Researching the Rape Culture of America

"We are all apt to believe what the world believes about us." - George Eliot

***

Researching the "Rape Culture" of America

"Truth is no enemy to compassion, and falsehood is no friend...

Koss and her colleagues concluded that 15.4 percent of respondents had been raped, and that 12.1 percent had been victims of attempted rape. Thus, a total of 27.5 percent of the respondents were determined to have been victims of rape or attempted rape because they gave answers that fit Koss's criteria for rape (penetration by penis, finger, or other object under coercive influence such as physical force, alcohol, or threats). However, that is not how the so-called rape victims saw it. Only about a quarter of the women Koss calls rape victims labeled what happened to them as rape. According to Koss, the answers to the follow-up questions revealed that "only 27 percent" of the women she counted as having been raped labeled themselves as rape victims. Of the remainder, 49 percent said it was "miscommunication," 14 percent said it was a "crime but not rape," and 11 percent said they "don't feel victimized."

In line with her view of rape as existing on a continuum of male sexual aggression, Koss also asked: "Have you given in to sex play (fondling, kissing, or petting, but not intercourse) when you didn't want to because you were overwhelmed by a man's continual arguments and pressure?" To this question, 53.7 percent responded affirmatively, and they were counted as having been sexually victimized...

'The Ms. project... [reported the] astonishing fact: one in four female respondents had an experience that met the legal definition of rape or attempted rape'.

"One in four" has since become the official figure on women's rape victimization cited in women's studies departments, rape crisis centers, women's magazines, and on protest buttons and posters...

When Neil Gilbert, a professor at Berkeley's School of Social Welfare, first read the "one in four" figure in the school newspaper, he was convinced it could not be accurate. The results did not tally with the findings of almost all previous research on rape. When he read the study he was able to see where the high figures came from and why Koss's approach was unsound...

Koss and her colleagues counted as victims of rape any respondent who answered "yes" to the question "Have you had sexual intercourse when you didn't want to because a man gave you alcohol or drugs?" That opened the door wide to regarding as a rape victim anyone who regretted her liaison of the previous night...

Once you remove the positive responses to question eight [about intoxication], the finding that one in four college women is a victim of rape or attempted rape drops to one in nine. But as we shall see, this figure too is unacceptably high.

For Gilbert, the most serious indication that something was basically awry in the Ms./Koss study was that the majority of women she classified as having been raped did not believe they had been raped... As the journalist Cathy Young observes, "Women have sex after initial reluctance for a number of reasons . . . fear of being beaten up by their dates is rarely reported as one of them"...

Since when do feminists consider "law" to override women's experience?

Koss also found that 42 percent of those she counted as rape victims went on to have sex with their attackers on a later occasion... why not take this fact and the fact that so many went back to their partners as reasonable indications that they had not been raped to begin with?

The Toledo reporters calculated that if you eliminate the affirmative responses to the alcohol or drugs question, and also subtract from Koss's results the women who did not think they were raped, her one in four figure for rape and attempted rape "drops to between one in twenty-two and one in thirty-three"...

The more serious worry is that Kilpatrick's findings, and many other findings on rape, vary wildly unless the respondents are explicitly asked whether they have been raped... Among the questions asked of its random sample population of 2,500 women was, "In the last five years, have you been a victim of a rape or sexual assault?" Two percent of the respondents said yes; 98 percent said no...

"In the past year, did your partner ever try to, or force you to, have sexual relations by using physical force, such as holding you down, or hitting you, or threatening to hit you, or not?" Not a single respondent of the Harris poll's sample answered yes.

How to explain the discrepancy? True, women are often extremely reluctant to talk about sexual violence that they have experienced. But the Harris pollsters had asked a lot of other awkward personal questions to which the women responded with candor: six percent said they had considered suicide, five percent admitted to using hard drugs, 10 percent said they had been sexually abused when they were growing up...

