To add to your bookmarks, here’s Cordelia Fine in New Scientist running through some more of the scientific evidence that gendered toys are a product of socialisation rather than genetics.
Sociology
The 71st Down Under Feminists Carnival is up!
All the details on the latest edition and how to submit to the next one!
Does body language really speak to us?
The common-sense notion that liars betray themselves through body language appears to be little more than a cultural fiction
Australian childcare; a very partial wishlist
I was inspired by my baby suddenly being given a daycare place, and my ambivalence about placing her in daycare as a young baby, to remember all my frustrations with the Australian pre-school daycare system, and to suggest what, from my perspective, would be considerable improvements.
2014 Australian Women Writers Challenge: challenge complete
Stella Longlist 2014 Australian Women Writers Challenge completed.
Cosmos Wars
Dana Hunter thoughtfully put together a links roundup (so I didn’t have to) on the many many creationists who are very cross with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson right now because he’s talking science on TV.
Friday Hoyden: Hortense Mancini
Hortense Mancini was married at fifteen to one of the richest men in Europe, who turned out to be an obsessive, violent, controlling abuser. She found a way to escape, and to live the rest of her life with an exuberance that would be difficult to match.
Give a Voice to Harassment Victims: A legal fund for sexual harassment victim Karen Stollznow
Those of you who are regular followers/lurkers of the atheoskeptosphere probably know about this fundraiser for Karen Stollznow’s legal costs by now, but I’m signal-boosting it for the record …
Sotomayor asks a question about the consequences of corporate religion
…and the anti-abortion lobby is cross that she interrupted an attorney (and compared abortioncontraception to other medical procedures – in a case about medical insurance).
Cloaking device
I spoke to a guy in a long coffee queue to point out there was another, unused machine 3 feet away, and even bearing news of speedy caffeine, and wearing a bright red dress, I was apparently invisible.
A woman at a tech event, unaccompanied by any men, is just too unlikely to be believed.
Hoyden About Town 