Items tagged by petersuber in Consent and coercion

Puberty blockers to be given only in clinical research - BBC News

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 08:21:00 -0400

Puberty blockers will only be prescribed to children attending gender identity services as part of clinical research, NHS England has announced. The move comes after an interim report into children's gender services said there were "gaps in evidence" around the drugs.... Currently, if a child seeks medical help, the drugs are one of the options a doctor could offer to help delay the onset of physical changes that do not match a child's gender identity. This change will come into effect when new clinics replacing the Gender Identity and Development Service (Gids) begin to open later this year. No patients being treated by the current Gids service will be affected. Children and their families will also be "strongly discouraged" from obtaining gender-affirming drugs such as hormones, from "unregulated sources" or online providers...."

A Professor Is Suspended for Suggesting It’s Better to ‘Kill’ Racist or Homophobic Speakers Than Shout Them Down

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 10:52:00 -0400

"Steven Shaviro, a professor of English at Wayne State University, in Detroit, was suspended this week for a Facebook post saying that it is “more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.” Shaviro prefaced the inflammatory comment by saying he does not support people breaking criminal codes. He also wrote in the now-deleted post, made on his personal Facebook page, that right-wing groups invite such speakers to college campuses “to provoke an incident that discredits the left.” ..."

[paying workers with learning disabilities less than the minimum wage]

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 09:21:00 -0400

submitted by /u/HarveyBirdmann to r/antiwork [link] [comments]

Permission-Slip Culture Is Hurting America - The Atlantic

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 10:00:00 -0400

"In louisiana, it takes $1,485 and roughly 2,190 days to become an interior designer. In Washington, it takes $319 and 373 days to become a cosmetologist. The District of Columbia requires $740 to become an auctioneer, and a college degree to watch children for someone else. (Having and watching your own children continues to be an unlicensed affair.) In Kansas, you have to cough up $200 to work as a funeral attendant. And Maine requires $235 and 1,095 days to become a travel guide. Want to move states? That could mean you have to relicense, as if, say, cutting hair is materially different in Massachusetts than it is in New York. This is absurd, and not just to me. Last week, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu announced that he would seek to “fully remove 34 different outdated licenses from state government” and eliminate “14 underutilized regulatory boards.”..."

Washington woman with Tuberculosis could be arrested Friday if she continues to refuse treatment

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 09:42:00 -0400

"In a rare move by the Washington health department, a woman with tuberculosis in Tacoma could be arrested on Friday if she continues to refuse treatment. A judge issued an arrest warrant for the woman who is refusing treatment last week, FOX 13 Seattle originally reported. While tuberculosis is not easily transmitted, it is considered a serious enough threat to the public that the health department has the legal authority to seek a court order to get patients into treatment, though this is rarely used. Only three times in the last 20 years has the health department had to resort to legal action. TB is treatable with medication, but if left untreated, it is fatal. According to the health department, people with active, untreated infections are contagious and pose a risk to others...."

'Detransitioner' sues doctors after being given irreversible gender treatments as child | WJAR

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 09:40:00 -0400

"A well-known "detransitioner" is suing doctors for allegedly "blindly ramrodding" her through the gender transition process, giving her puberty blockers, hormones and a mastectomy without first obtaining proper informed consent. Chloe Cole, a California teen who once identified as transgender and ultimately underwent several gender change therapies, has become a household name among those discussing the harms of transgender ideology and activism.... The complaint insisted the most very basic "components of psychotherapy for young adolescent girls" were not even discussed and argued this amounted to a failure to obtain informed consent...." Also see her press release announcing the lawsuit. https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2022.02.22.PR_.ChloeCole.pdf

Man convicted of ‘stealthing’ after removing condom without consent - The Washington Post

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 09:36:00 -0400

"A Dutch court has convicted a man of “stealthing,” or removing his condom without his partner’s consent and forcing unsafe sex, during a date in the summer of 2021. The court gave the 28-year-old from Rotterdam a three-month suspended prison sentence and ordered him to pay 1,000 euros, or about $1,075, in damages to the victim on charges of coercion.... In a statement, the Rotterdam court said he restricted the victim’s “personal freedom and abused the trust she had placed in him” and put her at risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. It also said a broad interpretation of the law would be necessary to include sexual penetration without a condom under rape laws...."

Massachusetts Bill Would Allow Prisoners To Donate Organs For Reduced Sentences | HuffPost Latest News

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 05:08:00 -0500

"Massachusetts lawmakers proposed a bill that would allow prisoners to donate their organs or bone marrow in exchange for reduced sentences.... The committee will be promoting standards of eligibility for prisoners as well as determining the number of donations that could earn an individual a reduced sentence. The bill also states that the Department of Correction will not receive commissions or monetary payments for bone marrow donated by inmates. (Paying for an organ is illegal in the U.S.) According to the BBC, federal prisons in the U.S. allow for organ donations as long as the recipient is an immediate family member. But in Massachusetts, as well as at many other state prisons, there is no direct path for incarcerated people to donate organs or bone marrow, even to their relatives. Rep. Judith García, who is co-sponsoring the bill, said the legislation would “restore bodily autonomy to incarcerated folks by providing [an] opportunity for them to donate organs and bone marrow.” ..." But critics of the bill say that it’s unethical and coercive to offer time off of prisoner’s sentences in exchange for organ donations...."

Blurred Lines: When Do Physicians Become a Party to Permissive Injury? | MedPage Today

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 09:48:00 -0500

"Sports medicine helps people recover from acute injuries, and in the case of the professional athlete where millions of dollars are at stake, the pressure to return an injured athlete to the game can be significant. When the physician is employed by the team, the line is blurred between a physician's duty to heal and simply being a party to permissive injury, and even death, for the sake of entertainment.... Physicians are ethically bound to first do no harm, yet the demands and complexities of our society place the physician in a variety of situations beyond simply healing the sick. In a host of situations, medicine has been transformed from healing to enabling. Professional athletes knowingly engage in activities adverse to health. Physicians know this but may be employed to keep the players in the game...."

Sexual Consent | Books Gateway | MIT Press

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 06:37:00 -0500

An open-access book by Milena Popova, from MIT Press. Blurb: An introduction to issues of sexual consent, covering key strands of feminist thought, how sexual consent is negotiated in practice, the influence of popular culture, and more. The #MeToo movement has focused public attention on the issue of sexual consent. People of all genders, from all walks of life, have stepped forward to tell their stories of sexual harassment and violation. In a predictable backlash, others have taken to mass media to inquire plaintively if “flirting” is now forbidden. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers a nuanced introduction to sexual consent by a writer who is both a scholar and an activist on this issue. It has become clear from discussions of the recent high-profile cases of Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and others that there is no clear agreement over what constitutes consent or non-consent and how they are expressed and perceived in sexual situations. This book presents key strands of feminist thought on the subject of sexual consent from across academic and activist communities and covers the history of research on consent in such fields as psychology and feminist legal studies. It discusses how sexual consent is negotiated in practice, from “No means no” to “Yes means yes,” and describes what factors might limit individual agency in such negotiations. It examines how popular culture, including pornography, romance fiction, and sex advice manuals, shapes our ideas of consent; explores the communities at the forefront of consent activism; and considers what meaningful social change in this area might look like. Going beyond the conventional cisgender, heterosexual norm, the book lists additional resources for those seeking to improve their practice of consent, survivors of sexual violence, and readers who want to understand contemporary debates on this issue in more depth."

Firing at Hamline University: Liberals need to understand what went wrong here.

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 08:26:00 -0500

"The student isn’t saying “I should have the option to not view these images.” She had that option. She is saying “No one should have the option to view these images, because they offend my particular religious beliefs.” Sorry, but no.... Even if a person is being entirely genuine, giving any claim of any harm the total power to shut down inquiry and conversation, and the total power to allow the claimant to set the terms of recompense is a very, very bad and destructive idea."

A Hamline Adjunct Showed a Painting of the Prophet Muhammad. She Lost Her Job. - The New York Times

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 09:30:00 -0500

"Erika López Prater, an adjunct professor at Hamline University, said she knew many Muslims have deeply held religious beliefs that prohibit depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. So last semester for a global art history class, she took many precautions before showing a 14th-century painting of Islam’s founder. In the syllabus, she warned that images of holy figures, including the Prophet Muhammad and the Buddha, would be shown in the course. She asked students to contact her with any concerns, and she said no one did. In class, she prepped students, telling them that in a few minutes, the painting would be displayed, in case anyone wanted to leave. Then Dr. López Prater showed the image — and lost her teaching gig...."

[Eugene Volokh] FIRE Files Academic Freedom Complaint With Hamline University's Accrediting Agency

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 04:36:00 -0500

From FIRE's letter sent yesterday to the Higher Learning Commission (which is Hamline's accrediting agency, "a regional accreditation agency that accredits degree granting institutions of higher education that are based in the 19-state North Central region of the United States"):

To the Higher Learning Commission:

As a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to defending freedom of speech and academic freedom, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) respectfully submits this complaint regarding Hamline University, which is not in compliance with HLC's Criteria for Accreditation section 2.D., requiring the institution to be "committed to academic freedom and freedom of expression in the pursuit of truth in teaching and learning." Criteria for Accreditation; Criterion 2. Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct; 2.D., Higher Learning Comm'n.

Hamline admits that it non-renewed an art history instructor last semester after a Muslim student complained that, during a discussion about Islamic art, the instructor facilitated an optional, in-class viewing of a renowned 14th century painting depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which the student said offended her religious beliefs. See, e.g., Scott Jaschik, Academic Freedom vs. Rights of Muslim Students, Inside Higher Ed (Jan. 3, 2023).

Such nonrenewal violates both HLC and Hamline policies clearly committing the university to free expression and its corollary, academic freedom for all faculty, with Hamline claiming it "is committed to academic freedom and celebrates free expression for everyone. The University embraces the examination of all ideas, some of which will potentially be unpopular and unsettling, as an integral and robust component of intellectual inquiry." Hamline University's statement of civility, Office of Inclusive Excellence, Hamline Univ.

As HLC knows, academic freedom entitles faculty to full freedom in the classroom to teach any material pedagogically relevant to the subject of the course. 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, Am. Ass'n of Univ. Professors.

FIRE has attempted to resolve this matter before seeking HLC's intervention. We wrote Hamline detailing our objections on December 27, 2022. FIRE Letter to Hamline University, December 27, 2022, Found. for Indiv. Rights and Expression.

Hamline President Fayneese Miller has since doubled down on the university's initial statement that "respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom…. Academic freedom is very important, but it does not have to come at the expense of care and decency toward others." On December 31, she wrote: "Students do not relinquish their faith in the classroom," suggesting any teaching that might offend a student's religion could be censored. Anthony Gockowski, Hamline stands by removal of art instructor, Alpha News (Jan. 3, 2023).

This conception of academic freedom is inconsistent with all widely established standards and HLC requirements.

Accrediting agencies like HLC are often the last line of defense for faculty members' expressive freedoms, particularly adjuncts who lack tenure protection and the resources to challenge such decisions. HLC's Standard 2.D. is one of the strongest protections for student and faculty expression at private institutions in the United States, and FIRE urges HLC to hold Hamline accountable for violating this laudable standard….

For more on the underlying controversy, see here. Disclosure: FIRE has engaged me to consult on various matters, but not on anything having to do with this case. FIRE is also representing me in Volokh v. James, an unrelated matter.

The post FIRE Files Academic Freedom Complaint With Hamline University's Accrediting Agency appeared first on Reason.com.

An Academic Is Fired Over a Medieval Painting of the Prophet Muhammad - New Lines Magazine

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 09:03:00 -0500

"The instructor was released from their spring term teaching at Hamline, and its AVPIE went on the record as stating: “It was decided it was best that this faculty member was no longer part of the Hamline community.” In other words, an instructor who showed an Islamic painting during a visual analysis — a basic exercise for art history training — was publicly impugned for hate speech and dismissed thereafter, without access to due process.... As a scholar specializing in Islamic representations of Muhammad, however, it is my duty to share accurate information about the painting at the heart of the controversy. I will provide a visual analysis and historical explanation of the image in question, in essence reconstituting the Hamline instructor’s classroom activity. I will then explore these types of depictions over the course of six centuries, with the aim to answer one basic question: Is the Islamic painting at the heart of the Hamline controversy truly Islamophobic?... Hamline administrators have labeled this corpus of Islamic depictions of Muhammad, along with their teaching, as hateful, intolerant and Islamophobic. And yet the visual evidence proves contrary: The images were made, almost without exception, by Muslim artists for Muslim patrons in respect for, and in exaltation of, Muhammad and the Quran. They are, by definition, Islamophilic from their inception to their reception. How did Hamline arrive at such a flawed conclusion, what are its implications, and where do we go from here?..."

The Review: Fired for Teaching Art History

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 09:00:00 -0500

"When, a couple of months ago, I likened the University of Michigan students who persecuted Phoebe Gloeckner for teaching comix they considered offensive to the 16th-century Calvinist iconoclasts who destroyed sacred paintings, I was risking hyperbole. Or at least so I thought. But a recent incident at Hamline University, in Minnesota, literalizes the analogy. In this case, the offending image, shown by a non-tenure-track instructor in a survey course on art history, dates from the Middle Ages and depicts, in the words of the University of Michigan art historian Christiane Gruber, the Prophet Muhammad “receiving his first Quranic revelation through the Angel Gabriel.” Invoking a putative conservative Islamic ban on representations of Muhammad, some Muslim students asserted that showing the image was Islamophobic; the university’s administration agreed (“respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom,” Hamline’s president wrote); the instructor’s contract was not renewed. Religious orthodoxy and sensitivities about diversity converged uncannily in the condemnatory language of David Everett, Hamline’s associate vice president for inclusive excellence. Showing the image, Everett said, was “undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful, and Islamophobic.” Gruber, who broke the story in New Lines Magazine, observes that Hamline’s administrators have inhibited, at a fundamental level, the ability of art-history professors to do their jobs: “An instructor who showed an Islamic painting during a visual analysis — a basic exercise for art-history training — was publicly impugned for hate speech and dismissed thereafter, without access to due process.” Just as Gloeckner, who had been hired for her expertise in underground comix, discovered that her subject had become unteachable, anyone teaching global art-history survey courses will now think long and hard about including material from the Muslim world. Imagine if a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses, whose version of Christianity is strictly aniconic, protested against being asked to analyze Botticelli’s “Madonna and Child” in a class on European art because they considered the painting rank Mariolatry — and if administrators, under the sign of diversity, fired the teacher. To teach premodern art history is almost always also to teach the history of religion; Hamline has rendered both impossible.... In siding with the offended students, Hamline’s diversity administrators have not only trampled academic freedom; they have cluelessly taken sides in a theological debate about which they know nothing and over which they have no authority. In doing so, they have unwittingly affirmed a specific and highly reactionary position...."

Debates on whether academic freedom includes images offensive to Muslims

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 03:44:00 -0500

"An instructor at Hamline U showed an image of Muhammad in an art history class. The president criticized the instructor for doing so. Another professor, who tried to explain the situation with an essay in the student paper, had his piece removed...."

Most of All, I Am Offended as a Muslim

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 10:04:00 -0500

[On the Hamline firing of an art history professor for showing a 14th century paintain of Muhammad, with a trigger warning -- an episode already tracked in this TagTeam hub.] "As a professor, I am appalled by the senior administration’s decision to dismiss the instructor and pander to the students who claim to have been “harmed.” This kind of “inclusive excellence” permits DEI administrators to ride roughshod over faculty knowledge.... As a historian, I am shocked that Hamline’s administration cannot appreciate that the image is a primary source and that a class on art history, by definition, necessitates engaging with primary sources; this is the heart of the historian’s craft. Barring a professor of art history from showing this painting, lest it harm observant Muslims in class, is just as absurd as asking a biology professor not to teach evolution because it may offend evangelical Protestants in the course.... But most of all, I am offended as a Muslim. In choosing to label this image of Muhammad as Islamophobic, in endorsing the view that figurative representations of the Prophet are prohibited in Islam, Hamline has privileged a most extreme and conservative Muslim point of view. The administrators have flattened the rich history and diversity of Islamic thought. Their insistence that figurative representations of Muhammad are “forbidden for Muslims to look upon” runs counter to historical and contemporary evidence.... To add insult to injury: The push to silence and exclude alternative Muslim views at Hamline is driven by the office of inclusive excellence. So much for the role of the DEI apparatus in advancing real diversity on campus."

The NHS is betraying women over same-sex care - The Post

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 04:12:00 -0500

"If a woman who asked for same-sex treatment [e.g. "if a woman asks to have a cervical smear carried out by a female nurse"] discovers later that it was carried out by a man [transwoman], it undermines the entire concept of informed consent."

How We Won the Fight to Ban Trans Fat | NutritionFacts.org

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 10:58:00 -0500

Michael Greger's video on how we won the fight to ban trans fat. Covers the "nanny state" (anti-paternalism) objection, and how a labeling requirement was instrumental in reducing opposition to a ban.

Spain passes ‘only yes means yes’ sexual consent law | Spain | The Guardian

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 06:58:00 -0500

"Under the new law consent must be affirmative and cannot be assumed to have been given by default or silence. It was drawn up after five men raped an 18-year-old woman during the 2016 bull-running festival in Pamplona. In court it was argued that video footage from the men’s phones – showing the woman immobile and with her eyes shut during the attack – was proof of consent. One judge claimed the men should only be charged with stealing the victim’s mobile phone. They were sentenced to nine years in prison for the lesser charge of sexual abuse but after a public outcry the charge was changed to rape and the sentence increased to 15 years...."

Decolonizing Consent. Imagining Culturally Competent Consent | by India Steward | Medium

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 05:20:00 -0500

"What are the nonverbal consensual rules Black and Brown folk apply in Afro-Caribe spaces and how do we know when someone has crossed a line? In order to answer those questions it’s important to know that affirmative consent, when you ask before touching or kissing with someone, entered the mainstream because universities wanted to limit the number of sexual assault cases at their schools. These universities began to include affirmative consent in their freshman orientation in hopes of limiting the amount of sexual assault cases and improving their school’s reputation. Unfortunately,nothing about affirmative consent considers trauma. Many sexual assault survivors are shamed for not saying “no”, as if that would have stopped the attacker in their tracks, nor focuses on healing for survivors. Affirmative consent is of course not all bad, but it does support institutions in their attempts to paint situations and survivors as either angels or devils according to whether or not they explicitly and clearly said “no”. Furthermore, affirmative consent reinforces the criminal justice system, which fails to prosecute even the most egregious sexual assaults (i.e Brock Turner, the white Stanford student caught in the act of assaulting an unconscious woman but still received no jail time). As Black and Brown radicals, it is our job to think of possibilities for community accountability and care outside of institutions and court rooms. Our work is to make safer and consensual spaces possible for IBPOC of all genders and sexualities. There are cultural barriers to affirmative consent as well. Black folk across the Americas, in the United States as well as the Afro-Caribbean, dance with our hips close and embrace our sexuality uninhibited. In other words, affirmative consent can feel rigid, awkward, and…white. Does that mean that Black and Brown people should just throw consent out the window? Obviously not, our issue is the lack of discussion around what nonverbal consent and a nonverbal “no” can look like. The Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault has created an easy and helpful chart explaining what qualifies as nonverbal consent. While that resource is a great template to build off of, IBPOC consent could be a creolized consent. A creole language is a mix of two languages resulting in the creation of a new and unique way of relating to one another. Creolized consent could include aspects of affirmative consent combined with our own cultural ways of relating to each other. In Kreyol, French is mixed with different African languages that the enslaved Africans spoke before colonization. Decolonizing consent by combining affirmative consent (can I touch you here?) and nonverbal consent may be the way forward...."

[Eugene Volokh] Hamline University Lecturer "Is Fired Over a Medieval Painting of the Prophet Muhammad"

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 04:47:00 -0500

The painting that appears to be at the center of the controversy (from Rashid al-Din Ṭabib, Jami' al-Tawarikh, in the University of Edinburgh Library)

Michigan art history Prof. Christiane Gruber reported on this four days ago in New Lines Magazine; as readers of the blog might gather, I think that Hamline's behavior, as she describes it (and as is described in Prof. Berkson's essay, see below) is improper; see here for my thoughts on a related controversy at the University of Minnesota in 2015. But in this post I'd just like to lay out the facts as I understand them.

[1.] First, from Prof. Gruber's article:

On Nov. 18, Hamline University's student newspaper, The Oracle, published an article [link -EV] notifying its community members of two recent incidents on its campus in Saint Paul, Minnesota, one indubitably homophobic and the other supposedly Islamophobic. Both occurrences were placed under the same rubric as "incidents of hate and discrimination." …
The "Islamophobic incident" catalyzed plenty of administrative commentary and media coverage at the university. Among others, it formed the subject of a second Oracle article [link -EV], which noted that a faculty member had included in their global survey of art history a session on Islamic art, which offered an optional visual analysis and discussion of a famous medieval Islamic painting of the Prophet Muhammad. A student complained about the image's inclusion in the course and led efforts to press administrators for a response. After that, the university's associate vice president of inclusive excellence (AVPIE) declared the classroom exercise "undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic."
Neither before nor after these declarations was the faculty member given a public platform or forum to explain the classroom lecture and activity. To fill in the gap, on Dec. 6, an essay written by a Hamline professor of religion who teaches Islam explaining the incident along with the historical context and aesthetic value of Islamic images of Muhammad was published on The Oracle's website. The essay was taken down two days later. One day after that, Hamline's president and AVPIE sent a message to all employees stating that "respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom." The essay's censorship and the subsequent email by two top university administrators raise serious concerns about freedom of speech and academic freedom at the university.
The instructor was released from their spring term teaching at Hamline, and its AVPIE went on the record as stating: "It was decided it was best that this faculty member was no longer part of the Hamline community." In other words, an instructor who showed an Islamic painting during a visual analysis — a basic exercise for art history training — was publicly impugned for hate speech and dismissed thereafter, without access to due process.
These incidents, statements and actions at Hamline will be for others to investigate further. As a scholar specializing in Islamic representations of Muhammad, however, it is my duty to share accurate information about the painting at the heart of the controversy. I will provide a visual analysis and historical explanation of the image in question, in essence reconstituting the Hamline instructor's classroom activity. I will then explore these types of depictions over the course of six centuries, with the aim to answer one basic question: Is the Islamic painting at the heart of the Hamline controversy truly Islamophobic? …

Prof. Gruber has also posted a petition addressed to the Hamline Board of Trustees; PEN America has condemned Hamline's actions (though understandably noting that this was conditional on Prof. Gruber's account being accurate), and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is investigating.

[2.] I have gotten a copy of the essay that The Oracle posted and then removed (I will give some more information about the removal in another post); the author is Prof. Mark Berkson, Chair of Hamline's Religion department:

Dear Editor,
A controversy has erupted at Hamline over the showing of an image of the Prophet Muhammad in an online Art History class. It is important that we take this opportunity to look closely at this issue so that we gain a deeper understanding of Islamic views of figural representation over the centuries, the reasons why this issue can have an emotional impact, and how to work through the tensions that can arise between academic inquiry and religious sensibility.
The Incident
I was not present in the classroom where a historical Islamic image of the Prophet Muhammad was shown, so I cannot speak to all of the details of that particular situation. What I do know is that the image in question is a 14th century painting included in a manuscript commissioned by a Sunni Muslim king in Iran and that it forms part of a cycle of illustrations narrating and commemorating Muhammad's prophecy that is considered by art historians to be "a global artistic masterpiece." The professor gave students both written and verbal notifications that the image would be shown. I don't know the nature of the conversations that followed, so I am only reflecting on one key question—Is the showing of an image of the Prophet Muhammad in an academic context necessarily an instance of Islamophobia, as has been claimed by some members of the administration?
Islamophobia is a serious and ongoing threat in this nation, and it has numerous ugly manifestations, including the vandalism of mosques, the harassment of and violent attacks on Muslims, and hate speech across social media and, at times, at the highest levels of political power. One reason that I have given numerous public lectures about Islam in churches, synagogues, and meeting rooms around the country is to combat ignorance, stereotyping, and Islamophobia. But I believe that, in the context of an art history classroom, showing an Islamic representation of the Prophet Muhammad, a painting that was done to honor Muhammad and depict an important historical moment, is not an example of Islamophobia. Labeling it this way is not only inaccurate but also takes our attention off of real examples of bigotry and hate. What happened in this classroom might be an example of miscommunication, a misunderstanding that resulted in significant grief for some students and the faculty member. The distress caused to some students is significant and regrettable. We must recognize this and figure out the best way to avoid this in the future.
Since some Hamline administrators labeled the showing of the painting "Islamophobic" (in one case, the phrase "undeniably Islamophobic" was used), my question for those who use that word is – Exactly where does the Islamophobia lie? Islamophobia is often defined as fear, hatred, hostility, or prejudice against Muslims. The intention or motivation behind the act would seem to be essential here. In this case, the professor was motivated only to educate students about the history of Islamic art. The professor tried to ensure that Muslim students who have objections would be able to avoid seeing the images. So, when we look at intention, we can conclude that this was not Islamophobic.
Another possibility is that the very act of displaying an image of Muhammad is itself Islamophobic. But if this were the case, there are a number of very disturbing implications. First, it would mean that anybody who showed these images in a classroom, a book, or on their wall, would be an Islamophobe. Any scholar who wrote a book about Islamic art and included these images for discussion or analysis would be an Islamophobe. Even Muslims (and, as we will see, many Muslims throughout history have created and enjoyed these images) would be Islamophobic if they did this. Second, it would mean that these images could never be seen by, or shown to, anybody. In effect, it would require an erasure of an entire genre of Islamic art.
Should no student be able to see this art? And what would it mean for a liberal arts institution to deem an entire subject of study prohibited?
Finally, it seems that the interpretation of the administrators means that if an act is prohibited to members of a particular religion, then everyone has to incorporate that prohibition into their own lives. Let's quickly consider an analogy. Eating pork is forbidden to observant Muslims and Jews. Clearly, it would be an act of Islamophobia or antisemitism if someone were to intentionally sneak pork into a dish that was going to be eaten by someone for whom it is forbidden. But does this mean that Aramark can no longer serve any dish with pork? Must everyone consider pork forbidden? Most of us would agree that as long as there are plenty of alternatives for Muslims and Jews, then the mere offering of a pork dish is not Islamophobic or antisemitic. In the case of images, does the fact that many (not all) Muslims consider images forbidden mean that all of us have to incorporate this prohibition into our lives? Giving students the opportunity to see the images as part of an education in Islamic art (since using images is an essential part of the pedagogy of art historians) is not Islamophobic as long as Muslim students are not required to see them and steps are taken to ensure that no student sees them unintentionally.
We must recognize that distress can be caused to Muslims (or Jews, or anyone) without the act that did so being Islamophobic, antisemitic, etc. In the food example, if a server mixed up items and accidentally served a pork dish to a Muslim or Jewish student, we would not call that person Islamophobic or antisemitic. It would be a deeply unfortunate situation, and the student would experience distress that must be recognized and addressed. Steps would have to be taken to avoid that in the future. But it would not be an instance of bigotry or hostility.
This incident is about balancing academic freedom and religious commitments, not about Islamophobia. The situation is not helped by making accusations against a faculty member who is simply trying to share and teach the history of Islamic art with students. It is especially disturbing that some administrators who used the word "Islamophobia" never even spoke with the faculty member to get their perspective. When, as in the case here at Hamline, everyone involved has good intentions (intention is a key concept in Islam, and the Prophet Muhammad himself said that people will receive consequences for actions depending on their intentions) and is doing their best to honor principles (religious and academic) that are important to them, we can find our way forward in open conversation and mutual respect. In what follows, I hope to provide some background so that we can understand the larger context and explain more fully why this incident is not an example of Islamophobia.
The Background
First, a majority of the world's Muslims today believe that visually representing the prophet Muhammad is forbidden. Many observant Muslims would never create an image of Muhammad and will strive to avoid seeing one. So professors must not require Muslim students who believe that representation is forbidden to look at these images, and they must give students fair warning if such images are going to appear anywhere in class—in a book, a slide show, a video, etc. It is my understanding that, in the Hamline class, the professor gave students advance notice that the image would be shown (both in the syllabus and verbally), allowed students to turn off the screen if they wished, and did not require them to visually engage with the painting. The intent was to educate, not to offend or show disrespect.
Why might representation be forbidden in some interpretations of Islam (and other religions as well)? It is worth noting that in all forms of Judaism and Islam, images of God are strictly forbidden (and there is a history of iconoclasm in Christianity). For Jews and Muslims, attempts to represent God limit what is infinite and inevitably lead to the kind of idolatry that worships the representation rather than God. In some Islamic spheres, the concern about representation is extended to prophets, particularly the Prophet Muhammad, because he is so central in the lives of Muslims. Muslims believe that Muhammad, like Jewish and Christian prophets before him, was a human being, not a divine being or a being who should be worshipped. He is, however, a uniquely significant person, because he was chosen by God to be the perfect carrier for the final, complete revelation. Muhammad himself, and Muslims ever since, have been aware of the dangers of people worshipping Muhammad, and Muhammad emphasized that God alone is worthy of worship. The danger of idolatry in regard to prophets is one reason why visual representation of them is problematic.
And yet here is another fact—Muslims have created and enjoyed figural representations of Muhammad throughout much of the history of Islam in some parts of the Islamic world. There exist numerous images of Muhammad created by Persian and Turkish artists from the 13th century until today, many of which were miniatures or illustrations in book manuscripts. Some images depict Muhammad with his face obscured with a veil or a halo, but some images show his face. Many artists based their images on detailed descriptions of Muhammad's appearance given in the Hadith and early biographies.
Over the past few centuries, Shia Muslims, notably in Iran, have been far more accepting of visual representation in general than many Sunnis. But from the 13th-16th centuries, Islamic images were also made in Sunni contexts, as is the case with the 14th century painting that was taught in the Hamline classroom. Furthermore, in recent years, there have been Muslim jurists and legal scholars who have issued fatwas—legal opinions—arguing that certain representations of Muhammad are permitted. One of the most respected leaders and legal authorities in Shia Islam, Ayatollah al-Sistani, stated that representations of the Prophet Muhammad are permissible as long as they are respectful. It is clearly forbidden to make any images that are disrespectful or that are designed to elicit worship. Representations that are permitted in these fatwas are those that honor Muhammad or give historical knowledge to Muslims about their prophet.
One of the most recent fatwas regarding figural representation concerns an image of Muhammad present in a section of a frieze in the US Supreme Court building in Washington DC. This frieze depicts great lawgivers of history, including Moses and Solomon. A leading scholar of Islam and former Chair of the Fiqh (Law) Council of North America, Taha Jaber al- Alwani, issued a fatwa discussing whether or not the image of Muhammad is forbidden. After surveying the debates over representation and imagery in Islam (these usually depend on interpretations of passages in the Hadith), and emphasizing the importance of intention, al- Alwani concludes that, despite reservations, "I have a great deal of gratitude and appreciation for those who insisted on including an image of our Prophet, Muhammad, in that highly regarded site…in order to remind the whole world of the important contributions of the Prophet." He noted that "we must remember that those who carved the frieze and placed it in the Supreme Court are not Muslims…As the Prophet himself respected freedom of conscience in his own dealings, so should we."
One of the leading scholars of Islamic Art is Christiane Gruber at the University of Michigan. She has written scholarly articles and a book on Islamic paintings of the Prophet as well as widely read Newsweek essays dedicated to her subject. She writes, "Muslims of more moderate or secular Sunni or Shi'i leanings do not consider figural representations of the Prophet necessarily problematic as long as Muhammad is depicted respectfully…Over the past seven centuries, a variety of historical and poetic texts largely produced in Turkish and Persian spheres…include depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. These many images praised and commemorated the Prophet…As a result, the visual evidence clearly undermines the premise that images of Muhammad are strictly banned in Islamic law and practice."
There are Muslims today who possess and value Islamic images of Muhammad. One person who has written about how much he values a figural representation of Muhammad displayed in his home is a leading scholar of Islam, Omid Safi, who teaches at Duke University. Safi writes, "The image is a lovely depiction of a kind, gentle, yet resolute Prophet, holding on to the Qur'an and looking straight at the viewer with deep and penetrating eyes…There are millions of such depictions in Iran and elsewhere, and that for many of us it was not a distraction from God but rather a reminder of God to focus on the Messenger of God." So, the very debates that are happening in academic contexts are also happening within parts of the Muslim community, as they have for centuries.
Concluding Thoughts
Ultimately, Islamic images of the Prophet Muhammad are part of the historical record, and an academic art historian who teaches Islamic art must acknowledge and discuss this in some way. Students would be deprived of an illuminating part of Islamic art history if they were not taught about this material, which, according to Dr. Gruber, "is considered by many individuals—including Muslim believers, artists, curators, scholars, collectors, and philanthropists—a global artistic patrimony that is increasingly at risk today." Furthermore, if an art historian were to conclude that images of Muhammad are forbidden, they would be privileging the interpretation of some Muslims over others. It is not up to academics to make judgments about which forms of a religion are correct and which artworks must be purged from the historical record. We must present a religious tradition and its artistic heritage in all of its richness and diversity. While some Muslims believe that figural representations of the Prophet Muhammad are forbidden, others in the past and present do not. It is thus incumbent on a professor to teach the material and convey the full range of artistic expression, as the Hamline faculty member seems to have done.
This incident reminds us that the study of religion is not only fascinating and thought-provoking but is also essential to understanding and skillfully navigating the challenges of living together in a multifaith society. This includes engaging with diversity within faith traditions and not labeling the teaching of an Islamic artistic masterpiece an incident of "hate and discrimination."
Mark Berkson, Ph.D. Professor and Chair Department of Religion

[3.] Here is the initial e-mail about the incident from Hamline Associate Vice President for Inclusive Excellence David Everett:

Several weeks ago, Hamline administration was made aware of an incident that occurred in an online class. Certain actions taken in that class were undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic. While the intent behind those actions may not have been to cause harm, it came at the expense of Hamline's Muslim community members. While much work has been done to address the issue in question since it occurred, the act itself was unacceptable.
Hamline administration has met with leadership of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and devised a plan of action to address Islamophobia and other acts of intolerance on campus. I write to you to outline this plan. In future:
Bias and hate incidents, including those related to diversity, equity and inclusion, will be coordinated through the Office of Inclusive Excellence.
A new reporting form for incidents of campus bias is being drawn up. When complete, it will be posted to the Inclusive Excellence, Student Resources and Services and Hamline Public Safety Forms websites. All community members will be encouraged to use this form to report any incidents to ensure that response is coordinated holistically through appropriate offices.
CLA leadership will continue to hold conversations with MSA members to discuss their experiences in the classroom and on campus, and will meet with other affected groups as circumstances warrant.
The Office of Inclusive Excellence, as part of Hamline's 'Community Conversation' series, will host an open forum on the subject of Islamophobia. Details will be announced as planning and logistics are confirmed.
I want to make clear: isolated incidents such as we have seen define neither Hamline nor its ethos. They clearly do not meet community standards or expectations for behavior. We will utilize all means at our disposal, up to and including the conduct process, to ensure the emotional health, security and well-being of all members of our community. Thank you for the support, care and partnership.
Yours in community,
David L. Everett, PhD

[4.] And here is the follow-up e-mail from Hamline President Fayneese Miller and VP Everett:

To the Hamline University Community:
Hamline University is composed of people with diverse views, expectations, and interactions. This community generates different lived experiences that must all be acknowledged and respected. We understand and appreciate that tough, but important questions will arise in our community and we need to address them head-on.
Yet, because we are human, no matter how hard we try to educate on tough issues, we will make mistakes. While some are borne of ignorance, that is never an acceptable excuse. We must always try to do better, be better. We must also take responsibility for our actions, especially when others find them offensive.
It is never our intention to deliberately harm others. Yet, this harm is real and, when we harm, we should listen rather than debate the merits of or extent of that harm. We must always strive to do better, to listen more, and to not knowingly offend.
Our Muslim students, staff, and faculty are hurting. The classroom incident is only one of several instances in which their religious beliefs have been challenged. There are other instances that have occurred on our campus where they have been verbally attacked. This is not okay.
Dr. David Everett, who oversees our Office of Inclusive Excellence, and I join today to share our thoughts, hopes, and expectations for our community. We base our thoughts on two key concepts: respect and responsibility. Ideally, each one of us should respect the lived experiences of others, and take appropriate responsibility, as leaders do, when those experiences fall short of expectations.
Hamline is a shared space for all of us. As administrators, it is our responsibility to ensure that this shared space is supportive and welcoming of all. We fully understand that the quality of the lived experience for Muslim students at Hamline has varied from time to time, and it is our job to address those realities, educate the community and do our best to ensure that Hamline reflects its mission and values in its deeds.
As a caring community, there are times when a healthy examination of expression is not only prudent, but necessary. This is particularly the case when we know that our expression has potential to cause harm. When that happens, we must care enough to find other ways to make our voices and viewpoints heard.
Perspectives should be informed, mindful and critical, as befits an education steeped in the tenets of a liberal arts education. We believe in academic freedom, but it should not and cannot be used to excuse away behavior that harms others.
We have learned, over many years, that knowledge can be shared in a multitude of responsible, thoughtful, and respectful ways. Our response to the classroom event does not disregard or minimize the importance of academic freedom. It does state that respect, decency, and appreciation of religious and other differences should supersede when we know that what we teach will cause harm.
Given the complexity of our various histories, it is imperative that we find ways to teach difficult material. In the spirit of academic freedom, we do not suggest that some material be stricken from our classrooms and not shared with students. This does not generate new knowledge. We do suggest that the indefensible can be taught as well as material that offends – but how we teach it, and how we share images and content, matters.
It is not our intent to place blame; rather, it is our intent to note that in the classroom incident—where an image forbidden for Muslims to look upon was projected on a screen and left for many minutes—respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom. Many disciplines have embedded within them difficult and controversial theories and material, but as with virtually all subjects, they can be discussed without causing harm. Academic freedom is very important, but it does not have to come at the expense of care and decency toward others.
We can be better at Hamline University. While we appreciate that some will find our comments as an attack on academic freedom, nothing could be further from the truth. We have a duty of care for those who trust us to educate them—our students.
We thank the members of the Muslim Student Association for their patience. We thank all the students of our community for believing in us, for trusting our faculty and staff to share their knowledge and experiences with you and you with us. It is often important, as Robert Frost opined, to "take the road less traveled," the road that is "just as fair," because that often makes "all the difference."
Sincerely,
Fayneese Miller, PhD President
David Everett, PhD Associate Vice President for Inclusive Excellence

The post Hamline University Lecturer "Is Fired Over a Medieval Painting of the Prophet Muhammad" appeared first on Reason.com.

Massachusetts court rules against medically assisted death | AP News

Fri, 23 Dec 2022 09:24:00 -0500

"The highest court in Massachusetts said in a decision Monday that allowing doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to mentally competent patients with terminal illnesses is not protected by the state constitution.... The court also drew a distinction between physician-assisted suicide and a patient’s voluntary choice to refuse medical treatment or nutrition, saying “whereas withdrawing or withholding medical care is not the primary cause of a patient’s death, physician-assisted suicide is.” "

3 teens who thought they were transgender explain why they detransitioned

Sun, 18 Dec 2022 04:24:00 -0500

"As the number of young people identifying as transgender or gender-diverse increases each year, some are now coming forward with stories of regret and caution after they feel they transitioned at too young an age...."

Canadian man approved for euthanasia despite citing POVERTY as key reason for his decision | Daily Mail Online

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 07:37:00 -0500

" A doctor approved Les Landry's application for medical assistance in dying, despite him saying poverty is a major factor in the decision to end his own life Landry, 65, awaits verdict of second doctor who visited his home on Wednesday Landry says if the second approval isn't given, he will 'shop' for another doctor willing to sign it off - something that's legal under Canada's euthanasia laws He said benefit cuts mean 'sooner or later I just won't be able to afford to live' Shocking case lays bare the relaxed approach to euthanasia in Canada, where experts say 'choosing to die is more accessible' than support for disabled people..."

When Are Kids Old Enough to Make Their Own Medical Decisions?

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 05:08:00 -0500

"To what extent do we treat young people as capable of making their own medical decisions? At one end of the spectrum, it's clear that if you're 3 years old, you're not going to make any medical decisions. At the other end of the spectrum, if you're 17 years and 11 months old and you're in a state or country that recognizes 18 as the legal age of maturity, then you're going to have a large amount of input into major medical decisions — maybe even some decisions where your parents or loved ones are not going to really be consulted if you say you need to make decisions about reproduction or sexual behavior, or whether you want to get vaccinated...."

Harvard psychiatrist on the dilemma of forced hospitalization – Harvard Gazette

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 10:19:00 -0500

"For years, American cities and towns have struggled with how to address those living on their streets who suffer from mental illness but refuse treatment. New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ controversial new plan to make it easier to involuntarily hospitalize the most seriously ill has set off a robust national debate about what role, if any, local governments should play in mental health care decisions. Psychiatrist Katherine Koh ’09, M.D. ’14, works at Boston Health Care for the Homeless and Mass. General Hospital, and knows firsthand the many challenges of getting treatment to this population. She spoke to the Gazette about why New York City’s plan is neither as cruel nor outrageous as it may initially sound and details what it takes to keep people off the streets and living with improved mental health. Interview has been edited for clarity and length...."

Why underage marriages are still prevalent in Pakistan – DW – 11/27/2022

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 09:48:00 -0500

"In October, two men in Pakistan's Baluchistan province were arrested after police were tipped off that a 5-year-old girl had been forced into a marriage contract. The girl's uncle said that a local man had insisted the girl marry his son, and forced her father to accept a marriage contract. "We insisted that she is too young to contract a marriage," the girl's uncle told DW, adding that the exchange between the two men had been filmed and then reported to police. The local police chief said those responsible for arranging the marriage had been arrested, but the case was not closed. "We are still trying to trace the cleric who performed the religious ceremony of the marriage contract," he said. This is not an isolated incident. According to UNICEF, Pakistan has nearly 19 million child brides. The UN children's agency estimates that around 4.6 million were married before the age of 15 and 18.9 million before they turned 18...."

New Zealand Supreme Court rules voting age of 18 is discriminatory - BBC News

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 07:57:00 -0500

"New Zealand's Supreme Court has ruled that the country's current voting age of 18 is discriminatory, meaning parliament must discuss whether it should be lowered."

Making Informed Consent Accessible | Cancer Today

Fri, 18 Nov 2022 10:35:00 -0500

"Confusing informed consent forms are a common barrier to clinical trial participation. Researchers ask how they can be better designed for patients.... One likely barrier is the informed consent form itself. Voluntary consent is legally required for patients to enroll in a study, but what are you signing up for, exactly? It’s not always easy to tell. “Informed consent forms, which outline the risks and benefits of an interventional clinical trial to a patient, are overwhelming and complicated,” says Bellinda King-Kallimanis, director of patient-focused research at LUNGevity Foundation in Bethesda, Maryland.... “We generally found that informed consent forms are long, an average of 21 pages, and that information for deciding whether to participate in the trial, such as potential side effects, was hard to find. And informed consent forms are generally written at a 10th grade reading level, which may be too high for many people,” King-Kallimanis says. The average U.S. reading level is seventh to eighth grade, according to the Center for Plain Language...."

Sex, Consent, and Dementia - The Hastings Center

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 03:59:00 -0500

"A 78-year‐old Iowa man, Henry Rayhons, has been charged with third‐degree felony sexual abuse for having sex with his wife, who had severe Alzheimer’s, in her nursing home on May 23, 2014. Mrs. Rayhons died in August. The case raises questions about the capacity to consent in cases of severe dementia, an issue that is not limited to sexual relations. It comes up also in cases where patients initially resist food and water, but can be coaxed to eat.... However, this case is clearly not a case of spousal rape. No one suggests that Mrs. Rayhons resisted sexual contact with her husband, nor were there any signs of abuse. Indeed, by all accounts, theirs was a loving and affectionate relationship, and Mrs. Rayhons was always pleased to see her husband. That pleasure was undoubtedly less visible in the final stages of her dementia, but even then there were minimal signs that she enjoyed this contact, and none that she did not. Without any signs of abuse, what was the basis for the arrest? Apparently, Mrs. Rayhons’s daughter was concerned that Mr. Rayhons was engaging in “inappropriate sexual contact” with her mother. This led a social worker to ask the nursing home’s doctor whether, given Mrs. Rayhons’s cognitive state, she was able to give consent for any sexual activity. He said she was not. Her husband was notified of the nursing home’s recommendation against having sex with his wife...."

Informed Consent in Psychedelic Therapy and Research: Why is

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 07:53:00 -0500

Event description: "As psychedelics are quickly becoming implemented into the Western therapeutic medical model, ethical codes and boundaries are essential to ensure safe practices with these substances. An important topic when thinking about this is informed consent. What is the role of power dynamics in informed consent for psychedelic-assisted therapies and research? Can an explicit conversation of power dynamics prior to beginning a treatment protocol help to mitigate the potential for abuses of power within a psychedelic therapy setting? How can a person consent to enter an “altered state of consciousness” if they have never experienced such a state before? What are the risks unique to psychedelic-assisted therapy that should be considered in informed consent? How can best efforts be made to explain the experience of an “altered state” to therapy clients and research participants? Can an explicit conversation about social identities and power dynamics prior to beginning a treatment protocol help to mitigate the potential for abuses of power within a psychedelic therapy setting? This forum will answer these questions and more, with speakers Alissa Bazinet, PhD, who is a clinical psychologist, Tahlia Harrison, MA, who is a registered marriage and family associate, researcher, and bioethicist, Kelley O’Donnell, MD, PhD, who is a board-certified psychiatrist and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine, and Gillian Scott-Ward, PhD, who is an internationally-known Clinical Psychologist, filmmaker and advocate for social justice."

Nudging

Sun, 30 Oct 2022 09:17:00 -0400

2022 book from MIT Press. "We're all familiar with the idea of “nudging”—using behavioral mechanisms to encourage people to make certain choices—popularized by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their bestselling 2008 book Nudge. This approach, also known as “libertarian paternalism,” goes beyond typical programs that simply provide information and incentives; nudges can range from automatic enrollment in a pension plan to flu-shot scheduling. In Nudging, Riccardo Viale explores the evolution of nudging and proposes new approaches that would empower citizens without manipulating them paternalistically. He shows that we can use the tools of the behavioral sciences without abandoning the principle of conscious decision-making. Viale discusses the work of Herbert Simon, Gerd Gigerenzer, Daniel Kahneman, and Amos Tversky that laid the foundation of behavioral economics, describes how policy makers have sought to help people avoid bad decisions, offers examples of effective nudging, and considers how to nudge the nudgers. How can we tell good nudges from bad nudges? Viale explains that good nudges help us avoid bias and encourage deliberate decision making; bad nudges, on the other hand, use bias to nudge people unconsciously into unintentional behaviors. Bad nudges attempt to compel decisions based on economic rationality. Good nudges encourage decisions based on a pragmatic, adaptive, ecological kind of rationality. Policy makers should take note."

Drunken Sex: Rape or Not Rape?. Are we protecting women, or being… | by Amanda Sexton | Oct, 2022 | Medium

Sat, 15 Oct 2022 06:32:00 -0400

"As the law currently stands here in the UK, and in other places, someone who has sex with a ‘drunk’ person can be charged with rape, no matter how loudly and clearly the other person begged or demanded to be made love to. But I’m one of the many people who has doubts about whether that’s justified...."

How A British Teen’s Death Changed Social Media | WIRED

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 07:58:00 -0400

"Last week, the senior coroner for north London, Andrew Walker, concluded that it was not right to say Molly died by suicide and said that posts on Instagram and Pinterest contributed to her death. “She died from an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content,” Walker said...."

US sanctions Iranian morality police after woman's death

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 08:55:00 -0400

One of many stories about the death of a woman at the hands of Iran's "Morality Police" for wearing the country's dress code. "The morality police detained 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last week, saying she didn't properly cover her hair with the Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab, which is mandatory for Iranian women. Amini collapsed at a police station and died three days later."

School Baptizes 100 Students Without Parental Consent | by Dan Foster | Backyard Church | Sep, 2022 | Medium

Sun, 11 Sep 2022 09:17:00 -0400

"Officials at Northwood Temple Academy, a private Christian school have come under fire by some parents after failing to notify or seek parental consent for the impromptu immersions [baptisms]."

Doing research as if participants mattered | Impact of Social Sciences

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 05:29:00 -0400

"Let’s think about ‘informed consent’. This concept is over 100 years old and badly out of date. The internet is now a fact of life, a boon for research dissemination, but it has also enabled people to do all sorts of things with research data, findings, and outputs that cannot be predicted. Funders are also now, quite rightly, requiring researchers to deposit data in open access archives for re-analysis and re-use – but, again, we cannot predict the nature of that re-use. For these two reasons alone, informed consent [for sharing data about oneself] is now a myth. Yet, it is a myth to which countless research ethics committees and institutional review boards still cleave. Instead, we need to figure out how to empower potential participants to assess the risks they would face from taking part in our research, and support them in making the best decisions for their own unique circumstances...."

Singapore to Repeal Ban on Sex Between Consenting Men - The New York Times

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 07:30:00 -0400

"Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore said on Sunday that the government would repeal the country’s colonial-era law criminalizing sex between men, a step long sought by gay rights advocates, but that it would propose a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Reversing his opposition to decriminalizing gay sex, Mr. Lee said he believed that the conservative nation was willing to accept the idea of sex between consenting men and revoke the law, known as Section 377A. The law has not been enforced for 15 years but gay rights advocates had long sought to overturn it, arguing that it stigmatizes gay men and promotes discrimination. The law, enacted in 1938 during British rule, does not apply to women...."

Angela Carder, dying of cancer, was forced into C-section in fetal rights case - The Washington Post

Sun, 21 Aug 2022 06:55:00 -0400

"In June 1987, Angela Carder was 26 weeks pregnant and dying of cancer. Sedated and on a ventilator, she was fading so fast that no one could ask her what she wanted to do about the fetus inside her. So lawyers for George Washington University Medical Center put the question to a D.C. Superior Court judge. He ordered an emergency Caesarean section over the objections of her family and doctors, who believed she would not have wanted it. The baby died two hours after the operation; Carder, 27, died two days later. In 1990, the District’s highest court found that the judge should not have ordered the surgery because there was insufficient evidence Carder wanted it. A pregnant woman, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled in a precedent-setting decision, had a virtually unlimited right to decide the course of medical treatment for herself and her fetus...."

SCOTUS May Decide If Paid Diet Tips Fall Under First Amendment

Fri, 19 Aug 2022 08:21:00 -0400

"Do you have a constitutional right under the First Amendment to give people diet advice? The state of Florida says citizens can't get paid for it unless they have the proper occupational license, and a woman threatened with fines for breaking state regulations is asking the Supreme Court to uphold her freedom to suggest healthy meals...."

Mark Joseph Stern on Twitter: "Florida appeals court affirms an order prohibiting a parentless 16-year-old from terminating her pregnancy on the grounds that she has not proved she is mature enough to get an abortion. So the state will force her to have a child instead. https://t.co/1UqnPUErG0 https://t.co/z8uMmAoxub" / Twitter

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 09:19:00 -0400

"Florida appeals court affirms an order prohibiting a parentless 16-year-old from terminating her pregnancy on the grounds that she has not proved she is mature enough to get an abortion. So the state will force her to have a child instead. " Court opinion: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22136554/222476_dc05_08152022_170017_i.pdf PS: See what I wrote in my 1992 Emerson Lecture: "Of course, abortion is a peculiar subject for paternalism. If a young girl is too young to be granted self-determination, then she might be incompetent in a legal sense and ineligible to make all the important decisions that affect her. But that is hardly a reason to deny her an abortion, since for the same reason, she would be unable to bear or raise a child and should not be made to endure it." https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/4746293

A Phenomenological Approach to Sexual Consent | Feminist Philosophy Quarterly

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 10:14:00 -0400

Abstract: Rather than as a giving of permission to someone to transgress one’s bodily boundaries, I argue for defining sexual consent as feeling-with one’s sexual partner(s). Dominant approaches to consent within feminist philosophy have failed to capture the intercorporeal character of erotic consciousness by treating it as a form of giving permission, as is evident in the debate between attitudinal and performative theories of consent. Building on the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Ann Cahill, Linda Martín Alcoff, and others, I argue that taking consent to be an intercorporeal and dynamic coexistence of desiring bodies opens up new ways of thinking about the role of consent in sexual ethics. I suggest that phenomenology’s theories of embodied consciousness, operative intentionality, and the direct perception of others provide a better groundwork for conceptualizing the role of ambiguity and subtle power dynamics in sexual encounters than attitudinal or performative accounts of consent. I also defend my view against Jonathan Jenkins Ichikawa’s argument for doing away with the concept of consent in sexual ethics due to consent's stubborn and infelicitous presupposition of permission-giving.

Pakistan - exmuslim-persecution

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 05:12:00 -0400

"Pakistan is one of the most repressive countries in the world with regard to freedom of expression, including and especially religious freedom. Blasphemy (i.e. insults) against religion in general can result in imprisonment, while blasphemy against Islam carries the much harsher punishment of death. Both in terms of the aggressiveness with which the Islamic-conservative government prosecutes such cases, as well as the harshness of punishment, Pakistan remains one of the worst places on the planet to speak out against religion or religious fundamentalism...."

'Disturbing': Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws | AP News

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 10:18:00 -0400

"Alan Nichols had a history of depression and other medical issues, but none were life-threatening. When the 61-year-old Canadian was hospitalized in June 2019 over fears he might be suicidal, he asked his brother to “bust him out” as soon as possible. Within a month, Nichols submitted a request to be euthanized and he was killed, despite concerns raised by his family and a nurse practitioner. His application for euthanasia listed only one health condition as the reason for his request to die: hearing loss. Nichols’ family reported the case to police and health authorities, arguing that he lacked the capacity to understand the process and was not suffering unbearably — among the requirements for euthanasia. They say he was not taking needed medication, wasn’t using the cochlear implant that helped him hear, and that hospital staffers improperly helped him request euthanasia...."

