Columbia Law School: Having a gay or lesbian parent does not harm children

What does the scholarly research say about the wellbeing of children with gay or lesbian parents? Unsigned article. Columbia University Law School. March 2017. http://whatweknow.law.columbia.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-the-scholarly-research-say-about-the-wellbeing-of-children-with-gay-or-lesbian-parents/

Overview: We identified 79 scholarly studies that met our criteria [http://whatweknow.law.columbia.edu/about/selection-methodology/] for adding to knowledge about the wellbeing of children with gay or lesbian parents. Of those studies, 75 concluded that children of gay or lesbian parents fare no worse than other children. While many of the sample sizes were small, and some studies lacked a control group, researchers regard such studies as providing the best available knowledge about child adjustment, and do not view large, representative samples as essential. We identified four studies concluding that children of gay or lesbian parents face added disadvantages. Since all four took their samples from children who endured family break-ups, a cohort known to face added risks, these studies have been criticized by many scholars as unreliable assessments of the wellbeing of LGB-headed households. Taken together, this research forms an overwhelming scholarly consensus, based on over three decades of peer-reviewed research, that having a gay or lesbian parent does not harm children.

Further Evidence that Creativity and Innovation are Inhibited by Conservative Thinking

Further Evidence that Creativity and Innovation are Inhibited by Conservative Thinking: Analyses of the 2016 Presidential Election. Mark Runco, Selcuk Acar & Nur Cayirdag. Creativity Research Journal, Summer 2017, Volume 29, 2017 - Issue 3, Pages 331-336, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2017.1360069

Abstract: The investigation replicated and extended previous research showing a negative relationship between conservatism and creative accomplishment. Conservatism was estimated, as in previous research, from voting patterns. The voting data used here were from the 2016 US Presidential election. The number of patents granted per county in the United States was used as estimate of creative and innovative accomplishment. Using a 2-level multilevel approach, in which state-level influences are taken into consideration, various control variables were tested, including socioeconomic status (SES), education, income, and diversity. The results confirmed a negative relationship between conservatism and the number of patents granted. Therefore, in counties and states with high conservatism, fewer patents were granted, even after controlling for SES and population. Patents were positively related to racial diversity and education. Practical implications include the benefits of liberal thinking outside of the political arena. Liberal thinking is very likely associated with flexibility, tolerance, and openness, and according to the present results, creative accomplishment. Limitations of the research and future directions are discussed.

Withdrawn article: The Case for Colonialism

The case for colonialism. Bruce Gilley. Third World Quarterly, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2017.1369037

[PDF paper withdrawn by publisher]

WITHDRAWAL NOTICE: This Viewpoint essay has been withdrawn at the request of the academic journal editor, and in agreement with the author of the essay. Following a number of complaints, Taylor & Francis conducted a thorough investigation into the peer review process on this article. Whilst this clearly demonstrated the essay had undergone double-blind peer review, in line with the journal's editorial policy, the journal editor has subsequently received serious and credible threats of personal violence. These threats are linked to the publication of this essay. As the publisher, we must take this seriously. Taylor & Francis has a strong and supportive duty of care to all our academic editorial teams, and this is why we are withdrawing this essay.

Progressives are more ideologically consistent, a possible reason of their being more upset by dissenters

Ideological Consistency across the Political Spectrum: Liberals are More Consistent but Conservatives Become More Consistent When Coping with Existential Threat. Pelin Kesebir et al.
https://www.academia.edu/25789618/Ideological_Consistency_across_the_Political_Spectrum_Liberals_are_More_Consistent_but_Conservatives_Become_More_Consistent_When_Coping_with_Existential_Threat

Abstract: We conceptualized ideological consistency as the extent to which an individual’s attitudes
toward diverse political issues are coherent among themselves from an ideological standpoint. Four studies (Studies 1, 3 – 5) compared the ideological consistency of self-identified liberals and conservatives and two of these studies examined how their ideological consistency is affected by mortality salience. Across diverse samples and attitude measures, liberals were typically higher in ideological consistency than conservatives. In other words, conservatives’ individual-level attitudes toward diverse political issues (e.g., abortion, gun control, welfare) were more dispersed across the political spectrum than were liberals’ attitudes.

An additional study demonstrated that our findings violate conventional wisdom: the large majority of people believed, regardless of their own political orientation, that conservatives are more consistent than liberals or that the groups do not differ. Studies 4 and 5 demonstrated that death reminders increase ideological consistency for conservatives and decrease ideological consistency for liberals.

