The Fairest of Them All

Of all the worthy causes in need of research time and resources – improving therapy approaches for abused children, figuring out how to balance sometimes crushing gender roles, or unearthing the secret to curing depression – it seems psychologists are pondering what race has the hottest women.

Enter Satoshi Kanazawa, the evolutionary psychologist and Psychology Today blogger who conducted the controversial study headlined “Why Black Women are Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women.” According to his essay Black women have too much body fat and testosterone, making them more masculine looking and less attractive than every other race of women.

[W]omen of all races are on average more physically attractive than the “average” Add Health respondent, except for black women. As the following graph shows, black women are statistically no different from the “average” Add Health respondent, and far less attractive than white, Asian, and Native American women.

The backlash from the blogosphere including commentators on TheRoot.com and Madamenoire.com forced Psychology Today to take the article down and eradicate the cached link from Google searches, but not before Buzzfeed.com snapped a few screen shots of the original post.

Tia Howard, social commentator and close personal friend of the Common Cents blog, offered this in response to Kanazawa’s essay:

“Great! It seems that the battle against Black women has evolved into a war ever since there have been studies “proving” that we are emasculating our men, killing our babies, and are unworthy of being marriage material. I’m done. What I do believe is that ever since our country had a Black man enter office who arrived with an intelligent, poised, and resilient woman, there are some people who cannot handle it and choose to vent their racism via “studies.” Many say that racism is long gone, but they’re terribly wrong. It’s just been suppressed by cowardice and ‘research studies.’”

“My response is simply this. I disagree with the article. Not only because I identify as a Black woman, but from a research standpoint. The main objective for any research study is for it to be detailed and objective enough that it can be repeated by any researcher who wishes to do so. Notice that  “Dr.” Satoshi Kanazawa omitted prime information. (i.e. sample size, how the study was conducted, etc.) Therefore, besides the fact that his hypothesis was completely absurd, he has nothing concrete to stand upon. Who is to say that this man didn’t gather a few of his “cronies” for this “study” and their only knowledge of Black women stems from the stereotypical portrayal that is often and gladly presented by the media. This study is subjective by far.”

Ms. Howard makes an excellent point, Kanazawa is not a legitimate scientist and, while strongly disagreeing with Kanazawa and his “findings,” it is not fair to blame him. He’s a blogger looking for a few more minutes of fame on a topic he knew would set the internet and social media ablaze…again. Using one of the most attacked populations in America to score more hits on your website is sad to say the least, but he’s doing what several others have done (ABC News, The New York Times, etc.) and what he’s been more or less told is acceptable.

Is attempting to cloak his racist sexism in “science” wrong? Extremely. Will he be held accountable? Probably not to any significant degree.

Though this stunt gives Kanazawa the credibility equivalent of a Cosmo Magazine’s Hot or Not quiz, what needs to be questioned is the editorial leadership of Psychology Today, which showed such disregard for its reputation in the scientific community as to let a purely sensational article of such low quality and poor foundational basis get published.

According to The Two Way, NPR’s news blog Psychology Today’s editor-in-chief, Kaja Perina, distanced her publication from Kanazawa’s essay.

“Our bloggers are credential[ed] social scientists and for this reason they are invited to post to the site on topics of their choosing,” Perina wrote in an e-mail to NPR. “We in turn reserve the right to remove posts for any number of reasons. Because the post was not commissioned or solicited by PT (in contrast to a magazine article), there was no editorial intent to address questions of race and physical attractiveness.”
She did not address why the magazine’s site had not acknowledged the removal or explain why it had done so.

Perhaps Psychology Today could learn something from one of its own articles published in July 2002 entitled The Power of Apology. It seems they owe Black women everywhere (and the scientific community) a big one.

President Obama Announces Death of Osama Bin Laden

Everyone remembers where they were the day the towers crumbled. High school classrooms around the country hushed as teachers received the news, workplace phones rang off the hook with urgent callers wanting to confirm that what they’d just witnessed was real. It seemed as if the whole world stood still, gaping at this devastating destruction that violently shook Americans to the core. This was something that happened “somewhere else, anywhere else.”

