liveonearth: (moon)
I'm happy to read that California colleges are adopting this new standard which says that in order to not be rape, sexual interaction may occur when both partners are conscious and actively consenting. I hope that this new standard is widely adopted and eventually becomes law for the nation, not just a few colleges.

My partner points out that it does not remove the possibility of a "he said she said" standoff in court, and this is true. It requires education, so that everyone knows that it is the standard, and support such that all persons feel empowered to say "no" when they want to.

What this standard does, in my mind at least, is raise the bar ever so slightly for aggressors seeking sex. It removes the defense "She didn't say no" from play. I have been appalled to see that a raped woman cannot get justice unless she gets hurt. If she is not injured, and does not have ejaculate on her, then the court could find "no evidence" that she was raped. Requiring that a woman be injured or that there be witnesses who heard her screaming "no" before you believe that she was raped is a terrible baseline, but in practicality it plays out this way. This is why even in our supposedly open culture most raped women do not seek legal recourse. It's not worth it.

I would like to believe that a good lawyer or judge can elicit signs of the truth from a person even when they are trying to hide it. I would like to think that attentive jurors will instinctively know when someone is lying. Perhaps I am too idealistic about our court system, and it malfunctions more than it functions.

There's nothing direct or simple about the way sexuality plays out in our culture and legal system. Messy is more the word for it. Within a relationship that has been sexual in the past, men do take advantage, and women do submit in order to not be hurt. That submission is not consent. For young men who have no partner, the situation is worse. I have read that many young American men today are angry at women because they cannot get the sex they want. One such young man took up a gun to express his anger. Intense desire is normal, but such anger is dangerous. Modern youth partake of online porn that gives them an unrealistic view of sex and does not educate them on the delicacies of dating or seduction. It is an unhealthy situation, and this standard does nothing to resolve it. Who is going to teach the young people how to talk to each other, to be respectful, and to flirt gracefully? I do not know. I only know that the social structures that used to educate us about proper mating behavior have fallen apart, and nothing has taken their place.

At least here raped women are not stoned to death, though I can comprehend how this would be better for the males in a patriarchal system. She can't complain if she's dead. At least in colleges in California, "yes means yes" is an excellent new dividing line between consent and submission or worse.
liveonearth: (blue skinned alien 2)
It is what you learn
after you know it all
that counts.

--Earl Weaver (Baseball Manager)
liveonearth: (bipolar_express)
Bruises fade and skin heals, but the mind remembers. Physical punishment is still prevalent among US families. This study found the prevalence of physical punishment without "more severe child maltreatment" was 5.9%. Boys get physically punished more than girls, 59.4% to 40.6%. Blacks get beat more than whites. Asians and Pacific Islanders (including native Hawaiians) were the least likely to get whupped by their own parents.

The harsher the physical (or emotional) punishment was, the higher the odds of an axis I or II diagnosis. Axis I diagnoses include major depression, dysthymia, mania, mood disorders, phobias, anxiety disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse or dependence. Axis II diagnoses include several individual personality disorders and cluster A and B disorder diagnoses. The researchers concluded that 2-7% of all mental disease is attributable to childhood abuse.

SOURCE
http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/767353?src=cmemp
the stats )
liveonearth: (looks like house to me)
A new study has been published in the November issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry (Br J Psych. 2011;199:386-390). This is the first longitudinal study showing brain effects of marijuana; it reduces the volume of the thalamus in folks age 16-25 who are well but have a family history of schizophrenia. The reduction is greater on the right side.
more notes )
liveonearth: (looks like house to me)
Lately I keep hearing people talk about what they "resonate with". It is how people choose their spiritual paths. "The Lakota (path) is the one I find I resonate best with." And it is how many in complementary medicine decide which modalities to practice. An intelligent and lovely young woman "resonates" with UNDA numbers and believes that homeopathic "drainage" is how she should practice medicine. She would take a patient off a proven medicine to give them what she resonates with. A charismatic professor "resonates" with muscle testing and so uses it to decide what medicines to give.

