Finding oneself,losing oneself: the lesbian and gay ‘scene’ as a paradoxical space

In recent years, geographers and urban sociologists have sought to map and understand the emergence and development of lesbian and gay spaces within the city — popularly dubbed ‘the scene’. It is often asserted that the city is a space of sexual liberation and that specifically the ‘scene’ can play an important part in lesbian and gay men's identity formation and development. However, despite the range and richness of the academic literature on the production and emergence of lesbian and gay urban spaces, relatively little attention has been paid to the actual role of the scene in the ‘coming out’ process and the way young lesbians and gay men negotiate transitions to adulthood. This article addresses this neglect by drawing on empirical work with lesbians and gay men in the UK to explore what the scene has meant to them. In the first half of the article we focus on the positive roles that the scene can play in helping young people to find themselves as they make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In the second half of the article we consider the risks that they can encounter in the process. We conclude by reflecting on the scene as a paradoxical space, and on the implications of this research for the youth transitions and urban studies literatures, and for social policy.     

不朽的红岩

一直以来,红岩精神都同井冈精神、长征精神、延安精神一样,被誉为中华民族近代的四大宝贵精神财富。即使到了现在,红岩精神依然是我们改革开放发展建设过程中不可缺少的精神导向。     

小南海地震遗址,美丽的代价

如今,已成为小南海国家地质公园的山水田园,不止是供人消遣的旅游胜地,更成为研究地震灾害的不可复制的宝贵自然实体,具有很高的科研科考价值。清晰如初的大垮岩、小垮岩滑塌面、乱石林立的地震崩积物、气势恢宏的地震湮塞大坝、风光秀丽的地震湮塞泊……正因为如此,小南海被批准为＂国家地质公园＂,列为＂国家级地震遗址保护区＂、＂全国防震减灾科普宣传教育基地＂。     

The limits to IPR standardization policies as evidenced by strategic patenting in UMTS

The impact of patents and patent royalties are a major concern of standards setting organizations. This study examines the patents filed in the standardization of UMTS, the third-generation mobile phone technology developed under sponsorship of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and others, using a patent policy developed in response to issues faced in the earlier GSM (née Group Special Mobile) standardization. After contrasting firm strategies and policy effectiveness between the GSM and UMTS efforts, the paper reviews the potential impact of potential changes to the ETSI IPR (intellectual property rights) policy.     

Unions and Gender Pay Equity in Academe: A Study of U.S. Institutions

This paper uses 1994-95 faculty salary data from over 1,100 four-year U.S. academic institutions, about one-fourth of them with collective bargaining agreements, to ask if faculty unions make a difference to gender pay equity. Average gender salary differences are negative at every rank and at every category of U.S. institution with or without collective bargaining agreement. Unions may improve gender salary differentials somewhat, particularly at the assistant professor level. There is no evidence that this gain will be lost at higher levels, and mixed evidence that further gains occur for women at the full professor level. The most pervasive and robust consequence of unions is to increase the positive impact that higher proportions of women at senior faculty ranks make on relative salaries at the assistant professor level. However, the influence of these higher-ranked women on gender salary inequalities at the associate and full levels is lower in union schools than nonunion schools. By reducing the flexibility of existing salary structures, collective bargaining apparently reduces the influence of senior women faculty on the salaries of current women faculty members while increasing their attention and influence at entry levels.