New Study on Gender and Academia

The abstract of the study says:

"Why aren’t there more women in science? Female college students are currently 37 percent less likely than males to obtain a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and comprise only 25 percent of the STEM workforce. This paper begins to shed light on this issue by exploiting a unique dataset of college students who have been randomly assigned to professors over a wide variety of mandatory standardized courses. We focus on the role of professor gender. Our results suggest that while professor gender has little impact on male students, it has a powerful effect on female students’ performance in math and science classes, their likelihood of taking future math and science courses, and their likelihood of graduating with a STEM degree. The estimates are largest for female students with very strong math skills, who are arguably the students who are most suited to careers in science. Indeed, the gender gap in course grades and STEM majors is eradicated when high performing female students’ introductory math and science classes are taught by female professors. In contrast, the gender of humanities professors has only minimal impact on student outcomes. We believe that these results are indicative of important environmental influences at work. "

The full study may be found here.

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New Podcast: Flight of the Conchords

I pick a lot of good things in California. And, the HBO show Flight of the Conchords is no exception.

In this nine-minute podcast I provide a short gendered analysis of the show. Something very interesting is captured in this show with regards to gender performativity as the two main characters, Bret and Jemaine, represent a naturally comfortable homosociality. Bret and Jemaine represent a homosocial setting that manages to come across as natural, even conventional, because it oozes elements of genuine human intimacy. In this piece I postulate that it is precisely because of this genuine human intimacy that gender boundaries and stereotypes are shattered and the heteronormative framework is shaken. The music featured in this podcast comes from Camille Nelson's new album First Word. The review of my wonderfully talented friend is here.

Listen to the podcast here.

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graph per fanpop

Gendering a Profession

Good piece.

"Rania Abou Youssef, 26, a flight attendant for the Dubai-based airline, Emirates, said that when she went home to Alexandria, Egypt, her female cousins treated her like a heroine. “I’ve been doing this for four years,” she said, “and still they’re always asking, ‘Where did you go and what was it like and where are the photographs?’ ”

Many of the young Arab women working in the Persian Gulf take delight in their status as pioneers, role models for their friends and younger female relatives. Young women brought up in a culture that highly values community, they have learned to see themselves as individuals.

For many families, allowing a daughter to work, much less to travel overseas unaccompanied, may call her virtue into question and threaten her marriage prospects. Yet this culture is changing, said Musa Shteiwi, a sociologist at Jordan University in Amman. “We’re noticing more and more single women going to the gulf these days,” he said. “It’s still not exactly common, but over the last four or five years it’s become quite an observable phenomenon.”

More here.

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Are You Homosocial?

Here is the audio piece entitled: Are You Homosocial?
Click here to listen to it.

This is a piece I created for the purpose of expounding the concepts of homosociality, homoeroticism, and identity.

As always, there are many literary references, much music, and many more pop culture things.

I re-discovered Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh just the other day. Let me quote from it. It goes well with my premise.

"I did not consider myself, as a rule."


Graph via previous post on female DJ's. Find here.

Girls and Computer Science

A college friend of mine started majoring in Computer Science but then switched to Biology. Her reason: "Computers didn't play as active a role in my life growing up as they did for boys." Plus, per her, it was just a culture she didn't get.
Granted her growing up was in the late 80's, early 90's when computers weren't as ubiquitous in households as they are in the 2000-s.
This is a good read:
"Justine Cassell, director of Northwestern University’s Center for Technology & Social Behavior, has written about the efforts in the 1990s to create computer games that would appeal to girls and, ultimately, increase the representation of women in computer science. In commenting as a co-contributor in a new book, “Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming,” Ms. Cassell writes of the failure of these efforts, “The girls game movement failed to dislodge the sense among both boys and girls that computers were ‘boys’ toys’ and that true girls didn’t play with computers.”

She said last week that some people in the field still believed that the answer to reversing declining enrollment was building the right game. Another school of thought is what she calls the “we won” claim because women have entered computer-related fields like Web site design that are not traditional computer science. Ms. Cassell points out that it’s not much of a victory, however. The pay is considerably less than in software engineering and the work has less influence on how computers are used, and whether this actually accounts for the diminishing numbers of female computer science majors remains unproved."

Palin-to-logy

Most of us who occasionally listen to pundits discussing pre- and post-election texts, suspected that after the results of the election were announced, one of the next topics would be 'What about Palin?'

Palin is receiving a lot of scrutiny post-election. The following clip comes from Fox News.

