I’ve come across two disturbing newsarticles in the last week or so: A BBC report on a study of children’s responses to questions about partner-violence and a report that despite falling homocide rates, women are increasingly being killed by their partners. According to the BBC report, kids apparently find it okay to hit someone because she was late with making diner. This sounds so much like the standard excuse from a batterer it is very scary. The study of 11- and 12-year olds also investigated attitudes toward gender roles. It’s as if feminism had never happened! The aspirations are as … Continue reading »
Feb 202010
Happy Quirkyalone Day! – to all of you Singles with Attitude! Celebrate the love in all your relationships! Happy Quirkytogether Day! – to all of you quirky folks who are together in a relationship with a SEEPie! And to you conformists out there: Happy Valentine’s Day!* (And if you want to wear your attitude on your shirt, please check this out! A small donation goes to AtMP – an organization fighting matrimania and singlism.) *As the day went on, I thought that maybe embracing Valentine’s Day for all of our relationships and celebrating all of our love is a better … Continue reading »
In a recent interview of David Brooks by Charlie Rose, Brooks recounts experiments done by Walter Mischel. Mischel, starting several decades ago, presented 3- and 4-year old kids with the choice of eating a marshmallow now or receiving another one 10 minutes later if they could resist eating that marshmallow in front of them. Mischel noticed by following these kids as they grew up that those who resisted the temptation of instant gratification were more likely to be successful later on. He posits that there might be something genetic going on. It certainly has some deterministic overtones if we can … Continue reading »
Feb 072010
Cognitive dissonance is that feeling that we get when we believe something contradictory. It arises – to use the example from a textbook – when you think you should be on a diet but devour a huge bowl of chocolate mousse. You then start justifying your choice to minimize the dissonance. Recently, I have been thinking about a specific cognitive dissonance: Ethical dissonance. Working at a large financial institution (FI) during the financial “crisis” is creating a lot of ethical dissonance for me. Already the fact that I put the crisis in quotes is a symptom of that: On the … Continue reading »
The Alternatives for Marriage Project has been fighting to get marriage promotion out of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) for years. Unfortunately, it looks like the new HHS Budget not only continues with this practice from the Bush era but increases the funding: The Budget includes an extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant and related programs, including the Contingency Fund and Supplemental Grants, through FY 2011. The Budget also includes $500 million for a new Fatherhood, Marriage, and Families Innovation Fund. The fund will provide competitive grants to States to conduct and rigorously evaluate … Continue reading »
I guess I should have known. After all, I’ve been following the Feminist Philosopher’s blog for a while. But it still came as a shock when I counted the number of women in my first graduate philosophy seminar. Four. Out of 26 students. There are three in my other seminar – out of 16. The one article by a woman in the book we’re using didn’t make it onto the syllabus. I’ve been in statistics classes with more women. Based on what I’ve read on the feminist philosopher’s blog, other male dominated fields also have higher proportions of women. Apparently, … Continue reading »
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