Key words: Political ideology, political attitudes, liberals, conservatives, terror management theory


Check also Authoritarianism and Affective Polarization: A New View on the Origins of Partisan Extremism. Matthew Luttig. Public Opinion Quarterly, nfx023, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/authoritarianism-and-affective.html

Rhinoplasty: more symmetry, youthfulness, facial harmony, likeability, trustworthiness, confidence, femininity, attractiveness, approachability, &intelligence

The Public Face of Rhinoplasty: Impact on Perceived Attractiveness and Personality. Stephen M. Lu, David T. Hsu, Adam Perry, Lyle Leipziger, Armen K. Kasabian, Scott P. Bartlett, Charles H. Thorne, and Neil Tanna. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2017 Sep; 5(9 Suppl): 189-190, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5636560/

INTRODUCTION: The impact of aesthetic rhinoplasty has been studied from the perspective of the surgeon and the patient, but not from that of the general public. The authors assess the impact of rhinoplasty on public perception of a patient’s appearance and personality.

METHODS: A survey was created using standardized before and after photographs of ten Caucasian women who had undergone primary rhinoplasty. Photos of two additional women who had not undergone facial surgery were randomly included as controls, for a total of twelve items. Pre- and post-operative frontal and lateral photographs were placed side by side. To eliminate left/right bias, half of the items had pre-operative photos on the left, and half had post-operative photos on the left. The survey was administered via crowd-sourcing, which has been validated as a way to evaluate aesthetic outcomes. Respondents were naïve to the study purpose and were asked to evaluate which photo better represented 11 traits of appearance or personality, according to a seven-point Likert scale. A score of 1 meant the pre-operative photo was much better, 7 meant the post-operative photo was much better, and 4 meant no difference.

[due to data corruption, part of this section is in the first comment]

RESULTS: [due to data corruption, part of this section is in the first comment] 264 responses were received. Averaged scores across the 10 survey patients produced a value for each appearance or personality trait. In 10 of 11 categories (symmetry, youthfulness, facial harmony, likeability, trustworthiness, confidence, femininity, attractiveness, approachability, and intelligence), the post-operative photo was significantly favorable compared to the preoperative photo [...]. The pre-operative photo was rated higher only in aggressiveness [...].

CONCLUSION: Aesthetic rhinoplasty improves the public perception of a person’s appearance and personality in multiple aspects. Small but significant and clear differences were observed and held consistently across demographic groups.

Draft - Regarding the Seoul Times "article" on eating human fetuses for sexual powers

Draft - Regarding the Seoul Times "article" on eating human fetuses for sexual powers. Comments to a friend that sent me the Seoul Times piece. Oct 29 2017



                      __________I suggest you not to follow these links__________

Regarding news of human fetuses (not babies after being born) being cooked in Canton, China, as reported in The Seoul Times in a very strange article published as a letter to the editor [1]:

1  although the origin of that report was a hoax, almost two decades ago [2], the perspective is bad;

2  we knew that in parts of the globe some human parts were eaten until at least the 2010s for religious/cultic or medicinal/magical powers reasons:

2.1  Papua New Guinea [3], where it seems that this practice was never abandoned;

2.2  Africa [4] (not to speak of the Leopard Society decades before).

There is some documentation in Wikipedia [5], from where I took those links in this section 2.


3  that Canton or other so heavily populated areas of China are places where non-psychiatric cannibalism is practiced is very, very difficult. But we cannot rule out the practice in the future, even more easily in remote areas, since:

3.1  in the Great Leap Forward years, it happened in a large scale [6], so in some way it is a broken taboo and people who lived this is alive and transmitted the events to young people;
3.2  we know that primates eat the young, specially the males, but there is also report of a female doing it with his own baby after decomposition made the baby less recognizable [7], that is to say, it is something you can find easily in nature to eat prisoners and other defenseless beings, like the infant, the sick and the old;
3.3  there are a few times in which children are "killed" or about to be killed in artist performances, as you already know because you sent me the video of that child hanged in a cold and calculated manner by XXXTentacion [8], so again the taboo of killing children on purpose, violently, is being broken several times in places some didn't expect (I saw it in Madrid streets too).

, all this not to speak of other places of large scale events, like the Ukrainian famine in the 1930s.


4  Finally, there are persons who kill others and eat body parts for unknown reasons, but seems not really something organized or with a religious or political motivation (most likely people who should be locked up in a psychiatric institution). In any case, there have been dozens of occassions in the last decade [9] and the known victims number more than 30 just in a single case in Russia (published in Sep 2017 [9]). And all this makes relative the crime, as it stops being something unheard-of. With time and the changes in the domain of the sacred that we are living, like acceptance of euthanasia for psychiatric illnesses and euthanasia for minors, these events could be more frequent, in my opinion.