Teen Pregnancy among Evangelicals

In case you have been wondering about pregnancy rates among evangelicals, The New Yorker has a gripping piece on it. A bit says:
"The gulf between sexual belief and sexual behavior becomes apparent, too, when you look at the outcomes of abstinence-pledge movements. Nationwide, according to a 2001 estimate, some two and a half million people have taken a pledge to remain celibate until marriage. Usually, they do so under the auspices of movements such as True Love Waits or the Silver Ring Thing. Sometimes, they make their vows at big rallies featuring Christian pop stars and laser light shows, or at purity balls, where girls in frothy dresses exchange rings with their fathers, who vow to help them remain virgins until the day they marry. More than half of those who take such pledges—which, unlike abstinence-only classes in public schools, are explicitly Christian—end up having sex before marriage, and not usually with their future spouse. The movement is not the complete washout its critics portray it as: pledgers delay sex eighteen months longer than non-pledgers, and have fewer partners. Yet, according to the sociologists Peter Bearman, of Columbia University, and Hannah Brückner, of Yale, communities with high rates of pledging also have high rates of S.T.D.s. This could be because more teens pledge in communities where they perceive more danger from sex (in which case the pledge is doing some good); or it could be because fewer people in these communities use condoms when they break the pledge."


Read more here.

Berlusconi, Bias, Gender, and Beauty Queen Turned Politician

Ah, Italy!
The land of Dante.
The land of Manzoni.
And, the land of Berlusconi.
Spiegel.de via the Italian newspaper, La Reppublica informs us today that Italy's premier, 72-year-old Silvio Berlusconi's at it again. When talking with extreme enthusiasm about one of his youngest cabinet members, former Miss Italia contestant, Mara Carfagna, Berlusconi apparently observed: "If I weren't already married, I'd marry her right this instant!"
Those of you who read German will find this Spiegel bit quite interesting. Berlusconi's words with regards to Carfanga were: ""Wenn ich nicht schon verheiratet wäre, würde ich sie sofort heiraten.""
Nice going!
Right after he made this public praise, his wife, Veronica, turned to the papers and said that she felt deeply hurt. Incidentally, this is not the first time that Berlusconi has gotten in trouble with the Mrs. A similar instance happened two years prior when he publicly told a reporter: ""With you, I'd go anywhere"."
Spiegel notes: "Seine Frau Veronica fand das gar nicht witzig und veröffentlichte ein paar Tage später einen Brief in "La Repubblica", in dem sie die Äußerung ihres Mannes als Verletzung ihrer Würde verurteilte."

Yes, no other medium can settle a domestic dispute the way the press can. Way to go!
Berlusconi, that beacon of enlightenment and symbol of collected wisdom, gets the prize of the week as the most politically correct and not gender-biased politician of the West, perhaps?
My diagnosis of the billionaire: Signor Berlusconi, you're suffering from a case of open mouth insert foot! Times a few times.
Berlusconi, quite democratically, wrote back to his wife on the newspaper - don't these people have a kitchen table where they can talk things over?! - that he talks a lot but does nothing. Then he had the proverbial nerve to self-compare to none other than John F. Kennedy. He says - my translation - 'Dear Veronica, I talk a lot but I don't do anything. Jackie Kennedy wrote a letter once to the Washington Post when her own husband was busy in other beds. Your husband, who is always in love with you, Silvio."
Right. Scusi?
If you read Italian, here is the full article.
graph per spiegel

Assorted Links: Picasso, Marriage, Infidelity

New studies on marital relationships suggest:
"surprising changes in the marital landscape. Infidelity appears to be on the rise, particularly among older men and young couples. Notably, women appear to be closing the adultery gap: younger women appear to be cheating on their spouses nearly as often as men."
Read more here.

And the new Paris-based exhibit, Picasso and the Masters, is something I would love to see. I don't always have an active appreciation for Picasso but, for some reason, I'm finding myself more and more enamored of his style. A line from the most recent article on the new exhibit observes, "Picasso, in such straitened times, remains at least a reliable brand for exhibition organizers, who especially seem to love these compare-and-contrast affairs because they guarantee boffo box office."
...and...
"Let it first be said that Picasso, having taken on history as if fated to do so from childhood, embraced such extravagant comparisons — which isn’t to say he survives the competition altogether intact. “Art is not the application of a canon of beauty,” he once said, “but what instinct and the brain imagine quite apart from the canon.”

The canon, in other words, remained his starting point but increasingly became his crutch. His achievements were Promethean and unparalleled in the last century, but having said that, as the show proves almost despite itself, Picasso ended up often mired in vain, backward-looking riffs on grander achievements. "
Read more here.
graphs per ny times

Don Draper's Guide

Those of you who enjoy AMC's Mad Men, especially its leading character Don Draper as played by Jon Hamm, will find this SNL bit worthy of a chuckle. A previous blog is here.