We huddled around 24-hour news cycles with bated breath as the threat level hit every color on the spectrum and we were introduced to our new way of life – one filled with fear, suspicion and sacrifice.

Thousands of victims and heroes of that horrific event paid the ultimate price, but those left behind had their debt to pay as well. We took off our shoes and removed our belts, subjected ourselves to full body scans and searches, and carefully chose our words lest the Patriot Act pick them up over the airwaves. We sent our brothers and sisters in uniform overseas unsure if we’d be wrapping commemorative ribbons around trees instead of our arms around them upon return. We became suspicious of “them” and “the other” for a long time before realizing that “we” could easily become “them” by allowing hatred and ignorance to dictate our decisions. We learned to lean on each other, built memorials to those who lost their lives, and vowed to never forget.

Eventually the terror stopped glaring so brightly and we were able to refocus enough to function again. Consistently taking small steps (and flights) back to normal. Knocked back every so often with new jolts of terrorism, the American people persevered, ensuring that terrorists would not be rewarded for their malicious efforts.

Little did we know as we went about the business of rebuilding our lives and mending ravaged family trees, the government was quietly working to avenge its fallen citizens.

From the East Room of the White House President Barack Obama told the nation on Sunday May 1, 2011 that the mastermind behind this generation’s worst terrorist attack on American soil was dead.

“The American people did not choose this fight.  It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens.  After nearly 10 years of service, struggle, and sacrifice, we know well the costs of war.  These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander-in-Chief, have to sign a letter to a family that has lost a loved one, or look into the eyes of a service member who’s been gravely wounded,”

“So Americans understand the costs of war.  Yet as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed.  We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies.  We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror:  Justice has been done.”

Questions to ask in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death are piling up higher by the minute:

• What does this mean for us as a nation and the global community?
• What kind of backlash, if any, can be expected and what is the government doing to prevent it?
• What did the Pakistani government know about bin Laden’s existence and when did they know it?
• Is he really dead? What were the circumstances surrounding his death?
• Did bin Laden have a contingency plan or second in command to take up his cause?
• How are the families of those directly affected coping with bin Laden’s long coming comeuppance?
• Will this development change the tone of the 10th year anniversary of September 11th this year?
• Is there any such thing as “closure” at this point?
• What does this mean for President Obama and his administration in the upcoming election?
• Where do we go from here?

Hopefully in the coming days these, and several other questions, will be concretely answered. However, no matter where you stand on the war, how you feel about President Obama, or your feelings about the events leading up to September 11th, those who value freedom from fear and terrorism can agree that this – while not necessarily cause for celebration – holds a certain amount of relief.

Psychologist Weighs In On Handling Holiday Separation

The holidays are traditionally a time for families to be together. That message is in the songs, the movies, and even displayed in storefront windows. What happens when your family is separated by more than distance but by the physical and psychological barriers imposed by incarceration? How then do you cope with the holidays?

We recently sat down with Dr. Harland Kessaris to talk about how to cope with the absence of a loved one during the holiday season and other questions asked by you. As a psychologist who specializes in re-entry of incarcerated individuals back into family and society, he was able to provide some insight into handling this potentially alienating time of year.

Dr. Kessaris stressed the importance of open communication between children, the incarcerated, and those caring for the children, “As much as you can you should include them [the incarcerated],” said Kessaris. “I think people need to be reminded, encouraged, and assisted in doing that.” For Kessari, the key is to make a sincere effort to connect personally.

Click here to listen to audio excerpts of the interview with Dr. Kessaris.

Lives In Focus Project Gives Families of the Incarcerated Space

Lives in Focus is a project that uses video, audio, and photographs to present the voices and stories of those coping with loved ones being in prison.  The website (livesinfocus.org/prison) provides a space where families of the incarcerated can:

Connect with others going through similar situations and join our free social network
Watch our video blogs or express yourself and submit your own
Read the latest news articles on incarceration
Get info on upcoming events and workshops

The project also trains at-risk community youth in video and audio editing at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism so they can tell their own story in their own style and learn valuable skills at the same time.  To find out more about the project or how to get involved visit the site.