The Weekly Roundup is an opportunity to recap a week in news and share recently discovered materials that might be of interest.
PODCASTS
Circumcision: Follow the $Money$
Men are Good, 2024
ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
Prohibited Extremist Activities in the U.S. Department of Defense
Institute for Defense Analyses, 2024
Abstract: This report examines the scope and nature of extremist ideologies and behaviors in the Department of Defense; identifies the sources of such ideologies and behavior; assesses their impact; and recommends strategies for preventing, countering and neutralizing that impact
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2024
Abstract: Despite having to carry the same occupational load, female soldiers tend to be lighter than male soldiers. The aim of this study was to determine the differences in cardiovascular load between female and male US Marine recruits during progressive load carriage hikes. United States Marine Corps recruits (565 male recruits; 364 female recruits) completed 6 loaded hikes over 6 weeks (1: 10 kg, 30 minutes; 2: 10 kg, 45 minutes; 3: 15 kg, 30 minutes, 4: 15 kg, 45 minutes; 5: 20 kg, 30 minutes; 6: 20 kg, 45 minutes) during which cardiovascular response was measured. Average heart rate (HRavg), HR maximum (HRmax), and pace were measured via a wrist-worn physiological monitor. Independent sample t-tests were conducted to compare between sexes, with significance set at 0.008 after adjusting for multiple comparisons. The average female recruit had significantly lower body mass (BM) compared with the average male recruit (p < 0.001) and thus carried a significantly heavier relative load (10 kg ∼17%, 15 kg ∼25%, 20 kg ∼33%, p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in pace in any hike, and no significant differences were found in HRavg or HRmax when comparing female and male Marines during Hike 1. For female Marines, HRavg was significantly higher compared with male Marines during Hike 2 (+6.5 b·min–1, p < 0.001) and Hike 3 (+7.4 b·min–1, p < 0.001), and both HRavg and HRmax were significantly higher in Hike 4 (+11.9 b·min–1, +8.4 b·min–1, p < 0.001), Hike 5 (+7.7 b·min–1, +7.9 b·min–1, p < 0.001), and Hike 6 (+6.9 b·min–1, +7.1 b·min–1, p < 0.001), respectively. Female Marines endured greater cardiovascular demand compared with male Marines during load carriage events when carrying loads greater than 15 kg (∼25% BM).
Heat-Related Emergency Department Visits — United States, May–September 2023
MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2024
Abstract: Unprecedented heat waves can affect all persons, but some are more sensitive to the effects of heat, including children and adults with underlying health conditions, pregnant women, and outdoor workers. Many regions of the United States experienced record-breaking high temperatures in 2023, with populations exposed to extremely high temperatures for prolonged periods. CDC examined emergency department (ED) visits associated with heat-related illness (HRI) from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program and compared daily HRI ED visit rates during the warm-season months (May–September) of 2023 with those during 2018–2022. In the 2023 warm-season months, daily HRI ED visit rates peaked in several regions and remained elevated for a prolonged duration. More males than females sought care in EDs for HRI, especially males aged 18–64 years. CDC issued multiple public health alerts using the Epidemic Information Exchange system to bring attention to increases in ED utilization for HRI. Deaths and illnesses associated with heat exposure are a continuing public health concern as climate change results in longer, hotter, and more frequent episodes of extreme heat. Near real-time monitoring of weather conditions and adverse health outcomes can guide public health practitioners’ timing of risk communication and implementation of prevention measures associated with extreme heat.
