Discourse

2004

Target: GI Jane
A Look into Military Sexual Assualt
Tiffany Jenson
In early 2003, the sexual assault history of Air Force Academy cadets was exposed to the national media.  To gain a historical perspective on such assaults, one can look into events such as the 35^th Annual Tailhook Symposium, which brought together naval and air force communities in September of 1991 at a Las Vegas hotel where women were assaulted during evening festivities.  Also reviewed is the integration of women at the Virginia Military Institute to see how poor socialization of women into military . . .read more

Symptoms
Signs and Symbolism in Medical Discourse
Maryann Delea
Whether it is regarded as disease or illness, whether it occurs in a society practicing biomedicine or a culture practicing indigenous medicine, sickness is universal.  Diseases and illnesses of all types plague each and every society throughout the world.  Central to the idea of sickness is the diagnostic element of the symptom.  Although many cultures have unique ideologies regarding sickness, healing, and efficacy, these cultures use the symptom as the primary instrument to maintain their culturally constructed. . .read more

Teen Icons
Cultural Images and Adolescent Behavior
Teisha-Vonique Hood
Teenagers seek to define themselves through their clothing, jargon, experiences, hairstyles, and, most of all, group associations. In all, this experimentation suggests that the adolescent attempts to discover himself/herself through external—rather than intrinsic—stimuli. Accordingly, images from popular culture often provide the external basis from which teenagers will benchmark their thoughts, opinions and associations. Indeed, adolescents will forge their identities largely in conformance with these pop culture images. They perceive. . . read more

VMI and the Five Justice Revolt
Supreme Court Politics and Civil Rights
Sean West
The fight for the rights of blacks and women can be compared to a mountain climb, with progress being made in increments, rather than leaps and bounds.  This pattern of small victories, built upon previous victories, has traditionally proven to be reliable with no major backsliding.  This lack of downward mobility in 14^th amendment claims is due in large part to the entitlement nature behind the decisions.  Although it seemed unlikely at the time with a six justice majority, Justice Ginsburg’s majority opinion in United States v. Virginia (1996) has broken that mold by attempting to go too far. . .read more

Discursive Deficit
Moravcsik and the European Union
Sarah Wyatt
“Sidentrop’s most fundamental error—one he shares with many in the European debate—is his assumption that the EU is a nation-state in the making,” Andrew Moravcsik writes in his “Despotism In Brussels?” However, Moravcsik makes the same error himself, if a bit more circuitously. In his articles “Despotism In Brussels?”, “Federalism in the European Union: Rhetoric and Reality,” and “In Defense of the ‘Democratic Deficit’: Reassessing Legitimacy in the European Union,” Moravcsik denies the. . .read more