A new study on Bisphenol A (BPA), the compound found in plastic bottles that caused a good bit of uproar in the public health world earlier this year, has found that exposure may make girls behave aggressively.
Prenatal exposure to BPA "was most strongly associated with behaviour problems in girls but could be traced in boys too." Preliminary findings show that “the girls showed a definite difference in temperaments. Their behaviour was actually much more like boys at the same age."
Science that relies on a set of behaviors normal for boys and another set of behaviors normal for girls is based on archaic ideas about how we act according to our assigned genders. To presume that girls who act "much more like boys" are doing so only because of the influence of environmental toxins is to rely on overly simplistic ideas about how sex affects identity. -Sara
Friday, October 9, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Housewives: in charge of the house?
I'd like to believe that housewives have some degree of power when it comes to running the house. Even if they are devoted to meeting the demands of children and husbands, household tasks, at least, can be left to the woman-of-the-house's discretionary oversight. This is not to advocate for autonomous homemaking as an equitable division of power with a husband who works full time, but at least the recognition that traditional women's roles carry with them a certain degree of responsibility.
Imagine my dismay, then, to receive a message from a coworker that said something like, "I'll be in late because a crew is scheduled to come and repair our windows. I don't want to leave my wife alone with the workers." There are two plausible, and both equally distressing, interpretations. His wife (who stays at home with their young children) needs to be protected from the scary men from the outside who may hurt or rape or intimidate her; or, the passage of any strangers suggests a perfect opportunity for infidelity.
Both the protectionist and the jealous angles impose his control and power over her domain--running the household. Both are irrational rationalizations of a power dynamic that leaves him in charge, her subordinate, and her indebted to him for protecting or controlling her. He takes it upon himself to ensure that their household lives remain as they are--gender roles included--by fancying himself the protector and master of a home which, in fact, is run by her. It's the delusion that bothers me most, leaving him with the notion that not only is he the breadwinner, but also the one ultimately responsible for achieving day-to-day household tasks. In gendered households such as these, I'd at least like to see recognition where it's due. -Sara
Swedish kiddos fight gender stereotypes
A group of Swedish sixth graders have prompted an investigation into gender discrimination in a Toys "R" Us catalogue, according to The Local, an online English-language Swedish publication. The sixth graders petitioned the Reklamombudsmannen, an independent regulatory agency that focuses on marketing, to look into gender roles in the Toys "R" Us ads.
"Thumbing through the catalogue, 13-year-old Hannes Psajd explained that he and his twin sister had always shared the same toys and that he was concerned about the message sent by the Toys "R" Us publication," the article reads. “'Small girls in princess stuff…and here are boys dressed as super heroes. It’s obvious that you get affected by this,' [Psajd said]."
Other kids were concerned that boys couldn't share in the girly role playing. One student, Moa Averin, said that every child should act out his or her own fantasy, even if "guys want to be princesses sometimes."
"Thumbing through the catalogue, 13-year-old Hannes Psajd explained that he and his twin sister had always shared the same toys and that he was concerned about the message sent by the Toys "R" Us publication," the article reads. “'Small girls in princess stuff…and here are boys dressed as super heroes. It’s obvious that you get affected by this,' [Psajd said]."
Other kids were concerned that boys couldn't share in the girly role playing. One student, Moa Averin, said that every child should act out his or her own fantasy, even if "guys want to be princesses sometimes."
The Reklamombudsmannen agreed with the students' findings and issued a public complaint against Toys "R" Us, citing in particular the fact that the boys in the catalogue were portrayed as active learners while the girls came off as passive. -Naomi (Thanks, Josh, for the tip.)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
German magazine opts for "real women" models
A German fashion magazine, Brigitte will stop using professional models in its fashion shoots, according to an article in Advertising Age. While some have speculated that the magazine's shift to using "real women" is a money saving tactic, Brigitte editor Brigitte Huber says that the move is intended to curb the prevalence of unrealistic beauty standards portrayed in most fashion magazines.
"Attractiveness has many faces, whether they are actresses, musicians, first ladies or women on the streets of big cities -- they all affect fashion and beauty styles," said Huber in a statement.
According to the Advertising Age article, Brigitte's rejection of professional models is the latest episode in an ongoing European trend to upend the use of stick-thin models in the fashion industry. French lawmakers recently proposed legislation to include a symbol on airbrushed magazine spreads to alert readers that the images had been tampered with. In England, the editor of British Vogue reached out to fashion houses to create couture for a variety of body types. And two years ago in Spain, lawmakers passed legislation mandating that catwalk models must meet a certain body mass index measurement.
