title: The 'glow up' imperative: The fitness lifestyles of young women in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Kurghan, Francesca

subjects: body image

abstract: For many young women, their relationships with fitness, health and the body are shaped by unrealistic beauty ideals. Body image scholars have long focused on the impacts of the media and more recently, social media, on the way young women experience body satisfaction. This thesis investigates the lived experiences of young women in Aotearoa New Zealand, in relation to body image and fitness culture. Underpinned by feminist post-structuralist theory, this research project aims to amplify the voices and experiences of young women (18-25 years) to gain nuanced insights into how they interpret, internalise and negotiate the complexities of the fitness lifestyles and everyday body image. This study draws upon an anonymous survey (203 participants), as well as three focus groups and three individual interviews with 15 young women, with all participants considering themselves to be actively pursuing fitness lifestyles.

Conducting a thematic analysis, results showed that many young women are actively pursuing a range of fitness practices for diverse reasons and motives. However, many report feeling the pressure not only to adhere to thin ideals, but also to pursue bodies that are strong and toned. For many of the young women, however, the fitness lifestyles were also connected to broader social trends of ‘fitspo’ (fitness inspiration) and the ‘glow up’ (body and lifestyle transformation). Engaging with feminist literature on the pressures on young women to aspire and achieve ‘successful’ femininities in the context of neoliberalism, this research develops the concept of the ‘glow up’ in relation to their highly consumptive fitness lifestyles. In so doing, this thesis provides rich, nuanced and original insights into the pressures on everyday young women to pursue bodily and lifestyle transformation, and the effects on those unable to maintain their commitment to the ‘glow up’ imperative. Importantly, not all young women passively accept such limiting versions of the ‘body project’, with some actively acknowledging the harm that can be caused by the ‘glow up’ imperative. The thesis concludes with some researcher reflections on the contributions of this study and future directions to help young women redefine what it means to participate in meaningful physical activity.

text: The 'glow up' imperative: The fitness lifestyles of young women in Aotearoa New Zealand For many young women, their relationships with fitness, health and the body are shaped by unrealistic beauty ideals. Body image scholars have long focused on the impacts of the media and more recently, social media, on the way young women experience body satisfaction. This thesis investigates the lived experiences of young women in Aotearoa New Zealand, in relation to body image and fitness culture. Underpinned by feminist post-structuralist theory, this research project aims to amplify the voices and experiences of young women (18-25 years) to gain nuanced insights into how they interpret, internalise and negotiate the complexities of the fitness lifestyles and everyday body image. This study draws upon an anonymous survey (203 participants), as well as three focus groups and three individual interviews with 15 young women, with all participants considering themselves to be actively pursuing fitness lifestyles.

Conducting a thematic analysis, results showed that many young women are actively pursuing a range of fitness practices for diverse reasons and motives. However, many report feeling the pressure not only to adhere to thin ideals, but also to pursue bodies that are strong and toned. For many of the young women, however, the fitness lifestyles were also connected to broader social trends of ‘fitspo’ (fitness inspiration) and the ‘glow up’ (body and lifestyle transformation). Engaging with feminist literature on the pressures on young women to aspire and achieve ‘successful’ femininities in the context of neoliberalism, this research develops the concept of the ‘glow up’ in relation to their highly consumptive fitness lifestyles. In so doing, this thesis provides rich, nuanced and original insights into the pressures on everyday young women to pursue bodily and lifestyle transformation, and the effects on those unable to maintain their commitment to the ‘glow up’ imperative. Importantly, not all young women passively accept such limiting versions of the ‘body project’, with some actively acknowledging the harm that can be caused by the ‘glow up’ imperative. The thesis concludes with some researcher reflections on the contributions of this study and future directions to help young women redefine what it means to participate in meaningful physical activity.

year: 2024

title: Corporate governance and correlation in corporate defaults

authors: Fernando, Jayasuriya Mahapatabendige Ruwani

abstract: Manuscript Type
Empirical
Research Question/Issue
This study examines the effect of weak corporate governance in terms of concentrated ownership, low board effectiveness, low financial transparency and higher shareholder rights on default correlation when firms have different credit qualities.