5  All this is for you to prepare for the worst. As we keep deepening our sophistication, there will be a habituation process in which the mentally sick and some evil persons will commit more of these crimes, and we've got no mechanisms to counter the influence of that process. Possible solutions include:

5.1  returning to the death penalty and making the executions clearly known, making them exemplar as a way to stigmatize more forcefully these practices, which is a way for those in the know to stop suspicious activities sooner and for the criminals to use more caution, which should help reduce the number of victims.
5.2  TBD...

But I do not foresee that this can happen in the next years.

--
Notes

[1]  http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=7333
[2]  https://www.metabunk.org/debunked-chinese-fetus-soup.t2203/
[3]  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10817610
[4]  http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/10128
[5]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism_in_humans
[6]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine
[7]  http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/prolonged-transport-and-cannibalism-of.html
[8]  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qku2WZ7aRYw
[9]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_of_cannibalism#2010.E2.80.93present

The Impact of Media Censorship: Evidence from a Field Experiment in China

The Impact of Media Censorship: Evidence from a Field Experiment in China. Yuyu Chen and David Y. Yang. Stanford University, October 25, 2017. https://stanford.edu/~dyang1/pdfs/1984bravenewworld_draft.pdf

Abstract: Media censorship is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes. We conduct a field experiment in China to examine whether providing access to an uncensored Internet leads citizens to acquire politically sensitive information, and whether they are affected by the information. We track subjects’ media consumption, beliefs regarding the media, economic beliefs, political attitudes, and behaviors over 18 months. We find 4 main results: (i) free access alone does not induce subjects to acquire politically sensitive information; (ii) temporary encouragement leads to a persistent increase in acquisition, indicating that demand is not permanently low; (iii) acquisition brings broad, substantial, and persistent changes to knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and intended behaviors; and (iv) social transmission of information is statistically significant but small in magnitude. We calibrate a simple model to show that, due to the low demand for, and moderate social transmission of, uncensored information, China’s censorship apparatus may remain robust for a large number of citizens receiving unencouraged access to an uncensored Internet.

Keywords: censorship, information, media, belief
JEL classification: D80, D83, L86, P26


Check also how propaganda can be effective at changing the behavior of all citizens even if most do not believe it: Propaganda and credulity, by Andrew T. Little. In Games and Economic Behavior, Volume 102, March 2017, Pages 224–232. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/06/propaganda-can-be-effective-at-changing.html

Thirty-four Inspiring Quotes on Criticism (and How to Handle It)

34 Inspiring Quotes on Criticism (and How to Handle It) -- EXTRACT

by Henrik Edberg on February 10, 2016.

https://www.positivityblog.com/quotes-on-criticism/

1. – Dale Carnegie
2. “The pleasure of criticizing takes away from us the pleasure of being moved by some very fine things.”
   – Jean de La Bruyère
3. – Aristotle
4. – John Wooden
5. “Criticism is an indirect form of self-boasting.”
   – Emmet Fox
6. “When virtues are pointed out first, flaws seem less insurmountable.”
   – Judith Martin
7. – Neil Gaiman
8. – Norman Vincent Peale
9. “When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.”
   – Unknown
10. “It is much more valuable to look for the strength in others. You can gain nothing by criticizing their imperfections.”
    – Daisaku Ikeda
11. “The artist doesn’t have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don’t have the time to read reviews.”
    – William Faulkner
12. “If we judge ourselves only by our aspirations and everyone else only their conduct we shall soon reach a very false conclusion.”
    – Calvin Coolidge
13. “I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.”
    – Charles Schwab
14. “I criticize by creation, not by finding fault.”
    – Marcus Tullius Cicero
15. “Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”
    – Ralph Waldo Emerson
16. “Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.”
    – Elvis Presley
17. – Frank A. Clark
18. “People tend to criticize their spouse most loudly in the area where they themselves have the deepest emotional need.”
    – Gary Chapman
19. “Criticism is the disapproval of people, not for having faults, but having faults different from your own.”
    – Unknown
20. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
    The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.
    So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
    – Theodore Roosevelt
21. “Before you go and criticize the younger generation, just remember who raised them.”
    – Unknown
22. “Who do you spend time with? Criticizers or encouragers? Surround yourself with those who believe in you. Your life is too important for anything less.”
    – Steve Goodier
23. “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.”
    – Winston Churchill
24. “He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.”
    – Abraham Lincoln
25. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
26. – Eleanor Roosevelt
27. “One mustn’t criticize other people on grounds where he can’t stand perpendicular himself”
    – Mark Twain
28. “That was excellently observed’, say I, when I read a passage in an author, where his opinion agrees with mine. When we differ, there I pronounce him to be mistaken.”
    – Jonathan Swift
29. “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.”
    – Benjamin Franklin
30. “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. Love me and I may be forced to love you.”
    – William Arthur Ward
31. “A man interrupted one of the Buddha’s lectures with a flood of abuse.
    Buddha waited until he had finished and then asked him:
    If a man offered a gift to another but the gift was declined, to whom would the gift belong?
    To the one who offered it, said the man.
    Then, said the Buddha, I decline to accept your abuse and request you to keep it for yourself.”
32. – Joseph Joubert
33. – Abraham Lincoln
34. – Michel de Montaigne

