This is what your brain on drugs really looks like [io9.com]

by Robert T. Gonzalez / io9.com

Scientists this week published a study that reveals what the human brain looks like under the influence of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical found in magic mushrooms.

The study has turned a few heads, and raised some interesting questions. What does the human brain look like during a mushroom trip? Come to think of it, what sort of activity do scientists see in the brains of people after they smoke a joint, or once they’ve downed a few beers? Let’s take a peek at what your brain really looks like on drugs — illicit and otherwise — and what scientists stand to learn from collecting this kind of information.

The results of the mushroom study were published in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt and his team. The researchers recruited thirty people to participate in the investigation, all of whom were experienced with the use of hallucinogenic drugs. The study was designed to monitor the changes in brain activity that emerge during the transition from a normal, sober state of consciousness to one influenced by the effects of the psychedelic compound psilocybin. This was accomplished by recording subjects’ brain, both before and after the intravenous administration of 2 milligrams of psilocybin (i.e. the psilocybin was injected directly into the subject’s blood stream via a vein). Two mg of psilocybin delivered intravenously is comparable to 15mg delivered orally — what the researchers describe as “a moderate dose.”

Your Brain on Shrooms

 

Shown here are the effects of psilocybin that the researchers observed. Regions labeled in blue indicate a decrease in brain activity. This activity was measured via two variations of a common neuroimaging method called functional magnetic resonance imagine (or fMRI for short), which works by monitoring blood flow in the brain. (It bears mentioning that while the rest of the images of brain activation in this post were also detected via fMRI, other neuroimaging techniques do exist, includingCT scanning, magnetoencephalography, andpositron emission tomography, to name a few.)

Many people have either had or heard of mind-bending experiences attributable to psilocybin — so if you or someone you know has experimented with mushrooms, the fact that the researchers’ observations reflected adecrease in brain activity during a trip will probably strike you as odd. What’s going on here, man?

“Psychedelics are thought of as ‘mind-expanding’ drugs, so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity,” explained Nutt in an interview with Nature’s Mo Costandi. “Surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas.”

Did you catch that? The most important thing to take away from this study isn’t the fact that brain activity decreased, it’s where the activity decreased. The greatest dips in activity were observed in regions of the brain known as the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the anterior and posterior cingulate cortices (ACC and PCC, respectively). And as if that wasn’t enough, the researchers’ findings also suggest that psilocybin takes its disabling effects one step further by disrupting connections between the mPFC and PCC.

You can think of your mPFC, PCC, and a third region of your brain called the thalamus, astransportation hubs that coordinate the flow of information throughout your brain. Decreased activity within and between the brain’s hubs, conclude Nutt and his colleagues, allows for “an unconstrained style of cognition.”

What the hell does that mean? Costandi fleshes things out for us, with a little help from Aldous Huxley :

In his 1954 book The Doors of Perception, novelist Aldous Huxley, who famously experimented with psychedelics, suggested that the drugs produce a sensory deluge by opening a “reducing valve” in the brain that normally acts to limit our perceptions.

The new findings are consistent with this idea, and with the free-energy principle of brain function developed by Karl Friston of University College London that states that the brain works by constraining our perceptual experiences so that its predictions of the world are as accurate as possible.

The observations by Nutt and his colleagues come together quite nicely with a model of “unconstrained cognition.” There is, however, one small snag: the team’s findings directly contradict those observed in previous studies.

“We have completed a number of similar studies,” explains Franz Vollenweider, a neuropsychopharmacologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, “and we always saw anactivation of these same areas” [emphasis added].

So why don’t the researchers’ findings match up? The short answer is: don’t know; needs more research. But that doesn’t mean we can’t hypothesize. For example, in Vollenweider’s study, test subjects were administered psilocybin orally, and their brains were imaged an hour later. In Nutt’s study, however, the psychedelic compound was administered intravenously, and the brain scans were performed immediately.

According to Keith Laws, a neuropsychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, previous studies have shown that the decreases in brain activity observed by Nutt and his colleagues are also linked to the anticipation of unpleasant experiences. Being dosed with psilocybin intravenously, muses Laws, was probably a pretty stressful experience, even for experienced drug users. “I suspect,” Laws explains, “that [Nutt and his colleagues] measured something to do with anxiety.”