Colleges Rely on Outdated Consent Education. Experts Say They Need to Get With the Times.

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 08:37:00 -0400

"Research shows that more young people are having rough sex, which can include hair-pulling, spanking, choking, scratching, and slapping. But the consent education college students get when they land on campus hasn’t caught up with this shift, experts say. Rough sexual experiences require asking for consent before introducing each new element. That may not be obvious to students...."

Taking Off a Condom Without Consent Is Rape, Canadian Supreme Court Rules

Sun, 31 Jul 2022 06:56:00 -0400

"The Canadian Supreme Court has set a precedent: Removing a condom and not telling your partner is a form of sexual assault, according to its 5-4 ruling released Friday. “In no other jurisdiction in the world is it as clear that when someone has agreed to sex with a condom, and removed it without their consent, this constitutes sexual assault or rape,” said University of Alberta women’s studies professor Lise Gotell...."

No reason to expect large and consistent effects of nudge interventions | PNAS

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 05:13:00 -0400

"Nudge interventions may work, under certain conditions, but their effectiveness can vary to a great degree, and the conditions under which they work are barely identified in the literature.... We argue that, as a scientific field, instead of focusing on average effects, we need to understand when and where some nudges have huge positive effects and why others are not able to repeat those successes (2, 4, 5). Until then, with a few exceptions [e.g., defaults (6)], we see no reason to expect large and consistent effects when designing nudge experiments or running interventions."

Full article: Reconsidering Informed Consent for Trans-Identified Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 11:30:00 -0400

Abstract: In less than a decade, the western world has witnessed an unprecedented rise in the numbers of children and adolescents seeking gender transition. Despite the precedent of years of gender-affirmative care, the social, medical and surgical interventions are still based on very low-quality evidence. The many risks of these interventions, including medicalizing a temporary adolescent identity, have come into a clearer focus through an awareness of detransitioners. The risks of gender-affirmative care are ethically managed through a properly conducted informed consent process. Its elements—deliberate sharing of the hoped-for benefits, known risks and long-term outcomes, and alternative treatments—must be delivered in a manner that promotes comprehension. The process is limited by: erroneous professional assumptions; poor quality of the initial evaluations; and inaccurate and incomplete information shared with patients and their parents. We discuss data on suicide and present the limitations of the Dutch studies that have been the basis for interventions. Beliefs about gender-affirmative care need to be separated from the established facts. A proper informed consent process can both prepare parents and patients for the difficult choices that they must make and can ease professionals’ ethical tensions. Even when properly accomplished, however, some clinical circumstances exist that remain quite uncertain.

Black People in the Us Twice as Likely to Face Coercion, Unconsented Procedures During Birth - Neuroscience News

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 11:07:00 -0400

"Black people in the U.S. are twice as likely as white people to be coerced into procedures during perinatal and birth care, and to undergo them without their explicit consent, according to a new study by researchers at UBC’s Birth Place Lab and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Pregnant people of other minoritized racial identities also experience pressure from providers at higher rates than white counterparts."

Warning! Signs Are Not Enough to Save Beachgoers from Deadly Currents | Hakai Magazine

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 08:30:00 -0400

Author shows evidence that people either pay little attention to signs about rip currents or don't understand them. Information isn't working to warn people away from these risks and the consequences are often fatal. Author doesn't suggest any coercive or paternalistic measures (like no swimming at beaches with rip currents), and doesn't quote anybody who does, but we can imagine that some people would do so. She quotes people working on better methods of information (such as a rating system for degrees of danger) and "engineering beach-access points [to] guide people to swim in safer locations" (basically, nudges). Note that there other cases in which people don't heed warnings of danger, for example the warnings on cigarette packs. One difference is that people who smoke know and understand the warnings, and almost always consent to take the risks. But people who swim at dangerous beaches don't know and understand the warnings, and almost never consent to swim in rip currents (e.g. for sport of thrill).

The Logic of Consent | Peter Westen | Taylor & Francis

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 05:23:00 -0400

A 2004 book by Peter Westen. Abstract: Consent matters because of the normative work it does. Consent possesses what Heidi Hurd calls ‘moral magic’.1 Its moral magic-as well as its legal magic consists of its power to change moral and legal relationships between persons who engage in consent and persons to whom the consent is directed. In criminal law, consent can transform the most horrific crimes into noncrimes, turning ‘rape’ into sexual intercourse, ‘maiming’ into therapeutic surgery, ‘kidnapping’ into vacation, ‘trespass’ into hospitality, and ‘theft’ into gift-giving.2 Even when it does not transform crimes into noncrimes, consent can mitigate the severity of crimes by reducing them from aggravated offenses to nonaggravated offenses, as it does, for example, in reducing murder to assisted suicide, and rape to adultery or fornication in jurisdictions that continue to criminalize the latter.

How Psychology Could Change the Way We Understand Consent - By Vanessa Bohns - Behavioral Scientist

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 05:21:00 -0400

"Typically, questions of consent are debated on their legal merits: What is someone legally allowed to do to, or expect of, another person? Can this particular individual in this particular situation be considered to have legally consented? This emphasis on legality makes sense. After all, a legal determination of consent fundamentally transforms how an experience is defined and understood. As Michigan Law Professor Peter Westen has argued, consent possesses “moral magic,” turning “‘rape’ into sexual intercourse, ‘maiming’ into therapeutic surgery, ‘kidnapping’ into vacation, ‘trespass’ into hospitality, and ‘theft’ into gift-giving.” Yet, as the Wilson example above reveals, even when the legality of an act is not in question, the consensual nature of an act as it is subjectively experienced still has important consequences. In other words, even if an act was not legally rape, maiming, kidnapping, trespassing, or theft, certainly feeling as if it was any of these things is meaningful in itself.... In an article in Perspectives on Psychological Science (open access), I argue that psychologists should embrace consent as a core topic of study, incorporating and expanding on research already being conducted on “specialty” topics, such as sexual consent and informed consent. As I argue in my article, we have much to gain by a serious examination of individuals’ feelings of consent across a wide range of situations...."

Senator in 2010 deposition: 13-year-olds can consent to sex | AP News

Sun, 26 Jun 2022 06:40:00 -0400

"Before he became a leading voice for conservative causes on Capitol Hill, U.S. Senator James Lankford spent more than a decade as the director of youth programming at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, a sprawling campground about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City that attracts more than 50,000 campers in grades six through 12 each year.... But in a 2010 deposition in the case, given a week after he was elected to his first term in the U.S. House, Lankford testified that he believed a 13-year-old could consent to sex...."

Opinion | How 'nudge economics' lets companies pass the buck - The Washington Post

Tue, 17 May 2022 08:23:00 -0400

"As behavioral finance economists Nick Chater and George Loewenstein write in a recently released working paper, the mass acceptance of behavioral nudges “unwittingly helped promote the interests of corporations who oppose systemic change.” It’s a hefty charge, but they make it stick.... Chater and Loewenstein note that a number of studies have found that both the knowledge of or taking part in a nudge hack in this area reduces popular support for more stringent regulations or action...."

Australia election: Why is there compulsory voting? - BBC News

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 07:04:00 -0400

Short video explaining why Australia has compulsory voting. Interesting arguments that it moderates politics (dilutes extremist voters), forces politicians to address the needs of the poor (when voting is optional, the poor disproportionately don't vote), and integrates immigrant communities (who are obliged to vote as soon as they become citizens). Notes that it's widely accepted.

William Husel found not guilty on all 14 counts of murder

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 07:52:00 -0400

"A core issue was how much is too much when a doctor prescribes fentanyl and other painkillers for critically ill patients when removing breathing tubes. Another was whether a doctor can end the life of a patient who is about to die, even for compassionate reasons. Husel's defense argued that his dosing practices were for comfort care only and that death for his critically ill patients was imminent. Prosecutors equated Husel's high dosing to what veterinarians might use to humanely put down animals — but unacceptable for humans. One expert witness said doses of up to 2,000 micrograms of fentanyl ordered by Husel for some patients were enough to kill an elephant. Husel prescribed the opioids, sedatives and paralysis-inducing drugs to patients during the night shift in the former Mount Carmel West hospital in Franklinton. Some of these patients were comatose. Others had multiple organ failures. But it was the large doses of fentanyl that Husel prescribed that became a prosecution focus. The state's experts testified that Husel's dosing was 10 to 20 times higher than was necessary to control pain during removal of breathing tubes during palliative extubations.... Several relatives testified that they were never told what specific drugs and dosages were being administered, and that Husel led them to believe that death would be natural after their removal from life support.... The defense also repeatedly maintained that there is no medically established level at which a fentanyl dosage will cause death...." PS: Notable because the patients were incompetent and doctor acted through proxies. He might or might not have misled the proxies. Case apparently not covered by statute permitting euthanasia or assisted suicide. Verdict in effect vindicates doctrine of double effect.

Harvard Proposed a New Definition of Consent. Some Advocates Say its Wording is Flawed. | News | The Harvard Crimson

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 08:02:00 -0400

"When Harvard released a set of proposed changes to its sexual harassment, non-discrimination, and anti-bullying policies two weeks ago, a new definition of consent was one of the key changes. The new policies, if adopted by the University’s highest governing board, would define consent as an “active, mutual agreement” — a stark departure from the University’s current policies, which require only “agreement, assent, approval, or permission” through words or actions. But two weeks into an open comment period in which affiliates are invited to give feedback on the proposed policies, some have taken issue with the word “active” in the new definition...."

Transitions have 'gone too far': trans psychologist

Sat, 16 Apr 2022 05:38:00 -0400

"A transgender psychologist who has helped hundreds of teens transition has warned that it has “gone too far” — and fears many are making life-changing decisions because it’s “trendy” and pushed on social media. Erica Anderson, 71 — who is transgender herself — told the Los Angeles Times that she is horrified that even 13-year-old kids are now getting hormone treatment without even meeting with psychologists. “I think it’s gone too far,” said Anderson, who until recently led the US professional society at the forefront of transgender care.... She insisted that those allowing medical treatment for kids without rigorous psychological evaluation risk committing malpractice. Those who are confused about their gender identity also need to wait until they are absolutely sure before acting, she said. “I have a dictum: When in doubt, doubt,” [Anderson] told the LA paper. “Questioning is a good thing. How are you going to find out if you are lockstep with whatever conclusion you come to first?” ... [On the other side] Dr. AJ Eckert, medical director of the Gender and Life-Affirming Medicine Program at the Anchor Health Initiative in Stamford, Conn., eschewed the need for therapy. “Being trans or gender diverse is not a mental illness, and compulsory psychotherapy is not the standard of care in the gender-affirming medical model. Forcing transgender and gender diverse youth through extensive assessments while their cis peers are affirmed in their identity without question conveys to [them] that they are not ‘normal,’” [Eckert] said." PS: Eckert says these children don't need therapy. But doesn't address the question of competence to give informed consent.

'I Gave Consent For Sex I Didn't Want to Have'

Sat, 16 Apr 2022 05:29:00 -0400

"When I tell friends about my experience, they ask why I didn't ask him to turn the car around? Why did I say yes while my body screamed no? Their questions stump me. I don't have a good answer. I didn't feel unsafe. I wasn't coerced. In fact, I moved the interaction along smoothly: smiling, participating, even feigning enthusiasm. The truth is, I don't know why I didn't say no. But even after all these years, I often find myself wishing I had. It was consensual sex, freely given—but unwanted. It's a murky topic in the world of consent: What happens when consent is enthusiastically and freely given⁠—not under physical or psychological coercion⁠—but the person giving it doesn't really want to proceed? ..."

The Nobel Prize winner who conducted experiments without consent - The Jerusalem Post

Fri, 15 Apr 2022 05:18:00 -0400

"Julius Wagner-Jauregg took psychiatric patients who couldn’t move and intentionally infected them with malaria, and then won a Nobel Prize for it...."

Opinion | What I wish I’d known when I was 19 and had sex reassignment surgery - The Washington Post

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 10:14:00 -0400

"When I was 19, I had surgery for sex reassignment, or what is now called gender affirmation surgery. The callow young man who was obsessed with transitioning to womanhood could not have imagined reaching middle age. But now I’m closer to 50, keeping a watchful eye on my 401(k), and dieting and exercising in the hope that I’ll have a healthy retirement. In terms of my priorities and interests today, that younger incarnation of myself might as well have been a different person — yet that was the person who committed me to a lifetime set apart from my peers. There is much debate today about transgender treatment, especially for young people. Others might feel differently about their choices, but I know now that I wasn’t old enough to make that decision. Given the strong cultural forces today casting a benign light on these matters, I thought it might be helpful for young people, and their parents, to hear what I wish I had known...."

Podcast: Water Cremation Ignites Debate Over Dignified Death

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 08:44:00 -0400

"Nicole Edwards: Alkaline hydrolysis has a similar effect to fire cremation. But it uses water and alkaline chemicals instead of fire. With the help of a machine, the heated mixture completely breaks down the flesh on an animal’s carcass — leaving clean, sterilized bone fragments behind. The rest, called effluent, just goes down the drain. Jocelyne Monette: The public loved it. They thought it was unbelievable. So much so that right now in B.C. there’s a big movement to try and get this approved for humans as well. Nicole Edwards: But the province of British Columbia says it isn’t ready to approve the use of alkaline hydrolysis on humans. In B.C., it’s the Solicitor General’s office that has the power to add it to the list of legal ways to dispose of a body — something funeral directors abide by. They declined an interview, but they did say they’re looking into it, and the effects of the procedure on the environment is one of their main concerns. After a decade of advocacy, Monette and her fellow green death enthusiasts are still trying to convince lawmakers and the public to get on board.... Each province and state has a specific list of ways you can dispose of dead bodies, and adding alkaline hydrolysis requires a change in the law. That’s where the funeral industry, religious groups, and public opinion can sometimes stop it in its tracks. Some of those opposed feel we don’t know enough about the environmental impacts of the effluent — the byproduct left over after the person has been processed. And others worry that because that effluent goes down the drain, alkaline hydrolysis is an undignified way to handle the dead...."

The "parental rights" movement is harming our children | Salon.com

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 10:41:00 -0400

"In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed the extremist "Don't Say Gay" bill into law, barring teachers from discussing any LGBTQ+ topics or people in school and encouraging parents to sue teachers who do. They've also introduced another bill that would give the state government license to ban books from schools without considering the opinions of all parents. Meanwhile in Texas, Governor Abbott is targeting LGBTQ+ children and families under the guise of a 'parental bill of rights,' that will censor books that represent the true diversity of families and kids' identities. As two parents–one with a transgender daughter in Florida, and one with three cisgender children in Texas–we're all too familiar with these political shenanigans and the harmful impact they have on all young people, regardless of their gender identities. Denying the existence of LGBTQ+ people in our schools denies the humanity of an entire group of students, and this hurts all children. We're seeing firsthand how these bills are creating a growing sense of unease in schools, and how they're forcing families, who simply want what's best for their children, to live in fear. All of our kids, regardless of their races, family incomes, genders,or disabilities, deserve to learn in a safe environment, free from hate and bullying.... It's clear that policies like these target the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgender kids—but these laws hurt all children. No kid benefits from learning that ignores the very existence of entire groups of people. Through exposure to different people and perspectives, our kids learn to respect others and participate in a free, democratic society. That's something we should all want for our children. ..."

Opinion | Why we need a sexual ethic that goes beyond consent - The Washington Post

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 10:34:00 -0400

In our post-sexual-revolution culture, there seems to be wide agreement among young adults that sex is good and the more of it we have, the better. That assumption includes the idea that we don’t need to be tied to a relationship or marriage; that our proclivities are personal and that they are not to be judged by others — not even by participants. In this landscape, there is only one rule: Get consent from your partner beforehand. But the outcome is a world in which young people are both liberated and miserable. While college scandals and the #MeToo moment may have cemented a baseline rule for how to get into bed with someone without crossing legal lines, that hasn’t made the experience of dating and finding a partner simple or satisfying. Instead, the experience is often sad, unsettling, even traumatic.

How Consent Culture Damaged Sexual Norms

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 10:29:00 -0400

"At the core of this cultural moment is the realization that one of the more popular moral trends of the last 60 years, the notion that sex can be both casual and recreational so long as both parties enthusiastically consent, is fundamentally at odds with our human nature and our profound moral needs.... Indeed it wasn’t. In fact, one consequence of the combination of ubiquity of porn and the proliferation of consent culture was the almost total sexualization of American life. The “simple” morality of consent introduced new complexities (and perils) into even the most mundane of human interactions. If “consent” is the only touchstone of sexual morality, then virtually every single human space could become sexualized. Does that include the workplace? Or business meetings? Absolutely—so long as there’s consent. Should you pursue the married person you just met? Of course—so long as there’s consent. In reality, however, “consent” isn’t so neat and clean. Consent comes in many forms, not all of them positive. For example, both Emba and Goldberg speak of consent that’s really nothing more than acquiescence, a kind of yielding to cultural (or personal) expectations and demands that leave one or both parties feeling degraded and unfulfilled.... In addition, even when people don’t consent to sexual propositions, it puts (mainly) women in the position of having to fend off sexual requests or sexual suggestions in spaces where they are not welcome and not wanted. After all, how does one obtain consent except through an ask? And if consent is the only touchstone, when is the ask itself immoral? ... A generation of Americans have tried a new form of sexual morality and haven’t just found it wanting; they’ve found it profoundly harmful. The next generation should heed their words and choose a different course. Consent was never enough. Sex without love is a danger to human hearts."

“Suicide Machine” — Switzerland has authorized its use. | by Dark Energy Articles | Feb, 2022 | Medium

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 08:37:00 -0400

"Switzerland has approved Sarco, a special capsule for assisted suicide. Regulators have allowed its use by people with terminal illnesses. The device is expected to be available in 2022.... The organization wants to use artificial intelligence (AI) to assess the mental state of people who decide to die by assisted suicide. Therefore, the entire procedure will begin with the completion of an online test to prove that the decision was made consciously and voluntarily. Only later will those interested receive a special access code to Sarco. The 3D printed capsule allows patients to lie comfortably inside. It is activated by pressing a single button, which causes the inside of the capsule to fill with nitrogen. At the same time, oxygen is reduced. Those inside the Sacro lose consciousness and then die from hypoxia within 30 seconds. As the creators of the capsule assure, there is no need to inject or consume controlled substances when using it. The feeling of panic or choking is also eliminated...." PS: Interesting (1) for making assisted suicide easier and (2) using AI to assess competence. It's easy imagine a legislature approving assisted suicide without approving these two steps.

Occupational Licensing Hurts the Vulnerable Without Helping the Public

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 06:15:00 -0400

"The main point of occupational licensing is, we're told, to protect the public from incompetent and crooked practitioners in various trades and professions. That licensing more often protects the licensed from competition and jacks up prices in the process has been revealed by many researchers (and even defended by a few advocates of intrusive regulation). But evidence continues to grow from multiple sources that occupational licensing acts as a barrier to entry for the most vulnerable people without offering much in the way of benefit to the public...."

U.S. House passes bill banning race-based discrimination on hair | Reuters

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 05:49:00 -0400

"The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill banning race-based discrimination on hair, specifically textures or styles associated with a particular race or national origin such as dreadlocks, Afros and braids. The bill, known as the CROWN Act, was co-sponsored by Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley, among others, who cited research showing that Black students were significantly more likely to face school detention, often for dress code violations based on their hair."

Academe Is a Hotbed of Craven Snitches

Fri, 18 Mar 2022 07:53:00 -0400

Many examples of "social justice snitching" on university campuses, raising questions about free expression and whether the reported violation was harm, offense, sin (legal moralism), non-conformity, or something else.

When Gifts Come With Strings Attached: Philanthropic coercion strikes Jewish studies — and the academy at large.

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 10:08:00 -0400

"I was not surprised that StandWithUs would instruct university donors to try to extract promises like the public condemnation of BDS (demand No. 5) or the allowance of the donor’s “personal oversight” over faculty appointments and curricular decisions (demand No. 6). I was surprised, though, that they would show me, a faculty member, their cards — effectively ending the game. “Can I keep this?” I asked, knowing it was the only gift my university could possibly take from them.... Recently, StandWithUs has emerged as a playmaker in reports about the University of Washington’s decision to return an endowment to a displeased donor. Six years ago, Becky Benaroya gave a $5-million gift to endow a chair and program in Israel studies. But after the holder of the chair, Professor Liora Halperin, signed a statement critical of Israel during the May 2021 conflict with Gaza, Benaroya complained to the university and, eventually, accepted the university’s offer to refund the endowment...." [PS: I dislike what these donors do, and I'd encourage universities to reject their terms (hence, if need by, their money). But I tag this article because the subtitle uses the word "coercion". Good discussion topic: Is this practice coercive? Or in what sense is it coercive? Is an unacceptable offer of money coercive just because we're strongly tempted to accept?]

These Hair Braiders Might Kill an Idaho Licensing Law That State Officials Admit Makes No Sense

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 05:57:00 -0400

"Tedy Okech, Charlotte Amoussou, and Sonia Ekemon have been practicing African-style hair braiding for a combined 60 years. Ekemon picked up the skill during her time in a refugee camp in Benin, while Okech learned how to braid hair to financially support her family while growing up in Sudan. Okech, Amoussou, and Ekemon hoped to do the same in Idaho, but the state's costly and time-consuming licensing process has kept them from practicing their trade. With the help of the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm, they're suing the Idaho Barber and Cosmetology Services Licensing Board for the right to make a living out of braiding hair.... The Institute for Justice correctly points out how nonsensical it is for Idaho to invoke risk as a justification for hair-braiding regulations, given that the state does not require tattoo artists to be licensed....

W&J Student Disenrolled For ‘Personally Hurtful’ Sign During Women’s Basketball Game – CBS Pittsburgh

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 11:47:00 -0500

"A W&J student was disenrolled for holding up a disrespectful sign during a women’s basketball game targeting a player on the opposing team, college officials said Sunday. In a statement posted to Facebook, W&J Dean Eva Chatterjee-Sutton said the sign held up in the student section was meant to harass and hurt a Westminster player during the women’s basketball game on Saturday. The student was immediately removed from the game and as of Sunday, was no longer enrolled at the college, Chatterjee-Sutton said. The sign held during the game read “10-14-13”, the date of a Westminster player’s father’s death." [PS: This differs from many "offense" cases, but not all, because the offense or infliction of emotional distress was intentional.]

Guest Post - Offensive or Inclusive Language in Scientific Communication? - The Scholarly Kitchen

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 05:23:00 -0500

"When NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, announced in August 2020 that it would retire the use of potentially offensive astronomical nicknames, sections of the Internet immediately railed against the organization’s perceived ‘wokeness’. Numerous social media commentators complained about political correctness gone awry. As a senior academic, AuthorAID Steward (senior advisor), and freelance provider of academic skills training, I agree that a careful balance must be struck between freedom of expression and the right not to be offended in the workplace. However, I also question the commentators’ implied entitlement that they should be able to use potentially offensive expressions indiscriminately. It seems rather elitist to assume that any of us can simply decide which terms may or may not be offensive to sections of the population we are not part of. NASA’s announcement, combined with the common use of potentially inappropriate terms in my own discipline of astronomy and astrophysics, recently led me to reconsider the inclusivity of my own communications — both in my peer-reviewed scholarly publications and in my public speaking engagements. The use of inclusive language in scholarly communication is increasingly seen as important, and a number of publishers and societies have issued their own guidelines, including Nature Astronomy, the American Astronomical Society, the American Psychological Association, and a growing number of higher education institutions around the world. Academic writing often aids in molding societal behavior and perceptions. Unconscious biases can result in unintentional stereotyping or exclusion simply through ill-considered word choices. As scholarly communicators, we are often seen as role models—to our students, peers, and even to society as a whole. Inclusive language in scholarly communication serves to acknowledge and celebrate diversity, extend respect to different sections of society, and ultimately promote equitable opportunities...."

Harvard allegedly obtained student's outside therapy records

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 10:10:00 -0500

"Harvard University allegedly obtained a Title IX complainant’s outside mental health records, absent her permission. How could that be possible? ... Additionally, in a contested practice, colleges and universities have been known to look at students’ mental health records as part of internal investigations—when the student is seeing a provider who works for the institution. But Kilburn says she was seeing an off-campus counselor unaffiliated with Harvard and that she never gave Harvard permission to ask to see her psychotherapy notes. She hadn’t filed a lawsuit at that point, either, meaning that the university couldn’t have legally compelled the therapist to hand over Kilburn’s file. So how did Harvard allegedly obtain a Title IX complainant’s third-party, private mental health records without her consent? It remains something of a mystery for now.... Asked if Kilburn ever signed a privacy waiver with her therapist that would have granted the university access to her records, Guentert said Kilburn “has no recollection of signing such a waiver, nor has Harvard provided one to us.” Guentert further said (as is also alleged in the lawsuit) that Harvard “refused to turn over these records to Ms. Kilburn or to us when we requested them in September 2021.” Several lawyers told Inside Higher Ed that Harvard would have violated federal law in refusing to share with Kilburn any mental health records it had on her, as those would have become her own educational records once they became part of the sexual misconduct investigation.... Daniel Carter, president of Safety Advisors for Educational Campuses, said that “it is absolutely illegal and improper for an institution of higher education to obtain one of their students’ private therapy records from a third party. There’s no circumstance under which that is permissible without their consent.” ..."

Kolleen on Twitter: "A public school in Indiana is giving parents the option to opt their children out of learning about Black History Month. https://t.co/L1QxmH9lRm" / Twitter

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 05:34:00 -0500

"A public school in Indiana is giving parents the option to opt their children out of learning about Black History Month." [This raises many of the same issues as Yoder.]

Opinion | Anti-’discomfort’ history laws will make sure we never understand America - The Washington Post

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 07:11:00 -0500

"The official name of the legislation, part of the bonkers “stop woke” agenda of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, is “Individual Freedom.” One of its provisions directs that classroom instruction not make any student "feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race.” That protection from “discomfort,” of course, is a one-way street accessible only to White students. What about the unease Black students feel learning history that is sanitized or just plain incorrect? I know I’m going back some decades, but I’ll never forget the discomfort of being one of the few Black kids in a predominantly White school, especially during history class when slavery, the Civil War, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. or the civil rights movement would come up...."

Consent? | GuidedTrack

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 10:55:00 -0500

An online survey about 23 scenarios. The participant users a slider to indicate how close (0 - 100) each scenario is to rape.

Scientists deliberately infected people with coronavirus. Here’s what happened | Science | AAAS

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 04:06:00 -0500

"Researchers in the United Kingdom yesterday posted the results of a first-of-its-kind study in which healthy young volunteers were purposely infected with an early strain of the pandemic coronavirus. As hoped, none of the participants got seriously ill, and scientists were able to closely track their symptoms and gain unique insight into how both SARS-CoV-2 levels and symptoms vary from start to finish during an infection...."

Bill Would Let Children Over 12 Get Vaccines Without Parents' Consent

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 03:36:00 -0500

"A new bill has been tabled in California that, if passed, would allow children aged 12 or older to receive COVID-19 vaccines without the permission of their parents. Currently, in California minors aged 12 to 17 cannot receive a COVID-19 vaccine without parental consent. However, there are some exceptions—in San Francisco County, those 12 or older can self-consent as long as the healthcare provider reasonably attempts to notify their guardian and allow them the opportunity to object. In California, minors do not need parental consent to get the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) or Hepatitis B vaccines.... Under the new law, it would not be a legal requirement for parents to know that their child has received the vaccine.... Vaccine consent laws vary across the country. For example, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia allow children aged 11 and older to be inoculated without their parents' consent. Alabama's age is 14, Oregon is 15, and Rhode Island and South Carolina set it at 16...."

Inciting Instead of Coercing: “Nudges” Prove Their Effectiveness in Changing People’s Behavior

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 05:27:00 -0500

"Despite the growing popularity of nudges, their performances had not yet been studied in their entirety. By performing a meta-analysis (a statistical approach aimed at synthesizing the results of numerous studies), a research team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has succeeded in demonstrating the effectiveness of “nudges” and identifying the areas in which they are most relevant. “We have collected more than 200 scientific articles published over the last 15 years on the subject, which represent more than 450 ‘nudge’ strategies,” says Stéphanie Mertens, the study’s first author and a researcher at the Consumer Decision and Sustainable Behavior Laboratory of the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the UNIGE. To carry out this study, the researchers classified the nudges described in this scientific literature into three groups: “information,” “structure” and “assistance.” In the first set, they grouped interventions whose objective is to inform individuals in order to motivate them to make certain choices, such as the “nutri-score” labels found on certain food products. In the second set, they grouped techniques that deal with the structure of an environment. This is the example (cited above) of highlighting certain meals in a cafeteria menu. In the third set, they classified nudges involving a form of commitment, as in the case of a person who stops smoking and informs those around him or her. When informed, the people around him or her take on the function of a “safeguard” in the choice architecture of the abstinent smoker."

Trafficking Victims Will Face ‘Trauma Deadline’ as a Result of Nationality and Borders Bill – Byline Times

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 10:03:00 -0500

"urvivors of modern slavery will be penalised for not sharing details of their exploitation “fast enough” campaigners warn, if clauses in part 5 of the Nationality and Borders Bill become law. The bill “will require many foreign national victims of trafficking to self-identify and communicate that they are a victim of slavery within a fixed time period, with a failure to do so or late declaration seen as damaging the individual’s credibility”. Campaigners have warned that the clause ignores the impact of trauma on victims and survivors. Rather than a delay to disclosing details meaning a survivor is not credible, it could instead demonstrate how survivors of extreme abuse and exploitation often demonstrate delayed memory recall and memory loss due to trauma. Survivors may also feel unsafe to disclose details of exploitation if they have been threatened by their traffickers...."

Virginia can't undo Equal Rights Amendment approval, outgoing AG says - Virginia Mercury

Sun, 09 Jan 2022 04:29:00 -0500

"Departing Attorney General Mark Herring says Virginia can’t undo its 2020 ratification of the federal Equal Rights Amendment, the stalled gender-equality measure that inspired a major activist push at the statehouse. It’s unclear how eager Republicans might be to reverse the Virginia General Assembly’s vote, because the amendment still hasn’t been recognized at the federal level. Women’s rights advocates had argued Virginia’s vote would be the final step needed to give the amendment approval from 38 states, but federal authorities concluded a 1979 deadline to ratify the measure was legally binding. That rendered Virginia’s action moot, at least for now. Herring recently filed a new court brief seeking to overturn that outcome, but Republican victories in last year’s elections has created uncertainty over Virginia’s pro-ERA stance. With a week left in office, Herring sought to provide clarity in an offiical opinion issued this week at the request of Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton. He concluded states have no authority to rescind ratification of a constutional amendment."

The effectiveness of nudging: A meta-analysis of choice architecture interventions across behavioral domains | PNAS

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 04:34:00 -0500

Abstract: Over the past decade, choice architecture interventions or so-called nudges have received widespread attention from both researchers and policy makers. Built on insights from the behavioral sciences, this class of behavioral interventions focuses on the design of choice environments that facilitate personally and socially desirable decisions without restricting people in their freedom of choice. Drawing on more than 200 studies reporting over 450 effect sizes (n = 2,149,683), we present a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of choice architecture interventions across techniques, behavioral domains, and contextual study characteristics. Our results show that choice architecture interventions overall promote behavior change with a small to medium effect size of Cohen’s d = 0.45 (95% CI [0.39, 0.52]). In addition, we find that the effectiveness of choice architecture interventions varies significantly as a function of technique and domain. Across behavioral domains, interventions that target the organization and structure of choice alternatives (decision structure) consistently outperform interventions that focus on the description of alternatives (decision information) or the reinforcement of behavioral intentions (decision assistance). Food choices are particularly responsive to choice architecture interventions, with effect sizes up to 2.5 times larger than those in other behavioral domains. Overall, choice architecture interventions affect behavior relatively independently of contextual study characteristics such as the geographical location or the target population of the intervention. Our analysis further reveals a moderate publication bias toward positive results in the literature. We end with a discussion of the implications of our findings for theory and behaviorally informed policy making.

Sperm donation boomed during the pandemic. Is that a feminist victory? | The Week

Fri, 24 Dec 2021 04:20:00 -0500

An argument that "All told, artificial means of becoming parents seem to be upholding, rather than dismantling, a gendered division of aggregate reproductive labor." What's notable for my purposes is that the author never touches on consent. Women who use donated sperm almost always do so with consent. Women who use artificial insemination without expecting any involvement of the father in raising the child almost always do so with consent. Or at least we could consider the cases in which women do consent, without making assumptions about whether they are in the majority or minoriy. The consent of the women involved would not avert the negative consequences identified by the author. But it would affect the overall strength and complexity of any argument against sperm donation and artificial insemination.

When Professors Offend Students

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 10:49:00 -0500

Many examples, some punished, some protected as academic freedom, almost all controversial.

UPDATE: Fauquier Hospital reports it has complied with court order, asks for contempt order to be purged | News | fauquier.com

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 10:46:00 -0500

A Virginia court orders a hospital to inject a patient with Ivermectin, at the patient's request. The hospital objected. PS: In a later update, a higher court sided with the hospital. PS: In a later update, the Ohio legislature introduced a bill to require future cases to be decided in favor of the patients. https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/politics/ohio-politics/ohio-doctors-could-soon-be-required-to-promote-ivermectin-to-treat-covid-19

Occupational Licensing Reform is Having a Moment - by Gary Winslett - The Libertarian-Progressive Papers

Sun, 14 Nov 2021 09:55:00 -0500

"Doctor, doctor give me the news: occupational licensing reform is having its moment. The idea of occupational licensing reform in the medical and legal fields has long been met with recoil, partially because people view the fields as above reproach—too important and delicate to risk any deregulation. But as the COVID-19 pandemic required medical flexibility, and legal credentialing became a mess in a remote world, people across the political spectrum began to realize the necessity and value of reform in both industries. Our current moment provides a unique opportunity to ease excessive credentialing burdens in both fields and to expand access to care and justice...."

After Nearly 14 Years, Britney Spears’s Conservatorship Ends - The New York Times

Sat, 13 Nov 2021 05:39:00 -0500

"Here’s what you need to know: Judge terminates Britney Spears’s conservatorship. Experts said it was unusual to end a conservatorship without a mental health screening. Spears’s lawyer is pushing for the singer’s father to be investigated. Judge will review mounting bills from the many lawyers in Britney Spears case. “I just want my life back and it’s been 13 years and it’s enough,” she said in June. ..."

Martha Sepúlveda’s euthanasia canceled by Colombian authorities - The Washington Post

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 04:58:00 -0400

"Martha Sepúlveda was scheduled to become the first person in Colombia — a majority-Catholic country — without a terminal prognosis to die by legally authorized euthanasia on Sunday. But a surprise 11th-hour decision by health officials has halted her bid. Sepúlveda, 51, was awakened by her lawyers Friday night with news of a letter announcing that her euthanasia procedure scheduled for 7 a.m. Sunday had been canceled, after a medical committee determined that she no longer met the conditions because her health apparently had improved.... Jaramillo’s law firm, the Laboratory of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, has vowed to fight the decision, which it described as “illegitimate and arbitrary,” and one that violates Sepúlveda’s right to a “dignified death.” They pointed to a recent constitutional court decision that allows euthanasia for patients with intense physical or mental suffering from bodily injury or serious and incurable disease, even if the prognosis is not terminal within six months...."

Controlling Britney Spears - The New York Times

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 09:35:00 -0400

"Britney Spears is one of the biggest celebrities on the planet — she makes millions of dollars performing, selling perfumes and appearing on television. At the same time, however, her life is heavily controlled by a conservatorship, which she has been living under for 13 years. In June, Ms. Spears spoke out in a public hearing about her unhappiness with the arrangement — and the role her father, Jamie Spears, plays as conservator. After the hearing, several changes took place, to her security firm, her legal representation and her freedoms. And soon, a court will decide whether to remove Mr. Spears as conservator or terminate the conservatorship altogether. We explore the details of Ms. Spears’s conservatorship, the security apparatus that has surrounded it and its future...."

“My Human Rights Are Being Violated”: Fighting A Family Conservatorship

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 04:43:00 -0400

"Marie was in her 30s, not a rebellious teenager. Her friends knew her as a gregarious woman who expertly applied thick winged eyeliner behind her glasses, unafraid to stand out. But due to Marie’s intellectual disability, her father, Jim, had ruled her life for 11 years as her legal conservator. Marie knew she needed assistance with things like budgeting and making medical decisions, but she wanted to call the shots. “I need help with life!” she’d later say. “But I want them to show me, not do it for me.” In recent years, she had assembled a network of lawyers, family members, and others who shared her belief that she was capable of so much more. That’s why Marie was in the locker room, whispering to them on the phone. She was plotting her steps toward freedom. In court filings, Marie and her supporters would accuse Jim of controlling her hard-earned money, forbidding intimate relations with boyfriends, isolating her from people he disliked, and verbally abusing her, calling her “stupid” and “fat.” He had relocated her from city to city as he chose and wanted to move her out of California altogether. Marie said the older she got, the more she craved independence, but every attempt to claim it was held up as proof that she didn’t deserve it."

Medical Students Practice Pelvic Exams on Anesthetized Women Without Their Consent | NutritionFacts.org

Sun, 05 Sep 2021 11:05:00 -0400

"Shockingly, this “outrageous assault upon the dignity” of female patients continues to this day."

Opinion | The Performative Antiracism of Black Students at the U. of Wisconsin - The New York Times

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 06:13:00 -0400

"96 years ago, when the rock was placed where it was until just now, someone in a local newspaper called it — brace yourself — a “niggerhead.” That didn’t settle in as a permanent nasty local moniker for the rock. It was just something some cigar-chomping scribbler wrote in 1925. But still, the Wisconsin Black Student Union, making one of the kinds of demands such groups started pushing with especial fervor last year, insisted that the rock be taken away.... If the presence of that rock actually makes some people desperately uncomfortable, they need counseling. And as such, we can be quite sure that these students were acting. Few can miss that there is a performative aspect in the claim that college campuses, perhaps the most diligently antiracism spaces on the planet, are seething with bigotry. The Wisconsin rock episode was a textbook demonstration of the difference between sincere activism and playacting, out of a desire to join the civil rights struggle in a time when the problems are so much more abstract than they once were.... Yes, racism persists in our society in many ways, and administrators serving up craven condescension as antiracism are fine examples of it."

Nudgeability: Mapping Conditions of Susceptibility to Nudge Influence - Denise de Ridder, Floor Kroese, Laurens van Gestel, 2021

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 09:08:00 -0400

Abstract: Nudges are behavioral interventions to subtly steer citizens’ choices toward “desirable” options. An important topic of debate concerns the legitimacy of nudging as a policy instrument, and there is a focus on issues relating to nudge transparency, the role of preexisting preferences people may have, and the premise that nudges primarily affect people when they are in “irrational” modes of thinking. Empirical insights into how these factors affect the extent to which people are susceptible to nudge influence (i.e., “nudgeable”) are lacking in the debate. This article introduces the new concept of nudgeability and makes a first attempt to synthesize the evidence on when people are responsive to nudges. We find that nudge effects do not hinge on transparency or modes of thinking but that personal preferences moderate effects such that people cannot be nudged into something they do not want. We conclude that, in view of these findings, concerns about nudging legitimacy should be softened and that future research should attend to these and other conditions of nudgeability.

Just, Reasonable Multiculturalism

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 09:28:00 -0400

Description of a forthcoming book: “In Just Reasonable, Multiculturalism, [Raphael] Cohen-Almagor develops a comprehensive theory that tackles three major attacks on multiculturalism: that it is bad for democracy, that it is bad for women, and that it promotes terrorism, aiming to show that liberalism and multiculturalism are reconcilable. Cohen-Almagor outlines the theoretical assumptions underlying a liberal response to threats posed by cultural or religious groups whose norms entail different measures of harm. He examines the importance of cultural, ethnic, national, religious, and ideological norms and beliefs, and what part they play in requiring us to tolerate others out of respect. Cohen-Almagor formulates guidelines designed to prescribe boundaries to cultural practices and to safeguard the rights of individuals and then applies them to real life situations. Painstakingly, Cohen-Almagor balances group rights against individual rights and delineates the limits of state intervention in minority groups’ affairs in cases involving physical harm and non-physical harm. The first category includes practices such as scarring, suttee, murder for family honour, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), female circumcision and male circumcision. The second category includes arranged and forced marriages, divorce and property rights, gender segregation, denial of education, and enforcement of a strict dress code. Two country case studies, France and Israel, illustrate the power of security considerations in restricting claims for multiculturalism”.

What’s Gone Wrong with the ‘Sex Game Gone Wrong’ Defence Ban? – Byline Times

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 10:14:00 -0400

"The Labour MP Harriet Harman has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill regarding two cases of men convicted of manslaughter, after two women died in what the men claimed were ‘sex games gone wrong’. Warren Coulton was convicted of manslaughter after Claire Wright was killed when he put a sock in her mouth and tied her hands behind her back. Sophie Moss was killed by Sam Pybus, who entered a guilty plea for manslaughter. She died of strangulation. In her letter, Harman stated that the Crown Prosecution Service – the body that decides which criminal cases are prosecuted in England and Wales and conducts the prosecutions – accepted the sex game gone wrong defence, which she said is “the ultimate victim blaming”. “My concern is that we are in a situation where any man can claim he killed his partner and that she consented,” she wrote, asking Hill to review the prosecution decisions in both cases. ..."

North Carolina invents math crimes against the state | Washington Examiner

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 05:19:00 -0400

"The math police told Nutt to keep his answers to himself. If he offers testimony that requires “engineering knowledge,” the state will bust him like a math outlaw because he lacks a professional engineering license — something he never needed during his career. Engineers at manufacturing firms such as DuPont have an exemption to the requirement...."

NIH Requests Information on Developing Consent Language for Future Use of Data and Biospecimens | Data Science at NIH

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 09:09:00 -0400

"Today, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a Request for Information (RFI) on the utility and useability of Consent for Data and Biospecimen Sharing for Future Use: Points to Consider and Sample Language. NIH has heard from its stakeholders that there is a strong interest in sharing best practices for developing informed consent language that supports sharing and NIH has worked to develop points to consider and sample language to assist in this endeavor. NIH emphasizes that any use of the sample informed consent language would be completely voluntary and will not be required."

Keira Bell: Puberty blockers give children options, Trust says - BBC News

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 09:20:00 -0400

"The Court of Appeal is considering whether under-16s can give informed consent to medical treatment that delays the onset of puberty. The appeal is brought by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. It says puberty blockers give children distressed by their birth sex time to consider "options". But a representative for Keira Bell, who brought the original case, says children cannot understand all of the treatment's implications.... The Court of Appeal hearing has so far revolved around two key areas. Firstly, whether under-16's can truly consent to puberty blockers when their feelings about, for instance, their fertility may change substantially in the next decade. Secondly, whether that treatment is experimental. The High Court concluded it was. The Tavistock disagrees, throughout it has pointed to prescription of the drugs by doctors going back more than twenty years...."

Women’s Handball Players Are Fined for Rejecting Bikini Uniforms - The New York Times

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 05:11:00 -0400

"Norway’s beach handball players were each fined 150 euros for wearing shorts rather than the required bikini bottoms. A spokeswoman for the International Handball Federation said she didn’t know the reason for the rule."

She Said She Married for Love. Her Parents Called It Coercion. - The New York Times

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 05:23:00 -0400

"After a woman, who was born a Sikh, married a Muslim man, her parents accused him of kidnapping. Now, new laws across India are seeking to ban all interfaith marriages...."

French parliament votes to extend IVF rights to lesbians and single women | France | The Guardian

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 05:54:00 -0400

"French gay rights campaigners are celebrating a milestone for equal rights after parliament finalised adoption of a bill giving lesbian couples and single women access to fertility treatment for the first time. Under current French law, only heterosexual couples have the right to access medically assisted procreation methods such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Lesbian couples and single women who want children have to travel abroad for IVF using donor sperm. That is set to change under the bill pushed through by President Emmanuel Macron’s government, which passed a final vote in the National Assembly on Tuesday after two years of protests and 500 hours of debate...."

Britney Spears’s Conservatorship Nightmare | The New Yorker

Sat, 03 Jul 2021 05:07:00 -0400

"How the pop star’s father and a team of lawyers seized control of her life—and have held onto it for thirteen years."

Wisconsin Votes To Exempt Hair Braiders From Occupational Licensing Law – Reason.com

Sat, 03 Jul 2021 05:06:00 -0400

"Wisconsin hair braiders may no longer need a permission slip from the government to make a livelihood using their skills. In June, the state legislature passed a bill to allow people to professionally braid hair without a license. The measure now awaits Gov. Tony Evers' signature. Wisconsin follows a number of states in the past decade that have begun allowing unlicensed braiding—either through legislative action or after a court ruled the license rules unnecessary. These include Mississippi, Rhode Island, Utah, and Washington...."

Judge denies request to remove Britney Spears' father as co-conservator

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 04:22:00 -0400

"A judge on Wednesday denied a request to remove Britney Spears’ father as the conservator of her estate. Spears' request to suspend James "Jamie" Spears immediately upon the appointment of a financial institution as sole conservator of estate "is denied without prejudice," the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled. Spears, 39, has been under a legal conservatorship involving her father for over a decade. Last week in dramatic testimony, she alleged that she was overworked without any breaks, medicated with lithium and prohibited from having more children after her conservators did not allow her to remove her birth control device — decisions she said were approved by her father and co-conservator, Jamie Spears...."

Opinion | Men love locking away inconvenient women. Britney is no exception. - Reader Mode

Sun, 27 Jun 2021 09:58:00 -0400

"Conservatorships are used for people who can’t handle their own affairs — financial or otherwise. They’re used for people with dementia at the end of their lives or for people with long-term cognitive impairment. But in Britney Spears’ case, a conservatorship that was originally put in place as a “temporary” emergency measure in 2008, is now going on its 13th year. Spears wants out. And after searing testimony in court Wednesday, it seems like much of the world has rallied to the star's side. After searing testimony in court on Wednesday, it seems like much of the world has rallied to the star's side...."

Read Britney Spears' Explosive Conservatorship Testimony : NPR

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 09:36:00 -0400

"Three days later, after I said no to Vegas, my therapist sat me down in a room and said he had a million phone calls about how I was not cooperating in rehearsals and I haven't been taking my medication. All of this was a false. He — he immediately the next day put me on lithium out of nowhere. He took me off my normal meds I'd been on for five years. And lithium is a very, very strong and completely different medication compared to what I was used to. You can go mentally impaired if you take too much, if you stay on it longer than five months. But he put me on that and I felt drunk. I really couldn't even take up for myself. I couldn't even have a conversation with my mom or dad really about anything. I told them I was scared and my doctor had me on — six different nurses with this new medication come to my home, stay with me to monitor me on this new medication, which I never wanted to be on to begin with. There were six different nurse — nurses in my homes and they wouldn't let me get in my car to go anywhere for — for a month. Not only did my family not do a goddamn thing, my dad was all for it. Anything that happened to me had to be approved by my dad. And my dad only.... I worked seven days a week, no days off — which in California, the only similar thing to this is called sex trafficking, making anyone work — work against their will. Taking all their possessions away — credit card, cash, phone, passport card — and placing them in a home where they — they work with the people who live with them. They offer — they all lived in the house with me, the nurses, the 24/7 security. There — there was one chef that came there and cooked for me daily during the weekdays. They watched me change every day, naked. Morning, noon and night. My body — I had no privacy door for my — for my room. I gave eight gallons of blood a week. If I didn't do any of my meetings and work from 8 to 6 at night — which is 10 hours a day, seven days a week, no days off — I wouldn't be able to see my kids or my boyfriend. I never had a say in my schedule. They always told me I had to do this. ... Ma'am, my dad and anyone involved in this conservatorship and my management — who played a huge role in punishing me when I said, "No, ma'am" — they should be in jail.... The last time I spoke to you about just keeping the conservatorship going and also keeping my dad in the loop made me feel like I was dead. Like I didn't matter. Like nothing had been done to to me. Like you thought I was lying or something. I'm telling you again, because I'm not lying. I want to feel heard and I'm telling you this again so maybe you can understand the depth and the degree and the damage that they did to me back then.... It's been a long time since I've owned my money and it's my wish and my dream for all of this to end without being tested. Again, it makes no sense whatsoever for the state of California to sit back and literally watch me with their own two eyes, make a living for so many people and pay so many people — trucks and buses on tour on the road with me — and be told I'm not good enough. But I'm great at what I do. And I allow these people to control what I do, ma'am, and it's enough, it makes no sense at all. Now, going forward, I'm not willing to meet or see anyone. I've met with enough people against my will. I'm done. All I want is to own my money, for this to end.... So basically this conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good. I — I deserve to have a life...."

85% of Liberal Students Think Professors Should Be Reported for Offensive Comments – Reason.com

Sat, 19 Jun 2021 06:37:00 -0400

"While most students think their professors adequately encourage diverse viewpoints in the classroom, don't want speakers disinvited from campus, and are comfortable sharing controversial opinions, 85 percent of liberals think professors who say something offensive should be reported to the university. That's according to a new survey of student attitudes conducted by North Dakota State University's Sheila and Robert Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth. Many of the results were positive: Most students—both liberals and conservatives—said their professors create environments that allow for many different viewpoints to be shared. Large majorities also opposed the rejection of controversial speakers from campus. In general, conservative respondents were more supportive of free speech norms—and also more fearful that they would be punished for speaking up—than liberal students. But on many questions, majorities of both groups responded the way a free speech supporter would. Probably the most concerning result was that 70 percent of students—85 percent of liberals, 41 percent of conservatives, and 65 percent of those classified as "independent/apolitical"—wanted professors reported to the administration for making offensive statements. Most students also felt this way about other students who said offensive things...."

Daniel Rodger, Why we should stop using animal-derived products on patients without their consent - PhilPapers

Sun, 16 May 2021 07:03:00 -0400

Abstract: Medicines and medical devices containing animal-derived ingredients are frequently used on patients without their informed consent, despite a significant proportion of patients wanting to know if an animal-derived product is going to be used in their care. Here, I outline three arguments for why this practice is wrong. Firstly, I argue that using animal-derived medical products on patients without their informed consent undermines respect for their autonomy. Secondly, it risks causing non-trivial psychological harm. Thirdly, it is morally inconsistent to respect patients' dietary preferences and then use animal-derived medicines or medical devices on them without their informed consent. I then address several anticipated objections, and conclude that the continued failure to address this issue is an ethical blind spot that warrants applying the principles of respect for autonomy and informed consent consistently.

New York parent seeks OK to marry their own adult child

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 10:09:00 -0400

"A New Yorker who wants to marry their own adult offspring is suing to overturn laws barring the incestuous practice, calling it a matter of “individual autonomy.” The pining parent seeks to remain anonymous because their request is “an action that a large segment of society views as morally, socially and biologically repugnant,” according to court papers...."

'Consensual incest' should be decriminalized, advocates say

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 10:09:00 -0400

"Consensual incest advocates are rooting for an anonymous New York parent who wants to marry their own adult child. Australian Richard Morris, who is pushing to change incest laws in about 60 countries, said he supports the legal push in Manhattan Federal Court and that such behavior between consenting adults “should not be criminalized.” He and other advocates have launched about 130 petitions, mostly on change.org, seeking to change incest laws around the world. Most have received little support...."

Why America Banned Pre-Sliced Bread | by Ben Kageyama | History of Yesterday

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 08:19:00 -0400

This interesting in part for the rationale: war-related attempts to conserve wax paper, wheat, and steel.

Not Quite Non-Consensual. I didn’t say yes, but I didn’t say no… | by Em Unravelling | The Virago | Medium

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 11:17:00 -0400

"I didn’t say yes but I didn’t say no. I didn’t want to, I really didn’t want to, but at the same time I didn’t want to argue with him; I felt tired at the thought of it. And I had gone home with him. That’s what “come back to my place” always means for grown-up women. Isn’t it?... It was many years before I realised that he made me feel dirty because of my self-disgust at having allowed my instincts to be overridden by — what? — politeness? A need to be seen as cool, as not-frigid?... it wouldn’t happen now. I am sure it wouldn’t. Because today, even as a teenager, I am certain that I would know — that he would know — that not-yes is always, always no. No question."

The play that changed my mind on assisted dying | Assisted dying | The Guardian

Sun, 11 Apr 2021 12:47:00 -0400

"My partner died in my arms in a hospice. The last week of her life brought me very happy memories that have sustained me in the past 11 years. So I was adamantly against assisted dying (Letters, 6 April). Then someone pointed out to me that anyone in this country has access to assisted dying if they can afford the cost of Dignitas. Which gave me pause for thought. And then in 2011 I saw a play at the Pleasance theatre, subsequently produced on BBC Radio 4, called An Instinct for Kindness, by Chris Larner. My mind was changed completely. If you are interested in this issue and you get a chance to see this play, or hear a recording of it, then do so. I cannot do it justice in the limited space I have here...."

Maryland lawmakers want counseling for children without parental consent - The Washington Post

Sun, 11 Apr 2021 04:59:00 -0400

"In voting to make Maryland one of five states that allows preteens to get mental health treatment without parental consent, Del. Kumar P. Barve said he was honoring an uncle he never met.... The bill, which passed 92 to 44 and is headed to Gov. Larry Hogan’s desk, lowers the age for consenting to mental health treatment from 16 years old to 12.... Opponents said the measure would strip parents of their rights, while proponents said it provides young people who might be afraid to talk to their parents or guardians about their struggles an avenue to get the help they need...."

Letting go: my battle to help my parents die a good death | Death and dying | The Guardian

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 05:31:00 -0400

"My parents were determined to avoid heroic medical interventions in their dying days, even before the pandemic. Why wasn’t anybody listening?... My father and I get out the advance decisions [for my mother] again. They are so clear. “In the event of an infection I want to avoid heroic interventions”, “I refuse treatment with a ventilator”, “I do not want my life prolonged if the alternative is permanent nursing care”. But she didn’t have those documents with her, because she was going to the day ward. She had completed full medical attorney documents for me, but I couldn’t be there to advocate for her, because of Covid. And now she has been put on a ventilator, for her operation, and when I call the ICU they say she is stuck on it, she can’t breathe on her own. They don’t know if she will ever come off it, but if she does, they say, she will live a very limited life in a nursing home. “We must hope she dies,” says my dad when I put down the phone. My parents are devout atheists: they believe there is no God and therefore we must live well. So do I. We pray...."