"Si une fille de treize ans a droit à la pilule, c'est pour quoi faire?"

Louis Aragon, Roland Barthes, Simone de Beauvoir, Gilles et Fanny Deleuze, André Glucksmann, Bernard Kouchner, Jack Lang, Jean-Paul Sartre, René Schérer, and many others: "si une fille de treize ans a droit à la pilule, c'est pour quoi faire?"
http://web.archive.org/web/20050404190912/http://www.decadi.com/dignaction/Fpetit.html

Quelques pétitions ou lettres ouvertes pas sans équivoque 
Le Monde du 26 janvier 1977
mai 1977
Libération, mars 1979
Libération, 1er mars 2001
Libération, 1er mars 2001 (19/08/2001)


Le Monde du 26 janvier 1977
"Les 27, 28 et 29 janvier, devant la cour d'assises des Yvelines vont comparaître pour attentat à la pudeur sans violence sur des mineurs de quinze ans, Bernard Dejager, Jean-Claude Gallien et Jean Burckardt, qui, arrêtés à l'automne 1973 sont déjà restés plus de trois ans en détention provisoire. Seul Bernard Dejager a récemment bénéficie du principe de liberté des inculpés. Une si longue détention préventive pour instruire une simple affaire de "moeurs " où les enfants n'ont pas été victimes de la moindre violence, mais, au contraire, ont précisé aux juges d'instruction qu'ils étaient consentants (quoique la justice leur dénie actuellement tout droit au consentement), une si longue détention préventive nous parait déjà scandaleuse. Aujourd'hui, ils risquent d'être condamnés à une grave peine de réclusion criminelle soit pour avoir eu des relations sexuelles avec ces mineurs, garçons et filles, soit pour avoir favorisé et photographié leurs jeux sexuels.
Nous considérons qu'il y a une disproportion manifeste d'une part, entre la qualification de "crime" qui justifie une telle sévérité, et la nature des faits reprochés; d'autre part, entre la caractère désuet de la loi et la réalité quotidienne d'une société qui tend à reconnaître chez les enfants et les adolescents l'existence d'une vie sexuelle (si une fille de treize ans a droit à la pilule, c'est pour quoi faire?) La loi française se contredit lorsqu'elle reconnaît une capacité de discernement d'un mineur de treize ou quatorze ans qu'elle peut juger et condamner, alors qu'elle lui refuse cette capacité quand il s'agit de sa Vie affective et sexuelle. Trois ans de prison pour des caresses et des baisers, cela suffit. Nous ne comprendrions pas que le 29 janvier Dejager, Gallien et Burckhart ne retrouvent pas la liberté."

Ont signé ce communiqué :
Louis Aragon, Francis Ponge, Roland Barthes, Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Belladona, docteur Michel Bon, psychosociologue, Bertrand Boulin, Jean-Louis Bory, François Chatelet, Patrice Chéreau, Jean-Pierre Colin, Copi, Michel Cressole, Gilles et Fanny Deleuze, Bernard Dort, Françoise d'Eaubonne, docteur Maurice Erne, psychiatre, Jean-Pierre Faye, docteur Pierrette Garrou, psychiatre, Philippe Gavi, docteur Pierre-Edmond Gay, psychanalyste, docteur Claire Gellman, psychologue, docteur Robert Gellman, psychiatre, André Glucksmann, Félix Guattari, Daniel Guérin, Pierre Guyotat, Pierre Hahn, Jean-Luc Henning, Christian Hennion, Jacques Henric, Guy Hocquenghem, docteur Bernard Kouchner, Françoise Laborie, Madeleine Laïk, Jack Lang, Georges Lapassade, Raymond Lepoutre, Michel Leyris, Jean-François Lyotard, Dionys Mascolo, Gabriel Matzneff, Catherine Millet, Vincent Montail, docteur Bernard Muldworf, psychiatre Négrepont, Marc Pierret, Anne Querrien, Grisélédis Réal, François Régnault, Claude et Olivier Revault d'Allonnes, Christiane Rochefort, Gilles Sandier, Pierre Samuel, Jean-Paul Sartre, René Schérer, Philippe Sollers, Gérard Soulier, Victoria Therame, Marie Thonon, Catherine Valabrègue, docteur Gérard Vallès, psychiatre, Hélène Védrines, Jean-Marie Vincent, Jean-Michel Wilheim, Danielle Sallenave, Alain Cuny.


