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Journal of the History of Medicine and... Jul 2023The visual archive of AIDS and fetish activism is a rich resource for studying interlinkages between art and science, activism and public health, politics and medicine,...
The visual archive of AIDS and fetish activism is a rich resource for studying interlinkages between art and science, activism and public health, politics and medicine, pleasure and sexual health prevention. This article explores AIDS and fetish activism imagery from the first two decades of the Norwegian AIDS crisis. Interrogating the materiality and visual context of images - photographs, posters, flyers, and safer sex instructions - it maps out visualization practices in leather, BDSM and AIDS activism. AIDS and fetish imagery made some bodies, pleasures, and political goals visible - and rendered others unseen. The article explores the materiality of images and their visual, social, and historical context of production, and traces their social biographies and afterlives. Fetish images were vehicles for change and actors co-producing history. They took part in destigmatizing BDSM, challenging psychiatric classification, and creating infrastructure and networks between subcultures, communities, and authorities. The visualization of fetish activism was as much about communication strategies as it was about aesthetic, style, and motive. The politics of visibility in Norwegian fetish activism point to the vulnerable project of fighting for acceptance through "respectability," while preserving the individuality and "otherness" of leather and fetish culture.
Topics: Humans; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Pleasure; Safe Sex; Public Health; Fetishism, Psychiatric; Politics
PubMed: 37011106
DOI: 10.1093/jhmas/jrad012 -
International Journal of Sexual Health... 2021To clarify the psychosocial and behavioral factors related to women's sexual pleasure.
OBJECTIVES
To clarify the psychosocial and behavioral factors related to women's sexual pleasure.
METHODS
A search was conducted on EBSCO and Web of Science databases using the key terms "female sexual pleasure" and "women sexual pleasure" and following PRISMA guidelines.
RESULTS
76 articles were identified, referring to sexual practices, individual factors, interpersonal factors, societal factors, and ways of enhancing sexual pleasure.
CONCLUSIONS
Age, sexual experience, arousability, body-esteem, sexual autonomy, and sexual assertiveness seem to benefit women's sexual pleasure, while sexual compliance and a gender power imbalance seem to compromise it. Additional research regarding non-western and non-heterosexual women is still required.
PubMed: 38595786
DOI: 10.1080/19317611.2021.1910890 -
Revista Latino-americana de Enfermagem 2022to evaluate distress and pleasure indicators in health care workers on the front line of care for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases.
OBJECTIVE
to evaluate distress and pleasure indicators in health care workers on the front line of care for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases.
METHOD
an exploratory, analytical and cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. The studied sample consisted of 437 health professionals invited by electronic means, who answered the questionnaire on sociodemographic information, occupational aspects and clinical conditions. Distress and pleasure at work were considered as outcomes, which were analyzed with multinomial logistic regression regarding the associated independent variables.
RESULTS
Most of the participants were female (71.0%), nurses (55.6%), with a weekly working shift of 40 hours or more (75.8%); 61.6% of the participants suffered from mental distress. The psychosocial characteristics of high-strain work and low social support were reported by 23.8% and 52.9% of the participants, respectively. In the multiple analysis, distress and lack of pleasure at work were associated with high job strain, low support from co-workers and mental distress. The profession is also associated with distress at work.
CONCLUSION
distress and lack of pleasure at work are associated with occupational characteristics and mental strain among health care workers in the COVID-19 scenario.
Topics: COVID-19; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Health Personnel; Humans; Male; Pleasure; Stress, Psychological
PubMed: 35476012
DOI: 10.1590/1518-8345.5707.3555 -
ELife Oct 2020The observation of animal orofacial and behavioral reactions has played a fundamental role in research on reward but is seldom assessed in humans. Healthy volunteers (N...
The observation of animal orofacial and behavioral reactions has played a fundamental role in research on reward but is seldom assessed in humans. Healthy volunteers (N = 131) received 400 mg of the dopaminergic antagonist amisulpride, 50 mg of the opioidergic antagonist naltrexone, or placebo. Subjective ratings, physical effort, and facial reactions to matched primary social (affective touch) and nonsocial (food) rewards were assessed. Both drugs resulted in lower physical effort and greater negative facial reactions during reward anticipation, especially of food rewards. Only opioidergic manipulation through naltrexone led to a reduction in positive facial reactions to liked rewards during reward consumption. Subjective ratings of wanting and liking were not modulated by either drug. Results suggest that facial reactions during anticipated and experienced pleasure rely on partly different neurochemical systems, and also that the neurochemical bases for food and touch rewards are not identical.
Topics: Adult; Amisulpride; Dopamine Antagonists; Emotions; Female; Food; Humans; Male; Naltrexone; Narcotic Antagonists; Pleasure; Reward; Young Adult
PubMed: 33046213
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.55797 -
BMC Psychiatry May 2022Gender differences have been found to be associated with individuals' pleasure. Cognitive flexibility and emotional expressivity might play an important role between...
