Category: Uncategorized

Twin Boys, One Transgender, Become Brother and Sister

As early as age 4, Wyatt Maines asked his mother, “When do I get to be a girl?” And he told his father he hated his penis. Wyatt always liked girl’s clothes and movies, while his twin brother Jonas played with traditional boy toys. Born identical twins, the siblings share the same DNA, but their …

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Facts & Figures on Women, Poverty & Economics

There is a direct link between increased female labour participation and growth: It is estimated that if women’s paid employment rates were raised to the same level as men’s, America’s GDP would be 9 percent higher; the euro-zone’s would be 13 percent higher, and Japan’s would be boosted by 16 percent.  Continue here.

The new domesticity: Empowering or a step back for American women?

I’m planning on canning homemade jam this holiday season, swept up in the same do-it-yourself zeitgeist that seems to have carried off half my female friends. I picked and froze the berries this summer, and I’ve been squirreling away flats of Ball jars under my kitchen sink for months. For recipes, I’m poring over my …

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Nigerian Senate Approves Anti-Gay Marriage Bill

AP – November 29, 2011 Nigeria’s Senate voted Tuesday to criminalize gay marriage, gay advocacy groups and same-sex public displays of affection, the latest legislation targeting a minority already facing discrimination in Africa’s most populous nation.  More here.

Age Appropriate LGBT Education

This is how you teach about LGBT issues in an age appropriate way. Take note United States. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tykz4JhBKv8&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

How manly is that pizza, Herman Cain?

Presidential candidate Herman Cain, a former CEO of a pizza chain, has determined that the toppings on a pizza can serve as indicators of a man’s masculinity.  http://wapo.st/sCSu3W

History, Politics, and Contraception

NPR’s Fresh Air interviews Jill Lepore, Professor of History at Harvard University and author of the current New Yorker piece “Birthright: What’s Next for Planned Parenthood.” Listen to How Birth Control Became Politicized here.  You can also watch a detailed history of Margaret Sanger’s fight to legalize contraception and to develop a birth control pill …

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Scouts in the News

The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts could not be more different. Besides the obvious focus of their organization on girls and boys respectively, the Girl Scouts are an inclusive organization, while the Boy Scouts have gone to the Supreme Court of the United States twice for their right to discriminate- once for the right to exclude …

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Eroticism and Genderqueerness

This piece from Allison McCracken posted on Antenna explores the erotic appeal of androgynous males in popular culture. McCracken examines the fan culture surrounding the character of Kurt on Glee and the actor who plays him Chris Colfer. This fandom, comprised mainly of women and gay men, is similar to the fervent fan community surrounding …

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At Front of Brooklyn Bus, a Clash of Religious and Women’s Rights

An article in a Columbia Journalism School publication has prompted a review of the B110 line in Brooklyn, on which women are to ride in the back. http://nyti.ms/oNaPWo