Interesting article regarding serotonin and cutting. I spent a while studying alcoholism, so I'm rather interested in how biology and environment interact in compulsive behaviors. I have a couple comments about the article though.

The whole study sounds suspicious to me because serotonin can't cross the blood-brain barrier, which means that the serotonin measured in the blood may not reflect the levels in the brain.

Also, it's important to note that the number of serotonin receptors in the brain is just as important as the raw amount of serotonin, and the number of receptors can change significantly based on life experience. So even though it's biological, the serotonin system involves both nature and nurture.

Also, there's a great article about dopamine and compulsive behaviors here: http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-3571.html

Shut up, Missouri. Seriously? Mifepristone has a high risk of abuse? What, are mifepristone addicts the scourge of the streets, mugging innocent passers-by to feed their mifespristone habit, taking lives and destroying property when high on one of their mifepristone binges? Well, who knew?

The article about the officer inserting a finger inside a woman's vagina is so horrifying! It is appalling that something like that can happen. It is rape, it is a violation, and I hope that the victim and her family don't give up and keep pushing for justice.

Yeah, I've never been pregnant, but I pop mifepristone like it's Pez. I love that buzz you get when your uterus expels something.

I mean Jesus Fucking Christ on a Cracker, Missouri.

I just found another partly-relevant article:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/03/09/uncommon_knowledge/

Here are the news-on-feminism parts...

"THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM is that men are mainly interested in a woman's physical features, while women are mainly interested in a man's earning potential. New research challenges this. Two psychologists carried out a large study of speed-dating, which entails men and women pairing up to talk for a few minutes and then moving on to another pairing. They studied college students, who reported on their thoughts and experiences before, during, and after a speed-dating event. There was no systematic gender difference in the attributes that sparked romantic interest, except that men seemed slightly more interested than women in a prospective partner's earning potential, not vice versa. Perhaps the romantic ideal just doesn't correspond to everyday attraction, or, as some of the data suggests, the sheer emotional 'uncertainty or anxiety often associated with developing relationships' may override whatever generic preferences men and women do have.

"Eastwick, P. and Finkel, E., 'Sex Differences in Mate Preferences Revisited: Do People Know What They Initially Desire in a Romantic Partner?,' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (February 2008).

". . .

"UNLESS YOU LIVE in a cave, you've heard that our dependence on oil has serious implications for the environment, national security, and the economy. But now we can add one more big issue: gender equality. Backed up by four decades of data from around the world, a political scientist is making the case that the value of a country's oil production -- and, by extension, our own consumption of oil -- undermines progress for women, especially in developing countries. His theory goes like this: The value of a country's oil production boosts the value of a country's currency, which shifts the country's economy toward imports and local goods and services and away from low-wage export-oriented sectors that are more likely to draw women into the workforce. Without a lot of working women, it is more difficult for women to expand their role outside of the family and mobilize against patriarchal institutions. And, he argues, the effect of Islam is small compared with the effect of oil.

"Ross, M., 'Oil, Islam, and Women,' American Political Science Review (February 2008)..."

It is really disturbing how many liberals that I am around that have said "McCain would be okay." I just cringed. I have found 3 though that were all very receptive to email forwards about the real McCain and hopefully they don't think he is okay anymore. I swear feministing should just have a link to a post of all the posts on John McCain. Ya'll are just posting so many great articles on him!

I like how there's only one comment on the post on women identifying as male in online situations, and it's a guy who's beating the same drum again - men get trolls too! And some women are cyber-prostitutes, so there can't be any more harassment towards women than men! In fact, I bet that lady secretly liked it when those penises were swarming her!

Re: Spc. Monica Lin Brown

She was awarded, not won, a medal for valor, not of valor, the award being the Silver Star.

/pedant

Re: Lisa Shutter

I'm finding it rather difficult to respond to this. I'm shocked and horrified. So much so that the incident seems unbelievable. But of course, it is entirely believable. Indeed, I wouldn't be all that surprised if such behaviour by police were par for the course in the so-called War on Drugs. Well, perhaps par for the course may be exaggerating (at least I hope it is), but nevertheless, the violation of civil and human rights by police is not so surprising in the 'drug war'.

Though I am concerned for Shutter, my concern extends to other women who may be violated in such a manner. That a male police officer thought he was entitled to conduct such a search (and in such a place) raises the question of how many other women have been so violated but not come forward to lodge a complaint.

And how the hell is being a white woman in a rental vehicle a suitable profile of possible criminal activity?

I thought this was pretty interesting:

This month, Norway set a new global record. It now has, at 40%, the highest proportion of female non-executive directors in the world, an achievement engineered by the introduction of a compulsory quota. Two years ago, after several years of voluntary compliance had failed to lead to a sufficient number of female board members, 463 "ASAs" - publicly listed companies over a certain size - were told to change the composition of their boards or risk dissolution.

"A woman comes in, a man goes out. That's how the quota works; that's the law," says Kjell Erik Øie, deputy minister of children and equality, in the centre-left "Red-Green" coalition government in Oslo. "Very seldom do men let go of power easily. But when you start using the half of the talent you have previously ignored, then everybody gains."

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2262450,00.html

All that Christopher Hitchens piece reminded me of is how arrogant I think Christopher Hitchens is. There's a guy who's so sure he's right about everything that he's willing to say anything and everything with absolute authority.

Seriously, if that guy were born in Iran he'd be one snazzy mullah. What a douchebag.

Yi So-yeon is about to be not only South Korea's first female astronaut but South Korea's first astronaut at all:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7286989.stm

I just saw this article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/7281761.stm

"Women inmates in a Siberian prison take part in an annual beauty contest which offers inmates a chance to demonstrate good behaviour and win early parole..."

Now I wonder how much of winning does depend on good behavior, and how much depends on looks (which would mean 2 equally-well-behaved prisoners would end up with different punishments depending on which one was prettier).

More news, this time happy:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004282958_websanddollar14m.html

"...Vaughn's discovery is reported in this week's issue of the journal Science, a distinction most researchers rank higher than an appearance on Oprah. It's unusual for a student to make the cut for one of the world's top science publications, but Vaughn's doctoral adviser urged her to aim high..."

Who says science is unfeminine? ;)