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Recent work on the psychology of gender is pluralistic, stemming from varied specialty areas within psychology, grounded in several intellectual frameworks, and reflecting a spectrum of feminist perspectives. This article is a critical appraisal of diverse approaches to the study of women and gender. it first describes prefeminist or "womanless" psychology, then analyzes four coexisting frameworks that have generated recent research. The four frameworks are: Exceptional Women, in which empirical research focuses on the correlates of high achievement for women, and women's history in the discipline i s reevaluated; Women as Problem (or Anomaly), in which research emphasizes explanations for female "deficiencies" (e.g., fear of success); the Psychology of Gender, in which the focus of inquiry shifts from women to gender, conceived as a principle of social organization that structures relations between women and men; and a (currently relatively undeveloped) Transformation framework that reflexively challenges the values, assumptions, and normative practices of the discipline. Examples of research programs within each a p proach are described, and the strengths and limitations of each approach are critically examined.

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What factors predict self-identification as a feminist? College women (N = 233) were given measures of feminist ideology; feminist identity development; evaluation of feminists, collectivism, and individualism. Feminist identification was measured both as a dichotomous and a continuous variable. Measured dichotomously, feminist self-identification was predicted by not having conservative beliefs and having a positive general evaluation of feminists. In addition, selfidentified feminists were more likely to believe in collective action; to hold liberal, radical, and womanist ideologies; and to endorse items in the Synthesis stage of identity development. They were less likely to believe a feminist is a lesbian, to endorse items in the Passive Acceptance stage, and to believe in the existence of a meritocracy. Measured continuously, degree of feminist identity was predicted by having a positive general evaluation of feminists, not having conservative beliefs, and endorsing items in the Revelation and Embeddedness/Emanation stages of identity development. The two measures of feminist identity were not entirely congruent, underlining the importance of methodological differences in measuring social identity.

South Africa is in the midst of one of the world's most devastating HIV/AIDS epidemics and there is a well documented association between violence against women and HIV transmission. Interventions that target men and integrate HIV prevention with gender-based violence prevention may demonstrate synergistic effects. A quasi-experimental field intervention trial was conducted with two communities randomly assigned to receive either: (a) a five session integrated intervention designed to simultaneously reduce gender-based violence (GBV) and HIV risk behaviors (N=242) or (b) a single 3-hour alcohol and HIV risk reduction session (N=233). Men were followed for 1, 3, and 6-months post intervention with 90% retention. Results indicated that the GBV/HIV intervention reduced negative attitudes toward women in the short term and reduced violence against women in longer term. Men in the GBV/HIV intervention also increased their talking with sex partners about condoms and were more likely to have been tested for HIV at the follow-ups. There were few differences between conditions on any HIV transmission risk reduction behavioral outcomes. Further research is needed to examine the potential synergistic effects of alcohol use, gender violence, and HIV prevention interventions.

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Menstrual stigma has been demonstrated in many societies. However, there is little research on menstrual attitudes in South Asia, despite religiously-based menstrual restrictions imposed on women. To understand menstrual stigma in this context, we conducted qualitative research with women in Nepal. Nepali Hinduism forbids menstruating women to enter a temple or kitchen, share a bed with a husband or touch a male relative. During menstruation, women are 'untouchable'. There has been virtually no research on how Nepali women make meaning of these practices. The current study employed focus groups and individual interviews to understand how some Nepali women experience menarche and menstrual stigma. We explored how women describe their experiences and the strategies they adopt to manage age-old stigma in a rapidly modernising society where they have multiple roles as workers, wives and mothers. Participants reported they experienced menarche with little preparation, which caused distress, and were subjected to ongoing stigmatisation as menstruating women. They described coping strategies to reduce the effects of this stigma. This study provides a unique perspective on coping with menstrual stigma in South Asia.

Instant messaging (IM) has become one of the most popular forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and is especially prevalent on college campuses. Previous research suggests that IM users often multitask while conversing online. To date, no one has yet examined the cognitive effect of concurrent IM use. Participants in the present study (N = 69) completed a reading comprehension task uninterrupted or while concurrently holding an IM conversation. Participants who IMed while performing the reading task took significantly longer to complete the task, indicating that concurrent IM use negatively affects efficiency. Concurrent IM use did not affect reading comprehension scores. Additional analyses revealed that the more time participants reported spending on IM, the lower their reading comprehension scores. Finally, we found that the more time participants reported spending on IM, the lower their self-reported GPA. Implications and future directions are discussed.