New Article: Siani & Assaraf, Genetic Dilemmas Amongst Jewish Israeli Undergraduate Students

Siani, Merav, and Orit Ben-Zvi Assaraf. “The Moral Reasoning of Genetic Dilemmas Amongst Jewish Israeli Undergraduate Students with Different Religious Affiliations and Scientific Backgrounds.” Journal of Genetic Counseling (early view; online first).

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10897-015-9918-5
 
Abstract

The main objective of this study was to shed light on the moral reasoning of undergraduate Israeli students towards genetic dilemmas, and on how these are affected by their religious affiliation, by the field they study and by their gender. An open ended questionnaire was distributed among 449 undergraduate students in institutions of higher education in Israel, and their answers were analyzed according to the framework described by Sadler and Zeidler (Science Education, 88(1), 4–27, 2004). They were divided into two major categories: those whose reasoning was based on the consideration of moral consequences (MC), and those who supported their opinion by citing non-consequentialist moral principles (MP). Students’ elaborations to questions dealing with values towards genetic testing showed a correlation between the students’ religious affiliation and their reasoning, with religious students’ elaborations tending to be more principle based than those of secular ones. Overall, the students’ elaborations indicate that their main concern is the possibility that their personal genetic information will be exposed, and that their body’s personal rights will be violated. We conclude the paper by offering several practical recommendations based on our findings for genetic counseling that is specifically tailored to fit different patients according to their background.

 

 

 

New Article: Asman, Stalking and the Law

Asman, O. “Stalking and the Law – An Israeli Legal System Based Analysis.” European Psychiatry 30, Sup.1 (2015): 160ff.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0924-9338(15)30131-0

 

Abstract

Stalking may be defined as obsessive following (1) forcibly and continuously invading another’s privacy (2)(3); behaviors which: are directed at a particular person; are felt by the object person to be unwanted and invasive; arouse fear and/or concern in the object person. (4)

Mester, Birger and Margolin(5) referred to 3 types of interventions in response to stalking: police intervention, legal intervention and medical intervention. They also refer to possible mixed types of intervention strategies.

In this presentation we will relate to legal aspects of stalking, taking into account social, clinical and policy related considerations. A focus will be made on the 2001 Israeli law for preventing threatening harassment, and the main tools it provides a subject with: turning to court for an injunction, complaining to the police in case an injunction has been violated. Other legal tools will also be discussed – such as damages claims related to privacy infringements, libel etc.

In summary we will inquire whether these legal tools are effective in putting an end to disruptive stalking behaviors and to what extent should those legal possibilities play a part in an anti-stalking action plan for a stalking victim.

New Article: Amihay, Color Photography and Self-Outing in Jewish Women’s Comics

Amihay, Ofra. “Red Diapers, Pink Stories. Color Photography and Self-Outing in Jewish Women’s Comics.” Image & Narrative 16.2 (2015): 42-64.

URL: http://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/imagenarrative/article/view/811

 

Abstract

In this essay, I analyze the function of color photography in autobiographical comics through a comparative analysis of confessional works of comics by two Jewish women artists, Jewish-American cartoonist Dianne Noomin’s 2003 comics spread “I Was a Red Diaper Baby” and Israeli cartoonist Ilana Zeffren’s Pink Story (written in Hebrew). While exploring the tensions evoked in these works between comics and photography and between black-and-white and color representations, I highlight an important difference in the nature of the images used in each work, evoking yet another tension: that between private and public. I demonstrate that these works by Noomin and Zeffren represent the array of private and public photographs available to any autobiographer, ranging from public images taken from posters, magazines, and video screenshots to intimate family snapshots. I argue that the choice between personal and public photographs in these works poetically determines the path of self-outing in each work, thus representing the two key options for such an act of self-outing, namely, using the personal sphere as a path to the public one or vice-versa. Finally, I address the role of Jewish identity in these two self-outing comics. I posit that while Jewish heritage is not a major factor in either work, the fact that in both cases the community of reference is a minority group within a Jewish community plays a significant role, introducing specific dilemmas into the already complicated identity struggle. By shedding light on the unique function of color photography in autobiographical comics about ethnographically charged self- outing experiences, the analysis of these specific works introduces to a wider audience two important yet insufficiently explored voices of women cartoonists.