Why Men Prefer (or don't) Large-Breasted Women

Personally, I have never understood the male fascination with large breasts on women. More often than not, large breasts seem awkward or disproportionate to the rest of the woman's body.

Turns out this may be due to the fact that I never wanted children . . . or that I always felt well-fed and did not suffer from real or perceived starvation. Read on if that makes very little sense to you.

What Is It About Men and Breast Size?

New research reveals clues to the mystery of erotic preferences

Published on May 13, 2013 by Vinita Mehta, Ph.D., Ed.M. in Head Games

It's no secret that some men like buxom ladies, while others favor those who are less busty. But what drives guys to like what they like? Two recent studies have shed light on this age-old question, pointing to some unsuspected clues.

The first study investigated whether men's access to resources, or, more technically, their “resource security,” would influence their preferences for breast size in women. One view on human female breast size is that it may act as a signal of fat reserves, which in turn advertises access to resources. Anchored in this understanding, psychologists Viren Swami and Martin Tovée carried out two experiments to test whether men experiencing relative resource insecurity (that is, those who lack material goods) would find larger breasts more desirable than men experiencing resource security (those who have material goods).

The first experiment explored the relationship between financial security and men's preferences in breast size. The authors recruited 266 men from three sites in Malaysia that varied in socioeconomic status (low, medium, and high). These participants were shown a series of five animated female figures that varied only in terms of of breast size, and then rated them for physical attractiveness on a five-point scale. What did the researchers find? The men from the low socioeconomic background rated bigger breasts as more attractive than did men from the medium socioeconomic background, who in turn endorsed larger breasts as more appealing than men from the high socioeconomic background. In other words, poorer men liked larger breasts.

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In the second experiment, the researchers compared the breast size ratings of 66 hungry versus 58 satiated male university students to test whether food security impacted their preferences. These men were asked to participate in the study as they entered or exited campus dining halls during dinner, from approximately 6:00 to 7:00 pm. (Because ethnicity is known to influence breast size preferences, the investigators invited only white British men to participate in this study). They were subsequently presented with the same animated series of female figures that was used in the previous experiment. The researchers then crunched the numbers. What did the results reveal? The hungry men preferred bigger breasts substantially more than the satiated group.

The second study was based on alternate evolutionary perspective on breast size, which maintains that it is a signal of a woman's capacity to bear and nurture children. Indeed, there is a positive association between levels of estradiol, a fertility-related hormone, and larger breast size; in turn, the combination of larger breasts and a smaller waist-to-hip ratio seems to be linked to a significantly greater likelihood of conceiving. From here, researchers Christopher Burris and Armand Munteanu reasoned that men who are less willing to become a father would also find larger breasts less appealing.

To test this hypothesis, they had 67 straight college men participate in an online study. First, the participants completed the Reluctance to Reproduce Scale, which asked about their desire to become a father. They were then shown line drawings of a woman, featuring a frontal view. These drawings were equipped with clickable “sliders” so that the men could adjust the woman's breast, waist, and hip proportions. Participants were instructed to manipulate the woman's figure so that it “matched their 'absolute ideal' (=most arousing) for a sexual partner.” What did the results uncover? In keeping with the researchers' expectations, men who wished to remain child-free preferred smaller breasts.

What can we learn from these studies? While they may seem in some measure to be exercises in frivolity, they do provide scientific understanding into the mystery of physical attraction. If beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder, this research offers some novel insights as to why men perceive women as they do.

• Follow me on twitter: @VinitaMehta2
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• My other PT posts can be found here.

References:

• Burris CT, Munteanu AR. (2012) Preferred Female Body Proportions among Child-free Men. Archives of Sexual Behavior: doi: 10.1007/s10508-012-9964-0.
• Swami V, Tovée MJ (2013) Resource Security Impacts Men’s Female Breast Size Preferences. PLoS ONE 8(3): doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057623

Paleo Lifestyle and The Paleo Manifesto

The other day I posted a defense of the ketogenic diet (no carbs for the most part), and so today I find myself sharing an article on a nutrition approach that is more palatable for a lot of people, but still much lower in carbs than the average American intake - the paleo diet. Research by leaders in the field (Loren Cordain, who essentially founded the paleo diet) and up to the National Institutes of Health have found that the paleo approach is more effective at weight loss (at least in post-menopausal women), creating healthy lipid levels and reducing cardiovascular risk factors, and treating type-II diabetes than other diets (especially the low-fat approaches).


Men's Journal offered a brief assessment of a new book on the paleo diet by John Durant, called The Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom for Lifelong Health. Along with the single paragraph, they included a link to an article from December 2012 on the paleo lifestyle. First the brief review from MJ, then I have added the publisher's ad copy, then below that the older MJ article on paleo living.

Book Review: 'The Paleo Manifesto'

'The Paleo Manifesto' by John Durant

John Durant, one of the first proponents of living like a hunter-gatherer, has written the rules of the lifestyle he's been advocating for years. In his new book, as you might expect, he calls for a meat-heavy diet but also argues for occasional fasting, getting standing desks, sleeping a lot, and swimming in icy water. Durant's research piles on the studies and the opinions of experts who look at the weight-loss diets of captive gorillas and sleep habits of astronauts, making a compelling argument for the paleo movement.

– Tyghe Trimble

Here is the ad copy from Amazon:

In The Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom for Lifelong Health, John Durant argues for an evolutionary – and revolutionary – approach to health. All animals, human or otherwise, thrive when they mimic key elements of life in their natural habitat. From diet to movement to sleep, this evolutionary perspective sheds light on some of our most pressing health concerns. What is causing the rise of chronic conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and depression? Is eating red meat going to kill you? Is avoiding the sun actually the best way to avoid skin cancer? 

Durant takes readers on a thrilling ride to the Paleolithic and beyond, unlocking the health secrets of our ancient ancestors. What do obese gorillas teach us about weight loss? How can Paleolithic skulls contain beautiful sets of teeth? Why is the Bible so obsessed with hygiene? What do NASA astronauts teach us about getting a good night’s sleep? And how are Silicon Valley techies hacking the human body?