Kilpatrick had done an earlier study in which respondents were explicitly asked whether they had been raped. That study showed a relatively low prevalence of five percent-one in twenty-and it got very little publicity. Kilpatrick subsequently abandoned his former methodology in favor of the Ms./Koss method, which allows the surveyor to decide whether a rape occurred...

There are many researchers who study rape victimization, but their relatively low figures generate no headlines... Eugene Kanin, a retired professor of sociology from Purdue University and a pioneer in the field of acquaintance rape, is upset by the intrusion of politics into the field of inquiry: "This is highly convoluted activism rather than social science research." Professor Margaret Gordon of the University of Washington did a study in 1981 that came with relatively low figures for rape (one in fifty). She tells of the negative reaction to her findings: "There was some pressure-at least I felt pressure-to have rape be as prevalent as possible . . .. I'm a pretty strong feminist, but one of the things I was fighting was that the really avid feminists were trying to get me to say that things were worse than they really are"...

An intrepid few in the academy have publicly criticized those who have proclaimed a "rape crisis" for irresponsibly exaggerating the problem and causing needless anxiety. Camille Paglia claims that they have been especially hysterical about date rape: "Date rape has swelled into a catastrophic cosmic event, like an asteroid threatening the earth in a 50's science fiction film." She bluntly rejects the contention that "'No' always means no . . ..'No' has always been, and always will be, part of the dangerous, alluring courtship ritual of sex and seduction, observable even in the animal kingdom"...

At some rape awareness meetings, women who have not yet been date raped are referred to as "potential survivors." Their male classmates are "potential rapists"...

Roiphe sees the campus rape crisis movement as a phenomenon of privilege: these young women have had it all, and when they find out that the world can be dangerous and unpredictable, they are outraged...

Schoenberg and Roe studied Toledo neighborhoods and calculated that women in the poorer areas were nearly thirty times more likely to be raped than those in the wealthy areas. They also found that campus rape rates were 30 times lower than the rape rates for the general population of 18-to 24-year-olds in Toledo. The attention and the money are disproportionately going to those least at risk...

One obvious reason for this inequity is that feminist advocates come largely from the middle class and so exert great pressure to protect their own. To render their claims plausible, they dramatize themselves as victims-survivors or "potential survivors." Another device is to expand the definition of rape...

In an article in the New York Times Magazine, Katie Roiphe questioned Koss's figures: "If 25 percent of my women friends were really being raped, wouldn't I know it?" She also questioned the feminist perspective on male/female relations: "These feminists are endorsing their own utopian vision of sexual relations: sex without struggle, sex without power, sex without persuasion, sex without pursuit. If verbal coercion constitutes rape, then the word rape itself expands to include any kind of sex a woman experiences as negative"...

At one demonstration against Gilbert on the Berkeley campus, students chanted, "Cut it out or cut it off," and carried signs that read, KILL NEIL GILBERT! Sheila Kuehl, the director of the California Women's Law Center, confided to readers of the Los Angeles Daily Journal, "I found myself wishing that Gilbert, himself, might be raped and . . . be told, to his face, it had never happened"...

The common assumption that rape is a manifestation of misogyny is open to question... American society is exceptionally violent, and the violence is not specifically patriarchal or misogynist... The incidence of rape is many times lower in such countries as Greece, Portugal, or Japan-countries far more overtly patriarchal than ours...

By distinguishing between acts of random violence and acts of violence against women, the sponsors of the Violence Against Women Act believe that they are showing sensitivity to feminist concerns. In fact, they may be doing social harm by accepting a divisive, gender-specific approach to a problem that is not caused by gender bias, misogyny, or "patriarchy"-an approach that can obscure real and urgent problems such as lesbian battering or male-on-male sexual violence"

Observations - 29th July 2011

"This is like deja vu all over again." - Yogi Berra

***

I was amused by the #whitepeoplestink Twitter hashtag.

Causing trouble - especially if you have special needs others must cater for - is an underrated form of power.

Amused at the parallels between Niemöller and domino theory.


