtation of the chronicle on the border of the testimony – ended up producing two “live” documents that represent border journalism, in which information, history and literature form a set that defies the rigidity of journalistic language. We aim, therefore, to analyze the narrative of the books “1968 – O ano que não terminou” and “1968 ditadura abaixo” from two methodological operators, which are memory and testimony. The books allow approximations between operators, showing how it is possible to combine experience, history and reports in a borderline perspective of the language that addresses narrative journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Alchemy of Headwinds" from the Midwest Quarterly reflects on the passage of time and the impermanence of life through poetic language and imagery. The author contemplates mortality, memory, and the changing seasons, drawing connections between personal experiences and the natural world. Themes of loss, reflection, and acceptance are explored in a contemplative and introspective manner, inviting readers to ponder the complexities of existence and the interconnectedness of all things. [Extracted from the article]

Monsky's theorem of 1970 says that we cannot dissect a unit square into an odd number of triangles of equal area. A related question, dissecting a rectangle into three triangles of equal area, illustrates the importance of the curvature of space. We prove that the dissection can be done in hyperbolic space, the non-Euclidean geometry of negative curvature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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