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Context & Variation
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- September 9, 2011
- 04:15 PM
- 430 views
Menstruation is just blood and tissue you ended up not using
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
A history of the menotoxin, or menstrual toxin, with broader commentary about culture and bias... Read more »
Clarke J. (1994) The meaning of menstruation in the elimination of abnormal embryos. Human reproduction (Oxford, England), 9(7), 1204-7. PMID: 7848450
Finn CA. (1996) Why do women menstruate? Historical and evolutionary review. European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology, 70(1), 3-8. PMID: 9031909
Finn CA. (1998) Menstruation: a nonadaptive consequence of uterine evolution. The Quarterly review of biology, 73(2), 163-73. PMID: 9618925
Profet M. (1993) Menstruation as a defense against pathogens transported by sperm. The Quarterly review of biology, 68(3), 335-86. PMID: 8210311
Reid HE. (1974) Letter: The brass-ring sign. Lancet, 1(7864), 988. PMID: 4133673
Wilcox AJ, Baird DD, & Weinberg CR. (1999) Time of implantation of the conceptus and loss of pregnancy. The New England journal of medicine, 340(23), 1796-9. PMID: 10362823
- July 1, 2011
- 08:50 PM
- 556 views
Summer of the pill: will the pill mess up my chances at finding my One True Love?
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
Next in the summer of the pill series. This week I deal with research that shows the pill alters women's mate preferences.... Read more »
Bereczkei T, Voros S, Gal A, & Bernath L. (1997) Resources, attractiveness, family commitment; reproductive decisions in human mate choice. Ethology : formerly Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie, 103(8), 681-99. PMID: 12293453
Brinsmead-Stockham K, Johnston L, Miles L, & Neil Macrae C. (2008) Female sexual orientation and menstrual influences on person perception. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(3), 729-734. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2007.05.003
Burleson MH, Trevathan WR, & Gregory WL. (2002) Sexual behavior in lesbian and heterosexual women: relations with menstrual cycle phase and partner availability. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 27(4), 489-503. PMID: 11912001
Buston PM, & Emlen ST. (2003) Cognitive processes underlying human mate choice: The relationship between self-perception and mate preference in Western society. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100(15), 8805-10. PMID: 12843405
Kurzban R, & Weeden J. (2005) HurryDate: Mate preferences in action. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26(3), 227-244. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.08.012
Pawłowski B, & Dunbar RI. (1999) Impact of market value on human mate choice decisions. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, 266(1416), 281-5. PMID: 10081164
Roberts SC, Gosling LM, Carter V, & Petrie M. (2008) MHC-correlated odour preferences in humans and the use of oral contraceptives. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, 275(1652), 2715-22. PMID: 18700206
Wedekind C, Seebeck T, Bettens F, & Paepke AJ. (1995) MHC-Dependent Mate Preferences in Humans. Proceedings: Biological Sciences, 260(1359), 245-249. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.1995.0087
- June 21, 2011
- 09:30 PM
- 592 views
C&V Shorts: Make the most of your time and energy
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
A short post on life history theory as it applies to human societies, menarche, and stature.... Read more »
McIntyre MH, & Kacerosky PM. (2011) Age and size at maturity in women: a norm of reaction?. American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 23(3), 305-12. PMID: 21484909
Walker, R., Gurven, M., Hill, K., Migliano, A., Chagnon, N., De Souza, R., Djurovic, G., Hames, R., Hurtado, A., Kaplan, H.... (2006) Growth rates and life histories in twenty-two small-scale societies. American Journal of Human Biology, 18(3), 295-311. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.20510
- June 17, 2011
- 09:00 AM
- 313 views
Summer of the pill: why do we menstruate?
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
The first in a series on hormonal contraception. This post explores why human women menstruate and how that may impact their contraceptive decisions.... Read more »
Jasienska, G., & Thune, I. (2001) Research pointers: Lifestyle, hormones, and risk of breast cancer. BMJ, 322(7286), 586-587. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.322.7286.586
Strassmann, B. (1997) The Biology of Menstruation in Homo Sapiens: Total Lifetime Menses, Fecundity, and Nonsynchrony in a Natural-Fertility Population. Current Anthropology, 38(1), 123. DOI: 10.1086/204592
Vitzthum VJ, Spielvogel H, Caceres E, & Miller A. (2001) Vaginal bleeding patterns among rural highland Bolivian women: relationship to fecundity and fetal loss. Contraception, 64(5), 319-25. PMID: 11777494
Vitzthum VJ, & Ringheim K. (2005) Hormonal contraception and physiology: a research-based theory of discontinuation due to side effects. Studies in family planning, 36(1), 13-32. PMID: 15828522
- May 17, 2011
- 06:04 PM
- 661 views
Do girls steal some of their mother’s beauty? Sex bias in parental investment
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
An examination of a recent paper on maternal breast size after pregnancy, and the Trivers-Willard hypothesis.... Read more »
Dimitrakakis C, Jones RA, Liu A, & Bondy CA. (2004) Breast cancer incidence in postmenopausal women using testosterone in addition to usual hormone therapy. Menopause (New York, N.Y.), 11(5), 531-5. PMID: 15356405
Galbarczyk A. (2011) Unexpected changes in maternal breast size during pregnancy in relation to infant sex: An evolutionary interpretation. American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council. PMID: 21544894
Helle, S. (2002) Sons Reduced Maternal Longevity in Preindustrial Humans. Science, 296(5570), 1085-1085. DOI: 10.1126/science.1070106
Hinde K. (2009) Richer milk for sons but more milk for daughters: Sex-biased investment during lactation varies with maternal life history in rhesus macaques. American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 21(4), 512-9. PMID: 19384860
Hrdy, S. (1990) Sex bias in nature and in history: A late 1980s reexamination of the “biological origins” argument. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 33(S11), 25-37. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.1330330504
Jasienska G, Nenko I, & Jasienski M. (2006) Daughters increase longevity of fathers, but daughters and sons equally reduce longevity of mothers. American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 18(3), 422-5. PMID: 16634019
Poretsky L, Seto-Young D, Shrestha A, Dhillon S, Mirjany M, Liu HC, Yih MC, & Rosenwaks Z. (2001) Phosphatidyl-inositol-3 kinase-independent insulin action pathway(s) in the human ovary. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 86(7), 3115-9. PMID: 11443175
- April 20, 2011
- 11:13 AM
- 612 views
AAPA symposium on Evolution through the Life Course: Why we shouldn't prescribe hormonal contraception to twelve year olds
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
A blog version of a talk I gave at an invited symposium at this year's AAPAs, plus some additional thoughts and broader context.... Read more »
Bentley GR. (1994) Ranging hormones: do hormonal contraceptives ignore human biological variation and evolution?. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 201-3. PMID: 8154705
Clark, L. (2004) Menstrual irregularity from hormonal contraception triggers significant reproductive health fears in adolescent girls. Journal of Adolescent Health, 34(2), 123-124. DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2003.11.091
