tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73728766018260786872024-03-14T05:00:42.915-07:00The Masculine HeartSeeking the strong, tender heart
inherent in men.william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.comBlogger2672125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-24172175801985218012015-04-26T18:00:00.002-07:002015-04-26T18:01:37.801-07:00Bruce Jenner, Aydian Dowling, and America's Transgender Awakening<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="PHOTO: Bruce Jenner sat down for a far-ranging exclusive interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer in a special edition of “20/20.”" border="0" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/abc_jenner_sawyer_2_wy_150424_16x9_992.jpg" height="281" itemprop="image" width="500" /> </div>
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There are two big stories involving transgender people in the news this week. The first one is <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/bruce-jenners-diane-sawyer-interview-10-of-the-biggest-revelations-2015254">Bruce Jenner's television interview</a> with Diane Sawyer in which he comes out as a woman. Unless you have been living under a rock, you have at least heard about the interview if not seen it.<br />
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Here is just a snip of his comments:<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">“For all intents and purposes, I’m a woman,” Jenner told ABC’s <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/entertainment/diane-sawyer.htm" id="ramplink_Diane Sawyer_" target="_blank">Diane Sawyer</a> in an exclusive interview that aired Friday in a special two-hour edition of ABC News’ “20/20.” </span></div>
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“People look at me differently. They see you as this macho male, but my
heart and my soul and everything that I do in life -- it is part of me,”
Jenner, 65, said. “That female side is part of me. That’s who I am.”</span>
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<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/23/living/transgender-moment-jenner-feat/">CNN has proposed</a> that "<span style="color: blue;">2015 may be remembered as the year the term "transgender" fully entered mainstream consciousness</span>." Here is more evidence they site (correctly) that suggests America is having a transgender awakening:<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">In January, President Obama condemned the persecution of "people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender," becoming <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/20/politics/obama-transgender-sotu/">the first president to utter the word in a State of the Union address</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">"Transparent," about an aging father who begins living as a woman, won two top awards at the Golden Globes, while transgender actress Laverne Cox of "Orange is the New Black" -- who made the cover of Time magazine last year -- was just <a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/11/transgender-actress-laverne-cox-star-cbs-legal-drama" target="_blank">cast in a new CBS drama</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">The May issue of <a href="http://www.vogue.com/13253741/andreja-pejic-transgender-model/" target="_blank">Vogue has a photo spread</a> with transgender model Andreja Pejic, who said on Instagram this week that she "was told by various people many times over that the chances of me ending up on these pages were slim to none." A transgender character had a recurring storyline on the just-wrapped final season of "Glee," while transgender activist and YouTube star <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/16/living/feat-transgender-teen-jazz-jennings/">Jazz Jennings will star in a reality show</a> debuting on TLC this summer.</span></div>
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<img alt="transgender model Andreja Pejic" class="picture-img" src="http://www.vogue.com/r/h_660,w_440/2015/04/16/andreja-pejic-transgender-model.jpg" /></div>
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The second big news story, which is a far second to the Bruce Jenner story, a (wo)man once considered the best athlete on the planet after he won the 1976 Olympic gold medal in the Decathlon, is that a trans man, Aydian Dowling, is the leading vote-getter to appear on the cover of <i>Men's Health Magazine</i>.<br />
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<img class="oembed-asset-photo-image" height="400" src="https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xfa1/t51.2885-15/11111243_1635122410054545_1976373575_n.jpg" width="400" /> </div>
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As <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/04/20/aydian-dowling-transgender-mens-health-magazine/26067955/"><i>USA Today</i></a> notes, he is not assured of being on the cover simply by winning the reader's vote:</div>
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<span style="color: blue;">While Dowling is clearly in the lead with reader votes (he's ahead by
more than 30,000) it doesn't necessarily mean his image will grace the
cover.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Judges for the annual contest, now in its second year,
select a winner from entries based on a number of criteria including
fitness, professional success, healthy lifestyle and how much they give
back to their community. The public votes make up 10% of the final
ranking, <a href="http://ultimateguy.menshealth.com/rules" title="http://ultimateguy.menshealth.com/rules">according to the contest rules</a>.</span></blockquote>
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Still, it would be a huge step for transgender acceptance and equality if he were given the cover, and no matter what less welcoming readers of Men's Health might think, this would likely be one of the best selling issues of all time. That may be all it takes to get Aydian Dowling on the cover.</div>
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These two stories, plus the trans model in <i>Vogue</i> (even if her image reinforces the dominant image of female beauty, and does not represent the majority of trans women), the success of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Transparent-HD/dp/B00I3MPZUW"><i>Transparent</i></a> on Amazon Prime, and the success of transgender actress Laverne Cox of Orange is the New Black, all signify a transgender awakening in America.</div>
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It's time. </div>
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For more, see CNN's <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/23/living/transgender-moment-jenner-feat/">America's Transgender Moment</a>. </div>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-80694762077147024662015-03-17T05:07:00.003-07:002015-03-17T05:07:55.187-07:00The Average Penis Size, According to ScienceMen worry an awful lot about the size and/or shape of their penises. Size is (wrongly) associated with virility and masculinity. Most men worry needlessly about this issue. So here is science coming to the rescue. This article originally appeared at <a href="http://www.salon.com/"><i>Salon</i></a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/03/here_is_the_average_penis_length_according_to_science/">Here is the average penis length, according to science</a></span> </h1>
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<span style="color: blue;"> <span style="color: #351c75;">Researchers polled over 15,000 men on the length and girth of their manhood, and the results are...surprising </span></span></h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #351c75;"> <span class="byline"><a class="gaTrackLinkEvent" data-ga-track-json="["author","click", "Jenny Kutner"]" href="http://www.salon.com/writer/jenny_kutner/" rel="author">Jenny Kutner</a></span> <span class="shareButtonBox"> | </span><span class="dateline"><span class="toLocalTime" data-tlt-epoch-time="1425397860">Tuesday, Mar 3, 2015 </span></span></span> </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><a class="lightBox" href="http://media.salon.com/2015/03/shutterstock_159587795.jpg" title="Here is the average penis length, according to science"><img alt="Here is the average penis length, according to science" src="http://media.salon.com/2015/03/shutterstock_159587795-620x412.jpg" height="331" title="Here is the average penis length, according to science" width="500" /></a><span class="caption"> <span class="photoCredit"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><span class="caption"><span class="photoCredit">(Credit: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-689737p1.html">feiyuezhangjie</a> via <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/">Shutterstock</a>)</span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: blue;">The results of that age-old question are in: We know the length of the average human penis, and it is smaller than you’d probably expect it to be. Researchers <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/03/the-results-are-in-study-reveals-average-penis-size">have compiled all the existing data</a> on penis size in what’s purported to be the most comprehensive analysis yet, with over 15,000 “data points” from men in the U.S., Europe, Africa and Asia helping them determine what is “normal.” </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">I’ll cut to the chase: According to the study, published this week in <i>BJU International</i>, the average penis is 5.16 inches long and 4.6 inches around when erect, and 3.6 inches long and 3.7 inches around when flaccid. The 15,521 participants in the 20 compiled studies ranged in age from 17 to 91, and exhibited quite a range in size. Only about 2.28 percent had <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/02/24/i%E2%80%99m_hung_like_a_toddler_meet_a_man_with_a_micropenis/">abnormally small penises</a>, which the researchers classified as being two standard deviations below the mean; the same percentage of men had <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/08/13/id_go_out_in_public_wearing_tight_pants_to_shock_people_life_as_the_man_with_the_worlds_largest_penis/">abnormally large penises</a>, two standard deviations above the mean. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">The paper’s title — “<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bju.13010/abstract">Am I normal? A systematic review and construction of nomograms for flaccid and erect penis length and circumference in up to 15 521 men</a>” — sort of gets to the heart of what the researchers hope to achieve with the findings. “We believe these graphs will help doctors reassure the large majority of men that the size of their penis is in the normal range,” lead author <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11444668/Study-on-penises-reveals-the-average-size-...-and-its-smaller-than-you-think.html">David Veale said</a>. “We will also use the graphs to examine the discrepancy between what a man believes to be their position on the graph and their actual position or what they think they should be.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">While the study finds no evidence to suggest that penis size varies by race, the sample is still limited to a majority of European and Middle Eastern men; additional research could draw different conclusions. The researchers also note that the results could have been influenced by their volunteers’ own perceptions of themselves: Men who felt more confident in their penis size might have been more likely to participate in the study. Regardless, this is still the most comprehensive research so far.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Oh, and a final interesting tidbit: The study finds no correlation between a man’s foot size and penis length. </span> </div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><a class="toggle-group toggleOnScroll trigger remember refreshAds gaTrackPageEvent on" data-delay="15" data-toggle-group="story-13900163" href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/03/here_is_the_average_penis_length_according_to_science/" id="yui_3_18_1_12_1426592798636_743"> </a></span> </div>
<span style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://www.salon.com/writer/jenny_kutner/" title="Jenny Kutner"> <img alt="Jenny Kutner" class="writerImage" src="http://media.salon.com/2013/10/jenny_kutner_square.jpg" height="65" id="writer-13500637" title="Jenny Kutner" width="70" /></a></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Jenny Kutner is an assistant editor at Salon, focusing on sex, gender and feminism. </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Follow <a href="http://twitter.com/JennyKutner">@jennykutner</a> or email <a href="mailto:jkutner@salon.com">jkutner@salon.com</a>. </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><a class="byline" href="http://www.salon.com/writer/jenny_kutner/" title="More Jenny Kutner."><span style="color: #351c75;"> More Jenny Kutner.</span> </a></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-19806291060115609752015-02-14T16:55:00.000-07:002015-02-14T16:55:21.112-07:00Kali Holloway - Identifying Dudes: From Bros to Douchebags and BeyondFrom Alternet, Kali Holloway sardonically breaks down the Dude branch of the male species. Yes, these are cliche categories with somewhat offensive labels, but there is some truth to all of her categories of dude.<br />
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If you are easily offended by things not politically correct, please move along. <br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/identifying-dudes-bros-douchebags-and-beyond">Identifying Dudes: From Bros to Douchebags and Beyond</a></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Dudes are a specific kind of guy, but knowing their subgroups requires even more nuanced information.</span></h3>
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>By</i> <i><a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/kali-holloway">Kali Holloway</a></i> / <span class="field field-name-field-sources field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even"><a href="http://alternet.org/">AlterNet</a></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="color: #351c75;"><span class="field field-name-field-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" content="2015-02-13T13:32:00-08:00">February 13, 2015</span></span></span></span></span> </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">This being the Internet and all, we thought it would be a good idea to start the proceedings by stating, unequivocally, that there are plenty of great, wonderful, smart, kind, giving, loveable guys. And many fantastic and endearing <i>kinds</i> of guys. So many, we couldn’t make a list of them all because that list would be so long, we would all grow old and die reading it. To be clear: We’re not saying, in any way, shape or form, that there aren’t amazing, incredible, terrific guys out there (although someone will definitely say in the comments that we did).</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">What we <i>are</i> saying is that there are also a lot of different kind of dudes out and about. And we mean very specifically dudes – not guys, not boys, not men – but <i>dudes</i>. This is important. Dudes – and again, dudes are a particular variety of male – are out there, like, being dudes. But not all dudes are the same, and lumping them all together creates a kind of chaos and confusion that can and should totally be avoided. So, to more distinctly identify each type of dude from their brethren, here is a list that makes clear where the boundaries for one dude end and another dude begin. Below is a detailed report on the unique traits that identify douchebags, bros, dicks, assholes, scumbags and tools.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Douchebags. </b>Semi-awful. Definitely the most wealth-obsessed of all the categories of dudes. Complete lack of self awareness means he constantly refers to other dudes as “douches” and – on his most terrible days (i.e., every day) – “d-bags.” Brings coke to parties but doesn’t share with anyone except for the woman he’s trying to sleep with, who he’s actually vaguely aggressive with about snorting it. (If she doesn’t have sex with him, definitely decides she’s “a lesbian.” Also: Isn’t totally sure how words work.) Finally got hip to the AXE Body Spray / douchebag connection and instead started wearing TAG Body Spray. Broke up with a girl once because he thought her ankles were a little fat. Not <i>cankles</i> fat, but fat enough. Definitely fucked that one waitress in Cabo. If he’s trying to pick up a girl and her phone goes off, says cheesy stuff like, “You’re blowing up!” Mentions he has a six-pack hoping you’ll ask to touch it. (When you don’t, calls you “a lesbian.”) Wants to live in a world with only Kanye, <a href="http://www.factmag.com/2015/02/11/diplo-steals-artwork-responds-takedown-request-misogynistic-taunts/">Diplo</a>, <a href="http://www.racked.com/2015/1/2/7562751/scott-disick-wikipedia">Scott Disick</a> and <a href="http://valleywag.gawker.com/fuck-bitches-get-leid-the-sleazy-frat-emails-of-snap-1582604137">Evan Spiegel</a>. Says he loves music but really only listens to shitty <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_dance_music">EDM</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Bros. </b>More innocuous and sweetly earnest than douchebags. Really enjoys chilling – probably has some of his frat bros coming over this weekend to, you know, chill. Spends the entire summer in flip flops, even – no, <i>especially</i> – at inappropriate events. (For this reason, should never be allowed to choose dress-up party attire for himself.) Still thinks Williamsburg is “artsy” and “kinda weird.” Misquotes <i>Fight Club</i> and Dylan lyrics, but really is trying. Benches 120, flexes in the mirror, thinks: “Fuck yeah.” Earnestly believes he has something insightful and deep to contribute to the conversation, which is adorably wrong. It should be mentioned that this category now includes a hipster-bro hybrid who wears ‘50s style white t-shirts with skinny jeans and is into artisanal pizza, suspenders, bespoke drinks and high-end shaving kits. Though it’s been said a million times and is obvious to the point of absurdity, Matthew McConaughey remains the Alpha and Omega of Bro. (If they were manufactured in a factory, bros would be made out of a super common material called McConaughite.) Is best friends with one bro exactly like Owen Wilson and another bro exactly like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dlyCTswYH0">Ryan Lochte</a>. Says he loves music but only listens to shitty EDM and Bob Marley’s “Legend.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Dicks. </b>Full-on awful. Is endlessly arrogant to cover up the deep well of insecurity he still carries from being picked last for kickball so many times as a kid. Is technically quite smart, but so insecure he can’t help but constantly prove it in super obnoxious ways. Pretends not to get your references. Creates uncomfortable silences in conversation on purpose. If you tell a joke, says something rude or cutting afterward to prove that, oh, <i>he got it</i>, he just didn’t think it was funny. Enjoys being “politically incorrect” and then playing dumb when challenged on it. Actually lies to his therapist, making the whole exercise a tremendous waste of money. Spends the first five minutes after meeting you trying to figure out your points of emotional vulnerability. Secretly cries after masturbating. Hates himself, and deep inside knows there is a hole that can never be filled. Role models include <a href="http://bestforfilm.com/film-news/vincent-gallo-sues-los-angeles-like-a-complete-idiot/">Vincent Gallo</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Dick#Personal_life">Andy Dick</a> (ironically). Says he loves music but mostly just enjoys collecting music facts so he can tell people they’re wrong about songs they love.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Assholes. </b>A close cousin of the dick but not quite as sharp. When he agrees with something you’ve said, starts his response with, “No, but..” and then repeats exactly what you just said, exactly the way you just said it. Starts talking while you’re talking and then keeps talking louder and louder until you finally give up. Thinks women don’t get him but doesn’t understand the actual problem is that<i> they get him all too well</i>. Blatantly steers the conversation back to his areas of knowledge when it starts to drift toward things he doesn’t know about, which is a lot. Feels most at home screaming at waitresses until they tear up and leaving lengthy notes on the backs of receipts explaining why he didn’t leave a tip. (tl; dr: Because he’s an asshole.) Is only semi-aware that every fuck has been a hate-fuck for him. Blissfully unaware of how awful he is. Likes the way <a href="http://noisey.vice.com/blog/mike-love-is-kind-of-an-asshole">Mike</a> <a href="https://manvsclown.wordpress.com/2006/07/21/why-i-hate-mike-love/">Love</a> does business and still chuckles to himself remembering mean things Simon Cowell said. Thinks Biff from <i>Back to the Future</i> had his good points. Says he loves music but then argues with you about Every. Single. Band.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Scumbags. </b>Here’s the thing about the scumbag: He is actual slime and kind of a sociopath, and by far the most dangerous dude on this list. Lies about weird stuff like what he had for breakfast this morning but is unfailingly honest about the disgusting and immoral way he treated some nice girl last week. Thinks telling people he’s about to have sex with that he has an STD “ruins the mood.” Constantly suggesting to women he’s just met that his “tongue never gets tired.” Currently dating a woman who doesn’t speak a word of his language because it’s “just easier.” Stands out in front, waiting to walk into a party until he can go in with another friend who actually brought a bottle of wine. If you resist his (inevitably gross) advances at a bar, keeps coming up every 15 minutes to ask, “Would you want to make out <i>now</i>?” If he’s in a band, secretly lives in the practice space. Learned just enough about feminism to get laid. Admires <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/6228133/John-Phillips-a-lifetime-of-debauched-and-reckless-behaviour.html">John Phillips</a> of the Mamas and the Papas and thinks <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dov_Charney#Controversy">Dov Charney</a> of American Apparel <a href="http://gawker.com/dov-charney-fired-from-american-apparel-again-1671916642">got a raw deal</a>. Not that it needs to be mentioned, but really looks up to <a href="http://www.vox.com/2014/6/19/5817806/terry-richardson-explainer">Terry Richardson</a>. Says he loves music and, actually, has pretty good taste. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Tools. </b>Although the term feels a little outdated, it’s an an oldie but a goodie that still applies in a startlingly large number of cases. Thinks he’s projecting an image of roguishness and suave sophistication when, in fact, he is projecting the reality of a tragicomedy with legs. Women can smell the stench of desperation coming off him a mile away, but he mistakes their indifference as “playing coy.” In high school he was always “dating a model who lives in France.” As an adult, he frequently drops boastful, unsubtle hints about the number of women he’s slept with to distract anyone from guessing the actual number is two. Misuses hip-hop slang in a way that feels not just embarrassing but borderline offensive. Has a guy he hangs around with all the time who he doesn’t realize is making fun of him. When he finds himself in a conversation where he doesn’t quite get what’s going on, tries to look really deep in thought so people mistake his confusion for depth. Doesn’t get the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06GoD-_NOWY">David Brent character from <i>The Office UK</i></a> because it’s too much like looking in a mirror. See also: Piers Morgan. (Despite these examples, isn’t necessarily British. Tools have no home country.) Says he loves music, and will now prove it by making a scene with that guitar he found in the corner. </span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-2046442799192131762015-02-03T05:19:00.000-07:002015-02-03T05:19:24.940-07:00Tami Simon Interviews Robert Augustus Masters: True Masculine PowerFrom Tami Simon's interview series, <a href="http://www.soundstrue.com/store/weeklywisdom"><i>Insights at the Edge</i></a>, this is an excellent interview with integral psychologist Robert Augustus Masters about his new book, <span style="color: blue;"><i><a href="http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/affiliateGateway?siteID=ACBHRMN&url=http://www.soundstrue.com/store/to-be-a-man-1.html">To Be a Man</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><u>: A Guide to True Masculine Power</u>.</a></i><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: black;"> This is another classic book from the author of </span></a></span><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="color: black;"><i></i></span></a><span style="color: black;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556439059/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1556439059&linkCode=as2&tag=integraloptio-20&linkId=JGTQZWTFQU7WMYL6" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Spiritual Bypassing: When Spirituality Disconnects Us from What Really Matters</a></i> (2010). </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.soundstrue.com/store/weeklywisdom?page=single&category=IATE&episode=10273">Robert Augustus Masters: True Masculine Power</a></span></h1>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Tuesday, January 20, 2015</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.soundstrue.com/store/robert-augustus-masters-5549.html" target="_blank">Robert Augustus Masters</a> is an integral psychotherapist and spiritual teacher whose work emphasizes physical embodiment and greater relational maturity. With Sounds True, he has published the book <i><a href="http://www.soundstrue.com/store/to-be-a-man-1.html" target="_blank">To Be a Man: A Guide to True Masculine Power</a>.</i> In this episode of <i>Insights at the Edge</i>, Robert and Tami Simon talk about the deep shame that men often experience in a society that encourages them to “man up” and ignore their emotions. They also speak on developing a healthier approach to anger, as well as coming to a new understanding of masculine sexuality. Finally, they discuss Robert’s interpretation of what women truly need from modern men. (68 minutes) </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">You might also enjoy:</span></h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /><a href="http://www.soundstrue.com/store/to-be-a-man-1.html"><img src="http://st-imgcdn.s3.amazonaws.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/236x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/b/k/bk04103-to-be-a-man-published-cover_1.jpg" /></a><br /><i><b><a href="http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/affiliateGateway?siteID=ACBHRMN&url=http://www.soundstrue.com/store/to-be-a-man-1.html">To Be a Man</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null">: A Guide to True Masculine Power</a></b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /><a href="http://www.soundstrue.com/store/emotional-intimacy-3251.html"><img src="http://st-imgcdn.s3.amazonaws.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/236x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/2/2/2297.jpg" /></a><br /><i><b><a href="http://A Comprehensive Guide for Connecting with the Power of Your Emotions" target="_blank">Emotional Intimacy:</a><a href="http://A Comprehensive Guide for Connecting with the Power of Your Emotions" target="_blank"> A Comprehensive Guide for Connecting with the Power of Your Emotions</a></b></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;"><br /><a href="http://www.soundstrue.com/store/knowing-your-shadow-3084.html"><img src="http://st-imgcdn.s3.amazonaws.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/236x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/2/2/2238.jpg" /></a><br /><i><b><a href="http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/affiliateGateway?siteID=ACBHRMN&url=http://www.soundstrue.com/store/knowing-your-shadow-3084.html">Knowing Your Shadow</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null">: Becoming Intimate with All that You Are</a></b></i></span></blockquote>
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william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-6410172314488886492014-12-29T10:54:00.003-07:002014-12-29T10:54:54.610-07:00Buddhism 101 with Rick Hanson, PhD: The Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold PathRick Hanson, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Buddhas-Brain-Practical-Neuroscience-Happiness/dp/1572246952/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=integraloptio-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=M66KEIMP5YK3SKP7&creativeASIN=1572246952"><i>Buddha's Brain</i></a> (2009), <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Thing-Developing-Practice/dp/1608820319/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=integraloptio-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=EDL5WRD65D7ZBNDH&creativeASIN=1608820319" id="titlehref" target="_blank" title="Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time">Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time</a></i> (2011), <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385347316/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0385347316&linkCode=as2&tag=integraloptio-20&linkId=VL5P5VQ3FL72GE47" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence</a></i> (2013), is a <span>neuropsychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and a practicing Buddhist</span>.<br />
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<span>Dr. Hanson has been a trustee of Saybrook University and served on the board of Spirit Rock Meditation Center for nine years, where is a regular teacher. </span><br />
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<span>Over the last couple of months, Dr. Hanson posted a series of articles on the basic premises of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths. These are those posts, along with an older article on the Noble Eightfold Path.</span><br />
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<span>In essence, this is Buddhism 101, and if we could master just these principles, we would be very successful on our spiritual paths.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.rickhanson.net/four-noble-truths-noble-truth-suffering/">The First Noble Truth – The Noble Truth of Suffering</a></span></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">posted on: November 17th, 2014 </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">The Four Noble Truths are the most fundamental teaching of the Buddha. Deceptively simple, they actually provide a profound explanation of human unhappiness, both gross and subtle, and how to attain increasingly positive states of mind, from stress relief in daily life to an unshakeable calm happiness and a selflessly compassionate heart.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">With regard to the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha has been likened to a physician who diagnoses a condition, explains what causes it and what will end it, and then lays out in detail its cure.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The Noble Truth of Suffering</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The First Noble Truth</b> is that <b>life contains inevitable, unavoidable suffering</b>. (Some translators use the word, “stress,” to convey the broad meaning of the original word used by the Buddha in the Pali language: <i>dukkha</i>.)</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">This suffering encompasses the gross forms of pain, illness, and trauma we can all imagine, such as a broken leg, stomach flu, grappling with the devastation of a hurricane or the violent death of a loved one — or getting the diagnosis of a terminal disease.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">It also includes milder but common forms of discomfort and distress, like long hours of work, feeling let down by partner, a headache, feeling frustrated, disappointed, hurt, inadequate, depressed, upset, etc.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">And it includes the subtlest qualities of tension in the mind, restlessness, sense of contraction, preoccupation, unease, boredom, blahness, ennui, sense of being an isolated self, something missing in life, something just not fulfilling, etc.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>What People Do with the Fact of Suffering</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Because suffering is uncomfortable, we may suppress or minimize it in our own lives. And because it is unpleasant – and sometimes guilt-provoking – to see it in others, we sometimes turn away from it there, too.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">We also live in a culture that tends to cast a veil over the everyday suffering of poverty, chronic illness, draining work conditions, aging, and dying while – oddly – pushing intense imagery of violence in everything from the evening news to children’s TV. Simultaneously, our media present an endless parade of promises that you can avoid suffering through looking younger, upgrading your internet connection, drinking Bud Lite, getting Viagra, losing 10 pounds, etc.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">It can almost make you feel like a failure for suffering!</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Personal Reflections</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">What are some of the kinds of suffering that exist in your life?</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Can you accept the fact of your suffering? What gets in the way of doing that?</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">What happens inside you when you accept the <i>universal</i> truth of suffering, that <span style="text-decoration: underline;">everyone</span> suffers? In a way, it becomes less personal then, and easier to handle. It’s just suffering. It doesn’t have to be a big deal that we suffer. It’s just what is. It is indeed true that we and everyone else suffers.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">You have opened up to a truth . . . a great truth . . . the First Noble Truth.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.rickhanson.net/second-noble-truth-noble-truth-cause-suffering/">The Second Noble Truth – The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering</a></span></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The Second Noble Truth</b> describes the principal cause of suffering. It is <b><i>clinging</i></b>. . . to anything at all.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">The bad news is that we suffer. The good news is that there is a prime cause – clinging – that we can address.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">There are lots of words that get at different aspects of clinging. For example, the original Pali word is “<i>tanha</i>,” the root meaning of which is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">thirst</span>. Here are some related words, and you might like to pause briefly after each one to get a sense of the experience of it: Desire. Attachment. Striving. Wanting. Craving. Grasping. Stuck. Righteous. Positional. Searching. Seeking. Addicted. Obsessed. Needing. Hunger.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">As a general statement, clinging causes suffering by causing it to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">arise</span> in the first place or to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">increase</span> further, and by blocking factors that would <span style="text-decoration: underline;">reduce</span> or <span style="text-decoration: underline;">end</span> it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The inherent suffering of clinging</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">For starters, any moment of clinging – in all of its forms, gross or subtle, and regardless of its objects – <span style="text-decoration: underline;">inherently</span> contains suffering in two ways.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">First, as you’ve probably noticed, the experience of clinging itself – in all of its forms – is unpleasant. It feels contracted, tense, uneasy, and at least a little stressful. And this is true even if what we crave is enjoyable: the craving itself robs the enjoyable experience of some of its savor.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Second, as the Buddha observed, one of the three fundamental characteristics of existence is <b>impermanence</b>. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Everything</span> changes. Nothing of mind or matter lasts forever. Every single moment changes instantly into something else.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">That’s the absolutely universal nature of outer reality and of inner experience. But what is the nature of the human mind?</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">The mind evolved to help us survive, and it does so by trying to figure out stable patterns in the world, and in our life, and to develop lasting solutions to life’s problems. As a result, our mind is forever chasing after moments of experience or moments of reality — trying to hold on to them to understand them, to get a grip on them, to control them.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">At the most basic, microscopic level, it is the nature of mind to cling. As a strategy for passing on genes, it has worked spectacularly well. But Mother Nature doesn’t care if we suffer; she only cares about grandchildren!</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Because, unfortunately, by the time the mind has gotten mobilized to pursue a moment of experience in order to make sense of it and figure out a plan for dealing with it . . . . POOF! It’s gone!!</b> Moment after moment . . .</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Truly, we live life at the lip of a waterfall, with reality and experience rushing at us – experienced only and always NOW at the lip – and then, poof, zip, zap, it’s over the edge and gone.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">But our mind is forever trying to grab at what has already disappeared over the edge.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">As the 8th century sage, Shantideva put it:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">“Beings, brief, ephemeral,</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Who fiercely cling to what is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">also</span> passing</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Will catch no glimpse of happiness</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">[In this or any life].”</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Four objects of clinging</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">In addition to the two ways that suffering is inherent within the very fabric of clinging, the Buddha described how suffering arises from the four main targets of clinging:</span><br />