BACKGROUND
Gender differences have been found to be associated with individuals' pleasure. Cognitive flexibility and emotional expressivity might play an important role between gender differences and pleasure. This current study is to explore the mediating role of cognitive flexibility and emotional expressivity in the relationship between gender differences and pleasure.
METHOD
In this cross-sectional study, a sample of 1107 full-time university students from five colleges in Tianjin, Chinese mainland was investigated by questionnaire. All participants completed the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPs), the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI), and the Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire (BEQ).
RESULTS
The results of independent T-test suggested that females reported better emotional expressivity, anticipatory pleasure and consummatory pleasure than males, whereas males had better cognitive flexibility than females. Using bootstrapping approach revealed that the partially mediation effects of cognitive flexibility on gender differences in anticipatory and consummatory pleasure, and that of emotional expressivity on gender differences in anticipatory and consummatory pleasure. Results of this present study stated that cognitive flexibility and emotional expressivity play a partial mediating role in explaining gender differences in anticipatory and consummatory pleasure.
CONCLUSION
Females had higher anticipatory and consummatory pleasure because they tend to use emotional regulation strategy to express their emotion.
Topics: Anhedonia; Cognition; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Male; Pleasure; Sex Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 35513818
DOI: 10.1186/s12888-022-03945-9 -
Neuron Oct 2022In this issue of Neuron, Sun et al. (2022) identify a neuronal subpopulation in the medial paralemniscal nucleus that underlies repetitive self-grooming. Through their...
In this issue of Neuron, Sun et al. (2022) identify a neuronal subpopulation in the medial paralemniscal nucleus that underlies repetitive self-grooming. Through their projections to dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area, this subpopulation also drives reward and alleviates anxiety.
Topics: Animals; Pleasure; Ventral Tegmental Area; Dopaminergic Neurons; Reward
PubMed: 36265440
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.022 -
The Journal of Thoracic and... Mar 2022
Topics: Humans; Pain; Pleasure
PubMed: 33288238
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2020.10.098 -
Scientific Reports Nov 2022The growth of the self-concept through increasing perspectives, identities, resources, and efficacy is known as self-expansion and typically involves novelty, challenge,...
The growth of the self-concept through increasing perspectives, identities, resources, and efficacy is known as self-expansion and typically involves novelty, challenge, interest, and/or excitement. Self-expansion is positively associated with health factors including self-reported physical activity (PA). This study is the first to investigate self-expansion and daily PA, and with a PA monitor. Fifty community participants completed baseline questionnaires, wore a Fitbit One and completed daily self-report questionnaires for 28 days, and completed follow-up questionnaires. Daily surveys included questions about both general and PA-specific self-expansion. Across the 4 weeks, steps taken was positively correlated with both general (all maximum likelihood r = 0.17) and PA-specific self-expansion (maximum likelihood rs of 0.15 and 0.16), and PA-specific self-expansion was positively correlated (maximum likelihood rs of 0.38 and 0.50) with aerobic activity. Future research should investigate this relationship in a larger more diverse sample and test whether PA-specific self-expansion can be utilized as an acceptable, feasible, and effective intervention to increase daily steps and other forms of PA.
Topics: Humans; Self Report; Exercise; Pleasure; Self Concept
PubMed: 36446826
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24576-w -
NeuroImage May 2020Listening to pleasant music engages a complex distributed network including pivotal areas for auditory, reward, emotional and memory processing. On the other hand,...
Listening to pleasant music engages a complex distributed network including pivotal areas for auditory, reward, emotional and memory processing. On the other hand, frontal theta rhythms appear to be relevant in the process of giving value to music. However, it is not clear to which extent this oscillatory mechanism underlies the brain interactions that characterize music-evoked pleasantness and its related processes. The goal of the present experiment was to study brain synchronization in this oscillatory band as a function of music-evoked pleasantness. EEG was recorded from 25 healthy subjects while they were listening to music and rating the experienced degree of induced pleasantness. By using a multilevel Bayesian approach we found that phase synchronization in the theta band between right temporal and frontal signals increased with the degree of pleasure experienced by participants. These results show that slow fronto-temporal loops play a key role in music-evoked pleasantness.
Topics: Auditory Perception; Brain; Cortical Synchronization; Female; Humans; Male; Music; Pleasure; Reward; Theta Rhythm; Young Adult
PubMed: 32087373
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116665 -
International Journal of Sexual Health... 2021Sexual pleasure is best attained through facilitating access to the highest standard of health. Today global data show a persistent high burden of sexual health issues....
Sexual pleasure is best attained through facilitating access to the highest standard of health. Today global data show a persistent high burden of sexual health issues. Yet, pleasure remains a sensitive, stigmatized, and unspoken topic in healthcare services. This article examines how to incorporate a value for pleasure into healthcare services, grounded in the assumption that pleasure is a fundamental reason why people have sex and that acknowledging this can support people in creating safer, more pleasurable sexual experiences. Drawing upon examples from the literature and field experience, this article explores how to better address pleasure in healthcare settings.
PubMed: 38595777
DOI: 10.1080/19317611.2021.1955802