I finally watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. My reaction is mixed – between rejoicing at women fighting back against their abusers to being deeply disturbed and trying to avoid flashbacks. What would happen if all of us who have been deeply wounded through sexual abuse would fight back – maybe by withholding all sex in a twist on Lysistrata? Susan Brison has argued that rape and sexual abuse are not only crimes committed by individuals against individuals but they are group-based victimization (she presented this in a paper at the 2010 APA Pacific meeting). They reflect the general … Continue reading »
Aug 142010
Jul 152010
I’ve been reading a lot about stereotypes and prejudices lately. Fifty years after Allport wrote his Nature of Prejudice, a compilation came out that reviews and updates his work. Underneath stereotypes and prejudices is the process of categorization. Allport suggested that and empirical research confirmed it. When we see something or someone, we categorize the perception – fast and unconscious. The categories are probably culturally determined, so it would be difficult to content that it’s natural, say, to categorize people by gender. Just like bones, there is no such thing as something entirely natural. But there is a process that … Continue reading »
Jun 302010
When Bella DePaulo asked me to interview me for her change agent series, I was surprised. Me? I haven’t really done anything! Yet, at least. Well, I decided to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity and mull over how I got to where I am today and where I’d like to be going. You can read the fruits of that mulling here.
Jun 222010
I read a couple of chapters today in a very interesting book on the Psychology of Legitimacy. Both chapters talked about ambivalent prejudice/stereotypes (unlike other scholars, the authors seemed not to distinguish between these two concepts). They mentioned a couple of inventories that I thought sounded interesting: The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory and the Ambivalence toward Men Inventory. The ASI can be taken online (just follow the link…). It is supposed to measure hostile and benevolent sexism. Hostile sexism is the good old sexism of negative feelings toward women. Benevolent sexism describes positive stereotypes toward women that still keep us “in … Continue reading »
Mar 282010
Somehow I stumbled on the World Values Survey, a cross-national survey that asks among other things “Is marriage an outdated institution?”. I don’t have time to dig into the data a whole lot but I thought I’d share some interesting things (the data is available online!): Overall, 83% of respondents think that marriage is not outdated. Indonesia is the most traditional country with 96% of the respondents disagreeing that marriage is outdated. Andorra is the most progressive country. Almost 40% think that marriage is outdated. In the US, barely 13% think that marriage is outdated. Across all countries, slightly more … 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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