A Consumer Reports 2008 survey found some interesting gender differences in holiday shopping habits. For example, 72% of women in couples reported that they did "at least 75%" of the holiday shopping; only 13% of the men claimed they did that much. Consumer Reports also estimates that the average American will spend 11 hours on holiday shopping: 44% of women and 30% of men agree that they'll spend at least 10 hours.
I feel like I ought to schedule this post (yesterday's and today's were written in advance) to go up at 3:00am, so people can read it while they stand in line for discount electronics that will in all probability be sold out. The Black Friday doorbuster sale is not an American tradition I've ever participated in. It's never seemed worth it to save on stuff I wasn't likely to buy anyway.
At any rate, I was hoping to find some figures about whether men or women made up the majority of the Black Friday crowds, and I didn't find anything substantive. Still, it woulf have been terribly confounded by the fact that women seem to do most of the shopping (holiday or not) anyway.
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Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
From collection of Dr. Jo Koster: (c) Tom Batiuk, year unknown
The Funky Winkerbean comic, above, captures one of the aspects of holiday celebrations that may cause the most stress: the cooking of the holiday meal. As the New York Times (1991) pointed out almost two decades ago, most women (70% in 1991) work outside the home, and are not equipped with the time or knowledge involved in preparing an elaborate meal such as has become expected of the holiday feast. Sociologist Adamczyk's (2002) exploration of Thanksgiving traditions suggests that "collective memory is based on contemporary interests and concerns." In that case, our collective memory has some catching up to do, unless our "concerns" about a simpler past is still outweighing our interest in a more egalitarian society.
I think it was last Thanksgiving, I found myself dragged completely into a traditional gender role in a way that's not entirely fun, but is sort of novel. I've found myself pulled into the male-hang-out group, which involves watching sports and not talking much. It's certainly not as much work as the female Thanksgiving role, with the complicated timing of multiple dishes. Myself, I've prepared Thanksgiving dinner twice: once successfully, and once somewhat less so (we ate at 3:00am on Friday). However, I'm definitely more comfortable cooking for a large group than I am trying to carve a bird with anyone watching. To my credit, I've rarely met a man who didn't have some kind of anxiety about turkey-carving.
More about the comic: I've always sort of thought of Funky Winkerbean as fairly conservative, like the Bizarro Doonesbury -- apparently unfairly. The strip reportedly has a good track record of handling women's stories, and while the FW website has very little content in the archive, the few strips Batiuk has chosen to highlight seem to (surprise!) treat women like human beings. It's pretty awesome. Things that treat people like humans are definitely worth being thankful for.
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Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Affairs of the heart
Two new studies out of Sweden this month found sex-specific effects in heart attack risks. Norhammar et al (2008) found that diabetic women under 65, compared to diabetic men of similar age, tended to have "increased risk factor burden", and poorer prognosis following heart attack. Nyberg et al (2008, pdf) found that, for men under 65, their boss's style of leadership could increase heart attack risk (see Bloomberg, 11/25/08 for summary). Nyberg's study found that too few women had heart attacks for risk factor analysis, and so their results can only be generalized to men.
So, Norhammar is looking specifically at Swedes with diabetes, and Nyberg is looking at Swedes in the workplace. It's important to note that Norhammar isn't working with a specifically diabetic sample: her sample represents 18% of a registry of Swedes with heart attacks in 1995-2002. Nyberg's workplace cohort had only a 1.4% incidence of diabetes. What I found especially striking was the gender division of heart attacks between the employee and heart-attack populations: Nyberg's heart attacks were 14% female, while Norhammar's were 31% female.
This is totally tongue-in-cheek, but it looks like "not working" is a risk factor for heart attack among Swedish women. The women in the employee sample seem to have a lot lower incidence of heart attacks.
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So, Norhammar is looking specifically at Swedes with diabetes, and Nyberg is looking at Swedes in the workplace. It's important to note that Norhammar isn't working with a specifically diabetic sample: her sample represents 18% of a registry of Swedes with heart attacks in 1995-2002. Nyberg's workplace cohort had only a 1.4% incidence of diabetes. What I found especially striking was the gender division of heart attacks between the employee and heart-attack populations: Nyberg's heart attacks were 14% female, while Norhammar's were 31% female.
