Gender

Parents keep child's gender under wraps  (The Lookout, by Zachary Roth, 5/24/2011)

Reading the above linked story made me reminisce about my summer afternoons at the local park as a youth.  If I had been given a choice, with no guidance from my parents, nor pressure from my friends, and no slight, but present, understanding of societies norms from Sesame Street, I would have played in the sandbox with the boys instead of jumping rope with the girls.  But, hearing my mom say, "you can play in the sandbox, but pretty little girls practice double dutch," and my older neighbor girlfriend remind that "getting dirty is yucky," I generally chose to jump rope. 

Looking back, I wish my mother had phrased her warning differently.  But I would never have wanted no guidance at all.  As a child, there is no way I would have known that American society thinks jumping rope is a more feminine activity than playing in the sand.  Which makes me wonder how poor Jazz, from the story above, was suppose to know pink is a color associated with girls, and avoiding haircuts is a bad idea if you want people to think you are a boy.

And now Jazz's family has decided to forgo gender roles altogether for their newborn.  I appreciate their progressive stance against gender stereotyping, but the way to go about ending it is not to send uninformed, unprotected children into the harsh world.  We are a long way from the utopia the parents envision.

I would suggest supporting a child's INFORMED decisions.  Let the child choose which clothing they want to wear, but go into the store as a leader, not the follower of a five year old.  Say, "This is the little boys section, this is the little girls section.  Where should we go?"   Let the child choose the kind of haircuts they want, but make sure they know the consequences.  If a boy still wants long hair after being told folks may think he looks like a girl, support him.  But don't let him make that decision without having a clear understanding of the repercussions.  Society is harsh, and kids are mean.

Go Your Own Way

I created this thread so that I have a place to store stories about folks willing to follow their own path, regardless of the critics. 

The first entry is about the pointy boot fad that hit Mexico's rodeo scene about a year ago.  It is not the elaborately decorated footwear, so much as the male youth willing to wear it, that make this entry special.  I couldn't imagine American teens wearing pink, sparkly boots dancing on stage.

You can read about the cowboy-initiated fashion statement here.

Beading

It is insane to me that an object used for beauty of glitz in one culture signifies rape, pedophilia, and infanticide in another.  Until I came across this article on CNN.com, I had never heard of the Kenyan practice of beading.  Now, I will never look at a beaded necklace the same. 

In a nutshell, a man places a beaded necklace around the neck of a girl as young as 6, effectively claiming her as his personal sex slave.  If she becomes pregnant, she is expected to abort the fetus, allow it to be killed after birth, or given away.

Defenders of the practice claim that it prevents young girls from being promiscuous.  But I am certain the results would be less traumatic on the girls if they were allowed their sexual freedom.  The society as a whole would also benefit.  Pregnancies would still occur.   But the risk of birth defects would decrease, because many times the rapists are direct relatives of their victims.  Granted, these babies are often killed, the ones given to friends or neighbors, or to orphanages probably suffer needlessly from genetic disorders. 

But all of these facts that seem so clear to me would not make any sense to the Samburu tribe.  Their vocabulary doesn't include terms like "genetic" or "infanticide."  I give so much credit to Kulea for standing up against the traditions of her homeland.  I know from experience how difficult this can be.  Your family and friends shun you for going against everything everyone has believed in for generations.  Hopefully, her hard work will open the eyes of others to join the fight against a practice that sounds wonderful at first glance, until you actually read about it. 

Live Nation & Groupon

Why didn't I hear about this from either of these companies?

"In another sign of where the market is moving, Groupon announced Monday it is teaming up with Live Nation to form Groupon Live, which will offer discount tickets for concerts and entertainment."*

I am on both of their E-mailing list, and would consider this HUGE news as a music lover who is flat broke most of the time.  I wonder if the merger will affect concert prices for this summer's line-up.   I will have to keep track of this topic in the news, and update this post with any info I find!

*Coupon industry getting crowded for users

Competition - Is it Really Good for Consumers?

The Market Can't cure Medicare  (Time, by Bill Saporito, 5/2/2011)

I read the above linked article in my hard-copy of Time, and couldn't get it out of my head.  So I decided to find it online, to share with my faithful readers.  The title is deceiving; though the author does focus on Medicare in the intro and conclusion, the main bulk of the text is actually an examination of competition.  Namely, he is discrediting the idea that having multiple companies compete for your business actually drives down prizes all of the time.

Airlines, gas companies, cable and satellite providers, soda makers, and computer operating system producers are all examples of industries where competition has not had a direct impact in creating price wars that benefit the consumer.  On the contrary, some companies, like Comcast and AT&T seem to raise their prices together, and laugh all the way to the bank.

So, I decided to start keeping track of instances where competition doesn't seem to have much of an effect on price.  This thread will be a great place to list the industries I think of.  And I already have one to add to my list:  Vitamins.  I find it incredible that condensed cranberry supplements, and garlic tabs can cost a quarter a piece!

Secondly, make-up and body products.  My last two trips to Ulta did enough to convince me that perfume makers, and "prestige" make-up manufacturers are on to something big.  I will admit that there is a HUGE quality difference in some make-up necessities, such as foundation and mascara.  However, eyeshadow and lip gloss are pretty much the same regardless of whether you pay $5 or $25. 

We Are Too Fat

This thread is going to be a place for me to stash away articles related to America's obesity epidemic.  Specifically, I am interested in how society is adapting to our growing body size.  The first article demonstrates this perfectly: 

America's ballooning obesity problem has reached the decks of Chicago tour boats

This fact startled me:  "After two vessels sank in the U.S. in the mid-2000s, the Coast Guard began evaluating weight capacities on boats and determined per-person limits didn't account for the increase in weight of the average American."

Imagine being on a boat with a bunch of obese people who refuse to spread out.  I wonder if they could sue for being told to move to the opposite end.   
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5/19


Should airlines offer larger seats for fat passengers?  That is the question posed at the end of this article, about an overweight woman's experience with Southwest Airlines.  Both the woman and her fat mother were asked to purchase an additional ticket before boarding their flight on Easter.  


The policy at Southwest seems simple enough to me.  If any part of your body hangs over the armrest, you are too fat for one seat.  Sure, I feel bad for the lady because she was treated so rudely.  But, having had to sit next to overly obese folks in multiple situations before, I think it is only fair to question their ability to fit.  It is just like checking a short persons height before letting them board a roller coaster.  


Now, as to the article's ending question: Should airlines build seats to accommodate the people of the world's expanding waistlines?  I think this would be a great idea.  But, just like those seats with extra leg room, these "extra capacity" seats should cost a little more.  Maybe if these seats were added, we would have less "I was harassed by the airline for being too fat," stories hitting the news every couple months. 

Save the Anchovies!

I love reading about our world's most unexplored places, like the depths of the ocean.  I try to keep up on the latest climate news as well.  That is why I was shocked to learn that the world's small fish populations are not doing as well as we had thought.  According to an article from New Scientist by Debora Mackenzie,* our belief that anchovies and other tiny species will always thrive due to their great birth numbers and short gestation period is causing them to actually decline.  Their supposed safety has led to few research dollars going towards studying them, and thus no real management is taking place.

Knowledge is power,  If we can spread the word that our favorite pizza topping to hate is not as safe as we thought, perhaps we can save the anchovy from further danger.

*Stay of execution for world's fish stock