Things I overheard while talking to myself

Santorum blames Social Security's troubles on abortion, to fix it we need more people

...

Bwuh?

I'm sorry, Mr. Santorum, but that makes no sense under any sort of logic. Now the population pyramid he's referring to is a real thing in the wake of the 1950s baby boom, but that would not have changed even if every abortion in the last 50 years had never happened. The proof? The countries where it's most extreme are where abortion is not legal or readily available and the stratification is significantly more extreme. And do you know why those countries have such an extreme pyramid? AIDS, which has killed off over half of the adult working population in some of those countries. You supported an increase in funding for AIDS research in those countries, so you should know that.

In short, there are far more things that go into that besides abortions. Furthermore, the birth rate started dropping significantly ten years before Roe v. Wade, and the birth rate did not significantly decine after it (in fact, it went up even when the rate of abortion was at the all time highest in 1980-1983) so there really is not a correlation.*

You fail social science forever. It took me all of five minutes to find enough data to show that you're full of shit.

* In the interest of full disclosure, there is evidence that abortion has affected one thing: the crime rate. Which is to say that about 20 years after Roe v. Wade there was a significant drop and the rate has never recovered, and the evidence points to it being because the number of people who would have been entering the criminal justice system dropped because they were not being born. This is an uncomfortable thing for sociologists to talk about, but the evidence speaks for itself.

I mentioned it in a tweet yesterday, but I not only found out that I got a 98 on my Criminology midterm, but after class the professor asked me if I wanted to be a peer tutor for his class next year!

I was flattered, since that's definitely a vote of confidence in my favor. I also had him last year for his Women and Crime class, and I still find myself referencing what I learned in that class in other areas. For instance, one play we read in English, Trifles, which was written in 1916, contained a textbook example of a battering relationship and I pointed it out as such during our class discussion.

This was also interesting since I've considered asking this professor if I could consult with him about what I'm going to do after I graduate, since to put it simply when I grow up I want to be him. I know he's connected to people in that field, and if you type his name into Google you get thousands of hits about the work he's done with battered women, and he's one of the most respected researchers on it in the country. I've also considered him for someone I'd ask to write a letter of recommendation.

So yeah, that was good in several ways, and I'll make sure to follow up on it.

I was talking to the professor who teaches Popular Culture after class (again) and one thing I realized is that the reason sociology excites me so much is that it is very much about exploring new frontiers, but unlike exploring a continent or an island where you eventually reach the end and there's nothing left to explore, sociology by definition never studies anything static, so there's always something new. That prospect really excites me.

And one area that really interests me is queer studies. Today in class we were talking about how kids' social systems develop, and I realized that my life experience, and likely that of many queer kids, was not represented in the literature and theory. It wasn't because of any malice, it just flat-out hasn't been studied to any great degree. There's an opportunity right there! And many more where it just flat out hasn't been studied, so someone can go out and find it and figure out what happens. Hopefully I can do just that.

Did I just hear a cannon go off? Wouldn't surprise me, it is Boston and we do have the USS Constitution parked nearby.

Today was a loooong day. I had Popular Culture and America and actually ended up being late to Japanese because we were having a spirited discussion about social development in kids 6-12 years old and comparing it to an economic system where some people are more "marketable" than others (sounds weird but it actually makes sense), and how bullying ties into that and whether it should be allowed (my answer: Hell no, see Phoebe Prince and Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover for why) and what makes that different than not wanting to be friends with someone. I argued that it's the difference between shutting the castle gate to a group of people versus shutting the gate and also pouring a vat of boiling water onto them, in the sense of intentionally causing harm versus just keeping someone out (also invoking the idea of intentional harm from criminal justice but that's neither here nor there). Then we essentially started talking about laissez-faire economic strategy versus regulation as applied to which friends kids have, and we probably could have talked for an hour if I hadn't had to go (for the record I'm for regulation within reason in both economics and kids' social systems).

