#g the right dissertation topic

[miawilson77]

Choosing the right dissertation topic is a critical step in your academic journey, especially in a creative and dynamic field like architecture. A captivating topic not only engages your interest but also contributes significantly to the field. This guide provides expert tips to help you select a compelling architecture dissertation topic that aligns with your passions and academic goals.

[transmutationisms]

do you know any texts on the connection between fascism/the right and cleanliness/hygiene (purity) rhetoric? anything that goes a bit in depth on the topic?

Getting Under Our Skin: The Cultural and Social History of Vermin (2021). Sarasohn, Lisa Tunick. ISBN: 9781421441382

Dirt: New Geographies of Cleanliness and Contamination (2007). Campkin, Ben & Cox, Rosie (Eds.). ISBN: 9781845116729

The Sanitation of Brazil: Nation, State, and Public Health, 1889-1930 (2016). Hochman, Gilberto. ISBN: 9780252099052

Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States (2015). Zimring, Carl A. ISBN: 9781479826940

Colonial Pathologies: American Tropical Medicine, Race, and Hygiene in the Phillipines (2006). Anderson, Warwick H. ISBN: 0822338041

Bacteriology in British India: Laboratory Medicine and the Tropics (2017). Chakrabarti, Pratik. ISBN: 9781580465908

The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empire, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (2018). Vann, Michael G. & Clarke, Liz. ISBN: 9780190602697

Soap and Water: Cleanliness, Dirt and the Working Classes in Victorian and Edwardian Britain (2010). Kelley, Victoria. ISBN: 9781848850521

Contagion: Disease, government, and the “social question” in 19th-century France (1999). Aisenberg, Andrew R.

Rome, Pollution, and Propriety: Dirt, Disease, and Hygiene in the Eternal City from Antiquity to Modernity (2012). Bradley, Mark & Stow, Kenneth R. ISBN: 9781107014435

Sanitizing South Africa: Race, Racism and Germs in the Making of the Apartheid State, 1880-1980 (2015). Fabio Terence Palmi Zoia. PhD. Dissertation, Indiana University. Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1682266398)

there are also a few theoretical texts in social / cultural anthropology that will be frequent touchstones here, including norbert elias's 'the civilising process' (first published 1939) and mary douglas's 'purity and danger' (1966). i don't honestly think it's worth it or necessary to read these directly, both because they're dated in certain ways and because i think the historical studies are generally more useful. but you will probably notice these two texts & a handful of others repeatedly cropping up in introductory footnotes on this topic.

[makeassignment]

"Navigating Annamalai Assignments: Proven Strategies for Academic Excellence"

Completing Annamalai assignments in the proper way possible can easily assist in the attainment of educational as well as enriching experiences. Therefore, whether you are a neophyte Annamalai University student or a learned scholar, it is important to learn how to do such assignments so as to bring better grades. In this article, we target different approaches that can be used in completing the Annamalai assignment to enable you to tackle the coursework efficiently.

Analyzing Annamalai Assignments

Annamalai University’s lecture notes and assignments are a crucial element of your academic study plan. The purpose of these assignments is to measure your knowledge of the subject matter, your capacity to conduct research, and cut your ideas out explicitly. These assignments can only be performed with great all encompassing efforts of appropriate planning, doing of right research, appropriate writing and working with time.

Start in Time and Organize Your Work!

One way of managing Annamalai assignments with much success lies in starting the assignment early in the day. Procrastination will always result in last minute and hasty assignments. First of all, go over each labelled instruction on the task list of what has to be done. Write down a schedule and include the duration they are expected for research, for drafting, or incorporating changes into the work. Proper planning gives room for all aspects related to the assigned topic, hence better quality work will result.

Do In-Depth ResearchHighly researched college open university Annamalai assignments are very important. Start with compiling the relevant sources to be used from credible academic journals, books, and Internet. Document all notes and arrange in accordance to the requirements of the assignment. Properly researched assignment indicates not only one’s knowledge on a particular subject but also the level of dynamics involved in its studying.

Formulate an Organized Plan of Action

An organized outline is very important in the doing of a successive assignment. For most assignments, it is best to categorize it into the introduction, literature review, dissertation methodology, dissertation findings and conclusion. Sub headings and bullet points with the main issues to be discussed under each subsection should be presented. This organization will come in handy to avoid distracting yourself as well as making sure that the listed ideas connect in a logics order.

Use Simple and Straightforward Language

Similar attention should also be paid when writing the drafts of one’s Annamalai assignments; the finesse words coupled with the brevity of ideas is cardinal. Complex words and too long sentences should be discouraged. Settle for plain simple language that articulates what you want to say. Move from one paragraph to the other in a flowing manner to avoid losing the tendency of the current arguments in search of the ideas in the following conclusions.

Don't Forget to Consult Guides and Rubrics

Make sure you always check assignment guidelines and rubrics that are given for you by your instructors. This will help you understand what is required and how your work will be graded. Make sure that you pay attention to the elements that require you to follow formatting rules, citation styles, and any other factors that would influence the grading. Following such guidelines helps in showing that you can conform to the academic culture which is favorable in your grading.

Make Revisions and Edit Before Submission

Making revisions and edits is of importance for every argument. After you finish the first draft of your work, do not touch it for some time and then only you may start the editing process. This break is however crucial in ensuring that you look at the paper with a different perspective. Address concerns that pertain to clarity, coherence, and consistency. In addition, ensure that you clean up any typos or grammatical errors as well as formatting errors. Be open to asking for help from classmates or using writing help resources.

Know How to Organize Yourself in Time

Time management is essential when it comes to Annamalai assignments. Split your assignments into smaller activities and assign a deadline to each one of them. Include deadline dates so as to work using GANTT charts, calendar, or any other task management tool that you can devise. Dedicating time for research, writing, and revision helps manage the amount of work done on the last day for submission of the assignments.

it is okay to ask for assistance if necessary.

If you face any challenges with your Annamalai writing assignments, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Use the resources at your disposal, such as academic advisors, tutors, or online forums. This will help you in a thorough comprehension of your topics as well as answering any questions you may have. Moreover, submission of drafts to fellow students will enhance your understanding as other students may approach the same topic from a different angle.

Now move on to the conclusion

Meeting the objectives of Annamalai assignments is not limited to planning, researching, writing, and adhering to a timeline. By having the will to start working on the tasks early, a good outline structure, and following direction, you are on your way to completing your assignments and walls of academic excellence with no fears. Do not forget that high-quality assignments require you to request for assistance when necessary and edit your work. Do what has been put in place here and you will not have challenges when doing your assignments at Annamalai and always perform well in class.

[themculibrary]

Demiromantic/Demisexual Masterlist

After the Applause (ao3) - tartanfics peggy/angie T, 1k

Summary: Angie doesn't have anyone waiting for her out in the audience. She didn't get to tell Peggy she finally got a part in a show; Peggy wasn't there to tell. She ran lines with Sarah from 4A. There's been not a word from Peggy, nothing, after Angie went to all the trouble of calling up her family and finding Peggy a way out of the city.

Been There Done That (ao3) - TenSpencerRiedPlease bucky/natasha/tony N/R, 5k

Summary: Tony never intended to end up in a relationship with two people. Hell, he never intended to end up in a relationship with one person let alone two. But he was walking through the school cafeteria one day when a red head caught his eye, but what really caught his attention was her dissertation topic. “I’m sorry, did I just hear you say you’re currently writing a PhD dissertation on memes?” he asks, stopping in his tracks and frowning at her.

Can I still love you? (ao3) - Ely_Pines steve/bucky N/R, 3k

Summary: Bucky has feelings but no desire to be touched. He can't help but think that it's wrong.

Checkmate (ao3) - orphan_account clint/steve M, 2k

Summary: Clint is head-over-heels, butterflies in the stomach, blush across the nose in love with Steve. He's not sure that he deserves him, though, or if love is within his grasp. So he sticks to giving gifts and pining from afar. Until everything is kicked up several notches.

chocolate covered coffee beans (ao3) - SailorChibi steve/tony T, 1k

Summary: Steve is an idiot. He turned Tony down flat based on the assumption that Tony just wanted sex - an assumption that their friends very quickly corrected. Now it's Valentine's Day, and he has one chance to make it right.

Fangirling (ao3) - Liliet darcy/natasha G, 2k

Summary: Black Widow being publicly known for being badass is like Darcy's secret wish come true. She projects herself all over Natasha. In the comics Black Widow could be her secret identity - well, not counting the whole "spy past" thing, but what Nat does in the public eye SO could be. Darcy could BE Black Widow if her life had gone differently, but she isn't, and instead she's a 100% Black Widow fangirl, appreciating her in a way she herself would have wanted to be appreciated.

Flags (ao3) - Wxlves steve/bucky N/R, 2k

Summary: After Tony encourages Steve to see the New York Pride Parade, he learns some things about himself.

(Aka Steve is demisexual and in love with Bucky, bc if Marvel won’t give Captain America a boyfriend I’ll do it myself)

grey and other colours (ao3) - Anonymous steve/tony M, 8k

Summary: Distantly, Tony hears Clint say something like, “No, I definitely heard he was an equal opportunist. Like, equal-equal, no preference. Hey Tones, who are you attracted to more, dudes or chicks?”

He calls the last part out to Tony, who runs the words over in his mind and unthinkingly says, “I’ve actually never been attracted to anyone, it’s really worrying.”

(Or, Demisexual and Demiromantic Tony Stark.)

It's about the small, soft moments (ao3) - hopelessly_me bucky/clint T, 4k

Summary: Clint knew dating Bucky meant he was going to be taking things slow, even if he wasn't exactly sure what all that meant. He is pretty sure all the soft, sweet moments are slowly killing him, and he doesn't want it to stop.

