Inhalation of 7.5% CO(2) increases anxiety and autonomic arousal in humans, and elicits fear behavior in animals. However, it is not known whether CO(2) challenge in humans induces dysfunction in neurocognitive processes that characterize generalized anxiety, notably selective attention to environmental threat. Healthy volunteers completed an emotional antisaccade task in which they looked toward or away from (inhibited) negative and neutral stimuli during inhalation of 7.5% CO(2) and air. CO(2) inhalation increased anxiety, autonomic arousal, and erroneous eye movements toward threat on antisaccade trials. Autonomic response to CO(2) correlated with hypervigilance to threat (speed to initiate prosaccades) and reduced threat inhibition (increased orienting toward and slower orienting away from threat on antisaccade trials) independent of change in mood. Findings extend evidence that CO(2) triggers fear behavior in animals via direct innervation of a distributed fear network that mobilizes the detection of and allocation of processing resources toward environmental threat in humans.
In recent years, a discourse of ‘ethical artificial intelligence’ has emerged and gained international traction in response to widely publicised AI failures. In Australia, the discourse around ethical AI does not accord with the reality of AI deployment in the public sector. Drawing on institutional ethnographic approaches, this paper describes the misalignments between how technology is described in government documentation, and how it is deployed in social service delivery. We argue that the propagation of ethical principles legitimates established new public management strategies, and pre-empts questions regarding the efficacy of AI development; instead positioning implementation as inevitable and, provided an ethical framework is adopted, laudable. The ethical AI discourse acknowledges, and ostensibly seeks to move past, widely reported administrative failures involving new technologies. In actuality, this discourse works to make AI implementation a reality, ethical or not.
Introduction
Cisgender heterosexual boys and young men in Australia may experience or perpetuate a range of harms in their romantic and sexual encounters with women due to expectations that they adhere to problematic ideals and norms concerning masculinity and heterosexuality. This paper explores expert stakeholders’ perceptions on these key issues, and their broader implications for policy and practice.
Methods
Using inductive thematic analysis techniques, this paper draws on semi-structured interviews from 23 expert stakeholders working across sectors of gendered violence prevention, sexual health, relationships and sexuality education, sport, and emotional and physical wellbeing.
Results
Findings note several key concerns, including (1) hesitation and lack of adequate information regarding relationships with women; (2) the potential negative influence of pornography; (3) the lack of opportunities to be engaged in sexual health promotion initiatives; and (4) limited opportunities to have meaningful conversations about dating, sex, and intimacy.
Conclusions
Expert stakeholders note several important gaps in policy and practice that need to be addressed to better support cisgender heterosexual boys and young men, and to confront gendered violence and sexual violence.
Social and Policy Implications
Understanding these gaps is vital for policymakers, content and program creators, and service providers working with cisgender heterosexual boys and men. We advocate for thinking about a strategy that is centred around “heterosexual intimacies”, in which addressing boys and young men’s sexual health and wellbeing is brought together with gendered violence prevention and sexual violence prevention initiatives.
This article explores findings from 23 expert stakeholder interviews on working with cisgender heterosexual men and boys in the fields of gendered violence prevention, relationships and sexuality education (RSE), sexual health, sport, and emotional and mental well-being. It focuses on how organisations and individual consultants navigate political and social tensions when working with boys and young men. Findings from these interviews note several significant challenges and barriers stakeholders face in implementing programs designed to support cisgender, heterosexual boys and young men, particularly in areas of sex, sexual health and wellbeing. These include 1) broader questions as to who is responsible for teaching about sex, relationships, and sexuality; 2) the lack of public support in running programs about sex and sexuality, 3) uncertainty as to the best settings to engage boys and young men, and 4) hostility or lack of engagement with program content. We highlight the implications of these challenges for policy and practice, as well as recommendations for how to address some of these issues.
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