What is the relationship between gender and sexuality? Are we becoming more promiscuous? Has the sexual revolution enlightened our society or eroded our moral constructs? See our news archive of 405 articles from a range of authorities for a commentary and archival information about Gender and Sexuality from around the world. CLICK HERE
Live Science – A prevalent understanding, particularly in the 1980s, was that boys and girls are born cognitively the same. It was the way parents and society treated them that made them different. Since then, a preponderance of research has called this belief into question. The majority of today’s psychologists agree that some of the differences exhibited by male and female brains are innate. Read article
Scientific American – Who is more likely to lie, cheat, and steal—the poor person or the rich one? It’s temping to think that the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to act fairly. After all, if you already have enough for yourself, it’s easier to think about what others may need. But research suggests the opposite is true: as people climb the social ladder, their compassionate feelings towards other people decline. Read Article
Rochester – Homophobia is more pronounced in individuals with an unacknowledged attraction to the same sex and who grew up with authoritarian parents who forbade such desires, a series of psychology studies demonstrates. The study is the first to document the role that both parenting and sexual orientation play in the formation of intense and visceral fear of homosexuals, including self-reported homophobic attitudes, discriminatory bias, implicit hostility towards gays, and endorsement of anti-gay policies. Conducted by a team from the University of Rochester, the University of Essex, England, and the University of California in Santa Barbara, the research will be published the April issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Read Article
BBC – Chile’s Congress has approved most of an anti-discrimination law, a week after a gay man died as a result of an attack by suspected neo-Nazis. The Chamber of Deputies voted 58 to 56 in favour of the legislation, which was first proposed seven years ago. But several clauses still need to be finalised, meaning the bill now goes to a joint Chamber-Senate committee. The brutal assault on Daniel Zamudio sparked outrage and a fresh debate about hate crimes in Chile. Read Article
BBC – Hundreds of Afghan women are in jail for “moral crimes”, including running away and extra-marital sex, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. In a report, it said that women were punished for fleeing domestic abuse and violence while some rape victims were also imprisoned. Sex outside marriage – even when the woman is forced – is considered adultery, another “moral crime”. Read Article
AP – There was a verdict in the wrenching Rutgers webcam spying case, but no resolution to a broader question that hovered over it: To what extent are hate crime laws a help or a hindrance in the pursuit of justice? The gist of the verdict: Former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi was convicted Friday of anti-gay intimidation for using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate’s love life. Read Article
AP – Federal investigators expressed concerns Monday for the safety of some female veterans who rely on homeless shelters after inspections showed women housed in shelters approved only for men. The inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs said that nearly a third of the 26 locations reviewed did not adequately address security risks, which included female and male residents on the same floor, and bedrooms and bathrooms with insufficient locks. The report will be the focus of a hearing Wednesday by the Senate’s Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Read Article
Reuters – A Virginia school district backed down from a plan to ban cross-gender dress by students after civil liberties and gay rights groups criticized the measure, and one threatened to sue. School board members proposed the ban in early February, saying they wanted to protect children in the school district in Suffolk, about 20 miles from Norfolk, from killings and suicides tied to bullying in other parts of the country. Read Article
What is the relationship between gender and sexuality? Are we becoming more promiscuous? Has the sexual revolution enlightened our society or eroded our moral constructs? See our news archive of 396 articles from a range of authorities for a commentary and archival information about Gender and Sexuality from around the world. CLICK HERE
Reuters – Iranian women call for better representation ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections. Read article
Telegraph – A former medical director of the country’s largest abortion provider said it was “well known” that women were terminating pregnancies because of the gender of the child and that he had been asked by women to arrange the procedure for this reason. Dr Vincent Argent, who previously worked for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and is now a GP and consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, said he had “no doubt” that women were terminating pregnancies because of the sex of the baby and that he believed the practice was “fairly widespread”. Read Article