Blending science and culture, anthropology and philosophy, John Durant distills the lessons from his adventures and shows how to apply them to day-to-day life, teaching people how to construct their own personal “habitat” that will enable them to thrive. The book doesn’t just address what we eat, but why we eat it; not just how to exercise, but the purpose of functional movement; not just being healthy, but leading a purposeful life. 

Combining the best of ancient wisdom with cutting edge science, Durant crafts a vision of health that is both fresh and futuristic.

You can read an excerpt from Chapter 2 at Scribd, which is embedded below.

The Paleo Manifesto by John Durant - Excerpt by Crown Publishing Group

Finally, here is the article Men's Journal posted in December of 2012. Part of the paleo lifestyle, or primal living, is fitness - the human body was not designed and does not function well when it sits in an office chair all day (get a standing desk) or sitting on a couch all night (really, the television is not that interesting). From the article below, here is a great example of primal fitness, with the added benefit of being in nature (which offers a huge pile of physical, mental, and spiritual health benefits):

Another proponent of paleo fitness is Erwan Le Corre, a 41-year-old Frenchman who founded MovNat, fitness that focuses on natural human movement. You can see him on YouTube running barefoot through the desert, rolling through brush, hurtling over rock ledges, and swimming downstream while pushing a 500-pound log. Le Corre calls this the workout the world forgot. "Modern lives are so separated from nature and what is natural that a system like MovNat is not only refreshing, it's also powerfully effective at connecting people with their bodies," he says.

Awesome! You can read more about this style of training at Outside Magazine and at Men's Health. Okay, then, so here is the article.

The Paleo Diet and the Case for Primal Living

By Tyler Graham | Dec 2012

Can living like a caveman prevent disease and make you lean and fit? Some doctors argue that one of the hottest wellness trends is also one of the healthiest.

Photograph by Bartholomew Cooke

Perhaps you've heard of the paleo movement – eating and exercising as our ancient forefathers did – and dismissed it as a fad, a farce, a caveman version of the Atkins diet. But over the past few years, the philosophy has exploded from obscure scientific theory into one of the biggest trends in wellness, influencing everything from medicine to running shoes to the latest thinking on how we should eat and move to stay lean and healthy.

Many experts now believe that Western civilization's skyrocketing rates of degenerative disease – diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's, to name a few – stem from our adoption of a diet high in processed foods, exacerbated by our sedentary lifestyles. In 1985, a pair of researchers published a provocative paper leveraging the fact that, while the human species has existed for about 2 million years, grain production is only 12,000 years old, and the rise of processed foods – new to humans on an evolutionary scale – mirrors our uptick of weight gain and chronic disease. Cavemen didn't suffer from most of these diseases, primarily because their diet consisted mostly of meat, vegetables, and some fruit. They rarely died of heart attack or stroke, but from old age, viruses, or calamity like extreme weather. Today, those who still eat a traditional diet, like the Arctic Inuit and Kenyan Maasai, are virtually immune to these diseases too.

After 1985, the paleo movement started collecting members slowly but steadily, until it exploded about two years ago, launching a bevy of self-help books, snack foods like jerky and coconut chips, and the Paleo Physicians Network, with more than 2,000 members and a mission to educate doctors about treating patients based on our evolutionary nature. Crossfit, the minimalist fitness craze, has adopted paleo as its unofficial nutrition mantra – no carbs, lots of meat and vegetables. "It's about getting complete and total control over your health," says Mark Sisson, author of 'The Primal Blueprint.' "It's about having more energy at 50 than you did at 35. It's so empowering that followers become the biggest proselytizers. Everybody wants to know how they lost their 70 pounds."

More profoundly, the human genome has remained relatively stable since our hunter-gatherer days, while our diets have changed drastically. We now eat massive amounts of sugar, which triggers our bodies to store fat. Most processed foods are made from sugar, grains, and industrial vegetable oils high in trans fats, which the National Academy of Sciences declared unsafe in food in any amount. Most of what we eat is grown with pesticides, linked to cancer, birth defects, and brain disorders, and treated with carcinogenic preservatives.

As we subsist on more sugar, grains, and chemicals, we move less and spend more time hunched over steering wheels, computer screens, and smartphones. Those who exercise often jump on a treadmill or weight machine, training their bodies and isolating muscles in unnatural ways. Few of us have the muscle mass, lung capacity, or reaction time to sprint up uneven hills, duck branches, hop boulders, and pull ourselves up a ledge to avoid a bear. But that's how the paleo crowd thinks we should move.

Of course, paleo has its detractors. 'US News and World Report' cited it as the worst of 24 popular diets, based largely on the notion that "duplicating such a regimen in modern times would be difficult." They also noted that the benefits of the paleo diet are largely unstudied, a point the paleo community contends. But last summer, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health helped mute the debate when it found a paleo-style diet, high in fat and low in carbs, to be the most effective for weight loss.

If you're health conscious, there's a good chance you've already adopted some of the paleo approach. For example, paleo followers have long supported barefoot running as a way to strengthen muscles in the feet. High-intensity training, TRX suspension straps, and extreme races like Tough Mudder and Spartan Race are all paleo-approved. And limiting carbs to load up on grass-fed meat and organic produce is key to living primal. Ready to go full steam? Here are five steps to adopt the paleo approach:

Eat Like a Caveman

One of the most prominent voices in the paleo movement is journalist and author Gary Taubes, who argues that it's not calories alone that cause weight gain, but sugar and refined carbs, which spike our blood sugar and trigger the hormone insulin, telling our bodies to store energy as fat. When we eat cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and pasta for dinner – supplemented by soda, chips, and fries – these processed foods cause larger waistlines and diabetes, heart disease, and possibly even cancer over time. While medical experts used to think eating fat made people fat, "it has been clear for some time, from multiple trials, that the percent of calories from fat in the diet has minimal relation to weight gain or obesity," says Dr. Walter Willett, of the Harvard School of Public Health. Instead, says Willett, low-fat, high-carb foods, once believed to aid heart health and weight loss, are the real problem. Eating more healthy fat and fewer foods that spike insulin is the first step to primal eating. Second is to avoid industrial oils like soy and corn, rich in trans fat and inflammation-causing omega-6s. When you eliminate sugar, refined carbs, and industrial oils, you essentially eliminate all fast and convenience foods.