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<li><span style="color: #351c75;">To sense pleasures – which includes resisting unpleasant experiences</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">To the notion or sense of self</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">To views</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">To routines and rituals</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Systematically developing insight into your clinging in terms of these “targets” will really help reduce your suffering. As an extended example, let’s explore the first one.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The suffering of clinging to sense pleasures</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>First</b>, life inevitably has lots of painful experiences. There is no way around them, no matter how much good fortune we have.Things like death, old age, illness, trips to the dentist, kids leaving home, traffic jams, etc.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Whenever we resist an unpleasant experience – including desiring a better experience – boom! right there our suffering increases. Let’s say you’re in the dentist’s chair: wishing you were somewhere else <span style="text-decoration: underline;">just makes it worse</span>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">In addition to what is happening <i>in the moment</i>, we resist painful experiences by fearing them before they begin, and by dwelling on them after they have occurred.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Of course, it’s natural to have other preferences when you experience pain. But when you get <span style="text-decoration: underline;">attached</span> to those preferences, that’s when suffering begins.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Second</b>, desires get awakened for pleasures we cannot or will not get to experience, and that’s frustrating, disappointing, sense-of-futility-creating . . . in short, suffering.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Consider these common examples: success or fame or beauty . . . attractive people to be with . . . fabulous vacations . . . fame . . . promotions . . . hugs from surly teenagers. . . etc.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Shantideva again: “<i>O foolish and afflicted mind, you want, you crave for everything</i>.”</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Third</b>, even if we attain them, most pleasures are actually not that great. They’re OK, but . . . Look closely at your experience: is the Oreo cookie really that mind-boggling? Was the vacation that outstanding? Was the satisfaction of the A paper that intense and long-lasting?</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Fourth</b>, even if we attain them and they’re actually pretty great, many pleasures cost us much pain. Alcohol and drugs and certain sexual relationships may be good examples here. But also consider the possible “collateral damage” of career ambitions, winning arguments, needing the house to be “just so,” and so on. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">If you look closely: what is the cost/benefit ratio — <span style="text-decoration: underline;">really</span>?</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Fifth</b>, even if we attain a pleasure, and it’s actually pretty great, and it doesn’t cost too much – the gold standard – because of impermanence, even the most pleasant experiences inevitably change and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">end</span>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">For example, one day we will be separated from everyone we love by their death or our own. Ouch: but no way around it. The cookie will be eaten: all gone! as the little kids say. We’ve got to get out of our warm and cozy bed for work. Time to leave the nice hot shower. You turn in the big report and the boss and everyone else sings your praises for a day or two and then it’s over and on to the next thing. The orgasm lasts just a few seconds!</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">As the Buddha said, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">everything </span>that is subject to arising is subject to ceasing. Period. No way around it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Since pleasant facts and experiences will inevitably end, it’s both doomed and painful to grasp after them.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>When the heart grasps what is painful, it is like being bitten by a snake. And when, through desire, it grasps what is pleasant, it is just grasping the tail of the snake. It only takes a little while longer for the head of the snake to come around and bite you</i>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">~ Ajahn Chah, <i>A Still Forest Pool</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Enjoy pleasant experiences, yes, as they pass through, as long as (A) you do not <span style="text-decoration: underline;">cling</span> to them, and (B) your enjoyment does not fan the flames of desire for them – a possible but very challenging thing to do. You really have to be on top of your game for that, with <span style="text-decoration: underline;">lots</span> of mindfulness.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Pretty grim, huh? But it’s helpful to remember that the point of developing mindfulness of and insight into the causes of suffering is to become free of them – and thus relatively (and perhaps even absolutely) free of suffering itself.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">To summarize, for all the reasons we’ve discussed, any experience is incapable of being completely satisfying. We have been looking for happiness, security, and fulfillment in all the wrong places.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">So, what’s the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">right</span> place?</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">* * * * *</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.rickhanson.net/third-noble-truth-noble-truth-end-suffering/">The Third Noble Truth – The Noble Truth of the End of Suffering</a></span></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">posted on: December 14th, 2014 </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The Third Noble Truth</b> comes directly from the Second one: <b>The end of suffering comes with the end of clinging</b>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">As Achaan Chah said, “<i>If you let go a little, you’ll have a little happiness. If you let go a lot, you’ll have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely . . . you’ll be <span style="text-decoration: underline;">completely</span> happy</i>.”</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">You can do this at the macro level, in letting go regarding lights turning green, or payments arriving, or your teenage children giving you a hug. Sure, you’d like things to turn out well, and that’s fine. You take practical steps toward them turning out well, and that’s also fine. But you can simultaneously have a peaceful, accepting attitude about however it turns out.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">And you can let go – practicing non-clinging – most fundamentally at the micro level, with moment to moment experience.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">For example, when you observe your experience, you will see that there is always a feeling tone automatically associated with it – a tone of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. That tone – called “feeling” in the Pali Canon (distinct from emotions) – usually triggers <b>craving</b>, which is the seed of <b>clinging</b>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">But if you can simply be mindful of the feeling tone without reacting to it – <b>then you can break the chain of suffering</b>!</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">In the short-term, we can’t do much about the feeling tone. So you’re not trying to change the feeling tone itself. But you <span style="text-decoration: underline;">are</span> trying to not react to it via one form of clinging or another.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">The epitome of non-clinging is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">equanimity</span> — which is not, according to a teacher, U Pandita, “<i>. . . insensitivity, indifference, or apathy. It is simply nonpreferential. . . . One does not push aside the things one dislikes or grasp at the things one prefers</i>.”</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">He goes on to say: “<i>The way to bring about equanimity is wise attention: to be continually mindful from moment to moment, without a break, based on the intention to develop equanimity. . . </i></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>In the deepest forms of insight, we see that things change so quickly that we can’t hold onto anything, and eventually the mind lets go of clinging. Letting go brings equanimity; the greater the letting go, the deeper the equanimity. . . .</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>Freedom comes when we begin to let go of our reactive tendencies. . . .</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>In Buddhist practice, we work to expand the range of life experiences in which we are free.</i>”</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">When we do this, much of what we see is how we fall away from equanimity, from perfect balance, again and again. But seeing that ever more deeply and precisely . . . slowly but surely helps us tip over less often.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">* * * * *</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.rickhanson.net/fourth-noble-truth-noble-truth-eightfold-path/">The Fourth Noble Truth – The Noble Truth of the Eightfold Path</a></span></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">posted on: December 29th, 2014 </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">These are the elements of the Eightfold Path:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Right View</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Right Intention</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Right Action</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Right Speech</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Right Livelihood</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Right Effort</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Right Mindfulness</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Right Concentration</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Please see the article on “The Noble Eightfold Path” here – <a href="http://www.rickhanson.net/writings/articles/buddhist-wisdom/" target="_blank">http://www.rickhanson.net/writings/articles/buddhist-wisdom/</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">* * * * * </span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://media.rickhanson.net/home/files/8FoldPath.pdf"><b>The Noble Eightfold Path</b></a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">© Rick Hanson, 2006</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>I teach one thing: Suffering and its end</i>." -- The Buddha</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Introduction</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">The Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Buddha's Noble Truths, and he described it as the way that leads to the uprooting of the causes of suffering, and thus to increasingly stable and profound peacefulness, wisdom, virtue, and happiness.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Each of the eight elements of this Path is described by a word that is typically translated as "right" or "wise." Both meanings are useful to reflect upon regarding your own suffering and your yearning for its end. Each element of the Path is right, in the sense of being correct, moral, and a pointed instruction about how to live. Each element is also wise, in the sense of resulting from deep understanding and leading to good results. In keeping with the weight of tradition and the value of the sharp edge of the word, "right," that's what is used in this summary.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">While the eight elements of the Path are presented here in their traditional sequence, they are not something you develop in order. They are all important, all the time. Yet some may become more prominent aspects of your practice at one time or another.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">The heart of each element of the Path is non-clinging, the essence of the Third Noble Truth: the cause of the end of suffering.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">[<b>Note:</b> Quotations are shown in italics, and in some cases have been edited for brevity, clarity, including female pronouns, etc. Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from the Buddha are from Bhikkhu Bodhi's anthology, <i>In the Buddha's Words</i>, shown as BW with page number(s).]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Right View</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Introduction</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Right View entails a deep, embodied understanding of the truth of things -- in particular, the truth of the three topics discussed just below.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">One who has fully developed right view is considered a "stream-enterer," one who is certain of ultimate liberation."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The Four Noble Truths</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">The Buddha: "And what, monks, is right view? Knowledge of suffering, knowledge of the origin of suffering, knowledge of the cessation of suffering, knowledge of the way leading to the cessation of suffering."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Please see the article on “The Four Noble Truths” in the Buddhist Wisdom section of this webpage: http://www.wisebrain.org/articles.html.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The Unwholesome and the Wholesome</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Right view also entails understanding what is unwholesome and avoiding it, and understanding what is wholesome and doing it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">What did the Buddha say were the causes of the unwholesome? They are any and all forms of greed, hatred, delusion, and the belief in a separate self.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">What did the Buddha say were the causes of the wholesome? They are equanimity and renunciation, compassion and lovingkindness, wisdom, and releasing the "conceit" of self.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">You might like to consider the causes of the wholesome and unwholesome as they occur in your own mind and life. For example, you could take a day or a week and investigate one cause in particular, such as all the manifestations of greed in your mind - or alternately, all the manifestations of compassion.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The Chain of Dependent Origination</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Last, right view means understanding what the Buddha called "the chain of dependent origination."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">In its essence, this means simply understanding that everything is the result of causes, a restatement of the law of karma. In personal terms, this means that if you foster certain causes in your life, good things will result for you and others; on the other hand, if you foster other causes, bad things will result. Wisdom is knowing which is which!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">In the formal, detailed statement of the chain of dependent origination, the Buddha gave a complex, circular, intertwining, and sometimes mind-boggling description of why things are the way they are. This description can be daunting at first glance.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Take your time with it, and learn more about what the specific terms mean that the Buddha uses. Its depth and power will become clearer for you, and probably very useful. This is the chain, with thirteen links:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• "Taints"</b> (sensual desire, ignorance, and sheer existence) lead to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Ignorance </b>(not realizing the Four Noble Truths; presuming a separate self),</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• "Volitional formations"</b> (wholesome and unwholesome intentions expressed through the body, speech, or mind), leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Consciousness</b> (linked to the five bodily senses and the mind), leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• "Name-and-form"</b> (the cognitive and physical aspects of individual existence), leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• The six sense bases</b> (sight, touch, mind, etc.), leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Contact</b> (the meeting of three things: a sense organ, an object appropriate to that organ, and the consciousness associated with that organ; with the five senses and the mind, there are six types of contact), leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Feeling</b> (meaning not emotion, which is a "mental formation," but the tone of an experience as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral), leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Craving</b> (for forms, for mental phenomena, etc.), leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Clinging</b> (to sensual pleasures [including avoiding pain], to views, to rites and rituals, and a sense of separate self), leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Existence</b> (in one of the realms of Buddhist cosmology, ranging from hells to heavens), leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Birth</b> (through reincarnation, in one of those realms of existence), leading to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Aging and death</b>, and then carrying karmic tendencies which are:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Taints</b> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;">There are repetitions and feedback loops within the chain of dependent origination.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">That means you can change your fate at many "links" within the chain. In particular:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Reducing ignorance sends huge positive ripples through the whole system.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">• If you can have equanimity toward your feeling reaction - toward whether something is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral - you can interrupt the tendency toward craving, clinging, etc.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Right Intention</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Introduction</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">This is sometimes translated as "right resolve," which conveys the determination, firmness of aim, heartfelt conviction, and persistence that are central to right intention.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Intention of harmlessness</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">This is a broad aim of not causing pain, loss, or destruction to any living thing. At a minimum, this is a sweeping resolution to avoid any whit of harm to another human being. The implications are far-reaching, since most of us participate daily in activities whose requirements or ripples may involve harm to others (e.g., use of fossil fuels that warms the planet, purchasing goods manufactured in oppressive conditions). Further, in American culture there is a strong tradition of rugged individualism in which as long as you are not egregiously forceful or deceitful, "let the buyer beware" on the other side of daily transactions; but if your aim is preventing any harm, then the other person's free consent does not remove your responsibility.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Taking it a step further, to many, harmlessness means not killing bothersome insects, rodents, etc. Even as you feel the mosquito sticking its needle into your neck. And to many, harmlessness means eating a vegetarian diet (and perhaps forgoing milk products, since cows need to have calves to keep their milk production flowing, and half of those calves are male, who will eventually be slaughtered for food).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Nonetheless, we need to realize that there is no way to avoid all harms to other beings that flow inexorably through our life. If we are to eat, we must kill plants, and billions of bacteria die each day as we pass wastes out of our bodies. If we get hired for a job, that means another person will not be.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">But what we can do is to have a sincere aspiration toward harmlessness, and to reduce our harms to an absolute minimum. And that makes all the difference in the world.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Intention of non-ill will</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Here we give up angry, punishing reactions toward others, animals, plants, and things. If such attitudes arise, we resolve not to feed them, and to cut them off as fast as we can.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Please see the article on “Ill Will to Good Will” in the Buddhist Wisdom section of this webpage: http://www.wisebrain.org/articles.html.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Intention of renunciation</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Renunciation is founded on a disenchantment with the world and with experience, based on right view. You see through all the possibilities of experience: you see their ephemeral, insubstantial, empty qualities, no matter how alluring or seemingly gratifying. You see the suffering embedded in the experience, the "trap," as the Buddha put it. And you see the happiness, peace, and love available in not chasing after pleasure or resisting pain.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">Based on this clear seeing, you align yourself with the wisdom perspective and with the innate, prior, always already existing wakeful, pure, peaceful, and radiant awareness within yourself. In so doing, you renounce worldly things and worldly pleasures. If they pass through your awareness - a sunset, a child's smile, chocolate pudding, Beethoven's 9th - fine; just don't cling to them as they disappear as all experiences do.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Renunciation is NOT asceticism, or privation for privation's sake. It is a joyous union with the path of happiness that happens to include a relinquishing, casting off, abandoning, walking away from any seeking at all of worldly gratifications.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">At its heart, renunciation is simple: we just let go. Ajahn Chah: "<i>If you let go a little, you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely, you will be completely happy</i>."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Right Speech</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Abstinence from false speech</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Do not knowingly say what is not true. But note that this does not mean you have to tell people everything. The Buddha said that whatever we say should pass three tests at a minimum, and often a fourth: Is it true? Is it useful? Is it timely? (And the fourth: Is it welcome?)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Abstinence from malicious speech</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">This links to the intention of non-ill will. Malice has to do with intention, but those intentions are often unconscious or fleeting. If you are about to say something but you're getting a funny feeling, you probably shouldn't say it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Abstinence from harsh speech</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"Harsh" is a matter of both content and tone. Sometimes the best course is to say something that is true, useful, and timely - even if not welcome - and the art is to say it in a clean way. Imagine a video camera is recording you and will be played back later; act in such a way that you will not squirm but will feel at peace with what you see. Or try out what you might say (or write) with others and get their feedback about harshness, including some that might just be leaking through in spite of your filters.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Abstinence from idle chatter</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">This probably originated as an admonition to monks and nuns, but it is also worth considering in householder life. How much of the time are we jabbering away to no good purpose - not even our own well-being - wasting time and energy, consuming the attention of others, avoiding what's really important?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Extending these standards to thought</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Much thought is internal speech: the verbal processes of the mind. Consider abstaining from false, malicious, harsh, or idle thinking!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Right Action</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Introduction</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">These are restatements of three of the five basic precepts.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Abstinence from the destruction of life</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">At a minimum, this means not killing human beings through murder or through war. For example, unlike other major religions, there has never been a war in the name of the Buddha.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">It is also often taken to mean (especially for monks and nuns) not eating meat from an animal that was killed specifically to feed you; on the other hand, if (hypothetically) a chicken were killed for a family's dinner and some meat was leftover and placed in a nun's begging bowl, she could eat it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">As with the intention of non-harming, the literal meaning of the abstinence from the destruction of life has far-reaching implications. Do you never eat vegetables that have been raised with pesticides? How about vegetables grown organically with pesticide control via the introduction of bugs that eat (and kill) pests? How about vegetables with no pest control at all but harvested by people who can't help but crush tiny insects as they walk about the fields wearing leather shoes? Since absolute harmlessness is impossible, the question of balance is a serious one.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Abstinence from taking what is not given</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Beyond the obvious action of not stealing, it's interesting to reflect on broader notions of not taking what is not freely offered. What about glancing at a letter sitting out on another person's desk; were its contents freely offered to you? Or looking at the photo of an actress sunbathing snapped by a paparazzi; did she offer you her image voluntarily? There's $10 lying on the sidewalk: do you pick it up?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Abstinence from sexual misconduct</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Obviously, this means not engaging in infidelity, rape, molestation, or incest; for monks and nuns it goes farther and includes touch, being alone with a member of the opposite sex, etc.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75;">But there are also realms of sexuality that involve shades of gray. For example, when is sexual exploitation involved in seduction or even flirting? We often know in our bones if we are starting to cross a line in which we are using another person for our own purposes, especially if there is any element of deception - but sometimes it's not so clear. How about cajoling or pressuring our mates for sex when they'd rather go to sleep; is that misconduct?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Or consider viewing pornography. If you believe the people in the images are being exploited in some way - even if their participation is ostensibly voluntary - are you engaging in sexual misconduct if you participate in their exploitation by buying the magazine or simply clicking onto the website?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Practice is about wrestling with these questions mindfully, with a skeptical eye on the element of clinging, not robotically adhering to some fixed rule. If there is any whiff of clinging, grasping, or aversion in the action, it's probably best avoided - and this applies to each of the elements of the Eightfold Path.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Right Livelihood</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Introduction</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Some of the Buddha's general instructions on householder life are included here, particularly as they pertain to making a living or accumulating wealth. Obviously, many of the considerations of right livelihood and family life would not apply to monks or nuns, who are "homeless," celibate, do not handle money or own property, and never ask for payment of any kind.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Avoiding Wrong Livelihood</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">The Buddha talked about many of the central themes of his teaching in terms of their negation, such as impermanence, not-self, and non-clinging. He did the same in his explicit description of what constitutes right livelihood:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>These five trades should not be taken up: trading in weapons, living beings, meat, intoxicants, poisons.</i>" ~ [BW, 126]</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The Sources of Welfare and Happiness in the Present Life</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Additionally, the Buddha offered guidance for how a householder should engage the world that have clear implications for right livelihood.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>Four things lead to the welfare and happiness of a family man or woman:</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• The accomplishment of persistent effort - Whatever may be the means by which a person earns a living, he or she is skillful and diligent.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• The accomplishment of protection - The person sets up protection and guard over the wealth acquired by energetic striving, amassed by the strength of his or her arms, earned by the sweat of his or her brow, righteous wealth righteously gained.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• Good friendship - Wherever one dwells, one associates with people who are of mature virtue and accomplished in faith, moral discipline, generosity, and wisdom, and converses with and emulates them.