Clark, L. (2001) Will the Pill Make Me Sterile? Addressing Reproductive Health Concerns and Strategies to Improve Adherence to Hormonal Contraceptive Regimens in Adolescent Girls. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, 14(4), 153-162. DOI: 10.1016/S1083-3188(01)00123-1
Collaborative group. (1996) Breast cancer and hormonal contraceptives: collaborative reanalysis of individual data on 53 297 women with breast cancer and 100 239 women without breast cancer from 54 epidemiological studies. The Lancet, 347(9017), 1713-1727. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(96)90806-5
Collaborative Group on Epidemiological Studies of Ovarian Cancer, Beral V, Doll R, Hermon C, Peto R, & Reeves G. (2008) Ovarian cancer and oral contraceptives: collaborative reanalysis of data from 45 epidemiological studies including 23,257 women with ovarian cancer and 87,303 controls. Lancet, 371(9609), 303-14. PMID: 18294997
Collins, N., Dunkel-Schetter, C., Lobel, M., & Scrimshaw, S. (1993) Social support in pregnancy: Psychosocial correlates of birth outcomes and postpartum depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(6), 1243-1258. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.65.6.1243
D'Antona Ade O, Chelekis JA, D'Antona MF, & Siqueira AD. (2009) Contraceptive discontinuation and non-use in Santarém, Brazilian Amazon. Cadernos de saude publica / Ministerio da Saude, Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz, Escola Nacional de Saude Publica, 25(9), 2021-32. PMID: 19750389
Feldman PJ, Dunkel-Schetter C, Sandman CA, & Wadhwa PD. (2000) Maternal social support predicts birth weight and fetal growth in human pregnancy. Psychosomatic medicine, 62(5), 715-25. PMID: 11020102
Fraser IS, & Kovacs GT. (2003) The efficacy of non-contraceptive uses for hormonal contraceptives. The Medical journal of Australia, 178(12), 621-3. PMID: 12797849
Gerschultz KL, Sucato GS, Hennon TR, Murray PJ, & Gold MA. (2007) Extended cycling of combined hormonal contraceptives in adolescents: physician views and prescribing practices. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 40(2), 151-7. PMID: 17259055
Gubhaju, B. (2009) Barriers to Sustained Use of Contraception in Nepal: Quality of Care, Socioeconomic Status, and Method-Related Factors. Biodemography and Social Biology, 55(1), 52-70. DOI: 10.1080/19485560903054671
Gupta, N., Corrado, S., & Goldstein, M. (2008) Hormonal Contraception for the Adolescent. Pediatrics in Review, 29(11), 386-397. DOI: 10.1542/pir.29-11-386
Hawkes, K. (2003) Grandmothers and the evolution of human longevity. American Journal of Human Biology, 15(3), 380-400. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.10156
Kahlenborn, C., Modugno, F., Potter, D., & Severs, W. (2006) Oral Contraceptive Use as a Risk Factor for Premenopausal Breast Cancer: A Meta-analysis. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 81(10), 1290-1302. DOI: 10.4065/81.10.1290
Kramer, K. (2005) Children's Help and the Pace of Reproduction: Cooperative Breeding in Humans. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 14(6), 224-237. DOI: 10.1002/evan.20082
Kramer KL. (2008) Early sexual maturity among Pumé foragers of Venezuela: fitness implications of teen motherhood. American journal of physical anthropology, 136(3), 338-50. PMID: 18386795
KRISHNAMOORTHY, N., SIMPSON, C., TOWNEND, J., HELMS, P., & MCLAY, J. (2008) Adolescent Females and Hormonal Contraception: A Retrospective Study in Primary Care. Journal of Adolescent Health, 42(1), 97-101. DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.06.016
Lipson, S., & Ellison, P. (2008) Normative study of age variation in salivary progesterone profiles. Journal of Biosocial Science, 24(02). DOI: 10.1017/S0021932000019751
Marchbanks, P., McDonald, J., Wilson, H., Folger, S., Mandel, M., Daling, J., Bernstein, L., Malone, K., Ursin, G., Strom, B.... (2002) Oral Contraceptives and the Risk of Breast Cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 346(26), 2025-2032. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa013202
Modan B, Hartge P, Hirsh-Yechezkel G, Chetrit A, Lubin F, Beller U, Ben-Baruch G, Fishman A, Menczer J, Struewing JP.... (2001) Parity, oral contraceptives, and the risk of ovarian cancer among carriers and noncarriers of a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. The New England journal of medicine, 345(4), 235-40. PMID: 11474660
Narod, S., Risch, H., Moslehi, R., Dørum, A., Neuhausen, S., Olsson, H., Provencher, D., Radice, P., Evans, G., Bishop, S.... (1998) Oral Contraceptives and the Risk of Hereditary Ovarian Cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 339(7), 424-428. DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199808133390702
Ott, M., Adler, N., Millstein, S., Tschann, J., & Ellen, J. (2002) The Trade-Off between Hormonal Contraceptives and Condoms among Adolescents. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 34(1), 6. DOI: 10.2307/3030227
ROYE, C. (1998) Condom use by hispanic and african-american adolescent girls who use hormonal contraception. Journal of Adolescent Health, 23(4), 205-211. DOI: 10.1016/S1054-139X(97)00264-4
Roye CF, & Seals B. (2001) A qualitative assessment of condom use decisions by female adolescents who use hormonal contraception. The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care : JANAC, 12(6), 78-87. PMID: 11723916
SAYEGH, M., FORTENBERRY, J., SHEW, M., & ORR, D. (2005) The developmental association of relationship quality, hormonal contraceptive choice and condom non-use among adolescent women. Journal of Adolescent Health, 36(2), 97-97. DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2004.11.009
SMITH, J., GREEN, J., DEGONZALEZ, A., APPLEBY, P., PETO, J., PLUMMER, M., FRANCESCHI, S., & BERAL, V. (2003) Cervical cancer and use of hormonal contraceptives: a systematic review. The Lancet, 361(9364), 1159-1167. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(03)12949-2
Turner, R., Grindstaff, C., & Phillips, N. (1990) Social Support and Outcome in Teenage Pregnancy. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 31(1), 43. DOI: 10.2307/2137044
Vihko R, & Apter D. (1984) Endocrine characteristics of adolescent menstrual cycles: impact of early menarche. Journal of steroid biochemistry, 20(1), 231-6. PMID: 6231419
Vitzthum, V., & Ringheim, K. (2005) Hormonal Contraception and Physiology: A Research-based Theory of Discontinuation Due to Side Effects. Studies in Family Planning, 36(1), 13-32. DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2005.00038.x
Vitzthum, V. (2001) Vaginal bleeding patterns among rural highland Bolivian women: relationship to fecundity and fetal loss. Contraception, 64(5), 319-325. DOI: 10.1016/S0010-7824(01)00260-8
Walker, R., Gurven, M., Hill, K., Migliano, A., Chagnon, N., De Souza, R., Djurovic, G., Hames, R., Hurtado, A., Kaplan, H.... (2006) Growth rates and life histories in twenty-two small-scale societies. American Journal of Human Biology, 18(3), 295-311. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.20510
ZIBNERS, A., CROMER, B., & HAYES, J. (1999) Comparison of continuation rates for hormonal contraception among adolescents. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, 12(2), 90-94. DOI: 10.1016/S1083-3188(00)86633-4
- April 12, 2011
- 04:15 AM
- 404 views
LabEvoEndo Journal Club: Dana Ahern presents on PMDD
by Kate Clancy in Laboratory for Evolutionary Endocrinology
This is the third guest post of the LabEvoEndo Journal Club, a new series for the LabEvoEndo blog meant to highlight student contributions to the lab (first post here, second post here). The author is Honors Anthropology Junior Dana Ahern. Dana has been in my lab since her sophomore year.