This is totally tongue-in-cheek, but it looks like "not working" is a risk factor for heart attack among Swedish women. The women in the employee sample seem to have a lot lower incidence of heart attacks.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Obesity and Alzheimer's
Beydoun et al (2008) found that relationships between obesity and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) risk may vary by gender. Their analysis of data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) found that obesity (especially around the waist) was tied to increased AD risk for women. For men, being underweight seemed to increase risk. In California, Whitmer et al (2005) also found increased AD risk for obese women, but for men, the association was "non-significant". However, Whitmer et al suggested that there were too few underweight participants for analysis of risk (1.3%), while Beydoun et al included underweight status as a risk factor with a similar proportion (1.4 - 3.0%) in a smaller study population (2,322 vs 10,276).
A sex difference may begin to explain what Luchsinger and Mayeux (2007) called "conflicting results" in previous studies of adiposity and AD risk. Luchsinger and Mayeux suggest that obesity may increase AD risk by increasing diabetes risk, while Kivipelto et al (2005) suggest that vascular disorders may be the mediating factor.
It's always hard for me to believe that all the significant confounds are being taken into account. When I saw that Whitmer's group felt the underweight sample was too small, I revisited Beydoun's population statistics, and was surprised to find they were working with an even smaller group. I'm dubious about their finding that underweight men are at increased risk. Previously on DBlog, we've seen that women may be at greater risk for diabetes and vascular problems (see 11/15/06), which are both theorized to mediate the relationship between weight and AD.
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A sex difference may begin to explain what Luchsinger and Mayeux (2007) called "conflicting results" in previous studies of adiposity and AD risk. Luchsinger and Mayeux suggest that obesity may increase AD risk by increasing diabetes risk, while Kivipelto et al (2005) suggest that vascular disorders may be the mediating factor.
It's always hard for me to believe that all the significant confounds are being taken into account. When I saw that Whitmer's group felt the underweight sample was too small, I revisited Beydoun's population statistics, and was surprised to find they were working with an even smaller group. I'm dubious about their finding that underweight men are at increased risk. Previously on DBlog, we've seen that women may be at greater risk for diabetes and vascular problems (see 11/15/06), which are both theorized to mediate the relationship between weight and AD.
Follow diffblog on Twitter today, and Dan4th will make a donation to the Ali Forney Center in NYC. See details.
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Monday, November 24, 2008
The right to rock
Edmund Blair Leighton's "The Accolade",
from which the band takes its name.
"I liked the painting because it shows
a woman who is satisfied with a man"
said AccoLade's founder, Dina, age 21.
Quote: NYT; Image: Wikipedia
According to the history of All-female bands on Wikipedia, Goldie and the Gingerbreads (1962 - 1967) were the first all female rock band to be signed to a major label in the United States. Whether the 10-12 year delay between the emergence of rock in the United States and the visibility of girl rockers can be compared the Saudi music scene is questionable. The Arab News (2/22/2008) estimates the rise of western rock bands in Saudi Arabia as about 5 years old.
When I read the news each morning, it's hard for me to not see every story as potential DBlog material. I make a real effort not to confound sex/gender difference news with women's news. In this case, however, I think it's legitimately about gender differences, due to the fact that the NYT article points out the history of male rock performers in Saudi Arabia, going back 20 years, according to the Times has involved raids on clubs, forcible head-shaving, and hundreds of arrests.
The weirdest thing for me about the AccoLade's Myspace page is that there are no pictures of the musicians: talk about culture shock. Still, without MySpace, would anyone but the girls' friends and family know about the band?
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Friday, November 21, 2008
Regional Differences in Feminism
Two months ago, we discussed Judge and Livingston's finding that feminism carried an earnings penalty for men (9/23/08). Judge and Livingston also noted regional differences: people in the South were more likely to be traditionalist, while people in the Northeast were more likely to be egalitarian. Given that people in the Northeast seem to earn more than people in the South, based on a U.S. per capita income map, their finding that more traditional men earn more seems counterintuitive. However, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (2008) shows that income growth is highest in the South. Racial differences also seem to confound the issue. African americans held more egalitarian gender role orientations than caucasians.
I am so from the Northeast that it hurts. My parents met when attending MIT and Boston University. If you map everywhere I've lived for more than a month, (which I did), there's only 2 months in Virginia outside of New England. So, when I read that something has regional differences, I wonder how well I can really understand it. I was raised by a feminist household in a feminist part of the country -- how can I claim to understand how things are anywhere else?
