Weekly Roundup
Sep 16 – 22, 2024
THE NUZZO LETTER IN THE NEWS
The Rise of Woke Medicine: Dr. James Nuzzo on Social Justice in Academia
Psycobabble, 2024 (Interview: 49 min)
ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
The Curious Case of the Self-Objectifying Feminist
The Fiamengo File, 2024
New York Post, 2024
Sky News, 2024
Why psychological scientists should disdain determinism
Possibility Studies & Society, 2024
Abstract: This essay strives to challenge a conceptual foundation of psychology that is questioned all too rarely: causal determinism. Specifically, the issue we have an argument with is the idea that human behavior is characterized by strict and inevitable sequences of cause and effect. We make two arguments against this notion. First, we argue that, even if true, this conception of determinism is useless and misleading for psychological theories, because psychological theories typically must explain how agents respond to situations defined by having multiple alternative possible outcomes. Second, we argue that this determinism is probably wrong, outdated, and circular in its reasoning. Alongside these arguments, we present results of a survey among fellow researchers, assessing their beliefs on the topic. Results show that psychologists are indeed discordant about this issue, and tendencies to endorse notions of causal determinism are more prevalent in younger than older scientists. We respect this diversity of opinion and seek to make the case that psychology theory would be best served by abandoning the wrongheaded idea of human behavior being inevitable and physically predetermined and replacing it with a brain-based agent operating in a world defined by multiple genuine possibilities and probabilistic causation.
Countering Arguments Against Parental Alienation as A Form of Family Violence and Child Abuse
American Journal of Family Therapy, 2024
Abstract: Despite scientific recognition of parental alienation as a form of child maltreatment and family violence, numerous critiques been advanced challenging the concept. A recent UN report concluded that parental alienation is a “pseudo-concept” lacking empirical validity, posing significant dangers to women and children at risk of family violence and abuse. In this article, we present and refute the most common arguments that have been advanced against the proposition that parental alienation and alienating behaviors are a form of family violence and child abuse. We examine each in relation to empirical evidence published in over one hundred peer-reviewed research studies.
Similar But Different: Intimate Partner Violence Experienced by Women and Men
Journal of Family Violence, 2024
Purpose: Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) is generally focused on female survivors. However, in Canada, about half of all self-reported victims of IPV are men and 1 in 5 calls to police for domestic violence are for male victims. This paper takes a comparative approach to understanding survivors’ experiences of IPV. Methods: Across Canada, 110 female and 45 male survivors of IPV were recruited through media, social media, and listservs for a survey and interviews in 2017. Results: Findings indicate areas of similarity (healthcare needs; difficulty accessing formal support; fear of false accusations) and areas of difference (availability of formal support; types of violence experienced most often; interactions with the justice system). Women and men reported similar types of IPV, with women experiencing higher rates of sexual violence, stalking, and damage to property. Women and men reported similar physical and mental health consequences following IPV. Men were less satisfied than women with the response of the justice system, and both female and male participants encountered gender bias within the justice system. Some women reported being turned away from services that were at their maximum capacity, and men reported difficulty identifying IPV-related services for male survivors. Conclusions: Findings can be used by frontline service providers and the justice system to ensure that services are gender-inclusive and gender-sensitive.
Sex Differences in Strength During Development: Implications for Inclusivity and Fairness in Sport
American Journal of Human Biology, 2024
Abstract: Objectives: Males, on average, are bigger and stronger than females. Hormonal differences during puberty are one reason given for this performance advantage. However, not all evidence supports that thesis. Our aim was to further this discussion by measuring early life changes between sexes (when hormones would be similar) in components of muscle function. Methods: Fifty-one children (29 boys, 22 girls) completed this study. Forearm muscle size and strength were assessed three times with each time point being separated by approximately a year (2021-2023). Results: There was no sex*time interaction for handgrip strength (p = 0.637). There was, however, a time (p < 0.001) and sex (p < 0.001) effect. Strength increased each year and boys were stronger than girls (difference of 1.5 [95% 0.7, 2.3] kg). There was no sex*time interaction for ulnar muscle thickness (p = 0.714) but there was a time (p < 0.001) effect. Muscle size increased each year but there was no evidence of a sex effect (p = 0.12; difference of 0.81 [95% -0.21, 1.8] mm). A strong positive within-participant correlation between muscle size and strength (r = 0.803 95% CI: [0.72, 0.86], p < 0.0001) was found across time. Conclusion: Muscle size and strength increased together but this increase did not differ based on sex and boys were stronger than girls. Future work is needed to determine the reason for this difference in maximal strength. Any effect was seemingly present at the initial measurement (at the age of 4 years), since muscle size and strength did not change differently between boys and girls over time.