* * *
I’d like to start this blog post with a little background on progesterone. Progesterone is fascinating and it affects a lot more than just the menstrual cycle. We are starting to understand just how big of an impact progesterone has, and the research project I am working on is beginning to show some of the potential applications of progesterone in medicine. These applications include improving recovery time after traumatic brain injury and strokes, as well as helping us understand postpartum depression (PPD) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).
PMDD is similar in mechanism with postpartum depression, although the exact mechanism is still being researched. Some research suggests a hormonal influence, as allopregnanolone, an offshoot neuroregulator of progesterone, modulates GABA, which is a neurotransmitter related to mood and anxiety. Too much GABA results in increased anxiety and mood related issues, so it is a logical conclusion that the drop in progesterone during the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle would result in excess GABA and therefore symptoms of PMDD.
The article we discussed looked at PET scans of 12 women with and 12 women without a diagnosis of PMDD, taking scans during the follicular phase and the late luteal phase of their menstrual cycles. The women in the study were screened for two months with mood surveys and then taken in for a day of PET scans and blood/urine samples, once during the follicular phase and once during the late luteal phase, when the symptoms of PMDD would have begun. PMDD can affect certain brain functions, so they were using the PET scan to detect brain dysfunction, such as one study the article looked at that showed frontal lobe dysfunction associated with PMDD.
The hormone measurements didn’t show anything significant and PET scans showed increased cerebellum activity from follicular to late luteal phase in PMDD women only. The cerebellum has many GABA receptors, which is a possible explanation of this, but in journal club, we wondered if it is the lack of modulation after a drop in the progesterone, or if there is something going on with the number of receptors, such as perhaps some sort of diminished sensitivity to allopregnanolone.
In journal club, we discussed some of the problems we had with this study. Someone brought up the small sample size and too few collection times for samples and scan. The fact that only one cycle was measured impacted the study. Kate also mentioned that blood hormones are a less useful measure than salivary hormone measurements. Finally, while the article states that the cause of PMDD is an overactive cerebellum in women suffering from PMDD, they never really reach a definite reason for what is causing the increased action. Ultimately, the article would have benefitted from examining the hormones more closely and more often.
Reference
Rapkin AJ, Berman SM, Mandelkern MA, Silverman DH, Morgan M, & London ED (2011). Neuroimaging evidence of cerebellar involvement in premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Biological psychiatry, 69 (4), 374-80 PMID: 21092938This post was written by Kathryn Clancy for the Laboratory for Evolutionary Endocrinology Blog. Except as noted, it is (C)Kathryn Clancy and licensed under a Creative Commons License. The opinions on this blog are the opinions of the blog author only, not the author's employer or colleagues.... Read more »
Rapkin AJ, Berman SM, Mandelkern MA, Silverman DH, Morgan M, & London ED. (2011) Neuroimaging evidence of cerebellar involvement in premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Biological psychiatry, 69(4), 374-80. PMID: 21092938
- April 6, 2011
- 12:00 PM
- 659 views
If I objectify you, will it make you feel bad enough to objectify yourself? On shopping, sexiness and hormones.
