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Archive for 'Research'

On The American Dream and Amber Waves of Great

The American Dream has great power. Merriam-Webster defines it as “an American social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity”; but this is incomplete. The American Dream is also bound up in those four words, “the pursuit of happiness,” an “unalienable right” guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson and Franklin elided our right [...]

The Reality of "RealAge": Big Business meets Big Brother?

So you’ve probably heard about Ghostnet, the mysterious online spying network. But have you considered the degree to which your online activity is monitored by big business? I don’t just mean those ads on the side of your Gmail account that spontaneously advertise garden gnomes when you talk about your short hippie friend. I mean [...]

'It's Not Rape if She Blinks Twice for Yes' and Other Phallacies of Rape Culture

The New York Times recently reported that yet another rapist is being let off of the hook – as the majority are. Nearly 95% of men standing trial for rape in the United States and the United Kingdom are cleared of all charges, which is a shocking number considering the social, personal and political consequences [...]

Happy Belated V-Day: Biological Anthropology of the Penis

According to Pulitzer-Prize winning feminist, biologist and journalist Natalie Angier, biological anthropology started out as an attempt to make a ‘science’ out of  objectifying women (mainly by conflating culturally determined elements of attractiveness with the work of evolution). Such research incites dispute because it supports oppressive cultural standards of beauty with pseudoscience, and thus presents [...]

Depression, Oppression, Gender Socialization, Other Pressing Things

It has come to my attention that about twice as many women are depressed as men. So let’s read about it. Here’s an excerpt from an essay by Marwan M. Kazimi on the link between gender and depression (or you can read the whole essay). Personality attributes of girls and boys have been linked to [...]

Notes from an insecure country, part dos: las virgenes y las putas

The distinction between the sexes is an important battleground these days. Not only do women demonstrate the capacity to work outside the home, but we have also co-opted behaviors that were previously considered masculine, such as smoking, drinking, and having  (gasp!) sexual relations without necessarily planning to marry our partner or be their baby mama.