While Brigitte claims to be meeting the demands of its readership with its model-ban, it will remain to be seen what kind of "real women" the magazine includes in its pages. Will these women be slightly less airbrushed-looking than the models, or will Brigitte actually strive for a true representation of its readership? -Naomi
"Attractiveness has many faces, whether they are actresses, musicians, first ladies or women on the streets of big cities -- they all affect fashion and beauty styles," said Huber in a statement.
According to the Advertising Age article, Brigitte's rejection of professional models is the latest episode in an ongoing European trend to upend the use of stick-thin models in the fashion industry. French lawmakers recently proposed legislation to include a symbol on airbrushed magazine spreads to alert readers that the images had been tampered with. In England, the editor of British Vogue reached out to fashion houses to create couture for a variety of body types. And two years ago in Spain, lawmakers passed legislation mandating that catwalk models must meet a certain body mass index measurement.
While Brigitte claims to be meeting the demands of its readership with its model-ban, it will remain to be seen what kind of "real women" the magazine includes in its pages. Will these women be slightly less airbrushed-looking than the models, or will Brigitte actually strive for a true representation of its readership? -Naomi
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Levi Johnston's new gig
Via DoubleX, a hilarious pistachios ad in which Sarah Palin's erstwhile son-in-law-to-be "does it with protection": -Naomi
Monday, October 5, 2009
Ted Haggard talks
In 2007, Ted Haggard, a national evangelical leader based in Colorado Springs, was outed by Denver male prostitute Mike Jones, who asserted that Haggard secretly visited him for sex and methamphetamine over several years. Haggard, the head pastor at Colorado Springs' New Life Church, was banished from the state of Colorado by church leaders, but he was pardoned this year and returned to his home. In a wide-ranging interview with the Colorado Springs Independent, Haggard, who previously claimed to have been cured of his "homosexual tendencies," comes off as downright progressive. Though he's still married to his wife, Gayle, he eschews the labels of "gay" or "straight," and even tepidly rejects the widely-held falsity that homosexuals must have experienced sexual abuse as children.
Haggard, himself a victim of childhood sexual abuse by his father's colleague, comments on the impact of the event in his own life: "I don't want to say that people who have homosexual tendencies, have homosexual tendencies because of abuse, because most don't," he says. "And if I said the things that the therapists have said to me, some people out there would read it as me giving an excuse, which I don't want to do. I just want to be well. I want to be able to be faithful to my wife, faithful to my kids, and faithful to my faith. I want to be the man that I am, I want to be true to myself, and that's why I haven't let the others put me in a box. Oprah really wanted me to be gay or straight or something, and I just said, 'I am not going to fit into your boxes.' I'm not here to fit into your stereotypes, I'm here to be faithful to me."
That "me," that Haggard speaks of, however, is someone who is still constrained by anti-gay religious beliefs. Later on in the interview, Haggard says, "even though I've been through a sad series of events in my own life, I've always believed that the best expression, the safest, the Godly expression of sexuality is in a heterosexual monogamous marriage. Now that's not saying — I mean, I think a lot of people believe that, but a lot of people who believe it have their own issue with their own minds, their own eyes, their own hormones, their own loneliness, their own whatever. Our view is that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and when you come to Christ, all your sins are forgiven — past, present and future — and then you begin a walk with the Lord where you grow his influence in your life. And so homosexuality is not a sin unto death, unless you embrace it as a lifestyle, and that means you don't repent of it any longer. But the same would be true with virtually any sin."
Read the interview in its entirety here. -Naomi
Haggard, himself a victim of childhood sexual abuse by his father's colleague, comments on the impact of the event in his own life: "I don't want to say that people who have homosexual tendencies, have homosexual tendencies because of abuse, because most don't," he says. "And if I said the things that the therapists have said to me, some people out there would read it as me giving an excuse, which I don't want to do. I just want to be well. I want to be able to be faithful to my wife, faithful to my kids, and faithful to my faith. I want to be the man that I am, I want to be true to myself, and that's why I haven't let the others put me in a box. Oprah really wanted me to be gay or straight or something, and I just said, 'I am not going to fit into your boxes.' I'm not here to fit into your stereotypes, I'm here to be faithful to me."
That "me," that Haggard speaks of, however, is someone who is still constrained by anti-gay religious beliefs. Later on in the interview, Haggard says, "even though I've been through a sad series of events in my own life, I've always believed that the best expression, the safest, the Godly expression of sexuality is in a heterosexual monogamous marriage. Now that's not saying — I mean, I think a lot of people believe that, but a lot of people who believe it have their own issue with their own minds, their own eyes, their own hormones, their own loneliness, their own whatever. Our view is that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and when you come to Christ, all your sins are forgiven — past, present and future — and then you begin a walk with the Lord where you grow his influence in your life. And so homosexuality is not a sin unto death, unless you embrace it as a lifestyle, and that means you don't repent of it any longer. But the same would be true with virtually any sin."
Read the interview in its entirety here. -Naomi
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