N.C. bill would ban treatment for trans people under 21

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 05:23:00 -0400

"Three North Carolina Republican lawmakers introduced a bill Monday that would prevent doctors from performing gender confirmation surgery for transgender people younger than 21...."

Ryan Meldrum, Florida International University – Digital Self-Harm - The Academic Minute

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 06:15:00 -0400

"The mental health of kids and teens is in the spotlight. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools have resorted to remote teaching, leading kids to spend more time online. Now, “digital self-harm” is emerging among adolescents, and it may be increasing. Digital self-harm involves someone anonymously posting negative and hurtful things about themselves online. In short, they are cyberbullying themselves. To study its causes, two questions about digital self-harm were included as part of the 2019 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey, in which 10,000 Florida middle and high school students participated. We found that one in ten Florida students reported they engaged in digital self-harm in the past 12 months. We also found that getting bullied is associated with digital self-harm. So too are elevated levels of negative emotions like depression and anxiety that often result from bullying...."

I Spent My Life Consenting to Touch I Didn’t Want - The New York Times

Sun, 04 Apr 2021 09:51:00 -0400

"We still don’t have words for the receiving of touch we don’t crave but commonly endure and even consent to because we don’t feel entitled to resist it. I mean encounters like mine with that older teenager, but also countless less disturbing ones: the impulsive fondling of pregnant women’s bellies, hugs from mere acquaintances, sex that we simply aren’t in the mood for. During the pandemic, I have been happy to live without the inevitable close-talking men at literary or work events. I do not miss shoulder squeezes, back pats, draped arms or even handshakes. Of course, plenty of people don’t tolerate touch they feel ambivalent about or actively abhor, but I suspect that a majority of them live in male-identified bodies.... Sex work taught me a vocabulary for consent, but in it I also refined my techniques for silencing my own wishes.... If anything their responses made a case against sex work’s increasing the likelihood of their consenting to touch they didn’t want. I wondered more about the other factors they shared that might have primed them for what I began to think of as empty consent.... I was not surprised to see how often the women I surveyed described giving empty consent because they feared something worse.... Here, I see two powerful imperatives that collaborate to encourage empty consent: the need to protect our bodies from the violent retaliation of men and the need to protect the same men from the consequences of their own behavior, usually by displacing the responsibility onto ourselves. ... Even if the practices of affirmative consent were adopted by every college student in this country and subsequently spilled into life beyond those privileged spaces, we would all still live in a society in which vast numbers of people are conditioned from childhood to consent to touch we don’t want...."

In India's Bohra Community, a Battle Over Genital Mutilation

Sat, 03 Apr 2021 10:58:00 -0400

"While male circumcision conducted at infancy is common among followers of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, as well as in other communities around the world for non-religious reasons, FGM is not as widely practiced, except within certain religious sects in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Despite the custom’s seeming obscurity, however, some 200 million women alive today have experienced FGM, according to estimates by Unicef.... However, unlike male circumcision, there are several medical complications that can result from FGM, the WHO states. They include excessive bleeding, swelling of the genital tissue, infection, vaginal and urinary tract problems, and even death. Later on, women may suffer sexual issues and experience complications in childbirth.... In hundreds of interviews with victims conducted by Sahiyo and WeSpeakOut, sexual control is often mentioned as the primary motivation behind FGM. “In our survey, we found that the most common reason that people give is that it controls a girl’s sexual urges and moderates the desire,” Johari says. “It keeps her chaste and prevents her from having affairs. Others cited hygiene and health, but there is no scientific basis for that.” ... But according to a survey by Sahiyo, about 74 percent of the cutting is performed by traditional cutters outside medical facilities, often in family-run practices handed down from mother to daughter. “It is not a medical procedure, and ethically, a doctor should not be carrying out such a non-medical procedure,” says Johari, adding that it is also unethical to expect children to give legal consent...."

How Bikini Outrage Became a Crude Marketer’s Best Friend | by Sean Kernan | Better Marketing

Sat, 03 Apr 2021 06:34:00 -0400

PS: Interesting case in which a marketing campaign succeeded (by the criteria used in marketing campaigns) by using deliberately offensive replies to critics.

Amazon Delivery Drivers Forced to Sign ‘Biometric Consent’ Form or Lose Job

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 09:23:00 -0400

"Amazon delivery drivers nationwide have to sign a "biometric consent" form this week that grants the tech behemoth permission to use AI-powered cameras to access drivers' location, movement, and biometric data. If the company’s delivery drivers, who number around 75,000 in the United States, refuse to sign these forms, they lose their jobs. The form requires drivers to agree to facial recognition and other biometric data collection within the trucks they drive...."

Opinion | America, Your Privacy Settings Are All Wrong - The New York Times

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 07:14:00 -0500

"Nor is simple consent alone enough. In fact, it can create more problems. Bombard someone long enough with consent requests and users will click “yes” to anything to make it stop. Opt-in rules need to be backed with strong enforcement, particularly around misleading or purposefully disruptive consent pop-ups that can dupe users into signing away their data.... All of this is why federal legislation is so urgently needed. That should include provisions making personal data collection available only with consumers’ prior consent. ..."

In Modi’s India, comedians can now be jailed for ‘intent’ to tell a joke – as Munawar Faruqi found out | South China Morning Post

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 04:16:00 -0500

"Munawar Faruqi had not even started his set at the Munroe Café in Indore on January 1 when he and another stand-up comic were arrested, alongside two of the event’s organisers, for violating India’s colonial era anti-blasphemy laws. The 28-year-old Muslim comedian was accused of “intent” to outrage religious sentiments by Aklavya Gaur, a Hindu nationalist activist and son of the city’s mayor...."

Why Is the Age of Consent in Japan Only 13-Year-Old? | by Isaiah McCall | Feb, 2021 | History of Yesterday

Sat, 06 Mar 2021 05:09:00 -0500

"In 1907, the Penal Code of Japan set a minimum age of consent of 13. Since then, Japan’s age of consent has not changed. In fact, it’s the third-lowest in the world. The age of consent in the Philippines used to be 12, but following widespread outcry, a proposal was passed last year to raise the age of consent to 16. Now, after I received a quick 101 in Japanese law, it’s more obvious that Japan’s age of consent is left intentionally ambiguous. Under the Juvenile Obscene Acts, passed in 1947, no one over the age of 14 can have sex with 13–14 year-olds. The minimum sentence for sex with any female under the age of 13 is five-years...."

Facebook and Twitter Need Spoiler Tags | by Eric Ravenscraft | Feb, 2021 | Debugger

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 04:25:00 -0500

PS: Argues (in effect) that seeing a spoiler should be a consent issue, and users should express that consent with an extra click before they see the spoiler. Assumes (in effect) that seeing a spoiler without consent is a kind of (low-grade) harm.

In Canada, Did a Comedian’s Joke Go Too Far? - The New York Times

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 10:27:00 -0500

"About a decade ago, the comedian Mike Ward, of Quebec, mocked the voice of a well-known disabled teenage singer in a standup routine, roasting him for being off-key, making fun of his hearing aid and calling him “ugly.” But he said he had defended the boy to others because he would soon die. When the teen didn’t die of his illness, the comedian joked, he tried to drown him. This past week, the question of whether a comedian has the constitutional right to offend came under a national spotlight at Canada’s Supreme Court after Mr. Ward appealed a decision that the comedy routine discriminated against the singer, Jérémy Gabriel. The case, which has grabbed headlines, is a rare example of a comedy routine becoming the subject of the highest court in the land, and could have implications for free speech in Canada. Renée Thériault, executive legal officer at the Supreme Court, wrote by email that, to her knowledge, the case is “unprecedented.” ..."

Dress Codes, a history of fashion laws from the Tudors to the CROWN Act, reviewed.

Sun, 14 Feb 2021 11:05:00 -0500

"Dress Codes traces nearly 600 years of fashion law and social norms, detailing how style and attempts to control it have shaped history. Perhaps nowhere is the boundary between the personal and the political, the individual and the state, more blurred than in the clothes that we put on our bodies. Ford argues persuasively that fashion as we know it is largely the result of the Enlightenment-era school of thought leading to the concept of the modern individual “with personalities that transcend our social status, occupation and family heritage.” Individualism separated the symbolism of clothing from its tradition-bound roots: If a merchant’s wife could afford a crown, if a slave wore the same dress as an antebellum belle, or if a servant like Walweyn donned “monstrously extravagant” trunk hose usually reserved for the nobility—then the original meaning of the garment was undermined and transformed. “Fashion presented a distinctive opportunity because it alone could transform the body itself into a form of political persuasion,” Ford writes...."

Statements | Korean Association of Harvard Law School

Sat, 13 Feb 2021 10:51:00 -0500

"Professor J. Mark Ramseyer, the Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Legal Studies at Harvard Law School, recently published an article (“Contracting for sex in the Pacific War”) and accompanying editorial (“Recovering the Truth about the Comfort Women”), in which he describes the forced sex slavery organized by Japan during World War II as a consenting, contractual process. He claims, without sufficient evidence, that the Japanese military sex slaves were willing prostitutes who were able to “negotiate” for substantial wages in a consensual, contractual relationship. In his editorial, he also makes multiple assertions that the comfort women story is “pure fiction,” a revisionist claim that is recycled time and time again by neonationalist figures. Professor Ramseyer’s arguments are factually inaccurate and misleading. Without any convincing evidence, Professor Ramseyer argues that no government “forced women into prostitution,” a contention he also makes in his editorial. Decades’ worth of Korean scholarship, primary sources, and third-party reports challenge this characterization. None are mentioned, cited, or considered in his arguments. ..."

Removing a condom without consent would be illegal if this California bill passes - The Washington Post

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 04:01:00 -0500

"The act of removing a condom during sex without consent — also known as “stealthing” — could become illegal in the state of California. A bill introduced this week by California Assembly member Cristina Garcia (D) would classify nonconsensual condom removal as sexual battery and would allow a victim to pursue a claim for damages under the state’s civil code. If passed, experts say, the measure would be the first such law in any state to explicitly address nonconsensual condom removal...."

French government seeks to set age for sexual consent at 15

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 03:43:00 -0500

"France’s government wants to set the age of sexual consent at 15 and make it easier to punish long-ago child sexual abuse, amid growing public pressure and a wave of online testimonies about rape and other sexual violence by parents and authority figures...."

Harvard Professor’s Paper Claiming ‘Comfort Women’ in Imperial Japan Were Voluntarily Employed Stokes International Controversy | News | The Harvard Crimson

Sun, 07 Feb 2021 07:34:00 -0500

"A paper by Harvard Law School Japanese legal studies professor J. Mark Ramseyer that claims sex slaves taken by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II were actually recruited, contracted sex workers generated international controversy, academic criticism, and student petitions at Harvard this week." PS: This is relevant on two levels: first for the argument about consent v. coercion, and second for giving offense.

'Framing Britney Spears’: The Long Fight to ‘Free Britney’ - The New York Times

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 11:28:00 -0500

"Britney Spears hasn’t been able to fully live her own life for 13 years, stuck in a court-sanctioned conservatorship. A new documentary by The New York Times examines what the public might not know about the pop star’s court battle with her father for control of her estate...."

Garza v. Idaho: Prioritizing Client Autonomy in Criminal Appeals Regardless of an Appeal Waiver

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 07:32:00 -0500

Whether criminal defendants have a right to appeal even after counsel (perhaps incompetently) waived the right to appeal or failed to file a notice of appeal. Explicit on the paternalism issues, and cites my work.

Is This Law Professor Really a Homicidal Threat?

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 07:11:00 -0500

"Kilborn was given no explanation for these sanctions, although the law school told Above the Law that it “acknowledges that the racial and gender references on the examination were deeply offensive. Faculty should avoid language that could cause hurt and distress to students.” But Kilborn did avoid language that could cause hurt and distress to students. He censored the words. He did, concededly, allude to the words in a way that made it easy to know what they were. But if that is “deeply offensive,” punishable behavior, how is it ever permissible for a professor to take note of the fact that racial slurs exist? How is one to teach a course in antidiscrimination law?..."

Taliban cracks down on 'costly' polygamy - BBC News

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 04:31:00 -0500

"The leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan has issued a decree urging the group's leaders and commanders to forego taking multiple wives, which he said was inviting "criticism from our enemies". Muslim men can be permitted by religion to have up to four wives at a time and polygamy is still legal in Afghanistan, Pakistan and some other predominantly Muslim nations. But Taliban sources told the BBC the practice was creating increasing demand from commanders for funds to pay a "bride price" - a practice in force in many Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan and Pakistan by which money is given to a woman's family to secure her hand in marriage...." [PS: Interesting that the Taliban is suddenly sensitive to outside criticism! Clearly the cost is the main factor here. Also interesting that there's little or no mention of the consent of wives.]

A Psychologist's License Was Suspended Because Her Instagram Account Was ‘Too Sexy’

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 10:39:00 -0500

"Former psychologist and Flemish media personality Kaat Bollen has given up her license after being reprimanded by the Belgian Commision of Psychologists because of “indiscreet” photographs and directing a pornographic film, igniting outrage and controversy online. Critics are calling the decision a backwards and misogynistic move that polices Bollen for what she chooses to wear and do in her personal life, and effectively amounts to slut shaming. Bollen is a well known personality within the Benelux media, where she often appears to discuss issues surrounding sex and relationships. She’s also authored three books, including “Het Schaamhaarboek” (“The Pubic Hair Book”), and directed “A Girls’ Getaway”, a pornographic film primarily targeted towards women. Bollen’s publicly sex-positive attitude seems to have rubbed some of her peers the wrong way. In early 2020, an unknown colleague reported her to the Belgian Commission of Psychologists, an independent organization responsible for handing out all official practicing licenses in the country. In March, a special disciplinary committee heard the case and ultimately decided against Bollen, resulting in an official warning...."

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 05:17:00 -0500

"This research found that • Legal and policy reforms are needed to improve the health and wellbeing for sex workers. • DC prostitution laws are not successful at stopping sex work because people rely on sex work for survival and for access to money, housing, and other necessities. • Harassment, violence, and coercion by the police and others in the community against sex workers are facilitated – indeed, encouraged – because sex workers are criminalized. • Sex work is different from trafficking, but criminalization of sex work allows exploiters to use the threat of arrest to control and traffic their victims. • DC laws stigmatize sex workers, and stigma creates barriers to accessing HIV care and prevention, regular medical care, community programs, and other services. These barriers act to trap sex workers in cycles of poverty and homelessness...."

Calls Mount to Decriminalize Sex Work in the Interest of Public Health | Healthiest Communities Health News | US News

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 05:16:00 -0500

"MORE RESEARCHERS ARE making the case to decriminalize sex work, joining calls by other advocates who say doing so might improve public health outcomes. In December, health experts, legal scholars and advocates released a report that focused on decriminalizing sex work in Washington, D.C., where sex work is punishable by fines or jail time. It's some of the latest research suggesting that criminalizing prostitution can lead to dangerous health outcomes for sex workers...."

US Toughens Bans on 'Abhorrent' Female Genital Mutilation

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 08:51:00 -0500

"Although Congress passed a law against FGM in 1996, attempts to prosecute a doctor accused of cutting nine girls in Detroit collapsed in 2018 when a Michigan federal judge ruled the law was unconstitutional and said it was a state issue. The case was the first attempt to prosecute FGM under the federal law. The new law closes the loophole and extends the scope of punishable offences relating to FGM...."

“Better off, as judged by themselves” | Taylor & Francis Group

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 04:13:00 -0500

Abstract: Many nudges are designed to make people better off, as judged by themselves. This criterion, meant to ensure that nudges will increase people’s welfare, contains some ambiguity. It is useful to distinguish among three categories of cases: (1) those in which choosers have clear antecedent preferences, and nudges help them to satisfy those preferences (often by increasing “navigability”); (2) those in which choosers face a self-control problem, and nudges help them to overcome that problem; and (3) those in which choosers would be content with the outcomes produced by two or more nudges, or in which ex post preferences are endogenous to nudges, so that without additional clarification or work, the “as judged by themselves” criterion does identify a unique solution for choice architects. Category (1) is self-evidently large. Because many people agree that they suffer self-control problems, category (2) is large as well. Cases that fall in category (3) create special challenges, which may lead us to make direct inquiries into welfare or to explore what informed, active choosers typically select.

Two headstones with swastikas removed from Texas veterans cemetery | TheHill

Sun, 27 Dec 2020 08:10:00 -0500

"The headstones of two German WWII graves bearing swastikas and other references to the Nazi regime have been removed from a Texas veterans cemetery and replaced with new ones following months of calls to eliminate the structures...."

The History of the Informed Consent Requirement in United States Federal Policy

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 04:30:00 -0500

Abstract: The informed consent provision in United States federal policy serves a crucial function by protecting human subjects participating in medical research experiments. This paper will trace the development of informed consent as a legal doctrine. The paper will first consider numerous landmark cases, including those that established the basic consent requirement and those that extended the requirement to medical research. In addition to case law, the major scholarly publications and social incidents that spurred the American government to draft protective legislation will be examined. Finally, the paper will explore the numerous efforts by US policymakers to arrive at acceptable legislation. After taking an in-depth look at both two government agenciesâ€™ attempts to adequately define informed consent, the analysis will conclude with a discussion of the current rule regarding informed consent in medical research.

Sexual ethics are about more than consent

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 04:51:00 -0500

"The current cultural sexual norms have the same failings as Haidt’s hypothetical brother and sister scenario. They exclude any notion of harm if consent is present, even in the case of consensual incest. They are framed to make strictly optional any idea that sex should happen in a context of caring and wanting what will help each other to flourish. These cultural norms are utterly inadequate. Consent is an absolutely necessary ethical minimum, but it is not the whole of sexual ethics. The business model of sites such as OnlyFans, which is essentially young women making and selling videos for men to masturbate to, is creepy and wrong, too. It is a shame that it takes a video of a naked three-year-old before people feel free to object."

Text - H.Res.512 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Calling for the global repeal of blasphemy, heresy, and apostasy laws. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

Sun, 13 Dec 2020 08:37:00 -0500

"Resolved, That the House of Representatives— (1) recognizes that blasphemy, heresy, and apostasy laws inappropriately position governments as arbiters of religious truth and empower officials to impose religious dogma on individuals or minorities through the power of the government or through violence sanctioned by the government; (2) calls on the President and the Secretary of State to make the repeal of blasphemy, heresy, and apostasy laws a priority in the bilateral relationships of the United States with all countries that have such laws, through direct interventions in bilateral and multilateral fora; (3) encourages the President and the Secretary of State to oppose— (A) any efforts, by the United Nations or by other international or multilateral fora, to create an international anti-blasphemy norm, such as the “defamation of religions” resolutions introduced in the United Nations between 1999 and 2010; and (B) any attempts to expand the international norm on incitement to include blasphemy or defamation of religions; ..."

Do Not Resuscitate Orders 'Used Without Consent During First Wave Of Coronavirus' | HuffPost UK

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 11:42:00 -0500

"Doctors may have made blanket decisions about “do not resuscitate orders” without the input of patients or their families during the first wave of the pandemic, the care watchdog [UK's Quality Care Commission] has warned...."

Puberty blockers: Under-16s 'unlikely' to be able to give informed consent - BBC News

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 04:54:00 -0500

"Children under 16 with gender dysphoria are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to undergo treatment with puberty-blocking drugs, three High Court judges have ruled."

Human challenge trial: The ethics of infecting volunteers with Covid-19 - Vox

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 08:48:00 -0500

"A conventional trial vaccinates people and then waits months to see if they get infected anyway while they go about their normal lives. A challenge trial eliminates the whole wait-and-see period by vaccinating people, exposing them to the virus on the spot, and seeing how well the vaccine protects them. Results come in extremely fast, and they’re reliably instructive because scientists can control all the conditions. They know exactly who was exposed, how big a dose of virus they were exposed to, and how their immune system responded day by day. A human challenge trial is set to begin in London in January, assuming it gets final ethics and regulatory approval. Scientists have run such trials in the past for influenza, malaria, typhoid, dengue, and cholera, but this will be the first for Covid-19.... Only healthy volunteers aged 18 to 30 will be allowed to participate. The challenge trial is not meant to replace conventional clinical trials — the different types of trials will proceed along parallel tracks.... Many young people are clamoring to participate in a challenge trial. The advocacy group 1DaySooner has gathered the names of nearly 39,000 people in 166 countries who say they’d be interested in volunteering. In July, the group sent an open letter to Francis Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), calling for human challenge trials in the US. The letter was signed by more than 30 Nobel laureates and many prominent philosophers and psychologists, including Peter Singer, Steven Pinker, and Rebecca Goldstein. They wrote: “If challenge trials can safely and effectively speed the vaccine development process, there is a formidable presumption in favor of their use, which would require a very compelling ethical justification to overcome.” ... “I’m not convinced that we can actually obtain informed consent from people given that we’re still seeing the emerging effects of long Covid,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University. She was referring to the fact that, for at least 10 percent of people who contract Covid-19, some of the disease’s poorly understood effects — ranging from brain fog to lung scarring to heart conditions — can last for months. Scientists don’t yet have a clear understanding of the risk factors for long-term Covid-19, nor can they predict its duration. Some argue this isn’t a problem: The researchers running a human challenge trial can just inform the volunteers that a lot of uncertainty remains about Covid-19, and that they might be signing up for long-term disability. The volunteers can consent to the uncertainty.... There’s another complicating factor here: money. If volunteers are offered payment for participating, there might be a problematic incentive for low-income people to take part in a trial that could harm their health, which is arguably exploitative...."

Full article: Informed Consent in Two Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers: Insights From Research Coordinators

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 09:36:00 -0500

Abstract: Background: Informed consent (IC) is critical to performing ethical research. Unfortunately, the IC process and supporting IC forms are frequently burdensome and do not necessarily meet the informational needs of participants. The intersecting legal and ethical challenges of obtaining IC from individuals with memory or cognitive deficits further exacerbate existing IC shortcomings. For this reason, study coordinators play a critical role in facilitating the IC process in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research. To identify opportunities to improve how IC is obtained in AD research, we examined the IC process from the perspectives of study coordinators at two Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRC). Methods: We performed semi-structured interviews with 15 study coordinators from two ADRC sites detailing their experience obtaining IC. Interviews were conducted in private, recorded, transcribed, and independently coded using the constant comparative method of grounded theory. Key themes were explored as they emerged. Results: Coordinators reported overall satisfaction with the IC process. However, many reported difficulties maintaining participant attention, explaining complex procedures, and addressing medical misinformation. Although the centers use site-specific consent forms, coordinators at both centers stressed that their IC is too long and the supporting IC forms are too complicated. Coordinators indicated modifying the IC process to the perceived needs of individual participants. Adaptations reported include altering the cadence and vocabulary they employ, using supplemental materials, varying the order of IC topics, and limiting the depth of information presented. Conclusion: A qualitative analysis of interviews with study coordinators reveals opportunities to improve how we obtain IC in AD research. These insights will be used to create an electronic informed consent (eConsent) designed to boost engagement, enhance trust, and improve understanding by supporting participants’ direct agency in the IC process.

Hate crime bill: Hate talk in homes ‘must be prosecuted’ | Scotland | The Times

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 07:06:00 -0400

"Conversations over the dinner table that incite hatred must be prosecuted under Scotland’s hate crime law, the justice secretary has said. Journalists and theatre directors should also face the courts if their work is deemed to deliberately stoke up prejudice, Humza Yousaf said...."

The Fight Against Words That Sound Like, but Are Not, Slurs - The Atlantic

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 04:41:00 -0400

"When the news began circulating on social media, many couldn’t believe it was true––that the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California would remove a longtime professor from a class because a Mandarin word he used correctly in a lesson sounded sort of like a racial slur. One skeptic warned that the “ridiculous sounding story” seemed like a “fabricated Reddit meme.” Another was suspicious that it so neatly fit a narrative of “wacky campus leftists repressing free speech.” Then angry faculty and alumni began confirming the story: During a Zoom class on August 20, Greg Patton, a 53-year-old professor, told students that in business settings they should avoid filler words such as um or er. Then he gave another example of a filler word that—I learned—he added to his lecture perhaps five years ago to be more inclusive of international students. “Like in China, the common word is that—that, that, that, that,” he explained. “So in China it might be nèi ge—nèi ge, nèi ge, nèi ge. So there’s different words that you’ll hear in different countries.” To some students, the Mandarin word, rendered 那个, sounded too much like the N-word for their liking. They sent a letter of complaint to administrators and pressed their grievance in a meeting. Soon after, Patton was removed from the class, investigated, and excoriated in a mass email. “Professor Greg Patton repeated several times a Chinese word that sounds very similar to a vile racial slur,” Geoffrey Garrett, the Marshall School’s dean, wrote. “Understandably, this caused great pain and upset among students, and for that I am deeply sorry. It is simply unacceptable for faculty to use words in class that can marginalize, hurt and harm the psychological safety of our students.” ..."

'Righting past wrongs': The Americans fighting US 'sodomy laws' | LGBTQ | Al Jazeera

Sun, 06 Sep 2020 10:07:00 -0400

"It was 1999. Cooper was about to have her first encounter with Louisiana's Crimes Against Nature laws, part of a web of so-called sodomy laws that once existed across the United States. In specifically criminalising oral and anal sex, advocates have long argued that sodomy laws were tools for discrimination against the LGBTQ community, even in cases where sexual orientation was not written into the law itself.... A 2012 class-action lawsuit took aim at the CANS statute, identifying the sex offender registry requirement as unconstitutional. Cooper was among nine anonymous plaintiffs. The Center for Constitutional Rights, one of the organisations behind the lawsuit, found that CANS convictions at the time amounted to 40 percent of registered sex offenders in the New Orleans area. Most CANS defendants were female or Black. Ultimately, the state was forced to remove nearly 900 individuals convicted under CANS from the sex offender registry. Cooper was one of them. She remembers crying when she heard the news...."

The girls and women fighting to stop child marriage – photo essay | Global development | The Guardian

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 09:37:00 -0400

"Twelve million girls are married every year before they reach 18, according to UN estimates. And in its first set of global statistics on child marriage rates among boys, the UN found one in 30 young men were married as children. Advances have been made, however. Ending child marriage by 2030 is a target in the UN’s set of sustainable development goals, and many countries have launched strategies to stop the practice. But progress is slow and likely to be badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic as closed schools and financial pressures take their toll on families. In April, the United Nations Population Fund predicted that an additional 13 million children could be married over the next decade because of disruption to programmes. But some girls and women are taking matters into their own hands and campaigning for change where they live. The girls who speak here were photographed in collaboration with the London-based NGO Girls Not Brides – an international network of more than 1,400 civil society organisations working to end child marriage and enable girls to fulfil their potential...."

Charlie Hebdo Republishes Cartoons of Prophet Muhammad That Prompted 2015 Attack - The New York Times

Wed, 02 Sep 2020 04:41:00 -0400

"The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has republished the same cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad and Islam that prompted a deadly attack on the magazine in 2015, an act that will be seen by some as a commitment to free speech and by others as reckless provocation. The publication coincides with the start on Wednesday of the long-awaited terrorism trial of people accused as accomplices in the attack — potentially cathartic for a nation that was deeply scarred by that act of brutality. The magazine posted the cartoons online on Tuesday and they will appear in print on Wednesday...."

Tampax tampon ad pulled off the air in United Kingdom and Ireland - The Lily

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 09:44:00 -0400

"The ad is straightforward and free of the menstrual advertising tropes that we are so used to. There are no euphemisms, no dancing around the subject matter at hand, no blue liquid. Just clear, simple directions designed to improve the experiences of using tampons. The ad was inspired by Tampax research, which found that 42 percent of tampon applicator users were not inserting tampons correctly with that figure climbing to 58 percent among those aged between 18 to 24. But on May 18, Liveline, Ireland’s most popular call-in radio show, took a number of calls from listeners who found the ad “vulgar” and objected to the slogan. One woman described it as “brash and disgusting and unnecessary” and threatened to not pay her television license fee next year. Another said the ad “crossed the line of decency.” On social media, people complained about the ad airing during family-friendly television shows like “Britain’s Got Talent.” Earlier this month, the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) said that it had reviewed the ad after receiving 84 complaints. Complainants argued that the ad was demeaning to women, unsuitable for children and laden with sexual innuendo. The organization’s Complaints Committee found the ad had caused “widespread” offense and ruled that the advertisement “should not run in the same format again” while also acknowledging it “provided factual information in a manner that was neither explicit nor graphic.” Tampax confirmed that the ad will no longer air on Irish television.... Many say the move simply reinforces the stigma around menstruation. Others have drawn parallels to 1944 when Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, a Catholic figure known for exerting influence over many Irish governments, noted his disapproval of “unmarried persons” using tampons. Fiona Tyrrell, chair of the Irish Family Planning Association, described the ASAI as being “shockingly out of step with prevailing attitudes to sexuality in Ireland.” ..."

Ugly law - Wikipedia

Sun, 02 Aug 2020 06:19:00 -0400

"Between 1867 and 1974, various cities of the United States had unsightly beggar ordinances, in retrospect also dubbed ugly laws.[1] These laws deemed it illegal for "any person, who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or deformed in any way, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, to expose himself or herself to public view."[1] Exceptions to public exposure were acceptable only if the people were subjects of demonstration, to illustrate the separation of disabled from nondisabled and their need for reformation...."

Consent during sex questions: Do you have to ask to change positions? Can a “no” become a “yes”?

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 12:13:00 -0400

"Should you ask for consent every time you change position? What if someone has particular positions that they don’t like or have negative associations with? How do you navigate people changing their minds during a hookup—specifically, when they first say that they don’t want to have sex, but then later they say that they do want it after all? How much should you check that they genuinely want it, that that wasn’t a hard boundary when they initially set it, and that they’re not feeling pressured?..."

An 18-Year-Old Said She Was Raped While In Police Custody. The Officers Say She Consented.

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 06:15:00 -0400

"When Anna said she was raped by two on-duty cops, she thought it would be a simple case. She had no idea she lived in one of 35 states where officers can claim a detainee consented.... Hours later, Anna and her mother went to a hospital, where Anna told nurses two detectives had sexually assaulted her, according to hospital records. Semen collected in Anna’s rape kit matched the DNA of detectives Eddie Martins, 37, and Richard Hall, 33, of the Brooklyn South narcotics unit. Both have since resigned from the force and been charged with rape.... But Anna didn’t know that in New York, there is no law specifically stating that it is illegal for police officers or sheriff’s deputies in the field to have sex with someone in their custody. It is one of 35 states where armed law enforcement officers can evade sexual assault charges by claiming that such an encounter — from groping to intercourse — was consensual, according to a BuzzFeed News review of every state legal code.... In recent years, some states have closed this loophole, applying to cops the same rules already in place nationwide for probation officers and prison and jail guards. Oregon did so in 2005, Alaska in 2013, and Arizona in 2015. Most have not, partly because few people realize the loophole exists, and partly because it has been politically unpopular to push laws that target cops and anger their powerful unions...."

Peelian principles - Wikipedia

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 06:00:00 -0400

"The Peelian principles summarise the ideas that Sir Robert Peel developed to define an ethical police force. The approach expressed in these principles is commonly known as policing by consent in the United Kingdom and other countries including Canada, Australia and New Zealand.[1][2][3][4] In this model of policing, police officers are regarded as citizens in uniform. They exercise their powers to police their fellow citizens with the implicit consent of those fellow citizens. "Policing by consent" indicates that the legitimacy of policing in the eyes of the public is based upon a general consensus of support that follows from transparency about their powers, their integrity in exercising those powers and their accountability for doing so...."

States require more training time to become a barber than a police officer - CNN

Tue, 02 Jun 2020 05:36:00 -0400

"While covering the recent protests in Charlotte, we met Derrick Jacobs, who said he had to go through more training to become a barber than a police officer does. We wanted to see if that was true. Because every time there's a controversial police shooting, the question comes up: How much training do officers get? Turns out, Jacobs' claim is right. And it's not just in North Carolina. In California, New Mexico and New York, you can get a badge hundreds of hours sooner than you can use a pair of barber shears. And it's not just barbering, either. Many trade jobs require more hours of training time to get a license than it takes to get a police badge. (Important caveat, though: Police departments can choose to go beyond their state's minimum training requirements -- and many do.) ..."

Privacy threats in intimate relationships | Journal of Cybersecurity | Oxford Academic

Tue, 02 Jun 2020 05:27:00 -0400

"In many cases of intimate threat, the attacker has decision-making authority over the victim: granted either explicitly by law, or implicitly by the design of the system. Examples of explicit authority are parental rights and responsibilities to access a child’s data or to vicariously consent to monitoring on that child’s behalf [99], or a power of attorney for someone with diminished capacity. This authority may undermine consent-based models of privacy protection: the attacker both has authority to consent on behalf of the victim and is themselves a threat to the victim’s privacy, creating a circular (and nonprotective) situation [42]. And some legal frameworks explicitly permit or require data sharing between intimates, like the provision of student data to parents under FERPA, court-ordered alcohol monitoring for parental visitation, or state statutes that permit families to record their loved ones in nursing homes...."

Informed Consent (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Thu, 28 May 2020 09:39:00 -0400

"Informed consent is currently treated as the core of bioethics. In clinical practice, the doctrine of informed consent rose to dominance during the course of the 20th century. It replaced a medical ethos founded on trust in physicians’ decisions, often on the assumption that “doctor knows best”, with an ethos that sought to put patients in charge of their own care. In medical research, the influential Nuremberg Code responded to the cruelty of Nazi experiments stipulating: “The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential”. But why should we require informed consent, e.g. when it comes at a cost to the individual’s health? What is the content, the scope, and the status of that requirement? How does informed consent in bioethics, the focus of the present entry, relate to consent in sexual ethics, business ethics, and political philosophy? ..."

The Icy Village Where You Must Remove Your Appendix

Sun, 24 May 2020 06:08:00 -0400

"Imagine that you had to remove your appendix to live in your hometown – and your family had to do the same. That’s the only option for long-term residents – even the children – of Villas Las Estrellas, one of the few settlements in Antarctica where some people live for years rather than weeks or months. Appendix removal is a necessary precaution for the handful of people who stay longer-term because the nearest major hospital is more than 1,000km (625 miles) away, past the tip of King George Island and on the other side of the Southern Ocean’s icy swell. There are only a few doctors on base, and none are specialist surgeons...." PS: Note that the village does not say, "Consenting adults may come without surgery."

Organ donation law in England - NHS Organ Donation

Fri, 22 May 2020 05:39:00 -0400

"Organ donation in England has moved to an 'opt out' system. You may also hear it referred to as 'Max and Keira's Law'. This means that all adults in England will be considered to have agreed to be an organ donor when they die unless they have recorded a decision not to donate or are in one of the excluded groups.... These changes will affect all adults in England unless they have recorded a decision not to donate or are in one of the following excluded groups: Those under the age of 18 People who lack the mental capacity to understand the new arrangements and take the necessary action Visitors to England, and those not living here voluntarily People who have lived in England for less than 12 months before their death...."

Consent for publishing patient photographs - ScienceDirect

Sun, 12 Apr 2020 06:25:00 -0400

"Academic medical journals that publish clinical studies or case reports may contain images from individual patients. In many cases, such as photographs, these permit patients to be identified. Twenty years ago, medical journals were available only in academic libraries, but nowadays almost all academic journals are available online and many use an open-access model of publishing, which means that the content is freely available. The use of licences such as the Creative Commons system (which is promoted by researchers, funders, policy makers and patient groups) also permits reuse of material, including images, on any other platform, which might include republication of patient photographs in a totally different context [1]. For example, the CCBY licence allows anybody to reuse an image without permission, and for any purpose, so long as the source is acknowledged. Although clinicians and patients increasingly use the Internet to seek for medical information, it is not clear whether they are aware of the fact that, once published under a CCBY licence (unlike under traditional copyright laws), the reuse of a clinical photograph cannot be controlled. Although patients still have a high level of confidence in health professionals, the patient-doctor relationship has shifted from a paternalistic to a shared-decision model, in which health professionals have responsibility to provide the best information to patients to permit them to make an informed choice. This applies not only to treatment choices, but also to participation in research, and to the publication of individual photographs. Therefore, journals should have clear policies and provide guidance for authors to respect essential ethical principles to preserve patients' privacy, confidentiality and anonymity, and editors should make sure that those policies are implemented. Patients' consent for the publication of any individual images should be given freely and be based on appropriate information about how the images may be used. In addition, authors and editors must follow legal requirements such as the recently implemented EU directive (GDPR) requiring strict patient data protection...." Update. More on same topic: https://www.jmir.org/2022/8/e37594

Peter Suber on Twitter: "If they only risk infecting the consenting adults in their congregation, then no objection. But they risk infecting the general public, and the unconsenting children in their congregation. They don't seem to know or care. https://t.co/wQG8I1zSfn" / Twitter

Thu, 09 Apr 2020 08:22:00 -0400

A pastor said, "‘True Christians Do Not Mind Dying’ Of Coronavirus If Infected At Church." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/louisiana-pastor-tony-spell-coronavirus-dying_n_5e8e0b53c5b61ada15c1823e I tweeted: "If they only risk infecting the consenting adults in their congregation, then no objection. But they risk infecting the general public, and the unconsenting children in their congregation. They don't seem to know or care."

Data Visualization for Surgical Informed Consent to Communicate Personalized Risks and Patient Preferences | medRxiv

Sat, 28 Mar 2020 10:58:00 -0400

Abstract: Objective: Identify key elements of an effective visualization method for communicating personalized surgical risks to patients. Background: Currently, there is no consensus on which risks should be communicated during the informed consent process and how. Furthermore, patient preferences are often not considered during the consent process. These inefficiencies can lead to non-beneficial outcomes and raise the potential for legal implications. To address the limitations of the informed consent process, we propose a visual consent tool (VCT) that incorporates patient preferences and communicates personalized risks to patients using data visualization. Methods: To understand how patients perceive risk visualizations and their role in the informed consent discussion, we gathered feedback on visualizations by conducting semi-structured interviews during postoperative visits. Thematic analysis was performed to identify major themes. Iterative evaluation and consolidation of the major themes were performed with domain experts. Results: A total of 20 patients were interviewed for this study with a median age of 59 (sd = 14). The thematic analysis revealed factors that influence the perception of risk, of risk visualizations, and the usefulness of the proposed VCT. We found that patients preferred VCT over the current methods and had different preferences for risk visualization. Further, our findings suggest that surgical concerns of patients were not in line with existing risk calculators. Conclusion: We were able to identify key elements that influence effective risk communication in the perioperative setting. We found that patient preference is variable and should influence choices for risk presentation and visualization.

Murderous Consent: On the Accommodation of Violent Death // Reviews // Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews // University of Notre Dame

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 10:24:00 -0400

"In this passionate and tightly argued monograph, Marc Crépon makes a case against what he calls ‘murderous consent,’ by which he means the often tacit assent to killing or letting die other human beings, for instance in war or in the everyday famine that characterizes globalization today.... The overall argument of his book could be summarized by saying that, de jure, the obligation of ‘living-with’ — namely, to let others live, and prohibit murder absolutely — is universally human, but de facto, it is violated by all kinds of rationalizations and forms of identity that restrict its scope. The task then is to highlight the merely factual, strategic or pragmatic nature of these justifications for consenting to murder. But Crépon does not make things easy for himself, for he accepts that the violations of the de jure obligation are “an unavoidable feature of our way of living in and sharing the world” (6). This entails that no one is safe and no one is innocent. And it imposes on us the theoretical duty to sort through and distinguish various degrees of participation in murderous consent, from willful ignorance, neglect, or indifference in the face of famine or war, to active and hateful participation in killing...."

Utah senate unanimously moves to decriminalize polygamy | US news | The Guardian

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 11:00:00 -0500

"The Utah state senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to effectively decriminalize polygamy among consenting adults, reducing penalties for a practice with deep religious roots in the predominantly Mormon state. The bill, which would treat the offense of plural marriage as a simple infraction on par with a parking ticket, now moves to the Utah house of representatives, where it is likely to face greater resistance.... However, fraudulent bigamy – in which an individual obtains licenses to marry more than one spouse without their knowledge, or seeks to wed someone underage without her consent – remains a felony.... The chief sponsor of the measure, the state senator Deirdre Henderson, said the intent of the bill is not to legalize polygamy but to lower the penalties so those from polygamous communities who are victims of crimes can come forward without fear of being prosecuted themselves.... Critics, however, say the measure wrongly frames polygamy as a human rights issue. “Proponents of this bill attempt to piggyback on the success of the gay rights movement by promoting the narrative that this initiative is about consenting adults doing what they will,” the anti-polygamy group Sound Choices Coalition said in a statement. “This has nothing to do about consenting adults or gay rights. It’s all about weaponizing God.” ..."

Using Pornography to Rewrite the Script for Consent | The MIT Press Reader

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 07:39:00 -0500

"Pornography is neither monolithic, nor universally harmful. Viewing it and engaging with it can be a complex, multilayered experience for anyone. Some pornography, for some viewers, may indeed reproduce the dominant sexual scripts that prop up rape culture. Equally though, some types of pornography, for some viewers, can be hugely empowering. It may reflect our identities and experiences, help us explore our sexuality, help us exercise sexual agency and bodily autonomy, and challenge and rewrite dominant scripts of what sex is and how it should work.... It is perhaps ironic, then, that the kind of legislation that anti-pornography feminists campaign for, and that bans “extreme pornography,” most severely impacts small and independent producers — the kind more likely to produce queer, feminist, ethical, and consent-focused pornography. The legislation focuses on specific acts: acts that go off the default sexual script, that are more prevalent in queer (and to an extent in feminist) pornography. It casts them as intrinsically deviant and undesirable, regardless of the context of either production or representation. It closes down avenues for challenging default sexual scripts and consensually exploring sexual possibilities beyond that default. This and other similar legislation does not necessarily stop young people — or anyone else — from picking up default sexual scripts from mainstream pornography, and it does nothing to improve education about or understanding of consent...."

SocArXiv Papers | Digital self-harm: Prevalence, motivations and outcomes for teens who cyberbully themselves

Wed, 25 Dec 2019 01:55:00 -0500

Abstract: This research report presents findings about the extent and nature of digital self-harm among New Zealand teens. Digital self-harm is broadly defined here as the anonymous online posting or sharing of mean or negative online content about oneself. The report centres on the prevalence of digital self-harm (or self-cyberbullying) among New Zealand teens (aged 13-17), the motivations, and outcomes related to engaging in this behaviour. The findings described in this report are representative of the teenage population of New Zealand by gender, ethnicity and age. Key findings are: Overall, 6% of New Zealand teens have anonymously posted mean or negative content online about themselves in the past year. Teenagers’ top reasons for this behaviour were: making a joke, wanting to show resilience, looking for friends’ sympathy, and seeking reassurance of friendship. By exploring the nature and extent of this behaviour, we are providing the online safety community, schools and parents with insights about a complex and, to some extent, hidden phenomenon involving New Zealand teens.

Iranian Instagram celeb (in)famous for extreme cosmetic surgery was arrested for blasphemy / Boing Boing

Sat, 14 Dec 2019 10:40:00 -0500

"Iranian cosmetic surgery enthusiast Sahar Tabar, 22, has reportedly been arrested for blasphemy. Tabar is known for her creepy selfies in which she augments her surgically-edited face with makeup and digital effects...."

Publishers vow new checks on China surveillance research | The Bookseller

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 04:48:00 -0500

"Springer Nature and Wiley have said they will re-evaluate papers they have previously published on ethnic minority groups in China, written by scientists with the backing of the Chinese government, after concerns were raised in an article published this week by the journal Nature, as well as by the New York Times. The journal article, by Belgian engineering professor Dr Yves Moreau, raised concerns about genomic surveillance, warning that DNA-profiling technology was aiding human rights abuses.... The publisher also said it was strengthening policies "to help journal editors and authors to be aware of sensitivities and requirements relating to vulnerable groups and providing additional organisational support where issues are encountered. We are in the process of contacting editors across our journals (prioritising those for which this information is most relevant) to alert them to the updates in our policies, and to request that they exercise an extra level of scrutiny and care in handling papers where there is a potential that consent was not informed or freely given. We offer advice and support to editors who may be concerned about a submission, including in requesting and scrutinising consent forms or other documentary evidence related to consent. We have also sought to ensure that it is clear to our authors and editors that the need for consent applies to biometric data as well as clinical data." ..."

A Professor's Writings About Pederasty Enraged Students. So They Protested at His Home. - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 08:09:00 -0500

"The target of Monday night’s protest was Thomas K. Hubbard, who has written about “pederasty” — sexual relationships between adult men and teen boys in some cultures, including Ancient Greece. Hubbard, who has described such activities as “learning experiences” in those cultures, has been branded by critics as an apologist for pedophilia.... In a written statement on Tuesday, Hubbard, 63, said he has never been charged with a crime or sexual harassment in 40 years of teaching and that he is not “personally oriented to underage youth.” “It is no more valid to conclude that scholars who work on sex-offender policy and the relevance of cross-cultural evidence are themselves sex offenders than to think that advocates of drug decriminalization are themselves drug abusers or that advocates of criminal justice reform are criminals,” he wrote. “Such simplistic thinking chills serious debate and research on vital public-policy issues.” Hubbard elaborated on his views in a question-and-answer document emailed to The Chronicle, in which he said he doesn’t write about pedophilia. He said he has written about “pederasty,” which he defined as a different custom involving “romantic courtship of adolescent males” practiced in diverse historical cultures. “How teen sexuality should be regulated and how legal violations should be punished are legitimate areas of research and debate among scholars and public-policy professionals,” he wrote...."

Reporting of ethical approval and informed consent in clinical research published in leading nursing journals: a retrospective observational study | BMC Medical Ethics | Full Text

Sun, 08 Dec 2019 05:41:00 -0500

Abstract: Ethical considerations play a prominent role in the protection of human subjects in clinical research. To date the disclosure of ethical protection in clinical research published in the international nursing journals has not been explored. Our research objective was to investigate the reporting of ethical approval and informed consent in clinical research published in leading international nursing journals. Methods This is a retrospective observational study. All clinical research published in the five leading international nursing journals from the SCI Journal Citation Reports between 2015 and 2017 were retrieved to evaluate for evidence of ethical review. Results A total of 2041 citations have been identified from the contents of all the five leading nursing journals that were published between 2015 and 2017. Out of these, 1284 clinical studies have been included and text relating to ethical review has been extracted. From these, most of prospective clinical studies (87.5%) discussed informed consent. Only half of those (52.9%) reported that written informed consent had been obtained; few (3.6%) reported oral consent, and few (6.8%) used other methods such as online consent or completion and return of data collection (such as surveys) to denote assent. Notably, 36.2% of those did not describe the method used to obtain informed consent and merely described that “consent was obtained from participants or participants agreed to join in the research”. Furthermore, whilst most of clinical studies (93.7%) mentioned ethical approval; 92.5% of those stated the name of ethical committee and interestingly, only 37.1% of those mentioned the ethical approval reference. The rates of reporting ethical approval were different between different study type, country, and whether financial support was received (all P < 0.05). Conclusion The reporting of ethics in leading international nursing journals demonstrates progress, but improvement of the transparency and the standard of ethical reporting in nursing clinical research is required.

Leading anti-vaxxer jailed as measles death toll rises to 63 in Samoa | Ars Technica

Sat, 07 Dec 2019 10:32:00 -0500

"Samoa’s most prominent locally based anti-vaccine advocate will stay behind bars as officials go door to door vaccinating residents against a massive measles outbreak that has already killed 63—nearly all of whom are children under 4 years old. Officials arrested Edwin Tamasese Thursday, December 5, charging him with "incitement against the Government vaccination order[s]," according to the Samoa Observer. He faces two years in jail. The arrest came after he allegedly posted a message on social media about the current vaccination campaign that read, "I will be here to mop up your mess. Enjoy your killing spree." Officials denied Tamasese bail. That means he will spend the remainder of the government’s vaccination campaign in jail, awaiting the next available court date. Police said they had given him written warnings to cease his anti-vaccination rhetoric prior to the arrest. The attorney general's office cited the likelihood that he would reoffend as a reason to deny bail...."

Sudan repeals law that allowed police to flog or execute women caught dancing or wearing trousers | The Independent

Sat, 07 Dec 2019 10:30:00 -0500

"The Sudanese government has repealed controversial laws which gave police the powers to arrest or flog women caught dancing or wearing trousers...."

When does a consensual workplace relationship become an employer’s business? - The Globe and Mail

Sat, 07 Dec 2019 10:28:00 -0500

"Office romance, even when consensual, can ignite workplace disputes and sexual-harassment complaints. This is especially problematic when one party to the relationship is the other’s manager. For these reasons, many companies are making workplace romance their business by establishing policies prohibiting intimate relationships among co-workers. Employees who cross or blur those lines may put their jobs at risk. McDonald’s Corp. recently enforced such a policy, publicly dismissing its chief executive last month owing to his relationship with a subordinate, even though it was consensual. The company’s policy prohibits dating or any sexual relationship between employees who have a direct or indirect reporting relationship. When McDonald’s learned that its most senior employee disregarded that policy, it was left with no choice but to terminate him...."

Tilli Buchanan: Utah woman could be forced to register as sex offender after kids see her topless at home - CBS News

Sat, 07 Dec 2019 10:27:00 -0500

"A Utah woman charged with a crime after her stepchildren saw her topless in her own home is fighting the case that could force her to register as a sex offender, citing a court ruling that overturned a topless ban in Colorado. Attorneys for Tilli Buchanan argue that the law is unfair because it treats men and women differently for baring their chests...."

Ayanna Pressley introduces extensive criminal justice reform resolution | TheHill

Sat, 07 Dec 2019 10:24:00 -0500

"Freshman Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass) introduced a sweeping criminal justice reform resolution this week that calls for decriminalizing consensual sex work, abolishing cash bail and solitary confinement, and shrinking the overall jail and prison population among a slate of other policies...."

Nudging for Sustainable Mobility | Data-Smart City Solutions

Fri, 06 Dec 2019 09:52:00 -0500

"To encourage residents to adopt greener transit, some cities are applying theories of behavioral economics. Nudges are non-intrusive interventions that guide people toward a desirable action; in their 2008 book Nudge, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein explain that a nudge “is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives.” Choice architecture is another way of saying the context in which choices are presented. Thaler and Sunstein are careful to point out that “nudges aren’t mandates.” Encouraging one option over another is acceptable, but banning one option isn’t. So when there are multiple transit options, individuals have a choice of how to get from Point A to Point B. But how do they decide which one to take? Research into travel behavior reveals how much psychological and social factors influence transit choices; attitudes about public transit, established travel habits, and loss aversion can all lead individuals to exhibit non-rational behavior when planning their transportation. This is in contrast to the traditional “rational man” theory of economics that has previously been applied to transit. The new research shows that there is an opportunity for cities to step into the choice architecture and nudge people toward greener modes of transit. Below are three examples of how cities have combined behavioral insights with new technology and data to increase green transit usage and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. ..."

Free to check in, but not to leave: Patients seeking mental-health treatment in Washington have been held against their will | The Seattle Times

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 03:23:00 -0500

"For Jason and other patients who check in voluntarily, the revelation that they can’t leave when they want to has shaken their faith in a system they turned to for help...."

When Are Nudges Desirable? Benefit Validity When Preferences Are Not Consistently Revealed - Weimer - - Public Administration Review - Wiley Online Library

Sun, 24 Nov 2019 08:24:00 -0500

Abstract: Cost‐benefit analysis, as a tool of general use in policy analysis or as a mandated analytical process in some rulemaking, provides protocols for assessing the relative efficiency of policy alternatives. However, inconsistent and apparently irrational decisions by consumers in some situations call into question the validity of inferring the values that consumers place on outcomes from their observed choices. It also opens the door for “nudges” that change the architecture of choice to promote more “rational” consumer choice. Differences between decision utility and experience utility and the willingness of consumers to pay for reductions in temptation provide conceptual bases for thinking about the efficiency of nudges. However, assessment of nudges and their role in behavioral public administration should also recognize that heterogeneous preferences can result in increases in utility for some and decreases for others. Therefore, nudges require systematic assessment like other policy instruments.

Consent as a Free Pass: Platform Power and the Limits of the Informational Turn by Elettra Bietti :: SSRN

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 04:02:00 -0500

Abstract: Across the United States and Europe, notice and consent, the act of clicking that “I have read and agree” to a platform’s terms of service, is the central device for legitimating and enabling platforms’ data processing, acting as a free pass for a variety of intrusive activities which include profiling and behavioral advertising. Notwithstanding literature and findings that lay significant doubts on notice and consent’s adequacy as a regulatory device in the platform ecosystem, courts, regulators and other public authorities across these regions keep adopting and legitimating these practices. While consent seems a good proxy for ensuring justice in the platform economy, it is an empty construct. This paper explains how notice and consent practices in the platform economy are not only normatively futile but also positively harmful. Narrow understandings that focus on voluntariness and disclosure such as the ones generally adopted by regulators and courts fail to account for the systemically unjust background conditions within which voluntary individual acts of consent take place. Through such narrow approaches, regulators are failing to acknowledge that consent cannot be reasonably taken to morally transform the rights, obligations and relationships that it purports to reshape. Further, it positively harms consumers in at least three ways: burdening them with decisions they cannot meaningfully make, subordinating their core inalienable rights to respect and dignity to the economic interests of platforms, and creating widespread ideological resistance against alternatives. Notice and consent as a discourse is hardly contestable and is currently part of the rigid background of assumed facts about our digital environment. As new legislation is devised in the US and new opportunities to reinterpret the GDPR present themselves in the EU, we must be more courageous in looking beyond the facade of individual control and instead must grapple with the core structure of corporate surveillance markets. The longer we fail to acknowledge consent’s irrelevance to data governance, the longer we will deny ourselves respect and protection from the ever-growing expansion of digital markets into our lives.