mai 1977
Lettre ouverte à la commission de révision du Code pénal, qui évoque la confusion des actes commis sur des moins de 15 ans par des adultes ou par des mineurs de 15 à 18 ans et exige que cette «infraction» ne soit plus un crime et qu'on tienne compte «essentiellement du consentement du mineur».
Signée par : Françoise Dolto, Louis Althusser, Jacques Derrida, André Glucksmann, ...
NB - Le texte intégral et la liste des signataires ne sont pas en notre possession.

Libération, mars 1979
mars 1979, pour soutenir Gérard R., un pédophile qui attend depuis dix-huit mois son procès, une lettre publiée dans la page Courrier de Libération accuse la «morale d'Etat»: «Ce que vise l'ordre moral, c'est le maintien de la soumission des enfants-mineur (e) s au pouvoir adulte.»
L'auteur de la lettre appelle les lecteurs, en particulier les femmes, apparemment rétives, à signer le texte suivant: «L'amour des enfants est aussi l'amour de leur corps. Le désir et les jeux sexuels librement consentis ont leur place dans les rapports entre enfants et adultes. Voilà ce que pensait et vivait Gérard R. avec des fillettes de 6 à 12 ans dont l'épanouissement attestait aux yeux de tous, y compris de leurs parents, le bonheur qu'elles trouvaient avec lui.» Au bas de ce texte, 63 signatures. Parmi elles, Pascal Bruckner, Georges Moustaki, Christiane Rochefort et d'autres, plus attendus ou moins connus. (L'Express, 7 mars 2001)

Libération, 1er mars 2001
Cohn-Bendit et Mai 68: quel procès? Nos lecteurs réagissent à sa mise en cause.
Société de paranoïa
Par VÉRONIQUE DUBARRY, STÉPHANE LAVIGNOTTE, GUILHEM LAVIGNOTTE, ERWAN LECOEUR, CHRISTINE VILLARD, THOMAS GIRY, JULIEN LECAILLE, ARNAUD WASSON-SIMON, IRÈNE STEINERT (PAYS-BAS), SU FRIEDRICH (NEW YORK), SILVIA CARACCIOLO (ROME), GILLES COLLARD (BELGIQUE), JOHN SYMONS (BOSTON), PIERRE FAY (CAP COD, ETATS-UNIS), ETC.
SOUTIEN (GÉNÉRATION DES PARENTS): ANNE COPPEL, SERGE QUADRUPPANI, ALAIN DUGRAND, ALAIN LIPIETZ...
(Contact: stephane@lavignotte.org).
Le jeudi 1er mars 2001