I am so from the Northeast that it hurts. My parents met when attending MIT and Boston University. If you map everywhere I've lived for more than a month, (which I did), there's only 2 months in Virginia outside of New England. So, when I read that something has regional differences, I wonder how well I can really understand it. I was raised by a feminist household in a feminist part of the country -- how can I claim to understand how things are anywhere else?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Chit Chat
A story in today's Scotsman (2008) asks "Why do women chat more than men?", and suggests that Greeno and Semple (2008) may have found the answer among macaque monkeys. Female macaques, according to their study, use more affiliative vocalizations than males. The article does reference Mehl's (2007) finding that debunked the idea that human women talk more than human men, but explains the discrepancy by suggesting that "modern humans are not female-bonded in the sense that this term is used to describe nonhuman primate social structure." The theoretical basis of Greeno and Semple's article owes much to the work of R. I. M. Dunbar, who theorized that language evolved as a lower-cost grooming behavior, and therefore would have manifested more strongly in females (see Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, 1996).
I have to admit, when I tripped over this article, my first response was to wonder if they had just ignored Mehl's debunking of the "women talk more" theory, and I was relieved to see that it was referenced in the conclusion. However, the idea that "modern" humans are socially different than primate societies doesn't seem to make a lot of sense when you're already approaching the subject from an evolutionary psychology perspective. Maybe I'm missing something fairly profound about the use of the word "modern" in this context. The fact that journalists and scientists alike seem to cling to the "common knowledge" that women are more given to chit-chat than men puzzles me. What makes these truths truthy?
I really hope that Language Log picks this story up. I'd love to see Liberman's reaction.
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I have to admit, when I tripped over this article, my first response was to wonder if they had just ignored Mehl's debunking of the "women talk more" theory, and I was relieved to see that it was referenced in the conclusion. However, the idea that "modern" humans are socially different than primate societies doesn't seem to make a lot of sense when you're already approaching the subject from an evolutionary psychology perspective. Maybe I'm missing something fairly profound about the use of the word "modern" in this context. The fact that journalists and scientists alike seem to cling to the "common knowledge" that women are more given to chit-chat than men puzzles me. What makes these truths truthy?
I really hope that Language Log picks this story up. I'd love to see Liberman's reaction.
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Hand measurements
Previously, we've discussed that men's hands were proportionately longer than women's, for people of the same height (5/5/08). Men's hands are also proportionately wider than women's. Martin and Nguyen (2003) found that men had higher hand width-to-length ratio than women, although their study did not control for height (this study focused on anthropometric differences by sexual orientation). Ruiz-Ruiz et al (2002) found that hand size correlated to optimal grip span (the span at which grip strength was greatest) in women, but not in men. The authors suggest that this means grip-related tasks need to be more personalized by hand size for women, while for men they can be set to a standard 5.5cm span.
I have small hands. I actually got to show off my small hands yesterday, by reaching into a copier after a jammed piece of paper. I don't know much about my optimal grip strength except that it could be improved. The person with the strongest hands I ever encountered was a potter, and I swear she could have crushed bowling balls in one hand.
I have small hands. I actually got to show off my small hands yesterday, by reaching into a copier after a jammed piece of paper. I don't know much about my optimal grip strength except that it could be improved. The person with the strongest hands I ever encountered was a potter, and I swear she could have crushed bowling balls in one hand.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Alzheimer's disease revisited
Previous looks at Alzheimer's disease have shown that women are more likely to get it (3/20/08), even when controlling for women's longer lifespans (9/26/06), and that seems to be tied to use of hormone replacement therapy (1/23/08). Another controversial AD theory was that high level of education had a protective effect. Letenneur et al (2000) found this connection in women only, leading them to conclude that there was an uncontrolled confound at work.
I'd like to suggest that one of the uncontrolled confounds could be the likelihood that women with higher levels of education are more likely to have had better lifetime health habits. Men's health habits seem to be pretty awful across the board, at least when compared to women's. I don't know whether women with higher SES are more or less likely to use hormone replacement therapy, or whether they're more likely to use it inconsistently. A recent ad I saw for Wal-Mart made me think about the latter theory. A daughter warns her father to stop skipping doses of his medication because they can get it so cheaply at Wal-Mart. Of all the reasons for skipping doses, this one hadn't occurred to me.