Love Birds (ao3) - Jake_Matthews clint/sam G, 1k

Summary: Hawkeye can see most of New York from his nest. But he only has eyes for one thing...

Moving In or Moving On (ao3) - desert_neon (sproutgirl) clint/phil M, 12k

Summary: Phil has been invited to move into Stark Tower, and to take a position as the Avengers' liaison to SHIELD. He wants the job, but it comes with a very big personal downside. He'll have to confess his feelings to Clint, a man they both believe to be straight. Unrequited love always strains a friendship, and theirs is no exception. Clint's behavior certainly isn't helping the situation, and Phil may very well have to call an end to everything they've ever had together, breaking his heart in the process.

Not the Destination (ao3) - KiaraSayre steve/sam N/R, 8k

Summary: Before they leave New York, Tony Stark (Tony Stark, Jesus, Sam's not over it, never ever over it) hands him an AmEx Black and says, "Don't let Cap spend it all on egg creams and quarters for the jukebox."

"That is exactly what I'm gonna do," Sam says. "Egg creams and jukeboxes, nonstop. That's how we roll."

Not Your Average Coffee Shop Romance (ao3) - Flowerparrish bucky/clint M, 4k

Summary: Coffee might just be Clint's (receiving) love language, and he's on a mission to return the favor.

The Heart Wants (ao3) - inukagome15 steve/tony T, 4k

Summary: Relationships and Steve were never exactly friends, and that wasn't because of the seventy years on ice. But it had everything to do with why people thought sex was great and went gaga over the littlest things. Steve had never quite understood why until he met Tony.

There Should Be Stars (ao3) - childhoodinfamy steve/bucky T, 45k

Summary: Or, it takes them decades.

Trouble Sleeping (ao3) - fairiel steve/bucky N/R, 3k

Summary: Steve cannot sleep at night because he's thinking about Bucky touching himself in the next room.

We Live With No Lies (ao3) - gabby227 clint/steve E, 3k

Summary: Steve is so angry, like a monster thrumming underneath his skin. Clint can help with that.

You Have My Heart (ao3) - DepressingGreenie steve/tony G, 1k

Summary: Steve Rogers comes to Tony in the middle of the night with a confession.

[sirthisisa-wendys]

Can you do Getou as a sugar daddy and new professor and the reader as a sugar baby and a teacher at the same university? Also, can you make it that after the reader stays at Getou's house, she is late to the meeting for the "new staff member"?

Job Description: Geto Suguru x Fem!Reader

wc: 1.1k

tw: NSFW

"You enjoy dinner?" You place the to-go boxes on the counter before turning to your thirty-something sugar daddy, leaning on the counter before he leans in to kiss you deeply.

"I did," you reply, tangling your hands through his hair and pulling back a little. Suguru enjoys having you like this, you think as he hoists you onto the marble top and places himself between your legs. "I had a great time." You pull his tie so he kisses you again, his large hands resting on your exposed knees.

"Maybe I could ask for my dessert now?" he wonders, and you laugh, reaching into the bag.

"I don't think you saved any, daddy..." you whisper, and he bites your bottom lip.

"What do you mean? I have some right here." You squeal with delight when he picks you up and carries you to his bedroom, all of the steps from the kitchen to the bed memorized. You've been down this road before, and you know what Suguru desires more than anything is your time and your company. But he also enjoyed feeling your body underneath his for the price of a few fancy dinners, rent, and a new wardrobe. He could afford all of that and more, though.

But he doesn't consider the thousand-dollar price tag on the dress he strips from your body, nor the five hundred dollar shoes. And the hundred-dollar hairdo? Oh, that's gone. Suguru would fuck you so good, you'd forget you'd gotten your hair done at all. You rake your overpriced manicure across his back and toss off his expensive belt and pants, just to see the one thing he didn't have to pay a single cent for: his cock.

You get on your knees and place him in your mouth, and his face goes slack, just like it's supposed to. When you take all of him in your mouth with his dick touching the back of your throat, you think maybe he's gone weak since you last gave him a blowjob (which was two days ago). But then he starts fucking your face, and drool slides down your lips, your throat making noises that you think are somewhat abysmal, but Geto loves hearing them.

"Taking daddy's cock so well..." he breathes, then pulls out of your mouth. "Get up for me, babe. I want to feel you around me." You stand and stretch across the bed, ass up in the air for him to fuck into. There would be no grocery-list making while he fucks you. No, you'd be more concerned about when he'd let you cum all over his sheets.

When he slides between your folds, you moan, and he thrusts into you once, twice, three times before beginning his strokes, pressing into you so hard that his hips smack against your ass. "Fuck," you whisper, angling your hips up so he's rocking right against your g-spot.

"So wet and tight," he moans, leaning back on his knees. "You really know how to make a man weak, huh?"

"It's what you pay for," you retort, and he laughs running a hand down your back and resting in on your hip.

"Sounds like I'm getting my money's worth, then."

_____________________________________________________________

You wake up in Geto's arms and hum softly at the rising sun.

"Mmm; baby, what time is it?" you moan, and Suguru rolls over, looking at the clock.

"It's only nine-twenty."

"Oh..." You close your eyes again, then the memory of the ten o'clock meeting with the new staff pops into your head. "Oh, fuck!" Geto opens his eyes and watches you scramble around the room, gathering your clothes and preparing for a shower.

"What's the rush for?"

"New staff introduction!" you toss back, darting into the shower. "It's an important meeting!"

"Oh, I have one of those, too," you hear him announce while you run soap all over your body. "Should probably get dressed for that."

You two dance around each other after you finish your shower, and you fix your hair as best as you can before dressing in the two-piece suit and throwing on the freshwater pearls Geto gifted to you a month ago. You stop in your haste, adjust Suguru's tie, and press a kiss to his lips before whisking out of the door, tossing your overnight bag and purse into the seat next to you.

You check your appearance multiple times on the way to the school, which - thankfully - isn't too far from Geto's house, and park in your spot before dashing up the stairs to the History department hall. The dean's assistant, Urahime Iori, hands you an agenda for the meeting that you barely glance over before plopping down next to your co-worker, Gojo Satoru.

"Barely on time," he grumbles and you sigh. "Long night with Daddy Warbucks?"

"Very," you whisper, smirking at the man. He wiggles his eyebrows and you try your hardest to contain a chuckle.

"Well, the new Dean of the department isn't here yet, so you're lucky."

"I suppose we'll get started without the new Dean," Urahime murmurs, taking her place at the podium. "Okay, let's start off with some staff celebrations. Mr. Fushiguro just had a son, so let's give him some love. He has some long nights ahead of him." You all clap for him and the man rolls his eyes, grunting nonsense. "And our very own Mr. Gojo presented an award-winning dissertation on the topic of popular Historical Fictions and its... effects on the accuracy of student achievement." Gojo stands as everyone claps for him, bowing his head and waving. "And Ms. L/n sponsored a trip to the--"

The door to the meeting room opens and in walks Geto Suguru, adjusting his suit jacket.

"Ah!" Urahime waves him in. "Our new Dean is here! Everyone, welcome Mr. Geto to our staff!" You stiffen considerably at the sight of your sugar daddy walking through the staff, smiling at Urahime.

"I should start off with the fact that everyone should call me Suguru; you're my equals, not my..." When his eyes land on you, you avoid his gaze and tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. "Not my inferiors. Furthermore, I want there to be open communication between all of us. I'm happy to be here, and I want you to be, too." Everyone oohs and ahhs at Geto's speech, and he takes the empty seat right next to you, to your dismay.

"If I had known we were going to the same meeting, I would have brought you in the Tesla and let everyone get a chance to see you stepping out of my car."

"Um..." you fumble, and he chuckles.

"Meet me in my office after this. I think we have some things to discuss."

[psitrend]

Interview with Science Fiction Writer Xia Jia

New Post has been published on https://china-underground.com/2020/04/05/interview-with-science-fiction-writer-xia-jia/

Interview with Science Fiction Writer Xia Jia

Xia Jia is an Associate Professor of Chinese Literature at Xi’an Jiaotong University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences has been publishing speculative fiction since college.

Wang Yao, known by the pen name Xia Jia is a Chinese science-fiction and fantasy writer. She majored in Atmospheric Sciences and received her Ph.D. in comparative literature and world literature at the Department of Chinese, Peking University, she is currently a lecturer of Chinese literature at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Xia Jia’s science fiction works have won seven Galaxy Awards for Chinese Science Fiction, six Nebula Awards for Science Fiction, and Fantasy in Chinese. One of her stories received an honorable mention for the 2013 Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards. Her first story written in English, “Let’s Have a Talk,” was published in Nature in 2015. Her stories have been published also in Clarkesworld, Year’s Best SF, SF Magazine as well as influential Chinese Sci-Fi magazine Science Fiction World. Besides those written in Chinese and English, her works have been translated into Czech, Italian, French, Korean, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Polish. She’s also engaged in other science fiction-related works, including academic research, translation, screenwriting, and teaching creative writing.

Related articles: Chinese Science Fiction, Interview with Robert G. Price

Can you tell us about your career’s beginnings? What motivated you to become a sci-fi author? How did your adventure in the sci-fi world begin?

