All posts tagged "Pz"

PZ Myers has a really cool blog post up now about a new theory of menstruation put out in a paper by Emera, Romero, and Wagner, who appear to be actual biologists, instead of those psych profs and anthropology profs who get called "evolutionary biologists" every time they wank off in public with unevidenced theories about how we evolved to have 50s-era gender roles. It's one of those things I want to flag for feminists particularly, because I think really understanding the scientific discourse around human female biology can go a long way to chilling some of the uglier debates that go on about "nature" and things like reproduction, menstruation, etc. Basically, the problem for biologists regarding human menstruation is that it's surprisingly uncommon for mammals to have monthly menstruation. Not all mammals---as PZ says, other primates, bats, and elephant shrews menstruate---but by and large, most mammals only build up a uterine lining after an embryo implants and begins the pregnancy cycle. On paper, this seems like the smarter move, survival-wise. It uses fewer resources and avoid the health problems that can accompany menstruation if you're not lucky enough to live in a hygienic environment. (Or, as PZ puts it, "filling a delicate orifice with dying tissue seems like a bad idea.") I'll add that it's particularly confusing for it to happen in humans, who are social animals who tend to be private about our body functions. How much so changes across cultures, sure, but overall, we're private animals. Finding ways to conceal menstruation in order to participate in public life has been a hassle for women throughout history, and unfortunately for many, the answer today is still "avoid leaving the house until it's over". So, the question is why: why would we evolve a unique-ish trait that is a physical and social burden to an extent that it also impacts our ability to survive and optimally reproduce? There's a lot of theories, but this new one is pretty interesting:

Wow, I rarely find myself disagreeing with PZ, Melissa, and Samhita, but I have to say that I don't really see the problem with the American Academy of Pediatrics advising doctors to offer a "ritual nick" in lieu of the more serious forms of female circumcision that are often on offer in some other parts of the world. The practice is something that is done in modern places that want to have a link to tradition without actually doing any real harm to little girls, from what I understand. All they do is prick your genitals, or make a small cut that heals over, but nothing is removed. You're basically scratching the girl. It's not awesome---and from what I understand, in some places they just wave the razor over the girl's genitals but don't touch her at all---but comparing it to more severe forms of female circumcision troubles me.

PZ posted a radio poll of College Station, TX that asked if you would let your kids hear President Obama speak. Texans in the audience will be utterly non-surprised to discover that the poll indicates that College Station is a cesspool of wingnuttery. But I was sad to see PZ slam the whole state as unpatriotic. (SNIFF) Okay, I've pointed out in the past that we are controlled largely by batshit crazy wingnuts, and ignoring that or telling fairy tells about how they're our neighbors we need to persuade is a waste of time. But we're not all College Station! That's the home of Texas A&M, known by Austinites as the Land of the Mouth-Breathers. There are more flies caught per capita at A&M than anywhere in the country. That Nixon-esque wingnutty resentment of those perceived as being open-minded and sophisticated that Rick Perlstein explained so well in Nixonland not only thrives at A&M, but it's actually encouraged by the school culture. They're the Orthogonians to UT Austin's Frankins. They're the Sarah Palins to UT's Barack Obamas. They're Nixon to our Kennedys. Even their fight song is....about UT, at least a huge part of it.