I'd like to suggest that one of the uncontrolled confounds could be the likelihood that women with higher levels of education are more likely to have had better lifetime health habits. Men's health habits seem to be pretty awful across the board, at least when compared to women's. I don't know whether women with higher SES are more or less likely to use hormone replacement therapy, or whether they're more likely to use it inconsistently. A recent ad I saw for Wal-Mart made me think about the latter theory. A daughter warns her father to stop skipping doses of his medication because they can get it so cheaply at Wal-Mart. Of all the reasons for skipping doses, this one hadn't occurred to me.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Alimony
An article in Forbes magazine (2007) claimed: "women Increasingly Paying Alimony". Unfortunately, the article is unable to produce any proof beyond attorney anecdotes: "44% of attorneys included in a recent survey said they've seen an increase in women asking for prenuptial agreements over the last five years, where in previous decades, prenuptial agreements were almost always sought by men." If true, it might not be entirely a bad thing. A CNN (2008) "Living" story quotes Ned Holstein, president of Fathers & Families: "thirty-three percent of higher-earning spouses are women, but fewer than four percent of alimony payers are women."
Alimony is theoretically separate from child support, but I can't help thinking that the future earnings prospects of either partner are significantly impacted by child caretaking. I'd also like to see figures about how much more those 33% of women are making than their husbands, compared to the 67% of men making more than their wives. I'd be surprised if the distribution of incomes had much in common. I'd also like to see reported levels of compliance with alimony; if women don't have a higher rate of compliance, I'd be shocked. I don't know how much I agree with the concept of alimony in the first place. The idea of lifelong obligations to anyone isn't one that sits easily with me.
Alimony is theoretically separate from child support, but I can't help thinking that the future earnings prospects of either partner are significantly impacted by child caretaking. I'd also like to see figures about how much more those 33% of women are making than their husbands, compared to the 67% of men making more than their wives. I'd be surprised if the distribution of incomes had much in common. I'd also like to see reported levels of compliance with alimony; if women don't have a higher rate of compliance, I'd be shocked. I don't know how much I agree with the concept of alimony in the first place. The idea of lifelong obligations to anyone isn't one that sits easily with me.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Suicide rates by country
According to the List of Countries by Suicide Rate (Wikipedia, 8/26/08), Lithuania leads the world in male suicides, at a rate of of 70.1 per 100,000 -- 5 times the rate for women. China leads for women, with 24.7 suicides per 100,000 women. However, for some reason, China appears on the list 3 times, at #12, #26, and #65 in overall suicide rates. In the worst case (position #12), Chinese women kill themselves 21% more often than Chinese men. (As of 11/13/08, this page has been cleaned up, and the agreed-upon figure seems to be 14% more for women.)
In general, suicide appears to be far more common among men, worldwide. Of the 89 countries listed, only China reports a higher suicide rate for women. Murphy (1998) suggests that gender roles provide protections for women, while Marusic (2005) suggests a genetic explanation.
The thing I really wanted to point out about the Murphy article is a different tactic taken on the old "Why don't women kill themselves as often" question. Murphy says "current and past explanations of this paradox are built on androcentric assumptions that women are deficient in some way." Maybe I'm not reading enough feminist research, but I found it really comforting to see that put so bluntly in an abstract. I was also kind of surprised and pleased to see that the author's first name was George.
Paragraph 1 was mostly taken from the draft vault, written in August
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In general, suicide appears to be far more common among men, worldwide. Of the 89 countries listed, only China reports a higher suicide rate for women. Murphy (1998) suggests that gender roles provide protections for women, while Marusic (2005) suggests a genetic explanation.
The thing I really wanted to point out about the Murphy article is a different tactic taken on the old "Why don't women kill themselves as often" question. Murphy says "current and past explanations of this paradox are built on androcentric assumptions that women are deficient in some way." Maybe I'm not reading enough feminist research, but I found it really comforting to see that put so bluntly in an abstract. I was also kind of surprised and pleased to see that the author's first name was George.
Paragraph 1 was mostly taken from the draft vault, written in August
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
Music Site Rankings and Skew
The most popular music-focused site (if you exclude MySpace), according to Quantcast, is Playlist.com, ranked at #122. Playlist.com has a distinctly female skew: 67% to 33%. Pandora.com is close behind at #140, and a nearly even gender split: 49% male to 51% female.