Here Are Good Ways Yoga Teachers Manage Touch and Consent - The New York Times

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 10:12:00 -0500

" “There might be no grayer gray zone than a yoga studio, where physical intimacy, spirituality and power dynamics all come together in a sweaty little room,” Katherine Rosman, a New York Times reporter, said on the latest episode of “The Weekly,” our new TV show. In her investigation of touch in yoga, Ms. Rosman found that explicit conversations about consent to be touched can be lacking: Not all teachers ask permission before touching a student. And some students are uncomfortable being touched, and are reluctant to speak up. We asked instructors to share how they approach hands-on adjustments in their studios, and asked yogis how they communicate consent. We received more than 270 responses. Some teachers said they never touch students; others described touch as a cherished part of yoga. Many said they employed techniques to opt in, or opt out, of hands-on adjustments. Here are some of their suggestions, lightly edited for length and clarity. ..."

Yoga Is Finally Facing Consent and Unwanted Touch - The New York Times

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 10:10:00 -0500

"Rachel Brathen had no idea of the deluge headed her way when she asked her Instagram followers if they ever had experienced touch that felt inappropriate in yoga. This was nearly two years ago. Ms. Brathen, 31 and a yoga studio owner in Aruba, heard from hundreds. The letters described a constellation of abuses of power and influence, including being propositioned after class and on yoga retreats, forcibly kissed during private meditation sessions and assaulted on post-yoga massage tables. The complaints also included being touched in ways that felt improper during yoga classes — essentially right in public.... Other professionals whose work can involve touching people, such as massage therapists, are usually regulated by the government. Yoga teachers are not, and there are no industry trade groups that police these issues...."

Kmart Pulls 'Beyond Inappropriate' Children's Costume From Shelves After Petition | HuffPost

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 09:58:00 -0500

"Kmart has removed a child’s bride costume from shelves across Australia after a Melbourne mom said the children’s wedding dress kit normalized forced child marriage. The retail giant responded swiftly after mom Shannon B created a Change.org petition, which had just 200 signatures at the time, to get rid of the “beyond inappropriate and offensive” dress-up piece.... A counter-petition was launched after Kmart announced the product’s removal on Tuesday, which, at time of writing had garnered more than 3,000 signatures demanding the dress be put back on shelves. “Let kids be kids,” the petition states...."

Oklahoma mom imprisoned for 15 years for not reporting boyfriend's abuse freed

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 09:54:00 -0500

"Tondalao Hall was sentenced in 2006 to 30 years in prison under Oklahoma's "failure to protect" law after her then-boyfriend, Robert Braxton Jr., abused two of their children so severely, at least one had multiple broken bones, according to Hall's attorney, Megan Lambert of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. Hall had already been in jail for two years when she received her sentence. Braxton, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to abusing the children, but was given no additional time behind bars: He received a 10-year suspended sentence and was released on probation after having served his two years in jail, Lambert said. The discrepancy between the two punishments prompted widespread outrage...."

Scariest haunted house in U.S. requires 40-page waiver, doctor’s note, safe word | WGN-TV

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 09:49:00 -0500

"Russ McKamey owns and operates the most terrifying haunted house experience in America — one you’re not allowed to attend until you watch a two-hour-long video, sign a 40-page waiver, create a safe word, pass a physical, and more...."

For Vulnerable Populations, the Thorny Ethics of Genetic Data Collection

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 09:48:00 -0500

"In 2009 researchers collected DNA from four elderly men in Namibia, each from one of the many San indigenous communities scattered across southern Africa. A year later, analyses of the men’s DNA were published in the journal Nature — alongside that of South African human rights activist Desmond Tutu. The intention, in part, was to increase the visibility of southern, indigenous Africans in genetic-based medical research. Soon after, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) representing indigenous minorities in Southern Africa took issue with the consent procedures used to gather the data and wrote to Nature’s editors accusing the paper’s authors of “absolute arrogance, ignorance, and cultural myopia.” ... Researchers with All of Us have already collected data from about 1,600 Native Americans, some of whom live in cities outside of sovereign lands, where tribal approval is not necessary for genetic research, according to Krystal Tsosie, a geneticist at Vanderbilt University who is co-leading a study in collaboration with a tribal community in North Dakota . “Obviously there’s an interest in monetizing biomarkers collected from diverse populations and underrepresented populations,” Tsoise said, so without adequate protections, “the concern becomes about exploitation.” ... But studies restricted to descendants of Europeans will only find associations between diseases and “[genetic] variants that are common in European ancestry populations,” said Martin.... Indigenous-rights organizations criticized the project, taking issue with being treated as mere objects of scientific interest and potential for commercialization. All of Us, more recently, has run into similar objections from the National Congress of American Indians.... The concerns are linked to the long history of exploitative encounters between researchers and vulnerable populations. The Tuskegee Study — in which the U.S. Public Health Service withheld treatment from African American men with syphilis — lasted from 1932 until 1972, ending less than 20 years before the HGDP proposal. And in 1989, researchers from Arizona State University collected DNA samples from the Havasupai Tribe and reused the data for research to which the participants hadn’t consented: on schizophrenia, inbreeding, and migration history. Tsosie said this context has created a “climate in which we’ve seen tribes deciding to disengage from biomedical research completely.” All the geneticists and ethicists Undark spoke with agreed that community engagement is crucial to establish trust. But they didn’t agree on the degree of the engagement. Some believed that gaining the consent of communities is necessary for ethical research, while others said it was enough to have respect and open dialogue between researchers and the people they’d like to study..... The gap between individual and collective consent is partly responsible for the continued friction between genetic science and indigenous peoples. Collective consent, said Tsosie, who is herself Navajo, is “more culturally consistent with how tribal groups govern themselves.” In 2017, Andries Steenkamp, a San leader, and Roger Chennells, a lawyer, wrote that the Nature study failed in this regard by only getting “informed consent from the indigenous individuals who participated.” Not everyone agrees that collective consent can or should be a requirement for all genetic studies...."

GOP lawmaker: Aiding minors' transgender surgery should be a felony | TheHill

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 09:38:00 -0500

"Medical professionals in Georgia could face felony charges for helping minors undergo gender transition under legislation being drafted by a GOP lawmaker in the state, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Under the legislation being proposed by State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart (R), medical professionals in Georgia could be charged with a felony for performing a number of procedures designed to help minors with gender transition, such as mastectomies, vasectomies, “castration and other forms of genital mutilization.” Ehrhart said that the legislation, if passed, would also prohibit prescribing “puberty-blocking drugs to stop or delay normal puberty and cross-sex hormone therapy” to minors...."

Maine’s ‘death with dignity’ law is in effect. Here’s how the rollout is going. — Politics — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 09:36:00 -0500

"The rollout of Maine’s new law allowing doctors to prescribe life-ending medication has moved faster than in other states with similar laws, though major health care providers in the state won’t allow so-called “death with dignity” until at least January. Maine is now one of nine states to allow people to adopt such a law after it was passed by the Democratic-led Legislature earlier this year and signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills in June...."

Women Win The Right To Go Topless in 6 States - Sensual Enchantment - Medium

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 09:35:00 -0500

"The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals recently struck down a ban on women being topless in public in Fort Collins, Colorado. The court’s decision makes it now legal for women to go topless in all of the states that fall under the 10th Circuit — Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma...."

Mum shocked as school bans her sons from playground for 'extreme haircuts' - Mirror Online

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 09:33:00 -0500

"An mum claims her sons have been banned from the playground at lunchtimes because their school says they have 'extreme haircuts'. Essex mum Claire Mitchell, 28, has spoken of her shock that her eight-year-old and nine-year-old boys' haircuts were considered to be inappropriate.... Claire said her boys have had the hair style at previous schools and never had a problem. She said the boys' told her the teachers even commented on their hair saying it was nice. The boys hair is styled thinner at the sides with more hair on top, a very common hairstyle today...."

If People Can't Be Trusted with Market Freedom, They Also Can't Be Trusted with the Vote | Mises Wire

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 09:31:00 -0500

"It is not difficult to find examples confirming Caplan’s analysis. Suspicious treatment of the wealthiest members of society (see Oxfam’s annual reports) is anti-market prejudice. Recent populist tendencies — the US-China trade war and the aversion of the supporters of Brexit toward immigrants — result from anti-foreign bias. The common fear of robotization is the next incarnation of make-work bias. Fear of secular stagnation, ecological catastrophe or income inequalities results from pessimism bias. Voters’ beliefs about economics are systematically wrong. Why is this a problem? People take part in elections and choose irrational solutions that harm the society. Voting practically costs nothing, but gain significant psychological benefits in the form of virtue signaling, expressing their patriotism, concern for the environment, or simply support for a given group. This is quite different from action in the marketplace, in which pursuit of gain motivates to limit irrationality and behave reasonably. What is the conclusion? Simply put: since the electoral mechanism leads to irrational results, we should reduce the scope of political power and expand the scope of the market. And it is not necessarily about eliminating democracy, but about ensuring that the government does not deal with almost everything as it does today...."

Intersex Activists Are Closer Than Ever to Banning Nonconsensual Surgery

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 05:56:00 -0400

"Intersex activists are gearing up for a potentially historic year, as momentum builds to end the practice of performing nonconsensual surgeries on intersex infants. As many as 1.7 percent of babies have chromosomal, genital, or other differences that put them outside of the medical community’s definition of “male” or “female.” (These statistics vary, with one commonly cited estimate putting the number at one in 2,000 births.) There’s no comprehensive tally of how many of these cases result in surgery on intersex babies. While some of these surgeries may be medically necessary, many are performed to bring an infant’s body into closer alignment with social expectations. These surgeries, often performed when patients are too young to consent, can sterilize intersex people, deprive them of sexual sensation, or irreversibly reinforce a gender assignment that doesn’t match their identity.... Last year, interACT worked with California lawmakers to pass the first-ever legislation in the United States to acknowledge the existence of intersex people. The nonbinding resolution noted that these nonconsensual intersex surgeries have been condemned by Human Rights Watch, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture...."

Mandatory Vaccination: Why We Still Got to Get Folks to Take Their Shots

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 09:55:00 -0400

Abstract: Vaccination is widely considered one of the greatest medical achievements of modern civilization. Childhood diseases that were commonplace less than a generation ago are now increasingly rare because of vaccines. In order to be effective at eliminating communicable diseases, vaccines must be administered to sufficient levels of persons in the community. Because of this, public health officials have mandated vaccination for certain diseases as a condition to school attendance. The overwhelming effectiveness of vaccination programs may lead individuals to ignore the benefits of vaccination and focus more on the risk of side effects. Moreover, some have criticized the coercive nature of these programs. These objections may lead to an unacceptably high number of exemptions, which can compromise vaccination programs and leave the population susceptible to outbreaks. This paper explores vaccination programs with an eye toward greater public safety without ignoring the reality of a small but committed group of vaccine critics. The paper begins with a discussion of the historical development of mandatory vaccination policies and the issues posed by exemptions. It then addresses some of these issues in the context of vaccine safety. It also seeks solution by framing the discussion in economic terms. It concludes by recommending stricter enforcement of mandatory requirements for most vaccines and greater dissemination of information on the continued importance of vaccination.

Digital Nudges: Technologies That Help Us to Build Better Habits - Make Tech Easier

Sun, 06 Oct 2019 06:52:00 -0400

Among other things, reviews apps that let you create nudges for your own behavior (self-paternalism).

Cash/Consent

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:32:00 -0400

"I knew that needing the money did not feel the same as not choosing. I knew that taking off my clothes in middle-aged men’s basements and condos did not feel the same as being raped felt.... If you have never had sex for money, it might be easy to see this as a story about coercion and consent instead of a story about work. It would have been much better if I’d been rich and could have worked only when I wanted to. It would have been much worse if I’d had no work at all.... In the radical narrative, all sex trading is understood as trafficking and our ability to consent does not exist. In the competing liberal-libertarian narrative, those of us who have been publicly described as having “consented” to our work are categorically characterized as “empowered,” as “choice feminists.” Under these constructs, we have only two options: to be victims, which means we need to be rescued from our work—even if that rescue happens in handcuffs—or to be empowered sex workers, which means saying we’ve never experienced violence or constrained choice, that we love our jobs all day every day, and to be free we only need access to the free market. ... The threat of further criminalization has pushed many people to publicly embrace the latter—to say, “I love doing sex work. I only want the state to leave me alone.” Often that seems like the most we could hope for.... After #MeToo was co-opted from Tarana Burke, when wealthy white women like Sorvino and Judd made themselves its public face, I thought: These women encouraging a mass speaking-out are the same people making it impossible for me to speak.... The things that sex workers do to stay safe are almost always the things civilians want to pass laws to stop.... I’ve been told that my story is unrepresentative — that anyone who does not want to be “rescued” from sex work is too much of an outlier to base policy decisions on.... The intention of sex-worker activists who have embraced the choice/coercion dichotomy, she [suprihmbé] writes, 'is to draw firm lines between sex work and sex trafficking....However, while doing it this way might protect sex workers who are actually sex workers by choice, it does not protect the rest of us who fall into that murky gray area in between....' Similarly, instead of talking about consent, sex workers Juno Mac and Molly Smith use the term “deliberate” sex work: choosing is not the same as doing something deliberately. The migrant sex worker collective Red Canary Song, formed in the wake of Yang Song’s death during a 2017 police raid on a Queens massage parlor, describes its work as led by and for “people who are trading sexual services for income or survival needs.” ..."

Thousands in Indonesia Protest Bills to Limit Rights and Ban Extramarital Sex - The New York Times

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:10:00 -0400

"One far-reaching measure, a proposed revision of the criminal code, would outlaw abortion except in cases of rape and incest and prohibit sex outside marriage, effectively banning gay and lesbian relations. It also would restrict free speech by strengthening laws on blasphemy and treason and making it a crime to insult the president...."

Millions may risk jail as Indonesia to outlaw sex outside marriage - Reuters

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:09:00 -0400

"Indonesia is poised to pass a new penal code that criminalizes consensual sex outside marriage and introduces stiff penalties for insulting the president’s dignity - a move rights groups criticized as an intrusive assault on basic freedoms...."

Pakistan blasphemy riots: Dozens arrested after Hindu teacher accused - BBC News

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:08:00 -0400

"The principal, who owns the school, was accused of making comments about the Prophet Muhammad in Sindh province. A large mob then allegedly attacked a Hindu temple, shops and the school in the town of Ghotki on Saturday. The principal is now in custody facing blasphemy charges. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty...."

Pakistani police detain Hindu school principal over 'blasphemy' | Pakistan News | Al Jazeera

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:05:00 -0400

"Pakistani police have detained a Hindu school principal in the southern town of Ghotki, after he was accused of committing blasphemy by a student, prompting riots by far-right protesters, police officials and Hindu community leaders say. Notan Lal, the owner and principal of a private school in Ghotki, located about 425km north of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, was taken into "protective custody" on Sunday, senior police official Farrukh Lanjar told Al Jazeera...." PS: If they detained him for blasphemy, that's legal moralism. If they detained him for his own protection (and if he objected), that's paternalism.

Dutch euthanasia case: Doctor acted in interest of patient, court rules - BBC News

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:04:00 -0400

"The 74-year-old patient, who died in 2016, had expressed a wish to be euthanised but also indicated that she wanted to determine the right time. Judges said the doctor acted lawfully as not carrying out the process would have undermined the patient's wish. It is the first such case since the country legalised euthanasia in 2002. Delivering the verdict at a court in The Hague on Wednesday, judge Mariette Renckens said that "all requirements of the euthanasia legislation" had been met...."

Dutch Court Clears Doctor in Euthanasia of Dementia Patient - The New York Times

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:02:00 -0400

"A court in the Netherlands on Wednesday acquitted a doctor who had been accused of unlawful euthanasia for administering a lethal injection to a patient with dementia, a case that raised questions about the clarity of the country’s law in such circumstances. The patient, 74, who has not been publicly identified, had asked in writing for doctors to end her life if she had to be admitted to a nursing home, and if she thought the time was right. But, when she entered the home, incapacitated, she appeared to have changed her mind, giving “mixed signals,” about her intentions, prosecutors said.... A paper in the London-based Journal of Medical Ethics that reviewed the case said the doctor had put a sedative in the patient’s coffee and that the patient’s relatives had helped to hold her down as she struggled against the injection.... Prosecutors said that the doctor did not act with due care, as required by the law. They said she should have cleared any doubt about the patient’s wish to die before going ahead with the procedure. Although prosecutors had pushed for a guilty verdict, they also made clear that they had brought the criminal case to try to resolve ambiguities of the euthanasia law, rather than to punish the doctor, whose motives they said were blameless. The court cleared the doctor of any wrongdoing...."

‘Nudge’ can help tackle India’s social problems | analysis | Hindustan Times

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 10:41:00 -0400

"The Economic Survey, released by India’s finance ministry in July, counts as a genuinely historic document. A central reason is its superb discussion, in Chapter 2, of new ways to address serious social problems, ranging from public health to sex equality to tax compliance. The discussion draws attention to “nudges”: Relatively modest interventions that preserve freedom of choice but that steer people in particular directions. When the government provides people with health-related information, it nudges. A warning is a nudge. A reminder is a nudge. So is an emphasis on longstanding or emerging social norms.... In Sweden, Vision Zero, using nudges and behavioural science, has been spectacularly successful in reducing deaths and injuries on the roads. As a result of automatic enrolment in free school meals programmes — a little nudge — over 15 million poor American children are now receiving free breakfast and lunch during the school year. In both Denmark and the United Kingdom, automatic enrolment in pension programmes has produced massive increases in participation rates. Those increases will enable people to have an easier time in retirement...."

Behaviorally Informed Policy: A Brisk Progress Report by Cass R. Sunstein :: SSRN

Sun, 29 Sep 2019 05:03:00 -0400

Abstract: The goal of this essay is to offer a brisk progress report about behaviorally informed policy and law, while also providing some conceptual clarifications. It identifies a diverse range of initiatives, focusing largely on experience in the United States, that involve nudging and uses of behavioral science. It also explores prominent objections, coming both from those who believe that nudges are unduly aggressive, and should be avoided, and from those who believe that they are too weak and timid, and should be replaced or supplemented with mandates and bans.

U.K. Trial Court: Lying About Vasectomy Negates Consent to Sex – Reason.com

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 09:12:00 -0400

"Jason Lawrance is many online dating users' worst nightmare. The British father-of-three met a number of women on Match.com that he went on to sexually attack, for which he received a life sentence in 2016 (which actually means he will spend at least 12.5 years in prison). In addition to being punished for his violent crimes, the serial sexual predator also got convicted for a more unique reason: he lied to a woman about having had a vasectomy before having sex with her, which resulted in her becoming pregnant and having an abortion. ... The prosecutor convinced the jury that consent obtained through deception is not true consent, in what is believed to be a legal first in the United Kingdom....Lawrance has appealed this part of his conviction...."

Rajasthan Human Rights Commission: "A Woman In Live-In Like Concubine"

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 11:13:00 -0400

"Live-in relationships should be prohibited and women in such relationships are "akin to concubines", said the chief of Rajasthan Human Rights commission, who, as a High Court judge, made headlines with his "peacocks don't have sex" remark. Quoting various decisions of the [Indian] Supreme Court on live-in relationships, Justice (Retired) Mahesh Chandra Sharma on Wednesday said such "animalistic lives are against the basic rights enshrined in constitution and against their (women's) human rights". There is urgent need of prohibiting such relations and it the duty of governments at the centre and states to discourage such relationships, he said in an order issued jointly with Justice Prakash Tantia...."

Euthanasia ‘a matter of individual rights’

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 08:41:00 -0400

"Mr Hindle feels strongly that nobody nearing the end of life should be forced to live through what they find unbearable. He sees it as a matter of individual rights. “It’s not up to politicians or the legislature or the church to tell people how much they are prepared to put up with,” he said. “My wife and I have made our wishes very clear to our three children.” Mr Hindle is vice-president of the euthanasia group that renamed itself Dying with Dignity. He said the voluntary assisted dying bill in the WA parliament did not contain everything he hoped it would, but he was pragmatic about what was likely to be acceptable to politicians...."

Impose a Speed Limit on the Autobahn? Not So Fast, Many Germans Say - The New York Times

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 08:57:00 -0400

"It seemed like a no-brainer: Lower Germany’s embarrassingly high carbon emissions at no cost, and save some lives in the process. But when a government-appointed commission in January dared to float the idea of a speed limit on the autobahn, the country’s storied highway network, it almost caused rioting. Irate drivers took to the airwaves. Union leaders menacingly put on their yellow vests, hinting at street protests. And the far-right opposition used the opportunity to rage against the “stranglehold” of the state.... Call it Germany’s Wild West: The autobahn is the one place in a highly regulated society where no rule is the rule — and that place is sacred.... “In that sense it really is like gun control,” Mr. Kornblum added, albeit with far fewer deaths. “All the rational arguments are there, but there is barely any point in having a rational debate.” ..."

Iranian civil rights activist gets prison for taking off hijab in public

Sat, 31 Aug 2019 08:14:00 -0400

"Iranian civil rights activist Saba Kord Afshari has been sentenced to 24 years behind bars, including a 15-year term for taking off her hijab in public — an act that authorities say promoted “corruption and prostitution.” Afshari, 20, was handed the sentence by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on Tuesday — after standing trial last week on charges of “spreading corruption and prostitution by taking off her hijab and walking without a veil,” “spreading propaganda against the state,” and “assembly and collusion,” the Iran Human Rights Monitor reported. Her sentences were increased by one-half because of “numerous charges and previous records,” according to the report...."

A Maryland Teen Shared a Video of Her Own Sex Act. She Was Punished as a Child Pornographer.

Sat, 31 Aug 2019 08:11:00 -0400

"On Wednesday, the Maryland Court of Appeals—the state’s highest court—upheld the punishment of a minor who was prosecuted for child pornography after she distributed a video of herself performing a sex act. The ruling is dangerous on several levels: It mangles a law designed to protect minors by putting them in greater risk of legal jeopardy than adults. It clashes with fundamental principles of due process, punishing the ostensible victim of a crime as a perpetrator as well. And it essentially encourages revenge porn against minors, who cannot attempt to halt the distribution of their own intimate images without risking prosecution. Wednesday’s decision is a disastrous blow to the rights and safety of minors in Maryland. The facts of the case, In re: S.K., are appalling. In 2016, a 16-year-old Maryland student known as S.K. in court documents sent a brief cellphone video to two friends. The clip depicted S.K. performing oral sex on an unknown man—a legal activity in Maryland, where the age of consent is 16. She sent the video as part of a game in which the friends attempted to “one-up” each other with “silly photos and videos.” A few months later, S.K. had a falling-out with one recipient of the video, a 17-year-old boy known as K.S. He began to mock S.K., allegedly writing that she was a “slut” on classroom blackboards. He then reported the video to the school resource officer, Eugene Caballero. After Caballero saw the minutelong video, he met with S.K. By that point, the clip had been passed around school; a mutual friend alleged that K.S. shared it with the broader student body. At the meeting, S.K. cried, expressing her distress that the video had been shared widely. She believed Caballero was meeting with her to help stop the clip’s distribution. Caballero encouraged S.K. to provide a written statement admitting that she was in the video and had sent it to two friends. If there is any victim here, it is S.K. What Caballero did not tell S.K. was that she was considered not a victim but a criminal suspect. Instead of trying to halt the video’s dissemination, the officer passed along S.K.’s statement to the state prosecutor. Maryland then charged S.K. with illegally distributing child pornography and displaying an obscene item to a minor...."

Sexual Consent | The MIT Press

Thu, 22 Aug 2019 11:48:00 -0400

A book by Milena Popova, MIT Press, May 2019. "An introduction to issues of sexual consent, covering key strands of feminist thought, how sexual consent is negotiated in practice, the influence of popular culture, and more. The #MeToo movement has focused public attention on the issue of sexual consent. People of all genders, from all walks of life, have stepped forward to tell their stories of sexual harassment and violation. In a predictable backlash, others have taken to mass media to inquire plaintively if “flirting” is now forbidden. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers a nuanced introduction to sexual consent by a writer who is both a scholar and an activist on this issue. It has become clear from discussions of the recent high-profile cases of Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and others that there is no clear agreement over what constitutes consent or non-consent and how they are expressed and perceived in sexual situations. This book presents key strands of feminist thought on the subject of sexual consent from across academic and activist communities and covers the history of research on consent in such fields as psychology and feminist legal studies. It discusses how sexual consent is negotiated in practice, from “No means no” to “Yes means yes,” and describes what factors might limit individual agency in such negotiations. It examines how popular culture, including pornography, romance fiction, and sex advice manuals, shapes our ideas of consent; explores the communities at the forefront of consent activism; and considers what meaningful social change in this area might look like. Going beyond the conventional cisgender, heterosexual norm, the book lists additional resources for those seeking to improve their practice of consent, survivors of sexual violence, and readers who want to understand contemporary debates on this issue in more depth...."

ThinkProgress Panics Over Unlicensed Cosmetologists – Reason.com

Tue, 20 Aug 2019 09:16:00 -0400

"You might think that requiring people to pay elite gatekeepers for the right to accept money for their services would be anathema to self-styled supporters of workers' rights. Yet for many progressives, the desire to see people in meaningful, well-paying jobs is tempered by total panic over the idea that any aspect of life go unregulated. For them, the idea of anyone performing a profession without a government permission slip (a.k.a. a license) has spawned paranoia about the alleged dangers this poses to consumers. Now the folks at ThinkProgress have found another asinine reason to oppose occupational licensing reform: because those libertarian boogeymen, the Koch brothers, are pushing it via a new Americans for Prosperity initiative. (Disclosure: Charles and David Koch have also given money to the nonprofit that publishes Reason.) Over the weekend, ThinkProgress sent out multiple pearl-clutching tweets about "unlicensed, untrained cosmetologists" running amok...."

Buttplug Hacker Talks Privacy, Consent, and Security

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 10:13:00 -0400

"What’s more, smea’s talk highlighted the question of whether it should be considered a sex crime to hack a buttplug and issue it commands absent the owner’s consent. And the idea that such a device could, perhaps, be weaponized in some way was also raised during smea’s talk, if only briefly. In the end though, he concluded that the threat may be almost nonexistent in the wild and that people should continue enjoying their buttplugs...."

When parents say 'no' to HPV shots, teens have no choice. Some states are changing that.

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 10:08:00 -0400

"But even if Canada had wanted the HPV vaccine during that doctor visit, Maryland has no statute or regulation that allows dependent teens to be vaccinated without their parents’ consent. Neither do at least 23 other states. Generally, unless teens are legally emancipated, married or are already parents, they have no recourse when their parents or other legal guardians refuse vaccines, including the HPV shot, on their behalf. However, in the wake of an increasingly visible anti-vaccination movement, concern over the measles outbreaks in the U.S., more state legislatures are trying to create a legal way for dependent teens to get vaccinated, in particular the HPV shot, without their parents' consent...."

Proposal to add campus sex rules to criminal law dies after massive backlash | The College Fix

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 10:05:00 -0400

"The American Bar Association, like the more elite American Law Institute before it, is not yet ready to remake the criminal courts in the image of Title IX campus courts. At its annual meeting Monday night, the ABA’s House of Delegates voted to shelve a resolution that would have originally recommended that “affirmative consent” be added to the criminal code for sexual offenses.... It’s a common consent standard on college campuses, and it’s functionally impossible to meet. In criminal trials, affirmative consent would flip the burden of proof from the government to the defendant. It would functionally spur even more plea bargains...."

The problem with making ‘yes means yes’ the standard for sexual assault - The Washington Post

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 10:02:00 -0400

"The idea behind affirmative consent sounds harmless enough; make sure your partner is actively interested rather than passively going along. But legal systems cannot be run on harmless generalities. They demand firm guidelines, and so many advocates for affirmative consent say you must obtain unambiguous agreement before you so much as touch the other person, and at each step thereafter. Frankly, one suspects the classic public choice problem: regulators who have no direct experience with the activity they propose to regulate. As everyone else knows, but affirmative-consent supporters are apparently yet to discover, the sexual ideal is to lose yourself in the moment, the other person. That cannot happen if every encounter must be navigated with the lawyerly detachment, and mutual wariness, of a bilateral trade negotiation. Worse still, if one party later claims they weren’t willing, affirmative consent effectively shifts the burden of proof to the accused, while leaving no way to provide that proof, absent a written contract. Or even any way to know that what they’re doing is legal — your partner may have been saying, “Yes, please!” five seconds ago, but what if that’s followed by a lull in the person’s active participation? “What about now?” ... But as any biologist, or sales-force manager, can tell you, systems that rely entirely on positive feedback are unstable. They have no natural stopping point, no way of saying “enough.” Which is the fundamental problem with affirmative consent: There is no way to be completely sure that consent was sufficiently affirmative. That’s why good systems almost always incorporate at least some negative feedback — and why rape laws have historically relied on “no means no,” not “yes means yes.” ..."

Jeffrey Epstein and the Myth of the ‘Underage Woman’ - The Atlantic

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 09:58:00 -0400

"Many media outlets referred to Epstein’s victims, both acknowledged and newly alleged, as “underage women.” The New York Times used the term. So did New York magazine. Jezebel counted 90 instances of it aired on broadcast news in the days after Epstein’s arrest alone. The phrase is wrong in every sense: There is no such thing as an “underage woman.” Underage women are girls. But the mistake, repeated several times since July, has been in its own way revealing. It suggests an American culture that remains reluctant to equate the interests of powerful men and the interests of vulnerable girls. And it suggests an ongoing ambivalence about what it means to be a girl in the first place...."

A Critical (Non-Dershowitz) Look at Statutory Rape Laws | Sherry F. Colb | Verdict | Legal Analysis and Commentary from Justia

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 09:56:00 -0400

"At least the highly publicized crimes do not include an accusation Epstein kidnapped or used force against his alleged victims. But the girls were under the age of consent, you might object. For them, consent is irrelevant. Legally, that is true. Consent is immaterial to statutory rape. But morally, actual rape is considerably worse. Part of how we know that consent remains morally relevant is that if the alleged perpetrators here were eighteen-year-old boys, we would likely be having a very different conversation. Imagine that it was Jeffrey Epstein’s hypothetical grandson, 18-year-old Adam Epstein, who stood accused of sleeping with each of a group of 14- and 15-year-old girls. Many (though admittedly not all) of us would be calling for leniency or for the dropping of charges against the young Mr. Epstein. The “Romeo and Juliet” exception to statutory rape laws can take account of this impulse by exempting cases in which the perpetrator and ostensible victim are very close in age, although actual rape remains criminal in such cases. The legal irrelevance of consent is thus somewhat flexible. We might ask why. Why, if 14- and 15-year-olds are too young to consent, do 18-year-olds potentially sleep with them without consequences? Is it that 18-year-olds are too young for criminal responsibility? Hardly. Until recently we (by which I mean states like Missouri) sentenced minors (people under 18) to death, so 18-year-olds plainly can be legally culpable. And although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional for people who commit their crimes when under 18, capital punishment remains available for 18-year-olds. I would suggest that what is going on, at least in part, is that 18-year-old boys sleeping with 15-year-old girls does not trip a strong disgust reaction (absent additional sickening facts). The coupling, if hardly ideal, makes some sense to us. No one thinks, in response to hearing about it, that “it must have been rape, because what 15-year-old would consent to sleep with an 18-year-old?”..."

The Revolt of the Feminist Law Profs - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Fri, 09 Aug 2019 10:14:00 -0400

"Writing in the California Law Review, Gersen and her husband Jacob argued that the creation of a “sex bureaucracy,” as the title of that article christened the system of administrative oversight of student sex lives, entailed “the enlargement of bureaucratic regulation of sexual conduct that is voluntary, non-harassing, nonviolent, and does not harm others.” The Gersens go on to note that “watered-down notions of nonconsent” embedded into regulation allowed “ambivalent, undesirable, unpleasant, unsober, or regretted sexual encounters to meet the standard.” The system thus “will investigate and discipline sexual conduct that women and men experience as consensual (if nonideal) sex.” The conduct deemed illegal, the Gersens wrote, “plausibly covers almost all sex students are having today.” ... The sex bureaucracy, in other words, pivoted from punishing sexual violence to imposing a normative vision of ideal sex, to which students are held administratively accountable. Georgia Southern University, for instance, explains that “Consent is a voluntary, sober, imaginative, enthusiastic, creative, wanted, informed, mutual, honest, and verbal agreement.” The California Law Review article culminates in a discussion of a case in which a gay male student was found responsible for sexual misconduct for waking his partner with a kiss (the sleeping cannot consent) and for looking at his partner’s genitals without consent while showering (consensually) with him.... Recently, for instance, a black, autistic student with cerebral palsy was charged and found responsible for a Title IX violation for asking a woman to give him a fist bump. In a separate article on the Title IX system, Janet Halley describes an order placed on a student at an Oregon liberal arts college to avoid any contact with a female student because he reminded her of someone who had raped her, forcing him to quit his job and placing him in constant jeopardy of being punished for violating the order, despite no wrongdoing on his part even being alleged. ..."

Alan Dershowitz: Why I Questioned Age of Consent | Newsmax.com

Fri, 09 Aug 2019 06:25:00 -0400

"A former student of mine represented the young man on a pro bono basis. He asked for my advice. I told him that I thought a constitutional argument could be made based on the age of consent for choosing whether have an abortion or a baby. Feminists were appropriately pushing for a reduction in the age of consent for abortion. I suggested that if the right to choose is constitutionally based on procreative freedom, then it might follow as a matter of constitution law that a female old enough to have the freedom to choose abortion, should be deemed old enough to decide whether to have sex...."

As the Netherlands' burqa ban takes effect, police and transport officials refuse to enforce it - The Washington Post

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 07:39:00 -0400

"Problems emerged immediately after a long-awaited ban on burqas officially went into effect in the Netherlands on Thursday. The biggest issue: whether security officials will bother to enforce it. The Netherlands’ burqa ban is the latest in a European crackdown on the face-covering veils that certain observant Muslim women wear. But authorities have said that enforcing the controversial law will not be a top security priority. Femke Halsema, Amsterdam’s mayor, had already declared her opposition, insisting that “hauling someone out of the tram for wearing a niqab” would not be “fitting” in the Dutch capital. But now officials in Rotterdam and Utrecht have suggested the same, as have the operators of transport companies, hospitals and schools...." [PS: Presumably the legislators thought that wearing burqas caused harm, perhaps self-harm. But police seem to think that enforcing the law would cause even more harm.]

Vincent Lambert, Frenchman at Center of Right-to-Die Case, Dies at 42 - The New York Times

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 12:54:00 -0400

"Vincent Lambert, a former nurse who had been in a vegetative state for over a decade, died on Thursday in Reims, France, after an intense family dispute over his fate that led to years of legal battles and put him at the center of right-to-die debates. He was 42. His death was confirmed by Jean Paillot, a lawyer for his parents. Doctors had stopped artificially feeding and hydrating Mr. Lambert this month after a final court ruling in his case, and placed him under heavy sedation. Mr. Lambert had been kept alive since suffering severe brain damage in a road accident in 2008. He had not left written instructions on his end-of-life wishes. His wife, Rachel Lambert, said that he had clearly stated that he would not wish to live in a vegetative state. His parents argued that ending his life support amounted to the murder of a disabled person. Siblings and other family members took different sides in the dispute...."

Cockroach-eating competition man 'choked to death' - BBC News

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 09:13:00 -0400

"A Florida man choked to death in October after eating dozens of live cockroaches in a contest.... The body of Edward Archbold, 32, tested negative for drugs.... [A]ll the contestants had signed disclaimers "accepting responsibility for their participation in this unique and unorthodox contest". ..."

Aid in Dying Soon Will be Available to More Americans. Few Will Choose It. - The New York Times

Tue, 09 Jul 2019 06:27:00 -0400

"On Aug. 1, New Jersey will become the eighth state to allow doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients who want to end their lives. On Sept. 15, Maine will become the ninth. So by October, 22 percent of Americans will live in places where residents with six months or less to live can, in theory, exercise some control over the time and manner of their deaths. (The others: Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, California, Colorado and Hawaii, as well as the District of Columbia.) But while the campaign for aid in dying continues to make gains, supporters are increasingly concerned about what happens after these laws are passed. Many force the dying to navigate an overly complicated process of requests and waiting periods, critics say...."

Unlicensed Nebraska Midwife Is Arrested in Newborn’s Death After Home Delivery - The New York Times

Mon, 08 Jul 2019 08:55:00 -0400

"A Nebraska woman who advertised herself as a midwife specializing in home births — but who prosecutors said did not have the proper certification — is facing a homicide charge after the troubled delivery of a newborn resulted in the baby’s death...." [The article says nothing about the birth-mother's consent to use an unlicensed midwife, informed or uninformed, except that she hired her.]

Opinion | San Francisco Will Spend $600,000 to Erase History - The New York Times

Sat, 29 Jun 2019 08:37:00 -0400

"Arnautoff, who had assisted Diego Rivera in Mexico, was a committed Communist. “‘Art for art’s sake’ or art as perfume have never appealed to me,” he said in 1935. “The artist is a critic of society.” This is why his freshly banned work, “Life of Washington,” does not show the clichéd image of our first president kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge. Instead, the 13-panel, 1,600-square-foot mural, which was painted in 1936 in the just-built George Washington High School, depicts his slaves picking cotton in the fields of Mount Vernon and a group of colonizers walking past the corpse of a Native American.... Such appeals to reason and history failed to sway the school board. On Tuesday, it dismissed the option to pull an Ashcroft and simply cover the murals, instead voting unanimously to paint them over. One of the commissioners, Faauuga Moliga, said before the vote on Tuesday that his chief concern was that “kids are mentally and emotionally feeling safe at their schools.” Thus he wanted “the murals to be painted down.” Mark Sanchez, the school board’s vice president, later told me that simply concealing the murals wasn’t an option because it would “allow for the possibility of them being uncovered in the future.” Destroying them was worth it regardless of the cost, he argued at the hearing, saying, “This is reparations.” ... And yet many of the school’s actual students seemed to disagree. Of 49 freshmen asked to write about the murals,according to The Times, only four supported their removal. John M. Strain, an English teacher, told The Times’s Carol Pogash that his students “feel bad about offending people but they almost universally don’t think the answer is to erase it.” Which makes one wonder who these bureaucrats actually seek to protect. Is it the students? Or could it also be their reputations, given that those in favor of preserving the murals are being smeared as racists? ... What happens when a student suggests that looking at photographs of the My Lai massacre in history class is too traumatic? Should newspapers avoid printing upsetting images that illuminate the crisis at the border, like the unforgettable one of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, facedown, drowned in the Rio Grande? All are fair game for censorship in a worldview that insists that words and images are to be judged based on how “safe” they make people feel...."

Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban On 'Immoral,' 'Scandalous' Trademarks : NPR

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 08:53:00 -0400

"In a win for advocates of free speech, the Supreme Court has struck down a ban on trademarking words and symbols that are "immoral" or "scandalous." The 6-3 decision is also a victory for those seeking trademark protection for profane and even racist brand names. The case was brought by clothing designer Erik Brunetti, who sought to trademark the phrase FUCT. The decision paves the way for him to get his brand trademarked...."

She Was Terminally Ill. Her Husband Held the Gun to Her Head, Police Say - The New York Times

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 08:28:00 -0400

"The warrant for the man’s arrest told a wrenching story. His wife was terminally ill, going through chemotherapy treatments for cancer and struggling with Lyme disease, her pain and anguish increasing to such a degree that they began to search for ways to end her life. The two talked about taking razor blades to her wrists or getting the tranquilizing drug Klonopin. They debated going to Vermont, where the terminally ill can legally be prescribed medication to die, but she wasn’t a resident. Last summer, she tried using the sleep drug Ambien and whiskey, but did not overdose. Finally, the 911 call came. Lori Conners, 61, was dead of a gunshot wound to the head. On Thursday, her husband, Kevin Conners, turned himself in, was arrested and posted $50,000 bail, according to the authorities. The state police investigated the death of Ms. Conners for several months before charging Mr. Conners with manslaughter...."

Why Is It Okay for Subway Ads to Show Erections but Not Sex Toys for Women? | Glamour

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 06:57:00 -0400

"Alexandra Fine is the CEO and cofounder of Dame Products, a sexual wellness company that makes sex toys for women. Last year Dame was barred from advertising its products on New York City’s subway, even though ads about erectile dysfunction are allowed. This week Dame announced it's suing. Fine opened up to Glamour about what she sees as the double standards in advertising—and why it’s time we do something about it...."

High heels at work are necessary, says Japan's labour minister | World news | The Guardian

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 05:52:00 -0400

"Japan’s health and labour minister has defended workplaces that require women to wear high heels to work, arguing it is “necessary and appropriate” after a petition was filed against the practice. The remark came when Takumi Nemoto was asked to comment on a petition by a group of women who want the government to ban workplaces from requiring female jobseekers and employees to wear high heels. “It is socially accepted as something that falls within the realm of being occupationally necessary and appropriate,” Nemoto told a legislative committee on Wednesday...."

Japan’s labor minister says it’s ‘necessary and appropriate’ for women to wear high heels to work – Women in the World

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 05:50:00 -0400

"Japan’s health and labor minister has spoken out in defense of employers who require women to wear high heels to work, saying he sees it as “necessary and appropriate.” Takumi Nemoto made the comments in reference to a recent petition from women who want the government to ban workplaces from forcing high heels on their female employees. “It is socially accepted as something that falls within the realm of being occupationally necessary and appropriate,” Nemoto told a legislative committee on Wednesday, according to The Guardian...."

Scot Peterson charged in Parkland shooting, experts worry about criminalizing ‘cowardice’ - The Washington Post

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 05:38:00 -0400

"Scot Peterson, the only armed officer stationed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during last year’s shooting, was arrested Tuesday, charged with failing to protect the students. Peterson’s actions — or lack thereof — quickly earned him the nickname “the Coward of Broward” County. But legal experts and officials are seriously pondering whether “cowardice” should be criminalized. The 11 charges filed against him, condemning his non-action during the shooting in Parkland, Fla., have quelled public outrage and offered some victims’ families closure and vindication. Lawyers and those in law enforcement, however, are surprised by the unprecedented case the state has chosen to pursue and skeptical about whether the prosecution will be successful...."

Congress, Justice Department Dispute Decisions Not To Defend Certain Laws : NPR

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 13:00:00 -0400

"Lawyers for the House of Representatives are pushing back on the Justice Department's decision to walk away from a statute barring female genital mutilation — and an unusual argument that lawmakers shouldn't intervene to defend the interests of Congress in the case. The fight is unfolding over the first federal criminal prosecution for female genital mutilation. Last year, a judge in Michigan threw out charges against several women who had their daughters circumcised. The Justice Department notified Congress it would not appeal that decision because of constitutional considerations...."

A West Point cadet was sentenced to 21 years in prison for raping a sleeping classmate. Now, he's free to return to school. - CBS News

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 12:56:00 -0400

"In July 2016, U.S. Military Academy Cadet Jacob Whisenhunt was sentenced to 21 years in prison and discharged from the Army after being found guilty raping a female classmate as she slept in a nearby sleeping bag during Cadet Field Training at Camp Buckner. Whisenhunt's defense was that what transpired between him and the female cadet was consensual. But after a four-day trial, a jury of West Point faculty and staff found him guilty on three counts of sexual assault. Now, an appeals court has thrown out Whisenhunt's conviction, vacating his sentence. ... The three appellate military judges who overturned Whisenhunt's conviction ruled that circumstantial evidence backed up Whisenhunt's defense that the act was consensual, based on the fact that the woman — identified by the initials LM — did not struggle loudly enough to alert other cadets who were sleeping nearby...."

Why Psychiatric Euthanasia Is Legal in the Netherlands - The Atlantic

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 12:44:00 -0400

"In most countries, the debate over physician-assisted suicide has centered on adults in the final stages of incurable physical illnesses. Pothoven’s age [17] and mental illness [depression] made her case quite different, which is why the initial English-language news stories on her death sparked such alarm. That uproar subsided when subsequent reports clarified that Pothoven’s euthanasia request had been turned down, and that she had instead died by refusing to eat and drink. This sad outcome does not, however, show that all is well with the Dutch approach to assisted death—or that fears of a slippery slope are merely alarmist.... The Dutch system gives deference to doctors’ expertise; it respects the relationship between an individual doctor and a patient; and it recognizes that mental illness can be painful and debilitating. Yet this system illustrates how priorities that appear logical on their own terms combine, in some cases, to produce disturbing results. A respected Dutch-language medical journal recently reported that an 18-year-old had died via medically assisted suicide for psychiatric problems.... Indeed, as long as the patient is at least 16, no other person’s consent except the patient’s is mandatory. (Parents of 16- and 17-year-olds are involved in the discussion, but their permission is not required. Patients as young as 12 can seek euthanasia with parental consent. In about 10 cases since 2002, children ages 12 to 17 have received euthanasia; as far as I know, all were for physical illnesses.)... Unlike euthanasia in general, psychiatric euthanasia is predominantly given to women. ... An obvious question arises: How can any physician be sure that any patient with a serious psychiatric disorder, much less an 18-year-old, meets the legal criteria for euthanasia? The short answer is that the law gives considerable weight to their professional judgment...."

#KuToo drive a hit but Japan minister says high heels 'necessary' | Japan News | Al Jazeera

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 06:58:00 -0400

"Thousands of people in Japan this week have supported a social media campaign demanding the government ban companies from requiring women to wear high heels at work - but the country's health and labour minister is seemingly not one of them. Asked on Wednesday to comment on the petition against the practice, Takumi Nemoto said heels-on-the-job may be needed because of customary social expectations in some workplaces. "It is socially accepted as something that falls with the realm of being occupationally necessary and appropriate," Nemoto, who oversees Japan's workplace reforms, told a parliamentary committee hearing, according to reports...."

Louisiana lawmakers opt against setting minimum age for marriage | TheHill

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 06:56:00 -0400

"Lawmakers in Louisiana have decided against setting a minimum age to marry in the state. The Louisiana House over the weekend declined to take up a Senate bill that would bar anyone under the age of 16 from being able to marry in the state, according to The Associated Press. The Republican-led House instead voted overwhelmingly in support of a rewritten version of the bill that says parental consent must be given for residents under the age of 18 to marry.... Current law in Louisiana states minors who are 16 or 17 require parental consent to be married, while those under 16 need a judge’s approval. Last year, Delaware became the first state in the country to ban child marriage, followed by New York and Texas, setting the minimum age for marriage in any circumstance at 18."

Sports-Bra Outrage and a Fight Over Everyday Sexism - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 08:18:00 -0400

"The head football coach at Rowan University was in the thick of leading a team practice last fall when he spotted women circling the track around him in sports bras. That’s when Jay Accorsi lashed out. “You don’t belong out here,” Accorsi screamed at Derick (Ringo) Adamson, head coach of the women’s track-and-field team, according to Adamson. “You were told you don’t belong out here when we’re out here.” How was Accorsi supposed to get 18-year-old boys to concentrate on X’s and O’s, he said, when their eyes were “going back and forth” at the sight of “girls running out here with sports bras,” Adamson would later recount in a written statement to university officials. ..." [Although I've tagged this with "offense" and "legal_moralism", those terms don't fit this case very well. The coach was thinking that the women distracted the men, and that the distraction was a kind of harm that outweighed the interests of the women. And of course his attitude on this is itself a kind of harm.]

Police Are Investigating After The Family Of A 25-Year-Old Woman Say That A "Pro-Choice" Suicide Website Encouraged Her To Kill Herself

Mon, 03 Jun 2019 13:01:00 -0400

"Police in Pennsylvania are investigating the death of a 25-year-old woman after her family alleged that members of an online suicide forum provided her with instructions and encouragement to kill herself. Shawn Shatto, whose family said she struggled with anxiety and severe depression, killed herself on May 22. After going through her phone's browser history, her family found Shatto's posts on a website which claims to be a "pro-choice" forum to "discuss mental illness and suicide from the perspective of suicidal people." Her family discovered that members of the forum gave Shatto advice on how to die, as well as encouragement when she posted details of her plan...."

What We Can Learn About Consent (And Pleasure) From The World of Kink : Shots - Health News : NPR

Mon, 03 Jun 2019 13:00:00 -0400

"It has been on my mind a lot recently, how I, like so many people, have been socialized not to talk about sex because it's uncomfortable or awkward or it might kill the mood. I thought about how that hesitancy to speak can muddy the waters of consent, and I wanted to explore that idea with people who talk about sex a lot: the kink community, or kinksters, as they're known....

Pakistan vet charged with blasphemy over medicine 'wrapped in religious text' - BBC News

Fri, 31 May 2019 05:46:00 -0400

"A Hindu veterinary doctor in south-east Pakistan has been charged under the country's strict blasphemy laws after allegedly selling medicine wrapped in paper bearing Islamic religious text. An angry crowd set fire to his clinic near Mirpur Khas, Sindh province, and other Hindu-owned shops were looted. The vet said his use of the paper, apparently torn from an Islamic studies school textbook, was a mistake. If he is convicted he could be sentenced to life in prison. Pakistan's blasphemy laws carry harsh penalties for anyone who insults Islam. Critics say they target a disproportionate number of people from religious minorities...."

Texas plumbers future uncertain after plumbing board and laws abolished | The Texas Tribune

Fri, 31 May 2019 05:44:00 -0400

"Soon, anyone can call themselves a plumber without completing the agency-required education and tests, said Roger Wakefield, master plumber and owner of Texas Green Plumbing in Richardson. Wakefield, who has been a plumber for 40 years, said the industry is now "completely unregulated," and will lead to more unqualified workers entering the workforce. "We're going to put the safety of the homeowners and the public of Texas in jeopardy," he said. "Plumbers install medical gas, they install the potable drinking water that we have every day. If they're not doing it right, people's safety is at risk." Wakefield said he and other plumbers are calling Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and asking him to order lawmakers back to Austin for a special legislative session to remedy the situation...."

Ireland Votes Overwhelmingly to Ease Divorce Restrictions - The New York Times

Tue, 28 May 2019 11:02:00 -0400

"Ireland has voted overwhelmingly to ease restrictions on divorce, taking another step toward liberalizing a Constitution that was once dominated by the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Official figures released this weekend showed that 82 percent of voters in referendum on Friday approved the change, with all areas of the country voting strongly in favor. The results come on the heels of other major social shifts in the country: a 2015 vote to legalize same-sex marriage — the word’s first popular vote on marriage equality — and a referendum last year that repealed Ireland’s ban on abortion in almost all circumstances, including rape and incest. In October, the nation voted overwhelmingly to remove a ban on blasphemy from the Constitution...."

Iran arrests entire yoga class and its instructor for ‘inappropriate outfits’ | The Independent

Mon, 27 May 2019 12:04:00 -0400

"Authorities in Iran have arrested around 30 people at a private yoga class in northeastern city of Gorgan after being tipped off by an advertisement on Instagram. A local justice justice department official said the men and women were arrested while practising yoga in a private home, according to the Tasnim news agency. Massoud Soleimani, deputy chief of the city’s Islamic Revolution Court, told the agency that those arrested were wearing "inappropriate outfits" and had “behaved inappropriately.” He added that the instructor did not have a license for the class, and that security forces had been monitoring the house for some time before making the arrests. Mixed gender sports are banned in Iran by the country’s conservative Islamic authorities. Although the practice of yoga isn’t officially forbidden in Iran, teaching at a professional level is...."

Opinion | Infecting People Isn’t a Religious Right - The New York Times

Mon, 27 May 2019 12:01:00 -0400

"To halt the spread of [measles], bills in the State Senate and Assembly would prevent parents from claiming that their religious beliefs exempt them from legal requirements that their children be vaccinated before going to school. The American Academy of Pediatrics has made the elimination of such nonmedical exemptions its top priority this year. The legislation would allow exemptions only if a licensed doctor certified that the immunization was detrimental to the child’s health, as is the case in current law. Action on these sensible bills has stalled, however, just weeks before legislators leave for the summer — even as the latest cases of the highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease were diagnosed in New York last week.... More disturbingly, Mr. Gottfried said he and other committee members thought the legislation could violate the First Amendment, echoing one of the anti-vaccine movement’s favored talking points — that beliefs about vaccines are protected by the Constitution. ... Religious freedom is important to protect, but the courts have ruled it doesn’t apply here. ..."

Petition launched to stop forcible hair dyeing from natural color to black in schools - Japan Today

Mon, 27 May 2019 11:56:00 -0400

"As we reported before, in October 2017, news of an Osaka teen who was forced by her high school to dye her naturally brown hair black went viral after it was picked up by both domestic and international news sources. This resulted in a heated debate on social media, with many questioning the need for forcible hair dyeing, submission of "natural hair color certificates," as well as other hair-related and appearance-related rules in Japanese schools, and some calling for their elimination...." [Is this about offense? legal moralism? Not a good fit for either.]

Vincent Lambert: Life support must resume after court reverses ruling - BBC News

Mon, 27 May 2019 11:53:00 -0400

"A French court has ordered doctors to resume life support for a quadriplegic man whose case has become central to the right-to-die debate in France. Doctors had begun switching off life support for Vincent Lambert, 42, on Monday, before the court order. Mr Lambert has been in a vegetative state since a 2008 motorcycle accident. His care has divided the country and his family. His wife has called for his feeding tubes to be withdrawn; his parents insist he be kept alive. Mr Lambert's mother Viviane, 73, hailed the latest ruling as "a very big victory" in her struggle to maintain her son's life support. "They are going to restore nutrition and give him drink. For once I am proud of the courts," she said. Doctors had earlier on Monday halted the nutrition and hydration Lambert receives, in line with the wishes of his wife and other relatives. An earlier judicial ruling had said Mr Lambert should be removed from life support and that process had begun before Monday evening's dramatic reversal by the Paris Court of Appeal...."

