Domestic Violence and Gender in Numbers

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (as of 2023), 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men experience physical violence at some point during their lifetimes. Intimate partners stalk 6 in 10 female and 4 in 10 male victims. 1 in 5 women and 1% to 2% of men experience attempted or completed rape at some point in their lives.

It is estimated that 1.5 million intimate partner female rapes and physical assaults occur every year (vs 800.000 male assaults annually). Intimate partner violence has decreased by more than 60%, from 10 victimisations per 1.000 persons to 4 per 1.000 (n = persons aged 12 or older) (via).

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photograph via

Multilevel Relationships between Perceived Age Discrimination and Happiness

Abstract: The present study examines how contextual age discrimination moderates the individual-level association between perceived age discrimination and happiness among older Europeans. In this endeavor, we test two opposing views: 1) the "social norm" hypothesis that predicts the association between perceived age discrimination and happiness to become weaker in areas with a higher average level of age discrimination; and 2) conversely the "contagion effect" hypothesis that predicts the association to grow stronger in such areas. 

Using data from the European Social Survey (2008), we estimate two- and three-level mixed effects models to test these opposing hypotheses. Our findings from multilevel analysis lend support to the social norm hypothesis. Specifically, the negative link between perceived age discrimination and happiness is weaker in subnational regions where the proportion of victims of age discrimination is higher. (Hyun Jung & Hyun-Soo Kim,  2023)

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- Hyun Jung, J. & Hyun-Soo Kim, H. (2023). Does Misery Love Company? Multilevel Relationships between Perceived Age Discrimination and Happiness among Older Europeans. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 42(6), 1234-124, link
- photograph by Flip Schulke via

Devaluing the Elderly, Devaluing Residential Long-Term Workers

As of 2022, in the United States, the median hourly pay for workers in nursing homes and residential care facility industries is 15.22 dollars (vs the US median hourly wage of 20.7 dollars). 7.2% of these workers live in poverty (vs 5.3% poverty rate for all workers) and 6.9% are covered by a union contract (vs the rate of 11.9% for the overall workforce). Compared to workers in general, residential long-term care workers are also less likely to be covered by employer-provided retirement and health insurance benefits. 80.9% of the workers are women, a disproportionate number (22.4%) Black women and immigrant women (12.8%). (via)

“For too long, our society has devalued the elderly and people with disabilities as well as the workers who help them lead more enriched and independent lives. It is no coincidence that women—particularly women of color and immigrants—perform much of this hands-on care work, both paid and unpaid, in homes and in residential long-term care settings.”
Julia Wolfe

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photograph by Flip Schulke via

Age and Heat-Related Disability

Abstract: This study examines how functional disability worsens among older adults exposed to extreme heat, particularly those socially isolated. Analyzing data from over 35,000 older adults aged 50 or older from the Health and Retirement Study from 1996-2018, this study found that more frequent exposure to extreme heat is associated with an increase in the number of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) that older adults find difficulty in performing over time. 

 

This heat-related disability progression is greater among those living alone and not working. However, findings indicate that maintaining contact with children and receiving higher levels of support from friends can alleviate the risk of IADL disability progression amidst extreme heat days for older adults with limited social relationships at home and work. By examining various aspects of social isolation and their nuanced effects, this study underscores the need for social support and assistance for older adults during extreme heat. (Hyunjung et al., 2024)

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- Hyunjung Ji, Su Hyun Shin, Alexandria Coronado 1, Hee Yun Lee (2024).Extreme Heat, Functional Disability, and Social Isolation: Risk Disparity Among Older Adults. Journal of Applied Gerontology, link
- photograph by Flip Schulke (1930-2008) via

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was a policy on military service that allowed homosexual and bisexual US-Americans to serve their country as long as they kept their sexual identity secret. Part of the act was - and that was a crucial change - that superiors were not supposed to initiate investigations of service members' orientation as it had been common practice before. Signed in 1993 by Bill Clinton (who knew that it was "not a perfect solution"), the policy was seen as a compromise between "those who wanted to end the longstanding ban on gays serving in the U.S. military and those who felt having openly gay troops would hurt morale and cause problems within military ranks".

It was seen as a liberal step, as an approach to allow queer US-Americans be part of the military. At the same time, they were forced into secrecy since only closeted members or applicants were protected from discrimination. People who were said to "demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" were not allow to serve in the armed forces as their presence would "create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability". Coming out of the closet meant being discharged.

In 2011, Barack Obama announced the repeal of the policy. In 2016, the ban on transgender service members was lifted (via and via).

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photograph (Contemporary Muses) by Kameliya Stoeva via

Flowers at Your Feet. Texas Isaiah's Archive.

Texas Isaiah is a Black transmasculine photographer and the first trans photographer to shoot for the cover of Vogue and Time. His project "Flowers at Your Feet" started in 2020 and is about memories, gratitude, beauty, and healing;. It is a collection of Black transmasculine portraits, the flowers are the people themselves (via).