Palin Matters and Gendered Politics

Bloggingheads discusses femininity, gender, and politics in this clip.

It's getting more and more surreal that gender is being perceived and discussed is such a congealed way in 2008. Check it out and see what you think.

SNL's Take on the VP Debate

Since I missed the vice-presidential debates due to travel, I went to the one place where I thought I could get informed about what transpired. And Tina produces yet another linguistically compelling piece....

Radio Bit: Inversions, Freud, and Ellis

I created this piece for public radio a while back. The premise of it is to explain what "sexual inversions" are and who actually developed the term in the first place. Sigmund Freud has been credited with much, no doubt, but the initial discussion of "sexual inversions" would have to go to the British theorist Havelock Ellis and his wife Edith.

The audio file can be played here.
Happy listening!

Jon Stewart on Gender

Here's a Jon Stewart's bit that, per Comedy Central, was seen over 1.5 million times in a single day. The show was aired Wednesday night.

Mad Men and Careers

If you are interested in experiencing what gender differences in the work places were like in the 50's and 60's, give the new AMC show Mad Men a shot. This is the only show that's fully grabbed my attention and to which I'm giving a 9/10. Mad Men is now on its second season.
The show portrays rather dexterously familial tension, intrigue, professional and personal inadequacies, gender differences, body perceptions, clothing as text, homosociality and much more. Plus, the main character, Mr. Draper, is played by the uber-talented Jon Hamm. Watch it. It won't disappoint.
Here is a snippet:

graph per amc

School and Work: Girl Power?

For some the work place experience is not reminiscent of the mostly egalitarian classroom experience.
A new feature on the Times says:

"Then I left the egalitarianism of the classroom for the cubicle, and everything changed. The realization that the knowledge and skills acquired in school don’t always translate at the office is something that all college graduates, men and women, must face. But for women, I have found, the adjustment tends to be much harder. It was certainly hard for me — I lasted only nine months in my first job out of college.

Inspired by my own rocky entrance into the work world, I decided to interview other young women and discovered that many of them, like me, were facing a steep workplace learning curve. What was it, I wondered, that was making our first career steps so wobbly when we had been so accomplished and self-assured in school?"

Read it here.

graph per ny times

Maureen Writes

I enjoy reading Maureen Dowd of the Times for the most part. The sentence of the day comes from her:
"Instead of going home and watching “Miss Congeniality” with Sandra Bullock, I get to stay here and watch “Miss Congeniality” with Sarah Palin.

Sheer heaven."
Read all here.
graph per ny times

Why Do Women Pay More for a Haircut?

My stylist is truly democratic. And just how can I make such an observation about her? Well, for starters, she charges the same amount to both men and women for a haircut. Whether she's cutting an inch off of my hair, or five inches off of my male folks, she unwaveringly abides by her cutting principles. A haircut is a haircut and the price is the same for all. Liberty, justice, and equality of clipping charges to all.
Hence, when doing my quotidian newspaper reading this morning, I was a tad flummoxed upon reading this. A bit says:
"Trying to keep your hairstyle in line with Agyness Deyn's latest androgynous do can be expensive for a girl. A monthly trim at a unisex salon costs around £40. But, if you're a man, you'll pay up to half that for the same haircut.

For decades, it's been standard practice for hairdressers to charge women more for haircuts, based on the idea that women have longer hair and therefore their cuts take longer and require more expertise. No allowance has been made for the increasing popularity of short hair on women, particularly with the current trend for boyish crops, like mine. Indeed, when I went for my monthly trim last week, I found that the price had gone up £5 to £45, while the price of men's cuts had risen only £2 to £28. I was so insensed, I decided to seek legal advice.

"Recent amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act in April have strengthened the protection from sex discrimination, not just at work, but also in the wider world, from businesses who discriminate against individuals in the goods and services they offer," says Samantha Mangwana at Russell Jones & Walker. "Where a man and woman have the same haircut, and the same skills are required, the salon is acting unlawfully to charge them different prices. There does not appear to be any justification for the cost difference," she says."
What say ye?
graph per guardian.co

Brooke Hogan's 'Words of Wisdom' Re: Female Power

Well, folks. That incomparable source of unparalleled wisdom, also known as Reality TV, strikes again.
Here are some words of wisdom from the very gender-conscious Brooke Hogan.

He, She? Pick One Already!

Facebook is now enforcing gender definitions. The users have to comply and pick the gender box that applies to them.
Per Reuters, "Social network site Facebook will press members to declare whether they are male or female, seeking to end the grammatical device that leads the site to refer to individual users as "they" or "themself.""
I guess, there is hope for grammatical gender in the long run. Thanks to Facebook. Read full feature here.
graph per facebook