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The purpose of the research was to explore competitive dancers’ experiences of harm in the dance environment with a focus placed on dancers’ social identities. Limited attention has been given to instances of harm in competitive dance. In addition, the impact of social identities on experiences of harm has yet to be discussed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 competitive dancers. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis leading to four generated themes, including the higher value of boy dancers, Whiteness as the standard, the impact of socio-economic status, and the sexualization of young girls and women. Competitive dancers reported that their social identities impacted their dance experience and at times influenced their opportunities to be showcased in choreography as well as their instructor-dancer relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engagement in recreation can positively impact the physical and mental health of those experiencing mental health challenges; however, the impact of engaging in other aspects of such recreation, such as volunteering, remain largely unexplored in this population. Volunteering is known to have a wealth of health and wellbeing benefits among the general population; therefore, the impact of recreational-based volunteering for those with mental health conditions deserves to be explored. The current study sought to examine the health, social and wellbeing impacts of parkrun engagement among runners and volunteers living with a mental health condition. Participants with a mental health condition (N = 1661, M(SD)age = 43.4 (12.8) years, 66% female) completed self-reported questionnaires. A MANOVA was conducted to examine the differences in health and wellbeing impacts between those who run/walk vs. those who run/walk and volunteer, while chi-square analyses examined variables of perceived social inclusion. Findings suggest that there was a statistically significant multivariate effect of participation type on perceived parkrun impact (F (10, 1470) = 7.13; p < 0.001; Wilk's Λ = 0.954, partial η2 = 0.046). It was also found that for those who run/walk and volunteer, compared to those who only run/walk, parkrun made them more feel part of a community (56% v 29% respectively, X2(1) = 116.70, p < 0.001) and facilitated them meeting new people (60% v 24% respectively, X2 (1) = 206.67, p < 0.001). These results suggest that the health, wellbeing, and social inclusion benefits of parkrun participation are different for those who run and volunteer, compared to those who only run. These findings may have public health implications and clinical implications for mental health treatment, as they convey that it is not simply the physical engagement in recreation that may play a role in one's recovery, but also the volunteer aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pain can influence an individual's choice to pursue medical assistance in dying (MAiD) and may also influence how family members experience that decision. Family conflict or discordance surrounding a loved one's MAiD decision can cause unique challenges affecting grief and bereavement, including disenfranchised grief. There is limited knowledge of how individuals with complex MAiD bereavement experiences describe the role of physical and emotional pain in their bereavement stories. This article explores the role of physical and emotional pain in the stories of family members with complex MAiD bereavement and identifies opportunities to improve care for individuals and families experiencing disagreement around MAiD. We conducted qualitative interviews and utilized a narrative and ethics of care approach to analyze the data. We conducted N = 12 narrative interviews with participants in three provinces: Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. Descriptions of physical pain were used to justify the morality, or immorality, of MAiD in the context of patient suffering. Emotional pain described experiences where participants' feelings about MAiD went unacknowledged by their family or friends, institutions, and sociopolitical environments. We conceptualize this unacknowledged emotional pain as disenfranchised grief and make recommendations to improve care for individuals experiencing complex MAiD bereavement. Experiences of physical and emotional pain leave a lasting impact on family members with complex MAiD bereavement. Health care professionals should continue to improve care for family members following MAiD, especially where there is disagreement or family conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an academic acceptance that doctoral studies are a complex, multifaceted endeavour bound with the differing, emerging and contrasting identities of the students who undertake them. This article explores such journeys in the context of one of the most disruptive events to hit the higher educational sector worldwide: COVID-19. The study utilises data collected via an online forum established to collectively explore the challenges, the opportunities and the tensions in the lives of 12 students enrolled in a doctoral degree in an Australian higher education institution. Results indicate that the journey of such students pre-COVID-19 was characterised by a sense of liminality, agency and journey. COVID-19 exacerbated such feelings. The conclusion points to a need to enhance spaces of agency in the graduate research experience to reflect the multidimensionality of students' lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MSc Radiation Biology course is a highly interdisciplinary degree program placing radiation biology at the