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
This post critiques recent work on "sexy" shopping behavior during high and low fertility periods in the menstrual cycle.... Read more »
Campbell, A. (2004) Female competition: Causes, constraints, content, and contexts. Journal of Sex Research, 41(1), 16-26. DOI: 10.1080/00224490409552210
Durante, KM, Griskevicius, V, Hill, SE, Perilloux, C, & Li, NP. (2011) Ovulation, female competition, and product choice: hormonal influences on consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(6), 921-934. info:/
Fehring, R., Schneider, M., & Raviele, K. (2006) Variability in the Phases of the Menstrual Cycle. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, Neonatal Nursing, 35(3), 376-384. DOI: 10.1111/j.1552-6909.2006.00051.x
Lenton EA, Landgren BM, Sexton L, & Harper R. (1984) Normal variation in the length of the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle: effect of chronological age. British journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, 91(7), 681-4. PMID: 6743609
Moffitt, L., & Szymanski, D. (2010) Experiencing Sexually Objectifying Environments: A Qualitative Study. The Counseling Psychologist, 39(1), 67-106. DOI: 10.1177/0011000010364551
Smuts, B. (1995) The evolutionary origins of patriarchy. Human Nature, 6(1), 1-32. DOI: 10.1007/BF02734133
Streeter, S. (2003) Waist–hip ratio and attractiveness New evidence and a critique of “a critical test”. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24(2), 88-98. DOI: 10.1016/S1090-5138(02)00121-6
- Anthropology
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- Evolutionary Anthropology
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- Cognitive Psychology
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- April 4, 2011
- 12:03 PM
- 597 views
LabEvoEndo Journal Club: Sophia Bodnar presents on cervical cancer
by Kate Clancy in Laboratory for Evolutionary Endocrinology
Student blogging on cervical cancer and immunology, particular in understanding variation in cytokines, chemokines, and proportions of columnar vs squamous cervical cells.... Read more »
Hwang LY, Scott ME, Ma Y, & Moscicki AB. (2011) Higher levels of cervicovaginal inflammatory and regulatory cytokines and chemokines in healthy young women with immature cervical epithelium. Journal of reproductive immunology, 88(1), 66-71. PMID: 21051089
- March 24, 2011
- 03:21 PM
- 562 views
LabEvoEndo Journal Club: Laura Klein presents on food allergies
by Kate Clancy in Laboratory for Evolutionary Endocrinology
Undergraduate Laura Klein reviews an article on food allergies.... Read more »
Christie L, Hine RJ, Parker JG, & Burks W. (2002) Food allergies in children affect nutrient intake and growth. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 102(11), 1648-51. PMID: 12449289
Fernandez-Rivas, M, & Miles, S. (2007) Chapter 1. Food allergies: Clinical and Psychosocial Perspectives. Plant Food Allergens. info:/
- March 24, 2011
- 03:01 PM
- 598 views
Around the web: put attention where it needs to be put
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
Yesterday I submitted a book chapter and a journal manuscript. I have two substantial blog posts I'm working on, but neither will be ready for this week. However, I have been slowly accumulating Posts of Awesome that I'd like to share. I want to highlight people, writing, and topics that need and deserve more attention in the science blogosphere. I mention a lot of these things on Twitter, but I know a lot of my followers don't use Twitter. So here goes.LadybusinessIf you have any interest in pregnancy, labor and birth, I do hope you're reading Science and Sensibility. S&S is a evidence-based blog written by practitioners and scientists, sponsored by Lamaze International. I really like their more technical, informative posts on labor and birth, and today's post on positioning during the second stage of labor is a winner. The writing is always accessible for layfolks, yet still provides great information for scientists and medical folk.Remember that Wax et al (2010) article showing homebirth had a mortality rate three times higher than a hospital birth (and the sensational Lancet editorial)? A lot of folks came down hard on the article when it first came out, myself included, but two more pieces came out yesterday that call into question the authors' conclusions. The first issue is that there were actual mathematical errors in the data (meaning, the data was probably entered into an excel sheet incorrectly), the second is that they fundamentally did the meta-analysis wrong. Wrong. As in, according to one statistician who had no stake in the story or topic, so wrong as to overlook all its other problems.A few more spicy tidbits: cosmetic breast surgery is on the rise, and one county in Florida has a 70% cesarean rate. Seventy. Percent. Due to some smart marketing and bad decisions, a treatment to prevent pre-term birth that used to be affordable is now more expensive than gold.Something a little more fun: older female elephants make better leaders. Here's a video to go with the paper.Finally, this is sort of ladybusiness, but as Dr. Isis points out, it should really be family (or even just human) business: Why it's alright to not be your mother, a guest post on AGORA.Queering biologyThe reverberations from Jesse Bering's post on homophobia as an adaptation continue. And the responses have been brilliant. I especially love Jeremy Yoder's take over at his blog, Denim and Tweed: An adaptive fairytale with no happy ending.And then today, DeLene Beeland shared this great post on Twitter: How to Queer Ecology: One Goose at a Time over at Orion Magazine. This is a beautifully-written, thoughtful takedown of the naturalistic fallacy.Other things to read right nowDanielle Lee has two great pieces worth reading (and I found them both because of Greg Laden): an article on the contribution of Henrietta Lacks, and the Black community, to cell culture, and a profile on Danielle in a natural hair series at Essence.com.I read this article today by Gina Trapani on her work to make the technical world more friendly to women and other underrepresented or new folks.An interesting interview and review of the book Consumption, by Kevin Patterson: How western diets are making the world sick.A piece on Impostor Syndrome at SciAm (behind a paywall). I don't want to pathologize all underrepresented groups in science (because frankly, these feelings make sense in the context of environment, even if it's desirable to move beyond them), but issues around impostor syndrome resonate with me.The video for the MLK, Jr session from Science Online 2011 is now up. Alberto Roca, Danielle Lee and David Kroll are the fabulous panelists.Things I wish I didn't have to link toOur amusement with Charlie Sheen just demonstrates how little we care about violence against women -- especially certain kinds of women. Read The Disposable Woman.Skepchick Rebecca Watson shares some of her hate mail, and why she doesn't feel like internetting today: Why I deserved to be called an offensive bitch.Pat Campbell reposted a twelve-year-old manifesto on gender and education that still holds true: The Gender Wars Must Cease.Some LOLz and some cutes: a section I added because the last three links were so depressingThis first link doesn't exactly bring the LOLz, but is an enjoyable read: Female Science Professor continues her series on Academic Novels.Some great apes from Zooborns: a two new baby orangs, and baby chimp. They put my maternal instinct into overdrive.And a LOLcat via Scicurious: I'z in yer papers, messin' wit yer stats.ReferencesWax, J., Lucas, F., Lamont, M., Pinette, M., Cartin, A., & Blackstone, J. (2010). Maternal and newborn outcomes in planned home birth vs planned hospital births: a metaanalysis American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2010.05.028... Read more »
Wax, J., Lucas, F., Lamont, M., Pinette, M., Cartin, A., & Blackstone, J. (2010) Maternal and newborn outcomes in planned home birth vs planned hospital births: a metaanalysis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2010.05.028
Editorial staff. (2010) Home birth--proceed with caution. Lancet, 376(9738), 303. PMID: 20674705
- March 16, 2011
- 12:27 PM
- 516 views
On bad first drafts
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