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• Balanced living - A person knows his or her income and expenditures and leads a balanced life, neither extravagant nor miserly, so that income exceeds expenditures rather than the reverse. Just as a goldsmith or his apprentice, holding a up a scale, knows, 'By so much it has dipped down, by so much it has tilted up,' so a family man or woman leads a balanced life</i>." ~ [BW, 124-125]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>Four other things also lead to a family man's or woman's welfare and happiness in the present life: accomplishment in faith, moral discipline, generosity, and wisdom:</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• Accomplishment in faith - The person places faith in the enlightenment of the Buddha</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• Accomplishment in moral discipline - The person keeps the five basic precepts (no killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false or harmful speech, or intoxicants leading to carelessness)</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• Accomplishment in generosity - The person dwells at home with a mind devoid of the stain of stinginess, freely generous, open-handed, delighted in relinquishment, devoted to charity, delighting in giving and sharing.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• Accomplishment in wisdom - The person possesses the wisdom that sees into the arising and passing away of phenomena, that is noble and penetrative and leads to the complete destruction of suffering.</i>" ~ [BW, 125-126]</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Note the framing of faith, morality, etc. as accomplishments, as character traits in which one can become increasingly effective, skillful, and masterful. This reflects the fundamental theme in Buddhism of a progressive process of growing skillfulness. In other words, we all have the opportunity for spiritual realization - even of the highest sort - and we are the ones who are responsible for making use of that opportunity.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The Proper Use of Wealth</b></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>With wealth acquired by energetic striving, amassed by the strength of his or her arms, earned by the sweat of his or her brow, righteous wealth righteously gained, the noble disciple undertakes four worthy deeds:</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• He makes himself happy and pleased and properly maintains himself in happiness, and he does the same for his parents, wife and children, workers and servants, and friends and colleagues.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• He makes provisions against the losses that might arise on account of fire and floods, kings and bandits and unloved heirs; he makes himself secure against them.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• He makes the five kinds of offerings: to relatives, guests, ancestors, the king, and the devas [religious spirits].</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• He establishes a lofty offering of alms to those ascetics and Brahmins [noble beings] who refrain from vanity and negligence, who are settled in patience and gentleness, who are devoted to taming themselves, to calming themselves, and to attaining Nibbana - an offering that is heavenly, resulting in happiness, conducive to heaven.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>For anyone whose wealth is expended on other things apart from these four worthy deeds, that wealth is said to have to waste, to have been squandered and used frivolously. But for anyone whose wealth is expended on these four worthy deeds, that wealth is said to have gone to good use, to have been fruitfully applied and used for a worthy cause</i>." ~ [BW 126-127 ]</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Avoiding the Dissipation of Wealth</b></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>Wealth has four sources of dissipation: womanizing, drunkenness, gambling, and evil friendship</i>." ~ [BW 125 ]</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The Happiness of a Householder</b></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>There are four kinds of happiness which may be achieved by a layperson who enjoys sensual pleasures, depending on time and occasion:</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• The happiness of possession - When a person thinks, 'I possess wealth acquired by energetic striving, amassed by the strength of his or her arms, earned by the sweat of his or her brow, righteous wealth righteously gained,' he or she experiences happiness or joy.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• The happiness of enjoyment - When a person thinks, 'I enjoy my wealth and do meritorious deeds,' he or she experiences happiness or joy.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• The happiness of freedom from debt - When a person thinks, 'I am not indebted to anyone to any degree, whether small or great,' he or she experiences happiness or joy.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>• The happiness of blamelessness - When a person thinks, 'I am endowed with blameless conduct of body, speech, and mind,' he or she experiences happiness or joy</i>." ~ [BW 127-128]</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>How to Cultivate Right Livelihood</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Mindfulness of the body</b> - By remaining aware of the body, you can stay present with the people and the activities involved in your work.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Not clinging to self</b> - By relaxing attachment to "me and mine," by not getting identified with views, by seeing oneself and others as simply parts of one whole thing, then one will be more likely to be caring and moral in one's work.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Avoiding harms to oneself and others </b>- We typically focus on avoiding harms that have to do with outcomes, with the results of our work, and that is certainly good. Additionally, consider avoiding the harms that have to do with the process or manner of our work, such as how we represent ourselves in the world, or do business, or speak with customers or colleagues.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Tend to the mental dimension</b> - Note the frequent reference to blameless conduct of mind. It's relatively easy to act well in one's speech and outward behavior. But being blameless in thought or inner feeling: hmm, that is a much greater challenge - yet having a blameless mind will probably bring much greater benefit to you and others than blameless speech or behavior.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Focus on the fundamental causes</b> (and that's all anyone can really do):</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>Buddhism teaches us to make earnest efforts in the things we do, but our actions should not be mixed with desire. They should be performed with the aim of letting go and realizing nonattachment. We do what we need to do, but with letting go. We do our work according to our responsibilities [rather than because of a wish to get something]. If we act like this, we can be at ease. . . . It's a matter of making causes. If the causes are good, the result is bound to be good. If we think like this, there will be lightness of mind. This is called right livelihood</i>." ~ Ajahn Chah, <i>Being Dharma</i>, pps. 118-119</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Right Effort</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Introduction</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Right Effort is one of the three elements of the Path that focus particularly on your internal states of being (the others are Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Preventing and Abandoning the Negative, Cultivating and Maintaining the Positive</b></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>And what, monks, is right effort? Here, monks, a person generates desire for the nonarising of unarisen evil unwholesome states; he or she makes an effort, arouses energy, applies his or her mind, and strives. He or she generates desire for the abandoning of arisen evil unwholesome states . . . He or she generates desire for the arising of unarisen wholesome states . . . . He or she generates desire for the continuation of arisen wholesome states, for their nondecline, increase, expansion, and fulfillment by development; he or she makes an effort arouses energy, applies his or her mind, and strives. This is called right effort.</i>" ~ [BW, 239]</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Unwholesome States</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">At root, these are conditions of greed, hatred, and delusion -- even in their subtlest forms. Such states also encompass sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse, and doubt (from the Five Hindrances), and wrong view (e.g., belief in a self). These are considered "evil" because they lead to bad results for oneself and others.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Wholesome States</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">These include non-greed, non-hatred, etc., as well as more affirmatively described conditions of generosity, diligence, insight, wisdom, equanimity, lovingkindness, concentration, bliss, and joy.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Cultivating Your Garden</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Right Effort is an ongoing, conscious, and wholehearted application of energy and attention to cultivating the garden of your mind and heart. But what helps you - or <i>could</i> help you - keep weeding and pruning, planting and fertilizing, day after day after day? Each person has their own answers, but traditionally the Buddha offered three great resources (sometimes called refuges) to help you keep at the path of Awakening:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• The Buddha</b> - Both as a wise teacher you can have general confidence in and as a symbol of the natural wisdom and goodness we all have at the core of our being </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• The Dharma</b> - Both the teachings of Buddhism, evaluated by each person for themselves, and ultimately, reality itself with all of its mysteries </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• The Sangha</b> - Both the vertical dimension of our teachers and the horizontal dimension of fellow practitioners gathered together on the path</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Right Mindfulness</span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>I teach one thing: Suffering and its end</i>." -- The Buddha</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">The Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Buddha's Noble Truths: the way that leads to the uprooting of the causes of suffering, and thus to increasingly stable and profound peacefulness, wisdom, virtue, and happiness. The heart of each element of the Path is non-clinging, the fundamental cause of the end of suffering.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Introduction</b></span> <br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Right Mindfulness is one of the three elements of the Path that focus particularly on your internal states of being (the others are Right Effort and Right Concentration).</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><br />
What Is Mindfulness?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Mindfulness is simply a continuous, non-judgmental, accepting awareness of your inner and outer world - especially your inner one: the flow of experience. It is a very grounded awareness, not some kind of lofty mystical state.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Why Be Mindful?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Mindfulness feels good in its own right: relaxed, alert, and peaceful. Additionally, studies have shown that it lowers stress, makes discomfort and pain more bearable, reduces depression, and increases self-knowledge and self-acceptance. Mindfulness is required for the "observing ego" everyone needs for healthy functioning. It detaches you from reactions to see them with gentle clarity and perspective, helping you change old patterns and respond more skillfully. The mindful acceptance of a difficult experience, opening to it without resistance, often allows it to move on. Mindfulness brings you into the present, the only place you can ever be truly happy and free. All this is reason enough to cultivate this quality in our lives.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Further, the Buddha described mindfulness, when fully developed, as the direct path to enlightenment and the end of suffering:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>This is the one-way path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and</i> <i>lamentations, for the passing away of pain and dejection, for the attainment of the true way,</i> <i>for the realization of Nibbana - namely, the four establishments of mindfulness.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>"What are the four? A person dwells contemplating the body in the body, ardent, clearly comprehending, and mindful, having subdued longing and dejection in regard to the world. He or she dwells contemplating feelings in feelings, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having subdued longing and dejection in regard to the world. He or she dwells contemplating mind in mind, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having subdued longing and dejection in regard to the world. He or she dwells contemplating phenomena in phenomena, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having subdued longing and dejection in regard to the world.</i>" ~ [<i>In the Buddha's Words</i>., p. 281]</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;">"Contemplating body in the body" (or feelings in feelings, etc.) means being simply aware of immediate, experiential phenomena as it is without conceptualization or commentary. Just the sensations of the rising breath in the belly. Just the subtle feeling of a sound being mildly unpleasant. Just the sense of consciousness being contracted or spacious. Just a single thought emerging and then disappearing. Just this moment. Just this.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">This pure awareness - which becomes increasingly absorbed by its objects with growing concentration, to the point that there is vanishingly little difference between the observer and the observed (see the handout on Right Concentration) - is a kind of spotlight illuminating the nature of mind and reality in more and more breathtaking detail. This brings insight into the causes of suffering, and into the causes leading to the end of suffering. (In Pali - the language in which the teachings of the Buddha were first written down - the word for insight is "vipassana.")</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Mindfulness is the counter to our habitual state of mind, which is beautifully characterized in this story: A renowned Thai meditation master was once asked what his take on the world was. His concise summary was, “Lost in thought.”</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Imagine being in a lovely and peaceful meadow, with a train full of thoughts and feelings and desires rolling by in the distance . . . Normally, as this train approaches we tend to become fascinated, drawn in some significant way, and we hop on board and get carried away . . . lost in thought.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">On the other hand, mindfulness allows you to see the train coming but have the presence of mind . . . to stay in the meadow! And whenever you get swept along by the train, as soon as you notice that, whoosh, you return immediately to the peaceful meadow, to the refuge of mindfulness.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><br />
Where Is Mindfulness to Be Established?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">The Buddha named four "establishments, "foundations," or "frames of reference" of mindfulness (depending on how the original term is translated):</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Body</b>, both as an objective entity and as a subjective experience of sensations, sights, sounds, smells, and tastes</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• "Feelings"</b> which mean not emotions but the tones of pleasant or unpleasant or neutral that come with every experience</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• "Mind,"</b> which means consciousness and states of consciousness</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• "Phenomena,"</b> (sometimes translated as "formations") which means all the other contents of mind, including thoughts, emotions, desires, images, plans, inner conflicts, views, murky psychological dynamics, transference from childhood, etc.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Mindfulness in Meditation</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Meditation is the preeminent opportunity to practice and to cultivate mindfulness. This is a progressive process in which "<i> . . . the mind is steadied internally, quieted, brought to singleness, and concentrated</i>," leading to liberating insight.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Buddhism is a 2500 year tradition of dedicated practitioners using skillful means to achieve these deepening states of awareness. And recently, research on the brain has both corroborated and enriched that tradition with findings that have practical implications for how to have meditation be as effective as possible.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Some of these findings are specific to steadying the mind . . . or to quieting it . . . or to bringing it to singleness . . . or to concentrating it. Others are more general, and these are presented in the rest of this article. Think of these as practical tools that you can pick and choose among to find whatever might be helpful.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Continuity of Mindfulness</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">But mindfulness is not reserved just for some special period of meditation in the day, but is to become as continuous as possible, whether sitting, standing, walking, or lying down . . . or doing acts of the body, speech, or mind . . . . or answering the telephone, responding to emails, arguing with a family member, doing the crossword, eating, watching the news on TV, and so on.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Consider this story from the book, Knee Deep in Grace (p. 83), about Dipa Ma, the great Indian teacher - and housewife and grandmother:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>"Dipa Ma was a living example of how to live in this world, of how practice and the mundane activities of our day-to-day existence can be made one. She insisted that the practice be done all the time, and that we do the things we do throughout the day without making them into problems. Dipa Ma wanted to know, "How awake are you in your life? Are you just thinking about being mindful, or are you really doing it?" Dipa Ma said that even while she was talking, she was meditating. Talking, eating, working, thinking about her daughter, playing with her grandson---none of those activities hampered her practice because she did them all with mindfulness. "When I'm moving, shopping, everything, I'm always doing it with mindfulness. I know these are things I have to do, but they aren't problems. On the other hand, I don’t spend time gossiping or visiting or doing anything which I don’t consider necessary in my life."</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;">For more information about ways to weave mindfulness throughout daily life, please see the article at <a href="http://www.wisebrain.org/articles.html">www.WiseBrain.org/articles.html</a> titled “Continuity of Mindfulness.”</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Some of the key factors promoting mindfulness are summarized below.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Being Awake</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">When you can, meditate during the times when you are maximally alert within your own sleep-wake cycle. (Of course, this is irrelevant on a retreat where you are meditating 10 or more hours a day.)</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Minimize drains on your wakefulness, such as lack of sleep, fatigue, illness, hormonal conditions (e.g., thyroid problems), or depression.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">In sum: take care of yourself. Pay attention to physical factors, rather than trying to muscle through them or beat yourself up for not being able to overcome them.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Being Alert</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Several factors increase alertness:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Posture</b> - Provides internal, somatosensory feedback to the reticular formations that lead to alertness. Being upright says to the mind: "Wake up!"</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• "Brightening the mind"</b> - Here you deliberately activate an internal sense of energizing and enlivening your mind. In physiological terms, this is probably linked to a surge of norepinephrine, which helps you feel both alert and relaxed.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">This is distinct from epinephrine - adrenaline - which indeed wakes the whole body up, but also has a kind of jangly, fight-or-flight quality to it. And adrenaline decays into secondary metabolites that remain in the body for hours and have a stressful, disturbing quality to them.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Sometimes you may want to trigger an adrenaline-based surge of "darn it, focus, get here now!" in order to wake yourself up. But only in small doses, and consider the "brightening the mind" approach instead.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Oxygen</b> - Oxygen is to the brain what gas is to your car. By taking several deep breaths, you increase the oxygen saturation in your blood and thus "push the pedal" with your brain.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Feeling Safe</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">To help us survive, the brain is naturally vigilant, routinely moving attention across the environment to look for threats. Feeling safe encourages the brain to withdraw the sentries from the battlements, so to say, and put them to work internally (e.g., keeping watch on the breath).</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">For example, there is the Buddha's recurring instruction to find a place of seclusion - i.e., safety - and then sit down at the base of a tree - where he found his own enlightenment - with your back to it, protecting your most vulnerable flank. Other traditional practices help one get used to, and thus relax about, perceived threats - such as meditating on the jungle side of a well or simply being alone in the forest at night. And some practices have a welcome side effect of helping one to overcome fears, even if that is not their primary purpose (e.g., charnel ground meditations, lovingkindness meditation).</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Some methods for feeling safe:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Diaphragm breathing</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Relaxing the body</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Imagery</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Taking refuge</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Disputing or detaching from worries or other views that make you anxious</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Feeling Happy</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Commonly used Pali words that refer to positive emotions are "sukha" (happiness, contentment, tranquility) and "piti" (rapture, bliss). These are also two of the five factors that cultivate deep states of concentration, including those known as the "jhanas."</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Positive feelings:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Have vigor and pep, and thus foster greater alertness</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which reduces the distractions of the "fight-or-flight" sympathetic system, and brings relaxation and attention to the body</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Increase overall resilience, so you're less likely to be bothered by something when you meditate</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Counteract negative emotions, which consume attention (plus feel lousy)</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Feeling happy is skillful means!</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Here are some ways to generate positive emotions:</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">• The "soft smile" recommended by Thich Nhat Han triggers feedback loops within the emotional circuitry of the brain, activating the feelings associated with smiling.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Metta practice - compassion, lovingkindness, etc. - bathes you in positive emotion.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">• Remember past states of positive emotion ("taking in" them helps support this memory). Then access that bodily/emotional memory to rekindle the positive feeling.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Right Concentration</span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Introduction</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Concentration is a natural ability that everyone has, and everyone can get increasingly better at it. It's like a muscle: by exercising it, you make it stronger.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">To do that, alas, we must accept "failing" over and over again. For most people, especially those new to meditation, it is difficult to stay engaged with more than a few breaths in a row - or less! - without the mind wandering off to something else.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">So it's especially important to find that middle way between being uncaring and being harsh with yourself. When your mind wanders, try not to be self-critical, but simply get back into full awareness of the next breath. It's not what happened in the past that matters but what you do now and now and now.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Benefits of concentration</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Cultivates the will.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Trains the mind to a greater steadiness, thus aiding both sila and insight.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Overcomes the hindrances (greed/lust, aversion, sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse, and doubt). The deepest states of concentration known as "jhanas" or "samadhis," eliminate the hindrances for the temporary (i.e., impermanent) duration of the state; this is one of the rewards of the jhanas/samadhis.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Breeds conviction and faith: The deeper states of concentration are not ordinary states, and when you experience them, it becomes palpably clear that the fruits of practice include increasingly stable, profound, wonderful, joyous, magnificent conditions of the heart and mind.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Factors of concentration</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Applying your attention</b> - This is the deliberate focusing of attention on an object, whether a teacher's presentation, the sensations at the upper lip, or interesting stillness between two thoughts.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Sustaining attention</b> - This means staying with the object of attention. Sometimes the metaphor of rubbing is used, like two sticks rubbing together, staying in contact throughout. Sally Clough, a Spirit Rock teacher, combines applying and sustaining attention (especially applicable for the breath) into a single metaphor from ice skating: applying attention is like planting your foot, and sustaining it means gliding along; then at the end of the inhalation (for example), you plant your foot again ( = focusing on the exhalation) and then glide along the length of the exhalation, staying in contact with every part of it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Rapture</b> - A strong sense of bliss, often felt particularly in the body, often with an energizing, upwardly moving sense to it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• Happiness</b> - Also a definite, unmistakable feeling, that sometimes shades into a quality of contentment or perhaps tranquility.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>• One-pointedness</b> - This is the mind brought to singleness, in which there is a kind of unitary state in which all elements of experience are experienced as a whole; there is often a sense when this factor arises of a kind of ka-chunk, of all the pieces coming together.</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">These factors can vary in their intensity from sitting to sitting. In particular, the<br />
factor of rapture can be experienced over time as a bit jangly and too intense, and<br />
give way increasingly to the factor of happiness. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Try to register a clear sense of each factor, so that you know what it feels like<br />
and can find your way back to it again.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">To an extent (and which usually grows with practice), you can invite, call up, or<br />
invoke each factor. Traditionally, you can say in your mind, "May rapture (or<br />
happiness, etc.) awaken (or arise, or be present)." If it comes, conditions are ripe. If it does not come, be patient and keep cultivating the causes of its arising and have faith that it will come.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Getting tense with yourself or impatient will not serve. Relaxation and<br />
happiness are the immediate causes of concentration. Striving is a form of clinging.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Access concentration</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">This is a state in which the five factors are present, but you haven't yet tipped fully into the jhanas. Applying and sustaining attention take little effort; the mind is quite quiet, with thoughts apparent as discrete entities, coming and going; the body commonly feels both light and grounded. Get to know this state well so you can readily settle into it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The jhanas</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">These are progressively deeper and more subtle states of deep meditative absorption. There are four "form" jhanas, in which there is still a clear sense of ordinary physical reality. Then there are the four "formless attainments," which can - if the causes are ripe - culminate in Nibbana.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Descriptions vary regarding what is a jhana and what isn't. In our experience, these are unmistakable, remarkable, non-ordinary states of being that have a self-evident persuasiveness when they come upon you.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">In the Buddha's description, which is repeated verbatim or with minor changes throughout the Pali Canon:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>"And what, monks, is right concentration? Here monks, secluded from sensual pleasures,</i> <i>secluded from unwholesome states, a person enters and dwells in the first jhana, which is</i> <i>accompanied by thought and examination [i.e., applied and sustained attention] with rapture </i><i>and happiness born of seclusion.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>
With the subsiding of thought and examination, she or she enters and dwells in the second jhana, which has internal confidence and unification of mind, is without thought and examination, and has happiness and rapture born of concentration.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i><br />
With the fading away as well of rapture, the person dwells equanimous, and mindful and clearly comprehending, he or she experiences happiness with the body; he or she enters and dwells in the third jhana of which the noble ones declare: 'He or she is equanimous, mindful, one who dwells happily.'</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i><br />
With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous passing away of joy and dejection, the person enters and dwells in the fourth jhana, which is neither painful nor pleasant and includes the purification of mindfulness by equanimity.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i><br />
This is called right concentration." </i></span></blockquote>
</div>
</blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-43532734663506373952014-12-18T19:23:00.000-07:002014-12-18T19:23:36.716-07:00To Be a Man: A Guide to True Masculine Power - Robert Augustus Masters<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417Uu6E5IIL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417Uu6E5IIL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" /></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1622032292/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1622032292&linkCode=as2&tag=integraloptio-20&linkId=OZQWCODTESJTHNUH" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">To Be a Man: A Guide to True Masculine Power</a></i> - Amazon, $18.60</b></div>
<br />
This post is to welcome the important new book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1622032292/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1622032292&linkCode=as2&tag=integraloptio-20&linkId=OZQWCODTESJTHNUH" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">To Be a Man</a></i>, by integral psychologist (an actual practicing psychologist, <b>not</b> of the Ken Wilber variety) and personal growth facilitator, Robert Augustus Masters, author of the instant classic book on spiritual bypassing, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556439059/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1556439059&linkCode=as2&tag=integraloptio-20&linkId=OV44N3L623ZYIZS4" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Spiritual Bypassing: When Spirituality Disconnects Us from What Really Matters</a></i>, and the equally classic book on relationship as a spiritual path, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1583943668/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1583943668&linkCode=as2&tag=integraloptio-20&linkId=BG6FCRLDQTEDOZFV" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Transformation through Intimacy, Revised Edition: The Journey toward Awakened Monogamy</a></i>.<br />
<br />
When publication of this new book was announced, I knew it was going to be an essential read - and it is. This is from the Introduction to the book: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;">"BE A MAN!"</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">This demand does a lot more harm than good. It's a powerful shame amplifier, packed with "shoulds" - and the last thing males need is more shaming, more degradation for not making the grade.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Men - and boys - who are on the receiving end of "be a man!" get the message that they are lacking in certain factors that supposedly constitute manliness. </span></blockquote>
