Category Archives: psychology
My Son Wants to Be Snow White for Halloween
Defying gender norms for Halloween
One day early last fall, I returned from work and discovered my son in a dress. And not just any dress. A Snow White dress. I can’t say it was a complete shock. Luke had been telling my wife and me for more than a week that he wanted to be Snow White for Halloween. Whenever Melanie or I gently suggested an alternate costume, he would calmly respond, “No, I think I have to be Snow White. I dropped my bag and made what I hoped was a suitable fuss over the costume. My face still taut with manufactured glee.
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Relative Deprivation and Trump Appeal
Donald Trump
Most people would choose a 3000 sq-ft. house over a 4000 sq-ft. home — if that’s the only way that their house could be bigger than everyone else’s.
That may help to explain Donald Trump’s appeal.
The white working-class (Tump’s biggest supporters) have plummeted in relative status over the last 40 years.
Their wages have languished or fallen even as minorities have gained ground — threatening white privilege and dominance, points out Thomas Edsall at the New York Times. Plus, the buying power of the top 10% has kept many goods and services beyond their reach, he adds. Read the rest of this entry
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Language Can Make Women Disappear
- Europeans play football
- Americans play baseball
- Australians are bear-drinking surfies
A few years ago (when both language and culture were more sexist than today) Dale Spender asked some teens to play a game. She made statements like those above and asked if they could guess the rule behind the game. Girls were quicker to catch on:
You pretend you’re talking about everybody but you don’t. It’s only men.
Basically, they were using language to make women disappear. The boys had a lot of fun with this game.
Until she changed the rule. Read the rest of this entry
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Hillary Hating & Sexism
Hillary Clinton
When people hate on Hillary I ask why.
The complaints are often curious:
- “She doesn’t care about people of color.” Yet she has fought for school desegregation as well as universal health care and other paths to social and economic empowerment that benefit people of color.
- “She lies.” Compared to most politicians, she hardly ever does.
- “Scandals follow her.” The accusations are almost entirely made up.
- “She attacked Latin America.” She did?
- “I don’t know why. I just don’t like her.”
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Men Dislike Double Standard More Than Women?
Plenty of women hate the double standard that rewards men for having sex, but punishes women.
But on average, men dislike it more.
Why is that? Read the rest of this entry
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Which Sex Has More Power, Sexually Speaking?
Which sex has more power, sexually speaking?
Who has more power when it comes to sex, men or women?
Many of us think “the other sex” has more. Probably because we get all hot and bothered when our own power is blocked.
But my students usually think that women have a stronger hold on sexual strings. Why? Because by social convention, women are expected to place limits. Read the rest of this entry
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Beautiful People = The Best People?
Men go for looks because they are trying to mate with the healthiest, most reproductively viable women. Right? Even though to most widely spread their genes, guys will mate with just about anyone.
Yet women don’t care about looks so much because, even though women are very picky, clear physical cues to the best genes aren’t all that important. A man’s resources are what matter.
So say evolutionary psychologists.
Hmmmm. Maybe not. Read the rest of this entry
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Tough Guys and Tough Guises
Tough guise
Boys and men can spend a lot of time putting on a tough guise, hoping to pass for tough guys.
Maybe you’ve seen Jackson Katz’s film, Tough Guise, which explores the problem.
The film opens with Dorothy pulling back the curtain of the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz — who turns out to be a nervous and tragic man. Read the rest of this entry
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Repression Shutting Down Teen Girl’s Sexuality
Dilemmas of Desire by Deborah Tolman
Young women’s experience of sexuality was ignored by social scientists for years.
But about ten years ago San Francisco State professor Deborah Tolman interviewed high school girls who would be in their late 20s today.
Prof. Tolman had expected to unveil young women’s strong yearnings, but instead she found that most were hazy about their desire. It was dulled. Or even nonexistent. Read the rest of this entry
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PMS: The Only Reason Women Get Angry?
Anger does not mean I’m PMSing.
By Sutana Aziz
If I’m angry I must be PMSing?
In middle school I got into a heated argument with my little brother. I was angry because he wasn’t keeping up with his end of the housework. We were yelling back-and-forth, and all of a sudden he exclaimed, “Why are you so upset, are you PMSing?” Read the rest of this entry
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