From I Can Haz Cheezburger.My blogging mojo has been channeled almost entirely towards a book project I've undertaken with Julienne Rutherford of UIC and Katie Hinde of UCLA (though shortly to be of Harvard). The book is called Building Babies: Primate Development in Proximate and Ultimate Perspective and it will be published by Springer in 2012. Each co-editor has a chapter in there, and then we have a number of other rather fancy-pants contributors as well.The first drafts of the chapters were due yesterday. I did not submit my chapter (er, to myself). I'm running about a week late. I thought I would come clean with this, because there are a number of elements of the writing process that I think remain obscure for students and other junior scholars. And after I share a few thoughts about academic writing, I thought I would show you some of the draft I'm working on.First drafts suckThey really, really do. If you think your first draft is amazing, give it to someone else, and that someone else can't be a pet, spouse or parent. First drafts suck because we write the most obvious things in them, the most vague. First drafts don't have enough context. First drafts are where you use cliches because you haven't figured out how to say what you're saying in a sophisticated way. They are often under-cited. They are out of order. And, they aren't that compelling.This is why so much student writing is bad -- but it's not their fault. Close together deadlines, ones that align with other projects, and little teaching of time management means most students start writing projects just before they are due. So they essentially submit first drafts of papers, with a little copyediting if you're lucky. Plus, somehow a lot of students have picked up this idea that first drafts are better or more authentic than revisions. This is patently false. They are simply the place our favorite worst stuff goes to die (this is why revision is so often called killing our darlings, to use a term from scio11, though its origin is much older).But everyone has bad first drafts, so it is absolutely useless to feel bad about them. Give them to your advisor or your colleague if they have said they will read a first draft (otherwise, revise it after consulting with someone else first). They write bad first drafts too. You have to write a first draft in order to get to the revision, and to me, this was a liberating realization. Get it all out now! Don't worry about using the right word! Just get the words on the page, get about the right content in about the right order, and if something is repetitive, just leave it for now. Because after a little breather away from it, or a look from a trusted colleague or advisor, you will hack it up and remake it into something far better.Revising only sucks sometimesRevising sucks when you get your first comments back from a colleague, because it is terrifying to share that vulnerable, bad first draft with another person (ever had that moment after you print it out or hit send when you realize your prized metaphor was a trembling nod to your failed attempt as a fiction writer?). It sucks at those moments when you feel at cross-purposes with the thesis of your paper. And it's frustrating, also, that revising is the most important yet under-taught skill in academic writing.But here's the thing. Revising can be glorious. If you abandon any sense that you own your words, and remember only to own your mind, it allows you to be merciless in cutting out all the badness of that first draft: the cliches, the vague repetition, the jargon. If you return again and again to your outline, or abstract, or data, or whatever materials you keep to help you remember what the paper is about, you will start to see the right shape of the piece. And then you can also build in the context.The best moments of revision are when you remember why you were writing the piece in the first place. Do you want to produce a fundamental review that will be useful to other practitioners in your field? Do you have an amazing piece of data to share? A well-grounded hypothesis that you want to articulate? What was surprising or compelling about that work when you first set fingers to keyboard?One last thing I'll say about revising is that owning your mind is not the same as owning your ideas. You need to be willing to let go of being right, and you need to be willing to change if the evidence is against you. Accepting reality and working with it in an interesting way is the mark of a good scientist, and a good revision.My first drafts suckThe title of my chapter is: "Inflammatory factors that produce variation in ovarian and endometrial functioning" (eventually, I think, I will need to change the title to better reflect the manuscript). I thought this would be an easy piece for me, since I have been doing a lot of work on C-reactive protein, a biomarker for systemic inflammation, and I have been studying the endometrium and ovaries for many years.I was wrong. Oh, so wrong.A few quick searches pulled up an embarrassingly large number of citations for chemokines and cytokines, for toll-like receptors, natural killer cells, and other immunological terms I barely remembered from high school and college. So I re-drafted my outline, set aside a lot of time for reading (as in, several days straight), and then finally set to work.The problem with the literature on this topic is that it is wholly mechanistic. I can now tell you what interleukins are expressed in the periovulatory phase versus the implantation window, or which ones are suppressed or overexpressed for certain pathologies, but I can't tell you what that means in a broader sense, or what produces variation in any of these immunological factors in a systemic way that might impact local inflammation in the female reproductive system.Here is my section on normal endometrial functioning (alas, given the literature, the section on pathology in the endometrium is far, far longer). First draft ahead! Remember, I am sharing this embarrassingly bad prose for the good of SCIENCE.The endometrium is composed of the functionalis and basalis layers; the functionalis comprises two thirds of the endometrium and is the part that proliferates and sheds each reproductive cycle. The basalis is adjacent to the myometrium, and is the place from which the endometrium regenerates after menses. The proliferative (also known as follicular) phase is when estradiol promotes proliferation of endometrial tissue, where the secretory (also known as luteal) phase is characterized by progesterone control of decidualization and menstruation. The endometrium typically proliferates with narrow, straight glands and a thin surface epithelium, and angiongenesis continues as ovulation nears (King and Critchley 2010). After ovulation and during the secretory phase, the endometrium differentiates: endometrial glands become increasingly secretory, and by the late secretory phase spiral arterioles form. If implantation does not occur, the corpus luteum degrades, progesterone declines, and this triggers a cascade of events to produce menstruation.Menstruation is a key inflammatory process of the endometrium. Menstruation is when the functionalis are shed at the end of the human reproductive cycle. The basalis regenerates over the course of the next cycle. The demise of the corpus luteum and the associated withdrawal of progesterone precipitate inflammatory mediators that cause tissue degradation. For instance, progesterone inhibits nuclear factor κ B (NF-κB), which increases the expression of inflammatory cytokines like IL-1 and IL-6 (Maybin et al. 2011). The withdrawal of progesterone is also associated with an increase in endometrial leukocytes and IL-8, which regulate the repair process (Maybin et al. 2011). At this time other inflammatory factors promote MMP production to break down endometrial tissue (Maybin et al. 2011). Further, it is thought that progesterone withdrawal, not an increase in estradiol concentrations, leads to the repair of the endometrium so that it can resume activity for the next cycle (Maybin et al. 2011). Thus, variation in progesterone concentrations may lead to variation in inflammatory activity, degradation, repair and cycling in the endometrium.First question: why should I care about any of the above? So what if any of this happens? Then, you might not know this, but I do: the only two citations in these two paragraphs are both review papers, and one of the authors overlap between them. Therefore, it's quite under-cited. To be fair, in this section it is less important that I demonstrate the depth of the literature, but a review that only cites two other reviews isn't doing its job.... Read more »