Research Findings/Insights
Using historical default data in the United States from 2000 to 2015, we find that the degree of default correlation increases disproportionately for firms with concentrated ownership, low board effectiveness, low financial transparency and disclosures, and higher shareholder rights. More importantly, the effect of weak corporate governance on default correlation is high during a financial crisis.

Theoretical/Academic Implications
This is one of the first studies testing the impact of corporate governance on the correlation in corporate defaults. It indicates new avenues of research for both corporate governance and credit risk management in relation to why joint default probabilities vary among firms.

Practitioner/Policy Implications
Our results imply that good corporate governance is essential for credit risk management because poor corporate governance may increase individual default risk and create the domino effect of credit defaults. Practitioners and policy makers should enhance control over poor governance practices to reduce the probabilities of default. Moreover, the impact of corporate governance on correlation in corporate defaults is more pronounced in financial crises and warrants consideration from policy makers to take steps toward cushioning its effects.

text: Corporate governance and correlation in corporate defaults Manuscript Type
Empirical
Research Question/Issue
This study examines the effect of weak corporate governance in terms of concentrated ownership, low board effectiveness, low financial transparency and higher shareholder rights on default correlation when firms have different credit qualities.

Research Findings/Insights
Using historical default data in the United States from 2000 to 2015, we find that the degree of default correlation increases disproportionately for firms with concentrated ownership, low board effectiveness, low financial transparency and disclosures, and higher shareholder rights. More importantly, the effect of weak corporate governance on default correlation is high during a financial crisis.

Theoretical/Academic Implications
This is one of the first studies testing the impact of corporate governance on the correlation in corporate defaults. It indicates new avenues of research for both corporate governance and credit risk management in relation to why joint default probabilities vary among firms.

Practitioner/Policy Implications
Our results imply that good corporate governance is essential for credit risk management because poor corporate governance may increase individual default risk and create the domino effect of credit defaults. Practitioners and policy makers should enhance control over poor governance practices to reduce the probabilities of default. Moreover, the impact of corporate governance on correlation in corporate defaults is more pronounced in financial crises and warrants consideration from policy makers to take steps toward cushioning its effects.

year: 2019

title: Using the stars to indigenize the public sphere: Matariki over New Zealand

authors: Hardy, Anna

subjects: Arts & Humanities

abstract: As the rate of affiliation to Christian identity continues to decline in Aotearoa New Zealand (only 49 percent of the population said they were Christian in the last census), public space has become more receptive to other forms of religiosity. In particular, community rituals around the winter movements of the Matariki (Pleiades) constellation have gained support since the year 2000. For instance, the capital city, Wellington, has replaced a centuries’ old British fireworks festival, Guy Fawkes, with an enlarged version of its Matariki celebrations: an action seen as a tipping point in the incorporation of Māori spiritual values into public life. Interactions between European colonisers and Māori have been characterised for more than 250 years by tensions between the relational thinking of Māori who see human beings as both participating in and constrained by an environment resonant with divine energies, and the quantitative, hierarchical, ‘Great Chain of Being’ model that had long been dominant among Europeans. Now, when the natural environment worldwide is under strain from population and economic pressures, it seems to some both appropriate and vital to look to epistemological and spiritual models that are intimately responsive to the specificities of location.

text: Using the stars to indigenize the public sphere: Matariki over New Zealand As the rate of affiliation to Christian identity continues to decline in Aotearoa New Zealand (only 49 percent of the population said they were Christian in the last census), public space has become more receptive to other forms of religiosity. In particular, community rituals around the winter movements of the Matariki (Pleiades) constellation have gained support since the year 2000. For instance, the capital city, Wellington, has replaced a centuries’ old British fireworks festival, Guy Fawkes, with an enlarged version of its Matariki celebrations: an action seen as a tipping point in the incorporation of Māori spiritual values into public life. Interactions between European colonisers and Māori have been characterised for more than 250 years by tensions between the relational thinking of Māori who see human beings as both participating in and constrained by an environment resonant with divine energies, and the quantitative, hierarchical, ‘Great Chain of Being’ model that had long been dominant among Europeans. Now, when the natural environment worldwide is under strain from population and economic pressures, it seems to some both appropriate and vital to look to epistemological and spiritual models that are intimately responsive to the specificities of location.

year: 2019