Online articles with different titles and <title> tags are puzzling and annoying - I don't know which one to use to link to them

Wondering how many of the 'work from home' schemes involve spamming the Internet with godawful scam sites

Amused by Google Maps directions to "Jet ski across the Pacific Ocean 782 km"; http://is.gd/gjPzC


"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." ~ Homer Simpson

Many women have complex relationships with their mothers. A Freudian interpretation is half plausible

I saw a girl in miniskirt carrying a skateboard. How does that work? ("It does not have to work. It just has to happen.")


One SDN event calls "for Ladies and Gentlemen born in the 70s and 80s". That's a very wide range of ages (21 to 40), and a great way to exclude those older than 40!

Yet too long to quit your job & enjoy yourself. RT @spoonrabbit Life is too short to waste it listening to bullshit. Ugh. #fact

Interestingly, despite the propaganda there was only 1 documented incident, in 1944, of a German U-boat gunning the survivors of an attack. In contrast there were hundreds of cases where they instead provided assistance after torpedoing the boats.

Amused you can pass the JLPT without being able to speak OR write any Japanese at all.

Many many months ago I saw women-only parking lots at Furama Riverfront (maybe they're not there anymore). Someone said that "it would be really funny if these lots were parallel parking ones..."

Guy: Wanna hear a joke about my dick? Nevermind, it's too long.
Girl: Wanna hear a joke about my vagina? Nevermind, you won't get it.

"There's no sense in running away from your problems"
"Unless they are a lion"

Perhaps paternity uncertainty explains why people are closer to their mothers than fathers

Spam subjects:
"Big penis like a girl!"
"Big-penis is-like an expensive-car!"
i.e. Extravagant luxuries and not necessities?

"恁娘: 原指對方的母親，現已變成用來罵人的粗俗語" - The Taiwanese Ministry of Education approves of this.
Also, there is a Wikipedia entry for "幹你娘". Very good.
Lastly, "ka-kī-lâng" comes out as "家己人", not "自己人"!


"Today, I watched Free Willy with my daughter. Later on she decided to free her 6 pet mice into the house. FML"

RT @bioanarchism went for outfield with vodka in one water bottle and plain water in the other. never felt better throughout the cold night

Down once more

We're off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz!

Back on jongoism day

Links - 28th July 2011

"The forceps of our minds are clumsy forceps, and crush the truth a little in taking hold of it." - H. G. Wells

***

Dining At Kampung Senibong, Permas Jaya « Real Malaysia - "These nasi lemak huts stand on stilts, constructed by the waterfront overlooking the arrogant land of Singapore"
Comment: "hmmm… look who’s the arrogant one here. If not for the many Singaporeans spending their money there, this ulu little kampung will still be in the stone age and not spriced up like it is now."

Use seawater or vinegar to treat jellyfish stings, not urine

Dale Watson Tiger Airways song | Singer wants CDs back - "American alt-country singer Dale Watson was travelling from Melbourne to Sydney on his way to the Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival in April when the discount airline charged him a $500 excess baggage fee for a box of CDs worth $3000. Mr Watson claims the airline then lost the CDs en route, leaving him nothing to sell at the concert, and has failed to reimburse him or return the discs. Despite the airline immediately promising to "make amends" the drama has dragged on for months and inspired a jingle that is unlikely to feature in the airline's next ad campaign - Tiger Airways and Their We Don't Care-ways"

Andrew Sullivan: Why Gay Marriage is Good for America - "In the era of gay marriage, straight marriage had actually strengthened somewhat, divorce rates had declined, and marriages lasted longer"
Ironically, in the absence of gay marriage being an issue, some of its supporters would be denouncing marriage itself as an oppressive, outdated institution and participating in it marginalising those who had chosen not to

‪'The Matrix' Lobby Scene with A capella Multitrack - Matt Mulholland‬‏ - YouTube

Soldiers responsible for their own conduct - "Those of us who have served our national service look back on those years as the best of our lives"
No wonder so many people are fervently passionate about sharing the joys of National Slavery with as many others as possible