interface between biology, medicine, and physics, as well as their associated technologies. The goal was to establish an internationally acknowledged program with diverse and heterogeneous student cohorts, who benefit from each other academically as well as culturally. We have completed a Five-Year evaluation of the program to assess our qualification profile and the further direction we want to take. We evaluated the student cohort's data from the last 5 years regarding gender, age, and nationality as well as the highest degree before applying and career path after graduation. Data shows a great diversity regarding nationalty as well as undergraduate background. Cohort sizes could be increased and future prospects mainly aimed to a PhD. Measures after regular quality meetings and students' feedback led to improving the curriculum and workload, teacher's training, and changes to examination regulations. After 5 years, statistics show that our expectations have been met exceedingly. All graduates had excellent career opportunities reflecting the necessity of this MSc and its topics. We are continuously working on improving the program and adapting the curriculum to the requirements in radiation sciences. The future vision includes an expansion of the program as well as undergraduate education opportunities in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any study of violence in the sociology of sport owes a substantial debt of gratitude to Eric Dunning. This is certainly true of Canadian sociology of sport where, for at least three generations, the ideas of Dunning and his mentor, Norbert Elias, have proven both foundational and enduring for a core group of scholars. In this paper, two recognized scholars in the Canadian figuration, Michael Atkinson and Kevin Young, reflect on Dunning's influence in shaping both their own and others' understanding of how 'sport matters'; in this case, the analysis of violence inside and outside of sport. The authors consider their own research 'in the field' of sport violence, their personal career intersections with figurational thinking, and both the formal and informal mentorship Eric provided over several decades. For both Michael and Kevin, Eric helped to shape not only the contents of their theoretical leanings over the course of time, but also instructed them to envision substantive issues related to sport violence as both long-term sociogenic and psychogenic processes more broadly. The paper concludes with personal reflections on Eric the scholar and gentleman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since early April 2020, there has been intense debate over proposed clinical use of ionizing radiation to treat life-threatening pneumonia in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. At least twelve relevant papers appeared by 20 May 2020. The radiation dose proposed for clinical trials are a single dose (0.1–1 Gy) or two doses (a few mGy followed by 0.1–0.25 Gy involving a putative adaptive response, or 1–1.5 Gy in two fractions 2–3 days apart). The scientific rationale for such proposed so-called low dose radiotherapy (LDRT) is twofold (note that only doses below 0.1 Gy are considered as low doses in the field of radiation protection, but here we follow the term as conventionally used in the field of radiation oncology). Firstly, the potentially positive observations in human case series and biological studies in rodent models on viral or bacterial pneumonia that were conducted in the pre-antibiotic era. Secondly, the potential anti-inflammatory properties of LDRT, which have been seen when LDRT is applied locally to subacute degenerative joint diseases, mainly in Germany. However, the human and animal studies cited as supportive evidence have significant limitations, and whether LDRT produces anti-inflammatory effects in the inflamed lung or exacerbates ongoing COVID-19 damage remains unclear. Therefore, we conclude that the available scientific evidence does not justify clinical trials of LDRT for COVID-19 pneumonia, with unknown benefit and known mortality risks from radiogenic cancer and circulatory disease. Despite the significant uncertainties in these proposals, some clinical trials are ongoing and planned. This paper gives an overview of current situations surrounding LDRT for COVID-19 pneumonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Pulmonary inflammation is an adverse consequence of radiation therapy in breast cancer. The aim of this study was to elucidate biological pathways leading to this pathology. Materials and methods: Lung endothelial cells were isolated 24 h after thorax-irradiation (sham or 10 Gy X-ray) from female C57Bl/6 mice and cultivated for 6 days. Results: Quantitative proteomic analysis of lung endothelial cells was done using data independent acquisition (DIA) mass spectrometry. The data were analyzed using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis and STRINGdb. In total, 4220 proteins were identified using DIA of which 60 were dysregulated in the irradiated samples (fold change ≥2.00 or ≤0.50; q-value <0.05). Several (12/40) upregulated proteins formed a cluster of inflammatory proteins with STAT1 and IRF3 as predicted upstream regulators. The several-fold increased expression of STAT1 and STAT-associated ISG15 was confirmed by immunoblotting. The expression of antioxidant proteins SOD1 and PRXD5 was downregulated suggesting radiation-induced oxidative stress. Similarly, the phosphorylated (active) forms of STING and IRF3, both members of the cGAS/STING pathway, were downregulated. Conclusions: These data suggest the involvement of JAK/STAT and cGas/STING pathways in the genesis of radiation-induced lung