Olivia

Olivia is a giant pile of nerd who tends to freak out about linguistic prescriptivism, gender roles, and discrimination against the mentally ill. By day she writes things for the Autism Society of Minnesota, and by night she writes things everywhere else. Check out her ongoing screeds against jerkbrains at www.taikonenfea.wordpress.com
  • Featured

    Stats for Dummies: Mental Health Edition

    In the last 3 years, the estimated rate of autism prevalence in the U.S. has increased from 1 in every 88 children to 1 in every 68 children. Based on these numbers, the current panic about autism should be entirely justified. In fact, more panic would even be justified. Autism isn’t the only mental illness that appears to be in…

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  • Science

    Shocking News: Vaccines Are Still Safe

    In an utterly unsurprising turn of events, the most recent study to look at the link between vaccines and autism has found that there is no link between vaccines and autism. Dr. Anjali Jain recently published a study that looked at the unvaccinated younger siblings of vaccinated children with autism. But there was no correlation between those who received the…

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  • Science

    Pop Psychology, Personality Types, And Thick Skin

    If people love anything, they love pop psychology, especially if they get to take a little test that tells them what kind of person they are. Of course many of those tests have about as much scientific basis as astrology, and are written in a similar way so that they’ll sound applicable to just about anyone! Science! Bonus points if…

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  • Feminism

    Meghan Trainor Gets It Wrong

    What’s wrong with a video that shows images of a woman in 50s garb cooking and cleaning while looking for a man? That seems to be the question that everyone is asking about Meghan Trainor’s video “Dear Future Husband,” and the shit is flying in all directions in the quest for an answer. After the amazing reception that “All About…

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  • Skepticism

    Your Guide to the Worst Anti-Racism Campaign Ever

    You may have about a week ago about Starbucks amazing new plan to deal with race problems in America. It’s called “Race Together” and involves a barista writing those words on your coffee cup to start a conversation with you about race. Nothing could ever go wrong with asking a low paid employee to try to have a deep and…

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  • Feminism

    Insights Into Menopause Come from Killer Whales

    A fun fact about human people with uteruses is that we are one of the very few species in which menopause happens and the person can continue living a long and happy life for many years afterwards. There are only three species in the world in which females live for significant years after they lose their fertility: humans, pilot whales,…

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  • Skepticism

    Women’s Sports Just Aren’t Exciting

    I’ve recently become a fan of pro basketball. I watch it often with my boyfriend and a couple of our other friends (all male). And more often than not, I’m struck and annoyed by the casual sexism that is…well everywhere, even in this sport that hasn’t been in any high profile cases of abuse or assault. Who is allowed to…

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  • Skepticism

    It’s My Party and I’ll Vocal Fry If I Want To

    Once upon a time there was a “new” feature in language called vocal fry. It sounded a little like a creaking or growling sound, and while almost everyone used it sometimes it become more common in younger people. For some odd and utterly non factual reason, this feature of language became associated with young women, despite the fact that men and women…

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