Sexual Interest in Children Among Women in Two Nonclinical and Nonrepresentative Online Samples
Sexual Medicine, 2020
Abstract: Introduction: Regarding women, little research is available about the prevalence of sexual interest in children (SIC), especially in nonclinical samples. Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the extent to which adult women from 2 nonclinical and nonrepresentative samples indicate sexual interest in prepubescent and/or pubescent children. Methods: Participants took part in an online survey either via general websites or via websites directed toward individuals with a SIC. Main Outcome Measures: The self-report survey included questions about the use of online abuse material including children and teenagers as well as about sexual fantasies involving prepubescent and pubescent children. Both measures were included as main outcome measures. Results: Results showed that few women reported having used online abuse material including children (total sample: n = 7 [0.8%], general websites: n = 3 [0.4%], SIC websites: n = 4 [9.5%]) or teenagers (total sample: n = 44 [5.0%], general websites: n = 37 [4.4%], SIC websites: n = 7 [16.7%]). Results further revealed that some women reported sexual fantasies involving prepubescent (total sample: n = 98 [7.0%], general websites: n = 92 [6.8%], SIC websites: n = 6 [11.1%]) or pubescent children (total sample: n = 136 [9.6%], general websites: n = 129 [9.5%], SIC websites: n = 7 [13.0%]). Conclusions: The samples included are nonrepresentative and therefore not generalizable to the female population. Nevertheless, they strongly suggest that SIC is a phenomenon also found in women. We therefore recommend professionals in the field of sexual medicine to increase their attention and engagement for women with SIC. Based on the present results, the development of preventive treatment services specifically tailored to women with a SIC has to be strongly encouraged in the near future.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2021
Abstract: Previous research has shown that people care less about men than about women who are left behind. We show that this finding extends to the domain of labor market discrimination: In identical scenarios, people judge discrimination against women more morally bad than discrimination against men. This result holds in a representative sample of the US population and in a larger but not representative sample of Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk) respondents. We test if this gender gap is driven by statistical fairness discrimination, a process in which people use the gender of the victim to draw inferences about other characteristics which matter for their fairness judgments. We test this explanation with a survey experiment in which we explicitly hold information about the victim of discrimination constant. Our results provide only mixed support for the statistical fairness discrimination explanation. In our representative sample, we see no meaningful or significant effect of the information treatments. By contrast, in our Mturk sample, we see that providing additional information partly reduces the effect of the victim's gender on judgment of the discriminator. While people may engage in statistical fairness discrimination, this process is unlikely to be an exhaustive explanation for why discrimination against women is judged as worse.
RUBBISH BIN
Health Equity Requires Working Toward Antiracist Local Public Health Departments
Public Health Reports, 2024
Workplace heating and gender discrimination
Bioethics, 2024
Abstract: Across Europe, countries are reducing CO2 emissions and energy demand by lowering the temperature in public office buildings. These measures affect men and women unequally because the latter prefer and, indeed, perform better under higher temperatures than the standard temperature. Lowering the temperature thus further increases an already existing inequality. We show that the philosophical literature on discrimination provides an interesting theoretical approach to understanding such measures. On prominent understandings of what discrimination is, the policy would be considered direct discrimination against women if it could be shown to reflect a broader inattentiveness to the needs of women in society. Alternatively, and more straightforwardly, the policies can be considered indirect discrimination because of their disparate effects on men and women. The final part of the paper shows that the policies are also wrong for the reasons it is often argued that discrimination is wrong-to wit, that it harms or disrespects those who are discriminated against. The final section suggests a range of measures to offset the discriminatory aspects of the policy.
Frontiers of Psychology, 2022
Abstract: Over recent years, the role of men as women's allies in the struggle for gender equality has become increasingly important. Previous research has shown that often men do not fight gender inequalities as they fail to recognize the severity of discrimination against women (e.g., in hiring). In this study (N = 427), we examined whether men who experienced relative deprivation on behalf of women-a form of relative deprivation that stems from the awareness that women hold a less privileged position in society-were more motivated to engage in collective action to support gender equality in the workplace. The findings showed that men's feelings of deprivation on behalf of women were associated with a greater willingness to engage in collective action for gender equality. This relationship was sequentially mediated by two emotional reactions related to deprivation-increased guilt about gender inequalities and decreased fear of a potential backlash-and the moral conviction of acting for gender equality. These results suggest that men's awareness of gender inequality at work is an important antecedent to their acting in solidarity with women and that emotions and moral conviction are two psychological processes that turn cognition into behavior. Action to reduce gender inequalities should make men more sensitive to seeing that they hold a privileged position in society and to recognizing the pervasive and harmful nature of women's deprivation.
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In the workplace heating study, one of the solutions was "to offer writing gloves, woolen blankets, or other measures to keep the body less exposed to the lower temperature." Interestingly, no mention was made of women choosing to wear socks, pants, or a sweater or jacket. Perhaps the reason women are unable to tolerate the temperatures a fully dressed man can is they prefer to wear dresses and diaphanous tops.
Even if there really is a difference in the preferred temperature of a few degrees that can't be accounted for by clothing preferences, there's nothing to keep women from dressing comfortably for whatever conditions they find themselves in.