Personally, I've been using Last.fm for nearly two years, although apparently I was using Pandora over a year earlier than that. I had never heard of Playlist.com until this morning's research. I don't listen to much music in general, but I like documenting everything on the internet - so I like last.fm because it posts the tracks I've listened to on my iPod (when the "scrobbling" is working, which is inconsistent).
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Animal generosity
When investigating evolutionary theories for behavioral differences, researchers often look to the animal kingdom for examples. Several studies have examined animal behavior for the roots of differences in generosity. This is a particularly difficult construct to model with animals, due to the fact that most animals do not appear to have a gifting protocol. The only time an animal typically gives anything to another animal is in the feeding of the young.
English et al (2008), studying meerkats, found that females gave more food in response to increased begging on the part of young. Males and females both gave more frequently in response to increased begging, but the increase in volume was markedly higher in female meerkats. It is worth noting that the young are not always the meerkat's own offspring: meerkats raise young in cooperative groups. In mongooses, Bell (2008) found that female pups were more likely to beg more, and were more likely to receive more when they begged more. Perry and Rose (1994) found that female capuchins preferentially shared meat with their own young offspring, despite the fact that these monkeys also live in breeding groups, like the meerkats.
Sort of off-topic, I'm really getting nervous about posting any animal studies anymore - given the fact that I seem to get a lot of traffic from people looking for "animal sex." Plus, there's my concern that it doesn't really translate to human behavior. I don't know why I have such a strong reaction against evolutionary psychology, given my strong conviction that humans are animals. Meh. I'm contradictory.
In terms of responsiveness to begging, I do wonder if there's a sex difference (among humans) about prioritizing giving to one's own offspring versus giving to the squeakiest wheel. One way in which I think the animals in today's studies have it right is that they (especially the capuchins) take care of their own needs first - an attribute I find often lacking amongst myself and other humans.
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English et al (2008), studying meerkats, found that females gave more food in response to increased begging on the part of young. Males and females both gave more frequently in response to increased begging, but the increase in volume was markedly higher in female meerkats. It is worth noting that the young are not always the meerkat's own offspring: meerkats raise young in cooperative groups. In mongooses, Bell (2008) found that female pups were more likely to beg more, and were more likely to receive more when they begged more. Perry and Rose (1994) found that female capuchins preferentially shared meat with their own young offspring, despite the fact that these monkeys also live in breeding groups, like the meerkats.
Sort of off-topic, I'm really getting nervous about posting any animal studies anymore - given the fact that I seem to get a lot of traffic from people looking for "animal sex." Plus, there's my concern that it doesn't really translate to human behavior. I don't know why I have such a strong reaction against evolutionary psychology, given my strong conviction that humans are animals. Meh. I'm contradictory.
In terms of responsiveness to begging, I do wonder if there's a sex difference (among humans) about prioritizing giving to one's own offspring versus giving to the squeakiest wheel. One way in which I think the animals in today's studies have it right is that they (especially the capuchins) take care of their own needs first - an attribute I find often lacking amongst myself and other humans.
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Veterans and Sexual Trauma
Two weeks ago, Kimerling et al (2008a) announced that 14.5% of veterans discharged from the U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan reported some kind of military sexual trauma (MST). Women were far more likely than men to report MST (14.5% vs 0.6%), but "the relationship between MST and specific mental health conditions did not differ by gender with the exception of PTSD [Posttraumatic Stress Disorder], where women who had experienced MST were significantly more likely to have PTSD than men who experienced MST."
Kimerling's data comes from a recently adopted PTSD screening regimen in place at VA hospitals. As recently as 2001, 33-50% of VA primary care physicians did not routine screen veterans for PTSD (Young et al, 2005). Screening does seem improve rates of treatment. In an evaluation of the universal PTSD screening protocols, Kimerling et al (2008b) reported that universal screening increased access to care.