Soon You May Not Even Have to Click on a Website Contract to Be Bound by Its Terms — ProPublica

Thu, 23 May 2019 04:56:00 -0400

"If you’re like most people, you’ve probably clicked “I agree” on many online contracts without ever reading them. Soon you may be deemed to have agreed to a company’s terms without even knowing it. A vote is occurring Tuesday that would make it easier for online businesses to dispense with that click and allow websites that you merely browse — anything from Amazon and AT&T to Yahoo and Zillow — to bind you to contract terms without your agreement or awareness.... At the heart of consumer advocates’ objections to the Restatement is a section that substantially weakens in the consumer context a core concept of contract law — that a contract requires a “meeting of the minds,” with each party assenting to its terms. Instead, the Restatement requires businesses only to give customers notice of the contract terms and an opportunity to review them...."

Vincent Lambert: French doctors begin halting life support - BBC News

Mon, 20 May 2019 08:52:00 -0400

"Vincent Lambert, 42, has been in a vegetative state since a motorcycle accident in 2008. His care has divided both the country and his own family. His wife has long called for his feeding tubes to be withdrawn, while his parents insist his life should continue. Doctors at the Sebastopol Hospital in the northern French city of Reims said the action on Monday followed a final judicial ruling to end the nutrition and hydration he receives. Family members confirmed that the systems were being switched off. His parents' lawyer, Jean Paillot, called the move "shameful".... The high-profile case has proved extremely divisive in France, where euthanasia is illegal but doctors are allowed to put terminally ill patients into deep sedation.... Rachel Lambert insists her husband would "never have wanted to be kept in this state" ...."

A Florida Judge Orders Couple's Son To Receive Chemotherapy For Cancer

Sat, 18 May 2019 08:54:00 -0400

"A Florida judge ruled that a 3-year-old boy with leukemia must begin receiving chemotherapy treatments despite the objections of his parents, who would prefer he be treated with CBD oil, alkaline water, and mushroom tea.... (Under Florida law, a court can make medical decisions for a minor if they are deemed to be a victim of "medical neglect.")... The parents' lawyer, Michael Minardi, confirmed to BuzzFeed News in an email that the judge had ordered them to “continue with the first phase of chemotherapy.” ... Lymphoblastic leukemia, commonly diagnosed in children, has a 90% cure rate for patients who follow the common treatment plan of up to two and a half years of chemotherapy. But as Dr. Bijal Shah of the Moffitt Cancer Center told BuzzFeed News, “It’s going to be almost universal that the leukemia will come back” if treatment is stopped early. Shah also said that just because leukemia becomes undetectable, that doesn’t mean that it is cured...."

Oregon House passes bill to eliminate religious, philosophical vaccine exemptions | TheHill

Fri, 10 May 2019 11:47:00 -0400

"Oregon lawmakers have advanced a bill that would eliminate religious and philosophical exemptions for mandatory vaccinations.... The bill, which would allow exemptions to vaccinations solely for medical reasons...."

Adultery and fornication: Why are states rushing to get these outdated laws off the books? | Salon.com

Fri, 10 May 2019 11:41:00 -0400

"Utah, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Virginia have all proposed legislation to remove the crime of adultery and (where applicable) fornication from their statute books. Utah’s law was just signed by the governor, and Massachusetts, Minnesota and Virginia all have laws at various levels of committee purgatory. Massachusetts and Minnesota’s laws look like they have a fighting chance at least. Arizona and South Carolina are also attempting to amend their laws, but the basics of the crime will remain intact. So that means that right now at least seven states are suddenly amending or repealing their adultery and fornication statutes, most for the first time since they were enacted.... The crimes of adultery and fornication, which essentially make consensual sex a crime if the parties aren’t married to each other, are probably unconstitutional in the wake of the 2003 Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down a Texas sodomy law because it violated the plaintiffs’ right to privacy...."

Woman arrested in Poland over posters of Virgin Mary with rainbow halo | World news | The Guardian

Fri, 10 May 2019 11:39:00 -0400

"A woman has been arrested on suspicion of offending religious sentiment, after posters bearing an image of the Virgin Mary with her halo painted in the colours of the rainbow flag appeared in the city of Płock in central Poland. The Polish interior minister, Joachim Brudziński, announced on Twitter on Monday that a person had been arrested for “carrying out a profanation of the Virgin Mary of Częstochowa”. A Płock police spokeswoman confirmed a 51-year-old woman had been arrested over the alleged offence. The woman had been abroad, but upon her return, the police entered and searched her home, where they found several dozen images of the Virgin Mary with the rainbow-coloured halo...."

Some States Still Shield Spouses From Prosecution When They Rape Their Partners : NPR

Mon, 06 May 2019 13:00:00 -0400

"Thursday, Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, signed the [Minnesota] bill that repeals a little-known provision in law shielding people from prosecution in cases where they rape their spouse. It's part of a broader push in the wake of the #MeToo movement to change and roll back outdated laws on the books related to sexual harassment and assault.... What's known as the marital rape exception can be traced back hundreds of years to British common law, which was eventually imported to American colonies. Then, it was believed that a woman's unconditional sexual consent was just part of the marriage contract. Most states had marital rape exceptions as part of their law until 1979. That's when a Massachusetts bartender broke into the home he used to share with his estranged wife and raped her. The case led to the first marital rape conviction in the nation. Womens' rights groups campaigned state-by-state for lawmakers to change their laws, and by 1993, marital rape was technically illegal in all 50 states. But, "there's these little loopholes and sub-statutes that hide deep in the books that pop out every once and awhile," Teeson says. Until this law, Minnesota prevented someone from being prosecuted if they are in a "voluntary sexual relationship" at the time of the alleged offense, or if the complainant is the actor's legal spouse. The state did allow prosecution if the couple lived apart and one of them had filed for legal separation...."

MI Supreme Court to hear custody case on 'faith healing' parents

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 11:18:00 -0400

"A Lansing couple facing involuntary manslaughter charges after failing to seek medical treatment for their newborn daughter will go before the Supreme Court Wednesday in an attempt to regain custody of their two older sons. The boys were removed from Rachel and Joshua Piland's custody seven weeks after Abigail Piland's February 2017 death. Abigail was three days old. She died from conditions related to jaundice after her parents refused a midwife's urging to seek medical treatment because of their religious beliefs. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services petitioned to have the boys removed from the Pilands' care due to a "concern of threatened harm of physical neglect," according to a petition to terminate parental rights. The Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. about the battle for parental rights in Ingham County. ..."

Boy's drag routine prompts Republican to seek new rules on child exploitation | US news | The Guardian

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 05:19:00 -0400

"An Ohio Republican has proposed legislation to change state child exploitation law, in response to a nine-year-old boy’s drag performance at a local bar which sparked an online furor after video was published by a fringe conservative website. The video shows the boy, who performs as Miss Mae Hem, in a pink leotard doing cartwheels, splits and a classic drag move called a death drop, which involves falling down. The state representative Tim Schaffer’s bill would expand the definition of child endangering to stop businesses with liquor licenses holding performances in which a “child simulates sexual activity”...."

'Church' to offer 'miracle cure' despite FDA warnings against drinking bleach | US news | The Guardian

Sun, 21 Apr 2019 11:36:00 -0400

"A group calling itself Genesis II Church of Health and Healing plans to convene at a hotel resort in Washington state on Saturday to promote a “miracle cure” that claims to cure 95% of all diseases in the world by making adults and children, including infants, drink industrial bleach...."

Involuntary Commitment For Addiction Treatment Raises Troubling Questions : Shots - Health News : NPR

Sun, 21 Apr 2019 11:34:00 -0400

"Robin had become one of several thousand Massachusetts residents each year who ask the courts to force a loved one into addiction treatment under a state law known as Section 35. The law allows a family member, physician or police officer to ask the courts to involuntarily commit someone to substance use treatment. Dozens of states have civil commitment laws, but Massachusetts is believed to use it more aggressively than most states.... After a court clinician in Hyannis, Mass., reviewed Robin's request, a judge agreed that Sean's substance use was dangerous and ordered him committed to up to 90 days of residential treatment. Sean had begged his mother in court that day not to go that route. He was being sent to a program, he told her, where he would be locked up and not allowed to continue taking the medication that was helping him with his addiction — methadone.... "I thought he misunderstood," says Robin. "Because I couldn't conceive that there would be an opioid treatment program that would not provide medication-assisted treatment." It turns out Sean was right. Although many providers say medication is the gold standard in addiction treatment, Sean was sent to a program in a state prison in Plymouth, Mass., that does not provide the medicine.... He spiraled to suicide...."

Washington Court: Refusing To Let Cops Enter Homes Without Warrants Isn't Obstruction [Updated]

Sun, 21 Apr 2019 11:00:00 -0400

"A man who refused to open his door to let police enter his home without a warrant should not have been convicted for obstruction of justice, the lead opinion for the Washington Supreme Court concluded on Thursday. “Criminalizing the refusal to open one’s own door to a warrantless entry would be enormously chilling and inconsistent with our deeply held constitutional values,” Justice Steven Gonzalez wrote in Shoreline v. McLemore.... Yet with the conviction upheld [because the lead opinion didn't get a majority], Washington appears to be “the only jurisdiction in which citizens may be prosecuted merely for failing to yield when law enforcement demands warrantless entry to their homes,” according to an amicus brief filed by the ACLU of Washington...."

Consent to our Data Bodies lessons from feminist theories to enforce data protection

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 06:22:00 -0400

"Meaningful approaches to consent are in the core of FEMINIST THEORIES and DATA PROTECTION DEBATES. In both fields, this concept tend to be minimized either by patriarchal approaches to our bodies or neoliberal approaches to our data...."

The ability to say NO on the Internet – Coding Rights – Medium

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 06:19:00 -0400

"It’s strange to think that two of the most important discussions today are around the same concept: consent. In one hand, the whole #MeToo movement has helped to resurface in the public opinion an old and never overcome debate on sexual consent, and in the other, the political scandal of Facebook–Cambridge Analytica has demonstrated (again) the futile exercise to consent on the use of our data in datafied societies dominated by a handle of transnational data companies. Nevertheless, while these two discussions are happening at the same time, bridges between them are almost nonexistent. Moreover, when we talk about our sexual practices mediated by platforms (sexting, dating apps, etc), the discussion on how these two types of consent collide and what complexities come after that are almost always ignored. For example, in the policy debate on NCII (non-consensual dissemination of intimate images), the lack of consent is either almost entirely seen as a sexual offense or as a mere problem of data protection and privacy. In order to shed a light on the matter, we are launching today, the research “Consent to our Data Bodies: Lessons from feminist theories to enforce data protection”. ..."

F-words and T-shirts: U.S. Supreme Court weighs foul language trademarks - Reuters

Sun, 14 Apr 2019 07:34:00 -0400

"Yet that expletive and others will be the focus on Monday when the nine justices hear arguments in a free-speech case brought by Los Angeles-based clothing designer Erik Brunetti. His streetwear brand “FUCT” - which sounds like, but is spelled differently than, a profanity - was denied a trademark by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.... At issue is a provision of U.S. trademark law that lets the trademark office deny requests for trademarks on “immoral” and “scandalous” words and symbols. Brunetti, 50, is challenging the law as an infringement of his right to freedom of expression, protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment....."

Inside One Woman’s Fight to Rewrite the Law on Marital Rape - The New York Times

Sun, 14 Apr 2019 07:31:00 -0400

"Most states have loopholes on the books that make it more difficult to prosecute rape by an intimate partner. Jenny Teeson is fighting to change that in Minnesota.... While marital rape has been a crime in all 50 states since 1993 — a milestone achieved after years of dogged campaigning by women’s rights activists — the overwhelming majority of states still have loopholes on the books that can make it difficult, or even impossible, to prosecute such cases.... Those loopholes can take many forms, involving the statute of limitations, use of force, age or the victim’s capacity to consent. In Minnesota, sex with someone who is physically helpless, as Ms. Teeson was, cannot be prosecuted as rape if the two people are married or domestic partners.... In February, her campaign scored a major victory. A bill to repeal the voluntary relationship defense unanimously passed the state House. Lawmakers gave Ms. Teeson a standing ovation....."

New 'Consent Condom' Really Doesn't Get What Sexual Consent Is About | HuffPost Life

Sun, 14 Apr 2019 07:28:00 -0400

"But while the product may be well-intended, critics, including sex therapists, say it promotes some misguided ideas about consensual sex: True consent is not a one-time transaction ― press the magic buttons or hear “yes” once and you’re in the clear. Consent is an ongoing conversation.... “The biggest issue here is that it negates what we should be teaching [people] about rape, sexual assault and why ‘no’ means ‘no’,” said George M. Johnsson, a journalist and activist who tweeted about the condom. The consent condom, even if it’s just a marketing ploy at this point, treats the symptom rather than the root cause of the problem, Johnson said.....

Gray rape - Wikipedia

Sat, 13 Apr 2019 12:59:00 -0400

"Gray rape or grey rape is sex for which consent is unclear. The term was popularized by Laura Sessions Stepp in her 2007 Cosmopolitan article "A New Kind of Date Rape", which says gray rape is "somewhere between consent and denial and is even more confusing than date rape because often both parties are unsure of who wanted what"...."

Mass. Study: Need For Judge's Consent Holds Up Minors' Abortions 6 Days On Average | CommonHealth

Sat, 13 Apr 2019 08:25:00 -0400

"A new study of abortions sought by more than 2,000 Massachusetts minors finds that needing approval from a judge causes a significant delay: an average of six extra days compared to teens who could get the required consent from their parents. For one in three minors in the study who went before a judge, that delay meant they missed the window for being able to abort using pills rather than a procedure, says Dr. Elizabeth Janiak of Harvard Medical School, lead author on the study just out in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology...."

Consent Condom: "Consent Condom" requires four hands to open, making powerful statement about consent - CBS News

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 09:57:00 -0400

"With consent at the forefront of modern conversations about sex, one company is highlighting its importance in a unique way. Argentinian company Tulipán has created a "consent condom" that requires four hands to be opened, intending to raise awareness about consent in the bedroom. ... The condom is not meant to be a solution to sexual assault, but rather to spread the important message of consent in all circumstances...."

Chicago is Tracking Kids With GPS Monitors That Can Call and Record Them Without Consent - The Appeal

Tue, 09 Apr 2019 09:37:00 -0400

"On March 29, court officials in Chicago strapped an ankle monitor onto Shawn, a 15-year-old awaiting trial on charges of armed robbery. They explained that the device would need to be charged for two hours a day and that it would track his movements using GPS technology. He was told he would have to be given permission to leave his house, even to go to school. But he found out that through his monitor, officers wouldn’t just be able to track his location, as most electronic monitors do. They would also be able to speak—and listen—to him.... Kate Weisburd, a professor at The George Washington University Law School...said jurisdictions often assume individuals ordered to wear a device by a judge have given consent to be monitored, but jurisdictions then extend that consent in problematic ways. “Oftentimes there’s this idea of consent invoked,” she said. “In other words, a young person or an adult has consented to be on a monitor in lieu of being in prison or jail. The problem with that is that consent can’t just be a blanket, carte blanche excuse for any type of privacy invasion. There has to be some limit.” ..."

Websites to be fined over 'online harms' under new proposals - BBC News

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:10:00 -0400

"Internet sites could be fined or blocked if they fail to tackle "online harms" such as terrorist propaganda and child abuse, under government plans. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has proposed an independent watchdog that will write a "code of practice" for tech companies. Senior managers could be held liable for breaches, with a possible levy on the industry to fund the regulator. But critics say the plans threaten freedom of speech.... The plans cover a range of issues that are clearly defined in law such as spreading terrorist content, child sex abuse, so-called revenge pornography, hate crimes, harassment and the sale of illegal goods. But it also covers harmful behaviour that has a less clear legal definition such as cyber-bullying, trolling and the spread of fake news and disinformation. It says social networks must tackle material that advocates self-harm and suicide, which became a prominent issue after 14-year-old Molly Russell took her own life in 2017. After she died her family found distressing material about depression and suicide on her Instagram account. Molly's father Ian Russell holds the social media giant partly responsible for her death...."

English judge says man having sex with wife is 'fundamental human right' | Law | The Guardian

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 09:43:00 -0400

"A row has erupted after a judge spoke in court about the “fundamental human right” of a man to have sex with his wife. The remark was made by Mr Justice Hayden, who had been asked to consider imposing a court order preventing a man from having sex with his wife of 20 years because she may no longer be able to give her consent. The case had been brought to the court of protection, which considers cases where people lack the mental capacity to make their own decisions, by lawyers for a council’s social services after the condition of the woman, who has learning difficulties, began to deteriorate. Social service officials believe there is evidence that she no longer has the capacity to make decisions about whether she wants to have sex and therefore cannot freely give her consent. Lawyers have suggested that a judge might have to bar the husband from continuing to have sex with his wife in order to ensure that the woman is not raped. Hayden considered the issue at a preliminary court of protection hearing in London on Monday, in which he was told that the man had offered to give an undertaking not to have sex with his wife. However, the judge said he wanted to examine the evidence in detail – and hear arguments from lawyers representing the woman, the man, and the council involved – before making any decisions. The judge said the man might be put in a situation where he could face prison if he breached an order, or an undertaking, not to have sex with his wife. He also suggested that such an order would be difficult to police. “I cannot think of any more obviously fundamental human right than the right of a man to have sex with his wife – and the right of the state to monitor that,” he said. “I think he is entitled to have it properly argued.” ..."

Utah Gov. Signs Bill That Legalizes Sex Outside Of Marriage : NPR

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 06:40:00 -0400

"Until this week, sex between unmarried people in Utah was technically illegal, a vestige of earlier times. That changed Wednesday, when Gov. Gary Herbert signed a bill that decriminalizes sex outside of marriage in the state.... Utah's 1973 fornication law designated sex outside of marriage as a class B misdemeanor. The act carried a possible penalty of up to six months in jail or a maximum fine of $1,000. Utah was among only a few states that retained these laws...."

Quebec introduces bill banning religious symbols | News | Al Jazeera

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 06:38:00 -0400

"The Canadian province of Quebec has introduced legislation that will ban public sector employees from wearing religious symbols during work hours, a controversial move that critics say targets Muslim women who wear hijabs or other head coverings. It will also apply to crucifixes and yarmulkes. The proposed law, introduced on Thursday, sets the province's right-leaning Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government on a collision course with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who promotes religious freedom, in a federal election year with Quebec a vital battleground...."

Mystery infections traced to blood-shedding religious ritual

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 08:39:00 -0400

"Add self-flagellation to the list of ways to get a dangerous viral blood infection. Researchers said Wednesday that they were initially puzzled how 10 British men had become infected with a little-known virus, because the men hadn’t taken risks usually associated with the infection. But then investigators learned they had participated in blood-shedding religious rituals — cutting or whipping themselves — in Iraq, Pakistan, India and the United Kingdom.... One ritual involves striking the forehead with a knife and then passing it along to other men. Another involves striking the back with a chain of blades or other bladed implement. One man said that when he did it, the blades being passed around were soaked in a bucket containing an over-the-counter antiseptic solution. But that is inadequate to prevent spread of HTLV-1, Dhasmana said. The practice of whipping or cutting oneself has been practiced among different religious groups, most notably by Shiite Muslims on the holy day Ashoura. Usually only men do it, and it’s controversial even within religious communities. Dhasmana said: “Our message is not ‘Don’t do it.’ Our message is ‘If you do it, don’t share equipment.’” ..."

African-braiding teacher has excellent hair day after ruling goes against Texas regulators | News | Dallas News

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 05:10:00 -0400

"After 20 years of fighting against government regulation, Isis Brantley has finally won the right to teach her heritage. A federal judge in Austin ruled that Brantley — the owner of the Institute of Ancestral Braiding and founder of the Naturally Isis Natural Hair Parade — can teach students the centuries-old art of African hair braiding without meeting extensive state requirements to set up a formal barber college.... Brantley...has been fighting the state since 1995, when she was first cited by regulators. Two years later, she was arrested and hauled from her salon in handcuffs for braiding hair without a license. She helped change state law in 2007 and was allowed to operate her salon. She went on to get her hair-braiding license but has been stymied in her efforts to teach others...."

A Professor Has Long Used a Racial Slur in Class to Teach Free-Speech Law. No More, He Says. - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Fri, 08 Mar 2019 09:57:00 -0500

"Geoffrey R. Stone says he will stop using the N-word in his free-speech class. For years, the University of Chicago law professor has used the racial epithet during class to illustrate the “fighting words” doctrine, which refers to the use of language that could incite violence.... In his essay, Raban [a student of Stone's] called the story racist. After the article was published, Stone said he had spoken with several black students who “were very passionate about how hurtful it was even when it’s being used without the intention of being hurtful.” After that conversation, Stone decided to no longer use the word in class. “I’m persuaded that the value is offset by the distraction and the harm it causes,” he said...."

Schools Need to Teach Young People How Not to Be Offended | Time

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 07:05:00 -0500

"Irshad Manji, author of Don’t Label Me: An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times, thinks it’s about time we all stopped getting offended. Speaking to TIME at New York’s Tenement Museum, Manji argues that when we allow ourselves to take offense, we miss out on the opportunity to learn from people with views that differ from our own. “Giving offense is the price of diversity, not an impediment to diversity,” she says. “While more and more schools are teaching young people how not to be offensive, they also need to be teaching a new generation how not to be offended.” Watch her full argument in the video above."

Fornication will no longer be illegal in Utah | fox13now.com

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 07:04:00 -0500

"The Utah State Legislature is making sex outside of marriage legal. In a bill cleaning up Utah's criminal code, lawmakers repealed the misdemeanor crime of fornication. The House passed Senate Bill 43 on a 41-32 vote. It previously passed the Utah State Senate and now goes to Governor Gary Herbert for his signature or veto. The legislature previously passed a bill removing adultery and sodomy among consenting adults as crimes in Utah. Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, said court rulings have found the laws are unenforceable and it was time to remove them from the books.... The bill wasn't popular with some of the more conservative members of the Utah House of Representatives. Rep. Merrill Nelson, R-Grantsville, said he objected. So did Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem. "What is legally is often far below what is morally right," Rep. Stratton said. "And I recognize our laws are not strong enough to rule a immoral people." ..."

Bill would define 'consent' in sex education classes

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 07:31:00 -0500

"Williams has introduced House Bill 3550, which directs schools to have an “age-appropriate discussion on the meaning of consent” and also provides a definition for consent. While current law states consent must be talked about in sexual education classes, there is no definition or explanation. In Williams’ bill, consent is defined as “a freely given agreement to sexual activity.” The bill states that how a person dresses does not imply consent. Also, if someone has consented to past sexual activity, that consent doesn’t apply to future sexual activity. In addition, the bill says consent can be withdrawn at any time...."

DNA Tests for Envelopes Have a Price - The Atlantic

Mon, 04 Mar 2019 10:34:00 -0500

"For these reasons, the companies offering DNA services for envelopes are drawing a line: These tests are not for living people. The only reason, after all, to resort to getting a living person’s DNA from a letter is if the person is not cooperating with a cheek swab or vial of spit—in which case they probably are not consenting.... On the other hand, says Bettinger, we don’t ask all our living relatives and future unborn descendants for consent when we ourselves mail in a DNA test—even though it affects them all. The alleged Golden State Killer, for example, was identified through third and fourth cousins who took DNA tests. Right now, any one individual has relatively little control over his or her own genetic privacy...."

Idaho lawmakers kill bill ending child marriage | Idaho Statesman

Sat, 02 Mar 2019 05:42:00 -0500

"Idaho has the highest rate of child marriage in the U.S., according to a national report. This statistic isn’t likely to change soon because the House of Representatives on Thursday voted to kill a bill that would end child marriage in Idaho.... Under current Idaho law, 16- and 17-year-olds just need parental consent to marry. A child under age 16 can marry if a judge consents also. A bi-partisan bill led by Rep. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, proposed setting the minimum age to marry at 16. Under the proposed law, for a 16- or 17-year-old to get married, consent of the child, parents and the court would be required...."

U. of Michigan Just Expanded Its Ban on Student-Instructor Romance. Here’s Why. - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Tue, 26 Feb 2019 09:57:00 -0500

"The new policy bars professors from having romantic relationships with any undergraduate student or any graduate student who is, or who might “reasonably be expected” to someday be, under the supervision of the faculty member. Notably, the policy defines its terms — covering all types of “learners” and “leaders” — and stresses that postdoctoral fellows, teaching undergraduates, and nondegree students, among others, are all subject to its rules. What’s more, relationships banned in most cases by the policy do not require physical contact and can “exist on the basis of a single interaction.” ... Broad, short prohibitions on student-faculty relationships have become more common, said [Scott Schneider, a lawyer specializing in Title IX issues at the firm Husch Blackwell, in Austin, Tex]. Failed attempts to deter inappropriate relationships have led universities like Michigan to consider more robust [more detailed, and longer] policies."

Citing parental freedom, Arizona lawmakers move ahead with anti-vaccine bills | Ars Technica

Tue, 26 Feb 2019 05:49:00 -0500

"Lawmakers in Arizona are moving forward with three bills that will make it easier for parents to opt out of getting life-saving vaccinations for their children—and may even encourage them to do so, according to a report in The Arizona Republic. The brazen legislative move comes as the country grapples with six outbreaks of measles, an extremely contagious, vaccine-preventable disease that can be disabling and even fatal to young children. One of those outbreaks is occurring in Washington state's Clark County, where rampant anti-vaccine views and similarly lax vaccination laws fueled the spread of disease. Since the start of the year, officials have tallied 65 cases, mostly in children under the age of 10 (47 of the 65 cases) and nearly all unvaccinated (57 cases of the 65 cases, with six others cases unverified, and two cases with only one out of the recommended two vaccine doses). Hoping to prevent future outbreaks, Washington state lawmakers are now advancing legislation that would eliminate vaccination exemptions on personal and philosophical grounds. But Arizona lawmakers seem to have taken no heed of the efforts of their Washington counterparts, even as public health experts condemned Arizona's proposed legislation.... In a 5-4 vote, Arizona's House Health and Human Services Committee advanced three anti-vaccine bills late last week. One of the bills, HB 2470, would expand access to both religious and personal belief vaccine exemptions among preschool and grade school children. It would also eliminate the requirement for parents to fill out a state authorization form for those exemptions. The other two bills, HB 2471 and HB 2472, would require that parents receive a booklet about vaccine risks prior to vaccinating their children and require doctors to offer blood tests that determine if a child is already immune to a vaccine-preventable disease prior to vaccinating. Committee chair Rep. Nancy Barto (R-Phoenix) sponsored all three bills. She stated that it's "every parent's individual right to decide the vaccine's place in the child's life." She also falsely claimed that there was credible data to recommend against wide-scale vaccination. "We need to look at the data, look at the science, and recognize that there's research on both sides." ..."

Opinion | It’s Not That Men Don’t Know What Consent Is - The New York Times

Mon, 25 Feb 2019 04:43:00 -0500

"The truth is, men are not the most reliable arbiters of whether sex was consensual. Consider: When Nicole Bedera, a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Michigan, interviewed male college students in 2015, each could articulate at least a rudimentary definition of the concept: the idea that both parties wanted to be doing what they were doing. Most also endorsed the current “yes means yes” standard, which requires active, conscious, continuous and freely given agreement by all parties engaging in sexual activity. Yet when asked to describe their own most recent encounters in both a hookup and in a relationship, even men who claimed to practice affirmative consent often had not. When they realized that their actions conflicted with that benchmark, though, they expanded their definition of consent rather than question their conduct.... Even men who admit to keeping sex slaves in conflict zones will claim they did not commit rape — it’s that other guy, that “monster” over there, that “bad guy” who did. In fact, one of the traits rapists have been found to reliably share is that they don’t believe they are the problem. In my own interviews with high school and college students conducted over the past two years, young men that I like enormously — friendly, thoughtful, bright, engaging young men — have “sort of” raped girls, have pushed women’s heads down to get oral sex, have taken a Snapchat video of a prom date performing oral sex and sent it to the baseball team. They all described themselves as “good guys.” But the fact is, a “really good guy” can do a really bad thing.... In 2016, for instance, researchers at Confi, an online resource dedicated to women’s health issues, asked 1,200 college students and recent graduates nationwide what they would “expect to happen next” if they went home with someone whom they’d met and danced with at a party. Forty-five percent of the men considered vaginal intercourse “likely”; only 30 percent of the women did. The figures were similarly skewed for oral sex. Additionally, one in four men believed women “usually have to be convinced” in order for sex to happen (only about a tenth of the women agreed).... According to the same survey, men found the actions of a “tipsy” guy “much more acceptable” than a sober one, meaning they let themselves off the hook for potential sexual aggression, even as female assault victims who drink are blamed...."

Do Racial Epithets Have Any Place in the Classroom? A Professor’s Suspension Sparks That Debate - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 11:03:00 -0500

"Phillip Adamo, a professor of history and medieval studies who was teaching the class, used the moment to discuss whether or not the racial slur should be referred to with a euphemism. In doing so, he used the word himself. He toldAugsburg's student newspaper, the Echo, that he had "used the word, not the epithet," to introduce a discussion about it. The students in the class reached a consensus that they chose not to use the word. Later Adamo sent them an email and shared further readings — "Good Teachers Use the N-Word," by Andre Perry, and "In Defense of a Loaded Word," by Ta-Nehisi Coates — that led some to feel they were being pressured to reverse their decision. A student in the class told the Echo that Adamo had repeated the quotation once with the slur and once without, before asking the class, "'Isn't it much less impactful if we say, 'N-word'?'" Adamo declined to be interviewed for this article. The university, in Minneapolis, suspended Adamo in January for an unspecified "range of issues raised by students" that involve bias and discrimination, respect for students, teaching competence, and program leadership, according to a response that the American Association of University Professors sent to Paul C. Pribbenow, Augsburg's president...."

How a Dispute Over the N-Word Became a Dispiriting Farce - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:59:00 -0500

"A series of dismaying events has transpired at Augsburg University, in Minneapolis. According to several undisputed news reports, it began in October, when a student read a sentence in class from James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time: "You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger." Airing the N-word caused a commotion. The professor leading the class, Philip Adamo, asked the students if they felt it was appropriate to voice the word Baldwin had written. In doing so, Adamo repeated the word. Later, he sent to the class two essays on the politics of the N-word. The next day, some students asked Adamo to leave the classroom while they discussed the lingering controversy. They were joined by other students who were not enrolled in the course. He complied with their request. Later, after a flurry of emails in which Adamo continued to try to explain himself, the university removed him from the course. He has since been suspended, pending the outcome of a formal review. This dispiriting farce discredits those who have played a role in it and undermines Augsburg’s claim to be a serious institution of higher learning. First, there are the students who complained that they had been shocked, hurt, and made to feel unsafe by the professor’s "use" of the N-word. How can anyone sensibly think that Adamo was "using" the N-word, in the sense of deploying it destructively? As Adamo stated in his own defense, there is "a distinction between use and mention. To use the word to inflict … harm is unacceptable. To mention the word in a discussion of how the word is used is necessary for honest discourse." This is not a case of a professor calling someone "nigger." This is a case of a professor exploring the thinking and expression of a writer who voiced the word to challenge racism. This is not a case of a professor negligently throwing about a term that’s long been deployed to terrorize, shame, and denigrate African-Americans. This is a case of a professor who, attentive to the sensibilities of his students, sought to encourage reflection about their anxieties and beliefs. None of those distinctions require deep insight. They should be obvious. Students unable to appreciate them are students unprepared for university life...."

Shoplifter extortion case against Walmart, other retailers is dismissed | Reuters

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 10:36:00 -0500

"A federal judge dismissed a racketeering lawsuit accusing Walmart Inc and six other retailers of extortion by forcing accused shoplifters to take costly “restorative justice” classes or else be reported to the police...."

Instagram bans 'graphic' self-harm images after Molly Russell's death | Technology | The Guardian

Sat, 09 Feb 2019 10:44:00 -0500

"Instagram has announced that it will ban all graphic self-harm images as part of a series of changes made in response to the death of British teenager Molly Russell. The photo-sharing platform made the decision – which critics said was necessary but long overdue – in response to a tide of public anger over the suicide of the 14-year-old girl, whose Instagram account contained distressing material about depression and suicide. After days of growing pressure on Instagram culminated in a meeting with health secretary Matt Hancock, the social network’s head Adam Mosseri admitted that the company had not done enough and said that explicit imagery of self-harm would no longer be allowed on the site...."

Man with unusual last name can’t get ‘Assman’ license plate

Sat, 09 Feb 2019 10:42:00 -0500

"If this sounds like a Seinfeld episode, that’s because it was. A Canadian license plate review committee has rejected a man’s request to personalize his license plate with his real name: “Assman,” because it could be misread and cause offense, according to a report. Dave Assman, who lives in the Canadianprovince Saskatchewan, said he’s had his request denied before and doubts whether it’ll ever be granted. Tyler McMurchy, a spokesman for the SGI, which reviews personalized license plate requests, said the committee must abide by a set of guidelines regardless if a word “is someone’s name and pronounced differently than the offensive version.” “[T]hat’s not something that would be apparent to other motorists who will see the plate,” McMurchy said...."

Washington state weighs vaccination bill as measles outbreak spreads - CBS News

Sat, 09 Feb 2019 10:41:00 -0500

"Lawmakers in Washington State are proposing a bill that would no longer allow parents to cite philosophical or personal reasons for not vaccinating their child as the region battles a growing measles outbreak. Currently, 18 states allow those exemptions. The 56 confirmed cases in the Pacific Northwest have prompted the governor of Washington to declare a state of emergency...."

Gucci Apologizes For 'Deep Offense' Caused By Sweater Deemed Racist By Some : NPR

Sat, 09 Feb 2019 10:39:00 -0500

"Luxury brand Gucci has removed a sweater from store shelves and from its web site following complaints about the garment's resemblance to blackface. The black sweater, featuring a roll-up collar that covers the lower face with a wide red lip outline around the mouth, was part of Gucci's Fall Winter 2018 line. "Gucci deeply apologizes for the offense caused by the wool balaclava jumper," the company said in a statement late Wednesday. "We consider diversity to be a fundamental value to be fully upheld, respected, and at the forefront of every decision we make." But reaction to the sweater, which had retailed for $890, ranged from deep offense to incredulity that it had been deemed acceptable to begin with, even as some defended it...."

Did you consent to being born? Why one man is suing his parents for giving birth to him | Life and style | The Guardian

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 10:36:00 -0500

"Raphael Samuel, a 27-year-old antinatalist from Mumbai, believes it was wrong for his mother and father to create him without his consent...."

Free Exchange: Cass Sunstein on nudges and freedom - CapX

Tue, 05 Feb 2019 05:07:00 -0500

"This week’s guest on Free Exchange is the co-author of one of the most consequential books written in recent years. Cass Sunstein is a professor at Harvard Law School and one of America’s most prolific and prominent academics. Nudge, which Sunstein wrote with the economist Richard Thaler just over a decade ago, applied the insights of behavioural economics to policymaking. Its publication was the start of a quiet revolution in government, with the creation of so-called ‘nudge units’ that have found ways of boosting pension saving, reducing energy consumption and catching cancer earlier with small changes that make it as easy as possible for people to make the right choices. I spoke to Cass about nudges, his time putting theory into practice in the Obama administration, and his new book, On Freedom, in which he argues that we need to rethink freedom of choice...."

Opinion | How Silicon Valley Puts the ‘Con’ in Consent - The New York Times

Tue, 05 Feb 2019 05:06:00 -0500

"If no one reads the terms and conditions, how can they continue to be the legal backbone of the internet? ... The average person would have to spend 76 working days reading all of the digital privacy policies they agree to in the span of a year. Reading Amazon’s terms and conditions alone out loud takes approximately nine hours. Why would anyone read the terms of service when they don’t feel as though they have a choice in the first place? It’s not as though a user can call up Mark Zuckerberg and negotiate his or her own privacy policy. The “I agree” button should have long ago been renamed “Meh, whatever.” The legal fiction of consent is blatant in the privacy scandal du jour. Both Google and Facebook have been paying people — including minors as young as 13 — to download an app that tracks nearly all their phone activity and usage habits.... Americans deserve strong privacy protections. Consent is not enough to replace them. The clicks that pass for consent are uninformed, non-negotiated and offered in exchange for services that are often necessary for civic life. It’s time to start seeing the “I agree” button for what it really is."

Opinion | Mark Zuckerberg’s Delusion of Consumer Consent - The New York Times

Sat, 02 Feb 2019 04:08:00 -0500

"In a recent Wall Street Journal commentary, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that Facebook users want to see ads tailored to their interests. But the data show the opposite is true. With the help of major polling firms, we conducted two large national telephone surveys of Americans in 2012 and 2009. When we asked people whether they wanted websites they visit to show them commercial ads, news or political ads “tailored to your interests,” a substantial majority said no. Around half did say they wanted discounts tailored to their interests. But that too changed after we told them how companies gathered the information that enables tailoring, such as following you on a website. Bottom line: If Facebook’s users in the United States are similar to most Americans (and studies suggest they are), large majorities don’t want personalized ads — and when they learn how companies find out information about them, even greater percentages don’t want them...."

Muslims demand Nike pull Air Max 270 off shelves over 'offensive' logo | Fox News

Thu, 31 Jan 2019 11:23:00 -0500

"Thousands of people are demanding sports apparel giant Nike recall its Air Max 270 shoe, saying that the "blasphemous" logo is offensive to Muslims. A Change.org petition, which garnered more than 14,000 signatures by mid-day Wednesday, claims that the logo resembles “Allah,” the Arabic word for God, written in Arabic script...."

Children Are Asking The Internet How To Get Vaccinated Without Their Parents' Consent | IFLScience

Thu, 31 Jan 2019 11:21:00 -0500

" "I am writing because I am the 15-year-old son of an anti-vaccine parent. I have spent the last 4 years trying to convince my mother that vaccines are safe. I haven't succeeded," one boy wrote on a subreddit dedicated to legal advice. "So instead I am trying to research how to be vaccinated without my mother's consent." ... It is by no means an isolated post. Unfortunately, the answer is that in the US there isn't a whole lot you can do about the situation. From age 16 you are legally entitled to confidential doctor's appointments without your parents present, but in most states you have to be 18 to give your own consent for medical procedures. Without convincing your parents to give consent, there are very few ways you can legally get vaccinated, without taking the rather major step of getting yourself legally emancipated from your parents.... However, there are exceptions, as Vaxopedia.org point out. In the following 15 states, it is possible to give your own consent to vaccinations...."

Are medical editors responsible if articles they publish cause harm? | CMAJ

Sun, 27 Jan 2019 06:05:00 -0500

"Five years ago, the BMJ published an Analysis article that argued that statins have no overall benefit for patients at low risk of heart disease. Months later, it became the focus of a media storm when a researcher complained that the authors had overstated the frequency of adverse effects. The BMJ corrected the article, but the debate continues, with the journal pushing for an independent review of trial data. More than 200 000 people in the United Kingdom have since stopped taking statins, which researchers estimate may contribute to 2000 extra cardiovascular events in the future. Journal editors have a responsibility for such harms, says Thomas Ploug...."

Trump Judicial Nominee: Rape Victims Are Partly At Fault If They Were Drinking - The Intellectualist

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 08:44:00 -0500

"If a woman "drinks to the point where she can no longer" consent, that was part of her choice, said Neomi Rao in 1994.... In her writings in the Yale Herald during her time as an undergrad at Yale, Rao argued that rape victims are partially at fault if they’ve been drinking. In 1994 she wrote: “A good way to avoid a potential date rape is to stay reasonably sober,” Rao wrote. "And if she drinks to the point where she can no longer choose, well, getting to that point was part of her choice." To drop this line of reasoning is to absolve women of "moral responsbibility," she said: "Implying that a drunk woman has no control of her actions, but that a drunk man does strips women of all moral responsibility.” ..."

Neomi Rao Was Right About Dwarf Tossing, Dignity, and Consent. She Deserves To Be a Federal Judge. | R Street

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 08:41:00 -0500

"Seven years ago Neomi Rao, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, defended the concept of “dwarf tossing”—wherein someone with dwarfism voluntarily allows himself to be thrown, while wearing protective gear, onto a padded surface. While invoking the example was no doubt provocative, Rao’s larger point dealt not with the sport itself but with the dignity inherent to making consensual arrangements.... “Respect for intrinsic human dignity, however, would favor individual choice,” the now-D.C. Circuit nominee added. “As with other similar theories, it is a short step from having substantive ideals of dignity to coercion of individuals in the name of these ideals.” ..."

Trademark Fight Over Vulgar Term’s ‘Phonetic Twin’ Heads to Supreme Court - The New York Times

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 08:46:00 -0500

"The Supreme Court, which is pretty squeamish about vulgar language, recently agreed to hear a case about whether the owner of a line of clothing sold under the brand name FUCT can register a trademark for the term. An official at the Patent and Trademark Office said no, reasoning that the term sounded like the past tense of the most versatile Anglo-Saxon curse word. A 1905 federal law allows the office to refuse to register trademarks that are “immoral, deceptive or scandalous.” ... “The trademark at issue is vulgar,” Judge Kimberly A. Moorewrote for a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a specialized court in Washington. “The First Amendment, however,” Judge Moore wrote, “protects private expression, even private expression which is offensive to a substantial composite of the general public.” ... Mr. Brunetti’s lawyers said that the 2017 decision, Matal v. Tam, made his case an easy one. “Disparaging marks are refused because they are offensive,” they told the appeals court. “Scandalous marks are refused because they are offensive.” If one clause is unconstitutional, they argued, then so is the other. ... The first battleground in the new case, then, will be whether a ban on vulgar words and the like is viewpoint neutral. ... Mr. Brunetti’s lawyers disagreed. “Marks favorable to religion are allowed, but marks critical of religion or likely to cause religious controversy are prohibited,” they wrote. “Marks about input into the digestive system are approved, while marks about output are rejected. Polite humor is fine, raunchy humor is scandalous. Raising babies is sweet, making babies is disgusting.” ..."

'McJesus' sculpture sparks outrage among Israel's Christians

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 05:53:00 -0500

"An art exhibit in Israel featuring a crucified Ronald McDonald has sparked protests by the country's Arab Christian minority. Hundreds of Christians calling for the removal of the sculpture, entitled "McJesus," demonstrated at the museum in the northern city of Haifa last week. Israeli police say rioters hurled a firebomb at the museum and threw stones that wounded three police officers. Authorities dispersed the crowds with tear gas and stun grenades.... Museum director Nissim Tal said that he was shocked at the sudden uproar, especially because the exhibit — intended to criticize what many view as society's cult-like worship of capitalism — had been on display for months. It has also been shown in other countries without incident.... The museum has refused to remove the artwork, saying that doing so would infringe on freedom of expression. But following the protests it hung a curtain over the entrance to the exhibit and posted a sign saying the art was not intended to offend.... Jani Leinonen, the Finnish artist behind "McJesus," has also asked that it be taken down — but for a different reason. He says he supports Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, or BDS, a Palestinian-led movement aimed at pressuring Israel to change its policies toward the Palestinians. The group has made significant gains in recent years, persuading a number of foreign artists to cancel performances in Israel...."

How to Take Offense: Responding to Microaggression | Journal of the American Philosophical Association | Cambridge Core

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 08:02:00 -0500

Abstract: A microaggression is a small insulting act made disproportionately harmful by its part in an oppressive pattern of similar insults. How should you respond when made the victim of a microaggression? In this paper I survey several morally salient factors, including effects upon victims, perpetrators, and third parties. I argue, contrary to popular views, that ‘growing a thicker skin’ is not good advice nor is expressing reasonable anger always the best way to contribute to confronting oppression. Instead, appropriately responding to microaggression involves difficult application of practical wisdom that does not easily fall under a simple prescription.

‘Good Samaritan' proposal filed in Florida House

Fri, 04 Jan 2019 05:58:00 -0500

"Failure to provide “reasonable assistance” at the scene of an emergency to a person who is seriously injured could result in a fine of up to $500, under a bill filed Wednesday. The “Good Samaritan” measure (HB 147), filed by Rep. John Cortes, D-Kissimmee, could lead to a second-degree misdemeanor for failing to offer help, which could be provided by calling law enforcement or medical personnel. The proposal, which is filed for the 2019 legislative session, wouldn’t require people to put themselves or anyone else in danger. A stricter Good Samaritan proposal was offered in the 2018 session but was not heard in committees.... The measure was crafted in response to a group of teens in Cocoa who in 2017 stood on the side of a pond, commenting and mocking while filming as a 31-year-old disabled man drowned."

Why are we allowing the state to put us on a diet?

Sun, 30 Dec 2018 05:18:00 -0500

"This week, The Telegraph exposed plans by Public Health England to decree a permissible calorie content for various food portions. The proposed limits are ludicrously specific, presumably to lend them a spurious sense of scientific authority: convenience meals are to be capped at 544 calories, restaurant main courses at 951 calories, onion bhajis at 134 calories and so on. No other country sets such maximums...."

'Stealthing' trial: German man sentenced in landmark case - CNN

Sat, 22 Dec 2018 04:37:00 -0500

"A German police officer has been found guilty of sexual assault for removing a condom during sexual intercourse without the consent of his partner, an act known as "stealthing," in what is believed to be the first case of its kind to be prosecuted in Germany.... The victim told the court that she "explicitly requested" the man to wear a condom and gave no consent to sexual intercourse without protection.... Legal expert Alexandra Brodsky wrote on the topic in the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, advocating for a new civil law that would specifically name the practice as "nonconsensual condom removal," in order to help victims gain justice. Brodsky also noted that though no "stealthing" cases have been reviewed in the United States, criminal trials have taken place in other countries, including Switzerland and Canada.... Jani confirmed to CNN that the police officer in the German case was tried for rape but noted that the court only found him guilty of sexual assault. She added that while the court found his act of "stealthing" to be non-consensual, the sexual intercourse itself was deemed to be consensual...."

No sexual consent means rape, Spain told by legal panel - BBC News

Sun, 16 Dec 2018 06:06:00 -0500

"Spanish law will be toughened to define any non-consensual sexual act as "assault" or "rape" instead of "sexual abuse", experts have decided.... Under the current law, proof of violence or intimidation has to be presented for a case to be treated as "rape"...."

Number of child gamblers quadruples in just two years - BBC News

Fri, 23 Nov 2018 11:43:00 -0500

"The [UK] Gambling Commission study suggests that 450,000 children aged 11 to 16 bet regularly, more than those who have taken drugs, smoked or drunk alcohol...."

Is The IAB’s Consent Framework In Trouble? | AdExchanger

Tue, 20 Nov 2018 05:36:00 -0500

"The IAB Europe’s GDPR Transparency and Consent Framework – which many ad tech companies now depend on to pass user consent strings – could be on shaky legal ground. On Nov. 9, France’s data protection authority, the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (the CNIL), issued a warning against a small French ad tech company called Vectaury that collects and processes geolocation data through a software development kit for programmatic advertising. [Read an English translation of the CNIL’s full notice here.] At first glance, the warning seems vanilla enough. The CNIL calls out Vectaury because the consent management platform it created using the IAB’s framework to collect consent from its publisher and SSP partners doesn’t give users the opportunity to provide consent that is informed, specific and fully opt-in. The company now has three months to purge any data that was collected without consent, to stop processing location data without a legal basis to do so and to prove to the CNIL that all of its practices are on the up and up. “What comes out of this decision is that the CNIL does not appear opposed to consent as a legal basis for the processing data for digital advertising and targeting,” said Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe. “It’s just a question of whether the conditions for consent are met in the execution.” But a closer examination of the language in the CNIL’s warning spells potential trouble, or least another wrinkle, for users of the IAB’s transparency and consent framework as it stands...."

#ThisIsNotConsent: Protests In Ireland After Thong Underwear Cited In Rape Trial : NPR

Sat, 17 Nov 2018 11:44:00 -0500

"Protesters across Ireland took to the streets this week chanting and carrying thongs, after a 27-year-old man was acquitted of rape during a trial in which his lawyer cited the lacy underwear worn by his 17-year-old accuser. "You have to look at the way she was dressed," defense attorney Elizabeth O'Connell said, according to the Irish Examiner. "She was wearing a thong with a lace front." After deliberating for 90 minutes, the jurors – eight men and four women — unanimously found the man not guilty on Saturday. The verdict incited outrage...."

Dispute Over ‘Lingerie’ Comment Persists, as Society Rejects Professor’s Appeal - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 04:42:00 -0500

"The International Studies Association has rejected the appeal of a professor who was found responsible for violating its code of conduct after he jokingly requested that an elevator in a conference hotel be stopped at the lingerie department...."

Boxer dies after a brutal knockout in title fight

Tue, 06 Nov 2018 09:50:00 -0500

"Italian Christian Daghio has tragically died after a boxing title fight in Bangkok. The 49-year-old, a former champion in Muay Thai and boxing, passed away in the hospital Friday after he was put in a coma due to injuries suffered during the WBC Asia title match against Don Parueang on Oct. 26...."

Why are pelvic exams on unconsenting, unconscious women still happening?

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 09:49:00 -0400

"If you happen to have had a gynecological surgery at a major teaching hospital in the U.S., there’s a good chance that after you were given the anesthetic, several medical students used your unresponsive body to learn how to perform a proper pelvic exam. Each student would have inserted two fingers inside your vagina and placed one hand on your abdomen, feeling for abnormalities in your uterus and ovaries. This would have been done entirely for their benefit, not yours. And after the surgery, you would have been sent on your way, with no mention of these exams and with no knowledge of your role as a teaching tool. You, like many women, might feel that this constitutes a serious violation of both your body and your trust. This may sound like something that should have been left behind long ago in the days where medical paternalism was the norm. But this practice still appears to be commonplace in many teaching hospitals in this country. While little data has been collected in terms of frequency, medical students across the country are familiar with the practice and engage in heated debates regarding the ethics of the practice in online forums...."

The EU's Link Tax Will Kill Open Access and Creative Commons News

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 08:25:00 -0400

PS: EU copyright proposal would prohibit news orgs from waiving rights, hence prohibit open licenses. This looks paternalistic: We know what's best for you, and we'll prevent you from harming yourselves by waiving rights and using open licenses. But it might just be stupid and uninformed. Either way, it might pass. Also likely that it will harm the news agencies that the proposal is designed to protect from harm (evidence in the article). No explanation why EU isn't making this a consent issue: Yes, you may waive rights, but only by proving that you understand the risks.

Ireland votes to oust ‘medieval’ blasphemy law | World news | The Guardian

Sun, 28 Oct 2018 06:45:00 -0400

"Campaigners in Ireland celebrated the end of a “medieval” ban on blasphemy on Saturday, after voters overwhelmingly backed removing the offence from the constitution in a referendum. The referendum saw 64.85% vote yes to remove the prohibition on blasphemy, with 35.15% in favour of retaining it...."

It Can’t Hurt to Ask—or Can it? | From the Bell Tower

Sat, 27 Oct 2018 12:21:00 -0400

PS paraphrase: A small, private liberal arts college offered a woman philosopher a tenure-track job. Thinking it would be safe to negotiate, she made several requests (not demands) to sweeten the deal. Instead of just saying 'no', the college rescinded its offer. This is an example in which it's not the case that there's no harm in asking. Liffey and I discussed this by email 4/3/14, and think the woman's questions showed she might not be a good fit for the college (to put it mildly), even if the college had other options than just rescinding the offer. Note that in other cases in which it's not the case that there's no harm in asking, the harm is to the asked, not the asker. For example: a man crouching behind a car at night until a woman walks by, and then leaping out and asking for sex.

Overcriminalization: Ask Tammie Hedges — It’s Time to Undo Bad State Laws | National Review

Sun, 14 Oct 2018 10:03:00 -0400

"In the wake of Hurricane Florence, North Carolina prosecutors served Tammie Hedges with a twelve-count criminal indictment. Hedges runs a non-profit group, Crazy’s Claws N Paws, and during the storm she offered both shelter and basic first aid to pets whose evacuating owners could not take them along. Local officials, at the behest of the state’s Department of Agriculture, accused Ms. Hedges of practicing veterinary medicine without a license. Facing a public outcry, prosecutors have since dropped these charges. But other individuals who find themselves in the state’s prosecutorial crosshairs have had to go to court to vindicate their rights. Among these was another North Carolinian, Steve Cooksey, who in 2012 was accused by the state of the unlicensed practice of dietetics after he blogged about his dietary practices. Cooksey eventually won a challenge before the U.S. Court of Appeals on First Amendment grounds, but Steven Pruner, another North Carolinian, was not so lucky: In 2011, he was sentenced to 45 days of police custody for selling hot dogs without a permit from his food cart outside the Duke University Medical Center...."

The Five-Year-Old Who Was Detained at the Border and Persuaded to Sign Away Her Rights | The New Yorker

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 06:03:00 -0400

"According to a long-standing legal precedent known as the Flores settlement, which established guidelines for keeping children in immigration detention, [5 year old] Helen had a right to a bond hearing before a judge; that hearing would have likely hastened her release from government custody and her return to her family. At the time of her apprehension, in fact, Helen checked a box on a line that read, “I do request an immigration judge,” asserting her legal right to have her custody reviewed. But, in early August, an unknown official handed Helen a legal document, a “Request for a Flores Bond Hearing,” which described a set of legal proceedings and rights that would have been difficult for Helen to comprehend. (“In a Flores bond hearing, an immigration judge reviews your case to determine whether you pose a danger to the community,” the document began.) On Helen’s form, which was filled out with assistance from officials, there is a checked box next to a line that says, “I withdraw my previous request for a Flores bond hearing.” Beneath that line, the five-year-old signed her name in wobbly letters...."

A teacher in California is explaining consent to her third-graders with a simple chart - CNN

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 07:22:00 -0400

"With the recent news about the #MeToo movement...the term "consent" has become part of the national dialogue. It also can be confusing. So one California teacher, worried that her students may not understand the concept, created a simple chart to explain it. Liz Kleinrock, a third-grade teacher at Citizens of the World Charter School in Los Angeles, calls her explainer "All About Consent." Designed for 8- and 9-year-olds, it outlines when one should ask for consent, how to recognize it and what to do if it's denied. Kleinrock shared the chart on her Instagram feed, where it gathered a lot of attention in recent days...."