Translational Sports Medicine, 2022
Abstract: Introduction: Adults with generalised joint hypermobility including knee joint hypermobility (GJHk) report more knee joint symptoms when compared to adults without GJHk. There is no consensus on best practice for symptom management. For instance, controversy exists regarding the appropriateness and safety of heavy resistance training as an intervention for this specific group. This case series aims to describe a supervised, progressive heavy resistance training program in adults with GJHk and knee pain, the tolerability of the intervention, and the outcomes of knee pain, knee-related quality of life, muscle strength, proprioception, and patellar tendon stiffness through a 12-week period. Materials and methods: Adults with GJHk and knee pain were recruited to perform supervised, progressive heavy resistance training twice a week for 12 weeks. The main outcome was the tolerability of the intervention. Secondary outcomes were knee pain during a self-nominated activity (VASNA); Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS); Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK); maximal quadriceps voluntary isometric contraction and rate of torque development; 5 repetition maximum strength in five different leg exercises; single leg hop for distance; knee proprioception and patellar tendon stiffness. Results: In total, 16 women (24.2 years, SD 2.5) completed at least 21/24 training sessions. No major adverse events were observed. On average, VASNA decreased by 32.5 mm (95% CI 21.4-43.6), in addition to improvements in KOOS and TSK scores. These improvements were supported by an increase in all measures of lower extremity muscle strength, knee proprioception, and patellar tendon stiffness. Conclusion: Supervised heavy resistance training seems to be well tolerated and potentially beneficial in young women with GJHk and knee pain.
HISTORICAL ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
The case against the role of gender in intimate partner violence
Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2012
Abstract: I argue that Gondolf, Johnson and Dekeseredy, in a recent issue of Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal, presented one sided arguments and misleading evidence for the role of gender in intimate partner violence (IPV). Johnson and Dekeseredy use only female victim samples and Gondolf only a male perpetrator sample. These methods generate spurious support for the gender paradigm. Better methodology; longitudinal and laboratory studies indicate that bilateral IPV, matched for level of severity is the most common form of IPV. Our policies should be directed towards this most common form not the relatively rare "wife battering". The stereotype of IPV proffered by the gender paradigm has obscured the dyadic patterns and psychological profiles of IPV so that a "one size fits all" approach has been the normative response. The future of IPV policy lies in prevention and in models that treat abusive families as coherent systems.
RUBBISH BIN
‘It’s almost shameful to want to have children’
Los Angeles Times, 2024
A vision for a diverse, inclusive, equitable, and representative developmental science
Developmental Science, 2024
Studies in Clinical Social Work: Transforming Practice, Education and Research, 2024
Abstract: At this pressing historical juncture, where escalating violence against queer and racialized bodies runs concurrently with the specter of wide-scale planetary collapse, social work is in dire need of reconceptualizing the moral parameters of its imagination. Recognizing that changes in thought both precede and extend from changes in behavior, this article advocates for a profound unlearning of supremacist modes of thinking wedded to hierarchical orderings, dichotomous and essentialist views, and categorical oppositions. By engaging de/coloniality and eco-queer feminisms, this article draws connections between the discursive violences targeting queer and racialized bodies and the parallel destruction of the animate Earth—bodies circumscribed, exploited, and rendered disposable by the power-logics of coloniality/heteropatriarchy/modernity and the untenable demands of global capitalism. With the interest of re-situating clinical social work within the broader context of planetary health, this article considers the criticality of decolonial eco-queer thought, praxis, and imaginaries as vital responses to the multidimensional power structures constraining our transformative potential. Ultimately, this paper discusses four tenets vital for a more holistic and revolutionary social work education and practice.
Quest, 2024
Abstract: The emerging commitment to social justice promotion around the world has resulted in the need to develop a pedagogy rooted in anti-oppressive practice (AOP) within youth sport research. The AOP pedagogy acknowledges the importance of three key concepts: cultural competence, cultural humility, and critical consciousness. Moving forward, as youth sport research continues to evolve, promising possibilities may be possible in a more socially-just world. Youth sport scholars have begun taking important steps toward acknowledging—and, in some instances, addressing—social inequities and injustices throughout youth sport. Conversely, complex challenges have also emerged and corrupted the way in which social justice and research pertaining to social injustices are positioned. The purpose of this manuscript is to examine, reflect upon, and critique the ways social justice has been positioned throughout youth sport research and, in turn, provide implications for contemporary academia. In the end, youth sport scholars should continue to consider their unique positionality within traditional systems of power-privilege-oppression, seek opportunities to increase their critical consciousness, cultural competence, and cultural humility, and embody a critical praxis for social justice promotion.
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