Something that bothers me: the news stories about this -- such as Reuters (2008) -- cited Kimerling as saying that her study (2008a) "did not determine when [the sexual trauma] happened". In most studies of sexual trauma, this would also capture childhood sexual trauma -- but Kimerling seems to be studying "military sexual trauma", which seems to be specifically trauma that occurs during service. If these screenings included all sexual trauma, 14.5% would be a lower rate than the general population of women. I have to wonder if the environment at the VA makes women (and men) less likely to report sexual trauma than they would be in the general population, or if the screening really is specific to trauma within service. Or, possibly, that women in the military do suffer lower rates of sexual harrassment and assault (the screening looks for both) than women in the general population.
Note: Two years ago, for Veteran's Day, I noted that "at least five" countries conscripted women for military service (11/10/06). That number should have been "at least ten", according to updates to the Wikipedia "Conscription" page.
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Kimerling's data comes from a recently adopted PTSD screening regimen in place at VA hospitals. As recently as 2001, 33-50% of VA primary care physicians did not routine screen veterans for PTSD (Young et al, 2005). Screening does seem improve rates of treatment. In an evaluation of the universal PTSD screening protocols, Kimerling et al (2008b) reported that universal screening increased access to care.
Something that bothers me: the news stories about this -- such as Reuters (2008) -- cited Kimerling as saying that her study (2008a) "did not determine when [the sexual trauma] happened". In most studies of sexual trauma, this would also capture childhood sexual trauma -- but Kimerling seems to be studying "military sexual trauma", which seems to be specifically trauma that occurs during service. If these screenings included all sexual trauma, 14.5% would be a lower rate than the general population of women. I have to wonder if the environment at the VA makes women (and men) less likely to report sexual trauma than they would be in the general population, or if the screening really is specific to trauma within service. Or, possibly, that women in the military do suffer lower rates of sexual harrassment and assault (the screening looks for both) than women in the general population.
Note: Two years ago, for Veteran's Day, I noted that "at least five" countries conscripted women for military service (11/10/06). That number should have been "at least ten", according to updates to the Wikipedia "Conscription" page.
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Monday, November 10, 2008
Sexism in Lending
U.S. women are more likely than men to receive a predatory loan, despite a tendency to have better credit scores (India Times, 2008). The India Times cites a report from the Consumer Federation of America (2006, pdf) which found that sex and race both affected the types of loans taken out: 1/3 of women compared to 1/4 of men accepted "subprime" loans, nationwide. According to a poll commissioned by Freddie Mac, only 37% of "prime" borrowers are women, compared to 46% of subprime borrowers (Lax et al, 2004). These types of lending practices contribute to the climate where women and minorities are less likely to build wealth and own homes, as we discussed in 2006 (see "Home Ownership").
I should make it clear: race appears to be a much greater factor than gender in these articles. Education also seems to affect the types of mortgages taken.
When we purchased our condo two years ago, I did most of the mortgage shopping. I have to say: most of the lending agents I talked to at least tried to offer me a crappy ARM. I had to make it fairly clear up front that I wasn't at all interested, and that they shouldn't bother. I can't help but feel that this is a problem that could be largely fixed by financial literacy education. Certainly, there are pressures on a lower-income family that would make it harder for them to turn down a predatory loan. What other privileges am I ignoring?
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I should make it clear: race appears to be a much greater factor than gender in these articles. Education also seems to affect the types of mortgages taken.
When we purchased our condo two years ago, I did most of the mortgage shopping. I have to say: most of the lending agents I talked to at least tried to offer me a crappy ARM. I had to make it fairly clear up front that I wasn't at all interested, and that they shouldn't bother. I can't help but feel that this is a problem that could be largely fixed by financial literacy education. Certainly, there are pressures on a lower-income family that would make it harder for them to turn down a predatory loan. What other privileges am I ignoring?
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Gardening
Judy Lowe's "Diggin' It" blog (2008), at the Christian Science Monitor asks "Do men and women garden differently?" Lowe suggests that "more men than women seem to be interested in growing dahlias the size of dinner plates, and more women than men love herbs." Gardening blogger "Stuart" (2008) seems to lean the other way, saying that women garden-bloggers post photos of their flowers while men tend to discuss "GM crops, eradication of pests and their beloved veggie patch with the optimistic giant pumpkin sheltered in the background".