Pakistan Islamists warn of 'terrible consequences' of blasphemy appeal | Reuters

Tue, 09 Oct 2018 12:47:00 -0400

"A hardline Pakistani Islamist group has warned of “terrible consequences” if a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy is granted leniency in an appeal heard on Monday, a case that has drawn global headlines and indignation.... Asia Bibi, a mother of four, in 2010 became the first woman to be sentenced to death under Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws.... Her case has outraged Christians worldwide and been a source of division within Pakistan, where two politicians who sought to help Bibi were assassinated, including Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who was shot by his own bodyguard. The ultra-religious Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) party, which makes punishing blasphemy its main campaign rallying cry and lionizes the bodyguard who killed Taseer, warned the court against any “concession or softness” for Bibi.... Insulting Islam’s prophet is punishable by death under Pakistani law, and blasphemy accusations stir such emotions that they are almost impossible to defend against. Dozens have been killed following blasphemy claims, sometimes by mobs of men.... Rights groups say the blasphemy law is increasingly exploited by religious extremists as well as ordinary Pakistanis to settle personal scores. The law does not define blasphemy and evidence might not be reproduced in court for fear of committing a fresh offence...."

Child marriage in the U.S. is surprisingly prevalent. Now states are passing laws to make it harder. - The Washington Post

Sat, 06 Oct 2018 09:16:00 -0400

"Even in an era when the median age of marrying has climbed higher and higher, unions like Phil and Maria’s [he 25, she 16] remain surprisingly prevalent in the United States. Between 2000 and 2010, an estimated 248,000 children were married, most of whom were girls, some as young as 12, wedding men. Now, under pressure from advocates and amid a nationwide reckoning over gender equality and sexual misconduct, states have begun ending exceptions that have allowed marriages for people younger than 18, the minimum age in most states. Texas last year banned it, except for emancipated minors. Kentucky outlawed it, except for 17-year-olds with parental and judicial approval. Maryland considered increasing the minimum marrying age from 15, but its bill failed to pass in April. Then in May, Delaware abolished the practice under every circumstance, and New Jersey did the same in June. Pennsylvania, which may vote to eliminate all loopholes this autumn, could be next.... “Devastating” is how the bill’s memorandum summarized the consequences of child marriage. Nearly 70 percent of the unions end in divorce, research suggests, and for children in their mid-teens, it’s higher still — about 80 percent. Teen brides are nearly three times as likely to have at least five children. Their chance of living in poverty is 31 percent higher. And they’re 50 percent more likely to drop out of school...."

Women Are Not 'Chattel,' Says India's Supreme Court In Striking Down Adultery Law : NPR

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 08:14:00 -0400

"India's Supreme Court has struck down a colonial-era law that made adultery illegal, calling it arbitrary and saying it is unconstitutional because it "treats a husband as the master." Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code makes it a crime for a man to have intercourse with another man's wife "without the consent or connivance of that man." The law gives a husband exclusive right to prosecute his wife's lover – and does not grant a wife power to do the same. It does not penalize the woman, nor any married man who has sex with an unmarried woman...."

We’re Teaching Consent All Wrong - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 08:11:00 -0400

"In the midst of the larger #MeToo movement, and a campus climate characterized by hookup culture, it seems universities have figured out that educating about consent — what it is, how to talk about it, how to instill it as a value and practice — is essential. But we’re going about it all wrong. We teach the hows of consent but not the whys. The questions are more complicated, and intellectually richer, than we acknowledge. This gives us an opportunity — in fact, an obligation — to extend the conversation to the classroom, not relegate it exclusively to orientations and extracurricular workshops. The academy’s resistance to taking it there not only shortchanges our students but is also a failure of the imagination.... Consent is complicated, but typically we try to make consent education "easy" — as easy as "yes means yes" and "no means no." It usually involves a first-year orientation lecture or a series of comedic skits, with maybe an online human-resources tutorial — and not much else. Think of the clever, tongue-in-cheek cartoon video "Tea Consent," which includes lessons such as, "Unconscious people don’t want tea," and "If someone said yes to tea around your house last Saturday, that doesn’t mean they want tea all the time." ..."

When Do Workplace Wellness Programs Become Coercive?

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 11:36:00 -0400

"Workplace wellness programs that offer employees a financial carrot for undergoing health screenings, sticking to exercise regimens or improving their cholesterol levels have long been controversial. Starting January 1, they may become even more contentious. That's when a federal judge's decision to overturn existing rules about the programs takes effect. The decision casts uncertainty over what the appropriate upper limit for these types of financial incentives should be — specifically when employers offer them to workers to participate in programs that require clinical testing or the disclosure of their personal health data. Under the Americans with Disabilities Acts and genetic privacy law, an employer can't force someone to disclose this kind of private information — any disclosure must be voluntary. The central question is how truly voluntary something is when a large financial incentive is attached...."

Yes, get consent. But be human, too. - The Washington Post

Fri, 14 Sep 2018 12:24:00 -0400

"That harrowing scene [of a simulated drunken rape in Princeton’s orientation-week sex-ed program] was followed by a somber debriefing and an introduction to the college’s peer advisers for sexual health. Having sex with a blacked-out classmate was not okay, because she could not consent. An administrator took pains to define the term and to discuss the “gray area” between a clear yes and an absolute no — it was described as a contaminated space, where to engage in sexual activity was to assume varying amounts of risk. This was where it began to strike me as odd, in a way it hadn’t back when I was one of the 18-year-olds in the audience. Something was missing from the conversation, which seemed awfully coldblooded. The discussion was all about consent, but it was only about consent. Consent is not a bad thing, of course — a profusion of sexual harassment cases has taught us that much — but consent isn’t enough.... Consent is the line we use to separate the acceptable from the unacceptable, but it’s thin and often detached from a real understanding of the human person. While consent is a helpful legal framework for risk avoidance, it too often allows us to bypass questions of respect, relationship and care.... It’s not enough to just note that there is a “gray area” that requires risk avoidance, independent from any ethical concerns...."

Woman’s blasphemy conviction in Indonesia sparks backlash, intensifies concerns - The Washington Post

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 08:57:00 -0400

"A Buddhist woman’s conviction this week on blasphemy charges has alarmed many in Indonesia who were already worried about the erosion of religious pluralism in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country. Meiliana, a 44-year-old Buddhist from the island of Sumatra, was convicted Tuesday of violating Indonesia’s controversial blasphemy law and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Her crime: complaining about the volume of the Islamic call to prayer blasted by a mosque’s loudspeakers near her home...."

Mexican city legalises sex in public | The Independent

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 08:55:00 -0400

"A city in Mexico has approved a law change allowing sexual intercourse and exhibitionism in public, providing no one complains about it. The move is intended to prevent police in Guadalajara, a city of 1.5 million people, from extorting couples who “give their love” to each other in public, said a councillor who presented the initiative. Guadalupe Morfin Otero, the politician who proposed the change, cited a survey among university students in which 90 per cent said they had experienced extortion by officers who accused them of immoral acts or exhibitionism...."

11 and Married: Malaysia Spars Over an Age-Old Practice - The New York Times

Sat, 04 Aug 2018 11:53:00 -0400

"In its election manifesto, the opposition coalition that won power in May [in Malaysia] promised to outlaw child marriage.... Constitutionally, Malaysia’s legal system is bifurcated. Non-Muslim Malaysians, mostly from the nation’s ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, are bound by civil law. Under the law, unless special consent is given by a high-ranking state minister, Malaysia’s non-Muslims cannot get married until they are 18. The country’s ethnic Malay Muslim majority, however, must hew to Islamic law. A Shariah court must grant permission for minors below the age of 16 to marry. If a Muslim receives approval from Shariah authorities, there is no minimum age for marriage.... In some instances, girls have ended up married to men charged with raping them. In 2015, a man from the eastern Malaysian state of Sarawak was charged with the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl. But the case was dropped after he married her with permission from a Shariah court. Marital rape is not a crime in Malaysia. Sometimes, Shariah courts accept underage unions to legitimize out-of-wedlock pregnancies, the Unicef report said. Other child marriages are driven by the poverty of the bride’s family.... Muslim-majority countries like Morocco and Egypt have outlawed child marriage, although underage unions remain common there...."

Congress moves on occupational licensing reform, but there's more to do | TheHill

Sat, 04 Aug 2018 11:44:00 -0400

"The common refrain in Washington, D.C. and around the country is that Congress is incapable of getting anything done. But amidst the partisan squalor, Congress did something surprising, if relatively unnoticed, last week: it enacted occupational licensing legislation along bipartisan lines. The House and Senate passed the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act. Among the bill’s myriad features was a version of the New Hope Act, legislation that would allow states to use federal education funds to identify and examine licenses or certifications that “pose an unwarranted barrier to entry into the workforce.” States could potentially use this money to, say, form a commission to study existing licensing requirements in the state and identify ones that should be eliminated or curtailed...."

Denmark’s Ban on Muslim Face Veil Is Met With Protest - The New York Times

Sat, 04 Aug 2018 11:37:00 -0400

"Denmark’s ban on face veils in public took effect on Wednesday, setting off protests and reigniting a debate over a law that rights groups say discriminates against Muslim women. The law, passed in May, does not specifically mention Muslim dress — it states that “anyone who wears a garment that hides the face in public will be punished with a fine” — but protesters say Muslim women are the intended target...."

The governor of Kansas wants this flag art destroyed - Vox

Sat, 28 Jul 2018 10:44:00 -0400

"A traveling art exhibit featuring an artistic depiction of the American flag has angered conservatives. A lot. They’ve called it “outrageous” and “offensive” to “red-blooded American patriots,” and have even demanded that it be destroyed. A candidate for the US House of Representatives has set up a petition on her campaign website to have the exhibit taken down, saying, “desecrating our flag that many have fought and died for is not acceptable.” One image in the exhibit seems to be the main target: a painting depicting the American flag festooned with black paint and a sock...."

Getting ‘Consent’ for Sex Is Too Low a Bar - The New York Times

Sun, 22 Jul 2018 07:25:00 -0400

"Here’s the problem: guidance that centers on the term “consent” suggests that a legal standard for permissible sexual interactions is also a decent or desirable one. Which it isn’t. So long as discussions of consent crowd out discussions of basic interpersonal sensitivity, we should not be surprised by reports of young men who (more often than the other way round) badger young women for sexual favors. It may be legal to wear someone down, but doing so is not the basis for healthy relationships between any two people, be they of the opposite or same sex.... And so long as we normalize mere consent as an acceptable standard for sexual engagement, it will remain commonplace for young women (and sometimes, young men) to harbor feelings of confusion and regret after participating in sexual activity for which they technically gave consent, but only when pressured.... What if we reserved the term consent for its more appropriate uses, such as in the courtroom or when submitting to a medical procedure? And what if, in the place of consent, we advised young people to check for nothing less than enthusiastic agreement from their sexual partners? We could add, “I get it that healthy sex can include some uncertainty. Feeling apprehensive yet eager is all right. But if you or your partner feels apprehensive and merely willing, that’s a no go.” When drinking is involved, even enthusiastic agreement might be too low a bar for consent, but it’s still an improvement upon the standard we hold now."

A religious Oregon couple didn’t believe in medical care. After newborn’s death, they’re headed to prison. - The Washington Post

Fri, 13 Jul 2018 06:06:00 -0400

PS: No religious defense to child abuse or negligent homicide. Freedom of religion (here) is the freedom of competent adults to consent to the risks of faith healing. To impose those risks on their unconsenting children is a crime.

Opinion | Let Dying People End Their Suffering - The New York Times

Sat, 23 Jun 2018 12:23:00 -0400

"[My friend] could tell me that ["I’m so grateful that I won’t have to spend my last days or weeks in extreme agony”] because California’s End of Life Options Act— supported by 76 percent of her fellow Californians, [had been] passed by the State Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown.... California’s law was modeled after the one enacted in 1997 in Oregon, as were similar laws in Washington, Vermont, Colorado and, most recently, the District of Columbia and Hawaii; Montana also permits this end-of-life option as a result of a judicial decision rather than legislation. But this source of comfort was ripped away from my friend and her family last month when a judge in Riverside County overturned the law on a technicality.... Let me be clear: I understand that many people believe that only God should determine the time of their death, and I support them 100 percent. Others want every additional minute of life that medical science can give them, and I support those people 100 percent. But the end of life is an extremely personal experience. If, when my time comes, I see only unbearable suffering ahead of me, then I want my preference to have access to medical aid in dying to be supported 100 percent, as well. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu has written, “Regardless of what you might choose for yourself, why should you deny others the right to make this choice?” The California law was allowing patients that choice. Its nullification is causing them cruel and unnecessary torment."

No charges for 5 teens who mocked and filmed drowning man

Sat, 23 Jun 2018 12:15:00 -0400

"Nearly a year after a 31-year-old disabled man sank beneath the waters of a retention pond as five teens mocked, laughed and videoed his final moments, prosecutors said they will not pursue charges in the case.... [S]aid State Attorney Phil Archer in a prepared statement[:] "Unfortunately, Florida law does not address this behavior and we are ethically restrained from pursuing criminal charges without a reasonable belief of proving a crime beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt.” The case drew worldwide attention amid calls from state lawmakers for new, "Good Samaritan" legislation that would make it a legal requirement for people to call or assist anyone in trouble. The measure, however, failed to come up for a vote in the Florida Legislature. “We had researched every possible avenue to see if there were any criminal charges that could apply. In this case, it just doesn’t apply. It’s unfortunate. It’s regrettable that the laws of Florida, as they are written, don’t allow us to file any charge in this case,” said Yvonne Martinez, spokeswoman for the Cocoa Police Department.... "I believe we all have learned much from this case," he said in a statement issued Friday afternoon. "Recognizing it is not the job of government or police to legislate morality, we as a society must do better in not only showing compassion, but teaching our young people it is always the right thing to help others in need or in distress, even if it is just making a phone call.... The decision to not prosecute means the case is effectively closed."

State appeals court reinstates California's right-to-die law

Mon, 18 Jun 2018 06:37:00 -0400

"A state appeals court has reinstated — at least for now — California’s law allowing terminally ill people to end their lives. The Fourth District Court of Appeals in Riverside issued an immediate stay Friday putting the End of Life Option back into effect. The court also gave opponents of its decision until July 2 to file objections. The law allows adults to obtain a prescription for life-ending drugs if a doctor has determined that they have six months or less to live.... Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel Ottolia declared the law unconstitutional last month, stating that it had been adopted illegally because lawmakers passed it during a special Legislative session called to address other matters. Ottolia didn’t address the issue of whether it’s proper for people to end their lives. Right-to-die advocates hailed Friday’s action.... California health officials reported that 111 terminally ill people took drugs to end their lives in the first six months after the law went into effect June 9, 2016, and made the option legal in the nation’s most populous state. Oregon was the first to provide the option in 1997. It also is allowed in Washington, Vermont, Colorado, Hawaii and Washington D.C."

The History of Marital Rape Laws | CriminalDefenseLawyer.com

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 11:11:00 -0400

"Marital rape was a term that was viewed by the law as an oxymoron until shamefully late in U.S. history. Until the 1970’s, the rape laws in every state in the union included an exception if the rapist and the victim were husband and wife. In 1993, all 50 states had finally eliminated the “marital rape exception.” But the effects of these archaic exceptions persist and interfere with spousal rape prosecutions in some states. This article is a general discussion of marital rape laws. For more information on marital rape laws on a state-by-state basis, see Marital Rape Laws and Penalties...."

Spousal Rape Was First Acknowledged as a Crime in This 1979 Case

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 11:09:00 -0400

"English common law, the source of much traditional law in the U.S., had long held that it wasn’t legally possible for a man to rape his wife. It was in 1736 that Sir Matthew Hale—the same jurist who said that it was hard to prove a rape accusation from a woman whose personal life wasn’t entirely “innocent,” setting the standard that a woman’s past sexual experiences could be used by the defense in a rape case—explained that marriage constituted permanent consent that could not be retracted.... That idea stood for centuries. Then, in 1979, a pair of cases highlighted changing legal attitudes about the concept. Until then, most state criminal codes had rape definitions that explicitly excluded spouses. (In fact, as TIME later pointed out, it wasn’t just the case that saying “no” to one’s husband didn’t make the act that followed rape; in addition, saying “no” to one’s husband was usually grounds for him to get a divorce.) As the year opened, a man in Salem, Ore., was found not guilty of raping his wife, though they both stated that they had fought before having sex. But, even as the verdict was returned, a National Organization for Women spokesperson told TIME that “the very fact that there has been such a case” meant that change was in the air—and she was quickly proved right. The case believed to be the first-ever American conviction for spousal rape came that fall, when a Salem, Mass., bartender drunkenly burst into the home he used to share with his estranged wife and raped her. It’s not hard to see how this case was the one that made the possibility of rape between a married couple clear to the public: they were in the middle of a divorce, and the crime involved house invasion and violence. As TIME noted, several other states had also adopted laws making it possible to pursue such a case, though they had not yet been put to the test...."

"Making marital rape visible: A history of American legal and social mo" by Joann M Ross

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 11:06:00 -0400

Abstract: This study examines the history of marital rape and related topics in the United States within the broader context of women’s legal and political rights. The project demonstrates the interplay between women’s activists, legislators, the criminal justice system, and an involved public necessary to change both societal and legal views on spousal rape, and eventually its criminalization in all fifty states.^ Chief Justice Matthew Hale first announced the legal impossibility of rape in marriage in a seventeenth-century treatise in which he established the irrevocable consent theory, which argued that men had an absolute right to sexual relations within the bonds of marriage, and provided the foundation for a marital rape exemption. While modern case law and legal commentary questioned the veracity of Hale’s presumption, it remained the basis for successful arguments against spousal rape laws for centuries in both Great Britain and the United States.^ Concentrating on approaches to criminalizing marital rape in three of the fifty states, this dissertation provides a reasonable representation of the existence of the marital rape exemption in America, arguments used to maintain the exemption, and various methods used to end this form of gendered violence and gender discrimination accepted in this country until the 1970s. It explores key issues relevant to the social and legal history of spousal rape in the United States: the rise of domestic violence and sexual assault movements that began in the late 1970s and the promulgation of rape shield laws, which provided evidentiary protections for rape victims during trial. ^ Ultimately, this project demonstrates several of the important victories that women made in areas of personal autonomy over their bodies, which led to the criminalization of rape in marriage. Over the course of nearly one hundred and fifty years, social and legal attitudes toward spousal rape – actually, sexual assault in general – resulted in greater legal protection for the rights of married women. The elimination of the marital rape exemption, better trained law enforcement, increased services provided by advocates, and a more informed public all contributed to increased visibility about the existence of marital rape and active responses to that crime.

Germaine Greer's dangerous ideas about rape (opinion) - CNN

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 11:04:00 -0400

"This week, at the Hay Festival of literature and arts in Wales, the 79-year-old author of "The Female Eunuch" and vocal figurehead of second-wave feminism claimed that we shouldn't think of rape as "a spectacularly violent crime," but as 'bad sex ... where there is no communication." ... "Why not believe the woman and lower the penalty?" Greer asked. 'If we are going to say, 'Trust us, believe us,' if we do say that our accusation should stand as evidence, then we do have to reduce the tariff for rape." ... Earlier this year, Greer also drew outrage with remarks around the #MeToo movement. She told The Sydney Morning Herald: "If you spread your legs because he said, 'Be nice to me and I'll give you a job in a movie,' then I'm afraid that's tantamount to consent, and it's too late now to start whingeing about that." ..."

Writing affirmative consent into YA novels: Teens need healthy models in fiction, too | Salon.com

Sun, 03 Jun 2018 13:43:00 -0400

"I can’t remember learning much at school about sex either, at least not from my classes. Instead, I relied on what I read in the news, what I heard from friends and what I could find out myself. During this era, “no means no” was considered a big step in acknowledging that what people then called “date rape” was actually a real thing; this was also the height of the AIDS crisis, when it wasn’t a big leap to think sex might actually kill you. This meant what I could find on my own came mostly from books. Specifically, novels.... The problem was that the novels I read were mostly for adults — there wasn’t a whole lot of good, honest writing about sex intended for teenagers. Judy Blume’s "Forever" was the major exception — everyone I knew had read it and dog-eared the same pages — but most of the books for teenagers back then fed into the fears society was trying to instill into us so we didn’t get pregnant or sick. There was little room for pleasure or fun or even responsibility, except insofar as the characters had to decide whether to raise their children or give them up for adoption. I didn’t understand how (and when) we were supposed to transition from thinking of sex as something that came with either babies or death to something that we might actually enjoy. Now that I write for young adults myself, I feel a sense of responsibility to do better, to tackle some of the issues teenagers face now...."

Mutually Nonconsensual Sex

Sat, 02 Jun 2018 12:43:00 -0400

"Is it possible for two people to simultaneously sexually assault each other? ... "The event in précis, as summarized by Robby Soave of Reason magazine: “Male and female student have a drunken hookup. He wakes up, terrified she's going to file a sexual misconduct complaint, so he goes to the Title IX office and beats her to the punch. She is found guilty and suspended.” ... As [lawyer Josh Engel] told me, “From a constitutional standpoint a public school violates the equal-protection rights of their students when there is no rational basis to differentiate between male and female students. The court found that even if only one student makes a report, if the school possesses knowledge that both were intoxicated, “the school has an affirmative obligation to investigate both students for misconduct without waiting for a ‘report,’” Engel said. In other words...the days of blaming one person (almost always the man) for a no-harm, no foul, mutually drunken hook up may be coming to an end...."

The Right-To-Try Bill Puts Patients At Risk In The Name Of Helping Them | HuffPost

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 07:19:00 -0400

"Congress recently approved the federal right-to-try bill after a months-long standoff in the House, and President Donald Trump signed it into law on Wednesday. The measure allows people with life-threatening diseases to bypass the Food and Drug Administration to obtain experimental drugs. The right-to-try movement is nothing if not well-intentioned, inspired by high-profile patient cases ― mostly desperately ill children ― whose stories struck a nerve with the nation. Much of the public, enamored by the undeniable surface-level appeal of right-to-try legislation, embraced this movement. But those with a deeper understanding of the drug development process ― medical professionals, ethicists and regulators ― have been publicly skeptical. The truth is this legislation will do almost nothing to help terminally ill patients. That’s because the entire right-to-try approach is based on a myth: that the FDA is the rate-limiting middleman preventing patients from receiving potentially life-saving drugs. Over the last four years, right-to-try legislation has gained momentum and is already the law in 40 states. The laws grant terminally ill patients who have exhausted other treatment options the right to request access to potentially life-saving drugs that have cleared Phase I clinical trials without approval or oversight by the FDA. ... The reality is, the real gatekeepers to expedited access ― as Josh Hardy’s family encountered ― are pharmaceutical companies. And this new right-to-try bill does nothing to compel manufacturers to grant patients access to experimental drugs. In a meager attempt to nudge companies to authorize more compassionate use cases, the federal right-to-try bill offers companies immunity from legal recourse should drug-related adverse events occur. It also prohibits the FDA from considering these events during its approval process.... But right-to-try legislation isn’t just superfluous ― it may also create a new type of inequality among the terminally ill. To rally drug companies to provide experimental therapies, patients and their families often need to be well-connected, relatively affluent or adept at navigating social media to put drug companies under pressure. Those without the resources or know-how may never receive access to experimental therapies...."

Denmark passes law banning burqa and niqab | World news | The Guardian

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 06:53:00 -0400

"Denmark has joined several other European countries in banning garments that cover the face, including Islamic veils such as the niqab and burqa, in a move condemned by human rights campaigners as “neither necessary nor proportionate”. ... The legislation allows people to cover their face when there is a “recognisable purpose” such as cold weather or complying with other legal requirements, for example using motorcycle helmets under Danish traffic rules....If the intention of this law was to protect women’s rights, it fails abjectly. Instead, the law criminalises women for their choice of clothing and in so doing flies in the face of those freedoms Denmark purports to uphold." ..."

Swedish Law Now Recognizes Sex Without Consent as Rape - The New York Times

Fri, 25 May 2018 05:38:00 -0400

" “Sex must be voluntary — if it is not, then it is illegal.” This is the straightforward language of a new Swedish law set to change the way rape and other sexual crimes are prosecuted in the country. It is the first law in the country that acknowledges sex without explicit consent as rape, a move lawmakers say is “based on the obvious.” With the passage of the law, Sweden became the 10th country in Western Europe to recognize nonconsensual sex as rape. On Wednesday, the Swedish Parliament passed the law requiring explicit consent — verbal or physical — from participants before they engage in a sexual act. Under previous laws, prosecutors had to show that there had been violence, a threat of violence or the exploitation of a victim in a vulnerable state to establish rape. Beginning on July 1, when the new law comes into effect, a prosecutor will need simply show that explicit consent was never given.... Two new crimes — negligent rape and negligent sexual assault — have also been added to the criminal code, for instances when one party goes ahead with a sexual act without consent and where it should be obvious to the offender that consent was not given. The maximum penalty for negligent rape is four years...."

Birmingham woman guilty of duping daughter into forced marriage | UK news | The Guardian

Fri, 25 May 2018 05:33:00 -0400

"A woman from Birmingham has been found guilty of deceiving her teenage daughter into travelling to Pakistan and forcing her to marry a man nearly twice her age in the first successful prosecution of its kind. The jury at Birmingham crown court heard that the teenager, who became pregnant by the man when she was just 13, had sobbed as the marriage took place. The court was told that the defendant, a 45-year-old mother of four – who cannot be named for legal reasons – duped her daughter, then 17, into travelling to Pakistan by claiming it was a family holiday and groomed her by bribing her with the promise of a mobile phone. While abroad, on the teenager’s 18th birthday, she revealed her plan to have her married to one of her relatives and threatened to tear up her passport if she did not comply with her wishes...."

Incapable to support, man seeks Euthanasia for ailing sister in Chittorgarh | Daily Kiran : Latest News Headlines, Current Live Breaking News from India & World

Thu, 24 May 2018 13:15:00 -0400

"Incapable to support his differently abled sister, an unemployed man has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking Euthanasia for her. Sudhir Mishra, a resident of Pratapnagar area in Chittorgarh city, has been knocking doors to doors to get sanctioned pension for his sister Sunita who is suffering from 90 percent physical disability. Her unfit mental condition demands someone to look after her around the clock as she is unable to do anything of her own.... Mishra who has a daughter and is not in a good financial condition himself, is unable to work because his sister needs someone at home always to look after. ” She has to be washed, bathed, changed everyday. My wife does all her personal work and she has to be moved in wheel chair. We have a teenage daughter but we cannot afford her studies because we have to look after Sunita too. In such a condition, finding no other option, I have given the mercy killing petition to the Collector because it is better my sister gets death rather than living in such a wretched condition” Sudhir said fighting his tears...."

Judge Overturns Assisted Suicide Law In California

Thu, 17 May 2018 09:32:00 -0400

"A California law permitting physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients has been overturned by a judge who says it was passed unconstitutionally.... "The act itself was rushed through the special session of the Legislature, and it does not have any of the safeguards one would expect to see in a law like this," Larson says. Opponents have argued that the law could lead to coercion and abuse of terminally ill patients...."

David Goodall assisted suicide: Australian,104, ready to die

Mon, 14 May 2018 10:29:00 -0400

"A 104-year-old Australian scientist who flew to Switzerland this week to die in an assisted-suicide facility says he has no doubts about going through with his plan on Thursday and hopes his case will draw attention to the issue of aging and dying. ... Assisted suicide is legal in a handful of countries, including Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands, but only applies to their own residents who have incurable diseases.... Assisted suicide is legal in a handful of countries, including Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands, but only applies to their own residents who have incurable diseases.... The Swiss Academy of Medical Science said this year the right to die should be extended to those who are not terminally ill but live with intolerable pain.... Goodall...said he tried clumsily to take his life himself at least three times — and then finally decided to get professional help.... Earlier this year, however, Goodall fell while at home alone in his one-bedroom apartment and remained on the floor for two days until he was found by his cleaner.... On Thursday, a friend will accompany Goodall to Lifecircle, where he is to receive a fatal dose of barbiturates. The lethal cocktail is normally ingested, but since Goodall can’t swallow, the substance will be injected intravenously. Goodall himself will have to open the valve that releases the liquid to comply with Swiss law that bans the interference of third parties in this process. “The supply of the drug will be filmed. This is the only reliable evidence that the (patient) has executed the application himself/herself and in full awareness,” Lifecircle explained on its website.... No one can financially benefit from an assisted suicide, and patients must be mentally capable of making the decision and not be coerced by someone else. A Swiss doctor was to question Goodall to make sure he is of sound mind and his wish to die is well thought out...."

Sexual Consent Debated After Acquittal in Australia Rape Case - The New York Times

Mon, 14 May 2018 10:24:00 -0400

"A Sydney rape case that dragged out for almost five years — through two trials, a conviction, two appeals and the suspect’s eventual acquittal — has set off a flurry of debate in Australia on what constitutes sexual consent.... In the trial that followed, a jury convicted Mr. Lazarus, despite his testimony that Ms. Mullins never said “stop” or “no.” He spent 11 months in jail before he won a jury-less retrial, where he was acquitted. State prosecutors pushed for a third trial, but an appeals court deemed the request unfair. The legal process lasted almost five years...."

Eric Schneiderman’s absurd excuses make an excellent argument for affirmative consent.

Mon, 14 May 2018 10:20:00 -0400

"On Monday evening, the New Yorker published the accounts of four women who say New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subjected them to physical abuse. Two of Schneiderman’s former girlfriends, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, claim he slapped them across the face repeatedly, often during sex, without their consent, causing enough harm to warrant trips to medical professionals. Both say he violently choked them and threatened to kill them if they ever broke up with him. A third former girlfriend told Selvaratnam that Schneiderman choked and hit her in bed, too. Another woman, who declined to use her name in the story, told the magazine that a very drunken Schneiderman brought her to a place he was staying in the Hamptons after a party. As they were making out, he told her that women with high-powered jobs often want men to take charge in bed. “He became more sexually aggressive,” according to the New Yorker, and as the woman drew away, he slapped her across the face two times. She yelled at him and started crying. He said he’d misjudged her desires. “You’d really be surprised,” Schneiderman allegedly said. “A lot of women like it. They don’t always think they like it, but then they do, and they ask for more.” ..."

Body modification industry facing crackdown after 'genital mutilation'

Mon, 14 May 2018 10:17:00 -0400

"The so-called body-modification industry in New South Wales is facing a crackdown after a Central Coast man was charged with genital mutilation over an allegedly botched procedure. Health Minister Brad Hazzard, who is in discussions with the health ministry about tighter regulations, today said people who underwent extreme procedures had "some major issues going on in their head". ... Body dysmorphic disorder [BDD] was a recognised condition that could drive people to undergo body modification, Mr Hazzard said.... "My view is that people should be required to have some sort of psychological assessment before they go and have any of these major things done to their body that puts themselves at risk," he said.... Dr Babidge told AAP plastic surgeons may seek a psychiatric opinion if they suspect a repeat client is returning due to BDD.... "Maybe there's some sort of sliding scale of how radical and permanent the procedure is going to be that whoever is the person doing it has a higher index of caution to assess that person's commitment and their understanding of the permanency of things." ..."

When Saying ‘Yes’ Is Easier Than Saying ‘No’ - The New York Times

Mon, 14 May 2018 10:14:00 -0400

"For years, my female friends and I have spoken, with knowing nods, about a sexual interaction we call “the place of no return.” It is a kind of sexual nuance that most women instinctively understand: the situation you thought you wanted, or maybe you actually never wanted, but somehow here you are and it’s happening and you desperately want out, but you know that at this point exiting the situation would be more difficult than simply lying there and waiting for it to be over. In other words: saying yes when we really mean no...."

45 Stories of Sex and Consent on Campus - The New York Times

Mon, 14 May 2018 10:12:00 -0400

"As anyone who has fumbled through a sexual encounter knows, real-life sex can be far more complicated than a poster declaring, “Consent is Sexy.” Many remain confused about what constitutes sexual consent, and talking about it in the moment can feel awkward. On college campuses, a combination of alcohol, inexperience and differing expectations about how one is “supposed” to perform only heightens the confusion. In the time of #MeToo, the debate about how to handle sexual consent has become louder than ever. Many sexual encounters seem to take place in a so-called gray zone of miscommunication, denial, rationalization and, sometimes, regret. We wanted to explore that complexity when we asked college students for their stories of navigating this gray zone: what they anticipated, how they negotiated consent and processed the aftermath, and what advice they would give their younger selves. These are their stories...."

Ask Your Baby's Permission Before Changing Diaper, Says Sexual Consent Expert

Mon, 14 May 2018 10:06:00 -0400

"A sex education expert has sparked a debate on sexual consent, after she argued that parents should ask children for permission before changing their diapers....Carson argued that parents should teach their children about consent as early as possible.... Katie Russell, a spokesperson for the non-profit sexual violence organization Rape Crisis England and Wales, told Newsweek that Carson's overall message had been misunderstood. Carson didn't appear to be suggesting that diaper-changing is a sexual act, or that a baby is capable of communicating their consent, said Russell...."

If Gov. John Carney's Signs, Delaware Will Be The First State In The Nation To Outlaw Child Marriage : NPR

Sat, 05 May 2018 10:19:00 -0400

"The Delaware Senate voted unanimously Thursday to become the first state in the U.S. to ban child marriage, no exceptions. Legislation prohibiting minors from marrying under any circumstance is headed to the governor's desk where he is expected to sign it. Right now Delaware is one of 25 states that allows a child of any age to get married. And while most state laws require that people must be at least 18, they allow for exceptions, like pregnancy or parent consent.... The legislation would also eliminate the statutory rape exception in Delaware law. The state bans sex between a minor and someone who is 30 years old or older. But it's not considered rape if the two are married. Critics of the bill say parents should be allowed to let their kids get married without government interference. They also raise concerns about the state interfering with religions or cultures that support arranged marriages....."

Laws to End Child Marriage | Unchained At Last

Sat, 05 May 2018 10:19:00 -0400

"Unchained started and now leads the growing national movement to end child marriage in the US. Child marriage, or marriage before 18, is legal in every US state. And child marriage is happening in the US at an alarming rate: Unchained’s groundbreaking research revealed that nearly a quarter-million children as young as 12 were married in the US between 2000 and 2010 – mostly girls wed to adult men...."

Blindfolded Woman Tricked Into Sex With the Wrong Man

Sat, 05 May 2018 10:13:00 -0400

"Iowa’s state supreme court affirmed that Michael Kelso-Christy is guilty of second-degree burglary for posing as a former classmate online to have sex with a blindfolded woman.... Kelso-Christy’s appeals also led to questions about the legal definitions of sexual abuse, consent, and fraud. Namely, Iowa’s Supreme Court considered: “Does obtaining consent to a sex act by impersonating another person render an otherwise consensual sex act ‘against the will’ under Iowa sex abuse statutes?” On Friday, the court upheld Kelso-Christy’s conviction in a 4-2 opinion, ruling that Jessica could not have legally consented to a sexual encounter with him while she believed he was someone else...." PS: Why wasn't the defendant charged with rape or any kind of sexual assault? PS: Court says the woman consented to have sex with another man, not this man. But says nothing about the evidence for that consent.

She called his elevator joke offensive. He called her complaint ‘frivolous.’ Who’s right? - The Washington Post

Thu, 03 May 2018 12:25:00 -0400

"“Ladies’ lingerie.” It was a lame, outmoded joke — the sort of thing you say in a crowded elevator to alleviate the discomfort of being jammed among strangers, an artifact of the days of fancy department stores with operators announcing the floor stops. Those two words — the speaker remembers saying “ladies’ lingerie,” a passenger who was offended recalls hearing “women’s lingerie” — have turned into the latest exemplar in the academy of political correctness gone wild. The episode, which has not been previously reported, occurred last month in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association. Richard Ned Lebow, a professor of political theory at King’s College London and the 2014 recipient of ISA’s distinguished scholar award, made the remark after someone in his elevator called out to ask for floor requests. Simona Sharoni, professor of women’s and gender studies at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, took offense....[S]he [lodged] a formal complaint lodged less than four hours later...."

There Is No Campus Free Speech Crisis: A Close Look at the Evidence - Niskanen Center

Thu, 03 May 2018 06:40:00 -0400

New data on campus free-speech debates, showing when students would and wouldn't tolerate offensive speech.

uConsent app helps partners consent to hooking up - Android Authority

Tue, 01 May 2018 08:12:00 -0400

"uConsent, a smartphone app for both Android and iOS devices. The purpose of uConsent is to allow two people to create a non-binding agreement to engage in some sort of sexual activity together. Once the agreement is verified, users will have a device-specific, location-tracked agreement that is stored anonymously in the cloud. Here’s how it works: two people agree to create a consent agreement using the app. One person verbally states as well as writes into the app what they are consenting to, while the other does the same. Since they are communicating verbally, the two text entries should be identical. With a swipe in the app, a QR code is created. The requesting party scans the QR code with their device which then generates a note of consent for the agreed-upon actions. In the future, should a dispute arise, the consent agreement can be used to defend oneself against false allegations or to prove oneself against disbelief...."

Fight Over Alfie Evans, a Brain-Damaged Baby, Divides U.K. - The New York Times

Sat, 28 Apr 2018 05:55:00 -0400

"The hospital and doctors treating him in Liverpool say that [1 year old] Alfie suffers from a degenerative neurological condition that is certainly fatal, that he is in a semi-vegetative state and that the only humane course of action is to let him die. His parents, supported by the Italian and Polish governments and the pope, are not convinced that he is beyond hope, or even that the doctors understand his condition, and they want to continue his care. On Wednesday, the British Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that not only approved the withdrawal of care and sustenance, but also prohibited his parents from seeking treatment elsewhere, despite an invitation to take him to a hospital in Rome. The decision is wrenching to the parents, the courts have said, but prolonging Alfie’s life would prolong his suffering, and so it would be contrary to his interests...."

Former MSU dean used practice medical exams for sexual pleasure, court motion claims | MLive.com

Thu, 26 Apr 2018 08:41:00 -0400

"Former Michigan State University dean William Strampel used the premise of clinical medical examinations for sexual gratification, prosecutors claim in a new motion.... The two witnesses said that as clinical skills models they were paid in cash to be subject to practice examinations.... W-1 told investigators she was recruited by Strampel to be a clinical skills model in 2002 and participated about 10 times. She was subject to a full examination from Strampel, including breast, pelvic and vaginal examinations, and would then go to a restaurant alone with Strampel. After the tenth examination, Strampel told the witness he became sexually excited while examining her, and said he was "beginning to get hard," according to the motion...."

Mother says church baptized her disabled child against his will -- and the courts are refusing hear to her case

Thu, 26 Apr 2018 05:41:00 -0400

"April DeFibaugh signed her son up with a mentoring organization Big Brother Big Sister. DeFibaugh’s son is disabled. His mentor took him to get baptized without the approval of the son or his mother. The son has since suffered from recurring nightmares of himself drowning...." PS: If we leave out the nightmares about drowning, there's a difficult "harm" question here.

Chili grower defends world's hottest pepper after man who ate one was hospitalized | Fox News

Mon, 16 Apr 2018 06:14:00 -0400

"A chili grower defended the world’s hottest pepper called the “Carolina Reaper” following a report about a man who was hospitalized after eating the extremely spicy fruit at a contest. Salvatore Genovese, who grows the world’s hottest chili on his British farm, told Sky News on Sunday the pepper needs to be “correctly” cooked and eaten to prevent health problems. "We have sold, in the past couple of years or so, over half a million Carolina reapers and I have never had any knowledge or any complaint of anyone having to be hospitalized,” Genovese told Sky News. "It's not really designed to...just plonk it in your mouth and eat it…I would never do that and I wouldn't recommend it.” ... The medical report also stated this was the first time a person was hospitalized for eating a chili. Shahina Waseem, called Britain’s “Chili Queen,” also defended eating the Carolina Reaper and said the pain usually doesn’t last for a prolonged period — though she did admit eating the pepper makes her feel like she’s “dying” for a bit...."

Worried About Economic Inequality? Get Rid of Occupational Licensing - Hit & Run : Reason.com

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 12:45:00 -0400

"State policymakers who are serious about tackling the issue of income inequality need to consider the role that licensing plays in perpetuating that problem. It does not make sense to prevent someone from earning a living as, say, a barber merely because they did not finish high school and therefore do not meet an arbitrary requirement for a state license. And it makes even less sense for states to require expensive and time-consuming re-licensure processes when workers move from somewhere else. A possible solution to the second problem is the establishment of interstate compacts that recognize out-of-state licenses and allow reciprocity across state lines. That's something the Federal Trade Commission has been encouraging state lawmakers to consider. Fixing the first problem requires a complete reevaluation of why licensing laws exist in the first place. They are meant to protect the public, but too often become tools for incumbent license-holders to wield against would-be competitors. But it's now become clear that fencing out competition does significant damage to more than just the specific workers who are unable to obtain a license—such restrictions also drive an economic wedge between licensed workers and unlicensed ones. The former group benefits when opportunities are removed opportunity from the latter. Economic inequality increases as a result. This makes perfect sense. If state policy is stopping some individuals from obtaining employment, those individuals are naturally going to fall behind their gainfully employed peers, particularly if the same state policy is boosting the earnings of those who are able to work in a protected profession. Loosening licensing laws, therefore, must be a fundamental part of tackling economic inequality...."

Why ‘safe spaces’ at universities are a threat to free speech

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 07:20:00 -0400

"The idea of universities being a “safe space” was until recently an issue that was unique to the US. Now the UK has experienced an upswing in incidents in which so-called “safe space” policies have reportedly threatened the right to free speech in British universities...."

Here's Why I Invented A 'Death Machine' That Lets People Take Their Own Lives

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 07:18:00 -0400

"Some 20 years ago, I became the first physician in the world to administer a legal, lethal, voluntary injection to four of my terminally ill patients (under Australia’s short-lived Rights of the Terminally Ill Act). At the time, I approached death with the confidence, and even arrogance, of someone in the middle of his life. I was about to turn 50. At a psychological level, death was still something that happened to other people. As my work in this field has matured, my vision has shifted from supporting the idea of a dignified death for the terminally ill (the medical model) to supporting the concept of a good death for any rational adult who has “life experience” (the human rights model). At Exit International, the nonprofit organization I founded after the aforementioned overturning of the world’s first voluntary euthanasia law, we interpret that to mean anyone over 50 years of age.... began to envision a machine, device, invention, thing ― I’m searching for terminology here that is not yet in our vocabulary ― that might elevate the spirit when the end is nigh. “The Sarco,” as the capsule that I have co-designed with Dutch engineer Alex Bannink has been named, is my first tangible expression of enquiry for death to be much more than “just dignified.” ... The Sarco is a 3D-printable machine that provides death by hypoxia, an environment with low levels of oxygen .... A Sarco death is painless. There’s no suffocation, choking sensation or “air hunger” as the user breathes easily in a low-oxygen environment. The sensation is one of well-being and intoxication.... By next year, though, the open-source plans [for 3D printing of a Sarco] will be freely available on internet...."

Here's Why I Invented A 'Death Machine' That Lets People Take Their Own Lives

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 07:17:00 -0400

Fifty Shades of Manipulation by Cass R. Sunstein

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 07:10:00 -0400

Abstract: A statement or action can be said to be manipulative if it does not sufficiently engage or appeal to people’s capacity for reflective and deliberative choice. One problem with manipulation, thus understood, is that it fails to respect people’s autonomy and is an affront to their dignity. Another problem is that if they are products of manipulation, people’s choices might fail to promote their own welfare, and might instead promote the welfare of the manipulator. To that extent, the central objection to manipulation is rooted in a version of Mill’s Harm Principle: People know what is in their best interests and should have a (manipulation-free) opportunity to make that decision. On welfarist grounds, the norm against manipulation can be seen as a kind of heuristic, one that generally works well, but that can also lead to serious errors, at least when the manipulator is both informed and genuinely interested in the welfare of the chooser. For the legal system, a pervasive puzzle is why manipulation is rarely policed. The simplest answer is that manipulation has so many shades, and in a social order that values free markets and is committed to freedom of expression, it is exceptionally difficult to regulate manipulation as such. But as the manipulator’s motives become more self-interested or venal, and as efforts to bypass people’s deliberative capacities becomes more successful, the ethical objections to manipulation become very forceful, and the argument for a legal response is fortified. The analysis of manipulation bears on emerging first amendment issues raised by compelled speech, especially in the context of graphic health warnings. Importantly, it can also help orient the regulation of financial products, where manipulation of consumer choices is an evident but rarely explicit concern.

Catholic Devotees Were Nailed to Crosses For Good Friday | Time

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 07:52:00 -0400

"Seven Filipino Roman Catholic devotees, including a woman, were nailed to wooden crosses in a Good Friday reenactment of Jesus Christ’s suffering that was watched by thousands of spectators but frowned upon by church leaders...."

Advance Directive Would Permit Withholding Food And Water In Severe Dementia : Shots - Health News : NPR

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 07:51:00 -0400

"Treading into ethically and legally uncertain territory, a New York end-of-life agency has approved a new document that lets people stipulate in advance that they don't want food or water if they develop severe dementia...."

Utah’s ‘free-range parenting’ law said to be first in the nation - The Washington Post

Fri, 30 Mar 2018 06:23:00 -0400

"The measure, sponsored by Utah state Sen. Lincoln Fillmore (R), exempts from the definition of child neglect various activities children can do without supervision, permitting “a child, whose basic needs are met and who is of sufficient age and maturity to avoid harm or unreasonable risk of harm, to engage in independent activities …” Those activities include letting children “walk, run or bike to and from school, travel to commercial or recreational facilities, play outside and remain at home unattended.” The law does not say what the “sufficient age” is. ..."

For weeks he trained a dog to do a Nazi salute. He was just convicted of a hate crime. - The Washington Post

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 11:13:00 -0400

"Mark Meechan stared at the camera and described the training he had given to his girlfriend’s pug, Buddha. “My girlfriend is always ranting and raving about how cute and adorable her wee dog is,” he said in his Scottish brogue. “And so I thought I would turn him into the least cute thing I could think of, which is a Nazi.” Then Meechan asked the dog the same question, again and again: “Buddha, do you want to gas the Jews?” For nearly two years, the video, which includes a scene of a pug staring obediently at a speech by Adolf Hitler, has raised questions about the murky line between offensive satire and hate speech that normalizes Nazism. The Nazi pug video has been blasted by outraged Jewish leaders and defended by satirists who likened Meechan’s prosecution to censorship in the George Orwell novel “1984.” Now it will probably land Meechan in prison...."

Kentucky Votes To Ban Child Marriage : The Two-Way : NPR

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 09:32:00 -0400

"Kentucky is one of 25 states where, provided certain conditions are met, a child can walk down the aisle to marry at any age – no bride or groom is too young. A bill approved by the Kentucky Legislature and headed to the governor's desk would change that. Kentucky's S.B. 48 would make it illegal for anyone 16 and younger to marry. The bill cleared the Kentucky House of Representatives on Friday. All states generally require those 17 and younger to get consent from a parent or judge. Nine states, including Kentucky under current law, allow officials to waive the minimum age requirements for girls who are pregnant.... Jeanne Smoot, senior counsel at the Tahirih Justice Center. The Virginia-based advocacy group is leading a nationwide push to raise the legal age of marriage to 18. Jeanne Smoot, Tahirih Justice Center...says that Kentucky, which has one of the highest rates of child marriages in the nation, allows for children to be "abused and exploited in the guise of marriage — and effectively for no questions to be asked, provided that the right signatures appear on a form that's presented to the clerk." Kentucky law "turns a truly blind eye to the risks and harms of child marriage," she says...."

Informed consent in trials of genetically modified mosquitoes – an author and reviewer in conversation – Part 2 - F1000 BlogsF1000 Blogs

Sat, 17 Mar 2018 06:59:00 -0400

"One of our goals, in writing our article, was to make the point that only a minority of individuals who have interests in the conduct and outcomes of the trials are likely to be research subjects, according to the criteria of the regulations, and only under quite predictable and narrow circumstances. It is in these circumstances, and only in these circumstances, that the regulatory requirement of informed consent should apply.... One of the main complicating features of trials that go beyond the normal individual research subject paradigm, is that there are likely to be stakeholders who stand to have their interests set back in various ways, i.e., who stand to be harmed, by the conduct and/or outcomes of the trial, but who fall outside the scope of the regulatory definition of human subject. And many of these interests will be non-obvious to IRBs, especially when they are remote from the study sites...."

Amazon.com: Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus (9780544702554): Vanessa Grigoriadis: Books

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 05:30:00 -0500

Blurb on Amazon: "A new sexual revolution is sweeping the country, and college students are on the front lines. Women use fresh, smart methods to fight entrenched sexism and sexual assault even as they celebrate their own sexuality as never before. Many “woke” male students are more sensitive to women’s concerns than previous generations ever were, while other men perpetuate the most cruel misogyny. Amid such apparent contradictions, it’s no surprise that intense confusion shrouds the topic of sex on campus. Vanessa Grigoriadis dispels that confusion as no other writer could by traveling to schools large and small, embedding in their social whirl, and talking candidly with dozens of students – among them, both accusers and accused-- as well as administrators, parents, and researchers. Her unprecedented investigation presents a host of new truths. She reveals which times and settings are most dangerous for women (for instance, beware the “red zone”); she demystifies the welter of conflicting statistics about the prevalence of campus rape; she makes a strong case that not all “sexual assault” is equivalent; and she offers convincing if controversial advice on how schools, students, and parents can make college a safer, richer experience. The sum of her fascinating, fly-on-the-wall reportage is a revelatory account of how long-standing rules of sex and power are being rewritten from scratch."

Yale Rape Verdict Shows How ‘Yes Means Yes’ Can Be Murkier in Court - The New York Times

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 05:28:00 -0500

"When a jury in the trial of a Yale college student on rape charges returned a verdict of not guilty on Wednesday, after barely three hours of deliberations, the message seemed clear: Evidence that might warrant punishment from a campus panel was insufficient for a court of law.... Had the case gone before Yale’s own internal panel, the outcome might have been different. The panel, the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct, uses a “preponderance of the evidence” standard in determining responsibility, and its members are trained in a notion of consent where only “yes means yes.” ..."

Two cases involving sex with 11-year-olds forced France to raise the age of consent - The Washington Post

Wed, 07 Mar 2018 07:09:00 -0500

"France announced plans Monday to set 15 as the age of sexual consent amid public outrage over two cases involving sex with 11-year-old girls. Until now, sex with children under 15 could be prosecuted as a sexual offense, but rape charges could be difficult to prove in such cases because French law required evidence that the sex was forced.... A French court acquitted a 30-year-old man of rape in November, concluding that the 11-year-old girl had not experienced “constraint, threat, violence or surprise” during the sex act, which is how France had previously defined rape.... In a similar case, a 28-year-old man was charged with sex with a minor, because it was concluded that the victim was not physically forced to have sex. That girl also was 11. In the second case, the trial court asked that a new trial be held in a higher court, setting off the public debate...."

Vote on bill to outlaw child marriage in Kentucky delayed after opposition from conservative Family Foundation - Insider Louisville

Mon, 05 Mar 2018 10:44:00 -0500

"A bill outlawing child marriage in Kentucky had been expected to receive a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, but that vote has been delayed due to last-minute opposition by the conservative Family Foundation of Kentucky, according to the bill’s lead sponsor. Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, filed Senate Bill 48 on the first day of this year’s session of the Kentucky General Assembly, which would prohibit anyone under the age of 17 from marrying and only allow 17-year-olds to marry with a judge’s approval. Under the current law in Kentucky, 16 and 17-year-olds can marry with their parents’ permission, and a girl of any age under 16 can marry as long as they are pregnant and marrying the expectant father. Likewise, a boy of any age can marry a woman that he impregnates under the current law...."

Thank You for Asking - The New York Times

Sat, 03 Mar 2018 06:23:00 -0500

"Young people are radically changing how we think about violence, consent and gender. Antioch College is where much of the conversation started.... In 1990, Antioch College students pioneered its affirmative sexual consent policy, formulating a document now called the Sexual Offense Prevention Policy. It was mocked by much of the rest of the world. Since then, campuses across the country have caught up. Education about consent is now part of college life. Now, the current crop of pioneers at Antioch are moving the conversation beyond sex to discussions of consent in platonic touch...."

Monica Lewinsky on Bill Clinton and #MeToo in Vanity Fair - The Washington Post

Mon, 26 Feb 2018 10:45:00 -0500

PS: At age 44, Monica Lewinsky changed her mind about the competency of her consent to have sex with Bill Clinton. At the time of the affair, she was 24 and clearly what most people would consider a competent adult. She called the affair consensual. In a June 2014 article, at age 40, she reaffirmed that she regarded the affair as consensual. Now in this March 2018 article, at age 44 and in light of the #MeToo movement, she reconsiders and suggests that the power imbalance compromised the competency of her consent. That's my paraphrase of a long article. She said the affair was "not sexual assault" but a "gross abuse of power". This long, drawn-out reinterpretation of her own action makes consent even more complicated than we might have thought. BTW, she says this too. "Now, at 44, I’m beginning (just beginning) to consider the implications of the power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern. I’m beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance the idea of consent might well be rendered moot. (Although power imbalances—and the ability to abuse them—do exist even when the sex has been consensual.) But it’s also complicated. Very, very complicated...."

In Idaho, medical-care exemptions for faith healing come under fire - The Washington Post

Mon, 26 Feb 2018 10:10:00 -0500

PS: Like Yoder v. Wisconsin. Parents acting on behalf of children and harming them (in this case, unquestionably, unlike Yoder where reasonable people could disagree). "Child advocates estimate that 183 Idaho children have died because of withheld medical treatment since states across the nation enacted faith-healing exemptions in the early 1970s.... Wingate estimates that three to four children will die this year in Idaho alone if lawmakers fail to lift the state’s faith-healing exemptions.... “Because this happens over time, people don’t get shocked. But 183 kids is outrageous,” Wingate said. To make his point, he built 183 pint-size coffins. On Monday, dozens of children’s advocates carried the pine boxes through the streets of downtown Boise to the Idaho Statehouse in a rally that unfolded as part protest and part funeral procession. Marchers remembered the dead and carried signs urging state lawmakers to repeal Idaho’s faith-healing exemptions so parents could no longer deny their children medical care under the shield of religious freedom.... More children die of faith-based medical neglect in Idaho than any other state, according to Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty, a nonprofit organization that tracks medical neglect and lobbies to repeal religious medical-care exemptions."

