Children
- Nine-month olds can tell friends from foes.
- The dangers of the Good Mother Myth.
- The choice to be child-free is admirable, not selfish. From the article itself:
The increased visibility and acceptance of women who choose not to have children is just one part of a social evolution away from the limited “traditional family” model, and into a world where human beings with a diversity of needs can create family arrangements that work for them. That’s not just good for the child-free; it’s great for feminism – and even better for society and families.
That isn’t to equate child-free people with freedom fighters, feminists and other activists, or to say that the discrimination child-free women face is anything on the scale of systematic racism, homophobia, sexism or other bigotries. It is to say that creating new norms and models is powerful, and stepping outside the status quo often brave.
And parenthood is difficult in very particular ways. It should only be entered into entirely voluntarily. There is no “voluntary” in a culture where parenthood is a required part of adulthood.
Normalization of being child-free is a gain for all of us, whether we choose to have children or not. It reminds us that kids are people, who deserve to be raised and nurtured by adults who proactively want to have them. And it reminds us that women are people, too – that we exist once on this planet, and we have one life in which to seek happiness and pleasure and goodness. Making choices that center on our own needs and desires isn’t selfish. It’s radical. It’s transformational.
Education
- Low-income schools are teaching mindfulness and meditation. They have improved dramatically.
Gender
- Great article about feminist perspectives surrounding trans issues.
- Research shows that when women get married and keep their last name, they are judged to be more intelligent, competent, successful, and ambitious.
- Change the language around of how women and men get paid, you show the disadvantages (and advantages) more strikingly.
- Does equality kill sex? Probably, according to the article.
- Ehh, maybe not. Here are five alternatives.
Marriage
- A great article showing why government-sanction marriage does not defeat poverty.
- Getting married at a young age (say before 22) increases your chances of being depressed when you’re much older.
- A federal judge has overturned the same-sex marriage ban in Virginia.
Sexuality
- For pornography use, honesty is the best policy.
- An interesting piece about quitting pornography. Not for religious, feminist, or moral reasons, but so that you can lead a more productive life.
- And yet, studies show there is no such thing as porn addiction.
- Excellent interview with Eric Anderson who authored The Monogamy Gap and argues about monogamy and why we need to get rid of the stigma of non-monogamy. Here’s part one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIZ0Lj0hQc
- And here’s part two:
Shaun Miller's Ideas 