Move Like a Hunter

Movement in the Paleolithic era was never prescribed: The body adapted to challenges at hand, whether running from a predator, hauling a carcass, or building a shelter. We were always on the go, often at maximum output for short times. "Our caveman ancestor wouldn't have run every day because that's stupid," says Sisson, a former marathoner. Another proponent of paleo fitness is Erwan Le Corre, a 41-year-old Frenchman who founded MovNat, fitness that focuses on natural human movement. You can see him on YouTube running barefoot through the desert, rolling through brush, hurtling over rock ledges, and swimming downstream while pushing a 500-pound log. Le Corre calls this the workout the world forgot. "Modern lives are so separated from nature and what is natural that a system like MovNat is not only refreshing, it's also powerfully effective at connecting people with their bodies," he says. MovNat has thousands of followers, including members of the Special Forces.

Avoid Daily Toxins

There are toxins everywhere in our daily environment, and some of them, like pollutants in the air, can't be avoided. But others can. Since tap water can be contaminated with pollutants like arsenic and pharmaceuticals, read your local water reports and filter if necessary, and try to avoid drinking water out of plastic bottles. Eat organic foods when possible, buy food in bulk or glass, and use natural cleaners, detergents, and skin products.

Limit Modern Stressors

Our ancient ancestors had plenty of stress, whether hunting for food or keeping warm and dry in inclement weather, but it may not compare with the stress we've created in modern-day life. One of the biggest forms of modern stress? Sitting for most of the day, which takes a toll on our muscular and cardiovascular health. Fight it by using a stand-up desk or taking a walk every hour. Forgo the drudgery of soulless cardio equipment with TVs and muscle-isolating Cybex machines for activities that reinforce pleasure, whether it's forcing your body to move in unexpected ways by playing tennis or helping your muscles adapt to uneven surfaces by hiking. Choose outdoor exercise to get sun and vitamin D, which increases levels of relaxing serotonin. Never underestimate the power of play – but know it's also important to prioritize sleep over staying up late to work on your iPad or surf the Web.

Adopt a Primal Attitude

Primal living is more than a diet or new way of working out – it's a lifestyle. Once you eat and move in a way that's optimal for your body's design, you never go back. And there's a mind-set that goes along with that. Sisson believes it's important to get out of your comfort zone and try new things, whether that's building a tree house for your kids or learning to surf. Filter out negative, sensationalized news, and nurture small social networks rather than trying to collect 1,000 friends on Facebook. Most important, learn to unplug and recharge in the digital age of evolution.

See also:
• Seven Rules for Eating Paleo
• Five Primal Workouts to Reboot Your Fitness

This is What Real Fatherhood Looks Like (Good Men Project)

Nice collection of photos on the multiplicity of expressions of masculine fatherhood. The collection comes from the Good Men Project and it seems like a positive way to begin the week.

This is What Real Fatherhood Looks Like

September 6, 2012 by the Editors

Juan C. Gonzalez takes a photo of himself and his son flying through the air every single year. See more at Lime Fly Photography.

Tender, surprising, and brimming with love: these are images of real* fatherhood.

We asked Good Men Project readers what Real Fatherhood meant to them, and how it looked in their day-to-day lives. Here are some of the amazing photos, stories and tweets you shared with us during our #RealFatherhood campaign.

*”real” in this case = “real-life”, as in, not actors or media-created images.

♦◊♦

Dave is very at ease with the fact that he has twins.
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Gabe and Pierce – even their toes match.
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Mark Greene and son. More fun at MegaSAHD

Yes, sir, I do believe in the power of Post-Its.

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Marcus Williams and twin daughters

Are you both listening?

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Charlie Capen and son Finn. More fun from Charlie at How To Be A Dad.

One of us has put on his happy face.

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Chris and Sammie

There’s no party like a tea party…

♦◊♦

…except maybe a princess dress-up party.

“Is my tiara on straight?”

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Alberto and Quentin

There’s gotta be a better system for this.

♦◊♦

Single image (not photoshopped!) courtesy of Lime Fly Photography

They didn’t know about my broom!

♦◊♦

Ryan and Marc

For Ryan, being a good dad is about being a part of what his kids love.

♦◊♦

John, Hailey and Heather with friends
When John said he wanted to be chased by a mob of females, this wasn’t exactly what he had in mind…

No, this is way better.

♦◊♦

See more: The Happy Aspie/Flickr
Bek Caruso’s husband, Jeff, and their son, Alex. Bek and Alex both live with autism, and Bek and Jeff also live with ADHD.
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Matt and Alex. See more at Randy Schroeder photography

1-2-3 Jump!

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Baker Wright coaching his son in his first round of T-ball.

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Christopher and Derek

Some of the best moments in fatherhood are the quietest ones.

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Photo by Maria Allebring

The comfort of Daddy’s arms.

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Emily Heist Moss and her dad. Read more from Emily at Rosie Says Blog.

Mr. 90s Dad

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Lamont holds baby Mya in the NICU. His wife Amie explains the type of father Lamont has been to their children:

“I’m married to a guy who used to sing Elton John’s “Your Song”, and read the classic version of Peter Pan to our dying daughter. He made a great Tink… Here he is holding Mya about 2 months before she died. He was going on probably less than 3 hours of sleep over 2 or 3 days, which actually was pretty common because he worked and then spent every waking hour in the NICU.“
Read more here
♦◊♦

Ivan and Izz

Baby in blue at the center of the universe.