I haven’t always had a clear idea of my career as a science fiction writer. I got interested in science fiction when I was a kid. But at that time the science fiction market in China was not developed. It was hard to think about writing science fiction for a living. For a very long time, science fiction was just my hobby, my spare time interest. But things change with the big success of “The Three-Body Problem” and also the recent international influence of Chinese science fiction in these years. This pushed the development of science fiction in China and also gave the young science fiction fans and writers the opportunity to get jobs in the related areas. I was very lucky. I graduated and I got my Ph.D. in 2002. It was an epic time, the big explosion of Chinese science fiction. My dissertation was about “Contemporary Chinese science fiction” and it was a sort of a risk because when I started to do that project, I was not quite sure whether or not I could find a teaching job because of this topic. The truth is, that I was very lucky. I got accredited and got a teaching job. Right now I’m an expert on this topic in China. So right now, my main job is researching science fiction and science fiction writing is still my part-time job, but it’s closely related to my main job. I could say that science fiction is my career. My adventure began when I started to tell stories, when I was a kid, even before I learn how to write on ideas. When I was 8, I wrote my first work, which was like a fairytale story, a very short one. I’d collaborated with my best friend. So basically that was one of the starting points of my writing career. When I was in high school. I tried to write more science fiction stories. It was like a secret hobby. But I haven’t published anything. My first story was published when I was in college in 2004. It was a formal publication in the only Chinese science fiction magazine. It’s like a showcase for the science fiction readers community and made me become a science fiction writer. My first published story was “The Demon-Enslaving Flask”.

Xia Jia’s drawing for my flash story “Let’s have a talk”

She won the Galaxy Award 银河奖 which is China’s most prestigious science fiction award, which was started in 1986 by the magazines Zhihui

Who influenced you as an author? What were the stories that impressed you the most?

I could give you a series of names, but I just mainly focus on one author. This Chinese author passed away in 2003. His name is Zheng Wenguang. He is considered the father of Chinese science fiction, because he published the first science fiction story, since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. He also published a lot of influential science fiction stories from the 1950s to the 1980s. He’s the most influential author since I began to read science fiction as a kid. The most impressive story is the latest story of his writing career. It has never been translated into English or other languages. The Chinese title is《战神的后裔》, which can be translated as the children of Mars. The story is about a group of Chinese people who try to establish the inhabitant on Mars, to change and rebuilt Mars into the second homeland of humanity. A very mature science fiction story, complicated with multiple characters and plots. That story routed me to Mars’ dreams when I was a kid. It made me think that maybe one day I could go to Mars. I talked to many, many people that my life dream is going to Mars one day in the future. Even when one day I’ll be old, my dream will always be to go to Mars and bury that book there.

Well, there is a possibility. They are working right now on going to Mars!

Yes, I think this is an exciting thing, that your dream may come true in your lifetime.

What is the hardest part when it comes to sci-fi writing? Where did your ideas come from?

For each sci-fi writer, it may be a different thing. For me, the most important thing is to have interesting enough ideas or characters to share with the readers. I think that sci-fi is not the only element. I think the most important is the inspiration, which motivated me to write science fiction: to share that view, urgent, real questions with readers. Not just to tell good stories. I think about something really interesting, something which would push me to share this idea. For most people, it’s not really easy to always get good questions. Sometimes you just stop thinking about like “Why?” or “How?” or “What will be?”. These kind of questions are just easy to be accepted by common education or reality, instead of asking questions about “What else?”, “What can we?”. I think that it’s a very good thing that science fiction gave me: more opportunities to encourage myself always to ask questions. Not just about my research area or my job. But randomly or commonly questions about humanity. And this is a very safe thing to do.

In her Science Fiction stories, she is walking the border, in a constant migration on the frontier of the unknown, searching self-cognition and growth.

How do you keep yourself inspired?

I keep myself inspired by reading about everything. I try to do everything. Of course, you can’t do everything at the same time 🙂 I just try to do more things. I read a lot, not just specific pieces, but also reports, news, scientific reports and academic research, studies about the past, the history of humanity, and all of these aspects. I think it’s very important to try other things. Other things you never think about that you should try. Like to do some art, to play music, to travel, to do some new sports, which is also a very good way to activate myself. To renew me.

How much of you and your personal life can we find in your Sci-fi stories?

I think a lot! For example, my first story published “The Demon-Enslaving Flask”. That story is about physic in a physic scenario. The story is about a demon who made a pact with a physician. The story came from my experience as a student with a major in physics. A very important thing is that you can find more and more female characters. Especially the main characters are female heroes in my science fiction writing. I think it’s very important to bring the reader into the point of view of females in science fiction. What I’m working on right now is a fix-up science fiction story entitled “Chinese Encyclopedia”. It would be like a collection of tales, short stories with a shared background where one main character travels through the stories. The main character is a female, a linguist who majored in humanities instead of science and technology. She’s in her ‘30, the same age. So you can find a lot of pieces of my personal life. She is the main narrator of all these stories, you can discover what she saw, what she witnessed, and also what she thought and find her feedback to all of these stories. I tried my best to make these people real enough, but at the same time, charming. I don’t like to make up a fictional character, which is like super perfect. I want to make them look like true people. Just like me. She’s not perfect. She’s just charming in many ways.

Xia Jia’s drawing on “cross the boundaries to see the hope”.

Do you have a story of yours that you are most attached to? Why? Can you share with us the idea behind it?

Yes, the story is called “Tongtong’s Summer”. Tong Tong is the name of the main character, and she’s actually the same main character of the “Chinese Encyclopedia”. But “Tongtong’s Summer” happens when the female was a young girl around 8. This story is based on my true experience with my grandfather, and it’s a tribute to the pass away of my grandfather. The story happens in an ordinary Chinese family, with parents, a little girl, and a grandfather. In the story, many things happened between the grandaughter and the grandfather. This story was originally submitted to an anthology edited by Neil Clarke, an American editor. At that time, he wanted to edit an anthology on cyborgs, and he asked me to write a story. I think that most of the cyborgs’ stories depict cyborgs as an inactive image, not as a human being. I wanted instead to write this story in a different way. I finished that story and I made my grandfather a cyborg. He is a good cyborg. He would love him. The main idea I want to share through this story is about how to keep revolutionary thinking, even when you are really old. In the story, the grandfather is old, he has many disadvantages as older people have, but he is not weak. He still got his revolutionary idea and thoughts. He’s like the real hero in this story. This story is in the Italian collection “Spring Festival” published by Future Fiction, thanks to my Italian publisher Francesco Verso.

Her science fiction skills have been visible also as director and actress in the experimental Sci-Fi film “Parapax” (2007), in which she appeared as three different identities of the protagonist across parallel universes.

Your writings are available in several languages. Translations involve dipping into the author’s thinking and new cultural aspects. What do you feel about exposing your mind and thinking to the world? What message do you hope people will understand?

Yeah, in many. Thanks to Ken Liu: my first and most important English translator. He asked me to translate my stories into English. At that time I never imagined that one day my story could be translated into other languages. I have also thanks, Neil Clarke. He published most of my English stories in the online Magazine Clarkesworld. I think the process of translation is a sort of international transportation by words. This also inspires me a lot, in many ways. I get some feedback from the translators and my readers from different cultures, languages and this lead me to think more about the topics I’m exploring. I think that I’m very lucky since this is another way of trying new things. For example, right now in recent years, I’ve traveled internationally. I have been invited to different countries and cities to participate in writers’ festivals, to give speeches on science fiction and other topics which give me opportunities to meet new people, to make new friends, and to know the world better. That’s an excellent way of living. About the message, I hope people do understand my stories. We are always trying to cross the boundaries, to explore the unknown area outside the world. The boundaries are not just only between, for example, the known and the unknown knowledge, but it’s also something related to the access to different cultures, languages, genders, classes, living spaces. The people around you live in a space that for you it’s like an alien space if you never went into that space. So if you have the courage and the curiosity, to try to cross the boundaries, it’s like having a new point of view on the world you felt you knew already enough. Translation, like science fiction writing and also like my teaching job, my research, and international travel, all these things can be part of this crossing the boundary activities.

It has taken all the moments of my life for me to become who I am today. Life is such a beautiful gift that no matter how carefully you measure it out it will seem like a waste. So don’t panic, and there’s time enough for love.” Xia Jia, Clarkesworld Magazine

Besides being a writer, you have been involved in the making of Parapax (2007). Nowadays movies with digital and spectacular effects have reached high-quality levels. Do you think this has lowered the content level of the stories and plots, addressing the audience to visual impact and not to psychological and human aspects?

That’s actually a very important question, which can be hard to give a simple answer. One thing I want to say is that Parapax was a student’s work. It was made when I was doing my master’s degree. It’s a movie we did with a really low budget. Without any special effect, because we couldn’t afford that. The main idea about that movie is a multi-universe or multi possibilities for human life. I wrote that screen and also I played the three main characters. That was how we avoid spending a lot of money to finish a science fiction movie, using a few tricks. At that time, we, as poor students, questioned the idea of depending on visual effects, technologies, or movie technologies, and we found instead other ways to tell a story, without all of these effects. We try to give the answer through our own work. So that’s one of the aspects of this question. But the other is that right now I’m studying science fiction movie a lot. I think it’s not easy to conclude the question into a simple opposition, for example like the form vs the content, the visual effects vs the story. It’s not like a simple observation, not like you have to sacrifice one to make benefit another one. I think in the age of digital capitalism, the media, the vision, and the visual video effects became some of the most important elements of the story itself. So if you want to tell a story it’s very hard to avoid these effects. A very good example is the TV series ‘Black Mirror’. All of these stories talk about human vision in the age of technology and also they adopted a lot of 3D effects.