inflammation. These pathways may be used as novel targets for the prevention of radiation-induced lung damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the problem of modelling the trajectory of a moving object of interest, or target, given limited locational and temporal information. Because of uncertainty in information, the location of the target can be represented using a spatial distribution, or heatmap. This paper proposes a comprehensive method for constructing and updating probability heatmaps for the location of a moving object based on uncertain information. This method uses Brownian bridges to model and construct temporal probability heatmaps of target movement, and employs a particle filter to update the heatmap as new intelligence arrives. This approach allows for more complexity than simple deterministic motion models, and is computationally easier to implement than detailed models for local target movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Widespread medical use of radiation in diagnosis, imaging and treatment of different central nervous system malignancies lead to various consequences. Aim of this study was to further elucidate mechanism of cell response to radiation and possible consequence on neural differentiation. Materials and methods: NT2/D1 cells that resemble neural progenitors were used as a model system. Undifferentiated NT2/D1 cells and NT2/D1 cells in the early phase of neural differentiation were irradiated with low (0.2 Gy) and moderate (2 Gy) doses of γ radiation. The effect was analyzed on apoptosis, cell cycle, senescence, spheroid formation and the expression of genes and miRNAs involved in the regulation of pluripotency or neural differentiation. Results: Two grays of irradiation induced apoptosis, senescence and cell cycle arrest of NT2/D1 cells, accompanied with altered expression of several genes (SOX2, OCT4, SOX3, PAX6) and miRNAs (miR-219, miR-21, miR124-a). Presented results show that 2 Gy of radiation significantly affected early phase of neural differentiation in vitro. Conclusions: These results suggest that 2 Gy of radiation significantly affected early phase of neural differentiation and affect the population of neural progenitors. These findings might help in better understanding of side effects of radiotherapy in treatments of central nervous system malignancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of the declining and uneven performance of Canadian students on the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, little attention has been paid to whether provinces are allocating their education budgets to improve academic performance. This study uses a two-stage data envelope analysis (DEA) technique to estimate the degree to which education expenditures are efficiently allocated relative to achievement scores. We find that in these terms the overall cost-efficiency of the public K-12 education systems in the 10 provinces has deteriorated and that, in general, the provinces have become less able to allocate resources efficiently and use them in the most technically productive way. However, some provinces are more efficient than others. To gauge the extent to which performance measures, such as PISA scores, factor into budgeting decisions we interviewed 28 budget managers in 10 Canadian provinces and two territories, probing the criteria used to allocate education resources. The preponderant pattern of budgeting is described as an 'increments-based-on-formula' approach, one that is not particularly responsive to efficiency concerns but that often takes account of equity imperatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We assessed students' expectations to a full two-year Master of Science course regarding workload, extracurricular activities, learning methods, and career plans. Materials and methods: A questionnaire was handed out to all students in the MSc radiation biology course. Questions evaluated the time for study and lectures expected a desire for specific teaching and testing formats, expectations from extracurricular activities as well as the motivation to study the subject and the future career plans. All students (100%) enrolled in the first semester were handed out and completed the questionnaire. Results: Most students had learned about the course from the internet (68.75%) or received information from teachers or professors (25%). Two students stated that all disciplines were equally relevant (25%). Others students made clear preferences: fourteen voted molecular biology (87.5%) as relevant, radiation protection in 93.75%, 81.25% consider physics the most important topic, followed by immunology (62.5%). Tutorials and lectures were preferred teaching formats. Generally, a workload of 20 hours per week is preferred. Conclusions: An ongoing feedback loop is important in designing a modern Master of Science course in the context of the Bologna process. Valuable information is given by students and should be integrated continuously in the design and continuation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:Epidemiological studies indicate that radiation doses as low as 0.5 Gy increase the risk of cardiovascular disease decades after the exposure. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether this radiation dose causes late molecular alterations in endothelial cells that could support the population-based data. Materials and methods:Human coronary artery endothelial cells were irradiated at 0.5 Gy (X-ray) and radiation-induced changes in the proteome were investigated after different time intervals (1, 7 and 14 d) using ICPL technology. Key changes identified by proteomics and bioinformatics were validated by immunoblotting and ELISA. Results:The radiation-induced alteration of the endothelial proteome was characterized by sustained perturbation of Rho GDP-dissociation inhibitor (RhoGDI) and nitric oxide (NO) signalling pathways. At later time-points, this was accompanied by reduced proteasome activity, enhanced protein carbonylation indicating augmented oxidative stress, and senescence. Conclusions:These molecular changes are indicative of long-term premature endothelial dysfunction and provide a mechanistic framework to the epidemiological data showing increased risk of cardiovascular disease at 0.5 Gy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose:Multiple cell types secrete exosome-like extracellular vesicles (ELVs) to the extracellular environment. Pathological conditions can produce characteristic changes to the vesicle cargo. We investigated if ionizing radiation is capable of inducing changes in the protein and microRNA (miRNA) cargo of ELVs. Materials and methods:Whole blood samples from healthy donors were irradiated with 2 Gy gamma rays and then peripheral blood mononuclear cells and plasma were separated from residual blood and co-cultivated for 24 h. The released ELVs were collected by differential ultracentrifugation from irradiated and non-irradiated samples. microRNAs and proteins were quantified by qPCR and label-free proteomics. Results:Here we report a first characterization of radiation-induced changes in the protein and miRNA cargo of ELVs isolated from plasma. Proteome analysis of ELVs identified 214 proteins, of which nine significantly changed their abundance after irradiation. The radiation-induced down-regulation of afamin and serpine peptidase F1 was confirmed by immunoblotting. miRNA expression profiling identified 58 different exosomal miRNAs, the expression of miR-204-5p, miR-92a-3p and miR-31-5p was significantly increased in ELVs from irradiated samples. Conclusions:This study provides evidence that radiation-induced changes occur in the protein and miRNA cargo of plasma ELVs. These data imply a novel systemic communication pathway between irradiated and non-irradiated cells and tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose:MicroRNA miR-21 has emerged as a therapeutic target in the treatment of breast cancer. This study was designed to compare the responses of breast cancer cells and non-transformed breast epithelial cells to a combined regimen of miR-21 inhibition and radiation. Materials and methods:The MDA-MB-361 (breast cancer) and MCF-10A (non-transformed mammary epithelial) cell lines were used for the comparison in this in vitro study. The stable knockdown of miR-21 was performed by using lentiviral approach. The response of the cells was monitored 4, 24 and 48 h after the irradiation with 0.25 and 2.5 Gy, using sham-irradiated cells as controls. The response of the cells was established by performing various functional assays – cell viability and cell attachment, clonogenic survival, cell cycle analysis and 3D microtissue formation. Results:The knockdown of miR-21 induced significant increase in apoptosis and growth delay in MDA-MB-361 cancer cells compared to non-transformed MCF-10A cells. After combined radiation and anti-miR-21 treatment, MDA-MB-361 cells show reduced cell growth and viability what is presented in their inability to form colonies. MCF-10A cells were not as sensitive to the combined treatment and that has also been confirmed with colony forming assay. Conclusions:Cellular response to a combined treatment of anti-miR-21 and radiation is different between cancer and non-cancer cells which highly support the idea of linking miR-21 inhibitor and radiation treatment in the future therapeutic approaches for breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:Ionizing radiation induces cardiovascular disease, the endothelium being the main target. The exact mechanism of the damage is unclear but the involvement of multiple signaling pathways is probable. Reversible lysine acetylation is a posttranslational protein modification that regulates activity across a broad range of signaling pathways. The aim of this study was to determine if a low radiation dose results in acetylome alteration in endothelial cells. Materials and methods:Human coronary artery endothelial cell line was irradiated with Cs-137 gamma-rays (0.5 Gy) and proteomics analysis was performed using enriched acetylated peptides and all peptides. Data were validated using immunoblotting, deacetylase activity assay, and RhoA activity assay. Results:Nearly a hundred proteins were found to have an altered acetylation status 24 h after irradiation, primarily due to an overall decrease in acetylation. The expression of specific deacetylases was significantly increased, coinciding with an enhancement in global deacetylase activity. Proteins changed in their acetylation status belonged to several pathways including protein synthesis, cytoskeleton-related processes, protein folding and calcium signaling. The predicted changes in the RhoA/actin cytoskeleton pathway were validated by immunoassay. Conclusions:This study shows that protein acetylation is an important mediator of radiation responses in human cardiac coronary endothelial cells. Increased knowledge of the endothelial response to radiation is crucial for the development of normal tissue-sparing modalities during radiation therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an influential 2002 study, John Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse make the provocative argument that high numbers of Americans seek "stealth democracy," that is, processes that discover the will of the people without requiring substantial citizen