Click here to read the rest of the article…

Being Narcissistic Stresses Dudes Out [jezebel.com]

by Anna North / jezebel.com

It turns out it’s hard out there for a narcissist — at least if he’s a guy. A new study has found that men who are full of themselves may actually be stressed out by their own narcissism.

In a study published in PLoS One, researchers David Reinhard, Sara Konrath, William Lopez, and Heather Cameron gave 106 undergrads (79 women, 27 men) a 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory, in which they had to pick either narcissistic responses (“If I ruled the world it would be a better place”) or non-narcissistic ones (“The thought of ruling the world frightens the hell out of me”). They subdivided the results into unhealthy narcissism — characterized by “entitlement” and “exploitativeness” — and healthy narcissism — associated with qualities like leadership and self-sufficiency (also vanity, though it’s unclear why that’s healthy). They also tested the subjects’ saliva (using a technique amusingly called “passive drool”) for cortisol, a hormone related to stress response. The researchers found that men with high levels of unhealthy narcissism also had higher cortisol levels. Unhealthily narcissistic ladies had higher levels too, but the effect was much smaller.

Higher levels of cortisol mean narcissistic dudes have a more active stress response, which could lead to cardiovascular problems — the study authors note that “future work might examine [whether] high narcissism in earlier life predicts poor health outcomes in later life.” Though hanging out with a narcissistic person is certainly stressful, it’s not obvious why narcissists themselves would be freaked out. Reinhard et al, however, note that previous research has shown that “narcissists are susceptible to a host of unrealistic self-views that are difficult and stressful to continuously maintain.” Translation: convincing yourself that you’re the most important person in the world is actually a lot of work. So why is this more stressful for men? The study authors write,

Perhaps females can escape more severe physiological consequences of narcissism because there are different expectations for their roles in society. Female gender roles promote behaviors that encourage women to value relationships and to seek and gain social support, which may lower their risks for chronic [stress]. In fact, female narcissism might be associated with different kinds of exploitative strategies than male narcissism. Perhaps female narcissists use “feminine” roles to their advantage and obtain both social and financial resources more indirectly.

Study coauthor Sara Konrath adds, “Given societal definitions of masculinity that overlap with narcissism — for example, the belief that men should be arrogant and dominant — men who endorse stereotypically male sex roles and who are also high in narcissism may feel especially stressed.” This isn’t carte blanche for ladies to act like assholes — they still might stress out the people around them. But the study’s findings may point to a sort of poetic justice for male narcissists — acting like they’re hot shit all the time may cause them pain, and even usher them into an early grave. Which seems like a pretty good argument for recognizing that the world doesn’t revolve around you.

Narcissism’s Gender Gap: Toxic Trait Stresses Men More [LiveScience]
Expensive Egos: Narcissistic Males Have Higher Cortisol [PLoS One]

http://jezebel.com/5878923/being-narcissistic-stresses-dudes-out

 

Girl Scout Troop in Louisiana Disbands to Protest Tardy Ban on Transgender Children [jezebel.com]

by Doug Barry / jezebel.com

In what could go down as the next great instance of parental immaturity since calls for a cookie embargo, mothers in Covington, Louisiana have dismantled their daughters’ Girl Scout troop to protest a Colorado troop’s decision to accept a 7-year-old transgender girl named Taylor into their ranks. Actually, the Girl Scouts East Louisiana officially (because they posted on their website) repudiated the Colorado Girl Scouts by barring transgender children from joining their mafia of door-to-door cookie peddlers, but troop leader Susan Cramond was so unnerved at the Louisiana chapter’s delayed response that she pushed to disband her troop.

Cramond says that when she first contacted the acolytes of the Louisiana Scouts high council, she didn’t get the swift “non” in response to her pearl-clutching query about whether Louisiana too would go the way of barbarous Colorado and teach children valuable life lessons such as respecting the differences in others because that’s what being a human is all about. Another troop mother, Susan Bryant-Snure (Louisiana, after all, being the land of unpronounceable surnames), said that the Louisiana Scouts made “the right decision; they just made it in a way that made us nervous.”

The mothers wanted to be part of an organization that only admits children who have been “persistently and consistently” identified as girls, one that reinforced their professed Christianity and their shared opinion to “let family decide” on the issue of gender, instead of, say, psychology, because families are always super accepting and judgment-free units. Enter the American Heritage Girls, a group whose origin story is deeply rooted in all those anachronistic, quasi religious virtues that made America a more wholesome and bigoted place in the 50′s. As the organization’s website explains,

American Heritage Girls was founded in 1995 in West Chester, Ohio by a group of parents wanting a wholesome program for their daughters. These parents were disillusioned with the increasing secular focus of existing organizations for girls. They wanted a Judeo-Christian focused organization for their daughters and believed that other parents were looking for the same for their daughters. This became the catalyst for the birth of the organization we have come to know as the American Heritage Girls.

Girls lucky enough to have value-centric, nuclear families can earn merit badges in such categories as “Family Living Frontier” and “Heritage Frontier” because the American Heritage Girls exist as the last outpost of good, Christian living on the frontier between Louisiana and Colorado. Here follow some of the badges themselves, reminders that we’ll probably never get our shit together enough to send a mission to Mars:

• All God’s Children
• Bible Basics
• Daughter of the King
• Puppetry
• Stick Shifts & Safety Belts (somebody listens to Cake)
• 7 C’s of History
• Archery

In any other context, “archery” would seem normal, but here it just seems unsettling, especially when you think of the American Heritage Girls not as innocent children but armed members of the next Children’s Crusade.

Transgendered Girl Scout in Colorado causes stir [Times-Picayune]

American Heritage Girls

http://jezebel.com/5878240/girl-scout-troop-in-louisiana-disbands-to-protest-tardy-ban-on-transgender-children

Remembering things that never happened [newscientist.com]

by Tiffany O’Callaghan / newscientist.com

Despite knowing better, many of us cling to the notion that memory is a reliable record and trawling through it can be similar to flipping through an old photo album. But what about the memories – sometimes vivid in nature – of things that never were?

Examining the false stories that we can create for ourselves is the aim of a new initiative led by artist Alasdair Hopwood. As part of a residency at the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unitled by Chris French at Goldsmiths College, University of London, Hopwood aims to explore what false memories reveal about our sense of identity.

To do this, he has created the False Memory Archive, a collection of people’s fabricated recollections either jotted down after talks he has given or submitted online at the project’s website. At a discussion of the project at Goldsmiths this week, Hopwood recounted how he had hoped to get 50 submissions over the course of his year-long residency funded by the Wellcome Trust. A very low estimate, he soon learned: “We got 70 in the first week.”

Our appetite for understanding and improving memory is tremendous, and French is hopeful that the false memory project will raise awareness about the intricacies of remembering. “People have so many misconceptions about the way memory works,” he says. In part, that’s because memories are so infrequently challenged. The few times they are, he says, are in the courts, after anomalous claims – like seeing aliens or the Lochness monster – or, he adds with a wry smile, in romantic relationships.

For Hopwood, examining the ways we deceive ourselves through memory is perhaps a natural progression. He has worked with fellow artists as part of the WITH Collective on projects that expose and poke fun at the many ways we style our public selves. “Identity is not fixed,” he says. Instead, it shifts depending on the company we are in, and even the format of the interaction – be it social media or in person.

We’re extraordinarily preoccupied with sculpting our identities, as the glut of self-help books and pseudoscientific methods for personal development demonstrates. Through the WITH Collective, Hopwood has pushed this to the preposterous in a series of whimsical, biting and often hilarious “solutions” offering people alternate realities to claim as their own. In these fictitious scenarios, people can avail themselves of “traumaformer” for example, a “product” that conjures up a more traumatic past for the purchaser, or shift the blame to someone else with “scapegoad”. For the sexually curious but timid, there’s also “homoflexible”: “We perform your fantasies/fears for you, as you, so you don’t have to,” the site boasts.

These past projects have all been gleefully tongue in cheek, “cheerful antagonism” as Hopwood describes it. Yet these satirical takes on modern living have been cast in new light as his understanding of memory has grown, and with it his fascination for false memory in particular.

Hopwood has already been intrigued by the detailed and often bizarre recollections pouring in, but he isn’t yet sure what will come of this project – whether the false memories should be left to speak for themselves, or if they will inspire works of visual art or a combination of both. “I don’t want to make a work that is overtly illustrative,” he says.

