No abstract

No abstract

This paper seeks to understand better the media practices of people who are directly affected by an illness or health problem. Internet sites that have been created by people with HIV/AIDS are examined as a strategy for self-representation. This analysis identifies four prominent 'organising themes' in Internet sites: autobiography; expertise; self promotion; and dissent. It is argued that there is a connection between media activism within the contemporary AIDS movement and Internet use among people with HIV/AIDS. This paper discusses the potential of the Internet, as a form of media activism, to raise the private troubles of people with health problems as public issues through a revitalisation of the public sphere in contemporary post-industrial societies.

This article draws on a range of sociological literature including studies of sport, subculture, interspecies relationships and animal advocacy to understand the social processes that have contributed to the horse being defined as an athlete in equestrian sports. Using a combination of qualitative interviews and archival analysis, we identify trends in the equine industry that have provided the foundation for the emergence of a new type of equine athlete -the sport pony -in the context of late modern societies. We conclude by arguing that the popularity of the sport pony is a reflection of a general trend within the equine industry placing value on athleticism and esthetics.

This paper provides a critical decoding of advertisements in Flex, a popular bodybuilding magazine. The analysis focuses on the visual and narrative representation of the muscular male body and bodywork practices in advertisements promoting bodybuilding technologies. The images of the muscular body found in bodybuilding advertisements encourage masculine self-transformation through bodywork. Moreover, the taken-for-granted representation of the muscular body as natural and desirable is rooted in an ideology of gender difference, championing dominant meanings of masculinity through a literal embodiment of patriarchal power. The foregrounding of the muscular body as a cultural ideal offers conservative resistance to progressive change and alternative masculinities by valorizing a dominance-based notion of masculinity.