effort. This article applies the concept in a Canadian province and argues that the stealth democracy measure represents an ambiguous amalgam of attitudes that are only loosely related to one another, and which do not appear to represent a single, underlying concept. We draw on 2011 Saskatchewan Election Study data and find that Saskatchewan responses to the stealth democracy items generally parallel the responses gathered in previous studies conducted in the United States, Finland, Britain, and Australia. We move beyond these studies by examining the components of the stealth democracy index. We conclude by suggesting that the concept of stealth democracy be rebuilt to better distinguish among attitudes toward democracy, politics, and governing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pursuit of understanding declining levels of participation from scholastic Health and Physical Education (HPE), ethnographic research has been increasingly utilised as a tool to explore the intersubjective and intrasubjective meaning-making processes that concurrently invite or dissuade participation. Despite the ostensible epistemological benefits of deploying ethnographic research as a vehicle for better understanding contextual HPE (dis)engagement processes and meanings, a critical methodological discussion of the actual implementation and positionality of these methods is largely absent in the extant literature. Reflecting on an ethnographic study conducted with adolescent boys at a Canadian elementary school, this paper provides HPE ethnographers with a series of methodological deliberations, and reflexive points of departure for consideration in the design and implementation of ethnographic research. Specifically, this paper elucidates the process of rapport building with teachers/students, the omnipresent tensions, ethical dilemmas and triumphs that can emerge during ethnography, and the various socio-contextual interview factors that can influence data generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public sector ethics is a topic of ongoing concern in developed democracies. The most popular theoretical approach to this issue is found in principal–agent theory literature. This approach assumes that public sector organizations are populated by principals and agents, each of whom pursue their own self-interest, with agents having a persistent informational advantage. A second approach to ethical conflicts focuses on cognitive processes. According to cognitive theory, all decision makers are vulnerable to “ethical numbing,” particularly in organizational settings that condone the substitution of personal agendas for organizational goals. We argue that Canada's sponsorship scandal has been interpreted almost exclusively from a principal–agent perspective, with subsequent reforms firmly based on introducing new rules to oblige agents to advance the interests of principals. While more faithful adherence to established rules by agents would have avoided a scandal, such adherence is unlikely to be achieved through incentives, monitoring, and penalties as suggested by principal–agent theory. The policy message contained in and implied by the cognitive framework suggests that the focus must be on creating an organizational learning environment that discourages responsible public officials from reframing decision situations in a manner that allows them to become morally disengaged. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the increasing amount of published research and critical commentary on sport for development and Peace (sdp) two related trends are apparent. The first is a clear belief that, under certain circumstances, sport may make a useful contribution to work in international development and peace building; the second is that criticisms of it are frequently constructive, intended to support the work of practitioners in the field by outlining the limitations of what may be achieved through sport, and under what circumstances. Given these trends, public sociology provides a useful framing device for research and commentary and academics should now engage more directly with practitioners and provide more accessible summaries of their research to those engaged in sdp. We provide a brief introduction to public sociology, and outline its relevance in the sociology of sport, before making suggestions about the incorporation of public sociology into sdp research. Three main overlapping areas of research emerge from a public sociology perspective, and are needed in order to engage in a constructively critical analysis of sdp: descriptive research and evaluation; analyses of claims making; and critical analyses of social reproduction. The paper concludes with a brief examination of the dilemmas that may be encountered by those engaging in public sociology research, in both the academy and the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although female emaciators and anorexics in sport have received considerable academic attention as a deviant population of athletes (Atkinson 2008; Grieve 2007), researchers have only recently attended to the onset and development of self-starvation or weight minimization programs among male athletes (Hargreaves and Tiggemann 2006; Papathomas and Lavallee 2006). The bulk of academic literature on eating pathologies among male (or female) athletes fails to account for many of the complex sociocultural processes involved in learning an emaciator's habitus (Bourdieu 1984; Elias 2004). Qualitative, open-ended interviews were conducted with 73 male athletes in 9 different sports to inspect the social-psychological genesis of the emaciator's habitus. Interviews focused on the role of exogenous