An accomplished satirist, whatever Hopwood makes of these misleading memories, the results should certainly be hard to forget.

To add your own false memories, go to falsememoryarchive.com.

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/01/remembering-things-that-never-happened.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Do you reside somewhere on the autism spectrum? In the near future, you may not. [io9.com]

by Robert T. Gonzalez / io9.com

For the first time in seventeen years, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (D.S.M.) is undergoing a significant revision. One of the mental conditions facing major emendations in its D.S.M. definition is autism. If the changes go through, a recent analysis suggests that the rate of official diagnosis for autism, and related disorders like Asperger syndrome, could plummet. And that, some people worry, could be bad news for those marginalized by the new diagnostic criteria.

The revision of the D.S.M. puts the APA in the unenviable position of having to draw what the New York Times calls “the line between unusual and abnormal” in relation to mental disorders; in the case of autism, the fact that symptoms are widely believed to manifest themselves along a “spectrum” of class and severity makes the situation even more difficult to navigate. According to the Times:

At least a million children and adults have a diagnosis of autism or a related disorder, like Asperger syndrome or “pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified,” also known as P.D.D.-N.O.S. People with Asperger’s or P.D.D.-N.O.S. endure some of the same social struggles as those with autism but do not meet the definition for the full-blown version. The proposed change would consolidate all three diagnoses under one category, autism spectrum disorder, eliminating Asperger syndrome and P.D.D.-N.O.S. from the manual. Under the current criteria, a person can qualify for the diagnosis by exhibiting 6 or more of 12 behaviors; under the proposed definition, the person would have to exhibit 3 deficits in social interaction and communication and at least 2 repetitive behaviors, a much narrower menu.

If the proposed changes come into effect, an analysis conducted by Yale researchers Fred Volkmar, Brian Reichow and James McPartland indicates they could have a dramatic impact on everything from diagnosis rates (some estimates indicate that autism diagnoses have mushroomed to one child in 100 in recent years), to the ability for many people — people who presently reside somewhere on the autism spectrum of disorders — to access health, educational and social services.

“Our fear is that we are going to take a big step backward,” said Lori Shery, president of the Asperger Syndrome Education Network. “If clinicians say, ‘These kids don’t fit the criteria for an autism spectrum diagnosis,’ they are not going to get the supports and services they need, and they’re going to experience failure.”

Read more over on The New York Times.

http://io9.com/5877879/do-you-reside-somewhere-on-the-autism-spectrum-in-the-near-future-you-may-not

The 7 Most Baffling Things About Women’s Clothes Read more: The 7 Most Baffling Things About Women’s Clothes [cracked.com]

by Christina H / cracked.com

There are a lot of annoying things about being a woman, like periods, childbirth and not being able to play basketball in a way that keeps spectators awake. But near the top of the list has got to be buying clothes.

I know one way to fix it is just to be ballsy and wear men’s clothes, and that’s a bold choice. But you take a social hit for wearing “masculine” clothes, and most women don’t want to take that hit. So they go to buy clothes made specifically “for women,” and generally find a set of the most impractical, low-quality, high-maintenance crap that a sweatshop can make.

Here are a few of the many, many awful things about the clothes that manufacturers want women to wear:

#7. The Material Is Too Thin

Go through any women’s clothes section and put your hand inside all the shirts and dresses and see if you can see it. (If you are a man, try to make sure no one is looking first.) About 50 percent of the time, you are going to get a pretty good view of your hand. And you don’t have to go to a fancy boutique; this holds true for my neighborhood Target.

Wet Seal
I assume the men and lesbians among our readers would prefer I had this photo from the opposite side.

That means if a girl wears just that shirt, you are going to see her bra, or even boobs, which I’m sure sounds exciting and positive to many men, but violates workplace and school dress codes, as well as many public decency laws. Also, these are clothes for all women of all ages, not just young, attractive women.

This isn’t a mistake. The solution is supposed to be layering, which has really caught on in recent years. All of these stores also sell plenty of tank tops, camisoles and plain form-fitting T-shirts, sometimes dedicating entire sections to clothes specifically designed for use in layering. Catalog photos will often show girls wearing three or more layers.

JC Penney
Count ‘em. One, two, three. Or as JC Penney sees it, $, $$, $$$!

I can’t prove they do this deliberately to make women buy more pieces of clothing, but once you found you could sell this concept to people, why wouldn’t you? Someone who used to buy one shirt is now going to buy three from you. And you get to use less material.

On top of that, super-thin cloth isn’t very durable, and its evil cousin, the lacy sweater with huge holes, easily catches and tears in a washing machine. So you get to spend even more money replacing them more often or dry cleaning them.

Click on the link to continue reading the article…

Read more: The 7 Most Baffling Things About Women’s Clothes | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-7-most-baffling-things-about-womens-clothes/#ixzz1jzG2EBUp

How to Quit Worrying And Actually Assert Yourself [jezebel.com]

Original article title: How To Quit Worrying About Being Bitchy and Actually Assert Yourself

By Anna North / jezebel.com

When you’re a lady — even if you’re smart, together, and tough — standing up for yourself can be pretty difficult. Women are supposed to smooth things over, be nice to everybody, and defuse conflict rather than cause it — so asking for anything at all controversial can seem transgressive or even bitchy. Here’s how to get over that, and start getting what you want.

Challenge your assumptions about what’s “nice”

Or rather, what’s kind, or good. I talked to Sue Hadfield, author of How to Be Assertive, who says,

People aren’t going to like it when you start saying no if you have always been a doormat. But constantly trying to please other people in the end leads to stress and sometimes depression.

It can also lead to relationship problems. You may think you’re being nice by keeping your emotions to yourself, but you’re also depriving the people around you of the opportunity to know how you’re feeling. People who care about you — partners, friends, family members, etc. — don’t want to unintentionally bug you or make you feel bad. Nor do they deserve the simmering resentment you may start to feel if you never speak up. So while being assertive about your own needs may seem like a more confrontational choice in the short term, in the long term it can actually be the loving thing to do. Also, remember that a lot of prohibitions against women’s assertiveness are rooted in sexism. Dr. Lois Frankel, author of Nice Girls Just Don’t Get It: 99 Ways to Win the Respect You Deserve, the Success You’ve Earned, and the Life You Want told me,

What women need to understand is that the fear of being seen as “not nice” or bitchy comes from social messages about how they should behave.  It’s the way men have gotten women to acquiesce for centuries.  Just the thought of being considered less than nice makes a woman feel less than feminine.  Each time you hesitate or avoid asking for what you want you’ve bowed to these messages.  The vast majority of women could be more assertive and still be far from bitchy in reality.  When you’re called that, it’s usually because you didn’t do what someone else wants –- in which case, kudos to you!

Do your homework

Ah, this tip again. But seriously, preparing beforehand can make you more confident about standing up for yourself — and it can make other people more likely to give you what you want. Says Frankel,

Advance preparation is the key.  If you want to ask for a raise, you don’t just go in and ask for it, you prepare your business case in advance and practice delivering it to a friend before you speak with the boss.  Or if you want to have a difficult conversation with your mother-in-law, write down in advance what you want to talk about, why it’s important to you and what you’d like to see happen in the future.  Then stick to the script.  The more you do this, the easier it becomes.

You can also practice your script with a friend beforehand. Says Hadfield,

If you are asking for something (promotion, more help, etc) get as much information as you can to help your case. Decide what exactly you want and then role play it with someone you trust. Learn the words you are going to say and then practice your body language to make sure that you don’t appear aggressive or nervous. If it’s a difficult phone call write down what you want to say and practice saying it calmly.

Getting plenty of information will help you feel secure about whatever you’re asking for, and practicing will help you actually ask for it — especially if you’re not in the habit of doing that thing. If you practice your pitch beforehand, you’re less likely to slip back into doormat behavior.

Don’t be afraid to ask for more time

Hadfield offered me this tip:

If you are ever asked to do something that you are not sure about always say, “I’ll think about it and get back to you.”

This is great advice for a lot of reasons. First of all, it’s a lot easier to say no if you haven’t already said yes. And if you feel like you have to answer on the fly, you’re more likely to say yes — in the short term, this is the easy, “nice” response. But if you take some time to think about it, you might realize that you’d really rather say no. And then you can do your homework (as above) and get back to the requester prepared to be assertive.

Show that you appreciate the other person

Standing up for yourself doesn’t have to mean being a total dick. You’re not responsible for keeping everybody else happy all the time, but you can also maximize your chances of getting what you want by showing your appreciation and being a little bit conciliatory. Frankel offers a couple of strategies:

One great way is to practice the technique of “contrasting” when delivering difficult messages.  It enables a woman to say what she does want and doesn’t want without being too strident or demanding.  It sounds like this, “I don’t want you to think I’m not grateful for all that you’ve done for me because I am.  At the same time, we agreed that you would provide additional services for that price and I didn’t receive them so I’d like to discuss when you will be delivering those.”  Another is to use “inclusive” taglines after you give a strong opinion.  For example, “You can hear I feel strongly about this but I’d also like to hear what you think so that we can get all of the best ideas on the table and move forward.”  At its core, assertiveness is about expressing yourself clearly while showing concern for others.  Do that and you won’t wander into aggressive territory.

Don’t confuse being appreciative with beating around the bush. Frankel also has a couple of warnings: “don’t couch your opinions in the form of questions” and “don’t use preambles before getting to the point.” It’s tempting to lead up to your request or complaint with a bunch of equivocal language, but that can just confuse listeners and prevent you from getting your point across. And if you ask a question when you really want to make a statement, you’re not doing yourself any favors.

Start small

If the idea of standing up for yourself freaks you out a little, Frankel says you can “begin by taking small steps in low-risk situations.” Maybe that means not saying sorry when somebody else bumps into you. Or it could mean asking for clarification rather than pretending you understand. Hadfield says that “I’m not sure what you mean” can be a very assertive statement, adding “assertive people aren’t afraid to say when they don’t understand something — but don’t be self-deprecating.” For me, learning to speak up when I don’t understand something has been really important. It’s easy just to let somebody continue talking, and harder to interrupt and admit you don’t get what they’re saying. But once I got in the habit of saying “I don’t know what that word means” or “tell me who that is,” I learned that admitting you don’t know something actually shows you’re confident — you know you’re smart, and you’re not worried that the other person is going to doubt your intelligence. And asking questions when you need to can build confidence too — you’ll have the information you need, and people will often take you more seriously when you make the effort to seek it.

In my case, this kind of small act of assertiveness has paved the way for bigger ones. For you, what constitutes a small self-assertion might look different. But taking small steps — no matter what they are — can help you get closer to being the kind of person who stands up for what she wants even when what she wants is something big. And as Frankel says, if that kind of person is a bitch, so be it.

http://jezebel.com/5877566/how-to-quit-worrying-about-being-bitchy-and-actually-assert-yourself

Sweden keeps sterilisation rule for trans recognition [pinknews.co.uk]

by Joseph McCormick /pinknews.co.uk

The Swedish Government have announced that they will not modernise a law from the 1970s which makes sterilisation compulsory for transgender people before the state will recognise their gender identity.

Many have argued that the current law breaks Article 3 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which protects “the right to respect for [everyone’s] physical and mental integrity”.

The majority of the Swedish Parliament are reportedly in favour of the change, but the process has been blocked by a small conservative party.

Sirpa Pietikäinen, Finnish centre-right MEP told The European Parliament LGBT Intergroup: “This isn’t about LGBT rights; it’s about human rights and torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

Raül Romeva i Rueda, Green MEP from Spain added: “The government’s decision is rather surprising: forcibly sterilising transgender people is recognised as inhumane across the political spectrum. It’s barbaric, outdated and highly unnecessary—not to mention against Sweden’s human rights commitments.”

At this time, the World Health Organisation classifies gender dysphoria under “mental and behavioural disorders”, a definition the European Parliament have already called to be changed.

As well as mandatory sterilization, the 1972 law also makes divorce compulsory for trans people, which it has been suggested, does not line up with recent “gender neutral” marriage law changes in the country.

Speaking to news agency TT in 2010, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt described the law as “a dark chapter in Swedish history.”

Other party leaders also supported this suggestion, including Christian Democrat Göran Hägglund.

Jane Fae, feminist writer and campaigner on issues of sexual rights responded today, saying: “It is wholly ironic that Sweden is in the news today over this issue – since the question has surfaced in relation to moves to repeal existing laws in this respect, which would be wholly positive.

“It is to be hoped that the Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, currently in thrall to a small reactionary right-wing party, will pluck up the courage to resist their pressure and allow reform through his parliament.

“However, we should not overlook the fact that despite Human Rights declarations to the contrary, in Europe and elsewhere, the requirement for surgery that effectively sterilises an individual before they can be recognised in their identified gender, is pretty widespread, throughout much of Europe and the United States. Or worse, as in states like Tennessee, gender assertion is not recognised at all, no matter what an individual does.”

Some European countries have already put an end to sterilisation as a prerequisite for recognition, including the UK, Austria, Germany and Portugal, whilst others are soon to follow.

The Nederlands LGBT Equality Policy states that they are currently abolishing the sterilisation requirement, but several other Western countries uphold this law.

France has been at the centre of controversy surrounding this issue, specifically in the case of Delphine Ravisé-Giard, who, despite living as a woman for some years, was told in 2010 that she had to prove that her “change of sex” was “irreversible” before the state would recognize her gender.

Several American states also still have the same law.

A key player in the fight to have these laws changed, Thomas Hammarberg has, in the past, criticized the EU for a general lack of knowledge on these issues.

Hammarberg, the commissioner for Human Rights, wrote in 2009 that “Discrimination against transgender persons must no longer be tolerated” and has criticized the slow move towards the end of transphobia.

There have also been calls from the Swedish Left and Green Parties to review the minimum age for gender reassignment surgery, however this news comes as a blow to those in support of the changes.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/01/17/sweden-keeps-sterilisation-rule-for-trans-recognition/

Don’t disclose sex of fetus until 30 weeks: doctor [edmonton.ctv.ca]

The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Dr. Rajendra Kale calls it the most severe and repugnant form of discrimination against females — and he wants to see it stopped.

The practice of aborting a female fetus after the parents learn the sex of their developing child through ultrasound is not as widespread in Canada as in such countries as India and China, where a cultural and often religious preference for boys has led to the estimated destruction of millions of females in the womb.

But Kale says smaller numbers in Canada, estimated in the thousands, are no reason to ignore such gender-based violence.

“Female feticide devalues women completely,” said Kale, interim editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. He wants to see doctors withhold information about the sex of a child in the womb until 30 weeks’ gestation to prevent “an unquestioned abortion” because parents prefer a boy.

Kale said research in Canada has found the strongest evidence of fetal sex selection among some Canadians of Asian descent, including people from India, China, Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines.

“What this means is that many couples who have two daughters and no son selectively get rid of female fetuses until they can ensure that their third-born child is a boy,” he writes, while stressing that not all Asian-Canadians condone nor engage in the practice.

In an editorial in Monday’s issue of the CMAJ, entitled “It’s a girl — could be a death sentence,” Kale puts the onus squarely on the medical community to try to halt sex-based abortion.

He calls on the provincial colleges that regulate physicians to rule that health-care professionals should not reveal a baby’s sex to any woman before 30 weeks of pregnancy.

“I’m arguing that the sex of the fetus is medically irrelevant information because it does not affect care in any way whatsoever, except in the very rare instance where you have sex-linked genetic diseases,” Kale said in an interview.

“Doing so should be deemed contrary to good medical practice. Such clear direction from regulatory bodies would be the most important step toward curbing female feticide in Canada.”

Kale said waiting to divulge the sex of the fetus until after the start of the third trimester would still give parents who want to know whether they are having a boy or a girl enough time to prepare their nursery or purchase appropriate clothing.

“So you’re just postponing the point at which you deliver that information,” he said.

While the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, for instance, does not have a specific policy on sex-selected abortion, the regulatory body does advise its members that it is “contrary to good medical practice to use ultrasound only to view the fetus to obtain a picture or video of the fetus or to determine the gender of the fetus,” spokeswoman Kathryn Clarke said by email.

The B.C. regulatory body likewise states that testing to identify fetal sex should not be used to accommodate societal preferences, that terminating a pregnancy for an undesired sex is repugnant and it is unethical for a doctor to facilitate such a course of action.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada said Kale’s proposal runs counter to the medical group’s policy that a patient’s request for disclosure should be respected.

“Examination of the fetal genitalia is a recognized part of the routine second-trimester obstetric ultrasound,” the SOGC said in an emailed statement. “Providing patients with results of diagnostic imaging procedures is part of the Canadian standard of care, and fetal sex determination and disclosure should not be exempt.