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Dr. Adam Sheck and his daughter winning first prize in a pie eating contest at a father-daughter picnic.
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Antonio, Gina and Stella

Silly Daddy!

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Jon D. writes: “She made me understand the absolute power of real unconditional love. I can not think of anything she could ever do that will make me not love her.”
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Nathan, dad of Owen and Aria. “They are my world.”

The perfect smell of a sleeping baby’s head.

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Josh and the girls. Photo by Erin Gant

Daddy Tickle Monster

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Lamont with Javen, Max and Ty. See more photos by Amie Lee

Peeing lesson

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Matt and Alex, by Mathias Johnson Photo

And into the future, Daddy forever more.

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Read all of the #RealFatherhood stories

Documentary - Cycling’s Greatest Fraud (Lance Armstrong)

Blood transfusions. Steroids. EPO. Injections. Deceptions. National Geographic Channel goes inside the science and scheming of Lance Armstrong’s legendary fall from grace.

Armstrong's rise and fall provides a lesson in how greed, hubris, and self-righteousness - not to mention self-deception - can destroy even the most talented of people. Armstrong was (and is) a rare genetic specimen whose body seems designed for endurance sports like cycling or running. Even as a teen, he was destined to be a great athlete.

But greatness was not enough - he had to be the best whoever rode a bike (although no one will ever surpass Eddie Merckx). So he began the most organized and successful doping program ever seen in professional sports (outside of bodybuilding). The best and most honest account of this I have seen so far is Tyler Hamilton's The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France (winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year).

Cycling’s Greatest Fraud

This one-hour special dissects the story of the science and scheming behind what’s been called “the most sophisticated and successful doping scheme in all of sports”.

Piece together eyewitness testimonies and delve into the illicit science to discover how the USADA says the doping plot began and then mushroomed in its complexity.

With new interviews from key members of his inner circle, see how Armstrong went to great lengths to protect his secret and his legacy, by using all the powers at his command to silence and attack critics, while assuring the public that his blood was as clean as his public image.

But, in the end, his empire collapsed, as the scheming unravelled and the science finally caught up with Armstrong.

Omnivore - Gender Gap

Here is another cool collection of links from Bookforum's Omnivore blog - this one centered on all things gender-related. I highly recommend the Buzzfeed piece on the resignation of Tom Matlock from the Good Men Project (he remains the primary investor and shareholder, but nothing else), an event that somehow slipped beneath my radar when it happened.

Gender gap

Oct 4 2013
3:00PM 

• From Scholar and Feminist Online, a special issue on Gender, Justice, and Neoliberal Transformations. 
• Marcia Anne Yablon-Zug (South Carolina): Mail Order Feminism. 
• John M. Kang (St. Thomas): Does Manly Courage Exist? 
• Anca Gheaus (Sheffield): Three Cheers for the Token Woman. 
• Richard L. Fox (Loyola Marymount) and Jennifer L. Lawless (American): Uncovering the Origins of the Gender Gap in Political Ambition. 
• Beth A. Burkstrand-Reid (Nebraska): From Sex for Pleasure to Sex for Parenthood: How the Law Manufactures Mothers. 
• From Buzzfeed, is now-departed founder of the Good Men Project Thomas Matlack bad for good men? 
• Losing it: Mikael Bingham on women with short hair. 
• Debora L. Spar on where feminism went wrong: Has feminism raised the bar so high that women are condemned to fall below it? 
• William Murchison reviews Deadly Consequences: How Cowards are Pushing Women into Combat by Robert L. Maginnis. 
• Scott Melzer on ritual violence in a two-car garage: What attracts some suburban professionals, dads, and husbands to a fight club? 
• Hanna Rosin on why feminists won’t accept that things are looking up for women (and more). 
• From The Baffler, Susan Faludi on Facebook feminism, like it or not. Of sex and procreation in prehistory: An excerpt from The Masculine Civilization by Rene Hirsch. 
• From TNR, Alice Robb on how National Review wages a lonely war on the "War on Women"; and have professional women created a worse world for their working class peers? Nora Caplan-Bricker investigates.

Alex Bove - The Mangina Monologues: The Battle Over “Real” Masculinity

One of the worst things I have seen men do to other men in recent years (other than sending them to die in battle or mines and so on) is to label them women for expressing feelings (such as wanting equality for women) with which the hypermasculine traditional males disagree. The term they like to use is mangina. I have had that label tossed in my direction many times, unfortunately for them I could not care in the least what those MRAs think about me.

At the Good Men Project, Alex Bove has written an interesting overview of the "mangina monologues."

The Mangina Monologues: The Battle Over “Real” Masculinity

October 3, 2013 by Alex Bove



Will the real “real men” please stand up? Alex Bove would like to examine this unhealthy conception of gender.

—–


A recent photo shoot for the U.K.’s Sun newspaper presented side-by-side images of “real” men and athletes/models dressed only in underwear.

While we might be inclined applaud the “positive” message that “real” men don’t look like soccer stars and models, I think we ought to question whether any group of men ought to claim the mantle of the real. I endorse a maximally-inclusive version of masculinity that embraces cisgender men, transmen, men of color, gay, straight, and omnisexual men (and asexual men too), vegans and hunters, atheists and Baptists, young and old men, men of all physical and mental abilities, and yes (gasp!), even masculine-identified women. I will not accept an unexamined conception of gender.

Conversations about “real” men abound in the men’s rights blogosphere and are usually couched as battles between authentic men and limp-wristed, so-called “beta” males. A term has been coined for these men: “manginas.” Some bloggers have even attempted to parody this web site’s name, and to malign its authors. I’d like to take a moment to examine what I think that means.

On one level, ridiculing men by calling them women is classic misogyny. The insult only works if observers believe that being a woman is a bad thing, or that displaying womanly traits is unmanly. Likewise, calling a man limp-wristed is not only homophobic but also misogynistic. After all, gay men are men. The insult is not necessarily intended for all gay men but only for effeminate ones (those whose body language approximates traditionally feminine mannerisms). Thus, what is truly unacceptable is not men who desire men but rather men who act like women.

