Skepticism

Skepchick Quickies 4.29

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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17 Comments

  1. Well, I pity the scientists doing the chocolate study….

    Doc: One hundred and fifty of you will eat chocolate every day for a whole year.

    Subjects: Yay!

    Doc: And one hundred and fifty of you will have no chocolate, _ever_ , for a whole year

    Subjects: *blink* What….

    Doc: For the control group….

    Subjects: *start a good old fashioned riot*

  2. The study would have to be “blinded” too, which means that the “chocolate” would have to be disguised such that it could not be recognized as chocolate.

    I have had some chocolate like that. I can’t imagine eating it every day for a year, ewwww.

  3. Here in sweet-smelling Memphis, the Gideon’s are not allowed on the high school campuses, so they lie in wait at nearby stop signs and push bibles through the windows when the school buses slow down (you don’t actually stop for stop signs in Memphis).

  4. The chocolate thing is happening in my research institute! Suddenly I feel so connected to the skepchick world. Unfortunately I’m not post-menopausal so I can’t join in. I suspect my external genitalia and beard could also be an exclusory factor.

  5. My reading of the NYT quote is a little different, I don’t think the author’s intention was to say that trousers are gender play.
    “Yes, gender play is fun, and (new independent clause) trousers are a useful wardrobe default for the woman in business.”
    Maybe I am mistaken but it seems more like he’s saying deliberately blurring gender lines with gender play is cool/fashionable, and in day to day business that one can’t argue with the convenience and utility of trousers for women in business settings. However, he is asserting that dresses are flattering pieces of clothing and women who want to wear flattering clothing should continue to wear them.

    I emphasized his use of the word trousers because it seems he only chose that phrasing because the fashion industry insiders’ stilted use of “pant” as singular.

    Either way, I find it ironic that feministing.com is now united with the fashion industry against the NYT.

    Anyway, that’s just my two cents! Thanks for the interesting Quickies!

  6. And suddenly I slip from amusement to disgust as I read the 4th story. At least the mother has left him, but I can’t beleive the brothers. I’m a brother myself and couldn’t imagine doing something like that. Of course I couldn’t imagine my father doing something like that either.

  7. You know.. as a woman who likes the bodies of men… I think its high time men wore summer dresses…

  8. Kaylia, you buy me a pretty enough dress, and I’ll wear it.

    …and why not? The Scots have been doing it for years, right?

  9. You know, just for fun I wikipedia’d “Muhammad” yeasterday, and in the talk section, inevitably Aisha came up. There were the apologists unable to see how just because in the West we view sex with a pre-menstrual child as wrong, it is obviously just our Western POV and that Aisha’s age is irrelevant because that was normal at the time.

    Well, someone pointed out that, in fact it was very relevant seeing as some countries in present times run with that and allow that to happen today (or things like our little 8 year old heroine’s plight), and how since Muhammand was such an influential social reformer,he could have actually help change that practice by, you know, not boning a 9 year old (there was even someone who pointed out that they had married when she was 6 and since he had waited three years until she was 9 it proves he wasn’t a pedophile!!!).

    So, with these honor killings? Is it the same thing? Is Islam turning people into maniacs incapable of…I’m just continually shocked. I mean, certainly there are abusive fathers everywhere, but when your religion pretty much sanctions that kind of thing..who the hell KILLS their daughter for talking with someone? Is it because they are so freaked out by what Allah will think that their (assumed) human nature to, you know, NOT KILL YOUR PROGENY just leaves? Or is this just an abusive SOB with abusive SOB sons who are heartless monsters who happen to be in a religious milieu that allows that kind of thing?

    I guess what I still can’t get is how a father can actually want to and then go through with killing his own child (and then the brothers join in!)just for talking with someone.

  10. I agree that the NYT Fashion quote was placed out of context. The preceding sentence shows that he wasn’t referring to trousers as gender play, but to the wider trend of androgynous dressing, which is indeed the “it” of the moment. Just think of the overwhelming popularity of the tomboyish model Agyness Deyn.

    The sentence placed in context:
    “…unlike Ms. Slowey, I am not eager for women to become ‘a little more hard-core, a little more androgynous, a little more butch.’ Yes, gender play is fun, and trousers are a useful wardrobe default for the woman in business.”

    He goes on to say that nothing flatters the female body like a dress. I have to agree with him, and that is precisely why I think that dresses will never go out of style. Ever. I know I look my best in a dress, and I don’t feel old-fashioned at all in admitting it.

  11. The point is that we women don’t dress to give men their jollies. And I’m not sorry if some men don’t like that. They can buy a Marilyn Monroe poster if they want to see a woman in a dress.

    Somehow this reminds me of Pink’s song that says, “I’m not here for your entertainment… It’s just you and your hand tonight.”

  12. Some women DO dress to give men their jollies… and some men do, too. Just as men and women sometimes dress for the benefit of women. Frankly, I don’t see anything wrong with that.

    I’ve never heard anyone say anything against me dressing a certain way solely because women (or one woman, or a group of women) like it, and I can’t bring myself to think they should. By the same token, I can’t understand how there might be anything wrong with doing it the other way around.

    …but hey, I could be completely wrong about all this. Let’s see if anyone yells at me for offering to wear a dress a few posts above.

  13. Ry,

    I, for one, would love to see you in a dress….

    I think kilts are sexy… could just be me.

    I dress with a mix of personal comfort and at times a definite desire to get attention. I think the thing here is that I have a choice… I don’t HAVE to wear a dress if I don’t want to.. unlike my grandmother who would never have been caught dead outside (or even inside) the house if not wearing a dress.

    Its about choice and being comfy in your own skin/body/pantsuit/dress/mini skirt/frumpy moo-moo.

  14. Oh, if I wasn’t clear – I am completely against anyone forcing ideas of fashion on others, whether it’s making women wear dresses, making guys cut their hair short, or any other form of that particular nonsense.

    Also, as I said before, find me a pretty enough dress*, and I’ll wear it. I’ll put up pics for anyone who’s interested, too.

    *No, that’s not limited to kilts.

  15. Dresses most flattering on a woman? Nah. A killer business suit, now we’re talking, for both sexes.

    I *knew* that link would get comments. Not that I’m an instigator or anything.

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