(Press-News.org) New Rochelle, NY, August 21, 2014—Popular fiction that normalizes and glamorizes violence against women, such as the blockbuster Fifty Shades series, may be associated with a greater risk of potentially harmful health behaviors and risks. The results of a provocative new study are presented in the article "Fiction or Not? Fifty Shades Is Associated with Health Risks in Adolescent and Young Adult Females," published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health website.
Amy Bonomi and coauthors from Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI), Group Health Research Institute (Seattle, WA), and Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) compared young women ages 18-24, readers versus non-readers of at least the first novel in the Fifty Shades series based on self-reports of intimate partner violence victimization (including shouting, swearing, delivering unwanted calls or text messages, and other forms of verbal/emotional abuse, stalking, as well as physical and sexual abuse), binge drinking, disordered eating (use of diet aids and fasting for more than 24 hours), and sexual practices such as number of intercourse partners during their lifetime. The findings point to a substantially greater risk for certain adverse health behaviors among the group that read Fifty Shades, which hyper-sexualizes women and may reaffirm and create the context for those behaviors.
"Clearly, we need a better understanding of the association between reading popular fiction that depicts violence towards women and engaging in risky health behaviors, particularly among adolescent and young adult women," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health.
INFORMATION:
About the Journal
Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. The Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health website. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Academy of Women's Health and the Society for Women's Health Research.
About the Society
Academy of Women's Health is an interdisciplinary, international association of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who work across the broad field of women's health, providing its members with up-to-date advances and options in clinical care that will enable the best outcomes for their women patients. The Academy's focus includes the dissemination of translational research and evidence-based practices for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of women across the lifespan.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Journal of Men's Health, LGBT Health, Population Health Management, and Breastfeeding Medicine. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.
Women's health and Fifty Shades: Increased risks for young adult readers?
2014-08-21
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