And this . . . <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;">Many boys are subjected to the demand to "be a man!" - or "man up" - from an early age. Such pressure, however well-meaning, can shame and harden a boy well before he reaches adolescence, shrinking him emotionally, making him shun softness and overvalue performance and the appearance of "having it together." Showing vulnerability may invite gibes about being less than masculine. Many a boy has had to force himself not to cry or show tenderness in order to become "one of the boys" rather than a reject or someone to shun. </span></blockquote>
He is describing my childhood, and likely that of a large number of men in my generation. What he describes here has often been referred to as the "man box," the tiny little space in which men are allowed to exist if they are to be considered "real men." <br />
<br />
The problem with this box is that it forces men to jettison a good deal of what makes a man human, including tenderness, vulnerability, compassion, and exuberance. Within the confines of the box, we are allowed to feel any emotion as long as it's anger. We are allowed to shed a tear when our dog dies or our favorite athlete announces his retirement (and crying about one's dog is questionable).<br />
<br />
The good thing is that this is changing, slowly, with each new generation. The bad thing is that there are a whole lot of men who raised in the man box, who still live there, and who think that is exactly how it should be for all men.<br />
<br />
This book is for those men.<br />
<br />
Here is the publisher's ad copy (thanks to Sounds True for bringing this book to the market!):<br />
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><i>I've got it all-a great job, relationship, and lifestyle-so why do I feel so dissatisfied and disconnected?</i></span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><i>Why am I not happier in my intimate relationships? </i></span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><i>How do I become more powerful-without becoming that jerk everyone dislikes?</i></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;">Robert Augustus Masters has helped thousands of men address and work through such issues. What he's found is that the common solution to these dilemmas is challenging yet clear: we must face our unresolved wounds, shame, and whatever else is holding us back, bringing "our head, heart, and guts into full-blooded alignment." </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;">With <i>To Be a Man</i>, this acclaimed psychotherapist and relationship expert offers a groundbreaking and deeply insightful guide to masculine power and fulfillment. <i>To Be a Man</i> clarifies what's needed to enter a manhood as strongly empowered as it's vulnerable, as emotionally literate as it's unapologetically alive-a manhood at home with truly intimate relationship. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;">In this book, readers will explore:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">How your past may be dominating your present</span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Shame in its healthy and unhealthy forms, and how to make wise use of it</span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">How vulnerability can be a source of strength</span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Emotional literacy-an essential skill for relational well-being</span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Releasing sex from the obligation to make you feel better</span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">How to disempower your inner critic</span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Bringing your shadow (whatever you've disowned in yourself) out of the dark</span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Embodying your natural heroism and persisting regardless of fear</span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">What women need from men</span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Understanding and outgrowing pornography</span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Entering the heartland of true masculine power</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;">If you've read your share of popular advice on relationships and being a man-but realize on a gut level that it's going to take some serious inner work-here's a great guide to that most rewarding of challenges: doing what's needed to fully embody your authentic manhood.</span></blockquote>
Here is some of the "praise" for the book (i.e., solicited endorsements).<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Praise for <i>To Be a Man</i></span></span></span></span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Any book that unveils the male mystique with empathy and compassion, helping men understand themselves and helping women understand men, and that helps the culture understand the masculine dilemma should be hailed as a miracle. This is what Robert Augustus Masters does in <i>To Be a Man</i>. Every man should read it as autobiography, every woman should read it as revelation, and our culture should embrace it as a healing balm."<br />
-<b> Harville Hendrix, PhD</b>, author of <i>Getting the Love You Want </i>and co-author (with Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD) of <i>Making Marriage Simple</i></span></span> <br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"Robert Augustus Masters has written a powerful guide for men that integrates rigor and receptivity, aggression and authority, vulnerability and potency. With highly developed emotional intelligence, and a nuanced understanding of adult development including the importance of shadow work, Masters delivers a vision of mature, embodied male empowerment. <i>To Be a </i><i>Man</i> is a fearless book from a master of psycho-emotional healing and awakening."<br />
- <b>Diane Musho Hamilton</b>, author of <i>Everything Is Workable: A Zen Approach to Conflict Resolution</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"Masters' insights populate every page of this compelling book, and offer creative ways of thinking about many of our era's most complex and controversial issues, among them, pornography, sexual violence, militarism and war, the effects of trauma on men's psyches and identities, and much more."<br />
- <b>Jackson Katz, PhD</b>, author of <i>The Macho Paradox</i> and <i>Leading Men</i>, and creator of the award-winning films <i>Tough Guise</i> and <i>Tough Guise 2</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"After thirty years of pioneering men's work, if I were to write <i>the</i> classic handbook for men-this would be it. <i>To Be a Man </i>calls out the 'warrior' to do battle inside, to find authentic masculine power, allowing truly intimate relationships with women, other men, and self."<br />
- <b>Bill Kauth</b>, cofounder of <i>The ManKind Project</i> and author of <i>A Circle of Men</i> and <i>We Need Each Other</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"<i>To Be a Man</i> dissects the three words that echo in every man's psyche: "Be a man!" As a seasoned therapist, Masters identifies the accompanying shame men manifest and gives us a guide toward healthy, sustainable masculinity."<br />
- <b>Joe Ehrmann</b>, former NFL player, professional speaker, cofounder of Coaching for America, and author of <i>InSideOut Coaching: How Sports Can Transform Lives</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><span style="color: #351c75;">"As a man, this book honors, challenges, teaches, and nurtures me all at once. It shows me where I have the greatest opportunity to grow. Best of all, it celebrates what's truly sacred about being a man."</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">- <b>Raphael Cushnir</b>, author of <i>The One Thing Holding You Back </i>and<i> Surfing Your Inner Sea</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"Every once in a while someone comes along and writes a masterpiece, and Robert Augustus Masters' <i>To Be a Man</i> falls into this category. His book is a true hero's journey of healing and awakening, one that encourages men to cultivate a deep and enduring intimacy with everything that they are for the benefit of one and all."<br />
-<b> Hank Wesselman, PhD</b>, author of <i>The Bowl of Light </i>and the<i> Spiritwalker </i>Trilogy</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"As a woman, I am genuinely thankful for the cogent and thoughtful exploration of masculinity that he has offered to the dialogue between men and women. And, as the mother of two boys, I am delighted that he is sharing these fruits of wisdom with the men of today, and the generations to follow."<br />
- <b>Sarah Nicholson, PhD</b>, author of <i>The Evolutionary Journey of Woman</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><span style="color: #351c75;">"This book is an invitation to wholeness, to awakening, to the next step man. Compassionately written and wise, it invites men to make a conscious distinction between their benevolent and malevolent identifications, and paves the way for a way of being that is both sturdy and heartfelt. Highly recommended for anyone who has grown tired of limiting gender identifications!"</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">- <b>Jeff Brown</b>, author of <i>Soulshaping</i></span><br /> <span style="color: #351c75;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><span style="color: #351c75;">"A brave and full-blooded dive into the challenges and opportunities facing men and masculinity in the 21st century. Masters brings an array of insights, taken from years of personal practice and gleaned from decades of work with clients, to support men on their journey towards mature manhood."</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">- <b>Vanessa D. Fisher</b>, co-editor and author of <i>Integral Voices on Sex, Gender & Sexuality: Critical Inquiries</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"This important book covers the whole spectrum of men's experience and challenges today. Masters explains the development of men's many strengths as well as their compensations, the downsides that so many adopt to 'be a man,' including burying some parts of themselves so deeply that they forget that such parts are even there. A book for men who want to embrace their inner life as well as well as for women who want to understand them."<br />
-<b> Ian Macnaughton, PhD</b>, author of <i>Body Breath and Consciousness</i></span><br />
<i><br />
</i> <span style="color: #351c75;">"Robert Augustus Masters is one of the essential wisdom teachers of our time. <i>To Be a Man</i> reflects his deep learning, humility, and decades of experience as a therapist, clinician, and healer. In the section of my library where I have a small collection of books about being a man, this book has moved to the top of my list. I enthusiastically recommend it to any man who wants to wake up, grow up, and show up."<br />
- <b>John Dupuy</b>, author of <i>Integral Recovery</i></span></span><span style="color: #351c75;"> </span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-6007997086477897082014-11-30T08:20:00.003-07:002014-11-30T08:20:36.936-07:00Why You Might Want to Refuse the PSA Test for Prostate Cancer Screening <div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="A doctor in Florida performed a robot-assisted prostate surgery." data-mediaviewer-credit="Chris Garlington for The New York Times" data-mediaviewer-src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/11/26/opinion/26ablin/26ablin-superJumbo.jpg" height="266" itemid="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/11/26/opinion/26ablin/26ablin-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/11/26/opinion/26ablin/26ablin-master675.jpg" width="400" /> </div>
<br />
If you are a man of a certain age (say, over 40-45), you have likely had at least one prostate screen in your regular exams (and if you haven't, DO IT NOW). The old school test is the <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007069.htm">digital rectal exam</a> (DRE), you know, the one where the doc inserts a gloved, lubricated finger into your arse and feels for the size of the prostate gland. Most men dread this part of the physical. Once prostate specific androgen was discovered (by Richard Ablin, in 1970) and a blood test was developed, PSA screens became the most popular diagnostic tool. <br />
<br />
The problem is that PSA screening is not a very effective tool. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/opinion/the-problem-with-prostate-screening.html?_r=1">Dr. Ablin</a>, and a lot of other researchers, worry that "<span style="color: blue;">the use of the PSA test has led to overdiagnosis and overtreatment, with
millions of unnecessary surgeries, complications and deaths</span>." There is considerable research to support this concern.<br />
<br />
This is from "Prevention of Prostate Cancer" (Algotar, AM, Stratton, MS, Harryman, WL, and Cress, AE); <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3642389821/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=3642389821&linkCode=as2&tag=integraloptio-20&linkId=TPXNGF67VPMA7XD5"><i>Fundamentals of Cancer Prevention</i></a>, D. Alberts, L.M. Hess (eds.), 2014.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;">Treatment of clinically silent cancers is termed “overtreatment” (Klotz 2012 ). Estimates place the cost of this phenomenon in excess of $31 and $55 million respectively (Heijnsdijk et al. 2009 ).</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;">After extensive review of literature, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPTF) has issued a grade D recommendation (“discourage the use of this service”) for screening with PSA (Force 2012 ). This means that the USPTF believes there is moderate or high certainty that screening with PSA has no net benefit or that the harm outweighs the benefit. This grade D recommendation applies to healthy men of all ages, regardless of race or family history. (p. 495-496)</span></blockquote>
Perhaps the most scathing review of PSA testing in recent months comes from Dr. Ablin himself, in a <i>New York Times</i> editorial, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/opinion/the-problem-with-prostate-screening.html?_r=1">The Problems with Prostate Screening</a> (Nov. 25, 2014).<br />
<br />
In this editorial, he dissects some serious issues with two major studies - <a href="http://www.erspc.org/">European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer</a>, and the so-called <a href="http://drcatalona.com/quest/Fall2010/article1.html">Swedish Goteborg study</a> - both of which support the use of PSA tests to reduce prostate cancer deaths. These studies appeared in highly prestigious journals, <i><a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0810084">The New England Journal of Medicine</a></i> and <i><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20598634">Lancet Oncology</a></i>, respectively.<br />
<br />
The researchers in the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) have refused to make their data available to outside researchers, despite government and charity funding of the project. This is a HUGE red flag. More troubling, however, is that this project transferred 60% of the data from the Swedish Goteborg Study, which is unique "<span style="color: blue;">among country-specific studies in showing an almost 50 percent reduction in prostate cancer deaths for screening recipients</span>." Without this data (which is an outlier in PSA research), there would not have been any clinically relevant survival rate in the ERSPC study.<br />
<br />
Another HUGE red flag is that several of primary researchers in the European study have interests in the PSA screening industry. This is from Dr. Ablin's editorial:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;">Finally, several senior authors of the European trials, and their American
supporters, have potential conflicts of interest that relate to payments
from companies involved in marketing PSA tests, or in holding patents
in the PSA and prostate cancer diagnostic space — relationships
documented by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, in
the forms that accompany the PSA-study publications and in disclosures
found in <i>CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians</i>.</span> </blockquote>
None of this serves the men who rely on prostate cancer screening to protect them and identify possible tumors as early as possible (early detection = much higher survival rates). <br />
<br />
In the end, the decision to get a prostate cancer screen (of whatever type) should be made by the man in discussion with his physician. For men who are not in high-risk groups (high risk groups include African-Americans, first-degree relative with prostate cancer before age 65, and so on), the <a href="http://www.cancer.org/healthy/findcancerearly/cancerscreeningguidelines/american-cancer-society-guidelines-for-the-early-detection-of-cancer">American Cancer Society</a> does not recommend prostate cancer screens.<br />
<br />
For myself, I have chosen to go with the DRE in my physicals, and I made this choice in conversation with one of the leading researchers in prostate cancer, Dr. Anne Cress of the UA Cancer Center (and a friend of mine). This feels like the best choice for me. william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-25524964342098516672014-11-23T13:34:00.001-07:002014-11-23T13:34:54.025-07:00University of Virgina Suspends ALL Fraternities Following Rolling Stone Article<div class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2014/article/a-rape-on-campus-20141119/174834/large_narrow_rect/1416326631/1035x376-Unknown.jpeg" class="decoded" src="http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2014/article/a-rape-on-campus-20141119/174834/large_narrow_rect/1416326631/1035x376-Unknown.jpeg" height="181" width="500" /> </div>
<br />
On November 19th, <i>Rolling Stone</i> published a deeply researched article, called <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119">A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA</a>, that related the horrific - and not uncommon - experience of Jackie, a college freshman at UVA who was brutally and violently raped over a period of 3 hours by seven men at the Phi Kappa Psi frat house.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;">Jackie had taken three hours getting ready, straightening her long, dark, wavy hair. She'd congratulated herself on her choice of a tasteful red dress with a high neckline. Now, climbing the frat-house stairs with Drew, Jackie felt excited. Drew ushered Jackie into a bedroom, shutting the door behind them. The room was pitch-black inside. Jackie blindly turned toward Drew, uttering his name. At that same moment, she says, she detected movement in the room – and felt someone bump into her. Jackie began to scream.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">"Shut <i>up,</i>" she heard a man's voice say as a body barreled into her, tripping her backward and sending them both crashing through a low glass table. There was a heavy person on top of her, spreading open her thighs, and another person kneeling on her hair, hands pinning down her arms, sharp shards digging into her back, and excited male voices rising all around her. When yet another hand clamped over her mouth, Jackie bit it, and the hand became a fist that punched her in the face. The men surrounding her began to laugh. For a hopeful moment Jackie wondered if this wasn't some collegiate prank. Perhaps at any second someone would flick on the lights and they'd return to the party.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">"Grab its motherfucking leg," she heard a voice say. And that's when Jackie knew she was going to be raped.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">She remembers every moment of the next three hours of agony, during which, she says, seven men took turns raping her, while two more – her date, Drew, and another man – gave instruction and encouragement. She remembers how the spectators swigged beers, and how they called each other nicknames like Armpit and Blanket. She remembers the men's heft and their sour reek of alcohol mixed with the pungency of marijuana. Most of all, Jackie remembers the pain and the pounding that went on and on.</span></blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
It only gets worse from there.<br />
<br />
Kudos to <i>Rolling Stone</i> for investigating and reporting this story - this is what responsible journalism looks like. </div>
<br />
Fortunately, the story went viral. The revelation allowed many more young women to come forward with their stories. Here are two of their stories - see <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/rape-at-uva-readers-say-jackie-wasnt-alone-20141121">Rape at UVA: Students Say Jackie Was Not Alone</a> for the remainder.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sadly </b><br />
I was also raped at UVA in a frat house in 2013. I reported it through the Sexual Misconduct Board at the University and had it tried in 2014. My evidence included texts calling for help, police testimony consistent with mine, and numerous witnesses. But the University still found him innocent. I found Nicole Eramo very unfeeling as well — sociopathic, almost. She later told me she didn't believe the studies that showed rapists, in particular, were repeat offenders of this heinous crime. It was a very negative experience to go through — to be raped and then told that your offender was innocent. I even left clothing as I ran out of the frat house that the University gathered as evidence and it was never returned to me. Not that the clothing was important. It wasn't. The police discouraged me from pursuing it criminally, saying that I didn't have enough evidence to win. They also told me that I should be cautious about pursuing this formally, since court proceedings and news articles related to my case could spread publicly on the Internet. For privacy reasons (I didn't want future employers to Google me and see that I brought forward rape charges), I decided to pursue justice through the University. But the outcome of this process was painful and disappointing. I will never stop wondering why UVA so often expels students for academic lying, cheating, and stealing but has never once expelled a student for rape. <br />
<br />
<b>SK </b><br />
I am so sorry for what happened to you, Jackie, and I wish I had been brave enough my freshman year to report what happened to me. But fearing the very same things – backlash, no consequences – I chose to stay quiet. I support you, I am proud of you and what you did is going to change lives. You are forcing an administration to admit its wrongdoings, and you are getting national attention, which will help to stop this misogyny, violence and pain from affecting more people. I know that feeling like a martyr is never going to feel as good as the girl you were before this happened to you, but your struggle has significance and you are needed in this world. </span></blockquote>
Then the unexpected happened on Friday (Nov. 21), the UVA administration suspended ALL fraternities and their activities until the beginning of the Spring semester in January, at which time a panel of students, faculty, alumni, and "other concerned parties" will offer recommendations for how to stop these incidents.<br />
<br />
Here is the beginning of that article, which includes the full statement by the University's President.<br />
<blockquote>
<h1>
<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/uva-suspends-fraternities-following-rolling-stone-campus-rape-investigation-20141122"><span style="color: #351c75;">UVA Suspends Fraternities Following Rolling Stone Campus Rape Investigation</span></a></h1>
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">"The wrongs described in <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/uva-suspends-fraternities-following-rolling-stone-campus-rape-investigation-20141122"><i>Rolling Stone</i></a> are appalling and have caused all of us to reexamine our responsibility to this community," UVA president writes in letter suspending fraternities</span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><img height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgo0BnVBNwhThds-IXQkWUrbI0BGxPg0LEMg8F34PcSp_nPNfg9yA6XdFZMps_W5fOi91Ss1UNSddLttMj3jaMrDagPoeGz0kOa2RGGkPjO4RKkv4m3BOs_1LI63rG5IxYr5HpUOLXzi83LR0A3Jcv6YyXevooN1TD5fufQuvti3dIGrlZ5zbKgp5mQsUuPl4uF-YkohXduW42zRlUG1tHmuOAJkbysM2bE4BS2gw-XPl6c4ZwIaCJAUG_ifZEz-YJUNQejVkteBqDZczlFGayj8ApENn1wspko_tnG4iXLKsYt158mBWV-eaQIBtbEYsOeRRwcz-pWeHVd-THG=" width="400" /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">Joel Hawksley/For <i>The Washington Post</i> via Getty Images - Graduating students stand to have their pictures taken in front of the Rotunda at University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. on May 18, 2013.</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>By Rolling Stone | November 22, 2014</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Following <i>Rolling Stone</i> publishing Sabrina Rubin Erdely's harrowing report <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119">"A Rape on Campus,"</a> which detailed a pattern of sexual assault among the fraternities at the University of Virginia, many women who attended UVA emailed <i>Rolling Stone</i> <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/rape-at-uva-readers-say-jackie-wasnt-alone-20141121">sharing their own similar stories</a>. After "A Rape on Campus" went viral, the school itself <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/uva-reacts-to-rolling-stone-campus-rape-investigation-promises-change-20141120">acknowledged</a> the Rolling Stone article by promising to make changes to their student sexual misconduct policy. Now, the University is taking even more stern action.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">President Teresa A. Sullivan announced in <a href="https://news.virginia.edu/content/message-president-sullivan-regarding-sexual-violence">a letter to students and alumni</a> that the school's fraternities have been suspended effective immediately. The suspension will last until January 9, 2015, which marks the beginning of the spring semester. In that time, "we will assemble groups of students, faculty, alumni, and other concerned parties to discuss our next steps in preventing sexual assault and sexual violence on Grounds," Sullivan writes.</span></blockquote>
In my opinion, the only way this is going to change is to take drastic steps - the Fraternities at UVA should remain closed for the rest of the school year, with the students placed in residence halls are allowed to move into off-campus housing.<br />
<br />
The administration needs education on rape, date rape, toxic masculinity, and the rape culture that exists on campuses around the country, but especially in some fraternities. The people who turned a blind eye to these events in ignorance or in fear of bad publicity need to be educated on how alcohol and drugs, toxic masculinity, and entitlement and privilege can lead to these type of gang rape situations.<br />
<br />
Further, any future rapes that are reported and verified will result in the permanent closure of a given fraternity. Period. <br />
<br />
This needs to be the basic policy on EVERY campus in the country, not just UVA.
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<img class="video-poster-image no-link" src="http://iai.tv/assets/Uploads/_resampled/CroppedImage608342-crisis.jpg" height="281" width="500" /> </div>
<br />
From the <a href="http://iai.tv/">Institute of Arts and Letters</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;">With rapid economic and social change leaving Britain’s men behind, Labour politician Diane Abbott imagines brave solutions to an impending social disaster.</span></blockquote>
<h3>
<a href="http://iai.tv/video/the-crisis-of-masculinity">The Crisis of Masculinity</a></h3>
<br />
<center>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bqrMgYouSek?rel=0" width="500"></iframe></center>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-60432487235721551862014-11-11T07:00:00.000-07:002014-11-11T07:00:05.201-07:00All Good Things . . . <div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://justmytype.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/end-1050x700.jpg" class="decoded overflowing" src="http://justmytype.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/end-1050x700.jpg" height="333" width="500" /> </div>
<br />
I have been doing this blog for more than six years, mostly every day. I have loved the reading and sharing that goes into a blog, as well as the opportunity to preach my beliefs about masculinity and gender. But, for a variety of reasons, it's time to do something else.<br />
<br />
I'm not shutting down the blog, but any posting will be occasional or related to a specific and relevant current event.<br />
<br />
I have made this decision for <a href="http://integral-options.blogspot.com/">Integral Options Cafe</a> as well (which has been a daily effort for nearly ten years).<br />
<br />
THANK YOU to all of you who read this blog and especially to those of you who have engaged in conversation here.william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-19487340932656379722014-11-09T06:50:00.000-07:002014-11-09T06:50:52.488-07:00Fitness Friday - Fitness News You Can Use (Sunday Edition)Due to a browser crash (apparently Firefox is unstable with 100+ tabs open), this week's Fitness Friday is a couple of days late, but the posts are still fresh.<br />
<br />
Lots of good stuff this week, including research on fat intake and body composition, garlic for a healthier prostate, impact of antioxidants on muscle growth, the many benefits of creatine, complexes for muscle fat loss, and how time under tension can increase strength and muscle size.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<a href="http://www.ergo-log.com/weight-gain-kind-of-fat-in-diet-determines-how-much-muscle-mass-you-build-up.html">Weight gain? The kind of fat in your diet helps determine how much muscle mass you build up</a></h3>
<a href="http://www.ergo-log.com/index.html">ergo-log.com</a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">If you gain weight, the kind of fat in your diet partly determines the amount of fat and the amount of muscle in your newfound kilograms. The unsaturated fatty acids in sunflower oil stimulate the growth of muscle; the saturated fatty acids in palm oil – found in many processed foods – lead to an increase the amount of fat. Researchers at the University of Uppsala in Sweden report on this in <i>Diabetes</i>. </span></blockquote>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<a href="http://www.ergo-log.com/garlic-prostate-cancer-and-death-receptor-4.html">Garlic, prostate cancer and Death Receptor-4</a></h3>
<a href="http://www.ergo-log.com/index.html">ergo-log.com</a><br />
<br />
<img alt="Garlic, prostate cancer and Death Receptor 4" border="0" src="http://www.ergo-log.com/plaatjes/knoflook.jpg" width="120" /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">The more leeks, onions, chives or garlic that men eat, the less likely they are to develop prostate cancer. Epidemiologists at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing discovered the prostate-cancer inhibiting properties of the Allium vegetable family when they gathered and reanalysed data from 9 big epidemiological studies. They looked at data on 132,192 men in total.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">Source: </span></b><br />
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23991965" target="you"><i>Asian Pac J Cancer Prev</i>. 2013;<b>14</b>(7):4131-4.</a> </blockquote>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<a href="http://breakingmuscle.com/supplements/do-antioxidants-impede-the-benefits-of-exercise">Do Antioxidants Impede the Benefits of Exercise? </a></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://breakingmuscle.com/"><i>Breaking Muscle</i></a></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://breakingmuscle.com/coaches/craig-marker">Craig Marker</a> - Contributor - Psychology and Research </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://breakingmuscle.com/coaches/craig-marker">More Articles from this Author</a></span><br />
<br />
<img alt="" class="imagecache-full_width" src="http://img.breakingmuscle.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full_width/images/bydate/201411/1z8a20652.jpg" height="266" width="400" /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Antioxidants have been shown in multiple studies to impair the benefits of exercise. But newer <a href="http://breakingmuscle.com/supplements/antioxidants-have-mixed-effects-on-performance">theories of antioxidants</a> propose that the reactive oxygen molecules thought to be so harmful actually set in motion important reactions in the body that make us stronger in the long run. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">RELATED: <a href="http://bit.ly/1ojJutZ">Antioxidants Have Mixed Effects on Performance</a></span></blockquote>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<header class="entry-header"><h3>
<a href="http://bretcontreras.com/creatine-versatile-supplement/">Creatine: A Versatile Supplement</a></h3>
</header></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<header class="entry-header"><div class="comments-link">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://bretcontreras.com/">Brett Contreras</a></span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><div class="comments-link">
<span style="color: #351c75;">November 4, 2014 </span></div>
<div class="comments-link">
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: blue;">
</span></header><span style="color: blue;">
Creatine is one of the few supplements that has stood the test of
time. I can recall first taking it when I was in high school over 20
years ago. I’m pretty sure it’s the most well-research supplement in the
literature, with thousands upon thousands of articles on the topic. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine" target="_blank">HERE</a>
is a Wikipedia link to creatine in case you’d like to learn the basics.
Over the years, I’ve stumbled across some interesting research on
creatine. I decided to compile some of these study abstracts together
into an article. When sifting through the entire body of research, it
seems that creatine does not enhance testosterone or growth hormone
output (one study showed increased growth hormone, but several others
have shown no effect), does not work as well in the elderly as it does
with younger subjects, does not reduce muscle damage (one study showed
that it did, but several others showed that it did not), does not
improve the plasma-lipid ratio during aerobic training, and does not
alter insulin sensitivity.</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue;"><img alt="creatine" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15137" src="http://bretcontreras.com/wp-content/uploads/creatine1.jpg" height="310" width="298" /></span></div>
<span style="color: blue;">However, creatine does indeed lead to some very favorable outcomes.