to sport influences on eating behaviors and body attitudes, and endogenous influences on body regimen habituated as normative, rather than pathological, within specific sport cultures. Findings suggest that males who emaciate: (1) express rather socioeconomic and rational-scientific attitudes about the body as a site of controlled and disciplined work; (2) have life histories of, and phenomenological preferences for, being thin; (3) are socially insulated within sport cultures saturated by groupthink-replete nutrition ideologies; (4) attach significant cultural and personal meaning to social display inner-restraint and emotional control; (5) possess strong bonds with parents and coaches; and (6) generally express low thresholds of shame and guilt tolerance toward their risky behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I draw on ethnographic data collected among Ashtanga yoga practitioners in Canada and fell runners in the United Kingdom as a means of discussing the lived phenomenological experience of 'scapelands', and post-sport lifestyles.1 The men and women with whom I participate in these athletic 'heterotopias' share incredibly similar penchants for being projected into athletic contexts of existential throwness as a response to late-modern boundary-crossing tendencies.2 In particular, they share preferences for entire physical cultural styles of life which consciously subvert the idea that health, movement and athletics are merely technological or rational modernist 'things'. As interpreted through the lens of intertwined post-structuralist theories in this paper, fell-running and Ashtanga practitioners purposefully immerse themselves into the loosely defined wilderness of the outdoors, or wilderness of the meditative mind. A la Foucault, their participation in the respective sporting scapelands becomes a lifestyle technique for engaging alternative ethics of self care in boundary crossing, and boundary imploding, societies.3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I examine how triathletes learn to physically manage, socially perform and individually reflect upon the endurance sport of triathlon as a microcosm of the 'civilising process'. Elias's particular conceptualisation of habitus is centrally utilised to explain why, at this particular point in civilising processes, more men and women in factions of the Canadian middle class quest for 'exciting significance' through gruelling endurance sports like triathlon (swim-bike-run competitions). Pain and suffering narratives gathered from 62 participants in Canadian triathlon are analysed alongside ethnographic data collected over a three-year period in Ontario, Canada. Specifically addressed is how triathletes come together as a mutually recognised 'pain community' of like-minded actors, and how they learn to relish physical and mental suffering in the sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social lifestyle "Straightedge" is a response to the hedonistic bodily indulgences (e.g., substance abuse, promiscuity) of many North Americans. Practitioners emphasize self-restraint and bodily purity as a "deviant" alternative to these practices. Like other socially labelled outsiders, Straightedgers include tattooing in their lexicon of body modification activities. Resultantly, Straightedge tattoos have become signifiers of the group's underlying philosophies of social resistance toward uninhibited bodily decadence. Data collected from interviews with 31 Straightedgers in Canada indicate that tattooing is not constructed as a flamboyant form of social protest by them, but rather a highly controlled method of cultural dissent. To this end, Straightedgers exploit and reframe long-standing cultural stereotypes about the tattooed body in order to "civilize" the face of contemporary social resistance in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on Stebbins' (1996) concept of tolerable differences, an underused tool for analysis of deviant activities and lifestyles that tend not to elicit the kind of collective condemnation traditionally reserved for serious moral and legal transgressions. Our analysis centers on two case studies of criminal tolerable deviance in Canada, the widespread use of marijuana for recreational purposes and the illegal ticket scalping trade. Whereas the former has inspired a vast body of literature, the latter has been thus far overlooked by sociologists. Consideration of the two together, in terms of Stebbins' framework, betters our understanding of the social construction of these practices, further developing theory and research on deviance more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viewing the body as both an evocative social text and a vehicle of social resistance, this article explores recent developments within the Neo Primitive (NP) movement. As a segmented branch of the larger body modification cultural scene, Neo Primitives have created individuals have created a renaissance of deeply flamboyant and often radical body marking practices. Members stress the spiritual, emotional, and practical rewards of body modification for those entrenched within (and ultimately oppressed by) hegemonic boundaries of physical expression in the modern metropolis, especially as those boundaries relate to codes of beauty, gender, sexuality, spirituality, and personal creativity. Building on qualitative data gathered in two Canadian cities, and viewing members of this subculture as active agents of counter-expression and dissent, this article explores the ideologies, practices, and lived experiences of NPs attempting to recreate, reclaim, and revolutionize the flesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]