I take issue with this. If we rely on psychological resonance to help us make decisions, what are they really based on? The attractiveness of the proposition to our subconscious mind? The degree to which it fits with what we already believe? This method for making decisions about important matters is unscientific and terribly dangerous. It might be appropriate for chosing a metaphysical practice, but is it really suitable for making decisions about how to practice medicine? I think NOT. Intuition has its place, but it cannot and should not completely replace rational thought. Unconscious competence comes only after years of conscious education.
liveonearth: (Default)

(melanoma education for youth)
liveonearth: (flowing_creek)

The level at the high bridge putin was 5.32. That's medium, or maybe medium-high. It was just right. The group was 10 kayakers including Joey, Craig and Michael that I've paddled with before. Several of the group were men who'd been in the "fast group" on Opal yesterday, or were just plain old new. Ken, Ben who works at Nike, Bradley, etc. I rode with and followed Bruce. Joey instructed both Craig and I to follow him, and when I told him that on the ride up it got him going. He's a cell biologist at age 60 with an illustrious career that discovered (with others of course) kinesin which is this very cool little walking protein that goes up a track inside our neurons. Axonal transport. He was interesting to follow on the river, reminded me somewhat of Dick with the way he would give instructions and then set out to lead. He wasn't easy to follow, either. I could never tell what he was going to do next, and he would paddle really hard to make difficult moves. One thing is for sure, if you start your beginners out following him, they will get to be better boaters fast. After a while I learned to hang back and see generally what channel he was headed down, and then read the close up water for myself. I cut a lot of corners and took one tenth as many strokes, and enjoyed it more. Funny how different people's river styles can be. I guess I'm lazy.
about the river and more random train of consciousness )
liveonearth: (Homer Simpson "D'oh!")

I was a Campfire Girl, not a Girlscout or Brownie. So I don't know from the inside. But from the outside, having been a river guide and taking many screaming groups of Brownies rafting on whitewater rivers, the organization appears squeaky clean and rather conservative. I never would have guessed that the organization would teach girls about abortion. But who knows? Maybe they are. That's what the teenaged girls from Texas are saying, and they're making news on The Daily Beast. It occurs to me though that the organization will probably have its name cleared. The organization officially does not endorse any political party or birth control method. Meanwhile, the offended girls have started a blog to get their story out. The case they are making is that the official girl scout materials mention websites and people who are "pro-abortion" and so if you follow the links you will discover that these perspectives are ubiquitous. Big surprise. I wonder what fraction of the links in the girl scout material go to sites that hold the opposite viewpoints. It seems to me that the org would serve the girls best by exposing them to many opposing viewpoints so that they could learn to think and decide for themselves. Girls who want to be cloistered would be better served in a nunnery.
liveonearth: (dont_be_heavy)
Nuclear plants in Japan are melting down, and radioactive clouds are headed our way across the Pacific. We have time to prepare...but what should we do? I am full of ideas, but mind you, this is not medical advice! Just the random rantings of some stranger on the internet! With that said, maybe it is a good time to increase your antioxidant intake, and keep it high for the forseeable future. Also, because much radioactivity is carried from such events in the form of radioactive iodine, maybe it's time to fill all your iodine receptors with healthy non-radioactive iodine. That way you reduce the amount of radioactivity your body takes in. The thyroid is the #1 place that iodine is used, and guess where is #2? The breast! Yes. And especially in teenage girls, the risk of cancer if iodine levels are low is radically increased--even when no noxious clouds are headed our way. Studies after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed that the people who survived best and had least symptoms of radioactivity poisoning were the ones with the highest iodine intakes. It even helps to take iodine after the exposure, but it's better to get it in preventatively.

Here's one explanation in the news:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/954256--explainer-how-iodine-pills-protect-against-radiation
more on exactly what I'm doing---and on what NOT to do!!!! )
liveonearth: (Default)
The rate at which U.S. women are having babies continued to fall in 2009, pushing the teen birth rate to the lowest level in the nearly 70 years reliable data have been collected, federal authorities reported Tuesday.

(Graphic by Pamela Tobey / The Washington Post)
notes from Washington Post article and other sources )
liveonearth: (moon)

NEW FEDERAL ACTION
US feds began emergency action Weds 11/24/10 (takes 30 days)
to outlaw 5 chems used to make synthetic marijuana
will be schedule 1 along with cocaine, heroin, etc
emergency ban-->illegal for 1 year while DEA and DHS study them
may not kill industry, will create new black market
15+ states and some Euro nations have already banned them
manufacturers already reformulating to circumvent bans, are in touch with distributors

came to DEA attention in 11/08 when US Customs analyzed "spice"
in 2010 customs seized a 110lb load
law enforcement will use chemical tests
will focus on distributors, not users
notes )
liveonearth: (Default)
Winning does not tempt that man.
This is how he grows:
by being defeated, decisively,
by greater and greater beings.

--Ranier Maria Wilke (1875-1926)
liveonearth: (Default)
notes from an article in the Boston Globe by Emily Anthes
Inside the bullied brain; The alarming neuroscience of taunting
notes )

Profile

liveonearth: (Default)
liveonearth

May 2025

S M T W T F S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
1819202122 2324
25262728293031

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated May. 29th, 2025 06:04 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios