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.
Defending the First Amendment…For Everyone
IMUS: So, I watched the basketball game last night between — a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women’s final.
ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night — seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.
IMUS: That’s some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and —
McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.
IMUS: That’s some nappy-headed hos there…
Within a week of these comments we Rutgers students flooded from buses toward a normally peaceful grassy knoll. We stood in a massive semi-circle hoisting homemade signs in the air. We raised our voices and pumped our fists in unison -protesting against racism and sexism.
A panel of speakers delivered impassioned speeches urging the student body to reject not only Imus’ statements, but all forms of racism and sexism in society. Their words spread through the crowd like a strong breeze through a forest, lifting the heads and spirits of those that had been weighed down by Imus’ invective.
Tables lined the perimeter armed with the names, numbers, and addresses of the advertising companies that endorsed Imus.
We called. We wrote. We signed. We made them accountable.
This controlled chaos, this organized moment of anarchy, was what I had waited for my entire college career. Students, faculty, and administration of all genders, races, and ages joined together to fight this injustice. Finally something mattered enough for us to shrug off the stereotypical apathy said to plague my generation – to gather together and make ourselves heard.
And heard we were. Within the next week several of Imus’ advertising sponsors pulled their support from the on-air personality, fearing that too much of their core audience would link them to his deplorable remarks. Following the televised protest he was suspended from the radio station, slapped with a lawsuit, and eventually forced to make an apology to the women’s basketball team.
During the months that this situation unfolded the words of passionate students, sympathetic editorials, and neutral news analysts flooded the Rutgers community. The First Amendment was under attack. Why was the government tolerating racist and sexist ideas? Why couldn’t freedom of speech apply to just the “good” ideas? Why couldn’t anyone just shut this guy up?
Let’s face it, the First Amendment is a dangerous and antagonistic concept. It makes space for all ideas regardless of whether they are rooted in truth or falsehood. Anyone with eyes, a mouth, or hands can announce their opinions to the world (much like this column) and very little recourse can be taken against them. Or can it? Despite the overwhelming desire to just shut a person up, it remains true that mere words – facts, information, debate – have more impact than a roll of duct tape ever will.
It is the protection of the right to express these ideas that improves the cultural conversation about the social politics of race, sex, religion, gender, tradition, and life. So as frustrating and antagonistic and dangerous as it may seem, this amendment affords us the right to turn instances like the Imus debacle into teachable moments. Just as Imus was protected in expressing his prejudice, we were protected in rising up against it.
As a free and progressive society it is essential that we give all ideas, no matter how base or inflammatory, the opportunity to be expressed and challenged. The amendment helps us question our core beliefs, search for our own definable truth, as well as dispel myths by seeking out the facts. Unfortunately this process includes wading through the bigotry and prejudice of people like Don Imus. Nevertheless you’ll also find that it provides you with rational thought, enlightenment, and intellect-based support for your thoughts.
The First Amendment may seem like a nuisance or a cheap soapbox for any “shock jock” looking for attention, but upon closer inspection you’ll see that it is so much more than that. It’s a vehicle for enlightenment, a sound stage for justice, and often a creator of communities.
NAACP 4th Annual Conference on Criminal Justice
Empowerment and enlightenment were the consistent themes of the NAACP’s 4th Annual Conference on Criminal Justice at York College on Saturday October 25th.
The conference workshops focused on community action and response to the conditions that incarceration creates for society as a whole. Wanda Best DeVeaux, committee chairperson for the prison project, has been heading these conferences in hopes that residents and community activists will have an impact on state legislation.
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.
The Hidden Face of HIV/AIDS
The face of HIV/AIDS has continuously changed since it’s emergence in the early 1980’s. At first it was seen strictly as a young white gay male disease, however the epidemic has had an overwhelmingly large effect on every other racial, orientation, gender, and age group. Thus spawning several efforts by government agencies to decrease HIV infection as well as improve maintenance once individuals contract the disease.
National days for HIV testing bring this sensitive topic to light from within the communities and provides them with a chance to educate themselves.
One group that, in Hyacinth AIDS Foundation Health Educator Mark Cruz’s opinion, is left under-served by these tactics are Asian-Americans. In his interview he sites a combination of stigma, language, communication, and education as barriers to the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS in the Asian community.
Can I Go to the Nurse Please?
According to an article in the New York Times King Middle School in Portland, Maine has voted in favor of providing girls access to oral contraceptives in their health clinic.
Opposition to the new policy argue that impressing sexual responsibility between the ages of 11-13 is unnecessary and sends the wrong message. However with health officials citing that 17 middle school students had become pregnant in the last 4 years (seven of them during the 2006-07 school year), a different message is being heard loud and clear.
Nick McGee, the city’s Republican Party chairman, told the Times, “It is an attack on the moral fabric of our community and a black eye for our state.”
What could be more “morally compromising” than teenage parents that are ill equipped to take care of an infant? Perhaps the parents and educators of those new parents failing to enlighten them to safer sex techniques and strategies necessary to avoid unexpected pregnancy.
Unexpected pregnancy has led to an innumerable amount of problems that make communities look like Mike Tyson after his 1990 pumbling by James “Buster Douglas. So McGee’s comment seems to be glib in light of resulting high school drop out rates, delinquency, increased reliance on social services, and depression.
Surprisingly the new policy has a large constituency of supporters. The Times reported — “I think it’s a great idea,” said Cathleen Allen, whose son is enrolled at King. “Someone is finally advocating for these students to take care of themselves.”
Being emotionally and physically too young to be sexually active is and will continue to be a controversial issue. However educating adolescents about how their bodies work, taking personal responsibility for their health, as well as making them aware of the consequences of their actions have always been key components to ensuring that they have healthy productive lives.
Kudos to King Middle School for taking such progressive steps in the direction of improving their student’s health.
King Middle School is scheduled to have the new policy in action by the end of the year. The services include counseling and examination by a physician or nurse practicioner provided by the school pending a signed waiver by the student’s guardians.
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