The visual effects express this aspect. I think that there are bad movies and good movies, but this not depend on which aspect you more focus on. It doesn’t just depend on how much special effects you use in a science fiction movie. It also depends on how deep the main creators try to discuss issues. For example, human vision. You can tell a very simple story about how human vision is badly influenced and impacted by the new technologies. You can try to abandon this technology and get over to the original pure human vision. But actually, this pure human vision never existed. Human vision always has been deeply influenced by technology. All the time.

Sci-fi works explore the unknown, different points of view, parallel universe, possibilities, etc. Do you think they can help people to understand human beings and try to find answers or to interpret the future?

Yes! First, I may disapprove of the idea that science fiction can help people to anticipate the future. It’s not like to point out which direction we should go. But at the same time science fiction can help us to have a better understanding of the past and human beings, also the present situation and to think about alternative futures. Because I think that the only way to imagine alternative futures is by learning of past and present from an alternative point of view. If we only have a very simple version of the history of humanity, we would believe that history is always like this, and in the future, we can have nothing new because we should always follow all of these mistakes.

The tragedies will have already a victim and we will only just repeat all of these mistakes, again in the future. So that’s a very bad way of thinking. If we want to try to imagine something different, the only way is to learn about the history of humans beings better. From different aspects. From a different point of view. From different people’s cultures. To realize that human history is not just a simple story. One of my favorite academic, about this area, is Frederick Jameson, an American Academic. He said that science fiction is generally understood as they attempt to imagine only imaginable future, but its deepest subject may, in fact, be our own historical present. So I think that’s a very deep idea to review the true meaning of science fiction and I believe in this idea.

Eastern Science Fiction is making a huge mark today. Do you think Chinese sci-fi has any influence on society? Can Chinese sci-fi be a tool for understanding contemporary China?

Yes! The superficial reason is that the readership of Science Fiction in China has been enlarging significantly in recent years. I mentioned that when I was a kid the science fiction market size and distributors in China were very small. So it was really hard to see if there was any influence of science fiction into society. For the science fiction readers, and the fans, we always had the feeling that we were just the idiots living in a common human world and what we were interested in, was just entirely separated from reality, the common human life. But since things changed in recent years, right now, you can say that it’s become more and more common for ordinary people. For example, they watched the science fiction movie “Wandering Earth”, or they heard the discussion about the “Three-body Problem”. So they began to use the science fiction elements to talk about what is happening right now just around them, like the social issues. For example, the way Coronavirus is discussed in China. The people are not only talking about this issue from a scientific point of view but also in other ways, involving multiple social issues: how they can organize people to do things better, to follow the instructions from the scientists, how to convince people to believe in real ideas while avoiding believing in false information, in false news. So all these things had already been discussed in multiple science fiction stories and you can see that the common people and the mainstream or the media began to borrow elements from science fiction to talk about that.

Science fiction thinking can help us to deal with many real social issues. So I think that’s a very passive influence of science fiction on society. To answer the question “science fiction as a tool to understand contemporary China”, the International readerships of Chinese science fiction became larger and larger. I don’t want to use the word door, but it’s like a window, a portal for the world to get to know China better. Last time when I visited Italy, local people told me that in the past the most popular Chinese writers in Italy were Yu Hua or Mo Yan but I think they can only provide one aspect of Chinese Society. Right now since they became to be interested in Chinese science fiction, they began to read Liu Cixin’s works and other authors’ work. Even my work. Many readers told me that they can find a quite different China also in my work. So that’s a good way for the International readership to get to know China.

Traditions are always changing over time. It is we, the present generation living on the frontier between tradition and modernity, present and future, who struggle for our self-affirmation, not some “tradition” that retains its own self-evident essence.” – Xia Jia, Clarkesworld Magazine

Chinese society in the technocultural-information era is getting closer to many Western sci-fi stories. Do you think this transformation of China is influencing and changing other countries, and to some extent, the new western sci-fi stories?

I want to use what president Xi Jinping, had mentioned: the concept of human beings as a community with a shared destiny. 人类命运共同体. So in the past, we may think that China was a Nation-State partly separated from the International Community. But in recent years we realized that all this Nations State combined with each other, shared a destiny. So when we talk about China, we are not just talking about one Nation: a lot of talks are about this shared destiny. So what is happening in China: both the negative or and the positive aspects, all of these issues, these problems, all disadvantages and advantages, all of these just bring out the question to these human beings as a community with a shared destiny. So when they ask about “What about China?” and “What is China going to be?”, there are also questions like “Where the human beings came from?” or like “What aspect of human being and how this aspect will influence the future of humanity?”. So I think that a very important thing is to explore more in contemporary Chinese science fiction including my own work. Recently my work is mainly focused on this kind of issue. When I talk about my stories, I’m not focused on writing Chinese stories. I don’t want to consider them as a narration with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style or flavors, because such Chinese characteristics, sometimes can be stereotyped images of China.

I want to bring out the question “Why you as a foreigner reader should feel more interested in what is happening in China right now?” It’s not just a Chinese issue, but also the issue we shared. So that’s also the weight of contemporary Chinese science fiction that makes an influenced on the so-called English science fiction or Western science fiction writings. There are more and more Chinese elements showing up in the science fiction written by Western writers. More and more Chinese science fiction is translated into English and other languages. It’s not just because these people are curious about China as a totally strange, and unknown country but also because they are really interested in these stories. So that is what I interpret as the influence of Chinese science fiction.

Photos and illustrations courtesy of Xia Jia

#ChineseScienceFiction

[write-crawler]

Why culture matters, especially in times of economical crisis

A defense of Brazilian SAT (ENEM)'s essay theme: “Democratization of access to movies”

B A C K G R O U N D - What is ENEM?

The ENEM - Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (National High School Exam) - is one of the most important tests for high school kids. It's a chance to get into an university, it's a chance to get into a public university - which, in Brazil, are free of tuition and are usually the highest ranking universities of the country. It's the Brazilian SAT.

The test is divided into Humanities, Languages, and an essay - which are tested on the first day - and Mathematics, Sciences, and Biology - tested on the second day. The ENEM happens all across the country in the first 2 Sundays of November, starting at 1:30 pm and lasts a maximum of 5 hours and 30 minutes. That means the first half happened already this past Sunday (November 3rd, 2019).

This is the first ENEM applied under the Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, far-right politician who got elected in 2018. Last year, he criticized the test and a specific question about language that used as example a dialect used by the Brazilian transgender community. This is also the first ENEM that had an ideological screening. Also the first ENEM that had no questions about the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964 - 1985)  - which Bolsonaro supported and still openly supports - or about the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas (1937 - 1946), who was a nazi and fascism sympathizer. 

T H E   E S S A Y - The “controversy”, its history, and my opinion

The essay is a dissertative-argumentative one that requires students to present na introduction, thesis, argumentation, conclusion, and a solution proposal. Every year it has a different theme, which the candidates only find out what it is when they recieve the test. It is released to the press and public later on the day, while candidates are still taking the test. This year the theme was "Democratization of the access to movies". And, like always, many many people complained about it. 

Part of the complaints were about how there are many other important topics to discuss, such as the fires in the Amazon rainforest or other political matters more closely connected to Jair Bolsonaro and his government. Other complaints were that most Brazilians don’t have access to the movies – only 10% of the country’s cities have movie theaters -, so it was very hard for most of the candidates to talk about that theme, making the theme unfair. A tweet that became viral after the test reports a candidate saying “Dude, some days, my house doesn’t even have water, and they want me to write about the democratization of movies”. So, basically, the complaints are that the movies are a reality that is too far away for many Brazilians and there are other social problems that affect everyone, which makes them more important than the movies. 

What these people aren’t getting about the theme is that it is not about movies. Or rather, it’s not just about movies. It’s about democracy and accessibility. But, because these two topics are too broad and the essay has a limit of 30 lines, with a focus on movies. The essay didn’t require you to explain why “The Shape of Water” wasn’t just a monsterfucker fantasy of Guillermo del Toro. It didn’t require you to point out all the symbolism in “Donnie Darko”. Or to talk about how “Fight Club” is an amazing criticism of current society. It didn’t require any knowledge of cinema or movies because it wasn’t about it. It wasn’t necessary to have ever stepped foot in a movie theater to be able to talk about this theme. Because the actual keywords of the theme are “democratization” and “access”. The “movies” part was there simply to help candidates narrow down the topics, to make it easier to talk about these topics.

This year’s theme has suffered the same criticism so many past themes have suffered, because people want the simple and obvious themes. And, to accomplish that, they reduce the theme to just one word. They take the word in the theme that is meant to help you think about the others and make it the theme of the essay.

For example, in 2018 the theme was “Manipulation of user behavior by internet data control”. Everyone said the theme was hard and that it was “the internet”. It was NOT about the internet. It was about how the internet is used to MANIPULATE people, how it is used to CONTROL and TRACK people’s behaviors. We all saw the election of Donald Trump in 2016 happen with a lot of fake news in the internet. We saw in 2018 Bolsonaro get elected by bombarding conservative’s WhatsApp groups with fake news. We KNOW Facebook tracks us and our behavior so they’ll know what ads to show us. Hell, Facebook watches us so closely, they can make shadow profiles of people who don’t have a Facebooks account.  So, if in the ENEM of 2018, you talked about the internet, and not about the manipulation of internet data, you failed the essay.