King, A., & Critchley, H. (2010) Oestrogen and progesterone regulation of inflammatory processes in the human endometrium. The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 120(2-3), 116-126. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2010.01.003
Maybin JA, Critchley HO, & Jabbour HN. (2011) Inflammatory pathways in endometrial disorders. Molecular and cellular endocrinology, 335(1), 42-51. PMID: 20723578
- March 4, 2011
- 10:07 AM
- 771 views
Mate magnet madness: When the range of possible explanations exceeds your own hypothesis
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
A rebuttal of a Tierney column on the evolutionary psychology of relationship maintenance.... Read more »
Brockelman, W., Reichard, U., Treesucon, U., & Raemaekers, J. (1998) Dispersal, pair formation and social structure in gibbons ( Hylobates lar ). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 42(5), 329-339. DOI: 10.1007/s002650050445
MANER, J., GAILLIOT, M., & MILLER, S. (2009) The implicit cognition of relationship maintenance: Inattention to attractive alternatives. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(1), 174-179. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2008.08.002
Miller, S, & Maner, J. (2010) Evolution and relationship maintenance: Fertility cues lead committed men to devalue relationship alternatives. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1081-1084. info:/
Murdock, G., & White, D. (1969) Standard Cross-Cultural Sample. Ethnology, 8(4), 329. DOI: 10.2307/3772907
- February 21, 2011
- 12:51 AM
- 647 views
Tag-teaming research blogging: Me and Sci do it up, PMDD-style
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
When I was in college, my favorite hangout was the basement of the Harvard Book Store, where they had the used books and cheap remainders (they were also across the street from my freshman dorm, Wigglesworth, and yes, that is a most excellent name). I worked my way through several sci-fi and fantasy series, and got nearly all my Women’s Studies books, because of that one lovely room.One night in my freshman year I was browsing the philosophy section with a new boyfriend, a person with whom I often felt inferior and less-educated. I saw an author name on the spine of an old hardcover and, hoping to impress the boyfriend, pointed it out. “Hobbes Machiavelli, I’ve read stuff by him,” I said. I arched my eyebrows with what I hoped was an air of intelligence.The boyfriend, and a nearby witness, both turned towards me. “Hobbes and Machiavelli are two different people,” he said slowly.As a blush crept up my face, I realized several things: the excerpt of “The Prince” I had barely skimmed in high school was by Niccolo Machiavelli, Hobbes was a totally different dude, and my boyfriend thought I was a posturing idiot.It’s a good idea to know what you’re talking about before opening your mouth.* * *These days, if I don’t know the answer to something, I don’t try to fake it. Recently, a Twitter follower suggested I write on this New Scientist story and the empirical article upon which it was reporting on brain activity, hormones and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. As I am not an expert on issues of the brain, rather than try to be I enlisted brilliant neuroscientist Scicurious to do tag-team blog posts where we could each cover the material where we had expertise. I had a few thoughts about the way the New Scientist article author framed the study, and about the hormone analyses. So I’ll talk about that, and Sci will cover BRAINZ in this post.What is this study about?Rapkin et al (2011) seek to understand why a minority of women experience Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), a suite of premenstrual behaviors that include severe and debilitating irritability, depression and anxiety. They used PET scans to look at brain stuff (cue Scicurious) and also looked at hormone concentrations to see if the reproductive hormones that decline in the premenstrual phase had anything to do with it. They found no difference in hormone concentrations between control and PMDD women, but did find variation in cerebellar activity by menstrual phase. You need to read Scicurious's take on this, because she provides important background and context to the study of the cerebellum for mood.The New Scientist piece makes a lot of the potential effect of progesterone on GABA receptors in the brain, but as far as I can tell the article itself does not measure GABA receptors. Progesterone, allopregnanolone and GABA are all interrelated and important chemicals when it comes to mood (Concas et al 1998), but like I said, since the study didn’t actually look at GABA, I’m not going there. Sci has also made some important points about this issue, and on what the study authors found (which is admittedly cool) with what they discuss around GABA (which might be a wee bit of a stretch).Nits to pick with New ScientistZukerman, the author of the New Scientist piece, begins her piece, entitled “Why women get anxious at ‘that time of the month’” with this:“Is it that time of the month? These are the words no man should ever utter. How about this for a diplomatic alternative: "Are your GABA receptors playing up?"You may be spot on. It seems that these brain cells are to blame for some women's monthly mood swings.Many women feel a little irritable before menstruating, but up to 8 per cent suffer extreme symptoms, including anxiety, depression and fatigue.”There are a few things that trouble me about this. First, without citing any actual incidence of this symptom, the author claims that many women suffer from irritability before their period. This just perpetuates the idea that irritability is a common premenstrual trait, when the premenstrual phase is an incredibly variable period. This is despite the fact that at most only eight percent of women actually get these symptoms to the point that they are debilitating (the two studies the study authors cite give a 5% and 8% incidence, so 8% may be high).From a public health or science research perspective, eight percent of reproductively aged women is a pretty significant quantity. I absolutely want more research to be done on PMDD and, full disclosure, I’m running some pilot studies to work on it in the future myself. However, these results don’t necessarily translate to women who may just get a little irritable or experience other mild behavioral symptoms before their period.And that is why both the title and the “Is it that time of the month” joke at the start of the story were misleading. Besides its obvious sexism, where any female behavior that deviates from the pleasing and passive risks eliciting that question, the link here in the mind of a popular reader is that women’s behavior is governed by hormone and brain interactions more generally than the paper actually implies.So, to reiterate: PMDD impacts maybe eight percent of reproductively aged women (notice that I keep specifically referencing “reproductively-aged women,” which further shrinks the pool of women down to those between menarche and menopause). This is nothing to sneeze at. But this isn’t everyone.HormonesIn order to see if there were differences in hormone concentrations between normal and PMDD women, Rapkin et al (2011) took blood on the days of the PET scans: this translated into one follicular phase (first half of the cycle, between menses and ovulation) and one late luteal phase collection (the week or so before the next menses). They found no difference in the mean concentrations of estradiol and progesterone between the two groups, at either time period.Table 1 from Rapkin et al (2011). None of these differences between groups are significant according to the authors, but they didn't report p-values anywhere I could find.There are several problems with this. First, the sample size is tiny. I have certainly been known to run analyses with fewer subjects, but the way I and other folks who do hormone work get around this is to sample each individual many more times. When collecting hormone information on reproductively-aged women, for instance, you want to collect a minimum of one menstrual cycle’s worth of data… every single day.More power!My advisor