But I don’t think the primary purpose of the “mangina” epithet is to place non-gender-conforming men in the same category as women: rather, the goal is to circumscribe the category of “real” men. This strategy still reinforces a binary, but the binary is not so much man/woman as it is man/not-man. What I find most troubling about this world view is that it almost always seeks to define the (usually privileged) category of “man” extremely narrowly. While women certainly fall outside of the realm of “real” men, so do a large number (perhaps a majority) of men.

The worst thing about being a mangina, according to men’s rights advocates, is that it requires a man to mask his true identity, all because of feminism’s nefarious influence. As MRA Jack Donovan says in his critique of the Good Men Project:

if you let women dictate what kinds of male feelings are acceptable, you’re going to get a site that’s about what men think women want to hear — not a site about who men really are.

The proposition that “who men really are” is unacceptable to women is only true if we assume an essential (real) masculinity, from which all other masculinities (along with the entirety of female experience, of course) must be excluded. It requires us to accept that all men are one specific thing. Since feminism embraces the theory that gender is constructed, and therefore provisional, it allows for the existence of more than one masculinity. A flexible notion of gender can be threatening, especially to those who believe that authenticity is the sine qua non of masculinity.

Anti-feminists sometimes frame this threat as an existential one, but challenges to traditional masculinity only threaten masculine privilege. No one is suggesting that “manly” men ought not to be allowed in the club. What we are saying, however, is that we want to diversify the membership (to torture the metaphor). One way to view the “threat” of diversity is to see it as an incursion, and to imagine that the small, exclusive club of masculinity will become overcrowded (and we all know how much men like to stretch their legs and relax). But another way to see it is as an opportunity for expansion, allowing everyone to have the same amount of space in a much bigger building.

I’m not suggesting that we take away hypermasculine men’s right to call themselves masculine. I also don’t think, as Jack Donovan does, that openly criticizing traditional masculinity is a form of “explaining to men what they are doing wrong, and what feminists think those men should be doing instead, so that women can be happier or feel safer in some way.” We must criticize elements of masculinity that may be harmful to both women and men, but doing so should not dehumanize men who identify with those traits. It’s possible (preferable, even) to discuss what has historically been “wrong” with masculinity without throwing out the baby with the proverbial bathwater.

Ultimately, it would be wonderful to remove the gender binary altogether and to see gender expression as falling somewhere along a continuum (and as fluid, open to change throughout a person’s lifetime). Why should my vulnerability, compassion, and empathy be in conflict with my self-sufficiency, stoicism, and toughness? These things don’t feel contradictory to me. They are a set of skills I use at different times for different purposes. Doesn’t everyone?

Perhaps not. Not everyone has a mangina, after all.

Photo: [main] renaissancechambara / flickr, Mark Hillary / flickr, jbcurio / flickr [inset] queerity

Shelly Fan - The Fat-Fueled Brain: Unnatural or Advantageous?

The current method of doing a ketogenic diet is not like the popular version in the press, a misrepresentation based on Dr. Atkins' original keto diet in the early 1970s. At that time, the medical establishment thought he was crazy for advocating a diet based primarily on protein (mostly from meat) and fat. The popular image was the steak and bacon diet, with a side of whole cream or a stick of butter.

But he persisted and the evidence and research began to accumulate. As this evidence mounted, Atkins responded to some of the criticisms of his diet by changing the emphasis from high-fat red meat to chicken, fish, and turkey. He also reduced the recommended amounts of saturated fats in the diet.

As of now, many experts suggest that saturated fats should be around 10-15% of all calories from fat, with the remained 85-90% divided between monounsaturated fats (almonds, olive oil) and polyunsaturated fats (omega-3, -6, and -9 from fish, flax seed, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and other nuts).

By the early 2000s, low-carb diets were the fad, and like all fads, it faded away and Americans continued to get fatter, unhealthier, and more resigned to living that way. But in many circles, various versions of the keto diet live on - as the Paleo Diet of Loren Cordain, Ph.D., or as a general low-carb lifestyle adopted by many fitness enthusiasts and athletes.

The reason we can do a low-carb or even a no carb diet is because, of the four macronutrients (water, protein, fats, and carbohydrates), only three are essential to human life. Can you guess the one that isn't?

You got it - carbohydrates are not an essential macronutrient for human survival.

I have been eating a low-carb diet for the better part of 10 years. In the last 3-5 yrs it has become very low-carb. My energy is better, more level throughout the day, my brain is sharp, my mood is more steady, and despite everything you might read, it has not hurt my workouts. Granted, if I planned to ride my bike for 2-3 hours, I would probably ingest a couple of cans of pumpkin the night before so that I have some reserves of carbohydrate and pop a gell if I feel myself approaching a bonk. But I don't do that. I can ride hard for an hour on an empty stomach (well, on 12 grams of BCAAs) and feel great.

It's not really that hard to do this kind of a diet. Many days, my only carbohydrate source is 2 cups of mixed berries (mostly blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and black cherries) with my cottage cheese for breakfast. Late morning or noonish I might have a couple of chicken sausages (120 calories each, 15 grams of protein, 5 grams of fat), a couple of sticks of lite string cheese (50 calories each, 7 grams of protein, 2.5 grams of fat) and a handful of walnuts or almonds. A few hours later it might be 6-8 oz. of deli chicken or turkey between two thick slices of part-skim mozzarella, or a chicken breast with some spinach or broccoli. Finally, I often have 2-4 squares of 90% dark chocolate with almond butter or sunflower seed butter. [During the day I might eat 2-5 additional tablespoons of almond butter, sunflower seed butter, or some other type of nut butter, though usually not peanut butter so much anymore.]

