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By entropicankh • 17 years ago

xenophobia, for men only?

From Lab Spaces:

In a new study, Michigan State psychologist Carlos David Navarrete used mild shocks to make black and white men and women fearful other black and white men and women. That is, white men were conditioned to be fearful of black men and white men as well as black women and white women, and so forth with the others. Then Navarrete observed to see if these fears lasted or not.

The findings, reported in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, were intriguing and unexpected. It’s known that people are more fearful of "out-groups" – that is, people who are different from them, and this fear of "the other" has been clearly demonstrated with race. But Navarrete found that volunteers’ most persistent fears were reserved for men – that is, male members of the out-group. So white men and women feared black men, and black men and women feared white men; all the other lab-induced fears, including any conditioned fear of women diminished.

Why would gender influence these ingrained fears as much as race? It may be that men were more often the aggressors over evolutionary time, so that male faces became a potent cue for danger. So xenophobia is not an equal-opportunity emotion. Association for Psychological Science:

um.  wow.  I’m trying to think of the social implications of this article, but I’m having trouble finding good, optimistic ones.  It’s ok ...
By entropicankh • 17 years ago

Loving Dr. Isis

I recently found a new blog through the other physics blogs I read:  On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess . 

I often stay away from blogs by women in science and academia because they fill me with regret.  I declined going to grad school in favor of becoming a volunteer teacher, and then got my masters degree in education instead of physics.  When I did my thesis on gender and science education I realized I was now one of THOSE women, who left a male dominated field (physics) for a more female-friendly field (education). These blogs often make me feel like I am less because I didn’t soldier on in academia.

I just read Dr. Isis’s latest entry Ask ...

I recently found a new blog through the other physics blogs I read:  On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess . 

I often stay away from blogs by women in science and academia because they fill me ...
By entropicankh • 17 years ago

Hannah Seligson repeats the same advice I got in college — Act Like A Man.

I have also seen young women — myself included — getting in the way of their own success. I have found that we need to build a new arsenal of skills to mitigate some of our more “feminine” tendencies. Having lived in a cocoon of equality in college, we may have neglected these vital, real-world skills.

NEWS FLASH:  Hannah Seligson repeats the same advice I got in college —  Act Like A Man.

Whenever I first read these things, I first hear a little voice in the back of my head saying, but if I’m good enough as a woman to do the job, why should I have to change so much just to let people know ...

I have also seen young women — myself included — getting in the way of their own success. I have found that we need to build a new arsenal of skills to mitigate some of our ...