raised me right, and so I did a power analysis of the data the study authors provided. A power analysis is a way to determine the statistical power of a test. You can do it beforehand to determine an appropriate sample size for your experiment, or afterwards if you didn’t find something statistically significant and don’t know if your analysis was effective. When there are small but important differences between two groups, but the sample size is also small, your statistical test can be insignificant and thus miss that important difference.Let’s take the hormone and time period that should be the most meaningful: progesterone in the late luteal phase. PMDD women had 5.50 ± 5.27 ng/mL, and control women had 6.76 ± 7.53 ng/mL. If we say that the smallest difference between these two groups that would be interesting is around 6 ng/mL (just splitting the difference between the two standard deviations, but this is pretty generous), then according to my calculations this test only has a power of about 60%. Therefore, 40% of the time a test with a sample size this small wouldn’t catch a potentially important difference between the groups. To put it into more perspective, the standard is to have a power of at least 80%.What’s blood got to do with it?... Read more »
Bloch M, Schmidt PJ, Su TP, Tobin MB, & Rubinow DR. (1998) Pituitary-adrenal hormones and testosterone across the menstrual cycle in women with premenstrual syndrome and controls. Biological psychiatry, 43(12), 897-903. PMID: 9627744
Concas A, Mostallino MC, Porcu P, Follesa P, Barbaccia ML, Trabucchi M, Purdy RH, Grisenti P, & Biggio G. (1998) Role of brain allopregnanolone in the plasticity of gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor in rat brain during pregnancy and after delivery. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 95(22), 13284-9. PMID: 9789080
Rapkin AJ, Berman SM, Mandelkern MA, Silverman DH, Morgan M, & London ED. (2011) Neuroimaging evidence of cerebellar involvement in premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Biological psychiatry, 69(4), 374-80. PMID: 21092938
Rubinow DR, Hoban MC, Grover GN, Galloway DS, Roy-Byrne P, Andersen R, & Merriam GR. (1988) Changes in plasma hormones across the menstrual cycle in patients with menstrually related mood disorder and in control subjects. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 158(1), 5-11. PMID: 2962499
- January 31, 2011
- 03:40 PM
- 398 views
Iron-deficiency is not something you get just for being a lady
by Kate Clancy in Laboratory for Evolutionary Endocrinology
This post uses literature review, my own empirical research, and a new paper to demonstrate that menstrual cycling does not impact iron status in women. This goes against a major, prevailing medical notion and inhibits appropriate diagnosis in anemic women.... Read more »
Bergström E, Hernell O, Persson LA, & Vessby B. (1995) Serum lipid values in adolescents are related to family history, infant feeding, and physical growth. Atherosclerosis, 117(1), 1-13. PMID: 8546746
Clancy, K., Nenko, I., & Jasienska, G. (2006) Menstruation does not cause anemia: Endometrial thickness correlates positively with erythrocyte count and hemoglobin concentration in premenopausal women. American Journal of Human Biology, 18(5), 710-713. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.20538
Kepczyk, M. (1999) A prospective, multidisciplinary evaluation of premenopausal women with iron-deficiency anemia. The American Journal of Gastroenterology, 94(1), 109-115. DOI: 10.1016/S0002-9270(98)00661-3
Miller EM. (2010) Maternal hemoglobin depletion in a settled northern Kenyan pastoral population. American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 22(6), 768-74. PMID: 20721981
- January 31, 2011
- 03:40 PM
- 396 views
Iron-deficiency is not something you get just for being a lady
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
This post uses literature review, my own empirical research, and a new paper to demonstrate that menstrual cycling does not impact iron status in women. This goes against a major, prevailing medical notion and inhibits appropriate diagnosis in anemic women.... Read more »
Bergström E, Hernell O, Persson LA, & Vessby B. (1995) Serum lipid values in adolescents are related to family history, infant feeding, and physical growth. Atherosclerosis, 117(1), 1-13. PMID: 8546746
Clancy, K., Nenko, I., & Jasienska, G. (2006) Menstruation does not cause anemia: Endometrial thickness correlates positively with erythrocyte count and hemoglobin concentration in premenopausal women. American Journal of Human Biology, 18(5), 710-713. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.20538
Kepczyk, M. (1999) A prospective, multidisciplinary evaluation of premenopausal women with iron-deficiency anemia. The American Journal of Gastroenterology, 94(1), 109-115. DOI: 10.1016/S0002-9270(98)00661-3
Miller EM. (2010) Maternal hemoglobin depletion in a settled northern Kenyan pastoral population. American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 22(6), 768-74. PMID: 20721981
- January 28, 2011
- 01:16 AM
- 436 views
Science Online 2011: Underrepresentation hurts us all
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
In my second year of graduate school, I was in a study group with a few other grad students: in particular I remember a white female student and an Asian-American female student. Somehow we got on the topic of admissions, where we all admitted, jokingly, to feeling like impostors. Then the white female student stated that she didn't believe in affirmative action, and expressed her view with quite a bit of anger. "Besides," she finished, "I just don't see race."I was completely paralyzed, and felt like I had no way to articulate what was wrong with what she just said. She happened to leave the room shortly after her statement. I turned to my Asian-American friend."Doesn't see race?" She almost shouted. Tears sprang to her eyes. "When she says that, she doesn't see ME." I looked at her, mute, wanting to cry myself for the shame of not knowing how to be a better friend.* * *I haven't always been the best ally. At times, I probably haven't been an ally at all. The story I related above was the only one I dared share where I could sufficiently pseudonymize the characters. It was not the first, nor was it the last, time I was struck dumb by racism.I did learn to speak up and interrupt racism, and slowly have figured out ways to make the elimination of racism and sexism priorities in my life. But I have a long way to go.The MLK, Jr Memorial panel at Science Online 2011, like the women scienceblogging panel, was up against some stiff competition: Defending Science Online, Standing out: Marketing yourself in science, Blogging networks and the emerging science communications ecosystem and Not All Marketing is Evil: Getting Life Science Companies to Support Science Online. I'll admit to sitting near the back with the thought I might divide my time between this session and one other. Yet within the first few minutes I sat there, I knew I was in the right place. David Kroll, who you know all over the internet because of his great blogs Terra Sigillata and Take as Directed, opened by playing the guitar and singing Bob Marley. Within a few bars, about a third of the audience was singing along with him. I was too busy trying not to cry to join in.I was emotional for a number of reasons... because of the wonderful contradiction of David sitting up there and singing, because of the warmth of the room, where it felt like we had a shared mission. David contradicted the paralysis a lot of allies face, because we are so afraid of doing it wrong, of making the mistake that exposes the racism and privilege we are working so hard to cover up.In addition to discussing Martin Luther King, Jr's history in Durham and the surrounding area, David shared with us the following quote from Irving Epstein (which it turns out David wrote about a year ago here):In 2005, more than two-thirds of the American scientific workforce was composed of white males. But by 2050, white males will make up less than one-fourth of the population. If the pipeline fails to produce qualified nonwhite scientists, we will, in effect, be competing against the rest of the world with one hand tied behind our backs.Danielle Lee of Urban Science Adventures, and Alberto Roca of Minority Postdoc, were also panelists. Danielle