My version of this diet is what works for my body (trial and error). I generally eat more protein than the typical keto diet, which can be up to 75-90% fat. And I supplement a lot of my fats with fish oil (8-10 grams a day), pumpkin oil (4-5 grams a day), conjugated linoleic acid (CLA, 4-5 grams a day), and omega-3/6/9 (4-5 grams a day) - for a whopping total of 20-25 grams a day.

Anyway, here is an article from Scientific American Mind looking at the current research on ketogenic diets and the many health benefits we can reap from ditching carbohydrates.

The fat-fueled brain: Unnatural or advantageous?

By Shelly Fan | October 1, 2013

Disclaimer: First things first. Please note that I am in no way endorsing nutritional ketosis as a supplement to, or a replacement for medication. As you’ll see below, data exploring the potential neuroprotective effects of ketosis are still scarce, and we don’t yet know the side effects of a long-term ketogenic diet. This post talks about the SCIENCE behind ketosis, and is not meant in any way as medical advice.


It’s not bacon; it’s therapy! Source: Renée S. Suen on Flickr.
The ketogenic diet is a nutritionist’s nightmare. High in saturated fat and VERY low in carbohydrates, “keto” is adopted by a growing population to paradoxically promote weight loss and mental well-being. Drinking coffee with butter? Eating a block of cream cheese? Little to no fruit? To the uninitiated, keto defies all common sense, inviting skeptics to wave it off as an unnatural “bacon-and-steak” fad diet.

Yet versions of the ketogenic diet have been used to successfully treat drug-resistant epilepsy in children since the 1920s – potentially even back in the biblical ages. Emerging evidence from animal models and clinical trials suggest keto may be therapeutically used in many other neurological disorders, including head ache, neurodegenerative diseases, sleep disorders, bipolar disorder, autism and brain cancer. With no apparent side effects.

Sound too good to be true? I feel ya! Where are these neuroprotective effects coming from? What’s going on in the brain on a ketogenic diet?

Ketosis in a nutshell

In essence, a ketogenic diet mimics starvation, allowing the body to go into a metabolic state called ketosis (key-tow-sis). Normally, human bodies are sugar-driven machines: ingested carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, which is mainly transported and used as energy or stored as glycogen in liver and muscle tissue. When deprived of dietary carbohydrates (usually below 50g/day), the liver becomes the sole provider of glucose to feed your hungry organs – especially the brain, a particularly greedy entity accounting for ~20% of total energy expenditure. The brain cannot DIRECTLY use fat for energy. Once liver glycogen is depleted, without a backup energy source, humanity would’ve long disappeared in the eons of evolution.

The backup is ketone bodies that the liver derives primarily from fatty acids in your diet or body fat. These ketones – β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), acetoacetate and acetone – are released into the bloodstream, taken up by the brain and other organs, shuttled into the “energy factory” mitochondria and used up as fuel. Excess BHB and acetoacetate are excreted from urine, while acetone, due to its volatile nature, is breathed out (hence the characteristically sweet “keto breath”). Meanwhile, blood glucose remains physiologically normal due to glucose derived from certain amino acids and the breakdown of fatty acids – voila, low blood sugar avoided!


Carbohydrate restriction induces the pancreas to "tell" fat cells to release fatty acids, which get taken up by the liver and converted into ketones and released into blood. Once taken up by the brain, ketones enter the TCA cycle to generate energy. Source: Shelly Fan. (click to see large)

Brain on ketones: Energetics, Oxidation and Inflammation

So the brain is happily deriving energy from ketones – sure, but why would this be protective against such a variety of brain diseases?

One answer may be energy. Despite their superficial differences, many neurological diseases share one major problem – deficient energy production. During metabolic stress, ketones serve as an alternative energy source to maintain normal brain cell metabolism. In fact, BHB (a major ketone) may be an even more efficient fuel than glucose, providing more energy per unit oxygen used. A ketogenic diet also increases the number of mitochondria, so called “energy factories” in brain cells. A recent study found enhanced expression of genes encoding for mitochondrial enzymes and energy metabolism in the hippocampus, a part of the brain important for learning and memory. Hippocampal cells often degenerate in age-related brain diseases, leading to cognitive dysfunction and memory loss. With increased energy reserve, neurons may be able to ward off disease stressors that would usually exhaust and kill the cell.

A ketogenic diet may also DIRECTLY inhibit a major source of neuronal stress, by –well- acting like a blueberry. Reactive oxygen species are unfortunate byproducts of cellular metabolism. Unlike the gas Oxygen, these “oxidants” have a single electron that makes them highly reactive, bombarding into proteins and membranes and wrecking their structure. Increased oxidants are a hallmark of aging, stroke and neurodegeneration.

Ketones directly inhibit the production of these violent molecules, and enhance their breakdown through increasing the activity of glutathione peroxidase, a part of our innate anti-oxidant system. The low intake of carbohydrates also directly reduces glucose oxidation (something called “glycolysis”). Using a glucose-like non-metabolized analogue, one study found that neurons activate stress proteins to lower oxidant levels and stabilize mitochondria.

Due to its high fat nature, keto increases poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs, such as DHA and EPA, both sold over-the-counter as “brain healthy” supplements), which in turn reduces oxidant production and inflammation. Inflammatory stress is another “root of all evil”, which PUFAs target by inhibiting the expression of genes encoding for pro-inflammatory factors.

Neurons on Ketones: Dampen that enthusiasm!

Excited neurons transmit signals, process information and form the basis of a functioning brain. OVER-excited neurons tend to die.

The brain teeters on a balance between excitation and inhibition through two main neurotransmitters, the excitatory glutamate and the inhibitory GABA. Tilt the scale towards glutamate, which occurs in stroke, seizures and neurodegeneration, and you get excitotoxicity. In other words, hyper-activity is toxic.