Excerpts from an interview:

I was interested in developing a more concrete archive because I had lost a significant amount of people in an eight-month period. People from childhood had passed away, my coworker, and the last person was my grandfather.

Looking back, I didn’t have a visual archive of these people. I just had my memories, and there was a visual loss that resonated with me deeply. I started to think more about what it would look like to contribute to an everlasting archive. Black and brown POC trans people weren’t being imaged a lot during that time, so I thought about the ways I can do that differently that weren’t immediately tethered to media or traditional aspects of representation.

When I was creating the archive, which was Black trans people in general, I didn’t feel a full connection with a lot of the [other trans-centered] work that was being created, especially of just masculine people in general. There are so many reasons why there isn’t a lot more Black trans representation in the media. It was not so much that I wanted to be seen, actually. I wanted to be able to extend space to people who felt invisible, who felt that they didn’t deserve to be imaged. When we look at media, the transmasculine people that are popular and who are extended resources are white transmasculine people.

It’s so important for people to see themselves so that they are able to heal and grow from the things they’ve been taught. There is so much that is projected onto us, and the reality is that we haven’t always been in proximity to the most healthy terrains of masculinity. But I believe that Black transmasculine people — in the ways that we have cared and loved throughout history and today — are really shifting the perspective of what it looks like to be a person of good character who is also masculine.

The beautiful thing about Flowers at Your Feet is that it mostly highlights transmasculine people, which includes trans men. I think that there is so much nuance there because not everybody has the same relationship to their masculinity — not everybody identifies as a man.

And I’ve learned myself that other people desire specificity. I don’t need that for myself because I don’t think that there is always language to describe our existences, and I’ve made peace with that. Those gray areas are really beautiful to me, because that means that I don’t have to lock myself into something that I may grow out of. There’s such a deep desire to keep that open.

Inherently, I view transness as, like, such a deeply spiritual space. I believe that, you know, the spirit doesn’t have to have any specificity. I think that’s such a beautiful thing.

It (Flowers at Your Feet) was something that someone I dated a long time ago used to say to me. I asked them, “What does that mean?’ They said, you know, ‘I’m just giving you your flowers. I’m offering you gratitude.’” And when I was thinking about a Black transmasculine archive, and also the masculine archives that exist today, it was during that era where people were creating a lot of images of Black masculine people and flowers.

That was so beautiful aesthetically, but I don’t think that conversation went as far as it could have. I think it stopped at aesthetics. I decided to use that title for the project to offer my gratitude to Black transmasculine people — past, present, and future — but also to contend with the images made at that time. There aren’t any flowers within the images I make; the flowers are the Black transmasculine people themselves.

Texas Isaiah

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photographs by'Texas Isaiah via and via and via

Disability and the Housing Cost Overburden Rate

While the housing cost overburden rate for people with no disabilities living in the EU was 8% in 2022, the rate for people with a disability was, on average, 10.6% (from 2.7 % in Cyprus to over 20 % in Denmark, Bulgaria and Greece) (via).

photograph of the wonderful Futoro House via

Beautiful Disruption. Nadine Ijewere's Photography.

Nadine Ijewere is a London-born photographer with a Nigerian-Jamaican background. With her approach, she aims to help establish "a new standard of beauty" (via). For her commissions, she usually does most of the casting herself choosing models who (apart from age) do not conform to the traditional industry standards and who are ethnically underrepresented (via). In 2019, she became the first Black woman to shoot a cover for Vogue (via).

My work is all about the celebration of diversity without creating a representation – particularly for women, as we are the ones who are more exposed to beauty ideals and to not being comfortable in who we are.

Nadine Ijewere

I find beauty in all its facets. My work is about showcasing different forms of beauty that I believe our society could do a better job of representing. We are so different, and I think it is especially important to show this in the world of fashion. I follow this principle when I cast models and also by exploring my own origins and identity.

Nadine Ijewere

Excerpts from an interview:

Looking at these images, I wish that I saw these kinds of images and people that looked like me when I was growing up. It’s such an important thing and it’s exciting that there are more Black creatives now using their culture and heritage to create amazing images that can be used for research or reference because it wasn’t necessarily available for me. Even now, it’s in a questionable quantity and finding images for inspiration is quite difficult, but it’s nice that the images we create can inspire the next generation. 

Positivity is important because for so long there have been negative connotations around the Black community and Black women and it’s something that we don’t really see celebrated or portrayed in a beautiful way. In the past, when you did see women of colour, there was always an element in place to make them conform to what the beauty ideal was – whether it’s straightening their hair or lightening their skin. It’s important for me to reframe that and show women of colour in a positive light, that’s what my work is all about.

I would have been a lot less self-conscious because growing up, I was always the sort of person who tried to fit in and change something about me. My hair was a big issue because I grew up in an environment that was predominantly white and went to a school that was the same so I was always trying to assimilate to fit in. 

