In light of Savita Halappanavar’s death due to being refused an abortion after miscarrying, using the term “pro-life” to mean “anti-abortion” is increasingly problematic. As therapist Lyla Cicero points out, “when a choice must be made between a mother’s life and a child’s, choosing abortion is still being pro-life, isn’t it?” Her piece on a pregnant teenager who identified as pro-life yet choose an abortion exemplifies this dilemma: the girl was choosing her life, choosing to delay having children, choosing to commit her time to working her way out of poverty. The irony, as Cicero notes, is that “The politicians who so vehemently call themselves pro-life are the same politicians who would resent [the teen mother's] living off the government.” That quote leads into the connections between pregnancy, poverty, and abuse. Continue Reading →
science!
Recent posts
On Rape And Pregnancy
I did not watch, read, or listen to the news for over a week, as I was busy getting married on the beach, going on a mini-honeymoon in Santa Barbara, and then performing dance for 4 days straight at one of the largest gaming conventions in the country. Beyond the chores of unpacking and laundry and scraping glitter off everything, all I wanted to do was sleep and recover. And then I came home to this. “This” being Representative Todd Akin’s comments about how in regard to the possibility of pregnancy after rape, in his understanding, ”if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Far more bloggers than I can count have protested the idiocy behind these remarks, and pointed out the irony that a member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology would be so ill informed. Continue Reading →
Condoms Don’t Ruin Sex
I’m not getting paid by the condom industry to write this, I assure you. But when I see a webpage titled How Condoms Ruin Sex, my first reaction is surprise and my second reaction is outrage. Why on earth would someone attack a form of birth control that’s been shown to reduce the transmission of HIV and other STIs? For women who do not wish to be on hormonal birth control, condoms (when used consistently and properly) are helpful in preventing unwanted pregnancies. Sure, there are valid reasons for people to choose not to use condoms, but as a sex-positive feminist, I really have to say that those should be personal choices, not decisions mandated by a website with a thinly-veiled religious agenda (and let’s keep in mind that many religious women use birth control too). Continue Reading →
“Womanspace” And Sexism In Science
I was confused by a hashtag I saw on Twitter recently, especially among feminist scholars who I follow: #womanspace. Was it something about astronomy? Women in space? A space for women? Curious, I looked further. Continue Reading →
Benefits Of Non-Monogamy For Animals
Recent research from Indiana University suggests that female birds who mate with males outside their monogamous pairing are conferring reproductive advantages upon their offspring. This long-term study measured reproductive success by noticing that the offspring of promiscuous female birds went on to have more offspring of their own. The interesting take-home points here are that not all species are monogamous, and that non-monogamous behavior appears to be beneficial in some circumstances. Follow us on Twitter @mysexprofessor. Follow Jeana, the author of this post, @foxyfolklorist. Continue Reading →
Monogamy On The Rise (If You’re Just Measuring Monogamy)
According to this report, monogamy has been rising in a period from 1975-2000, based on a study of 6,864 straight and gay men and women… who live in monogamous couples. What the study really seems to be measuring is the rate of fidelity, as in, how often partners reported cheating. Coupla problems here: first, with self-reporting a stigmatized phenomenon like cheating it is tough to gauge accuracy; and second, the study didn’t seem to look at non-monogamous formations (in order to have something to compare monogamy to), ranging from singles to polyamorous folks to swingers. So if there’s less cheating happening in monogamous relationships, great–it just doesn’t necessarily mean that the phenomenon of monogamy is increasing. Continue Reading →
Evaluating Sex Research On The Internet
How reliable is the internet as a tool for sex research? This write-up on a new book, A Billion Wicked Thoughts by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam, summarizes the research and asks some questions about the methodology. In my opinion, though, the study is not as sound as it’s made out to be. The authors let themselves be guided by the most popular internet queries about sex, and from there conducted some interviews and hung out in topical web forums. However, the authors had some shady strategies, as detailed in this Neurocritic article on the study. The authors did not have Institutional Review Board approval for the study of human subjects, which is basically mandatory for scholarly research that involves living people. Continue Reading →
Mice, Serotonin, Sexual Preference, And You
A recent study found that male mice are less choosy about the sex of whatever mice they mount when their serotonin levels are low. Male mice that genetically have less of the neurotransmitter serotonin are as likely to mount other male mice as they are to mount female mice, but injecting them with serotonin increases their likelihood of mounting females with greater regularity. So serotonin is clearly linked with sexual preference in male mice in some fashion… but what does this mean for the rest of us? Continue Reading →
Evolving American Attitudes Toward “Family”
Research by an Indiana University sociologist, Brian Powell, indicates that more Americans feel that gay couples count as “families” when they have children, and that more respondents counted pets as family than counted gay couples as family. This survey-based research, which has been ongoing for nearly a decade, reveals that the idea of the “family” can change quite rapidly, and is shifting to be more inclusive. Go check out the link for some fascinating statistics! Follow us on Twitter @mysexprofessor. Follow Jeana, the author of this post, @foxyfolklorist. Continue Reading →
Sugar And Spice And Everything Nice (Plus Autoimmune Disorders?)
New research by Sharyn Clough, a philosopher of science, demonstrates that contemporary American gender roles may have a very real effect on the health of children. According to her reviews of scholarship on autoimmune disorders, gender, and cleanliness, adult women suffer from many more autoimmune disorders than men do (such as Krohn’s disease, asthma, and so on). However, this ratio is reversed in early childhood. Continue Reading →