“….The Stepford Wife image that drove previous generations of women crazy with their sparkling floors and perfectly orchestrated meals has all but disappeared, and in its place we now have the Stepford Slut; a hypersexualized, young, thin, toned, hairless, technologically, and in many cases surgically-enhanced, woman with a come-hither look on her face”

says Gail Dine in her new book Pornland: How porn has hijacked our sexuality.

I have not read the book, but only one chapter published here.

Like any other man, I like my porn, though I do not have a stash of porn magazines (or mpegs) that my best friend will come and delete in case of my demise (means, my stash is not a secret, not that I do not have a stash :)) But, as a person who tries to live a fair life, there are many things that bugs me about the porn industry. So, I make it a point to read anything that comes through my feed that talks about this subject. Recently, while reading about the issue of Sexigate, I stumbled up on quite a few feminist blogs and aggregators, and in the last few days, porn has become the issue of discussion of at least 3 posts.

The fact of exploitation of women in porn industry is a major issue, especially in less developed countries (or women trafficked from poor countries). I have recently read some articles that discusses another angle of the porn industry that is not necessarily exploitative, at least not to the females participants in its production. There has been some studies that struggle to prove that exposure to porn increases sexual violence.

What Gale Dine discusses in this article is a much more widespread effect of porn in our culture. This is not just from the traditional porn media (playboy, internet porn…). The “hypersexualized” image is crowding our media space as a constant stream of soft-core porn!

There was a time, especially in India, when the left was arguing for the recognition of female sexuality, as different from the traditional view of a tool for male comfort and convenience and progeny. It is interesting to see how this has morphed into yet another way of keeping the status quo.

Curious are the ways of the world…

I am waiting for the book to come out in some form of E-version.

A few days ago, a self proclaimed atheist writing a self professed atheist blog (whose link is purposefully excluded from this post) came out with a list of 15 sexiest scientists.

He probably wanted to have a fleeting fame. Apparently he actively sought opinions from the people on the list, asking them, are you offended!

Since I am an uptight nerd, i will not be using nor repeating any of the right adjectives given to this person. However, I will list a bunch of posts that looks at it from a larger perspective of feminism.

I want to comment on two specific things. Over at rambling perfectionist, this guy laments that according to the “feminists” there is no way one can escape the sexist label. My answer to that kind of argument is that, men are by default, sexists and it takes a lot of effort to be not one.

The other is about feeling sexual desirability at the sight of a woman.

There are several occasions when I felt uneasy because the person I am professionally interacting with is perceived by me as sexually attractive. I do not know if female professionals feel that way or feel it as frequently as I do.

Someone in these posts talk about silencing as an intentional failure to recognize the communicators intent. It is very natural for men to do. The history and the reinforcement of status quo by media constantly works to reinforce this tendency. The result, most men cannot imagine why a woman should refuse sexual advances!

One of the aspects discussed in these posts is about how female scientists should dress. It was funny that we have to discuss “how to dress properly to work” at scienceblogs! I was surprised to see many women have a “practical” approach in the sense that, they chose casual, mostly gender neutral (jeans and shirt, jacket) attire so as not to cause an additional issue to handle at work. Which sadly is true, as I stated above, I might find someone sexually attractive if they come in enhancing their sexual desirability. So, it is easier for me to support the idea of “dressing properly” for work and dress to your fill during weekend days away from work. But, that is just reinforcing the patterns.

As a man, I have absolutely no say in this regard. But, there is something I can do about it. That is to reinforce the fact that, all women are sexually uninterested in me unless otherwise they explicitly states it in no unclear terms! Most of the time I will require signed documentation, but during the lean days, just a polite “would you like to have intercourse with me?” would suffice.

Here are the posts I found interesting in this debate.

1. Sheril Kirshenbaum
2. SeXy Science- You’re Doing It Wrong by rocketscientista
3. Because You Think Being A Girl Is Degrading by Nerdista
4. Sexism and Objectification by ramblingperfectionist 
5. I have been objectified! by PZ Myers
6. If You Think I’m Sexy And You Like My Data by SheThought.com
7. Hot Scientist Babes Gate by Physioprof
8. Save us from the armchair philosopher with a blog. by Janet D. Stemwedel
9. Top 15 science hotties and labia-punching by Evil Monkey
10. Sex(ism) in Science by AmoebaMike

There is still a long way to go in achieving equitable social justice and rights for Women. But the advances made in the last century on women’s right is phenomenal.