And 2017’s theme wasn’t deaf people. It was “Dificulties in the education of deaf people”. I did the ENEM that year. And, like most, I thought “fuck” when I read the theme. I, like so many others, complained on the internet about the theme, about how hard it was. And yet, I scored a 840 out of 1000 on my essay. It’s a really good score that would’ve gotten me into several good colleges. How did I manage to get a 840 even though I knew very little about the life of someone with a hearing disability? It’s not because I’m fucking incredible, or because I’m gifted, supersmart or because I suddenly developed an empathical bond with every deaf person in Brazil that allowed me to write the essay. But because I focused first on the first words of the theme, because I thought about the Brazilian educational system, it’s flaws, what affected me and those close to me. Then, after I identified the problems, I figured out how deaf people are affected by them. The theme didn’t require you to be na expert on deafness or to personally be deaf or know a deaf person. You had to think about Brazil’s educational system, the flaws it has and how could they be worse for deaf people. It required you to think about inclusion, disabilities, diversity, and, most of all, education, schools. So, if in 2017 you talked about deaf people instead of their inclusion in schools, you fucked up.

And here is the thing, and maybe you’ve noticed it already, the ENEM’s essay is always about social issues. More specifically, social issues regarding citizenship, democracy, and inclusion. No matter the theme, these three topics, somehow, are always involved in the discussion – because that’s the estructure of the essay. So the theme will never be about just one word or one concept. It’ll always be more complex than that. For more proof, let’s look at all the other previous themes since ENEM’s beggining:  

2016: Ways to fight religious intolerance in Brazil

2015: The persistency of violence against women in Brazilian society

2014: The question of child advertising in Brazil

2013: Effects of the prohibition in Brazil

2012: Immigration movement to Brazil in the 21st century

2011: Linving online in the 21st century: the limits between public and private

2010: The work (as in job) in building human dignity

2009: The individual facing national ethics

2008: How to preserve the Amazon rainforest: immediatly suspend deforestation; give financial incentives to landowners that stop deforesting; or increase law enforcement and impose fines on those who deforest

2007: The challenge of living with differences

2006: The transformative power of reading

2005: Child labor in Brazilian society

2004: How to garantee freedom of information and avoid abuses in the means of communication

2003: The violence in Brazilian society: how to change the rule of this game

2002: The right to vote: how to make of this conquest a way to promote the social changes that Brazil needs?

2001: Development and environmental preservation: how to conciliate these conflicting interests?

2000: Children and teenagers’ rights: how to face this national challenge

1999: Citizenship and social participation

1998: Living and learning

Apart from 1998’s theme, which really is simplistic, all others contain at least one of the topics I mentioned above: citizenship, democracy, and inclusion – perhaps not explicit in the title, but if you think about them, it’s not hard to get to these topics. And all the themes are about social issues. So this is why 2019’s theme is not, in any way, shape or form, a divergence from ENEM’s usual estructure. It’s true that it’s been a long while since ENEM’s essay tackled culture, but it still follows the usual formula, it still expects the same things from 2019’s candidates that it expected from the candidates of previous years.

Another part of the criticism that I haven’t addressed yet: that there are more important themes to discuss.

Honestly, Brazil has always been a country that didn’t give a shit about culture in general so this shouldn’t surprise me. Like most Third World countries, we serve only to supply Europe and the USA with raw materials and give them our natural resources. This isn’t by choice, by the way, that’s the result of living under colonization and USAmerican imperialism. The USA has kept a very tight leash on Brazil, us being it’s most loyal follower in South America – and, when we aren’t that loyal, the USA is quick to orchestrate a coup. And because of all of this, Brazilian society has na ironic culture of dismissing culture. Or rather, dismissing critical thinking and the arts and anything that isn’t pragmatical or practical. What matters here are real jobs, jobs that make money. You go to college so you can work, not to get culture. Because culture is for the elites and, unfortunately, that’s how Brazil wants to keep it.

 The lower social classes are taught to only care about majors that will get them a job. Here, we have a thing called Technical Education, and it’s purpose is solely to prepare kids to work. Like the name suggests, it’s just technical information, it doesn’t encourage or teaches critical thinking – again, because in Brazilian mentality, that’s all you need to do, work and shut up. You can opt for Technical Education rather than go to High School – the subjects that are required in High School are integrated with others – or you can do it after High School. Technical Education is NOT college, it doesn’t count as college or superior education. So, again, it really is meant to keep poor people away from college and culture and just get them to work. In 2016, after leftist President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment – or coup, depends on your political position and how you see the process – and her right-wing VP, Michel Temer, took over, Technical Education started being encouraged a lot on TV with government advertisement. After Temer took over, it was passed a reform of our Educational System that no longer required schools to teach philosophy.

Currently, Bolsonaro’s government has constantly attacked education, especially public universities. Like I said before, public universities in Brazil are free of tuition, which means that it’s the only chance for many to go to college. And public colleges here also have social and racial quotas, some universities even have transgender quotas, to help the less privileged students get into colleges as part of historic reparations. One of the biggest projects of Bolsonaro’s government is to end all these quotas, making diversity in universities drop even lower. And his government also wants to impose monthly fees on public universities, claiming that those who attend public universities can afford it (we can’t, asshole). (Also, here’s the thing about a right given to you by the Constitution: if you have to pay for it, then it’s no longer right, it’s a privilege. So, charging anything at a public university is unconstitutional. Charging for education is against the Constitution.)

What is also concerning, is the project Future-se (comes from the word “futuro” meaning “future”), nicknamed Fature-se (a play on the name, comes from “fatura” meaning “bill”), that would make public universities depend on financial aid from private companies. Meaning that only the colleges, only the areas, that can be capitalized and/or that appeal to the capitalist market, would get fundings. That means, arts and human sciences are doomed. Those two areas already don’t have enough funding and already suffer with attacks from conservatives, constantly, for not being “productive” and not producing “anything” for society, now imagine when they have data from private companies refusing to invest in those areas. We’ll be cut for sure. Especially because the project states that it is meant to supply the entrepreneurial sector, the privates sector of economy. It’s not about giving back to the community, it’s about fueling capitalism. The project also allows private companies to buy and name buildings of the college. So, literally, you could have na auditorium at a public university called Wall-Mart or Jeff Bezos. Totally not capitalist propaganda, right?

This capitalism-covenient project comes at a time where Universities are struggling to pay their bills – because the State has made a cut on fundings (BOLSONARO’s government cut the fundings, it’s directly his fault a need for financial aid coming from outside the government is even needed). Another area that has suffered a lot of financial cuts is – guess it – culture!

I know I went on and on and on about Brazilian education, but I needed you to understand just a little bit of the extent that the higher classes will go to to keep the lower classes away from anything that may teach them critical thinking. Culture, movies, literature, and paintings are all things that make us look critically at our society. Art has always existed as a form of protest, as a form of expressing your political beliefs, be it left or right wing beliefs. To keep it away from the population, to restrict it, is to put restrictions on our souls, minds, and, obviously, freedom. We need the fictional to function in reality.

Fiction is not reality, obviously. But it doesn’t exist on a vaccum. It feeds on reality and it feeds reality, they’re both stuck in an endless cycle. Fiction isn’t reality, but it does have the most potential, out of anything, to change reality. If it didn’t, fascists wouldn’t need to burn books. If fiction didn’t matter, there would be no censorship of song lyrics under dictatorial regimes. If it didn’t matter, Bolsonaro wouldn’t have felt the need to extinguish the Ministry of Culture, turn it into the Secretary of Culture and put the son of a pastor in charge of it. If it didn’t matter, Bolsonaro wouldn’t have cut 43% of the National Cinema Agency (Ancine)’s budget for 2020 – making it the lowest since 2012. If it didn’t matter, Bolsonaro wouldn’t have threatened to end Ancine because of the movie “Bruna Surfistinha”, which told the story of a teenager who ended up being a prostitute. If it didn’t matter, Bolsonaro wouldn’t have censored LGBTQ+ themed movies that were being made by Ancine. And if it didn’t matter, Bolsonaro wouldn’t have asked Ancine to make a movie about himself, and the rise of the Brazilian reactionary movement. If it didn’t matter, Crivella, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, wouldn’t have tried to enter a book event with the police to aprehend a Marvel Avengers comic book because it had two gay characters kissing in it. If it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t care.

But they do, a lot. Because, like I said, fiction doesn’t exist in a vaccum, it exists with reality. And so, what we see in fictional work has come from reality, in one way or the other. Because if you see gay people in a comic book, it’s because gay people exist. If there’s transgender people in movies or in a book, it’s because transgender people exist in real life. If minorities exist in fiction, it’s because they exist in reality. And what bothers them is not that we are present in books, but that we are present in real life. And, since genocide would take more effort, they take the easy way out and try to kill us in fiction hoping that it will lead to our dissapearence from real life. That’s why censorship happens. That’s why representation matters.

Protecting culture means protecting the rights of people to exist and be seen. And that is a political act. Shouldn’t be, but it is. Because the right is very firm and clear about the fact that they don’t want groups of people to exist because of who they are.

And, no, that’s not the same as antifa. Antifa hates fascists because their ideology inhenrently wants to persue the genocide of minorities. Antifa hates fascists because of what they believe in, not because of who they are. If antifa confronts a fascist, the fascist can say they regret defending that ideology and leave it behind. Antifa maybe won’t buy their motives, but will leave them alone. However, when it comes to fascists, either they lose or we die. It’s not the same.

But back to culture, literature and movies are a important part of people’s political position formation. Like I said before, education is not accessible to all and critical thinking isn’t being taught to many lower classes kids. So, for these kids that don’t have access to theorical texts – and, even if they did get their hands on these books, the vocabulary would probably be too hard for them (not because they’re stupid, but simply because no one has taught them these words and meanings before) and the quantity of information is not one they’re used to, making the text hard to digest and understand – movies are a great way to show them the ugly truths of our society in a way that they can understand.

