Equality
Pharyngula
Category archives for Equality
Not to mention the excessive reductionism…
Posted by PZ Myers on February 23, 2013 Wow. Talk about major failure. A new study out correlates levels of Foxp2 with levels of vocalization in rats: basically, male rats squeak more than female pups when they’re stressed by separation from their mothers, and mothers tend to rescue the rat who squeaks the loudest. They then found higher levels of Foxp2 in males,…
Need more paleontological women
Posted by PZ Myers on February 13, 2013 The latest issue of Priscum, the newsletter of the Paleontological Society (pdf), has an interesting focus: where are the women in paleontology? They have a problem, in that only 23% of their membership are women, and I hate to say it, but the stereotype of a paleontologist is Roy Chapman Andrews — most people don’t…
The ducks are gonna get you
Posted by PZ Myers on October 13, 2012 Some poor young girl, deeply miseducated and misled, wrote into a newspaper with a letter trying to denounce homosexuality with a bad historical and biological argument. She’s only 14, and her brain has already been poisoned by the cranks and liars in her own family…it’s very sad. Here’s the letter — I will say, it’s…
Not just Sally Ride
Posted by PZ Myers on July 25, 2012 I had never heard of the Women in Space Program before, but apparently, after the Soviets sent Valentina Tereshkova into space, there was actually an effort to train American women as astronauts. The participants of the Women in Space Program experienced tremendous success. “Nineteen women enrolled in WISP, undergoing the same grueling tests administered to…
Greater biological variability cannot explain differences in opportunity
Posted by PZ Myers on December 22, 2011 You’ve probably heard this story many times before: there’s some kind of glass ceiling in the world of science and math that hinders women’s ability to progress. The latest data confirms that something is going wrong. The United States ranks 31st on the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index and is tied for 21st on…
Gals and show mares
Posted by PZ Myers on November 30, 2011 This video has been going around — it’s a group of women talking about the importance of evolution to the biological sciences. I confess to cringing in a few places — there’s too much ready equation of evolution with natural selection — but I certainly wouldn’t question the competence of these accomplished scientists, even if…
Why are boys and men underperforming?
Posted by PZ Myers on November 14, 2011 In this TED video, Philip Zimbardo talks about an ongoing concern, the opting out of boys from academically and socially — boys are more likely to drop out of school, girls outperform boys at all academic levels, boys are 5 times more likely to be diagnosed with ADD. The difference also leads to many man-boys…
And now for something completely different
Posted by PZ Myers on November 11, 2011 Or is it? I’ve just been introduced to the work of Tim Wise, and it’s fabulous stuff: all about how we view race through the distorting lenses of denial and privilege and class. He’s a terrific speaker, I guarantee you that it’s worth your time to take an hour and listen to this lecture. Oh,…
A feminist embarrassment
Posted by PZ Myers on November 1, 2011 I cringed reading this woman’s lament that evolutionary biology is responsible for the oppression of women, starting with Darwin. It’s one long colossal failure of logic. The argument has some genuinely true facts embedded in it, which then get spun out into a series of false conclusions. It is true that the Victorian gentlemen who…
Stuff that annoyed me this morning
Posted by PZ Myers on October 13, 2011 There’s nothing wrong about being pretty, or sexy, or shopping, or being interested in traditionally girly things—but there is a big problem when that’s the only option you’re given. I know I’d be stressed if I were constantly told I’m less of a man if I’m not playing football or working in a manly occupation…