I proudly stand with all the women of the world in their historic efforts to end discrimination, social and economic freedom and to remake the world into a better place.

Salim

A wonderfully moving performance. I am speechless, and teary eyed.

Guerilla Singers at the AHP meeting.

There are so many dubious hypotheses and proclamations that solely live in the holes in our knowledge. You can see them in many areas. For e.g. the (tragically) popular Creationist interpretations of life (recently dubbed as Intelligent design), many “alternative” medicine ideas like Homoeopathy, acupuncture, naturopathy etc, various self healing/self help methodologies in various names, UFOlogy and so on

One common thread that links all these fantastic ideas is that rely almost exclusively in the holes in our current knowledge. All of them directly or indirectly complains about a large scale conspiracy in which all the scientists, governments, school and college teachers and peer reviewed publications are deeply involved with the sole aim to desecrate or dismiss the claims of these fantasists.

Recently there were a whole bunch of buzz about Ardipithecus Ramidus, a Hominid that lived before Lucy the Austrelopithecus and potentially one step closer to the common ancestor of humans and large apes like Chimpanzee. This prompted me to see what Discovery Institute had to say about this new development. Strangely enough, my various searches could only produce a commentary about a the Texas school board testimony from March this year. This is quite understandable. If one reads the books and articles that talks about creationism (or its hip name Intelligent Design) instead of providing proof through scientific rigor, it only points out to the gaps (in many cases erroneously, but in some cases, actual gaps like lack of completeness transitional fossils) in the current body of knowledge.

A popular technique that is used by a lot of “new age” thinkers is to use (or misuse) popularized notions about higher science and then try to correlate it with half baked notions of ancient philosophy. One such hilarious attempt is the one to explain the efficacy of homoeopathy, which essentially dispenses distilled water as medicine. The homoeopathic “medicines” has been tested by various high sensitivity tools and methods by both proponents and critics to find any trace of the original substance these medicines are allegedly derived from. There has been no evidence. One can use simple high school chemistry to prove that the repeated dilutions will eventually remove even a single molecule of the substance that we originally started with. There are several “theories” that suggest molecular reorganization of water because of the presence of the substance, or the mysterious transference of the “spirit” of the substance to the water by repeated dilution and vigorous shaking. While these are amusing, i would say the funniest one is this. This explanation uses quantum entanglement as a potential cause of efficacy of homoeopathy. It states “Homeopathy could be a macroscopic analogue to quantum teleportation..”. For a person whose basic quantum mechanics knowledge comes from science channel shows where quantum entanglement is pictured by huge balls or people, this might seem plausible. It is like after seeing the gravity distortion pictured as a rubber sheet and bowling balls in the TV and trying to hypothesize that the reason why my bowling ball always goes to the gutter is because of the space time curvature created by the ball.

Another technique is to use the concepts of zero point energy and dark energy as analogous to the mysterious energy that a lot of ancient texts talk about. Many self help, life coaching techniques as well as spiritual healers claim that their idea works due to a mysterious energy that is unmeasurable by us. What is the proof? Well, it is the zero point energy and/or dark energy.

If anyone try to question them, they will immediately revert to the global conspiracy that try to prevent any of these “novel scientific” ideas from becoming public.

While the Discovery Institute has a very specific political and religious reason for fighting theory of evolution, these spirit healers, UFOlogists etc. are primarily eying for the money they could make from healing workshops and book publishing.

Skeptoid has a very nice article that lists a 15 point test on how to spot pseudoscience. It is a very good checklist to refer if you want to test someone’s dubious claim.

Being a skeptic is an evolutionary necessity!

Dawn is determined to face CIGNA face to face to demand an explanation to why they denied her required care for her treatable brain tumor for 2 years. CIGNA changed their position recently after a huge movement by Moveon.org and other progressive organizations and people.

Dawn is driving down to CIGNA HQ in Philadelphia to face the CEO in person.

All the best wishes for her. She is a brave soul and is doing something that each one of us should do. Healthcare is not a privilege, it is a fundamental right.

Read about Dawns journey at her blog here. http://www.itcouldhappentoanyone.com/2009/10/05/hitting-the-road/