I would straighten my hair a lot and would wear weaves and extensions instead of my natural hair because in fashion and beauty you never really saw girls with tight curls or Afro-type hair being portrayed as beautiful. If you did, it would be the images in Black hair salons of girls on relaxer kits with silky, straight hair. It was the image that was constantly shoved in your face, so of course you felt insecure because that’s not the hair you had. Even protective styles which are natural like cornrows and braids were seen as not beautiful or unprofessional. 

You become very restricted in a sense and you lose your sense of identity because you’re trying to fit in and be somebody else. I struggled with that for years, but having images like the images I see now would be incredible because it shows beauty as being multifaceted, there’s different kinds of elements and layers to it. It shows it in a different way and celebrates it across the board and that’s super exciting.

Nadine Ijewere

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photographs by Nadine Ijewere via and via and via and via

Beautiful Boy. By Lissa Rivera.

‘Beautiful Boy’ is an ongoing series of photographs of my lover. It began as a confession between friends. On the subway one evening, my friend shared that he had worn women’s clothing almost exclusively in college, but after graduation struggled to navigate a world that seemed both newly accepting and yet inherently reviling of male displays of femininity. I thought that photography could provide a space to experiment outside of isolation. Taking the first pictures was an emotional experience, and I connected to his vulnerability. Over time he became my muse and eventually my romantic partner. Soon we began taking photos like addicts, setting up several shoots every weekend. 

When taking the photos, I feel the same as when viewing a film where a director and actress share a deep connection to the fantasy captured. It is thrilling to see my partner transform into countless goddess-like forms. The project is a canvas to project our desires. At times the images even become self-portraits. The camera transposes our private experiences into public expression.  

Often, I construct sets in my studio. Other times, I seek out locations that feel as if they are sets. I spend a lot of time conceptualizing the costumes, which I piece together from thrift shops, ebay, and discount fabric outlets. I think it is important that the images not be seamless, but more like an assemblage where you can see the glue, revealing contemporary identity as a collage of the visual language of the past. Although I art-direct the images and come to each shoot with a strong aesthetic intention, my partner inhabits each costume and set in a thoughtful way, embodying the scenario with a sense of openness. 

It is important to show his femininity as strength. I want to feel empowered as well, and to have an intimate muse. Together we investigate feminine fantasies presented throughout the history of photography and cinema. The project is a way to ‘step-inside’ images that we have found alluring and examine what it is like to live each scenario out. We explore both our captivation and our ambivalence towards these depictions of femininity. By presenting my partner within the lineage of great beauties and populating the media with our images, we are reclaiming our voice in what is attractive and beautiful.

Lissa Rivera

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photographs by Lissa Rivera via and via and via

Dementia in Transgender Population: Case Vignette

In their paper, Beehuspoteea and Badrakalimuthu (2021) shortly discuss the lack of research on dementia in the transgender population and the specific need for carers to be provided with the psychoeducation necessary to better understand the impact dementia possibly has on transgender persons. They also mention the higher level of stress carers of transgender people might experience and the higher level of stress transgender persons might have when developing dementia. In order to illustrate the complexity of this intersection, the authors present a case vignette:

"A 76-year-old female transgender person was diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia in 2014 with MOCA (MOntreal Cognitive Assessment) score of 17/30. She was treated with donepezil 10mg OD and prescribed mirtazapine 15mg ON to treat insomnia and low mood. She underwent male to female gender reassignment surgery, including bilateral breast surgery completed in 1960s, and hormonal treatment with estradiol. She considered her sexual orientation to be towards the same sex, and she was in a long-term relationship with a female partner. Her medical history included migraine and she was on propranolol 80mg OD. There was no other significant psychiatric history. She resided in her own flat and her partner lived in a separate flat in the same block. The couple had two of three surviving adopted daughters, both in their forties. The patient's primary carer was her partner and there was no formal care input. In 2016, her MOCA score dropped to 11/30 and she had impaired hygiene and nutrition. In 2018, she started wandering and bringing men to her flat and engaging with them in sexual activities leading to a high risk of vulnerability to abuse culminating in Mental Health Act assessment and admission to a dementia unit. MOCA was not performed due to receptive and expressive dysphasia. In the unit, she presented with insomnia, agitation, dysphasia, having sexually inappropriate conversations with staff about being interested in men, which was a continuation of new behaviour that was identified in the community, as well as making innuendos to female members of staff while talking about herself as a ‘man’. She presented with toileting behaviour that would identify her as male gender, for example standing to urinate as if using a urinal, interpreted as reversal towards biological gender identification. Her partner felt devastated by behaviours exhibited by the patient, which could be identified as male-gender based behaviour aligned with biological gender by birth."

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- Nirja Beehuspoteea & Vellingiri Raja Badrakalimuthu (2021). Dementia in transgender population: case vignette. Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry, link
- photograph by Lissa Rivera via