“Therefore, the SOGC believes it is the right of the patient to be informed of the gender of their fetus, and that this information should not be withheld.”

The professional organization also said Kale fails to acknowledge cultural values that lead some people to seek pregnancy termination based on the sex of the fetus and does not take into account biochemical testing products that can give expectant parents a highly accurate fetal sex determination as early as eight weeks into pregnancy.

“The SOGC in no way condones pregnancy termination based on non-medical reasons, such as the gender of the fetus. The SOGC feels strongly that it is the cultural values and norms in specific segments of the Canadian population that must change to ensure that females are not confronted with procedures and intolerant environments before or after they are born.”

Though reasonably intentioned, Kale’s call for policy changes is likely a moot one in any case, said Bernard Dickens, professor emeritus of health law and policy at the University of Toronto.

During deliberations of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, it was suggested that withholding the gender of a fetus could be a way to reduce the possibility of sex-based abortion, but the control device wasn’t built into the subsequent legislation, the 2004 Assisted Human Reproduction Act.

Dickens suggested that was likely because the Supreme Court of Canada, in the case of McInerney v. MacDonald, had ruled in 1992 that patients’ medical information is not owned by their physicians and must be surrendered at a patient’s request.

“If the patient persists and wants to know the sex … the doctor cannot lawfully deny the patient the information,” he said.

For Kale’s goal to be fulfilled, new legislation would be needed that contradicts the Supreme Court decision, but introduction of such a law would no doubt trigger a challenge based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Dickens said.

A challenge could be based on contravention of a number of enshrined rights, including discrimination on the grounds of the right to security of the person, that women have the right to continue only wanted pregnancies.

There are also pockets among some of Canada’s immigrant Asian communities that hold strong religious beliefs that a male heir is necessary to carry on the family name and to perform certain rites to ensure deceased parents have a proper afterlife.

“And, of course, this could trigger a Charter claim of denying religious convictions or violating the anti-discrimination provision of the Charter,” Dickens said. “So any legislation could trigger a Charter argument on that sort of ground.”

http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120116/female-fetus-abortion-kale-120116/20120116/?hub=EdmontonHome

Tennessee Bathroom Bill Sponsor: ‘I Would Stomp A Mudhole’ In A Transgender Person [thinkprogress.com]

by Zack Ford / thinkprogress.com

Much has unfolded in the day since the “Bathroom Harassment Act” was first introduced in the Tennessee legislature, a bill that would fine transgender people $50 for using bathrooms and dressing rooms.

First, state Sen. Bo Watson (R) has withdrawn his version of the bill. He had introduced it as a courtesy to state Rep. Richard Floyd (R), who represents the same region of Tennessee. In a statement to ThinkProgress, Watson’s communications director explained that “Sen. Watson concluded that there are far more pressing issues facing the state of Tennessee at this time.”

Floyd now stands alone as the sponsor of the bill (HB 2279), which he defended yesterday using incredibly transphobic rhetoric. In no uncertain terms, he explained that he would resort to violence if he ever encountered someone transgender in a dressing room:

FLOYD: I believe if I was standing at a dressing room and my wife or one of my daughters was in the dressing room and a man tried to go in there — I don’t care if he thinks he’s a woman and tries on clothes with them in there — I’d just try to stomp a mudhole in him and then stomp him dry.

Don’t ask me to adjust to their perverted way of thinking and put my family at risk. We cannot continue to let these people dominate how society acts and reacts. Now if somebody thinks he’s a woman and he’s a man and wants to try on women’s clothes, let him take them into the men’s bathroom or dressing room.

In an extended interview with WTVF News Chanel 5, Floyd doubled down on his comments, claiming that his bill doesn’t “penalize anybody,” it “protects everybody,” and he could “care less” what transgender advocacy groups think. Watch it:

This bill is nothing short of an outright attack on transgender people, and Floyd’s comments make it clear he lacks any understanding or compassion for the trans community. Enforcement of this bill could lead to ID checks in public restrooms and would be devastatingly stigmatizing, especially considering Tennessee offers no option for individuals to change their birth certificate gender markers. Even individuals passing through one of Tennessee’s airports or bus stops could be targeted for these fines, just for being transgender.

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/01/13/403904/tennessee-bathroom-bill-sponsor-i-would-stomp-a-mudhole-in-a-transgender-person/