Nous sommes les enfants de la révolution sexuelle. Nous avons aujourd'hui des enfants, ou nous espérons en avoir, ou nous en côtoyons et nous disons merci à la génération de nos parents. Nous entendons les médias clouer Cohn-Bendit au pilori en l'accusant de pédophile. Nous entendons ce qu'il dit, nous entendons ce qu'il décrit et dans ses mots nombre d'entre nous ont l'impression d'entendre et de revoir leurs propres parents. Sommes-nous des enfants de pédophiles ?
Nombre d'entre nous ont eu des parents qui se sont promenés nus devant eux, sans doute nous ont-ils laissés toucher leurs seins, leur sexe. Ils ont été heureux quand nous sommes tombés amoureux à la maternelle, quand nous avons embrassé d'autres enfants sur la bouche. Ils nous ont laissés jouer à «touche-pipi». Que dit Cohn-Bendit? A-t-il évoqué le désir qu'il aurait pu éprouver pour des enfants ? A-t-il eu l'intention de les pénétrer ? Leur a-t-il demandé des fellations ? Non. Ce qu'il raconte, c'est ce que nous ont laissés vivre nos parents - ou que nous aurions aimé que nos parents nous laissent vivre - et c'est ce que nous voulons vivre avec nos enfants. Des enfants qui ont une vie sexuelle - qui l'ignore encore aujourd'hui? - qui éprouvent des désirs, qui ont des questions, des séductions. Bref, non pas des enfants objets pour les adultes, mais bien des enfants sujets dans toutes leurs dimensions, y compris celles qui excitent tant les esprits. Les années 70 ont fait des enfants - de nous - des sujets. La révolution sexuelle - y compris dans le domaine de l'enfance - nous a d'abord appris que notre corps nous appartenait. Que nous avions le droit d'en faire ce que nous voulions, avec qui nous voulions. Que, parce que devenus sujets, nous avions le droit de dire «non» à ceux qui désiraient faire autre chose de notre corps et de nos désirs que ce que nous, nous voulions.
Accuser la révolution sexuelle - qui a fait de l'enfant un acteur, un sujet de son corps - d'être à l'origine de la pédophilie est autant un contresens que d'accuser la révolution (y compris sexuelle) des femmes d'être à l'origine des viols dont elles sont encore aujourd'hui victimes. La révolution sexuelle a d'abord appris aux enfants, aux adolescentes, aux femmes à dire «non».
Nous remercions la génération de la révolution sexuelle d'avoir déverrouillé la vieille famille où l'enfant et la femme étaient - et restent encore trop souvent - des objets, y compris des violences sexuelles de leur entourage. Parce que la famille qu'ils ont fait éclore n'est plus celle des années 50, nous sommes heureux d'en créer aujourd'hui, ou nous pensons en créer demain. Ecrits ou propos scandaleux, ceux de Cohn-Bendit? Non, ceux d'une nécessaire explosion de parole qui permettait de dire «je», de dire «non». C'est le contraire de la pédophilie, de la loi du silence. Si aujourd'hui, de plus en plus, la parole se libère sur les horreurs subies, ces curés qui abusent, ces parents qui violent, ces familles qui étouffent, ne le doit-on pas à cette déflagration initiale?
Nous nous inquiétons de cette société de paranoïa qui crie si vite à la secte, au pédophile, mais qui ne se donne jamais les moyens - en paroles, en personnels, en structures, en changements de fond - qui permettraient vraiment de lutter contre ces violences et leurs origines. Qui se trouve des boucs émissaires pour éviter de se donner les moyens d'agir.

Libération, 1er mars 2001
Cohn-Bendit et Mai 68: quel procès? Nos lecteurs réagissent à sa mise en cause.
La danse du scalp
Par MALIKA AHMED, FRANÇOIS DEVOUCOUX, DAVID MARTIN CASTELNAU, MEMBRES DE GÉNÉRATION RÉPUBLIQUE.
Le jeudi 1er mars 2001

Qui lui donnera le coup de grâce? Pas nous. Nous avons l'âge d'être filles et fils de Daniel Cohn-Bendit et nous voulons dire ici à quel point nous déplorons le mauvais traitement dont il est l'objet.
Cohn-Bendit n'a commis d'autre crime que d'écrire quelques terribles bêtises, qu'il regrette amèrement. Cela devrait suffire à clore le dossier. Eh, bien non : la danse du scalp continue. Nous sommes pourtant loin d'être des groupies de cette génération 68, qui s'est construite sur des slogans aussi ineptes qu'«Il est interdit d'interdire» ou «La révolution sera sexuelle ou ne sera pas». Nous n'avons jamais cru que l'aspiration à la liberté et au progrès pouvait se résumer à la faculté de baisouiller, y compris de baisouiller à la faculté. Des aristocrates libertins à Paul Morand, il a été amplement démontré qu'on pouvait être un ardent avocat du plaisir et, par ailleurs, parfaitement réactionnaire. La gauche ne se réduit pas à la libido. La question sociale, l'articulation entre identités privées et collectives, la réflexion sur la conjugaison de l'Etat-nation et de la mondialisation nous paraissent largement aussi essentielles. Pour nous y être intéressés d'un point de vue «républicain», nous avons subi les foudres excommunicatrices de certains esprits délicats. «Nationaux-ceci», «souverainisto-cela» : tout était bon pour nous disqualifier.
Mais les temps changent, et le rusé Goupil voit juste: une nouvelle gauche émerge, qui va de Bové à Technikart, en passant par le Monde diplomatique et Chevènement, avec laquelle la génération de nos aînés devrait, c'est un fait, «discuter avant qu'il ne soit trop tard» (Libération du 23 février). Car nous réclamons à ces mêmes aînés un droit d'inventaire. Directement, sans passer par les bons offices de madame Vichinsky et monsieur Kenneth Starr. Mais ce faisant, nous n'avons nul besoin de transformer une vache sacrée en bouc émissaire: Dany vaut mieux que cela. Nous ne lui disons pas «Adieu!», nous n'invitons pas à «le chasser de nos têtes», nous ne lui conseillons pas «de prendre sa retraite». Il sera pour nous, dans les mois qui viennent, un interlocuteur générationnel, et à certains égards, un adversaire idéologique indispensable pour que l'époque aille au bout de sa mue. Peut-être, d'ailleurs, Dany sera-t-il désormais le premier à montrer l'exemple et, pour en avoir été la victime ahurie, incitera-t-il ses copains à renoncer à la diabolisation tous azimuts?