‪A real person, a lot like you‬‏ - YouTube - "At the end of every computer is a real person, a lot like you"

Une femme meurt après une réaction allergique au sperme de chien - "Le chien, un berger allemand, a été mis en quarantaine suite à l'incident qui remonte au 7 octobre 2008"

Viewpoint: Why do some Americanisms irritate people? - "Lengthy. Reliable. Talented. Influential. Tremendous. All of these words we use without a second thought were never part of the English language until the establishment of the United States... The poet Coleridge denounced "talented" as a barbarous word in 1832, though a few years later it was being used by William Gladstone. A letter-writer to the Times, in 1857, described "reliable" as vile... [English] is a far more flexible language. Anarchic even. That's part of the secret of its success. It has triumphed where Latin, French and the artificial language of Esperanto all ultimately failed"

Language Log » Hating Americans and their Americanisms - "I will say only two brief things about the list of 50 alleged Americanisms that British people hate just published by the BBC, and the hundreds and hundreds of supportive comments and new examples that are flocking in minute by minute. First, people don't check the origins of the words and phrases they cite; here on Language Log Mark Liberman found a rate of just 20% correct origin attributions in the original article that provoked this new tsunami of prejudice. I checked physicality, number 10 on the new list of 50, and found that the earliest potentially relevant OED citation is from an 1827 book published in London"

Large Stakes and Big Mistakes - "Most upper‐management and sales force personnel, as well as workers in many other jobs, are paid based on performance, which is widely perceived as motivating effort and enhancing productivity relative to non‐contingent pay schemes. However, psychological research suggests that excessive rewards can in some cases produce supra‐optimal motivation, resulting in a decline in performance. To test whether very high monetary rewards can decrease performance, we conducted a set of experiments at MIT, the University of Chicago, and rural India. Subjects in our experiment worked on different tasks and received performance‐contingent payments that varied in amount from small to large relative to their typical levels of pay. With some important exceptions, we observed that high reward levels can have detrimental effects on performance... Tasks that involve only effort are likely to benefit from increased incentives, while for tasks that include a cognitive component, there seems to be a level of incentive beyond which further increases can have detrimental effects on performance"
"Complex cognitive tasks can be impeded by rewarding performance"

When performance-related pay backfires - "Performance-related pay often does not encourage people to work harder and sometimes has the opposite effect... An analysis of 51 separate experimental studies of financial incentives in employment relations found overwhelming evidence that these incentives may reduce an employee's natural inclination to complete a task and derive pleasure from doing so. 'We find that financial incentives may indeed reduce intrinsic motivation and diminish ethical or other reasons for complying with workplace social norms such as fairness. As a consequence, the provision of incentives can result in a negative impact on overall performance'"

Asia Adult Expo: Despite conservative traditions, Asia's sex industry is exploding - "“Many high-earning women in their thirties and forties in China’s metropolises get really enthusiastic over sex toys, and can spend up to HK$3,000 in one sex-toy shopping spree,” said Lo. “They’re past their marriageable age, can’t find a partner and have sexual needs, so they turn to pleasuring themselves"

down, i say, down with malcolm gladwell! - "Gladwell dresses up all of his "realizations" in fancy clothes and too much make-up. He gives himself powers that he doesn't have. He pretends to have sorted things out that he hasn't sorted out. He imagines a possible control, and pretends that he has achieved that control. All the while telling people, whispering into their ears, precisely the kinds of things they would like to believe. And then (it must, I'm sorry, be said) he goes on wildly lucrative corporate speaking engagements spinning out the same titillating stories combined with his shoddy conclusions... The nicest thing that can be said about Malcolm Gladwell is that he doesn't even really believe his own mental garbage. If he is salvageable as a human being, it might be for the simple reason that he's a bad fraud"

Dr Tony Tan was no independent-minded person on the graduate mothers’ scheme - ""Young people are, naturally, idealistic and feel strongly about social issues, but it would be foolish of you to fritter away the next three to four years in pursuit of peripheral and frivolous activities"... The only dissent Dr Tony Tan appeared to have expressed on the graduate mothers scheme appeared to be this from 2nd April 1984. It is apparent that Dr Tony Tan merely doubted that the scheme would work, rather than whether it was unfair... Once the public had shown their strong disapproval of the policy at the ballot box, Dr Tony Tan, as Education Minister and the government decided not to tempt fate and instead roll back the policy. However, despite doing so, Dr Tony Tan took pains to emphasise that the reason for doing so was not so much because it was unfair, rather because there was little evidence that the graduate mother scheme was working the way the government intended it to ie. to induce graduate mothers to have more children... As Finance Minister in 1984, Dr Tony Tan refused to extend child relief to mothers who had less than five ‘O’ Levels"
25 years later: "Why race when you can canter and save your energy and do other things? Art, ballet, sports whereas these new migrants, they spend all their time slogging away in the library or at home"; "The MM Lee in January 2008 seems to understand arts and cultural movement takes a long time to nurture and such development is good for a nation. The MM Lee in July 2009 thinks it is stupid to spend so much time on such activities"

Barack Obama accused of crimes against humanity for Osama bin Laden killing
So what was 911?

Bono's ONE foundation under fire for giving tiny percentage of funds to charity - "Bono's anti-poverty foundation ONE is under pressure to explain its finances after it was revealed that only a small percentage of money it raises reaches the needy. The non-profit organisation set up by the U2 frontman received almost £9.6million in donations in 2008 but handed out only £118,000 to good causes (1.2 per cent). The figures published by the New York Post also show that £5.1million went towards paying salaries."
Awareness is sure to Make Poverty History

The Horror of Canadian Obscenity Law - "Sex and horror scenes that would be legal on their own can trigger prosecution when combined in the same film; it arguably makes just about any R-rated American horror movie obscene in Canada... the case against Couture originated with complaints to Interpol from people who "thought the depicted events were real""

Canada's Thought Police - "The latest victims of the Catharine MacKinnon-inspired censorship laws are artists and lesbians... despite the law's manifest harm to many women, MacKinnon did not back down"

How to Export Email Addresses of all your Facebook Friends - "There’s however a simple (and perfectly legal) workaround that can help you easily download all your friends email addresses from Facebook’s walled garden... Go to address.yahoo.com"

Why a Rise in M.B.A.s Coincided with the Fall of American Industry - "In the U.S., the growth of the financial industry has only exacerbated the trend toward balance-sheet-driven management. Companies everywhere, but particularly in the U.S., where the banking sector wields the most power, are under tremendous short-term pressure to make their quarterly numbers. This often leads to planning that's reactive rather than smart: force the highest-paid engineers to retire, even if they are the best, and reduce payroll costs across all divisions rather than invest in the ones that are pushing the New New Thing through the pipeline. It's interesting to note that the one area of the U.S. economy that's adding jobs and increasing productivity and wealth is also the one that is the most relentlessly product- and consumer-focused: Silicon Valley. The company off Highway 101 that best illustrates this point is, of course, Apple. The only time Apple ever lost the plot was when it put the M.B.A.s in charge"

N. China - Day 11, Part 3 - Beijing: Old Summer Palace

"'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln (attributed)

***

N. China
Day 11 - 9th November - Beijing: Old Summer Palace (Part 3)


"1900
26th year of Guangxu's reign
Since England, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, America, Italy and Austria-Hungary's joint Eight Nation Alliance's troops washed Beijing in blood, they washed [away?] Yuanmingyuan"


"Please Accept Security Check"
Can I refuse?


I like the "No Begging" sign


"Unfortunately, this famous garden was burnt to the ground in October 1860 by the Anglo-French allied forces, leaving a heartbreaking chapter in the history of China"
Old Summer Palace information panel
I was surprised at how neutral the description was, as it was atypically un-Chinese. Even the Mandarin version reads similarly.

Unfortunately we arrived 45 minutes too late - they'd stopped selling through tickets (as with the Summer Palace, entrance to the best parts was not included in the main ticket - as a way to further extract money from visitors) at 3:30.


Jianbiting's Lake


Jianbiting's Lake
The piped music that you can hear in the background was very annoying. Especially when the singing started.


Canqiao (Ruined Bridge)


Same lake




Lake near the tree peony area


Hanjingtang (Hanjing Hall)




They make a distinction between Chinese food and Fast food.


Weird path


Beiyoudongtian

It'd long since gotten too dark to do any meaningful sightseeing, so we tried to extract ourselves from the park, which wasn't that easy.

I was then brought to have a look at Beida (Peking University). Apparently all the artefacts from the Old Summer Palace were there (around the lake) and Tsinghua anyway, but it was too late to view them.

There was a vendor selling some steamed cake outside Beida.


Raisin cake
I was told that this was one of the better Chinese cakes, but it wasn't nice. And the guy conned me (what do you expect, this was China). I asked for a little and he cut me a huge 20¥ slice. I should've cut my own portion.

The Subway at Beida was a few yuan cheaper than at Mutianyu (the Great Wall), but this was the school price. So actually there'd be no markup there.


Shen1 Jian1 Bao (my IME gives me "神剑包" or "Divine Sword Bun", which is definitely wrong), 2 custard and 1 vegetable bao
Also, 豆奶 (soya milk), which was blended with what was probably almond (there was an off-almond flavour and some other stuff). This was the nicest soya milk product I'd had in China.

The siumai here was only 0.40¥ - but this was because inside was rice, not meat. Grr.


小龙汤包
Like xiaolongbao except the meat is seasoned


The illustrated menu looks really appetising, but there's a disclaimer in Mandarin: "Pictures are for reference. The real food is the actual thing to look at"


Pork meat 回香 dumplings, bamboo shoots, corn soup (totally tasteless)
The dumpling was all chives. It was alright, but Cantonese dumplings were still better


漫漫求学路 温馨饺子屋
饺子是吉祥的美食
中国人过大年要吃饺子
("The long road of learning; warm dumpling house
Dumplings are a lucky beautiful food
Chinese people must eat dumplings during Chinese New Year")
They also won some award


I was surprised to see such a shop on campus


"Feed in raw material for free" (it should read "additional ingredients are free")


麻辣烫
This is like Malaysian Lok Lok except everything is already in the water


Armed Forces recruitment ad

The local students need to go to a room outside of their hostels to get drinking (i.e. boiling) water:



We then went to Orange Julius. A 16 oz cup cost 30¥, and I think the smoothie was more expensive than Singapore, but it was good having something authentically good (rather than a Chinese-tasting knockoff)

The counter girl could understand our English but talked to us in Mandarin.

I learned a new term: "暴菊"


"Police: There is no toilet outside"


This is why everyone bought subway tickets at the counter though there were so many machinese - they either rejected notes or were otherwise out of service


I was amused by these escalator signs


"Dishes with Chinese characteristics"
I blame Deng Xiaoping


There should be a large market in China for teaching women how to pee standing up. There's a business opportunity here!

Un spam drôle que j'ai reçu

Sujet: Aidez nous à défendre les valeurs de l'école républicaine !

Message: Madame, Monsieur,

Nous sommes professeurs de Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre en lycées publics.

Si nous vous contactons aujoud'hui, c'est pour vous alerter des nouveaux programmes et manuels de Première qu'on veut nous imposer à la rentrée et qui nous obligent à enseigner la théorie du genre (ou "gender") et demander votre soutien.

Elle affirme que l’identité sexuelle (qui serait un concept psychologique et non biologique) est une construction culturelle relative au contexte du sujet.

Ainsi peut-on lire dans le manuel Hachette : « Le sexe biologique nous identifie mâle ou femelle, mais ce n’est pas pour autant que nous pouvons nous qualifier de masculin ou de féminin.

