In Study, Fatherhood Leads to Drop in Testosterone

This is probably not the news most fathers want to hear. 

Testosterone, that most male of hormones, takes a dive after a man becomes a parent. And the more he gets involved in caring for his children — changing diapers, jiggling the boy or girl on his knee, reading “Goodnight Moon” for the umpteenth time — the lower his testosterone drops.  Continue at the NYT.

Why Afghan Women Risk Death to Write Poetry

This story from the NYT Magazine addresses the intersections of war, women, and literature.

http://nyti.ms/IYLv6c

Death of Adrienne Rich

Ms. Rich, one of the most influential and widely read writers of the feminist movement, took on sexism and racial oppression in her poems and prose.

http://nyti.ms/HhWJRv

Congressional Women, How Are They Doing?

The election year 1992, following so closely on the heals of the Senate confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas in 1991, saw an unprecedented number of women running for public office.  How are they faring today, 20 years later?  It seems they’ve hit a plateau.  More from the Washington Post.

Sex, Lies, and Media

CNN recently posted a piece on the new wave of activists challenging notions of beauty.  Check it out here.

Sexual Counter-Revolution?

Historian Nancy L. Cohen was the guest on  On Point with Tom Ashbrook yesterday. She engaged in a lively discussion about the current controversies surrounding women’s reproductive health access and a broader anti-sex, “traditional family values” oriented segment of our population. Her new book offers a compelling argument that this counter-revolution has been building steam since the 1960’s and has now gained control over the Republican Party.

Olympics Bound

Sixteen year old Claressa Fields is a fighter- literally. She is striving to be one of the elite few who make the U.S. squad as female boxers step into the ring to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics for the first time. Listen to the NPR radio magazine story on her life and boxing career here.

Modern Love: A Child of Two Worlds

A child is born — against the odds — to Americans in a Muslim land.

A Somali proverb says that a woman should be either married or in her grave. And in the Horn of Africa, the proverb might as well go on to say that, if she is married, she had better be pregnant, nursing or postmenopausal.

Complete article in the Times.

For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside Marriage

Motherhood without marriage among younger women across the country is both a symbol of the transforming family and a hint of coming generational change.

Read more.

What’s New at the PTA, Dad?

Men are shifting the dynamics of a changing organization.

Are men heroes for joining the PTA?  If so, what does that make women?

From The NY Times.