Why Are There No Boys Named Sue?

April 26, 2013 in Body Image, Celebrity, Children, Entertainment, Gender, Parenting, Pregnancy & Birth, Society

In the last few years it’s become acceptable and even cool to give kids gender neutral names. That’s hardly news. However with this trend, I’m seeing a lot of girls with traditionally ‘male’ names, and very few boys with traditionally ‘female’ names. As a teacher I’ve seen some pretty out there names and interpretations of names. Calling the roll for the first time with a new class can be tricky: Me: “Elliot? Is Elliot here? Has anyone seen him?” Student: “ Um, Elliot is a GIRL, Miss!” (Rolls eyes at my apparent stupidity) Me: “Oh. Has anyone seen HER?” I’ve [...]

Science Proves The Existence of ‘Gaydar’

June 5, 2012 in Children, Current Affairs, Gender, News, Parenting, People, Sexuality, Society

Recent scientific studies have proven the existence of ‘gaydar’. That is, the ability to determine sexual orientation from appearance alone. Many of you are probably reading this and thinking “well, yeah”, but what if I told you it was from facial appearance alone, without makeup, jewellery or hair? The ability to determine sexual orientation purely by the facial features and the distance between facial features. Fascinating, right? The New York Times reports: We conducted experiments in which participants viewed facial photographs of men and women and then categorized each face as gay or straight. The photographs were seen very briefly, [...]