was engaging and smart: she talked about issues of underrepresentation in science, as well as access and trust of science in minority communities. Alberto, who I had also heard speak as an audience member at a few other panels, also talked about underrepresentation issues in science, the invisibility and isolation of being a person of color in science, and how to operate against that isolation. Here are a few of their broader points (any butchered or incomplete thoughts are my fault only):People of color and from underrepresented groups often have to pass in order to survive in science.People have to be mentored all the way up the chain: several stories were mentioned where women and people of color were not adequately prepared or professionalized for their jobs and suffered for it.Impostor syndrome is universal.You act like a role model when you have a voice, so if you aren't speaking up you aren't a role model. Also, if you are invisible or are ignored/underappreciated, you will have a harder time being an effective role model. So the knife cuts both ways.As Danielle says, science needs a new PR campaign. The African American community has serious trust issues with science and with good reason: this community has been exploited, undervalued, ignored.Related to the above, there was some discussion of issues of religion and science; namely, that it is a mistake to completely discount or scoff at those with religion. Religion, faith, and religious practices have an important cultural component for many minority communities in the United States and beyond, and to write off their beliefs is to write them off as people. Even if that's not what is intended, that is certainly what is heard.The entire session was moving -- all three panelists were so thoughtful and kind to one another, they answered audience questions so well, and the audience was committed to the issue of underrepresentation in science. I have a few last thoughts of my own that I'd like to share, as a way to extend the conversation about women scienceblogging to be more inclusive.First, I don't think white people or people with privilege should shy away from conversations about underrepresentation, race, or ethnicity. It is time to just be comfortable with the fact that we are going to make mistakes. If we are well-meaning and want to eliminate racism and other oppressions, then the mistakes we are going to make will not be as bad as the worst ones faced by those to whom we're trying to be allies. Those of us in this community who are academics tend to encourage our students to make mistakes, because we know they will learn from them. But the stakes feel so high in this situation that we are paralyzed. Guess what? Being paralyzed is actually worse than making a mistake. You can apologize for a mistake. There isn't much you can do to fix things if you stay out of an important fight.Second, you know the isolation we talk about as women scientists and science writers? Multiply that times a million and you probably have the isolation of being a person of color in the sciences. There are some different ways in which sexism and racism play out in the public sphere, at least in the US: people might be a bit more willing to make sexist comments than racist ones. However, the impact of racism is at least as harmful, probably more harmful in most ways, because it leads to social disparities in education, health, salaries, living conditions. There are people out there who study the effects of social disparities and internalized racism on health, and folks, it's not good. For instance, the mortality rates of blacks are significantly higher than for whites in heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, flu and pneumonia, HIV, cirrhosis and homicide (Williams 1999). Measures of internalized racism are correlated with a higher waist circumference, abdominal obesity and insulin resistance (Tull et al 1999, Chambers et al 2004). Issues of acculturation plague immigrant women, especially second-generation women, who experience more explicit instances of racism in their lives through acculturation (Viruell-Fuentes 2007).Finally, science will be a richer, more interesting topic when there is more diversity. And I don't just mean it in the Small World sense: I mean that while I love the scientific method, I know the process of science to be strongly biased by who performs it, and so it is absolutely necessary that we have many different people doing and thinking about science in order to have the best possible perspective on it.Back when I was a union organizer in grad school, my organizer and mentor told me that graduate school doesn't weed out the weak, it weeds out the strong: it weeds out those with strong senses of self who don't want to be exploited, who realize there are other things to do in the world and other ways to live a meaningful life. I think that is true for a lot of people who leave academia and science, and unfortunately most of the ones I know who left were women and people of color.Here's the problem. I want them back, I miss them: they were my dear friends. Those are the kinds of people we need to lead science, do science, communicate science, encourage and excite young people to be scientists.Reach out for people. Be an ally. Interrupt racism and sexism. Implement changes where you work to better recruit and retain people of color. Put people of color in positions of power: they probably know how to fix this mess much better than you do. Risk making mistakes; say you're sorry once you realize it.But whatever you do, don't just sit there.References... Read more »
Chambers EC, Tull ES, Fraser HS, Mutunhu NR, Sobers N, & Niles E. (2004) The relationship of internalized racism to body fat distribution and insulin resistance among African adolescent youth. Journal of the National Medical Association, 96(12), 1594-8. PMID: 15622689
Tull SE, Wickramasuriya T, Taylor J, Smith-Burns V, Brown M, Champagnie G, Daye K, Donaldson K, Solomon N, Walker S.... (1999) Relationship of internalized racism to abdominal obesity and blood pressure in Afro-Caribbean women. Journal of the National Medical Association, 91(8), 447-52. PMID: 12656433
Viruell-Fuentes EA. (2007) Beyond acculturation: immigration, discrimination, and health research among Mexicans in the United States. Social science , 65(7), 1524-35. PMID: 17602812
Williams DR. (1999) Race, socioeconomic status, and health. The added effects of racism and discrimination. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 173-88. PMID: 10681897
- January 7, 2011
- 10:50 AM
- 479 views
Guest post: sex-differential use of the same objects versus sex-differences in object preference
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
This is a response to the Kaylenberg and Wrangham 2010 paper on stick-carrying chimpanzees.... Read more »
Alexander, G., & Hines, M. (2002) Sex differences in response to children's toys in nonhuman primates (Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus). Evolution and Human Behavior, 23(6), 467-479. DOI: 10.1016/S1090-5138(02)00107-1
Hassett, J., Siebert, E., & Wallen, K. (2008) Sex differences in rhesus monkey toy preferences parallel those of children. Hormones and Behavior, 54(3), 359-364. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2008.03.008
Kahlenberg SM, & Wrangham RW. (2010) Sex differences in chimpanzees' use of sticks as play objects resemble those of children. Current biology : CB, 20(24). PMID: 21172622
- January 4, 2011
- 03:51 PM
- 473 views
Around the web: cognitive sex differences
by Kate Clancy in Laboratory for Evolutionary Endocrinology
A dissection and link round-up about cognitive sex differences.... Read more »
Connellan, J. (2000) Sex differences in human neonatal social perception. Infant Behavior and Development, 23(1), 113-118. DOI: 10.1016/S0163-6383(00)00032-1
Hyde, J. (2005) The Gender Similarities Hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60(6), 581-592. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.60.6.581
- November 15, 2010
- 03:15 PM
- 460 views
Around the web: male behavior
by Kate Clancy in Context & Variation
This post looks at the behavioral endocrinology of the human male.... Read more »
Levi, Maurice, Li, Kai, & Zhang, Feng. (2010) Deal or no deal: hormones and the mergers and acquisitions game. Management Science, 56(9), 1462-1483. info:/
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