Doctor: My terminally ill patients deserve end of life options

Sun, 25 Feb 2018 08:17:00 -0500

"Patients should make decisions regarding testing and treatment based on their personal values and beliefs. It is for this reason that I support Rep. Paul Baumbach’s bill, HB 160, which is positioned to deliver to terminally ill Delawareans the freedom to live out their final weeks and days as they see fit, by authorizing an additional end-of-life care option known as medical aid in dying. Medical aid in dying is an end-of-life practice in which a terminally ill, mentally capable adult who has a prognosis of six months or less to live requests, obtains and — if his or her suffering becomes unbearable — may self-ingest a physician-prescribed medication that brings about a peaceful death. Medical aid in dying has been extensively discussed in the medical community. A 2017 Medscape poll shows that 57 percent of U.S. doctors support medical aid in dying, backing the rights of patients with an incurable illness to seek a dignified death. The Massachusetts Medical Society recently announced that it has dropped its longstanding opposition to medical aid in dying and adopted an informed view of neutrality after surveying its members. The physicians surveyed supported medical aid in dying by a 2-to-1 margin...."

Librarian Law? State Memo Forces Schools Like Brimley to Temporarily Close Library or Risk State Aid - 9 & 10 News

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 09:13:00 -0500

"Upper Peninsula [Michigan] school districts are reeling after the state sent them a memo that means some schools have to close their libraries. The Department of Education memo sent to school districts last week, says school libraries operating without fully certified librarians could lose out on school aid...."

Mom upset when elementary school tells girls they can’t say no to boys at dance | KRON4.com

Sun, 11 Feb 2018 07:56:00 -0500

"A Utah mom is upset about a school policy in which sixth-grade girls can’t say “no” when boys ask them to dance.... Lane Findlay with the Weber School District confirms it’s a rule, but it’s meant to teach students how to be inclusive. [Natalie] Richard [the Mom] says forcing students not to say no teaches them the wrong lesson. “Sends a bad message to girls that girls have to say yes,” Richard said. “Sends a bad message to boys that girls will – can’t say no.” ..."

Why Iranian Women Are Taking Off Their Head Scarves - The New York Times

Sun, 11 Feb 2018 07:52:00 -0500

"On Dec. 27, Vida Movahed stood bareheaded on a utility box on one of Tehran’s busiest thoroughfares, waving her white head scarf on a stick. Within days, images of the 31-year-old, who was detained and then released a few weeks later, had become an iconic symbol. In the weeks since Ms. Movahed’s peaceful protest of the compulsory hijab, long one of the most visible symbols of the Islamic Republic, dozens of women, and even some men, throughout Iran have followed her lead. So far, at least 29 women in cities throughout the country have been arrested...."

Man Claims Teenager Hired Him on Craigslist to Kill Her | Time

Sun, 11 Feb 2018 07:50:00 -0500

"A Colorado man suspected of killing a 19-year-old is saying the teen had put a hit out on herself on Craigslist.... In an affidavit, Lopez claims he responded to Bollinger’s Craigslist ad which said, “I want to put a hit on myself,” and shot Bollinger execution style at her request...."

An 18-Year-Old Said She Was Raped While In Police Custody. The Officers Say She Consented.

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 10:00:00 -0500

"When Anna said she was raped by two on-duty cops, she thought it would be a simple case. She had no idea she lived in one of 35 states where officers can claim a detainee consented."

Reading Our Lips: The History of Lipstick Regulation in Western Seats of Power

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 09:34:00 -0500

From the abstract: This paper traces the history of lipstick’s social and legal regulation in Western seats of power, from Ur circa 3,500 B.C. to the present-day United States. Sliced in this manner, lipstick’s history emerges as heavily cyclical across the Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, Western European, English, and American reigns of power. Examination of both the informal social and formal legal regulation of lipstick throughout these eras reveals that lipstick’s fluctuating signification concerning wearers’ class and gender has always largely determined the extent and types of lipstick regulations that Western societies put in place. Medical and scientific knowledge, however, has also played an important secondary role in lipstick’s regulatory scheme....

I’m a sexual consent educator. Here’s what’s missing in the Aziz Ansari conversation. - Vox

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 10:44:00 -0500

"I’ve lost track of the number of people in both low and high places who’ve written that the encounter was “fair game.” The response reveals the deeply ingrained ways our culture believes a woman’s resistance is a fun challenge for men to overcome, and that “consent” is a free pass one can bully out of a woman if persistent or crafty enough...."

When Pop Culture Sells Dangerous Myths About Consent - The Atlantic

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 10:36:00 -0500

"Entertainment glorifying or excusing predatory male behavior is everywhere—from songs about “blurred lines” to TV shows where rapists marry their victims....Allegations of sexual harassment have been pouring out of the entertainment industry, among others, in recent months. But while predatory male behavior has been condoned and covered up behind the scenes, it’s also been glorified on screen and on the page and on the radio. As my colleague Lenika Cruz put it to me: “Rape culture, actually, is all around.” The narratives of a culture help to set its norms. Research has already found that romantic comedies can normalize stalking behavior. It’s not difficult, then, to imagine that toxic love stories can also normalize coercion. That they can make people—women, especially—question when and whether their boundaries have really been violated, when they should be flattered and when they should be afraid...."

Don’t Fuck Anybody Who Wants to Get Your Consent Uploaded to the Blockchain - Motherboard

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 10:33:00 -0500

"Contrary to the endless stream of pitches in my inbox, the solution to all human afflictions is not “put it on the blockchain.” That’s not stopping one company from trying to teach people respect for sexual boundaries by offering digital consent contracts and uploading the so-called "proof" of consent to a blockchain. Dutch company LegalThings announced last week that it plans to launch a mobile app called LegalFling, which will “verify explicit consent before having sex,” according to its website. “With the click of a button [...] LegalFling allows you to request consent from any of your contacts. Sit back and relax while your fling confirms.” ... The app was thoroughly panned last week for being a clumsy gimmick started by men, and for fundamentally misunderstanding the concept of sexual consent—which cannot be managed by a document. It needs to be a fluid process, open to revocation at any time, and legal contracts give off the exact opposite vibe. The app promises that consent can be revoked with a tap, but records on the blockchain are permanent...."

The Personality of Political Correctness (Nov 2016) - Scientific American Blog Network

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 08:24:00 -0500

"The researchers found that PC exists, can be reliably measured, and has two major dimensions. They labeled the first dimension "PC-Egalitarianism" and the second dimension "PC-Authoritarianism". Interestingly, they found that PC is not a purely left-wing phenomenon, but is better understood as the manifestation of a general offense sensitivity, which is then employed for either liberal or conservative ends....[The second] dimension of PC seems to reflect more of an indiscriminate or general sensitivity to offense, and seems to stem from an underlying motivation to achieve security and stability for those in distress. Their beliefs lead to advocating for a more autocratic governance to achieve uniformity...."

You may soon be able to use the blockchain to formally consent to sex

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 12:21:00 -0500

"Dutch blockchain company LegalThings is creating a blockchain-based app that will establish legally binding contracts for sexual consent. The app was created in the wake of the #MeToo movement; the company hopes to establish clear lines of communication around sexual acts. Critics of the app argue that it oversimplifies sexual consent...."

Adults hate 'Yes Means Yes' laws. The college students I meet love them. (Oct 2015)

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 12:19:00 -0500

"Last month, Michigan became the latest state legislature to introduce a “Yes Means Yes” law, mandating the teaching of affirmative consent as a sexual standard. In the past year, affirmative consent has become the mandated standard on college campuses in New York and California and is being voluntarily adopted by a growing number universities beyond those two states. The idea is simple: In matters of sex, silence or indifference aren’t consent. Only a freely given “yes” counts. And if you can’t tell, you have to ask...."

‘‘If a Girl Doesn’t Say ‘no’. . .’’: Young Men, Rape and Claims of ‘Insufficient Knowledge’

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 12:18:00 -0500

On the consent and miscommunication problems arising from that fact that many women who'd like to refuse sex are reluctant to say "no", and use circumlocutions instead. Abstract: Most psychological theories of rape tend to stress factors internal to both rapists and their victims in accounting for the phenomenon. Unlike such theories, social psychological and feminist accounts have drawn attention to social and cultural factors as productive of rape, and have criticized psychological accounts on the grounds that they often serve, paradoxically, to cement pre-existing ‘common-sense’. In this paper we examine the ways in which young Australian men draw upon widely culturally shared accounts, or interpretative repertoires, of rape to exculpate rapists. In particular, we discuss the reliance placed on a ‘lay’ version of Tannen’s (1992) ‘miscommunication model’ of (acquaintance) rape and detail the use of this account—the claim that rape is a consequence of men’s ‘not knowing’—as a device to accomplish exculpation. Implications of our methods for capturing young people’s understanding of sexual coercion, rape and consent, and for the design of ‘rape prevention’ programmes, are discussed.

Just Say No? The Use of Conversation Analysis in Developing a Feminist Perspective on Sexual RefusalDiscourse & Society - CELIA KITZINGER, HANNAH FRITH, 1999

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 12:15:00 -0500

On the consent and miscommunication problems arising from fact that many women who want to refuse sex are reluctant to say "no", and use circumlocutions instead. Abstract: This article aims to show the value of conversation analysis for feminist theory and practice around refusal skills training and date rape prevention. Conversation analysis shows that refusals are complex conversational interactions, incorporating delays, prefaces, palliatives, and accounts. Refusal skills training often ignores and overrides these with its simplistic prescription to `just say no'. It should not in fact be necessary for a woman to say `no' in order for her to be understood as refusing sex. We draw on our own data to suggest that young women are able explicitly to articulate a sophisticated awareness of these culturally normative ways of indicating refusal, and we suggest that insistence upon `just say no' may be counterproductive insofar as it implies that other ways of doing refusals (e.g. with silences, compliments, or even weak acceptances) are open to reasonable doubt. Finally we discuss the implications of our use of conversation analysis for feminist psychology, both in relation to date rape and more generally.

Mythcommunication: It’s Not That They Don’t Understand, They Just Don’t Like The Answer |

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 12:15:00 -0500

On the consent and miscommunication problems arising from the fact that many people don't like to say "no", and use circumlocutions instead.

To Try to Save Client’s Life, a Lawyer Ignored His Wishes. Can He Do That? - The New York Times

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 07:35:00 -0500

"The question before the court [SCOTUS], which will decide if Mr. [Robert] McCoy should get a new trial, is whether it is unconstitutional for a lawyer [Larry English] to concede a client’s guilt against the client’s wishes.... Mr. English said it was Mr. McCoy’s delusions of a grand conspiracy that made his client unable to participate in his defense and that led him to believe he had no choice but to try to save his client’s life [by pleading guilty and aiming for a sentence of life in prison]. Two weeks before the trial, Mr. English told Mr. McCoy that he was going to admit that Mr. McCoy was guilty because maintaining credibility with the jury was the best chance to keep him alive. Mr. McCoy furiously objected and tried to have Mr. English removed from the case. Mr. McCoy’s parents wrote to the judge also seeking Mr. English’s removal.... It is not unusual for lawyers to admit their client’s guilt, especially in death penalty cases. Usually, the strategy is carried out with the cooperation of the accused. To go against a client’s wishes, however, violates the role lawyers are supposed to play in the legal system, said Lawrence J. Fox, a lecturer at Yale Law School. “This is one of the most difficult questions that we’ve identified in being a lawyer,” said Mr. Fox, who filed a brief with several colleagues from the Ethics Bureau at Yale on Mr. McCoy’s behalf. “You start with the fundamental proposition that we are our client’s servants.” As long as the client is not asking the lawyer to do anything illegal, and unless the client has been declared incompetent, the lawyer has to take instruction from the client regarding the admission of guilt, he added. “It means some clients on death row may be committing suicide, but that’s their choice to make,” Mr. Fox said. The Louisiana Supreme Court has allowed lawyers to concede their client’s guilt over their client’s objections at least four times since 2000...."

India outlaws marital sex with minors in bid to protect child brides - CNN

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 09:21:00 -0500

"India's Supreme Court has struck down a legal clause that allowed men to engage in non-consensual marital sex with girls as young as 15."

Millennials Are Screwed - The Huffington Post

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 10:08:00 -0500

"Trade groups have responded to the dwindling number of secure jobs by digging a moat around the few that are left. Over the last 30 years, they’ve successfully lobbied state governments to require occupational licenses for dozens of jobs that never used to need them. It makes sense: The harder it is to become a plumber, the fewer plumbers there will be and the more each of them can charge. Nearly a third of American workers now need some kind of state license to do their jobs, compared to less than 5 percent in 1950. In most other developed countries, you don’t need official permission to cut hair or pour drinks. Here, those jobs can require up to $20,000 in schooling and 2,100 hours of instruction and unpaid practice...."

Sweden plans change in law to require explicit consent before sexual contact | World news | The Guardian

Sat, 23 Dec 2017 08:59:00 -0500

"Under current Swedish law someone can be prosecuted for rape only if it has been proved that they used threats or violence. Under the proposal, rape could be proved if the accuser hadn’t given their explicit verbal agreement or clearly demonstrate their desire to engage in sexual activity...."

Misconceptions About Nudges by Cass Sunstein :: SSRN

Sat, 09 Dec 2017 10:10:00 -0500

Abstract: Some people believe that nudges are an insult to human agency; that nudges are based on excessive trust in government; that nudges are covert; that nudges are manipulative; that nudges exploit behavioral biases; that nudges depend on a belief that human beings are irrational; and that nudges work only at the margins and cannot accomplish much. These are misconceptions. Nudges always respect, and often promote, human agency; because nudges insist on preserving freedom of choice, they do not put excessive trust in government; nudges are generally transparent rather than covert or forms of manipulation; many nudges are educative, and even when they are not, they tend to make life simpler and more navigable; and some nudges have quite large impacts.

Massachusetts Medical Society drops opposition to physician-assisted suicide

Tue, 05 Dec 2017 06:34:00 -0500

"The Massachusetts Medical Society has dropped its long-time opposition to physician-assisted suicide, instead taking a neutral position on the issue....[T]he medical society has been considering the issue for a year. It sent out surveys to 25,000 doctors. Of the 12 to 13 percent that were returned, approximately 60 percent of respondents wanted the medical society to rescind its opposition to physician-assisted suicide, while 40 percent wanted to keep the policy...."

Unconscious Patient With 'Do Not Resuscitate' Tattoo Causes Ethical Conundrum at Hospital

Fri, 01 Dec 2017 07:33:00 -0500

"When an unresponsive patient arrived at a Florida hospital ER, the medical staff was taken aback upon discovering the words “DO NOT RESUSCITATE” tattooed onto the man’s chest—with the word “NOT” underlined and with his signature beneath it. Confused and alarmed, the medical staff chose to ignore the apparent DNR request—but not without alerting the hospital’s ethics team, who had a different take on the matter...."

France to reassess child sex laws after controversial cases - BBC News

Mon, 20 Nov 2017 05:35:00 -0500

"France is to consider a change to its laws around sexual consent, according to the minister for gender equality. Marlene Schiappa said the government was considering setting a fixed age below which sex was automatically a serious offence. It comes after two cases where men were acquitted of raping two 11 year old girls. In France the age of consent is 15, but prosecutors still have to prove sex was non-consensual to prove rape...."

Dear Prudence Meets Due Process - Reason.com

Sun, 19 Nov 2017 08:18:00 -0500

"[Q] So there's a level of alcohol consumption where you would not be OK to drive a car but you would still be able to consent to sex. [A] And legally consent to it! In the Occidental College case, eventually it was reported to the police. They investigated, and a female police officer and a female assistant [district attorney] both said, you know, this is an unfortunate incident with two drunk kids making a bad decision, but it's not a crime...."

Killing the Blue Whale Challenge | WIRED

Mon, 13 Nov 2017 12:23:00 -0500

"The Blue Whale Challenge is a nefarious internet meme that encourages those who embrace it to hurt themselves. Over the course of 50 days, an anonymous administrator is said to assign players escalating dares that involve self harm. The final task is suicide....Rumors of the game’s prevalence have existed for several months, but in early July, they escalated. For one, a baby-faced Texas teen killed himself—this really happened—and broadcast the suicide from his phone. His family found evidence he may have been participating in the challenge. Shortly after, a second American teen took her life, and her family also found evidence connecting her to the game. Then, on July 17, Siberian courts sentenced a 22-year-old Russian man to more than three years in prison for his part in launching the game, convicting him of inciting the deaths of two teenage Russian girls...."

Louis C.K. responds to sexual misconduct allegations: ‘These stories are true’ - The Washington Post

Sat, 11 Nov 2017 03:52:00 -0500

"These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly...."

Louis C.K.’s masturbation statement unnervingly misunderstands the concept of consent.

Sat, 11 Nov 2017 03:50:00 -0500

"Even so, nestled into C.K.’s admission of fact—“these stories are true”—are several deliberate lies. C.K.’s phrasing is cunning and specific: Perhaps he did ask each woman if he could take out his penis before he showed it to them, but he doesn’t say they said yes, because many didn’t. (The New York Times piece that broke the allegations included just one woman who said she “went along with his request” before realizing “he abused his power” and “it was wrong.”) And he omits his offense against Abby Schachner, who told the Times he suddenly started masturbating over the phone when she called to invite him to her comedy show. Here, C.K. is squeezing his history of harassment into a narrative of misunderstood consent. He is claiming that, as an adult man, he believed that repeatedly asking a woman in his workplace to watch him masturbate in his office was appropriate. The Times article says he proposed his favorite sex act to another pair of women he didn’t know (but who admired him) “as soon as they sat down in his room, still wrapped in their winter jackets and hats.” When they “laughed it off,” he did it anyway. C.K. would have his fans believe that he honestly thought this would be erotically pleasing for the two bundled-up women, and that he truly believed he had their consent. This is an insult both to the women he harmed and to the concept of consent itself. The skewed power dynamic of which C.K. claims complete ignorance is just one contributing factor to his abuse...."

It’s Halloween, and Colleges Are Already Investigating Offensive Costumes - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 12:02:00 -0400

"Several institutions have worked overtime in recent years to head off campus costume controversies, but each year they still abound. At least two incidents over the weekend — at Dickinson College, in Pennsylvania, and at the College of Charleston, in South Carolina — have sparked investigations. A post shared on social media over the weekend showed a Dickinson student dressed in a Colin Kaepernick jersey, wearing an Afro wig, and kneeling with a gun pointed at his head...."

Brit Marling on Harvey Weinstein and the Economics of Consent - The Atlantic

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 08:37:00 -0400

"I’m telling this story because in the heat surrounding these brave admissions, it’s important to think about the economics of consent. [Harvey] Weinstein was a gatekeeper who could give actresses a career that would sustain their lives and the livelihood of their families. He could also give them fame, which is one of few ways for women to gain some semblance of power and voice inside a patriarchal world. They knew it. He knew it. Weinstein could also ensure that these women would never work again if they humiliated him. That’s not just artistic or emotional exile—that’s also economic exile.... For me, this all distills down to the following: The things that happen in hotel rooms and board rooms all over the world (and in every industry) between women seeking employment or trying to keep employment and men holding the power to grant it or take it away exist in a gray zone where words like “consent” cannot fully capture the complexity of the encounter. Because consent is a function of power. You have to have a modicum of power to give it. In many cases women do not have that power because their livelihood is in jeopardy and because they are the gender that is oppressed by a daily, invisible war waged against all that is feminine—women and humans who behave or dress or think or feel or look feminine...."

Stencila

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 05:43:00 -0400

"The office suite for reproducible research The calls for research to be transparent and reproducible have never been louder. But today's tools for reproducible research can be intimidating - especially if you're not a coder. We're building software for reproducible research with the intuitive, visual interfaces that you and your colleagues are used to...."

Police Reportedly Claim a Brooklyn Teen Consented to Sex in Custody. That’s Impossible.

Sun, 22 Oct 2017 09:22:00 -0400

"ON SEPTEMBER 28, attorney Michael David filed notice of a claim against the New York Police Department, the City of New York, and two unnamed police officers, referred to as John and Jim Doe. These plainclothes cops, alleged the claim, “brutally sexually assaulted and raped” his 18-year-old female client. David told me that within a day, he needed to amend the claim: The officers had been identified by police in the press as Brooklyn South narcotics detectives Richard Hall and Edward Martins. “What was strange,” said David, “was that within only two or three hours of me filing, there was a story leaked to the New York Post saying that the detectives were claiming that the sex they had with my client in custody was consensual. They hadn’t even been named yet.” The attorney told me that he believes “the police were trying to get ahead of the story.” At a time of elevated public awareness about police violence and sexual assault, these detectives’ apparent defensive tack raises troubling questions about the way cops approach these national plagues. Let us be clear: Someone in police custody cannot give consent, in any meaningful sense of the word, to the officer holding them...."

Ask: Building Consent Culture: Kitty Stryker, Carol Queen, Laurie Penny

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 11:25:00 -0400

A book of essays on consent, published Oct 2017. "Have you ever heard the phrase “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission?” Violating consent isn’t limited to sexual relationships, and our discussions around consent shouldn’t be, either. To resist rape culture, we need a consent culture—and one that is more than just reactionary. Left confined to intimate spaces, consent will atrophy as theory that is never put into practice. The multi-layered power disparities of today’s world require a response sensitive to a wide range of lived experiences. In Ask, Kitty Stryker assembles a retinue of writers, journalists, and activists to examine how a cultural politic centered on consent can empower us outside the bedroom, whether it’s at the doctor’s office, interacting with law enforcement, or calling out financial abuse within radical communities. More than a collection of essays, Ask is a testimony and guide on the role that negated consent plays in our lives, examining how we can take those first steps to reclaim it from institutionalized power...."

This year’s economics Nobel winner invented a tool that’s both brilliant and undemocratic - Vox

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 11:23:00 -0400

A criticism of the Thaler/Sunnstein nudge theory. "The problem — as Carnegie Mellon’s Cosma Shalizi and I have discussed elsewhere — is that government-by-nudging amounts to a kind of technocracy, which assumes that experts will know which choices are in the interests of ordinary people better than those people know themselves. This may be true under some circumstances, but it will not be true all of the time, or even most of the time, if there are no good opportunities for those ordinary people to voice their preferences. Traditional forms of democratic policymaking rely on expertise too, but they have better correction mechanisms than nudgeocracy, since people who are sufficiently angry at a particular rule may have the incentive to complain and organize against it. Nudgeocracies, in contrast, are insulated from the feedback that would help them get things right. This is even clearer if we call nudgeocracy by another name. Chris Hayes has written on Twitter about what he describes as the “hassleocracy” — the tendency to make something a hassle, so that fewer people will do it. Hayes was writing about the ways that Republicans make it harder for many groups to vote — mandating voter ID’s, and the like — but his description applies just as aptly to insurance companies doing everything they can to stop you from filing claims, or magazines that make it very easy to subscribe, but require you to notarize, and sign a form in triplicate, with the asservations of seven witnesses in red ink, if you want to stop the subscription from automatically self-renewing. (Thaler and Sunstein briefly discuss that example.)..."

Inside a Secretive Group Where Women Are Branded - The New York Times

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 11:09:00 -0400

"Last March, five women gathered in a home near here to enter a secret sisterhood they were told was created to empower women. To gain admission, they were required to give their recruiter — or “master,” as she was called — naked photographs or other compromising material and were warned that such “collateral” might be publicly released if the group’s existence were disclosed. The women, in their 30s and 40s, belonged to a self-help organization called Nxivm....Sarah Edmondson, one of the participants, said she had been told she would get a small tattoo as part of the initiation. But she was not prepared for what came next....A female doctor proceeded to use a cauterizing device to sear a two-inch-square symbol below each woman’s hip, a procedure that took 20 to 30 minutes. For hours, muffled screams and the smell of burning tissue filled the room....Separately, a state police investigator told Ms. Edmondson and two other women that officials would not pursue their criminal complaint against Nxivm because their actions had been consensual, a text message shows...."

Online Activists Unsure About Offensiveness Of Article, Figure They’ll Destroy Author’s Life Just In Case - The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 13:11:00 -0400

"Figuring it was the best way to hedge their bets, online activists reportedly unsure about the offensiveness of an article Wednesday figured they’d destroy the author’s life just in case. “Reading this piece, there are quite a few challenging viewpoints that I haven’t quite thought through, but it’s probably best to cover my bases and make sure this writer never works again,” said David Morrison who, along with his online peers, resolved to release the journalist’s address, phone number, and the names of his family members just to be safe. “Honestly, I only read the first couple paragraphs, but it’s probably better to err on the side of caution when it comes to potentially controversial views like this and just make his life a nightmare for the foreseeable future.” At press time, Morrison decided it also couldn’t hurt to throw in a few death threats...."

India outlaws marital sex with minors in bid to protect child brides - CNN

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 05:54:00 -0400

"India's Supreme Court has struck down a legal clause that allowed men to engage in non-consensual marital sex with girls as young as 15. Wednesday's landmark decision, which coincided with International Day of the Girl Child, also raised the age of consent for all women to 18. "In our opinion sexual intercourse with a girl below 18 years of age is rape regardless of whether she is married or not," read the ruling...."

New York hospital's secret policy led to woman being given C-section against her will | US news | The Guardian

Fri, 06 Oct 2017 10:53:00 -0400

"A New York hospital accused of forcing a mother to undergo a caesarean section against her will used an internal policy permitting doctors to overrule a pregnant woman’s medical decisions....The Staten Island University hospital (SIUH) policy offers doctors step-by-step instructions for performing procedures and surgeries without a pregnant woman’s consent if they can’t persuade her to give permission and several doctors agree that the treatment carries a “reasonable possibility of significant benefit” for her fetus that “outweigh[s] the possible risks to the woman”. When there is an emergency that threatens the fetus, the policy gives her doctor even more power, allowing him or her to override a pregnant woman’s wishes on the spot and without consulting anyone else...."

Complaint Against Delhi University Professor Kedar Kumar Mandal For Insulting Goddess Durga In Facebook Post

Fri, 29 Sep 2017 07:46:00 -0400

"A Delhi University (DU) assistant professor has been accused of insulting Hindu goddess Durga using obscene words in a Facebook post, which prompted a condemnation from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). A teacher's body filed the police complaint against Kedar Kumar Mandal of Dayal Singh College in the national capital, Delhi...."

Oxford vice-Chancellor forced to issue statement clarifying free speech comments amid student backlash

Fri, 08 Sep 2017 05:11:00 -0400

"Prof Richardson told the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit earlier this week that she has had “many conversations” with students who are unhappy that their tutors have express views that are “against homosexuality”. "They don't feel comfortable being in class with someone with those views," she told the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit earlier this week. “And I say, ‘I’m sorry, but my job isn’t to make you feel comfortable. Education is not about being comfortable,” she said. “If you don’t like his views, you challenge them, engage with them, and figure [out] how a smart person can have views like that. "Work out how you can persuade him to change his mind. It is difficult, but it is absolutely what we have to do." ..."

Human genome data ‘should be open to all’

Thu, 07 Sep 2017 05:21:00 -0400

"A leading genomic scientist has called on people who have their DNA analysed to make the full results openly available “for the greater public good”. ...While conceding that “open access to genome sequences is not for everyone”, he hoped that many people would donate their genomes openly to science once they understood the risks and benefits...." "

Much Ado About Nudging – Behavioural Public Policy Blog

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 08:39:00 -0400

"When the editors of this journal asked me to write a commentary on a new paper by George Loewenstein and Nick Chater I did not expect that I would have anything useful to say. After all, I have known George for longer than we would care to admit, and we mostly share similar worldviews. Nonetheless, after reading their paper, and after trying and failing to sort things out in person, I found myself left with enough differences of opinion that it seemed worth writing something up. With one exception I find myself largely in agreement with Loewenstein and Chater, but I am mystified about who they think they are arguing with....Although I agree with this statement I would go further. I know of no behavioral economist, policy maker, or journalist who is on the record saying that nudges are a panacea, nor the appropriate tool to address every policy problem.[2] Which begs an answer to the following question: why did Loewenstein and Chater write a paper critiquing a view that no one appears to hold?..."

Putting nudges in perspective | Behavioural Public Policy | Cambridge Core

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 08:36:00 -0400

Abstract: Conventional economic policy focuses on ‘economic’ solutions (e.g. taxes, incentives, regulation) to problems caused by market-level factors such as externalities, misaligned incentives and information asymmetries. By contrast, ‘nudges’ provide behavioural solutions to problems that have generally been assumed to originate from limitations in human decision making, such as present bias. While policy-makers have good reason for exploiting the power of nudges, we argue that these extremes leave open a large space of policy options that have received less attention in the academic literature. First, there is no reason that solution and problem need have the same theoretical basis: there are promising behavioural solutions to problems that have causes that are well explained by traditional economics, and conventional economic solutions often offer the best line of attack on problems of behavioural origin. Second, there is a wide range of hybrid policy actions with both economic and behavioural components (e.g. framing a tax or incentive in a specific way), and there exist many societal problems – perhaps the majority – that arise from both economic and behavioural factors (e.g. firms’ exploitation of consumers’ behavioural biases). This paper aims to remind policy-makers that behavioural economics can influence policy in a variety of ways, of which nudges are the most prominent but not necessarily the most powerful.

Ethicist proposes new category for psychiatric patients to justify instances of compulsory treatment: 'Nonvoluntary treatment,' would distinguish psychiatric patients who refuse help but likely would have accepted it in a healthy state of mind from the traditional -- ScienceDaily

Sat, 26 Aug 2017 06:39:00 -0400

"The 'involuntary treatment' of unwilling psychiatric patients has long been accepted as necessary in some cases, for the sake of patients and society, though it can raise serious ethical concerns as well as legal barriers. In a new article, an ethicist argues that some of the concerns about treating patients without their consent would be alleviated if the mental health profession recognized an important distinction among these cases....[Quoting Dominic Sisti:] "A patient may have previously expressed a wish to be treated while in crisis -- in which case, a treatment framed as involuntary is actually something else. The proposed concept of nonvoluntary treatment provides a more precise categorization of such cases." ..."

Voluntary assisted dying is not a black-and-white issue for Christians – they can, in good faith, support it

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 11:29:00 -0400

"As the Victorian parliament [in Australia] prepares to debate legalising voluntary assisted dying, Christians, like many others in the community, are having to wrestle with their own responses to this issue. While some parts of the church have clearly and consistently voiced opposition, there are some exceptions. Christians can, in good faith and for good theological reasons, land on either side of this debate. And while the Christian community has no right to monopolise the conversation, its long tradition of compassionate care for both the dying and the dead means it brings some wisdom and experience to this issue...."

Victoria may soon have assisted dying laws for terminally ill patients

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 11:28:00 -0400

"An independent group of experts set up by the Victorian government [in Australia] has today delivered its final report outlining 66 recommendations for how voluntary assisted dying would work in the state. Chaired by former head of the Australian Medical Association, Brian Owler, the Ministerial Advisory Panel’s role was to work out how legislation should be drafted to allow terminally ill people to receive assistance to die. The panel based its report on the recommendations of the Parliamentary committee’s Inquiry into end of life choices in December 2016...."

The Ethics of Nudging by Cass R. Sunstein :: SSRN

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 12:50:00 -0400

Abstract: This essay defends the following propositions. (1) It is pointless to object to choice architecture or nudging as such. Choice architecture cannot be avoided. Nature itself nudges; so does the weather; so do spontaneous orders and invisible hands. The private sector inevitably nudges, as does the government. It is reasonable to object to particular nudges, but not to nudging in general. (2) In this context, ethical abstractions (for example, about autonomy, dignity, and manipulation) can create serious confusion. To make progress, those abstractions must be brought into contact with concrete practices. Nudging and choice architecture take diverse forms, and the force of an ethical objection depends on the specific form. (3) If welfare is our guide, much nudging is actually required on ethical grounds. (4) If autonomy is our guide, much nudging is also required on ethical grounds. (5) Choice architecture should not, and need not, compromise either dignity or self-government, though imaginable forms could do both. (6) Some nudges are objectionable because the choice architect has illicit ends. When the ends are legitimate, and when nudges are fully transparent and subject to public scrutiny, a convincing ethical objection is less likely to be available. (7) There is, however, room for ethical objections in the case of well-motivated but manipulative interventions, certainly if people have not consented to them; such nudges can undermine autonomy and dignity. It follows that both the concept and the practice of manipulation deserve careful attention. The concept of manipulation has a core and a periphery; some interventions fit within the core, others within the periphery, and others outside of both.

Yale University censors historic stone carving as 'hostile' artwork -- Society's Child -- Sott.net

Fri, 18 Aug 2017 10:18:00 -0400

"Officials at Yale University recently censored a stone work of art on campus depicting an armed Native American and Puritan side by side, which has been described as a "hostile" image by the Ivy League institution's alumni magazine. The stone carving was edited to cover up the Puritan's musket, while the Native American's bow was left as is, reports Yale Alumni Magazine...."

Should I Help My Patients Die? - The New York Times

Sun, 06 Aug 2017 10:01:00 -0400

"California’s law permits physicians to prescribe a lethal cocktail to patients who request it and meet certain criteria: They must be adults expected to die within six months who are able to self-administer the drug and retain the mental capacity to make a decision like this....But that is where the law leaves off. The details of patient selection and protocol, even the composition of the lethal compound, are left to the individual doctor or hospital policy. Our hospital, like many others at that time, was still in the early stages of creating a policy and procedure. To me and many of my colleagues in California, it felt as if the law had passed so quickly that we weren’t fully prepared to deal with it. That aside, the idea of hastening death is uncomfortable for many doctors. In its original version, the Hippocratic oath states, “I will not administer poison to anyone when asked to do so, nor suggest such a course.” The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest association of doctors, has been formally opposed to the practice for 23 years. Its ethical and judicial council has recently begun to study the issue further....I understood. I could imagine my own distress in his condition — being shuttled like a bag of bones between the nursing home and the hospital. It was his legal right to request this intervention from me. But given how uncomfortable I was feeling, was it my right to say no? ..."

Death of Conrad Roy - Wikipedia

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 05:45:00 -0400

"Conrad Henri Roy III (September 12, 1995 – July 13, 2014) was an American marine salvage captain. His suicide at the age of 18 with encouragement from his long-distance girlfriend, 17-year-old Michelle Carter, was the subject of a noted investigation and involuntary manslaughter trial in Massachusetts, popularly known as the "texting suicide case". The case, Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter, involved many text messages, emails, and phone calls between Carter and Roy at the time of Roy's death. Carter had initially discouraged Roy and advised him to become an inpatient at the psychiatric hospital where she had found help. Roy had seen numerous mental health professionals and insisted he wanted to die. They had both been prescribed psychiatric medication. The case raised complex questions about criminal responsibility.[1] Carter was convicted by a judge of involuntary manslaughter...."

Texting suicide case: Judge stays 15-month jail sentence - CNN.com

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 05:41:00 -0400

"Michelle Carter, whose own words helped seal her involuntary manslaughter conviction in the suicide of her teenage boyfriend, was sentenced to 15 months in a Massachusetts jail Thursday -- but will remain free pending appeals.... The case could spur the Massachusetts legislature to pass a law that makes it a crime to engage in "coercing or encouraging suicide," Medwed said. Such a law already exist in about 40 other states.... The state argued that the evidence was damning. Carter sent Roy numerous text messages urging him to commit suicide, listened over the phone as he suffocated -- and failed to alert authorities or his family that he'd died...."

Guilty Verdict for Young Woman Who Urged Friend to Kill Himself - The New York Times

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 05:38:00 -0400

"For a case that had played out in thousands of text messages, what made Michelle Carter’s behavior a crime, a judge concluded, came in a single phone call. Just as her friend Conrad Roy III stepped out of the truck he had filled with lethal fumes, Ms. Carter told him over the phone to get back in the cab and then listened to him die without trying to help him. That command, and Ms. Carter’s failure to help, said Judge Lawrence Moniz of Bristol County Juvenile Court, made her guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a case that had consumed New England, left two families destroyed and raised questions about the scope of legal responsibility. Ms. Carter, now 20, is to be sentenced Aug. 3 and faces up to 20 years in prison. The judge’s decision, handed down on Friday, stunned many legal experts with its conclusion that words alone could cause a suicide...."

Elsevier acquires bepress, a leading service provider used by academic institutions to showcase their research

Wed, 02 Aug 2017 08:00:00 -0400

"Elsevier, the global information analytics business specializing in science and health, today acquired bepress, a Berkeley, California-based business that helps academic libraries showcase and share their institutions’ research for maximum impact. Founded by three University of California, Berkeley professors in 1999, bepress allows institutions to collect, organize, preserve and disseminate their intellectual output, including preprints, working papers, journals or specific articles, dissertations, theses, conference proceedings and a wide variety of other data....Showcasing research is critical as competition increases among institutions to secure funding and attract faculty and students. By joining Elsevier, bepress will be better able to address institutions' promotional needs, such as attracting students, faculty and grants, and preserving research data and outputs. Elsevier’s suite of research products, such as Scopus, Pure, SSRN and SciVal will enhance the breadth and quality of the reach, promotion and impact services bepress delivers to its customers...."

Teens who laughed as man drowned will face charges | New York Post

Sun, 23 Jul 2017 11:25:00 -0400

"The group of Florida teens who filmed and laughed at a drowning man will face charges for not reporting his death, according to officials. Authorities initially said there didn’t appear to be grounds to prosecute the teens caught on camera mocking 32-year-old Jamel Dunn as he drowned in Cocoa, Florida. None of the teens called 911 for help during the July 9 incident, but state law does not require a witness to help a person in need. However, Cocoa Police Chief Mike Cantaloupe said Friday that he will seek misdemeanor charges under a statute related to not reporting a death, news station WPLG reported. The recommended charges will be given to the Florida State Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether to prosecute the teens...."

Polyamory in the News: Three men register their polyamorous marriage in Colombia. That doesn't mean they're legally married.

Sun, 23 Jul 2017 08:39:00 -0400

"Here's the catch. As the story reports, but does not explain, the three "officially registered" their relationship. This does not mean they are legally married. It means they swore out a document, and had it notarized and recorded, declaring themselves to be a family unit with shared finances. People can do this in Colombia, as in Brazil where polyfamilies have made world news by swearing out similar documents attesting to their "polyaffective union." These affidavits are intended to carry legal weight in determining rights such as inheritance and government benefits, and in the case of couples, they do. In other words, the three have made a legal statement. The government has only recorded the statement. How much legal weight it will carry for a group of more than two remains to be tested...."

India hotel refuses room to solo female traveller - BBC News

Sat, 08 Jul 2017 11:53:00 -0400

"The plight of a female artist who was refused a hotel room in the southern city of Hyderabad as she was a solo traveller has gone viral in India. Nupur Saraswat, a spoken word artist, told the BBC she was in the city for a performance but was told by her hotel that "single ladies" were not allowed. The hotel has argued that the area it is in "is not [the] right place" for single women...."

Men Legally Allowed to Finish Sex Even If Woman Revokes Consent, NC Law States - Broadly

Tue, 27 Jun 2017 13:01:00 -0400

"North Carolina is the one state where the law explicitly says you cannot revoke consent once it's given. A bill that would remove this "unacceptable loophole" has little traction...."

The Coddling of the American Mind

Sun, 25 Jun 2017 10:48:00 -0400

"Something strange is happening at America’s colleges and universities. A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense. Last December, Jeannie Suk wrote in an online article for The New Yorker about law students asking her fellow professors at Harvard not to teach rape law—or, in one case, even use the word violate (as in “that violates the law”) lest it cause students distress. In February, Laura Kipnis, a professor at Northwestern University, wrote an essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education describing a new campus politics of sexual paranoia—and was then subjected to a long investigation after students who were offended by the article and by a tweet she’d sent filed Title IX complaints against her. In June, a professor protecting himself with a pseudonym wrote an essay for Vox describing how gingerly he now has to teach. “I’m a Liberal Professor, and My Liberal Students Terrify Me,” the headline said. A number of popular comedians, including Chris Rock, have stopped performing on college campuses (see Caitlin Flanagan’s article in this month’s issue). Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Maher have publicly condemned the oversensitivity of college students, saying too many of them can’t take a joke. Two terms have risen quickly from obscurity into common campus parlance. Microaggressions are small actions or word choices that seem on their face to have no malicious intent but that are thought of as a kind of violence nonetheless. For example, by some campus guidelines, it is a microaggression to ask an Asian American or Latino American “Where were you born?,” because this implies that he or she is not a real American. Trigger warnings are alerts that professors are expected to issue if something in a course might cause a strong emotional response. For example, some students have called for warnings that Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart describes racial violence and that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby portrays misogyny and physical abuse, so that students who have been previously victimized by racism or domestic violence can choose to avoid these works, which they believe might “trigger” a recurrence of past trauma...."

Free Speech Loses Ground as Harvard Retracts Offers to Admitted Students - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 13:43:00 -0400

"Just last month, for example, President Drew Gilpin Faust devoted her commencement address to a ringing affirmation of free exchange and deliberation. "Our values and our theory of education rest on the assumption that members of our community will take the risk of speaking and will actively compete in our wild rumpus of argument and ideas," Faust declared. "It requires them as well to be fearless in face of argument or challenge or even verbal insult." Yet the decision to turn away the 10 admitted students communicates exactly the opposite: Students should be afraid — very afraid — when confronted with controversial or offensive material, especially if it concerns the thorny question of diversity on campus. And instead of taking risks, they should keep their mouths shut...." PS summary: The Harvard decision chilled free speech on campus, even if didn't violate free speech rights on or off campus.

Guilty Verdict for Young Woman Who Urged Friend to Kill Himself - NYTimes.com

Sun, 18 Jun 2017 13:26:00 -0400

Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Editor Behavior through Potentially Coercive Citations

Tue, 13 Jun 2017 05:14:00 -0400

Abstract: How much is the h-index of an editor of a well-ranked journal improved due to citations which occur after his/her appointment? Scientific recognition within academia is widely measured nowadays by the number of citations or h-index. Our dataset is based on a sample of four editors from a well-ranked journal (impact factor, IF, greater than 2). The target group consists of two editors who seem to benefit by their position through an increased citation number (and subsequently h-index) within the journal. The total amount of citations for the target group is greater than 600. The control group is formed by another set of two editors from the same journal whose relations between their positions and their citation records remain neutral. The total amount of citations for the control group is more than 1200. The timespan for which the citations’ pattern has been studied is 1975–2015. Previous coercive citations for a journal’s benefit (an increase of its IF) has been indicated. To the best of our knowledge, this is a pioneering work on coercive citations for personal (editors’) benefit. Editorial teams should be aware about this type of potentially unethical behavior and act accordingly. PS: Interesting because could be deliberate or inadvertent. Editors could ask authors for citations, and authors would feel pressure to add them. Or editors could do nothing improper, but authors could still feel pressure to cite the editors.

Mental capacity to consent to treatment and the association with outcome: a longitudinal study in patients with anorexia nervosa | British Journal of Psychiatry Open

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 06:26:00 -0400

Abstract: Background Relevance of diminished mental capacity in anorexia nervosa (AN) to course of disorder is unknown. Aims To examine prognostic relevance of diminished mental capacity in AN. Method A longitudinal study was conducted in 70 adult female patients with severe AN. At baseline, mental capacity was assessed by psychiatrists, and clinical and neuropsychological data (decision-making) were collected. After 1 and 2 years, clinical and neuropsychological assessments were repeated, and remission and admission rates were calculated. Results People with AN with diminished mental capacity had a less favourable outcome with regard to remission and were admitted more frequently. Their appreciation of illness remained hampered. Decision-making did not improve, in contrast to people with full mental capacity. Conclusions People with AN with diminished mental capacity seem to do less well in treatment and display decision-making deficiencies that do not ameliorate with weight improvement.

Harvard Rescinds Acceptances for At Least Ten Students for Obscene Memes | News | The Harvard Crimson

Thu, 08 Jun 2017 12:36:00 -0400

"Harvard College rescinded admissions offers to at least ten prospective members of the Class of 2021 after the students traded sexually explicit memes and messages that sometimes targeted minority groups in a private Facebook group chat. A handful of admitted students formed the messaging group—titled, at one point, “Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens”—on Facebook in late December, according to two incoming freshmen. In the group, students sent each other memes and other images mocking sexual assault, the Holocaust, and the deaths of children, according to screenshots of the chat obtained by The Crimson. Some of the messages joked that abusing children was sexually arousing, while others had punchlines directed at specific ethnic or racial groups. One called the hypothetical hanging of a Mexican child “piñata time.” After discovering the existence and contents of the chat, Harvard administrators revoked admissions offers to at least ten participants in mid-April, according to several members of the group...."

Facebook: Harvard Revokes 10 Acceptance Letters Over Posts | Fortune.com

Mon, 05 Jun 2017 11:30:00 -0400

"They posted memes about rape and dead children and the Holocaust. They joked that hanging a Mexican child should be called "pinata time." And now Harvard has decided it doesn't want them anymore. According to the Harvard Crimson, the Ivy League university has rescinded offers of acceptance to at least 10 incoming freshman for the class of 2021, following an investigation into the messages they posted in a private Facebook group...."

Denmark’s Blasphemy Law Has Been Repealed

Sun, 04 Jun 2017 12:32:00 -0400

"Your move, Ireland and New Zealand. After a flurry of activity over the past few months, and a glimmer of hope last week, the Danish Parliament has finally repealed its archaic harmful law punishing blasphemy, voting 75 to 27 to make Denmark great again. While the law has rarely been successfully used against anyone — the last time was 1946 — a prosecutor cited it as recently as this past February to punish a man for burning a Qur’an in late 2015. Had he been convicted, he could have gone to prison for up to four months...."

We Tried — And Failed — To Identify The Most Banned Book In America | FiveThirtyEight

Fri, 12 May 2017 09:54:00 -0400

"There was a moment, about nine years ago, when Peter Parnell knew the children’s book he had co-written had entered the cultural zeitgeist. In the ThreatDown section of Stephen Colbert’s Comedy Central show, Colbert held up a copy of “And Tango Makes Three,” Parnell’s cute and uplifting take on two male chinstrap penguins that had started raising a chick together at the Central Park Zoo, and satirically supported a Missouri library’s decision to move the book out of the children’s fiction section. “It’s all just another part of the homosexual flightless waterfowl agenda,” Colbert said.... Every year the American Library Association releases its list of the top 10 most frequently challenged books in America. It’s the kind of ranking that generates hundreds of news articles upon its release, according to Nexis records. When the 2014 list came out in April, the Telegraph wrote that Parnell and Richardson’s book “continues to cause a furore for ‘promoting a homosexual agenda’.” The Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press and CNN all covered the news. The ALA itself has several press releases devoted to the list, along with a shareable infographic and an entire section of its website. One of the links in that section is a statistics page, which breaks down the challenges by reasons, initiator and institution...."

Library's mudflap girl campaign turns heads | Wyoming News | trib.com

Fri, 12 May 2017 09:49:00 -0400

"The goal was to let men who work on cars know about the state's online database of Chilton auto repair manuals. The database is accessible for free to anyone with a Wyoming library card. "It was a way to market to a new demographic from what we usually see or who usually uses the library," Lackey said. Library officials say the campaign succeeded. Yet it drew complaints from critics who said the library shouldn't objectify women in its promotional materials...."

Stephen Fry investigated by Irish police for alleged blasphemy | Culture | The Guardian

Sun, 07 May 2017 11:57:00 -0400

Under Ireland’s Defamation Act 2009 a person who publishes or utters blasphemous material “shall be guilty of an offence”. A conviction can lead to a fine of up to €25,000. While being interviewed on The Meaning of Life TV programme, Fry was asked what he would say to God if he had a chance. “I’d say ‘Bone cancer in children, what’s that about?’ How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault,” Fry replied. “It’s not right. It’s utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?” ..."

Some call it 'stealthing,' others call it sexual assault - CNN.com

Thu, 04 May 2017 10:11:00 -0400

"Some people call it "stealthing" -- a practice where men secretly remove or damage condoms without their partners' knowledge. Others call it sexual assault...."

Concise consent forms are effectively understood by clinical trial participants | EurekAlert! Science News

Wed, 26 Apr 2017 13:13:00 -0400

"Shortening standard consent forms did not affect comprehension; timing and mode of delivery mattered more...."

Public Attitudes toward Consent and Data Sharing in Biobank Research: A Large Multi-site Experimental Survey in the US

Mon, 17 Apr 2017 08:07:00 -0400

Abstract: Individuals participating in biobanks and other large research projects are increasingly asked to provide broad consent for open-ended research use and widespread sharing of their biosamples and data. We assessed willingness to participate in a biobank using different consent and data sharing models, hypothesizing that willingness would be higher under more restrictive scenarios. Perceived benefits, concerns, and information needs were also assessed. In this experimental survey, individuals from 11 US healthcare systems in the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network were randomly allocated to one of three hypothetical scenarios: tiered consent and controlled data sharing; broad consent and controlled data sharing; or broad consent and open data sharing. Of 82,328 eligible individuals, exactly 13,000 (15.8%) completed the survey. Overall, 66% (95% CI: 63%–69%) of population-weighted respondents stated they would be willing to participate in a biobank; willingness and attitudes did not differ between respondents in the three scenarios. Willingness to participate was associated with self-identified white race, higher educational attainment, lower religiosity, perceiving more research benefits, fewer concerns, and fewer information needs. Most (86%, CI: 84%–87%) participants would want to know what would happen if a researcher misused their health information; fewer (51%, CI: 47%–55%) would worry about their privacy. The concern that the use of broad consent and open data sharing could adversely affect participant recruitment is not supported by these findings. Addressing potential participants’ concerns and information needs and building trust and relationships with communities may increase acceptance of broad consent and wide data sharing in biobank research.

Nisar threatens to block all social media websites with 'blasphemous content' - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

Fri, 24 Mar 2017 10:55:00 -0400

"Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on Thursday threatened to block "all social media websites" that host blasphemous content hours after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the government to open an investigation into online blasphemy."

This Won't Be Abused At All: Google Offers Tool To Flag And Downrank 'Offensive' Search Results

Thu, 23 Mar 2017 12:59:00 -0400

"Again, at a first pass, this kind of thing absolutely sounds good. We should want better results, and the idea of letting Google's many millions of users help flag certain sites to be carefully reviewed for "upsetting or offensive" content makes sense. But... again, this definitely seems like the kind of thing that is open to widespread abuse. First off, what is "upsetting or offensive" anyway? That's a completely subjective standard, and one that we've seen people judge very, very differently. Second, what do you do if you really dislike a particular site? You open up a vote-brigade by a bunch of people to label it "upsetting or offensive." Trump haters can go after Breitbart and Trump supporters can go after the NY Times. Hopefully Google resists those kinds of vote brigading, but just the fact that this kind of tool is open to such abuse is concerning. And, again, when Google does something like this, it puts more pressure on other sites, with many fewer resources, to do something similar or get branded as somehow "supporting" offensive content...."

Arts 3MT winner tackles questions of sexual consent among people with dementia | Arts

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 13:21:00 -0400

"By 2030, 75 million people will be diagnosed with dementia worldwide. Many of them will be sexually active. But how can they consent to sex? That is the key question Andria Bianchi is examining for her PhD dissertation in Philosophy. Through her research, which included placements at two Toronto hospitals as part of the department’s new Applied Philosophy PhD program, she learned that many clinicians and caregivers were unsure how to handle the issue of consent for those with dementia and were uncomfortable discussing the topic. A few institutions have policies in place about sex and sexual consent, but most do not. Sometimes, the police are called...."

Foreseeing Self-Harm | Harvard Magazine

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 07:44:00 -0500

"Psychology professor Matthew Nock has spent his career studying self-harm, but he remains humbled by how little is yet understood about why people kill themselves....One shortcoming of traditional risk factors is that they require clinicians to rely on self-reported information from patients. What if patients aren’t forthcoming because they don’t want to be hospitalized, or are unable to report their emotional states? The bigger problem, Nock explains, is that each factor individually contributes so little to suicide risk. Depression, for example, may be correlated with suicide, but the proportion of patients with depression who attempt suicide is still vanishingly small....To comb through the many factors contributing to suicide risk in a more systematic way, Nock (profiled in “A Tragedy and a Mystery,” January-February 2011, page 32) and colleagues have been working on a new approach that uses a computer algorithm. Last September, they published the results of an early algorithm, not yet ready for clinical use, developed using health records from the Partners Healthcare system. The program scanned 1.72 million electronic medical records for every medical code—age, sex, number of doctor’s visits, and each illness or health complaint—that might predict suicide. The resulting model predicted 45 percent of the actual suicide attempts, on average three to four years in advance...."

Modeling suicide risk | Harvard Magazine

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 06:27:00 -0500

To comb through the many factors contributing to suicide risk in a more systematic way, Nock (profiled in “A Tragedy and a Mystery,” January-February 2011, page 32) and colleagues have been working on a new approach that uses a computer algorithm. Last September, they published the results of an early algorithm, not yet ready for clinical use, developed using health records from the Partners Healthcare system. The program scanned 1.72 million electronic medical records for every medical code—age, sex, number of doctor’s visits, and each illness or health complaint—that might predict suicide. The resulting model predicted 45 percent of the actual suicide attempts, on average three to four years in advance.

Consent Is A Really Low Bar For Most Human Interaction

Tue, 21 Feb 2017 05:30:00 -0500

"I was talking with someone yesterday about consent. I often think about consent in connection with sexual consent, because I teach and research in that area, but then our conversation moved on to other kinds of consent -- consent to have certain kinds of verbal interactions or other exchanges or engaging in other activities together. And one of the things I started thinking about was about how consent is a really low bar for most human interaction. ..."

Is My Novel Offensive?