I then had my long Japanese class of the week, and despite Japanese using nothing that even looks like Roman characters (save Romaji) I still find it easier than Russian. Maybe it's just that once you learn a language that has 8 cases everything else is easy as pie.

On my way up to the station I saw a flyer for the State House Cafe, and was surprised by just how cheap stuff was. Since I'm not getting paid until tomorrow and I figured I'd have a look around I headed up there after I said hi to Steve at the station. He was surprised when I said that you could just walk into the State House (well, okay, there is a metal detector) but it is a public building and the public is entitled to sit in on hearings. I also managed to find the office of our friend Stan, but he wasn't there. If I go again I'll call ahead, but going in there was a last minute decision.

While at the State House I looked for the statue of Anne Hutchinson, an uppity feminist ancestor of mine who got kicked out of Massachusetts in the 1600s for having radical views like women being people. Unfortunately the statue was behind a fence because security doesn't want people getting that close to the building, and the photo I took was really crappy, so here's a better one by someone on Wikipedia. She's certainly someone whose genes I'm glad to have, if ever so distantly. Massachusetts can't get rid of us that easily.

I then headed to the MSPCA, and the E line being the E line they decided to take the train I was on out of service so I had to catch another -- and pay again. That also sapped the money I'd had on there for the trip back. I wasn't happy. Luckily at the MSPCA one of the staff members gave me change for the 5 I had. I was glad to hear that the two ferrets at the MSPCA who I love finally got adopted, since they'd been there since I started, and Zone, one of the sweets greyhounds I've ever met, is going home too. I also had a kitten nearly jump down my shirt, but I'm not big enough in there for it to get in. I'm probably going to have scratches from that. I also got subjected to a "Shiba scream" for a shiba inu, who are as loud as a car alarm going off next to your ear. Yikes.

I dunno, the idea of medically regulating your period to be every 3 months instead of once a month with a pill weirds me out, especially the slogan they're using:

"Who says that time of the month has to be every month?"

Let's see: your body, nature, evolutionary history, biology, your hormones, your age... I could go on.

I'm sorry, but I trust those more than a pharmaceutical company trying to push a drug I don't need, because A.) I'm not having heterosexual sex and B.) there's no medical reason for me to take that pill short of "convenience" which doesn't pass muster in my book.

The sociologist in me also wonders about the medicalization of something that is perfectly normal for a healthy woman to have. It's like how the number of cesarean sections have increased dramatically not because there's any medical need for them, but because it's more convenient for the doctors than having to wait through a natural labor (that's a post of its own). Look, I know periods are a pain and it's unpleasant, but I'm not inclined to mess with it. I once had a straight girl I know try to convince me that it's a wonderful thing and makes you life so much better, but I gave the same reason why I haven't.

Now, I know women who are basically handicapped when their period shows up and I'm not going to fault them for taking a pill to regulate it, but for me it's not something I'd do. Generally speaking I'm inclined to leave well enough alone as far as my body goes.

And the obligatory video from Saturday Night Live that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter:

In the last few days I managed to hurt my back somehow, and as usual with me I have no idea how I did it except that I think it’s a pulled muscle at about navel level. Considering I had to write a five page paper the other day and it’s uncomfortable to sit down for long periods of time it made things a little awkward, so I basically alternated between lying facedown on my bed with the computer to being at my desk and switching when one became too uncomfortable (and when your circulation is as bad as mine that’s often) but eventually I finished it.

I’ve also been reading that book about the jocks who raped the developmentally disabled girl and the way the community responded, and the urge to hurl it against the wall and scream “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!” has been manifesting frequently. If it weren’t for my very good self control (and love of books) there would probably be a dent in the wall that I’d have to fix before I move out in September. The book itself is very well written, but God what those people did makes me rage. And it’s not like this happened in the distant past, oh no, it happened in 1989, the year I was born. Reading about the school and community where the people involved were from also reminds me a lot of Amherst and reminds me why I hated that place so damn much, since it’s self serving, totally committed to having kids fit a certain mold and if you don’t you either get stepped on or worse or move out. I was lucky enough to find enough people like me to keep me sane until I managed to flee up to GCC and then away from that place for good. I can also see why the professor is having us read it twice and only analyze it the second time since the urge to punch people in the mouth doesn’t exactly gel with the sociological process.

