For more information, see https://www.facebook.com/events/566994756711133/
Traditional Sex Roles Are Too Restrictive by Sandra L Bem (1974)
In American society, men are supposed to be masculine, women are supposed to be feminine, and neither sex is supposed to be much like the other, If men are independent, tough and assertive, women should be dependent, sweet and retiring. A womanly woman may be tender and nurturant, but no manly man may be so.
For years we have taken these polar opposites as evidence of psychological health. Even our psychological tests of masculinity and femininity reflect this bias: a person scores as either masculine or feminine, but the tests do not allow a person to say that he or she is both.
I have come to believe that we need a new standard of psychological health for the sexes, one that removes the burden of stereotype and allows people to feel free to express the best traits of men and women. As many feminists have argued, freeing people from rigid sex roles and allowing them to be androgynous (from ‘andro’, male, and ‘gyne’, female), should make them more flexible in meeting new situations, and less restricted in what they can do and how they can express themselves.
In fact, there is already considerable evidence that traditional sex typing is unhealthy. For example, high femininity in females consistently correlates with high anxiety, low self-esteem, and low self-acceptance. And although high masculinity in males has been related to better psychological adjustment during adolescence, it is often accompanied during adulthood by high anxiety, high neuroticism, and low self-acceptance. Further, greater intellectual development has quite consistently correlated with cross-sex typing (masculinity in girls, femininity in boys). Boys who are strongly masculine and girls who are strongly feminine tend to have lower overall intelligence, lower spatial ability, and show lower creativity.
In addition, it seems to me that traditional sex typing necessarily restricts behavior. Because people learn, during their formative years, to suppress any behavior that might be considered undesirable or inappropriate for their sex, men are afraid to do ‘women’s work’, and women are afraid to enter a ‘man’s world’. Men are reluctant to be gentle, and women to be assertive. In contrast, androgynous people are not limited by labels. They are able to do whatever they want, both in their behavior and their feelings.
Turkish Astrophysicist Faces Prison for Objecting to Headscarves
A senior astrophysics professor in Turkey appears to be the latest target of what academics and scientists in that country say is an ongoing campaign by its conservative government to intimidate secular intellectuals.
Read more: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2013/02/turkish-astrophysicist-faces-pri.html
Shared by Lim Yi Fei
The Norwegian prison where inmates are treated like people
On Bastoy prison island in Norway, the prisoners, some of whom are murderers and rapists, live in conditions that critics brand ‘cushy’ and ‘luxurious’. Yet it has by far the lowest reoffending rate in Europe
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/25/norwegian-prison-inmates-treated-like-people
Shared by Tan Teck Chye
Singapore moves to develop satellite and space technology industry
Spurred on by Chinas recent launch of an astronaut, Singapore is planning to put its own men into orbit.
This is necessary to maintain Singapores technological reputation in Asia, said Colonel Tai Kong Ren, the newly-appointed chief of the Relaunching Singapore Committee of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star).
Read more: http://sgforums.com/forums/8/topics/61841
Shared by Wang Bo
Shared by Soon Hao Jing
What’s there not to like about Budget 2013? That depends on what’s your instinctive reaction after hearing/reading DPM Tharman speech yesterday?
Aspiring first-time car owner: “What? Forty per cent cash down for a car? How can? Can those China-made cars please come back? Wait, the COE will be higher than the price of the car..’’
Rich guy: “How dare they tax my second home at the Sail, my third at Sentosa Cove and my fourth in Bukit Timah! Time to buy a building at Iskandar.’’
Befuddled economist/pseudo economist: “The government is paying employers to pay workers who get a pay rise? Why not just implement a minimum wage scheme?’’
Sandwiched class: “Damn! More income support for the lower-income. From MY taxpayer money. Why don’t just cut GST and everyone will be happy since it’s most regressive tax around and G made so much surplus already?’’
Big -flat homeowners: “Again five-roomers…
View original post 416 more words
Singapore budget focuses on foreign workers
Singapore has said it will impose more limits on numbers of foreign workers and has called upon businesses to help upgrade skills of the local workforce.
The limits include more levies on firms that employ low-skilled foreign workers, a cut in foreign worker quotas and stricter qualification guidelines.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21572205
Shared by Soon Hao Jing
Big drop in number of students taking literature
The decline in the number of students taking literature as a subject in school has to do with new subjects that have been introduced over the years, said Ms Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State for Education and Law.
She was responding to questions from Nominated Member of Parliament Janice Koh who asked for the main reasons for the decline.
There are currently only about 3,000 students taking literature, compared to 16,970 in 1992.
Shared by Tan Zong Xuan
Saying ‘no’ to seemingly harmless sexist views
Few Singaporeans may intend to be sexist or think of themselves as such. But some instances show that sexism and violence against women have become so normalised that when people joke about rape, others accept it as funny.
See more at: http://www.aware.org.sg/2013/01/saying-no-to-seemingly-harmless-sexist-views/#sthash.VddBaglF.dpuf
Shared by Jonathan Tan
Why School? TED ebook author rethinks education when information is everywhere.
In Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere, educator, parent and blogger Will Richardson challenges traditional thinking about education— questioning whether it still holds value in its current form. How can schools adjust to this new age? Or students? Or parents? In this provocative read, Richardson provides an in-depth look at how connected educators are beginning to change their classroom practice. Ultimately, Why School? serves as a starting point for the important conversations around real school reforms that must ensue, offering a bold plan for rethinking how we teach our kids, and the consequences if we don’t.
NUS High Insight 