Related... Critical commentary of Foucault, Gide, Derrida, etc.: Michel Foucault, most-cited academic ever and father of woke ideology, outed as pedophile

College students are assigned higher grades when in a classroom with peers who are rated as very attractive - Effect is strongest for female students

Physical appearance and peer effects in academic performance. Rey Hernández-Julián & Christina Peters. Applied Economics Letters, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2017.1380282

Abstract: A large literature examines the role of peer effects in shaping student academic outcomes. This article adds to that literature by introducing a new kind of peer effect – the effect of classmate physical appearance. We document that college students are assigned higher grades when in a classroom with peers who are rated as very attractive. This effect is strongest for female students and appears to be concentrated among the courses of younger and male instructors.

KEYWORDS: Peer effects, appearance, grades, classmate appearance

West Point cadets are more risk averse & programs aimed at increasing women & minorities are likely to increase the risk aversion

Bell, Patrick and Engel, Rozlyn and Hudson, Darren and Jamison, Julian C. and Skimmyhorn, Bill, Risk Preferences in Future Military Leaders (March 1, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3055387

Abstract: Although hundreds of studies have demonstrated that risk preferences shape people’s choices under uncertainty, the complexity of how attitudes toward risk play out across various pivotal settings and key populations leaves considerable gaps in knowledge. We study a unique sample of a cohort of future military leaders at the United States Military Academy (West Point), nearly all of whom now hold commissions in the US Army officer corps. Using a hypothetical instrument to elicit preferences across a variety of domains, we find that cadets are risk averse, on average, which has potentially important implications for future management of military conflicts and programs. Our results also show that diversity programs aimed at increasing the number of women and minorities at West Point are likely to increase the average level of risk aversion within the officer corps. This finding suggests that working with officers to strengthen cognitive flexibility and to be attuned to a possible wedge between their innate preferences and the needs of the situation may be important, particularly for those who wish to enter occupational fields where the willingness to take risks is critical.

Keywords: risk preferences, risk aversion, uncertainty, occupational risk, leadership

Investigating the Masturbatory Behaviours of Canadian Midlife Adults

Investigating the Masturbatory Behaviours of Canadian Midlife Adults. Kovacevic, Katarina; Milhausen, Robin; Beaton, John; McKay, Alex. Univ. of Guelph, http://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/handle/10214/11607?show=full

Abstract: Previous research indicates that masturbation is a common and pleasurable activity related to sexual satisfaction and sexual health outcomes (Herbenick, Reece, Sanders, Dodge, Ghassemi & Fortenberry, 2009; Phillippsohn & Hartmann, 2009; Hulburt & Whittaker, 1991; Pinkerton, Bogart, Cecil & Abramson, 2003; Shulman & Horne, 2003). This study examined masturbatory frequency, pleasure and approaches and potential impact for sexual health and satisfaction in a national sample of Canadian men (N= 1111) and women (N= 1010) aged 40-59. Gender differences in masturbation frequency and pleasure were robust: men were almost 7 times more likely than women to report masturbating 4+ times per week and women almost 2.5 times more likely than men to report no masturbation in the last year. Further, women were more likely than men to report vibrator use and report that masturbation was very pleasurable. Men who reported more frequent masturbation reported lower levels of sexual satisfaction in their relationship, whereas women’s masturbation frequency was not related to their sexual satisfaction in relationships. Men and women’s masturbation frequency was not related to sexual health. The limitations and implications of the results are discussed.

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No study to date has explored whether pleasure or sexual satisfaction is enhanced when
stimulation of women’s external genitalia is incorporated into penile-vaginal penetration
(whether by themselves or by a partner). It would be particularly relevant to investigate whether women enjoy, receive, perform, or feel restricted to perform clitoral stimulation during partnered sexual activity given their reported preference for clitoral stimulation over penetration during masturbation. We propose that future researchers consider investigating the relationship between self-stimulation of the external genitalia during partnered sex with orgasmic reliability during sex and sexual satisfaction in a current relationship.