Men and women seem to report similar amounts of time in their gardens: according to a UK poll, men who garden report a slightly higher number of hours worked per week than women: six instead of five and a half (BBC, 2000). The same poll found that 65% of women and 49% of men felt they "claimed they toiled harder on the soil" (than the opposite sex, one assumes). A story in the Independent (2000) reports that Neave and Pickering found that women were better at men than identifying garden plants, getting 4/6 correct compared to the men's average of 3/6. Neave et al (2005) later reported similar results as evidence of an advantage for women in object identification within an array.
True story: last night I was making a list of potential DBlog topics on the ride home from work, and when I started to Google them this morning, I was shocked to find that Lowe covered "gardening" yesterday. I'd been thinking about it because I always think of gardening as a feminine pursuit, but my friends who garden are all men. In fairness, I think that most of my friends are men; there are female gardeners among my coworkers. I'd say there's an even split between those who grow to eat and those who grow to show off. I'm reminded of the comparison between show-off male chefs and comforting female cooks (11/21/07)
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Men and women seem to report similar amounts of time in their gardens: according to a UK poll, men who garden report a slightly higher number of hours worked per week than women: six instead of five and a half (BBC, 2000). The same poll found that 65% of women and 49% of men felt they "claimed they toiled harder on the soil" (than the opposite sex, one assumes). A story in the Independent (2000) reports that Neave and Pickering found that women were better at men than identifying garden plants, getting 4/6 correct compared to the men's average of 3/6. Neave et al (2005) later reported similar results as evidence of an advantage for women in object identification within an array.
True story: last night I was making a list of potential DBlog topics on the ride home from work, and when I started to Google them this morning, I was shocked to find that Lowe covered "gardening" yesterday. I'd been thinking about it because I always think of gardening as a feminine pursuit, but my friends who garden are all men. In fairness, I think that most of my friends are men; there are female gardeners among my coworkers. I'd say there's an even split between those who grow to eat and those who grow to show off. I'm reminded of the comparison between show-off male chefs and comforting female cooks (11/21/07)
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Thursday, November 6, 2008
Testosterone and Waistline
Brad J. King, author of the Fat Wars series of nutritional books, said in a Calgary Herald (2008) interview that "a man with a 40-inch waist has 30 per cent less testosterone than a man with a 37-inch waist", and blaming most trials of the aging man on decreased testosterone. The initial statement, that testosterone levels are lower in heavier men, seems to have some basis in truth.
King's figures come, in all likelihood, from the Tromsø study, a cohort of Norwegian men carefully monitored since 1974. Svartberg et al (2004) report almost exactly this statistic for men 25-39. In a U.S. Sample (The Massachusetts Male Aging Study (1987-2004), Derby et al (2006) did find that obesity may predict decreased testosterone levels, and that the waistline is an important predictor of DHEA levels (although the meaning of DHEA levels is still a matter of some interpretation).
I can't jump all over King for the medicalization of aging: I'm openly terrified of it. I do, however, get a little fed up with the "more testosterone equals better" formula that I see so very often. I feel like I've been driving that into the ground, though. So, obesity in general, and waist circumference in particular, do seem to be related to free testosterone levels in healthy adult men. So, now I guess we discuss whether the weight goals imposed by the medical establishment are healthy or useful, eh?
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
King's figures come, in all likelihood, from the Tromsø study, a cohort of Norwegian men carefully monitored since 1974. Svartberg et al (2004) report almost exactly this statistic for men 25-39. In a U.S. Sample (The Massachusetts Male Aging Study (1987-2004), Derby et al (2006) did find that obesity may predict decreased testosterone levels, and that the waistline is an important predictor of DHEA levels (although the meaning of DHEA levels is still a matter of some interpretation).
I can't jump all over King for the medicalization of aging: I'm openly terrified of it. I do, however, get a little fed up with the "more testosterone equals better" formula that I see so very often. I feel like I've been driving that into the ground, though. So, obesity in general, and waist circumference in particular, do seem to be related to free testosterone levels in healthy adult men. So, now I guess we discuss whether the weight goals imposed by the medical establishment are healthy or useful, eh?
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The impressions of babes
Montepare (1995) found that preschooler's impressions of stereotyped gender traits in adults could be reversed by reversing relative height of the targets. That is, children would respond to tall women as stronger and more dominant, and to short men as more concerned about other people's feelings. The results presented in Sumsion (2005) suggest that preschool children who are used to a male teacher still hold traditional gender role views.