Il nous semble impensable d'apprendre à des adolescents que leur identité sexuelle est d'abord une construction sociale et culturelle et qu'elle ne dépend d'abord pas des données physiques que nous sommes censés étudier en biologie.

Voici ce qu'on pouvait découvrir au JT de France 2 du 11/07

Nous vous demandons de bien vouloir nous soutenir dans notre combat :

Merci de votre aide,

Katia Levy et Mahias Dourdessoule


Interpellez le Premier ministre contre le Gender
en collant le texte ci dessous sur le site de Matignon ou en redigeant le vôtre
http://www.gouvernement.fr/premier-ministre/ecrire

Faites circuler ces propositions autour de vous !
Signez aussi la pétition !
http://ecole-deboussolee.org/?p=1

Idée de texte à coller dans le formulaire de Matignon

Monsieur le Premier ministre,

La réforme de la classe de Première conduite par Monsieur Chatel voit l'arrivée de la théorie du genre ou théorie du « gender » dans les programmes et les manuels de Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre. La théorie du genre est une théorie philosophique et sociologique mais elle n’est pas scientifique. Elle affirme que l’identité sexuelle (qui serait un concept psychologique et non biologique) est une construction culturelle relative au contexte du sujet.

Ainsi peut-on lire dans le manuel Hachette : « Le sexe biologique nous identifie mâle ou femelle, mais ce n’est pas pour autant que nous pouvons nous qualifier de masculin ou de féminin. Cette identité sexuelle, construite tout au long de notre vie, dans une interaction constante entre le biologique et le contexte socio-culturel, est pourtant décisive dans notre positionnement par rapport à l’autre. Devenir un individu sexué fait partie intégrante de la construction identitaire. »

Ce programme et ces manuels reflètent au moins 3 entorses gravissimes aux valeurs de notre Ecole :

Entorse à sa mission :
L’école doit former l’esprit critique selon les exigences propres de la raison. Le lycée ne saurait dicter des comportements, mais bien former des intelligences. Il ne doit pas devenir une caisse de résonance des opinions ambiantes et versatiles de la société, sous peine de fragiliser les esprits.

Entorse à sa neutralité :
En feuilletant ces manuels, je n’ai pu m’empêcher de songer à la fameuse lettre de Jules Ferry aux instituteurs : « Avant de proposer à vos élèves un précepte, une maxime quelconque, demandez-vous s’il se trouve, à votre connaissance, un seul honnête homme qui puisse être froissé de ce que vous allez dire. Si oui, abstenez-vous de le dire. » Notre code de l’éducation exige d’ailleurs le « respect de la personnalité de l’enfant et de l’action éducative des familles » (art. L. 111-2). Dans ce domaine extraordinairement intime qu’est la sexualité, à un âge où les jeunes sortent tout juste de l’adolescence et se construisent, ces manuels constituent une grave intrusion dans leur vie. En tout état de cause, les élèves n’ont pas à être examinés par l’Etat en ces domaines.

Entorse à sa liberté :
On ne peut pas obliger les professeurs de SVT à relayer un discours qui sorte du cadre scientifique. Comment pourront-ils évaluer les élèves et les préparer aux épreuves du bac sur de telles options partisanes ? Il est clair, au moins, que la théorie du « gender » ne peut être présentée aux élèves que comme un choix philosophique (dont on voit mal ce qu’il vient faire dans un cours de SVT !) et non comme une réalité indiscutable.

Il est indispensable que soient réaffirmées les véritables missions de l’école en dissipant les équivoques de ou liées à l’interprétation du programme, en garantissant la liberté intellectuelle des enseignants et la liberté de conscience des élèves.

Je demande avec les 33 000 premiers signataires de l'appel de "l'école déboussolée" et selon le principe de la neutralité de l'école publique et de l'égalité républicaine que soit :

- Précisée la portée de la circulaire du 30 septembre 2010 et les programmes que les services de la DGESCO ont voulu définir.
- Interdit l’usage des manuels mis en cause.
- Garanti que le thème du « gender » ne sera pas à la session 2012 des épreuves anticipées du bac ni aux sessions suivantes.
- Transférée le cas échéant l’étude du « gender » dans le domaine du débat critique de l’éducation civique ou de la philosophie.