Back in the 1930s, researchers found that direct injection of various ketone bodies into rabbits prevented chemically-induced seizures through inhibiting glutamate release, but the precise mechanism was unclear. A recent study in hippocampal neurons showed that ketones directly inhibited the neuron’s ability to “load up” on glutamate – that is, the transmitter can’t be packaged into vesicles and released – and thus decreased excitatory transmission. In a model of epilepsy that used a chemical similar to glutamate to induce damage, the diet protected mice against cell death in the hippocampus by inhibiting pro-death signaling molecules. On the other end of the excitation-inhibition balance, ketones increase GABA in the synapses (where neurotransmitters are released) of rats and in the brains of some (but not all) epileptic humans subjects. This increase in inhibition may confer both anti-seizure effects and neuroprotection, though data is still scant.

Then there are some fringe hypotheses. The acidity of ketones may decrease the pH of certain brain microdomains, which might be the mechanism of keto’s positive effect on Type II Bipolar disorder (lots of mays and mights, I know). As keto affects the whole body, global changes due to calorie restriction and regulation of the satiety hormone Leptin are bound to alter brain function, and play a circumstantial role.

Neuroprotection? Show me the evidence!

All these molecular changes suggest that a ketogenic diet is protective against brain injury. But is there any REAL evidence?

A study with 23 elderly with mild cognitive impairment showed that a ketogenic diet improved verbal memory performance after 6 weeks compared to a standard high carbohydrate diet. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 152 patients with mild- to moderate Alzheimer’s disease were given either a ketogenic agent or a placebo, while maintaining a normal diet. 90 days later, those receiving the drug showed marked cognitive improvement compared to placebo, which was correlated with the level of ketones in the blood.

In a pilot study in 7 patients with Parkinson’s disease, 5 were able to stick to the diet for 28 days and showed marked reduction in their physical symptoms. In an animal model of Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a ketogenic diet also led to delayed motor neuron death and histological and functional improvements, although it did not increase life span; clinical trials are on the way.

Remarkably, a long-term ketogenic diet does not seem to be associated with significant side effects, although constipation, dehydration and electrolyte and micronutrient deficiencies are common complaints. More serious complications include increased chance of kidney stones, gallbladder problems and bone fractures, especially in children. Menstrual irregularities often occur in women, with potential impact on fertlity. Although ketoacidosis – acidification of the blood due to pathological levels of ketones – was historically proposed as a side effect, nutritional ketosis simply cannot achieve the level of ketones required to induce this life-threatening state. Nevertheless, there are no studies directly monitoring the side effects of ketosis yet, hence it’s too early to conclude that the diet is completely safe for everyone.

Brain [hearts] Bacon

While promising, large-scale placebo-controlled clinical trials in patients with neurological disorders are still lacking. The existing data needs to be interpreted carefully to avoid generating false hope or encourage patients to “ditch drugs for diet”. Nevertheless, the possibility that we can reduce symptoms of untreatable neurological disorders through modifying dietary composition is quite incredible; that a ketogenic diet may benefit physical and cognitive performance in healthy individuals is an even more tantalizing idea.

As the science behind this age-old dietary therapy gradually comes to light, social issues such as low adherence and public prejudice will need to be resolved. In the meantime, to those neuroscientists interested in studying keto: pass the bacon and I VOLUNTEER!

Final note: Before I let you go, I’d like to stress again that keto is NOT something to try out without talking to your doctor first, nor is it a replacement for pharmaceuticals. There’s simply not enough evidence, on either its effectiveness or side effects. Nevertheless, it’s a cool area of research to keep an eye on!

From Salon, this is an important article on the many ways we emasculate boys by making them afraid to be "girly," and in doing so reinforce the most destructive elements of traditional masculinity. When we degrade boys for anything that might be at all feminine, we rob boys of their capacity for emotion as well.

When boys are taught that they can’t “be like girls” it has the threefold effect. First, it alienates them from core aspects of themselves. Second, it portrays what is feminine as undesirable and inferior. Third, it forces boys into a “man box” from which emotions and empathy are excluded. 

Read this article, and if you have boys please consider the various ways your values or the community values in which you are embedded may be impacting his sense of himself and his ability to express his feelings.

The real boy crisis: 5 ways America tells boys not to be “girly”

Mocking boys for doing "feminine" things leaves them ill-equipped for life, and makes America a worse place for all

By Soraya Chemaly

Wednesday, Sept 25, 2013

 

(Credit: GoodMood Photo via Shutterstock/Salon)

The ability to feel what others feel has many well-documented benefits, including, for empathetic people, greater psychological and physical health. The real and socially significant positive impact of empathy, however, is the ways in which it affects behavior toward others. People who are empathetic are less aggressive and prone to denigrate others; they are predisposed to act with care and compassion; they have increased egalitarian beliefs and act with less prejudice and stereotype-based hatred. Empathetic behaviors, however, are associated with being female. And weak.

The stereotypes that plague our lives teach that the characteristics of empathetic understanding are feminine: listening, sensitivity, quiet consideration and gentleness. Empathy is feminized and boys learn quickly that what is feminized is, in a man, the source of disgust. While parents, teachers, coaches, grandparents and others whose ideas shape children aren’t sitting around telling boys, “Don’t be empathetic!” they are saying, in daily micro-aggressive ways, “Don’t be like girls!” The process of “becoming a man” still often means rejecting almost any activity or preference that smacks of cross-gender expression or sympathy.

Expression and empathy are closely related for children. When boys are taught that they can’t “be like girls” it has the threefold effect. First, it alienates them from core aspects of themselves. Second, it portrays what is feminine as undesirable and inferior. Third, it forces boys into a “man box” from which emotions and empathy are excluded. An upcoming documentary, “The Mask You Live In,” carefully examines, from the perspective of boys and men, what this feels like and means in their lives.

While more and more parents are openly grappling with how to handle “non-conventional” gender behavior in children, many others won’t even consider the behavior as remotely acceptable. The policing of boys’ gender expression doesn’t require parents who yell, “Stop crying, you sound like a girl!” or homophobic classmates hurling some variation of “Don’t be so gay!” (which is, sadly, still a serious problem). A whole range or rules, traditions, daily interactions and media content come together to narrow boys’ options and, ultimately, abilities. Consider these five everyday ways that boys are taught first not to look like girls, not to be like girls, not to do “girly” things, and then, ultimately, to lose the ability to feel compassion.

