Weekly Roundup
Jan 22 - 28, 2024
The Weekly Roundup is an opportunity to recap a week in news and share recently discovered materials that might be of interest.
PODCASTS
“The Treason of the Intellectuals,” with Niall Ferguson
Uncommon Knowledge, 2024
ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
Sex Differences in the Brain and the Mind
Quillette, 2024
Men’s and women’s brains are biased to notice and process different aspects of the social and physical world.
Does Everyone Hate Women? Putting the Barbie Hypothesis to the Test
Nature-Nurtuire-Nietzsche Newsletter, 2024
The average person has a fairly positive attitude toward both sexes.
Testing campaign slogans designed to motivate older people to be more physically active
Public Health Research & Practice, 2024
Abstract: Objectives and importance of study: Being physically active is critical for healthy ageing, yet many older people do not meet physical activity guidelines. The aim of this study was to test the relative effectiveness of five previously identified campaign slogans designed to encourage older people to be more physically active: 'Be active 30-60 minutes a day to stay fit and well'; 'Move more, live longer'; 'Stay fit to stay functional'; 'This is your time - enjoy being strong and active'; and 'Use it or lose it'. Study type: Online experiment Methods: A total of 1200 Australians aged 50 years and older (50% female, mean age 65 years) were recruited to complete an online survey, with respondents randomised to answer a series of questions on a video featuring one of the five slogan conditions. One-way ANOVAs with Tukey's post-hoc tests were used to identify differences in outcomes between slogans. Results: Overall, the slogans were assessed favourably, suggesting older adults may be receptive to messages about increasing their physical activity. 'Use it or lose it 'performed best across the outcome measures of internal and external motivation, perceived effectiveness, liking, believability, and personal relevance. Conclusion: Efforts to encourage physical activity among older Australians could use the slogan 'Use it or lose it' as an evidence-based tagline.
RUBBISH BIN
Closing the Women’s Health Gap: A $1 Trillion Opportunity to Improve Lives and Economies
World Economic Forum, 2024
Abstract: While longer life expectancies for men and women have been a societal success story, this is not the full picture. Despite living longer than men, women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health. Health burdens have a heavy impact on women’s lives, with ripple effects for broader society. To address these issues, the World Economic Forum and the McKinsey Health Institute have released a new insight report as part of the Forum's Women’s Health Initiative.
Women’s health gap estimated at $1trn in new report
pharmaphorum, 2024
“Why is your body a different shape?” fatness and masculinity in the superhero film
Fat Studies, 2024
Abstract: In recent decades, American superhero films, and with them often very traditional constructs of masculinity, have become omnipresent in cinemas worldwide. This article examines a specific type of male representation, male fatness, in two examples of the genre, Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). The author argues that in both films the fat male character is depicted as demasculinized, thereby standing in a tradition of male fatness stereotyped as outside of normative masculinity. In the superhero genre the body plays a particularly relevant role in signifying a hegemonic masculinity, which is highlighted by the way the two films position the characters’ fatness, or also behaviors associated with fatness, in contrast to the expectations of superhero masculinity.
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Thanks for the link to the Geary article. He is an informed academic and speaking in very gentle terms about sex differences...but he still gets harangued by feminist types. Amazing.
The 1 Trillion dollar health gap for women is quite a piece. They admit that men die earlier than women by a number of years but perseverate on women suffering more! You simply can't make this stuff up.
Thank you Sir!