Prostitution and infection: transnational and comparative perspectives on Italian health policy (1922–1958)

ABSTRACT

In 1958 the Italian parliament abolished controlled prostitution and closed the case di tolleranza – brothels licensed and supervised by the state. Justified in the nineteenth century as a means to combat venereal diseases, discussions surrounding the state-regulated prostitution became increasingly complex after the Second World War. This article will focus on the presumptive chief argument, the brothels’ benefit to public health. Using a historical comparison, it will identify this factor’s role in the continuation or abolition of the regulated system and any aspects unique to the Italian case. To take full advantage of the comparative approach, countries have been selected that permit an entangled historical comparison that is both synchronic and diachronic: Whereas the change in prostitution regulations occurred after the Second World War in France and Italy – the same era – we must jump back to a different period, the pre-war years, for the German case.     

Firefighters in the UK and the US: Risk perception of local and organic foods

Abstract

Recent health scares such as BSE have contributed to the growth of local farmers' markets and consumption of organics sourced globally (Morgan et al., 2006 Morgan, K., Marsden, T. and Murdoch, J. 2006. Worlds of Food: Place, Power and Provenance in the Food Chain, Oxford: Oxford University Press.  [Google Scholar]). Yet a central question about alternative agro-food networks (AAFNs) is whether they supply undemocratic diets chiefly for elites (Goodman, 2004 Goodman, D. 2004. Rural Europe redux? Reflections on alternative agro-food networks and paradigm change. Sociologia Ruralis, 44(1): 3–16. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This is relevant to government campaigns such as ‘Generation Scotland’ and ‘5 A Day’ in the UK, and ‘Food Pyramids’ in the US, which promote better diets for their entire populations. Firefighting is risky work and because firefighters inhabit middle rungs on the socioeconomic ladder, and food is seen as key to morale and fitness, they are suitable consumers to query on food and risk. This firefighter survey presents evidence that alternative foods are gaining value in the UK and US study areas used here. Though Newcastle, UK, lags behind Seattle, US, on a continuum from conventional to alternative food systems, consumption of alternative foods by Newcastle firefighters is greater than that of workers surveyed in Edinburgh a decade before (Tregear, 1994 Tregear, A., Dent, J. B. and McGregor, M. J. 1994. The demand for organically-grown produce. British Food Journal, 96(4): 21–25. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), implying that northern UK diets could turn greener if availability and prices improve. Reasons why organic preference seems stronger among firefighters in northwestern US, than in northern UK where local preference appears stronger, are discussed, as well as theorisation of consumer response to a variety of risks over time.     

新中国成立初期“团结中西医”方针的确立

新中国成立初期,第一届全国卫生工作会议制定了团结中西医的卫生工作方针。但是在执行中,却出现了歧视限制中医的错误倾向。毛泽东和中共中央及时发现和纠正了这一错误倾向,使团结中西医的卫生工作方针得到了全面落实。毛泽东和中共中央的相关论述及措施对中医药事业的发展具有重要的历史意义和现实意义。     

FightingFit? Diet,Disease, and Disability in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914–18

In spite of considerable period propaganda to the otherwise, the average member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force was far from a northern superman. Some, in fact, were quite the opposite. A close analysis of enlistment records indicates that majority of Canada’s would-be warriors not only were — as one might expect — of average height and build, but also that many suffered from a wide variety of health concerns ranging from poor eyesight and dentition through to serious musculoskeletal, neurological, and psychiatric disorders. Moreover, evidence suggests that many recruits were poorly nourished. Indeed, despite the very real horrors and dangers that the Great War presented, the enlistment and discharge weights of CEF members suggests that joining the military was actually good for many Canadian males. This analysis is based on summary statistical examination of the medical and attestation papers of over 20,000 servicemen and a close textual analysis of the full file for a smaller number of men.     

Introduction: The gendered geographies of ‘bodies across borders’

This paper introduces the articles that comprise the themed section ‘bodies across borders’ which investigates how the social and spatial dynamics of healthcare provision are being transformed by both neo-liberalization and globalization. The articles demonstrate how the central tenets of neoliberalism: the promotion of individual autonomy as realized through the instrument of consumer choice, the privatization, outsourcing and off-shoring of core competencies and service provision, the production of highly ‘flexible’ labour are at work in re-shaping access to, and delivery of, services in the domains of reproductive health, organ donation and globalized healthcare. In paying special attention to the ways in which these practices are cut across by class, gender and ethnicity, these accounts will hopefully encourage us to reject totalizing and homogeneous narratives of medical travel in favour of those that offer more nuanced understandings of the positionality of the individuals at the heart of them.     

Emerging geographies of disciplining the ageing body: practising cosmetic technologies in the aesthetic clinic

Despite attention to the body over the last two decades, there has been a lack of geographical consideration of the emotional and embodied contexts of ageing. In this article I argue that examination of the multiple ways in which the ageing body is experienced and modified offers productive insights into geographical perspectives on gender, health and technology. This article introduces cosmetic anti-ageing practices as a form of ‘management’ and ‘modification’ of the ageing body. Anti-ageing practices have become increasingly ubiquitous in the last decade and are a significant driver of growth and innovation in the cosmetic industry. Despite their prevalence, however, there has been a lack of geographical attention to the knowledges, practices and spaces associated with cosmetic modification of the ageing body. This article draws on ethnographic and interview data from extensive fieldwork conducted in a range of aesthetic clinics in South-West England, exploring the emotional, embodied and spatial encounters of anti-ageing practices and the intertwining, and explicitly gendered, discourses of health and well-being in which they are situated.     

Beautiful face,beautiful place: relational geographies and gender in cosmetic surgery tourism websites

Cosmetic surgery tourism is a significant and growing area of medical tourism. This article explores the gendered construction of cosmetic surgery tourism in different geographical locations through an analysis of destination websites in Spain, the Czech Republic and Thailand. We examine the ways in which gender and other intersections of identity interact with notions of space, place and travel to construct particular locations and cosmetic surgery tourist experiences. The relational geographies of skill, regulation and hygiene in discourses of cosmetic surgery risk are also explored. We conclude that accounts producing cosmetic surgery tourism as undifferentiated experience of ‘non-place’ fail to acknowledge the complex constructions of specific destinations in promotional materials targeting international consumers in a global marketplace.     

Socio-economic inequalities in health among older adults in two rural sub-districts in India and Bangladesh: a comparative cross-sectional study

Health inequalities have been observed among older people in many developing countries, particularly among those with least social protection and low socio-economic (SES) status. This study attempted to examine effects of SES on the health of older adults, and related gender differences, in two rural sub-districts - Matlab, Bangladesh and Vadu, India. The study utilised the WHO SAGE-INDEPTH Wave 1, 2007 Matlab, Bangladesh and Vadu, Pune District, India datasets. Both gender and SES indicators were strongly associated with all health indicators of older adults in the Bangladesh site, whereas in India, education and asset quintiles were not consistently associated with self-rated health, quality of life and functional ability score but gender was consistently associated with all health indicators except the quality of life score. The SES-health gradient was noticeably higher amongst older adults in Matlab, Bangladesh than in Vadu, India. Education was also found to be an important predictor of health outcome in both sites.