It’s also very safe and well-tolerated. In the abstracts below, you will
note that creatine....</span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * * </div>
<br />
<b>Note:</b> despite the title of this post, guys will definitely benefit from these complexes.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.t-nation.com/workouts/3-complexes-for-rapid-female-fat-loss">3 Complexes for Rapid Female Fat Loss</a> </span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">by <a href="http://www.t-nation.com/all-articles/authors/tc">TC</a> | 11/04/14 </span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><img height="225" src="http://www.t-nation.com/system/publishing/articles/10001187/original/3-Complexes-for-Rapid-Female-Fat-Loss.jpg?1413843198" width="400" /> </span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><br /><b>Here's what you need to know... </b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">CrossFit generates a lot of controversy, but everybody agrees that it does great things for the female body. Not interested in CrossFit? Do complexes.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Complexes provide the same kind of exertion, the same type of fat burning and strength building, and they require very little equipment or time.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Complexes are simply a series of movements performed with a barbell, dumbbell(s), or kettlebell(s) where you finish each rep of one movement before quickly moving onto the next movement.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">They can be done after your regular workout as a fat-burning, muscle-shaping finisher. However, they're so effective, many women would be better off replacing their entire workout with complexes. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>CrossFit? No Thanks. </b><br /><br />CrossFit has its fans and its detractors, but the one thing everyone seemingly agrees on is that the women who do it look pretty darn good. <br /><br />As powerful a lure as looking pretty darn good might be to a lot of non-CrossFit women, the idea of joining a "box" probably freaks many of them out. It could be that you were never one to join sororities in college and the notion of all that rah-rah stuff and allegedly friendly competition makes you get frown lines around your mouth. <br /><br />Maybe CrossFit comes off just a little bit too much like a cult and you're in no mood to give away all your worldly possessions and swear allegiance to its founder. Others might cringe at the idea of doing all those bunion-pounding sprints. Or, it could simply be that you don't know how to do some of those Olympic lifts. <br /><br />If it's the last option, you're not alone. There are thousands of female (and male) bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts who can't do a proper snatch, clean and jerk, or muscle-up on gymnastic rings. Either they didn't learn how do to them in gym class, no one in a commercial gym taught them, they didn't bother to seek out a qualified coach, or they were just plain klutzy and were worried about impaling innocent bystanders.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.t-nation.com/training/create-tension-build-more-muscle">Create Tension, Build More Muscle</a> </span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">by <a href="http://www.t-nation.com/all-articles/authors/james-chan">James Chan</a> | 11/05/14 </span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><img height="225" src="http://www.t-nation.com/system/publishing/articles/10001201/original/High-Tension-Muscle.jpg?1414080643" width="400" /> </span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><br /><b>Here's what you need to know... </b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">High mechanical tension is the primary stimulus for muscle growth. The more tension you create within a muscle, the more size you'll build.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">The tension must be long in duration, at least 20 seconds.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">The tension must also be high throughout the entire range of motion.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Set extenders accomplish all three things – they create high tension for a long time throughout the entire range of motion.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Set extenders are when you hit a muscle group with a series of two or more exercises done in consecutive order with little or no rest. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;">Why are some exercises better for developing muscular size than others? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Ultimately, high mechanical tension is the primary stimulus for muscle growth. The more tension you can create within a muscle, the more size you'll build. To maximize muscular growth, the tension has to meet the following criteria....</span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-4859083159181845922014-11-06T12:15:00.001-07:002014-11-06T12:15:35.879-07:00Gender-Neutral Pronouns: When ‘They’ Doesn’t Identify as Either Male or Female<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://api.ning.com/files/vuUh0rgUyT5x36zjYRuNTCzeCmVYXt5tjbfep1fxznLcys3YAq6seS01fP3QHEdQMxeMllNNO0prEGgze2bvC7Xi*Jh8Phhs/binary.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://api.ning.com/files/vuUh0rgUyT5x36zjYRuNTCzeCmVYXt5tjbfep1fxznLcys3YAq6seS01fP3QHEdQMxeMllNNO0prEGgze2bvC7Xi*Jh8Phhs/binary.jpg" height="332" width="500" /> </div>
<br />
Interestingly, this is from the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/"><i>Washington Post</i></a>. I didn't even know this column existed.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://broadsideonline.com/files/2013/04/genderqueer.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://broadsideonline.com/files/2013/04/genderqueer.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></div>
<blockquote>
<h1>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/gender-neutral-pronouns-when-they-doesnt-identify-as-either-male-or-female/2014/10/27/41965f5e-5ac0-11e4-b812-38518ae74c67_story.html">Gender-neutral pronouns: When ‘they’ doesn’t identify as either male or female</a></h1>
<br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/steven-petrow"><img src="http://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Staff-Bio/Images/steven-petrow-114x80.png&h=80&w=80" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">By <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/steven-petrow">Steven Petrow</a>, Columnist, Civilities</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">October 27, 2014 </span> <br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Dear Civilities: </b>Recently, a young woman I know explained to me that she now considers herself to be “genderqueer,” which is a new phrase for me. My first question is: What does she mean by that? I also understand that she no longer uses female pronouns to refer to herself (i.e., “her” and “she”) but prefers “they,” “them” and “their” because, as she told me, they identify her as a person, not as either a man or a woman. She has asked her friends to adopt that language, too, but maybe I’m old school, because I find it odd and grammatically incorrect to say something like, “Oh, they went to the movies this afternoon,” in reference to one singular person. What is the right thing to do, and say, in this circumstance?” — Name withheld, Washington, D.C. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;"><b>A: </b>My first reaction is: Wow, this is complicated. But really, it’s not. Language is about respect, and we should all do our best to recognize how people wish to be identified, whether it is using their preferred name or a pronoun spelled any which way. In other words, do your best to adjust to changing times and terms, and address people the way they ask you. Or more bluntly, use a person’s preferred gender pronouns even if they are unfamiliar to you and not in the general lexicon. (This would only apply to those who make such a request; our own pronouns remain the same.) </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">But this latest evolution of the English language has felt awkward to me as well, as I have witnessed my inner Strunk and White struggle with what I first saw as “political correctness.” My first step was to learn more about “<a href="http://transequality.org/Resources/TransTerminology_2014.pdf">genderqueer</a>,” which the <a href="http://transequality.org/">National Center for Transgender Equality</a> explains as a “term used by some individuals who identify as neither entirely male nor entirely female.” Jacob Tobia, a recent college grad who identifies as genderqueer, also helped me: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;">
</span> <span style="color: #351c75;">“Genderqueer people see gender not as binary with men or women, but as a spectrum that ranges from masculinity to femininity. Most genderqueer people identify somewhere between or outside of conventional masculinity or femininity.”</span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue;">
</span> <span style="color: blue;"><img src="http://img.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/10/25/Style/Images/petrow-0021414255330.jpg?uuid=39BCJFxlEeSdbHVqIp2LGA" height="400" width="300" /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;">Jacob Tobia is a recent college grad who identifies as genderqueer. </span></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Jacob (whom I’ve known for years) prefers the pronouns “they” and “them,” and so here’s how I would write about Jacob: They have a gender identity that encompasses both male and female, and their attire ranges from pencil skirts, high heels and lipstick to blazers, bow ties and facial hair on any given day. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">This past week I attended a presentation at Duke University’s Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, whose name was the LGBT Center but was changed to reflect a more fluid understanding of gender. At the outset, the speaker asked the audience to introduce ourselves and declare our <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/use-of-preferred-gender-pronouns-indicates-expanding-acceptance-of-transgender-people/2013/09/05/25ffdb7e-1595-11e3-804b-d3a1a3a18f2c_story.html">preferred gender pronouns</a>. Most of us stated an adherence to the traditional — “he/him/his” and “she/her/hers” — but several individuals chose <a href="http://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/">gender-neutral pronouns</a>, “they/them/their.” One person preferred to use “ze” (“ze smiled”) and “hir” (“I work with hir”). </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Clearly, there’s change afoot in the language to refer to gender identity, and this clashes for some people with strong feelings about established rules of English. On my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stevenpetrow">Facebook page</a>, when asked for input about this question, many expressed views along these lines: “The letter writer needs to follow the rules of grammar and pick a singular. You can’t just toss the rules on a whim.” </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">I think it’s wiser to take a longer view on matters of language evolution. It’s not as if this is the first time the language we use to describe gender has prompted debate. Think back to the early 1970s when the term “Ms.” was introduced as an alternative to “Miss” and “Mrs.” </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">There was vociferous opposition to that change by linguists and etiquette experts. But it made good sense because it obviated the need to guess a woman’s marital status. To this day, the <i>Economist</i> magazine’s <a href="http://www.economist.com/styleguide/t#node-21532475">style guide states</a>: “The overriding principle is to treat people with respect. That usually means giving them the title they themselves adopt.” And then it calls out “Ms.” as being “ugly.” </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Linguist <a href="http://illinois.edu/blog/view/25/31097">Dennis Baron</a> at the University of Illinois points to the evolution of the word “you” as another example: “Purists object that a plural pronoun like ‘they’ can’t be used as a singular. But they are wrong: ‘You’ began its life as plural (the singular second person was ‘thou’). Then ‘you’ began serving as singular as well. . . . Today we use ‘you’ to refer to one person — ‘Are you talkin’ to me?’ — without worrying about number. And for most people, ‘they’ works the same way.” </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Even the “they” and “them” debate itself has been going on for some time. Baron referred to an 1878 issue of the Atlantic magazine arguing that tired old “he” and “she” needed replacing: “We need a new pronoun. The need of a personal pronoun of the singular number and common gender is so desperate, urgent, imperative, that according to the established theories it should long have grown in our speech, as the tails grew off monkeys.” </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">There you go, folks — the history. Now without my Strunk and White sword to fall on, I’d add only that grammar evolution should be bolstered with respect. My friend Jacob is not a pronoun, but a person. And if they want me to refer to them with a gender-neutral pronoun, I will do my best. You should, too. (As for “ze” and “hir,” I’ll try, but I’m still going to need a little more time to learn how to pronounce them.) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">~ Steven Petrow, the author of “Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners,” addresses questions about LGBT and straight etiquette in his column, Civilities. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/steven-petrow">View Archive</a></span> <br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #351c75;">E-mail questions to Civilities at <a href="mailto:stevenpetrow@earthlink.net">stevenpetrow@earthlink.net</a> (unfortunately not all questions can be answered). You can reach him on Facebook at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stevenpetrow">facebook.com/stevenpetrow</a> and on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/stevenpetrow">@stevenpetrow</a>. </span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-25094986694174687272014-11-05T07:35:00.000-07:002014-11-05T07:35:05.382-07:00MIT and CalArts are the Latest Colleges to Expose the Rape CrisisApparently, it's not only jocks and frat boys who contribute to America's rape culture - geeks and nerds do, too. This sad article is from <a href="http://jezebel.com/"><i>Jezebel</i></a>.<br />
<br />
One addendum to this story, and others like it, needs to be made clear - we need to start asking college men about their unwanted sexual experiences. While most guys would be too ashamed to call it rape (stereotypes still dominate), a LOT of young men have sex against their will, either through intoxication of coercion. In one study (conducted at a University in Chile), 1 in 5 young men reported unwanted sexual experiences (USE) since the age of 14, another 9.4% reported USE prior to age 14 (<a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10508-012-0004-x">Lehrer, Lehrer, and Koss, 2013</a>).<br />
<br />
In another study:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;">In a sample drawn from 12 U.S. colleges, 22.2 % of male participants reported some form of USE over their lifetime, with 8.3 % reporting severe USE (involving threats and/or force) (<a href="http://mensstudies.metapress.com/content/3h86g73525620727/">Tewksbury & Mustaine, 2001</a>). </span></blockquote>
The 1 in 5 number seems to be accurate across nationalities. It's time we begin looking at this more closely in the U.S. media - the numbers of male victims are too similar to those of females to keep on ignoring this problem.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<h1>
<a href="http://jezebel.com/mit-and-calarts-are-the-latest-colleges-to-expose-the-r-1651819796">MIT and CalArts are the Latest Colleges to Expose the Rape Crisis</a></h1>
<br />
<a href="http://annamerlan.kinja.com/"><img src="http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s---jHEcsqQ--/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_center,h_80,q_80,w_80/smfcjdvpht6tlweu7aul.jpg" /></a><br />
<a href="http://annamerlan.kinja.com/">Anna Merlan</a><br />
<a href="http://jezebel.com/mit-and-calarts-are-the-latest-colleges-to-expose-the-r-1651819796">10/28/14 4:15pm</a><br />
<br />
<center>
<img src="http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--2UiLjORD--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/yicxbwbgul37btdahpqr.jpg" height="296" width="500" /></center>
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has released a new survey about sexual assault at the university, and it makes us feel all sorts of things: the now-familiar depression and rage, of course, but also, somewhere deep down, a tiny, unfamiliar tendril of tentative optimism. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">The depressing and rage-inducing part is that about 17 percent of women and 5 percent of men said they had been sexually assaulted during their time at MIT. (The full survey can be found <a href="http://web.mit.edu/surveys/health/MIT-CASA-Survey-Summary.pdf">here</a>. The school polled nearly 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The survey was sent to nearly 11,000, but only about 35 percent responded). And, like the other studies, this one also found that most of them didn't report those incidents to an authority figure. The study's authors write, "Close to two-thirds (63%) of respondents who indicated they had an unwanted sexual experience at MIT told someone else about the incident(s), but fewer than 5% reported the experience(s) to someone in an official capacity."</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">These numbers correspond pretty closely with <a href="http://jezebel.com/university-of-oregon-urged-to-downsize-frats-to-reduce-1650374199">a similar survey </a>released by the University of Oregon earlier this month, as well as a Department of Justice study <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf">released in 2007.</a> Despite how fervently rape apologists like George Will stick their fingers in their ears and try to yell it away, all the available evidence suggests that about one in five women are raped or sexually assaulted during their college years, and few of them want to report it. A full 72 percent of the people at MIT reporting they'd been sexually assaulted said they didn't report because they "did not think the incident(s) was serious enough." </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">The survey also pointed out some pretty encouraging campus attitudes about rape. A solid 83 percent of students understood that an incident can be rape or sexual assault even if the victim didn't verbally say "no." The majority also understood that rape doesn't happen "because people put themselves in bad situations," and nine out of 10 students agreed "most MIT students would respect someone who did something to prevent a sexual assault." Things seem to be progressing nicely in terms of generational awareness of how rape works: recall, if you will, that Bill Frezza is an MIT alum. He wrote<a href="http://jezebel.com/frat-alumni-president-blames-drunk-female-guests-for-ru-1638524129"> that obnoxious, quickly-deleted <i>Forbes</i> piece </a>stating that "drunk female guests" and their bewildering rape allegations could destroy the fraternity system. But there's still some confusion about consent: more than half of the respondents agreed with the statement, "Rape and sexual assault can happen unintentionally, especially if alcohol is involved."</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">"Sure, the data tells us things that we maybe didn't want to hear," Cynthia Barnhart, MIT's chancellor, told the <i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/us/rare-survey-examines-sex-assault-at-mit-.html?_r=1">New York Times</a></i>. One of the most disturbing, she added, is that "there is confusion among some of our students about what constitutes sexual assault." </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">The MIT survey indicates how seriously the school is taking the problem, and the fact that they're willing to publicize the results says a lot about their commitment to transparency. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">But it's also becoming increasingly clear that when schools won't address their sexual assault problem, students will do it for them: last week, around 150 students at CalArts, a small liberal arts school near Los Angeles, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-calarts-protest-rape-20141023-story.html">staged a mass-walkout</a> to protest how the school had handled a rape allegation last year. <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/10/14/calarts-sexual-assault.html">According to <i>Al Jazeera</i></a>, who first reported the story, the student, a freshman, was raped in a bathroom by someone she'd briefly dated. The school, she alleges, asked a number of bizarre and insulting questions during a two-month investigation of the incident. From <i>Al Jazeera</i>: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">[S]he said school administrators asked her questions about her drinking habits, how often she partied, the length of her dress, how oral rape was even possible, whether she climaxed and whether climaxing was an issue when she'd been with her alleged rapist before.</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;">The perpetrator was ultimately suspended from school for one year. The victim has filed a federal title IX complaint against the school with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, alleging they mishandled her complaint. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Anna Knecht Schawrzer, a CalArts student who helped organize the walkout, says the student protesters are pushing for a new campus policy, one she hopes could become a model for other schools nationwide.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">"I want CalArts to be known for a culture that promotes sexual respect," she says. "To make this possible, we as a community need to construct an architecture that facilitates accountability and health." They're recommending, among other things, a better and clearer campus sexual assault policy, a staff member solely devoted to addressing these issues, and better training for all staff and faculty on how to handle sexual assault reports. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">MIT, meanwhile, has a lot of data, but seemingly hasn't quite figured out what to do with it. For now, they've set up an email account to take suggestions. The survey's authors write, at the very end of their report: "If you have ideas now about how MIT can reduce the incidence of unwanted sexual behavior on campus and improve the support the Institute offers when it does occur, please contact <a href="mailto:stop-assault@mit.edu">stop-assault@mit.edu.</a>" </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>MIT's Simmons Hall; Image via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/downtree/2758886638/in/photolist-5cN1T1-6aqsxA-9FUu6f-eaAPru-ZJbg-4fP6iL-5j5mpT-fjnfFj-4mMGC-4NEVsE-7MDjFC-6ZkCyX-4cEtxE-PGKWN-4DEaFd-4Stn-aAnwd-8vtjEj-7S68fB-7NFcFk-9FUyGh-2HZja-9FUGfo-7S335j-79YYvY-iYsVjK-QvshU-buXnC-9FSnS4-aZivit-8bsLXa-9FUAfj-9FRxZc-9FUEcQ-7RUxct-5aKKxR-8onrZH-2hZpkX-8vpGBd-kpsDz-buXnF-79ip3g-7MNzCE-7RUx5V-nwbnis-7MHDTL-9FUk5h-9FV3G7-9FRshg-9FUoDb">Graysky/Flickr</a></i></span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-51734763747374145172014-11-04T06:43:00.000-07:002014-11-04T06:43:00.506-07:00The Masculinity Myth: Here's What Women Really Want<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2014/06/20/1226960/838315-d2790670-f800-11e3-ba3b-878da0800edb.jpg" class="shrinkToFit decoded" height="557" src="http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2014/06/20/1226960/838315-d2790670-f800-11e3-ba3b-878da0800edb.jpg" width="362" /> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="http://www.news.com.au/world/jeremy-meeks-attractive-mugshot-is-driving-the-ladies-mad-after-his-arrest-on-weapons-charges/story-fndir2ev-1226960838341">A lot of women went nuts over this mugshot</a> - </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>and he's an effing criminal for crying out loud.</i></div>
<br />
I find these "studies" interesting - what a woman finds attractive looking at pictures has little (if anything) to do with what kind of man they would actually go out with (or more). Consistently, studies show that women who are ovulating prefer more traditionally masculine looking men (from <a href="http://news.discovery.com/human/life/women-ovulation-hormones-behavior.htm"><i>Discover News</i>, Aug. 18, 2010</a>):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;">Starting in the 1990s, studies began to show that in the days before
ovulation women start to become more attracted to men who have deeper
voices and more chiseled, masculine and symmetrical faces. According to
some studies, that may be because men who look like George Clooney are
more likely to have dominant social roles, better genes and stronger
immune systems.</span></blockquote>
Woman in relationships experience an even greater increase in their desire for highly masculine men during ovulation - and ovulating women in relationships are also more likely to cheat on their partners than non-ovulating women.<br />
<br />
Unless this variable was controlled for in the study below (from <a href="http://www.mnn.com/">Mother Nature Network</a>), it is meaningless (even if it makes us less masculine looking guys feel better).<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h1>
<a href="http://www.mnn.com/family/family-activities/blogs/the-masculinity-myth-heres-what-women-really-want"><span style="color: #351c75;">The masculinity myth: Here's what women really want</span></a></h1>
<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">(Hint: It's not what Hollywood has been telling you.)</span></h3>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">Mon, Nov 03, 2014 </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Jenn Savedge,</b> Author of parenting books blogs about raising children and health issues.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><img alt="" src="http://media.mnn.com/styles/featured_blog/s3/pretty%20woman.jpg" height="282" width="500" /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>In theory, masculinity signifies health and strength — but that's not the whole story. (Photo: Pressmaster/Shutterstock)</i></span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">If old stereotypes are to believed, women like their men oozing with masculinity. But a new study flips that thinking on its head, revealing that what women really want in a man might be far from this tired depiction of masculinity.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Even though it had never been proven, the <a href="http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/the-weaker-sex-male-vulnerabilities-challenge-a-stereotype">stereotype</a> of women liking masculine men has been around for so long that it was considered true by default. Experts theorized that masculinity signified health and strength, thus it was more appealing to potential mates. But a <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/40/14388.full">recent study</a> conducted by British researchers at Brunel University in London has revealed that the appeal of more masculine men only holds for women from Westernized, urban communities. Throughout the rest of the world, women prefer feminine-looking men to their more masculine counterparts.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">For starters, the team attempted to define "masculinity" in terms of appearance. They compiled data using computer simulations to merge photos of men’s and women’s faces into composite, “average” faces of five different ethnic backgrounds. They edited the photos of the men to make some more "masculine," and others more "feminine." To do this, they calculated the differences between the male and female faces. To make a photo more masculine, they increased these differences. Conversely, to make an image more feminine, they minimized the differences.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Then they showed the images to both urban and rural residents of 12 countries and from different ethnic groups. Participants were shown three sets of photos from models of five different ethnic groups. They asked each of the 962 subjects <a href="http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/does-your-face-speak-louder-than-words">which of the faces they found most attractive</a>. In urban areas, they got the response they expected. Women consistently found the men with the most masculine traits to be most attractive. But the responses of the remaining women shocked the researchers, as they seemed to prefer men with more neutral or even feminine-looking faces.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Researchers theorized that maybe city-dwellers have developed the masculinity preference as a means to make a snap judgment about a man's health without any other background information.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Either way, the study flies in the face of the age-old notion that women prefer manly men, or that the roots of this so-called preference could be found throughout history.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">More likely, the masculinity myth is just another urban legend.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;"><i><br />
</i></span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><i>The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.</i></span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-25446471297310822272014-11-02T15:02:00.000-07:002014-11-02T15:02:33.958-07:00How to Build a Dick (The Social Construction of Genitalia)<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/1600-Genderbread-Person.jpg" class="shrinkToFit decoded" src="http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/1600-Genderbread-Person.jpg" height="322" width="500" /> </div>
<br />
From <a href="http://thenewinquiry.com/"><i>The New Inquiry</i></a>, Vishnu Strangeways takes a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism">social constructionist</a> view of how we understand and co-create the <i>idea</i> of gentalia. Even at the level of biology, where XX and XY are most common (46.XX, 46.XY) there is no clear sexual binary but, rather, a collection of standard alignments, as well as <a href="http://www.genetic.org/Knowledge/WhatAreXYChromosomeVariations.aspx">a collection of variations</a> . . . including 47.XXY (at risk for <a href="http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/klinefelter-syndrome">Klinefelter syndrome</a>), 47.XYY, 48.XXXX, 48XXXY, 48XXYY and 48XYYY; and although increasingly rare, also 49XXXXX, 49XXXXY, 49XXXYY, 49XXYYY and 49XYYY.<br />
<br />
Further, even in "normal" XY and XX individuals, the expression of secondary sexual characteristics can vary considerably (size, shape, alignment, coloring, and so on). There is no specifically "normal" genitalia, only a spectrum that incorporates a range of normal. <a href="http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex">Intersex</a> people add a whole other layer to this, partly because it is not always obvious at birth and may not show up until puberty, if at all. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.isna.org/faq/frequency">Consider these statistics</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
<table><tbody>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Not XX and not XY</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 1,666 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Klinefelter (XXY)</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 1,000 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Androgen insensitivity syndrome</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 13,000 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Partial androgen insensitivity syndrome</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 130,000 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 13,000 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Late onset adrenal hyperplasia</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 66 individuals</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Vaginal agenesis</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 6,000 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Ovotestes</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 83,000 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Idiopathic (no discernable medical cause)</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 110,000 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Iatrogenic (caused by medical treatment, for instance </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">progestin administered to pregnant mother)</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">no estimate</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">5 alpha reductase deficiency</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">no estimate</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Mixed gonadal dysgenesis</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">no estimate</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Complete gonadal dysgenesis</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 150,000 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Hypospadias (urethral opening in perineum or <br />
along penile shaft)</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 2,000 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Hypospadias (urethral opening between corona <br />
and tip of glans penis)</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 770 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Total number of people whose bodies differ <br />
from standard male or female</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one in 100 births</span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: #351c75;">Total number of people receiving surgery to <br />
“normalize” genital appearance</span></td><td><span style="color: #351c75;">one or two in 1,000 births</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</blockquote>
<br />
Add to that, then, the discussion below about how we create our ideas of genitalia from conversations with peers, from sex education, from media, or (increasingly) from pornography, and the range of possible expressions is so staggeringly large that the "sexual binary" becomes laughable.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<h1>
<a href="http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/how-to-build-a-dick/">How to Build a Dick</a></h1>
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">By <a href="http://thenewinquiry.com/author/vstrangeways/">Vishnu Strangeways</a></span> <br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">October 27, 2014</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><img src="http://thenewinquiry.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/vishnu-383.jpg" height="407" width="500" /></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;">Rorschach test, card #2, 1921</span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</span> <br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #351c75;">At the level of identity, genitals are made neither in the womb, nor in surgery, but in the mind.</span></i></h3>
