Nature keeps nurturing, people keep stereotyping

by Madeleine Bunting @ SMH 16 Nov 2010 [click here to read full article].

'Type "men" and "hardwired" into Google and you tap into a wonderfully absurd catalogue of assertions about male behaviour. Men are "hardwired" to cheat, ignore their wives, suspect infidelity, overspend, love money, pursue women and achieve supremacy in the workplace. Women are "hardwired" to worry about their weight and dump cheaters. All include the magic phrase "scientific studies show".

It is a snapshot of how science is being used and abused to legitimise gender stereotypes. It would be laughable if it did not signify how a form of biological determinism – the claim that differences between men and women have a basis in innate biological characteristics – has re-emerged and acquired popular currency."

"Good science will challenge the tendency to stereotype. The danger, though, is what Cameron refers to as "stereotype threat". If you tell women that women do less well in maths tests, they will do less well, confirming the claim. Do not tell them, and they do better. Stereotypes are dangerous; they become self-fulfilling."

The World Won't Be Aging Gracefully. Just the Opposite.

By Neil Howe and Richard Jackson

Sunday, January 4, 2009

'The world is in crisis. A financial crash and a deepening recession are afflicting rich and poor countries alike. The threat of weapons of mass destruction looms ever larger. A bipartisan congressional panel announced last month that the odds of a nuclear or biological terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the year 2014 are better than 50-50. It looks as though we'll be grappling with these economic and geopolitical challenges well into the 2010s.

But if you think that things couldn't get any worse, wait till the 2020s. The economic and geopolitical climate could become even more threatening by then -- and this time the reason will be demographics.'

Another doom & gloom story? Read it here.

How to Make Stress Good for Your Health

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