Studies conclude that breastfeeding for six months is associated with better lifelong health for the mother and the child. Mothers in the U.S. returning to work after maternity leave report difficulty with the need to take frequent breaks to pump breastmilk so many stop breastfeeding. Factors discouraging pumping breastmilk in the workplace motivated a content analysis of public comments posted in response to a legal deposition that occurred in January of 2011 in which an attorney who was a new mother was challenged about taking a break to pump breastmilk. A total of 899 public comments posted on Yahoo in 2015-2016 in response to this earlier incident were analyzed for content. Of these, only 336 mentioned breastfeeding. Overall, 148 comments showed support for breastfeeding or pumping breastmilk at work, while 182 comments showed moderate to strong disapproval (six unclassified). The majority of disapproving comments were critical of pumping breastmilk in the workplace. Implications of these findings for the duration of breastfeeding after returning to work are discussed.

White, politically conservative males in the United States have been widely found to maintain petro-masculine attitudes that include aspects of racism, misogyny, and climate change denial. These beliefs and their associated behaviors, including climate destructiveness, can be conceptualized as compensatory reactions to modern-day racial, gender, and climate-related anxieties that are experienced as threats to traditional white male privilege and power. They then manifest as and energize authoritarian desires and their associated sociopolitical movements, including the current Republican effort to Make American Great Again. This paper utilizes psychoanalytic concepts concerning individual and large-group identity, group psychodynamics and processes, and the intergenerational transmission of idealized myth and fantasy to further elucidate and expand upon these complex phenomena. It then suggests specific strategies for disentangling the strong links between white hegemonic masculinity, fossil fuel use, and climate change denial, thus opening doors to alternative, non climate-destructive yet still empowering notions of individual, large-group, and national identity that are, instead, based in communal concern and climate care.

This study investigated whether the leadership competence of an overweight candidate is affected by exposure to weight-stigmatizing and nonstigmatizing messages. Participants read one of four messages—a weight stigma, a health stigma, a competence, or a stigma-reducing message. Fat phobia, weight controllability, partisanship, political activism, and voting behaviors were also measured. Weight controllability bias interacted with the weight stigma message to produce lower evaluations of political leadership competence. Weight controllability also correlated with higher levels of fat phobia regardless of message exposure. The evidence suggests making stigmatizing comments in print/online against a candidate based on a physical characteristic like large size negatively biases public perceptions of political leadership competence. This study of negative competence evaluation directed toward a real politician confirms the findings of earlier experimental studies with fictitious fat politicians.

The contemporary American right wing is predominantly composed of White working‐class and wealthier White Americans who, according to recent research, report profound fears of cultural displacement and the loss of American exceptionalism. This group's dynamics and processes, the psychologies of its leader, Donald Trump, and component members, and its associated versions of certain foundational American myths and fantasies contain significant elements of both narcissism and paranoia. These myths include that of America being a divine “City Upon a Hill,” the story of the idyllic, pre‐Civil War “Old South,” and the Horatio Alger myth of “bootstrapping” up the economic ladder. These idealized, fantasied narratives are manipulated and exploited by those in positions of power, thus exacerbating members' fear, shame, and rage. Increased understanding of these psychological phenomena can aid psychoanalysts in consulting about and, when possible, engaging directly with these individuals, especially when facing significant psychological, sociocultural, and political obstacles.