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Thinking critically about genitals—how they look, what they are, what they mean—feels like repeating a familiar word so many times that it starts to sound weird and implausible. The physical properties of genitals feel certain, but the material of this certainty is often hazy guesswork, drawn less from experience than from the imaginative processes that give our ideas of things substance in the mind.</span> <br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">As we grow up, many of us build our idea of genitals from a patchwork of clumsy childhood discoveries, chaste textbook renderings, and the aesthetic valorized in mainstream porn. This early understanding of what genitals should look like can even survive encounters with bodies that don’t correspond to it. Reality apparently doesn’t always have sufficient power to undermine our fixed and abstract mental images. It’s as if the idea of genitals is more real than their physical form, or the latter is real only insofar as it confirms the former. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">This is partly because commonplace concepts of gender treat biological sex as determinative in a violent logic: Genitals means sex means gender. Essentialist accounts of gender appeal to medical science to reiterate a mind/body or gender/sex binary, without considering how scientific truth claims are shaped by the paradigm from which they have emerged. These accounts are often at odds with some of the physical realities they describe, such as the prevalence of sex chromosomes beyond XX/XY, or external genitalia that don’t resemble traditional archetypes of penis-testicles and vulva-clitoris-vagina.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">When I studied anatomy, we learned the prescriptive architecture of biological sex as if it were inevitable fact. Yet our textbooks included depictions of bodies that didn’t conform to the supposedly universal forms, presenting them as strange and pathological. In medical school, few people could see that the very existence of these bodies was an effective critique of the certainty of biological sex. Outside the framework of my studies, I became increasingly suspicious of normative standards of sex and gender. Armed with experiences and critiques drawn from elsewhere in my life, I grew more and more critical of how medicine understands and processes gender by excluding those bodies that cannot be coherently inscribed into the present gender regime. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Even by medicine’s own scientific account, the human body does not automatically provide us with a strong distinction between “maleness” and “femaleness.” In early fetal development, the cells that go on to form reproductive tracts and genitals are initially indifferent, regardless of the embryo’s sex chromosomes. The building blocks for all reproductive and genital eventualities exist in the early embryo concurrently, waiting for cues. For the first trimester the external genitals remain indistinguishable: Each anatomical aspect has the genetic potential to be another with the right encouragement (glans of penis or glans of clitoris, surface of penis or labia minora, scrotum or labia majora, or in variable combinations of neither). </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">When a baby is born, if doctors think its genitals deviate from the expected norm, its body is surgically reconfigured. These bodies that differ from the genital ideal are often seen as aberrations. When we try to reflect objectively on how bodies are understood as “male” or “female,” we can see that the popular understanding of genitals as either/or doesn’t reflect the reality that the potential forms of external genitalia are in fact unpredictably multiple. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">The idea that genitals have multiple potentials and that we can build them to fit our idea of them is important when it comes to genital reassignment surgery. This elegant surgery reconfigures anatomy on an aesthetic, functional and sensual level. Metoidoplasties, for example, bring forward the clitoris and unite it with skin from the labia to form a functional penis and scrotum. Phalloplasties involve taking skin from the arm or abdomen to produce a functional penis that, with an implanted device, can sustain erections capable of penetrative sex. In both phalloplasty and metoidoplasty, the presence of a former clitoris as the new penis head provides the same arc of sensation that transmits as sexual pleasure. In vaginoplasties where a new vagina is formed, the head of the former penis relocates to become the clitoris, while inversion of the remaining penile skin and scrotum produces a fully sensate vagina. (These are technical terms and don’t necessarily reflect the patients’ preferred terms for their genitals.)</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Not all trans people choose surgical treatments, but for those who do, studies demonstrate that genital-reassignment surgery is very effective. Individuals report relief of the symptoms of their dysphoria, low rates of regret, and high levels of patient satisfaction. The data that demonstrates this may rely on grim cost-benefit analyses of medical interventions, but they clearly show that gender treatments make a difference in the lives of many trans people. Gender surgery, like all surgery, reconfigures a body’s capacity to meet its own needs and, as such, can mean as much or as little of anything to anyone. For many I’ve seen, it can offer some liberation not only from dysphoria but also from the oppression they face when navigating gender in social contexts—being able to use gendered toilets without the fear of violence, or having the type of sex they want to have. Post-gender critiques that remonstrate against gender surgery for upholding physical gender norms re-enact the oppression they pretend to fight. I suspect they arise from an inability or refusal to conceive of others’ gender dysphoria. These critiques imply that trans individuals are to blame for somehow inadequately dealing with oppression. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">It’s clear that there is no universal experience of dysphoria. Many trans people experience no genital dysphoria at all. For some, dysphoria is concentrated around noticing the incongruence between the gender they understand themselves as and the gender they are assigned. For others, dysphoria exerts itself as a visceral weight that can cause as much pain as physical injury, an unconscious process in which the body is the passive recipient of its distress. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Critics of gender surgery may be right that the link between genital anatomy and gender is dubious, but trying to deny trans people important surgery puts the emphasis in entirely the wrong place. In fact, more careful thought shows that the bodies of cis-gendered individuals have an equally problematic relationship to biological sex. Cis people’s identification of their anatomy with their gender also relies on the residual power the idealized forms of genitals have in our imagination. These forms are only attempts to capture reality, and are not reality itself. At the level of identity, genitals are made neither in the womb, nor in surgery, but in the mind. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Some accounts of the social construction of gender still maintain biological sex as a kind of underlying basis, to be either tolerated or changed. But the more I read and the more I see, the less certain I am about biological sex. Perhaps the body doesn’t automatically suggest gender as much as we think but has to be given a gender in order to operate in the world. If biological sex is less a case of a simple binary with pathologized aberrations and more like a spectrum, where does the binary originate from, how does science uphold it, and what motivates it to do so? </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">It could be that it arises from a tendency to explain the most things in the simplest possible terms, which would make sense given the relatively low prevalence of non-XX/XY chromosomes and ambiguous genitalia at birth. But even by this account, the perception of some people’s genital anatomy as normal relies on a socially upheld idea of gender. Bio-essentialist theories of gender are, ironically, inadequate as descriptions of the human body; all they account for is the persistence of the social construction of gender. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Born-this-way gender biology is a historical accumulation of empirical findings and personal subjectivities, precariously held together by the veneer of objective reality afforded by scientific method. The male/female binary is perpetuated by the myth that sex chromosomes are XX or XY, and XX and XY are perfectly formed penises or vaginas, and perfectly formed penises or vaginas are boys or girls, with all deviations from this entering the realm of pathology. But the idea that the body exists objectively is false. External genitals, like all other aspects of gender, are the result of interpretation. They can be reinterpreted.</span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-8524826917780555822014-11-01T18:22:00.000-07:002014-11-01T18:22:10.328-07:00Movember To Support Men's Mental Health (in addition to prostate and testicular cancers)<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/2d/f3/b8/2df3b86aa54b411b93397e3867553a26.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/2d/f3/b8/2df3b86aa54b411b93397e3867553a26.jpg" /> </div>
<br />
Okay, first an admission, I wrongly believed that Movember was beard growing, not just mustaches. But that is because I confused it with another men's health meme, part of the same Movember fund-raising effort, <a href="http://www.boston.com/life/2014/11/01/spectator-guide-movember-and-shave-november/6gB7LjMnOTvU1BRHu7jyJN/story.html">No Shave November</a>. There's also <a href="http://novembeard.org/">Novembeard</a>.<br />
<br />
If you can grow it, let it grow! It's for a good cause (or causes).<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<h1>
<a href="http://ca.askmen.com/news/sports/movember-to-support-men-s-mental-health.html">Movember To Support Men's Mental Health </a></h1>
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Trending News: There's A New Reason To Grow A 'Mo' This Movember</span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><img src="http://images.askmen.com/1080x540/news/sports/movember-to-support-men-s-mental-health-1100388-TwoByOne.jpg" height="250" width="500" /></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">© Getty </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><img src="http://images.askmen.com/authors/responsive/JoelBalsam.png" height="100" width="100" /></span> <br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://ca.askmen.com/authors/joel_balsam/">Joel Balsam</a> | November 1, 2014 </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Why Is This Important?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Because too many men suffer from mental illness and they could use a helping hand. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Long Story Short</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">This year, donations from guys who grow out their ‘stache for Movember will go towards fundraising and raising awareness about male mental health in addition to prostate and testicular cancers.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Long Story</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">The hairy truth is that too many men suffer from mental illness. According to data released on <a href="http://us.movember.com/mens-health/mental-health">Movember’s website</a>, a total of 38,364 Americans died by suicide in 2010 and over three quarters of them (79%) were men. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">To make matters worse, men aren’t talking about it. According to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29841063">researchers in the UK</a>, almost a third of men are too embarrassed to seek help for a mental problem and less than a quarter talk to their doctor if they felt down for more than two weeks in comparison to a third of women. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Justin Coughlan, the Australian co-founder of Movember told the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29841063">BBC</a> that this is a huge issue men need to combat. “It’s the last piece of the puzzle,” he said. “It’s just so big and there’s such a need for it.”</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">For the 11 years since it began in 2003, the month-long campaign has asked men to grow out their moustaches for charity and awareness about prostate cancer and then testicular cancer. This year, men’s mental illness will be added to the list.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">It’s hard to think of too many other annual charity campaigns that have caught on as well as Movember. Every year, millions of “Mos” can be found on street corners and in offices worldwide and the charity’s success is undeniable. Well over four million <a href="http://admin.askmen.com/llua/articles/page/us.movember.com/about/history">Mo Bros and Mo Sistas</a> have registered to fundraise since the charity began and $559 million has been raised. Immeasurable is the amount of conversations people have had about men’s mental health and in the case of prostate cancer, how many have gotten checked. According to <a href="http://us.movember.com/programs/mens-health">Movember</a>, 75% of those who participate were more aware of the health risks they face and 50% told someone they should take action to improve their health.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">If you haven’t done Movember before, all you need to do is have a fresh shave at the beginning of the month (you’re a little late, but today will do) and <a href="http://us.movember.com/get-involved/mo-bro">sign up</a> for an account. Then, try and get funds to support your Mo and talk about men’s health. Easy peasy.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">The stigma about mental illness, especially for men is something that absolutely needs to go, and if Movember can help take it down it will be doing a great service to men everywhere. </span><br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Own The Conversation</span></h3>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Ask The Big Question:</b> Will you be growing your mustache out for Movember this year?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Disrupt Your Feed:</b> Are there more worthy causes that Movember could be supporting?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Drop This Fact:</b> Around 15 million American adults are diagnosed with depression each year. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Expand Your Expertise</b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Movember founder: Men can end up 'mentally broken' [<a href="http://us.movember.com/get-involved/mo-bro">BBC</a>]</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">A Spectator's Guide to Movember and No Shave November [<a href="http://www.boston.com/life/2014/11/01/spectator-guide-movember-and-shave-november/6gB7LjMnOTvU1BRHu7jyJN/story.html">Boston.com</a>]</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>More Conversation Ammo On AskMen </b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://www.askmen.com/sports/galleries/movember-moustaches.html">Movember Moustaches</a></span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://www.askmen.com/top_10/celebrity/movember-mustache-monikers.html">Movember Moustache Monikers</a></span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://www.askmen.com/sports/health/kate-upton-and-movember.html">Kate Upton And Movember</a></span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://www.askmen.com/fashion/fashiontip_700/701_moustache-styles.html">Moustache Styles</a></span></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-75297598138972009902014-10-31T05:08:00.000-07:002014-10-31T05:08:15.189-07:00Fitness Friday - Fitness News You Can UseWelcome to another edition of Fitness Friday. This week in fitness news you can use, we begin with the EXOS 7-Minute workout that they created for the New York Times, installment 60 of Eric Cressey's Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better, a post on using crawls in fitness programming from Dean Somerset, and wrapping up with 3 articles from T-Nation, Brett Contreras on training smarter, Dan John on building your own home gym, and Tony Gentilecore with 5 reasons you aren't getting stronger.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.coreperformance.com/daily/news/exos-creates-the-advanced-7-minute-workout-for-the-new-york-times.html">EXOS Creates the Advanced 7-Minute Workout for The New York Times</a></span></h3>
<div class="byline">
<span style="color: blue;"><span class="author"> </span></span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span class="date">October 24, 2014</span></b></span></div>
<div class="byline">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span class="date"> </span> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><img alt="" border="0" class="large" src="http://media.coreperformance.com/images/411*308/NYT+workout.jpg" height="374" title="" width="500" /></span></div>
<div class="caption" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>The New York Times</i></span></div>
<div class="caption">
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div>
<span style="color: blue;">Looking to provide their readers with a more challenging 7-minute workout following the release of last year's Scientific 7-Minute Workout, writer Gretchen Reynolds turned to Mark Verstegen and the EXOS team. The result, the <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/the-advanced-7-minute-workout/" target="_blank">Advanced 7-Minute Workout</a> which provides a series of exercises focused on upper body, lower body, and torso strength and mobility.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">The workout, which can be completed with minimal equipment (dumbbells only) and space, focuses on elements that can be challenging but completed by a variety of fitness levels.</span></blockquote>
You can also <a href="http://www.openculture.com/2014/10/get-the-new-7-minute-workout-on-your-mobile-device.html">download a free app</a> for this workout.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://www.ericcressey.com/5-lose-fat-gain-muscle-get-strong-move-better-60">Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 60</a></span> </h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br />
Written on October 24, 2014, by Eric Cressey <br />
<br />
<b>This installment of quick training and nutrition tips comes from Cressey Sports Performance coach Miguel Aragoncillo.</b></span><br />
<br />
<center>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RFlrG48_GqI?rel=0" width="480"></iframe></center>
</blockquote>
5 Good tips here.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://deansomerset.com/crawling-face/">Crawling Your Face Off</a></span></h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://deansomerset.com/">Dean Somerse</a><a href="http://deansomerset.com/">t</a> | Posted October 24, 2014</span><br />
<br />
I’m a big fan of crawling, and not just for infants, frat boys on Saturday nights, or sniper ninjas sneaking up on their unsuspecting opponents. Crawling is one of those basic “template movements” where a lot of things can happen simply from that position to make adjustments, give variations, and produce entirely different exercises based on who you’re working with, scaled from rehab to elite athlete.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://deansomerset.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/images-7.jpeg"><img alt="images-7" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5317" src="http://deansomerset.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/images-7.jpeg" height="391" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">It’s a basic developmental movement that allows infants to go from stationary, using only rolling patterns to move from one place to another, to being somewhat mobile and able to explore their environment. In adults, it’s a challenge to the shoulders, core and hips as the quadruped position redistributes gravitational forces in new directions that we’re not used to. Upright standing puts more emphasis on axial compression, whereas crawling causes the spine and core to manage forces through the transverse plane and to manage low level shear stresses through the spine. The hips are working on a flexed position, and the shoulders are working on bearing weight with a locked out elbow, meaning the scapulae and muscles around it are working to keep the scaps from slapping off the rib cage. Like I said, there’s a lot going on.</span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<br />
And now, the usual several articles from T-Nation.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://www.t-nation.com/training/20-ways-to-train-smarter">20 Ways to Train Smarter</a> </span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">by <a href="http://www.t-nation.com/all-articles/authors/bret-contreras">Bret Contreras</a> | 10/21/14 </span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><img src="http://www.t-nation.com/system/publishing/articles/10001155/original/20-Ways-to-Train-Smarter.jpg?1413234779" height="225" width="400" /> </span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;"></span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<b>Here's what you need to know... </b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Do leg presses while wearing Olympic shoes to really target the quads.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Position the hands on the outside of the dumbbells when curling. It creates an insane burn in the biceps while saving the elbows and forearms.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">If dips hurt your shoulders, do band dips where you attach two bands to the top of a rack. Great for pec and triceps activation.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Brace yourself during single-leg lifts by holding onto a bar or rack for support. It'll allow for better balance and greater loads.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Do back extensions with a glute focus. Flare the feet out, round the upper back, squeeze the glutes, and drive the hips into the pad during each rep. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>1. Don't let the hips shoot up during squats and deadlifts. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Many lifters will shoot their hips up when they initiate the squat or the deadlift. Don't allow this to occur. Make sure the knees and hips extend at the same rate as you rise upward. </span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://www.t-nation.com/training/build-the-perfect-home-gym">Build the Perfect Home Gym</a> </span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">by <a href="http://www.t-nation.com/all-articles/authors/dan-john">Dan John</a> | 10/22/14 </span> </blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><img src="http://www.t-nation.com/system/publishing/articles/10001141/original/Build_the_Perfect_Home_Gym.jpg?1412273852" height="225" width="400" /> </span> </blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Here's what you need to know...</b> </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">It's a mistake to equip your gym too well in the beginning. Building a perfect home gym should take a few years.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Outfitting a gym comes down to cost vs. benefit. Buy the good stuff you really need and get the rest cheap (or build it yourself.)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">It's hard to beat a couple of kettlebells for swings, goblet squats and presses. They're portable and space efficient.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">When training outdoors, the TRX and a kettlebell can turn any place into a full gym.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">The ab wheel is the absolute king of full body tension and it can help your pull-up power.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Other things you might want to include: climbing ropes, a Prowler, chalkboards, and heavy bags for carries. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Open 24 Hours, No Membership Fees </b><br />
<br />
I hate commercial gyms. I can't stand public training facilities of any kind. <br />
<br />
Since 1971, the bulk of my training has been in my backyard and my garage. When you add up the commute time, the gym fees, and the hassle of dealing with some oily teen who slimes every flat surface in the facility, I prefer to stay home. <br />
<br />
Here are some tips for constructing your own home gym.</span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://www.t-nation.com/training/5-reasons-youre-not-getting-stronger">5 Reasons You're Not Getting Stronger</a> </span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">by <a href="http://www.t-nation.com/all-articles/authors/tony-gentilcore">Tony Gentilcore</a> | 10/24/14 </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><span style="color: #351c75;"> <img src="http://www.t-nation.com/system/publishing/articles/10001112/original/5-Reasons-Youre-Not-Getting-Stronger.jpg?1411593573" height="225" width="400" /> </span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;"></span><span style="color: #351c75;"> <br />
Here's what you need to know... </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">There's a lot more to getting strong than lifting heavy things for one rep. That will just lead to stagnation.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Accumulate volume. Take your 3RM and train it until you can do 5 reps with that weight.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Use supplemental lifts to add volume, fix weaknesses, and improve technique in the big lifts.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Unless your squat and deadlift are around 2x bodyweight and your bench press is 1.5x bodyweight, adding in speed work or dynamic effort days isn't going to do much.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Recovery days where you perform mobility, activation, or movement prep should be used along with your "balls to the walls" workouts. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;">Getting strong is easy. Focus on compound, multi-joint movements - preferably the squat, deadlift and bench press - and to try to move more weight in those lifts on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. <br />
<br />
Basically, lift heavy shit, a lot. Repeat. <i>Forever. </i><br />
<br />
So why do many people fail to make appreciable progress with their strength goals? Here are five mistakes you can fix....</span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-55684869201627641772014-10-30T09:31:00.000-07:002014-10-30T09:31:08.832-07:00Proposal - Relational Education Through Dance<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://www.theprospect.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/061010-MiddleSchool-Dance-001-L.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://www.theprospect.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/061010-MiddleSchool-Dance-001-L.jpg" height="334" width="500" /></div>
<br />
One of the biggest issues I see in how young men relate to young women is the lack of empathy and compassion for their experience (and vice versa). There is, to me, a critical age for learning these skills, generally between the ages of 11-14, puberty.<br />
<br />
<b>Proposal</b><br />
<br />
What if, say beginning in sixth grade, we divided up the boys and the girls and talked about how we relate to the opposite sex? Not just the usual "how babies are made" talk, but real, honest, ongoing talk about feeling nervous asking a girl to dance, about flirting, about appropriate language, about inappropriate language and behaviors, and so on.<br />
<br />
What if then, after a semester of these ongoing conversations, we then taught kids to dance, formal dance, like the kind we learn for weddings? I suggest this because there is a formality and respect that this type of dance (waltz, rumba, foxtrot, salsa, etc.) entails that can help boys and girls to enact some of what they learn in the conversations that precede it and continue alongside it.<br />
<br />
Imagine how much easier our lives might have been had we learned to dance as young people. But more importantly, imagine how much dating and relationships might have been had we learned some basic rules for conduct with the opposite sex (all of which is applicable to same-sex relationships, as well).<br />
<br />
I'm sure that as an 11-year-old I would have been mortified at having to dance. I also know that kids get over this awkwardness pretty quickly once they begin to develop a sense of mastery. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://www.uptowncollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Washington-Heights-Kids-Ballroom-Dancing.jpg" class="decoded" height="220" src="http://www.uptowncollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Washington-Heights-Kids-Ballroom-Dancing.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<br />
I don't know. Maybe this would not work to change the patterns of how young adults interact, but it's worth a try.william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-25658608458692470512014-10-29T09:20:00.000-07:002014-10-29T09:20:25.127-07:00Two New Studies on Prostate Cancer with a Surprising LinkTwo new studies on prostate cancer have been released in the last couple of days. The first one shows a 3.3 times greater risk of fatal cardiac events (heart attacks) in men who undergo androgen depletion therapy (ADT) for the treatment of prostate cancer (ADT eliminates testosterone from the body).<br />
<br />
The new information supports previous studies suggesting that ADT increases risk of cardiovascular disease, risk of depression, induces muscle loss, decreases bone density (leading to osteoporosis), and results in an overall lower quality of life. I'd rather die of the disease than go through any of that. And in the long term, ADT does not stop progression of the disease, it only slows it down for about 6 months. After ADT the risk of a highly aggressive tumor is increased considerably, at which point it is untreatable. <br />
<br />
The other study suggests that men who have had more than 20 female sexual partners have a 1/3 lower risk of developing prostate cancer. Strangely, men who sleep with 20 or more male partners are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer. That is a curious result that may be an anomaly, further studies are needed.<br />
<br />
The connection between these two studies is testosterone. Men who have more sexual partners tend to have higher testosterone levels, and despite the prevailing belief that ADT is a useful treatment, there is mounting evidence that testosterone provides some protection against developing the most severe prostate cancers (which tend to be estrogen dependent, which makes ADT the most wrong choice possible).<br />
<br />
Anyway, here are the press releases for the new studies.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<h1>
<a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/284562.php">Prostate cancer treatment linked to cardiac death risk </a></h1>
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">An increased risk of dying from heart-related causes has been linked with a mainstay treatment of prostate cancer in a subgroup of men who have had prior heart attacks or congestive heart failure.</span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #351c75;">Written by <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/authors/david-mcnamee">David McNamee</a> | 10.29.2014</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/images/articles/284/284562/heart-with-stethoscope.jpg" height="334" width="500" /> </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;">The authors say that the findings of their study should be carefully weighed against larger controlled trials that demonstrate benefits of ADT. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">One of the main treatments for <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150086.php">prostate cancer</a>, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) reduced male hormone levels in an effort to prevent them from stimulating <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/cancer-oncology/">cancer</a> cells. However, previous studies have found some adverse effects to be associated with ADT, including increased risk of <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/diabetes/">diabetes</a>, <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/184130.php">coronary heart disease</a>, <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151444.php">heart attacks</a> and sudden cardiac death. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">To further investigate this link, a group of researchers from Brigham and Women's Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School - both in Boston, MA - analyzed data from 5,077 prostate cancer patients who were treated between 1997 and 2006. About 30% of the participants had been treated with ADT. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">No link was found between ADT and heart-related deaths among men with no risk factors for heart problems after a median follow-up of 4.8 years. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">However, among men with congestive heart failure or prior heart attacks, there was a 3.3-times increased risk of death from heart problems. Heart-related deaths occurred in 7.01% of men in this subgroup who were receiving ADT, compared with 2.01% of men not receiving ADT. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">The researchers explain that this increased risk works out as one cardiac death for every 20 at-risk men who receive this therapy. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">"While androgen deprivation therapy can be a life-saving drug for men with prostate cancer and [can] significantly increase the cure rates when used with radiation for aggressive disease," says Dr. Paul Nguyen, of Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, "this study also raises the possibility that a small subgroup of men who have significant <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/237191.php">heart disease</a> could experience increased cardiac death on ADT." </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;"><b>Further research should examine different types and durations of ADT</b></span> <br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">However, the researchers also warn that, as the study - which is published in the journal <i>BJU International</i> - was a retrospective analysis, its findings should be carefully weighed against larger controlled trials that demonstrate benefits of ADT. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">It is also possible that changing the type or duration of ADT may reduce cardiac harm, and the researchers suggest that future studies should examine this. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">The authors also consider that a longer follow-up period in future studies may reveal associations between ADT and cardiac harms in lower risk subgroups, such as among men with diabetes. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Dr. Nguyen says: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;">"I would still say that for men with significant heart problems, we should try to avoid ADT when it is not necessary - such as for men with low-risk disease or men receiving ADT only to shrink the prostate prior to radiation. However, for men with high-risk disease, in whom the prostate-cancer benefits of ADT likely outweigh any potential cardiac harms, ADT should be given even if they have heart problems, but the patient should be followed closely by a cardiologist to ensure that he is being carefully watched and optimized from a cardiac perspective." </span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;">In March, a study published in the <i>Journal of Clinical Oncology</i> found that prostate cancer patients who received ADT as their primary treatment instead of surgery or radiation therapy <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/274174.php">did not live any longer than patients who received no treatment</a>. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">The authors, from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC, said that their study - which analyzed data from 15,170 patients - "mitigates against any clinical or policy rationale for use of primary androgen deprivation therapy in these men."</span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<blockquote>
<h1>
<a href="http://ca.askmen.com/news/sports/prostate-cancer-risk-reduced-by-having-more-sex.html">Prostate Cancer Risk Reduced By Having More Sex </a></h1>
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Trending News: This New Study Suggests The Weirdest Reason You Should Sleep Around</span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><img src="http://images.askmen.com/authors/responsive/AskMen-Contributor-2.png" /></span> <br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://ca.askmen.com/authors/paul_watson/">Paul Watson</a> October 28, 2014 </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><img alt="More Sex" class="articleImg pinnable" src="http://images.askmen.com/1080x540/news/sports/prostate-cancer-risk-reduced-by-having-more-sex-1100045-TwoByOne.jpg" data-src-large="http://images.askmen.com/1080x540/news/sports/prostate-cancer-risk-reduced-by-having-more-sex-1100045-TwoByOne.jpg" data-src="http://images.askmen.com/1080x540/news/sports/prostate-cancer-risk-reduced-by-having-more-sex-1100045-TwoByOne.jpg" height="250" width="500" /></span></div>