Movies like “Freedom Writers” are very, very important to show exactly everything I’ve been saying so far. The movie is based on a real story about a teacher, Erin Gruwell, who starts teaching at a High School in 1995 where a lot of students are poc and involved with gangs, living in poverty and in violent neighborhoods. Gruwell understands the reality of these students and introduce them to books they can relate to, but that also teach them about history, the history of oppresed minorities – like the Diary of Anne Frank and the Diary of Zlata Filipovic. She knows these students won’t respond to textbooks, or hundreds of grammar lessons that seem meaningless to them. So she buys them books. Books written by teenagers like them who they can relate to. Now, I know these books aren’t fiction, but, still, they’re literature and they changed the lives of those teenagers – some of them were the first to graduate High School on their families. But as for the movie telling these stories, it’s essential that kids on the same situation as these teenagers see it. They have to see kids like them on TV going through the same things and making it out alive, well, and going to college. It’s important for them to see a teacher buy the Diary of Anne Frank to a group of teenagers deemed stupid by the educational system. It’s important that they see that the reason they might not understand Diary of Anne Frank isn’t because they’re stupid, but because they didn’t have a Erin Gruwell to help them, to explain it to them.

But “Freedom Writers” isn’t the only movie that does that. “Que Horas Ela Volta”, a Brazilian movie titled “Second Mother” in English, tells the story of Val, a woman who left her young daughter in the Northeast of Brazil to be a nanny, then domestic maid, in the Southeast, working for na affluent family – and living with them. She leaves her daughter in a poor state, with her grandmother, while she takes care of someone else’s son. Years later, Val’s daughter, Jessica, asks to stay with her for a while so she can take na entrance exam for a public university, the same one the family’s son, Fabinho, is trying to get into. As Jessica lives with them, she questions the unspoken and tight rules that dictate the places each social class gets to ocupate, creating tension within the household.

Brazilian TV series, “Assédio” (“Harrassment”), talks about a doctor at a fertilization clinic who is exposed for sexually abusing and even raping his patients. “Saneamento básico” (“Basic sanitation”) is a comedy about how the lack of basic sanitation changes a small town – the residents decide to make a movie, that has to be of a fictional story, to shed light on the sanitary problem they face. “Cidade de Deus” (“City of God”) talks about the favelas, the “slums”, police brutality, and racism. “Central do Brasil” (“Central of Brazil”) is about a retired teacher who writes letters that are dictated for her by poor people who are illiterate, and want to send letters to realtives. “Larte-se” is about a transgender cartoonist who started transitioning at 59 years old. “Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho” (“Today I Want To Go Back Alone”) is about a blind gay boy. “O Filho Eterno” (“The Eternal Son”) is about a couple who happily waits for their first son, and then find out the child has Down Syndrome.

See, all these movies are extremely relevant themes. All of them could be cited in an ENEM essay. All these movies are very political. All these movies talk about problems of our society and inequality. They show what life is like for those less privileged. To see those fictional stories, is to develop a better understanding of how society works and it’s problems. To see those fictional stories is to develop a bigger empathy for those suffering.

And to keep them away from people, to censor movies, to keep the price of movie tickets high, to restrict what stories can be told, is to limit the population’s right to think for ourselves. Think and criticize. It’s a violation of free speech, it’s a violation of democracy.

In times of economical crisis, the right rises with “magical” solutions for the economy that almost always means cuting the fundings of arts and encouranging the lower classes to work. Work, not think. It is in those times of crisis that music, movies, and literature suffer bigger and bigger attempts of being crushed. Because art is political, because to do art you have to think. And it is in those times that we must protect the most the arts. It is in those times that we have to do what we can to make the arts accessible.

And this is why the democratization of access to the movies is a very very important theme. And this is why culture matters, especially in times of economical crisis.

So we can think. So we can fight. So we can survive. So we can thrive. 

[trivialqueen]

I know my dissertation topic is important and interesting, but it’s also incredibly depressing with how current it is. I read the sources and I sometimes wonder is this from 1797 or last thanksgiving after Uncle Danny had too many G&Ts?

[Image description: Photo of an article I’m using in my historiography with several sentences highlighted including one reading ““The great source of all our political evils and misfortunes” he continued, stems from “the facility with which foreigners acquire the full and perfect rights of citizenship”.” Next to this I’ve annotated Hopkinson or your racist uncle @ Tgiving?]

[imnotinclinedtomaturity]

“Mounting Guys” is Gay Culture™

hello and welcome to a dissertation on all of the wonderful moments in dapg “Mounting Men”

okay from the very beginning, dan has his frickin arm around phil and just fuck me.

and then we go straight into what i’m sure will be an iconic quote in the phandom: “today we are going to be stripping down to our underwear and climbing on each other” (okay phil, i’m sure that’s totally unique to today)

this is approximately the moment where dan realized this video was way more fucked than he anticipated (and it’s a whole 53 seconds in)

side note, um is this what dan looks like when he tops? because um... bottom dan is fine too

“let it swing in the breeze” okay then daniel.

phil: “my eyes are only going to one place” we know. you like cock, phil, but thanks for the reminder

also, I’d like to point out phil joking that he already looks like these men... in every place.*ahem*

in other news, dan just had to create a character with a mouth as big as his to satisfy that oral fixation, am i right?

and then there’s dan’s face when phil tries to tell him to keep his eyes off the dick (don’t ask such high requests phil)

[referring to the man flopping around] “it’s me getting out of bed in the morning” phil: *knowing giggle*

apparently phil can’t talk during sex because “you can’t mount men and talk at the same time, guys aren’t good at multitasking” (unamused dan)

off topic, but phil looks so cute when he first thinks he’s won

tbh i’m never going to get over phil slapping dan when he’s excited. i don’t care how often it happens

dan: “not like this, not with my face rubbing against the fucking cock” (does that happen often dan?)

bonuses:

phil: “you’re so straight up there” -- let’s be real, nothing about this is straight okay?

dan: “i’m fricking upside down pole dancing on your crotch right now” (phil wishes)

dan: “the leaning tower of...” phil: “men... I wasn’t going to say penis” ... and yet you did anyway, phil.

phil: “i’m wrapped around your crack”

dan: “i’m here to take names and grab asses” same tbh

dan: “when his g-string’s in your” phil: “mouth” (do you lads know anything about that?)

phil: “12 seconds danny” -- i definitely didn’t think he said daddy the first time i heard it

phil: “i’m better at climbing muscular men than you” (this just in: phil prefers topping)

phil: “i’d play this again. i would like to do more mounting my friends”

[bronanlynch]

fluff, slow burn, if they lived, secret agent

fluff five things you’re digging right now? 1) I’m gonna hopefully be running a game of scum & villainy for the sff soc rpg oneshot event this saturday and it’s basically be gay do crimes in space: the game

2) I gotta officially pick a dissertation topic soon which means I am back on my bullshit of yelling abt lesbian vikings and I’m like. remembering why I wanted to do this as my thesis bc it’s a good topic actually

3) every arc of ftlcast is extremely good but the most recent one was abt lady demon hunters and was very very good and fun to listen to

4) I just finished an essay on bog bodies which means I now have a spreadsheet of the most important bog bodies and a bunch of info abt them including which ones where staked down and therefore probably vampires (I mostly joking abt the vampire thing but not abt how glad I am that I have this spreadsheet now bc a thing that archaeology as a field could really use is more searchable databases w a bunch of compiled data instead of just. a bunch of individual case studies that u somehow gotta hunt down w like. dark magic or some shit)

5) I’ve been watching the good place and it’s really good actually I am in general not a comedy person bc I don’t. trust most comedy to not be Bad abt Things but it’s genuinely funny and says some cool nuanced things abt like. ethics and redemption arcs and the kind of positive “if there’s no inherent purpose to life why not just try to help each other bc we can” nihilism that appeals to me specifically

slow burn best fictional slow burn couple and what makes it great? the only reason I didn’t talk abt this for the last question is bc I wanna yell abt it here but I’ve been reading mo dao zu shi which is a book abt necromancy in ancient china which is very cool and good but more importantly it took 100 chapters and like 17 years of incredibly fraught mutual pining for the main couple to tell each other that they are in fact really very much in love w each other……. they’re so In Love that everyone has been assuming they’re already together for a long time (including 13 of those years while one of them was literally dead) (it’s ok he gets better he gets like. resurrected in the first chapter it’s a whole Thing) but neither of them believed that the other one actually liked them and Oh Boy I Die…….

(I looked on the wiki to try to find a timeline to figure out exactly how many Years they’ve been pining and it refers to them as husbands which is. technically spoilers bc the translation hasn’t gotten to the end yet but. god. wow I love them)

if they lived  meanest thing an author has ever done to you personally, and how do you plan to exact revenge? I am going to be angry every day of my life that there are some cool+interesting characters in g*me of thr*nes whomst I am still incredibly emotionally invested in despite having extremely strong negative feelings abt so much of the series and my revenge is going to be writing something that’s like. the pieces that I like except actually good and by good I mean. without the sexism/etc. and the whole. grimdark edgy “everything is awful” thing. I am going to personally give sansa stark the happiness she deserves and also a gf

spy/secret agent au what kind of spy would you be? not a very good one probably, I can’t even convince people to let me into places where I’m literally supposed to be, how am I supposed to get them to let me in where I’m not supposed to be

I’d be like. the consultant they bring in to tell them abt some archaeology thing that’s relevant to the mission for some reason. or some sort of filing room intern who accidentally discovers some Important Secret and probably gets killed off before I can tell the main characters

[shirasade]

Italian Institute Con 2: Saturday, part 2

 First of all, once again three things: 1) These are my memories, not a dissertation or journalistic work, and will be focusing on Matt & Dom (with guest appearances from the rest of the cast *g*).  2) No hate. Y’all know my ship, and if I get grief about my “bias” this will be my last public report. 3) My phone camera is crap. Look elsewhere for good pictures. :)

After Dom’s panel there was a break, and then it was time for the moment our group had been waiting for the most - the parabatai panel! It started with Dom sitting away from Matt and the translator, and Matt was like  “Why are you so far away?” To which Dom replied, “I thought you’d sit next to me!”