Interactions with kids are weird. I do think kids liked me more before transition than after, but I'm looking at 25 years vs. 7 years, and I haven't been around a lot of kids in the past 7. Still, I always feel like kids clock me as "different" even if their parents don't. Sometimes they get curious, and sometimes they get scared, but either way, it's not the most comfortable thing for me.
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Interactions with kids are weird. I do think kids liked me more before transition than after, but I'm looking at 25 years vs. 7 years, and I haven't been around a lot of kids in the past 7. Still, I always feel like kids clock me as "different" even if their parents don't. Sometimes they get curious, and sometimes they get scared, but either way, it's not the most comfortable thing for me.
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Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Locus of Control
Locus of control (LOC) is a psychological term referring to how a person ascribes causality of events: whether they cause the good and bad in their life, or an external agency does. LOC can be general, or related to a specific area, such as health or academic performance. The construct does not typically show differences by gender: Twenge et al's 2004 meta-analysis found that year, rather than gender, affected LOC: college students and adolescents in 1960 reported substantially more internal LOC than in 2002 -- that is, they felt far more in control of their lives.
Despite the lack of evidence for LOC differences by gender, enough LOC correlates show gender differences that researchers continue to search for the moderating factor. Abouserie (1994) found that external LOC correlated with academic stress, and that women were more stressed, but found no connection between gender and LOC. Gianakos (2004) found a similar relationship with work stress, and suggested that different coping styles may explain the lack of connection between these factors.
What I get from these studies is that having an internal locus of control is really comforting for men, but doesn't seem to do much for women. Women seem to be equally capable of stressing out over things they can control, and things they can't control - which makes me wonder why I see the "Serenity Prayer" only posted above women's desks. Personally, I've never found it very helpful. In general, I think I have an overly internal LOC; I'm fairly convinced that I can cause avalanches in Tibet by not flossing my teeth regularly.
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Despite the lack of evidence for LOC differences by gender, enough LOC correlates show gender differences that researchers continue to search for the moderating factor. Abouserie (1994) found that external LOC correlated with academic stress, and that women were more stressed, but found no connection between gender and LOC. Gianakos (2004) found a similar relationship with work stress, and suggested that different coping styles may explain the lack of connection between these factors.
What I get from these studies is that having an internal locus of control is really comforting for men, but doesn't seem to do much for women. Women seem to be equally capable of stressing out over things they can control, and things they can't control - which makes me wonder why I see the "Serenity Prayer" only posted above women's desks. Personally, I've never found it very helpful. In general, I think I have an overly internal LOC; I'm fairly convinced that I can cause avalanches in Tibet by not flossing my teeth regularly.
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
Monday, November 3, 2008
First time
Last week, we talked about differences in men's and women's reporting of their sexual behavior (10/28/08). These differences may contribute to some of the counter-intuitive differences reported by Sprecher et al (1995) in a survey of undergraduates about their first sexual experiences. Most women reported that their first sexual experience was in a "serious dating relationship"; most men reported that the relationship was "less than serious." Both men and women reported that their first experience was with an older partner, but for men, the partner was (on average) only a couple of months older, while for women, the average age difference was 1.5 years. Men were more likely to report that it was also the first time for their partner: 37% of men agreed with this, compared to 30% of women. There was no difference reported for own age at time of first intercourse: 16.5. Unsurprisingly, more men than women reported having an orgasm their first time: 79% to 7%.
Raise your hand if you think there's a difference in reporting rates. *counts* Well, 100% of the hands I can see (mine) agree with me. The first thing I would question is whether the partner thought it was a "serious" or "less than serious" relationship. I'm also wondering whether women are more likely to tell their partners that it's their first time, while men are more likely to lie to say it isn't. On the other hand, the only time that I ever found out that someone had misrepresented their virginity status was from a woman. She'd known before the fact that I really didn't want to be anyone's first: I just didn't want the responsibility.
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Raise your hand if you think there's a difference in reporting rates. *counts* Well, 100% of the hands I can see (mine) agree with me. The first thing I would question is whether the partner thought it was a "serious" or "less than serious" relationship. I'm also wondering whether women are more likely to tell their partners that it's their first time, while men are more likely to lie to say it isn't. On the other hand, the only time that I ever found out that someone had misrepresented their virginity status was from a woman. She'd known before the fact that I really didn't want to be anyone's first: I just didn't want the responsibility.
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
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