<div class="articleCrd" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;">© <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/danrocha/14968628348/" target="_blank">danrocha</a>/<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank">Flickr</a></span></div>
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<div class="plus" data-track-category="Plus">
<div class="container">
<div class="toggleBtn" data-track-action="Toggle">
<div>
<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></div>
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</div>
</div>
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Why Is This Important?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Because it may now be medically advisable for men to sleep around.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Long Story Short</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Research has revealed that men who have slept with more than 20 women have reduced their risk of prostate cancer by almost a third, but men who have slept with 20 men have doubled their risk.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Long Story</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">A revolutionary new study has shown that sleeping with more than 20 women can reduce a man’s chances of developing prostate cancer by 28 percent. Conversely, men who sleep with more than 20 male partners are twice as likely to get prostate cancer than a man who has never had sex with another man.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Researchers at the University of Montreal and the Institut Armand-Frappier published their discovery in the journal Cancer Epidemiology after a survey of 3,208 men between 2005 and 2009.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">It is suggested that intercourse can protect men from prostate cancer and those who are more promiscuous have more regular sex than those in long-term relationships.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">“It is possible that having many female sexual partners results in a higher frequency of <a href="http://www.askmen.com/dating/love_tip_400/444_ejaculation-etiquette.html">ejaculations</a>, whose protective effect against prostate cancer has been previously observed,” lead researcher Dr. Marie-Elise Parent is quoted as saying by <i><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/11192385/Sex-with-21-women-lowers-risk-of-prostate-cancer-academics-find.html">The Telegraph</a></i>. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">However, the reason for the reverse effect in homosexual male relationships where men who have slept with 20 male partners have double the chance of getting prostate cancer and a staggering 500% greater chance of developing a less aggressive prostate cancer, is still not clear.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">“It could come from greater exposure to STIs, or it could be that <a href="http://www.askmen.com/dating/vanessa/23_love_secrets.html">anal intercourse</a> produces physical trauma to the prostate,” Parent said, but she stressed that was a “highly speculative" analysis.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">This is the first study to find a link between the number of sexual partners and prostate cancer, but it has previously been suggested that intercourse may help guard against prostate cancer because it reduces the concentration of carcinogenic substances in the fluid of the prostate. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Still, many men will be disappointed to hear that Dr. Parent was unwilling to recommend men should be told to sleep with more women, insisting we were “not there yet.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Own The Conversation</b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Ask The Big Question</b>: Does sleeping with more women really help men avoid prostate cancer?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Disrupt Your Feed:</b> I always knew it was medically responsible to sleep with as many women as possible... Kidding.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Drop This Fact:</b> Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Europe for males and the third most common cancer overall.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Expand Your Expertise</b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Prostate cancer risk reduced by sleeping with many women, but increased with many men <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/uom-pcr102714.php">[Eureka Alert]</a></span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Sex with 21 women lowers risk of prostate cancer, academics find<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/11192385/Sex-with-21-women-lowers-risk-of-prostate-cancer-academics-find.html"> [The Telegraph]</a></span></li>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Men who sleep with multiple women REDUCE their risk of prostate cancer <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2810910/Men-sleep-multiple-women-REDUCE-risk-prostate-cancer.html">[Daily Mail]</a></span></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-61408646330012285732014-10-27T19:12:00.001-07:002014-10-27T19:12:22.559-07:00"Force Majeure" - A Movie That Will Change How You Think About Manhood (via Esquire)This review of the new Swedish film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3630276/"><i>Force Majeure</i></a> (96% Fresh at <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/force_majeure_2014/">Rotten Tomatoes</a>), from <a href="http://www.esquire.com/"><i>Esquire</i></a>, makes it sound equally important for most men to see and painful to have to sit through. Likely, both are true.<br />
<br />
Here is the official trailer:<br />
<br />
<center>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3nTJIc_e6Ns?rel=0" width="550"></iframe></center>
<br />
This seems to be a can't miss film, especially for those of us who care about creating a healthier more authentic masculinity.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h1>
<a href="http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/force-majeure-review">A Movie That Will Change How You Think About Manhood</a></h1>
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">The bleak, funny <i>Force Majeure</i></span></h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #351c75;">By <a href="http://www.esquire.com/nick-schager-bio">Nick Schager</a> on October 23, 2014 </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/jL/esq-force-xlg.jpg" height="333" width="500" /></div>
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Tired of all those superheroes outmatching you in toughness, confidence, and manliness? If so, then the cinematic antidote has arrived in the form of <i>Force Majeure</i>, a Swedish film (and the country's Oscar entry) that tears masculinity a new one. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Opening in limited release tomorrow and then expanding in the coming weeks, director Robert Ostlund's film is ostensibly a drama. But its dissection of macho attitudes and guises is so unsparing that it achieves a pitch-perfect balance between scathing censure and black humor. Rarely has a film taken men to the woodshed for their failings with such a mix of disgust, pity, and wit, the last of which is the key ingredient that helps make <i>Force Majeure</i> such a unique high-wire balancing act. It puts the awkwardness of a Ben Stiller farce to shame, and investigates the man-child phenomenon more deeply than a timid Hollywood bro-comedy ever could. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">The film, exquisitely shot to emphasize the dynamics between characters, concerns a middle-class Swedish family on a ski-resort vacation. They're an average clan, led by the average Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke), whose defining characteristic is his milquetoast personality and habit of constantly checking his iPhone for work messages. Their perfectly pleasant, unremarkable getaway is demolished, however, when during breakfast on the resort terrace one morning, a "controlled" avalanche is detonated by mountain officials, and the cascade of snow approaches the vacationers. At first, Tomas tells his panicking children to be calm. Yet as the snow builds to a roaring wall facing them, the possibility of death becomes frighteningly real. In that moment, as wife Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) grabs the children to shield them from the avalanche, Tomas grabs his gloves and phone—and flees. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Yes, he flees. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue;"><img src="http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/E1/esq-force-2.jpg" height="256" width="500" /></span></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">It's a moment of undeniable cowardice, and one that doesn't go unnoticed by Ebba and the kids, who, once the false alarm is over, sit in stunned silence as their father rejoins them at the table. Tomas's spinelessness and selfishness hang in the air for what seems like an eternity, even as they resume their vacation, with the kids miserable and Ebba barely able to contain her revulsion around Tomas. Her horror at her husband soon builds to an uncontrollable point, and it's then, during two separate conversations with other couples, that <i>Force Majeure</i> truly becomes a film that's watched while squirming restlessly and half-covering one's eyes. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">During the first of those two chats, with a man and woman they've just met, Tomas denies that he fled the scene, thus digging himself an even deeper hole. Of course, Tomas is wracked with shame over his failure to act as protector, and <i>Force Majeure</i> depicts him as a man who's outwardly possessed and yet so internally weak and pathetic that he lacks even the courage to retroactively admit to (and atone for) his sins. Tomas hits rock bottom during a later evening spent with big-bearded friend Mats (<i>Game of Thrones</i>' Kristofer Hivju) and his 20-year-old girlfriend, who are put in the amusingly uncomfortable position of having to hear about Tomas's gutlessness, and then, in Mats's case, try to put a positive spin on indefensible behavior. During this tense centerpiece, director Ostlund refuses to turn away from his characters as they grapple with Tomas's shortcomings and the misery he's wrought, casting such an intense eye on Tomas and Ebba (and, in heartbreaking cutaways, their kids) that the film takes on the air of an inescapable nightmare at which you can only laugh. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Tomas's and Mats's ladies-man self-images are destroyed while they have a post-skiing drink, and Mats's girlfriend slams him for, hypothetically speaking, having the same cowardly instincts as Tomas (because, in part, he's left his kids with his ex-wife). No matter where you turn in <i>Force Majeure</i>, masculinity is under attack, and with good reason. And yet despite its scornful critique of traditional ideas about men's strength, bravery, virility, and altruism fostered by Marvel comics adaptations, Ostlund's film is no reprimanding lecture or slog. Instead, by rigorously fixating on his characters' faces as they refuse to look at each other or blubber uncontrollably over their own crappiness, he's created a sharply funny satire about the distance between what men project and what they really are. It's a joke for the ages, but it's also designed as a wake-up call to the real modern man-children of the world who haven't owned up to their true, flawed selves.</span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-31754128897929124652014-10-25T16:23:00.000-07:002014-10-27T18:53:35.255-07:00This Is What Developing Acute Schizophrenia Feels Like (via Vice)This is an amazing first person account of one young man's descent into psychosis and his slow and hopeful recovery. I have to append a warning to this story however - his outcome is great, but your outcome may vary.<br />
<br />
A lot of people do NOT respond well to the atypical antipsychotic medications now in wide use, and a lot of those people suffer with serious weight gain (and diabetes, eventually), lethargy, brain fog, loss of sexual function, and a whole list of other problems. This young man was among the fortunate few who respond to the medications.<br />
<br />
This comes from <a href="http://www.vice.com/"><i>Vice</i></a>.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<h1>
<a href="http://www.vice.com/read/this-is-what-developing-acute-schizophrenia-is-like-009">This Is What Developing Acute Schizophrenia Feels Like</a></h1>
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>By Daniel Smith* | Oct 15 2014</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">*<i>This and other names have been changed</i>. </span><br />
<br />
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<img src="http://assets.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/191923/cerebralcortex.jpg" height="350" width="500" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>The brain, showing the cerebral cortex. Photo via Wellcome Images </i></span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">A year ago this winter, I began to not recognize myself. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Sleep was the first thing to change. Progressively, over the course of about two weeks, I began struggling to drift off. As a 24-year-old man with a good supply of hash, this had never been a problem before. It was so odd. Seemingly out of the blue, I’d get into bed at night and not be able to shut off my brain. Thoughts would grow tendrils and loop onto other thoughts, tangling together like a big wall of ivy. Some nights, I’d pull the covers over my head, grab my face hard in my hands, and whisper, “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Eventually I would be able to get to sleep, but I’d wake up feeling peculiar, like I had forgotten to do or tell someone something. Hunger wasn’t as aggressive as it usually was during this time, either. Normally I bolt downstairs to pour a heaping bowl of Frosted Flakes the second my eyes open. Instead, I woke each morning with a sick, creeping feeling in my gut. Still, I carried on as normal, thinking I’d just lay off the hash for a bit. That was probably it. I wasn’t panicked. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">I carried on my work at a local wine shop and tried to push what was happening during the night to the back of my mind. I got through the days OK, if slightly bleary-eyed—but looking back now I can see that I had started to struggle with simple conversations. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">If my boss told me to check a delivery, it’d take me a few seconds to process what he was saying, like two or three people had said it at the same time and I couldn’t make out the clear instruction. Looking at morning delivery slips and trying to make sense of them in my head was like trying to make out a tree in the fog—possible, but hard. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Everything felt misty. I started to think that stuff was about to fall all the time—I’d look at a shelf of bottles and see one or two about to topple over, then look again and they’d be fine. I also kept thinking I could hear phones ringing, at all different pitches, even though there were no phones in the warehouse. Again, I wasn’t panicking yet—I just told everyone who asked if I was OK that I wasn’t sleeping well and thought it was all down to that. Sleep deprivation does weird things to people. A friend at work gave me some sleeping pills to try out, and they seemed to help for a bit, even though I’d wake up and feel like my head was full of wool. I stopped caring about going to bars or playing soccer on the weekends. All I wanted to do was sleep. Conversations were too much work. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">I’d say it probably took two months from that initial sleeplessness for me to actually think there was something seriously wrong with me. The thought octopuses, as I ended up calling them, got weirder and weirder at night. I’d have the TV on and start being unable to identify what was noise coming from the screen and what was my own noise. It was frightening. One night, while watching <i>Homeland</i> (of all the shows), I had what I thought at the time was a panic attack. I knew what a panic attack was because one of the girls I used to go out with had them—she once had to lie down in the movie theater and do deep breathing to stop herself from retching. It was horrible to watch. That night in bed, though, I started trembling like it was freezing cold—only my skin was boiling. My legs shook against the bed sheets and there was this cacophony in my head, like a crowd of people were chatting beside my pillow. Nothing dramatic, just a steady, confusing noise. By the flickering light of the TV, I began to lose my mind. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">I didn’t sleep at all that night. I felt paralyzed. My bedroom door had become the very end of my world, like the paper set Jim Carrey rows into in the final scene of <i>The Truman Show</i>. The noise came and went in waves, but it felt like someone, or something, had replaced my body and mind. It wasn’t me who was too scared to go to the bathroom to piss, so I decided to do it into an empty glass, spilling it all over the floor. It wasn’t me who threw all my bed sheets off, only feeling comfortable completely naked against the bare mattress. It wasn’t me who pressed the tip of a boxcutter into my heel to try and snap myself out of the despair. In that room, as the sun came up and my alarm went off for work, I thought, I need my mom. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Luckily, she was only a staircase away. I hadn’t gotten myself together to move out of home yet—couldn’t afford to, really. I called her from my phone because I thought that if I left my bedroom my insides were going to fall out. I genuinely believed crossing the threshold of my bedroom doorframe into the hallway would make my skull come apart and my bowels fall out of me like a bucket of pig swill. She answered the phone and said, “Oh for goodness sake, Daniel,* stop messing around,” or something similar. I started crying, apparently in big, whooping sobs like a little boy, and heard her throwing her phone on the floor through the ceiling. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">When she opened my door, she gasped. I don’t remember doing it, but apparently I’d pulled apart my TV remotes (I had, like, four of them) and my bare mattress was covered in little circuit boards, piss, and blood (from my heel). I sat there in my underwear, crying, and told her that I'd been “taken over.” She called an ambulance. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Again, I don’t really remember this properly, but apparently when the paramedics arrived I thought they were both taking pictures of me. I got really angry and tried to punch them. I screamed at one of them, telling him it was against the law to take my photo and that I had rights, all while seated in a pair of soaking wet boxer shorts with blood all over my leg. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">All I remember from the drive to the hospital is my mom holding my legs down against the bed, but she says I was screaming that I didn’t want to be driven on the highway because there were people crouched inside the speed cameras. My memories of the hospital that night are colorless flashes of needles, soft voices, and arm restraints. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://assets.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/192185/1800px-Schizophrenia-fMRI-working-memory.jpg" height="282" width="500" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><i>An image showing brain areas more active in controls than in schizophrenia patients during a working memory task. Photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schizophrenia_fMRI_working_memory.jpg">via</a></i></span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">All the above is what’s called a psychotic episode, and it's emblematic of acute schizophrenia—the illness I was diagnosed with. Psychosis is defined as someone having a loss of contact with reality. It can happen quickly, or—most commonly in those who develop schizophrenia—can be a slow burner and then suddenly snap. That’s what happened to me. I was hospitalized for about a week and a half and started on a course of antipsychotic medication immediately. I don’t remember much of this time, either, only that I felt sick a lot and found it hard to talk to anyone. Oh, and that the guy in the room next to me constantly shat himself on purpose. The smell was like the death I felt in my brain. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">I remember the day I started to feel like I’d clicked back into reality, when the new chemicals I was taking found their footing in my body and didn’t just make me want to cover my head in blankets and sleep. My brother came in to see me with my mom (they’d been coming in every day but mostly just talked to the doctors and nurses—I was incapable of conversation), and we watched three episodes of <i>Breaking Bad</i> in a row on the iPad in the visitor’s lounge. My mom held it against her knees with one hand, while occasionally stroking the back of my neck with the other. I laughed at something Saul said and felt like I might be getting somewhere, like the curtains that had been drawn on who I once was were starting to flicker. I even ate a full meal that evening, and I'll now never take mashed potatoes for granted again. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">The road to recovery was filled with potholes. Namely, debilitating panic attacks when I had flashes of what had happened weeks previous. But the mental health team at my local NHS hospital were amazing—save a couple of nurses who treated me like a baby. I hated that. Once I was allowed home I had a social worker come and see me every week to check on the medication, ask about what I was doing each day, and encourage me to go for walks with my mom and start talking to my friends again. I'd been too embarrassed to, and thought they wouldn’t understand. Or, worse, just write me off as a nutjob. I couldn’t have been more wrong. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">My best friend, Sam, said he’d been so worried about me that he actually hadn’t been sleeping at night. Stupid bastard. One by one they all started texting me again—I think they'd been frightened of saying the wrong thing, mostly—and said they couldn’t wait to start playing soccer again, that I’d be back on my skinny legs in no time. It was amazing how mature they all seemed. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">The mental health unit arranged a course of outpatient therapy with a straight-talking man called Gregg. The antipsychotics were really sedating for a while, and I often felt like I was wading through molasses, but there was a strange calm in my brain that I’d not felt for months and months. Gregg helped make sense of what had happened to me, teaching me techniques for when panicked thoughts came into my brain about that night when I snapped (he says it’s unhelpful to talk about “losing” your mind—the mind is still there, it just got ill) and how to not live in fear of it happening again. He encouraged me to start seeing my friends again and told me about how the mind doesn’t stay the same, how it’s possible for it to recover, and that the medication had worked so would continue to work, but that I had to be realistic with myself and accept that I had become ill. All I needed was time. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Accepting it was the biggest thing, actually. Frustration is, as I’ve learned, too close to anxiety. On the days when I’d go out for a walk (my mom made me go every afternoon for at least an hour, leaving me on my own halfway through and giving me a task, like buying a pint of milk or some butter) and start thinking about everything, thoughts would flash into my brain: For fuck’s sake, why can’t you just be normal? I had to stop, inhale a few times and say to myself out loud, "I am normal. I just got sick and am having a break." </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Within about six weeks of leaving the hospital, I started going to my friends’ houses again. I always felt a little twinge of discomfort when the TV was too loud, or when everyone talked at once, but I just told them when I felt strange. No one laughed at me. No one pitied me, either, which was amazing. I feel like if one of them had gotten sick like I had, I’d be like an overbearing mother, constantly asking if they were all right. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Within ten weeks I was back at work part-time. My boss couldn’t have been more sympathetic. Apparently, when I went into the hospital he called my mom to let me know that the job was waiting for me as soon as I felt well enough, and that I could take it at my own pace. Initially this made me angry—I didn’t want to go back as some sort of invalid. I was 25 (I celebrated my birthday in a medicated fog watching Friends reruns), not 60, and wanted to be thought of as the same guy when I returned. It took me a while to accept people’s sympathy and care for what it was, not a slight on me as a person. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Going back to work was the best thing for me. Having a routine, people to talk to, and tangible tasks to complete was very medicinal. I had days when I’d wake up and feel frightened, when it would take me a couple of hours to shower and leave the house, but nobody questioned me. I called Gregg a few times from the warehouse—being in the place where my reality had started to slip was, on occasions, pretty odd—and he wasn’t always available, but sometimes just leaving him a message was enough. Eventually, he said I didn’t need to come and see him anymore—that he trusted me to work through the thoughts and techniques on my own. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">It’s a year on now, and I’ve not relapsed. I'll have to take this medication for a long time, I think, but I’m OK with that. I have precious little sex drive (even though I can still get it up) and have put on a bit of weight, but those are small prices to pay for clarity of mind. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">I wanted to tell this story because, until I became schizophrenic, the word represented a death sentence in my mind. When you hear of people being schizophrenic, you imagine them locked in rooms with padded walls, rocking backwards and forwards into a two-dimensional future of heavily-medicated conversations and drool-covered pillows. You imagine a future of hearing voices and seeing phantoms. This is far from the case if it's treated well. With the right treatment, and especially if it’s caught early, you can recover incredibly well from acute schizophrenia, as you can from other mental illnesses. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">I'm realistic about my prognosis: I might have a relapse at some point in the future, and do sometimes feel depressed about that. But now I know that I can recover well, it’s less scary. I'm back at work, socializing, keeping fit, and playing soccer like I was a year ago. I’ve even been on vacation. I’m not quite ready to move out of home yet, but that might be due to laziness more than anything. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">My biggest piece of advice to anyone who starts to experience any psychological symptoms they’re not used to is to tell someone. Anyone. Make it a conversation rather than something you carry around yourself. Mental illness is no different from physical illness—it just involves a different organ: the brain. Don’t worry about asking for time off work, or about telling your boss that you’re feeling unwell, like I did. Looking back, hallucinating that invisible phones were ringing when I still had some grip on reality should have made me reach out to someone. Shame can play no part when it comes to looking after your mental well-being, and we should be as finely tuned to our mental symptoms as we are to our physical ones. Being a master of disguise, like I was to even my own mom, is nothing to be proud of. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">If you're feeling out of sorts, talk to your doctor. Demand emergency appointments if you have to. Even if you think it sounds silly, or like something that will blow over, telling someone about how you’re feeling is the best thing you can do. I was dealt with as a psychiatric emergency, and as we all know, the hospital is astounding in an emergency. I don’t know what it’s like for others that don’t present like I did (I’ve read all sorts of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/08/nhs-mental-health-care-readers-stories">horror stories</a> about shoddy, delayed treatment online), but I do know that staying silent about feeling unwell is the worst thing you can do. People are always far more sympathetic than you think they’ll be. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">It’s 2014. We need to stop treating mental illness as something taboo, something that will stain us forever. And that can only start with ourselves.</span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-47235056646326347092014-10-24T10:46:00.000-07:002014-10-24T10:46:23.140-07:00Fitness Friday: Fitness News You Can UseThis week on Fitness Friday, we have articles on carbohydrate tolerance (Performance Nutrition), the anti-estrogenic properties of kelp (<i>Journal of Nutrition</i>), intermittent hypoxic resistance training (<i>Frontiers in Striated Muscle Physiology</i>), and two articles from T-Nation (perfecting the push-press and the 5/3/1 Beach Body Challenge).<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="squatting" src="http://www.t-nation.com/system/publishing/article_assets/793/original/squatting.jpg" height="281" name="squatting" style="margin: 24px 0px 0px;" width="500" /></div>
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First up, from <a href="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/carbohydrate-tolerance-genes">Performance Nutrition</a>, everything you need to know about carb intolerance.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<a href="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/carbohydrate-tolerance-genes">Carbohydrate tolerance: Is your ability to eat carbs determined by your genes? </a></h3>
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">By Helen Kollias </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">Ever wonder why some people can eat bushels of bananas without gaining a pound, but you seem to gain weight by just looking at a potato? Maybe it’s your genes. But just because you’re “carb intolerant” doesn’t mean you’re doomed. These simple guidelines can help. </span></b><br />
<br />
[Note: we’ve also prepared an audio recording of this article for you to listen to. So, if you'd rather <a href="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/carbohydrate-tolerance-download?utm_source=CarbohydrateTolerance&utm_medium=DownloadLink&utm_campaign=CarbohydrateToleranceDownloadLink">listen to the piece, click here</a>.] <br />
<br />
++ <br />
<br />
You and a friend sit down for dinner. <br />
<br />
Your friend orders a rice and potato sandwich with a side of spaghetti. <br />
<br />
“I’m carb tolerant,” he explains, taking a sip of his beer and glancing eagerly at the dessert buffet. <br />
<br />
You, on the other hand, order the green salad with salmon — hold the chickpeas. <br />
<br />
You are not carb tolerant. <br />
<br />
But you are annoyed with your friend. <br />
<br />
In fact, for a bite of his sandwich, you would gladly stab him with a fork. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
<b>What is “carb tolerance” anyway? </b><br />
<br />
Actually, come to think of it, does “carb tolerance” even exist? <br />
<br />
Sure, the phrase peppers a lot of contemporary dinner conversations. <br />
<br />
But does anybody really know what it means? <br />
<br />
Maybe “carb intolerant” people just eat too many carbs. Or the wrong kind. You know — cookie carbs, donut carbs. <br />
<br />
Or maybe the problem isn’t carbs at all. Maybe their “baked potato” has more sour cream and butter than potato. <br />
<br />
Then again…maybe some of those people simply can’t process carbs the way the rest of us do. <br />
<br />
In other words, maybe their genes are to blame.</span></blockquote>
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<br />
It appears sea kelp has anti-estrogenic effects (in mice). This is from 2005, but it's interesting nonetheless.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.ergo-log.com/kelpantiestrogenic.html">Kelp has anti-estrogenic effect</a></span></h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Kelp, or bladderwrack seaweed – scientific name Fucus vesiculosus – has an anti-estrogenic effect. Substances found in kelp delay the manufacture of estradiol in the body and sabotage the working of the estradiol receptor. </b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley stumbled upon the anti-estrogenic effect of kelp when they tested an alternative theory on why very few Japanese women have breast, womb or ovarian cancer. These types of cancer are caused by estradiol. The conventional theory is that high consumption of soya, a food with an anti-estrogenic effect, protects Japanese women against estradiol-related cancers. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Source: </b></span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15671230"><i>J Nutr.</i> 2005 Feb;<b>135</b>(2):296-300.</a> </span></blockquote>
You can read the original research article, as well.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/2/296.long">Brown Kelp Modulates Endocrine Hormones in Female Sprague-Dawley Rats and in Human Luteinized Granulosa Cells</a></span></h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://jn.nutrition.org/search?author1=Christine+F.+Skibola&sortspec=date&submit=Submit">Christine F. Skibola</a>, <a href="http://jn.nutrition.org/search?author1=John+D.+Curry&sortspec=date&submit=Submit">John D. Curry</a>, <a href="http://jn.nutrition.org/search?author1=Catherine+VandeVoort&sortspec=date&submit=Submit">Catherine VandeVoort</a>, <a href="http://jn.nutrition.org/search?author1=Alan+Conley&sortspec=date&submit=Submit">Alan Conley</a>, and <a href="http://jn.nutrition.org/search?author1=Martyn+T.+Smith&sortspec=date&submit=Submit">Martyn T. Smith</a></span></span><span style="color: #351c75;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;"> <b>Abstract</b></span></blockquote>
<div class="section abstract" id="abstract-1" itemprop="description">
<blockquote>
<div id="p-1">
<span style="color: blue;"></span></div>
<div id="p-1">
<span style="color: blue;">Epidemiological studies suggest that populations consuming typical Asian diets have a lower incidence of hormone-dependent cancers than populations consuming Western diets. These dietary differences have been mainly attributed to higher soy intakes among Asians. However, studies from our laboratory suggest that the anti-estrogenic effects of dietary kelp also may contribute to these reduced cancer rates. As a follow-up to previous findings of endocrine modulation related to kelp ingestion in a pilot study of premenopausal women, we investigated the endocrine modulating effects of kelp (<i>Fucus vesiculosus</i>) in female rats and human luteinized granulosa cells (hLGC). Kelp administration lengthened the rat estrous cycle from 4.3 ± 0.96 to 5.4 ± 1.7 d at 175 mg · kg<sup>−1</sup> body wt · d<sup>−1</sup> (<i>P</i> = 0.05) and to 5.9 ± 1.9 d at 350 mg · kg<sup>−1</sup> · d<sup>−1</sup> (<i>P</i> = 0.002) and also led to a 100% increase in the length of diestrus (<i>P</i> = 0.02). Following 175 mg · kg<sup>−1</sup> · d<sup>−1</sup> treatment for 2 wk, serum 17β-estradiol levels were reduced from 48.9 ± 4.5 to 40.2 ± 3.2 ng/L (<i>P</i> = 0.13). After 4 wk, 17β-estradiol levels were reduced to 36.7 ± 2.2 ng/L (<i>P</i> = 0.02). In hLGC, 25, 50, and 75 μmol/L treatment reduced 17β-estradiol levels from 4732 ± 591 to 3632 ± 758, 3313 ± 373, and 3060 ± 538 ng/L, respectively. Kelp treatment also led to modest elevations in hLGC culture progesterone levels. Kelp extract inhibited the binding of estradiol to estrogen receptor α and β and that of progesterone to the progesterone receptor, with IC<sub>50</sub> values of 42.4, 31.8, and 40.7 μmol/L, respectively. These data show endocrine modulating effects of kelp at relevant doses and suggest that dietary kelp may contribute to the lower incidence of hormone-dependent cancers among the Japanese. </span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
