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When the Fight over Gun Control Comes Home
Today’s guest post was written by Dr. Ruth Nemzoff, Resident Scholar at Brandeis University’s Women’s Studies Research Center: Talking about guns is even more difficult than talking about sex these days. The two issues have much in common. The generations may certainly have very different views on the subject, but even the partners may disagree. Both…
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Roots of Violence: What Does Kill People?
Almost immediately after the Newtown school shooting, before anyone had a chance to grieve the losses, the finger-pointing began. Finger-pointing is not simply one of America’s favorite pastimes, it’s also a prerequisite to our favorite team sport—politics. After all, you’re not going to paint your body in the team colors until there’s a game scheduled;…
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A Time to Mourn
All over America (and judging from social media—the world), today’s tragedy in Connecticut has been deeply felt. We grieve with the parents, teachers and students of Sandy Hook Elementary School and the wider community of Newtown. As inadequate as our condolences are, they’re offered with all our hearts: we are all diminished by these unspeakably…
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Pets: More than Man’s Best Friend
Sometimes I think we underestimate the educational wealth to be gained from our pets. Case in point: If you viewed the world the way your cat does, you’d find it a lot easier to respond to barbs and insults with a casual eyebrow-lift and a wide yawn. You might inadvertently expose your claws as you…
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No Escape: When the Bully’s in the Family
In honor of October’s status as National Bullying Prevention Month, dozens of non-profit groups have been working to raise awareness of bullying and how to prevent it. It makes sense that the vast majority of the activities focus on educating parents, teachers and students about school bullying and cyberbullying. These two forms not only interfere with…
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On In-Laws and Outlaws
An old joke asks, “What’s the difference between in-laws and outlaws?” Of course the answer is, “Outlaws are wanted.” (Ooh.) My apologies to the London borough of Barnet, I understand that their Council outlawed mother-in-law jokes a couple of years ago, although I’m unclear as to whether jokes about other in-laws are still allowed. In…
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On Feminists, Attachment Parents, Tiger Moms and Wise French Mothers. Oh, and Dads.
As May begins and Mother’s Day approaches, the American brain is primed to think of all things Mom and Motherhood. And so it is that the New York Times finds it opportune to ask, “Has women’s obsession with being the perfect mother destroyed feminism? In particular, has the trend of ‘attachment parenting’ been bad for…
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Critical Thinking is Not for Cocktail Parties
I’m still learning not to talk about books at cocktail parties. At this point I haven’t figured out what you are supposed to talk about at them . . . but at least it’s finally beginning to dawn on me that people don’t go to cocktail parties to have their thoughts challenged. People go to…
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Bringing it All Back Home: How Outside Stress Affects Family Relationships
It will come as no surprise to anyone who keeps up with psychology research that much of who we are and what we do goes back to the quality of our family relationships. Positive, supportive family relationships contribute to our well-being in countless ways—while negative, abusive ones can be deadly. Of course, most of us…
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The Place to Start: Etiquette on the Net
Are there different rules for relationships in cyberspace than at home or in the workplace? The Internet’s veneer of anonymity sometimes lulls the unwary cyberspace traveler into releasing his or her alter-ego online: that impolite, self-righteous, brutish troll that most of us try to restrain or even completely root out of our “real” lives. Unfortunately…