Assuré que vous saurez vous faire l'écho de cette préoccupation persistante, je vous prie de croire, Monsieur Le Premier ministre, en l'expression de ma haute considération.

----------------

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Les perles des nouveaux manuels de SVT :

Que viennent elles faire dans un cours de SVT ?

« L’identité sexuelle se réfère au genre sous laquelle une personne est socialement reconnue »

« L’orientation sexuelle se révèle le plus souvent au moment de l’adolescence »

BORDAS

« L’identité sexuelle est la perception subjective que l’on a de son propre sexe et de son orientation sexuelle »

« Seul le sexe biologique nous identifie mâle ou femelle, mais ce n’est pas pour autant que nous pouvons nous qualifier de masculin ou féminin »

« L’orientation sexuelle doit être clairement distinguée du sexe biologique de la personne »

« Le mineur de 15 ans à 18 ans est libre d’entretenir des relations sexuelles à condition qu’il soit consentant et que ce ne soit pas avec une personne ayant autorité sur lui »

« Le mineur est libre de ses orientations sexuelles, c’est à dire qu’il peut avoir des relations sexuelles soit avec un homme soit avec une femme »

« Distinguez la part biologique de la part sociale de l’identité sexuelle (Exercice) »

HACHETTE

« En sociologie, l’identité sexuelle se réfère au genre par lequel une personne est socialement reconnue »

HATIER


***

Je suis assez inquiet de lire ça.

Il est bien évident qu'il est faux. Parmi beaucoup de choses, selon les résultats de William Reiner à l'Université de l'Oklahoma :

"Interrogés sur la sexualité d'un groupe qui avait été chirurgicalement réaffecté de garçons et de filles à la naissance, à cause de déformations génitales. Bien qu'ils aient été élevés comme des femmes, et ne connaissait rien au sujet de leur intervention, ils ont tous été attirés par les femmes plus tard dans la vie"

N. China - Day 11, Part 2 - Beijing: Lama Temple

"Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable." - H. L. Mencken

***

N. China
Day 11 - 9th November - Beijing: Lama Temple (Part 2)


Complex entrance


Entrance from the carpark


Yonghegong (Lama Temple) information panel

As you can imagine, this is very important to China to cement its claim on Tibet.


Pathway in


I like how the entrance to the complex-proper has 4 languages on it, including Khitan (rightmost)


Gathering to burn incense


Lion


West Pavilion, 1744


Turtlish creature in pavilion


Stele on its back


Yonghe Gate


A hall




"Do not throw incenses or coins"
I'm guessing paper money is alright.



Tree with no more leaves - but the fruit are still here


"Esoteric Hall", 1744





I saw a monk in a robe with canvas shoes and ankle socks.


Lion and Turtles




Yonghedian


Yonghedian interior


Ceiling hanging


Through the window


West Side Hall, 1744


Prayer drum. I turned it clockwise and the next guy did that too.
I hope I did it correctly, or I'd have spun away all my luck.


Falundian


Side view of Falundian statue


Bench with study lights


Ceiling niche decor


Mural


Wanfuge plaque, 1748-50


Wanfuge Buddha


Guinness Plaque for the Maitreya Statue (above) "carved out of a single white sandalwood tree 26 metres high"


Say "cheese"

There were some artefacts on display, and Tibet Buddhist stuff was quite different but I had no time (I still wanted to visit the Old Summer Palace) and was getting a little jaded, so I only took a forbidden photograph of one.


Cakrasamvara, 18th century
I liked this as it showed one being in the arms of another

There were some statues of famous monks. They held long pipes in their hands, like hookahs.


Jie Tai, with the 6th Baichen's mannikin in a lecturing pose. He looked as fake as Mao.