Sat, 18 Feb 2017 10:43:00 -0500

"How “sensitivity readers” from minority groups are changing the book publishing ecosystem....Enter the [paid] sensitivity reader: one more line of defense against writers’ tone-deaf, unthinking mistakes....Some publishing houses provide their own sensitivity readers, particularly in genres—such as young adult literature—where the industry feels protective of its audience....Authors and publishers may send off manuscripts for sensitivity reads at different stages in the writing and editing process....Sensitivity readers, Ireland insists on her website, “are NOT a guarantee against making a mistake.” The vetters are individuals—they cannot comprehensively sum up the meaning of a group identity for a curious author. One Iraqi woman might be charmed by allusions to a character’s “almond-shaped eyes”; her friend might find the phrase clichéd and exoticizing. There’s danger, too, that majority writers might grow too comfortable outsourcing the task of representation to advisers from marginalized groups. (“I’ve written a book. You fix it,” this boogeyman scribbler declares.) Indeed, for the readers themselves, it can be grueling work. Angel Cruz, who advises on Filipino culture, the diaspora, and Catholicism, described sensitivity reading as “emotional/mental labor.” As the first line of defense against writers’ unexamined prejudice, she said, “you do take one for the team” in absorbing visceral blows that can land close to home. Freelance sensitivity reader Elizabeth Roderick, who concentrates on bipolar disorder, PTSD, and psychosis—“I’m here to show the world that I’m not, in fact, wearing a tinfoil hat,” she joked—takes aim at language that paints mentally ill characters “as violent, completely unbalanced, and with evil motives.” ...It’s not hard to imagine why sensitivity readers could potentially put authors in a difficult position. After all, where would we be if these experts had subjected our occasionally outrageous and irredeemable canon—Moby Dick or Lolita or any other classic, old, anachronistic book—to their scrutiny? ...Some sensitivity readers draw distinctions between offensive descriptions and offensive descriptions that appear to enjoy the blessing of the author. ....Even these readers acknowledge the risks of overpolicing artists if the practice were to be taken to the extreme...."

Trump’s F.D.A. Pick Could Undo Decades of Drug Safeguards - The New York Times

Mon, 06 Feb 2017 11:05:00 -0500

"At an anti-aging conference in 2014, Mr. [Jim] O’Neill [one of several possible Trump nominees to head the FDA] advocated something he called “progressive” approval, in which drugs that were proved safe, but not yet proven effective, could be allowed on the market. “Let people start using them, at their own risk,” Mr. O’Neill said...." PS: Is it (justified) paternalisn to require proof that a new drug is both safe and effective, rather than mere proof that it is safe? Is it (justified) paternalisn even to require proof that it is safe?

Paternalism - Essex Autonomy Project

Sun, 29 Jan 2017 10:09:00 -0500

Abstract: A strange form of entertainment appeared among French youth at the beginning of the 1990s. Local discotheques started to organize ‘dwarf tossing’ events, in which a dwarf, wearing suitable protective gear, would allow himself to be thrown short distances onto an air bed by the clients. French authorities soon prohibited these events, on the basis that the practice violated the principle of human dignity. In a series of appeals, the case was brought before the French Conseil d’Etat and the UN Human Rights Committee. The applicant, Mr. Wackenheim, one of dwarf employees in question, claimed that banning him from his work had an adverse effect on his life and represented an affront to his dignity, since human dignity consists in having a job. Although his petition was rejected by both forums, Mr. Wackenheim’s reasoning raises interesting issues both from an ethical and legal point of view. In this paper, we shall investigate the central question of the case, namely: What are the acceptable limits of state intervention to protect competent individuals from their own self-harming conduct? Put it more directly, what are the rules and limits of paternalistic interventions?

Are liberals easily offended? - Quora

Sun, 22 Jan 2017 12:57:00 -0500

Many answers point out many ways in which conservatives are easily offended.

Microsoft sued by Commercial Content Moderators (#CCM) in first-of-its-kind case – Sarah T. Roberts | The Illusion of Volition

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 10:01:00 -0500

"In a first-of-its kind case, a Washington state attorney has filed suit on behalf of two Microsoft employees who were exposed to disturbing and abhorrent content, all a part of the conditions of their work at Microsoft as commercial content moderators (CCM). According to the article reported in the McClatchy syndicate of newspapers, the two workers now suffer PTSD symptoms after reviewing material, such as child pornography, and removing it on behalf of the software giant...."

Introduction: Privacy Self-Management and the Consent Dilemma - Introduction: Privacy Self-Management and the Consent Dilemma

Mon, 09 Jan 2017 12:28:00 -0500

"Privacy self-management takes refuge in consent. It attempts to be neutral about substance – whether certain forms of collecting, using, or disclosing personal data are good or bad – and instead focuses on whether people consent to various privacy practices. Consent legitimizes nearly any form of collection, use, or disclosure of personal data. Although privacy self-management is certainly a laudable and necessary component of any regulatory regime, I contend that it is being tasked with doing work beyond its capabilities. Privacy self-management does not provide people with meaningful control over their data. First, empirical and social science research demonstrates that there are severe cognitive problems that undermine privacy self-management. These cognitive problems impair individuals’ ability to make informed, rational choices about the costs and benefits of consenting to the collection, use, and disclosure of their personal data...."

A Fine Line Is it time to reconsider the dead-donor rule?

Fri, 06 Jan 2017 12:08:00 -0500

"Proponents of sustaining the dead-donor rule emphasize that it strengthens public trust in the organ transplantation system by assuring potential donors and their loved ones that organs will not be removed before a person is declared dead. The rule fulfills the responsibility of physicians and surgeons to ensure that the removal of the heart or lungs, for example, does not cause a patient’s death. Perhaps most importantly, it underscores the foundational medical doctrine: Do no harm....Detractors point out that harm is already occurring. Dying patients who don’t fit the stringent requirements of the dead-donor rule and who want to donate their vital organs are prevented from doing so. Loved ones experience a double loss, a death without the opportunity to save others. At times, the quest to satisfy the rule unsettles practitioners, dissuades patients who want to donate, and compromises the quality of the transplantable organs...."

Frontiers | Clinical Relevance of Informal Coercion in Psychiatric Treatment—A Systematic Review | Public Mental Health

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 08:28:00 -0500

Abstract: Introduction: Although informal coercion is frequently applied in psychiatry, its use is discussed controversially. This systematic review aimed to summarize literature on attitudes toward informal coercion, its prevalence, and clinical effects. Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, PsycINF, and Google Scholar was conducted. Publications were included if they reported original data describing patients’ and clinicians’ attitudes toward and prevalence rates or clinical effects of informal coercion. Results: Twenty-one publications out of a total of 162 articles met the inclusion criteria. Most publications focused on leverage and inducements rather than persuasion and threat. Prevalence rates of informal coercion were 29–59%, comparable on different study sites and in different settings. The majority of mental health professionals as well as one-third to two-third of the psychiatric patients had positive attitudes, even if there was personal experience of informal coercion. We found no study evaluating the clinical effect of informal coercion in an experimental study design. Discussion: Cultural and ethical aspects are associated with the attitudes and prevalence rates. The clinical effect of informal coercion remains unclear and further studies are needed to evaluate these interventions and the effect on therapeutic relationship and clinical outcome. It can be hypothesized that informal coercion may lead to better adherence and clinical outcome but also to strains in the therapeutic relationship. It is recommendable to establish structured education about informal coercion and sensitize mental health professionals for its potential for adverse effects in clinical routine practice.

How Casinos Enable Gambling Addicts - The Atlantic

Fri, 18 Nov 2016 11:58:00 -0500

"Modern slot machines develop an unbreakable hold on many players—some of whom wind up losing their jobs, their families, and even, as in the case of Scott Stevens, their lives...."

Wisconsin asks fan to remove offensive parts of costume - Yahoo News Digest

Sun, 30 Oct 2016 17:29:00 -0400

"The University of Wisconsin says it asked a fan wearing what appeared to be a President Barack Obama mask and a noose around his neck to remove the offensive parts of the costume during the school's football game on Saturday night against Nebraska...."

Seeking consent for research with indigenous communities: a systematic review | BMC Medical Ethics | Full Text

Sun, 23 Oct 2016 10:01:00 -0400

Abstract: When conducting research with Indigenous populations consent should be sought from both individual participants and the local community. We aimed to search and summarise the literature about methods for seeking consent for research with Indigenous populations.

Open Projects - Open Humans

Wed, 19 Oct 2016 08:28:00 -0400

"While many researchers encounter no privacy-based barriers to releasing data, those working with human participants, such as doctors, psychologists, and geneticists, have a difficult problem to surmount. How do they reconcile their desire to share data, allowing their analyses and conclusions to be verified, with the need to protect participant privacy? It's a dilemma we've talked about before on the blog (see: Open Data and IRBs, Privacy and Open Data). A new project, Open Humans, seeks to resolve the issue by finding patients who are willing - even eager - to share their personal data...."

Juggalo Charged With Chopping Off Woman’s Finger and Drinking Her Blood - The Daily Beast

Sat, 08 Oct 2016 12:08:00 -0400

"A Wisconsin woman let a man she’d just met drink her blood and chop off her finger, according to a criminal complaint filed against her companion last week. Shelby Neuens told the staff of St. Mary’s Hospital her left pinky finger was missing because a man cut it off with a machete, according to court documents. But Neuens added the amputation was consensual and pleaded that they not call the police...."

Millard Chris , A History of Self-Harm in Britain. A Genealogy of Cutting and Overdosing (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), pix, 268, eBook, Open Access, ISBN: 978-1-137-52962-6. | Cambridge Core

Sun, 02 Oct 2016 09:57:00 -0400

Sarah York's book review of Millard Chris , A History of Self-Harm in Britain. A Genealogy of Cutting and Overdosing (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), pix, 268, eBook, Open Access, ISBN: 978-1-137-52962-6.

Janet Halley, The Move to Affirmative Consent: Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society: Vol 42, No 1

Thu, 08 Sep 2016 11:29:00 -0400

Abstract: In “The Move to Affirmative Consent,” I argue that, though affirmative consent has great appeal because of its respect for norms about good sex that we all share, as a rule intended to be enforced in actual punitive processes, whether on campus or in the criminal justice system, it will be vastly overinclusive, deeply repressive, and socially conservative in its enforcement of traditional gender roles. I show how affirmative consent reforms represent a partial victory (and thus also a partial defeat) for dominance feminists ultimately seeking to criminalize subjectively unwanted sexual behavior without respect to the intent or knowledge of the accused; the relationship history of the parties; the racial, cultural, or other social distance between the parties; and the character of the complainant’s memory of the events. I further demonstrate how existing affirmative consent rules will allow decision makers to hold people responsible for serious misconduct based on one or more of three states of mind that have been consistently muddled in the debates so far: the accuser’s subjective consent (described as “positive” if it is rests on her positive desire and as “constrained” if she consents to sexual conduct to avoid something she disfavors) and as “performative” if it rests on an indication of consent through physical or verbal signs. Each of these rules includes some conduct that, almost all feminists agree, deserves sanction and should be deterred, but they are all overinclusive in ways that many feminists would reject. One such way, I demonstrate, is an affirmation of female passivity and male activity in sex—a legal affirmation of, and incentive to reawaken, the gender roles of the gilded age. This current contribution asks feminists to consider carefully how affirmative consent will operate in practice, in the real world, before offering it their support.

Anna Ioanes, Shock and Consent in a Feminist Avant-Garde: Kathleen Hanna Reads Kathy Acker: Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society: Vol 42, No 1

Thu, 08 Sep 2016 11:29:00 -0400

Abstract: Tracing a genealogy of feminist avant-garde aesthetics from punk feminist author Kathy Acker’s 1979 novel Blood and Guts in High School to riot grrrl performer and activist Kathleen Hanna’s music and zine writing of the 1990s, I argue that this aesthetic formation deploys shock to complicate familiar concepts of consent. Acker’s use of fragmented narrative, plagiarized text, and hand-drawn images compounds the effects of her depictions of shocking sexual violence, forcing the reader into a relationship of constantly renegotiated consent. Because they consent to shocking violence under a kind of duress, readers reimagine the very nature of consent through their experience with Blood and Guts. I posit Kathleen Hanna as one of Acker’s most important readers and demonstrate how her zines and music also deploy sadomasochistic imagery to articulate the varied emotional responses women have to sexual violence. Drawing connections between formal strategies for eliciting shock and the limits of consent, I argue that Acker and Hanna’s feminist aesthetic of shock offers new ways of conceiving pleasure and danger. Shock, I contend, became a strategy for resisting the antipornography ethos that prevailed when Acker and Hanna were writing. In their moment and our own, where consent is a key term in debates about sexual violence, Acker and Hanna offer the possibility of artistic forms that allow for taboo affective responses to violence.

Terminally ill Betsy Davis holds party before ending her life | Daily Mail Online

Sun, 14 Aug 2016 12:28:00 -0400

"Betsy Davis, 41, became one of the first Californians to take a lethal dose of drugs under the state's new doctor-assisted suicide law Davis worked out a detailed schedule for the gathering on the weekend of July 23-24 The ALS sufferer, diagnosed in 2013, had one rule for the gathering: no crying The artist could no longer stand, brush her teeth or scratch an itch and her speech slurred speech Davis took a combination of morphine, pentobarbital and chloral hydrate on an outdoor canopy bed and died four hours later and the end of the weekend..."

Consent, explained. — Consent, explained. — Medium

Sun, 14 Aug 2016 12:27:00 -0400

"Who am I to explain consent to you? I’m very square, married, living in the suburbs with my hardworking husband, and an irritating cat. But about once a month, roughly 60 people show up to our house for an all-night orgy. We have established a strong consent culture for these parties, to keep our guests safe and happy. Not surprisingly, (to us,) our clear consent rules have resulted in lots of happy sex that nobody feels bad about. In light of the recent conversations I’ve seen about the Brock Turner trial, I now realize that most people do not fully understand consent. Almost every comment I have seen, whether in support or in anger towards Brock Turner, shows an alarming amount of ignorance about how consent works. I believe our community’s values may be helpful to others who are struggling to understand the consent violation that is core to this trial: “Consent is always conditional on participants’ ability to revoke their consent.” ..."

In ‘political correctness’ debate, most Americans think too many people are easily offended | Pew Research Center

Tue, 02 Aug 2016 12:56:00 -0400

"At a time when the appropriateness of language has become a political issue, most Americans (59%) say “too many people are easily offended these days over the language that others use.” Fewer (39%) think “people need to be more careful about the language they use to avoid offending people with different backgrounds.” A new national survey by Pew Research Center finds substantial partisan, racial and gender differences on this question. About eight-in-ten (78%) Republicans say too many people are easily offended, while just 21% say people should be more careful to avoid offending others. Among Democrats, 61% think people should be more careful not to offend others, compared with 37% who say people these days are too easily offended...."

Living In The Age of Outrage

Sun, 05 Jun 2016 12:34:00 -0400

"In short, people have become less tolerant of opposing opinions. And their reactions to those opinions has become more emotional and outrageous...."

SCOTUS drunk driving case looks good for the drunk drivers.

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 10:42:00 -0400

"Wednesday’s case [4/20/16], Birchfield v. North Dakota, involves laws that impose criminal penalties when motorists suspected of drunk driving refuse to take a “chemical test”—usually a blood or breath test. North Dakota, Minnesota, and 10 other states have passed such measures to avoid pesky issues like obtaining a warrant before sticking a needle in a driver’s arm or a tube in her mouth. Danny Birchfield, who was arrested for refusing to take a blood test, argued that these laws violate the Fourth Amendment, which typically requires a warrant before police can conduct a search. North Dakota says motorists give consent to chemical tests when they drive in the state. Birchfield says legally mandated consent is no consent at all...."

Concept Creep: Psychology's Expanding Concepts of Harm and Pathology - Psychological Inquiry - Volume 27, Issue 1

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 10:40:00 -0400

Abstract: Many of psychology's concepts have undergone semantic shifts in recent years. These conceptual changes follow a consistent trend. Concepts that refer to the negative aspects of human experience and behavior have expanded their meanings so that they now encompass a much broader range of phenomena than before. This expansion takes “horizontal” and “vertical” forms: concepts extend outward to capture qualitatively new phenomena and downward to capture quantitatively less extreme phenomena. The concepts of abuse, bullying, trauma, mental disorder, addiction, and prejudice are examined to illustrate these historical changes. In each case, the concept's boundary has stretched and its meaning has dilated. A variety of explanations for this pattern of “concept creep” are considered and its implications are explored. I contend that the expansion primarily reflects an ever-increasing sensitivity to harm, reflecting a liberal moral agenda. Its implications are ambivalent, however. Although conceptual change is inevitable and often well motivated, concept creep runs the risk of pathologizing everyday experience and encouraging a sense of virtuous but impotent victimhood.

How Americans Became So Sensitive to Harm

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 10:39:00 -0400

"A mother leaves her son in the car while popping into a store at a strip mall. She is charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. A high school senior complains to her Facebook friends about a teacher and is suspended for “cyberbullying.” Students at Wellesley start a petition calling for the removal of a statue of a man in his underwear, claiming that the art piece caused them emotional trauma. So many residents of Santa Monica, California, claim to need emotional support animals that the local farmer’s market warns against service dog fraud....How did American culture arrive at these moments? A new research paper by Nick Haslam, a professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne, Australia, offers as useful a framework for understanding what’s going on as any I’ve seen. In “Concept Creep: Psychology's Expanding Concepts of Harm and Pathology,” Haslam argues that concepts like abuse, bullying, trauma, mental disorder, addiction, and prejudice, “now encompass a much broader range of phenomena than before,”expanded meanings that reflect “an ever-increasing sensitivity to harm.” ..."

The right to be forgotten in the light of the consent of the data subject - Bartolini Cesare

Mon, 14 Mar 2016 13:17:00 -0400

Abstract: Recently, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued decision C-131/12, which was considered a major breakthrough in Internet data protection. The general public welcomed this decision as an actualization of the controversial “right to be forgotten”, which was introduced in the initial draft for a new regulation on data protection and repeatedly amended, due to objections by various Member States and major companies involved in massive processing of personal data. This paper attempts to delve into the content of that decision and examine if it indeed involves the right to be forgotten, if such a right exists at all, and to what extent it can be stated and enforced.

She Was Asked to Switch Seats. Now She’s Charging El Al With Sexism. - The New York Times

Sat, 27 Feb 2016 11:21:00 -0500

"Ms. Rabinowitz was comfortably settled into her aisle seat in the business-class section on El Al Flight 028 from Newark to Tel Aviv in December when, as she put it, “this rather distinguished-looking man in Hasidic or Haredi garb, I’d guess around 50 or so, shows up.” Conversation Starters Provocative looks at pressing issues. How Marco Rubio Could Lose Every State on Super Tuesday and Still Win As Some Iranians Register Dislike at Polls, Others Do So by Staying Home Scalia Took Dozens of Trips Funded by Private Sponsors Decline of Pollinators Poses Threat to World Food Supply, Report Says Swedish Girl Who Ran Away to Iraq Says She Had Not Heard of ISIS See More » The man was assigned the window seat in her row. But, like many ultra-Orthodox male passengers, he did not want to sit next to a woman, seeing even inadvertent contact with the opposite sex as verboten under the strictest interpretation of Jewish law. Soon, Ms. Rabinowitz said, a flight attendant offered her a “better” seat, up front, closer to first class. Reluctantly, Ms. Rabinowitz, an impeccably groomed 81-year-old grandmother who walks with a cane because of bad knees, agreed...."

Willful Ignorance on Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 08:28:00 -0500

"Willful ignorance is when we know that there are other ideas out there, but we refuse to consider them. We believe in our own position so strongly that no amount of evidence can persuade us to change it, such as when vaccine deniers continue to insist that the shot for measles, mumps, and rubella causes autism, despite a mountain of scientific studies that have discredited that view. Eventually, after refusing to listen to the other side long enough, such a stance can harden into full-blown denialism. The other side becomes not just wrong but deranged. Even demonized. And I’m afraid this may be the road we’re on in the debate over offensive speech on campus...."

The Legal Limits of ‘Yes Means Yes’ - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 08:25:00 -0500

"The most promising path to changing the culture of sexual consent on college campuses is to adopt and regularly reaffirm "yes means yes" as the rule of proper conduct, but to reject it as the principle of adjudication."

Helping Doesn't Always Help | Mauricio Lim Miller

Thu, 19 Nov 2015 12:09:00 -0500

"Writing about paternalism, philosophy professor Peter Suber, now with the Harvard Open Access Project, argues, "Paternalism is a temptation in every arena of life where people hold power over others." He continues: "Paternalists advance people's interests (such as life, health, or safety) at the expense of their liberty. In this, paternalists suppose that they can make wiser decisions than the people for whom they act. Sometimes this is based on presumptions about their own wisdom or the foolishness of other people, and can be dismissed as presumptuous. But sometimes it is not." I quote Suber here because I now believe presumptions by my professional colleagues in the social sector have hindered the war on poverty. The fact is many of us control--but do not fully understand--the social and economic experiences that make up the world of those we try to help. Thus, we are in danger of doing more harm than good...."

Harvard Law School professor defends admitting students who probably won't pass the bar.

Thu, 05 Nov 2015 12:35:00 -0500

"Feldman finds this "growing conventional wisdom" that schools shouldn't "admit students who are statistically uncertain to pass the bar" deeply troublesome. "This view assumes that it's up to the law schools to make the threshold decision paternalistically, 'saving' naive college graduates from pursuing the dream of becoming lawyers when there’s no guarantee that they'll succeed," he writes. "It treats standardized test scores as destiny and correlation-based studies as gospel." In Feldman's view, denying applicants with bottom-basement LSAT scores the opportunity to attend law school at great personal expense would amount to the "infantalization" of young college graduates. "Do we really need to protect people from trying to achieve their dreams?" he asks. Looked at the right way, low bar-passage rates could even be considered a positive sign. "If all law students were passing the bar, it would be a sign that law schools weren't taking a chance on students at the margin of the capacity to succeed," Feldman writes...."

Did I Just Give My #Permission? The Hashtag as Consent | PhotoShelter Blog

Mon, 12 Oct 2015 06:33:00 -0400

"The New York Times published an article about brands using user generated content (UGC) without explicit permission. When Shereen Way posted a photo of her daughter to Instagram with the hashtag #crocs, Crocs pulled the photo and posted it to their website with other UGC content. It was only much later that Crocs sought explicit permission from Ms. Way, which she declined....

Nudging: A Very Short Guide by Cass R. Sunstein :: SSRN

Sun, 11 Oct 2015 09:15:00 -0400

Abstract: This brief essay offers a general introduction to the idea of nudging, along with a list of ten of the most important “nudges.” It also provides a short discussion of the question whether to create some kind of separate “behavioral insights unit,” capable of conducting its own research, or instead to rely on existing institutions.

Consent around sex is ignored all the time, and it’s not okay.

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 12:22:00 -0400

"These everyday examples of how we give consent for other things shows just how absurd it is to blame sexual assault survivors or to try to justify rape in any way...."

Why I should be free to cause offence | Times Higher Education

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 11:21:00 -0400

"Lincoln Allison argues that it is becoming harder for academics to share controversial ideas...."

This might be the most racist book review headline of all time - Vox

Sat, 15 Aug 2015 05:53:00 -0400

"The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad decided, on July 31, to publish a book review of Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me, as well as two other books about race in America. A symposium on race in America is a good idea, in theory. But in execution, this review was shockingly racist in and of itself. It contained deeply offensive cartoons and language....So the headline and the cartoon were deliberately chosen to be offensive, but weren't intended to offend anyone....[T]he Zwarte Piet tradition remains beloved in the Netherlands, and Dutch people are very resistant to the idea that it's offensive...."

In Defense of Drag’s Offense

Wed, 29 Jul 2015 12:44:00 -0400

A drag queen defends drag queens who deliberately cause offense.

Nudges That Fail by Cass R. Sunstein :: SSRN

Wed, 22 Jul 2015 05:35:00 -0400

Abstract: Why are some nudges ineffective, or at least less effective than choice architects hope and expect? Focusing primarily on default rules, this essay emphasizes two reasons. The first involves strong antecedent preferences on the part of choosers. The second involves successful “counternudges,” which persuade people to choose in a way that confounds the efforts of choice architects. Nudges might also be ineffective, and less effective than expected, for five other reasons. (1) Some nudges produce confusion on the part of the target audience. (2) Some nudges have only short-term effects. (3) Some nudges produce “reactance” (though this appears to be rare) (4) Some nudges are based on an inaccurate (though initially plausible) understanding on the part of choice architects of what kinds of choice architecture will move people in particular contexts. (5) Some nudges produce compensating behavior, resulting in no net effect. When a nudge turns out to be insufficiently effective, choice architects have three potential responses: (1) Do nothing; (2) nudge better (or different); and (3) fortify the effects of the nudge, perhaps through counter-counternudges, perhaps through incentives, mandates, or bans.

College Changes Policy Stating That Disabled Students Can’t Consent to Sex – The Ticker - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Sat, 18 Jul 2015 14:08:00 -0400

"After online criticism, Armstrong State University has changed its policy stating that students with “a physical and/or mental impairment” are unable to consent to sex, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The university said key language had been omitted from the policy. It now states that disabled people who are also “unable to communicate” are unable to give consent...."

New York to expand "yes means yes" sexual consent policy to private colleges - CBS News

Tue, 07 Jul 2015 10:03:00 -0400

"New York state's private colleges and universities have a new sexual consent policy after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the measure into law Tuesday in an effort to combat campus sexual violence.... The new law contains a "yes means yes" definition of consent that requires a clear, affirmative agreement between partners. It also creates a victim's bill of rights and boosts training for law enforcement, faculty and students...."

Please, Corporations, Experiment on Us - The New York Times

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 09:28:00 -0400

"CAN it ever be ethical for companies or governments to experiment on their employees, customers or citizens without their consent? ..."

The Ethics of Nudging

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 10:10:00 -0500

Abstract: All over the world, governments are using nudges as regulatory tools. Is this ethical? Much ofthe answer depends on whether nudges promote or instead undermine welfare, autonomy, and dignity. Many nudges, and those that deserve support, promote some or all of those ideals, and undermine none of them. If welfare is our guide, much nudging is actually required on ethical grounds, even if it comes from government. If autonomy is our guide, much nudging is also required on ethical grounds, in part because some nudges actually promote autonomy, in part because some nudges enable people to devote their limited time and attention to their most important concerns. Finally, nudges should not, and need not, compromise individual dignity, which many nudges actually promote. There is, however, a genuine risk that some nudges might count as manipulation; an emphasis on welfare, autonomy, and dignity helps to show how to avoid that risk

'I Was Not Taught About Consent' - The Atlantic

Sat, 15 Nov 2014 09:43:00 -0500

"I was not taught about consent as a child or teenager or even a young woman in my 20s. I was raised in a Christian family that can be described as evangelical or fundamentalist depending on whom you ask. The important thing when it came to sex, I was always taught, was whether you were married or not. I do not recall any person, any book, or any teacher ever suggesting to me that whether I wanted sex had anything to do with it. As far as I can tell, it was and is unusual for women in that subculture to even be aware of the mainstream conversation about consent...."

Sex on Campus: UCLA Students Weigh Affirmative-Consent Laws - The Atlantic

Sun, 02 Nov 2014 11:39:00 -0500

"Imagine serving on the campus equivalent of a jury in a sexual-assault case. The accused testifies, "I thought I was reading all the signals right. Once we started kissing it felt like things progressed naturally, like we were both into it. Neither of us said, 'Yes, let's do this,' but I definitely wanted to hook up. I felt sure we both did." The accuser says, "I was totally comfortable when we started kissing, but as things progressed I felt more and more uncomfortable. I didn't say stop or resist, but I didn't consent to being groped or undressed. I wasn't asked. I didn't want that." If both seem to be telling the truth as they perceive it, what's the just outcome? Last week, I spent some time at UCLA asking students about California's new "affirmative-consent" law. In our conversations, I described the law and asked them whether they supported it or not. I also posted this scenario to them. I was surprised by how common it was for students to express support for the law and then to say a few minutes later that they wouldn't feel comfortable convicting the accused in that example...."

'Yes Means Yes' Isn't the Answer

Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:04:00 -0400

"The word "yes" or its equivalent is meaningless when it comes from someone who has consumed so much alcohol that she or he is slurring speech, having trouble walking, or vomiting. And this is the case in a majority of sexual assaults: According to the Harvard School of Public Health, one in 20 college women experience sexual intercourse without their consent during the course of a school year, and 72 percent of those cases occur when the victim is too drunk to consent. Focusing on the word "yes" as the key to getting sexual consent is dangerous in colleges’ hookup culture, where most victims are too intoxicated to say yes or no or, in some cases, even to be aware of what is going on...."

Sex and the Class of 2020: How Will Hookups Change?

Sat, 18 Oct 2014 17:21:00 -0400

"As California's colleges and universities adjust to a new state law mandating a standard of "affirmative consent" in sexual assault and rape cases—as well as campus judicial proceedings with a "preponderance of the evidence" standard of guilt—observers are trying to anticipate how these policy changes will affect the lived culture of sexual acts among students, most in their late teens or early 20s. The law's effect on campus culture will determine whether it advances the ends sought by supporters, who hope to reduce the incidence of sex crimes. Yet there is broad disagreement about whether and how sexual culture will adapt to the new regime. Even those who agree that the law is good or bad disagree about its likely effects. What follows are some of the wildly divergent forecasts, some hopeful, others cautionary...."

Our horrible consent culture is a tax on women - Vox

Sun, 12 Oct 2014 12:26:00 -0400

"The [California] law [requiring affirmative consent] didn't come out of nowhere. It emerged as a response to a status quo that has proved to be an all-too-powerful tool for sexual predators, because it enables them to claim to see consent in everything except continuous, unequivocal rejection. That status quo puts women in the position of having to constantly police their own behavior to make sure that they are not giving the appearance of passive consent. That's not only exhausting; it's limiting. It reinforces power imbalances that keep women out of positions of success and authority...."

Yes to "Yes Means Yes" | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson

Mon, 06 Oct 2014 16:34:00 -0400

"By THE CRIMSON STAFFa day agoIn California this week, “no means no” became “yes means yes.” The distinction between the two might seem elusive, but the idea of “affirmative consent”—a concept which Governor Jerry Brown signed into law for the state's college campuses last week—can make a huge difference in the adjudication of cases of sexual assault. The California bill describes affirmative consent as “affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement” from both partners to sexual activity. This means that an individual must openly express, verbally or non-verbally, his or her desire to take part in a sexual act just before the act takes place. According to the law, those who are unconscious or intoxicated cannot consent, and consent to one type of contact (kissing, for example) does not imply consent to another type (such as sexual intercourse). The law is the first in the nation to officially embrace an affirmative consent policy, and we hope others are soon to come. Legal affirmative consent policies bring clarity to a tough juridical matter. Before, sexual assault prosecutions and defenses alike ran into trouble in the courtroom because policies were too vague—it was difficult for those on the bench to understand what constituted assault, and what constituted bad communication. Affirmative consent policies help to clear up that question: Without a clearly expressed intention from all parties to engage in sexual activity, that activity is legally impermissible. A more transparent policy should prove a boon to the accuser and the accused alike...."

Affirmative consent in California: Gov. Jerry Brown signs the "yes means yes" law.

Tue, 30 Sep 2014 16:53:00 -0400

"The "she didn't say no!" defense lost a little of its power over the weekend. Sunday, the progressive governor of California, Jerry Brown, knocked another one off the feminist wish list, signing into law a bill that requires universities in the state to adopt an "affirmative consent" standard to be used when investigating sexual assault complaints on campus. This means that during an investigation of an alleged sexual assault, university disciplinary committees will have to ask if the sexual encounter met a standard where both parties were consenting, with consent defined as "an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity." Notice that the words "verbal" or "stone sober" are not included in that definition. The drafters understand, as most of us do when we're actually having sex, that sometimes sexual consent is nonverbal and that there's a difference between drunk, consensual sex and someone pushing himself on a woman who is too drunk to resist...."

Students Advocate for Consensual Sex - NYTimes.com

Tue, 30 Sep 2014 16:16:00 -0400

"IN 1993, when Antioch College introduced its “ask first” policy — mandating that students solicit permission for every intimate advance, including kissing — the policy was widely derided. Once the stuff of “Saturday Night Live” parody, “consent” today is proudly emblazoned on T-shirts, underwear and condom wrappers. Through activism that happens as often on YouTube and Twitter as on the main green, foot soldiers in the consent movement are encouraging fellow classmates to ask first and ask often before engaging in sexual activity. Their mission is to make consent cooler than Antioch did. The movement’s slogan: “Consent is sexy.” It isn’t always an easy sell. Today, as it was decades ago, the butt of the joke is the awkward formality of the ask...."

California Law on Sexual Consent Pleases Many but Leaves Some Doubters - NYTimes.com

Tue, 30 Sep 2014 16:13:00 -0400

"Facing what many regard as an epidemic of campus sexual assault, some colleges have cracked down on binge drinking, others have reined in fraternities, while still others are training incoming students not to be passive bystanders when they see signs of trouble. But the most talked-about new approach, adopted by many schools in the past year, is to require mutual “affirmative consent,” and not just passive acquiescence, before any sexual contact. California has raised the stakes becoming the first state in the country to pass a law obliging every college to have a consent policy or lose state financial aid. And while advocates are nodding approval, experts — and many college administrators — say they have no idea if it will work any better than the other ways. In fact, they say, at a time when politicians from President Obama on down are drawing attention to campus sexual assaults, responses are hampered by a lack of hard data about what works, leaving colleges to rely on instinct and anecdote...."

How 'Yes Means Yes' Already Works on One Campus

Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:49:00 -0400

"When Tyler Anderson spoke to first-year students at Grinnell College this fall about the institution’s policy on sexual consent, he acknowledged that asking for a partner’s approval during sex may seem unnatural. Grinnell’s two-year-old policy, which is similar to the hotly debated one just adopted in California, requires students to gain "affirmative consent" from partners in all sexual interactions.....Teaching students how to make sure they and their partners are on the same page during sex so that encounters don’t lead to charges of assault is sensitive and tricky. Students, like most people, aren’t used to being told so explicitly what to do in the privacy of their own bedrooms. But guiding them is a role colleges find themselves playing as they are responsible for both preventing sexual assault and for handling reports of sexual misconduct. At Grinnell, most students seem to accept the college’s involvement in what many consider a very personal matter."

What California’s New Sexual-Consent Law Means for Its Colleges

Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:44:00 -0400

"Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill on Sunday making California the first state to set uniform definitions and standards for both private and public colleges to deal with sexual assaults. The law's main feature is a requirement that colleges adopt an "affirmative consent" standard, meaning that people must signal they are willingly engaging in sexual activity. In other words, only yes means yes. Here is what the law will mean for colleges:...."

California Shifts to ‘Yes Means Yes’ Standard for College Sex

Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:43:00 -0400

"Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed legislation on Sunday that explicitly requires colleges and universities that receive state funds to define consent in students’ sexual encounters in terms of "yes means yes" rather than the traditional "no means no."...At California colleges, students must now ensure they have the affirmative consent of their partners at the beginning of a sexual encounter and maintain that consent throughout the activity. The law states that consent "can be revoked at any time." The absence of "no," the law says, is insufficient to indicate consent...."

‘Yes Means Yes’ Is a Bad Coupling of Feminism and the State

Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:39:00 -0400

"California’s enacting on Sunday of the “yes means yes” law is a victory for some feminist activists but an ill-conceived detour for feminism. The new law will require “an affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity.” In other words, if a person is not actively agreeing to a sexual exchange and doing so throughout the exchange, it is not consensual....“Yes means yes” is a great notion with which to start a sex-ed class. Asking your partner if she or he want this or that, harder or softer, slower or faster is a fine way of producing more pleasure for all parties involved. But that doesn’t make the concept good law."

EU data rules could ‘devastate’ development work

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 12:27:00 -0400

"Proposed European restrictions on how personal data can be used for scientific research will have a “devastating impact” on efforts to reduce disease and poverty in the developing world, a coalition of development science experts warn. By requiring consent for most uses of individuals’ information, including age, location and health conditions, and limiting the situations in which these data can be used, European legislators will stifle progress in medicine and food security, they say."

Illegal, Immoral, and Mood-Altering — Medium

Thu, 25 Sep 2014 04:47:00 -0400

"We aren’t saying that companies shouldn’t do experiments. We’re just saying that when companies do experiments, they must do them ethically. Informed consent and IRB review aren’t just the right thing. They’re the law."

Islamic-Studies Professor, Accused of Blasphemy, Is Assassinated in Pakistan – The Ticker - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Fri, 19 Sep 2014 17:29:00 -0400

"A professor of Islamic studies in Pakistan who had been accused of blasphemy was shot and killed by two unidentified gunmen on Thursday, Reuters reports. Muhammad Shakil Auj, dean of the faculty of Islamic studies at a university in Karachi, complained to the police in 2012 that four colleagues had texted accusations of blasphemy to him. Mr. Auj was known for his moderate views, writing, for example, that Muslim women should be allowed to marry non-Muslims. Accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan can lead to indefinite imprisonment, if not immediate lynching, Reuters notes. Judges and lawyers sometimes do not show up for hearings in blasphemy cases, out of fear that describing the charge will lead to their being charged with blasphemy as well."

College sexual assault: How to talk to your kids about consent.

Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:02:00 -0400

"Thousands of parents have just sent their kids off to college in America, releasing them to an exciting new social and educational environment where new students experience a heightened risk of being sexually assaulted, where dozens of schools are being investigated for mishandling campus rape cases, and where one Ivy League victim has become so frustrated by the process that she's pledged to haul a mattress around campus until her administration takes her claims of assault seriously. Maybe parents should bring that up? I asked Heather Corinna—founder and director of the sex education and advice website Scarleteen—to weigh in on when parents should start teaching their kids about consent, how technology has changed the sex talk, and whether we should be sending different messages to college-aged boys and girls."

"Yes means yes" becomes law in California - CBS News

Thu, 18 Sep 2014 10:02:00 -0400

"Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday that he has signed a bill that makes California the first in the nation to define when "yes means yes" and adopt requirements for colleges to follow when investigating sexual assault reports. State lawmakers last month approved SB967 by Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, as states and universities across the U.S. are under pressure to change how they handle rape allegations. Campus sexual assault victims and women's advocacy groups delivered petitions to Brown's office on Sept. 16 urging him to sign the bill. De Leon has said the legislation will begin a paradigm shift in how college campuses in California prevent and investigate sexual assaults. Rather than using the refrain "no means no," the definition of consent under the bill requires "an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity." ... The legislation says silence or lack of resistance does not constitute consent. Under the bill, someone who is drunk, drugged, unconscious or asleep cannot grant consent.... SB967 applies to all California post-secondary schools, public and private, that receive state money for student financial aid. The California State University and University of California systems are backing the legislation after adopting similar consent standards this year...."

A Simple Rule About Sex Some Men Seem to Miss | Alternet

Sat, 06 Sep 2014 18:29:00 -0400

"For many years now, feminists have been promoting the idea of “enthusiastic consent” or “affirmative consent”, the idea that consenting to sexual activity should be about more than a lack of a “no” and that there should be the presence of a “yes”, which can be expressed verbally or non-verbally. This idea, that you should only do sexual things with people who want to do them with you, should be common sense, but a lot of angry sexists online, mostly men who seem afraid that they’ll never get laid if they have to make sure their partners want it, are up in arms about it. But as two major news stories from pop culture show, the belief that women’s bodies are up for grabs unless they are explicitly fighting back is used to justify horrible sexual violations. These stories show how important it is to spread the word that sexual interaction requires not just the absence of a “no”, but the presence of permission, and without permission to use a woman’s body for sexual purposes, you are violating her basic human rights...."

Waiting on Affirmative Consent | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson

Thu, 04 Sep 2014 17:53:00 -0400

"Conspicuously, the new policy makes no mention of affirmative consent. Affirmative consent—which is a standard used by many of our peer institutions—should be our standard as well. The University should continue to adjust its policies until it is clear that only “yes” means yes...."

Developing Institutional Repositories: Considering Copyright Issues

Sat, 30 Aug 2014 12:14:00 -0400

Abstract: The development of Institutional Repositories (IRs) was the outcome of several Open Access Initiatives and Movements made to salvage the dwindling scholarly communication. The development is more than a decade now and has been embraced by many universities and academic institutions. This paper discusses the nexus of copyright laws and the institutional repositories and reveals the fact that open access institutional repository is built on the principle of no restriction of access. Therefore, the paper opines that copyright issues must be treated in form of licenses which creators must give to allow contents to be included in the repositories. The paper recommends the teaching of copyright laws to authors (faculty members and students) and library staff who deposit and manage the repositories respectively and also that protocols for managing creators/publishers copyright licenses are employed.

‘Yes Means Yes’ Bill Clears California Legislature

Fri, 29 Aug 2014 14:24:00 -0400

"California lawmakers gave final approval on Thursday to a bill that would require colleges to adopt a “yes means yes” standard for defining sexual consent in investigations of sexual-assault allegations, the Bay Area News Group reported. If the measure, Senate Bill 967, is signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, all public and private colleges that receive state student-aid money would have to agree that silence or lack of resistance does not imply a green light for sex, and that drunkenness is not an acceptable defense. Governor Brown, a Democrat, has until September 30 to sign the bill and generally does not comment beforehand. Supporters of the legislation argue that the traditional “no means no” standard unfairly burdens victims of sexual assault and that an “affirmative consent” standard would make everyone responsible for ensuring in advance, verbally or nonverbally, that a sexual act was desired...."

Scholars Sound Alarms About Being Judged on Their Civility - Academic Freedom - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 09:55:00 -0400

"The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s defense on Friday of its decision not to hire Steven G. Salaita riled some academics who have raised fears about the prospect of being subjected to tests of their civility. Mr. Salaita was offered a tenured professorship in the university’s department of American Indian studies, but his appointment was withdrawn after he drew scrutiny over tweets that were harshly critical of Israel....Those fears about civility—and debates about whether it’s really a good idea to shield students from things that might unsettle them—aren’t exactly new...."

Keep Calm and Get Consent: Canada's Anti-Spam Law Takes Effect This Week - Michael Geist

Thu, 03 Jul 2014 15:44:00 -0400

"Canada’s anti-spam legislation takes effect this week, sparking panic among many businesses, who fear that sending commercial electronic messages may grind to a halt on July 1st. The reality is far less troubling. The new law creates some technical requirements for commercial email marketing alongside tough penalties for violations, but left unsaid is that Canadian law has featured rules requiring appropriate consents for over a decade...."

The Benefits of Consent - Michael Geist

Thu, 03 Jul 2014 15:43:00 -0400

" Yet Faber’s initial experience is precisely what one might expect: as companies shift to opt-in lists with customers who explicitly consent to receive messages, they are more likely to open the emails and to click on the links. ..."

Jaron Lanier on Lack of Transparency in Facebook Study - NYTimes.com

Wed, 02 Jul 2014 16:34:00 -0400

"All of us engaged in research over networks must commit to finding a way to modernize the process of informed consent. Instead of lowering our standards to the level of unread click-through agreements, let’s raise the standards for everyone. Now that we know that a social network proprietor can engineer emotions for the multitudes to a slight degree, we need to consider that further research on amplifying that capacity might take place. Stealth emotional manipulation could be channeled to sell things (you suddenly find that you feel better after buying from a particular store, for instance), but it might also be used to exert influence in a multitude of other ways. Research has also shown that voting behavior can be influenced by undetectable social network maneuvering, for example. The principle of informed consent in the age of social networking can’t be limited to individuals who are studied; the public has every right to be informed of otherwise undetectable commercial or political practices that are made possible by the results of research into high-tech manipulation, and to choose whether to give consent. "

In Sexual-Misconduct Policies, Difficulty Arises in Defining 'Yes' - Students - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 18:21:00 -0400

"Twenty years ago, the "No Means No" campaign, created by a group of Canadian college students to raise awareness about sexual assault, pretty much encompassed the limits of the discussion. Since then, however, ideas about consent have grown more complicated, forcing colleges and students alike to grapple with a tougher issue: Although "no" always means no, "yes" is often murky...."

'Empathetically Correct' Is the New Politically Correct - Karen Swallow Prior - The Atlantic

Fri, 23 May 2014 18:17:00 -0400

"While political correctness seeks to cultivate sensitivity outwardly on behalf of those historically marginalized and oppressed groups, empathetic correctness focuses inwardly toward the protection of individual sensitivities. Now, instead of challenging the status quo by demanding texts that question the comfort of the Western canon, students are demanding the status quo by refusing to read texts that challenge their own personal comfort...."

Satirical spaghetti monster image banned by London South Bank University as ‘religiously offensive’ » British Humanist Association

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 05:37:00 -0500

"Non-religious students at London South Bank University have had posters advertising their society banned for being ‘offensive’. The poster publicising the South Bank Atheist Society (SBAS) depicted Michelangelo’s famous ‘Creation of Adam’ fresco from the Sistine Chapel but with the character of god replaced with the satirical online deity the ‘Flying Spaghetti Monster’ (FSM)...."

Defence of marital coercion used by Vicky Pryce to be abolished | Law | theguardian.com

Sat, 18 Jan 2014 12:47:00 -0500

"The defence of marital coercion, unsuccessfully used by Chris Huhne's former wife Vicky Pryce at her trial last year, is to be abolished. At present, English law provides a complete defence for a woman charged with a criminal offence other than treason or murder who can show that the offence was committed in the presence, and under the coercion of her husband...."

A Moral Victory: The Sister Wives Case And The Rejection of State Morality Codes | JONATHAN TURLEY

Mon, 30 Dec 2013 06:42:00 -0500

"Below is my column in the Washington Post (Sunday) on our recent victory in the Sister Wives case. The column looks at the most significant aspect of the case — the rejection of morality codes that once controlled across the country in prohibiting everything from homosexuality to adultery to fornication. These morality laws were upheld in the decision in Reynolds in 1876 in a polygamy case out of Utah. The Brown decision returned us to the same question involving the same issue in the same state. Some 136 years later however the answer from this federal court was very different. We are a different country today and, despite what one hears from politicians like Rick Santorum, I believe that we are a better country today...."

Should Plural Marriage Be Legal? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

Wed, 18 Dec 2013 15:20:00 -0500

"Should courts go further, recognizing a right to plural marriage among consenting adults? ..."

No Constitutional Difference Between Plural and Same-Sex Unions - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

Wed, 18 Dec 2013 15:19:00 -0500

"Limiting the size of a marriage may soon be seen as no more justified (or constitutional) than restricting marriage to same-race or opposite-sex couples...."

Enough With the Scare Tactics - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

Wed, 18 Dec 2013 15:19:00 -0500

"Polygamy raises a number of public-policy concerns that same-sex marriage does not. That said, the gay-rights movement has bolstered the polygamist-rights movement in one key way: by insisting that finding a practice weird or icky or religiously anathema is not sufficient reason to make it illegal. While I’m skeptical about extending state recognition to plural marriages, a free society has no more business outlawing “cohabitation” — as the Utah law did — than it has outlawing consensual romantic relationships. Instead of fearmongering, it’s time we debate polygamy on the merits."

Polygamy Is Bad for Women - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

Wed, 18 Dec 2013 15:17:00 -0500

A Utah Law Prohibiting Polygamy Is Weakened - NYTimes.com

Sat, 14 Dec 2013 12:05:00 -0500

"A federal judge has struck down parts of Utah’s anti-polygamy law as unconstitutional in a case brought by a polygamous star of a reality television series. Months after the Supreme Court bolstered rights of same-sex couples, the Utah case could open a new frontier in the nation’s recognition of once-prohibited relationships...."

Britain’s Ministry of Nudges - NYTimes.com

Sun, 08 Dec 2013 05:20:00 -0500

"It is an American idea, refined in American universities and popularized in 2008 with the best seller “Nudge,” by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein. Professor Thaler, a contributor to the Economic View column in Sunday Business, is an economist at the University of Chicago, and Mr. Sunstein was a senior regulatory official in the Obama administration, where he applied behavioral findings to a range of regulatory policies, but didn’t have the mandate or resources to run experiments. But it is in Britain that such experiments have taken root. Prime Minister David Cameron has embraced the idea of testing the power of behavioral change to devise effective policies, seeing it not just as a way to help people make better decisions, but also to help government do more for less....."

No 10 rejects call to lower age of consent

Sun, 17 Nov 2013 06:10:00 -0500

"Downing Street and Nick Clegg have joined forces to reject a call by a leading public health official to consider lowering the age of consent to 15.A spokesman for the prime minister said the current age of 16 was designed to protect children, a view echoed by the deputy prime minister who rejected a "blanket reduction" in the age of consent.Professor John Ashton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, had called for a lowering of the age of consent to make it easier for 15-year-olds to seek contraception and sexual health advice from the NHS. Figures show that up to a third of teenagers have sex before they reach 16...."

Washington D.C. considers 'Think Before You Ink' law

Mon, 09 Sep 2013 19:01:00 -0400

"Washington, D.C. lawmakers are trying to prevent bad late night decisions, by passing a law requiring a 24-hour waiting period before you get a tattoo. The law, known as "Think Before You Ink," was proposed by the city's department of health...."

Court says Dell's three-week robodialing spree should have stopped when woman asked | The Verge

Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:33:00 -0400

"The suit was raised by Ashley Gager, whose cellphone Dell used an automated dialing system to call approximately forty times in a three-week period. While Gager had previously allowed Dell to call her, she later wrote the company a letter asking that her number be removed from its database, but the company refused. Dell argued that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) didn't afford Gager that right, but the court disagreed. In part, the court came to that conclusion on the grounds that consent — as it's held to be elsewhere in the law — is revocable."

A Family Consents to a Medical Gift, 62 Years Later - NYTimes.com

Tue, 20 Aug 2013 12:38:00 -0400

"Henrietta Lacks was only 31 when she died of cervical cancer in 1951 in a Baltimore hospital. Not long before her death, doctors removed some of her tumor cells. They later discovered that the cells could thrive in a lab, a feat no human cells had achieved before. Soon the cells, called HeLa cells, were being shipped from Baltimore around the world. In the 62 years since — twice as long as Ms. Lacks’s own life — her cells have been the subject of more than 74,000 studies, many of which have yielded profound insights into cell biology, vaccines, in vitro fertilization and cancer. But Henrietta Lacks, who was poor, black and uneducated, never consented to her cells’ being studied. For 62 years, her family has been left out of the decision-making about that research. Now, over the past four months, the National Institutes of Health has come to an agreement with the Lacks family to grant them some control over how Henrietta Lacks’s genome is used....The agreement, which does not provide the family with the right to potential earnings from future research on Ms. Lacks’s genome, was prompted by two projects to sequence the genome of HeLa cells, the second of which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Though the agreement, which was announced Wednesday, is a milestone in the saga of Ms. Lacks, it also draws attention to a lack of policies to balance the benefits of studying genomes with the risks to the privacy of people whose genomes are studied — as well as their relatives...."

Gruesome abortion photos and the Supreme Court: The justices refuse to stand up for the First Amendment rights of protestors. - Slate Magazine

Tue, 20 Aug 2013 03:35:00 -0400

"In Kansas, where restricting abortion is a frequent pastime, pro-life groups are making an amazing argument to the Wichita City Council. They’re trying to shut down the abortion clinic of the late Dr. George Tiller—the doctor who was murdered by an anti-abortion zealot in 2009—by saying that its presence causes too much disruption. The anti-abortion groups argued the neighborhood around the clinic should be rezoned to bar the clinic because of clashes between protesters and the escorts who help women get into the clinic. And in particular, because children shouldn’t see the graphic posters that protesters carry. Almost 14,000 people signed the rezoning petition. Let’s set aside the hypocrisy of complaining that children shouldn’t see gruesome images that the anti-abortion protesters themselves are displaying. That’s irritating, but it’s not the big problem here. What’s truly of concern is that an argument about shielding children is being wielded to stop a constitutionally protected adult activity. Even odder and more worrisome: A few courts, most recently in Colorado, have actually bought the notion that it’s the government’s job to protect children from graphic images of abortion—and barred anti-abortion protests as a result...."

The Nudge Debate - NYTimes.com

Fri, 09 Aug 2013 12:24:00 -0400

"As these cognitive biases have become better known, public spirited people naturally want to design ways to help us avoid them. In 2009, Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein published a book, called “Nudge,” on how government and other organizations could induce people to avoid common errors. Last year, Sunstein gave the Storrs Lectures at Yale on the topic, which will soon be published as a book called “Nanny Statecraft.” Last month, the Obama administration announced that it is creating a new team to explore applications of this sort of empirical research to policy-making. We’re entering the age of what’s been called “libertarian paternalism.” Government doesn’t tell you what to do, but it gently biases the context so that you find it easier to do things you think are in your own self-interest...."

Purging My Syllabus - On Hiring - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 04:04:00 -0400

"Not wanting to sexually harass my students, much less be labeled a sexual harasser by the Department of Education, I have decided to review my Intro to Lit syllabus and remove any reading assignments that might contain offensive material. Not that any reasonable person would find those reading selections offensive. But the DOE has apparently decided that the “reasonable person” test no longer applies, and that any “unwelcome speech” qualifies as harassment. Since my lit students seem to find nearly everything I say unwelcome, that’s going to make teaching the course a little difficult...."

Unburied: Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the Lessons of Greek Tragedy : The New Yorker

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:40:00 -0400

" “Bury this terrorist on U.S. soil and we will unbury him.” So ran the bitter slogan on one of the signs borne last week by enraged protesters outside the Worcester, Massachusetts, funeral home that had agreed to receive the body of the accused Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev —a cadaver seemingly so morally polluted that his own widow would not claim it, that no funeral director would touch it, that no cemetery would bury it. Indeed, even after Peter Stefan, a Worcester funeral director, had washed and shrouded the battered, bullet-ridden body for burial according to Muslim law, the cadaver became the object of a macabre game of civic and political football. Cemetery officials and community leaders in the Boston area were concerned that a local burial would spark civic unrest. (“It is not in the best interest of ‘peace within the city’ to execute a cemetery deed,” the Cambridge city manager, Robert Healy, announced.) While the state’s governor carefully sidestepped the issue, asserting that it was a family matter, other politicians seemed to sense an advantage in catering to the high popular feeling. “If the people of Massachusetts do not want that terrorist to be buried on our soil,” declared Representative Edward J. Markey, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, “then it should not be.” "