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* * * * *</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphys.2014.00397/full">Intermittent hypoxic resistance training: does it provide added benefit? </a></span></h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://www.frontiersin.org/people/u/176955">Brendan R. Scott</a>, Katie M. Slattery, and Ben J. Dascombe </span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;"><a class="position-top-50" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="h2" name="h2"></a></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Introduction</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="mb15">
<span style="color: blue;">Methods to enhance the adaptive responses to resistance training are of great interest to clinical and athletic populations alike. Altering the muscular environment by restricting oxygen availability during resistance exercise has been shown to induce favorable physiological adaptations. An acute hypoxic stimulus during exercise essentially increases reliance on anaerobic pathways, augmenting metabolic stress responses, and subsequent hypertrophic processes (<a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphys.2014.00397/full#B19">Scott et al., 2014</a>). Hypoxic strategies during resistance exercise were originally investigated using blood flow restriction (BFR) methods (<a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphys.2014.00397/full#B21">Takarada et al., 2000</a>), whereby a cuff is applied proximally to a limb to partially limit arterial inflow while occluding venous outflow from the working muscles. Another method that has been investigated more recently is performing resistance exercise in systemic hypoxia, by means of participants breathing a hypoxic air mixture.</span></div>
<div class="mb15">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: blue;"> The addition of systemic hypoxia to resistance training has previously resulted in significantly enhanced hypertrophic and strength responses to both low-load (20% 1-repetition maximum; 1RM) (<a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphys.2014.00397/full#B13">Manimmanakorn et al., 2013a</a>,<a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphys.2014.00397/full#B14">b</a>) and moderate-load (70% 1RM) (<a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphys.2014.00397/full#B16">Nishimura et al., 2010</a>) resistance training. </span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<br />
Finally, here are a couple of articles from T-Nation.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.t-nation.com/training/how-to-do-the-perfect-push-press">How to Do the Perfect Push Press</a> </span></h3>
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">by <a href="http://www.t-nation.com/all-articles/authors/eric-auciello">Eric Auciello</a> | 10/16/14 </span> </blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><img src="http://www.t-nation.com/system/publishing/articles/10001034/original/How-to-Do-the-Perfect-Push-Press.jpg?1410545644" height="225" width="400" /></span> </blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Here's what you need to know... </b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">The push press develops a strong and stable trunk while highlighting gross deficiencies in mobility.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">The push press is a great way to train heavy loads overhead in a strength-endurance format.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Unlike the press, the push press requires the upper arms to be parallel to the floor, similar to the arm position used in a front squat.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Maintaining a stacked spinal column while exhibiting force throughout the lift is best achieved by taking a wide stance.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">The dip-drive phase isn't a one-fourth squat. It's a shallow and violent redirection of energy from your body to the barbell. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
<b>The Perfect Push Press </b><br />
<br />
When it comes to lifting a barbell overhead, there are several options to choose from, from the simple shoulder press for hypertrophy to the technically complex jerk. But somewhere in the middle of that complexity spectrum lies a lift everyone should be doing: the push press.</span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.t-nation.com/workouts/531-beach-body-challenge">5/3/1 Beach Body Challenge</a> </span></h3>
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">by <a href="http://www.t-nation.com/all-articles/authors/jim-wendler">Jim Wendler</a> | 10/20/14 </span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><img src="http://www.t-nation.com/system/publishing/articles/10001154/original/5-3-1_Beach_Body_Challenge.jpg?1413229957" height="225" width="400" /> </span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;"></span> <span style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<b>Here's what you need to know... </b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">The goal of this challenge is performance, not aesthetics. But you'll look awesome anyway.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Goal setting is a three-step process: Set the goal, make the plan, and get to work.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">The challenges are very typical of the 5/3/1 set-up in that each day has a squat, a push, and a pull.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Many of the lifts will use the 5's Progression: 5 reps for every set, regardless of percentage.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Once you've completed the first three weeks, you'll have established rep records for the squat, press, and hang clean.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #351c75;">The next three weeks of the program will be devoted to you beating or attempting to beat each record.</span> </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>"Beach Muscles" </b><br />
<br />
A couple of months ago I was talking with a friend of mine about what the 5/3/1 "beach muscles" would be. The list was easy to come up with: </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Legs</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Traps</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Neck</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Shoulders</span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Forearms</span> </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;">These obviously aren't the usual muscles associated with the beach, but I live next to a corn field, so cut me some slack. Anyway, it gave birth to the 5/3/1 "Beach Body" Challenge. <br />
<br />
The key to the challenge is that performance is the main goal, not aesthetics. I always focus on performance. I believe that when one has a concrete training goal – for example, "press 300 pounds, box jump 45", and run a 6:30 mile" – training becomes more focused and goals become real.</span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-47043503994945318742014-10-23T12:25:00.001-07:002014-10-23T12:26:39.259-07:00Are You a Member of Generation Stupid?Funny and, sadly, partially true of a lot of the young people I see around these days. Like a group of five college kids sitting at a table in a coffee shop - ALL of them staring into their phones and not at all talking to each other. WTF? Is conversation dead? <br />
<br />
Are <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/10/14/352979540/getting-some-me-time-why-millennials-are-so-individualistic">Millennials so individualistic</a> that they are incapable of communicating with words, face to face? <br />
<br />
Okay, I better stop before I tell those punk kids to get off of my lawn.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h1>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://medium.com/bad-words/generation-stupid-b2bc21dc3ed5">Generation Stupid</a></span></h1>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>September 30, 2014 </b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;"> </span> <span style="color: blue;"><img alt="https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1200/1*CYR2d0S9fu2flPdbMQEU9g.jpeg" class="shrinkToFit decoded" height="333" src="https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1200/1*CYR2d0S9fu2flPdbMQEU9g.jpeg" width="500" /></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b><span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="https://medium.com/bad-words">Bad Words</a> | Written by <a href="https://medium.com/@umairh">umair haque</a></span></b> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://medium.com/bad-words"><img src="https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/fit/c/160/160/1*Lv8k7RmM0cVRK4_qjOs49Q.jpeg" /></a> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b><i>We need to talk.<br />
</i></b><br />
You’re not going to like it.<br />
<br />
Here’s the deal.<br />
<br />
Jobs. Careers. Homes. Stability. Healthcare. Money. Stability. Democracy. Civil rights. A planet. Freedom. Meaning. Purpose. Happiness.<br />
<br />
FaceTinder. UberDrones. Watching people play videogames. Selfies. LOLcats. Friending. Tube videos. Free porn. Pawnshop reality TV. The Latest and Most Kardashian Kardashian. Butt implants. Scandal. Outrage. Titillation. Cosmeceuticals. Made-by-the-lowest-bidder-slave-labor-sweatshop-shit. #OMG. #WTF? #IDK.<br />
<br />
What do you spend most of your<i>self</i> on? Where do most of your passions life? What do you invest most of your attention, energy, and ideas in?<br />
<br />
<i>The stuff on the second list.</i><br />
<br />
You are trading the stuff in the first list for the stuff in the second list.<br />
<br />
#LOL.<br />
<br />
<i>What the fuck is wrong with you?</i><br />
<br />
Maybe you can’t change the world. It’s true. Not of all us can — and not all of us should try. But you can…be a functioning human. Am I suggesting you call your congressman, your MP, revolt in the streets, become a dreadlocked hippie and organize town halls no one comes to because you smell like the 1960s? Nope. But I am suggesting that wasting your life on bullshit is…the greatest of <i>all</i> bullshit.<br />
<br />
If all your life amounts to is the pursuit of the Perfect Selfie, the Greatest High Score, the Largest Number of Mega Awesome Totally Fake Friends — congratulations! You’re a proud member of Generation Stupid.<br />
<br />
The world is literally falling apart. We will be lucky if this decade doesn’t end in great catastrophe. Because the last time the world got stuck on the express train to nowhere, the passengers started fighting each other…to the death.<br />
<br />
Let’s face it. We do the stuff on the second list because we’re afraid, anxious, worried. Deep down, we know things are going deeply, badly wrong. Socially, economically, culturally…spiritually.<br />
<br />
Who <i>wouldn’t</i> want to escape the world? Who wouldn’t want to run away, into the immaculate digital arms of the most beautiful lover who ever was? The one that never challenges you, frightens you, hurts you? The one that tells you ”love” is whatever you want to be — as long as it’s a “profile”, an “avatar”, a “choice” from a dropdown menu.<br />
<br />
Are you serious? Is that all you <i>are</i>? A being made of…bullshit?<br />
<br />
You’re in pursuit of a deity that looks like Venus. A goddess of pure love. But she is an illusion made of bits and digits. And you must look back, not up. For then you will remember. No one ever won their freedom by looking to the contemptuous gods for salvation, instead of in their spirits for liberation.<br />
<br />
That is precisely what courage is. Not the absence of fear. But the overcoming of fear, despite the surety of pain. Damn me if you must, the courageous say. I am damned <i>anyway</i>. If I cannot.<br />
<br />
Generation Stupid. I love you. But you have to learn to love yourselves. Not in the naive, foolish, hopeless, cynical way you have been taught. That love is merely the “freedom” to take whiz through in a theme park chugging shots of designer digital esctasy while the world smashes itself into oblivion. So that all traces of the <i>real</i> you are obliterated. To love yourselves in a truer sense. To learn that there is not just more to life than all that — there is no life in all that.<br />
<br />
You must learn to love yourselves as people who share the same obligations all human beings do. To make the most of yourselves, and live extraordinary lives.<br />
<br />
Here. Now. At this very moment. In the place you stand. Not inside the screen, as a machine, a programs, an instruction, a profile, a counterfeit, an image. A helpless, less than human thing…that is…merely executed, stored, performed…<i>processed</i>.<br />
<br />
All that…<i>shit</i>…? It’s just noise in the signal. Of what? Of<i> life</i>.<br />
<br />
Imagine if I took a picture of myself, smiling coyly — while the world burned right down to an ember behind me. It would be the Perfect Selfie. For I would surely be lord and master of all. Everyone would know how cool I was. Look! Umair doesn’t give a shit! The fucking world’s <i>burning down</i>…and he took a selfie!! Damn…that dude!! He’s so cool!! What cojones!<br />
<br />
But what would it be <i>worth</i>? Even the most Perfect Selfie in the world would just be noise. In the signal. Of life.<br />
<br />
It would get me no closer to an extraordinary life. Just as extraordinarily <i>wasted </i>one.<br />
<br />
That is every person’s challenge. To have the courage to be the signal. The lighthouse. The fire. The spark. The true north. Not merely to reduce one’s self to noise. To futility, oblivion, nothingness…meaninglessness...emptiness…a glitch at the end of the world…fizzling out into…bzzzt.<br />
<br />
Courage, Generation Stupid. Courage. That is the truest miracle of all, for it is the only one there is.<br />
<br />
Man is the weakest, the most laughable, of all the great beasts. He is hairless and small, clawless and slow. And yet, man may face a lion, in his very den. And conquer him. By, first, conquering <i>himself</i>.<br />
<br />
Running away will never bring you a step closer to the life you were meant to live. Not a single aching step. Only courage can. That is what it has always taken to live. For life is not merely given, or taken. It is earned. With tears and sweat, suffering and grief, wonder and beauty, perseverance and grace. And so it can also be <i>wasted</i>.<br />
<br />
Don’t waste your life. Live an extraordinary one. Say it with me.<br />
<br />
Damn me if you must. I am damned anyway.</span></blockquote>
william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-72472850401406003802014-10-22T06:43:00.000-07:002014-10-22T07:14:09.278-07:00Will 'Cisgender' Survive?<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2wOlA0ywowCYd7vHWkphZpSOUOd3Psl92BFXr49YtvhYDJnGgYw8Os_jXwT54HwJhVEh8DDxStSkJGFPQBNDXian22OgVu8UFNSq2HFUjH_FwAb6D0inEXIGnbYtfeb7EWH-vt7K51c/s1600/trans+cis.jpg" class="shrinkToFit decoded" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2wOlA0ywowCYd7vHWkphZpSOUOd3Psl92BFXr49YtvhYDJnGgYw8Os_jXwT54HwJhVEh8DDxStSkJGFPQBNDXian22OgVu8UFNSq2HFUjH_FwAb6D0inEXIGnbYtfeb7EWH-vt7K51c/s400/trans+cis.jpg" height="339" width="500" /> </div>
<br />
Not the people, the word.<br />
<br />
I think this is actually a very useful word - it removes the normativity of the male/female binary. I also like genderqueer as a way to subvert the binary.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h1>
<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/09/cisgenders-linguistic-uphill-battle/380342/?single_page=true">Will 'Cisgender' Survive? </a></h1>
<h3>
<span style="color: #351c75;">The linguistic complement to "transgender" has achieved some popularity, but faces social and political obstacles to dictionary coronation. </span></h3>
<br />
<br />
<article class="" id="article" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article"><span style="color: #351c75;">
<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/paula-blank/">Paula Blank</a> | Sept. 24, 2014</span> </article></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicmcphee/2756494307/in/photolist-5VCyau-5czKHV-bRTpGR-5RUkkk-4zdpgX-8u8V8Y-8U5jVx-8u8Vdw-8U5jZt-9AUigK-9AXbNY-8R8d4R-7cG9Nz-dmb7sW-iF7uHW-iF4AFa-iF3wzD-941jtp-941jwZ-bt4bqk-iF4AhV-iF7ugo-iF5d1Q-5UDFrv-4VP9Yo-aHa3y8-3Sp465-8s" target="_blank"> Nick McPhee/Flickr </a></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">The new Amazon Original Series, <a href="http://qz.com/269293/this-is-how-amazon-developed-its-first-great-tv-series/"><i>Transparent</i></a>, about a middle-aged father who's transitioning into a woman, is just the <a href="http://time.com/135480/transgender-tipping-point/">latest cultural sign</a> that the word "transgender" has gone mainstream. No doubt there have been transgender people—that is, those with a gender identity or gender expression that doesn't conform to their assigned birth sex—since there have been people at all, but the term itself wasn't coined until the 1970s. Popular confusion about its usage notwithstanding (for example, questions about the difference between "transgender" and "transsexual"), "transgender" is here, it's queer, and a lot of people have gotten used to it.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">The situation is more complicated for "cisgender," coined in the 1990s to mean the opposite of "transgender." The "trans" in "transgender" comes from a Latin word meaning "on the other side of," and the "cis" in "cisgender" comes from a Latin word meaning "on this side of." "Cisgender" refers to people who feel there is a match between their assigned sex and the gender they feel themselves to be. You are cisgender if your birth certificate says you're male and you identify yourself as a man or if your birth certificate says you're female and you identify as a woman. Presumably you are also cisgender if you were born intersex (that is, with some combination of male and female reproductive parts) and identify as an intersex or androgynous person.</span><br />
<br />
<aside class="callout"><span style="color: blue;"> </span></aside><span style="color: blue;">For a while, "cisgender" only appeared in academic journals. But now it's all over the Internet, and not just on blogs and sites of, by, and for transgender people. It's made it into online reference works like the <i>Oxford Dictionaries</i>. And since "cisgender" is one of the 56 options for gender identification on Facebook (along with "cis female," "cis male," "cis woman, "cis man," "cisgender woman," "cisgender man," and just plain "cis"), it has already achieved a kind of pop officialdom.</span> </div>
</article></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<article class="" id="article" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article"><div class="article-content" itemprop="articleBody">
<span style="color: blue;">
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Even more auspiciously, Stephen Colbert referred to "cis-language" in a recent episode of <i>The Colbert Report</i>. On June 17, in a segment of the show called "The Word," the comedian announced that his racial identity is "ciswhite" because, as he put it, "I've always been comfortable with my birth-race." Colbert's announcement should be a big deal as far as disseminating "cis" goes. His 2005 coinage, "truthiness," became so popular that the American Dialect Society named it "The Word of the Year"—the term that best represented the times. In 2006 it was still going strong, as the <i>Merriam-Webster Dictionary</i> named it its "Word of the Year," too.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Still, "truthiness" never made into standard dictionaries of contemporary English. Neither have any of the "cis" words—at least not yet. Will "cisgender" go all the way into the English language, become mainstream, right alongside "transgender"?</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Despite Facebook, even despite Colbert, "cisgender" may not last, let alone become a household word. And it's not because it started life as academic jargon. After all, "transsexual," the basis for "transgender," was first introduced in the <i>American Journal of Psychotherapy.</i> "Heterosexual" and "homosexual" were invented by neurologists in the late 19th century, to name what they considered to be opposing perversions ("heterosexuals" were deviants who enjoyed relations with the opposite sex for pleasure and not just for procreation). Since "transgender," "heterosexual," and "homosexual" have stuck despite their provenance, "cisgender" just might, too.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">That said, "cisgender" sounds more improbable as a word than "transgender" ever did. While the prefix "trans" is familiar from hundreds of English words ("translate," "transport," "transcend"), "cis" occurs in only a handful, the least obscure of which is probably "cisalpine" ("on this side of the Alps"). Compared to "transgender," the meaning of "cisgender" isn't very transparent (so to speak). Research by Harvard linguist Steven Pinker has shown that neologisms with staying power can often be identified by their initial "unobstrusiveness" (see his 2007 bestseller, <i>The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature</i>). Lexicographer Kerry Maxwell has since used a simpler (and more recent) word, "user-friendliness" to predict longevity. <a href="http://www.macmillandictionaries.com/MED-Magazine/November2009/55-Feature-New%20Words-Longevity-Print.htm">She says</a> it helps if new words are easy to pronounce, easy to read, and easy to spell.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">"Cisgender"? Not so much.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Of course, there's more at stake in the viability of "cisgender" than mere words. "Cisgender" suggests a commonality among transgender and non-transgender people, at a time when transgender people are struggling for recognition. It tells us that we all experience some kind of relationship between our bodies and our selves, whatever that relationship may be. And it reminds us that those who experience a "match" between their body and their selves have it a lot easier in our society than those who do not. To the extent that "cisgender" helps raise awareness of intolerance and injustice towards transgender people, it serves a crucial political purpose right now. Potentially, "cisgender" could help build consensus on transgender rights.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <br />
<br />
<aside class="pullquote instapaper_ignore"><span style="color: blue;">There's more at stake in the viability of "cisgender" than mere words.</span></aside><aside class="pullquote instapaper_ignore"><span style="color: blue;"> </span></aside><span style="color: blue;">However, the politics of "cisgender" have already proven divisive. Perhaps the most surprising protests are coming from the left—from people, that is, who might otherwise be counted on to support the transgender movement. <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2">There are feminists</a> who balk at the idea that cisgender women are privileged in relation to transgender women, who were born male. Among other potential benefits, such as "passing" as men in a patriarchal culture, transgender women don't have to worry about reproductive rights.<i> The Huffington Post</i> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/cisgender">recently collected</a> a grab-bag of very mixed reactions to "cisgender" from the gay community. It's clear that some gay men and lesbians see "cisgender" as a slur, a way of labeling them as elitists or conformists after all (i.e., as not "queer" enough). Some think "cisgender" validates the notion that there are two (and only two) genders, correlating with two (and only two) sexes, just as many are exploring non-binary gender identities, such as "genderqueer."</span><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">All of which brings us back to the problem of the word "cisgender" itself. Linguists agree that the survival of a neologism relies, above all, on whether it names a stable and coherent concept, an idea that will last. It's the uncertainty of the concept behind the word "cisgender," for now, that really hints at trouble. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">As the social and medical sciences tell us more and more about ourselves and one another, we may eventually settle on the right words, the true words or, at least, the ones that reflect the data. "Cisgender" may or may not end up being one of them. But maybe, in the long run, it doesn't matter. Maybe the impact of Facebook's 56 genders will one day prove to have had nothing to do with naming all the possibilities for gender identity, but rather with helping to make the idea of <i>possibility</i>, itself, official. Our vocabulary of gender and sex is in flux right now because our ideas about gender and sex are in flux, too.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">So will "cisgender" be an upcoming "Word of the Year," the linguistic sign of our times? Or will we just forget about it?</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue;">Quite possibly, both. </span></div>
</article></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><a class="author-name" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/paula-blank/">Paula Blank</a> is a professor of English at the College of William and Mary. </span></div>
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william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-58715838263618209792014-10-21T09:30:00.002-07:002014-10-21T09:30:48.969-07:00Why One Male College Student Abandoned Affirmative Consent (via The Atlantic)Interesting . . . raises some interesting issues that men must deal with regularly, but that seldom get brought up in the discussions around consent.<br />
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Perhaps this is a discussion that people should have before things move to the bedroom, or wherever. <br />
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And, more importantly, we need to remove the double standard around female sexuality. Women like sex, too (duh!), and should not be shamed for liking it or initiating it.<br />
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<article class="" id="article" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article"><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/why-a-college-student-abandoned-affirmative-consent/381650/?single_page=true">Why One Male College Student Abandoned Affirmative Consent</a><div class="dek" itemprop="description">
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<span style="color: #351c75;">A letter from a recent graduate who takes issue with California's new sexual-assault law</span></h3>
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><span class="authors"><a class="author" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/conor-friedersdorf/" itemprop="author" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" rel="author">Conor Friedersdorf</a></span> <span class="date last-child"><time content="2014-10-20T09:51:59-04:00" datetime="2014-10-20T09:51:59-04:00" itemprop="datePublished">| Oct 20 2014</time></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><span class="date last-child"><time content="2014-10-20T09:51:59-04:00" datetime="2014-10-20T09:51:59-04:00" itemprop="datePublished"> </time></span> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Beck Diefenbach/Reuters </span> </div>
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<span style="color: blue;">After I <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/what-sex-on-campus-will-look-like-for-the-class-of-2020/381572/">asked college students</a> and recent grads to comment on California's affirmative-consent law, several different respondents shared a controversial perspective best captured in the email below. The male writer reports that he began college determined to ask women for explicit verbal consent during sexual encounters, but abandoned that approach over time. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Here is his explanation of why:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Dear Conor, </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">I am a recent graduate, and want to share with you a few of my experiences that I think are illustrative of why the new affirmative-consent laws are out of touch with the reality of the human experience. I hope they can be of some value to the debate. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">I was raised by a left-leaning, feminist family who (at least I thought at the time) were relatively open about sex. But while I arrived at college with a healthy respect for women, I was totally unprepared for the complex realities of female sexuality. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">“Oh,” sighed one platonic female friend after we had just watched Harrison Ford grab Alison Doody and kiss her is <i>Indiana Jones and the</i> <i>Last Crusade</i>, “Why don’t guys do that kind of thing anymore? Now days they are all too scared.” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">On our second night together, one of my first partners threw up her hands in disgust. “How am I supposed to get turned on when you keep asking for permission for everything like a little boy?” She said. “Just take me and fuck me already.” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">She didn’t stay with me for long </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">This would be a recurring theme. More than once I saw disappointment in the eyes of women when I didn’t fulfill the leadership role they wanted me to perform in the bedroom. I realized that women don’t just desire men, they desire men’s desire―and often they don’t want to have to ask for it. I also realized that I was in many ways ashamed of my own sexual desire as a man, and that this was not healthy. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">At this point I was experiencing some cognitive dissonance with my upbringing, but in time learned to take an assertive lead unless I got a “no” or otherwise thought I was about to cross a boundary as indicated by body language. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">One night I ended up back in a girl’s room after a first date (those do happen in college). She had invited me in and was clearly attracted to me. We were kissing on her bed, outer layers of clothing removed, but when my hands wandered downward she said, “No, wait.” I waited. She began kissing me again, passionately, so again I moved to remove her underwear. “Stop,” she said, “this is too fast.” I stopped. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">“That’s fine,” I said. I kissed her again and left soon after, looking forward to seeing her again. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">But my text messages received only cold, vaguely angry replies, and then silence. I was rather confused. Only many weeks later did I find out the truth from one of her close friends: “She really wanted you, but you didn’t make it happen. She was pretty upset that you didn’t really want her.” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">“Why didn’t she just say so then, why did she say we were moving too fast?” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">“Of course she said that, you dumbass. She didn’t want you to think she was a slut.” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Talk about confusing. Apparently in this case even no didn’t mean no. It wasn’t the last time I've come across “token resistance” that is intended to be overcome either. But that’s a line that I am still uncomfortable with testing, for obvious reasons. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">But I have learned not to ask when it clearly isn’t necessary, or desired. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">One of my fondest sexual experiences started with making eye contact across a room, moved to a dance floor, and then to an empty bathroom. Not a single word was ever spoken, because none had to be. We both knew and understood. I was a man and she was a woman, and we found ourselves drawn together in that beautiful way that men and women have been since a time immemorial, a time long before language was ever spoken. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Today in California this would be considered rape. I find that very sad. Women are not infantile. They can make their own decisions about sex, and that includes being able to say no―even if they don’t want to have to say yes. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Regards,</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Anonymous</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;">The experiences that this young man had will resonate with some readers. Others will find his descriptions unreliable or his conclusions wrongheaded. Agree or disagree with him, this much is clear: If his attitude persists among a significant number of college students, it will be a huge obstacle to spreading affirmative-consent culture.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">How might different supporters of affirmative consent respond to this young man? They might say:</span><br />
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<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Under an affirmative-consent standard, consent need not be verbal. Depending on the details, it's possible that your "saw her across the room" hookup was fine.</span></li>
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<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Perhaps women supposedly put off by your attempts to seek consent were actually reacting to a lack of confidence or wimpy manner, not consent-seeking itself, which can be sought in a confident, assertive, charismatic manner.</span></li>
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<li><span style="color: #351c75;">Some women may put off by explicit consent-seeking, but others are turned on by it. And even if some subset of women dislike explicit consent-seeking, that doesn't mean the standard should be abandoned, even if it does "cost" men some hookups, as if society should care about <i>that</i> when it adopts norms. This will reduce rape and sexual assault, a benefit that is much more significant than the trivial cost of a 22-year-old guy not having sex quite as often, or 22-year-old women who can no longer offer "token resistance" and get laid.</span></li>
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<li><span style="color: #351c75;">The idea that women offer "token resistance" enables rapists and other sex criminals and should not affect consent-seeking. (The writer seems to agree in part when he notes that he is "still uncomfortable" testing "token resistance.")</span></li>
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<span style="color: blue;">I'd be curious to see a frank debate between this young man and critics of his position. (Would anyone be persuaded to refine their position or learn how to better persuade their critics?) But the sensitivity of the subject, the understandable aversion most people have to speaking on-the-record about their past sexual encounters, and the way both politically correct stigma and misogynistic threats are used to police discourse on this subject make it less likely that college men who feels this way will have open, rigorous on-campus exchanges with those whose perspective is different.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">My hope is that emails from students and recent grads about any aspect of the affirmative-consent debate will air a broad spectrum of views and facilitate frank exchanges. If you have thoughts or insights informed by what you've seen or experienced, please share, anonymously or not, by emailing conor@theatlantic.com.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><a class="author-name" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/conor-friedersdorf/">Conor Friedersdorf</a> is a staff writer at <i>The Atlantic,</i> where he focuses on politics and national affairs. He lives in Venice, California, and is the founding editor of <a href="http://thebestofjournalism.blogspot.com/">The Best of Journalism</a>, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction. </span></div>
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william harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.com0