1. Clothing. That we color-code kids needs no explanation. Without getting into the details of how fearful communities can be when it comes to gender-fluid children and their free self-expression, in general, boys and girls are taught to dress according to binary gender-types and stereotypes. We seem nationally fixated on making sure that boys and girls not only “know” “what they are,” but communicate it clearly to others. This is especially true for boys. We no longer think twice about girls who wear pants, but when women first started doing so, it was shocking and revolutionary. It meant, for example, that they could ride bicycles and be independent. Only this past spring was a 200-year-old law banning women from wearing trousers revoked in Paris.

But many girls now have the flexibility to be creative with their clothes, to use more colors, to dress with flair and generally enjoy a broader range of options when it comes to appearance than boys do. There are downsides, of course, because accessorizing in these ways is actually part of a bigger problem, namely, your entire gender being treated as an accessory itself. On the other hand, boys are far more strictly confined in their choices. Boys wearing skirts as a matter of daily habit, in the United States, is as shocking an idea as trousers for women were at the turn of the last century. Those who challenge limits are regularly mocked, bullied and penalized by peers and adults, especially when it comes to school dress codes. While most schools make provisions for girls to wear pants, very few include skirt options for boys who might want to wear them, for whatever reason. For example, Warren Evans, a student in Maryland, was suspended for wearing a skirt. For some people the simple idea of a boy wanting to wear a skirt, ever, is bizarre.

2. Hair. Only the most confident of boys, with a supportive family, can sport lengthy locks. Razzing and teasing often ensues. As one mother of a mop-headed boy put it, people considered it a form of “middle-class abuse” to allow her son to grow his hair. After, say, a “sissy” comment from a grandfather, or taunts from playground bullies, adults at schools often get involved. It’s easy to find news of boys suspended and expelled for growing their hair, even if they’re growing it to donate to cancer patients. What are children supposed to take away from these experiences? That boys should never look “like girls”? That they cannot express themselves freely? Or care for others? That all these things are punishable offenses?

3. Products. What do we do with girly things? When adult men mock one another by denigrating little girls, boys learn to do the same thing. Take men’s professional sports where pink locker rooms are designed to demoralize opponents and girls’ backpacks are used to humiliate rookies. Or comedy: I have to believe that Will Ferrell is a smart and funny enough man to make a 90-minute movie without mocking little girls (in a non-satirical way) for a profit, but so far, no banana. At best, these are lazy actions. At worst, they are shallow validations of masculinity at the expense of girls and women. Girls (like the Star Wars lunch box girl) and boys (My Princess Son) regularly encounter children who, even in preschool, are gender rule enforcers. Some of them have parents who stand up for them, write books, build communities and launch social movements. But what about all the others whose parents don’t?

4. Sports. Ballet? Synchronized swimming? Figure skating? These sports are dominated by girls and women not for physical reasons but for cultural ones. Girls can play sports like these, or others that have traditionally been thought of as boys’ sports (though they may be excluded from some sports, or taken less seriously as athletes than their male peers). Boys are frequently barred from sports seen as for girls. As a matter of act, the most “boyish” are often encouraged to play … football. This a game where boys, despite what we’re learning about brain injuries, have until recently been uniformly taught to “play through the pain” (which is another way to say ignore your feelings and emotions), where coaches regularly insult boys with sex-based pejoratives and where girls quite literally can almost only be, with a few exceptions, supportive and on the margins.

5. Stories. Girls regularly immerse themselves in stories with male protagonists and identify with male heroes, boys and men. But boys aren’t encouraged to identify with female protagonists or to idolize women as heroes to anywhere near the same degree. Fifty-seven percent of children’s books published each year have male protagonists, versus 31 percent female. If the books feature animals, 100 percent of them have male characters and only 33 percent have female characters, often cast as mothers or romantic interests. The average number of books featuring male characters in the title of the book is 36.5 percent versus 17.5 percent for female. Statistics about television and movies are the same, where fewer than one out of three (28 percent) of the speaking characters (both real and animated) are female. It’s not only a quantitative imbalance, but also a qualitative one in which girls and women are misrepresented. Immediately after girls watch television, their self-esteem drops. (This is true of all children except young white boys.)

This all happens way before boys’ sexuality becomes an issue and when boys are subjected to pervasive messages telling them to objectify girls, be sexually promiscuous and boast about it. No wonder some men are able to go through life never once considering what it’s like to be a woman or why it matters.

Rigid gender rules and polarized sex-segregated ideas about everything from preschool playgroups to workplace dynamics come at great cost to everyone. And when parents, teachers, coaches, religious leaders and pop culture all insist on the importance of an exaggerated and binary gender dichotomy it is hard to see how children can resist. It’s not as though Julia Serano’s “Whipping Girl” has made it to many mainstream lists of parental how-to books.

And restrictive boy codes turn into restrictive man codes. Forcing boys to reject all “feminine” aspects of themselves means not teaching them to be fully human. It reduces their ability to be flexible, adaptable and nimble when encountering new situations. It reduces their opportunities for happiness.

Empathy is essential to changing this. Boys with sisters in households where gender roles are stereotypical are far more likely to grow up to be conservative men with a similar reliance on stereotypes. They end up, often, as benevolent sexists out of sync with the reality of women’s lives, but, worse, actively involved in making sure they are not successful in the workplace. One of the things that challenges their beliefs as adults, interestingly, is having daughters, something researchers call a “warming effect.”

People who claim to have egalitarian ideals while wringing their hands about a boy crisis in education are all the while advocating the exact course of action that limits boys in the first place: a greater emphasis on sex segregation and debunked, essentialist ideas about brains, gender and roles in life. The boy crisis we should be focusing on is how “boys will be boys” ideas and sexist media leave boys ill-equipped to function in diverse societies. School aren’t emasculating boys, American masculinity is dehumanizing them.