Then he moved over so he was next to Matt, and Matt pulled him against his shoulder (careful not to jostle his injured arm), to the collective cooing of the room. They touched each other a lot throughout the panel, and Dom more than once called Matt “babe” - so yeah, we were in Sherdario heaven! :)

The first question was “two truths and one lie”, a game that Dom seemingly hadn’t heard of before.

Dom: “Matt snores!”

Matt: “Dom cries in his sleep.” (To which Dom said “You said you wouldn’t tell!” and that it only happened twice.)

Dom: “Matt has stinky feet.”

Matt: “Dom collects... toys.”

Dom: “Matt sometimes wears a thong.”

Matt: “Dom bathes like a pretty princess.” Dom accused him of having started doing it, too, after Dom told him about it, and that he had text proof of this. And then he said that he’d forgotten that one statement was supposed to be a lie and that everything had been true.

Then they were asked if there were any significant parabatai interactions in 3b, and they both prevaricated a bit (because spoilers!), whispering with each other, going “not really...” until Matt exclaimed, “No, we kill something!” They both got very excited about it and fistbumped.

I’m pretty sure the next question was the best one: @rebelqueenss got Matt to recite the parabatai oath, since Dom had done it last year. Matt at first tried to get Dom to participate (2 lines each, like on the show), but Dom refused, saying it was his turn. Matt started, and Dom stopped him and sat down on the floor so he could look him in the eyes. It was glorious! After Matt finished, they hugged, Matt once again being extremely careful not to jostle Dom’s arm.

My own question felt pretty lame after that, but I asked them about their vacation together and what country they’d enjoyed most. Matt said he doesn’t like questions like this because he always feels that he gets into trouble with whomever he doesn’t choose. He then mentioned several locations, but both he and Dom loved Malta, because there was a festival with fireworks. When the translator was done, Dom added that “Matt loooooves fireworks! Just look at his face just mentioning them...” and Matt then proceeded to ramble a bit about the beauty of fireworks and that everything can be improved by fireworks, unless you’re a dog. 

Asked how they create the emotions for difficult scenes, Dom said that Matt pinches him very hard behind his back. (Right then, Matt had his hand behind Dom’s back, btw, but no pinching was taking place as far as I could tell. *g*) Matt added that Dom hates that, so he cries. He then explained more seriously about getting into the moment and feeling that it’s real. Dom said that a couple of times on the show the writing evoked the character’s emotions for them, so they could really feel Jace or Alec’s feelings.

The next question was in Korean and asked whether, if they had a real life parabatai or a close friend like a parabatai, if they could ever kill them. Dom immediately asked Matt, “Would you kill me?” and Matt, who was in the middle of asking for reasons, immediately quipped back, “Dom, let’s not make assumptions.” before going back to wanting a reason. Dom then proceeded to pout, and Matt went “Don’t do that...” and Dom just said, “I’m gonna do the thing.” “Don’t do the thing.” “I’m gonna do the thing.” and so on for a bit. 

I couldn’t really tell from my vantage point, but I thought Dom was making puppy eyes - photos I saw later show him poking out his tongue. In any case, Matt finally said, “My best friend Dom... would I kill Dom?” He still wasn’t very happy that he didn’t have more details for the scenario (god, I love this weirdo! *g*), and Dom interrupted him, “The answer is ‘no you won’t’!” Matt: “Could be yes. “ Dom protested, “When, why?” And Matt deadpanned, “I’m hungry.” 

Dom said he wouldn’t, and Matt that was a sign of a lack of imagination. Dom: “I imagine you not being my best friend anymore.”

The next question was about Dom’s accent, whether Matt has taken on some Britishisms or whether Dom speaks in an American accent off-set. He said no, never, but that he and Matt sometimes impersonate each other. However, he couldn’t do it now, because he only has one hand and Matt speaks almost always with his hands. Matt then interjected a story which he found hilarious and Dom not so much, namely that Dom speaks almost more American than British and that during their travels people will not believe him that he’s British. He apparently even had to show someone his ID at some point. “Why would I lie about being English? You brought up a sore point - we’re killing each other, and apparently I’m not British, thank you.”

Dom got the girl asking the last question up on stage, even offered her a water. She then turned to Matt, and Dom pretended to be upset. She didn’t really have a question for him, though, just congratulated him about Esther. (It was a bit uncomfortable, tbh.) There was also a bit about pictures that I didn’t get, but Dom said, “Matt and I have pictures like that, too. We just have to keep them secret.” And Matt went “Shhhh...”

Her actual question was for Dom, though (Dom interjected, “I don’t have a wife, though.”), namely what working with Taylor Swift was like. Dom said how lovely she was and how much he enjoyed working with her and hoped that they would remain friends for a long time. Matt interrupted over Dom’s objections that it was his turn by saying “And what about when I worked with Taylor Swift?” although he then was forced to admit that he hadn’t. The girl said he did work with Victoria Justice, though (on Naomi and Eli’s No Kiss List), and Dom said something in a low voice that had Matt go “What story?” Dom: *whisper whisper* Matt: “Why not?” Dom more loudly: “Okay, you can, then...” and that it was his favourite story that Matt had ever told him. Matt then suddenly went wide-eyed. “Oh. Noooo!” 

Dom apologised to the girl for getting off-topic and Matt asked if she maybe had a Shadowhunters question to finish the panel. She didn’t, so Matt asked her what her favourite show was - the answer obviously being Shadowhunters! This would have been a nice ending, but the girl felt the need to mention that she’d written a book whose main character was based on Dom. (Not to be rude, but I almost died from second-hand embarrassment.) Matt ended the panel by reminding everyone that it was lunch time, and thus ended a glorious half hour of Sherdario heaven!

Seriously, anyone who doubts that they’re real friends has obviously never seen them together. This is my hill and I will die on it!

Against thanks to the @jalecsquad girls! Coming soon: The rest of Saturday, mainly the Matt & Nicola panel and the group photo.

[yourdecaffeinatedbouquetcrown]

Write my Essay | I need help with my School Assignment

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Title: Designing, Applying, and Evaluating a Self-Modification Program

Format and Length: The completed assignment will be in essay format with clear

introductory and concluding paragraphs but no subheadings. It will be 6- 7 double-spaced typed pages and have additional title, reference, and appendix (tables, charts, etc.) pages.

Instructions: All of us have behaviours that we would like to change. We might want to

stop biting our nails, reduce the number of energy drinks we drink or study more. This assignment requires that you design, apply, and evaluate a self-modification program:

1) Begin by reading Personal Application: Achieving Self-Control Through Behaviour Modification appearing in chapter six of the Weiten & McCann text (p. 292-295);

2) Choose a behaviour that you would like to increase or decrease;

3) Follow the five steps outlined;

4) Write your essay covering all five steps;

5) Submit your paper to me personally.

Behaviours for the project include:(choose one behaviour)

• decreasing coffee, energy drink, or pop consumption

• decreasing nail biting

• decreasing TV/video watching, gaming, or web surfing

• increasing activity level

Essay Assignment (Fall, 2015): Purpose, Expectations, and Evaluation Criteria

Purpose: The essay topic was developed to accomplish a number of objectives,

including: 1) to facilitate a better understanding of the terminology, key concepts, and processes of operant conditioning; 2) to demonstrate the practical applications of operant conditioning theory; 3) to provide students with an opportunity to change their own behaviour in a systematic, meaningful way; and 4) to allow students to evaluate the successes and challenges of self-modification.

Format: The completed assignment must be in essay format with no subheadings. It

will include: 1) a title page with the title of the essay, student’s name, course name, professor’s name, and due date; 2) an appendix page containing at least one graph clearly showing baseline data and program results (additional graphs, charts, or tables must be well-labeled and relevant); 3) a reference page with at least the course textbook listing.

Preparation: You are expected to do the following in preparation for this essay:

• Review chapter 6 material on operant conditioning, p. 262-277.

• Read Achieving self-control through behaviour modification, p. 292-295.

• Attend the lecture on Learning.

• Choose a behaviour that you would like to increase or decrease, making sure that this target behaviour is clearly defined, overt, and measurable.

• Gather baseline data by systematically observing and charting the target behaviour for at least four days.

• Note the antecedents that usually precede the target behaviour – what triggers the behaviour that you are trying to change? Under what conditions do you exhibit the undesirable behaviour? Or, under what conditions do you not exhibit the desirable behaviour?

• Note the consequences that follow the target behaviour – what you are getting out of it. Thus, you need to pinpoint the reinforcers that maintain the undesirable behaviour or the unfavorable outcomes that suppress a desirable behaviour.

• Plan the program. To increase a response, you must select a reinforcer that is right for you and decide how you will deliver it. On the other hand, to decrease a response, you must choose a viable strategy. Will you provide yourself with reinforcement for not emitting the behaviour or emitting it less frequently? Will you avoid certain antecedent? Will you employ some form of punishment? Or will you use a combination of these approaches?

• Execute your program and collect data for at least six days.

• Evaluate your program by indicating what went well, what was challenging, and what, in retrospect, you would change if you were to run the program over again.

