Ladies: Do you have any idea how much power you have over us men? To quote the classic song, it seems the very thought of you is enough to dull our brains. That’s the conclusion of a research team from the Netherlands, which reports the mere anticipation of interacting with a woman can temporarily impede men’s mental abilities. In one experiment, “Casually mentioning a female instead of a male name was sufficient to impair men’s cognitive performance,” the team from the Radboud University Nijmegen Behavioral Sciences Institute writes in the Archives of Sexual Behavior. In ... Read More
Nation’s Science Powerhouse Supports Family Time
September 28, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Internal changes to a government agency's home-and-work policy don't normally warrant a White House rollout and an accompanying Washington Post op-ed. But when the National Science Foundation unveiled plans this week to instill comprehensive support for work-family balance throughout the foundation and its grant work, it was a big step toward redressing the gender gap in U.S. science and engineering. The new policy isn't geared exclusively toward women, although they will be its most practical beneficiaries. Researchers will be able to extend or delay research grants to have a baby or adopt ... Read More
Would Debt-Ceiling Circus Occur With Women in Charge?
August 3, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Congress did finally pass a deal to raise the debt ceiling in the 11th hour (or just 12 hours before default). But no one seems to be cheering the resolution for this reason: The unsightly process that got Congress to this point has revealed an institution so dysfunctional just 2 percent of Americans have anything nice to say about its recent behavior. Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike have instead overwhelmingly summed up the debt-ceiling debate in a new Pew survey with bitter words like "ridiculous," "disgusting," "stupid" and "childish." On the website of Foreign Policy ... Read More
Female Pop Stars: Prepare to Disrobe
July 19, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
There is no shortage of voices decrying the sexualization of mass culture. Just last month, actor and director David Schwimmer complained to a London newspaper: “We have this real emphasis on how important it is to look young and sexual, so that’s the message we’re sending our girls. Look at the biggest pop stars around at the moment: Everything they do is about sex.” Newly published research finds the former Friends star has a point: Over the past four decades, images of female celebrities have become much more sexualized. Evidence of this trend, which troubles feminists and social ... Read More
New Research Suggests Everybody’s Less Satisfied
July 15, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Few research papers hit a nerve like the 2009 report The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness. Over the past 35 years, “women’s happiness has declined both absolutely, and relative to men,” Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers wrote in the American Economic Journal. Some interpreted this as an indirect indictment of the feminist movement, which — the argument went — has given women more freedom but left them less content. While that was not the thesis of the paper’s authors, the notion was debated by newspaper columnists ranging from social conservative Ross Douthat to feminists ... Read More
Making Science Girl-Friendly Pays Gender Dividends
July 14, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
If you want to interest girls in science, show how it will help them investigate stereotypically feminine concerns like caring for their skin and hair, says a just-published study in the British Journal of Educational Psychology. After examining a wide array of science textbooks, University of Luxembourg educational researcher Sylvie Kerger concluded that most present real-world examples are "embedded in masculine contexts." But wrapping scientific subjects — at least initially — around female-friendly topics could kindle interest in scientific fields under-populated by women, Kerger ... Read More
Woman Boss May Lower Men’s Pay, Prestige
July 5, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
The measure of a modern man’s masculinity typically is taken in the workplace. How big is his office? How high is his salary? How impressive are his responsibilities? Newly published research adds an unexpected ingredient to this mix: What sex is his supervisor? Victoria Brescoll of the Yale School of Management reports male employees get penalized when their boss wields power in defiance of gender stereotypes. Her research suggests men in such positions suffer a loss of status and prestige due to a perceived lack of masculinity. “These results further indicate that gender ... Read More
Congo’s Violent Rape Epidemic Needs a Cure
June 21, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
November is hot in Congo. Every month is hot in Congo. So it's likely their faces shone with sweat when the first residents of Duru, in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, raced from mud hut to mud hut with a warning that sounded like, "El are ah!" That's "LRA," in French or the Congolese dialect Lingala. For years, the rebel Lord's Resistance Army has haunted northeastern Congo. Chased from neighboring Uganda in 2005 by the Ugandan army, the LRA found heavily forested, poorly governed Congo ideal for hiding and ripe for pillage. For more than two decades, the LRA had fought to ... Read More
‘Gaydar’ Accuracy Varies With Women’s Fertility Cycle
June 20, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Ladies: Is your “gaydar” off? Could you swear that guy was straight, only to later see him smooching with his same-sex soul mate? Don’t fret about it. It may simply be the wrong time of the month. According to a study just published in the journal Psychological Science, women are significantly better at judging male sexual orientation as they approach peak fertility. A research team led by University of Toronto psychologist Nicholas Rule also found romantic thoughts heighten women’s ability to discriminate between gay and straight men. Rule’s previous research has found men ... Read More
Accidental Deaths Linked to Macho Code of Honor
June 13, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Be a man! That pointed phrase, often offered as a rebuke, means pretty much the same thing the world over. Be strong. Don't back down. Show some courage. What does differ from one culture to another is how seriously such admonitions are taken. In more macho societies, challenges to one's manhood — such as being the recipient of ridicule for avoiding risky behavior — must not go unanswered. And the results can literally be deadly. For evidence of this, you don’t have to go to Mexico or Argentina. Mississippi or Alabama will do. In a newly published study, three University of ... Read More