Finally, we investigated the relationship between masturbation frequency and perceived sexual health, versus objective sexual health, observing that masturbation frequency was not at all related to perceived sexual health for both men and women. Investigations into causal relationship between masturbation and objective health outcomes warrant further investigation, as some authors have suggested potential links between masturbation and prostate cancer risk in men (Aboul-Enein, Bernstein & Ross, 2016) and masturbation as a means of overcoming sexual dysfunction in both men (Kunelaki, 2017) and women (Andersen, 1981).

Check also Lange L, Zedler B, Verhoff MA, Parzeller M. Love Death—A Retrospective and Prospective Follow-Up Mortality Study Over 45 Years. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/love-deatha-retrospective-and.html

And: Sexual diversity in the United States: Results from a nationally representative probability sample of adult women and men. Debby Herbenick et al. PLoS One, July 2017, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/sexual-diversity-in-united-states.html

Altruistic Behavior among Twins Willingness to Fight and Self-Sacrifice for their Closest Relatives

Altruistic Behavior among Twins Willingness to Fight and Self-Sacrifice for their Closest Relatives.
Encarnacion Tornero et al. Human Nature, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12110-017-9304-0

Abstract: According to kin selection theory, indirect reproductive advantages may induce individuals to care for others with whom they share genes by common descent, and the amount of care, including self-sacrifice, will increase with the proportion of genes shared. Twins represent a natural situation in which this hypothesis can be tested. Twin pairs experience the same early environment because they were born and raised at the same time and in the same family but their genetic relatedness differs depending on zygosity. We compared the degree of willingness to fight and sacrifice for the co-twin among monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) pairs in a sample of 1443 same-sex and opposite-sex twins. We also analyzed the effect of the subject’s gender and that of the co-twin on those altruistic behaviors. Results partly supported the postulated explanation. MZ twins (who share nearly their entire genome) were significantly more likely than DZ twins (who on average share half of their segregating genes) to self-sacrifice for their co-twins, but zygosity did not affect willingness to fight for him/her. The genders of the subject and of the co-twin, not genetic relatedness, were the best predictors of aggressive altruistic intentions.

The blind mind: No sensory visual imagery in aphantasia

The blind mind: No sensory visual imagery in aphantasia. Rebecca Keogh, Joel Pearson. Cortex, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2017.10.012

Abstract: For most people the use of visual imagery is pervasive in daily life, but for a small group of people the experience of visual imagery is entirely unknown. Research based on subjective phenomenology indicates that otherwise healthy people can completely lack the experience of visual imagery, a condition now referred to as aphantasia. As congenital aphantasia has thus far been based on subjective reports, it remains unclear whether participants are really unable to imagine visually, or if they have very poor metacognition - they have images in their mind, but are blind to them. Here we measured sensory imagery in subjectively self-diagnosed aphantasics, using the binocular rivalry paradigm, as well as measuring their self-rated object and spatial imagery with multiple questionnaires (VVIQ, SUIS and OSIQ). Unlike, the general population, experimentally naive aphantasics showed almost no imagery-based rivalry priming. Aphantasic participants’ self-rated visual object imagery was significantly below average, however their spatial imagery scores were above average. These data suggest that aphantasia is a condition involving a lack of sensory and phenomenal imagery, and not a lack of metacognition. The possible underlying neurological cause of aphantasia are discussed as well as future research directions.

Keywords: Aphantasia; Visual Imagery; Individual Differences; Cognition

Food choice of main dishes occurs outside of awareness, matching the choice of the person ahead of oneself

Vegetarian or meat? Food choice modeling of main dishes occurs outside of awareness. Chelsea D. Christie, Frances S. Chen. Appetite, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.10.036

Abstract: It is well established that the amount eaten by other people affects how much we eat, but unanswered questions exist regarding how much the food choices of other people affect the types of food that we choose. Past research on food choice modeling has primarily been conducted in controlled laboratory situations and has focused on snack foods. The current research examines the extent to which food choice modeling of a main dish occurs in a real-life context and whether people are aware of being influenced by others. The lunch orders of café patrons were surreptitiously tracked and participants were recruited after they paid for their lunch. Participants were asked what they ordered, whether they were influenced by the prior order, and what their relationship was to the person ahead of them in line. We analyzed the data of participants who were not acquainted with the person ahead of them (N = 174). As hypothesized, participants’ main-dish lunch orders matched the choice of the person ordering ahead of them in line at rates significantly higher than chance. A significant modeling effect was observed even among participants who reported that their order was not influenced by the prior order. This research provided evidence of main-dish choice modeling occurring in real-life eating situations and outside of conscious awareness - demonstrating a powerful social influence on eating behaviours.

Keywords: Social norms; Social influence; Food choice; Modeling; Eating; Awareness