Content: The essay must begin with a clear introductory paragraph and go on to cover

all five of the self-modification program steps. Specifically, you must 1) identify the target behaviour and indicate why it was chosen; 2) describe the baseline data (noting behavioural antecedents, pre-program level of response, and behavioural consequences); 3) outline the program design; 4) discuss the implementation of the program and 5) critically evaluate the program upon completion.

Evaluation: This essay is worth 25% of the student’s final grade and will be graded out

of 25 points, assigned as follows:

2 ' for well-written introductory paragraph

1 ' Step 1: for selecting appropriate target behaviour and justifying

5 ' Step 2: for discussing level/frequency of pre-program target

behaviour, with reference to the controlling antecedents and controlling consequences of the behaviour

4 ' Step 3: for designing a thoughtful self-modification program

3 ' Step 4: for discussing program execution

5 ' Step 5: for critically evaluating program, including discussion of

successes and possible improvements

2 ' for well-written concluding paragraph

1 ' for clear, well-labeled graph(s), chart(s), and/or table(s)

2 ' Grammar, spelling and proper citations (APA format)

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[jcas-research]

Entry #3: Research Question

In my previous entry, I wrongly assumed that the research question had to literally be a question. Our recent lesson on this subject cleared up the misunderstanding, so now I’ll concentrate on choosing an adequate name and topic.

I’ve been interested in screenwriting since first wanting to become a filmmaker, so I believe it’s the right topic for me. There’s an incredibly vast amount of material out there, so finding arguments and discussions about it won’t be hard. Reliability of the information isn’t a pressing issue when it comes to this sort of writing, since it’s basically an art form there isn’t much fact-checking involved. Of course, it’s important to make sure my sources come from experts and professionals who have experience in the field, or who are at least knowledgeable. I want to concentrate on writing methods and techniques, so it’s important to learn which ones are currently in use in Hollywood and European cinema (which is the field I’m interested in), and which ones are more or less successful. At the moment, I have chosen and worded this research topic: “ Film Screenwriting: An Analysis of the Main Techniques & Formulas “

My goal is to explore the main techniques and formulas used in today’s screenwriting, and put them to the test by performing a cross-comparison. To me it seems like a good way to learn and spread information on the subject, through the task of writing a dissertation. I will obtain my information mainly from books, articles, journals written by professionals and possibly by interviewing people involved in the industry.

- James G. Caselli 

[brittanyyoungblog]

Does Listening to Sexy Music Get Us in the Mood for Sex?

Guest post by Katie Adams

“I've been really tryin', baby / Tryin' to hold back this feeling for so long / And if you feel  like I feel, baby / Then, c'mon, oh, c'mon / Let's get it on.”  — Marvin Gaye, “Let’s Get It On” (1973, side one)

Imagine turning on the radio and hearing Marvin Gaye sing those sexy lyrics. If you weren’t already in the mood for sex, would his music help get you there? The popular media sure seems to think so, as evidenced by numerous articles and blogs presenting playlists guaranteed to “get you lucky” or put your partner “in the mood.” For example, Cosmopolitan published an article listing “23 sex songs you need on your bedroom playlist” and Thought Catalogue published a post titled, “17 Super Sexual Songs That Will Make You Drop Your Panties Immediately…With Lyrics!” [1, 2]. 

Music is known to alter mood in general, especially through its mode (major or minor), tempo, and pitch [3], but can it also alter libido? Does listening to Marvin Gaye and other sexy song-makers really make people want to “get it on” and, if so, why? 

Analyses of popular songs dating back to the 1940s shows that as many as 70 to 90% of songs contain sexual themes [4]—that’s a lot of sex songs! And people sometimes incorporate these songs into their intimate lives, with research showing that people, and especially those who desire short-term or causal relationships, often report using love songs for sexual purposes [5]. This kind of music could potentially assist in regulating mood (e.g., making you calm and happy), increasing arousal, or conveying a message (e.g., “I want sex”). This, in turn, could get both partners in a sexual mood and facilitate the initiation of sex. 

It may also be the case that sexually suggestive lyrics might make sex-related thoughts and behaviors in one’s mind more accessible and cause you to continue thinking about sex even after the song is over. You may also become directly physiologically aroused by the sexual messages in the song’s lyrics (or the sound of the performer’s voice). All of this might add up to increased interest in sexual behavior, should a potential opportunity arise. 

In light of this, I wanted to test whether listening to sex-related song lyrics would prompt more interest in casual sex. To do so, I conducted a study on the immediate influence music has on individuals’ internal states, including their thoughts and arousal [6]. I anticipated that after hearing music with sexual lyrics (compared to hearing music without sexual content), participants would be more likely to indicate interest in a short-term sexual relationship if given the opportunity. 

I asked 108 undergraduate students to complete a hypothetical dating profile while being exposed to either a playlist of sexual songs, instrumental covers of those same sexual songs, or generic instrumental songs. Participants answered a variety of multiple-choice questions modeled from various dating websites, which covered topics such as relationships, politics, and faith/religion, as well as a question about the desired length of their next relationship—the key variable of interest. 

I expected that sex-related lyrics (as compared with the two control conditions) would decrease the desired length of their next relationship—in other words, they’d be more open to a casual fling. However, contrary to my expectations, there was no effect of sexual lyrics on desired relationship length compared to the other music conditions. 

In thinking about why the results didn’t turn out the way I expected, one possibility that came to mind is it might be due to the choice of music. All songs were pre-selected by the research team and consisted of pop and R&B songs from the 1990s-2010s (except for “Let’s Get It On” from 1973). Perhaps it is not sexy music per se that is the key—maybe the effect depends on listening to music that is sexy to you, which can be highly individualized. Allowing people to select their own sexy song playlist might therefor have a very different effect. Also, we cannot be certain which aspects of the music are most important. Is it the sexual lyrics themselves, or is it the sound of a sexy voice, or the mental image of a musician you find sexy that matters most?

It is also possible that any potential effect of music might be different for different people—music is more powerful or impactful for some than others. Perhaps for those who are more musically inclined or sensitive to sound, sexy music could have a bigger effect than for those who are not. 

Another possibility is that even though music has been repeatedly found to impact mood [7], it may be that it does not create something out of nothing. One’s own motivations and desires, especially regarding mating and sexual behaviors, may be the driving force behind our actions. Similar to how people chose to listen to music that matches their current mood [8], listening to sexually themed music may only serve to amplify an existing mood or desire—not create a desire that otherwise does not exist. 

A recent study worth mentioning found that non-sexual music can prompt feelings of sexual arousal—but only when that music had been previously paired with sexual cues [9]. Thus, when we psychologically associate a song with sex, listening to it can create a feeling of arousal, even if the song itself is not necessarily about sex. This opens up a whole new way to think about when music is likely to put us in the mood—what feelings or memories come to mind when you hear a given song? If it reminds you of something arousing, you may very well start to feel aroused. But because different people may be reminded of different things by the same song, they might experience very different effects.   

In light of this, you probably can’t just put on some sex-themed music and expect sexual magic to commence. However, if you and your partner have a song or playlist that you both associate with sex or with a positive sexual memory, it might very well help to put it on when you want to set the right mood.  

Thanks to Katie Adams for this guest post! Learn more about her below: 

Katie Adams is a Doctoral student at the University of Kansas in the Social Psychology program, working with Dr. Omri Gillath. Her research focuses on close relationships and the underlying motivations of attraction, sexual behaviors, and short- vs. long-term commitment. She is currently heading research projects on (1) the creation and validation of a measure for pornography consumption motives, and (2) the motivations for, and outcomes of, communicating infidelity to one's partner. She completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of Rochester (2014) and her Master’s degree at Villanova University (2016). This is her second guest blog post for Sex and Psychology.

Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for more from the blog or here to listen to the podcast. Follow Sex and Psychology on Facebook, Twitter (@JustinLehmiller), or Reddit to receive updates. You can also follow Dr. Lehmiller on YouTube and Instagram.

[1] Gilmore, P. (2017, October 20). 23 sex songs you need on your bedroom playlist. Cosmopolitan. Retrieved from http://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk

[2] Tarkoff, N. (2015, March 30). 17 super sexual songs that will make you drop your panties immediately…with lyrics! [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://thoughtcatalog.com/nicole-tarkoff/2015/03/17-super-sexual-songs-that-will-make-you-drop-your-panties-immediately-with-lyrics/

[3] Västfjäll, D., Juslin, P. N., & Hartig, T. (2012). Music, subjective wellbeing, and health: The role of everyday emotions. In R. A. R. Raymond, G. Kreutz & L. Mitchell (Eds.), Music, health and wellbeing (pp. 405–423). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[4] Arnett, J. J. (2002). The sounds of sex: Sex in teens’ music and music videos. In J. Brown, K. Walsh-Childers, & J. Steele (Eds.), Sexual teens, sexual media (pp. 253–264). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

[5] Brockert, D., Haj-Mohamadi, P. & Gillath, O. (2016, April). Attachment style, sexual strategies, and love songs. Poster session presented at the 19th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, Lawrence, KS.

[6] Adams, K. N. (2018). Let's get it on: Music lyrics' influence on mating strategy (Order No. 10845271) [Master’s thesis, Villanova University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. 

[7] Saarikallio, S., & Erkkilä, J. (2007). The role of music in adolescents' mood regulation. Psychology of Music, 35,88–109.

[8] Thoma, M. V., Ryf, S., Mohiyeddini, C., Ehlert, U., & Nater, U. M. (2012). Emotion regulation through listening to music in everyday situations. Cognition and Emotion, 26, 550–560.

[9] Wan, C., & Lalumiere, M. L. (2017). Can music cue sexual arousal? The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 26(3), 238–248.

Image Source: 123RF/Pawel Sierakowski

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