Digital Trends – As reported by The Independent recently, a two-week trial for gender-specific targeting of advertisements is launching in London’s West End this week. Utilizing facial recognition technology, the interactive advertisement uses a high definition camera to scan pedestrians walking by a specific bus stop on Oxford Street. Read Article
Medical Xpress – Although several small studies have suggested that endometriosis (a common gynaecological disorder that affects about 10% of women of reproductive age) is associated with a risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer (the most deadly and prevalent form), this study definitively confirms the magnitude of this risk and the relationship with specific subtypes. Read article
HealthDay – Two out of five women having a heart attack do not experience chest pain, according to a new study. Instead, they may have harder-to-recognize symptoms, such as pain in the jaw, neck, shoulders or back; stomach discomfort; or sudden trouble breathing, researchers said. Read article
Reuters – Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill legalizing gay marriage as promised on Friday, asking lawmakers instead to appoint an advocate for same-sex couples under the state’s existing civil union law. Christie, a supporter of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and often mentioned as a potential vice-presidential candidate, had pledged to veto the measure for weeks, saying voters should settle the matter through a referendum. Read Article
Fox – A Denver woman claims she couldn’t board a flight from Wyoming to Denver because of her gender. Jennifer Winning makes the flight from the small airport of Rock Springs, WY to Denver often, but on January 29th it was different. “They wouldn`t let me get on the plane because I`m female,” Winning said. She said she checked in and arrived at security about 35 minutes before the scheduled departure of her United flight. Read Article
Reuters – An appeals court on Tuesday found California’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional in a case that may lead to a showdown in the Supreme Court. Supporters of the ban said they would appeal the judgment, calling it “out of step with every other federal appellate and Supreme Court decision.” Their appeal is likely to keep gay marriage in the state on hold pending future proceedings. Read Article
BBC – A Ugandan MP has revived a controversial anti-gay bill but dropped the provision for the death penalty for certain homosexual acts. A BBC correspondent says MPs laughed, clapped and cried out: “Our bill, our bill,” when its architect David Bahati reintroduced the draft legislation on Tuesday. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill was shelved in 2011 after an international outcry. It still increases the punishment to life in prison for homosexual offences. Read Article
Associated Press – Saudi women leading a campaign against the kingdom’s ban on female driving are calling on the courts to take up their lawsuits demanding the right to drive. Manal al-Sherif said today that she and other activists are urging judicial authorities to launch proceedings based on complaints they lodged after being refused driving licences. Read Article
UT San Diego — Many church-affiliated institutions will have to cover free birth control for employees, the Obama administration announced Friday in an election-year move that outraged religious groups, fueling a national debate about the reach of government. In a concession, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said nonprofit institutions such as church-affiliated hospitals, colleges and social service agencies will have one additional year to comply with the requirement, issued in regulations under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Read article
Washington Post – Three men were convicted Friday of distributing anti-gay leaflets, and prosecutors called it a landmark case regarding the prosecution of hate crimes regarding sexual orientation. A jury found the men to have distributed leaflets calling for homosexuals to face the death penalty. Two others were acquitted of the same charge. Read Article
Independent – Thousands of women will be sent to jail needlessly if new criminal justice legislation is allowed into law in its current form, a group of cross-party peers warn this weekend ahead of a vote in the House of Lords. A new Ministry of Justice bill on sentencing must be changed radically to take account of women, they say, if the Government is to reduce the growing number of women being given custodial sentences. Read Article
Washington Post – The Obama administration on Friday expanded the FBI’s more than eight-decade-old definition of rape to count men as victims for the first time and to drop the requirement that victims must have physically resisted their attackers. The new definition will increase the number of people counted as rape victims in FBI statistics, but will not change federal or state laws nor alter charges or prosecutions. Read Article
NY Times – President Obama has long relied on his oratorical gifts to ease him through tricky political situations. But on the emotionally charged issue of gay rights, Mr. Obama has been content recently to let his lieutenants do the talking. And they have said some striking things. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told an audience of diplomats in Geneva this month that “gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.” Read Article
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