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This article examines shifts in the legal, medical, and common-sense logics governing the designation of sex on birth certificates issued by the City of New York between 1965 and 2006. In the initial iteration, the stabilization of legal sex categories was organized around the notion of ''fraud''; in the most recent iteration, ''permanence'' became the measure of authenticity. We frame these legal constructions of sex with theories about the ''natural attitude'' toward gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the current upsurge in the production of memory with the construction of memorial sites worldwide to commemorate incidences of mass violence, atrocity, and genocide. Through the two empirical lenses of Cambodia and Rwanda, it grapples with what propels the impetus to memorialize, in whose interest memorials are constructed, and how memorials may fulfill multiple and competing purposes as a form of symbolic justice or reparations to the victims, an instrument for reconciliation, a mechanism for nation-building and political legitimacy, and a pedagogical tool to inculcate the preventative lessons of "never again." Finally, using the contemporary debate surrounding the commemoration of Ground Zero in New York City, this paper argues that the challenge for architects, policymakers, and civil actors in the construction of memorials is not only to target their design toward their intended purpose, but is also to navigate the fact that memorials are eminently present and can enact violence through their representation of the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a self-reflection on the incongruency the author has found between her students' and colleagues' body and her body. She states that incongruence happens when what others expect about someone's body does not match with the anticipated biography. In her case as an assistant professor at the College of Staten Island (CSI) in New York, her body is incongruent to the environment and her relationships to the academy. The appearance of her body and actions do not match who she is in the aspect of sexual identity. Her students and colleagues discovered that she is a lesbian. She stresses that bodies behave in unpredictable ways. Details related to her teaching experiences at CSI are also cited.

This paper employs qualitative methods to explore the ramifications of a police drug crackdown on drug injectors' ability to practice harm reduction. Between August and December 2000, we conducted open-ended interviews with 40 illicit-drug-injecting residents of a New York City police precinct undergoing a crackdown. Interview topics included participants' experiences with police in the precinct and their drug use practices. Grounded theory methods were used to analyze resulting transcripts. Because place emerged as a salient analytic category, we also drew on elements of social geography to interpret results. The analysis suggests that particular crackdown tactics, notably frequent police searches of participants' bodies and elevated surveillance of the precinct's public spaces, reconfigured participants' experiences of their bodies and the public spaces comprising the precinct in ways that adversely affected their capacity to engage in harm reduction. Frequent police searches, for example, discouraged participants from carrying the injection equipment they needed to ensure that they could inject with a sterile syringe. Constant monitoring of local public spaces made it difficult for homeless women and men to inject safely. Simultaneously, participants expressed support for police actions that reduced public drug activity. Given these findings, we recommend the implementation of strategies, designed by partnerships of community groups and governmental and non-governmental organizations, which reduce public drug activity without imperiling injectors' health. Possible strategies include improving access to treatment and establishing safe injection spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing recognition of violence's health consequences and the World Health Organization's recent classification of police officers' excessive use of force as a form of violence, public health investigators have produced scant research characterizing police-perpetrated abuse. Using qualitative data from a study of a police drug crackdown in 2000 in 1 New York City police precinct, we explored 40 injection drug using and 25 non-drug using precinct residents' perceptions of and experiences with police-perpetrated abuse. Participants, particularly injection drug users and non-drug using men, reported police physical, psychological, and sexual violence and neglect; they often associated this abuse with crackdown-related tactics and perceived officer prejudice. We recommend that public health research address the prevalence, nature, and public health implications of police violence. (Am J Public Health. 2004;94: 1109-1118). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]