Imperfect Cognitions on Implicit Bias

Imperfect Cognitions: blog on delusional beliefs, distorted memories, confabulatory explanations and implicit biases has a thread on implicit bias that FP readers might be interested in.  Imperfect Cognitions is run by Lisa Bortolotti and Ema Sullivan-Bissett. The thread on implicit bias features contributions from Chloë Fitzgerald, Jules Holroyd and Natalia Washington, and you can find it here.

Goals for Girls: Empowering Girls and Women through Soccer/Football in Argentina

A new documentary shows how girls from impoverished neighborhoods in Argentina are busting stereotypes and expectations and finding their power through soccer.

On their website, the filmmakers say:

Already, Goals for Girls has begun to change the lives of its protagonists, and  it can help change the lives of girls around the world. There are almost no documentaries about female soccer, and few documentaries are aimed at motivating young people to affect positive change. Goals for Girls is the Hoop Dreams of female soccer, but instead of focusing on financial dreams it will show how sport can help girls overcome incredible odds, teaching the value of responsibility and teamwork. Our documentary does not portray young women as victims, but as active participants to change the world around them, one match at a time.

For more about the film and an interview with the author about a further initiative to enable girls and their families to go to the theatre to see the film, go here.

And to give you a sneak preview, here’s the trailer:

More on the Real-Sized Mannequins

We posted about the Swedish mannequins a couple of days ago.  Pictures of these size 6 and 10 mannequins went viral, then it was a hoax, then it wasn’t. Read more about them here.

Why Equality for Women Is a Real Election Issue

As if we didn’t know already, Romney’s ‘binders full of women’ comment was more than just a funny turn of phrase good for clever memes. First, even what he meant to say is a lie. And in any case employment and pay equity and equality do matter. Here’s more on why women’s equality is an important issue in the US presidential election from Daily Kos coverage of a panel discussion involving Mika Brzezinski and four men on Morning Joe. The very treatment of Brzezinski by her ‘peers’ makes the point here.

More on the Sexual Politics of Meat

There has been some great follow-up discussion in the blogosphere today that pick up on some of the same issues raised earlier in this FP post and this FP post about the NY Times “Calling All Carnivores” contest.  Our Hen House has an alternative contest: “Calling All Herbivores” that asks vegans to tell us why it’s unethical to eat meat. And Carol J. Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat, posted on One Green Planet today about “The Sexual Politics of Ethics,” addressing directly the choice to have a panel of white male judges for the NY Times contest.  The ethics of eating meat: still a feminist issue.

Update: Mum of genderless child speaks out

Last week we posted a story about parents in Toronto who have chosen to raise their most recent child, Storm, without telling anyone the child’s gender.  The mother gives some background to their decision here. Thanks for posting this update in the comments.

Is it possible to raise a genderless child in these times?

These parents are going to give it a try.  For more press coverage of this decision, see here.

So you want to be a professor?

And ad for this book came across my inbox today. It’s for a new book by two professors emeritus from the University of Toronto, sharing their wisdom with their target audience of graduate students and junior faculty members.  The most egregious thing about this presumptuous book (as if two old guys’ experience can tell the young all they need to know to navigate the world of academia) is the photo on the cover. So you want to be a professor? For starters, it helps a whole heck of a lot if you’re a nerdy-looking white guy (with a bow tie, tweed optional).  Can we please stop perpetuating this ridiculous stereotype of who can be a professor?

Racial Bias Alleged in Tenure Process at DePaul

Assistant Professor Philosophy Namita Goswami and Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Quinetta Shelby were among half a dozen  faculty of color (of a dozen who applied) who were denied tenure at DePaul last year. All 22 white faculty members who applied for tenure got it.

‘Goswami’s attorney, Lynne Bernabei, says from very early on there’s been a pattern of discrimination. “Even though Dr. Goswami was hired to do critical race, postcolonial, and feminist work—all by nature challenging to more traditional approaches—they held it against her when she did. They hired her and then wouldn’t let her do her work. They made statements about her scholarship and teaching which, after it was pointed out that they were false, were repeated in the tenure review. DePaul has basically abdicated its tenure process.”‘

See more here.