(What’s also kind of creepy is that they have photos of the offenders in the book, and I swear one looks exactly like a kid I went to school with, someone I didn’t know well but who was a jock and who I instinctively stayed away from. They could be twin brothers if not for the age difference.)

I also warned the professor that when we get to discussions of the book I’m very likely to go off, but he actually said that’s a good thing and could be a bit of catharsis. I don’t lose my temper over much, but damn, this book and the things that happen in it honestly set me off.
 

A little while ago I had a dream about Revolutionary Girl Utena, and a short time later I was thinking while doing the dishes (as I often do) about one of the main relationships in the series, and then applying what I learned in my Women and Crime class last semester I realized that it's a remarkably or perhaps even disturbingly accurate portrayal of what an abusive relationship between a victim and batterer is like.

( Bigass spoilers for the series under cut )

Basically, I'm convinced Kunihiko Ikuhara must have studied this sort of thing at some point. It just lines up too well.

I actually have that same professor next semester, so I might just mention the show to see what he'd think of it. I think he'd come to the same conclusion.

If I hear someone say that sociology is not a "real" science one more time...

Look, it is. Why? Because it uses the scientific method, it can be tested, and the results can be objectively verified. You know why "Intelligent Design" is not science? Because it is none of those!*

Yes, it focuses factors that are hard to measure and quantify and there are quite a few hacks out there who don't do it right, but the field itself is still science. Just because I do not wear a white labcoat does not mean I am not a scientist.

Anyone who claims that I'm not will be introduced to my theory of percussive trauma via a smack to the head. My hypothesis? It will hurt!

* This was the actual judicial rationalize that removed "Intelligent Design" from the school science curriculum in several cases

I was thinking the other day about words and phrases that make me wince, so I decided to catalog the ones I consciously avoid. I'm not part of the "thought police" and I know can't tell other people what to say and think, but I do have control over what I do and what comes out of my mouth. Most are on here either because the target a disadvantaged group or are just plain mean, and some of the really nasty ones that I don't even want to repeat in print aren't on here. So, without further ado,

Ro's list of words/phrases I will not say:

1. That's so gay
2. [Such and such] is Retarded
3. Lame*
4. Schizo**
5. [Such and such] is sweet enough to cause/give one Diabetes***
6. [So and so] is a whore
7. Gypped

* Been trying to wean myself off of this one, though I keep messing up
** I tend to use "out of their mind" to refer to anything of this nature since it's non specific
*** As the child of a diabetic I know this whole phrase is made of FAIL as far as how diabetes actually works. I generally substitute "Give one cavities" to get the same point across.

One of the sociology blogs I follow mentioned an article in The Wall Street Journal about how "women have a new body part to worry about", mainly their ankles. I saw this same article headline a few days ago and rolled my eyes. I remember snorting when people on the news were criticizing Hilary Clinton for supposedly having this when they could have, y'know, been talking about her political experience and things that actually matter for a presidential candidate.

Women have a new body part to worry about

I'm just glad I can walk on my right ankle considering how many times I've twisted it over the years and had it crushed under the hooves of horses (that last part has happened twice). And we wonder why lots of girls get eating disorders and are otherwise insecure about themselves (including me at times, I admit). And of course that article says only women have to worry about it, men are supposedly immune to this sort of insecurity. Bullshit. Just ask my friend Krys, who Sara has threatened to throw him like a javelin since he's maybe 120 pounds soaking wet and skinny as a rail but complains that he's too fat.

And yes that is my comment in there saying that this is a load of crap. I'll repeat that as many times as I need to! For some reason this sort of thing in particular sets me off.

Though props to one commenter who replied with the following:

I have fat ankles because I have bursitis.

Luckily for me I don’t give a sh*t.